Sahaja

Sahaja (T. lhan skyes/lhan cig skyes pa ལྷན་ཅིག་སྐྱེ་བ་; C. jushengqi 生起) is translated as co-emergent, innate, inherent, intrinsic, etc. This term is commonly contrasted with parikalpita (imputed, imaginary).

The Mahāvyutpatti states:

sahaja.

born or produced together or at the same time as |

congenital, innate, hereditary, original, natural |

by birth, 'by nature', 'naturally' |

with |

always the same as from the beginning |

natural state or disposition | said to be also |

a brother of whole blood |

N. of various kings and other men |

of a Tāntric teacher.

Sahaja is used in the following contexts:

• sahajātmagraha - innate self-grasping
• sahajakleśāvaraṇa - innate afflictive obstructions
• sahajāvidyā - innate ignorance
• sahajayāna - innate vehicle
• in tantra - innate or true nature (see below)

Within tantra

The term sahaja is used in tantric verses associated with the Indian masters Saraha, Tilopa, et al. In this context, the term is used to refer to one's innate or true nature.

The Tibetan term (ལྷན་སྐྱེ་ or ལྷན་ཅིག་སྐྱེ་བ་) appears widely in Mahamudra texts.

Sources

• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University 

External links

• lhan_skyes, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki
• lhan_cig_skyes_pa, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki
• ལྷན་ཅིག་སྐྱེ་བ་, Rigpa Shedra Wiki