Subitism

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subitism. A term coined by Western academics to describe the concept of "sudden awakening" in the Mahayana literature of East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism. The term is most closely associated with the Chinese concept of dunwu.

Etymology

The application of the term "subitism" to Buddhism is derived from the French illumination subite (sudden awakening), contrasting with illumination graduelle (gradual awakening). It gained currency in this use in English from the work of Swiss-French sinologist Paul Demiéville. His 1947 work 'Mirror of the Mind' was widely read in the U.S. It inaugurated a series by him on subitism and gradualism.[1][2]

The Chinese term dun 頓, as used in dunwu 頓悟, translated as "subite," sudden,[2] has a broader meaning than "sudden."[2] It is more aptly translated as "in one glance," "uncovered all together," or "together, completely, simultaneously," in contrast to "successively or being uncovered one after the other."[3] It means that all aspects of Buddhist practice are realized, or actualized, simultaneously, and not one after another as in a gradual or linear school curriculum. Specifically, the defilements are not erased gradually, by good works, but simultaneously.[4][5][6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Bernard Faure, Chan/Zen Studies in English: The State Of The Field
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Stein 1991, p. 42.
  3. ↑ Stein 1991, p. 43.
  4. ↑ Stein 1991, pp. 50, 51; 45.
  5. ↑ Gomez 1991, p. 71.
  6. ↑ Lai 1991, pp. 175, 177.

Sources

  • Gomez, Luis O. (1991), "Purifying Gold: The Metaphor of Effort and Intuition in Buddhist Thought and Practice", in Peter N. Gregory, Sudden and Gradual. Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers 
  • Lai, Whalen (1991), "Tao Sheng's Theory of Sudden Enlightenment Re-examined", in Peter N. Gregory, Sudden and Gradual. Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, pp. 169–200 
  • Stein, R.A. (1991), "Sudden Illumination or Simultaneous Comprehension: Remarks on Chinese and Tibetan Terminology", in Peter N. Gregory, Sudden and Gradual. Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers 

Further reading

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