Digital Dictionary of Buddhism

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鬼神

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: spirit

Senses:

  • Ghost; god, demigod, demon, a general term which includes the spirits of the dead, together with demons and the eight classes of spirits, such as devas, etc. Invisible, transhuman beings possessing spiritual powers. 鬼 is interpreted as 威 causing fear, 神 as 能 potent, powerful. While there are both good and evil spirits, most of the time when this term is used it has the connotations of harmful spirits. In his Commentary to the Book of the Bodhisattva Precepts in the Brahmāʼs Net Sutra, Wonhyo defines the term in two parts, saying that there are two explanations for each. One is that 鬼 is applied to (disembodied) humans, and 神 refers to gods. The other is that 鬼 refers to those who deceive people, and 神 refers to those who possess mysterious powers. Generally speaking 神 are good spirits, while 鬼 are malevolent.

    In Buddhism this can cover a broad class of malevolent spirits 惡鬼神, including yakṣas 夜叉, rākṣasas 羅刹, vāyu-daivata 風神, etc., as well as beneficial spirits 善鬼神, such as Brahmā 梵天, Indra 帝釋, the earthly spirits 地祇, dragon kings 龍王, and so forth. 〔梵網經菩薩戒本私記 HBJ 1.598a〕 〔起信論 T 1666.32.582b5〕 (Skt. bhūta; amanuṣya, *asura, devatā, piśāca, paitṛviṣayika, preta, bali)

    [Charles Muller; source(s): Ui, Nakamura, Soothill, JEBD, Hirakawa, Yokoi, Iwanami]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Bukkyō jiten (Ui) 166

    Bulgyo sajeon 90a

    Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.) 200b

    Iwanami bukkyō jiten 92, 161

    Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha) 174a/192

    Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi) 373

    Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga) 5-P135, 13-P375

    Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura) 207d

    Fo Guang Dictionary 4366

    Ding Fubao

    Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa) 1290

    Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki) (v.1-6)514a

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 240-1

    Copyright provisions

    The rights to textual segments (nodes) of the DDB are owned by the author indicated in the brackets next to each segment. For rights regarding the compilation as a whole, please contact Charles Muller. Please do not reproduce without permission. And please do not copy into Wikipedia without proper citation!

    Entry created: 2001-09-08

    Updated: 2021-06-29