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གཙང་རིས། | Glossary of Terms
གཙང་རིས།
gnas gtsang ma
Śuddhāvāsa
- Term
- Place
- Note: this data is still being sorted
The five Pure Abodes are the highest heavens of the Form Realm (rūpadhātu). They are called “pure abodes” because ordinary beings (pṛthagjana; so so’i skye bo) cannot be born there; only those who have achieved the fruit of a non-returner (anāgāmin; phyir mi ’ong) can be born there. A summary presentation of them is found in the third chapter of Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa, although they are repeatedly mentioned as a set in numerous sūtras, tantras, and vinaya texts.
The five Pure Abodes are the last five of the seventeen levels of the Form Realm. Specifically, they are the last five of the eight levels of the upper Form Realm—which corresponds to the fourth meditative concentration (dhyāna; bsam gtan)—all of which are described as “immovable” (akopya; mi g.yo ba) since they are never destroyed during the cycles of the destruction and reformation of a world system. In particular, the five are Abṛha (mi che ba), the inferior heaven; Atapa (mi gdung ba), the heaven of no torment; Sudṛśa (gya nom snang), the heaven of sublime appearances; Sudarśana (shin tu mthong), the heaven of the most beautiful to behold; and Akaniṣṭha (’og min), the highest heaven.
Yaśomitra explains their names, stating: (1) because those who abide there can only remain for a fixed amount of time, before they are plucked out (√bṛh, bṛṃhanti) of that heaven, or because it is not as extensive (a-√bṛṃh, abṛṃhitā) as the others in the pure realms, that heaven is called the inferior heaven (abṛha; mi che ba); (2) since the afflictions can no longer torment (√tap, tapanti) those who reside there because of their having attained a particular samādhi, or because their state of mind is virtuous, they no longer torment (√tap, tāpayanti) others, this heaven, consequently, is called the heaven of no torment (atapa; mi gdung ba); (3) since those who reside there have exceptional (suṣṭhu) vision because what they see (√dṛś, darśana) is utterly pure, that heaven is called the heaven of sublime appearances (sudṛśa; gya nom snang); (4) because those who reside there are beautiful gods, that heaven is called the heaven of the most beautiful to behold (sudarśana; shin tu mthong); and (5) since it is not lower (na kaniṣṭhā) than any other heaven because there is no other place superior to it, this heaven is called the highest heaven (akaniṣṭha; ’og min) since it is the uppermost.
- Pure abodes
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- śuddhāvāsa
The name given to the five highest levels of existence within the form realm.
- Pure Abodes
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
- Pure abodes
- གཙང་མའི་རིས།
- gtsang ma’i ris
- —
The five realms associated with the fourth concentration, into which only noble beings are born.
- Pure abodes
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
The name given to the five highest levels of existence within the form realm.
- Pure abodes
- གནས་གཙང་མའི་རིས།
- gnas gtsang ma’i ris
- Śuddhāvāsa
Realms associated the fourth concentration into which only noble beings are born.
- Pure Abodes
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
The five Pure Abodes are the highest heavens of the form realm and result from mastery of the fourth meditative absorption. They comprise the heavens of the Insentient Beings, Unlofty Heaven, Sorrowless Heaven, Heaven of Sublime Vision, Heaven of Great Vision, and Highest Heaven. The Pure Abodes are never destroyed during the cycles of the destruction and creation of the universe. Rebirth there is the karmic result of accomplishing the fourth meditative absorption.
- Pure abodes
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- śuddhāvāsa
- Pure abodes
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- śuddhāvāsa
- Pure abodes
- གཙང་རིས།
- gtsang ris
- śuddhāvāsa
Usually referring to the last five of the seventeen realms of the form realm (rūpadhātu) and often equated with Akaniṣṭha, which is the first of the highest five. In this text, the expression seems to refer to the heavens in the desire realm (kāmadhātu). See UT22084-090-045-40.
- Śuddhāvāsa
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
Lit. “Those in the Pure Abodes.” The five Pure Abodes are the highest heavens of the form realm and result from mastery of the fourth meditative absorption. They comprise the heavens of Avṛha, Atapa, Sudṛśa, Sudarśana, and Akaniṣṭha. The Pure Abodes, or Śuddhāvāsa, are never destroyed during the cycles of the destruction and creation of the universe. Rebirth there is the karmic result of accomplishing the fourth concentration.
- Śuddhāvāsa
- གཙང་མའི་རིས།
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gtsang ma’i ris
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
The five highest of the paradises that constitute the realm of form, which are above the paradises of the realm of desire in which our world is situated. Also translated as gtsang ris.
- Śuddhāvāsa
- གཙང་མ།
- གཙང་གནས།
- གཙང་མའི་གནས།
- gtsang ma
- gtsang gnas
- gtsang ma’i gnas
- Śuddhāvāsa
These are composed of the five highest paradises in the form realm: Akaniṣṭha, Sudarśana, Sudṛśa, Atapa, and Avṛha.
- Śuddhāvāsa
- གཙང་རིས།
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gtsang ris
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
The five highest of the paradises that consitute the realm of form, which is above the paradises of the realm of desire in which our world is situated.
- Śuddhāvāsa
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
Name for the five highest levels of existence within the form realm.
- Śuddhāvāsa
- གནས་གཙང་མའི་རི།
- gnas gtsang ma’i ri
- Śuddhāvāsa
The “Pure Abode” heaven; a name for the five highest levels of existence within the form realm.
- Śuddhāvāsa
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
See “Realm of the Pure Abode.”
- Śuddhāvāsa
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
- Pure Abode
- གནས་གཙང་མའི་རིས།
- gnas gtsang ma’i ris
- śuddhanivāsa
These realms and abodes denote the hierarchy of the gods who, in the manner of human beings and antigods, partake of the higher realms (svarga, mtho ris) of rebirth, but nonetheless remain trapped within cyclic existence. The gods altogether comprise (i) six god realms within the world system of desire, commencing with Caturmahārājakāyika and Trayastriṃśa, and concluding with Yāma, Tuṣita, Nirmāṇarata, and Paranirmitavaśavartin; (ii) the twelve Brahmā realms, extending from Brahmakāyika through Brahmapurohita, Mahābrahmā, Parīttābha, Apramāṇābha, Ābhāsvara, Parīttaśubha, Apramāṇaśubha, Śubhakṛtsna, Anabhraka, and Puṇyaprasava to Bṛhatphala, which are attained corresponding to lesser, middling, and higher degrees of the four meditative concentrations; and (iii) the five Pure Abodes at the pinnacle of the world system of form, extending from Avṛha, through Atapa, Sudṛśa, and Sudarśana to Akaniṣṭha. See also UT22084-031-002-1427 and UT22084-031-002-1582. This hierarchy is conveniently illustrated in the form of a chart. See, for example, Dudjom Rinpoche (1991): 14–15.
- Pure Abode
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
The generic name of the five pure realms inhabited by the higher orders of the gods.
- Pure Abode
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
Name for the five highest levels of existence within the form realm.
- Pure Abode
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
The generic name of the five pure realms inhabited by the higher orders of gods.
Warning: Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra. Practitioners who are not sure if they should read this translation are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage. The responsibility for reading this text or sharing it with others who may or may not fulfill the requirements lies in the hands of readers.
- Pure Abode
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
One of the god realms.
- Śuddhāvāsa realms
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
A form-realm paradise that is never destroyed during the cycles of the destruction and creation of the universe.
- Śuddhāvāsa realms
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
Literally "the pure abodes," this term refers to the highest series of five heavenly abodes of the form realm (rūpadhātu) and is equated with the fourth level of meditative concentration (dhyānabhūmi). A form of this term frequently appears as a member of the compound gnas gtsang ma’i ris or śuddhāvāsakāyika, which translates as "the gods of the Śuddhāvāsa realms."
- Class of pure abodes
- གནས་གཙང་མའི་རིས།
- gnas gtsang ma’i ris
- śuddhāvāsakāyika
The abodes inhabited by anāgāmins (“non-returners”) who are on the path to arhathood.
- Heaven of Pure Abode
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
The name given to the five highest levels of existence within the form realm.
- Pure Land
- གནས་གཙང་མའི་རིས།
- gnas gtsang ma’i ris
- Śuddhāvāsa
The five highest of the heavens that constitute the form realm.
- Pure realm
- གནས་གཙང་མའི་རིས།
- gnas gtsang ma’i ris
- śuddhāvāsa
- śuddhāvāsakāyika
- Pure realms
- གནས་གཙང་མའི་རིས།
- gnas gtsang ma’i ris
- śuddhāvāsa
Five realms above the four form realms into which only noble beings are born.
- Realm of the Pure Abode
- གནས་གཙང་མ།
- gnas gtsang ma
- Śuddhāvāsa
The highest division of the realm of form, comprising its five highest heavens; also used as the name of the gods living there. The name is rendered elsewhere in this translation as “Śuddhāvāsa.”
- Śuddhāvāsa realm
- གནས་གཙང་མའི་རིས།
- gnas gtsang ma’i ris
- Śuddhāvāsa
Pure abode, said of a heaven, or five heavens, in which dwell the gods so called. The pure abodes among the form realms, where only non-returners are reborn.