Avijñaptirūpa

avijñapti-rūpa (T. rnam par rig byed ma yin pa’i gzugs རྣམ་པར་རིག་བྱེད་མ་ཡིན་པའི་གཟུགས་; C. wubiaose 無表色) is translated as "imperceptible form," "nonindicative form," etc. Within the Sanskrit Abhidharma tradition, the avijñaptirūpa is categorized as "forms that are mental objects"; this refers to a type of form (rūpa) that is not perceptible to the five sense consciousnesses, but is perceived through the mental consciousness.

This type of mental object most commonly refers to a vow or precept.

Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics states:

Nonindicative form, such as the form of a vow, is material form that does not reveal or indicate the mind that motivates it.

The Digital Dictionary of Buddhism states:

Unmanifest matter that is created as a result of receiving the precepts into oneʼs mind. See 無表色 and 戒體. In the Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya, this is simply considered as 'unmanifest form'; but in Yogācāra, the seeds of goodness that are gained as a result of the mental action at the time of receiving the precepts are taken as the essence of the precepts. The word means 'gained according to the reception of the precepts.' A nominal element.

Note that:

• According to the Abhidharma-kosa, avijñaptirūpa is the only type of form that is a mental object
• According to the Abhidharma-samuccaya, avijñaptirūpa is one of five types of forms that are mental objects

Furthermore:

• In the abhidharma tradition of the Vaibhāṣika school, the imperceptible forms are understood as substantially existent entities.
• In the Sautrantika Abhidharma and in the Higher Abhidharma traditions, imperceptible forms are understood as lacking substantial existence.

Alternate translations

• imperceptible form (Erik Pema Kunsang, GTK; Rigpa wiki)
• nonindicative form (Thupten Jinpa and Ian James Coghlan, Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics; Coghlan, Ornament of Abhidharma)
• noninformative form (Artemus B. Engle, Inner Science)
• unmanifest material force (Buswell, Princeton Dictionary)
• innermost impression of perceptual form (Dan Lusthaus, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism)
• undertaken form (Lusthaus, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism)
• unmanifest form (Lusthaus, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism)
• non-revelatory form (Jim Valby, Ives Waldo)

Sources

• Thupten Jinpa, ed. (2017), Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics, Volume 1: The Physical World, translated by Ian James Coghlan, Wisdom Publications 
• Engle, Artemus B., ed. (2014), The Inner Science of Buddhist Practice: Vasubandhu's Summary of the Five Heaps with Commentary by Sthiramati, translated by Artemus B. Engle, Snow Lion 

External links

• rnam_par_rig_byed_ma_yin_pa'i_gzugs, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki