[Buddha-l] Buddhist words for "Buddhist"

[mongaikan (tin)]

> In Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Chinese, and/or any other language from a 
> culture with a well-established "mainstream" Buddhist tradition, is 
> there a consistent terminology of religious identification that 
> Buddhists use to refer to themselves (and to distinguish themselves from 
> the followers of other religions)?

I'm sorry, I forgot to mention japanese (and chinese) counterparts for 
"buddhist" which I know somehow better. The modern term bukkyouto (?? 
?, fojiaotu in China) translates quite closely "buddhist believer" but 
sounds too official and it's seldomly used in daily life. On the other 
hand, as you probably know, religious freedom in the sense of individual 
adoption of an exclusive system of values (or -ism) was less common in 
pre-modern Japan and China, hence terms referring to buddhist 
practitioners focus more on context or function than personal belief. 
Some of these terms are still preferred today in Japan. Except for those 
referring to clergy, generic or not (souryo, juushoku, wajou etc.), 
terms as zaike (??, sk. g.rhastha) or even ubasoku (??? sk. 
upaasaka) could mean layman only in a buddhist meaning, while others are 
used only in ceremonies or funerals (koji, shakushi, butsudeshi etc.).
I'm aware that the situation in China could have been different since 
buddhists were perceived more as a group from time to time but I'm quite 
ignorant on the subject.
Regards,

Nicola Bianco


> The traditional word for what we denote in English as "Buddhism" is, of 
> course, "Buddhadharma". What I am asking is whether or not anyone knows 
> of one or more equivalent noun(s) for an adherent of the Buddhadharma - 
> preferably ones that map as neatly to "Buddhist" as "Buddhadharma" does 
> to "Buddhism"?
> 
> Am I overlooking something obvious here? It wouldn't be the first time.....
> 
> Curt
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