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阿修罗 (ā xiū luó) — (Buddhism) asura; a titan-like being in Buddhist cosmology, often at war with the gods

Definition

阿修罗 (āxiūluó) refers to the asuras of Buddhist cosmology — titan-like beings driven by jealousy, one of the six realms of rebirth, who are perpetually at war with the gods (devas).

noun
(Buddhism) asuraa titan-like being in Buddhist cosmology, often at war with the gods
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • ，阿修罗。
    Zài fó jiào zhōng, ā xiū luó shǔ yú liù dào zhī yī.
    In Buddhism, the asura belongs to one of the six realms of rebirth.
  • 阿修罗，。
    ā xiū luó Suī rán lì liàng qiáng dà, dàn yīn jí dù ér jīng cháng yǔ tiān shén zhàn dòu.
    Although asuras are powerful, they often fight the devas out of jealousy.
  • 阿修罗。
    Zhè bù jīng wén xiáng xì miáo shù le ā xiū luó de shēng huó.
    This sutra describes the life of asuras in detail.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
音译yīnyìTransliteration

The characters spell the sound of a foreign word; their individual meanings play no part.

阿ā
修xiū
罗luó

The characters only spell the foreign name Asura, so none carries an independent meaning here.

Sound-only characters

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阜阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
可
可kě阿ā
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The part 阜 points to a mound, and 可 gives the pronunciation; 阿 originally meant a big mound.

Open 阿 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
彡彡shān
Sound part声符shēngfú
攸
攸yōu修xiū
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

修 is built from 攸, which gives the sound, and 彡, a set of three strokes that shows the meaning.

Open 修 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 羅; 罗 is its simplified writing.

  • 网网wǎngnet
  • 維維wéibird (tied with string)

The traditional form 羅 combines 网 (net) with 維 (a bird tied with string) to show a net for catching birds; the simplified 罗 is a later abbreviation.

Open 罗 →
Appears in
Mythology & FolkloreReligion & Belief

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