Four characteristics of conditioned phenomena
Four characteristics of conditioned phenomena are identified in the Sanskrit Abhidharma tradition, where they are referred to as either saṃskṛtalakṣaṇa (T. ’dus byas kyi mtshan nyid; C. youwei xiang; E. characteristics of conditioned phenomena) or caturlakṣaṇa (T. mtshan nyid bzhi; C. sixiang; E. four characteristics).[1][2]
The four characteristics are:
- birth (S. jāti; Wyl. skye ba)
- abiding (S. sthiti; Wyl. gnas pa)
- aging (S. jara; Wyl. rga ba)
- impermanence (S. aniyata; Wyl. mi rtag pa)
"The Vaibashikas assert that these four arise simultaneously to the conditioned entity and that they are capable of being grasped as distinct in substance from the conditioned thing itself."[3]
These four are included in the fourteen non-concurrent formations of the Abhidharma-kosha.
References
- ↑
Buswell & Lopez 2014, s.v. saṃskṛtalakṣaṇa - ↑ Buswell & Lopez 2014, s.v. caturlakṣaṇa
- ↑
Thupten Jinpa (editor), Ian James Coghlan (translator), Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics, Volume 1: The Physical World (Wisdom: 2017), 146
Sources
Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University
- Thupten Jinpa (editor), Ian James Coghlan (translator), Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics, Volume 1: The Physical World (Wisdom: 2017), 146
