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| Translations of Nāmarūpa | |
|---|---|
| Sanskrit | Nāmarūpa |
| Burmese | နာမရူပ (MLCTS:nàma̰jùpa̰) |
| Chinese | 名色 (Pinyin:míngsè) |
| Japanese | 名色 (Rōmaji:myōshiki) |
| Korean | 명색 (RR:myeongsaek) |
| Sinhala | නාමරූප |
| Tibetan | ཎམརུཔ་ ming.gzugs |
| Tagalog | namalupa |
| Thai | นามรูป (RTGS: nammarup) |
| Vietnamese | danh sắc |
| Glossary of Buddhism | |
Nāmarūpa (Sanskrit:नामरूप) is used in Buddhism to refer to the constituents of a living being:nāma is typically considered to refer to the mental component of the person, whilerūpa refers to the physical. Most often found as a single compound word understood literally as name-and-form or named form.
Nāmarūpa is advandva compound inSanskrit andPali meaning "name (nāma) and form (rūpa)".
Nama (name) andRupa (form) is the simple worldly identity of any form by a name both of which are considered temporal and not true identity with the nameless and formless ‘reality’ or ‘Absolute’ in Hinduism that has manifested as maya. In Buddhism the loss of all names and forms (conception of distinct concepts) leads to the realization of the Ultimate reality of ‘Shunyatha’ or ‘Emptiness’ or Nirvana “Naked Truth” removed of Maya.
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This term is used in Buddhism to refer to the constituents of a living being:nāma refers to the mental, whilerūpa refers to the physical. The Buddhistnāma andrūpa are mutually dependent, and not separable; asnāmarūpa, they designate an individual being (or distinct things).[a] Namarupa are also referred to as thefive skandhas, "the psycho-physical organism", “mind-and-matter,” and “mentality-and-materiality”.
In thePali Canon, theBuddha describesnāmarūpa in this manner (English on left,Pali on right):
| "And what [monks] is name-&-form?Feeling,perception,intention,contact, &attention: This is called name. The fourgreat elements, and the form dependent on the four great elements: This is calledform. This name & this form are, [monks], called name-&-form."[1] | Katamañcabhikkhave nāmarūpaṃ?Vedanāsaññācetanāphassomanasikāro, idaṃ vuccati nāmaṃ. Cattāro camahābhūtā, catunnaṃ ca mahābhūtānaṃ upādāyarūpaṃ, idaṃ vuccatirūpaṃ. Iti idañca nāmaṃ, idañca rūpaṃ, idaṃ vuccati bhikkhave, nāmarūpaṃ.[2] |
Elsewhere in thePali Canon,nāmarūpa is used synonymously with the fiveaggregates.[3] or as the process of perception[4] in modern interpretation.
In keeping with the doctrine ofanātman/anatta, "the absence of an (enduring, essential) self",nāma andrūpa are held to be constantly in a state of flux, with only the continuity of experience (itself a product ofdependent origination) providing an experience of any sort of conventional 'self'.
Nāmarūpa is the fourth of theTwelve Nidānas, preceded by consciousness (Pali:viññāna; Skt.:vijñana) and followed by the six sense bases (Pali:saḷāyatana; Skt:ṣaḍāyatana). Thus, in theSutta Nipata, the Buddha explains to the Ven. Ajita howsamsaricrebirth ceases:
The termnāmarūpa is used inHindu thought,nāma describing the spiritual or essential properties of an object or being, andrūpa the physical presence that it manifests. These terms are used similarly to the way that 'essence' and 'accident' are used inCatholictheology to describetransubstantiation. The distinction between nāma and rūpa in Hindu thought explains the ability of spiritual powers to manifest through inadequate or inanimate vessels - as observed in possession and oracular phenomena, as well as in the presence of the divine in images that are worshiped throughpūja.
Nāma Rupatmak Vishva is the Vedanta (a school ofSanatana Dharma/Hinduism) term for the manifest Universe, viz. The World as we know it. Since every object in this World has a Nāma and Rupa, the World is called Nāma Rupatmak Vishva. The Paramātma (or Creator) is not manifest in this Nāma Rupatmak Vishva but is realized by a Sādhaka(student) by means ofBhakti (devotion),Karma (action),Jnana (knowledge),Yoga (Union, a Hindu school), or acombination of all of these methodologies.
| Preceded by | Twelve Nidānas Nāmarūpa | Succeeded by |
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