Three gunas

Three gunas (Tib. ཡོན་ཏན་གསུམ་, Wyl. yon tan gsum) — mentioned in the Samkhya philosophy:

1. rajas (Tib. རྡུལ་, Wyl. rdul)
2. tamas (Tib. མུན་པ་, Wyl. mun pa)
3. sattva (Tib. སྙིང་སྟོབས་, Wyl. snying stobs)

Translations

• S. Dasgupta, in his A History of Indian Philosophy, translates sattva as “intelligence stuff”, rajas as “energy-stuff” and tamas as “mass-stuff.”

• In their translation of the Bodhicharyavatara, the Padmakara Translation Group call sattva “pleasure”, rajas “pain” and tamas “neutrality”.

• Jeffrey Hopkins translates them more literally as motility or activity (rajas), darkness (tamas) and lightness (sattva).