Glossary

Ajaan (Thai): Teacher; mentor.

Anatta: Not-self. One of the three perceptions used to induce dispassion for clinging, craving, and their objects.

Anicca(m): Inconstant. One of the three perceptions used to induce dispassion for clinging, craving, and their objects.

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.

Asava: Fermentation; effluent. One of a set of three mental qualities—sensuality, becoming, and ignorance—that “flow out” of the mind and keep one stuck in samsara. Sanskrit form: asrava.

Brahma: A high level of deva, inhabiting a non-sensual realm of form or formlessness.

Brahman: A member of the priestly caste in India.

Brahmavihara: 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) Nibbana (although there are passages in the Pali Canon describing nibbana as the abandoning of all dhammas). Sanskrit form: dharma.

Dhutanga: Optional ascetic practices, related primarily to restrictions on food, clothing, and shelter.

Dukkha(m): Suffering; stress; pain. One of the three perceptions used to induce dispassion for clinging, craving, and their objects.

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

Kamma: Intentional act. Sanskrit form: kamma.

Metta: Goodwill; benevolence. See brahmavihara.

Nibbana: 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: nirvana.

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

Parisa: Group. Usually a reference to the four groups of the Buddha’s followers: monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen.

Samsara: The wandering-on through rebirth and redeath.

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

Sangha: On the conventional level, this term denotes the communities of Buddhist monks and nuns. On the ideal level, it denotes those followers of the Buddha, lay or ordained, who have attained at least their first taste of the deathless.

Sankhara: Fabrication. Sanskrit form: samskara.

Satipatthana: 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: sutra.

Tudong (Thai): The practice of meditating and wandering in nature, often as a way of observing the dhutanga practices.

Uposatha: Observance day, coinciding with the full-moon, new-moon, and half-moon days. Lay Buddhists often observe the eight precepts on this day. Monks recite the Patimokkha, the code of the basic rules they follow, on the full-moon and new-moon uposathas.

Vinaya: The monastic discipline.

Wat (Thai): Monastery.