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.
In Hinduism
Purana and Itihasa (epic history)
Source: archive.org: Shiva Purana - English TranslationPratyeka (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)
Source: Wisdom Library: Tibetan BuddhismPratyeka (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)
Source: academia.edu: A Study and Translation of the GaganagañjaparipṛcchāPratyeka (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)
Source: archive.org: The Indian Buddhist Iconography (b)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)
Source: archive.org: TrisastisalakapurusacaritraPratyeka (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”.
Source: Encyclopedia of Jainism: Tattvartha Sutra 8: Bondage of karmasPratyeka (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
Source: DDSA: The Molesworth Marathi and English Dictionarypratyēka (प्रत्येक).—a (S) Each or every one. 2 Used as ad Severally; one by one.
Source: DDSA: The Aryabhusan school dictionary, Marathi-Englishpratyēka (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
Source: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionaryPratyeka (प्रत्येक).—a. each, each one, every single one.
-kam ind.
Pratyeka is a Sanskrit compound consisting of the terms prati and eka (एक).
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Edgerton Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit DictionaryPratyeka (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).
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English DictionaryPratyeka (प्रत्येक).—n. Adv.
(-kaṃ) Singly, one by one, one at a time. E. prati, and eka one.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Cappeller Sanskrit-English DictionaryPratyeka (प्रत्येक).—[adjective] each one, each single; °— & [neuter] = seq.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary1) 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.
Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Yates Sanskrit-English DictionaryPratyeka (प्रत्येक):—(kaṃ) adv. Singly, one by one.
Source: DDSA: Paia-sadda-mahannavo; a comprehensive Prakrit Hindi dictionary (S)Pratyeka (प्रत्येक) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit words: Paccea, Paḍikka, Pattea, Pattega, Patteya, Pāḍiekka, Pāḍikka.
[Sanskrit to German]
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
Source: DDSA: A practical Hindi-English dictionaryPratyeka (प्रत्येक) [Also spelled pratyek]:—(a) each, every one, each and every one.
...
Kannada-English dictionary
Source: Alar: Kannada-English corpusPratyēka (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.
--- OR ---
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
Source: unoes: Nepali-English DictionaryPratyeka (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: Eka, Praty, Prati.
Starts with (+2): Pratyeka Buddha, Pratyekabodhi, Pratyekabrahman, Pratyekabrahmana, Pratyekabuddha, Pratyekabuddhacatushtaya, Pratyekabuddhakatha, Pratyekabuddhatva, Pratyekabuddhayana, Pratyekacaitanya, Pratyekagraha, Pratyekajina, Pratyekakhadgin, Pratyekam, Pratyekanaraka, Pratyekarajan, Pratyekasatya, Pratyekasharira, Pratyekashas, Pratyekatavada.
Full-text (+69): Pratyekabuddha, Pratyekashas, Pratyekabodhi, Pratyekanaraka, Pratyekabuddhatva, Pratyekam, Pratyekayana, Pratyeka Buddha, Pratyekabuddhakatha, Pratyekabuddhacatushtaya, Pratyekabrahmana, Pratyekabrahman, Pratyekarajan, Pratyekakhadgin, Pratyekasharira, Pacceka, Khadgin, Pirattiyekam, Gramdēvatalu, Padikka.
Relevant text
Search found 60 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]
The travels of Fa-Hian (400 A.D.) (by Samuel Beal)
Trishashti Shalaka Purusha Caritra (by Helen M. Johnson)
Tattva 3: Puṇya (merit) < [Appendix 1.4: The nine tattvas]
Appendix 1.2: types of karma < [Appendices]
Part 3: The sermon of Sūri Dharmaghoṣa < [Chapter I]
Buddhist records of the Western world (Xuanzang) (by Samuel Beal)
Chapter 11 - Country of Kie-ling-kia (Kalinga) < [Book X - Seventeen Countries]
Chapter 33 - Country of Fan-yen-na (Bamiyan) < [Book I - Thirty-Four Countries]
Chapter 9 - Writing, Language, Literature, the Vedas and Study in India < [Book II - Three Countries]
Tattvartha Sutra (with commentary) (by Vijay K. Jain)
Verse 7.3 - The five observances (bhāvanā) < [Chapter 7 - The Five Vows]
Verse 3.8 - The successive extension of continents and oceans < [Chapter 3 - The Lower World and the Middle World]
Verse 7.24 - The transgressions for the vows and the supplementary vows < [Chapter 7 - The Five Vows]
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