Buddhist Dictionary -m-

BUDDHIST DICTIONARY

-M-

macchariya: ‘stinginess’, avarice. “There are 5 kinds of stinginess, o monks; regarding the dwelling place, regarding families, regarding gain, regarding recognition, regarding mental things’ (A. IX, 49; Pug. 56).

mada: ‘infatuation’. “Infatuation is of 3 kinds: youth-infatuation, health-infatuation, life-infatuation” (D. 33). “Infatuated by youth-infatuation, by health-infatuation and by life-infatuation, the ignorant worldling pursues an evil course in bodily actions, speech and thought, and thereby, at the dissolution of the body, after death, passes to a lower world, to a woeful course of existence, to a state of suffering and hell” (A. III, 39).

magga: ‘path’. 1. For the 4 supermundane paths (lokuttara-magga), s. ariya-puggala – 2. The Eightfold Path (aṭṭhaṅgika-magga) is the path leading to the extinction of suffering, i.e. the last of the 4 Noble Truths (sacca, q.v.), namely:

Wisdom (paññā) III.

1. Right view (sammā-diṭṭhi)
2. Right thought (sammā-saṅkappa)

Morality (sīla) I.

3. Right speech (sammā-vācā)
4. Right bodily action (sammā-kammanta)
5. Right livelihood (sammā-ājīva)

Concentration (samādhi) II.

6. Right effort (sammā-vāyāma)
7. Right mindfulness (sammā-sati)
8. Right concentration (sammā-samādhi)
9. Right view or right understanding (sammā-diṭṭhi) is the understanding of the 4 Noble Truths about the universality of suffering (unsatisfactoriness), of its origin, its cessation, and the path leading to that cessation. – See the Discourse on ‘Right Understanding’ (M. 9, tr. and Com. in ‘R. Und.’).
10. Right thought (sammā-saṅkappa): thoughts free from sensuous desire, from ill-will, and cruelty.
11. Right speech (sammā-vācā): abstaining from lying, tale-bearing, harsh language, and foolish babble.

4 Right bodily action (sammā-kammanta): abstaining from killing, stealing, and unlawful sexual intercourse.

5. Right livelihood (sammā-ājīva): abstaining from a livelihood that brings harm to other beings, such as trading in arms, in living beings, intoxicating drinks, poison; slaughtering, fishing, soldiering, deceit, treachery soothsaying, trickery, usury, etc.
6. Right effort (sammā-vāyāma): the effort of avoiding or overcoming evil and unwholesome things, and of developing and maintaining wholesome things (s. padhāna).
7. Right mindfulness (sammā-sati): mindfulness and awareness in contemplating body, feelings, mind, and mind-objects (s. sati, Satipaṭṭhāna).
8. Right concentration (sammā-samādhi): concentration of mind associated with wholesome (kusala) consciousness, which eventually may reach the absorptions (jhāna, q.v.). Cf. samādhi.

There are to be distinguished 2 kinds of concentration, mundane (lokiya) and supermundane (lokuttara) concentration. The latter is associated with those states of consciousness known as the 4 supermundane paths and fruitions (s. ariya-puggala). As it is said in M. 117:

“I tell you, o monks, there are 2 kinds of right view: the understanding that it is good to give alms and offerings, that both good and evil actions will bear fruit and will be followed by results…. This, o monks, is a view which, though still subject to the cankers, is meritorious, yields worldly fruits, and brings good results. But whatever there is of wisdom, of penetration, of right view conjoined with the path – the holy path being pursued, this is called the supermundane right view (lokuttara-sammā-diṭṭhi), which is not of the world, but which is supermundane and conjoined with the path.”

In a similar way the remaining links of the path are to be understood.

As many of those who have written about the Eightfold Path have misunderstood its true nature, it is therefore appropriate to add here a few elucidating remarks about it, as this path is fundamental for the understanding and practice of the Buddha’s .teaching.

First of all, the figurative expression ‘path’ should not be interpreted to mean that one has to advance step by step in the sequence of the enumeration until, after successively passing through all the eight stages, one finally may reach one’s destination, Nibbāna. If this really were the case, one should have realized, first of all, right view and penetration of the truth, even before one could hope to proceed to the next steps, right thought and right speech; and each preceding stage would be the indispensable foundation and condition for each succeeding stage. In reality, however, the links 3-5 constituting moral training (sīla), are the first 3 links to be cultivated, then the links 6-8 constituting mental training (samādhi), and at last right view, etc. constituting wisdom (paññā).

It is, however, true that a really unshakable and safe foundation to the path is provided only by right view which, starting from the tiniest germ of faith and knowledge, gradually, step by step, develops into penetrating insight (vipassanā) and thus forms the immediate condition for the entrance into the 4 supermundane paths and fruits of holiness, and for the realization of Nibbāna. Only with regard to this highest form of supermundane insight, may we indeed say that all the remaining links of the path are nothing but the outcome and the accompaniments of right view.

Regarding the mundane (lokiya) eightfold path, however, its links may arise without the first link, right view.

Here it must also be emphasized that the links of the path not only do not arise one after the other, as already indicated, but also that they, at least in part, arise simultaneously as inseparably associated mental factors in one and the same state of consciousness. Thus, for instance, under all circumstances at least 4 links are inseparably bound up with any kammically wholesome consciousness, namely 2, 6, 7 and 8, i.e. right thought, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration (M. 117), so that as soon as any one of these links arises, the three others also do so. On the other hand, right view is not necessarily present in every wholesome state of consciousness.

Magga is one of the 24 conditions (s. paccaya 18).

Literature: The Noble Eightfold Path and its Factors Explained, by Ledi Sayadaw (WHEEL 245/247). – The Buddha’s Ancient Path, by Piyadassi Thera (BPS).- The Noble Eightfold Path, by Bhikkhu Bodhi  (WHEEL 308/311).

maggāmagga-ñāṇadassana-visuddhi: ‘purification by knowledge of what is path and not-path’, is one of the 7 stages of purification (visuddhi V, q.v.).

magga-paccaya: ‘path as a condition’, is one of the 24 conditions (paccaya, q.v.).

magical powers: s. iddhi; abhiññā (1).

Mahā-bhūta: the 4 ‘primary elements’, is another name for the 4 elements (dhātu) underlying all corporeality; s. dhātu.

mahā-brāhmaṇo: the ‘great gods’, are a class of heavenly beings in the fine-material world; s. deva, II.

mahaggata: lit., ‘grown great’, i.e. ‘developed’, exalted, supernormal. As mahaggata-citta, it is the state of ‘developed consciousness’, attained  in the fine-material and immaterial absorptions (s. jhāna);it is mentioned in the mind-contemplation of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (M. 10). – As mahaggatārammaṇa, it is the ‘developed mental object’ of those absorptions and is mentioned in the ‘object triad’ of the Abhidhamma schedule and Dhs. (s. Guide, p. 6).

mahāpurisa-vitakka: the 8 ‘thoughts of a great man’, are described in A. VIII, 30, and D. 34.

mahā-vipassanā: the 18 ‘chief kinds of insight’; s. vipassanā.

maintain: effort to maintain wholesome things; s. padhāna.

majjhimā-paṭipadā: ‘Middle Path’, is the Noble Eightfold Path which, by avoiding the two extremes of sensual lust and self-torment, leads to enlightenment and deliverance from suffering.

To give oneself up to indulgence in sensual pleasure (kāma-sukha), the base, common, vulgar, unholy, unprofitable; and also to give oneself up to self-torment (atta-kilamatha), the painful, unholy, unprofitable, both these two extremes the Perfect One has avoided and has found the Middle Path (s. magga), which causes one both to see and to know, and which leads to peace, to discernment, to enlightenment, to Nibbāna. It is the Noble Eightfold Path, the way that leads to the extinction of suffering, namely: right understanding, right thought, right speech, right bodily action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration” (S. LVI, 11).

mala: ‘stains’, is a name for the 3 kammically unwholesome roots (akusala–mūla); greed, hate and delusion (lobha, dosa, moha).

māna: ‘conceit’, pride, is one of the 10 fetters binding to existence (s. saṃyojana). It vanishes completely only at the entrance to Arahatship, or Holiness (cf. asmi-māna). It is further one of the proclivities (s. anusaya) and defilements (s. kilesa). “

The (equality-) conceit (māna), the inferiority-conceit (omāna) and the superiority-conceit (atimāna): this threefold conceit should be overcome. For, after overcoming this threefold conceit, the monk, through the full penetration of conceit, is said to have put an end suffering” (A. VI, 49).

“Those ascetics and Brahman priests who, relying on this impermanent, miserable and transitory nature of corporeality, feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness, fancy: ‘Better am I’, or ‘Equal am I’, or ‘Worse am I’, all these imagine thus through not understanding reality” (S. XXII, 49).

In reality no ego-entity is to be found. Cf. anattā.

manasikāra: ‘attention’, ‘mental advertence’, ‘reflection’.

1. As a psychological term, attention belongs to the formation-group (saṅkhāra-kkhandha; s. Tab. II) and is one of the 7 mental factors (cetasika) that are inseparably associated with all states of consciousness (s. cetanā). In M. 9, it is given as one of the factors representative of mind (nāma) It is the mind’s first ‘confrontation with an object’ and ‘binds the associated mental factors to the object.’ It is, therefore, the prominent factor in two specific classes of consciousness: i.e. ‘advertence (āvajjana, q.v.) at the five sense-doors’ (Tab. I, 70) and at the mind-door (Tab. I, 71). These two states of consciousness, breaking through the subconscious life-continuum (bhavaṅga), form the first stage in the perceptual process (citta-vīthi; s. viññāṇa-kicca). See Vis.M. XIV, 152.
2. In a more general sense, the term appears frequently in the Suttas as yoniso-manasikāra, ‘wise (or reasoned, methodical) attention’ or ‘wise reflection’. It is said, in M. 2, to counteract the cankers (āsava,q.v.); it is a condition for the arising of right view (s. M. 43), of Stream-entry (s. Sotāpattiyaṅga), and of the factors of enlightenment (s. S. XLVI, 2.49,51). – ‘Unwise attention’ (ayoniso-manasikāra) leads to the arising of the cankers (s. M. 2) and of the five hindrances (s. S. XLVI, 2.51).

manāyatana: ‘mind-base’, is a collective term for all the different states of consciousness; s. āyatana.

mangala: means, in general usage, anything regarded as ‘auspicious’ ‘lucky’, or a ‘good omen’. Against the contemporary superstitions notions about it, the Buddha, in the Mahā-mangala Sutta (Sn., w. 258 ff.), set forth 36 ‘blessings’ that are truly auspicious, i.e. conducive to happiness, beginning with the ‘avoidance of bad company’ and ending with a ‘serene mind’. It is one of the most popular Suttas in Buddhist countries, and a fundamental text on Buddhist lay ethics.

Tr. in Everyman’s Ethics (WHEEL 14). See Life’s Highest Blessings, by Dr. R. L. Soni. (WHEEL 254/256).

mano: ‘mind’, is in the Abhidhamma used as synonym of viññāṇa (consciousness) and citta (state of consciousness, mind). According to the Com. to Vis.M., it sometimes means sub-consciousness (s. bhavaṅga-sota).

mano-dhātu: ‘mind-element’, is one of the 18 elements (s. dhātu II). This term, unlike manāyatana, does not apply to the whole of consciousness, but designates only that special element of consciousness which first, at the beginning of the process of sense-perception, performs the function of advertence (āvajjana; Tab. I, 70) to the sense-object and, then after twice having become conscious of it performs the function of reception (sampaṭicchana; Tab I- 39,.55) into mind-consciousness. See viññāṇa-kicca.

mano-kamma: ‘mental action’; s. kamma, kammapatha.

manomayā iddhi: s. iddhi.

manopadosika-deva: ‘the celestial beings corruptible by temper’, are a class of devas (q.v.) of the sensuous sphere. “They spend their time in becoming annoyed with one another, and getting into a temper, and thus by being bodily and mentally exhausted, they pass from that world” (D. 1; 24).

manopavicāra: ‘mental indulging’. There are mentioned 18 ways of indulging: 6 in gladness (somanassūpavicāra), 6 in sorrow (domanassa), 6 in indifference (upekkhā). “Perceiving with the eye a visible form … hearing with the ear a sound … being in mind conscious of an object, one indulges in the joy-producing object, the sorrow-producing object, the indifference-producing object… ” (M. 137; A. III, 61). – In the Com. to A., upavicāra is said to be identical with vitakka-vicāra (q.v.).

mano-sañcetanā: ‘mental volition’; s. āhāra.

manovinñāṇa-dhātu: ‘mind-consciousness element’, one of the 18 ‘elements’ (s. dhātu II). This term is generally used as a name for that consciousness-element which performs the functions of investigation (santīraṇa), determining (voṭṭhapana), registering (tadārammaṇa), etc. See Tab. I, 40, 41, 56, 71, 72.

Māra: (lit. ‘the killer’), is the Buddhist ‘Tempter-figure. He is often called ‘Māra the Evil One’ (pāpimā māro) or Namuci (lit. ‘the non-liberator’, i.e. the opponent of liberation). He appears in the texts both as a real person (i.e. as a deity) and as personification of evil and passions, of the totality of worldly existence, and of death. Later Pāḷi literature often speaks of a ‘fivefold Māra’ (pañca-māra): 1. M. as a deity (devaputta-māra), 2. the M. of defilements (kilesa-m.), 3. the M. of the aggregates (khandha-m.), 4. the M. of the kamma-formations (kamma-m.), and 5. Māra as death (maccu-m.).

As a real person, M. is regarded as the deity ruling over the highest heaven of the sensuous sphere (kāmāvacara ), that of the paranimmitavasavatti-devas, the ‘deities wielding power over the creations of others’ (Com. to M. 1). According to tradition, when the Bodhisatta was seated under the Bodhi-tree, Māra tried in vain to obstruct his attainment of Enlightenment, first by frightening him through his hosts of demons, etc., and then by his 3 daughters’ allurements. This episode is called ‘Māra’s war’ (māra-yuddha). For 7 years M. had followed the Buddha, looking for any weakness in him; that is, 6 years before the Enlightenment and one year after it (Sn. v. 446). He also tried to induce the Buddha to pass away into Parinibbāna without proclaiming the Dhamma, and also when the time for the Buddha’s Parinibbāna had come, he urged him on. But the Buddha acted on his own insight in both cases. See D. 16.

For (3) M. as the aggregates, s. S. XXIII, 1, 11, 12, 23. See Padhāna Sutta (Sn. v. 425ff.); Māra Saṃyutta (S. IV).

maraṇa: ‘death’, in ordinary usage, means the disappearance of the vital faculty confined to a single life-time, and therewith of the psycho-physical life-process conventionally called ‘man, animal, personality, ego’, etc. Strictly speaking, however, death is the continually repeated dissolution and vanishing of each momentary physical-mental combination, and thus it takes place every moment. About this momentaneity of existence, it is said in Vis.M. VIII:

“In the absolute sense, beings have only a very short moment to live, life lasting as long as a single moment of consciousness lasts. Just as a cart-wheel, whether rolling or whether at a standstill, at all times only rests on a single point of its periphery, even so the life of a living being lasts only for the duration of a single moment of consciousness. As soon as that moment ceases, the being also ceases. For it is said: ‘The being of the past moment of consciousness has lived, but does not live now, nor will it live in future. The being of the future moment has not yet lived, nor does it live now, but it will live in the future. The being of the present moment has not lived, it does live just now, but it will not live in the future.’ “

In another sense, the coming to an end of the psycho-physical life-process of the Arahat, or perfectly Holy One, at the moment of his passing away may be called the final and ultimate death, as up to that moment the psycho-physical life-process was still going on from life to life.

Death, in the ordinary sense, combined with old age, forms the 12th link in the formula of dependent origination (paṭiccasamuppāda q.v.).

For death as a subject of meditation, s. maraṇānussati; as a function of consciousness, s. viññāṇa-kicca.

maraṇāsanna kamma: s. kamma.

maraṇānussati: ‘recollection of death’, is one of the 10 recollections treated in detail in Vis.M. VIII:

”Recollection of death, developed and frequently practised, yields great reward, great blessing, has Deathlessness as its goal and object. But how may such recollection be developed?

“As soon as the day declines, or as the night vanishes and the day is breaking, the monk thus reflects: ‘Truly, there are many possibilities for me to die: I may be bitten by a serpent, or be stung by a scorpion or a centipede, and thereby I may lose my life. But this would be an obstacle for me. Or I may stumble and fall to the ground, or the food eaten by me may not agree with my health; or bile, phlegm and piercing body gases may become disturbing, or men or ghosts may attack me, and thus I may lose my life. But this would be an obstacle for me.’ Then the monk has to consider thus: ‘Are there still to be found in me unsubdued evil, unwholesome things which, if I should die today or tonight, might lead me to suffering?’ Now, if he understands that this is the case, he should use his utmost resolution, energy, effort, endeavour, steadfastness, attentiveness and clear-mindedness in order to overcome these evil, unwholesome things” (A VIII, 74).

In Vis.M. VIII it is said: ‘He who wishes to develop this meditation, should retreat to solitude, and whilst living secluded he should thus wisely reflect: ‘Death will come to me! The vital energy will be cut off!’ Or: ‘Death! Death!’ To him, namely, who does not wisely reflect, sorrow may arise by thinking on the death of a beloved person, just as to a mother whilst thinking on the death of her beloved child. Again, by reflecting on the death of a disliked person, joy may arise, just as to enemies whilst thinking on the death of their enemies. Through thinking on the death of an indifferent person, however, no emotion will arise, just as to a man whose work consists in cremating the dead at the sight of a dead body. And by reflecting on one’s own death fright may arise … just as at the sight of a murderer with drawn sword one becomes filled with horror. Thus, whenever seeing here or there slain or other dead beings, one should reflect on the death of such deceased persons who once lived in happiness, and one should rouse one’s attentiveness, emotion and knowledge and consider thus: ‘Death will come, etc.’ …. Only in him who considers in this way, will the hindrances (nīvaraṇa, q.v.) be repressed; and through the idea of death attention becomes steadfast, and the exercise reaches neighbourhood-concentration (upacāra-samādhi).”

According to Vis.M. VIII, one may also reflect on death in the following various ways: one may think of it as a murderer with a drawn sword standing in front of oneself; or one may bear in mind that all happiness ends in death; or that even the mightiest beings on this earth are subject to death; or that we must share this body with all those innumerable worms and other tiny beings residing therein; or that life is something dependent on in-and-out breathing, and bound up with it; or that life continues only as long as the elements, food, breath, etc. are properly performing their functions; or that nobody knows when, where, and under what circumstances, death will take place, and what kind of fate we have to expect after death; or, that life is very short and limited. As it is said: ‘Short, indeed, is this life of men, limited, fleeting, full or woe and torment; it is just like a dewdrop that vanishes as soon as the sun rises; like a water-bubble; like a furrow drawn in the water; like a torrent dragging everything along and never standing still; like cattle for slaughter that every moment look death in the face” (A. VII, 74).

“The monk devoted to this recollection of death is at all time indefatigable, gains the idea of disgust with regard to all forms of existence, gives up delight in life, detests evil, does not hoard up things, is free from stinginess with regard to the necessities of life, the idea of impermanence (anicca) becomes familiar to him; and through pursuing it, the idea of misery (dukkha) and of impersonality (anattā) become present to him …. Free from fear and bewilderment will he pass away at death; and should he not yet realize the Deathless State in his life-time, he will at the dissolution of the body attain to a happy course of existence” (Vis.M. VIII).

See Buddhist Reflections on Death, by V. F. Guṇaratana (WHEEL 102/103). -Buddhism and Death, by M.Q.C. Walshe (WHEEL. 260).

marvel: s. pāṭihāriya.

mastery (regarding the absorptions): s. vasī. – 8 stages of: abhibhāyatana (q.v.).

material food: kabalinkārāhāra (q.v.).

matter (corporeality): s. khandha, rūpa-kalāpa.

matured one, the: gotrabhū (q.v.).

maturity-knowledge: gotrabhū-ñāṇa; s. visuddhi (VII).

meaning: evident, and to be inferred: s. neyyattha dhamma.

meat-eating. Just as the kammical, i.e. moral, quality of any action is determined by the quality of volition (cetanā) underlying it, and independently of this volition nothing whatever can be called kammically wholesome or unwholesome (kusala, akusala), just so it is with the merely external act of meat-eating, this being as such purely non-moral, i.e. kammically neutral (avyākata).

‘In 3 circumstances meat-eating is to be rejected: if one has seen, or heard, or suspects (that the animal has been slaughtered expressly for one’s own sake)” (M. 55). For if in such a case one should partake of the meat, one would as it were approve the murder of animals, and thus encourage the animal-murderer in his murderous deeds. Besides, that the Buddha never objected, in ordinary circumstances, to meat-eating may be clearly understood from many passages of the Suttas (e.g. A. V. 44; VIII, 12; M. 55, etc.), as also from the Vinaya, where it is related that the Buddha firmly rejected Devadatta‘s proposal to forbid meat-eating to the monks; further from the fact that 10 kinds of meat were (for merely external reasons) forbidden to the monks, namely from elephants, tigers, serpents, etc.

See Āmagandha Sutta (Sn.). Early Buddhism and the Taking of Life, by I. B. Horner (WHEEL 104).

meditation: s. bhāvanā, jhāna, samādhi.

mental action: mano-kamma; s. kamma.

mental advertence: mano-dvārāvajjana; s. āvajjana.

mental formation: saṅkhāra (q.v.). s. Tab. II.

mental function: citta-saṅkhāra; s. saṅkhāra (2).

mental image: s. nimitta, kasiṇa, samādhi.

mental obduracy: ceto-khila (q.v.).

merit, the 4 streams of: puñña-dhārā (q.v.). – For transference of merit, s. patti-dāna.

meritorious action: s. puñña, puñña-kiriya-vatthu.

message, the 9-fold: of the Buddhasāsana, s.sāsana.

messengers, the 3 divine: s. deva-dūta.

method, the right: ñāya, is a name for the 8-fold path (s. magga)

mettā: ‘loving-kindness’, is one of the 4 sublime abodes (brahma-vihāra, q.v.).

micchā-diṭṭhi, -saṅkappa, -vāca etc.: s. foll.

micchā-magga, Atthangika: the ‘eightfold wrong path’, i.e. (1) wrong view (micchā-diṭṭhi), (2) wrong thought (micchā-saṅkappa), (3) wrong speech (micchā-vācā), (4) wrong bodily action (micchā-kammanta), (5) wrong livelihood (micchā-ājīva), (6) wrong effort (micchā-vāyāma), (7) wrong mindfulness (micchā-sati), (8) wrong concentration (micchā-samādhi). Just as the Eightfold Right Path (sammā-magga), so also here the 8 links are included in the group of mental formations (saṅkhāra-kkhandha; s. khandha). The links 2, 6, 7, 8, are inseparably bound up with every kammically-unwholesome state of consciousness. Often are also present 3, 4, or 5, sometimes link 1.

micchatta: ‘wrongnesses’ = prec.

middha: ‘sloth’: Combined with thīna, ‘torpor’, it forms one of the 5 hindrances (nīvaraṇa, q.v.). Both may be associated with greedy consciousness (s. Tab. III and I, 23, 25, 27, 29).

middle path: majjhima-paṭipadā (q.v.).

mind: mano (q.v.); cf. nāma.

mind and corporeality: nāma-rūpa (q.v.).

mind-base: manāyatana; s. āyatana.

mind-consciousness-element: mano-viññāṇa-dhātu (q.v.).

mind-element: mano-dhātu (q.v.).

mindfulness: sati (q.v.); s. Satipaṭṭhāna. – Right m.: s. sacca, magga.

mind-object: dhamma; s. āyatana. – Contemplation of the, s. Satipaṭṭhāna (4).

mind-training, ‘higher’: adhicitta-sikkhā, s. sikkhā.

miracle: s. pāṭihāriya.

mirth (in the Arahat): s. hasituppāda-citta.

misapprehension: s. parāmāsa.

misery, contemplation of: dukkhānupassanā; s. ti-lakkhaṇa.

moha: ‘delusion’, is one of the 3 unwholesome roots (mūla, q.v.). The best known synonym is avijjā (q.v.).

moha-carita the ‘deluded-natured’; s. carita.

momentaneity (of existence): s. maraṇa.

monkhood, the fruits of; sāmañña-phala (q.v.).

monks’ community: Saṃgha (q.v.); further s. pabbajjā, progress of the disciple.

morality: sīla (q.v.). – Contemplation on, s. anussati (4).

morality-training, higher: adhisīla-sikkhā; s. sikkhā.

moral rules, the 5, 8 or 10: s. sikkhāpada.

muccitu-kamyatā-ñāṇa: ‘knowledge consisting in the desire for deliverance’; s. visuddhi (VI. 6).

muditā : ‘altruistic (or sympathetic) joy’, is one of the 4 sublime abodes (brahma-vihāra, q.v.).

mudutā (rūpa, kāya, citta): ‘elasticity’ (of corporeality, mental factors, consciousness); s. khandha (I) and Tab. II.

mūla: ‘roots’, also called hetu (q.v.; s. paccaya, 1), are those conditions which through their presence determine the actual moral quality of a volitional state (cetanā), and the consciousness and mental factors associated therewith, in other words, the quality of kamma (q.v.). There are 6 such roots, 3 kammically wholesome and 3 unwholesome roots, viz.,: greed, hate, delusion (lobha, dosa, moha), and greedlessness, hatelessness, undeludedness (alobha, adosa, amoha).

In A. III, 68 it is said that greed arises through unwise reflection on an attractive object, hate through unwise reflection on a repulsive object. Thus, greed (lobha or rāga) comprises all degrees of ‘attractedness’ towards an object from the faintest trace of a longing thought up to grossest egoism, whilst hatred (dosa) comprises all degrees of ‘repulsion’ from the faintest trace of ill-humor up to the highest pitch of hate and wrath.

The 3 wholesome (kusala) roots, greedlessness, etc., though expressed in negative terms, nevertheless possess a distinctly positive character, just as is also often the case with negative terms in other languages, for example, the negative term ‘immorality’, which has a decidedly positive character.

Thus, greedlessness (alobha) is a name for unselfishness, liberality, etc., hatelessness (adosa) for kindness or goodwill (mettā), undeludedness (amoha) for wisdom (paññā).

“The perception of impurity is to be developed in order to overcome greed (lust); loving-kindness in order to overcome hate; wisdom in order to overcome delusion” (A. VI, 107).

“Killing, stealing, unlawful sexual intercourse, lying, tale-bearing, harsh language, frivolous talk, covetousness, ill-will and wrong views (s. kammapatha), these things are due either to greed, or hate, or delusion” (A. X, 174).

“Enraptured with lust (greed), enraged with hate, blinded by delusion, overwhelmed, with mind ensnared, man aims at his own ruin, at others’ ruin, at the ruin of both, and he experiences mental pain and grief. And he follows evil ways in deeds, words and thought… And he really knows neither his own welfare, nor the welfare of others, nor the welfare of both. These things make him blind and ignorant, hinder his knowledge, are painful, and do not lead him to peace.”

The presence or absence of the 3 unwholesome roots forms part of the mind contemplation in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (M. 10). They are also used for the classification of unwholesome consciousness (s. Tab. I).

See The Roots of Good and Evil, by Nyanaponika Thera (WHEEL 251/253).

multiformity-perceptions: nānatta-saññā; s. jhāna (5).

mundane: lokiya (q.v.).

mutability: Contemplation of: viparināmanupassanā: see vipassanā.