Sattva

{{Short description|Hindu philosophical concept}} {{Italic title}} '''''Sattva''''' (Sanskrit: सत्त्व, meaning ''goodness, harmony'') is one of the three ''guṇas'' or "modes of existence" (tendencies, qualities, attributes), a philosophical and psychological concept understood by the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy.<ref name=larsonp10>{{cite book| author=Gerald James Larson| title=Classical Sāṃkhya: An Interpretation of Its History and Meaning | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ih2aGLp4d1gC |year=2001|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-8120805033 |pages=10–18, 49, 163}}</ref><ref name=jamesgsattva>James G. Lochtefeld, "Sattva", in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'': A–M, Vol. 2, Rosen Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0823931798}}, p. 608</ref> The other two qualities are ''rajas'' (passion and activity) and ''tamas'' (destruction, chaos, inertia). ''Sattva'' is the quality of goodness, purity, positivity, truth, serenity, balance, peacefulness, and virtuousness that is drawn towards ''Dharma'' and ''jñāna'' (knowledge).<ref name=larsonp10/><ref name=ianwhicher124>Ian Whicher (1998), ''The Integrity of the Yoga Darśana'', State University of New York Press, pp. 86–87, 124–125, 163–167, 238–243 {{ISBN?}}</ref><ref>Carus, Paul. "Karma and Nirvana. Are the Buddhist Doctrines Nihilistic?" Monist 4 (1893-94): 417-439.</ref> The act or a person who bears this is called ''Sattvik''.

==Hinduism==

=== Samkhya Philosophy === In Samkhya philosophy, a {{IAST|guṇa}} is one of three "tendencies, qualities": ''sattva'', ''rajas'' and ''tamas''. This category of qualities has been widely adopted by various schools of Hinduism for categorizing behavior and natural phenomena. The three qualities are:

* ''Sattva'' is the quality of balance, harmony, goodness, purity, universalizing, holistic, constructive, creative, building, positive attitude, luminous, serenity, being-ness, peaceful, virtuous.<ref name=ianwhicher124/><ref>Alter, Joseph S., ''Yoga in Modern India'', 2004 Princeton University Press, p. 55</ref><ref name="Burley2007p101">{{cite book| author=Mikel Burley |author-link=Mikel Burley | title=Classical Samkhya and Yoga: An Indian Metaphysics of Experience| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K3B9AgAAQBAJ|year= 2007| publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1134159789|pages=101–105, 120–122, 167, 185}}</ref> * ''Rajas'' is the quality of passion, activity, neither good nor bad and sometimes either, self-centeredness, egoistic, individualizing, driven, moving, dynamic.<ref name=aw/><ref>Ian Whicher (1998), ''The Integrity of the Yoga Darśana'', State University of New York Press, pp. 63, 124–129, 138, 188–190</ref> * ''Tamas'' is the quality of imbalance, disorder, chaos, anxiety, impure, destructive, delusion, negative, dull or inactive, apathy, inertia or lethargy, violent, vicious, ignorant.<ref>Ian Whicher (1998), ''The Integrity of the Yoga Darśana'', State University of New York Press, pp. 63, 110–112, 124–126, 163, 188</ref>

In Indian philosophy, these qualities are not considered as being present in either-or manner - instead everyone and everything has all three but differing in proportions and in different contexts.<ref name=jamesg>James G. Lochtefeld, "Sattva", in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'': A–M, Vol. 2, Rosen Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0823931798}}, p. 265</ref> The living being or any substance is viewed as being a net result of the joint effect of all these three qualities within them.<ref name=jamesg/><ref name=aw/> The combination of gunas is not considered static and set. Hindu literature, such as the Bhagavad Gita, state this balance of gunas to be dynamic and changeable.<ref name="jamesg2">James G. Lochtefeld, "Guna", in ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism'': A–M, Vol. 1, Rosen Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0823931798}}, p. 265</ref>

According to the Samkhya school, no one and nothing is either purely sattvik or purely rajasik or purely tamasik.<ref name=aw/> One's nature and behavior is a complex interplay of all of these, with each guna in varying degrees. In some, the conduct is rajasik with significant influence of sattvik guna, in some it is rajasik with significant influence of tamasik guna, and so on.<ref name=aw>Alban Widgery (1930), "The principles of Hindu Ethics", ''International Journal of Ethics'', Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 234–237</ref>

=== Bhagavad Gita === The Bhagavad Gita describes ''sattva'' as a path to liberation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sutton |first=Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNzUnQAACAAJ |title=Bhagavad-Gita |date=2016-12-16 |publisher=Blurb, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-366-61059-1 |pages=244 |language=en}}</ref> It describes ''sattva'' as superior to the other two ''gunas'' because it brings clarity, leads to higher realms, and is without impurities, but it is also described as a cause of bondage.<ref name="ref1">{{Cite book |last=Sutton |first=Nicholas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eNzUnQAACAAJ |title=Bhagavad-Gita |date=2016-12-16 |publisher=Blurb, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-366-61059-1 |pages=211–213 |language=en}}</ref> Verse 14.6 describes ''sattva'' as:

{{Blockquote|text=because ''sattva'' is flawless it is luminous and has no contamination. It is through attachment to happiness and attachment to knowledge (''jñana'') that it causes bondage, O sinless one.|title=The Bhagavad Gita<ref name="ref1"/>|source=Chapter 14, verse 6}}It causes bondage, as explained in verse 14.9, by attachment to happiness.<ref name="ref1" />

=== Vishishtadvaita === According to Ramanuja, the divine realm (Vaikuntha) is composed of pure, immutable ''sattva'', or ''shuddha sattva''. In liberation, the individual self transcends its material body and attains a pure form composed of ''shuddha sattva''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fowler |first=Jeaneane |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Causality/w1yVEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PT406&printsec=frontcover |title=Causality: Macrocosmic and Microcosmic Theories of Cause and Effect in Belief Systems |date=2020-02-21 |publisher=Liverpool University Press |isbn=978-1-80085-825-1 |pages=406 |language=en}}</ref>

==Buddhism== ''Sattva'', or ''satta'' in Pali language, is found in Buddhist texts, such as in ''Bodhi-sattva''. The ''sattva'' in Buddhism means "a living being, creature, person or sentient being".<ref>{{cite book|author1=T. W. Rhys Davids|author2=William Stede|title=The Pali-English Dictionary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dHWHmHnMLtAC|year=1905|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-1273-0|pages=154, 673}}</ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite journal | last=Wayman | first=Alex | title=Buddhist dependent Origination and the Samkhya Gunas | journal=Ethnos | volume=27 | issue=1–4 | year=1962 | pages=14–22 | doi=10.1080/00141844.1962.9980914 }}

== External links ==  * [http://www.iep.utm.edu/sankhya/ Sankhya: Sattva], Ferenc Ruzsa, IEP

{{Hindudharma}} Category:Guṇa