一乘

Readings

Pinyin: yīshèng

Wade-Giles: i-sheng

Hangul: 일승

Korean MC: ilseung

Korean MR: ilsŭng

Katakana: イチジョウ

Hepburn: ichijō

nhất thừa

one vehicle

• The doctrinal position that states that there are in fact not three vehicles (for disciples 聲聞, solitary realizers 緣覺, and bodhisattvas 菩薩) or five vehicles 五乘, but only one teaching, which is the skillful means to attract people to the One Buddha Vehicle 一佛乘 (Skt. eka-yāna; Tib. theg pa gcig pa). The one vehicle doctrine serves as a key theme in such seminal Mahāyāna scriptures as the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra 般若經, the Flower Ornament Sutra 華嚴經, and the Śrīmālā-sūtra 勝鬘經, but is most forcefully articulated in the Lotus Sutra 法華經, which states in its Chapter on Skillful Means 方便品 that "there is only the Dharma of the one vehicle, not two, and not three" — with the two vehicles 二乘 being those of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, and the three vehicles adding the bodhisattva vehicle to the prior two. Since this One Vehicle teaching is that of becoming a Buddha, it is also called the "bodhisattva vehicle" 菩薩乘, the "Buddha vehicle" 佛乘 and the "great vehicle" 大乘. The Faxiang 法相 school interprets this bodhisattva vehicle of the three vehicle 三乘 system as the One Vehicle or "Buddha vehicle." [resp. Charles Muller; source(s): Nakamura, JEBD, Hirakawa, YBh-Ind, Yokoi, Iwanami]
• With the general meaning of the one vehicle being as described above, the various Mahāyāna schools in East Asia developed finely articulated and distinctive interpretations of its connotations that reflected the special approaches of their respective doctrinal systems. According to Kuiji 窺基, the ekayāna teaching of the Faxiang school 法相宗 has two levels, 攝入大乘 and 出生大乘. The former is the expedient to attract people of undermined nature 不定性 to the One Buddha vehicle. Because of the existence of sentient beings incapable of Buddhahood (icchantikas 一闡提), this teaching does not fully correspond with the meaning of the One Vehicle. But since all members of the audience in the Lotus Sutra 法華經 have the potential to become Buddha, this teaching is true and effective in that situation. The latter means that all teachings of Buddha are "born" from a single Mahāyāna teaching. Kuiji says that this is the teaching of the Śrīmālā-sūtra 勝鬘經 and the Nirvāṇa Sutra 涅槃經. In Huayan 華嚴 and Tiantai 天台, there is a distinction between this one Buddha vehicle and the bodhisattva vehicle of the three vehicles. 〔摩訶止觀T 1911.46.39a10〕 (Skt. ekayāna-deśanā ekâyana-mārga) [resp. S. Moro]
• le Véhicule unique[resp. Paul Swanson]
• l'un des principaux degme exposés dans le Sūtra du Lotus est celui du Véhicule unique opposé aux trois véhicules distincts que sont ceux des auditeurs, des buddha pour soi et des bodhisattva, tenus pour ressortissant au petit Véhicule, dépassé par l'ultime prédication de Śākyamuni. [resp. Paul Swanson]

Dictionary References:

Bukkyō jiten (Ui), 38

Bulgyo sajeon, 740a

Zengaku daijiten (Komazawa U.), 31b

Iwanami bukkyō jiten, 31

A Glossary of Zen Terms (Inagaki), 121, 124

Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary (Daitō shuppansha), 124a/135

Japanese-English Zen Buddhist Dictionary (Yokoi), 250

Zengo jiten (Iriya and Koga), 6-P153, 8-P99, 16-P19

Bukkyōgo daijiten (Nakamura), 48d

Fo Guang Dictionary, 5959

Ding Fubao

Buddhist Chinese-Sanskrit Dictionary (Hirakawa), 0015

Han'guk bulgyo inmyeong sajeon (Yi), 248

Bukkyō daijiten (Mochizuki), (v.1-6)146a,1586a,2547b,4046a, (v.9-10)8cf4

Bukkyō daijiten (Oda), 73-2*542-1-9*1731-1-4

Sanskrit-Tibetan Index for the Yogâcārabhūmi-śāstra (Yokoyama and Hirosawa)

Copyright © 2010 -- Charles Muller

generated: 2014-02-10