Pratyeka, Prati-eka, Pratyēka: 20 definitions
Introduction:
Pratyeka means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, Jainism, Prakrit, Marathi, Hindi. 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 Pratyek.
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In Hinduism
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक) refers to “severally”, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.4.4 (“Search for Kārttikeya and his conversation with Nandin”).—Accordingly, as Nandīśvara said to Kārttikeya and the Kṛttikās: “[...] Śiva asked the assembly severally (pratyeka) about you in order to get you back. They too replied in a suitable manner. They said to Śiva that you were here in the abode of Kṛttikās. Dharma and others who are the cosmic witnesses of all righteous and unrighteous activities revealed your whereabouts. [...]”.
The Purana (पुराण, purāṇas) refers to Sanskrit literature preserving ancient India’s vast cultural history, including historical legends, religious ceremonies, various arts and sciences. The eighteen mahapuranas total over 400,000 shlokas (metrical couplets) and date to at least several centuries BCE.
In Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana or tantric Buddhism)
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक) is the name of a Rāśi (zodiac sign) mentioned as attending the teachings in the 6th century Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa: one of the largest Kriyā Tantras devoted to Mañjuśrī (the Bodhisattva of wisdom) representing an encyclopedia of knowledge primarily concerned with ritualistic elements in Buddhism. The teachings in this text originate from Mañjuśrī and were taught to and by Buddha Śākyamuni in the presence of a large audience (including Pratyeka).
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.
Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक) refers to “isolated” (e.g, Pratyekabuddha—‘the isolated Buddhas’), according to the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: the eighth chapter of the Mahāsaṃnipāta (a collection of Mahāyāna Buddhist Sūtras).—Accordingly, “How then, son of good family, does the Bodhisattva know the essential character of behaviour of all living beings? There, son of good family, are eighty-four thousand kinds of behaviour of living beings, and these are the basic words of a summary. The behaviour of all living beings, which is immeasurable, unthinkable, and ineffable, is known by the knowledge of a Buddha, but not by the knowledge of the disciples, the isolated Buddhas (pratyeka-buddha-jñāna), or the knowledge of Bodhisattva. Thus the Bodhisattva penetrates the characteristics of behaviour of all beings through the presence of the Buddhas and his own knowledge. [...]”.
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.
General definition (in Buddhism)
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक) or Pratyekabuddha refers to an adherent of the Pratyekabuddhayāna, one of the various Buddhist paths (yāna).—Lord Buddha prescribed Yānas in the beginning, namely, the Śrāvakayāna and the Pratyekabuddhayāna. [...] The Śrāvakas were to hear from a Buddha but they had to wait till the advent of another Buddha for their emancipation. In the meanwhile the Śrāvakas could teach, but they could neither attain Nirvāṇa themselves nor help others to attain it. The Pratyekas were eminent men; they could attain Nirvāṇa by their own efforts, without the help of a Buddha but they could not impart Nirvāṇa to others.
In Jainism
General definition (in Jainism)
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक) refers to “plants having one soul in one body” and represents an attribute of certain sthāvara-jīvas (“immovable living things”), according to chapter 1.1 [ādīśvara-caritra] of Hemacandra’s 11th century Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritra: an ancient Sanskrit epic poem narrating the history and legends of sixty-three illustrious persons in Jainism.
Accordingly, in the sermon of Sūri Dharmaghoṣa:—“[...] the immovable jīvas [viz., sthāvara] having one sense are: earth, water, fire, air, and plants. The first four of these may be either fine (sūkṣma) or gross, (bādara). Plants are of two kinds: those that have one soul in one body (pratyeka) and those that have many souls in one body (sādhāraṇa); and those that have many souls in one body are also of two kinds, fine and gross”.
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक) or Pratyekaśarīra refers to the “individual body” and represents one of the various kinds of Nāma, or “physique-making (karmas)”, which represents one of the eight types of Prakṛti-bandha (species bondage): one of the four kinds of bondage (bandha) according to the 2nd-century Tattvārthasūtra chapter 8. What is meant by individual body (pratyeka) body-making karma? The karmas rise of which causes each living being to have individual /personal body is called individual body-making karma.
The opposite-pair of the pratyeka-śarīra (individual body) is the sādhāraṇa-śarīra (common body).
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.
Languages of India and abroad
Marathi-English dictionary
pratyēka (प्रत्येक).—a (S) Each or every one. 2 Used as ad Severally; one by one.
pratyēka (प्रत्येक).—a Each or every one. ad Severally; one by one.
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.
Sanskrit dictionary
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक).—a. each, each one, every single one.
-kam ind.
Pratyeka is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms prati and eka (एक).
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक).—(°-), adj., chiefly as prior member of cpds. (but compare pratyekāṃ bodhiṃ Divyāvadāna 294.10; Avadāna-śataka i.99.17; °kāyāṃ bodhau Divyāvadāna 70.6; 209.16; °kā bodhiḥ Avadāna-śataka i.136.7), primarily as in Sanskrit, for a single person, individual, personal; especially common in pratyekabuddha and other cpds. showing this meaning, see the following items; in some [Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit] cpds., in part with equivalents in Pali, this seems to have developed special connotations, possibly owing to the standard con- trast between a pratyekabuddha's rating (far inferior) and that of a real (samyak-saṃ-)buddha. So pratyeka- niraya (Pali pacceka-n°) or °naraka seems clearly to be a place of less severe punishment than a (mahā-, or regular) niraya: note Mahāvastu i.103.(7-)9 (yadi kecit, sc. bodhisattvāḥ, kathaṃcid…avīciṃ mahānirayaṃ gacchanti, atha khalu) pratyekanirayaṃ gacchanti (text adds, they are never born as pretas, asuras, etc.); also Mahāvastu ii.350.10, 12; pratyeka- narakaḥ Mahāvyutpatti 4944 = Tibetan ñi tshe baḥi (ephemeral; single, simple, Jäschke (Tibetan-English Dictionary); [Tibetan-English Dictionary] adds, very small, minute; animals that do not live more than a day) sems can (creatures) dmyal ba (hell), app. then a hell in which creatures live for a short time; Chin. individual hell; no Japanese rendering; iha pratyeka- narakeṣūpapannāḥ…asmābhir itaś cyutair narakeṣūpa- pattavyaṃ bhaviṣyati (app. for further, more serious punishment) Divyāvadāna 335.25; bahuśaṅkur nāma pratyekana- rakaḥ Śikṣāsamuccaya 57.1; śramaṇavarṇapratirūpakaṃ nāma pra°- narakaṃ (n. sg.!) Śikṣāsamuccaya 136.10; °narakān Bodhisattvabhūmi 151.16; °narakaḥ Karmavibhaṅga (and Karmavibhaṅgopadeśa) 53.13-14; (tasminn eva janmani) pratyekasvargaṃ pra°narakaṃ (n. sg.) cānubhūtam 57.2 (refers to story of which 53.13-14 is part); here private, personal heaven and hell seem to fit, since the one who experiences both seems to be a single individual (at a given time; a former inhabitant of the pra°naraka is released as the new one arrives); pratyeka-rājan Mahāvastu ii.270.10 (see s.v. pṛthu), contrasting with cakravartin, either minor, subordinate, or individual (belonging to a single land?); [Page379-a+ 71] pratyeka-brahman (= Pali pacceka°, [Pali Text Society’s Pali-English Dictionary] an independent Brahma), Karmavibhaṅga (and Karmavibhaṅgopadeśa) 34.8, see s.v. Baka (Lévi, devenu un des Brahmas, which can hardly suffice); in Mahāvastu i.103.1, most strangely, the words brāhmaṇa and pratyeka-brā° seem used for (the god) Brahman and pratyeka-brahman: (bodhisattvā avaivartikadharmā…never enter an evil existence,) atha khalu brāhmaṇā bhavanti pratyekabrāh- maṇā vā indrāś ca upendrāś ca yakṣādhipatayaś ca yakṣāś ca…(note parallelism between pratyeka-br°, contrasting with br°, and upendra and yakṣa, contrasting with Indra and yakṣādhipati).
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक).—n. Adv.
(-kaṃ) Singly, one by one, one at a time. E. prati, and eka one.
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक).—[adjective] each one, each single; °— & [neuter] = seq.
1) Pratyeka (प्रत्येक):—[=praty-eka] [from praty > prati] mfn. each one, e° single o°, every o°, [Jaimini [Scholiast or Commentator]]
2) [v.s. ...] n. a [particular] sin, [Buddhist literature]
3) [v.s. ...] n. ([in the beginning of a compound] or am ind.) one by one, one at a time, singly, for every single one, [Śāṅkhāyana-śrauta-sūtra; Manu-smṛti; Kāvya literature] etc.
4) [v.s. ...] see p. 664, [column] 2.
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक):—(kaṃ) adv. Singly, one by one.
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक):—(1. pra + eka) adj. je einer, jeder einzelne: sarvaḥ pratyekadoṣeṇa pratyekaṃ phalamaśnute [Oxforder Handschriften 25,a, Nalopākhyāna 2.] padānām [Scholiast] zu [Jaimini 1, 25.] kam adv. je einzeln, bei —, mit jedem Einzelnen, für jeden Einzelnen, jedem Einzelnen [Śāṅkhāyana’s Śrautasūtrāṇi 15, 5, 14. 17, 4, 9.] [Manu’s Gesetzbuch 7, 157.] [Kapila 2, 4.] viveśa daṇḍakāraṇyaṃ pratyekaṃ ca satāṃ manaḥ und in jedes Edlen Herz [Raghuvaṃśa 12, 9.] sā paurān pratyekaṃ hlādayāṃ cakre [?3.7,31. Kumārasaṃbhava.2,31. Rājataraṅgiṇī.5,127. Mārkāṇḍeyapurāṇa 58,57. 110,40. Pañcatantra 241,7. Vetālapañcaviṃśati.3,1. Prabodhacandrodaja 44,9. Sāhityadarpana 16. Oxforder Handschriften 14,b,36. Kullūka zu Manu’s Gesetzbuch.5,20. Kāśikīvṛtti zu Pāṇini’s acht Bücher.5,1,9. Scholiast zu Pāṇini’s acht Bücher.1,1,69.2,1,6.2,11.] Am Auf. eines comp. ohne Casuszeichen [Raghuvaṃśa 16, 47.] [Prabodhacandrodaja 21, 6.] Bei [WASSILJEW] erscheint pratyeka häufig in der Bed. von pratyekabuddha .
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक):——
1) Adj. je einer , jeder einzelne. —
2) pratyekam und pratyeka Adv. je einzeln , bei — , mit jedem Einzelnen , für jeden E. , jedem E.
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit words: Paccea, Paḍikka, Pattea, Pattega, Patteya, Pāḍiekka, Pāḍikka.
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.
Hindi dictionary
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक) [Also spelled pratyek]:—(a) each, every one, each and every one.
...
Kannada-English dictionary
Pratyēka (ಪ್ರತ್ಯೇಕ):—
1) [adjective] not associated or connected with others; having existence as an entity; distinct; separate.
2) [adjective] excluding or tending to exclude all others; shutting out other considerations, happenings, existences, etc.; exclusive.
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Pratyēka (ಪ್ರತ್ಯೇಕ):—
1) [noun] the condition or quality of being separate; separateness.
2) [noun] the condition or quality of being exclusive; exclusiveness.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Pratyeka (प्रत्येक):—adj. each; every;
Nepali is the primary language of the Nepalese people counting almost 20 million native speakers. The country of Nepal is situated in the Himalaya mountain range to the north of India.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Partial matches: Praty, Eka, Prati.
Starts with (+4): Pratyeka Buddha, Pratyekabodhi, Pratyekabrahman, Pratyekabrahmana, Pratyekabuddhacatushtaya, Pratyekabuddhajnana, Pratyekabuddhakatha, Pratyekabuddhaniyama, Pratyekabuddhatva, Pratyekabuddhayana, Pratyekabuddhicatu, Pratyekabuddhicatukatha, Pratyekacaitanya, Pratyekagraha, Pratyekajina, Pratyekakhadgin, Pratyekam, Pratyekanaraka, Pratyekarajan, Pratyekasatya.
Full-text (+128): Pratyeka Buddha, Pratyekashas, Pratyekabodhi, Pratyekanaraka, Pratyekabuddhatva, Pratyekam, Pi zhi fu, Pratyekayana, Du jue, Er cheng, Pratyekabuddhakatha, Pratyekabuddhacatushtaya, Bei zhi jia, Pi zhi, Sheng du, Pratyekabrahmana, Pratyekabrahman, Pratyekarajan, Pratyekakhadgin, Yuan jue cheng.
Relevant text
Search found 73 books and stories containing Pratyeka, Prati-eka, Praty-eka, Pratyēka; (plurals include: Pratyekas, ekas, Pratyēkas). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Shurangama Sutra (with commentary) (English) (by Hsuan Hua)
Fixed-nature pratyekas < [Chapter 6 - The Consciousness Skandha]
Ananda regrets excessive learning and requests samadhi < [Chapter 4 - Ananda’s Fall]
A broad explanation of the fulfillment of an audience < [Chapter 3 - The Testimony of Faith]
Advayavajra-samgraha (Sanskrit text and English introduction) (by Mahamahopadhyaya Haraprasad Shastri)
Part 3 - The three Kayas < [Introduction]
Part 2 - Doctrines of the different Yanas < [Introduction]
Part 4 - The theory of Karuna < [Introduction]
Bhakti-rasayana by Madhusudana Sarasvati (by Lance Edward Nelson)
Notes for chapter 5 < [Chapter 5 - Madhusudana on Advaita-Bhakti]
Dictionaries of Indian languages (Kosha)
Page 134 < [Bengali-Hindi-English, Volume 2]
Page 363 < [Hindi-Assamese-English Volume 3]
Page 311 < [Hindi-Malayalam-English Volume 3]
Journal of Ayurveda and Integrated Medical Sciences
A comprehensive study on regional anatomy of Urdhwa Shaakhaagata Siramarma by... < [Vol. 5 No. 05 (2020)]
Amsaphalaka Marma - A Cadaveric Study < [Vol. 9 No. 5 (2024)]
Literary review on strides of Ayurveda manuscript research and contemporary... < [Vol. 9 No. 1 (2024)]
Gommatsara by Acharya Nemichandra (by Bai Bahadur J. L. Jaini)
Chapter 7 - The concept of Thought-activities (Bhava) < [Volume 3 - Karma-kanda, part 2]
Chapter 8 - The concept of Kaya-margana (Embodiment soul-quest) < [Volume 1 - Jiva-kanda (the soul)]
Index < [Volume 1 - Jiva-kanda (the soul)]
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