Conceptual Proliferation
Encyclopedia
In Buddhism
, conceptual proliferation refers to conceptualization of the world through the use of ever-expanding language and concepts. The translation of papañca as conceptual proliferation was first made by Katukurunde Nanananda Thera in his research monograph Concept and Reality.[2] It is a useful concept, not only in Buddhism but in many other fields (see below)
It is intended to elucidate reality, although it has the unexpected result of blotting out or reducing direct nonverbal sensory perception. In part, this is due to each person's limitation of how many things they can pay attention to at the same time. A person who can only attend to two things at once, may be able to receive a direct sensory picture of the tree while at the same time saying "The apple tree in the garden," but picture will not be as complete.
Accident Prevention
For example, California lists distraction (conceptual proliferation is perhaps the biggest) as one of the 3 major causes of accidents.
The term is mentioned in a variety of suttas in the Pali canon
, such as the Madhupindika Sutta (MN 18), and is mentioned in Mahayana Buddhism as well. When referencing the concepts derived from this process, such concepts are referred to in Pali as papañca-saññā-sankhā.
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, conceptual proliferation refers to conceptualization of the world through the use of ever-expanding language and concepts. The translation of papañca as conceptual proliferation was first made by Katukurunde Nanananda Thera in his research monograph Concept and Reality.[2] It is a useful concept, not only in Buddhism but in many other fields (see below)
It is intended to elucidate reality, although it has the unexpected result of blotting out or reducing direct nonverbal sensory perception. In part, this is due to each person's limitation of how many things they can pay attention to at the same time. A person who can only attend to two things at once, may be able to receive a direct sensory picture of the tree while at the same time saying "The apple tree in the garden," but picture will not be as complete.
Accident Prevention
For example, California lists distraction (conceptual proliferation is perhaps the biggest) as one of the 3 major causes of accidents.
The term is mentioned in a variety of suttas in the Pali canon
Pāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the only completely surviving early Buddhist canon, and one of the first to be written down...
, such as the Madhupindika Sutta (MN 18), and is mentioned in Mahayana Buddhism as well. When referencing the concepts derived from this process, such concepts are referred to in Pali as papañca-saññā-sankhā.