Irshya
(Redirected from Issā)
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Irshya (Skt. īrṣyā; P. issā; Tibetan: phrag dog ཕྲག་དོག) is translated as "jealousy," "envy," etc. It is defined as a state of mind in which one is highly agitated to obtain wealth and honor for oneself, but unable to bear the excellence of others.[1]
Irshya is identified as:
- one of the five poisons within the Sanskrit tradition
- one of the fourteen unwholesome mental factors within the Pali tradition
- one of the twenty secondary unwholesome factors within the Abhidharma-samuccaya of the Sanskrit tradition
- one of the ten minor unwholesome factors within the Abhidharma-kosa of the Sanskrit tradition
- one of the ten fetters (saṃyojana) according to the Dhammasangani of the Pali tradition
- a form of aversion (dosa) within the Pali tradition
- a form of anger (pratigha) within the Sanskrit tradition
The antidote to jealousy is meditatiton on empathetic joy (muditā).
Definitions
Pali tradition
A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma states:
- Envy has the characteristic of being jealous of other’s success. Its function is to be dissatisfied with others’ success. It is manifested as aversion towards that. Its proximate cause is others’ success.[2]
Sanskrit tradition
The Khenjuk states:
- Tib. ཕྲག་དོག་ནི་ཁོང་ཁྲོའི་ཆར་གཏོགས་པ། རང་རྙེད་བཀུར་སོགས་ལ་ཆགས་ནས་གཞན་གྱི་ཕུན་ཚོགས་ལ་མི་བཟོད་པར་སེམས་ཁོང་ནས་འཁྲུགས་པ། ཡིད་མི་བདེ་ཞིང་སེམས་རྣལ་དུ་མི་གནས་ལ་ཉེས་པའི་རྟེན་བྱེད་པའོ།
- Envy belongs to the category of anger. It is a mental state that is deeply disturbed by the desire to obtain honor and gain for oneself, and by the inability to bear the excellence of others. It forms the support for unhappiness, for the mind's inability to rest in naturalness, and for negative actions.[1]
Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics (Vol. 2) states:
- [Jealousy] is a mental factor associated with hatred that, out of attachment to gain and respect, is an inner disturbance of mind unable to bear the success of others. The Compendium of Knowledge says: “What is jealousy? Associated with hatred, it is an inner disturbance of mind that, out of excessive attachment to gain and respect, cannot bear the notable success of others. It functions to cause unhappiness and wretched states.” When jealousy is categorized there are two types: jealousy of someone perceived to be equal to oneself and jealousy of someone perceived to be superior to oneself. It is called jealousy (phrag dog) because jealousy is a narrowing and contraction of the mind — literally, in Tibetan, a narrowing (dog) of the in-between space (phrag).[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mipham Rinpoche 2004, s.v. Envy.
- ↑ Bhikkhu Bodhi 2000, s.v. Envy (issā).
- ↑ Thupten Jinpa 2020, s.v. The twenty secondary mental afflictions.
Sources
Bhikkhu Bodhi, ed. (2000), A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma, Pariyatti Publishing- Mipham Rinpoche (2004), Gateway to Knowledge, vol. I, translated by Kunsang, Erik Pema, Rangjung Yeshe Publications
- Thupten Jinpa, ed. (2020), Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics, Volume 2: The Mind, translated by Rochard, Dechen; Dunne, John, Wisdom Publications
External links
phrag_dog, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki- Irshya (Wikipedia)
- Strategies for Deconstructing Jealousy, by Alexander Berzin