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Saddharmapundarika-sutra Skt.—Lotus Sutra

Sadhana Skt.; derived from sadh, "to arrive at the goal," and meaning roughly "means to completion or perfection." In Vajrayana Buddhism, a term for a particular type of liturgical text and the meditation practices presented in it. Sadhana texts describe in a detailed fashion deities to be experienced as spiritual realities and the entire process from graphic visualization of them to dissolving them into formless meditation. Performing this type of religious practice, which is central to Tibetan Buddhism, requires empowerment and consecration by the master (guru) for practice connected with the particular deity involved. Part of this is transmission of the mantra associated with the deity.

Buddhist writings contain a multitude of sadhana texts, which are often brought together in special collections. One of the most important is Garland of Sadhanas, which stems from the 12th century and includes 312 sadhanas by different authors. Such collections are also to be found in the Tibetan canon (Kangyur-Tengyur), and new collections were still being compiled in the 20th century by members of the Rime movement.

The practice of a sadhana can be divided into three sections: the preliminaries, the main part, and the concluding section. At the beginning of the sadhana is the fundamental act of taking refuge (kyabdro) and arousing the "mind of enlightenment" (bodhicitta). The main part is divided into a "developing phase," the creation of the visualization of the deity, and a "dissolving phase," the contemplation of the supreme reality, emptiness (shunyata). The concluding part is made up of various prayers of aspiration and pronouncements of auspiciousness and blessing.

For the Vajrayana Buddhist, the visualization of a deity is not a magical action nor an adoration of an entity conceived of as external. It is rather to be regarded as a process of identification with a certain energy principle, of the presence of which the practitioner is convinced. The basic pattern for the visualized deities is provided by the five buddhakulas.

Sahasrara-chakra Skt. chakra

Saho kore shushi Jap., lit. "The dharma practice [itself] is the taste of the school"; a formulation that comes from the Soto school. Its meaning is that the emphasis on meditative practice (zazen) is itself the characteristic element of this school of Buddhism. Zazen is here seen in the sense of the esoteric definition of Zen as the direct manifestation of one's own buddha-nature (bussho) and not as a "method" for the "attainment" of enlightenment.

Saicho called Dengyo Daishi, 767–822; founder of the monastic center on Mount Hiei and of the Japanese Tendai school, the teachings of which, along with those of Hua-yen and of esoteric Buddhism (Mi-tsung) he studied in China in the year 804. He emphasizes the universality of the Tendai doctrine and the importance of a morally pure way of life. He fostered the practice of shikan (Chin., Chih-kuan), a form of meditation in which the Tendai monks were instructed in the course of their twelve-year training on Mount Hiei. He wanted to create in his monastery a purely Mahayana ordination center. However, this plan failed due to the resistance of other Buddhist schools. Saicho died in 822 on Mount Hiei.

The Tendai school founded by Saicho differed little from the original Chinese school. It was also based on the Lotus Sutra, i.e., on the words of the Buddha himself. In Saicho's view, this made it superior to other Buddhist schools, whose doctrines were based essentially on commentaries rather than sutras.

Also in opposition to the other schools of his time, Saicho stressed the unity and universality of the Tendai teaching: it is universal because all beings possess the ability to attain enlightenment and become buddhas. A further aspect of this universality is to be found in the Tendai view of the essential unity of Buddha and human being; every human being possesses buddha-nature (also bussho) and is thus a potential buddha. The way to attain buddhahood is, for Saicho, primarily to lead a morally pure life and practice concentration and insight (shikan).

Saicho cultivated close relations with the imperial court. Mount Hiei was considered the "center for protection of the nation." Saicho was himself convinced that Mahayana Buddhism was the great benefactor and protector of Japan. He distinguished different classes of monks who completed training in his monastery. The most talented were the "treasure of the nation," and these had to remain in the monastery and serve the state through their practice. Less talented ones entered the civil service, taught, or worked in agriculture or in other areas for the welfare of the country.

For the significance of Saicho in Zen, Tao-hsuan Lu-shih.

Saiin Shimyo Jap. for Hsi-yuan Ssu-ming

Saijojo Zen Jap. five types of Zen

Saiten-nijuhasso Jap. nijuhasso

Sakridagamin (sakrdagamin) Skt. (Pali, sakadagamin), lit. "once-returner"; a term for saints who have reached the second stage of the supramundane path (arya-marga, aryapudgala). They are reborn only once more before the attainment of nirvana. In them the three unwholesome roots—desire, hatred, and delusion (askushala)—are present only to a slight extent.

Sakugo Jap., lit. "requesting a word"; a question asked by a Zen monk of a master while the latter is making a public presentation of the buddha-dharma (teisho). Because questions on the essential content of the presentation of a Zen master cannot be answered with mere conceptual-verbal information, such questions can give rise to a mondo or a hossen.

Sakyapa (sa-skya-pa), Tib.; a major school of Tibetan Buddhism named after the Sakya (lit. "Gray Earth") Monastery, located in southern Tibet. In accordance with a prophecy of Atisha, the Sakya Monastery was founded in the year 1073, and its abbots, members of the Khön family, devoted themselves primarily to the transmission of a cycle of Vajrayana teachings known by the name of "path and goal" (Lamdre). This school concerned itself with creating a systematic order for the Tantric writings (Tantra), but also turned its attention to problems of Buddhist logic. In the 13th and 14th centuries it had great political influence in Tibet.

The Sakyapas received their form as an independent school mainly from five gurus who lived between 1092 and 1280: Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092–1158), his two sons Sonam Tsemo (1142–82) and Drakpa Gyaltsen (1147–1216), his grandson Sakya Pandita (1182–1251), and the latter's nephew Chögyal Phagpa (1235–80). All five teachers were recognized as incarnations of Manjushri. Up to the present day, the principal leaders of the Sakyapa school are of the Khön family.

Of these the greatest influence was exercised by Sakya Pandita, whose erudition embraced all worldly and religious disciplines. His translations from Sanskrit not only made him known in India but also caused a grandson of Genghis Khan to invite him to Mongolia. Sakya Pandita's missionary activities there were so successful that rulership of Central Asia was conferred upon the Sakya school in the year 1249.

In the following centuries the Sakyapas played an important role in the spiritual life of Tibet. Not only were Tsongkhapa, and through him the Gelugpa school, influenced by them, but also the school of Jonangpa, no longer extant today, and its most important spokesman Taranatha (b. 1575), as well as the historian Butön (l290–1364) were strongly influenced by the Sakyapas.

Samadhi Skt., lit. "establish, make firm" (Jap., sanmai or zanmai); collectedness of the mind on a single object through (gradual) calming of mental activity. Samadhi is a nondualistic state of consciousness in which the consciousness of the experiencing "subject" becomes one with the experienced "object"—thus is only experiential content. This state of consciousness is often referred to as "one-pointedness of mind"; this expression, however, is misleading because it calls up the image of "concentration" on one point on which the mind is "directed." However, samadhi is neither a straining concentration on one point, nor is the mind directed from here (subject) to there (object), which would be a dualistic mode of experience.

The ability to attain the state of samadhi is a precondition for absorption (dhyana).

Three supramundane (lokottara) types of samadhi are distinguished that have as their goal emptiness (shunyata), the state of no-characteristics (animitta) and freedom from attachment to the object, and the attainment of—nirvana. Any other form of samadhi, even in the highest stages of absorption, is considered worldly.

Samadhiraja-sutra Skt., lit. "King of Concentration Sutra"; a Mahayana sutra in forty or forty-two chapters, of which only sixteen are extant in the Sanskrit original and the rest only in Chinese and Tibetan translations. Its teaching is related to that of the Prajnaparamita-sutra and deals with the essential identity of all things.