Showing posts with label Abhidharma. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abhidharma. Show all posts

2021/10/12

Introduction of Buddhism to Korea: An Overview Se-Woong Koo

FSI | SPICE

Introduction of Buddhism to Korea: An Overview

Authors

Se-Woong Koo


The arrival of Buddhism in Korea led to the fundamental transformation of local society and a blossoming of Korean civilization. Situated at the end of a long trade route spanning the Eurasian continent, the three Korean kingdoms of Koguryo (37 BCE-668), Paekche (18 BCE-663), and Silla (57 BCE-935) not only benefited from the intellectual sophistication of the Buddhist thought system, but also absorbed the numerous continental cultural products and ideas carried by Buddhist monks. It was the beginning of a golden age on the peninsula.

===


http://spice.stanford.edu FALL 2011
 
Introduction of Buddhism to Korea: An Overview

The arrival of Buddhism in Korea led to the fundamental transformation of local society and a blossoming of Korean civilization. Situated at the end of a long trade route spanning the Eurasian continent, the three Korean kindoms of Koguryo (37 BCE-668), Paekche (18 BCE-663), and Silla (57 BCE-935) not only benefited from the intellectual sophistication of the Buddhist thought system, but also absorbed the numerous continental cultural products and ideas carried by Buddhist monks.1 It was the beginning of a golden age on the peninsula.

Religious life itself was directly and irreversibly affected by Buddhism. Korean states had been familiar with Chinese religions in the forms of Taoism and Confucianism, but the impact of such belief systems on the kingdoms was disparate and limited. Buddhism, on the other hand, was adopted as the state religion by rulers as early as the fourth century, in spite of considerable local oppositions. It is believed that until then Koreans had predominantly practiced animism centered on tribal gods and ancestor worship. Elites in particular considered the worship of clan deities as their source of authority and found royal support for Buddhism to be an effort to render the old religion obsolete and encroach upon aristocratic power.

Royal houses had an obvious motive in sponsoring Buddhism: they desperately needed a ruling ideology that would help centralize political power in the body of the sovereign. The notion of the Buddha as the supreme being whose reach was not confined to the spiritual realm but all-pervasive even in politics held promise as a possible justification for privileging royal authority over that of aristocracy. 

As Chinese and Japanese rulers had or would soon do, Korean sovereigns wove elaborate theories equating themselves to either the Buddha himself, or at least a ruler sanctioned by Buddhism to wield political authority. For instance, Sondok (r. 632-647), a seventhcentury queen of Silla, was said to have been born to parents who coincidentally had the same names as those of the Buddha’s father and mother. The reign of Sondok’s great-grandfather, King Chinung (r. 540-576), allegedly saw the beaching of an Indian ship laden with treasures and a Buddha triad: an event understood in the secondoldest Korean historical document to mean that political authority invested in an Indian king by the Buddha was transferred onto the lord of Silla.

But Buddhism never completely eradicated the local religion. Instead, it incorporated local gods into its system and gave them legitimacy as protectors and devotees of the Buddha, albeit at a lower status than the one accorded him and his original retinue. The local religion, too, did not denigrate Buddhism for long, inviting the Buddha into its rituals and treating him as just another transcendental entity with tremendous power to benefit humans. The harmonious co-existence of Buddhism and the local religion—which some scholars have taken to calling “shamanism”—can still be observed today in Korea when one visits a Buddhist temple, where a shrine may be set aside for gods of mountains and stars, or a shaman’s house, inside which are paintings and statues of multiple deities including the Buddha and bodhisattvas (all-powerful Buddhist practitioners with superhuman attributes).

Buddhism also offered a more complex understanding of the universe at large, both theoretical and physical. With its many moral injunctions, Buddhism served as a foundation of Korean ethics, best exemplified by the precepts that were given to military youths but yet grounded in Buddhist teachings of non-violence and life’s preciousness. Concerning death, the notion of six realms of reincarnation, ranging from paradise at the most desirable end of the spectrum to hell as the world of unbearable pain and suffering at the other, was first articulated by the Buddhists and went on to be commonly accepted by the population. As a reward for good behavior, Buddhism presented a vision of the western paradise as the ultimate destination of purity and bliss under Buddha Amitabha’s guidance, a concept well-known to all Koreans.

On the earthly plane, Buddhism inculcated a concrete awareness of India as a real place to which one could conceivably journey to; at least one Silla monk did so and wrote a travelogue about it. Many of the travellers who regularly went back and forth between Korea and China were monks fuelled by a desire to more closely study Buddhism on the continent. But most importantly, Buddhism became a kind of universal language spoken by people of all countries in East Asia. By influencing the shapes of politics, ethics, metaphysics, geography, and life here and even thereafter, Buddhism presented East Asians with a common way of thinking, against the backdrop of which exchange of ideas and goods could unfold and thrive.

The fall of Paekche and Koguryo between 663 and 668 at the hands of Silla and its ally, the Tang dynasty (618-907) of China, only hastened Buddhism’s spread across Korea. Fabulously wealthy monasteries and their rich and powerful following assumed the role of patrons for craftsmen and encouraged production of spectacular artistic treasures the likes of which Koreans had never seen. Buddhist monasteries especially, buoyed by state gifts of land and slaves, asserted their reputations as centers of culture and learning. Grand temples and pagodas mushroomed everywhere, and paintings and statues of the Buddhist pantheon appeared in places high and low as tangible manifestations of people’s devotion. It is necessary to note that without Buddhism the Korean art of sculpture would not have reached its level of refinement. Korea had no strong indigenous tradition of sculpture, especially of the three-dimensional human form, and it was only after Buddhism and Buddha images were transmitted that Koreans crafted significant sculptural representations of human and divine figures.2 

The art of printing was another important legacy of Buddhism in Korea. Buddhists found it incumbent upon them to propagate the Buddha’s teachings because it led to accumulation of positive merit known as karma.3 One way to spread Buddhism was through production of images of the Buddha, but duplication of the sacred texts was considered equally important as an expression of faith. Hand-copying, however, was a difficult proposition in early medieval Korea: literacy was low, and qualified scribes too few; scriptures were written in complex Chinese characters and difficult to read; and the amount of time and energy required to individually copy texts was too great compared to the volume of output. It was inevitable that the printing technology would evolve to meet the voracious appetite of Buddhists for more sacred words.

The oldest surviving example of woodblock printing in the world dates to the Unified Silla period of Korea (668-936), found alongside several treasures inside a stone pagoda undergoing restoration in 1966. Although scholarly debates continue over the origin of the scroll, at the very least the artifact attests to the high esteem in which early Korean Buddhists held sacred words.4 Seen through that history, it is not a surprise that Koreans would go on to twice create the tripitaka, more than eighty-thousand individually carved woodblock printing panels containing the entire canon of Buddhist texts.5 The second batch of panels, commissioned in 1251, remains nearly intact as a set and is protected as a national treasure as well as a UNESCO world heritage.

More Readings

  • Kim, Lena. 1986. “Buddhist Sculpture.” In Korean Art Treasures, edited by Roderick Whitfield, 93-102. Seoul: Yekyong Publications Co., Ltd.
  • Lancaster, Lewis, and Chai-Shin Yu. 1989. The Introduction of Buddhism to Korea: New Cultural Patterns. Fremont, CA: Asian Humanities Press.
  • Lancaster, Lewis, and Sung-bae Park. 1979. The Korean Buddhist Cannon: A Descriptive Catalogue. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
  • McBride, Richard D. 2010. “Silla Buddhism and the Hwarang.” Korean Studies 34: 54-89.

Notes:
1. A smaller kingdom by the name of Kaya (1??-562) existed between Silla and Paekche until it was absorbed by Silla. The standard chronology nevertheless refers to the period as the Three Kingdoms.
2. A similar suggestion has been made about China.
3. Karma is a term for both positive and negative merit, the final tally of which upon a person’s death determines his or her next incarnation.
4. Some Chinese scholars have argued that the scroll is ofChinese origin, given the appearance in the text of Chinese characters invented and used only during the reign of Empress Wu (r. 690-705) over China.
5. Tripitaka, literally “Three Baskets,” is the term used to refer to the collection of Buddhist texts comprising three categories: sutra (words of the Buddha), vinaya (monastic rules), and abhidharma (commentaries).

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2021/09/16

바르도 (불교) - 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전

바르도 (불교) - 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전

바르도 (불교)

위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.
둘러보기로 이동검색으로 이동
 다른 뜻에 대해서는 중간계 문서를 참고하십시오.

바르도(Bardo)는 불교에서 사유(死有)에서 생유(生有)로 이어지는 중간적 존재인 중유(中有, antarabhāva)를 말한다. 중음(中陰), 중간계(中間界)라고도 번역한다. 바르도는 티벳 불교의 용어이다.

설명[편집]

바르도 퇴돌이란 티벳 불경이 전세계적으로 유명하다. 1927년 월터 에바스베트 (en:Walter Evans-Wentz) 에 의해 "Tibetan Book of the Dead"라는 타이틀로 영역되어 세계적인 베스트셀러가 되어, 일본에서도 일반적으로 《티베트 사자의 서》로서 알려져 있다.[1]

불교 명상[편집]

불교에서 명상은 사마타와 위빠사나의 둘로 이루어져 있다.

처음에 앉거나 눕거나 서서 또는 걸으면서 사마타 명상을 하여 고요함, 공, 적멸, 번뇌를 제거함에 빠진다. 그렇게 한동안 고요해지면 곧 꿈을 꾸게 되는데, 다른 말로 정신세계에 태어난다고 하고, 정신현상이 일어나기 시작한다고도 하고, 명상 중간계에 태어난다고도 하며, 간단히 중간계에 태어난다고도 한다. 그러면 사마타 명상을 멈추고 위빠사나 명상을 시작한다. 그래서 모든 불순한 것을 순수한 것으로 변신시키는 상상을 하여, 이 상상이 성취되면 금강삼매를 얻었다고 하며, 이를 부처가 되었다고 한다.

금강삼매란 세상의 모든 만물을 금강, 즉 다이아몬드로 변신시킨다고 해서 이름이 금강삼매이다. 유마경에서 모든 불국토를 청정하게 변신시켜, 금은보화로 장엄하는 대신통력이라고 나온다. 이 대신통력은 오직 부처님만이 얻으며, 반대로 이 대신통력을 얻으면 부처라고 열반경에서 설명한다. 티베트 사자의 서에서도 이 금강삼매를 자세하게 가르치고 있다.

사십구재[편집]

<nowiki />이 부분의 본문은 사십구재입니다.

불경에서 설한 바에 의하면 사람의 존재 상태를 4가지로 구분하는데, 그것은 ① 생유(生有) ② 사유(死有) ③ 본유(本有: 生에서 死까지 생애) ④ 중유(中有: 이생에 죽어서 다음 生까지를 말함)이다.[2]

이들 중 네 번째의 중유(中有)의 상태의 정상적인 기간이 49일이다.[2] 즉 사람이 죽은 뒤에는 일반적인 경우 49일이면 중유(中有)가 끝나고 다음 생(生)이 결정된다.[2] 그러므로 다음 생이 결정되기 전인 48일째에 정성을 다하여 영혼의 명복을 비는 것이 49일재이다.[2]

세가지 의미[편집]

중간계 라는 말은 적어도 3가지 의미로 쓰인다. 그래서 약간 혼동될 우려가 있다.[3]

  • 죽음에서 재탄생에 이르는 전 과정, 가장 일상적인 의미, 여섯 중간계 중에서 죽음 중간계, 저승 중간계, 탄생 중간계
  • 여섯 중간계, 전문적인 의미
  • 여섯 중간계 중에서 어떤 특정한 시기에 경험하게 되는 특정한 중간계 상태

여섯 중간계[편집]

티벳 사람들은 중간계를 다음과 여섯 가지로 분류한다.[4]

  • 이승 중간계: 탄생과 죽음 사이의 중간계
  • 꿈 중간계: 잠과 깨어 있음 사이의 중간계
  • 명상 중간계: 깨어 있음과 초월 사이의 중간계
  • 죽음 중간계: 죽음 직후의 중간계
  • 저승 중간계: 죽음과 재탄생 사이의 중간계
  • 탄생 중간계: 태어나기 직전과 태어나는 순간 사이의 중간계

더 보기[편집]

각주[편집]

  1. ↑ 카와사키 노부사다 역 「원전역 티베트 사자의 서」치기미 학예 문고
  2. ↑ 이동:가 나 다 라 종교·철학 > 한국의 종교 > 한국의 불교 > 한국불교의 의식 > 한국불교의 의식〔개설〕 > 49일재의 유래, 《글로벌 세계 대백과사전》
  3. ↑ 파드마 삼바바 저, 정찬영 역, 티벳 사자의 서, 시공사, 2000.10.30
  4. ↑ 파드마 삼바바 저, 류시화 역, 티벳사자의 서, 정신세계사, 1995.08.01
===

中陰

出典: フリー百科事典『ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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中陰（ちゅういん、梵: antarā-bhava[1], 蔵: bar do[2]）あるいは中有(ちゅうう)[3]は、仏教において有情が生と死を繰り返し流転する過程を四有（4種の生存）に分けるうちで、前世の死の瞬間（死有（しう））から次の世に生を受ける刹那（生有（しょうう））までの時期における幽体とでもいうべきもの[1]。または、そのような状態である期間[4]。

原語と漢訳[編集]

死者が今生と後生の中間にいるためantarā（中間の）bhava（生存状態）という。

概説[編集]

中陰は、意から生じて意から成り立っている化生（けしょう）の身（意生身）であり、精子と卵子などから生じたもの(胎生、卵生)ではない[1]。求生（ぐしょう）、起（き）、乾闥婆（けんだつば、梵: gandharva）（八部衆を参照）とも称される[1]。また、乾闥婆が香りのみを食物とするので、食香（じきこう）とも訳される[5]。

インド仏教の主流派であり、北伝仏教に大きな影響を与えた説一切有部では、輪廻における元の生と次の生とのあいだに中間的な存在としての中陰の期間があり、その次に五道中のどの世界に生まれ変わるかが決まると考えられていた。

一方で中陰はインド仏教における通説ではなく、説一切有部の他には正量部において主張され、上座部、化地部、大衆部、一説部、説出世部では否定されていた[6]。

中陰の期間には、7日、49日、無限定などいくつもの説がある[5]。死後7日ごとに法要を営み、四十九日を満中陰とするのもそれらの説に基づいて起こった習慣である[5]（中陰法要や中陰壇も参照）。

十王信仰と中陰[編集]

この中陰の期間中に審判があり、閻魔大王によって生前の罪が裁かれると考えられた。罪が重いと地獄に落とされるが、遺族が中陰法要を行い、追善の功徳を故人に廻向すると赦される。それが7日毎に行う法要である。中国では閻魔王の他に9人の裁判官が追加され、彼らが死者を裁くとされた。 後に日本にも伝わり、鎌倉時代になると『地蔵十王経』が作られ、死者への裁きは一度でなく、中陰期間の7日ごとと100ヶ日、一周忌、三回忌に10人の王によって10回の裁きがあるとされ[7]、宗旨によって様々な考え方に別れた。また四週目と五週目の法要の間に、最初の月命日が来る。

宗派ごとの扱い[編集]

上座部仏教は生まれ変わりの中間となる期間は必要ないと考え、中陰の存在を否定している。浄土真宗では、故人は阿弥陀仏の本願力によって臨終と同時に極楽浄土に往生すると考えるので、中陰は、故人を通して求法の生活をする期間である。

脚注[編集]

注釈[編集]

出典[編集]

  1. ^ a b c d 総合仏教大辞典編集委員会（編）『総合仏教大辞典』法蔵館、1988年1月、994頁。
  2. ^ 安田章紀「中有に関するドルジェリンパの思想」、印度學佛教學研究、64巻、2号、日本印度学仏教学会、2016年、961頁
  3. ^ 定方晟、「中陰」 - 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)、小学館。
  4. ^ 「中有」 - デジタル大辞泉、小学館。
  5. ^ a b c 岩波仏教辞典 1989, p. 566.
  6. ^ 阿部 2018, p. 859.
  7. ^ 伊藤瑞叡、「十王（亡者を裁く10人の王）」 - 日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)、小学館。

参考文献[編集]

関連項目[編集]



==

Bardo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For other uses, see Bardo (disambiguation).
Tibetan illustration of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities of the post-mortem intermediate state (bardo). Some Tibetan Buddhists hold that when a being goes through the intermediate state, they will have visions of various deities.

In some schools of Buddhism, bardo (Classical Tibetan: བར་དོ་ Wylie: bar do) or antarābhava (Sanskrit, Chinese and Japanese: 中有, romanized in Chinese as zhōng yǒu and in Japanese as chūu)[1] is an intermediate, transitional, or liminal state between death and rebirth. 

The concept arose soon after Gautama Buddha's death, with a number of earlier Buddhist schools accepting the existence of such an intermediate state, while other schools rejected it. The concept of antarābhava, an intervening state between death and rebirth, was brought into Buddhism from the Vedic-Upanishadic (later Hindu) philosophical tradition.[2][3] 

Later Buddhism expanded the bardo concept to six or more states of consciousness covering every stage of life and death.[4] 

In Tibetan Buddhism, bardo is the central theme of the Bardo Thodol (literally Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State), the Tibetan Book of the Dead, a text intended to both guide the recently deceased person through the death bardo to gain a better rebirth and also to help their loved ones with the grieving process.[5]

Used without qualification, "bardo" is the state of existence intermediate between two lives on earth. According to Tibetan tradition, after death and before one's next birth, when one's consciousness is not connected with a physical body, one experiences a variety of phenomena. These usually follow a particular sequence of degeneration from, just after death, the clearest experiences of reality of which one is spiritually capable, and then proceeding to terrifying hallucinations that arise from the impulses of one's previous unskillful actions. For the prepared and appropriately trained individuals, the bardo offers a state of great opportunity for liberation, since transcendental insight may arise with the direct experience of reality; for others, it can become a place of danger as the karmically created hallucinations can impel one into a less than desirable rebirth.[citation needed]

Metaphorically, bardo can describe times when our usual way of life becomes suspended, as, for example, during a period of illness or during a meditation retreat. Such times can prove fruitful for spiritual progress because external constraints diminish. However, they can also present challenges because our less skillful impulses may come to the foreground, just as in the sidpa bardo.[citation needed]

Intermediate state in Indian Buddhism[edit source]

From the records of early Buddhist schools, it appears that at least six different groups accepted the notion of an intermediate existence (antarabhāva), namely, the Sarvāstivāda, Darṣṭāntika, Vātsīputrīyas, Saṃmitīya, Pūrvaśaila and late Mahīśāsaka. The first four of these are closely related schools. Opposing them were the Mahāsāṃghika, early Mahīśāsaka, Theravāda, Vibhajyavāda and the Śāriputrābhidharma (possibly Dharmagupta).[6]

Some of the earliest references we have to the “intermediate existence” are to be found in the Sarvāstivādin text the Mahāvibhāṣa (阿毘達磨大毘婆沙論). For instance, the Mahāvibhāṣa indicates a “basic existence” (本有), an “intermediate existence” (中有), a “birth existence” (生有) and “death existence” (死有) (CBETA, T27, no. 1545, p. 959, etc.). André Bareau's Les sectes bouddhiques du Petit Véhicule provides the arguments of the Sarvāstivāda schools as follows:[7]

The intermediate being who makes the passage in this way from one existence to the next is formed, like every living being, of the five aggregates (skandha). His existence is demonstrated by the fact that it cannot have any discontinuity in time and space between the place and moment of death and those of rebirth, and therefore it must be that the two existences belonging to the same series are linked in time and space by an intermediate stage. The intermediate being is the Gandharva, the presence of which is as necessary at conception as the fecundity and union of the parents. Furthermore, the Antarāparinirvāyin is an Anāgamin who obtains parinirvāṇa during the intermediary existence. As for the heinous criminal guilty of one of the five crimes without interval (ānantarya), he passes in quite the same way by an intermediate existence at the end of which he is reborn necessarily in hell.

Deriving from a later period of the same school, though with some differences, Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa explains (English trs. p. 383ff):

What is an intermediate being, and an intermediate existence? Intermediate existence, which inserts itself between existence at death and existence at birth, not having arrived at the location where it should go, cannot be said to be born. Between death—that is, the five skandhas of the moment of death—and arising—that is, the five skandhas of the moment of rebirth—there is found an existence—a "body" of five skandhas—that goes to the place of rebirth. This existence between two realms of rebirth (gatī) is called intermediate existence.

He cites a number of texts and examples to defend the notion against other schools which reject it and claim that death in one life is immediately followed by rebirth in the next, without any intermediate state in between the two. Both the Mahāvibhāṣa and the Abhidharmakośa have the notion of the intermediate state lasting "seven times seven days" (i.e. 49 days) at most. This is one view, though, and there were also others.

Similar arguments were also used in Harivarman’s *Satyasiddhi Śāstra, and the Upadeśa commentary on the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, both of which have strong influence from the Sarvāstivāda school. Both of these texts had powerful influence in Chinese Buddhism, which also accepts this idea as a rule.

The Saddharma-smṛty-upasthāna Sūtra (正法念處經) classifies 17 intermediate states with different experiences.[8]

Six bardos in Tibetan Buddhism[edit source]

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Fremantle (2001) states that there are six traditional bardo states known as the Six Bardos: the Bardo of This Life (p. 55); the Bardo of Meditation (p. 58); the Bardo of Dream (p. 62); the Bardo of Dying (p. 64); the Bardo of Dharmata (p. 65); and the Bardo of Existence (p. 66).[9]

Shugchang, et al. (2000: p. 5) discuss the Zhitro (Tibetan: Zhi-khro) cycle of teachings of Karma Lingpa which includes the Bardo Thodol and list the Six Bardo: "The first bardo begins when we take birth and endures as long as we live. The second is the bardo of dreams. The third is the bardo of concentration or meditation. The fourth occurs at the moment of death. The fifth is known as the bardo of the luminosity of the true nature. The sixth is called the bardo of transmigration or karmic becoming.[10]

  1. Kyenay bardo (skye gnas bar do) is the first bardo of birth and life. This bardo commences from conception until the last breath, when the mindstream withdraws from the body.
  2. Milam bardo (rmi lam bar do) is the second bardo of the dream state. The Milam Bardo is a subset of the first Bardo. Dream Yoga develops practices to integrate the dream state into Buddhist sadhana.
  3. Samten bardo (bsam gtan bar do) is the third bardo of meditation. This bardo is generally only experienced by meditators, though individuals may have spontaneous experience of it. Samten Bardo is a subset of the Shinay Bardo.
  4. Chikhai bardo ('chi kha'i bar do) is the fourth bardo of the moment of death. According to tradition, this bardo is held to commence when the outer and inner signs presage that the onset of death is nigh, and continues through the dissolution or transmutation of the Mahabhuta until the external and internal breath has completed.
  5. Chönyi bardo (chos nyid bar do) is the fifth bardo of the luminosity of the true nature which commences after the final 'inner breath' (Sanskrit: prana, vayu; Tibetan: rlung). It is within this Bardo that visions and auditory phenomena occur. In the Dzogchen teachings, these are known as the spontaneously manifesting Tögal (Tibetan: thod-rgyal) visions. Concomitant to these visions, there is a welling of profound peace and pristine awareness. Sentient beings who have not practiced during their lived experience and/or who do not recognize the clear light (Tibetan: od gsal) at the moment of death are usually deluded throughout the fifth bardo of luminosity.
  6. Sidpa bardo (srid pa bar do) is the sixth bardo of becoming or transmigration. This bardo endures until the inner-breath commences in the new transmigrating form determined by the "karmic seeds" within the storehouse consciousness.

History[edit source]

Fremantle (2001: p. 53–54) charts the development of the bardo concept through the Himalayan tradition:

Originally bardo referred only to the period between one life and the next, and this is still its normal meaning when it is mentioned without any qualification. There was considerable dispute over this theory during the early centuries of Buddhism, with one side arguing that rebirth (or conception) follows immediately after death, and the other saying that there must be an interval between the two. With the rise of mahayana, belief in a transitional period prevailed. Later Buddhism expanded the whole concept to distinguish six or more similar states, covering the whole cycle of life, death, and rebirth. But it can also be interpreted as any transitional experience, any state that lies between two other states. Its original meaning, the experience of being between death and rebirth, is the prototype of the bardo experience, while the six traditional bardos show how the essential qualities of that experience are also present in other transitional periods. By refining even further the understanding of the essence of bardo, it can then be applied to every moment of existence. The present moment, the now, is a continual bardo, always suspended between the past and the future.[11]

Intermediate state in Theravāda[edit source]

Theravāda Abhidhamma texts like the Kathavatthu traditionally reject the view that there is an intermediate or transitional state (antarabhāva) between rebirths, they hold that rebirth happens instantaneously (in one mind moment) through the re-linking consciousness (patisandhi citta).[12]

However, as has been noted by various modern scholars like Bhikkhu Sujato, there are passages in the Theravāda Pali Canon which support the idea of an intermediate state, the most explicit of which is the Kutuhalasāla Sutta.[13]

This sutta states:

[The Buddha:] "Vaccha, I declare that there is rebirth for one with fuel [with grasping], not for one without fuel. Vaccha, just as fire burns with fuel, not without fuel, even so, Vaccha, I declare that there is rebirth for one with fuel [with grasping], not for one without fuel."

[Vaccha replies:] "But, master Gotama, when a flame is tossed by the wind and goes a long way, what does master Gotama declare to be its fuel?"

[Buddha:] "Vaccha, when a flame is tossed by the wind and goes a long way, I declare that it is fueled by the air. For, Vaccha, at that time, the air is the fuel."

[Vaccha:] "Master Gotama, when a being has laid down this body, but has not yet been reborn in another body, what does the master Gotama declare to be the fuel?"

[Buddha:] "Vaccha, when a being has laid down this body, but has not yet been reborn in another body, it is fuelled by craving, I say. For, Vaccha, at that time, craving is the fuel."[13]

Furthermore, some Theravāda scholars (such as Balangoda Ananda Maitreya) have defended the idea of an intermediate state and it is also a very common belief among some monks and laypersons in the Theravāda world (where it is commonly referred to as the gandhabba or antarabhāva). According to Sujato, it is also widely accepted among Thai forest tradition teachers.[14][13]

In East Asian Buddhism[edit source]

East Asian Buddhism generally accepts the main doctrines of the Yogacara tradition as taught by Vasubandhu and Asanga. This includes the acceptance of the intermediate existence (中有, Chinese romanization: zhōng yǒu, Japanese: chūu). The doctrine of the intermediate existence is mentioned in various Chinese Buddhist scholastic works, such as Xuanzang's Cheng Weishi Lun (Discourse on the Perfection of Consciousness-only).[15]

The Chinese Buddhist Canon contains a text called the Antarabhava sutra, which is used in funerary rituals.[16]

The founder of Soto Zen, Dogen, wrote the following regarding how to navigate the intermediate state:

“When you leave this life, and before you enter the next life, there is a place called an intermediary realm. You stay there for seven days. You should resolve to keep chanting the names of the three treasures without ceasing while you are there. After seven days you die in the intermediary realm and remain there for no more than seven days. At this time you can see and hear without hindrance, like having a celestial eye. Resolve to encourage yourself to keep chanting the names of the three treasures without ceasing: ‘I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge in the Dharma. I take refuge in the Sangha.’ After passing through the intermediary realm, when you approach your parents to be conceived, resolve to maintain authentic wisdom. Keep chanting refuge in the three treasures in your mother’s womb. Do not neglect chanting while you are given birth. Resolve deeply to dedicate yourself to chant and take refuge in the three treasures through the six sense roots. When your life ends, your eye sight will suddenly become dark. Know that this is the end of your life and be determined to chant, ‘I take refuge in the buddha.’ Then, all buddhas in the ten directions will show compassion to you. Even if due to conditions you are bound to an unwholesome realm, you will be able to be born in the deva realm or in the presence of the Buddha. Bow and listen to the Buddha.” --- Shobogenzo, section 94, "Mind of the Way”, translated by Peter Levitt & Kazuaki Tanahashi (2013):

See also[edit source]

References[edit source]

  1. ^ Bareau, André (1979). "Chuu". In Lévi, Sylvain; Takakusu, Junjiro; Gernet, Jacques; May, Jacques; Durt, Hubert (eds.). Dictionnaire encyclopédique du bouddhisme d'après les sources chinoises et japonaises. Hôbôgirin. Fasc. 5. Editions Maisonneuve [fr]. pp. 558–563. ISBN 9068316052. OCLC 928777936.
  2. ^ John Bowker, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, s.v. [1]
  3. ^ Bryan Jaré Cuevas, "Predecessors and Prototypes: Towards a Conceptual History of the Buddhist Antarābhava", Numen 43:3:263-302 (September 1996) JSTOR 3270367
  4. ^ Francesca Fremantle (2001), Luminous Emptiness: Understanding the Tibetan Book of the Dead, p.53-54. Boston: Shambala Publications. ISBN 1-57062-450-X
  5. ^ Tibetan Buddhism and the resolution of grief: The Bardo-Thodol for the dying and the grieving, by Robert Goss, Death Studies, Vol. 21 Issue 4 Jul/Aug.1997, Pp.377-395
  6. ^ Bareau, André (1955). Les sectes bouddhiques du Petit Véhicule, p. 291. Saigon: Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient.
  7. ^ Bareau, André (1955). Les sectes bouddhiques du Petit Véhicule, p. 143 Saigon: Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient.
  8. ^ "第五章　死亡、死后与出生---《生与死——佛教轮回说》--莲花山居士网". web.archive.org. January 6, 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-01-06.
  9. ^ Francesca Fremantle (2001), Luminous Emptiness, p.55-66, Boston: Shambala Publications. ISBN 1-57062-450-X
  10. ^ Shugchang, Padma (editor); Sherab, Khenchen Palden & Dongyal, Khenpo Tse Wang (2000). A Modern Commentary on Karma Lingpa's Zhi-Khro: teachings on the peaceful and wrathful deities. Padma Gochen Ling. Source: [2] Archived 2008-02-29 at the Wayback Machine (accessed: December 27, 2007)
  11. ^ Francesca Fremantle (2001), Luminous Emptiness, p.53-54. Boston: Shambala Publications. ISBN 1-57062-450-X
  12. ^ Wayman, Alex (1984). Buddhist Insight: Essays, p. 252, Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
  13. ^ Jump up to:a b c Bhikkhu Sujato (2008). Rebirth and the in-between state in early Buddhism.
  14. ^ Langer, Rita (2007). Buddhist Rituals of Death and Rebirth: Contemporary Sri Lankan Practice and Its Origins, pp. 83-84. Routledge.
  15. ^ Johnson, Peter Lunde (2019). On Realizing There is Only the Virtual Nature of Consciousness, pp. 336, 396, 302, 403
  16. ^ Poulton, Mark Cody. The language of flowers in the Nō theatre. Japan Review No. 8 (1997), pp. 39-55 (17 pages) Published By: International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, National Institute for the Humanities.

Further reading[edit source]

  • American Book of the Dead. 1987. E.J. Gold. Nevada City: IDHHB.
  • Bardo Teachings: The Way of Death and Rebirth. 1987. By Venerable Lama Lodo. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications ISBN 0937938602
  • The Bardo Thodol: A Golden Opportunity. 2008. Mark Griffin. Los Angeles: HardLight Publishing. {{ISBN|978-
  • Death, Intermediate State, and Rebirth. 1981. Lati Rinpoche. Snow Lion Publications.
  • The Hidden History of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. 2003. Bryan J. Cuevas. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Mirror of Mindfulness: The Cycle of the Four Bardos, Tsele Natsok Rangdrol, translated by Erik Pema Kunsang (Rangjung Yeshe Publications).
  • Natural Liberation. 1998. Padmasambhava. The text is translated by B. Alan Wallace, with a commentary by Gyatrul Rinpoche. Somerville, Wisdom Publications.
  • The Tibetan Book of the Dead: Awakening Upon Dying. 2013. by Padmasambhava (Author), Chögyal Namkhai Norbu (Commentary), Karma Lingpa (Author), Elio Guarisco (Translator). Shang Shung Publications & North Atlantic Books.
  • The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. 1993. Sogyal Rinpoche. New York: HarperCollins

External links[edit source]

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