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Four Elements
Buddhist Term
dì shuǐ huǒ fēng
chisuikafuu
地水火風 is a Buddhist term that means “earth, water, fire, wind.”
This is often just referred to as “the four elements.” There is a more common title (the five elements) that adds wood to the mix. These four elements are used in some sects of Japanese Buddhism (not so much in Chinese).
Earth Fire Water Air
yondaigenso
四大元素 is the title for the four classical chemical elements (fire, earth, air, and water) in Japanese.
四大 = four great/big. 元素 = elements. So 四大元素 literally means “Four Great Elements.”
Shidai / Sida / Mahabhuta
In Mahayana Buddhism, 四大 represents mahābhūta, the four elements of which all things are made: earth, water, fire, and wind.
This can also represent the four freedoms: speaking out freely, airing views fully, holding great debates, and writing big-character posters.
In some contexts, this can be a university or college offering four-year programs.
To others, this can represent the Tao, Heaven, Earth, and King.
Going back to the Buddhist context, these four elements “earth, water, fire, and wind,” represent 堅, 濕, 煖, 動, which are: solid, liquid, heat, and motion.
Body and Mind
shēn xīn
shin jin
身心 means “body and mind” or “mental and physical” in Chinese and Japanese.
In the Buddhist context, body and mind encompass the five elements (skandha) of a sentient being.
The body is the physical material (rūpa) of life. The mind embraces the other four skandhas, which are consciousness, perception, action, and knowledge.
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Below are some entries from our dictionary that may match your four elements search...
| Characters If shown, 2nd row is Simp. Chinese |
Pronunciation Romanization |
Simple Dictionary Definition |
四大 see styles |
sì dà si4 da4 ssu ta shidai しだい |
More info & calligraphy: Shidai / Sida / Mahabhuta(1) {Buddh} the four elements (earth, water, fire, wind); (2) the human body; (3) Tao, heaven, earth and king mahābhūta, 四界; 四大界. The four elements of which all things are made; or the four realms; i. e. earth, water, fire, and wind (or air); they represent 堅, 濕, 煖, and 動 solid, liquid, heat, and motion; motion produces and maintains life. As 實 active or formative forces they are styled 四界 (四大界) ; as 假 passive or material objects they are 四大; but the 成實論 Satyasiddhi śāstra disputes the 實 and recognizes only the 假. |
毒蛇 see styles |
dú shé du2 she2 tu she dokuja; dokuhebi どくじゃ; どくへび |
More info & calligraphy: Vipervenomous snake; poisonous snake A poisonous snake.; Poisonous snakes, the four elements of the body— earth, water, fire, wind (or air)— which harm a man by their variation, i. e. increase and decrease. Also, gold. |
和敬清寂 see styles |
wakeiseijaku / wakesejaku わけいせいじゃく |
More info & calligraphy: Elements of the Tea Ceremony |
四大元素 see styles |
yondaigenso よんだいげんそ |
More info & calligraphy: Earth Fire Water Air |
地水火風 地水火风 see styles |
dì shuǐ huǒ fēng di4 shui3 huo3 feng1 ti shui huo feng chisuikafuu; jisuikafuu / chisuikafu; jisuikafu ちすいかふう; じすいかふう |
More info & calligraphy: Four Elementsearth, water, fire, wind |
大 see styles |
dài dai4 tai dai だい |
see 大夫[dai4 fu5] (pref,adj-na,n) (1) large; big; great; huge; vast; major; important; serious; severe; (prefix) (2) great; prominent; eminent; distinguished; (suffix) (3) -sized; as big as; the size of; (suffix noun) (4) (abbreviation) (See 大学・1) university; (5) large (e.g. serving size); large option; (6) (abbreviation) (See 大の月) long month (i.e. having 31 days); (given name) Yutaka Maha. 摩訶; 麼賀. Great, large, big; all pervading, all-embracing; numerous 多; surpassing ; mysterious 妙; beyond comprehension 不可思議; omnipresent 體無不在. The elements, or essential things, i.e. (a) 三大 The three all-pervasive qualities of the 眞如 q.v. : its 體, 相 , 用 substance, form, and functions, v. 起信論 . (b) 四大 The four tanmātra or elements, earth, water, fire, air (or wind) of the 倶舍論. (c)五大 The five, i.e. the last four and space 空, v. 大日經. (d) 六大 The six elements, earth, water, fire, wind, space (or ether), mind 識. Hīnayāna, emphasizing impersonality 人空, considers these six as the elements of all sentient beings; Mahāyāna, emphasizing the unreality of all things 法空, counts them as elements, but fluid in a flowing stream of life, with mind 識 dominant; the esoteric sect emphasizing nonproduction, or non-creation, regards them as universal and as the Absolute in differentiation. (e) 七大 The 楞嚴經 adds 見 perception, to the six above named to cover the perceptions of the six organs 根. |
色 see styles |
shǎi shai3 shai shoku しょく |
(coll.) color; used in 色子[shai3zi5] (counter) counter for colours; (female given name) Shiki rūpa, outward appearance, form, colour, matter, thing; the desirable, especially feminine attraction. It is defined as that which has resistance; or which changes and disappears, i. e. the phenomenal; also as 顯, 形 and 表色 colour and quality, form or the measurable, and mode or action. There are divisions of two, i. e. inner and outer, as the organs and objects of sense; also colour and form; of three, i. e. the visible object, e. g. colour, the invisible object, e. g. sound, the invisible and immaterial; of eleven, i. e. the five organs and five objects of sense and the immaterial object; of fourteen, the five organs and five objects of sense and the four elements, earth, water, fire, air. rūpa is one of the six bāhya-āyatana, the 六塵; also one of the five skandhas, 五蘊, i. e. the 色身. Keith refers to rūpa as 'material form or matter which is underived (no-utpādā) and which is derived (utpādā)', the underived or independent being the tangible; the derived or dependent being the senses, e. g. of hearing; most of their objects, e. g. sound; the qualities or faculties of feminity, masculinity, vitality; intimation by act and speech, space; qualities of matter, e. g. buoyancy and physical nutriment. |
蘊 蕴 see styles |
yùn yun4 yün osamu おさむ |
to accumulate; to hold in store; to contain; to gather together; to collect; depth; inner strength; profundity (given name) Osamu skandha, v. 塞; older tr. 陰, intp. as that which covers or conceals, implying that physical and mental forms obstruct realization of the truth; while the tr. 蘊, implying an accumulation or heap, is a nearer connotation to skandha, which, originally meaning the shoulder, becomes stem, branch, combination, the objects of sense, the elements of being or mundane consciousness. The term is intp. as the five physical and mental constituents, which combine to form the intelligent 性 or nature; rūpa, the first of the five, is considered as physical, the remaining four as mental; v. 五蘊. The skandhas refer only to the phenomenal, not to the 無爲 non-phenomenal. |
五因 see styles |
wǔ yīn wu3 yin1 wu yin goin |
The five causes, v. 倶舍論 7. i. e. (1) 生因 producing cause; (2) 依因supporting cause; (3) 立因 upholding or establishing cause; (4) 持因 maintaining cause; (5) 養因 nourishing or strengthening cause. These all refer to the four elements, earth, water, fire, wind, for they are the causers or producers and maintainers of the infinite forms of nature. Another list from the Nirvana-Sutra 21 is (1) 生因 cause of rebirth, i. e. previous delusion; (2) 和合因 intermingling cause, i. e. good with good, bad with bad, neutral with neutral; (3) 住因 cause of abiding in the present condition, i. e. the self in its attachments; (4) 增長因 causes of development, e. g. food, clothing, etc.; (5) 遠因 remoter cause, the parental seed. |
五智 see styles |
wǔ zhì wu3 zhi4 wu chih gochi ごち |
(place-name, surname) Gochi The five kinds of wisdom of the 眞言宗 Shingon School. Of the six elements 六大 earth, water, fire, air (or wind), ether (or space) 曇空, and consciousness (or mind 識 ), the first five form the phenomenal world, or Garbhadhātu, the womb of all things 胎藏界, the sixth is the conscious, or perceptive, or wisdom world, the Vajradhātu 金剛界, sometimes called the Diamond realm. The two realms are not originally apart, but one, and there is no consciousness without the other five elements. The sixth element, vijñāna, is further subdivided into five called the 五智 Five Wisdoms: (1) 法界體性智 dharmadhātu-prakṛti-jñāna, derived from the amala-vijñāna, or pure 識; it is the wisdom of the embodied nature of the dharmadhātu, defined as the six elements, and is associated with Vairocana 大日, in the centre, who abides in this samādhi; it also corresponds to the ether 空 element. (2) 大圓鏡智 adarśana-jñāna, the great round mirror wisdom, derived from the ālaya-vijñāna, reflecting all things; corresponds to earth, and is associated with Akṣobhya and the east. (3) 平等性智 samatā-jñāna, derived from mano-vijñāna, wisdom in regard to all things equally and universally; corresponds to fire, and is associated with Ratnasaṃbhava and the south. (4) 妙觀察智 pratyavekṣaṇa-jñāna, derived from 意識, wisdom of profound insight, or discrimination, for exposition and doubt-destruction; corresponds to water, and is associated with Amitābha and the west. (5) 成所作智 kṛtyānuṣṭhāna-jñāna, derived from the five senses, the wisdom of perfecting the double work of self-welfare and the welfare of others; corresponds to air 風 and is associated with Amoghasiddhi and the north. These five Dhyāni-Buddhas are the 五智如來. The five kinds of wisdom are the four belonging to every Buddha, of the exoteric cult, to which the esoteric cult adds the first, pure, all-refecting, universal, all-discerning, and all-perfecting. |
六因 see styles |
liù yīn liu4 yin1 liu yin rokuin |
The six causations of the 六位 six stages of Bodhisattva development, q. v. Also, the sixfold division of causes of the Vaibhāṣikas (cf. Keith, 177-8); every phenomenon depends upon the union of 因 primary cause and 緣 conditional or environmental cause; and of the 因 there are six kinds: (1) 能作因 karaṇahetu, effective causes of two kinds: 與力因 empowering cause, as the earth empowers plant growth, and 不障因 non-resistant cause, as space does not resist, i. e. active and passive causes; (2) 倶有因 sahabhūhetu, co-operative causes, as the four elements 四大 in nature, not one of which can be omitted; (3) 同類因 sabhāgahetu, causes of the same kind as the effect, good producing good, etc.; (4) 相應因 saṃprayuktahetu, mutual responsive or associated causes, e. g. mind and mental conditions, subject with object; Keith gives 'faith and intelligence'; similar to (2); (5) 遍行因 sarvatragahetu, universal or omnipresent cause, i. e. of illusion, as of false views affecting every act; it resembles (3) but is confined to delusion; (6) 異熟因 vipākahetu, differental fruition, i. e. the effect different from the cause, as the hells are from evil deeds. |
四微 see styles |
sì wēi si4 wei1 ssu wei shimi |
The four minutest forms or atoms perceptible to the four senses of sight, smell, taste, or touch; from these arise the 四大 four elements, from which arise the 五智 five wisdoms, q. v. |
四相 see styles |
sì xiàng si4 xiang4 ssu hsiang shisou / shiso しそう |
(1) {Buddh} four essential elements of existence (birth, ageing, illness and death); (can act as adjective) (2) {math} four-phase; quadri-phase The four avasthā, or states of all phenomena, i. e. 生住異滅 birth, being, change (i. e. decay), and death; also 四有爲相. There are several groups, e. g. 果報四相 birth, age, disease, death. Also 藏識四相 of the Awakening of Faith referring to the initiation, continuation, change, and cessation of the ālaya-vijñāna. Also 我人四相 The ideas: (1) that there is an ego; (2) that man is different from other organisms; (3) that all the living are produced by the skandhas; (4) that life is limited to the organism. Also 智境四相 dealing differently with the four last headings 我; 人; 衆生; and 壽相. |
四蛇 see styles |
sì shé si4 she2 ssu she shida |
idem 四毒蛇. The Fanyimingyi under this heading gives the parable of a man who fled from the two bewildering forms of life and death, and climbed down a rope (of life) 命根, into the well of impermanence 無常, where two mice, night and day, gnawed the rattan rope; on the four sides four snakes 四蛇 sought to poison him, i. e. the 四大 or four elements of his physical nature); below were three dragons 三毒龍 breathing fire and trying to seize him. On looking up he saw that two 象 elephants (darkness and light) had come to the mouth of the well; he was in despair, when a bee flew by and dropped some honey (the five desires 五欲) into his mouth, which he ate and entirely forgot his peril. |
地大 see styles |
dì dà di4 da4 ti ta chihiro ちひろ |
(personal name) Chihiro Earth as one of the 四大 four elements, 地 earth, 水大 water, 火大 fire, and 風大 air (i. e. air in motion, wind); to these 空大 space (Skt. ākāśa) is added to make the 五大 five elements; 識 vijñāna, perception to make the six elements; and 見 darśana, views, concepts, or reasonings to make the seven elements. The esoteric sect use the five fingers, beginning with the little finger, to symbolize the five elements. |
地界 see styles |
dì jiè di4 jie4 ti chieh chikai ちかい |
boundary; bounds of the earth; (place-name) Jizakai The realm of earth, one of the four elements, v. 地大. |
大種 大种 see styles |
dà zhǒng da4 zhong3 ta chung daishu |
The four great seeds, or elements (四大) which enter into all things, i.e. earth, water, fire, and wind, from which, as from seed, all things spring. |
水大 see styles |
shuǐ dà shui3 da4 shui ta suidai |
The element water, one of the four elements 四大 q. v. |
水界 see styles |
shuǐ jiè shui3 jie4 shui chieh suikai すいかい |
(1) (See 水圏) hydrosphere; (2) boundary of water and land; (place-name) Mizusakai The realm of water, one of the 四大 four elements. |
火大 see styles |
huǒ dà huo3 da4 huo ta kadai |
to get mad; to be very angry The element fire, one of the 四大 four elements. |
火界 see styles |
huǒ jiè huo3 jie4 huo chieh kakai |
The realm of fire, one of the realms of the four elements 四大, i. e. earth, water, fire, and wind. Cf. 火院. |
百法 see styles |
bǎi fǎ bai3 fa3 pai fa hyappō |
The hundred divisions of all mental qualities and their agents, of the 唯識 School; also known as the 五位百法five groups of the 100 modes or 'things': (1) 心法 the eight 識 perceptions, or forms of consciousness; (2) 心所有法 the fifty-one mental ideas; (3) 色法 the five physical organs and their six modes of sense, e. g. ear and sound; (4) 不相應行 twenty-four indefinites, or unconditioned elements; (5) 無爲 six inactive or metaphysical concepts. |
通教 see styles |
tōng jiào tong1 jiao4 t`ung chiao tung chiao michinori みちのり |
(given name) Michinori Tiantai classified Buddhist schools into four periods 藏, 通, 別, and 圓. The 藏 Piṭaka school was that of Hīnayāna. The 通Tong, interrelated or intermediate school, was the first stage of Mahāyāna, having in it elements of all the three vehicles, śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva. Its developing doctrine linked it with Hīnayāna on the one hand and on the other with the two further developments of the 別 'separate', or 'differentiated' Mahāyāna teaching, and the 圓 full-orbed, complete, or perfect Mahāyāna. The 通教 held the doctrine of the Void, but had not arrived at the doctrine of the Mean. |
部多 see styles |
bù duō bu4 duo1 pu to buta |
bhūta, 'been, become, produced, formed, being, existing,' etc. (M. W. ); intp. as the consciously existing; the four great elements, earth, fire, wind, water, as apprehended by touch; also a kind of demon produced by metamorphosis. Also, the 眞如 bhūtatathatā. |
非色 see styles |
fēi sè fei1 se4 fei se |
arūpa, formless, i.e. without rūpa, form, or shape, not composed of the four elements. Also the four skandhas, 非色四薀 excluding rūpa or form. |
風大 风大 see styles |
fēng dà feng1 da4 feng ta |
Wind or air as one of the four elements. |
三時教 三时教 see styles |
sān shí jiào san1 shi2 jiao4 san shih chiao sanji kyō |
(三時教判) The three periods and characteristics of Buddha's teaching, as defined by the Dharmalakṣana school 法相宗. They are: (1) 有, when he taught the 實有 reality of the skandhas and elements, but denied the common belief in 實我 real personality or a permanent soul; this period is represented by the four 阿含經 āgamas and other Hīnayāna sūtras. (2) 空 Śūnya, when he negatived the idea of 實法 the reality of things and advocated that all was 空 unreal; the period of the 般若經 prajñā sūtras. (3) 中 Madhyama, the mean, that mind or spirit is real, while things are unreal; the period of this school's specific sūtra the 解深密經, also the 法華 and later sūtras. In the two earlier periods he is said to have 方便 adapted his teaching to the development of his hearers; in the third to have delivered his complete and perfect doctrine. Another division by the 空宗 is (1) as above; (2) the early period of the Mahāyāna represented, by the 深密經; (3) the higher Mahāyāna as in the 般若經. v. also 三敎. |
五大形 see styles |
wǔ dà xíng wu3 da4 xing2 wu ta hsing godai gyō |
The symbols of the five elements— earth as square, water round, fire triangular, wind half-moon, and space a combination of the other four. |
八犍度 see styles |
bā jiān dù ba1 jian1 du4 pa chien tu hachi kendo |
The eight skandhas or sections of the Abhidharma, i.e. miscellaneous; concerning bondage to the passions, etc.; wisdom; practice; the four fundamentals, or elements; the roots, or organs; meditation; and views. The 八犍論 in thirty sections, attributed to Kātyāyana, is in the Abhidharma. |
八變化 八变化 see styles |
bā biàn huà ba1 bian4 hua4 pa pien hua hachi henge |
Eight supernatural powers of transformation, characteristics of every Buddha: (1) to shrink self or others, or the world and all things to an atom; (2) to enlarge ditto to fill all space; (3) to make the same light as a feather; (4) to make the same any size or anywhere at will; (5) everywhere and in everything to be omnipotent; (6) to be anywhere at will, either by self-transportation, or bringing the destination to himself, etc; (7) to shake all things (in the six, or eighteen ways); (8) to be one or many and at will pass through the solid or through space, or through fire or water, or transform the four elements at will, e.g. turn earth into water. Also 八神變; 八自在. |
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The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...
| Title | Characters | Romaji (Romanized Japanese) | Various forms of Romanized Chinese | |
| Four Elements | 地水火風 地水火风 | chisuikafuu chisuikafu | dì shuǐ huǒ fēng di4 shui3 huo3 feng1 di shui huo feng dishuihuofeng | ti shui huo feng tishuihuofeng |
| Earth Fire Water Air | 四大元素 | yondaigenso | ||
| Shidai Sida Mahabhuta | 四大 | shi dai / shidai | sì dà / si4 da4 / si da / sida | ssu ta / ssuta |
| Body and Mind | 身心 | shin jin / shinjin | shēn xīn / shen1 xin1 / shen xin / shenxin | shen hsin / shenhsin |
| In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line. In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese. | ||||
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