Glossary

Glossary

Abhidhamma : The third of the three collections forming the Pali canon, composed of systematic treatises based on lists of categories drawn from the Buddha’s teachings.

Ajaan : Teacher; mentor.

Apadana (Avadana) : Tales recorded in a late section of the Pali canon, claiming that the Buddha and his disciples embarked on their path to Awakening by making a gift to an earlier Buddha and dedicating the merit of the gift to a particular type of Awakening.

Arahant : A Worthy One or Pure One, i.e., a person whose heart is freed from the effluents of mental defilement, and who is thus not destined for further rebirth. An epithet for the Buddha and the highest level of his Noble Disciples.

Brahma : An inhabitant of the higher heavens of form and formlessness, a position earned — but not forever — through the cultivation of virtue and meditative absorption (jhana), along with the attitudes of limitless love, compassion, appreciation, and equanimity.

Buddho : Awake — an epithet of the Buddha.

Chedi : A spired monument, containing relics of the Buddha or his disciples, objects related to them, or copies of Buddhist scriptures.

Dhamma (dharma) : The teachings of the Buddha; the practice of those teachings; the release from suffering attained as a result of that practice.

Jataka : Tales recorded in the Buddhist Canon, said to deal with the Buddha’s previous lives.

Jhana : Meditative absorption in a single sensation or mental notion.

Karma (kamma) : Intentional act — in thought, word or deed — holding consequences for the doer of the act based on the quality of the intention.

Khandha : Heap or aggregate. The five khandhas are the component parts of sensory experience, the basis for one’s sense of “self”. They are: physical form or sense data; feelings; perceptions and mental labels; thought-constructs; and sensory consciousness (the mind being counted as the sixth sense).

Nibbana (nirvana) : Liberation. The extinguishing of passion, aversion, and delusion in the mind, resulting in complete freedom from suffering and stress.

Pali : The oldest recension of the Buddhist Canon; also, the language of that recension.

Parami : Perfection; ten qualities whose development leads to Awakening: generosity, virtue, renunciation, discernment, persistence, endurance, truthfulness, determination, good will, and equanimity.

Sangha : The community of the Buddha’s followers. On the conventional level, this refers to the Buddhist monkhood. On the ideal level, it refers to those of the Buddha’s followers — whether lay or ordained — who have practiced to the point of gaining at least of the first of the transcendent qualities culminating in Liberation. The Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha together are called the Triple Gem. Taking refuge in the Triple Gem — taking them as the ultimate guides in one’s life — is what makes one a Buddhist.

Sumeru : A mythical mountain, tremendously tall, said to lie at the center of the universe, north of the Himalayas.

Than Phaw : Reverend father. A term of respect and affection used for senior monks in southeastern Thailand.

Vessantara : The Buddha in his next-to-last lifetime, in which he perfected the virtue of generosity by giving up his kingdom, together with the things he loved most: his children and his wife.

Wat : Monastery; temple.