6. Glossary
The following is a list of the Pali words as used in the text, together with a brief translation and comment when necessary. The list follows the Roman alphabet for ease of reference.
Acariya: Teacher. Sometimes also a term of respect for a senior monk. Anicca: Impermanence, transience, instability.
Anapanasati: Mindfulness of breathing in and out. One of the best known forms of meditation practice.
Anatta: That the animistic idea and attitude which people and beings attribute to themselves, others and other things, which give rise to the firmly held attitude that there is a presiding (Self) entity in the five khandhas is in fact a convenient fiction and truly speaking quite false.
Appana: Absorption (in the object).
Ariya: Noble.
Asubha: That which is unpleasant, loathsome, contrary to what is usually desired. Avijja: Ignorance, in the form of blind unknowing.
Ayatana: Sense fields. Thus, the field of seeing, hearing, etc.., – mental sensation. Bhava: Realms of existence, birth.
Bhavana: Development by means of meditation.
Bhikkhu: A monk, usually in reference to Buddhism. One who lives on donated food.
Bhuta: What has come into existence. A form of ghost.
Brahma: The great god, but in the sense of the Greek gods. E.g. Zeus.
Brahmavihara: The four states of: metta (friendliness), karuna (compassion), mudita (gladness at the well being of others), upekkha (equanimity).
Buddho: A Parikamma for the recollection of the Buddha.
Citta: That underlying essence of mind where Dhamma and the kilesas dwell. In its pure state it is indefinable and beyond samsara. It controls the khandhas and does not die when the kilesas die.
Desana: The teachings of Dhamma; Dhamma talk.
Deva: An angel like being of the deva-realms which are immediately above the human realm.
Dhamma: Truth, the ultimate order underlying everything, the teaching of the Buddha.
Dhatu: Element. Thus, the four elements of earth, water, fire and air; and the sense organs such as the eye, ear, nose, etc.
Dukkha: Discontent, suffering.
Ekaggatarammana: Non-dual, oneness of the citta.
Indra: One of the chief Indian deities.
Jhana: Various states of meditative absorption, including the four rupa and the four arupa-jhanas.
Kammatthana: Lit: “kamma = action, thana = a region or place.”
Karuna: Compassion.
Kesa: Hair of the head.
Khandha: A heap, but usually referring to the five khandhas, these being, the body, feeling, memory, thought / imagination, and consciousness.
Kilesa: The defilements based upon greed, hate, and delusion.
Lakkhana: A characteristic mark. Thus, the three lakkhana are impermanence, suffering, and “non-self”.
Loka: The world.
Lokavidu: One who sees and knows the worlds.
Magga: Path. Usually referring to the Noble Eight-Fold Path leading to Nibbana.
Maha: Great, superior. In Thailand, a degree in Pali studies.
Maya: Fraud, deceit, illusion.
Metta: Friendliness; pure love.
Nama: Name. The four mental factors of the five khandhas.
Сana: Knowing, instinctive knowing, intuitive knowing. Nibbana: The ultimate goal of Buddhist training. Lit: “Extinguished”.
Nimitta: A sign. In meditation practice, a mental image which is usually visual.
Opanayika: Leading to, bringing near to.
Panna: Wisdom.
Parikamma: Preparatory practice. Preparatory meditation.
Patibhaga: The nimitta which arises in the deepest level of samadhi.
Preta: (Pali: Peta); The dead, departed, a ghost.
Raga: Lust, attachment.
Rupa: Form, shape, the body.
Sabhava: Nature, a thing in itself, a condition.
Sacca: Truth.
Samadhi: Absorbed concentration which has many levels and kinds.
Samatha: Calm.
Samuccheda-pahana: Letting go by cutting off attachments.
Sangha: A group of at least four monks, the monastic order.
Sankhara: The group of parts that make up anything. That which puts together the parts that make up anything.
Sanna: Memory.
Sasana: A religion, a system of teaching and training.
Sati: Mindfulness.
Savaka: A hearer (of the teaching). Usually in reference to those who heard the teaching directly from the Buddha.
Sila: Morality, moral behaviour.
Tanha: Craving, including: greed, hate and delusion.
Thera: An elder, a monk who has been in the Sangha for ten or more years.
Ti-bhava: Three states of being: kama, rupa, and arupa.
Ti-lakkhana: The three characteristics, these being: impermanence, suffering, and non-self.
Ti-loka-dhatu: The three worlds, the universe.
Uggaha: Learning. The name of the image (nimitta) that arises in the second stage of samadhi.
Upacara: Approach, access. The name of the second stage of samadhi.
Upadana: Attachment, clinging.
Vedana: Feeling.
Vihara: A dwelling place.
Vinnana: Consciousness.
Vipassana: Insight, of such a type as is deep and effective in “curing” the defilements. It is insight which arises based on samadhi, and not just an intellectual exercise.
Yatha-Bhuta-Nanadassana: Seeing with insight into things as they really are.
