Key Terms/Svabhāva
From Bodhicitta
स्वभाव svabhāva
intrinsic nature
རང་བཞིན་
rang bzhin
自性
zìxìng
Sanskrit - Noun
1·Discover
Basic Meaning
The nature or essence of a thing, which originates only from itself and is not dependent on any external entities, causes, or conditions.
2·Explore
Has the sense of
An innate attribute that establishes the completely independent existence of an entity, which is typically refuted in the Madhyamaka notion of emptiness.
In other languages
Tibetan
རང་བཞིན་
rang bzhin
rangzhin
Sanskrit
स्वभाव
svabhāva
Chinese
自性
zìxìng
How translators render it
intrinsic natureBuddha-nature Standard, Ives Waldo
natureKarl Brunnhölzl, Gyurme Dorje
inherent natureRichard Barron, Jeffrey Hopkins
nature of beingRichard Barron
natural stateRichard Barron
naturalnessRichard Barron
own-nessDan Martin
essential natureGyurme Dorje
natural expressionGyurme Dorje
In the dictionaries
Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism
See page 879: In Sanskrit, “self-nature,” “intrinsic existence,” or “inherent existence,” the term has a general sense of “essence” or “nature,” but is used in philosophical literature.
Rangjung Yeshe Dictionary
An inherently existent and independent entity of the individual self or of phenomena. Something that can serve as a valid basis for individual attributes.
Other definitions
Richard Barron: the very nature of things
Term type
Noun
Source language
Sanskrit
Topic
svabhāva
