Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness (Skt. apramāda; Tib. བག་ཡོད་པ་; Wyl. bag yod pa) — one of the fifty-one mental states defined in Abhidharma literature. According to the Compendium of Abhidharma, it belongs to the subgroup of the Eleven virtuous states.
Definitions
In the Khenjuk, Mipham Rinpoche says (Tib. བག་ཡོད་པ་ནི་བླང་དོར་གྱི་གནས་ལ་གཟོབ་པ་ལྷུར་ལེན་པ་སྲིད་ཞིའི་ལེགས་པ་སྒྲུབ་པའི་ལས་ཅན་ནོ།)
- Conscientiousness is the earnest application of care concerning what should be adopted and what should be abandoned. Its function is to accomplish the excellence of existence and peace [samsara and nirvana]. (Rigpa Translations, Erik Pema Kunsang)
Conscientiousness is a meticulous concern for what is to be engaged in and what is to be avoided. This is an essential component of maintaining discipline. It is described at length in chapter four of the Bodhicharyavatara.
Alternative Translations
- Carefulness (David Karma Choepel)
- Vigilance (Gyurme Dorje)
- Heedfulness (Tony Duff[1])
Notes
- ↑ Tony Duff: "heedfulness", "attentiveness". It causes the mind to take care about what it is doing in regard to what is to be abandoned and what is to be taken up with the result that one progresses along the Buddhist path. It has also been translated as "conscientiousness" which seems fitting. It has been translated as "carefulness" which also seems fitting though "carefulness" is freq. used to translate the Tibetan (gzab gzab) and so seems less appropriate. It has been translated as "mindfulness" but that correctly fits (dran pa). It has been translated as "alertness" but that is not correct; "alertness" is the meaning of (shes bzhin) q.v. It has been translated as "attentiveness" which should be considered.
Resources
- Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, Mangala Shri Bhuti - Staying in Step with the Lineage podcast, 'Pagyu and Shezhin' episode, December 22, 2008 - Guna Shedra, Bir, India.