Guest guest Posted February 12, 2000 Report Share Posted February 12, 2000 Dear Tim, Oh goody, this gives me an excuse to use the new Sanskrit dictionary that I finally broke down and bought. (Actually, I got a very clean used copy of Macdonald's dictionary, which is pretty much the standard one, for $95 on http://dogbert.abebooks.com.) According to the dictionary, the Vedic meanings of " sattva " -- in other words, the earliest known Hindu meanings -- are " being, existence, reality, " and " essence, nature, innate disposition, character. " Later, in the post-Vedic period, the word gained the additional meaning you mention of one of the gunas. So the Buddhist usage here is actually the earlier meaning, consistent with the Vedas, not the later one. Love, Laura P.S. I can see why people study Sanskrit. It's spine-tingling to read these words and realize they come from the oldest known books in the world. - Tim Gerchmez <core <Realization > Saturday, February 12, 2000 12:32 AM Andrew/Re: more on bodisattvas > 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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