In Buddhism and Hinduism, rūpa means 'form'. While it may be used to express matter or material phenomena, especially that linked to the power of vision in samkhya, it is also used to describe subtle and spiritual realities such as svarupa meaning the form of the self.
Definition
According to the Monier-Williams Dictionary, rūpa is defined as:
In general, rūpa is the Buddhistconcept of material form, including both the body and external matter. More specifically, in the Pali Canon, rūpa is contextualized in three significant frameworks:
rūpa-khandha - "material forms," one of the five aggregates by which all phenomena can be categorized.
rūpa-āyatana - "visible objects," the external sense objects of the eye, one of the six external sense bases by which the world is known.
nāma-rūpa - "name and form" or "mind and body," which in the causal chain of dependent origination 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''
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. As matter, rūpa is traditionally analysed in two ways: as four primary elements ; and, as ten or twenty-four secondary or derived elements.
Four primary elements
Existing rūpa consists in the four primary or underived elements:
In the Abhidhamma Pitaka and later Pali literature, rūpa is further analyzed in terms of ten or twenty-three or twenty-four types of secondary or derived matter. In the list of ten types of secondary matter, the following are identified:
A list of 23 derived types can be found, for instance, in the Abhidhamma Pitaka's Dhammasangani, which omits the list of 24 derived types' "heart-basis."
The ''rupa jhānas">Dhyāna in Buddhism">rupa jhānas''
Qualities of the ''rupa jhānas''
The practice of dhyana is aided by anapanasati, mindfulness of breathing. The Suttapitaka describe four stages of rupa jhāna. Rupa refers to the material realm, in a neutral stance, as different from the kama realm and the arupa-realm. Each jhāna is characterised by a set of qualities which are present in that jhana.
First dhyāna: the first dhyana can be entered when one is secluded from sensuality and unskillful qualities, due to withdrawal and right effort. There is pīti and non-sensual sukha as the result of seclusion, while vitarka-vicara continues;
Second dhyana: there is pīti and non-sensual sukha as the result of concentration ; ekaggata free from vitarka-vicara ; sampasadana ;
Third dhyana: upekkhā, mindful, and alert, and senses pleasure with the body;
Fourth dhyana: upekkhāsatipārisuddhi ; neither-pleasure-nor-pain. Traditionally, the fourth jhāna is seen as the beginning of attaining psychic powers.
