BUDDHIST DICTIONARY

dána: 'almsgiving', liberality, offering. "He who gives alms, bestows a fourfold blessing: he helps to long life, good appearance, happiness and strength. Therefore long life, good appearance, happiness and strength will be his share, whether amongst heavenly beings or amongst men" (A. IV, 57).

"Five blessings accrue to the giver of alms: the affection of many, noble association, good reputation, self-confidence, and heavenly rebirth" (see A. V, 34). Seven further blessings are given in A. VII, 54.

Liberality, especially the offering of robes, food, etc., to the monks, is highly praised in all Buddhist countries of Southern Asia as a fundamental virtue and as a means to suppress man's inborn greed and egoism. But, as in any other good or bad action, so also in offering gifts, it is the noble intention and volition that really counts as the action, not the mere outward deed.

Almsgiving or liberality (dána), constitutes the first. kind of meritorious activity, the two others being morality (síla, q.v.) and mental development (bhávaná); s. puñña-kiriya-vatthu. Liberality (cága) forms one of the 10 recollections (anussati, q.v.) and almsgiving one of the 10 perfections (s. páramí).

dasa-(tathágata-) bala: 'the ten powers (of a Perfect One); or, he who Possesses the 10 P.', i.e. the Buddha. About him it is said (e.g., M. 12.; A. X, 21):

There, o monks, the Perfect One understands according to reality the possible as possible, and the impossible as impossible ... the result of past, present and future actions ... the path leading to the welfare of all ... the world with its many different elements ... the different inclinations in beings ... the lower and higher faculties in beings ... the defilement, purity and rising with regard to the absorptions, deliverances, concentration and attainments ... remembering many former rebirths ... perceiving with the divine eye how beings vanish and reappear again according to their actions (karma) ... gaining, through extinction of all taints, possession of 'deliverance of mind' and 'deliverance through wisdom' ...."

death: marana (q.v.) - Contemplation of °: maranánussati (q.v.) - As divine messenger: deva-dúta (q.v.).

death-consciousness: cuti-citta, is one of the 14 functions of consciousness (viññána-kicca, q.v.).

decline (in morality, wisdom, etc.): s. hána-bhágiya-síla. - Liable to °, parihána-dhamma (q.v.).

defilements: s. kilesa, upakkilesa. -10 d. of insight: vipassanúpakkilesa, s. visuddhi VI. - Round of d., s. vatta (1).

deliverance: s. vimutti, vimokkha. - The 8 kinds of d. (or liberation), s. vimokkha. - D. of mind, d. through voidness, boundless d. etc., s. ceto-vimutti. - Desire for d., s. visuddhi (VI, 6). - D. through wisdom; paññá-vimutti (q.v.). - 3 doors of d. (or gateways of liberation) s. visuddhi (VI, 8).

desaná: 'exposition' of the doctrine, may be either an exposition true in the highest sense (paramattha-desaná); or it may not be true in the highest, but only in the conventional sense (vohára-desaná). See paramattha.

destiny, evil views with fixed d.: niyata-micchá-ditthi (q.v.). Men with fixed d.: niyata-puggala (q.v.). See gati.

destruction: overcoming, or liberation from, evil things through their d.; samuccheda-pahána or samuccheda-vimutti; s. pahána.

deva (lit: the Radiant Ones; related to Lat. deus): heavenly beings, deities, celestials, are beings who live in happy worlds, and who, as a rule, are invisible to the human eye. They are subject, however, just like all human and other beings, to ever-repeated rebirth, old age and death, and thus are not freed from the cycle of existence and from misery. There are many classes of heavenly beings.

I. The 6 classes of heavenly beings of the sensuous sphere (kámávacara or káma-loka; s. avacara loka), are Cátumahárájika-deva, Távatimsa, Yáma, Tusita (s. Bodhisatta), Nimmána-rati, Paranimmita-vasavatti. Cf. anussati. (6).

II. The heavenly beings of the fine-material sphere (rúpávacara or rúpaloka) are:

III. The 4 grades of heavenly beings of the immaterial sphere (arúpávacara or arúpa-loka) are: the heavenly beings of the sphere of unbounded space (ákásánañcáyatanúpaga-devá), of unbounded consciousness (viññánañcáyatanúpaga-deva), of nothingness (ákiñcaññáyatanúpaga devá), of neither-perception-nor- non-perception (nevasaññá-násaññáyatanúpaga-devá). Here will be reborn those with experience of the 4 immaterial spheres (arúpáyatana; s. jhána 5-8).

deva-dúta: 'divine messengers', is a symbolic name for old age, disease and death, since these three things remind man of his future and rouse him to earnest striving. In A. III, 35, it is said:

"Did you, o man, never see in the world a man or a woman eighty, ninety or a hundred years old, frail, crooked as a gable-roof, bent down, resting on crutches, with tottering steps, infirm, youth long since fled, with broken teeth, grey and scanty hair, or baldheaded, wrinkled, with blotched limbs? And did it never occur to you that you also are subject to old age, that you also cannot escape it?

"Did you never see in the world a man or a woman, who being sick, afflicted and grievously ill, and wallowing in their own filth, was lifted up by some people, and put down by others? And did it never occur to you that you also are subject to disease, that you also cannot escape it?

"Did you never see in the world the corpse of a man or a woman, one or two or three days after death, swollen up, blue-black in colour, and full of corruption? And did it never occur to you that you also are subject to death, that you also cannot escape it?" - See M. 130.

development (mental): bhávaná (q.v.). - Effort to develop, s. padhána. - Wisdom based on d. s. paññá. - Gradual d. of the Eightfold Path in the 'progress of the disciple' (q.v.).

dhamma: lit. the 'bearer', constitution (or nature of a thing), norm, law (jus), doctrine; justice, righteousness; quality; thing, object of mind (s. áyatana) 'phenomenon'. In all these meanings the word 'dhamma' is to be met with in the texts. The Com. to D. instances 4 applications of this term guna (quality, virtue), desaná (instruction), pariyatti (text), nijjívatá (soullessness, e.g. "all dhammá, phenomena, are impersonal," etc.). The Com. to Dhs. has hetu (condition) instead of desaná. Thus, the analytical knowledge of the law (s. patisambhidá) is explained in Vis.M. XIV. and in Vibh. as hetumhi-ñána, knowledge of the conditions.

The Dhamma, as the liberating law discovered and proclaimed by the Buddha, is summed up in the 4 Noble Truths (s. sacca). It forms one of the 3 Gems (ti-ratana, q.v.) and one of the 10 recollections (anussati q.v.).

Dhamma, as object of mind (dhammáyatana, s. áyatana) may be anything past, present or future, corporeal or mental, conditioned or not (cf. sankhára, 4), real or imaginary.

dhamma-cakka: The 'Wheel (realm) of the Law', is a name for the doctrine 'set rolling' (established) by the Buddha, i.e. the 4 Noble Truths (sacca, q.v.).

"The Perfect One, o monks, the Holy One, fully Enlightened One, in the Deer Park at Isipatana near Benares, has set rolling (established) the unsurpassed Wheel (realm) of the Law" (M. 141). Cf. cakka.

dhammánupassaná: 'contemplation of the mind-objects' is the last of the 4 foundations of mindfulness (satipatthána, q.v.)

dhammánusárí: the 'dhamma-devotee', is one of the 7 noble disciples (ariya-puggala, q.v.).

dhammánussati: 'recollection of the Law', is one of the 10 recollections (anussati, q.v.).

dhamma-patisambhidá: the 'analytical knowledge of the law, is one of the 4 kinds of analytical knowledge (patisambhidá, q.v.).

dhamma-tthiti-ñána: 'knowledge of the fixity of law, is a name for that 'insight which is leading up' to the entrance into one of the 4 supermundane paths (vutthána-gáminí-vipassaná, q.v.). In the Susima Sutta (S. XII, 70) this (ascending) insight is called the 'knowledge of the fixity of the law', namely: "At first, Susima, there exists the knowledge of the fixity of the law, and later the knowledge of Nibbána." (See Vis.M. XXI.)

dhamma-vicaya-sambojjhanga: 'investigation of the law as factor of enlightenment', is one of the 7 factors of enlightenment (bojjhanga, q.v.).

dhana: 'treasures', a term for the following 7 qualities: faith, morality, moral shame, moral dread, learning, liberality and wisdom. Cf. A. VII, 5, 6.

(I) The 4 physical elements (dhátu or mahá-bhúta), popularly called earth, water, fire and wind, are to be understood as the primary qualities of matter. They are named in Páli: pathaví-dhátu, ápo-dhátu, tejo-dhátu, and váyo-dhátu. In Vis.M. XI, 2 the four elements are defined thus: "Whatever is characterized by hardness (thaddha-lakkkhana) is the earth or solid-element; by cohesion (ábandhana) or fluidity, the water-element; by heating (paripácana), the fire or heat-element; by strengthening or supporting (vitthambhana), the wind or motion-element. All four are present in every material object, though in varying degrees of strength. If, for instance, the earth element predominates, the material object is called 'solid', etc. - For the analysis of the 4 elements, s. dhátu-vavatthána.

(II) The 18 physical and mental elements that constitute the conditions or foundations of the process of perception, are:

1. visual organ (eye)	10. body-impression
2. auditory organ (ear)	11. eye-consciousness
3. olfactory organ (nose)	12. ear-consciousness
4. gustatory organ (tongue)	13. nose-consciousness
5. tactile organ (body)	14. tongue-consciousness
6. visible object	15. body-consciousness
7. sound or audible object	16. mind-element (mano-dhátu)
8. odour or olfactive object	17. mind-object (dhamma-dhátu)
9. gustative object	18. mind-consciousness-element (mano-viññána-dhátu)

1-10 are physical; 11-16 and 18 are mental; 17 may be either physical or mental. - 16 performs the function of advertence (ávajjana) towards the object at the inception of a process of sensuous consciousness; it further performs the function of receiving (sampaticchana) the sensuous object. 18 performs, e.g., the function of investigation (santírana), determining (votthapana) and registering (tadárammana) - (for its other functions, s. Table I). For the 14 functions of consciousness, s. viññána-kicca.

Of the many further groupings of elements (enumerated in M. 115), the best known is that of the 3 world-elements: the sensuous world (káma-dhátu), the fine-material world (rúpa-dhátu), the immaterial world (arúpa-dhátu); further the sixfold group: the solid, liquid, heat, motion, space, consciousness (pathaví, ápo, tejo, váyo, ákása, viññána; s. above I), described in M. 140; see also M. 112.

dhátu-vavatthána: 'analysis (or determining) of the 4 elements', is described in Vis.M. XI, 2, as the last of the 40 mental exercises (s. bhávaná). In a condensed form this exercise is handed down in D. 22 and M. 10 (s. satipatthána), but in detail explained in M. 28, 62, 140. The simile of the butcher in M. 10 ("Just, o monks, as a skilled butcher or butcher's apprentice, after having slaughtered a cow and divided it into separate portions, should sit down at the junction of four highroads; just so does the disciple contemplate this body with regard to the elements") is thus explained in Vis.M. XI.: "To the butcher, who rears the cow, brings it to the slaughter-house, ties it, puts it there, slaughters it, or looks at the slaughtered and dead cow, the idea 'cow' does not disappear as long as he has not yet cut the body open and taken it to pieces. As soon, however, as he sits down, after having cut it open and taken it to pieces, the idea 'cow' disappears to him, and the idea 'meat' arises. And he does not think: 'A cow do I sell, or 'A cow do they buy.' Just so, when the monk formerly was still an ignorant worldling, layman or a homeless one, the ideas 'living being' or 'man' or 'individual' had not yet disappeared as long as he had not taken this body, whatever position or direction it had, to pieces and analysed it piece by piece. As soon, however, as he analysed this body into its elements, the idea 'living being' disappeared to him, and his mind became established in the contemplation of the elements." - (App.).

dhutánga: (lit. 'means of shaking off (the defilements)'); 'means of purification', ascetic or austere practices. These are strict observances recommended by the Buddha to monks as a help to cultivate contentedness, renunciation, energy and the like. One or more of them may be observed for a shorter or longer period of time.

"The monk training himself in morality should take upon himself the means of purification, in order to gain those virtues through which the purity of morality will become accomplished, to wit: fewness of needs, contentedness, austerity, detachment, energy, moderation, etc." (Vis.M. II).

These 13 exercises are all, without exception, mentioned in the old sutta texts (e.g. M. 5, 113; A.V., 181-90), but never together in one and the same place.

"Without doubt, o monks, it is a great advantage to live in the forest as a hermit, to collect one's alms, to make one's robes from picked-up rags, to be satisfied with three robes" (A.I, 30).

The vow, e.g. of No. 1, is taken in the words: "I reject robes offered to me by householders," or "I take upon myself the vow of wearing only robes made from picked-up rags." Some of the exercises may also be observed by the lay-adherent.

Here it may be mentioned that each newly ordained monk, immediately after his being admitted to the Order, is advised to be satisfied with whatever robes, alms-food, dwelling and medicine he gets: "The life of the monks depends on the collected alms as food ... on the root of a tree as dwelling ... on robes made from patched-up rags ... on stale cow's urine as medicine. May you train yourself therein all your life."

Since the moral quality of any action depends entirely upon the accompanying intention and volition, this is also the case with these ascetic practices, as is expressly stated in Vis.M. Thus the mere external performance is not the real exercise, as it is said (Pug. 275-84): "Some one might be going for alms; etc. out of stupidity and foolishness - or with evil intention and filled with desires - or out of insanity and mental derangement - or because such practice had been praised by the Noble Ones...." These exercises are, however properly observed "if they are taken up only for the sake of frugality, of contentedness, of purity, etc."(App.)

dibba-cakkhu: the 'divine eye', is one of the 6 higher powers (abhiññá, q.v.), and one of the three kinds of knowledge (tevijjá, q.v.).

dibba-sota: the 'divine ear', is one of the 6 higher powers (abhiññá, q.v.).

disappearance: vigata-paccaya, is one of the 24 conditions (paccaya, q.v.) . disciplinary code: s. pátimokkha.

disinterestedness: (regarding the whole world): s. sabbaloke anabhirati-saññá.

dissociation: vippayutta-paccaya, is one of the 24 conditions (paccaya, q.v.) .

dissolution, contemplation of: khayánupassaná, is one of the 18 chief kinds of insight (vipassaná, q.v.).

dittha-dhamma-vedaníya-kamma: karma bearing fruit in this present life; s. karma.

ditthi (lit. 'sight'; Ö dis, to see): view, belief, speculative opinion, insight. If not qualified by sammá, 'right', it mostly refers to wrong and evil view or opinion, and only in a few instances to right view, understanding or insight (e.g. ditthi-ppatta, q.v.; ditthi-visuddhi, purification of insight; ditthi-sampanna, possessed of insight).

Wrong or evil views (ditthi or micchá-ditthi) are declared as utterly rejectable for being a source of wrong and evil aspirations and conduct, and liable at times to lead man to the deepest abysses of depravity, as it is said in A. I, 22:

"No other thing than evil views do I know, o monks, whereby to such an extent the unwholesome things not yet arisen arise, and the unwholesome things already arisen are brought to growth and fullness. No other thing than evil views do I know, whereby to such an extent the wholesome things not yet arisen are hindered in their arising, and the wholesome things already arisen disappear. No other thing than evil views do I know, whereby to such an extent human beings at the dissolution of the body, at death, are passing to a way of suffering, into a world of woe, into hell." Further in A. I, 23: "Whatever a man filled with evil views performs or undertakes, or whatever he possesses of will, aspiration, longing and tendencies, all these things lead him to an undesirable, unpleasant and disagreeable state, to woe and suffering."

From the Abhidhamma (Dhs) it may be inferred that evil views, whenever they arise, are associated with greed (s. Tab. I. 22, 23, 26, 27).

Numerous speculative opinions and theories, which at all times have influenced and still are influencing mankind, are quoted in the sutta-texts. Amongst them, however, the wrong view which everywhere, and at all times, has most misled and deluded mankind is the personality-belief, the ego-illusion. This personality-belief (sakkáya-ditthi), or ego-illusion (atta-ditthi), is of 2 kinds: eternity-belief and annihilation-belief.

Eternity-belief (sassata-ditthi) is the belief in the existence of a persisting ego-entity, soul or personality, existing independently of those physical and mental processes that constitute life and continuing even after death.

Annihilation-belief (uccheda-ditthi), on the other hand, is the belief in the existence of an ego-entity or personality as being more or less identical with those physical and mental processes, and which therefore, at the dissolution at death, will come to be annihilated. - For the 20 kinds of personality-belief, see sakkáya-ditthi.

Now, the Buddha neither teaches a personality which will continue after death, nor does he teach a personality which will be annihilated at death, but he shows us that 'personality', 'ego', 'individual', 'man', etc., are nothing but mere conventional designations (vohára-vacana) and that in the ultimate sense (s. paramattha-sacca) there is only this self-consuming process of physical and mental phenomena which continually arise and again disappear immediately. - For further details, s. anattá, khandha, paticcasamuppáda.

"The Perfect One is free from any theory (ditthigata), for the Perfect One has seen what corporeality is, and how it arises and passes away. He has seen what feeling ... perception ... mental formations ... consciousness are, and how they arise and pass away. Therefore I say that the Perfect One has won complete deliverance through the extinction, fading away, disappearance, rejection and casting out of all imaginings and conjectures, of all inclination to the 'vain-glory of 'I' and 'mine." (M. 72).

The rejection of speculative views and theories is a prominent feature in a chapter of the Sutta-Nipáta, the Atthaka-Vagga.

The so-called 'evil views with fixed destiny' (niyata-miccháditthi) constituting the last of the 10 unwholesome courses of action (kammapatha, q.v.), are the following three: (1) the fatalistic 'view of the uncausedness' of existence (ahetukaditthi), (2) the view of the inefficacy of action' (akiriyaditthi), (3) nihilism (natthikaditthi).

Frequently mentioned are also the 10 antinomies (antagáhiká micchá-ditthi): 'Finite is the world' or 'infinite is the world' ... 'body and soul are identical' or 'body and soul are different' (e.g. M. 63).

In the Brahmájala Sutta .(D.1), 62 false views are classified and described, comprising all conceivable wrong views and speculations about man and world.

Wrong views (ditthi) are one of the proclivities (s. anusaya), cankers (s. ásava), clingings (s. upádána), one of the three modes of perversions (s. vipallása). Unwholesome consciousness (akusala citta), rooted in greed, may be either with or without wrong views (ditthigata-sampayutta or vippayutta); s. Dhs.; Tab I.

On right view (sammá-ditthi), s. magga and M. 9 (Trans. with Com. in 'R. Und.').

ditthi-ppatta: the 'vision attainer', is one of the 7 Noble Persons (ariya-puggala, q.v.).

ditthi-visuddhi: 'purification of view' is the 3rd of the 7 stages of purification (visuddhi III, q.v.).

ditth'upádána: 'clinging to views', is one of the 4 kinds of clinging (upádána, q.v.).

domanassa: lit. 'sad-mindedness', grief, i.e. mentally painful feeling (cetasika-vedaná), is one of the 5 feelings (vedaná, q.v.) and one of the 22 faculties (indriya, q.v.). According to the Abhidhamma, grief is always associated with antipathy and grudge, and therefore karmically unwholesome (akusala, q.v.) Cf. Tab. I. 30, 31.

doors of deliverance, the 3: vimokkha-dvára; s. vimokkha I; visuddhi VI, 8.

dosa: 'hatred', anger, is one of the 3 unwholesome, roots (múla, q.v.). - d. citta: hate consciousness; s. Tab. I (30, 31).

drinking: On the evil effects of drinking intoxicants, s. surámeraya, etc.

duccarita: 'evil conduct', is threefold: in deeds, words and thoughts. See kammapatha (I).

dukkha: (1) 'pain', painful feeling, which may be bodily and mental (s. vedaná).

(2) 'Suffering', 'ill'. As the first of the Four Noble Truths (s. sacca) and the second of the three characteristics of existence (s. ti-lakkhana), the term dukkha is not limited to painful experience as under (1), but refers to the unsatisfactory nature and the general insecurity of all conditioned phenomena which, on account of their impermanence, are all liable to suffering, and this includes also pleasurable experience. Hence 'unsatisfactoriness' or 'liability to suffering' would be more adequate renderings, if not for stylistic reasons. Hence the first truth does not deny the existence of pleasurable experience, as is sometimes wrongly assumed. This is illustrated by the following texts:

"Seeking satisfaction in the world, monks, I had pursued my way. That satisfaction in the world I found. In so far as satisfaction existed in the world, I have well perceived it by wisdom. Seeking for misery in the world, monks, I had pursued my way. That misery in the world I found. In so far as misery existed in the world, I have well perceived it by wisdom. Seeking for the escape from the world, monks, I had pursued my way. That escape from the world I found. In so far as an escape from the world existed, I have well perceived it by wisdom" (A. 111, 101).

"If there were no satisfaction to be found in the world, beings would not be attached to the world .... If there were no misery to be found in the world, beings would not be repelled by the world .... If there were no escape from the world, beings could not escape therefrom" (A. 111, 102).

dukkhatá (abstr. noun fr. dukkha): 'the state of suffering', painfulness, unpleasantness, the unsatisfactoriness of existence. "There are three kinds of suffering: (1) suffering as pain (dukkha-dukkhatá), (2) the suffering inherent in the formations (sankhára-dukkhatá), (3) the suffering in change (viparináma-dukkhatá)" (S. XLV, 165; D. 33).

(1) is the bodily or mental feeling of pain as actual]y felt. (2) refers to the oppressive nature of all formations of existence (i.e. all conditioned phenomena), due to their continual arising and passing away; this includes also experiences associated with neutral feeling. (3) refers to bodily and mental pleasant feelings, "because they are the cause for the arising of pain when they change" (Vis.M. XIV, 34f).

dwellings: Suitable d. for monks; s. senásana. Satisfied with whatever d.; s. dhutanga.