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Prajñaptivāda
Prajñaptivāda (Skt., prajñapti, ‘designation’, + vāda, ‘way’). An early school of Buddhism. Having originated in the late 3rd cent. BCE as an offshoot of the Mahāsaṃghikas, the Prajñaptivāda claims a line of descent from one of the Buddha's disciples, Mahākātyāyana. No texts of the school are extant but both Paramārtha and Vasumitra claim that the Prajñaptivāda had a special Abhidharmic text which differentiated between two levels of statement in the Buddha's teachings; those acceptable for non-initiates and therefore requiring further elaboration, and those aimed at adepts. Such a distinction closely corresponds to the Mahāyānist doctrine concerning conventional (saṃvṛti) and ultimate (paramārtha) sūtra utterances; and for this reason the Prajñaptivāda is sometimes held to be a proto-Mahāyānist school.
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JOHN BOWKER. "Prajñaptivāda." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN BOWKER. "Prajñaptivāda." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Prajaptivda.html JOHN BOWKER. "Prajñaptivāda." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Prajaptivda.html |
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Prajñaptivāda
Prajñaptivāda. Name of a subschool that broke away from the Mahāsaṃghikas and which maintained that there is a distinction between reality, and the manner it is experienced by ordinary beings. The latter, it was believed, superimpose false designations (prajñapti) upon reality through language and conceptual thought. This form of nominalism was later adopted by Mahāyāna Buddhists, especially those affiliated to the Madhyamaka school, and led to the elaboration of the theory of the ‘Two Truths’.
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Cite this article
DAMIEN KEOWN. "Prajñaptivāda." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. DAMIEN KEOWN. "Prajñaptivāda." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-Prajaptivda.html DAMIEN KEOWN. "Prajñaptivāda." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-Prajaptivda.html |
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