Glossary

Ajaan (Thai): Teacher; mentor.

Arahant: A person who has abandoned all ten of the fetters that bind the mind to the cycle of rebirth, whose heart is free of mental defilement, and is thus not destined for future rebirth. An epithet for the Buddha and the highest level of his noble disciples. Sanskrit form: arhat.

Bhikkhu: Monk.

Bhikkhunī: Nun.

Brahmā: The highest level of deva, living in the heavens of form or formlessness.

Brahman: A member of the priestly caste in India.

Brahmavihāra: Sublime attitude of unlimited goodwill, compassion, empathetic joy, or equanimity.

Deva: Literally, “shining one.” An inhabitant of the terrestrial or heavenly realms higher than the human.

Dhamma: (1) Event; action. (2) A phenomenon in and of itself. (3) Mental quality. (4) Doctrine, teaching. (5) Nibbāna (although there are passages in the Pali Canon describing nibbāna as the abandoning of all dhammas). Sanskrit form: dharma.

Dhammapada: A collection of short verses attributed to the Buddha.

Jhāna: Mental absorption. A state of strong concentration focused on a single sensation or mental notion. Sanskrit form: dhyāna.

Kamma: Intentional act. Sanskrit form: kamma.

Māra: The personification of death and temptation.

Mettā: Goodwill; benevolence. See brahmavihāra.

Nibbāna: Literally, the “unbinding” of the mind from passion, aversion, and delusion, and from the entire round of death and rebirth. As this term also denotes the extinguishing of a fire, it carries connotations of stilling, cooling, and peace. Sanskrit form: nirvāṇa.

Pali: The name of the earliest extant canon of the Buddha’s teachings and, by extension, of the language in which it was composed.

Pasāda: Confidence.

Sala: Hall.

Samatha: Tranquility. Originally, this term meant tranquility as a quality of mind, but over time it has also come to mean a type of meditation aimed at making the mind peaceful. See vipassanā.

Saṁsāra: The wandering-on through rebirth and redeath.

Saṁvega: A sense of dismay, terror, or urgency.

Saṅkhāra: Fabrication.

Satipaṭṭhāna: Establishing of mindfulness. The act of being ardent, alert, and mindful to stay with any of four things in and of themselves—body, feelings, mind-states, or mental qualities—while putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world.

Sutta: Discourse. Sanskrit form: sūtra.

Tathāgata: One who has become authentic or has truly gone to the goal. An epithet of the Buddha and, occasionally, of arahants in general.

Vinaya: The monastic discipline.

Vipassanā: Insight. Originally, this term meant insight as a quality of the mind, but over time it has come to mean a type of meditation aiming at insight into inconstancy, stress, and not-self.