Glossary

Please note: the following are the general meanings of terms and are not necessarily the detailed definitions found in the philosophical texts. In general, the meanings are according to the Prasangika Madhyamika tenet system.

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N
 
O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Abbhana: absolution. The karma of the monastic community for rehabilitating and restoring the rights of a suspended monastic, i.e. one who committed a sanghavasesa.

Abbot: The one who gives the disciples the monastic precepts.

Action prohibited by the Buddha: An action which is not naturally negative but is to be avoided because the Buddha established a precept prohibiting it, for example, singing and dancing done with attachment by those with monastic precepts.

Adhikarana-samatha: Modes of handling disputes mentioned in the Pratimoksa Sutra.

Affirmative phenomenon: A phenomenon realized by a mind that does not eliminate an object of negation.

Afflictions: Disturbing attitudes and negative emotions such as ignorance, attachment, anger, pride, jealousy, and confusion that disturb our mental peace and propel us to act in ways harmful to others.

Afflictive obscurations: Afflictions and karma that cause rebirth in cyclic existence. When the afflictive obscurations are removed, one becomes an arhat.

Aggregates: The parts on which “I” is labeled. There is one physical aggregate (the form aggregate) and four mental aggregates (feeling, discrimination, compositional factors, consciousness).

Altruistic intention (Bodhicitta): The mind dedicated to attaining enlightenment in order to be able to benefit all sentient beings most effectively.

Anagarika: A person holding the eight precepts and preparing to be a monastic.

Analytical meditation (Tibetan: bpyad sgom): Thinking about the topics of the gradual path by using reasons and quotations and by understanding their application to our lives.

Anger: Based on an exaggeration or projection of negative qualities, an emotion that cannot endure an object, person, idea, etc. and wishes either to destroy or get away from it.

Announcement: A motion presented in verbal form, in which an issue and the suggestion for its resolution are announced to the assembly during a formal karma or meeting.

Arhat: A person who is free from cyclic existence, but who is not necessarily fully enlightened.

Arya: A person who has realized emptiness directly and is thus one of the Sangha Jewels of refuge.

Attachment: An attitude that exaggerates the good qualities of a person or thing and then clings to it.

Basis of designation: The parts or attributes upon which something is labeled. In the case of the I, it is the aggregates.

Bhikshu (Pali: Bhikkhu, Tibetan: Gelong): Fully-ordained Buddhist monk.

Bhikshuni (Pali: Bhikkhuni, Tibetan: Gelongma): Fully-ordained Buddhist nun.

Bhikshuni-upadhyayini: One’s bhikshuni preceptor with whom a newly-ordained bhikshuni trains for at least two years.

Bless: Inspire. It means to transform our mind. A blessing is not like an object given from master to student. A student has received 'blessing' or has been inspired when his or her own mind transforms into the Dharma, i.e. when the student has understood and integrated the meaning of the teachings into his or her life.

Bodhicitta, bodhi mind: See altruistic intention.

Bodhisattva: A person who has developed spontaneous bodhicitta.

Brahmacarya (Tibetan: tshangs par spyod pa): Celibacy.

Buddha: A person who has purified all defilements and developed all good qualities. “The Buddha” refers to Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha who lived over 2,500 years ago in India.

Buddha figure: A manifestation of the Buddha; a Buddhist deity.

Buddha nature (Buddha potential): The factors present in all beings that allow them to attain full enlightenment.

Buddhist deity: A manifestation of the enlightened minds appearing in a physical form.

Calm abiding (Samatha): See Serenity.

Cessation: The extinguishment of an obscuration—for example, anger—so that it can never arise again. When all afflictions have been eliminated, we attain nirvana.

Cognitive obscurations: Stains of the afflictions that prevent perceiving all existent phenomena. When both afflictive obscurations and cognitive obscurations have been removed, we become a fully enlightened Buddha.

Compassion: The wish for someone to be free from suffering.

Compounded phenomena: Phenomena produced by causes and conditions. This is synonymous with impermanent phenomena.

Concentration: The ability to remain single-pointedly on the object of meditation.

Contaminated: Conjoined with disturbing attitudes.

Cooperative conditions: The conditions which help something to arise, for example, water and fertilizer enable the seed to grow into a sprout.

Correct belief: An understanding that is correct but not firm. It does not get at its object in such a way as to eliminate superimpositions.

Cyclic existence: See Samsara.

Defeat: See parajika.

Deity (Yidam): A meditational deity; a manifestation of the enlightened minds appearing in a physical form.

Deluded obscurations: See Afflictive obscurations.

Dependent arising: The fact that all phenomena are dependent on the parts of which they are made and on the mind that conceives and labels them. Many phenomena—our body, tables, and so forth—also depend on causes and conditions to exist.

Designate (Label, impute): To give a label or name to an object; to attribute meaning to it.

Designated object: The object designated, labeled or imputed on its basis of designation. For example, the I is designated on its basis of designation, the aggregates.

Determination to be free: The attitude aspiring to be free from cyclic existence and to attain liberation.

Dharma (Pali: Dhamma): In the most general sense, Dharma refers to the teachings of the Buddha. Most specifically, it refers to the realizations of the path and the resultant cessations of suffering and its causes.

Dharma protector: Dharma protectors may be either:
(1) an arya bodhisattva who manifests in a fierce aspect in order to protect the Dharma in our minds and our world, or
(2) an ordinary being who is a spirit who has made a promise to a high lama to protect the Dharma. The first are considered to be supramundane protectors; the second are worldly protectors.

Dharmagupta: The Vinaya school prevalent in China, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Direct non-conceptual realization of emptiness: A mind that sees directly and without conception, the non-existence of the conceived object of ignorance.

Discordant class: A class of objects which does not concord with or is in some way dissimilar to another class of objects.

Disturbing attitudes: See Afflictions.

Doubt: A mental factor which is indecisive and wavering regarding important points such as karma and its result, emptiness, etc.

Dukkha: Unsatisfactory conditions.  See Suffering.

Dusktra (Pali: Dukkata): Light offence.

Empowerment (Initiation): A ceremony in Vajrayana Buddhism after which the disciple is permitted to meditate on a particular manifestation of the Buddha.

Emptiness: The lack of independent or inherent existence. This is the ultimate nature of all persons and phenomena. In some philosophical tenets systems it refers to the lack of a permanent, partless, and independent person or the lack of a self-supporting, substantially-existent person.

Enlightenment (Buddhahood): The state of a Buddha, i.e. the state of having forever eliminated all disturbing attitudes, karmic imprints, and their stains from our mindstream, and having developed all our good qualities to their fullest. Buddhahood supersedes liberation.

Equalizing self and others: The attitude that feels that the importance of others’ wish to have happiness and be free of suffering is equal to our own.

Equanimity: Having an equally open attitude to all sentient beings, free of attachment, anger, and apathy.

Exchanging self and others: Exchanging the object of importance from self to others, i.e. cherishing others the way we used to cherish ourselves and neglecting the self the way we used to neglect others.

Existing from its own side: Existing without depending on causes, conditions, or any other factors.

Fantasized ways of existing: See Inherent or independent existence.

Focal object (Tibetan: dmigs yul): The basic object which the mind refers to or focuses upon while apprehending certain aspects of that object.

Form body (Rupakaya): The physical manifestations of a Buddha.

Four Noble Truths: The Buddha’s first teaching which describes our present situation and our potential: the truths of
suffering, its causes, their cessation, and the path to that cessation.

Gatha: A brief saying to recite and contemplate that helps one to maintain mindfulness of one's activities.

Geshe: A learned master (comparable to a Ph.D.) in Tibetan Buddhism.

Glance meditation: Going over the steps of the path or the outline of a particular step in order to gain general understanding of it.

Grasping at true existence: The conception or grasping at the objective existence of phenomena through their own entity without being posited by thought.

Great compassion: Wishing all sentient beings to be free from suffering and its causes.

Great resolve: Determining to take the responsibility upon oneself to bring about the happiness of sentient beings and to eliminate their suffering.

Guru (Tibetan: Lama): Spiritual master, spiritual mentor or teacher.

Gurudhamma (Sanskrit: Gurudharma): Eight important rules regarding the relationship between bhikshus and bhikshunis.

Hearers: Those who follow the path to liberation from cyclic existence and become arhats. They are so-called because they hear the Buddha’s teachings and teach them to others.

Heart-warming love: Wanting all sentient beings to be happy, based on seeing them as lovable.

Ignorance: A mental factor that, unaware of the nature of reality, conceives people and phenomena to exist as independent entities unrelated to any other phenomenon.

Impermanent: Changing moment to moment. All produced things are impermanent.

Imprint:The residual energy left on the mindstream when an action has been completed. When it matures, it influences our experience. Imprints generally refer to karmic seeds.

Impute:To give a label or name to an object. To give meaning to an object.

Individual vehicle (Hinayana): The path to one’s individual liberation.

Inference: An infallible conceiving cognition that arises in direct dependence upon a correct reason or a consequence as its basis. This mind is a valid cognition.

Inherent or independent existence: A false and non-existent quality that we project onto all persons and phenomena; existence independent of causes and conditions, parts, or the mind conceiving and labeling a phenomena.

Initiation: See Empowerment.

Innate self-grasping: The inborn, spontaneous grasping at self-existence that all beings in cyclic existence have.

Intellectually acquired self-grasping: Self-grasping learned through studying wrong philosophies.

Karma: Actions of our body, speech and mind. Our actions leave imprints on our mindstream and later bring about our experiences.

Kathina: The robe of merit. At the kathina ceremony after the rains retreat, the sangha receives and distributes offerings of cloth to be used to make robes.

Koan: A seeming puzzle given by a Zen master to his or her student. By contemplating this and holding it in mind, the student comes to understand the nature of reality.

Lama (Sanskrit: Guru): A spiritual master or teacher.

Lamrim: The Tibetan name for the Gradual Path to Enlightenment, a step-by-step layout of the path.

Learner of parajika: A bhikshu or bhikshuni who, upon committing a parajika offense, immediately has sincere regret for the wrongdoing and does not wish to conceal it even for a moment. The person may continue to live with the sangha, although he or she is not considered an actual bhikshu or bhikshuni.

Liberation: The state of having removed all disturbing attitudes and karma causing us to take rebirth in cyclic existence, together with their imprints.

Love: Wishing sentient beings to have happiness and its causes.

Maechee: An eight-precept nun in Thailand.

Mahaprajapati (Pali: Mahapajapati): The Buddha’s aunt and stepmother, who became the first bhikshuni.

Mahayana: The Buddhist tradition emphasizing the development of bodhicitta and leading to full enlightenment.

Mala: Prayer beads, rosary.

Manatta: The period of penance, repentance, and suspension of monastic privileges for one who has committed a sanghavasesa.

Mantra: A series of syllable consecrated by a Buddha and expressing the essence of the entire path to enlightenment. They can be recited during meditation to purify and calm the mind.

Meditation: Habituating ourselves with positive attitudes and accurate perspectives.

Meditative equipoise on emptiness: Single-pointed meditation on the emptiness of inherent existence.

Meditative quiescence: See Serenity.

Merit: See Positive potential.

Migrating beings: beings born within cyclic existence. They migrate from one body to another under the influence of afflictions and karma.

Mind: The experiential, cognitive part of living beings. Formless, the mind isn’t made of atoms, nor is it perceivable through our five senses.

Mindstream: The continuity of the mind.

Monastic: A general term for a monk or nun. This includes one who is a sramanera, sramanerika, bhikshu, or bhikshuni.

Monk: Celibate male ordained practitioners.

Mulasarvastivada: The Vinaya school prevalent in Tibet.

Naihsargika-payattika (Pali: Nissaggiya pacittiya): Lapses with forfeiture. A category of precepts found in the Pratimoksa Sutra.

Naturally negative actions: Actions which bring suffering results whether one has a precept to abandon them or not, for
example, killing, stealing, lying, and so on.

Ngondro: Preliminary practices, such as prostrations and recitation of the Vajrasattva mantra, done before
undertaking major tantric practices.

Nirvana (Pali: Nibbana): The cessation of suffering and its causes; freedom from cyclic existence.

Noble eightfold path: The path leading to liberation. The eight branches, which can be categorized under the three higher trainings are: correct speech, action, livelihood, mindfulness, concentration, view, realization and effort.

Non-abiding nirvana: Full enlightenment in which one does not abide in either cyclic existence or the self-complacent peace of an arhat’s nirvana.

Non-affirming negative: The mere absence of the object of negation. Nothing positive is implied in its stead and one is left with a mere absence or emptiness.

Nun: Celibate female ordained practitioners.

Object of knowledge: That which is suitable to serve as an object of an awareness.

Object of negation: What is to be negated or proven non-existent in the meditation on emptiness, for example. It is essential to identify this properly before meditating on emptiness.

Object of the mode of apprehension: The main object with which a consciousness is concerned.

Obscurations to omniscience: See Cognitive obscurations. .

Occasionally produced: Produced only when its causes and conditions have been assembled.

Ordination (Pali: Pravrajya): The ceremony through which one becomes a monastic.

Parajika: A root precept for bhikshus and bhikshunis. A full transgression means one is defeated and is no longer a monastic.

Parinirvana (Pali: Parinibbana): The time when a Buddha passes away and leaves his or her earthly body.

Parivasa: Probation. A time in which a bhikshuni who has committed a sanghavasesa lives apart from the community to contemplate her misdeed.

Parmarabjung: Pre-novice ordination taken for the duration of one’s life.

Permanent: Not changing moment by moment. Permanent phenomena are not necessarily eternal. Many do not exist forever.

Permanent, single (or partless), and independent self: In this context, permanent means not arising and not perishing; single means not relying on parts; and independent means not depending on causes and conditions. That the person exists in this way is to be negated.

Perpetuating (Substantial) cause: The main thing that produces something else, e.g. the seed is the perpetuating cause of the sprout.

Person: The mere I which is designated in dependence upon any of the five aggregates.

Phenomena: That which holds its own entity. In general, this is synonymous with object of knowledge and refers to all existents. In the context of the self-grasping of persons and of phenomena, however, “phenomena” refers to all existents other than persons.

Posadha (Pali: Uposatha, Tibetan: Sojong): The confession ceremony held on new and full moon days during which Buddhist monastics purify and restore their precepts.

Positive potential: Imprints of positive actions, which will result in happiness in the future.

Prasangika Madhyamika: A proponent of non-inherent existence who does not assert that phenomena exist by way of their own nature even conventionally. This is considered the most exact and highest school of philosophical tenets.

Pratidesaniya (Pali: Patidesaniya): An offence requiring confession. A category of precepts in the Pratimoksa Sutra.

Pratimoksa (Pali: Patimokkha) Sutra: The sutra containing the list of bhikshu or bhikshuni precepts.

Pratimoksa vows: The vows of individual liberation. They are of eight kinds: 1) bhikshu, 2) bhikshuni, 3) siksamana,
4) sramanera, 5) sramanerika 6) upasaka, 7) upasika, 8) one-day vow with eight precepts.

Pravarana (Pali: Pavarana; Tibetan: Gagye): The ceremony marking the end of the summer retreat (rains retreat).

Pravrajya: The ordination procedure going from home to the homeless state.

Prayascittika (Payantika. Pali: Pacittiya): Lapse. A category of precepts in the Pratimoksa Sutra. The offense committed when a naihsargika-payattika or prayascittika precept is transgressed.

Precept: A guideline or rule for training one's body, speech, or mind.

Priest: Non-celibate Buddhist clergy from the various Japanese Buddhist traditions.

Proclamation: A repetition of the announcement made at a karma with a call requesting disagreeing opinions from the assembly.

Puja: An offering ceremony often chanted together in a group.

Pure land: A Mahayana Buddhist tradition emphasizing methods to be reborn in a pure land. A pure land is a place established by a Buddha or bodhisattva where all conditions are conducive for the practice of Dharma and the attainment of enlightenment.

Purification practice: A four-step practice involving:
1) regretting our mistake,
2) restoring the relationship by generating a positive attitude towards the one we harmed,
3) resolving to avoid the harmful action in the future, and
4) doing some sort of remedial behavior.
This mitigates the force of our destructive actions.

Rabjung: Leaving the householder's life.

Rains retreat (Summer retreat): The three-month period of the summer monsoon rains in India, during which the sangha lives within a restricted boundary in order to avoid unnecessary movement that could harm crops and insects prevalent during this season.

Real: Truly or inherently existent.

Realization: A deep understanding that becomes part of us and changes our outlook on the world.

Referent object (Tibetan: zhen yul, Conceived object) of ignorance: The truly existent object which appears to ignorance and which the latter grasps or conceives as existing.

Refuge object:Those we turn to for spiritual guidance. For Buddhists, these are the Three Jewels—the Buddhas, Dharma, and Sangha.

Relative truth: The conventional existence of phenomena.

Relative world:The world of functioning, dependently arising things.

Renunciation: See Determination to be free.

Resolution:The conclusion reached by the assembly during a karma when the number of proclamations required for a specific issue is completed.

Sadhana:The meditational practice associated with a particular Buddha. This is often a written a text that one follows, by chanting or reading, in order to meditate on that Buddha.

Samsara: Cyclic existence, uncontrollably being reborn with a body and mind under the influence of disturbing attitudes and karma.

Sangha: Any person who directly and non-conceptually realizes emptiness. In a more general sense, sangha refers to a community of at least four ordained monks and nuns.

Sanghavasesa (Pali: Sanghadisesa): The second most serious categories of precepts for bhikshu and bhikshunis.

Sanzen: A private meeting between a teacher and student in the Zen tradition.

Self-existent: Being able to exist without depending on anything, be it causes and conditions, parts, or the mind that conceives and labels it. This type of existence is negated on all existents, both persons and other phenomena.

Self-grasping: Grasping at phenomenon as existing completely independent of anything else. This is a form of ignorance.

Self-sufficient substantially existent person: A person existing without depending on the aggregates. This is to be negated.

Selflessness: See emptiness.

Sentient being: Any being with a mind who is not a Buddha. This includes ordinary beings as well as arhats and bodhisattvas.

Serenity (Samatha): Concentration that is able to remain single-pointedly on its object of meditation with a pliant and blissful mind.

Sesshin: A meditation retreat.

Siksakaraniya (Saiksadharma. Pali: Sekhiya, Skyhya):     Training rules. A category of precepts in the Pratimoksa Sutra.

Siksamana (Pali: Sikkhamana, Tibetan: Gelopma): Female nun who holds the novice precepts plus six additional regulations for two years and is preparing to become a bhikshuni.

Siksapada (Pali: Sikkhapada): Precept of training.

Sila: Ethical discipline.

Sima: The boundary within which a particular karma of the sangha is performed.

Skandha (Pali: Khandhaka): Groups of similar teachings prescribing religious rituals and practices that the sangha is to do.

Solitary realizers: Those who, in their last lifetime before becoming arhats, practice in solitude at a time when no Buddha has appeared in the world.

Special insight (Vipassana, Vipasyana): Discriminating analytical wisdom. Special insight into emptiness realizes the empty nature of phenomena.

Spirit: An unenlightened being born in the hungry ghost or demi-god (asura) realms. Spirits may be helpful or harmful.

Sramanera (Pali: Samanera): Male novice monk with ten (subdivided into 36) precepts.

Sramanerika (Pali: Samaneri): Female novice nun with ten (subdivided into 36) precepts.

Stabilizing meditation: A type of meditation used to develop concentration. It involves training the mind to rest single-pointedly on its object of meditation.

Sthulatyaya (Pali: Thullaccaya): A grave offence, usually one in which either a parajika or sanghavasesa precept was partially, but fully, transgressed.

Stupa (Pali: Stupa): A Buddhist reliquary or monument.

Subsequent attainment: The mind of a practitioner who has arisen from meditative equipoise on emptiness and is engaging in other activities.

Suffering (Dukkha): Any unsatisfactory condition. It doesn’t refer only to physical or mental pain, but includes all problematic conditions in cyclic existence.

Sutra (Pali: Sutta): A teaching of the Buddha which is not a tantric teaching; Buddhist scripture.

Taking refuge: Entrusting our spiritual development to the guidance of the Buddhas, the Dharma, and the Sangha.

Tantra: A scripture taught by the Buddha describing the Vajrayana practice.

Tathagata: “One thus gone (to enlightenment),” i.e. a Buddha.

Teisho: A Dharma talk.

Theravada (Sthaviravada): The Vinaya school prevalent in Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka.

Thing: An impermanent phenomenon; something that performs a function.

Three Baskets of the Buddha’s teachings (Skt: Tripitaka):
The categorization of the Buddha’s teachings into three broad topics—Vinaya (ethical discipline), Sutra (discourses), and Abhidharma (knowledge of phenomena).

Three Higher Trainings (Sanskrit: Trisra-siksa; Pali: Tisso sikkha): The higher trainings of ethics (Skt: sila), meditative stabilization (samadhi), and wisdom (prajna).

Three Jewels (Triple Gem): The Buddhas, Dharma, and Sangha.

Three principal realizations (Three principal aspects) of the path: The determination to be free, the altruistic intention and the wisdom realizing emptiness.

Torma: A ritual cake made out of roasted barley flour that is offered to a meditational deity.

True cessation: The state of some or all of the disturbing attitudes having been abandoned; the extinguishment of true sufferings and true causes.

True existence: The objective existence of phenomena through their own entity without being posited by thought.

Truth body (Dharmakaya): In general, the Buddha’s mind. This includes both the ultimate nature or emptiness of this mind and the wisdom of a Buddha.

Uninterrupted path: A consciousness realizing emptiness directly that eliminates some of the disturbing attitudes forever.

Universal vehicle: See Mahayana.

Upadhaya: A senior bhikshu or bhikshuni who trains those newly ordained.

Upasaka: Male lay follower of the Buddha who has taken refuge and often lay precepts.

Upasampada (Pali: Upasampanna): Full ordination as a bhikshu or bhikshuni.

Upasika: Female lay follower of the Buddha who has taken refuge and often lay precepts.

Vajrayana: A branch of the universal vehicle in which the practitioner engages in tantric practice.

Valid cognition: A consciousness that knows its object without mistaking it; an incontrovertible cognition.

Varsa (Pali: Vassa, Tibetan: Yarney):The rains retreat or summer retreat during which the sangha is restricted to living in a certain area to avoid harming crops and insects prevalent during the monsoon rains.

Vastu: Bases for ethical training.

View of the transitory collection: A viewing consciousness which, having apprehended the nominally existent “I” or “mine” conceives them to truly exist. “I” refers to the person; “mine” refers principally to the person’s aggregates and also includes one’s possessions.

Vihara: A monastic dwelling, an early monastery.

Vinaya: The ethical discipline, precepts, and rules of training for the monastic community. The texts explaining this.

Vow: See Precept.

Wisdom realizing emptiness: An attitude which correctly understands the ultimate or final manner in which all persons and phenomena exist., i.e., the mind realizing the emptiness of inherent existence.

Worldly deities and worldly spirits: Beings born in the god realm or as powerful spirits. As they still take rebirth in cyclic existence under the force of afflictions and karma, their powers are limited and temporary.

Yidam: See Deity.

Zazen: The type of meditation done in the Zen tradition.

Zen (Ch’an): A Mahayana Buddhist tradition popular in China and Japan.

Zendo: A meditation hall.