དགེ་སྦྱོང་། | Glossary of Terms

A term used broadly to denote a spiritual practitioner.

Specifically non-Vedic ascetics; śramaṇa ascetics are typically contrasted with brahmin householders.

A renunciate who lives his life as a mendicant. In Buddhist contexts the term usually refers to a Buddhist monk, although it can also designate a renunciant practitioner from other spiritual traditions. The epithet Great Śramaṇa is often applied the Buddha.

The common phrase “śramaṇas and brahmins” sometimes refers to Buddhist practitioners but can also mean any religious practitioners, the brahmins being the settled hereditary priestly caste following the ancient Vedic practices while the śramaṇas are the itinerant followers (often of kṣatriya caste) of the newer, non-Vedic spiritual trends.

The Sanskrit term literally means “one who toils,” i.e., an ascetic, and the term is applied to spiritual renunciants or monks, whether Buddhist or otherwise.

The word śramaṇa refers to ascetics/religious practitioners who are often distinguished from brāhmaṇa (brahmins). It seems that a common characteristic of śramaṇas was to have “gone forth” (pravrajita), i.e., to not be householders, or at least this is how the Buddhist commentarial tradition understands the term. At some point, the term also became an established way to distinguish non-Vedic ascetics from those who followed the Vedas; renunciates, not just Buddhists, could be called śramaṇa if they were not within the Vedic/brahminical fold. Thus, the term has several layers of meaning, and it was such a key term in Buddhist texts that the result of practice came also to be known as “the fruit of being a śramaṇa” (Skt. śrāmaṇyaphala, Pāli sāmaññaphala); the Buddha himself is epitomized as “the great śramaṇa” (mahāśramaṇa) in one of the most famous Buddhist verses (the ye dharmā stanza, found in colophons and epigraphy throughout the Buddhist world).

The term śramaṇa is formed from the root śram, most likely in the sense of “to exert oneself” (tapasi). This is reflected in the second element of its Tibetan translation (sbyong, which is sometimes used as a translation of abhyāsa); thus, śramaṇas are‍—as per the Tibetan rendering‍—those who exert themselves (sbyong) toward virtue (dge). The reference to virtue may be connected to an etymology found in the Sanskrit Udānavarga and Pāli Dhammapada, according to which one is a śramaṇa if one has pacified sins (śamitatvāt tu pāpānāṁ śramaṇo hi nirucyate, Udānavarga 11.14, Berhard 1965, p. 190; sdig pa zhi ba de dag ni/ dge sbyong nyid ces brjod par bya, Udānavarga Tib. 11.15; Zongtse 1990, p. 127; samitattā hi pāpānaṃ samaṇo ti pavuccati | Dhammapada verse 265). Commentarial literature occasionally distinguishes between this as the higher sense of śramaṇa vs. the more ordinary sense of being a śramaṇa/samaṇa “only due to having gone forth” (pabbajjāmattasamaṇo); this distinction appears in contexts where the word is together with “brahmins,” as it often happens in sūtras/suttas (yaṃ no payirupāsato cittaṃ pasīdeyyāti vuttattā samaṇaṃ vā brāhmaṇaṃ vāti ettha paramatthasamaṇo ca paramatthabrāhmaṇo ca adhippeto na pabbajjāmattasamaṇo na jātimattabrāhmaṇo cāti āha samitapāpatāya samaṇaṃ | bāhitapāpatāya brāhmaṇanti | Ṭīkā on the Sāmaññaphalasutta, Sīlakkhandavagga, Dīghanikāya).

The Kāśyapa­parivarta­sūtra lists four types of śramaṇa: one who is so only in outer appearance (varṇa­rūpa­liṅga­saṃsthāna­śramaṇa), one who is hypocritical and hides their real conduct (ācāra­gupti­kuhaka­śramaṇa), one who does everything for the sake of fame (kīrti­śabda­śloka­śramaṇa), and one who practices genuinely (bhūta­pratipatti­śramaṇa). (See Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya 2002, pp. 41–44).

The Sanskrit term literally means “one who toils,” i.e., an ascetic, and the term is applied to spiritual renunciants or monks, whether Buddhist or otherwise.

Non-brahmanic spiritual practitioner.

A term used broadly to denote a spiritual seeker.

A term used broadly to denote a spiritual practitioner.

The Sanskrit term literally means “one who toils,” i.e., an ascetic, and the term is applied to spiritual renunciants or monks, whether Buddhist or otherwise.

An ordained Buddhist practitioner. Pairs often with “priest” (brahmaṇa).

A term used broadly to denote a spiritual seeker.

An ordained Buddhist practitioner. Pairs often with brahmin.

Specifically non-Vedic ascetics; śramaṇa ascetics are typically contrasted with brahmin householders.

See also UT22084-001-001-45.

In Indic literature, the term śramaṇa is used to denote a spiritual practitioner who emphasizes the renunciation of worldly life for a life of austerity and monasticism. Buddhism and Jainism, among others, are considered śramaṇa traditions. The term is often used in contrast to brahmaṇa, “brahmin,” in reference to a follower of the Vedic tradition, which emphasizes a householder lifestyle as the basis for spiritual practice.

A mendicant. Here in reference to a particular norm of monasticism as dedicated to cultivation of moral discipline.

A mendicant; sometimes employed as a title of the Buddha.

An ascetic belonging to any order.

The Sanskrit term literally means “one who toils,” i.e., an ascetic, and the term is applied to spiritual renunciants or monks, whether Buddhist or otherwise. The Tibetan translation of this term is dge sbyong, meaning “one who trains in virtue.”