Arhat (Buddhism) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Arhat in Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

, signifies a spiritual practitioner who has realized certain high stages of attainment. The implications of the term vary based on the respective schools and traditions.

Etymology

The exact interpretation and etymology of words such as arahant and arhat remains disputed. In the Theravada

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

tradition, and in early PTS

Pali Text Society

The Pali Text Society was founded in 1881 by T.W. Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pali texts".Pali is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism is preserved...

publications, the word arahant or arhat is interpreted to mean the "worthy one" This has been challenged by more recent research, resulting from the etymological comparison of Pali

Páli

- External links :* *...

and early Jain Prakrit

Jain Prakrit

Jain Prakrit is a term loosely used for the language of the Jain Agamas . The books of Jainism were written in the popular vernacular dialects , and therefore encompass a number of related dialects...

forms (arihanta and arahanta). The alternative etymology is "foe-destroyer" or "vanquisher of enemies," which corresponds to the Jain definition. The latter challenges the assumption that the root of the word is Pali araha (cf. Sk. arha); Richard Gombrich

Richard Gombrich

Richard Francis Gombrich is a British Indologist and scholar of Sanskrit, Pāli, and Buddhist Studies. He acted as the Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford from 1976 to 2004. He is currently Founder-President of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies...

has proposed an etymology of ari + hanta, bringing the root meaning closer to Jina
Tirthankar
In Jainism, a ' |ford]]-Maker", ) is a human being who achieves moksa through asceticism and who then becomes a role-model and teacher for those seeking spiritual guidance....

(an epithet commonly used of both the leaders of the Jain

Jainism

Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...

religion and Buddha

Gautama Buddha

Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...

).

The term arhat was translated into East Asian languages phonetically as a transliterated term, exemplified in the Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

āluóhàn (Ch. 阿羅漢), often shortened to simply luóhàn (Ch. 羅漢). However, the Tibetan

Tibetan language

The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...

term for arhat was translated by meaning from Sanskrit. This translation, dgra bcom pa, means "one who has destroyed the foes of afflictions." This Tibetan translation of the meaning conforms with the Jain definition as well.

Arhat occurs as arhattā in the Rigveda

Rigveda

The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...

and as the first offer of salutation in the main Jain prayer, the Namokar Mantra. The latter word occurs mostly in Buddhist and Jain texts

Jain Agamas

Agamas are canonical texts of Jainism based on Mahavira’s teachings. Mahavira’s preaching were orally compiled by his disciples into various Sutras which were collectively called Jain canonical or Agamic literature. Traditionally these sutras were orally passed on from teachers to the disciples...

, but also in some Vaishnava

Vaishnavism

Vaishnavism is a tradition of Hinduism, distinguished from other schools by its worship of Vishnu, or his associated Avatars such as Rama and Krishna, as the original and supreme God....

works such as the Bhagavata Purana

Bhagavata purana

The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...

. Arhattā also occurs in the Vaishnava Srī Narada Pañcaratnam.

In the early Buddhist schools

A range of views on the relative perfection of arhats existed amongst the early Buddhist schools

Early Buddhist schools

The early Buddhist schools are those schools into which, according to most scholars, the Buddhist monastic saṅgha initially split, due originally to differences in vinaya, and later also due to doctrinal differences and geographical separation of groups of monks.The original saṅgha split into the...

. In general, the Mahāsāṃghika

Mahasamghika

The ' , literally the "Great Saṃgha", was one of the early Buddhist schools in ancient India.The origins of the sect of Buddhism are still extremely uncertain, and the subject of debate among scholars. One reason for the interest in the origins of the school is that their Vinaya recension appears...

branch, such as the Ekavyāvahārikas, Lokottaravādins, Bahuśrutīyas

Bahusrutiya

Bahuśrutīya was one of the early Buddhist schools, according to early sources such as Vasumitra, the , and other sources, and was a sub-group which emerged from the Mahāsaṃghika sect.-Etymology:...

, Prajñaptivādins

Prajnaptivada

The Prajñaptivāda was one of the early Buddhist schools in India, and part of the Mahāsāṃghika branch of Buddhism. They were also known as the Bahuśrutiya-Vibhajyavādins.- History :...

, and Caitika

Caitika

The Caitika was an early Buddhist school, and was a sub-sect of the Mahāsāṃghika school. They were also known as the Caityaka sect. The Caitikas proliferated throughout the mountains of southern India, from which it derives its name....

schools, advocated the transcendental and supramundane nature of the buddha

Buddhahood

In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...

s and bodhisattva

Bodhisattva

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...

s, and the fallibility of arhats. The Caitikas, for example, advocated the ideal of the bodhisattva (bodhisattvayāna) over that of the arhat (śrāvakayāna), and they viewed arhats as being fallible and still subject to ignorance.

According to A.K. Warder, the Sarvāstivādins

Sarvastivada

The Sarvāstivāda were an early school of Buddhism that held to 'the existence of all dharmas in the past, present and future, the 'three times'. Vasubandhu's states:-Name:...

held the same position as the Mahāsāṃghika branch regarding arhats, considering them to be imperfect and fallible. The Kāśyapīya

Kasyapiya

Kāśyapīya was one of the early Buddhist schools in India.-Etymology:The name Kāśyapīya is believed to be derived from Kāśyapa, one of the original missionaries sent by King Ashoka to the Himavant country...

school also held the doctrine that arhats were fallible and imperfect, similar to the view of the Sarvāstivādins and the various Mahāsāṃghika sects. The Kāśyapīyas believed that arhats have not fully eliminated desires, that their "perfection" is incomplete, and that it is possible for them to relapse.

In Theravāda Buddhism

In Theravada

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

Buddhism, it means anyone who has reached the total Awakening and attained Nirvana

Nirvana

Nirvāṇa ; ) is a central concept in Indian religions. In sramanic thought, it is the state of being free from suffering. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with the Supreme being through moksha...

, including the Buddha

Buddhahood

In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...

. An arahant is a person who has destroyed greed, hatred

Hatred

Hatred is a deep and emotional extreme dislike, directed against a certain object or class of objects. The objects of such hatred can vary widely, from inanimate objects to animals, oneself or other people, entire groups of people, people in general, existence, or the whole world...

, and delusion

Delusion

A delusion is a false belief held with absolute conviction despite superior evidence. Unlike hallucinations, delusions are always pathological...

- the unwholesome roots which underlie all fetters - who upon decease will not be reborn in any world, having wholly cut off all fetters that bind a person to the samsara

Samsara

thumb|right|200px|Traditional Tibetan painting or [[Thanka]] showing the [[wheel of life]] and realms of saṃsāraSaṅsāra or Saṃsāra , , literally meaning "continuous flow", is the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth or reincarnation within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, Sikhism, and other...

. In the Pali Canon

Pāli Canon

The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the only completely surviving early Buddhist canon, and one of the first to be written down...

, the word is sometimes used as a synonym for tathagata

Tathagata

Tathāgata in Pali and Sanskrit) is the name the Buddha of the scriptures uses when referring to himself. The term means, paradoxically, both one who has thus gone and one who has thus come . Hence, the Tathagata is beyond all coming and going – beyond all transitory phenomena...

.

After attainment of Nibbana, the five aggregates (physical forms, feelings/sensations, perception, mental formations and consciousness) will continue to function, sustained by physical bodily vitality. This attainment is termed the nibbana element with a residue remaining. But once the Arahant pass-away and with the disintegration of the physical body, the five aggregates will cease to function, hence ending all traces of existence in the phenomenal world and thus total release from the misery of samsara. It would then be termed the nibbana element without residue remaining. Parinibbana occurs at the death of an Arahant.

In Theravada

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

Buddhism the Buddha himself is first identified as an arahant, as are his enlightened followers, because they are free from all defilements, without greed, hatred

Hatred

, delusion

Avidya (Buddhism)

Avidyā or avijjā means "ignorance" or "delusion" and is the opposite of 'vidyā' and 'rig pa'...

, ignorance

Avidya (Buddhism)

Avidyā or avijjā means "ignorance" or "delusion" and is the opposite of 'vidyā' and 'rig pa'...

and craving

Tanha

' or ' literally means "thirst," and is a synonym for "desire" or "craving," traditionally juxtaposed with upekkha .Synonyms:*愛 Cn: ài; Vi: ái...

, lacking "assets" which will lead to future birth, the arahant knows and sees the real here and now. This virtue shows stainless purity, true worth, and the accomplishment of the end, nibbana.

In the Pali canon, Ānanda

Ananda

Ānanda was one of the principal disciples and a devout attendant of the Buddha. Amongst the Buddha's many disciples, Ānanda had the most retentive memory and most of the suttas in the Sutta Pitaka are attributed to his recollection of the Buddha's teachings during the First Buddhist Council...

states that he knows monastics

Bhikkhu

A Bhikkhu or Bhikṣu is an ordained male Buddhist monastic. A female monastic is called a Bhikkhuni Nepali: ). The life of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis is governed by a set of rules called the patimokkha within the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline...

to achieve nibbana in one of four ways:

one develops insight
Vipassana
Vipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...

preceded by serenity
Samatha
Samatha , śamatha "calm abiding," comprises a suite, type or style of Buddhist meditation or concentration practices designed to enhance sustained voluntary attention, and culminates in an attention that can be sustained effortlessly for hours on end...

(Pali: ),
one develops serenity preceded by insight (),
one develops serenity and insight in a stepwise fashion (),
one's mind becomes seized by excitation about the dhamma and, as a consequence, develops serenity and abandons the fetter
Fetter (Buddhism)
In Buddhism, a mental fetter, chain or bond shackles a sentient being to sasāra, the cycle of lives with dukkha. By cutting through all fetters, one attains nibbāna ....

s ().

In Theravada, although the Arahants have achieved the same goals as the Buddha, there are some differences among Arahants due to the way of their practice.

In the Pali Canon

Pāli Canon

, the word "tathagata

Tathagata

" is sometimes used as a synonym for arahant, though the former usually refers to the Buddha alone.

These three awakened beings are classified as Arahant:

Sammasambuddha, usually just called Buddha, who discovers the truth by himself and teaches the path to awakening to others.
Paccekabuddha
Pratyekabuddha
A Pratyekabuddha or Paccekabuddha , literally "a lone buddha" , "a buddha on their own" or "a private buddha", is one of three types of enlightened beings according to some schools of Buddhism. The other two types are the Śrāvakabuddhas and Samyaksambuddhas...

, who discovers the truth by himself but lacks the skill to teach others.
Savakabuddha, who receive the truth directly or indirectly from a Sammasambuddha.

For those that have destroyed greed and hatred (in the sensory context) with some residue of delusion, are called anagami

Anagami

In Buddhism, an anāgāmi is a partially enlightened person who has cut off the first five chains that bind the ordinary mind. Anagami-ship is the third of the four stages of enlightenment....

(non-returner). Anagamis will not be reborn into the human world after death, but into the heaven of the Pure Abodes, where only anagamis live. There, they will attain full enlightenment.

In Mahāyāna Buddhism

Mahāyāna

Mahayana

Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...

Buddhists see the Buddha himself as the ideal towards which one should aim in one's spiritual aspirations. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a hierarchy of general attainments is envisioned, with the attainments of arhats and pratyekabuddha

Pratyekabuddha

A Pratyekabuddha or Paccekabuddha , literally "a lone buddha" , "a buddha on their own" or "a private buddha", is one of three types of enlightened beings according to some schools of Buddhism. The other two types are the Śrāvakabuddhas and Samyaksambuddhas...

being clearly separate, and below that of fully enlightened buddhas (Skt. ), or tathāgatas, such as Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha

.

In contrast to the goal of becoming a fully enlightened buddha, the path of a śrāvaka

Sravaka

Shravaka or Śrāvaka or Sāvaka means "hearer" or, more generally, "disciple".This term is used by both Buddhists and Jains. In Jainism, a shravaka is any lay Jain...

in being motivated by seeking personal liberation from saṃsāra, is often portrayed as selfish and undesirable. There are even some Mahāyāna texts that regard the aspiration to arhatship and personal liberation as an outside path. Instead of aspiring for arhatship, Mahāyāna Buddhists are urged to instead take up the path of a bodhisattva

Bodhisattva

, and to not fall back to the level of arhats and śrāvakas. Therefore, it is taught that an arhat must go on to become a bodhisattva eventually. If they fail to do so in the lifetime in which they reach the attainment, they will fall into a deep samādhi

Samadhi

Samadhi in Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyāna. In the yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali....

of emptiness, thence to be roused and taught the bodhisattva path, presumably when ready. According to the Lotus Sūtra
Lotus Sutra
The Lotus Sūtra is one of the most popular and influential Mahāyāna sūtras, and the basis on which the Tiantai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism were established.-Title:...

(Skt. ), any true arhat will eventually accept the Mahāyāna path.

The Mahāyāna teachings often consider the śrāvaka path to be motivated by fear of saṃsāra, which renders them incapable of aspiring to buddhahood, and that they therefore lack the courage and wisdom of a bodhisattva. Novice bodhisattvas are compared to śrāvakas and arhats at times. In the , there is an account of 60 novice bodhisattvas who attain arhatship despite themselves and their efforts at the bodhisattva path, because they lacked ability in prajñā-pāramitā

Prajnaparamita

Prajñāpāramitā in Buddhism, means "the Perfection of Wisdom." The word Prajñāpāramitā combines the Sanskrit words prajñā with pāramitā . Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and its practice and understanding are taken to be indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva Path...

and skillful means to progress as bodhisattvas toward complete enlightenment (Skt. ). This is because they are still viewed as having innate attachment and fear of saṃsāra. The compares these people to a giant bird without wings that cannot help but plummet to the earth from the top of Mount Sumeru

Sumeru

Sumeru or Sineru is the name of the central world-mountain in Buddhist cosmology. Etymologically, the proper name of the mountain is Meru , to which is added the approbatory prefix su-, resulting in the meaning "excellent Meru" or "wonderful Meru".The concept of Sumeru is closely related to the...

.

Mahāyāna Buddhism has viewed the śrāvaka path culminating in arhatship as an lesser accomplishment than complete enlightenment, but still accords due respect to arhats for their respective achievements. Therefore, buddha-realms are depicted as populated by both śrāvakas and bodhisattvas. Far from being completely disregarded, the accomplishments of arhats are viewed as impressive, essentially because they have transcended the mundane world. Chinese Buddhism and other East Asian traditions have historically accepted this perspective, and specific groups of arhats are venerated as well, such as the Sixteen Arhats

Sixteen Arhats

The Sixteen Arhats are a group of legendary Arhats in Buddhism; holy men who were predecessors or disciples of the Buddha. The Sixteen Arhats are particular popular in Zen Buddhism, where they are treated as examples of behaviour...

, the Eighteen Arhats

Eighteen Arhats

The Eighteen Arhats are individuals depicted in Mahayana Buddhism who have followed the Eightfold Path and attained the Four Stages of Enlightenment, and are also the original followers of the Buddha. They have reached the state of Nirvana and are free of worldly cravings...

, and the Five Hundred Arhats. The first famous portraits of these arhats were painted by the Chinese monk Guan Xiu

Guanxiu

Guanxiu was a celebrated Buddhist monk, painter, poet, and calligrapher. His greatest works date from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. The collapse of the central Tang government in 907, meant artists and craftsmen lost their most powerful patrons. The imperial tang court had inspired a...

in 891 CE. He donated these portraits to Shengyin Temple in Qiantang (present day Hangzhou

Hangzhou

Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...

) where they are preserved with great care and ceremonious respect.

In some respects, the path to arhatship and the path to complete enlightenment are seen as having common grounds. However, a distinctive difference is seen in the Mahāyāna doctrine pushing emotional and cognitive non-attachment to their logical consequences. Of this, Paul Williams writes that in Mahāyāna Buddhism, "Nirvāṇa must be sought without being sought (for oneself), and practice must be done without being practiced. The discursive mode of thinking cannot serve the basic purpose of attainment without attainment."

External links

Arahants, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas, an article by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Etymology

In the early Buddhist schools

In Theravāda Buddhism

In Mahāyāna Buddhism

See also

Further reading

External links