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Saddharmapundarika Sutra: The Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra in Sanskrit. "Sad" means wonderful, and "Pundarika" means white lotus flower.
Sagely Wheel-turning King: He is referred to a Buddha as universal spiritual king with all kinds of good marks and appearance, or a god over a universe, or a preacher of the supreme doctrine. The wheel is probably a symbol of the sun with its myraid rays.
Saha Land: Also called the Saha World. It refers to the land on Earth. Saha interprets as bearing and enduring. Saha Land is contrary to Pure Land. It is a place of good and evil. A universe where all are subjected to transmigration and in which a Buddha transforms.
Sakrdagamin: A Sanskrit word means one who returns once. It is the certification of the second fruit of Arhatship. Being a Sakrdagamin, he returns once - once to heaven and once among men before he cuts off the last three categories of his delusions in thought in the Desire Realm.
Samadhi: Sanskrit word for meditation. See Meditation and Contemplation.
Samana: A Pali word, Sramana in Sanskrit. One who practices austerities; an ascetic.
Samantabhadra Bodhisattva: Also called Visvabhadra Bodhisattva, Universally Worthy Bodhisattva. Being one of the Four Great Bodhisattvas, he is the Bodhisattva of Great Conduct, representing the Law. He has Ten Great King Vows, which are the guidelines in practising Buddhism, and cultivating the Buddhist Way.
Samhita: One of four types of Vedic literature in ancient India. It consists of four sections, including poems, songs, rituals, mandra, etc.
Sammatiyah: One of the Hinayana sect, a branch of Sthavirandin, developed from Vatsiputriyah. It is a school of correct measures, or correct evaluation, formed about 300 years after the Nirvana of Shakyamuni. It was classified in the Pudgalavadin category, thus often linked with Vatsiputriyah.
Samsara: Sanskrit word meaning turning of the wheel or revolving. It refers to the transmigration in the Six Directions of Reincarnation, the realm of birth and death.
Samskara: See Volition or Five Skandhas.
Sangha: The Buddhist monastic order. The corporate assembly of at least 3 monks under a chairman, empowered to hear confession, grant absolution and ordain. In general terms, it refers to any community practising the Buddhist Way.
Sanjna: See Recognition or Five Skandhas.
Sankrantivada: See Sautrantika.
Sannagarikah: One of the Hinayana sect, a branch of Sthavirandin, developed from Vatsiputriyah.
Sanskrit: Brahma letters. The classical Aryan language of ancient India, systematized by scholars. With the exception of a few ancient translations probably from Pali versions, most of the original texts in Buddhism used in China were Sanskrit.
Sariputra: Sariputra in Sanskrit, Sariputta in Pali. He was born in a Brahman family near Rajagaha. At the age of 17, he mastered all Vedic doctrines. In seeking a good teacher, he studied under one of the six great non-Buddhist teachers called Sanjaya. He met Shakyamuni with the aid of Assaji, one of the Five Bhiksus. He then became one of the Ten Great Disciples of Shakyamuni, noted for his wisdom and learning. He was also the right-hand attendant on Shakyamuni. He died before Shakyamuni entered Nirvana. He figures prominently in certain sutras. He is represented as standing with Maudgalyayana by the Buddha when entering Nirvana. He is to reappear as Padmaprabha Buddha.
Sarvastivadah: One of the early Hinayana sects, said to be formed about 200-300 years after the Nirvana of Shakyamuni. A branch of the Vaibhasika claiming Rahula as founder. A school of reality of all phenomena asserting the doctrine that all things are real.
Satyasiddhi School: One of the Ten Schools of Chinese Buddhism. Founded on the Satyasiddhi Shastra by Harivarman.
Satyasiddhi Shastra: Written by Harivarman and translated by Kumarajiva, on which the Satyasiddhi Sect bases its doctrine. It was a Hinayana variation of the Sunya (emptiness) doctrine. The term is defined as perfectly establishing the real meaning of the Sutras.
Sautrantika: Sutravada in Sanskrit, Suttavada in Pali. Libereally means reliance upon sutras, the original Buddhist texts, therefore emphasized the efficacy and authority of the sutras. Also called Sankrantivada as it held the view that the Skandhas transmigrate from the former world to the later world. It is one of the Hinayana sect, a branch of Sthaviradin developed from Sarvastivadah. Vasubandhu's arguments in the Abhidharmakosa criticize the Vaibhasikas from a Sautrantika viewpoint. The ideas influenced Mahayana doctrines to form Yogacara school.
Savatthi: Savatthi in Pali, Sravasti in Sanskrit. The capital of the ancient Kingdom of Kosala, where the famous monastery (Bodhimandala) Jetavanna Grove was located.
Sensation: Or Feeling. The Sanskrit word is Vedana. One of the Five Skandhas. See Five Skandhas.
Seven Gems: They are gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, mother-of-pearl, red pearls and carnelian.
Seven Title Classification: Sutra titles fall into seven classes accordingly to their reference to person, Dharma and analogy.
Shakya: Sakiya in Pali and Sakya in Sanskrit. The tribe to which Shakyamuni belonged.
Shakyamuni: Sakayamuni in Sanskrit, Shakyamuni in Pali. The founder of Buddhism. He was born as the Prince of Sakyans, and was called Siddhartha Goutama. At the age of 35, he attained the supreme Enlightenment and became the Buddha and was the called Shakyamuni. The word means "capability and kindness".
Shatika Shastra: One of the Three Shastra of Madhyamika School, so called because of its 100 verses, each of 32 words. It was written in Sanskrit by Vasubandhu and translated by Kumarajiva, but the versions differ.
Siddhartha: Siddhartha in Sanskrit, Siddhattha in Pali. The given name of Shakyamuni when he was born to the Prince Suddhodana. The name means "wish fulfilled".
Singalovada Sutra: A short sutra about ethics and morality.
Six Consciousness: They are the perceptions and the discriminative ability of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.
Six Directions of Reincarnation: (1) Naraka, i.e. Hell
Six Dusts: See Six Gunas.
Six Entrances: see Six Places and Six Indriyas.
Six External Bases: See Six Gunas.
Six Fields of Senses: See Six Gunas.
Six Fulfilment: The six requirements indicating that the Sutra is a true record of teachings given directly by the Buddha. They are the fulfilment of meeting the requirement
Six Gunas: Or Six External Bases, or Six Dusts. They are sight, sound, scent/smell, taste, tangibles/touch and dharma/idea. They are the qualities produced by the objects and organs of sense.
Six Heavens of Desire: See Three Realms.
Six Indriyas: Or Six Internal Bases, or Six Sense-organs, or Six Places. They are eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind.
Six Internal Bases: See Six Indriyas.
Six Paramita: See Paramita.
Six Paths: See Six Directions of Reincarnation.
Six Periods of Day and Night: Six periods in a day, three for day and three for night, i.e. morning, noon, evening, night, midnight, dawn.
Six Places: Sanskrit word is Sadayatana. See Six Indriyas.
Six Psychic Power: (1) the phychic power of the heavenly eye
Six Roots: Or Six Sense-organs, see Six Indriyas.
Six Sense-organs: See Six Indriyas.
Six States of Existence: See Six Directions of Reincarnation.
Sixteen Contemplations: See Vipasyana Sukhavativyha Sutra.
Sixteen Hearts: There are eight hearts within the Desire Realm:
Sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception: The highest of the four heavens in the Realm of Formlessness, or called the sphere of no-thing.
Sphere of no-thing: The heavens without form, immaterial, consisting only of the mind in contemplation, being four in number of which the "sphere of neither-perception-nor-nonperception" is the highest.
Spiritual Ghost: Living in the Ghost Path. They are kind dwelling in the nature, e.g. trees, mountain and sea protecting the creatures.
Sramanera: Literally, it means the one who ceases from evil and does works of mercy or lives altruistically. He is a devoted and zealous man who has taken a vow to obey the ten commandments in Buddhist orders:
Sramaneraka: Sramenera in female gender obeying the ten commandments of Sramanera too.
Sravaka: The first or initial stage in Hinayana, the second being that of Praetyka-Buddha. Sravaka, a Sanskrit word, means a hearer. It generally relates to Hinayana disciple who understands the Four Noble Truth in entering Nirvana.
Srotaapanna: A Sanskrit word means one who has entered the flow, Sota-panna in Pali. He opposes the flow of common people's six dusts and enters the flow of the Sage's Dharma-nature.
Sruti: The bibles of Brahmans, which are absolute truths originated from holy gods. They dictated the philosophical and religious thoughts in ancient India.
Sthavirah: Also known as Sthaviranikaya or Aryasthavirah. Sthavirah and Mahasanghikah are the two earliest sects in Buddhism. At first, they were not considered to be different. Sthavirah merely represented the intimate and older disciples of Shakyamuni, while Mahasanghika being the rest. It is said that a century later, a difference of opinion arose on certain doctrines. Three divisions were named as a result (all in Ceylon):
Sthaviranikaya: See Sthavirah.
Stupa: Sanskrit word means burial mound, which contains the ashes or relics of an enlightened being. In China, it appears as pagoda, representing the place where Buddha "lives".
Subhadra: Subhadra in Sanskrit, Subhadda in Pali. A Brahman of age 120, who became Shakyamuni's disciple shortly before Shakyamuni's death and is therefore known as the last disciple.
Sudatta: See Anathapindika.
Sudden Enlightenment: Enlightened all of a sudden by hearing or studying Dharma, usually for those who practices Ch'an.
Suddhodana: Pure Rice Prince, the father of Shakyamuni, ruled over the Sakyans at Kapilaratthu on the Nepalese border.
Sudra: Sudra in Sanskrit, Sudda in Pali. The lowest of the four Indian Castes at the time of Shakyamuni. They were peasants, slaves and serfs.
Sukhavativyuha Sutra: It is one of the main Sutras for Pure Land Sect. It stipulates the Forty-eight Vows of Amitabha Buddha, which give rise to the characteristic of the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss in the West.
Sumeru: Sanskrit words. It means wonderful high mountain. It is composed of gold. silver, lapis lazuli and crystal, therefore it is so wonderful. It is eighty four thousand Yugamdhara high and eighty found thousand Yugamdhara wide, which is the greatest mountain amongst all.
Sutra: Sutra in Sanskrit, Sutta in Pali. It is a "path" necessarily passed through in the cultivation of the Way.