COMMON PALI TERMS

( B=Burmese/Myanmar )

(Last update on 06-05-00)

A

Abbhutadhamma: division of discourses relating to wonders

Abhassara brahma: the radiant brahma of the second Rupavacara Jhana Brahma realm.

Abhidhamma: philosophical exposition of the Dhamma, higher doctrine, Buddhist philosophy, metaphysics, Classic Buddhist Scriptures, systematic analyses of the main points of the Buddha's teachings; name of the Third Pitaka of the Buddhist Doctrine, dealing with the ultimate nature of things.

Abhijjhã: Covetousness; greed

Abhidhamma: "The special Dhamma"; Theory of the Doctrine, the doctrine classified, the analytic doctrine, Name of the Third Pitaka, the Third group of the Buddhist canonical books.

Abhiññãna: higher psychic power; intuitive knowledge; transcendental wisdom ; psychic powers acquired in the process of " self-purification " and liberation. They are six in number-five being mundane and one supramundane.

Abhisañkhãra mãrã: moral and immoral actions leading to conditioned existence

Abhisañkhãra upadhi: moral and immoral actions which prolong the round of rebirth

Ãbrahmacariya: ignoble practice, unchastity

Ãcariya: teacher, mentor

Ãcariya vatta: duties of bhikkhus and novices towards their mentors

Acinteyya: incomprehensibility; beyond the ken of.

Accutam : Deathless, i.e., Nibbana.

Addhagu: A traveller.

Adhamma: unjust, unrighteous.

Adhicitta sikkhã training in higher mentality

Adinãndãnã: theft, taking what is not given.

Adosa: non-hatred

Ãgantu: a guest

Agga Maha Kammatthanacariya: The title of 'Great Noble Meditation Master' in Burma (Myanmar)

Aggasãvaka: Chief Disciple

Ãhãra: food, nutrition

ahetuka-ditthi: causelessness belief; belief that there is no cause for anything.

Ahimsa: non-injuring; harmless; non-violent

ahirika: shamelessness, lack of moral shame.

Ajatasattu: Indian King who managed to kill his own father

Akusala: unskillful, unwholesome, immoral, demeritorious, sinful

Akusala Kamma: Unwholesome action

Alms: offering of food to monks on their daily rounds

Amata: deathlessness, synonym for Nibbana

Ãmisa: four monastic requisites

Ànanda: the cousin of the Buddha and the Buddhist's faithful attendant monk, he had excellent memory , memorizing the Buddha's sermons which were later recorded as Suttas

Ana-desana: a discourse of authority, the Vinaya Pitaka

Anagam, anãgãmi: non-returner, one who has achieved the next-to-highest level of transcendent insight, after destroying five of ten fetters, one who has attained the third magga; one who will not return to the world of sense-spheres.

Ànandã: The ever present attendant and cousin of the Buddha.

Ãnãpanã: inhalation and exhalation, respiration

Ãnãpanã-sati: Mindfulness of in- and out-breathing

Anathapindika: a wealthy merchant of Savatthi in Ancient India, constructed JetavaAnattanna Grove

: selflessness (non-self), soullessness (no-soul), no substance, egolessness; without a soul; n-existence of self, ego or soul. The most important Truth to be realised in order to attain liberation.

Anguttaranikãya: collection of numerically graduated discourses

Anicca: impermanence and changeability.

Animitta : The Signless, i.e., no sign of craving, ill will and wrong view. It is an epithet of Nibbana.

Annadãna: donation of food

Anoma: river crossed by the Bodhisatta on renunciation

anottappa: fearlessness, recklessness, lack of moral dread (in doing bad things)

Anudhammacari: one who acts in conformity with the Dhamma

Anuloma: the order of arising

Anumodana: expression of appreciation or approval; a monk's blessings after receiving dana.

Anusaya kilesa: latent defilements, latent tendencies.

Anussati: reflection, earnest contemplation

Apana: respiration, breathing out.

Apatti: violation of disciplinary rules for bhikkhus; an offence

Apatti, Samghadisesa: offences which require penance and suspension from the order

Apaya: miserable existences; the four lower worlds

Ãpo dhãtu: element of cohesion, fluid element, element of water

Appamãda: mindfulness, vigilance, heedfulness

Arahat: Ãrãha; 'worthy' one who is fully enlightened after destroying all ten fetters; one who has attained the fourth and final Magga, and for whom existences have come to an end, arahanta, araha; one who has attained the Summum Bonum of religious aspiration-Nibbana; one who has realised the Path and the Fruition of Holiness

Arahatta: arahanta, state of being being an arahant. Worthy One, one who has attained the final stage of sanctification.

Arahatta magga-phala: Path and Fruition of the fourth stage of sanctification.

Apacayana: respecting those worthy of respect.

Ariyã : the noble one; one who has entered the path, i.e., one who has realized at least one of the four Maggas; One of the Four Groups of Noble Personalities; i.e.,Stream-Winner; Once-Returner, Non-Returner and Purified (Arahat).

Ariyasaccã: the four ariya truths

Ariyasavakã: Noble disciple; saintly disciple

Ariya-magga: the Noble Path

Arupabhumi: Non-material sphere

Asankheyya: incalculable, uncountable

Ãsavas: moral intoxicant, befuddling defilements; taints of mind, corruptions, biases; intoxicating extract or secretion of a flower or tree. Figuratively used in Buddhist Psychology for the four biases of mind which intoxicate muddle it, so that it cannot rise to higher things. They are I. Sensuality, 2. Lust for life, 3. Clinging to mere views and speculation. 4. Ignorance.

Asceticism: austere practices( fasting, meditation, pursuit of solitude, etc.).

Ashin (B): Venerable

Asoka: the third Emperor of the Mauryan Dynasty in Ancient India in 268-239 BC; the Third Council was held during his reign; set the model for government ruling in accordance with Buddhist philosophy

Assaji: one of the five ascetics; after attaining Arahantship, he converted Sariputta, the Chief Disciple of the Buddha.

Asubha kammathãna: reflecting on the repellent nature of a dead human body

Asuras: fierce divine beings, 'titans'; the male Asura is ugly and furious always fighting with each other. The female Asura is very beautiful.

Atta: true self, body, self; consciousness, mind; ego or soul, principle; The central idea in all animistic religions, but shown by Buddhism, science and philosophy to be a false concept; The soul, in the sense of an integrated, everlasting life, as postulated in the anirnistic religions of revelation ; a separate "Self". Buddhism denies the existence of such.

Atthãcariya: giving good counsel

Atthakatha: commentary

Atthakkhana: eight inopportune circumstances or times

Atthapatisambhidha: analytical insight into the meaning; essence and consequence of things

Atta-hita: one's own advantage

Avici: one of the eight hells

Avasikavatta: duty as a host bhikkhu

Avijjã : ignorance, delusion, not understanding the full meaning of the Four Noble Truths

Ayatana: sense-bases and sense-objects; sense field

Ãyukkhaya marana: death from reaching end of life span

B

Bala: the foolish, the ignorant

Balu: Yakkha: minor deities.

Bhagavat: Lord, Blessed one

Bhante: Venerable Sir: term of respectful address to a bhikkhu.

Bhava: state of existence, becoming

Bhavatanha: craving for being

Bhavana: cultivation.

Bhikkhu : a member of the Buddhist Order; a Buddhist Monk, Mendicant.Bhikkhu(Sanskrit-Bhiksu) An alms- man, a mendicant, a Buddhist monk or priest. The BHIK KHU takes certain vows (including chastity and celibacy) and lives a monastic life, but is free from much of the regimentation " of the monks of other religions.

Bhikkhu(Sanskrit-Bhiksu) An alms- man, a mendicant, a Buddhist monk or priest. The BHIK KHU takes certain vows (including chastity and celibacy) and lives a monastic life, but is free from much of the regimentation " of the monks of other religions. :

Bhikkhu-ni: a member of the Buddhist Order; a Buddhist Nun: (see 'Thela-shin' )

Bhutagama sikkha: The disciplinary rule forbidding bhikkhus to cut vegetation.

Bijaniyama: the natural law of cause and effect (on heredity); one of five Niyama

Bimbisara: Beimbathaya (B); king of Magadha

Bodh-Gaya: Buddhagaya (see below)

Bodhi: perfect wisdom or enlightenment; enlightenment

Bodhi nana or sabbanuta nana: Supreme Enlightenment; the all cornprehending wisdom.

Bodhisatta: Bawdithat (B), the Buddha-to-be (also known as Hpaya-laung in Burmese); one who is destined for enlightenment.

Bodhisatta Metteyya: the next Buddha called Metteyya.

Bodhi : (1) Enlightenment, (2) The tree of wisdom (Ficus religiosa) under which Gotama sat in meditation to attain the Enlightenment of a Supreme Buddha.

Bodhi Tree: the sacred banyan tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment; also 'Bo' tree.

Bodhisatta: the sacred banyan tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment; also 'Bo' tree. A being destined to attain fullest enlightenment.

Brahmã : Byamma (B); a class of higher gods; a being born in a higher realm than that of the Devas. (Although both 'Deva' and 'Brahma' are sometimes loosely translated as 'gods' or 'angels', they do not in any way correspond to these Western concepts)A God. Mahabrahma was referred to as " The Creator, the ancient of days, the omniscient the omnipotent. The Buddha in more than one sermon showed that even Mahabrahma is impermanent.

Brahmadanda: Brahma-punishment by the Order of Sangha to ignore and have nothing to do with the person to be punished.

Brahmana: In Buddhism, one in whom craving is distinguished. The term also applies to the Buddhas and Paccekabuddhas.

Brahmin: Vedic Priest; one of the four castes in ancient and modern India; a member of priestly class in ancient India.

Buddha: the Founder of Buddhism, the Enlightened One; one who has attained en lightenment ; a perfect man, superior to all other beings human and divine, by His knowledge of the truth. The word "Buddha" is an appellative, not a proper name. There are two sorts of Buddhas, viz. Pacceka-buddhas, who attain complete enlightenment but do not preach to the world, and Sammasambuddhas who have attained omniscience and secured the 10 powers. The latest of these was Gotama Buddha now referred to as "the Buddha ".

Buddha-Dhamma: the Doctrine taught by the Buddha

Buddhaghosa: a famous buddhist writer of the fifteenth century.

Buddhagaya: Bodh-Gaya in Bihar, India: where the Buddha gained Enlightenment.

Buddhism: a religious teaching propagated by the Buddha and his followers that one must become free of human desires to escape from suffering

Buddhist: the followers of the Buddha

Byapada/ vyapada: ill will, anger, hatred

Byaw(B): ritual drum for religious ceremony.

C

Caga: generosity

Cakkavatti: Universal emperor.

Cetana: will, intention, volition.

Cetiya: stupa, shrine

Ch'an: forms of Mahayana Buddhism in China

Channa: (Hsanna); Gotama's attendant, charioteer

Cittaniyama: the natural law of cause and effect (workings of the mind); one of five Niyama

Citta: mind, thought, consciousness

Coloured Rays: six coloured rays , emitting from the body of the Buddha in the fourth week after enlightenment, consisting of blue ( nila ), yellow ( pita ) , red ( lohita ), white ( odata ), orange ( manjettha ) and a mixture of these five colours.

Culamani: Sulamani (B); shrine in Tavatimsa heaven

D

Dana: charity, alms-giving; gifts made to the Holy Order of Monks; the first of the Ten good deeds.

Danda: Stick, weapon, punishment, penalty.

Deva: a minor god, a spirit being, a celestial being; a being born in one of the higher realms within the Sensuous Sphere (kama-loka); shining one

Devadatta: cousin and brother-in-law of Prince Siddhatta, Yasodhara's brother

Dhamma : Dharma (Sanskrit) : the Doctrine of the Buddha; teaching of Buddha; truth, the law; (1) he liberating law discovered and proclaimed by the Buddha, is summed up in the four Noble Truths. (2) Constitution, Norm, Law, Justice, Righteousness.

Dhammadhara: one who is versed in the Dhamma

Dhammajivino : One who earns his living according to the dhamma

Dhammamuttamam: The Noble Dhamma or the Highest Dhamma (the Nine Transcendentals). The Nine Transcendentals are: four Magga, four Phalas and Nibbana.

Dhammaniyama: the universal natural law of cause and effect

Dhammas: all conditioned and un-conditioned phenomena, things, nature.

Dhammattha: just, righteous

Dhutanga: austerity or purification practice to remove defilement

Dibbacakkhu nana: the divine power of sight

Ditthi: view, beliefs; (can be good or bad); Ditthi view, belief, dogma, theory, speculation, false theory, ungrounded opinion. (opposed to Samma-ditthi, firmly-grounded knowledge, right belief).

Dosa: hatred, anger, ill will, aversion.

Duggati: unhappy destinations or existences; the four lower worlds

Dukkha: suffering/ stress/pain ( in the context of feeling)( Dukkha as a 'Noble Truth' cannot be translated)

E

Etadaggam: the chief, the best

F

Fetters: ten conditions responsible for worldly existence: (see Samyojana)

G

Gandhabba: a class of devas; attendants of the King of the eastern direction

Gatha: a verse, a stanza

Gotama: the family name of Prince Siddhatta, the future Buddha

H

Hamsa: the mythical sacred goose/swan.

Hinayana: ' Small Vehicle '; Theravada is the term preferred by most Buddhists of south-east Asia.

Hsun(B): Soon(B): meals for monks.

I

Indriyas: faculties

Isipatana: Saranath near Varanasi ( formerly Benares, Uttar Pradesh, India ) where the Buddha preached the first sermon.

J

Jara: ageing, decay

Jaramarana: ageing and death

Jatakastories: 547 tales of the Buddha in his previous existences. Usually referred to as 550 Jatakas in Burma.

Jati: birth

Jhãnas: various levels of deep calm, advanced states of meditation practice in which the mind is totally absorbed in its object of concentration; trance, tranquillity, mental absorption.

K

Kalyana mitta: a virtuous friend, a spiritual friend

Kalyana puthujjana: virtuous worldling

Kamma: karma, destiny or fate/ Doctrine of inevitable consequence, work or action, volitional action; moral principle of the law of cause and effect.

Kammatthana: Meditation

Kammaniyama: the law of cause and effect (personal behaviour)

Kamathan: Meditation.

Kammawa: lacquered Scriptures.

Kappa: an aeon ; a cycle; an inconceivably long space of time.

Kaya: body, form

Karavika: an India bird noted for the beauty of its song.

Karaweik: Garuda, the royal bird mount of Vishnu.

Karuna: Compassion.

Kason (B): The Myanmar month for parts of May and June

Kassapa: One of the 24 Buddhas, a famous Disciple of the Buddha

Kathina: robes offering ceremony for monks

Khandhas: groups or aggregates; five in number (material form, feeling or sensation, perception, volitional impulses or tendencies and consciousness); literally, "Mass". In the Five Khandhas it means one of the composite group- factors in the psycho-physical aggregate; the word has many other meanings in different contexts.

Khattiya: a member of warrior or noble class in ancient IndiaThe warrior caste In the Buddha's day, the highest social caste.

Kilesã : moral defilements

Kinnara and Kinnari: mythological hybrid creatures, half-human and half-bird.

Kondanna: the first Arahant and the most senior member of the Sangha. As a brahmin, he correctly predicted the future of the Prince Siddhatta.

Koyin (B): Shin (B) ; young novice.

Koyin-gyi (B): old novice:

Kusala: good, merit, skillful, wholesome

Kusalakammapatha: the ten bases of skillful action

Kutho (B): merit acquired through doing good.

Kusinara: Kusinagare in Uttar Pradesh, India: Where the Buddha passed away.

L

Lama: a Buddhist monk of Tibet, literally, " superior one "

Lobha: greed

Loka: world, state of existence

Lokanatha: Lokanat: Lawkanat: Avalokitesvara: whose duty is to watch over the world before the coming of the next Buddha; a Mahayana Buddhist deity.

Lokiya: mundane, worldly

Lokuttara: supramundane, transcendental

Lent: waso (B); usually in July: when monks avoid travelling in rainy seasons.

Lokuttara: beyond defilements and attachment, transcendent

Lokuttara Dhamma: The nine Transcendentals, viz., the four Maggas, the four Phalas and Nibbana

Lotus: a type of water lily , the Buddhist Symbol of Enlightenment.

Lumbini: the birth place of the Buddha.

M

Magga: the Path, road, course

Magga-phala: Fourth Stage of santification

Maha-karuna: great compassion.

Mahayana: ' Large Vehicle '; the form of Buddhism practised in Tibet, Nepal, China, Korea and Japan.

Mahinda: the Arahat monk, the son of Emperor Asoka.

Majjhimapatipada: The Middle Path; The Noble Path of Eight Constituents

Mana: Pride, Conceit

Mandap (B): pavilion for religious ceremony

Mantras: sacred words of power.

Manuthiha; mythical half-human half-lion creature.

Mãra: the god of death, the personification of evil, the evil one

Maya: Queen Maya, mother of Buddha

Meru, mount: 'Myint-mo' (B); the central cosmic mountain axis; the sacred mountain

Metta: Maitri, Loving-kindness, Universal loving-kindness, goodwill.

Metteyya: Maitreya: the next Buddha.

Modati: to rejoice

Moggallana: Maukgalan (B); one of Buddha's Chief Disciples, being second only to Sariputta.

Moha: Ignorance, Bewilderment, delusion

Monk: bhikkhu: oo-zin(B):oo-pazin(B):the adult member of the Sangha Order.

Mudita: Altruistic joy

Mudra: hand gestures on statures of the Buddha, symbolizing different meanings

Muni: a 'silent one', a sage

N

Nadaw (B): Myanmar month covering parts of November and December.

Nagas: big snake-like creatures, often seen sheltering or protecting the Buddha; attendants of the King of the western direction.

Nãma : Mind, a collective time for all mental processes.

Nãma-rupa: name and form, mind and body.

Nat (B) : the guardian spirit being.

Nar-tha (B): ear-boring for the first time for young girls.

Nibbãna: Nirvana (Sanskrit): final release from the cycle of birth and death, the state of liberation; it constitutes the highest and ultimate goal of all Buddhist aspirations, i.e., absolute extinction of that life-affirming will manifested as Greed, Hate, Delusion, and convulsively clinging to existence, and therewith also the ultimate and absolute deliverance from all future rebirth, old age, disease and death, from all suffering and misery.

Nikãya: Part of the Sutta Pitaka; e.g., Digha Nikãya, Majjhima Nikãya, Samyutta Nikãya, Anguttara Nikãya, Khuddaka Nikãya.

Nimitta: 'sign', mental image appearing in Meditation; a sign of something to come.

Nirodha: cessation

Niraya; Naraka: a place of continuous extreme mental and physical pain sometimes compared with hell; but it is different from hell because suffering in Niraya is not everlasting like suffering in hell. Avici Niraya is the most fearful of all Nirayas; and

Nivarana: hindrances; hatred, restlessness and remorse, sloth, and topor and doubt.

Noble Eight-fold Path: the systematized methods of Buddhist practice

Noble Truths, Four: The Truths of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering and the way leading to the cessation of suffering.

O

Oja: nutrient, food

Okasa Loka: the inanimate world; the habitat of living beings, biosphere

Ottapa: fear of doing evil

Ovada: admonition, exhortation

P

Paccekabuddha: One who, like the Buddha, is Self-Enlightened in the Four Noble Truths and has uprooted all the moral defilements (kilesas). However, he cannot teach others. Paccekabuddhas appear during the absence of the Buddha Sasana (Teaching).

Pagoda: the generic English term for Zei-di, stupa or temple, characterized by a series of superimposed spires.

Pakasaniya kamma: an act of Proclamation carried out by the Order of the Samgha regarding a member declaring that as his conduct was of' one kind before and is of another kind now, henceforth all his physical and verbal actions are only his and have nothing to do with the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Samgha.

Pali: the Vernacular language of northern India in the Buddha's time. The original language for the Buddhist text. The canon of Buddhist writings

Pali Canon: the basic Buddhist Scriptures.

Pandita: the wise, the learned

Pandukambala: Sakka's throne.

paññã: wisdom, understanding, knowledge, intelligence, comprising all the higher faculties of cognition. Insight.

Parabaik: the ancient folding book.

Paramattha: Paramattha: The highest good, truth in the ultimate, absolute, sense, philosophical truth.

Paramis, Paramitas: perfections.

Paribbajaka: a wandering ascetic; paribbajika: wandering female ascetic

Parinibbana: passing into Nibbana at death of a Buddha or an arahat; Full Nibbana, the 'Great Decease'

Parikkhra: 'eight compulsory requisites' of a novice are Alms bowl , two upper robes, one under-wear robe, one girdle, a razor knife, needle and water strainer.

Parittas: religious stanzas , usually recited for protection against harmful influences.

Pariyatti: the body (doctrine ) of teachings; adequacy, accomplishment, competency, capability, accomplishment in the scriptures, study of the Buddhist texts.

Patigha: Repulsion; repugnance; anger.

Paticcasamuppada: the principle or doctrine of Dependent Origination

Patiloma: the order of cessation

Patipatti: the practice of the Dhamma.

Pativedha: the realizable aspect of the Dhamma

Paya (B): 'Holy one', often applied to the Buddhist figures.

Peta: the departed, a miserable being who is always hungry in a lower world

Phassa: contact, impression

Phongyi (B): Buddhist monk.

Phongyi Pyan (B): cremation ceremony for distinguished monk.

Phongyi Kyaung (B): monastery.

Piti: delight, joy, satisfaction

Piya: affection

Pothudaw (B): meaning good layman. They used to wear white clothes with their heads shaved, and they observed five precepts only.

Pubbenivasanussati nana: the power of recollection of past existences

Puja: Reverence ( after Temple worship in Hinduism )

Puthujjana: ordinary person or monk, a common man; one who has not attained any of the Maggas, not yet on the Holy path

Q

R

Raga: passion, lust, desire

Rãhulã : the only son of The Prince Siddhatta.

Rupa: form, one of five khandhas

S

Saccã : Truth, the Four Noble Truths

Saddha: faith, belief, confidence

Sakadagãmi: once-returner, one who has destroyed the first three fetters

Sakka: king of the devas

Sakkãyaditthi: personality belief

Sakka: The "King of Devas "; the lord over the celestial beings in the heaven of the "Thirty-Three ".

Sakyamuni: another name of the Buddha: 'Sage of the Sakyas'

Salayatana: the six senses bases (eye, ear, nose, tongue, touch and mind)' the six fields of sense perception

Samãdhi: concentration attained through meditation

Samana: a recluse or medicant

Samapatti: Sustained deep mental absorption in concentration

Samatha: calming, tranquillity, concentration

Samgha: Sangha: the Buddhist Order

Sammã : perfect, right.

Sammã ajiva: Right Livelihood

Sammã ditthi: Right Understanding or View,

Sammã kammanta: Right Action

Sammã samãdhi: Right Concentration.

Sammã sambuddha: perfect, fully-awakened. It is the state of one by whom the Liberating Law (dhamma) which had become lost to the world, has again been discovered, realized and clearly proclaimed to the world.

Sammã sankappa: Right Thought

Sammã sati: Right Mindfulness

Sammã vãcã: Right Speech

Sammã vãyama: Right Effort

Samsãra : stream of existence; round of existences; round of rebirths; cycle of life and death; 'wandering on'.

Samudaya: cause of suffering

Samyojanas: ten fetters: self-view or personality belief, sceptical doubt, blind attachment to rites, ritual and practices, sensual desire, aversion, desire for form or fine-material existence, desire for formless existence, restlessness, conceit and ignorance

Sankhãra: volitional impulses, conditioned things, activities of mind which are aligned to self view; formations; component things; arising-and-passing-away; physical and mental phenomena.

Sangha: monk; samgha;

Sanna: perception: one of five khandhas

Sanskrit: the language of the Aryan peoples and of the Hindu scriptures, also related to Greek, Latin and Persian.

Sappurisa: good and pious people, virtuous persons

Saraputta: the Chief Disciple of the Buddha.

Sasana: Teaching of the Buddha.

Sati: mindfulness, awareness

Savaka: a disciple of the Buddha

Sayadaw (B) : Chief Abbot of the monastery: Kyaung Htaing Sayadaw (B) : Chief Resident Monk.

Saya (B) : teacher (male); Sayama : teacher (female)

Sayagyi (B): great teacher (male); Sayamagyi: great teacher (female)

Shin (B): novice: Junior member of the Monastic Order (male).

Shin Laung (B) : novice; boy-aspirant; boy-postulant;

Shinpyu (B): the Initiation Ceremony for boys entering the monastery for the first time.

Siddhatta;Siddhartha (Sanskrit): means " wish fulfilled "; the Indian prince who became enlightened as the Buddha

Sila: moral virtue, morality, moral practice or conduct; the Five, Eight or Ten Precepts

Silabbataparamasa:: clinging to mere rules and ritual one of the fetters, inhibiting attainment.

Soon (B): hsun(B): alms offered to the monks .

Sotãpanna: stream enterer, stream Winner, who has destroyed the three of the fetters and is assured of enlightenment in no more than seven lifetimes; the first of the four groups of Noble Personalities; the Sotapanna is one who by meditation has realised the truth of Anatta, is confirmed in confidence in the Doctrine and hence has destroyed the first three fetters, i.e., (1) Belief in Self (See under Atta), (2) Doubt and hesitation and (3) Belief in the efficacy of rites and ceremonies for the attainment of liberation. The Sotapanna, who has gained the fruit of the first stage of the Path, is assured of his final emancipation within a measurable period, is not reborn more than seven times, and is no longer in danger of a lower rebirth. He may in this lifetime complete the further three stages and attain Nibbana as an Arahant.

Sotapatti Magga : the first Magga attained by one who has entered the current of emancipation. This is followed immediately by Sotapatti Phala.

Sotapatti Phala : the 'fruit' of 'fruition' of stream-entering; it follows Sotapatti Magga.

Stupa: zei-di, a dome or pagoda built to mark a Buddhist holy place or collection of sacred relics, burial mound.

Suddhodana: father of the Buddha

Sugati or suggati: happy plane of existence

Sukha: happiness, bliss, satisfactoriness

Sunyata: emptiness, without intrinsic essence

Sutta: sutra (Sanskrit); a discourse, a scripture containing the teachings of Buddha

Suttanta: a chapter of the Scriptures, a text, a discourse, a sutta, a dialogue.

T

Tabaung (B) : Myanmar Month equivalent to parts of March and April.

Tanha: craving, desire, the main cause of Suffering.

Tanha-upadana: craving and clinging

Tathãgata: one who has found the Truth; synonym for the Buddhas; the 'perfect one': The epithet of an Arahant

Tavatimsa Heaven: the second of the six Buddhist Heavens or Deva-loka, standing at the top of Mount Meru.

Tazaung (B): the shrine building

Thabeik ( B): the food bowl of the monks

Thain (B) : the ordination hall for the monks; Sima (P)

Thela-shin (B): a Buddhist nun in Burma, also called 'Sayar lay'

Thera: an Elder, a senior member of the Buddhist Order: but often applied to bhikkhus in general..

Theravada: ' the Doctrine of the Elders '; the form of Buddhism practised in Sri lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, considered to be the original and orthodox form of Buddhism

Tipitaka: Tripitaka (Sanskrit); the ' Three Baskets ' : the classic Buddhist Scriptures; the three divisions of the Buddhist Canonical works, 1. i.e., (1) The Section of the Sangha Rules (Vinaya), (2) Section of the Discourses (Suttanta), (3) The section of the Higher Doctrine (Abhidhamma).

Tisarana: the three refuges, the three jewels ( Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha)

Ti-pitaka-dhara:: Knowing the Ti-pitaka by heart.

Triple Gem: the Three Jewels; Tisarana; The Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha; the core of the Buddhist Faith: the three ratanas (B)

Tusitã , Tushita Heaven: where the next Buddha, Metteyya is waiting to come down to earth at the appropriate time.

U

U (B): equivalent to 'Mr.', usually for lay men, but can be used for monks as well. 'Daw' is the title for older or respectable women; 'Ko' and 'Ma' are for young man and woman; 'Maung' and 'Ma' are for boy and girl respectively.

Uccheda-ditthi: Annihilation belief.

Udana: verse or stanza of exultation

Upadana: clinging, grasping, attachment

Upasaka: the male followers, lay man, lay disciple, (of the Buddha) who do not follow the strict rules of Samgha

Upasika: lay woman (see above)

Upekkha : Upeksha: equanimity, indifferent feeling

Uposatha Days: specially assigned days of the month on which the Buddhists observe the Uposatha (eight) precepts and the members of the Order to recite patimokkha; Sabbath days; days set aside in conformity with the lunar calendar for special observance of religious duties and of the additional precepts involving fasting after midday. They occur on the new-moon day, the full-moon day and the two days of the first and the last moon quarter.

Uposatha sila: the eight moral precepts, the observance of Sabbath

Utu: favourable conditions for germination; warmth; season; physical compatibility

V

Vaca; word, speech

Vajrayana: ' Diamond Vehicle '; a form of Mahayana Buddhism, popular in Tibet

Vassa: rainy season; rainy season retreat

Vãyo: wind element

Vedana: feeling, one of the five khandhas

Ven.: Abbreviation for 'Venerable'

Vicikicchã : doubt

Vihara: sanctuary, chapel for the Buddha images; a dwelling place for the Buddhist monks, cave dwellings for monks

Vimokkha: liberation from existence; Nibbana

Vinaya: the Disciplinary Rules of the Order (the Samgha); strict guidelines for monks.

Vinicchaya:: decision, trial, judgment (given by the King or his Ministers) having the Vinaya as the Law Court.

Vinnana: discriminative consciousness

Vipaka: results of kamma; fruit, consequence

Vipassanã: A major form of Meditation: inward vision, Insight

Visakha(Wesak): : A month corresponding to the month of May-June. Festival of the Anniversary of the Buddha's Birth, Enlightenment and Parinibbana.

W

X

Y

Yakkhas: attendants of the King of the northern direction.

Yama: celestial realm where pain has been eradicated

Yamaraja: king of Niraya

Yasodharã : Bhaddakaccãna; wife of Prince Siddhatta; brother of Devadatta.

Yathabuta: in reality, as things are

Yoga: yoke, binding, restriction

Yogi: a person who practises Meditation

Yojana: unit of distance measure ( variously taken as approximately 7 to 12 miles); the word is often quoted in the Suttas

Z

Zawgyi (B): alchemist.

Zayat (B): the spacious resting place for the worshippers.

Zei-di (B): Cetiya: Pahto, Thupa, Stupa.

Zen: form of Mahayana Buddhism in Japan. Chinese version is called Ch'an

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17th March 2000

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