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我人四相

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: four conceptions of personhood

Senses:

  • four (false) conceptions 相 (saṃjñā) of personhood, according to the Diamond Sutra 金剛經 and the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment Sutra 圓覺經. In their usual Chinese listing, these are given as: (1) 我相 (ātma-saṃjñā) conception of a self; the illusion that in the five aggregates there is a real self; (2) 人相 (pudgala-saṃjñā) conception of a person; that this self is a man, and different from beings of the other paths; (3) 衆生相 (sattva-saṃjñā) conception of a being/living being; that all beings have a self born of the five aggregates; (4) 壽者相 (jīva-saṃjñā), conception of a soul/ personality.

    The order of these terms is different in the Sanskrit recension of the Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitā: (1) ātma-saṃjñā/grāha (我相; conception of/clinging to/ a self); (2) sattva-saṃjñā/grāha (衆生相; conception of/clinging to/ a being or living being); (3) jīva-saṃjñā/grāha (壽者相; conception of/clinging to/ a soul or personality); (4) pudgala-saṃjñā/grāha (人相; conception of/clinging to/ a person). 〔金剛經 T 235.8.749a11; 圓覺經 T 842.17.919b15〕

    [Robert Buswell; source(s): Soothill]
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    [Dictionary References]

    Ding Fubao {Digital Version}

    Bukkyō daijiten (Oda) 702-1

    Soothill 238

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    Entry created: 2002-06-10

    Updated: 2015-11-08