Glossary
Key terms in this work, with their original form, Pāli and Sanskrit.
- AbhidhammaOriginal อภิธรรมPāli abhidhammaSanskrit abhidharma
The third 'basket' of the Buddhist canon, which sets out the psychology and metaphysics of the teaching in systematic, analytic form.
- ArahantOriginal พระอรหันต์Pāli arahantSanskrit arhat
The 'worthy one', who has extinguished every impurity and reached liberation, no longer subject to rebirth.
See also: Nirvana, Impurities
- BodhisattvaOriginal โพธิสัตว์Pāli bodhisattaSanskrit bodhisattva
One who vows to fulfil the perfections along the path of awakening, so as to become a Buddha in a future age and lead all beings across Samsara to Nirvana.
See also: Buddha, The perfections, Samsara
- BuddhaOriginal พระพุทธเจ้าPāli buddhaSanskrit buddha
The 'Awakened One': he who woke by himself to the truth and taught it to others. First of the Three Jewels.
See also: Dharma
- CalmOriginal สมถะPāli samathaSanskrit śamatha
The meditation that makes the mind quiet and steady in concentration; it is the base from which insight arises — one tree branching into two boughs with insight.
See also: Concentration, Insight
- ClingingOriginal อุปาทานPāli upādānaSanskrit upādāna
The grasping and holding of what we want or are: the fixation that arises from craving and feeds suffering.
See also: Craving
- CompassionOriginal กรุณาPāli karuṇāSanskrit karuṇā
The wish to free all beings from suffering; the second of the four divine abidings.
See also: The four divine abidings
- ConcentrationOriginal สมาธิPāli samādhiSanskrit samādhi
The collected steadiness of the mind, firm and unified on its object. Second of the threefold training (virtue, concentration, wisdom).
- ConsciousnessOriginal วิญญาณPāli viññāṇaSanskrit vijñāna
The bare act of knowing that arises at each sense when it meets its object (eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, and so on).
See also: Form and mind, The sense bases
- CravingOriginal ตัณหาPāli taṇhāSanskrit tṛṣṇā
The unquenchable desire that is the origin of suffering: the thirst for pleasure, for being, for non-being.
- Dependent originationOriginal ปฏิจจสมุปบาทPāli paṭicca-samuppādaSanskrit pratītya-samutpāda
The twelve-linked chain — from ignorance to aging and death — by which suffering arises condition upon condition, and upon whose breaking it ceases.
See also: Ignorance, Suffering, Form and mind
- DharmaOriginal ธรรมะPāli dhammaSanskrit dharma
The Buddha's teaching and, at once, the truth and law of reality it reveals. Second of the Three Jewels.
See also: Buddha
- EquanimityOriginal อุเบกขาPāli upekkhāSanskrit upekṣā
The steady, unshaken mind, neither elated nor cast down, that receives and lets go of everything.
- FeelingOriginal เวทนาPāli vedanāSanskrit vedanā
The affective tone of every experience: pleasant, painful or neutral. From feeling craving is born.
See also: Craving, Form and mind
- Form and mindOriginal รูปนามPāli rūpa-nāmaSanskrit rūpa-nāma
The two components of a living being: form is the material body; mind is the whole of feeling, perception, formations and consciousness.
See also: The five aggregates, The four elements
- IgnoranceOriginal อวิชชาPāli avijjāSanskrit avidyā
Not knowing things as they really are: the first root from which the whole chain of suffering sets out.
See also: Suffering
- ImpermanenceOriginal อนิจจังPāli aniccaSanskrit anitya
That everything arises, lasts a moment and ceases, in ceaseless change: the first of the three characteristics.
See also: The three characteristics
- ImpuritiesOriginal กิเลสPāli kilesaSanskrit kleśa
The states that defile the mind — greed, anger, delusion and their offshoots — from which practice frees us little by little.
- InsightOriginal วิปัสสนาPāli vipassanāSanskrit vipaśyanā
The meditation that sees things directly as they really are, grasping the three characteristics; from it liberating wisdom is born.
See also: The three characteristics
- JhānaOriginal ฌานPāli jhānaSanskrit dhyāna
Meditative absorption: a state of deep collectedness of mind, unified on its object. In its higher forms it is «immaterial» (arūpa), resting on no physical object.
See also: Concentration, Meditation
- KarmaOriginal กรรมPāli kammaSanskrit karma
Intentional action — of body, speech and mind — and its law: the good and evil we do return, sooner or later, in one form or another.
- KasiṇaOriginal กสิณPāli kasiṇaSanskrit kṛtsna
A support for concentration: a disc or element (earth, water, fire, wind, a colour, light) on which the mind is fixed until absorption.
See also: Concentration, Jhāna
- Loving-kindnessOriginal เมตตาPāli mettāSanskrit maitrī
The sincere wish for the happiness of all beings without exception; the first of the four divine abidings.
See also: The four divine abidings
- MaraOriginal มารPāli māraSanskrit māra
The forces that obstruct the cultivation of good and the winning of liberation — both the impurities within and the hindrances without.
See also: Impurities, The five hindrances
- MeditationOriginal ภาวนาPāli bhāvanāSanskrit bhāvanā
The training of one's own mind to be steady in concentration and to give rise to the wisdom that sees clearly into the Dharma; its aim is letting go.
See also: Concentration, Wisdom, Insight
- Meditative joyOriginal ปีติPāli pītiSanskrit prīti
The rapt gladness that arises when the mind gathers into concentration, from a slight thrill to the transport that shakes the body.
See also: Concentration
- Mental formationsOriginal สังขารPāli saṅkhāraSanskrit saṃskāra
The moods and constructions that arise in the mind — love, hate, greed, diligence — and shape it, altering it from its original pure nature.
See also: Form and mind
- MeritOriginal บุญPāli puññaSanskrit puṇya
The good accumulated through wholesome actions, which sustains and ennobles this life and the next.
See also: Karma
- MindfulnessOriginal สติPāli satiSanskrit smṛti
The alert, attentive presence to what happens in body and mind, moment by moment.
See also: Concentration, Insight
- NirvanaOriginal นิพพานPāli nibbānaSanskrit nirvāṇa
The 'cooling,' the extinguishing of craving, ignorance and every impurity: the end of all suffering and the supreme peace, the final goal of the teaching.
- Non-selfOriginal อนัตตาPāli anattāSanskrit anātman
That in nothing is there a stable 'I' in command of itself: all proceeds by causes and conditions. Third of the three characteristics.
See also: The three characteristics
- PaccekabuddhaOriginal พระปัจเจกพุทธเจ้าPāli paccekabuddhaSanskrit pratyekabuddha
The 'solitary Buddha', who awakens to the truth by himself but founds no teaching for others.
See also: Buddha
- PerceptionOriginal สัญญาPāli saññāSanskrit saṃjñā
The recognising and marking-out of things: in short, the memory that can name what it meets.
See also: Form and mind
- RefugeOriginal สรณะPāli saraṇaSanskrit śaraṇa
The act of entrusting oneself to the Three Jewels — Buddha, Dharma, Sangha — as the guide, way and support of one's life.
See also: The Triple Gem
- SamsaraOriginal วัฏสงสารPāli saṃsāraSanskrit saṃsāra
The beginningless, endless round of birth, death and rebirth, in which beings turn until they are freed in Nirvana.
See also: Nirvana
- SanghaOriginal พระสงฆ์Pāli saṅghaSanskrit saṃgha
The community of the Buddha's disciples, who preserve and hand down the Dharma. Third of the Three Jewels.
See also: Buddha, Dharma, The Triple Gem
- SufferingOriginal ทุกข์Pāli dukkhaSanskrit duḥkha
The unease inherent in every conditioned thing; for Kruba Noi the one reality, of which 'happiness' is only a temporary lessening. First of the Noble Truths.
See also: The three characteristics, The Four Noble Truths
- SutraOriginal พระสูตรPāli suttaSanskrit sūtra
A discourse of the Buddha, handed down in the canon.
See also: Dharma
- Sympathetic joyOriginal มุทิตาPāli muditāSanskrit muditā
The sincere rejoicing at the happiness and good of others, without a shadow of envy. Third of the four divine abidings.
See also: The four divine abidings
- The five aggregatesOriginal ขันธ์ห้าPāli khandhaSanskrit skandha
The five parts into which what we call 'I' breaks down: form (the body), feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness. None of them is a stable self.
See also: Form and mind, Non-self
- The five hindrancesOriginal นิวรณ์Pāli nīvaraṇaSanskrit nīvaraṇa
The five obstacles that keep the mind from calm: sensual desire, ill will, drowsiness, restlessness and doubt.
See also: Concentration, Meditation
- The four divine abidingsOriginal พรหมวิหารPāli brahmavihāraSanskrit brahmavihāra
The four sublime, boundless states of the heart: loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity.
See also: Loving-kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic joy, Equanimity
- The four elementsOriginal ธาตุสี่Pāli dhātuSanskrit dhātu
Earth (the solid), water (the liquid), fire (heat) and wind (movement and breath): the four qualities of which the body is composed.
See also: Form and mind
- The Four Noble TruthsOriginal อริยสัจPāli ariyasaccaSanskrit āryasatya
The heart of the teaching: suffering; its origin (craving); its cessation (Nirvana); and the path that leads there.
- The Noble Eightfold PathOriginal มรรคมีองค์แปดPāli ariya-aṭṭhaṅgika-maggaSanskrit āryāṣṭāṅga-mārga
The eight-factored way of practice (right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, concentration), gathered into virtue, concentration and wisdom.
See also: The Four Noble Truths, Virtue, Concentration, Wisdom
- The perfectionsOriginal บารมีPāli pāramīSanskrit pāramitā
The noble qualities a Bodhisattva brings to completion on the way to buddhahood — giving, virtue, renunciation, wisdom, energy, patience, truthfulness, resolve, loving-kindness and equanimity — each cultivated at three degrees, hence 'the thirty perfections'.
See also: Bodhisattva, Virtue
- The sense basesOriginal อายตนะPāli āyatanaSanskrit āyatana
The six inner senses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) and their six outer objects (form, sound, smell, taste, touch, mental objects). Their meeting gives rise to consciousness and feeling.
See also: Feeling, Consciousness
- The taintsOriginal อาสวะPāli āsavaSanskrit āsrava
The deep currents that 'ferment' in the mind and keep it bound to Samsara; their extinction is Nirvana.
- The ten fettersOriginal สังโยชน์Pāli saṃyojanaSanskrit saṃyojana
The ten chains that bind beings to Samsara — from the illusion of self to ignorance — which bar the way to path, fruit and Nirvana, and which practice unties one by one.
- The ten recollectionsOriginal อนุสสติPāli anussatiSanskrit anusmṛti
Ten meditation subjects grounded in 'recalling': the virtues of the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, one's own virtue and generosity, the deities, the body, death, peace, and the breath.
See also: Meditation
- The thirty-seven factors of enlightenmentOriginal โพธิปักขิยธรรมPāli bodhipakkhiya-dhammaSanskrit bodhipakṣa-dharma
The complete set of qualities to cultivate on the path — the foundations of mindfulness, the right exertions, the bases of success, the faculties, the powers, the enlightenment factors, and the Eightfold Path.
See also: The Noble Eightfold Path, Mindfulness
- The three characteristicsOriginal ไตรลักษณ์Pāli tilakkhaṇaSanskrit trilakṣaṇa
The three marks common to all conditioned things: impermanence, suffering and non-self.
See also: Impermanence, Suffering, Non-self
- The Triple GemOriginal พระรัตนตรัยPāli ratanattayaSanskrit ratnatraya
The 'Three Jewels' of the Refuge: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.
- VirtueOriginal ศีลPāli sīlaSanskrit śīla
Ethical conduct, the keeping of the precepts: first of the threefold training and the foundation of concentration.
See also: Concentration, Wisdom, The Noble Eightfold Path
- WisdomOriginal ปัญญาPāli paññāSanskrit prajñā
Seeing things clearly as they really are. Third of the threefold training and the fruit of insight.
See also: Virtue, Concentration, Insight