Pancagati, Pañcagati, Pancan-gati: 6 definitions
Introduction:
Pancagati means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Marathi. 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.
Alternative spellings of this word include Panchagati.
In Buddhism
Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)
Pañcagati (पञ्चगति) refers to the “five destinies”, according to the 2nd century Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra chapter XLVI.—Accordingly, “once the Buddha disappeared, the old sūtras were broadly disseminated; having been propagated for five hundred years, today they present many differences (viśeṣa) and the various schools do not agree; some assert five destinies (pañcagati), others assert six (ṣaḍgati). Those who accept five destinies are modifying the Buddhist sūtras as a result, and they assume five destinies (pañcagati); those who accept six destinies are modifying the text of the Buddhist sūtras as a result and are accepting six destinies. Moreover, in the Mahāyāna, the Fa-houa king (Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra) speaks of “beings distributed in the six destinies”, and from the viewpoint of the real meaning (abhiprāya) of the texts, there must be six destinies.”.
Pañcagati (पञ्चगति) refers to the “five states of existence”, according to the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: the eighth chapter of the Mahāsaṃnipāta (a collection of Mahāyāna Buddhist Sūtras).—Accordingly, “Then, the Lord went on to speak these verses: ‘[...] (82) The dharma is taught in order to purify the five kinds of sight (pañcacakṣus), to illuminate the five kinds of abilities (pañcendriya), to eliminate the five states of existence (pañcagati), and to makes the five aggregates disappear (pañcaskandha). It is not dependent on this side nor that side, but established in the realm of the dharma, same as the sameness of the sky, and it exalts a being in accordance with the knowledge of the Buddha. [...]’”.
Mahayana (महायान, mahāyāna) is a major branch of Buddhism focusing on the path of a Bodhisattva (spiritual aspirants/ enlightened beings). Extant literature is vast and primarely composed in the Sanskrit language. There are many sūtras of which some of the earliest are the various Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.
Languages of India and abroad
Marathi-English dictionary
pañcagati (पंचगति).—f (S) The five paces of the horse; viz. bharapallā or caivaḍacāla, turakī or gāmacāla, durakī, bā- jīcāla, caukacāla; or, in Sanskrit, āskandita, ghau- ritaka, rēcita, valgita, lputa.
Marathi is an Indo-European language having over 70 million native speakers people in (predominantly) Maharashtra India. Marathi, like many other Indo-Aryan languages, evolved from early forms of Prakrit, which itself is a subset of Sanskrit, one of the most ancient languages of the world.
Pali-English dictionary
pañcagati (ပဉ္စဂတိ) [(thī) (ထီ)]—
[pañca+gati]
[ပဉ္စ+ဂတိ]
[Pali to Burmese]
pañcagati—
(Burmese text): ၅-ပါးသောဂတိ၊ ဂတိ ၅-ပါး၊ လား-ရောက်-အပ်သော-ဘုံ-ဘဝ-၅-မျိုး။
(Auto-Translation): Five types of existence, five types of existence related to life, five kinds of worldly lives that can be attained.
Pali is the language of the Tipiṭaka, which is the sacred canon of Theravāda Buddhism and contains much of the Buddha’s speech. Closeley related to Sanskrit, both languages are used interchangeably between religions.
Sanskrit dictionary
Pañcagati (in Sanskrit) can be associated with the following Chinese terms:
1) 五趣 [wǔ qù]: “five destinies”.
Note: pañcagati can be alternatively written as: pañca-gati.
Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Partial matches (+0): Gati, Panca.
Starts with (+0): Pancagati Butta, Pancagatigami, Pancagatika, Pancagatipapata, Pancagatipariccheda, Pancagatiparicchedaka, Pancagatiparicchedakanana, Pancagatiparicchedanana, Pancagatisamarulha, Pancagatisamatikranta, Pancagatisamvattana, Pancagatisamvattaniya, Pancagativanana, Pancagativannana, Pancagatiyo.
Full-text (+4): Pancagatisamarulha, Pancagatisamvattana, Pancagatisamvattaniya, Pancagatigami, Pancagativanana, Pancagatipapata, Pancagatiparicchedaka, Pancagatipariccheda, Pancagatisamatikranta, Pancagati Butta, Pancagatika, Gati, Sadgati, Skandha, Panca, Priyapudgala, Vairipudgala, Pancaskandha, Wu qu, Pancendriya.
Relevant text
Search found 5 books and stories containing Pancagati, Pañcagati, Pancan-gati, Pañca-gati, Pañcan-gati, Panca-gati; (plurals include: Pancagatis, Pañcagatis, gatis). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra (by Gelongma Karma Migme Chödrön)
Appendix 4 - Five destinies (pañcagati) or six destinies (ṣaḍgati) < [Chapter XLVI - Venerating with the Roots of Good]
Courses through the five destinies (pañcagati) < [The world of transmigration]
Introduction (the world of transmigration) < [The world of transmigration]
Spirits of Air and Goblins Damned < [Volume 16, Issue 4 (2025)]
Milindapanha (questions of King Milinda) (by T. W. Rhys Davids)
Chapter 1d: Why Devadatta was admitted to the order < [Book 4 - The Solving of Dilemmas]
Jataka tales [English], Volume 1-6 (by Robert Chalmers)
Jataka 530: Saṃkicca-jātaka < [Volume 5]
Dasabhumika Sutra (translation and study) (by Hwa Seon Yoon)
Part 1 - The First Stage named Pramudita [Introductory Stanza] < [Chapter 4 - Annotated Translation of the Dasabhumika-Sutra]