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In the Sramanic traditions of ancient India (most notably those of Mahavira and Gautama Buddha ) arhat ( Sanskrit ) or '''arahant''' ( Pali ) signified a spiritual practitioner who had—to use an expression common in the Tipitaka —"laid down the burden"—and realised the goal of Nibbana , the culmination of the spiritual life ( Brahmacarya ). Such a person, having removed all causes for future becoming, is not reborn after biological death into any Samsaric realm. ORIGIN The word ''"arahan"'' literally means "worthy one"An authoritative Pali-to-English translation of "arahant" can be found in Rhys Davids & Stede (1921–25), p. 77. {Link without Title} (an alternative Folk Etymology is "foe-destroyer") and constitutes the highest grade of noble person—''ariya-puggala''—described by the Buddha as recorded in the Pali Canon . The word was used (as it is today in the liturgy of Theravada Buddhism ) as an epithet of the Buddha himself as well as of his enlightened disciples. The most widely recited liturgical reference is perhaps the homage: ''Namo Tassa Bhagavato, Arahato, Samma-sammbuddhassa.''—''Homage to him, the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the perfectly enlightened Buddha''. VARIATIONS
JAINISM , California )]] In Jainism , the term "arhat" or "arihant" is a synonym for Jina or Tirthankara . The Jain Navakar Mantra starts with "Namo Arhantanam". THERAVADA BUDDHISM In Theravada Buddhism the Buddha himself is first named as an arahant, as were his enlightened followers, since he is free from all defilements, without Greed , Hatred , and Delusion , rid of Ignorance and Craving , having no "assets" that will lead to a future Birth , knowing and seeing the real here and now. This virtue shows stainless purity, true worth, and the accomplishment of the end, Nibbana .Khantipalo (1989), "Introduction". {Link without Title} In the Pali canon, Ven. Ānanda states that he has known Monastics to achieve nibbana in one of four ways:
MAHAYANA BUDDHISM , China ]] Mahayana Buddhists see the Buddha himself as the ideal towards which one should aim in one's spiritual aspirations. Hence the arhat as enlightened disciple of the Buddha is not regarded as the goal as much as is the Bodhisattva . Bodhisattva carries a different meaning in Mahayana Buddhism to Theravada Buddhism. In the Pali scriptures the Tathagata when relating his own experiences of self-development uses a stock phrase "when I was an unenlightened bodhisattva". Bodhisattva thus connotes here the absence of enlightenment (Bodhi) of a person working towards that goal. In Mahayana Buddhism, on the other hand a bodhisattva is someone who seeks to put the welfare of others before their own, forfeiting their own enlightenment until all beings are saved. Such a person is said to have achieved a sort of proto-enlightenment called Bodhicitta . SEE ALSO NOTES REFERENCES
23:21, 11 August 2007 (UTC) |
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