Nāmarūpa is used in Buddhism to refer to the constituents of a living being: nāma is typically considered to refer to the mental component of the person, while rūpa refers to the physical. Nāmarūpa is a dvandva compound in Sanskrit and Pali meaning "name and form ". Nama and Rupa is the simple worldly identity of any form by a name both of which are considered temporal and not true identity with the nameless and formless ‘reality’ or ‘Absolute’ in Hinduism that has manifested as maya. In Buddhism the loss of all names and forms leads to the realization of the Ultimate reality of ‘Shunyatha’ or ‘Emptiness’ or Nirvana “Naked Truth” removed of Maya.
In Buddhism
This term is used in Buddhism to refer to the constituents of a living being: nāma refers to the mental, while rūpa refers to the physical. The Buddhist nāma and rūpa are mutually dependent, and not separable; as nāmarūpa, they designate an individual being. Namarupa are also referred to as the five skandhas, "the psycho-physical organism", “mind-and-matter,” and “mentality-and-materiality”.
Psycho-physical constituents
In the Pali Canon, the Buddha describes nāmarūpa in this manner : Elsewhere in the Pali Canon, nāmarūpa is used synonymously with the five aggregates.
Empty of self
In keeping with the doctrine of anātman/anatta, "the absence of an self", nāma and rūpa are held to be constantly in a state of flux, with only the continuity of experience providing an experience of any sort of conventional 'self'.
Part of the cycle of suffering
Nāmarūpa is the fourth of the Twelve Nidānas, preceded by consciousness and followed by the six sense bases. Thus, in the Sutta Nipata, the Buddha explains to the Ven. Ajita how samsaricrebirth ceases:
In Hinduism
The term nāmarūpa is used in Hindu thought, nāma describing the spiritual or essential properties of an object or being, and rūpa the physical presence that it manifests. These terms are used similarly to the way that 'essence' and 'accident' are used in Catholic theology to describe transubstantiation. The distinction between nāma and rūpa in Hindu thought explains the ability of spiritual powers to manifest through inadequate or inanimate vessels - as observed in possession and oracular phenomena, as well as in the presence of the divine in images that are worshiped through pūja. Nāma Rupatmak Vishva is the Vedanta term for the manifest Universe, viz. The World as we know it. Since every object in this World has a Nāma and Rupa, the World is called Nāma Rupatmak Vishva. The Paramātma is not manifest in this Nāma Rupatmak Vishva but is realized by a Sādhaka by means of Bhakti, Karma, Jnana, Yoga, or a combination of all of these methodologies.
