Sentient beings

Sentient beings (Skt. sattva; Tib. sem chen; Wyl. sems can) — all inhabitants of the three realms of samsara who possess a mind and transmigrate within the six classes of beings. Animate things, such as plants, which do not have a mind, are not 'sentient'. Sentient being ‘Sem chän’ in Tibetan. Any being who possesses a mind that is contaminated by delusions or their imprints. Both `sentient being’ and `living being’ are terms used to distinguish beings whose minds are contaminated by either of these two obstructions from Buddhas, whose minds are completely free from these obstructions.

sentient beingsare characteristically not enlightened, and are thus confined to the death, rebirth, and suffering characteristic of Saṃsāra.

Alternative Translations

• limited beings (Alexander Berzin)

Sentient beings is a technical term in Buddhist Template:Wiki. Broadly Template:Wiki, it denotes beings with consciousness or sentience or, in some contexts, life itself. Specifically, it denotes the presence of the five aggregates, or Skandhas. While Template:Wiki in usage and potential subdivisions or classes of sentient beings vary from one school, teacher, or thinker to another—and there is debate within some Buddhist schools as to what exactly constitutes sentience and how it is to be recognized—it principally refers to beings in contrast with Buddhahood. That is, sentient beings are characteristically not enlightened, and are thus confined to the death, Rebirth, and Suffering characteristic of Saṃsāra. However, Mahayana Buddhism simultaneously teaches (in the Tathagatagarbha doctrine particularly) that sentient beings also contain Buddha-nature—the intrinsic potential to transcend the conditions of Samsara and attain Enlightenment, thereby becoming a Buddha.

"Those who greatly enlighten Template:Wiki are Buddhas; those who are greatly deluded about Enlightenment are sentient beings."::—Dōgen

In Mahayana Buddhism, it is to sentient beings that the Bodhisattva vow of compassion is pledged. Furthermore, and particularly in Tibetan Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism, all beings (including plant life and even inanimate objects or entities considered "Template:Wiki" or "Template:Wiki" by Template:Wiki Template:Wiki thought) are or may be considered sentient beings.

The Template:Wiki Scholar T'ien-T'ai (538–597) taught that plants, and other insentient objects could attain Buddhahood. This is because of the principle of Ichinen Sanzen (Eng. 3,000 Realms in a Single Thought Moment).

Definition

Getz (2004: p. 760) provides a generalist Template:Wiki Buddhist Template:Wiki definition:

Sentient beings is a term used to designate the Template:Wiki of living, conscious beings that constitute the object and audience of Buddhist teaching. Translating various Sanskrit terms (jantu, bahu jana, jagat, sattva), sentient beings Template:Wiki refers to the Template:Wiki of living things subject to Template:Wiki, Suffering, and Rebirth (Saṃsāra). Less frequently, sentient beings as a class broadly encompasses all beings possessing consciousness, including Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Template:Wiki

Early scriptures in the Pali Canon and the conventions of the Template:Wiki Template:Wiki classify sentient beings into five categories—divinities, Template:Wiki, Template:Wiki, tormented Template:Wiki, and denizens of hell—although sometimes the Template:Wiki adds another category of Template:Wiki beings between Template:Wiki and Template:Wiki. Wikipedia:Sentient beings (Buddhism) Template:NewSourceBreak sentient beings
有情 (Skt sattva; Jpn ujo )

Those living things endowed with feelings, emotion, and consciousness; that is, most of the animal kingdom including human beings. Buddhism broadly classifies all existence into sentient and insentient beings. "Insentient beings," while including plants, also includes non-living things such as stones and water. Template:R sgilibrary.org