In the Sautrantika and Chittamatra tenet systems, those phenomena, the existence of which is established by their being merely imputed by conceptual cognition and which are superficial (relative, conventional) true phenomena. According to Sautrantika, they include all static phenomena; according to Chittamatra, they include all static phenomena other than voidnesses, true stoppings, and nirvanas. (1) In the Gelug system, they are the appearing objects of only conceptual cognitions, although they are not the actual cognitive appearances in those cognitions. They may be validly cognized not only by valid conceptual cognition but also implicitly by valid nonconceptual cognition. (2) In the non-Gelug systems, they can only be validly cognized by valid conceptual cognition.
Tibetan: སྤྱི་མཚན། spyi-mtshan
Sanskrit: sāmānyalakṣaṇa
J. Hopkins: Generally characterized phenomenon
Synonyms: Generally characterized phenomena
Other languages