Guest guest Posted February 11, 2000 Report Share Posted February 11, 2000 Dear Andrew, At 12:23 AM 2/12/2000 -0400, you wrote: >andrew macnab <a.macnab > >The word " bodhisattva " means one whose essence (sattva) is enlightenment >(bodhi). According to Advaita Vedanta, Sattva is one of the three gunas (Tamas, Rajas, Sattva) and apparently has a different meaning. In Advaita Vedanta, Sattva is the " highest " guna (purity) and " lights the way to liberation, " but is not liberation itself. Therefore, an advaitin interested in something " higher " than purity would disdain the term entirely. I wonder if it acquired a different meaning in the context of Buddhism, or whether your interpretation of the term is incorrect. >In Mahayana the bodhisattva has attained enlightenment but renounced nirvana, >remaining in touch with life rather than relinquishing all connection with it. Ahh, OK. So a distinction is then made in Mahayana Buddhism which is not made in Advaita Vedanta (actually, distinguishing between " enlightenment " and " nirvana " seems very dualistic to me, but so be it :-). Thanks for the clarification. With Love, Tim ----- Sum Ergo Sum Visit " The Core " Website at http://coresite.cjb.net - Music, Poetry, Writings on Nondual Spiritual Topics. Tim's other pages are at http://core.vdirect.net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 12, 2000 Report Share Posted February 12, 2000 Tim Gerchmez wrote: > > Tim Gerchmez <core > > Dear Andrew, > > At 12:23 AM 2/12/2000 -0400, you wrote: > >andrew macnab <a.macnab > > > >The word " bodhisattva " means one whose essence (sattva) is enlightenment > >(bodhi). > > According to Advaita Vedanta, Sattva is one of the three gunas (Tamas, > Rajas, Sattva) and apparently has a different meaning. In Advaita Vedanta, > Sattva is the " highest " guna (purity) and " lights the way to liberation, " > but is not liberation itself. Therefore, an advaitin interested in > something " higher " than purity would disdain the term entirely. I wonder > if it acquired a different meaning in the context of Buddhism, or whether > your interpretation of the term is incorrect. > > >In Mahayana the bodhisattva has attained enlightenment but renounced > nirvana, >remaining in touch with life rather than relinquishing all > connection with it. > > Ahh, OK. So a distinction is then made in Mahayana Buddhism which is not > made in Advaita Vedanta (actually, distinguishing between " enlightenment " > and " nirvana " seems very dualistic to me, but so be it :-). Thanks for the > clarification. > > With Love, > > Tim > In *A Popular Dictionary of Buddhism*, 'Sattva' is defined as being or essence, 'Sat' is being or be-ness, 'Asat', no-being, that which lies beyond all duality. Under Guna, it says that Sattva in this context means spiritual happiness or bliss. It's all just words and concepts anyway. Awareness is awareness no matter what. If you look at zen practise, there is also the step beyond the certainty/bliss/happiness which is the sattva guna, as in advaita, with truth ultimately being in openness and emptiness. love, andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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