Glossary

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

abhijjā : covetousness

abhiññā : supernormal powers

abhisaṅkhāra : kammic activity giving preponderance in the conditioning of rebirth

adhimāna : over-estimating conceit

adhimokkha : determination or resolution

adhipatis : “forerunners” of the arising of the ariyan eightfold Path:

adosa : non aversion

adukkhamasukha : neutral feeling

ahetuka cittas : not accompanied by “beautiful roots” or unwholesome roots

ahetuka kiriyacitta : inoperative citta without root

ahetuka-diṭṭhi : The view that here are no causes (in happening)

ahirika : shamelessness

ājīva-duccarita : virati abstinence from wrong livelihood

akiriya-diṭṭhi : The view that there is no such thing as kamma

akusala kamma : a bad deed

akusala citta : unwholesome consciousness

akusala : unwholesome, unskilful

alobha : non attachment, generosity

amoha : wisdom or understanding

an-aññātaññassāmī 't'indriya : I-shall-come-to-know-the-unknown” faculty, arising at the moment of the magga-citta of the sotāpanna

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

Ānanda the chief attendant of the Buddha anantarika kamma : heinous crimes

anattā : not self

aññasamānā cetasikas : Añña means “other” and samānā means “common”, the same. The aññasamānās which arise together are of the same jāti as the citta they accompany and they all change, become “other”, as they accompany a citta of a different jāti. Akusala is “other” than kusala and kusala is “other” than akusala.

aññātāvindriya : The final knower faculty, arising at the moment of the phala-citta of the arahat

aññindriya : The faculty of final knowledge , which arises at the moment of the phala-citta, fruition-consciousness, of the sotāpanna, and also accompanies the magga-citta and the phala-citta of the sakadāgāmī and of the anāgāmī and the magga-citta of the arahat

anottappa : recklessness

anumodana : thanksgiving, appreciation of someone else’s kusala

anusayas : latent tendency or proclivity

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 citta

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

arūpāvacara citta : arūpa jhāna citta, consciousness of immaterial jhāna

asaññā-satta : plane plane where there is only rūpa, not nāma

asaṅkhārika : unprompted, not induced, either by oneself or by someone else

asaṅkhata dhamma : unconditioned reality, nibbāna

asappurisa : a bad man

āsavas : influxes or intoxicants, group of defilements

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

atīta-bhavanga : past life-continuum, arising and falling away shortly before the start of a process of cittas experiencing an object through one of the sense-doors

attavādupādāna : clinging to personality belief

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

avihiṁsa : the thought of non-harming

avijjā : ignorance

avijjāsava : the canker of ignorance

avijjogha : the flood of ignorance

avyāpāda : the thought of non-malevolence

ayoniso manasikāra : unwise attention to an object

balas powers : strengths

bhaṅga khaṇa : dissolution moment of citta

bhaṅga khaṇa : the dissolution moment of citta

bhava-taṇhā : craving for existence

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

bhavanga calana : vibrating bhavanga arising shortly before a process of cittas experiencing an object through one of the six doors

bhavanga-citta : life-continuum

bhavangupaccheda : arrest bhavanga, last bhavanga-citta before a process of cittas starts

bhavogha : the flood of desire for rebirth

bhikkhu : monk

bhikkhunī : nun

bhūmi : existence or plane of citta

bodhisatta : a being destined to become a Buddha

bojjhangas : factors of enlightenment,

Brahma : heavenly being born in the Brahma world, as a result of the attainment of jhāna

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

brahmavihāra-upekkhā : equanimity, one of the “divine abidings”

Buddha : a fully enlightened person who has discovered the truth all by himself, without the aid of a teacher

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

cakkhu : eye

cakkhu-dhātu : eye element

cakkhu-dvāra : eyedoor

cakkhu-samphassa : eye contact

cakkhu-vatthu : eye-base

cakkhu-viññāṇa : seeing-consciousness

cakkhuppasāda-rūpa : eye-sense

cetanā : volition

cetasika : mental factor arising with consciousness

chanda : “wish to do”

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

citta-kammaññatā : wieldiness of citta

citta-lahutā : lightness of citta

citta-mudutā : pliancy of citta

citta-pāguññatā : proficiency of citta

citta-passaddhi : tranquillity of mind

citta-ujukatā : uprightness of citta

cuti : dying

cuti-citta : dying-consciousness

dāna : generosity, giving

deva : heavenly being

dhamma : reality, truth, the teachings

dhamma-vicaya : investigation of Dhamma

Dhammasangaṇi : the first book of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka

dhammavicaya : investigation of the Dhamma

diṭṭhāsava : canker of wrong view

diṭṭhi : wrong view, distorted view of realities

diṭṭhigata sampayutta : accompanied by wrong view

diṭṭhigata-vippayutta : attachment which is dissociated from wrong view

diṭṭhogha : the flood of wrong view

diṭṭhupādāna : clinging to wrong view

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

dvi-pañca-viññāṇa : the five pairs of sense-cognitions, which are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and body-consciousness. Of each pair one is kusala vipāka and one akusala vipāka

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

ganthas : bonds, a group of defilements

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

hasituppāda-citta : smile producing consciousness of an arahat

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

hiri : moral shame

hiriyati : scruples

idaṃ-saccābhinivesa kāyagantha : the bodily tie of dogmatism

idaṃ-saccābhinivesa : the tie of dogmatism

iddhipādas : four “Roads to Success”

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 : impulsion, running through the object

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

jhāna-cittas : absorption consciousness attained through the development of calm

jīvitindriya : life-faculty or vitality

kalyāṇa-mitta : good friend in Dhamma

kāma-sobhana : cittas beautiful cittas of the sense sphere

kāma-taṇhā : sensuous craving

kāma-vitakka : thought of sense-pleasures

kāmāvacara cittas : cittas of the sense sphere

kāmāvacara sobhana cittas : beautiful cittas of the sense sphere

kamma : intention or volition; deed motivated by volition

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

kāmogha : the flood of sensuous desire

kāmupādāna : sensuous clinging

karuṇā : compassion

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

kāya-duccarita virati : abstinence from wrong action

kāya-ujukatā : uprightness of cetasika

kāya-viññāṇa : body-consciousness

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.

khanti : patience

kilesa : defilements

kiriya citta : inoperative citta, neither cause nor result

kukkucca : regret or worry

kusala kamma : a good deed

kusala : wholesome, skilful

kusala citta : wholesome consciousness

lakkhaṇaṃ : characteristic, specific or generic attribute

lobha : attachment, greed

lobha-mūla-citta : consciousness rooted in attachment

lokiya citta : citta which is mundane, not experiencing nibbāna

lokuttara citta : supramundane citta which experiences nibbāna

lokuttara dhammas : the unconditioned dhamma which is nibbāna and the cittas which experience nibbāna

macchariya : stinginess

magga : path (eightfold Path)

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

mahā kiriyacitta : inoperative sense-sphere citta of the arahat, accompanied by “beautiful” roots.

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

mahā-satipaṭṭhāna : four applications of mindfulness, see satipaṭṭhāna

mahā-vipassanā : “principal insight”

manasikāra : attention

mano-dvārāvajjana-citta : mind-door-adverting-consciousness

māra : the evil one

mettā : loving kindness

micchā-diṭṭhi : wrong view

micchā-samādhi : wrong concentration

middha : torpor or languor

moha : ignorance

moha-mūla-citta : citta rooted in ignorance

moha-mūla-cittas : cittas rooted in ignorance

muditā : sympathetic joy

nāma kkhandha : group of all mental phenomena

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

nāma-rūpa pariccheda-ñāṇa : first stage of insight, insight knowledge of the distinction between mental phenomena and physical phenomena

natthika diṭṭhi : wrong view of annihilation, assumption that there is no result of kamma.

ñāṇa : wisdom, insight

nekkhamma : thought of renunciation

nibbāna : 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

nīvaraṇa : hindrances, a group of defilements

oghas : group of defilements, the floods

ottappa : fear of blame

paccaya-pariggaha-ñāṇa : discerning the Conditions of Nāma and Rūpa

paccayas : conditions

paccupaṭṭhāna : manifestation, appearance or effect

padaṭṭhānaṃ : proximate cause

paṭicca sammuppada : ’Dependent Origination’, the conditional origination of phenomena

Paṭṭhāna : Conditional Relations, one of the seven books of the Abhidhamma

paṭisandhi citta : rebirth consciousness

paṭisandhi : rebirth

pakiṇṇakā : the particulars

Pāli : the language of the Buddhist teachings

pañcadvārāvajjana-citta : five-sense-door-adverting-consciousness

pañcaviññāṇa (or dvi-pañcaviññāṇa) : the sense cognitions (seeing etc.) of which there five pairs the sense cognitions (seeing etc.) of which there five pairs

paññā : wisdom or understanding

paññatti : concepts, conventional terms

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

Paramattha Mañjūsā : a commentary to the Visuddhimagga

pasāda-rūpas : rūpas which are capable of receiving sense-objects such as visible object, sound, taste, etc.

passaddhi : calm

patisanthāro : courtesy

peta : ghost

phala-citta : fruition consciousness experiencing nibbāna. It is result of magga-citta, path-consciousness.

phassa : contact

pīti : joy, rapture

puñña-kiriya-vatthus : “ten bases of meritorious deeds”

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

rāga : greed

rasa : function or achievement

rūpa : physical phenomena, realities which do not experience anything

rūpa-brahma : plane or 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-jīvitindriya : a kind of rūpa produced by kamma and it maintains the life of the other rūpas it arises together with

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

rūpāvacara citta : type of jhāna citta

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

sabbacitta-sādhāranā : the seven cetasikas which have to arise with every citta

saddhā : confidence

sahetuka : accompanied by roots

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

sakkāya diṭṭhi : wrong view of personality, wrong view about the khandhas

samādhi : concentration or one-pointedness, ekaggatā cetasika

samādhi-bhāvanā : the development of concentration

samañña lakkhaṇa : general characteristics common to all conditioned realities

samatha : the development of calm

sambojjhanga : seven factors of enlightenment

sammā : right

sammā-diṭṭhi : right understanding

sammā-samādhi : right concentration

sammāsambuddha : a universal Buddha, a fully enlightened person who has discovered the truth all by himself, without the aid of a teacher and who can proclaim the Truth to others beings

sammā-saṅkappa : right thinking of the eightfold Path

sammā-sati : right mindfulness

sammā-vāyāma : right mindfulness of the eightfold Path

sampaṭicchana-citta : receiving-consciousness

sampajañña : discrimination, comprehension

sampayutta : associated with

sampayutta dhammas : associated dhammas, citta and cetasika which arise together

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

sankhata dhammas : conditioned dhammas

saññā : memory, remembrance or “perception”

saññā-kkhandha : memory classified as one of the five khandhas

santīraṇa-citta : investigating-consciousness

saṅkāra dhamma : conditioned dhamma

saṅkhāra-kkhandha : all cetasikas (mental factors) except feeling and memory

saṅkhāradhamma : conditioned realities

saṁsāra : the cycle of birth and death

sappurisa : good man

Sāriputta : The First chief disciple of the Buddha

sasaṅkhārika : prompted, induced, instigated, either by oneself or someone else

sati : awareness, non-forgetfulness, awareness of reality by direct experience

satipaṭṭhāna sutta : Middle Length Sayings 1, number 10, also Dīgha Nikāya, dialogues 11, 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.

saṃyojanas : The Fetters, a group of defilements

sīla : morality in action or speech, virtue

sīlabbata-parāmāsā : wrong practice

sīlabbatupādāna : wrong practice, which is clinging to certain rules (“rites and rituals”) in one’s practice

sobhana (citta and cetasika) : beautiful, accompanied by beautiful roots

sobhana hetus : beautiful roots

sobhana kiriyacittas : kiriyacittas accompanied by sobhana (beautiful) roots

somanassa : happy feeling

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

sukha : happy, pleasant

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

suttanta : a sutta text

tadārammaṇa-cittas : registering-consciousness

taruṇa vipassanā : “tender insight”

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

tatramajjhattatā : equanimity or evenmindedness

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

thīna : sloth

tiṭṭhi khaṇa : the moment of its presence, or static moment of citta

Tipiṭaka : the teachings of the Buddha

titthi khaṇa : static moment of citta

uddhacca : restlessness

uddhambhāgiya-saṃyojana : five higher fetters which tie beings to the higher planes of existence the rūpa-brahma planes and the arūpa-brahma planes

ujupatipanno : the straight, true and proper way

upacāra : access or proximatory consciousness, the second javana-citta in the process in which absorption or enlightenment is attained

upādāna : clinging

upādānakkhandhas : khandhas of clinging

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

Uposatha : Uposatha days are days of fasting or vigil; uposatha is observed on the days of full-moon and new-moon, and sometimes also on the days of the first and last moon-quarter. In Buddhist countries there is a tradition for lay-followers to visit temples and to observe eight precepts on these days

uppāda khaṇa : the arising moment of citta

vaci-duccarita virati : abstinence from wrong speech

vatthu : base, physical base of citta

vedanā feeling vedanā-kkhandha : group of all feelings

Vibhaṅga : “Book of Analysis”, one of the seven books of the Abhidhamma

vibhava-taṇhā : craving for non-existence

vicāra : sustained thinking or discursive thinking

vicikicchā : doubt

vihiṁsā-vitakka : thought of harming

vinaya : Book of Discipline for the monks

viññāṇa : consciousness, citta

viññāṇa-kkhandha : 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.

vipallāsas : perversions. Three kinds: saññā perversion of perception, citta of thought, diṭṭhi of views.

vipassanā ñāṇa : moment of insight knowledge

vipassanā : wisdom which sees realities as they are

viriya : energy

visaṇkāra dhamma : unconditioned dhamma (reality)

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

vitakka : applied thinking

vyāpāda : ill-will

vyāpāda-vitakka : thought of malevolence

yoghas : The yokes, a group of defilements

yoniso manasikāra : wise attention to the object