This glossary covers many of the Pali words and technical terms that you may come across in the books and articles available on this website. The most common spellings are listed first, followed by alternates. The phonetic (Velthuis) spelling of the Pali is given in the square brackets immediately following the headword. The "[MORE]" link that follows some entries will take you to a more detailed article on the selected topic.

A   

Abhidhamma [abhidhamma]:

(1) In the discourses of the Pali canon, this term simply means "higher Dhamma," and a systematic attempt to define the Buddha's teachings and understand their interrelationships. (2) A later collection of analytical treatises based on lists of categories drawn from the teachings in the discourses, added to the Canon several centuries after the Buddha's life. [MORE]

abhiñña [abhi~n~naa]:

Intuitive powers that come from the practice of concentration: the ability to display psychic powers, clairvoyance, clairaudience, the ability to know the thoughts of others, recollection of past lifetimes, and the knowledge that does away with mental effluents (see asava).

acariya [aacariya]:

Teacher; mentor. See kalyanamitta.

adhitthana [adhi.t.thaana]:

Determination; resolution. One of the ten perfections (paramis).

ajaan, ajahn, achaan, etc.:

(Thai). Teacher; mentor. Equivalent to the Pali acariya.

akaliko [akaaliko]:

Timeless; unconditioned by time or season.

akusala [akusala]:

Unwholesome, unskillful, demeritorious. See its opposite, kusala.

anagami [anaagaamii]:

Non-returner. A person who has abandoned the five lower fetters that bind the mind to the cycle of rebirth (see samyojana), and who after death will appear in one of the Brahma worlds called the Pure Abodes, there to attain nibbana, never again to return to this world.

anapanasati [aanaapaanasati]:

Mindfulness of breathing. A meditation practice in which one maintains one's attention and mindfulness on the sensations of breathing. [MORE]

anatta [anattaa]:

Not-self; ownerless. [MORE]

anicca [anicca]:

Inconstant; unsteady; impermanent.

anupadisesa-nibbana [anupaadisesa-nibbaana]:

Nibbana with no fuel remaining (the analogy is to an extinguished fire whose embers are cold) — the nibbana of the arahant after his passing away. Cf. sa-upadisesa-nibbana. [MORE]

anupubbi-katha [aanupubbii-kathaa]:

Gradual instruction. The Buddha's method of teaching Dhamma that guides his listeners progressively through increasingly advanced topics: generosity (see dana), virtue (see sila), heavens, drawbacks, renunciation, and the four noble truths. [MORE]

anusaya [anusaya]:

Obsesssion; underlying tendency. (The etymology of this term means "lying down with"; in actual usage, the related verb (anuseti) means to be obsessed.) There are seven major obsessions to which the mind returns over and over again: obsession with sensual passion (kama-raganusaya), with resistance (patighanusaya), with views (ditthanusaya), with uncertainty (vicikicchanusaya), with conceit (manusaya), with passion for becoming (bhava-raganusaya), and with ignorance (avijjanusaya). Compare samyojana.

apaya-bhumi [apaaya-bhuumi]:

State of deprivation; the four lower levels of existence into which one might be reborn as a result of past unskillful actions (see kamma): rebirth in hell, as a hungry ghost (see peta), as an angry demon (see Asura), or as a common animal. None of these states is permanent. Compare sugati. [MORE]

appamada [appamaada]:

Heedfulness; diligence; zeal. The cornerstone of all skillful mental states, and one of such fundamental import that the Buddha's stressed it in his parting words to his disciples: "All fabrications are subject to decay. Bring about completion by being heedful!" (appamaadena sampaadetha). [MORE]

arahant [arahant]:

A "worthy one" or "pure one"; a person whose mind is free of defilement (see kilesa), who has abandoned all ten of the fetters that bind the mind to the cycle of rebirth (see samyojana), whose heart is free of mental effluents (see asava), and who is thus not destined for further rebirth. A title for the Buddha and the highest level of his noble disciples.

arammana [aaramma.na]:

Preoccupation; mental object.

ariya [ariya]:

Noble, ideal. Also, a "Noble One" (see ariya-puggala).

ariyadhana [ariyadhana]:

Noble Wealth; qualities that serve as 'capital' in the quest for liberation: conviction (see saddha), virtue (see sila), conscience, fear of evil, erudition, generosity (see dana), and discernment (see pañña).

ariya-puggala [ariya-puggala]:

Noble person; enlightened individual. An individual who has realized at least the lowest of the four noble paths (see magga) or their fruitions (see phala). Compare puthujjana (worldling).

ariya-sacca [ariya-sacca]:

Noble Truth. The word "ariya" (noble) can also mean ideal or standard, and in this context means "objective" or "universal" truth. There are four: stress, the origin of stress, the disbanding of stress, and the path of practice leading to the disbanding of stress. [MORE]

asava [aasava]:

Mental effluent, pollutant, or fermentation. Four qualities — sensuality, views, becoming, and ignorance — that "flow out" of the mind and create the flood of the round of death and rebirth.

asubha [asubha]:

Unattractiveness, loathsomeness, foulness. The Buddha recommends contemplation of this aspect of the body as an antidote to lust and complacency. See also kayagata-sati. [MORE]

Asura [asura]:

A race of beings who, like the Titans of Greek mythology, fought the devas for sovereignty over the heavens and lost. See apaya-bhumi. [MORE]

avijja [avijjaa]:

Unawareness; ignorance; obscured awareness; delusion about the nature of the mind. See also moha. [MORE]

ayatana [aayatana]:

Sense medium. The inner sense media are the sense organs: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. The outer sense media are their respective objects.

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bhante [bhante]:

Venerable sir; often used when addressing a Buddhist monk.

bhava [bhava]:

Becoming. States of being that develop first in the mind and can then be experienced as internal worlds and/or as worlds on an external level. There are three levels of becoming: on the sensual level, the level of form, and the level of formlessness.

bhavana [bhaavanaa]:

Mental cultivation or development; meditation. The third of the three grounds for meritorious action. See also dana and sila. [MORE]

bhikkhu [bhikkhu]:

A Buddhist monk; a man who has given up the householder's life to live a life of heightened virtue (see sila) in accordance with the Vinaya in general, and the Patimokkha rules in particular. See sangha, parisa, upasampada. [MORE]

bhikkhuni [bhikkhunii]:

A Buddhist nun; a man (woman) who has given up the householder's life to live a life of heightened virtue (see sila) in accordance with the Vinaya in general, and the Patimokkha rules in particular. See sangha, parisa, upasampada. [MORE]

bodhi-pakkhiya-dhamma [bodhi-pakkhiya-dhammaa]:

"Wings to Awakening" — seven sets of principles that are conducive to Awakening and that, according to the Buddha, form the heart of his teaching: [1] the four frames of reference (see satipatthana); [2] four right exertions (sammappadhana) — the effort to prevent unskillful states from arising in the mind, to abandon whatever unskillful states have already arisen, to give rise to the good, and to maintain the good that has arisen; [3] four bases of success (iddhipada) — desire, persistence, intentness, circumspection; [4] five dominant factors (indriya) — conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, discernment; [5] five strengths (bala) — identical with [4]; [6] seven factors for Awakening (bojjhanga) — mindfulness, investigation of phenomena, persistence, rapture (see piti), serenity, concentration, equanimity; and [7] the eightfold path (magga) — Right View, Right Attitude, Right Speech, Right Activity, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration. [MORE]

bodhisatta [bodhisatta]:

"A being (striving) for Awakening"; the term used to describe the Buddha before he actually become Buddha, from his first aspiration to Buddhahood until the time of his full Awakening. Sanskrit form: Bodhisattva.

brahma [brahma, brahmaa]:

"Great One" — an inhabitant of the non-sensual heavens of form or formlessness. [MORE]

brahma-vihara [brahma-vihaara]:

The four "sublime" or "divine" abodes that are attained through the development of boundless metta (goodwill), karuna (compassion), mudita (appreciative joy), and upekkha (equanimity).

brahman (from Pali braahmaa.na):

The brahman (brahmin) caste of India has long maintained that its members, by their birth, are worthy of the highest respect. Buddhism borrowed the term brahman to apply to those who have attained the goal, to show that respect is earned not by birth, race, or caste, but by spiritual attainment. Used in the Buddhist sense, this term is synonymous with arahant.

buddho [buddho]:

Awake; enlightened. An epithet for the Buddha.

Buddha [buddha]:

The name given to one who rediscovers for himself the liberating path of Dhamma, after a long period of its having been forgotten by the world. According to tradition, a long line of Buddhas stretches off into the distant past. The most recent Buddha was born Siddhattha Gotama in India in the sixth century BCE. A well-educated and wealthy young man, he relinquished his family and his princely inheritance in the prime of his life to search for true freedom and an end to suffering (dukkha). After seven years of austerities in the forest, he rediscovered the "middle way" and achieved his goal, becoming Buddha. [MORE]

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cankama [cankama]:

Walking meditation, usually in the form of walking back and forth along a prescribed path.

cetasika [cetasika]:

Mental concomitant (see vedana, sañña, and sankhara).

ceto-vimutti [ceto-vimutti]:

See vimutti.

citta [citta]:

Mind; heart; state of consciousness.

D   

dana [daana]:

Giving, liberality; offering, alms. Specifically, giving of any of the four requisites to the monastic order. More generally, the inclination to give, without expecting any form of repayment from the recipient. Dana is the first theme in the Buddha's system of gradual training (see anupubbi-katha), the first of the ten paramis, one of the seven treasures (see dhana), and the first of the three grounds for meritorious action (see sila and bhavana). [MORE]

deva; devata [deva, devataa]:

Literally, "shining one" — an inhabitant of the heavenly realms (see sagga and sugati). [MORE]

Devadatta [devadatta]:

A cousin of the Buddha who tried to effect a schism in the sangha and who has since become emblematic for all Buddhists who work knowingly or unknowingly to undermine the religion from within.

dhamma [dhamma; Skt. dharma]:

(1) Event; a phenomenon in and of itself; (2) mental quality; (3) doctrine, teaching; (4) nibbana. Also, principles of behavior that human beings ought to follow so as to fit in with the right natural order of things; qualities of mind they should develop so as to realize the inherent quality of the mind in and of itself. By extension, "Dhamma" (usu. capitalized) is used also to denote any doctrine that teaches such things. Thus the Dhamma of the Buddha denotes both his teachings and the direct experience of nibbana, the quality at which those teachings are aimed.

Dhamma-vinaya [dhamma-vinaya]:

"doctrine (dhamma) and discipline (vinaya)." The Buddha's own name for the religion he founded.

dhana [dhana]:

Treasure(s). The seven qualities of conviction, virtue (see sila), conscience & concern, learning, generosity (see dana), and wisdom.

dhatu [dhaatu]:

Element; property, impersonal condition. The four physical elements or properties are earth (solidity), water (liquidity), wind (motion), and fire (heat). The six elements include the above four plus space and consciousness.

dhutanga [dhutaanga]:

Voluntary ascetic practices that monks and other meditators may undertake from time to time or as a long-term commitment in order to cultivate renunciation and contentment, and to stir up energy. For the monks, there are thirteen such practices: (1) using only patched-up robes; (2) using only one set of three robes; (3) going for alms; (4) not by-passing any donors on one's alms path; (5) eating no more than one meal a day; (6) eating only from the alms-bowl; (7) refusing any food offered after the alms-round; (8) living in the forest; (9) living under a tree; (10) living under the open sky; (11) living in a cemetery; (12) being content with whatever dwelling one has; (13) not lying down. [MORE]

dosa [dosa]:

Aversion; hatred; anger. One of three unwholesome roots