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bīja

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Dictionary Definition ：

Definition^[1]

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種子Seeds.

Definition^[2]

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bīja

(Sanskrit, seed). A term used in Yogācāra Buddhism to denote the ‘packets’ of karmic energy produced through habitual actions and stored in the ālaya-vijñāna. Just as in more conventional understandings of the operation of karma, it is believed that these ‘seeds’ will produce their ‘fruit’ at a future date in the form of pleasant and unpleasant experiences. The term is also used in Vajrayāna to denote the mantric syllables from which deities and other divine objects are generated.

Source: Buddhism Dictionary.

Source

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A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2004 (which is available in electronic version from answer.com)

Definition^[3]

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bīja : [nt.] seed; germ; generating element.

Source

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A.P. Buddhadatta Mahathera, Concise Pali-English and English-Pali Dictionary [available as digital version from Metta Net, Sri Lanka]

Definition^[4]

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Bīja (nt.) [cp. Vedic bīja] 1. seed, germ, semen, spawn. Used very frequently in figurative sense: see on similes J.P.T.S. 1907, 116. -- D i.135 (˚bhatta seed -- corn & food); iii.44 (the five kinds: see below under ˚gāma); M i.457; S i.21, 134, 172, 227; iii.54, 91; iv.315; A i.32 (ucchu˚), 135, 223, 229, 239; iii.404;iv.237; v.213 (ucchu˚); Sn 77 (saddhā bījaŋ tapo vuṭṭhi, cp. SnA 142 sq., where a detailed discussion on bīja is found), 209, 235 (khīṇa˚ adj. fig.); J i.242 (tiṇa˚ -- ādīni grass and other seeds), 281; Pv i.11; Vism 555 (in simile); KhA 194 (on Sn 235, in another comparison); Sdhp 24, 270 sq., 318. nibbatta˚ (or nivatta˚) (adj.) that which has dropped its seed (hence a lawful food) Vin i.215, cp. ii.109; iv.35. -- 2. element, in udaka˚ whose element is the water J vi.160.
-- gāma seed -- group, seed -- kingdom, seed -- creation (opp. bhūta -- gāma). There are 5 kinds of seeds usually enumd, e. g. at D i.5 (expld at DA i.77, trsln at Dial. i.6 and passim), viz. mūla˚, khandha˚, phalu˚, agga˚, bija˚, or plants propagated by roots, cuttings, joints, buddings, shoots, seeds (Dial. iii.40: tubers, shoots, berries, joints, seeds). The same set occurs at D iii.44, 47; Vin iv.34; SnA 144. -- Without ref. to the 5 kinds at M iii.34; S v.46; Miln 33. -- jāta species of seed S iii.54. -- bīja one of the 5 groups of edible or useful plants, falling under bījagāma. It is expld at Vin iv.35 & DA i.81 by the termspubbaṇṇa (i. e. the seven dhaññāni or grains, sāli, vīhi, yava, godhūma, kangu, varaka, kudrūsa) and aparaṇṇa (i. e. beans and other leguminous plants, and gourds such as mugga, māsa, tila, kulattha, alābu, kumbhaṇḍa). -- sakaṭa a cart ( -- load) of seeds SnA 137.