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HandWiki. Tapas (Indian Religions). Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/31623 (accessed on 22 September 2026).
HandWiki. Tapas (Indian Religions). Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/31623. Accessed September 22, 2026.
HandWiki. "Tapas (Indian Religions)" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/31623 (accessed September 22, 2026).
HandWiki. (2022, October 27). Tapas (Indian Religions). In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/31623
HandWiki. "Tapas (Indian Religions)." Encyclopedia. Web. 27 October, 2022.
Tapas (Indian Religions)
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Tapas (Sanskrit: तपस्) is a variety of austere spiritual meditation practices in Indian religions. In Jainism, it means asceticism (austerities, body mortification); in Buddhism, it denotes spiritual practices including meditation and self-discipline; and in the different traditions within Hinduism it means a spectrum of practices ranging from asceticism, inner cleansing to self-discipline by meditation practices. The Tapas practice often involves solitude, and is a part of monastic practices that are believed to be a means to moksha (liberation, salvation). In the Vedas literature of Hinduism, fusion words based on tapas are widely used to expound several spiritual concepts that develop through heat or inner energy, such as meditation, any process to reach special observations and insights, the spiritual ecstasy of a yogin or Tāpasa (a vṛddhi derivative meaning "a practitioner of austerities, an ascetic"), even warmth of sexual intimacy. In certain contexts, the term means penance, pious activity, as well as severe meditation.

spiritual practices meditation sexual

References

  1. Monier Williams (1872). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and philologically arranged. Clarendon Press, Oxford. p. 363. https://books.google.com/books?id=uqlRAAAAcAAJ. 
  2. S Fujinaga (2003). Olle Qvarnström. ed. Jainism and Early Buddhism: Essays in Honor of Padmanabh S. Jaini. Jain Publishing Company. pp. 206, 212. ISBN 978-0-89581-956-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=5_EdL2FtIqQC&pg=PA206. 
  3. Walter O. Kaelber (May, 1976), Tapas, Birth, and Spiritual Rebirth in the Veda, History of Religions, Vol. 15, No. 4, page 344-345 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062153
  4. M. Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964), page 410
  5. Walter O. Kaelber (May, 1976), Tapas, Birth, and Spiritual Rebirth in the Veda, History of Religions, Vol. 15, No. 4, pages 343, 358
  6. Atharva Veda, 8.1.10
  7. H. Oldenberg, Die Weltanschauung der Brahmana-Texts, Gottingen: Bandenhöck und Ruprecht, 1919
  8. H. Oertel, "The Jaiminiya-Upanisad Brahmana," Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 16 (1896)
  9. Walter O. Kaelber (May, 1976), Tapas, Birth, and Spiritual Rebirth in the Veda, History of Religions, Vol. 15, No. 4, pages 349-350
  10. A. B. Keith (1914), The Veda of the Black Yajus School Entitled Taittiriya Saihitd, 2 vols., Harvard University Press; Also: H. Oldenberg (1964), The Grihya Sutras, Sacred Books of the East, 2 vols., Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi; see 1.7.25.1, 7.1.1.28
  11. Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 58-59. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. 1978. p. 153. https://books.google.com/books?id=519jAAAAMAAJ. 
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  13. Robert E. Buswell Jr.; Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. p. 894. ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ. 
  14. Randall Collins (2000), The sociology of philosophies: a global theory of intellectual change, Harvard University Press, ISBN:978-0674001879, page 204
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  16. Piotr Balcerowicz (2015). Early Asceticism in India: Ājīvikism and Jainism. Routledge. pp. 149-150 with footnote 289 for the original mentioning Tapas. ISBN 978-1-317-53853-0. https://books.google.com/books?id=nfOPCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA149. 
  17. Thanissaro Bhikkhu (2005), Devadaha Sutta: At Devadaha, M ii.214 http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.101.than.html
  18. A similar discussion contrasting Tapas in Buddhism and Jainism is found in Devadaha Sutta. The translations vary with scholars, with some translating Tapas in Jainism as asceticism, some as penance. Further, the opening varies: "ascetics and Brahmins", or "contemplatives and Brahmins", or "recluses and Brahmins", with former meaning those who seek salvation but do not preach, the latter meaning those who seek salvation and also preach. See: Piotr Balcerowicz (2015) ibid; Piya Tan (2005), Devadaha Sutta, Living Word of the Buddha, volume 18, number 4, pages 46-47 with footnotes 52-58; Padmanabh S. Jaini (2001), Collected Papers on Buddhist Studies, Motilal Banarsidass, page 123
  19. Shuxian Liu; Robert Elliott Allinson (1988). Harmony and Strife: Contemporary Perspectives, East & West. Chinese University Press. pp. 99 with footnote 25. ISBN 978-962-201-412-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=Je1UbD8Dyj4C. 
  20. The optional ascetic practices are not mentioned in the Buddhist Vinaya texts, but listed in some Sila texts, where they are called Dhutanga (Tibetan: sbyang pa'i yan lag, Japanese: zudagyo, Chinese: toutouxing). An illustrative list of thirteen permissible ascetic practices for Buddhists, attributed to Buddha are, according to Buswell and Lopez:[27] [1] wearing clothes made from discarded clothing; [2] wearing only three robes; [3] alms seeking; [4] not begging food only at those houses that provide good food, but also begging at homes that do not; [5] eating daily once, in one sitting; [6] not eating sangha food, but only what one gathered in a bowl after begging; [7] refusing more food; [8] dwelling in a forest; [9] dwelling at the root of a tree; [10] dwelling in open air with tent made from one's own robe; [11] dwelling in cremation ground; [12] dwelling anywhere and being satisfied with it; [13] repeatedly sleeping only in a sitting position without ever lying down. In other Buddhist texts, the list varies, and in some cases allowed ascetic practices for monks include wearing only clothes made from coarse hemp or wool. Ascetic practices were suggested particularly for those Buddhist monks who were found to be greedy or of deluded character.[27]
  21. Robert E. Buswell Jr.; Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. p. 22, 910. ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ. 
  22. K Tiyavanich (1997). Forest Recollections: Wandering Monks in Twentieth-Century Thailand. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 1–2, 37. ISBN 978-0-8248-1781-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=YKwwO5oGXwcC. 
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