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169-612: Dharanis are found in the ancient texts of all major traditions of Buddhism. They are a major part of the Pali canon preserved by the Theravada tradition. Mahayana sutras such as the Lotus Sutra and the Heart Sutra include or conclude with dharani. Some Buddhist texts, such as Pancarakṣa found in the homes of many Buddhist tantra tradition followers, are entirely dedicated to dharani. They are

338-466: A cosmic principle and appears in verses independent of deities . It evolves into a concept, claims Paul Horsch, that has a dynamic functional sense in Atharvaveda for example, where it becomes the cosmic law that links cause and effect through a subject. Dharma, in these ancient texts, also takes a ritual meaning. The ritual is connected to the cosmic, and "dharmani" is equated to ceremonial devotion to

507-423: A "large and important" part of Mahayana Buddhism, and that they were magic formulae and "protective spells" as well as amulets. Benefits of chanting a dharani [For one reciting this Great Peacock Spell], there will be no fear of kings’ [capricious punishment], no fear of thieves or of fire, or of death by drowning. Nor will poison afflict his body, nor weapons, and he will live long and prosper, only excepting

676-586: A Buddhist education. Anagarika Dhammapala , Migettuwatte Gunananda Thera , Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala Thera and Henry Steel Olcott (one of the first American western converts to Buddhism) were some of the main figures of the Sri Lankan Buddhist revival. Two new monastic orders were formed in the 19th century, the Amarapura Nikāya and the Rāmañña Nikāya . In Burma, an influential modernist figure

845-587: A Japanese priest named Chishu supports the ordination of his student Hata no kimi Toyotari by listing that he can recite following dharanis: "the Greater Prajna-paramita , Amoghapasa Avalokiteshvara, Eleven-faced Avalokiteshvara, the Golden Light , Akashagarbha, Bhaisajyaguru, consecrating water, concealing ritual space" with the dharani rituals of prostration after eight years of training. A study of numerous such ubasoku koshinge recommendation letters from

1014-792: A Sanskrit root √ dhṛ meaning "to hold or maintain". This root is likely derived from the historical Vedic religion of ancient India, where chants and melodious sounds were believed to have innate spiritual and healing powers even if the sound cannot be translated and has no meaning (as in a music). The same root gives dharma or dhamma . According to the East Asian Buddhism studies scholar Paul Copp, some Buddhist communities outside India sometimes refer to dharanis with alternate terms such as "mantra, hṛdaya (hridiya), paritrana (paritta), raksha (Pali: rakkha), gutti, or vidyā" though these terms also have other contextual meanings in Buddhism. According to

1183-497: A dharani resembles the incantations found in the Atharvaveda and Yajurveda of Hinduism. The dharani-genre of Buddhist literature includes mantra, states Étienne Lamotte , but they were also a "memory aid" to memorize and chant Buddha's teachings. This practice was linked to concentration ( samadhi ) and believed to have magical virtues and a means to both spiritual and material karma -related merit making. According to Braarvig,

1352-623: A dominant religion in the Southeast Asian kingdoms of Sri Ksetra and Dvaravati from about the 5th century CE onwards. The oldest surviving Buddhist texts in the Pāli language are gold plates found at Sri Ksetra dated circa the 5th to 6th century. Before the Theravāda tradition became the dominant religion in Southeast Asia, Mahāyāna, Vajrayana and Hinduism were also prominent. Starting at around

1521-470: A fisherman must injure a fish, but he must attempt to do this with least trauma to fish and the fisherman must try to injure no other creature as he fishes. The five niyamas (observances) are cleanliness by eating pure food and removing impure thoughts (such as arrogance or jealousy or pride), contentment in one's means, meditation and silent reflection regardless of circumstances one faces, study and pursuit of historic knowledge, and devotion of all actions to

1690-408: A form of proto-tantrism. According to Richard McBride, as well as Richard Payne, the "proto-tantra" proposal too is problematic because it is a meaningless anachronistic teleological category that "misleads" and implies that the dharanis somehow anticipated and nurtured Buddhist tantra tradition. There is no evidence for such a sequential development. Instead, the evidence points to an overlap but that

1859-575: A long and varied history and straddles a complex set of meanings and interpretations. There is no equivalent single-word synonym for dharma in western languages. There have been numerous, conflicting attempts to translate ancient Sanskrit literature with the word dharma into German , English and French. The concept, claims Paul Horsch, has caused exceptional difficulties for modern commentators and translators. For example, while Grassmann's translation of Rig-Veda identifies seven different meanings of dharma, Karl Friedrich Geldner in his translation of

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2028-539: A part of the regular ritual prayers as well as considered to be an amulet and charm in themselves, whose recitation believed to allay bad luck, diseases or other calamity. They were an essential part of the monastic training in Buddhism's history in East Asia. In some Buddhist regions, they served as texts upon which the Buddhist witness would swear to tell the truth. The dharani-genre of literature became popular in East Asia in

2197-499: A part of various suttas , while others are dedicated texts. Illustrations include: Theravada Theravāda ( / ˌ t ɛr ə ˈ v ɑː ð ə / ; lit. 'School of the Elders') is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism 's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed Theravādins ( anglicized from Pali theravādī ), have preserved their version of Gautama Buddha 's teaching or Dhamma in

2366-574: A self ( attā ) and conditioned. This is spelled out in the Patisambhidhamagga , which states that dhammas are empty of svabhava ( sabhavena suññam ). According to Ronkin, the canonical Pāli Abhidhamma remains pragmatic and psychological, and "does not take much interest in ontology " in contrast with the Sarvastivada tradition. Paul Williams also notes that the Abhidhamma remains focused on

2535-455: A series of magical formulae such as "sara sire sire suru suru naganam java java jivi jivi juvu juvu etc." , states Moriz Winternitz. The historic Mahayana dharanis have survived as single manuscripts as well as large collections. The versions found in Nepal and China include spells to end sickness, lengthen life, recovery from poison, magic for luck in war, drive away demons and snakes, protection from

2704-556: Is nibbana . The 81 conditioned dhammas are divided into three broad categories: consciousness ( citta ), associated mentality ( cetasika ) and materiality, or physical phenomena ( rupa ). Since no dhamma exists independently, every single dhamma of consciousness, known as a citta , arises associated ( sampayutta ) with at least seven mental factors ( cetasikas ) . In Abhidhamma, all awareness events are thus seen as being characterized by intentionality and never exist in isolation. Much of Abhidhamma philosophy deals with categorizing

2873-417: Is adharma . The concept of dharma was in use in the historical Vedic religion (1500–500 BCE), and its meaning and conceptual scope has evolved over several millennia. In Hinduism , dharma denotes behaviours that are considered to be in accord with Ṛta —the "order and custom" that makes life and universe possible. This includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and "right way of living". Dharma

3042-626: Is "almost certain" that some of the East Asian Buddhist literature on dharani were indigenous Chinese texts and syncretic with the Daoist practices. For example, the Guanding jing composed in mid-5th century in China is largely a collection of magical spells in the dharani-genre in twelve semi-independent chapters. It includes spells such as those of the 72,000 spirit kings to protect Buddhist monks, spells of

3211-538: Is "only for the purposes of description" that they are postulated. Noa Ronkin defines dhammas as "the constituents of sentient experience; the irreducible 'building blocks' that make up one's world, albeit they are not static mental contents and certainly not substances." Thus, while in Theravāda Abhidhamma, dhammas are the ultimate constituents of experience, they are not seen as substances , essences or independent particulars, since they are empty ( suñña ) of

3380-661: Is a far greater volume of Theravāda literature in vernacular languages than in Pāli." An important genre of Theravādin literature, in both Pāli and vernacular languages, are the Jataka tales , stories of the Buddha's past lives. They are very popular among all classes and are rendered in a wide variety of media formats, from cartoons to high literature. The Vessantara Jātaka is one of the most popular of these. Most Theravāda Buddhists generally consider Mahāyāna Buddhist scriptures to be apocryphal , meaning that they are not authentic words of

3549-800: Is a fragment of a dhāraṇī miniature scroll in Sanskrit unearthed in a tomb in Xi'an , called the Great spell of unsullied pure light ( Wugou jingguang da tuoluoni jing 無垢淨光大陀羅尼經). It was printed using woodblock during the Tang dynasty, c. 650–670 AD. Another print, the Saddharma pundarika sutra, is dated to 690 to 699. This coincides with the reign of Wu Zetian , under which the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra , which advocates printing apotropaic and merit making texts and images,

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3718-690: Is a manifestation of Ṛta, but suggests Ṛta may have been subsumed into a more complex concept of dharma , as the idea developed in ancient India over time in a nonlinear manner. The following verse from the Rigveda is an example where rta and dharma are linked: O Indra, lead us on the path of Rta, on the right path over all evils... Traditional Dharma is an organising principle in Hinduism that applies to human beings in solitude, in their interaction with human beings and nature, as well as between inanimate objects, to all of cosmos and its parts. It refers to

3887-524: Is about the Buddha reciting six dharanis . The first part states its significance as follows (Japanese version of the Chinese text): People who wish to perform the ceremony for it should, on the 8th, 13th, 14th or 15th day of the month, walk round and round the pagoda containing the relics a full seventy-seven times, with it on their right, reciting this charm [dhāraṇī] also seventy-seven times: they should build an altar and keep its surface clean. They should have

4056-544: Is also the author of a very important compendium of Theravāda doctrine, the Visuddhimagga . Other figures like Dhammapala and Buddhadatta also wrote Theravāda commentaries and other works in Pali during the time of Buddhaghosa. While these texts do not have the same scriptural authority in Theravāda as the Tipiṭaka, they remain influential works for the exegesis of the Tipiṭaka. An important genre of Theravādin literature

4225-475: Is attained in four stages of awakening ( bodhi ): In Theravāda Buddhism, a Buddha is a sentient being who has discovered the path out of samsara by themselves, has reached Nibbana and then makes the path available to others by teaching (known as "turning the wheel of the Dhamma"). A Buddha is also believed to have extraordinary powers and abilities ( abhiññā ), such as the ability to read minds and fly through

4394-543: Is believed to have a transtemporal validity, and is one of the Puruṣārtha . In Buddhism , dharma ( Pali : dhamma ) refers to the teachings of the Buddha . In Buddhist philosophy , dhamma/dharma is also the term for " phenomena ". Dharma in Jainism refers to the teachings of Tirthankara (Jina) and the body of doctrine pertaining to the purification and moral transformation of humans. In Sikhism , dharma indicates

4563-407: Is believed to result from it containing words or wisdom in nunce from a Buddhist Sutta. The Japanese Horiuzi manuscript of Prajna paramita hrdaya sutra and Usnisha Vijaya dharani dated to 609 CE illustrate both, with the latter being only invocations consisting of meaningless series of syllables. In Buddhism, a dharani has been believed to have magical virtues and a means to earn merit to offset

4732-424: Is contrary to reality, laws and rules that establish order, predictability and harmony. Paul Horsch suggests Ṛta and dharma are parallel concepts, the former being a cosmic principle, the latter being of moral social sphere; while Māyā and dharma are also correlative concepts, the former being that which corrupts law and moral life, the later being that which strengthens law and moral life. Day proposes dharma

4901-496: Is dependent on poverty and prosperity in a society, according to Hindu dharma scriptures. For example, according to Adam Bowles, Shatapatha Brahmana 11.1.6.24 links social prosperity and dharma through water. Waters come from rains, it claims; when rains are abundant there is prosperity on the earth, and this prosperity enables people to follow Dharma – moral and lawful life. In times of distress, of drought, of poverty, everything suffers including relations between human beings and

5070-590: Is extensive discussion of dharma at the individual level in the Epics of Hinduism; for example, on free will versus destiny, when and why human beings believe in either, the strong and prosperous naturally uphold free will, while those facing grief or frustration naturally lean towards destiny. The Epics of Hinduism illustrate various aspects of dharma with metaphors. According to Klaus Klostermaier , 4th-century CE Hindu scholar Vātsyāyana explained dharma by contrasting it with adharma. Vātsyāyana suggested that dharma

5239-587: Is found in a Chinese text dated between 317 and 420 CE. This text is the Qifo bapusa suoshuo da tuoluoni shenzhou jing (or, Great Dharani Spirit-Spell Scripture Spoken by the Seven Buddhas and Eight Bodhisattvas). The Collected Dhāraṇī Sūtras , for example, were compiled in the mid-seventh century. Some of the oldest Buddhist religious inscriptions in Stupas (Dagoba, Chörten) are extracts from dharani-genre compositions such as

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5408-466: Is found in both esoteric and exoteric rituals. In the Nara and early Heian period of Japanese history, a monk or nun was tested for their fluency and knowledge of dharanis to confirm whether they are well trained and competent in Buddhist knowledge. Their appointment letters listed the sutras and dharanis that he or she could recite from memory. In an appointment recommendation letter dated 732 CE, as an example,

5577-456: Is incomplete, while the combination of these translations does not convey the total sense of the word. In common parlance, dharma means "right way of living" and "path of rightness". Dharma also has connotations of order, and when combined with the word sanatana , it can also be described as eternal truth. The meaning of the word dharma depends on the context, and its meaning has evolved as ideas of Hinduism have developed through history. In

5746-1055: Is not merely in one's actions, but also in words one speaks or writes, and in thought. According to Vātsyāyana: In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali the dharma is real; in the Vedanta it is unreal. Dharma is part of yoga , suggests Patanjali ; the elements of Hindu dharma are the attributes, qualities and aspects of yoga. Patanjali explained dharma in two categories: yamas (restraints) and niyamas (observances). The five yamas, according to Patanjali, are: abstain from injury to all living creatures, abstain from falsehood (satya), abstain from unauthorised appropriation of things-of-value from another (acastrapurvaka), abstain from coveting or sexually cheating on your partner, and abstain from expecting or accepting gifts from others. The five yama apply in action, speech and mind. In explaining yama, Patanjali clarifies that certain professions and situations may require qualification in conduct. For example,

5915-618: Is related to Sanskrit "dharma". Ideas in parts overlapping to Dharma are found in other ancient cultures: such as Chinese Tao , Egyptian Maat , Sumerian Me . In the mid-20th century, an inscription of the Indian Emperor Asoka from the year 258 BCE was discovered in Afghanistan, the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription . This rock inscription contains Greek and Aramaic text. According to Paul Hacker , on

6084-460: Is shorter handbooks and summaries, which serve as introductions and study guides for the larger commentaries. Two of the more influential summaries are Sariputta Thera's Pālimuttakavinayavinicchayasaṅgaha, a summary of Buddhaghosa's Vinaya commentary and Anuruddha's Abhidhammaṭṭhasaṅgaha (a "Manual of Abhidhamma"). Throughout the history of Theravāda, Theravāda monks also produced other works of Pāli literature such as historical chronicles (like

6253-498: Is symbolic on multiple levels. The dharanis have been a large and important part of Mahayana Buddhist literature. They are particularly abundant in the esoteric tradition of Buddhism (Vajrayana, Tibetan). However, the dharanis were not unique to esoteric Mahayana texts. The most significant and popular Mahayana sutras such as the Lotus Sutra , Heart Sutra and others prominently include dharani chapters. The dharanis are prominent in

6422-519: Is the fact that Theravāda rejects the authenticity of the Mahayana sutras (which appeared c.  1st century BCE onwards). Consequently, Theravāda generally does not recognize the existence of many Buddhas and bodhisattvas believed by the Mahāyāna school, such as Amitābha and Vairocana , because they are not found in the canonical scriptures. Modern Theravāda derives from Sri Lankan Branch of

6591-420: Is the language of realism that one encounters. The whole Buddhist practical doctrine and discipline, which has the attainment of Nibbana as its final goal, is based on the recognition of the material world and the conscious living beings living therein. The Theravāda Abhidhamma holds that there is a total of 82 possible types of dhammas, 81 of these are conditioned ( sankhata ), while one is unconditioned, which

6760-416: Is the need for, the effect of and essence of service and interconnectedness of all life. This includes duties, rights, laws , conduct, virtues and "right way of living". In its true essence, dharma means for a Hindu to "expand the mind". Furthermore, it represents the direct connection between the individual and the societal phenomena that bind the society together. In the way societal phenomena affect

6929-961: The Daimoku , as well as the Koshiki texts in Japan. They are a significant part of the historic Chinese dazangjing (scriptures of the great repository) and the Korean daejanggyeong – the East Asian compilations of the Buddhist canon between the 5th and 10th centuries. A dharani example Tuṭṭe, tuṭṭe–vuṭṭe, vuṭṭe–paṭṭe, paṭṭe–kaṭṭe, kaṭṭe–amale, amale–vimale, vimale–nime, nime–hime, hime–vame, [...] sarkke-cakre, cakre–dime, dime–hime, hime–ṭu ṭu ṭu ṭu– ḍu ḍu ḍu ḍu–ru ru ru ru–phu phu phu phu–svāhā. — Buddha to monk Mahamati, in Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra 9.260 Translator: D. T. Suzuki The word dhāraṇī derives from

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7098-531: The Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa ), hagiographies , poetry, Pāli grammars, and " sub-commentaries " (that is, commentaries on the commentaries). While Pāli texts are symbolically and ritually important for many Theravādins, most people are likely to access Buddhist teachings through vernacular literature, oral teachings, sermons, art and performance as well as films and Internet media. According to Kate Crosby, "there

7267-629: The Prajñāpāramitā Sutras wherein the Buddha "praises dharani incantation, along with the cultivation of samadhi , as virtuous activity of a bodhisattva ", states Ryûichi Abé. The Megha-Sutra is an example of an ancient Mahayana magico-religious text. In it, the snake deities appear before the Buddha and offer him adoration, then ask how the suffering of snakes, as well as people, can be alleviated. The text suggests friendliness ( maitri ) and lists numerous invocations such as those to female deities, exorcisms, means to induce rains, along with

7436-697: The Agamas , the parallel collections used by non-Theravāda schools in India which are preserved in Chinese and partially in Sanskrit , Prakrit , and Tibetan , as well as the various non-Theravāda Vinayas. On this basis, these Early Buddhist texts (i.e. the Nikayas and parts of the Vinaya) are generally believed to be some of the oldest and most authoritative sources on the doctrines of pre-sectarian Buddhism by modern scholars. Much of

7605-648: The Bodhigarbhalankaralaksa-dharani . Manuscript fragments of Sumukha-dharani discovered in Central Asia and now held at the Leningrad Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences are in the Sanskrit language and the Brahmi script , a script that was prevalent before the early centuries of the common era. The Chinese text Wugou jing guangda tuoluoni jing of the influential Empress Wu 's era – 683 to 705 CE –

7774-596: The Bulguksa of Gyeongju , Korea are considered as the oldest known printed texts in the world. Dharani recitation for the purposes of healing and protection is referred to as Paritta in some Buddhist regions, particularly in Theravada communities. The dharani-genre ideas also inspired Buddhist chanting practices such as the Nianfo ( Chinese : 念佛; Pinyin : niànfó ; Rōmaji : nenbutsu ; RR : yeombul; Vietnamese : niệm Phật ),

7943-808: The Heart Sutra , the Great Compassion Mantra and the Shurangama Mantra . The Theravada Paritta texts are a type of the Dharani texts, providing protective charm through chanting of hymns. According to Buddhist studies scholars Sarah LeVine and David Gellner, Theravada lay devotees traditionally invite the monks into their homes for rites of "protection from evil" and the monk(s) chant the paritrana hymns. These rituals are particularly common during rites-of-passage ceremonies such as baby naming, first rice-eating and others. According to Buddhologist Karel Werner, some Mahayana and Vajrayana dharani texts influenced

8112-460: The Jain cosmology . This entire cyclical multiverse of constant birth and death is called samsara . Outside of this system of samsara is nibbana (lit. "vanishing, quenching, blowing out"), a deathless ( amata ) and transcendent reality, which is a total and final release ( vimutti ) from all suffering ( dukkha ) and rebirth. According to Theravāda doctrine, release from suffering (i.e. nibbana )

8281-561: The Kandahar Greek Edicts . In the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription he used the Aramaic word קשיטא ( qšyṭ’ ; truth, rectitude). Dharma is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and Indian religions . It has multiple meanings in Hinduism , Buddhism , Sikhism and Jainism . It is difficult to provide a single concise definition for dharma , as the word has

8450-471: The Mahabharata , dharma is central, and it is presented through symbolism and metaphors. Near the end of the epic, Yama referred to as dharma in the text, is portrayed as taking the form of a dog to test the compassion of Yudhishthira , who is told he may not enter paradise with such an animal. Yudhishthira refuses to abandon his companion, for which he is then praised by dharma . The value and appeal of

8619-462: The Pāli Canon for over two millennia. The Pāli Canon is the most complete Buddhist canon surviving in a classical Indian language , Pāli , which serves as the school's sacred language and lingua franca . In contrast to Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna , Theravāda tends to be conservative in matters of doctrine ( pariyatti ) and monastic discipline ( vinaya ). One element of this conservatism

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8788-508: The Rigveda , the word appears as an n -stem, dhárman- , with a range of meanings encompassing "something established or firm" (in the literal sense of prods or poles). Figuratively, it means "sustainer" and "supporter" (of deities ). It is semantically similar to the Greek themis ("fixed decree, statute, law"). In Classical Sanskrit , and in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Atharvaveda ,

8957-406: The Sanskrit root √ dhṛ- which means to hold or to support , combined with the man-suffix, and is related to Latin firmus (firm, stable). From this, it takes the meaning of "what is established or firm", and hence "law". It is derived from an older Vedic Sanskrit n -stem dharman- , with a literal meaning of "bearer, supporter", in a religious sense conceived as an aspect of Rta . In

9126-686: The Sixth Buddhist council ( Vesak 1954 to Vesak 1956) to create a new redaction of the Pāli Canon , which was then published by the government in 40 volumes. The Vipassana movement continued to grow after independence, becoming an international movement with centers around the world. Influential meditation teachers of the post-independence era include U Narada , Mahasi Sayadaw , Sayadaw U Pandita , Nyanaponika Thera , Webu Sayadaw , U Ba Khin and his student S.N. Goenka. Meanwhile, in Thailand (the only Theravāda nation to retain its independence throughout

9295-648: The Sri Lankan kings , who saw themselves as the protectors of the religion. Over time, two other sects split off from the Mahāvihāra tradition, the Abhayagiri and Jetavana . While the Abhayagiri sect became known for the syncretic study of Mahayana and Vajrayana texts, as well as the Theravāda canon, the Mahāvihāra tradition did not accept these new scriptures. Instead, Mahāvihāra scholars like Buddhaghosa focused on

9464-738: The Sthāvira nikāya , one of the two major orders that arose after the first schism in the Indian Buddhist community. Theravāda sources trace their tradition to the Third Buddhist council when elder Moggaliputta-Tissa is said to have compiled the Kathavatthu , an important work which lays out the Vibhajjavāda doctrinal position. Aided by the patronage of Mauryan kings like Ashoka , this school spread throughout India and reached Sri Lanka through

9633-429: The Upanishads and later ancient scripts of Hinduism. In Upanishads, the concept of dharma continues as universal principle of law, order, harmony, and truth. It acts as the regulatory moral principle of the Universe. It is explained as law of righteousness and equated to satya ( Sanskrit : सत्यं , truth), in hymn 1.4.14 of Brhadaranyaka Upanishad , as follows: Nothing is higher than dharma. The weak overcomes

9802-399: The Vipassana movement which reinvigorated Theravāda meditation practice, the growth of the Thai Forest Tradition which reemphasized forest monasticism and the spread of Theravāda westward to places such as India and Nepal, along with Buddhist immigrants and converts in the European Union and in the United States . The Theravāda school descends from the Vibhajjavāda , a division within

9971-427: The dhamma , to remember the dhamma , to remember virtue". There is very little prescriptive or practical difference between dharani and mantras except that dharani are much longer, states Eugene Burnouf. According to Winternitz, a Buddhist dharani resembles the incantations and mantras found in Hinduism. A dharani may contain simple magical syllables and words without any literal meaning ( mantra-padani ), or its power

10140-460: The five aggregates or khandha and the eighteen elements of cognition or dhatus . Theravāda traditionally promotes itself as the Vibhajjavāda "teaching of analysis" and as the heirs to the Buddha's analytical method. Expanding this model, Theravāda Abhidhamma scholasticism concerned itself with analyzing " ultimate truth " ( paramattha-sacca ) which it sees as being composed of all possible dhammas and their relationships. The central theory of

10309-406: The "dharani incantations and related mystic phrases and practices have been integral parts of nearly all Buddhist traditions since at least the early centuries of the common era". Dhāraṇīs are a form of amulet and believed in the various Buddhist traditions to deliver protection from malign influences and calamities. Mantra and dharani are synonymous in some Buddhist traditions, but in others such as

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10478-534: The "oldest authenticated printed texts in the world", states Robert Sewell. These were mass-produced as a set consisting of miniature hollow wooden pagodas each containing a printed dharani prayer or charm in Sanskrit on thick paper strips. The Japanese records state a million dharanis were so produced and distributed through Buddhist temples by the order of Empress Shōtoku – previously a Buddhist nun – after an attempted coup against her court. According to Ross Bender, these events and Empress Shōtoku's initiatives led to

10647-514: The 11th century, Sinhalese Theravāda monks and Southeast Asian elites led a widespread conversion of most of mainland Southeast Asia to the Theravādin Mahavihara school. The patronage of monarchs such as the Burmese king Anawrahta (Pali: Aniruddha, 1044–1077) and the Thai king Ram Khamhaeng ( floruit . late 13th century) was instrumental in the rise of Theravāda Buddhism as the predominant religion of Burma and Thailand. Burmese and Thai kings saw themselves as Dhamma Kings and as protectors of

10816-509: The 120,000 spirit kings to protect the Buddhist nuns, incantations of spirit kings to protect one's surroundings, seals and spells to subdue devils, chants to summon dragon kings to treat infections and remove pests, and seeking rebirth in pure lands of one's desire. The significance of dharanis was such that both the government and monastic organization had stipulated, by the 7th century, how and when dharanis may or may not be used. A ritsuryo code for Buddhist clerics dated 718 CE, promulgated by

10985-543: The 19th and 20th centuries, Theravāda Buddhists came into direct contact with western ideologies, religions and modern science. The various responses to this encounter have been called " Buddhist modernism ". In the British colonies of Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) and Burma (Myanmar), Buddhist institutions lost their traditional role as the prime providers of education (a role that was often filled by Christian schools). In response to this, Buddhist organizations were founded which sought to preserve Buddhist scholarship and provide

11154-402: The 19th-century French Indologist and a scholar of Buddhism, dharanis are magical formulas that to Buddhist devotees are the most important parts of their books. Burnouf, states Davidson, was the first scholar to realise how important and widespread dharani had been in Buddhism sutras and Mahayana texts. The Indologist Moriz Winternitz concurred in the early 20th century that dharanis constituted

11323-548: The 1st-millennium Japan confirm that dharanis were an essential and core part of monastic training, though the specific group of dharanis memorized by a monk or nun varied. Kūkai classified mantras as a special class of dhāraṇīs and argued that every syllable of a dhāraṇī was a manifestation of the true nature of reality – in Buddhist terms, that all sound is a manifestation of śūnyatā or emptiness of self-nature. Thus, rather than being devoid of meaning, Kūkai suggests that dhāraṇīs are in fact saturated with meaning – every syllable

11492-508: The 2nd century and 4th century CE of Mahayana texts do contain dharanis. The Dunhuang manuscript collections include extensive talismanic dharani sections. The dharanis as conceptualized by medieval era Buddhist intellectuals and eminent Chinese monks were an "integral component of mainstream Sinitic Buddhism", states Richard McBride. The popularity of Buddhist spells in China was probably because older native Chinese religions valued spells already. According to Robert Buswell and Donald Lopez, it

11661-495: The Abhidhamma is thus known as the " dhamma theory ". "Dhamma" has been translated as "factors" (Collett Cox), "psychic characteristics" (Bronkhorst), "psycho-physical events" (Noa Ronkin) and "phenomena" ( Nyanaponika Thera ). According to the Sri Lankan scholar Y. Karunadasa , a dhammas ("principles" or "elements") are "those items that result when the process of analysis is taken to its ultimate limits". However, this does not mean that they have an independent existence, for it

11830-498: The Buddha stays, "non-humans do not harm the people of that town or village", states the Buddhism scholar Peter Skilling. This and similar statements are also found in the early Chinese translations of Indian Buddhist texts. According to Skilling, these "protective Buddhist literature" are used by both the monks and the laypeople of Theravada countries. These texts are a part of any "meagre library of Buddhist Sri Lankan households" and they are called Pirit Pota . In Myanmar, all classes of

11999-457: The Buddha. Consequently, Theravādin generally does not recognize the existence of many Buddhas and bodhisattvas believed by the Mahāyāna school, such as Amitābha and Vairocana , because they are not found in the canonical scriptures. The core of Theravāda Buddhist doctrine is contained in the Pāli Canon, the only complete collection of Early Buddhist Texts surviving in a classical Indic language . These basic Buddhist ideas are shared by

12168-589: The Buddha. In this context, dharani were acknowledged in the Buddhist tradition by about the second century BCE, and they were a memory aid to ground and remember the dharma teachings. The term dharani as used in the history of Mahayana and tantric Buddhism, and its interpretation has been problematic since the mid-19th century, states Ronald Davidson. It was initially understood as "magical formula or phrase", but later studies such as by Lamotte and Berhard interpreted them to be "memory", while Davidson proposes that some dharani are "codes". According to Eugène Burnouf ,

12337-526: The Epics and other Sanskrit literature with the help of one's teacher. Second, observing the behaviour and example of good people. The third source applies when neither one's education nor example exemplary conduct is known. In this case, " atmatusti " is the source of dharma in Hinduism, that is the good person reflects and follows what satisfies his heart, his own inner feeling, what he feels driven to. Some texts of Hinduism outline dharma for society and at

12506-557: The Epics; the word dharma also plays a central role in the literature of other Indian religions founded later, such as Buddhism and Jainism. According to Brereton, Dharman occurs 63 times in Rig-veda ; in addition, words related to Dharman also appear in Rig-veda, for example once as dharmakrt, 6 times as satyadharman , and once as dharmavant , 4 times as dharman and twice as dhariman . Indo-European parallels for "dharma" are known, but

12675-636: The Korean dharani were likely printed in China, the evidence confirms that the Japanese dharani were printed in Japan from Buddhist chants that arrived through China. The tradition of printing and distributing the Buddhist dharanis, as well as transliterated Sanskrit sutras, continued in East Asia over the centuries that followed. By the 9th century, the era of mass printing and the sale of books had begun covering additional subjects such as " astrology , divination of dreams, alchemy , and geomancy ". According to languages and ancient manuscripts scholar Ernst Wolff, "it

12844-559: The Mahabharata, according to Ingalls, is not as much in its complex and rushed presentation of metaphysics in the 12th book. Indian metaphysics, he argues, is more eloquently presented in other Sanskrit scriptures. Instead, the appeal of Mahabharata, like Ramayana , lies in its presentation of a series of moral problems and life situations, where there are usually three answers: one answer is of Bhima , which represents brute force, an individual angle representing materialism, egoism, and self;

13013-401: The Nara government in Japan, forbid the use of dharani for any unauthorized medical treatment, military and political rebellion. The code explicitly exempted their use for "healing of the sick by chanting dharanis in accordance with the Buddha dharma". Another document dated 797 CE mentions "healer-meditation masters" ( kanbyo zenji ) in dharanis to protect the family of the ruler. Others evidence

13182-468: The Pali Nikayas, then we should be compelled to conclude that Buddhism is realistic. There is no explicit denial anywhere of the external world. Nor is there any positive evidence to show that the world is mind-made or simply a projection of subjective thoughts. That Buddhism recognizes the extra-mental existence of matter and, the external world is clearly suggested by the texts. Throughout the discourses it

13351-783: The Pāli Tipiṭaka has been transmitted with a high degree of accuracy for well over 1,500 years." There are numerous editions of the Tipiṭaka, some of the major modern editions include the Pali Text Society edition (published in Roman script), the Burmese Sixth Council edition (in Burmese script , 1954–56) and the Thai Tipiṭaka edited and published in Thai script after the council held during

13520-521: The Rig-Veda employs 20 different translations for dharma, including meanings such as " law ", "order", " duty ", "custom", "quality", and "model", among others. However, the word dharma has become a widely accepted loanword in English, and is included in all modern unabridged English dictionaries. The root of the word dharma is √ dhṛ- , which means "to support, hold, or bear". It is the thing that regulates

13689-449: The Sangha (the community of monks and nuns)." The language of the Tipiṭaka, Pāli , is a middle-Indic language which is the main religious and scholarly language in Theravāda. This language may have evolved out of various Indian dialects, and is related to, but not the same as, the ancient language of Magadha . An early form of the Tipiṭaka may have been transmitted to Sri Lanka during

13858-497: The Sanskrit epics, this concern is omnipresent. In Hindu Epics, the good, morally upright, law-abiding king is referred to as "dharmaraja". Dharma is at the centre of all major events in the life of Dasharatha, Rama , Sita , and Lakshman in Ramayana. In the Ramayana, Dasharatha upholds his dharma by honoring a promise to Kaikeyi, resulting in his beloved son Rama's exile, even though it brings him immense personal suffering. In

14027-632: The Supreme Teacher to achieve perfection of concentration. Dharma is an empirical and experiential inquiry for every man and woman, according to some texts of Hinduism. For example, Apastamba Dharmasutra states: Dharma and Adharma do not go around saying, "That is us." Neither do gods, nor gandharvas, nor ancestors declare what is Dharma and what is Adharma . In other texts, three sources and means to discover dharma in Hinduism are described. These, according to Paul Hacker , are: First, learning historical knowledge such as Vedas, Upanishads,

14196-593: The Tathagata Buddha and Ananda being the last chapter. This dharani chapter, states Buswell, "encodes ( dharayati ) the important meanings, without forgetting them, and it reminds and codes the points to remember. The Indologist Frits Staal who is known for his scholarship on mantras and chants in Indian religions, states the Dharani mantras reflect a continuity of the Vedic mantras. He quotes Wayman to be similarly stressing

14365-501: The Theravada community more widely know about the paritta incantation literature than any other Pali Buddhist work. The average Theravada monk in other southeast Asian countries who may not know much about a Tipitaka , states Skilling, is likely to "be able to recite numerous chants [paritta, dharani] from memory". In northern Thailand, the Suat Boek Phranet (lit. Eye-Opening Sutta) is a Pali chant text used during rites such as

14534-535: The Theravāda faith. They promoted the building of new temples, patronized scholarship, monastic ordinations and missionary works as well as attempted to eliminate certain non-Buddhist practices like animal sacrifices. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Theravāda also became established as the state religion in Cambodia and Laos. In Cambodia, numerous Hindu and Mahāyāna temples, most famously Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom , were transformed into Theravādin monasteries. In

14703-668: The Theravāda school. There are also some texts which were late additions that are included in the fifth Nikaya, the Khuddaka Nikāya ('Minor Collection'), such as the Paṭisambhidāmagga (possibly c. 3rd to 1st century BCE) and the Buddhavaṃsa (c. 1st and 2nd century BCE). The main parts of the Sutta Pitaka and some portions of the Vinaya show considerable overlap in content with

14872-551: The Tibetan tantric traditions a dharani is a type of mantra. According to Jose Cabezon, in the tantric traditions, mantra ( sngags ) is all knowledge and the mind of all the Buddhas, that which possesses the dharma-dhatu (essence of dhamma). The mantra exist in three forms – guhya (secret), vidya (knowledge) dharani (memory aid). The guhya mantra are about male deity and female deity relationships and union. The vidya mantra represent

15041-450: The Tipiṭaka from Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia date to the 15th Century, and they are incomplete. Complete manuscripts of the four Nikayas are only available from the 17th Century onwards. However, fragments of the Tipiṭaka have been found in inscriptions from Southeast Asia, the earliest of which have been dated to the 3rd or 4th century. According to Alexander Wynne, "they agree almost exactly with extant Pāli manuscripts. This means that

15210-717: The Vibhajyavada tradition, which is in turn a sect of the Indian Sthavira nikāya . This tradition began to establish itself in Sri Lanka from the 3rd century BCE onwards. It was in Sri Lanka that the Pāli Canon was written down and the school's commentary literature developed. From Sri Lanka the Theravāda tradition subsequently spread to Southeast Asia . Theravāda is the official religion of Sri Lanka , Myanmar , and Cambodia , and

15379-460: The air. Dharma Dharma ( Sanskrit : धर्म , pronounced [dʱɐrmɐ] ) is a key concept with multiple meanings in the Indian religions , among others. The term dharma is held as an untranslatable into English (or other European languages); it is understood to refer to behaviours which are in harmony with the "order and custom" that sustains life ; "virtue", or "religious and moral duties". The antonym of dharma

15548-721: The canon, mainly the Abhidhamma and some parts of the Vinaya, contain some distinctive elements and teachings which are unique to the Theravāda school and often differ from the Abhidharmas or Vinayas of other early Buddhist schools . For example, while the Theravāda Vinaya contains a total of 227 monastic rules for bhikkhus , the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (used in East Asian Buddhism ) has a total of 253 rules for bhikkhus (though

15717-463: The central concern, defining dharma as what connects a person with the highest good, always yet to be realized. While some schools associate dharma with post-mortem existence, Mimamsakas focus on the continual renewal and realization of a ritual world through adherence to Vedic injunctions. They assert that the ultimate good is essentially inaccessible to perception and can only be understood through language, reflecting confidence in Vedic injunctions and

15886-401: The charm copied out seventy-seven times, and out of respect for the ceremony should give the copyist perfume, flowers, food and drink, clean clothes and a bath, and reward him either by anointing and covering him with perfumes or by giving him much money, or by paying him according to his ability. Then they should take these copies of the charms, place them inside the pagoda, and make offerings at

16055-563: The colonial era), the religion became much more centralized, bureaucratized and controlled by the state after a series of reforms promoted by Thai kings of the Chakri dynasty . King Mongkut (r. 1851–1868) and his successor Chulalongkorn (1868–1910) were especially involved in centralizing sangha reforms. Under these kings, the sangha was organized into a hierarchical bureaucracy led by the Sangha Council of Elders ( Pali : Mahāthera Samāgama ),

16224-514: The conscience of the individual, similarly may the actions of an individual alter the course of the society, for better or for worse. This has been subtly echoed by the credo धर्मो धारयति प्रजा: meaning dharma is that which holds and provides support to the social construct. In Hinduism, dharma generally includes various aspects: The history section of this article discusses the development of dharma concept in Vedas . This development continued in

16393-555: The consecration of a Buddha image. The text, states Donald Swearer, includes a "unique dharani in praise of the Buddha" and his victory over the evil Mara . Though the dharani appears at the end of the text and the associated chant in Thai Buddhist practice occurs at the close of the ceremony, they highlight their key role in "the buddhabhiseka ritual". The Buddhist dharani invocations are the earliest mass printed texts that have survived. The earliest extant example of printing on paper

16562-545: The course of change by not participating in change, but that principle which remains constant. Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary , the widely cited resource for definitions and explanation of Sanskrit words and concepts of Hinduism, offers numerous definitions of the word dharma , such as that which is established or firm, steadfast decree, statute, law, practice, custom, duty, right, justice, virtue, morality, ethics, religion, religious merit, good works, nature, character, quality, property. Yet, each of these definitions

16731-459: The death of the Buddha in a grove provided by Ashoka , where the knowledge was compiled again, but it too did not write anything down. The third council gathered in Kashmir a century later, according to the Tibetan tradition, and the teachings were put down in writing for those "who had not obtained the power ( dharani ) of not-forgetting" because people were reciting corrupted forms of the teachings of

16900-462: The dharani spells and incantations. It demonstrates that dharanis were valued and in use within Buddhist communities before the 1st century CE, state Charles Prebish and Damien Keown. The role of dharanis in Buddhist practice of mid-1st-millennium CE is illustrated by numerous texts including the systematic treatises that emerged. According to Paul Copp, one of the earliest attestable literary mandate about writing dharanis as an effective spell in itself

17069-409: The dharanis and related rituals may have been an influence on Buddhism of other Indian religions such as from the esoteric tantra traditions of Hinduism around the mid-1st-millennium CE. This assumption, along with the view that early Buddhism was an "abstract philosophy or even a broad-based social movement" is now a part of a scholarly debate. With increased access to the primary texts of Buddhism and

17238-504: The dharanis are "seemingly meaningless strings of syllables". While they may once have been "memory aids", the dharanis that have survived into the modern era do not match with any text. In later practice, the dharanis were "hardly employed as summaries of doctrine, but were employed as aids to concentration and magical protection benefits". According to Jan Nattier, Vedic mantras are more ancient than Buddhist dharani, but over time they both were forms of incantations that are quite similar. In

17407-406: The different consciousnesses and their accompanying mental factors as well as their conditioned relationships ( paccaya ). The Pāli Tipiṭaka outlines a hierarchical cosmological system with various planes existence ( bhava ) into which sentient beings may be reborn depending on their past actions. Good actions lead one to the higher realms, bad actions lead to the lower realms. However, even for

17576-472: The discoveries of historical manuscripts in China, Korea and Japan, such as those about early Silla Buddhism, McBride and others state that dharani incantations and ritualism had widespread significance in East Asia from the early years. Coupled with Waddell's scholarship on the "dharani cult in Buddhism" in the early 20th century, the post-colonial era scholarship proposed that dharanis did not develop with or after tantric Buddhism emerged, but preceded it and were

17745-417: The doctrinal position that the canonical Abhidhamma Pitaka was actually taught by the Buddha himself. Modern scholarship in contrast, has generally held that the Abhidhamma texts date from the 3rd century BCE onwards. However some scholars, such as Frauwallner , also hold that the early Abhidhamma texts developed out of exegetical and catechetical work which made use of doctrinal lists which can be seen in

17914-453: The earliest texts and ancient myths of Hinduism, dharma meant cosmic law, the rules that created the universe from chaos, as well as rituals; in later Vedas , Upanishads , Puranas and the Epics , the meaning became refined, richer, and more complex, and the word was applied to diverse contexts. In certain contexts, dharma designates human behaviours considered necessary for order of things in

18083-815: The early texts of Buddhism, proposes Nattier, "it would appear that the word dharani was first employed in reference to mnemonic devices used to retain (Skt. "hold") certain elements of Buddhist doctrine in one's memory". In Nattier's view, the term dharani is "peculiar to Buddhism". A dhāraṇī can be a mnemonic to encapsulate the meaning of a section or chapter of a sutra . According to the Buddhism-related writer Red Pine , mantra and dharani were originally interchangeable, but at some point dhāraṇī came to be used for meaningful, intelligible phrases, and mantra for syllabic formulae which are not meant to be understood. According to Robert Buswell and Ronald Davidson, dharani were codes in some Buddhist texts. They appeared at

18252-479: The earth and sun and stars apart, they support (dhar-) the sky away and distinct from earth, and they stabilise (dhar-) the quaking mountains and plains. The Deities , mainly Indra , then deliver and hold order from disorder, harmony from chaos, stability from instability – actions recited in the Veda with the root of word dharma. In hymns composed after the mythological verses, the word dharma takes expanded meaning as

18421-522: The effects of ill-omened constellations, release from a confessed sin, birth of a son or daughter to a woman wanting a baby, rebirth into sukhavati heaven or avoiding a bad rebirth. The snake-charm dharani is found in the Bower Manuscript found in Western China. While a 443 CE Chinese translation of Lankavatara Sutra does not contain some of the dharani chapters, other Chinese translations dated to

18590-611: The efforts of missionary monks like Mahinda . In Sri Lanka, it became known as the Tambapaṇṇiya (and later as Mahāvihāravāsins) which was based at the Great Vihara (Mahavihara) in Anuradhapura (the ancient Sri Lankan capital). According to Theravāda sources, another one of the Ashokan missions was also sent to Suvaṇṇabhūmi ("The Golden Land"), which may refer to Southeast Asia. By

18759-611: The emergence of the Mahayana Buddhism tradition, the dharanis became closely related to mantras. Later, as the Vajrayana Buddhism tradition grew, they proliferated. The dharanis and mantras overlap because in the Vajrayana tradition. There exist "single seed-syllable bija like dharanis, treated as having special powers to protect chanters from dangers such as "snakes, enemies, demons and robbers". The bija (seed) mantra condenses

18928-665: The end of the communist regime the Cambodian Sangha was re-established by monks who had returned from exile. In contrast, communist rule in Laos was less destructive since the Pathet Lao sought to make use of the sangha for political ends by imposing direct state control. During the late 1980s and 1990s, the official attitudes toward Buddhism began to liberalise in Laos and there was a resurgence of traditional Buddhist activities such as merit-making and doctrinal study. The modern era also saw

19097-567: The end of the text, and they may be seen as a coded, distilled summary of Buddhist teachings in the chapters that preceded it. For example, the Vajrasamadhi-sutra – a Korean Buddhist text likely composed in the 7th century by an unknown monk, one important to the Chan and Zen Buddhist tradition in East Asia, the Dharani chapter is the eighth (second last), with a brief conversational epilogue between

19266-555: The exegesis of the Pali scriptures and on the Abhidhamma . These Theravāda sub-sects often came into conflict with each other over royal patronage. The reign of Parākramabāhu I (1153–1186) saw an extensive reform of the Sri Lankan sangha after years of warfare on the island. Parākramabāhu created a single unified sangha which came to be dominated by the Mahāvihāra sect. Epigraphical evidence has established that Theravāda Buddhism became

19435-509: The first century BCE, Theravāda Buddhism was well established in the main settlements of the Kingdom of Anuradhapura . The Pali Canon, which contains the main scriptures of the Theravāda, was committed to writing in the first century BCE. Throughout the history of ancient and medieval Sri Lanka, Theravāda was the main religion of the Sinhalese people and its temples and monasteries were patronized by

19604-419: The first half of the 8th century. According to Tsien Tsuen-Hsuin, the Korean dharani scrolls were printed after the era of Empress Wu in China, and these date "no earlier than 704 CE, when the translation of the sutra was finished, and no later than 751, when the building of the temple and stupa was completed". The printed Korean text consists of "Chinese characters transliterated from the [Indian] Sanskrit". While

19773-479: The first millennium CE, with Chinese records suggesting their profusion by the early centuries of the common era. These migrated from China to Korea and Japan. The demand for printed dharani among the Buddhist lay devotees may have led to the development of textual printing innovations. The dharani records of East Asia are the oldest known "authenticated printed texts in the world", state Robert Sewell and other scholars. The early-eighth-century dharani texts discovered in

19942-508: The founding of major new Buddhist temples, a "great acceleration" and the "active propagation of Buddhism" in Japan . Empress Shōtoku's million dharanis are among the oldest known printed literature in the world. While dharanis are found inside major texts of Buddhism, some texts are predominantly or exclusively of the dharani-genre. Some illustrations include, The Theravada compilations of paritta (dharani) are ancient and extensive. Some are

20111-434: The gods ( devas ) in the higher realms like Indra , there is still death, loss and suffering. The main categories of the planes of existence are: These various planes of existence can be found in countless world systems ( loka-dhatu ), which are born, expand, contract and are destroyed in a cyclical nature across vast expanses of time (measures in kappas). This cosmology is similar to other ancient Indian systems, such as

20280-557: The highest body of the Thai sangha. Mongkut also led the creation of a new monastic order, the Dhammayuttika Nikaya, which kept a stricter monastic discipline than the rest of the Thai sangha (this included not using money, not storing up food and not taking milk in the evening). The Dhammayuttika movement was characterized by an emphasis on the original Pali Canon and a rejection of Thai folk beliefs which were seen as irrational. Under

20449-399: The human ability to live according to dharma . In Rajadharmaparvan 91.34-8, the relationship between poverty and dharma reaches a full circle. A land with less moral and lawful life suffers distress, and as distress rises it causes more immoral and unlawful life, which further increases distress. Those in power must follow the raja dharma (that is, dharma of rulers), because this enables

20618-416: The individual level. Of these, the most cited one is Manusmriti , which describes the four Varnas , their rights and duties. Most texts of Hinduism, however, discuss dharma with no mention of Varna ( caste ). Other dharma texts and Smritis differ from Manusmriti on the nature and structure of Varnas. Yet, other texts question the very existence of varna. Bhrigu , in the Epics, for example, presents

20787-615: The leadership of Prince Wachirayan Warorot , a new education and examination system was introduced for Thai monks. The 20th century also saw the growth of "forest traditions" which focused on forest living and strict monastic discipline. The main forest movements of this era are the Sri Lankan Forest Tradition and the Thai Forest Tradition , founded by Ajahn Mun (1870–1949) and his students. Theravāda Buddhism in Cambodia and Laos went through similar experiences in

20956-516: The life of a single individual" and the vanaprastha stage was added before renunciation over time, thus forming life stages. The four stages of life complete the four human strivings in life, according to Hinduism. Dharma enables the individual to satisfy the striving for stability and order, a life that is lawful and harmonious, the striving to do the right thing, be good, be virtuous, earn religious merit, be helpful to others, interact successfully with society. The other three strivings are Artha –

21125-467: The life of preparation as a student, (2) gṛhastha , the life of the householder with family and other social roles, (3) vānprastha or aranyaka, the life of the forest-dweller, transitioning from worldly occupations to reflection and renunciation, and (4) sannyāsa , the life of giving away all property, becoming a recluse and devotion to moksa, spiritual matters. Patrick Olivelle suggests that "ashramas represented life choices rather than sequential steps in

21294-571: The main dominant Buddhist variant found in Laos and Thailand . It is practiced by minorities in India , Bangladesh , China , Nepal , North Korea , Vietnam , the Philippines , Indonesia , Malaysia , and Taiwan . The diaspora of all of these groups, as well as converts around the world, also embrace and practice Theravāda Buddhism. During the modern era, new developments have included Buddhist modernism ,

21463-468: The material in the earlier portions is not specifically "Theravādan", but the collection of teachings that this school's adherents preserved from the early, non-sectarian body of teachings. According to Peter Harvey , while the Theravādans may have added texts to their Tipiṭaka (such as the Abhidhamma texts and so on), they generally did not tamper with the earlier material. The historically later parts of

21632-427: The mind of male Buddhist deities, while dharani mantras of the female Buddhist deities. Theologically, the vidya mantras constitute that knowledge in tantric Buddhism, according to Cabezon, which "pacifies the suffering experienced in the existential world ( samsara ) and the heaps of faults such as desire". The dharani mantras, in contrast, constitute that knowledge in tantric Buddhism which "causes one to hold onto

21801-618: The modern era. Both had to endure French colonialism, destructive civil wars and oppressive communist governments. Under French Rule , French indologists of the École française d'Extrême-Orient became involved in the reform of Buddhism, setting up institutions for the training of Cambodian and Lao monks, such as the Ecole de Pali which was founded in Phnom Penh in 1914 . While the Khmer Rouge effectively destroyed Cambodia's Buddhist institutions, after

21970-461: The monks. The emerging evidence and later scholarship increasingly states that "dharani and ritual procedures were mainstream Mahayana practices" many centuries before the emergence of tantric and esoteric Buddhism and Vajrayana, states McBride. The Buddhist tantra traditions added another layer of sophistication and complexity to the rituals with deities and mandalas. Dharanis are not limited to an esoteric cult within Buddhism, states Paul Copp, rather

22139-552: The only Iranian equivalent is Old Persian darmān , meaning "remedy". This meaning is different from the Indo-Aryan dhárman , suggesting that the word "dharma" did not play a major role in the Indo-Iranian period. Instead, it was primarily developed more recently under the Vedic tradition. It is thought that the Daena of Zoroastrianism , also meaning the "eternal Law" or "religion",

22308-448: The order and customs which make life and universe possible, and includes behaviours, rituals, rules that govern society, and ethics. Hindu dharma includes the religious duties, moral rights and duties of each individual, as well as behaviours that enable social order, right conduct, and those that are virtuous. Dharma , according to Van Buitenen, is that which all existing beings must accept and respect to sustain harmony and order in

22477-492: The other Early Buddhist schools as well as by Mahayana traditions . They include central concepts such as: The orthodox standpoints of Theravāda in comparison to other Buddhist schools are presented in the Kathāvatthu ("Points of Controversy"), as well as in other works by later commentators like Buddhaghosa. Traditionally, the Theravāda maintains the following key doctrinal positions, though not all Theravādins agree with

22646-440: The overall structure is the same). These differences arose from the systematization and historical development of doctrines and monasticism in the centuries after the death of the Buddha. The Abhidhamma-pitaka contains "a restatement of the doctrine of the Buddha in strictly formalized language." Its texts present a new method, the Abhidhamma method, which attempts to build a single consistent philosophical system (in contrast with

22815-750: The pagoda. Alternatively they should make seventy-seven small clay pagodas, place one copy inside each, and make offerings. If they duly perform this, people who are about to die will prolong their lives to old age, all their previous sins and evil deeds being completely destroyed. Early mentions of dharani in the European literature are from the records left by John of Plano Carpini (1245–7) and William of Rubruck (1254) where they wrote in their respective memoirs that Uighurs and Mongols chanted "Om man baccam", later identified with "Om mani padme hum". They also mention that these Asians write "short sorcery sentences on paper and hang them up". Other than such scant remarks, little

22984-562: The paritta texts of Theravada tradition, such as the Gini (fire) Paritta, as the hymns are identical in parts and the Theravada text uses the same terms, for example, "dharani dharaniti" . The Pali canon makes many references to protective ( raksha , paritta ) incantations and magical spells. These invocations provide protection from "malignant spirits, disease and calamity". For example, in Digha Nikaya (DN I.116.14), Sonadanda remarks that wherever

23153-469: The past karma , allay fear, diseases and disasters in this life, and for a better rebirth . To the lay Buddhist communities, states Davidson, the material benefits encouraged the popularity and use of dharanis for devotionalism, rituals and rites in Buddhism. According to Janet Gyatso , there is a difference between mantras and dharanis. The mantras are more than melodious sounds and have meaning, and these were found sporadically in pre-Mahayana Buddhism. With

23322-543: The path of righteousness, proper religious practices, and performing one's own moral duties. As with the other components of the Puruṣārtha, the concept of dharma is pan-Indian. The ancient Tamil text Tirukkuṟaḷ , despite being a collection of aphoristic teachings on dharma ( aram ), artha ( porul ), and kama ( inpam ), is completely and exclusively based on aṟam —the Tamil term for dharma . The word dharma has roots in

23491-471: The practicalities of insight meditation and leaves ontology "relatively unexplored". Ronkin does note however that later Theravāda sub-commentaries ( ṭīkā ) do show a doctrinal shift towards ontological realism from the earlier epistemic and practical concerns. On the other hand, Y. Karunadasa contends that the tradition of realism goes back to the earliest discourses, as opposed to developing only in later Theravada sub-commentaries: If we base ourselves on

23660-481: The principles that deities used to create order from disorder, the world from chaos. Past the ritual and cosmic sense of dharma that link the current world to mythical universe, the concept extends to an ethical-social sense that links human beings to each other and to other life forms. It is here that dharma as a concept of law emerges in Hinduism. Dharma and related words are found in the oldest Vedic literature of Hinduism , in later Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, and

23829-505: The protective powers of a Buddhist deity or a Buddhist text into a single syllable. For example, the single letter "a" (अ) condenses the 100,000 verses of the Prajna-paramita sutras into a single syllable. The Japanese Buddhist monk Kūkai drew a distinction between dhāraṇī and mantra and used it as the basis of his theory of language. According to Kūkai, a Buddhist mantra is restricted to esoteric Buddhist practice whereas dhāraṇī

23998-492: The reality of language as a means of knowing. Mimamsa addresses the delayed results of actions (like wealth or heaven) through the concept of apurva or adrsta, an unseen force that preserves the connection between actions and their outcomes. This ensures that Vedic sacrifices, though their results are delayed, are effective and reliable in guiding toward dharma. The Hindu religion and philosophy, claims Daniel Ingalls , places major emphasis on individual practical morality. In

24167-519: The reign of Ashoka , which saw a period of Buddhist missionary activity. After being orally transmitted (as was the custom for religious texts in those days) for some centuries, the texts were finally committed to writing in the 1st century BCE. Theravāda is one of the first Buddhist schools to commit its Tipiṭaka to writing. The recension of the Tipiṭaka which survives today is that of the Sri Lankan Mahavihara sect. The oldest manuscripts of

24336-578: The reign of Rama VII (1925–35). There is also a Khmer edition, published in Phnom Penh (1931–69). The Pāli Tipitaka consists of three parts: the Vinaya Pitaka , Sutta Pitaka and Abhidhamma Pitaka . Of these, the Abhidhamma Pitaka is believed to be a later addition to the collection, its composition dating from around the 3rd century BCE onwards. The Pāli Abhidhamma was not recognized outside

24505-479: The results of prior karma . And he will awake happy from dreams. He will be content, not experience a catastrophe, lead a life lacking terror, his enemies destroyed, his opponents ruined, himself untouched, freed from fear of any poison, living long and prosperously, only excepting the results of prior karma. — Buddha to monk Svati, in Mahamayuri 58.20–59.6 Translator: Ronald Davidson According to Winternitz,

24674-538: The rock appears a Greek rendering for the Sanskrit word dharma: the word eusebeia . Scholars of Hellenistic Greece explain eusebeia as a complex concept. Eusebia means not only to venerate deities , but also spiritual maturity, a reverential attitude toward life, and includes the right conduct toward one's parents, siblings and children, the right conduct between husband and wife, and the conduct between biologically unrelated people. This rock inscription, concludes Paul Hacker, suggests dharma in India, about 2300 years ago,

24843-405: The second answer is of Yudhishthira , which appeals to piety, deities , social virtue, and tradition; the third answer is of introspective Arjuna , which falls between the two extremes, and who, claims Ingalls, symbolically reveals the finest moral qualities of man. The Epics of Hinduism are a symbolic treatise about life, virtues, customs, morals, ethics, law, and other aspects of dharma . There

25012-531: The significance of the dharanis in mainstream Buddhist traditions and the esoteric Buddhist tantra tradition co-existed independent of each other. Phonic mysticism and musical chanting based on dharanis – parittas or raksas in the Theravada Pali literature – along with related mantras were important in early Buddhism. They continue to be an essential part of actual Buddhist practice in Asia, both for its laypersons and

25181-511: The spread of Theravāda Buddhism around the world and the revival of the religion in places where it remains a minority faith. Some of the major events of the spread of modern Theravāda include: According to Kate Crosby, for Theravāda, the Pāli Tipiṭaka , also known as the Pāli Canon is "the highest authority on what constitutes the Dhamma (the truth or teaching of the Buddha) and the organization of

25350-408: The stage of life one is in. The concept of Dharma is believed to have a transtemporal validity. The antonym of dharma is adharma (Sanskrit: अधर्म), meaning that which is "not dharma". As with dharma , the word adharma includes and implies many ideas; in common parlance, adharma means that which is against nature, immoral, unethical, wrong or unlawful. In Buddhism, dharma incorporates

25519-501: The stem is thematic: dhárma- ( Devanagari : धर्म). In Prakrit and Pali , it is rendered dhamma . In some contemporary Indian languages and dialects it alternatively occurs as dharm . In the 3rd century BCE the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka translated dharma into Greek and Aramaic and he used the Greek word eusebeia (εὐσέβεια, piety, spiritual maturity, or godliness) in the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription and

25688-503: The striving for means of life such as food, shelter, power, security, material wealth, and so forth; Kama – the striving for sex, desire, pleasure, love, emotional fulfilment, and so forth; and Moksa – the striving for spiritual meaning, liberation from life-rebirth cycle, self-realisation in this life, and so forth. The four stages are neither independent nor exclusionary in Hindu dharma . Dharma being necessary for individual and society,

25857-406: The stronger by dharma, as over a king. Truly that dharma is the Truth ( Satya ); Therefore, when a man speaks the Truth, they say, "He speaks the Dharma"; and if he speaks Dharma, they say, "He speaks the Truth!" For both are one. Mimamsa , developed through commentaries on its foundational texts, particularly the Mimamsa Sutras attributed to Jaimini , emphasizes "the desire to know dharma" as

26026-405: The suttas, called matikas. There are numerous Theravāda works which are important for the tradition even though they are not part of the Tipiṭaka. Perhaps the most important texts apart from the Tipiṭaka are the works of the influential scholar Buddhaghosa (4th–5th century CE), known for his Pāli commentaries (which were based on older Sri Lankan commentaries of the Mahavihara tradition). He

26195-465: The suttas, which present numerous teachings given by the Buddha to particular individuals according to their needs). Because the Abhidhamma focuses on analyzing the internal lived experience of beings and the intentional structure of consciousness, it has often been compared to a kind of phenomenological psychology by numerous modern scholars such as Nyanaponika , Bhikkhu Bodhi and Alexander Piatigorsky . The Theravāda school has traditionally held

26364-427: The teachings and doctrines of the founder of Buddhism, the Buddha . According to Pandurang Vaman Kane , author of History of Dharmaśāstra , the word dharma appears at least fifty-six times in the hymns of the Rigveda , as an adjective or noun. According to Paul Horsch, the word dharma has its origin in Vedic Hinduism. The hymns of the Rigveda claim Brahman created the universe from chaos, they hold (dhar-)

26533-436: The theory that dharma does not require any varnas. In practice, medieval India is widely believed to be a socially stratified society, with each social strata inheriting a profession and being endogamous. Varna was not absolute in Hindu dharma; individuals had the right to renounce and leave their Varna, as well as their asramas of life, in search of moksa. While neither Manusmriti nor succeeding Smritis of Hinduism ever use

26702-519: The traditional belief in Tibetan texts, states José Ignacio Cabezón, there were three councils and the term dharani was recorded and became the norm after the third council. The first council, according to this belief, compiled the sūtrānta , the Vinaya and the Abhidharma in Vimalabhada to the south of Rajagriha in India. The first council was held in the year Buddha died, but the compiled dhamma consisted of spoken words that were not written down. The second council occurred about 200 years after

26871-439: The traditional point of view: Theravāda scholastics developed a systematic exposition of the Buddhist doctrine called the Abhidhamma . In the Pāli Nikayas, the Buddha teaches through an analytical method in which experience is explained using various conceptual groupings of physical and mental processes, which are called "dhammas". Examples of lists of dhammas taught by the Buddha include the twelve sense 'spheres' or ayatanas ,

27040-432: The universe, principles that prevent chaos, behaviours and action necessary to all life in nature, society, family as well as at the individual level. Dharma encompasses ideas such as duty, rights, character, vocation, religion, customs and all behaviour considered appropriate, correct or morally upright. For further context, the word varnasramdharma is often used in its place, defined as dharma specifically related to

27209-503: The use of dharani chanting by monks and nuns as "one of the common methods of healing during the Nara period", states Ryûichi Abé. The dharanis were an essential part of the rokujikyoho (six-syllable sutra) liturgy ritual in Japan. They were greatly popular between the 11th and 15th centuries and a part of comprehensive solution to various ailments, a ritual performed by Buddhist monks and practitioners of onmyōdō . In Chinese Buddhism, some important dharanis include Ten Small Mantras ,

27378-421: The view that the Buddhist chants have a "profound debt to the Vedic religion". The Yogacara scholars, states Staal, followed the same classification as one found in the Vedas – arthadharani , dharmadharani and mantradharani , along with express acknowledgment like the Vedas that some "dharani are meaningful and others are meaningless" yet all effective for ritual purposes. The early Buddhism literature includes

27547-530: The word varnadharma (that is, the dharma of varnas), or varnasramadharma (that is, the dharma of varnas and asramas), the scholarly commentary on Manusmriti use these words, and thus associate dharma with varna system of India. In 6th century India, even Buddhist kings called themselves "protectors of varnasramadharma" – that is, dharma of varna and asramas of life. At the individual level, some texts of Hinduism outline four āśramas , or stages of life as individual's dharma . These are: (1) brahmacārya ,

27716-490: The world. It is neither the act nor the result, but the natural laws that guide the act and create the result to prevent chaos in the world. It is innate characteristic, that makes the being what it is. It is, claims Van Buitenen, the pursuit and execution of one's nature and true calling, thus playing one's role in cosmic concert. In Hinduism, it is the dharma of the bee to make honey, of cow to give milk, of sun to radiate sunshine, of river to flow. In terms of humanity, dharma

27885-428: Was Buddhism, above all, that eminently stimulated and sustained printing activities". Its chants and ideas were in demand in East Asia, and this led to the development of wood-block based mass printing technology. The oldest known dharanis were mass-produced by the 8th century, and later in the 10th century the canonical Tripitaka in addition to 84,000 copies of dharanis were mass printed. The 8th-century dharanis are

28054-498: Was a central concept and meant not only religious ideas, but ideas of right, of good, of one's duty toward the human community. The evolving literature of Hinduism linked dharma to two other important concepts: Ṛta and Māyā . Ṛta in Vedas is the truth and cosmic principle which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe and everything within it. Māyā in Rig-veda and later literature means illusion, fraud, deception, magic that misleads and creates disorder, thus

28223-464: Was king Mindon Min (1808–1878), known for his patronage of the Fifth Buddhist council (1871) and the Tripiṭaka tablets at Kuthodaw Pagoda (still the world's largest book) with the intention of preserving the Buddha Dhamma. Burma also saw the growth of the " Vipassana movement ", which focused on reviving Buddhist meditation and doctrinal learning . Ledi Sayadaw (1846–1923) was one of the key figures in this movement. After independence, Myanmar held

28392-582: Was known about the Dharani-genre of literature or its value in Buddhism till the mid-19th-century colonial era, when Brian Hodgson began buying Sanskrit and related manuscripts in Nepal, Tibet and India for a more thorough scholarship, often at his personal expense. According to Hodgson, as quoted by Ronald Davidson, dharani were esoteric short prayers "derived from [Buddhist tantric] Upadesa" that are believed to be amulet to be constantly repeated or worn inside little lockets, something that leads to "a charmed life". The colonial era scholarship initially proposed that

28561-530: Was translated by Chinese monks. The oldest extant evidence of woodblock prints created for the purpose of reading are portions of the Lotus Sutra discovered at Turpan in 1906. They have been dated to the reign of Wu Zetian using character form recognition. The Hyakumantō Darani found as charms in wooden pagodas of Japan were broadly accepted as having been printed between 764 and 770 CE. In 1966, similarly printed dharani were discovered in stone pagoda of Pulguksa temple in Gyeongju, Korea. These are dated to

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