Body: 6 definitions

Introduction
Image gallery
In Hinduism
1. Shaivism
2. Yoga
3. Jyotisha
In Buddhism
1. Tibetan Buddhism
In Jainism
1. General definition
See also
Buy products

Introduction:

Body means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Christianity, Jainism, Prakrit. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

Images (photo gallery)

(+160 more images available)

In Hinduism

Shaivism (Shaiva philosophy)

Source: SOAS University of London: Protective Rites in the Netra Tantra

The Conception of the Body in medieval India and the Netratantra.—The body (in Sanskrit: deha) was vulnerable to demons and reliant on deities for its continued existence. [...] For the Tantric practitioner, the divinized body is part of a psychophysical organism. Through practice, the Mantrin moves from the gross (sthūla) body to the subtle (sūkṣma) though breath practices and consciousness until he reaches its highest manifestation (para).

The body is less important than form (rūpa or svarūpa). Form includes the physical body as only a small part of the individual. A person's form includes their sthūla, sūkṣma, and para manifestations as well as their social bodies, including caste and name. The protective rites of the Netratantra reveal that the name of an individual overcome with illness works as a ritual substitute for that person. This is not to say that the physical body of the person is not important. The body is central to ritual practice. When the Mantrin places the mantra upon the body (nyāsa), he creates a Tantric body that itself becomes a ritual tool. The body and the mantra become fused. This allows the mantra to heal the body.

context information

Shaiva (शैव, śaiva) or Shaivism (śaivism) represents a tradition of Hinduism worshiping Shiva as the supreme being. Closely related to Shaktism, Shaiva literature includes a range of scriptures, including Tantras, while the root of this tradition may be traced back to the ancient Vedas.

Yoga (school of philosophy)

Source: ORA: Amanaska (king of all yogas): A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation by Jason Birch

The Body is denoted by the Sanskrit term Deha, according to the Haṭhatattvakaumudī by Sundaradeva: a large compendium on Yoga in roughly 2000 Sanskrit verses quoting from Yoga texts, Upaniṣads, Epics, Purāṇas, Dharmaśāstras etc.—Accordingly, “Now Rājayoga is explained as far as the [fourth stage called] Niṣpatti in Haṭhayoga, for the delight of Yogins who have naturally ascended to Yoga through the [stage] of Niṣpatti in [Haṭha]yoga. [It is for those Yogins] whose breath, internal fire, body (deha) and mind has been mastered and whose unequivocal realization [of the highest reality] has occurred”

context information

Yoga is originally considered a branch of Hindu philosophy (astika), but both ancient and modern Yoga combine the physical, mental and spiritual. Yoga teaches various physical techniques also known as āsanas (postures), used for various purposes (eg., meditation, contemplation, relaxation).

Jyotisha (astronomy and astrology)

Source: Journal of South Asian Intellectual History: Samarasiṃha and the Early Transmission of Tājika Astrology

Body refers to one the “thirty-two astrological lots” (sahamas), as discussed in the fourth chapter of the Karmaprakāśa—one of the earliest preserved Sanskrit works on Perso-Arabic (Tājika) astrology authored by Samarasiṃha in the 13th century.—The so-called lots (Sanskrit: sahamas; Arabic: sahm, translating κλῆρος) are derived by measuring the longitudinal distance between two predefined points in a horoscope (typically two planets) and projecting it from a third point (typically the ascendant degree). Of these 32 lots [e.g., Body], all but two are present in what has become the most widespread list of Tājika sahamas, compiled some three centuries later by Nīlakaṇṭha and comprising 50 items.

context information

Jyotisha (ज्योतिष, jyotiṣa or jyotish) refers to ‘astronomy’ or “Vedic astrology” and represents the fifth of the six Vedangas (additional sciences to be studied along with the Vedas). Jyotisha concerns itself with the study and prediction of the movements of celestial bodies, in order to calculate the auspicious time for rituals and ceremonies.

In Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)

Source: Google Books: The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems

1) The Body refers to one of the “Three Doors” (i.e., body, speech, and mind) which are known in Tibetan as sgo gsum.

2) The Body refers to one of the “Eleven Sense Faculties” (in Sāṃkhya thought) (in Tibetan: dbang po bcu gcig).—Sāṃkhyas assert definitively that all objects of knowledge are enumerated into twenty-five: (1) the principal, (2) the great, (3) the I-principle, (4–8) the five sense objects, (9–13) the five elements, (14–24) the eleven sense faculties [e.g., the body], and (25) the person, which is self, consciousness, and the knower. Of those, the person is asserted as conscious, while the remaining twenty-four — as aggregate composites — are insentient matter.

3) The Body is associated with one of the “Eight Consciousnesses” (in the Yogācāra tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism). The full list is the consciousness related to eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind, the afflicted mind, and the mind-basis-of-all.

context information

Tibetan Buddhism includes schools such as Nyingma, Kadampa, Kagyu and Gelug. Their primary canon of literature is divided in two broad categories: The Kangyur, which consists of Buddha’s words, and the Tengyur, which includes commentaries from various sources. Esotericism and tantra techniques (vajrayāna) are collected indepently.

In Jainism

General definition (in Jainism)

Source: ORA: Amanaska (king of all yogas): (Jainism)

The Body cane be denoted by the Sanskrit term Kāya, according to verse 12.42 of Hemacandra’s Yogaśāstra.—Accordingly, “At the time of the arising of the no-mind state, the Yogin experiences the body (kāya), which is as though it does not exist, as though [it were] separated, burned, flying up and dissolved”.

context information

Jainism is an Indian religion of Dharma whose doctrine revolves around harmlessness (ahimsa) towards every living being. The two major branches (Digambara and Svetambara) of Jainism stimulate self-control (or, shramana, ‘self-reliance’) and spiritual development through a path of peace for the soul to progess to the ultimate goal.

Relevant text

Search found 686 books and stories containing Body, The body; (plurals include: Bodies, The bodies). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

Sūtra 4.2.5 (Body is two-fold: sexually produced, and asexually produced) < [Chapter 2 - Of Tangible Atomic Products]

Sūtra 3.2.17 (Above answered—continued) < [Chapter 2 - Of the Inference of Soul and Mind]

Sūtra 3.2.16 (Above answered) < [Chapter 2 - Of the Inference of Soul and Mind]

+ 83 more chapters / show preview

Chapter II, Section III, Adhikarana X < [Section III]

Chapter III, Section II, Adhikarana V < [Section II]

Chapter II, Section III, Adhikarana XVII < [Section III]

+ 61 more chapters / show preview

Chapter IV.b - Two bodies of the Self (subtle and gross) < [Chapter IV - The concept of Self]

Chapter V.c - Prabhācandra’s refutation of Bauddha and Sāṃkhya view of Karman < [Chapter V - Bondage and Liberation]

Chapter IV.f - Size of the Self or Jīva < [Chapter IV - The concept of Self]

+ 12 more chapters / show preview