vihara

American  

[vi-hahr-uh] / vɪˈhɑr ə /

noun

1. a meeting place of Buddhist monks.

2. a Buddhist monastery.

3. Also called Brahma Vihara.  (initial capital letter) one of the four states of mind, namely love, compassion, sympathetic gladness, and equanimity, to be developed by every Buddhist.

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Etymology

Origin of vihara

First recorded in 1875–80, vihara is from the Sanskrit word vihāra

Example Sentences

I sprang up: a tremendous roar deafened me, filling the vihara, wakening the slumbering echoes, and resounding, like the softened rumbling of thunder, over all the borders of the precipice.

From From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan by Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)

The vihara stands in a square of thirty paces, and though heaven should shake and earth be rent, this place would not move.

From A Record of Buddhistic kingdoms: being an account by the Chinese monk Fa-hsien of travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist books of discipline by Faxian, ca. 337-422

They were all greatly rejoiced, and co-operated in restoring the vihara.

From A Record of Buddhistic kingdoms: being an account by the Chinese monk Fa-hsien of travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist books of discipline by Faxian, ca. 337-422

Four le to the north-west of the vihara there is a grove called "The Getting of Eyes."

From A Record of Buddhistic kingdoms: being an account by the Chinese monk Fa-hsien of travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in search of the Buddhist books of discipline by Faxian, ca. 337-422

When Buddha, on his return entered the vihara, this image immediately left its place, and came forth to meet him.

From Chinese Literature Comprising the Analects of Confucius, the Sayings of Mencius, the Shi-King, the Travels of Fâ-Hien, and the Sorrows of Han by Davis, John Francis, Sir