Glossary

abhidhamma : the higher teachings of Buddhism, teachings on ultimate realities.

adosa : non aversion.

akusala : unwholesome, unskilful.

alobha : non attachment, generosity.

amoha : wisdom or understanding.

anāgāmī : non-returner, person who has reached the third stage of enlightenment, he has no aversion (dosa).

anattā : not self.

anicca : impermanence.

appanā : absorption.

arahat : noble person who has attained the fourth and last stage of enlightenment.

ārammaṇa : object which is known by consciousness.

ariyan : noble person who has attained enlightenment.

arūpa-bhūmi : plane of arūpa jhānacitta.

arūpa-brahma : plane plane of existence attained as a result of arūpa-jhāna. There are no sense impressions, no rūpa experienced in this realm.

arūpa-jhāna : immaterial absorption.

āsavas : influxes or intoxicants, group of defilements .

asobhana : not beautiful, not accompanied by beautiful roots.

asubha : foul.

asura : demon, being of one of the unhappy planes of existence.

Atthasālinī : The Expositor, a commentary to the first book of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka.

avijjā : ignorance.

ayoniso manasikāra : unwise attention to an object.

bhāvanā : mental development, comprising the development of calm and the development of insight.

bhavanga : life-continuum.

bhikkhu : monk.

bhikkhunī : nun.

bhūmi : plane of existence or plane of citta.

brahma-vihāras : the four divine abidings, meditation subjects which are: loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, equanimity.

Buddha : a fully enlightened person who has discovered the truth all by himself, without the aid of a teacher and can proclaim Dhamma to the world.

Buddhaghosa : commentator on the Tipiṭaka, author of the Visuddhimagga in 5 A.D.

cakkhu : eye.

cetanā : volition or intention.

cetasika : mental factor arising with consciousness.

citta : consciousness, the reality which knows or cognizes an object.

cuti-citta : dying-consciousness.

dāna : generosity, giving.

dhamma : reality, truth, the teachings.

Dhammasangaṇi : the first book of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka.

Dhātukathā : Discussion on the Elements, the third book of the Abhidhamma.

diṭṭhi : wrong view, distorted view of realities.

domanassa : unpleasant feeling.

dosa : aversion or ill will.

dosa-mūla-citta : citta (consciousness) rooted in aversion.

dukkha : suffering, unsatisfactoriness of conditioned realities.

dukkha vedanā : painful feeling or unpleasant feeling.

dvāra : doorway through which an object is experienced, the five sense-doors or the mind door.

ekaggatā : concentration, one-pointedness, a cetasika which has the function to focus on one object.

ganthas : bonds, a group of defilements.

ghāna-dhātu : nose element.

gotrabhū : change of lineage, the last citta of the sense-sphere before jhāna, absorption, is attained, or enlightenment is attained.

hadaya-vatthu : heart-base, rūpa which is the plane of origin of the cittas other than the sense-cognitions.

hasituppāda-citta : smile producing consciousness of an arahat.

hetu : root, which conditions citta to be “beautiful” or unwholesome.

indriya : faculty. Some are rūpas such as the sense organs, some are nāmas such as feeling. Five ’spiritual faculties’ are wholesome faculties which should be cultivated, namely: confidence, energy, awareness, concentration and wisdom.

issā : envy.

jāti : birth, nature, class (of cittas).

javana-citta : cittas which ’run through the object’, kusala citta or akusala citta in the case of non-arahats.

jhāna : absorption which can be attained through the development of calm.

jhāna-factors : cetasikas which have to be cultivated for the attainment of jhāna: vitakka, vicāra, pīti, sukha, samādhi.

kāma : sensual enjoyment or the five sense objects.

kāma-bhūmi : sensuous plane of existence.

kāmacchandha : sensuous desire.

kāma-sobhana cittas : beautiful cittas of the sense sphere.

kāmāvacara cittas : cittas of the sense sphere.

kamma : intention or volition; deed motivated by volition.

kammapatha : course of action performed through body, speech or mind which can be wholesome or unwholesome.

karuṇā : compassion.

kasiṇa : disk, used as an object for the development of calm.

kāya : body. It can also stand for the “mental body”, the cetasikas.

khandhas : aggregates of conditioned realities classified as five groups: physical phenomena, feelings, perception or remembrance, activities or formations (cetasikas other than feeling or perception), consciousness.

kilesa : defilements.

kiriya citta : inoperative citta, neither cause nor result.

kukkucca : regret or worry.

kusala citta : wholesome consciousness.

kusala kamma : a good deed.

kusala : wholesome, skillful.

lobha : attachment, greed.

lobha-mūla-citta : consciousness rooted in attachment.

macchariya : stinginess.

magga : path (eightfold Path).

magga-citta : path consciousness, supramundane citta which experiences nibbāna and eradicates defilements.

mahā-kusala citta : wholesome citta of the sense sphere.

mahā-vipākacitta : citta of the sense sphere which is result, accompanied by “beautiful” roots.

manāyatana : mind-base, including all cittas.

mano : mind, citta, consciousness.

māra : “the evil one”—all that leads to dukkha

mettā : loving kindness.

middha : torpor or languor.

moha : ignorance. moha-mūla-citta citta rooted in ignorance.

muditā : sympathetic joy.

nāma : mental phenomena, including those which are conditioned and also the unconditioned nāma which is nibbāna.

nibbāna : the unconditioned reality, the reality which does not arise and fall away.The destruction of lust, hatred and delusion. The deathless. The end of suffering.

nimitta : mental image one can acquire of a meditation subject in tranquil meditation.

nirodha-samāpatti : attainment of cessation of consciousness.

nīvaraṇa : hindrances, a group of defilements.

ñāṇa : wisdom, insight.

Pacceka Buddha : Silent Buddha, an enlightened one who has found the truth by himself but does not proclaim Dhamma to the world.

Paṭṭhāna : Conditional Relations, the seventh book of the Abhidhamma.

paṭisandhi citta : rebirth consciousness.

Pāli : the language of the Buddhist teachings.

paññā : wisdom or understanding.

paññatti : concepts, conventional terms.

paramattha dhamma : truth in the absolute sense: mental and physical phenomena, each with their own characteristic.

pīti : joy, rapture, enthusiasm.

puthujjana : “worldling”, a person who has not attained enlightenment.

Rāhula : the Buddha’s son.

rūpa : physical phenomena, realities which do not experience anything.

rūpa-brahma : plane rūpa-bhūmi, fine material realm of existence attained as a result of rūpa-jhāna.

rūpa-jhāna : fine material absorption, developed with a meditation subject which is still dependant on materiality.

rūpa-khandha : aggregate or group of all physical phenomena (rūpas).

rūpāvacara cittas : rūpa-jhānacittas, consciousness of the fine-material sphere.

saddhā : confidence.

sakadāgāmī : once-returner, a noble person who has attained the second stage of enlightenment.

samādhi : concentration or one-pointedness, ekaggatā cetasika.

samatha : the development of calm.

sammā : right.

Sangha : community of monks and nuns. As one of the triple Gems it means the community of those people who have attained enlightenment.

saññā : memory, remembrance or “perception”.

sati : mindfulness or awareness: non-forgetfulness of what is wholesome, or non-forgetfulness of realities which appear.

satipaṭṭhāna sutta : Middle Length Sayings 1, number 10, also Dīgha Nikāya, Dialogues, no. 22.

satipaṭṭhāna : applications of mindfulness. It can mean the cetasika sati which is aware of realities or the objects of mindfulness which are classified as four applications of mindfulness: Body, Feeling Citta,Dhamma. Or it can mean the development of direct understanding of realities through awareness.

sīla : morality in action or speech, virtue.

somanassa : happy feeling.

sotāpanna : person who has attained the first stage of enlightenment, and who has eradicated wrong view of realities.

sukha : happy, pleasant.

sukha-vedanā : pleasant feeling.

sutta : part of the scriptures containing dialogues at different places on different occasions.

suttanta : a sutta text.

Tathāgata : literally “thus gone”, epithet of the Buddha.

tatramajjhattatā : equanimity or even-mindedness.

Theravāda Buddhism : ‘Doctrine of the Elders’, the oldest tradition of Buddhism.

thīna : sloth.

Tipiṭaka : the teachings of the Buddha contained in the Vinaya, the Suttanta and the Abhidhamma.

uddhacca : restlessness.

Udāna : Verses of Uplift from the Minor Anthologies.

upādāna : clinging.

upādāna-kkhandhas : khandhas of clinging.

upekkhā : indifferent feeling. It can stand for even-mindedness or equanimity and then it is not feeling.

vāyo-dhātu : element of wind or motion.

vedanā : feeling.

vedanā-kkhandha : group of all feelings.

Vibhaṅga : “Book of Analysis”, second book of the Abhidhamma.

vinaya : Book of Discipline for the monks.

viññāṇa : consciousness, citta.

viññāṇa-dhātu : element of consciousness, comprising all cittas.

viññāṇa-kkhandha : group of all cittas (consciousness).

vipākacitta : citta which is the result of a wholesome deed (kusala kamma) or an unwholesome deed (akusala kamma). It can arise as rebirth- consciousness, or during life as the experience of pleasant or unpleasant objects through the senses, such as seeing, hearing, etc.

vipassanā : wisdom which sees realities as they are.

viriya : energy.

Visuddhimagga : an Encyclopedia of the Buddha’s teachings, written by Buddhaghosa in the fifth century A.D.

Yamaka : the Book of Pairs, the sixth book of the Abhidhamma.

yoniso manasikāra : wise attention to the object.