GLOSSARY
Our apologies for improper Pali spelling.
We can't manage the diacritical marks in html yet.
ANATTA, not-self, the fact that all things, without exception and including nibbana, are not-self and lack any essence or substance that could properly be regarded as a "self." This fact does not deny the existence of things, but denies that they can be owned or controlled, that they can be the owner or controller, in any but a relative, conventional sense.
ANICCA, impermanent (or aniccata, impermanence), flux, instability. Conditioned things are ever-changing, constantly arising, manifesting, and ceasing. This is the first fundamental characteristic of conditioned things.
ANUSAYA, tendencies: familiarity with defilement. When a defilement occurs, it makes the later occurrence of a similar defilement more likely. The more these tendencies build up, the more we react to experiences in defiled ways. Sometimes the pressure is strong enough for something to escape even without some external cause (excuse), that something is called a "nivarana."
ARAHANT, Worthy One, one far from defilement, one who has broken the wheel of birth and death, one without secrets: the mind totally and finally free of greed, anger, and delusion; void of "I" and "mine"; which has ended kamma; which is unaffected by dukkha. The Arahant should not be regarded as a "person" or "individual."
ARAMMANA, sense objects: perches on which consciousness (viññana) establishes itself.
ARIYASACCA, noble truth: truth which frees one from all enemies (ari), namely, defilements and dukkha. Usually expressed in the fourfold formula: the fact that dukkha exists; the truth that there is an origin of dukkha, namely, tanha (desire); the truth of the quenching of dukkha, by quenching desire; and the truth of the practice leading to the quenching of dukkha. Although the traditional formula is fourfold, "Truth is but One, there is no second."
ATTA, self, ego, soul, (Sanskrit, atman): the instinctual feeling (and illusion) that there is some "I" who does all the things to be done in life. Through ignorance and wrong understanding this instinctual sensibility is attached to and becomes "ego." No personal, independent, self-existing, free-willing, lasting substance or essence can be found anywhere, whether within or without human life and experience, not even in "God." (Cf. anatta, idappaccayata, and suññata.)
AVIJJA, ignorance, not-knowing, wrong knowledge: the lack, partial or total, of vijja (correct knowledge) regarding the things that need to be known (e.g., the four noble truths, suññata, tathata), as well as knowing things in the wrong way, i.e., as permanent, satisfying, and self. The most original cause of all dukkha. Without Dhamma practice, ignorance grows into increasingly wrong knowledge.
ANAPANASATI, mindfulness with breathing in and out: the only meditation or vipassana system practiced and taught by the Buddha, it covers all four foundations of mindfulness and perfects the seven factors of awakening, leading to liberation. Ajarn Buddhadasa considers it the best way to realize suññata.
CITTA, mind, heart, consciousness, mind-heart: that which thinks, knows, and experiences. In a more limited sense, citta is what "thinks," can be defiled by kilesa, can be developed, and can realize nibbana. Although we cannot know citta directly, it is where all Dhamma practice occurs.
DHAMMA, thing, nature, natural thing: all things, mental and physical, conditioned and unconditioned, are dhammas.
DHAMMA, Truth, Nature, Law, Natural Truth, Duty, Order, "the way things are": this impossible to translate word has many meanings, the most important of which are Nature, the Law of Nature, our Duty according to Natural Law, and the Fruits of doing that Duty correctly according to Natural Law. (See paticca-samuppada.)
DUKKHA, pain, hurt, ill-being, suffering, misery, (or dukkhata, unsatisfactoriness, imperfection): the spiritual dilemma of human beings. Etymologically, dukkha can be translated "hard to endure, difficult to bear"; "once seen, it is ugly"; and "horribly, wickedly void." In its experiential sense, dukkha is the quality of experience that results when the mind is concocted by avijja into desire, attachment, egoism, and selfishness. This feeling takes on many forms -- from the crudest to the most subtle levels -- such as disappointment, dissatisfaction, frustration, agitation, anguish, dis-ease, despair. In its universal sense, dukkhata is the inherent condition of unsatisfactoriness, imperfection, and misery in all impermanent, conditioned things (sankhara). To fully understand the meaning of dukkha, one must realize that sukha (happiness, bliss) is also dukkha. Nibbana (i.e. suññata) is the only thing which is not dukkhata.
KHANDA, aggregates, groups: the five subsystems or basic functions which constitute the human being. These groups are not entities in themselves, they are merely categories into which all aspects of our lives can be analyzed. None of them are "self," "of self," "in self," or "my self"; they have nothing to do with "selfhood" and there is no "self" apart from them. When they attach or are attached to the five are known as the "upadana-khandha" (aggregates of attachment). The five are:
 | rupa-khandha, form-aggregate, particularly the body, its nervous system, and sense objects (the world); |
| vedana-khandha, feeling-aggregate; |
| sañña-khandha, recognition-aggregate, the discrimination, labelling, and evaluation of sense experience; |
| sankhara-khandha, thought-aggregate, thought processes and emotions,including volition, desire, attachment, and "birth"; |
| viññana-khandha, consciousness-aggregate, the bare knowing of a sense object, the most primitive function of mind through which physical sense stimulation becomes conscious (although often without awareness). |
KARUNA, compassion: wanting to help due to awareness and understanding of dukkha, both one's own and that of others.
KILESA, defilements, impurities: the harmful thoughts and emotions which tarnish, dirty, and pollute the mind. Merely passing clouds obscuring the sun's light. The three primary categories of kilesa are greed, hatred, and delusion.
MANUSAYA, human being, high-minded being: a mind above the ebb and flow of worldly conditions.
NIBBANA, coolness, quenching: the Absolute, the Supreme, the Ultimate Reality in Buddhism; the "goal" of Buddhist practice and highest potential of humanity. Nibbana manifests when the fires of defilement, attachment, selfishness, and dukkha are cooled. When they are permanently cooled, nibbana manifests perfectly, totally, timelessly. Not a place, for nibbana is beyond existence and non-existence, not even a state of mind, for nibbana is neither mental nor physical, but a dhamma the mind can realize and experience. To be realized in this life.
NIVARANA, hindrances, obstacles: disturbing moods and mental qualities which interfere with the mind's task, whether worldly or spiritual. Half-strength defilements, they arise from the tendencies toward defilement built up through carelessness and need not be triggered by outside objects. To overcome them, correct samadhi is needed. The traditional list of five are sensual desire, aversion, sloth and torpor, restlessness and distraction, and doubt.
PAÑÑA, wisdom, insight, intuitive understanding: correct seeing, knowing, understanding, experiencing of the things we must know in order to quench dukkha, namely, the four noble truths, the three characteristics, dependent origination, and voidness. The various terms used for "knowing" are not meant to express an intellectual activity, although the intellect has its role. The emphasis is on direct, intuitive, non-conceptual comprehending of life as it is here and now. Memory, language, and thought are not required. Panna, rather than faith or will power, is the characteristic quality of Buddhism.
PATICCA-SAMUPPADA, interdependent origination, co-conditioned arising: the profound and detailed causal process or flow, and its description, which concocts dukkha. Due to ignorance, there arises, dependent on sense organ and sense object, consciousness (viññana). These three things working together are contact (phassa). Upon this ignorant contact there arises feeling (vedana), desire (tanha), attachment (upadana), becoming (bhava), birth (jati), decay and death (jaramarana), and all the forms of dukkha.
PHASSA, the meeting and working together of sense organ, sense object, and sense consciousness (viññana). When a sensual stimulus makes enough of an impact upon the mind -- that is, has "meaning" -- to draw a response, either ignorant or wise, beginning with vedana.
SAMPAJAÑÑA, wisdom-in-action, functional wisdom, ready comprehension, clear comprehension. While pañña (wisdom) is developed, or "stored up," through introspection and insight, sampajanna is the immediate and specific application of wisdom to, and into, a particular situation or experience. While panna understands that "everything is void," sampajanna understands that "this is void." All understanding relies on mindfulness for its appearance, recall, and application.
SAMADHI, concentration, collectedness: secure establishment of the mind, the gathering together of the mental flow. Proper samadhi has the qualities of purity, clarity, stability, calmness, readiness, and gentleness. It is perfected in one-pointedness (ekaggata). The supreme samadhi is the one-pointed mind (ekaggata-citta) which has nibbana as its sole concern. In a broader sense, samadhi can be translated "meditation," meaning development of the mind through the power of samadhi.
SANKHARA, concoction, compound, conditioned thing; concocting, compounding, conditioning. As a verb, sankhara is the endless activity of concocting and change in which new things arise, manifest, and cease. As a noun, sankhara are impermanent, created things acting both as the products of the concocting and the causes of ever new concoctions.
SAÑÑA, recognition, classification, evaluation, perception: once the mind has made contact (phassa) with a sense object and then feels it (vedana), a concept, label or image is attached to the experience, which involves recognizing similarities with past experience and discriminating the value of the object.
SATI, mindfulness, attention, awareness, recall, recollection: the mind's ability to know and observe itself. Sati is the vehicle and transport mechanism for pañña, without sati wisdom cannot be developed, retrieved, or applied. Sati is not memory or remembering, although related to them. Nor is it mere heedfulness or carefulness. Sati allows us to be aware of what we are about to do. It is characterized by speed and agility.
SATI-PAÑÑA, mindfulness and wisdom: sati and panna must work together. Pañña depends on sati. It arises through mindfulness of life's experiences and is applied to present experience through mindfulness. Yet, without sufficient wisdom, mindfulness would be misused.
TATHATA, thusness, suchness, just-like-that-ness: neither this nor that, the reality of non-duality. Things are just as they are (void and dependently originated) regardless of our perceptions, likes and dislikes, suppositions and beliefs, hopes and memories.
TILAKKHANA, three characteristics, three marks of existence: inherent features of all conditioned things, namely, the facts of impermanence (aniccata), dukkha-ness (dukkhata), and not-self (anattata).
UPADANA, attachment, clinging, grasping: to hold onto something foolishly, to regard things as "I" and "mine," to take things personally. Not the things attached to, but the lustful-satisfaction (chandaraga) regarding them. The Buddha distinguished four kinds of upadana: attachment to sensuality, to views, to precepts and practices, and to words concerning self. (To hold something wisely is samadana.)
VEDANA, feeling: the mental reaction to or coloring of sense experience (phassa). Feeling comes in three forms: pleasant or agreeable (sukhavedana), unpleasant or painful (dukkhavedana), and indeterminate, neither-unpleasant-nor-pleasant (adukkhamasukhavedana). Vedana is a mental actor. Sometimes, however, a more loose sense of the term is used regarding physical sensations. This primitive activity of mind is not emotion, which is far more complex and involves thought, or the more complicated aspects of the English "feeling."
VIÑÑANA, consciousness: knowing sense objects through the six doors (eyes, ears, etc.). The most basic mental activity required for participation in the sensual world (loka), without it there is no experience.
VITAKKA, thought conception, thinking.
VICARA, experiencing a thought-object.