Rūpa

In Hinduism and Buddhism, rūpa (Sanskrit; Pāli; Devanagari: ; ) generally refers to material objects, particularly in regards to their appearance.
==Hinduism==
According to the Monier-Williams Dictionary (2006), rūpa is defined as:
:* ... any outward appearance or phenomenon or colour (often pl.) , form , shape , figure RV. &c &c ... 
:* to assume a form ; often ifc. = " having the form or appearance or colour of " , " formed or composed of " , " consisting of " , " like to " ....Monier-Williams Dictionary, pp. 885-6, entry for "Rūpa," retrieved 2008-03-06 from "Cologne University" at http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/monier/ (using "rUpa" as keyword) and http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/serveimg.pl?file=/scans/MWScan/MWScanjpg/mw0886-rUpakartR.jpg. 
==Buddhism==
In general, rūpa is the Buddhist concept of material form, including both the body and external matter.
More specifically, in the Pali Canon, rūpa is contextualized in three significant frameworks:E.g., see Hamilton (2001), p. 3 and passim.
* rūpa-khandha – "material forms," one of the five aggregates (khandha) by which all phenomena can be categorized (see Fig. 1).
* rūpa-āyatana – "visible objects," the external sense objects of the eye, one of the six external sense bases (āyatana) by which the world is known (see Fig. 2).
* nāma-rūpa – "name and form" or "mind and body," which in the causal chain of dependent origination (paticca-samuppāda) arises from consciousness and leads to the arising of the sense bases.
In addition, more generally, rūpa is used to describe a statue, in which it is sometimes called Buddharupa.
===Rūpa-khandha===
Rūpa means both materiality and sensibility — it signifies, for example, a tactile object both insofar as that object is tactile and that it can be sensed. Rūpa is never a materiality which can be separated or isolated from cognizance; such a non-empirical category is incongruous in the context of early Buddhism. Rūpa is not a substratum or substance which has sensibility as a property; it functions in early Buddhist thought as perceivable physicality. Matter, or rūpa, is defined in terms of its function; what it does, not what it is.Dan Lusthaus, Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogācāra Buddhism and the Chʼeng Wei-shih Lun. Routledge, 2002, page 183. As matter, rūpa is traditionally analysed in two ways: as four primary elements (Pali, mahābhūta); and, as ten or twenty-four secondary or derived elements. 
 
==== Four primary elements ====
Existing rūpa consists in the four primary or underived (no-upādā) elements: 
* earth or solidity 
* fire or heat 
* water or cohesion 
* air or movement 
 
==== Derived matter====
In the Abhidhamma Pitaka and later Pali literature,Hamilton (2001), p. 6. rūpa is further analyzed in terms of ten or twenty-three or twenty-four types of secondary or derived (upādā) matter. In the list of ten types of secondary matter, the following are identified:
* eye
* ear
* nose
* tongue
* bodyHere, "body" (kāya) refers to that which senses "touch" (phohabba). In the Upanishads, "skin" is used instead of "body" (Rhys Davids, 1900, p. 172 n. 3).
* form
* sound
* odour 
* taste
* touchThe first ten secondary elements are the same as the first five (physical) sense bases and their sense objects (e.g., see Hamilton, 2001, pp. 6-7). 
If twenty-four secondary types are enumerated, then the following fifteen are added to the first nine of the above ten: 
* femininity 
* masculinity or virility 
* life or vitality
* heart or heart-basisAccording to Vsm. XIV, 60 (Buddhaghosa, 1999, p. 447), the heart-basis provides material support for the mind (mano) and mind consciousness. In the Sutta Pitaka, a material basis for the mind sphere (āyatana) is never identified.
* physical indications (movements that indicate intentions) 
* vocal indications 
* space element 
* physical lightness or buoyancy 
* physical yieldingness or plasticity
* physical handiness or wieldiness
* physical grouping or integration
* physical extension or maintenance
* physical aging or decay
* physical impermanence 
* foodThe list of 24 can be found, for instance, in the Visuddhimagga (Vsm. XIV, 36 ff.) (Buddhaghosa, 1999, pp. 443 ff.; and, Hamilton, 2001, p. 7).
A list of 23 derived types can be found, for instance, in the Abhidhamma Pitaka's Dhammasangani (e.g., Dhs. 596), which omits the list of 24 derived types' "heart-basis."Compare Dhs. 596 (Rhys Davids, 2000, p. 172) and Vsm. XIV, 36 (Buddhaghosa, 1999, p. 443).
== See also ==
* Arūpa
* Buddharupa 
* Namarupa for the main concept 
* Skandhas: vedana, sanna, sankhata,vijnana 
* Body, sensations, perceptions, and consciousness 
* Consciousness (Buddhism) 
* Three marks of existence 
* Abhidharma
* Substantial form
==Notes==
==Sources==
* Buddhaghosa, Bhadantācariya (trans. from Pāli by Bhikkhu Ñāamoli) (1999). The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga. Seattle, WA: BPS Pariyatti Editions. ISBN 1-928706-00-2. 
* Hamilton, Sue (2001). Identity and Experience: The Constitution of the Human Being according to Early Buddhism. Oxford: Luzac Oriental. ISBN 1-898942-23-4. 
* Monier-Williams, Monier (1899, 1964). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-864308-X. Retrieved 2008-03-06 from "Cologne University" at http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/index.php?sfx=pdf.
* Rhys Davids, Caroline A.F. ([1900], 2003). Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics, of the Fourth Century B.C., Being a Translation, now made for the First Time, from the Original Pāli, of the First Book of the Abhidhamma-Piaka, entitled Dhamma- (Compendium of States or Phenomena). Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 0-7661-4702-9. 
== External links ==
* Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (2003). Maha-hatthipadopama Sutta: The Great Elephant Footprint Simile (MN 28). Retrieved 2008-03-06 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn028-tb0.html.
Category:Sanskrit words and phrases
Category:Pali words and phrases
Category:Buddhist terms
fr:Rūpa
ko:색 (불교)
ja:色 (仏教)
ru:Рупа