Non-abiding
non-abiding (Skt. apratiṣṭhita; T. mi gnas pa མི་གནས་པ་) refers to avoiding mental constructs, or not being dependent on anything, in meditation or daily life.
In the Sanskrit tradition, the term is also used in the context of non-abiding nirvana (apratisthita-nirvana), which is contrasted to pratiṣṭhita-nirvāṇa, the ‘localized’, lesser form of nirvana.[1]
Etymology
The Sanskrit term pratiṣṭhita means "to be contained in [a locale]" or "situated", from the prefix prati- ('towards', 'in the direction of') and ṣṭhita ('established', 'set up').[2]
The term apratiṣṭhita means to have no fixed position, no fixed aboide, without support.[3] According to Monier William, literally ‘unlimited’, ‘unlocalized’.[4]
To translate pratiṣṭhita, Chinese Buddhists used zhù (住), literally "to reside, lodge, remain".
Chinese buddhists translated apratiṣṭhita with the terms wúsuǒzhù (無所住 'no means of staying') and wúzhù (無住 'not staying').[5]
There are multiple Tibetan terms that are used to translate apratiṣṭhita, including: མི་གནས་པ་, གནས་པ་མེད་པ་, གནས་མ་མཆིས་པ་, གནས་མ་ཡིན་པ་, གནས་མེད་, etc.[6]
Within Mahayana sutras
Platform Sutra
The Platform Sutra relates how the spiritual patriarch Huineng was enlightened after hearing his master Hongren reciting from the Diamond Sutra:
Responding to the non-abiding, yet generating the mind.
(應無所住，而生其心。 Yìng wúsuǒzhù, er sheng qi xin.)[7]
The scholar-monk Qisong (契嵩) also noted in his foreword of the Platform Sutra:
- The formless is the essence. (無相為體 wúxiang wei ti)
- Non-thought is the tenet. (無念為宗 wúnian wei zong)
- Non-abiding is the fundamental. (無住為本 wúzhù wei ben)
Non-abiding leads to prajñā (wisdom), as it enables one to consider that worldly issues are empty, so there is no point in retaliation or disputes.[8]
Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā
The Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā states:
- He who excels in religious teachings and its purpose (dharmārtha), qualities (guṇa), and knowledge (jñāna), who is complete pure, impeccable, pure from his origin, and stainless, who is placed anywhere (apratiṣṭhita) like space (gaganasama) and unmoving (aniñjya), who is of extreme depth (gambhīra) and beyond any range, I bow to him.[9]
The Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā describes the meditation of a bodhisattva as "not dependent on anything" (apratiṣṭhitadhyāna):
- Just as, son of good family, open space does not get burned at the time of the final conflagration (kalpoddāha) and is not flooded in the destruction by water [at the end of an aeon] (apskandha), in such a way, the meditation of the bodhisatva does not get burned by any affliction (sarvakleśa) and is not attached to the [four] meditations, [eight] liberations, concentrations, and attainments of meditation (sarvadhyānavimokṣasamādhisamāpatti). [The meditation of bodhisattva] establishes living beings with distracted thoughts (vikṣiptacittā) in the state of concentration (samāhita). If he is in the state of concentration, but ends up in an unpleasant situation, he is not irritated (apratihata). Even though he always manifests peacefulness (upaśānta) to noble beings (āryajana), he makes flaming efforts (dīptavīrya) in order to bring ordinary people (anāryajana) to maturity. Being in the state of sameness in concentration, he still teaches those with irregular behaviour (asamacaryā) by means of various kinds of teachings. He does not see the irregular (asama) in terms of sameness (samatā), and he does not obstruct the irregular with sameness. Since he is unobstructed (aviruddha), he is called the meditator (dhyāyin) whose thought is just like open space (gaganasamacitta), without any obstruction, he is called a meditator with great insight (mahāprajña), and he is called the meditator who is not dependent on consciousness. When meditation is understood in this way, then the meditation of the bodhisatva is like the expanse of open space, which is not dependent on anything (apratiṣṭhitadhyāna).[10]
References
- ↑ A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003
- ↑ The Spoken Sanskrit Dictionary
- ↑
མི་གནས་པ་, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
- ↑ Sanskrit-English Dictionary, by M. Monier William
- ↑ Soothill, W.E.; Hodous, Lewis (1937). A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms.
- ↑ non abiding, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
- ↑ McRae, John (2000). The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. Translated from the Chinese of Zongbao (PDF). Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research. p. 34.
- ↑ The Platform Sutra, chapter 4.
- ↑ Jaehee Han (2020), The Sky as a Mahāyāna Symbol of Emptiness and Generous Fullness, A Study and Translation of the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā Volume 2, Phd dissertation, University of Oslo, p. 80
- ↑ Jaehee Han (2020), The Sky as a Mahāyāna Symbol of Emptiness and Generous Fullness, A Study and Translation of the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā Volume 2, Phd dissertation, University of Oslo, p. 224
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