Prapañca - Encyclopedia of Buddhism

Prapañca - Encyclopedia of Buddhism

Prapañca

Prapañca (P. papañca; T. spros pa; C. xilun) is translated as "conceputal elaboration," "conceptual proliferation," etc.

Christian Coseru states:

The Buddhist philosophical term used for describing the state of ordinary mentation is prapañca in Sanskrit. It literally means ‘fabrication,’ usually translated as ‘conceptual proliferation’ or 'conceptual elaboration' [see Samyutta Nikāya, IV, 72]. 

We don't simply apprehend an object. Rather, we apprehend it as the locus of a multiplicity of associations: in seeing a tree we perceive an entity made of trunk, branches, and foliage but also something that can provide shade and lumber. 

In perception we are ordinarily assailed by a stream of conceptualizing tendencies, which have their ultimate source in linguistic conventions and categorizing practices. These conceptualizing tendencies overwhelm and distort the perceptual experience.^[1]

References

1. Jump up↑ Coseru, Christian, "Mind in Indian Buddhist Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/mind-indian-buddhism/>.

Alternative Translations

• mental constructs (Thomas Doctor)
• mental elaboration
• conceptual proliferation (Nyanatiloka Mahathera)
• proliferation of discursive thought