Rupa

Rūpa (Pali, Sanskrit: रुपा; Thai: รูป) means form in the broadest sense according to Hindu and Buddhist teachings. This refers to both physical and spiritual forms (thought-forms) as found in the Lower Devachan or Rupa-Devachan. Unformed, purely creative states, on the other hand, are called arupa. Rupa is the second of the seven Conditions of Form that every Condition of Life passes through during world evolution. Its higher metamorphosis is the sixth Condition of Form, the so-called intellectual condition of form.

In the narrowest sense, rupa means the material body, which, according to the Buddhist view, also includes the so-called six sense organs, namely the eye, ear, nose, tongue, sense of touch and organ of thought. In theosophical teachings, the term rūpa is also used for some of the higher subtle bodily members of the human being. The astral body, for example, is called kama-rupa.