四生

Readings

Pinyin: sìshēng

Wade-Giles: ssu-sheng

Hangul: 사생

Korean MC: sasaeng

Korean MR: sasaeng

Katakana: シショウ

Hepburn: shishō

tứ sinh

four kinds of birth

• The four ways that living beings are born into in the three realms and six destinies:
  1. Oviparous (born from eggs) 卵生 (Skt. aṇḍaja-yoni); all beings born from eggs, such as birds, reptiles, fish, and insects.
  2. Viviparous 胎生 (Skt. jarāyujā-yoni, Pāli jalābu-ja); creatures that are born from the womb— all mammals.
  3. Born from moisture 濕生 (Skt. saṃsvedajā-yoni, Pāli saṃseda-ja); also understood as born from causes and conditions 因緣生, or born as the result of the combination of heat and cold 寒熱和合生; basically includes insects and other smaller life forms for which eggs were not readily detectible.
  4. Metamorphic, or born through transformation, born spontaneously 化生 (Skt. upapādukā-yoni, Pāli opapātika); for example, celestials 天, hell denizens 地獄, etc. all of whom are born according to their prior karma.
  (Skt. catasro-yonayaḥ, catvāro yonayaḥ: Pāli catasso yoniyo; Tib. skye gnas bzhi). Also written 胎卵濕化. [resp. Charles Muller; source(s): Yokoi, Nakamura, YBh-Ind, JEBD, Hirakawa]

Dictionary References:

Bukkyō jiten (Ui), 410

Bulgyo sajeon, 370a

Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.), 436b

Iwanami bukkyō jiten, 354

A Glossary of Zen Terms (Inagaki), 353

Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha), 288b/319

Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi), 666, 670

Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga), 9-P148, 13-P338, 14-P138, 16-P103

Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura), 523a

Fo Guang Dictionary, 1680

Ding Fubao

Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa), 0279

Bukkyō daijiten (Oda), 706-2

(Soothill's) Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, 178

Copyright © 2010 -- Charles Muller

generated: 2014-03-17