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{{Short description|Form of object in Indian philosophy}}
{{Other uses|Rupa (disambiguation)}}
{{Buddhist term
| title=rūpa
| pi= रूप (rūpa)
| bo= གཟུགས (gzugs)
| sa= रूप (rūpa)
| my= ရူပ (ruupa)
| zh=[[:zh:色 (佛教)|色]]
| zh-Latn=sè
| ja=[[:ja:色 (仏教)|色]]
| ja-Latn=shiki
| ko=[[:ko:색 (불교)|색]]
| ko-Latn=saek
| ms= rupa
| th=[[:th:รูป|รูป]]
| si= රෑප (rūpa)
| en=form, material object
| vi= sắc (色)
|}}
'''Rūpa''' ({{Lang-Deva|रूप}}) means "form". As it relates to any kind of basic [[Object (philosophy)|object]], it has more specific meanings in the context of [[Indic religions]].

==Definition==
According to the Monier-Williams Dictionary (2006), rūpa is defined as:
:* ... any outward appearance or phenomenon or colour (often pl.), form, shape, figure [[Rigveda|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 " ....<ref>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.</ref>

==Hinduism==
In Hinduism, many compound words are made using ''rūpa'' to describe subtle and spiritual realities such as the ''svarupa'', meaning the form of the self. It may be used to express matter or material phenomena, especially that linked to the power of vision in [[samkhya]],<ref>Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, I.3. "“tadā draṣṭuh svarūpe ‘vasthānam” (Edwin F. Bryant. “The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali.” p.95)</ref> In the Bhagavad Gita, the [[Vishvarupa]] form, an esoteric conception of the Absolute is described.

{{anchor|rupabuddhism}}

==Buddhism==
{{PancaKhandha|figno=1}}
{{Chachakka|figno=2}}
Overall, ''rūpa'' is the [[Buddhism|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:<ref>E.g., see Hamilton (2001), p. 3 and ''passim''.</ref>
* ''rūpa-khandha'' – "material forms," one of the five aggregates (''[[skandha|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 (''[[ayatana|āyatana]]'') by which the world is known (see Fig. 2).
* ''[[namarupa|nāma-rūpa]]'' – "name and form" or "mind and body," which in the causal chain of dependent origination (''[[Pratītyasamutpāda|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''===
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]],<ref>Hamilton (2001), p. 6.</ref> ''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
* body<ref>Here, "body" (''kāya'') refers to that which senses "touch" (''pho{{IAST|ṭṭ}}habba''). In the [[Upanishad]]s, "skin" is used instead of "body" (Rhys Davids, 1900, p. 172 ''n''. 3).</ref>
* form
* sound
* odour
* taste
* touch<ref>The first ten secondary elements are the same as the first five (physical) [[ayatana|sense bases]] and their sense objects (e.g., see Hamilton, 2001, pp. 6-7).</ref>

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-basis<ref>According to [[Visuddhimagga|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.</ref>
* 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
* food<ref>The 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).</ref>

A list of 23 derived types can be found, for instance, in the Abhidhamma Pitaka's [[Dhammasaṅgaṇī]] (e.g., Dhs. 596), which omits the list of 24 derived types' "heart-basis."<ref>Compare [[Dhammasaṅgaṇī|Dhs]]. 596 (Rhys Davids, 2000, p. 172) and [[Visuddhimagga|Vsm]]. XIV, 36 (Buddhaghosa, 1999, p. 443).</ref>

{{Aggregate relationships}}

==== Yogacara views ====
According to the [[Yogachara|Yogacara]] school, rūpa is not matter as in the metaphysical substance of [[materialism]]. Instead it means both materiality and sensibility—signifying, for example, a tactile object both insofar as that object is made of matter and that the object can be tactically sensed. In fact rūpa is more essentially defined by its amenability to being sensed than its being matter: just like everything else it is defined in terms of its function; what it does, not what it is.<ref>Dan Lusthaus, ''Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogācāra Buddhism and the Chʼeng Wei-shih Lun.'' Routledge, 2002, page 183.</ref>

=== ''Rūpa-āyatana'' ===
{{Main|Āyatana}}
''Rūpa-āyatana'' refers to "visual form, visual object, visible object," which is one of the six external sense bases (''[[āyatana]]'') as the object-element (external sense-object) of the sense-element (internal sense-organ) of the eye.
{{Eighteen elements}}

=== ''Nāmarūpa'' ===
{{Main|Nāmarūpa}}{{See also|Skandha}}

=== The ''rūpa jhānas'' ===
{{Main|Dhyana in Buddhism}}
{{JhanaFactors}}{{Dhyana}}

== See also ==
{{refbegin|2}}
* [[Abhidharma]]
* [[Human body|Body]]
** [[Consciousness]]
** [[Perception]]s
** [[Sensation and perception psychology|Sensations]]
* [[Buddharupa]]
* [[Buddhism and the body]]
** [[Consciousness (Buddhism)]]
* [[Namarupa]] (concept)
* [[Skandhas]]
** [[Sankhata]]
** [[Saṃjñā|Sanna]]
** [[Vedana]]
** [[Vijnana]]
* [[Substantial form]]
* [[Three marks of existence]]
{{refend}}

==Notes==
{{reflist| group=note|35em}}

==References==
{{reflist|35em}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}

* {{Citation |last=Arbel |first=Keren |year=2016 |title=Early Buddhist Meditation: The Four Jhanas as the Actualization of Insight |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315676043 |isbn=9781317383994 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317383994 |url-access=subscription}}

* {{Citation |last=Berzin |first=Alexander |year=2006 |title=Primary Minds and the 51 Mental Factors |url=http://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/science-of-mind/mind-mental-factors/primary-minds-and-the-51-mental-factors}}
* {{Citation |last=Bucknell |first=Robert S. |year=1993 |title=Reinterpreting the Jhanas |journal=Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies |volume=16 |issue=2}}
* [[Buddhaghosa]], Bhadantācariya (trans. from Pāli by Bhikkhu Ñā{{IAST|ṇ}}amoli) (1999). ''The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga''. Seattle, WA: [[Buddhist Publication Society|BPS]] Pariyatti Editions. {{ISBN|1-928706-00-2}}.

* {{Citation |last=Chen |first=Naichen |year=2017 |title=The Great Prajna Paramita Sutra, Volume 1 |publisher=Wheatmark}}

* {{Citation |last=Fuller-Sasaki |first=Ruth |year=2008 |title=The Record of Lin-Ji |publisher=University of Hawaii Press}}

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* Hamilton, Sue (2001). ''Identity and Experience: The Constitution of the Human Being according to Early Buddhism''. Oxford: Luzac Oriental. {{ISBN|1-898942-23-4}}

* {{Citation |last=Johansson |first=Rune Edvin Anders |year=1981 |title=Pali Buddhist Texts: Explained to the Beginner |publisher=Psychology Press}}

* {{Citation |last=Kunsang |first=Erik Pema |year=2004 |title=Gateway to Knowledge, Vol. 1 |publisher=North Atlantic Books}}

* {{Citation |last=Lusthaus |first=Dan |year=2002 |title=Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogacara Buddhism and the Ch'eng Wei-shih Lun |publisher=Routledge}}

* {{Citation |last1=Maezumi |first1=Taizan |last2=Cook |first2=Francis Dojun |year=2007 |chapter=The Eight Awarenesses of the Enlightened Person": Dogen Zenji's Hachidainingaku |editor-last1=Maezumi |editor-first1=Taizan |editor-last2=Glassman |editor-first2=Bernie |title=The Hazy Moon of Enlightenment |publisher=Wisdom Publications}}
* [[Monier Monier-Williams|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

* {{Citation |last=Polak |first=Grzegorz |year=2011 |title=Reexamining Jhana: Towards a Critical Reconstruction of Early Buddhist Soteriology |publisher=UMCS}}

* [[Caroline Augusta Foley Rhys Davids|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-Pi{{IAST|ṭ}}aka, entitled Dhamma-{{IAST|Saṅgaṇi}} (Compendium of States or Phenomena)''. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7661-4702-9}}
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* {{Citation |last1=Sangpo |first1=Gelong Lodro |last2=Dhammajoti |first2=Bhikkhu K.L. |year=2012 |title=Abhidharmakosa-Bhasya of Vasubandhu: Volume 3 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass}}
* {{Citation |last=Sarbacker |first=Stuart Ray |year=2021 |title=Tracing the Path of Yoga: The History and Philosophy of Indian Mind-Body Discipline |publisher=State University of New York Press}}
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* {{Citation |last=Stuart-Fox |first=Martin |year=1989 |title=Jhana and Buddhist Scholasticism |journal=Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies |volume=12 |issue=2}}

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{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [[Thanissaro Bhikkhu]] (trans.) (2003). ''Maha-hatthipadopama Sutta: The Great Elephant Footprint Simile'' ([[Majjhima Nikaya|MN]] 28). Retrieved 2008-03-06 from "Access to Insight" at [https://web.archive.org/web/20050405170209/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/majjhima/mn028-tb0.html].

{{Hinduism (compact)}}
{{Buddhism topics}}

[[Category:Hindu philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Buddhist philosophical concepts]]
[[Category:Physical objects]]
[[Category:Sanskrit words and phrases]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rūpa}}

Rūpa - Revision history

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