Svabhava

Svabhāva (Sanskrit; alternate Sanskrit orthographies swabhawa, swabhava, svabhaava; Pali: "sabhāva"; Tibetan: "rang bzhin" [Dharma Dictionary (2008). rang bzhin. Source: [http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/rang_bzhin] (accessed: January 29, 2008)] ) is a concept frequently encountered in Mahayana Buddhism which literally means "own-being" or "own-becoming". It might more meaningfully be rendered as "intrinsic nature", "essential nature" or "essence."

In early Theravada texts, the term did not carry the technical meaning or the soteriological weight of later writings. Much of Mahayana Buddhism (as in the Prajnaparamita Sutra) denies that such a "svabhava" exists within any being; however, in the Tathagatagarbha sutras (notably the Nirvana Sutra), the Buddha states that the immortal and infinite Buddha-nature - or "True Self" of the Buddha - is the indestructible "svabhava" of beings.

Mahayana sutras

In the Prajnaparamita Sutras, the early Buddhist notion of no-self ("anatta") is extended to all objects, so that all things are "empty" ("sunyata"), without inherent existence ("svabhava"). [See, e.g., Williams (2007, p. 46): "The principal ontological message of the "Prajñāpāramitā" is an extension of the Buddhist teaching of no-Self to equal no essence, and therefore no inherent existence, as applied to all things without exception."] [A well-known example of a Prajnaparamita Sutra that declares the emptiness of all "aggregates" ("skandha"), is the Sanskrit (although not the antecedent Chinese) version of the Heart Sutra in which Avalokiteshvara "looked upon the Five Skandhas, ... seeing they were empty of self-existence ..." ("vyaavalokayati sma panca skandhas tansh ... svabhava shunyan pashyati sma ...") (Red Pine, 2005, pp. 2, 56, 67).]

In the Nirvana Sutra, the Buddha-dhatu is held to be the uncreated, immutable and immortal essence (“"svabhava"”) of all beings, which can never be harmed or destroyed. The most extensive sutra promulgating this as an "ultimate teaching" ("uttara-tantra") on the Buddhic essence of all creatures (animals included) is the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra. There we read in words attributed to the Shakyamuni Buddha: :"... it is not the case that they [i.e. all phenomena] are devoid of the Self. What is this Self? Any phenomenon ["dharma"] that is true ["satya"] , real [“"tattva"”] , eternal [“"nitya"”] , sovereign/autonomous [“"aishvarya"”] and whose foundation is unchanging [“"ashraya-aviparinama"”] is termed 'the Self' ["atman"] ." [Translated from Dharmakṣema's (Chinese: 曇無讖; "Tanwuchen") version of the "Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra".]

Theravada literature

In the Pali Canon, "sabhāva" is absent from what are generally considered to be the earliest texts [For instance, a search for "sabhāv" in the SLTP edition of the Pali literature [http://www.bodhgayanews.net/pitakaresults.php?title=&start=0&to=10&searchstring=sabhāv] identifies this term as arising only once in the first four nikayas (outside of end notes): in DN 6, "Mahāli Sutta" (PTS i 153). It occurs in the phrase, "idha mahāli bhikkhuno puratthimāya disāya ekaIAST|ṃ

sabhāvito samādhi hoti," which Walshe (1995, p. 144, para. 6) translates as: "'Mahāli, in one case a monk, facing east, goes into one-sided samādhi..." (boldface added to identify Walshe's apparent translation of "sabhāva")] and, when found in later texts (e.g., the paracanonical Milindapañha), it generically refers to "state (of mind)," "character" or "truth." [According to Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), pp. 502-3, [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.2:1:3557.pali entry for "Bhāva"] (retrieved 2007-06-24), "sva+bhāva" is equivalent to the Pali word "sabhāva". The [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.3:1:3274.pali entry for "Sabhāva"] (p. 681) is as follows::Sabhāva [sa⁴+bhāva] :# state (of mind), nature, condition Miln 90, 212, 360; PvA 39 (ummattaka˚), 98 (santa˚), 219.:# character, disposition, behaviour PvA 13, 35 (ullumpana˚), 220 (lokiya˚). :# truth, reality, sincerity Miln 164; J v.459; v.198 (opp. musāvāda); J vi.469; sabhāvaŋ sincerely, devotedly J vi.486.:-dhamma principle of nature J i.214;:-dhammatta= ˚dhamma Vism 238. :-bhūta true J iii.20.These general Theravada denotations lacks the technical specificity of the Mahayana notion of "svabhāva" as "intrinsic nature"; in addition, each of the aforementioned references is to what Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25) elsewhere refer to as "later literature" [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?p.2:102.pali (p. 454)] : the Jataka tales (J), Milindapanha (Miln) and the Pali commentaries (e.g., PvA).

Gethin (1992), p. 150, in discussing the word "dhamma" in the "DhammasaIAST|ṅgaṇi" and its related commentary ("Atthasālinī") writes, "... the force of "sabhāva" here appears to focus not so much on the essential nature of particular "dhammas", but rather on the fact that there is no being or person apart from "dhammas"; "dhammas" are what exist." In a related footnote (26), he adds::The earliest usage of "sabhāva" in Pāli sources is even more problematic. [The quasi-canonical] PeIAST|ṭ 104 explains "hetu" ["cause" or "condition"] as the "sabhāva" of a "dhamma" (i.e. it acts as a cause for other "dhammas") and "paccaya" ["requisite" or "support"] as its "parabhāva" (i.e. other "dhammas" act as conditions for its occurrence).... According to [the late-canonical] PaIAST|ṭis 178-9 "dhammas" are 'empty by self-existence' ("sabhāvena suññā").]

In the post-canonical Abhidhamma literature, "sabhāva" is used to distinguish an irreducible, interdependent, momentary phenomena ("dhamma") from a conventionally constructed object. Thus, a collection of visual and tactile phenomena might be mentally constructed into what is conventionally referred to as a "table"; but, beyond its constituent elements, a construct such as "table" lacks "intrinsic existence" ("sabhāva"). [Williams (2007), p. 60, writes::The concept of self-existence or essence ("svabhāva") was a development of Abhidharma scholars, where it seems to indicate the defining characteristic of a "dharma". It is that which makes a "dharma" what it is, as resistance or hardness is the unique and defining characteristic of earth "dharma" [see Mahābhūta] , for example. In the Abhidharma only "dharma"s, ultimate existents, have essences. Conventional existents – tables, chairs, and persons – do not. This is because they are simply mental constructs out of "dharma"s – they therefore lack their own specific and unqiue existence.In regards to which texts Williams was writing of when he mentioned above "Abhidharma scholars," Karunadasa (1996/2007) states that "sabhāva" is first used in place of "dhamma" in the "post-canonical" Pali commentaries to the Abhidhamma. Relatedly, a search of the Pali Canon for "sabhāv" identified no pertinent hits in the Pali Abhidhamma "itself" (e.g., in the Dhammasangani, the only hits were for the compound term "purisabhāvo" – that is, "purisa-bhāvo" – which Rhys Davids [1900, p. 191] translates as "masculine in ... being.")]

Contemporary views

Dzogchen teacher Namkhai Norbu (2001: p. 155) in discussing the view of the Pratyekabuddhas states that: "...the Pratyekabuddhas accede to the absence of a self or independent self-nature (bdag med)...". [Norbu, Namkhai (2001). "The Precious Vase: Instructions on the Base of Santi Maha Sangha" (Shang Shung Edizioni, 2^nd rev. ed., trans. from the Tibetan, edited and annotated by Adriano Clemente with the help of the author; trans. from Italian into English by Andy Lukianowicz), p. 155. Note that the [http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/Main_Page Dharma Dictionary] (2008) equates the Tibetan 'bdag med' with anātman (Sanskrit) (Dharma Dictionary, 2008, "bdag med", retrieved January 29, 2008 from http://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/bdag_med).]

See also

* Ahamkara
* Atman (Buddhism)
* Buddhism
* Chöd
* Mahayana
* Mindstream
* Sunyata

Notes

References

* Gethin, R.M.L. (1992). "The Buddhist Path to Awakening: A Study of the Bodhi-Pakkhiyā Dhammā". Leiden: E.J. Brill. ISBN 90-04-09442-3.

* Karunadasa, Y. (1996). "The Dhamma Theory: Philosophical Cornerstone of the Abhidhamma" (WH 412/413). Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. Retrieved 2008-06-30 from "BPS" (transcribed 2007) at http://www.bps.lk/wheels_library/wh_412_413.html.

* Red Pine (2004). "The Heart Sutra". Emeryville, CA: Shoemaker & Hoard. ISBN 1-59376-009-4.

* Rhys Davids, Caroline A. F. ( [1900] , 2003). "Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics, of the Fourth Century B.C., Being a Translation, now made for the First Time, from the Original Pāli, of the First Book of the Abhidhamma-PiIAST|ṭaka, entitled Dhamma-IAST|Saṅgaṇi (Compendium of States or Phenomena)". Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-4702-9.

* Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-25). "The Pali Text Society's Pali-English Dictionary". Chipstead: Pali Text Society. An on-line search engine for this dictionary is available from "U. Chicago" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.

* Walshe, Maurice (1987, 1995). "The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya". Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-103-3.

* Williams, Paul (1989; repr. 2007). "Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations". London: Routledge. ISBN 978-415-02537-9.

* Yamamoto, Kosho (trans.) & Dr. Tony Page (rev. & ed.). "The Mahayana Mahaparinrivana Sutra" in 12 volumes (Nirvana Publications, London, 1999-2000).

External links

* [http://www.nirvanasutra.org.uk The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra and its teachings on the deathless Self of the Buddha]