二乘

Readings

Pinyin: èrshèng

Wade-Giles: erh-sheng

Hangul: 이승

Korean MC: iseung

Korean MR: yisŭng

Katakana: ニジョウ

Hepburn: nijō

nhị thừa

two vehicles

• These are the vehicles of the śrāvakas 聲聞 (hearers, direct disciples) and pratyekabuddhas 辟支佛 (self-realizers). These two kinds of practitioners are regularly introduced in Mahāyāna literature where they are generally cast in a negative light as representatives of the so-called Hīnayāna 小乘 tradition and are set up in contradistinction to the bodhisattva 菩薩. They are understood as practitioners who are engaged in a view toward practice and enlightenment that will permit them to reach the level of arhatship 阿羅漢 and not Buddhahood. This means that they are able to permanently sever the multitude of afflictions engendered by the three poisons 三毒. But they are unable to progress further along the path in the manner of the bodhisattva because of a lack in the development of their compassion 慈悲 for other beings as well as a limitation in their understanding of the emptiness 空 of all phenomena 法. Thus, they are able to eliminate the afflictive hindrances 煩惱障 but not the cognitive hindrances 所知障. One of the first Mahāyāna scriptures to make detailed distinctions between the practitioners of the two vehicles and the bodhisattvas was the Śrīmālā-sūtra 勝鬘經. The Lotus Sūtra teaches that śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas also become buddhas. (Skt. dviyāna, yāna-dvaya, śrāvaka-pratyekabuddha; dvitīya-yāna) [resp. cmuller; source(s): Yokoi, Soothill, Hirakawa, JEBD]
• See also 二乘惡人. [resp. cmuller]

Dictionary References:

Bukkyō jiten (Ui), 817

Bulgyo sajeon, 715a

Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.), 9838

Iwanami bukkyō jiten, 631

Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha), 217b/241

Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi), 499

Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga), 2-P52, 5-P161

Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura), 1047c

Fo Guang Dictionary, 206

Ding Fubao

Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa), 0084

Bukkyō daijiten (Oda), 542-1-11*1326-3

Copyright © 2010 -- Charles Muller

generated: 2013-03-08