suddenism

English

Etymology

sudden +‎ -ism

Noun

suddenism (plural suddenisms)

1. A tendency for processes to occur suddenly rather than gradually.
   • 1864 August 1, G. Chichester Oxenden, “Letter to Charles Darwin”, in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Volume 12‎^[1], Cambridge University Press, published 2001, page 294:

     In regard to our Dog-hole of an Earth, my own Conviction is that the great Law of Nature is "Graduality" & not "Suddenism", & that the Cataclysms which have disturbed our Crust are but the Exceptions which prove the Rule itself—

   • 1979, Michael Thompson, Rubbish Theory: The Creation and Destruction of Value, 2nd edition, Pluto Books, published 2017, page 222:

     Instead of gradualism, a lot of tradition and a little change, we find we have suddenism, no tradition and all change.

2. (Buddhism) The achievement of sudden enlightenment.
   • 1983, Luis O. Gómez, “The Direct and Gradual Approaches of Zen Master Mahāyāna: Fragments of the Teachings of Mo-ho-yen”, in Robert M. Gimello, Peter N. Gregory, editors, Studies in Ch'an and Hua-yen‎^[2], University of Hawaii Press, page 96:

     Unqualified suddenism is as impossible to maintain as unqualified gradualism.

Antonyms

• gradualism