Glossary

This Pali-English Glossary contains all the Pali terms used in Notes on Dhamma together with their English equivalents (sometimes only approximate). Only the separate elements of some compound words are given. Words occurring in quoted Pali passages and whose meaning may be discovered from the English renderings of such passgaes are not always listed separately.

 

Akālika—timeless, intemporal.
akusala—unskilful.
acinteyya—not to be speculated about, unthinkable.
ajjhatta—inside, internal, subjective. (Opp. bahiddhā.)
añña—other, another. (Opp. sa.)
atthapurisapuggalā—(the) eight individual men.
atakkāvacara—not in the sphere of reason or logic.
atidhāvati—(to) overrun, overshoot.
attavāda—belief in self.
attā—self.
atthi—there is.
adhivacana—designation.
anattā—not-self.
anāgāmī—non- returner.
anicca—impermanent.
aniccatā—impermanence.
anidassana—non-indication, non- indicative.
anupādisesa—without residue.
anuruddha-pativiruddha—approving-&-disapproving, accepting-&- rejecting,
        attracting-&-repelling.
anuloma—with the grain, in conformity. (Opp. patiloma.)
anulomikāya khantiyā samannāgato—one endowed with acquiescence in conformity.
anvaya—inference, inferability.
aparapaccayā—not dependent on others.
apuñña—demerit.
abhijjhā—covetousness.
abhisankharoti—(to) determine.
abhisankhāra = sankhāra.
abhisañcetayati—(to) intend, will.
arahat—one who is worthy. (Usually untranslated.)
arahattā—state of the arahat.
ariya—noble. (Opp. puthujjana.)
ariyasāvaka—noble disciple.
arūpa—immaterial.
avijjā—nescience. (Opp. vijjā.)
asankhata—non-determined.
asmimāna—conceit '(I) am. ('Conceit', māna, is to be understood as a cross between
        'concept' and 'pride'—almost the French 'orgueil' suitably attenuated. Asmi is 'I am'
        without the pronoun, like the Latin 'sum'; but plain 'am' is too weak to render asmi,
        and aham asmi ('ego sum') is too emphatic to be adequately rendered 'I am'.)
asmī ti chanda—desire '(I) am'. (See asmimāna.)
assāsapassāsā—in-&-out- breaths.
assutavā—uninstructed.


Ākāsa—space.
ākiñcaññāyatana—nothingness-base.
āneñja—immobility, unshakability, imperturbability.
āyatana—base.
āyusankhāra—life-determination.
āsava—canker, intoxication.


Idha—here.
indriya—faculty.


Ucchedaditthi—annihilationist-view. (Opp. sassataditthi.)
upavicarati—(to) dwell upon, ponder.
upādāna—holding.
upekkhā—indifference.


Etam—this, that.


Opanayika—leading.


Kamma—action.
kāya—body.
kāyika—bodily.
kālika—temporal, involving time.
kusala—skilful.
khandha—aggregate, mass, totality.


Gotrabhu—become of the clan or lineage. (Sometimes translated as 'one who destroys
        the lineage'; the etymologists seem to be in doubt.)


Cakkhu—eye.
citta—mind, consciousness, cognition, spirit, heart, purpose, (conscious) experience, &c.
        (Citta is sometimes synonymous with mano, and sometimes not; it is occasionally
        equivalent to viññāna in certain senses. Related to cetanā, but more general. Its
        precise meaning must be determined afresh in each new context.)
cittavīthi—mental process, cognitive series.
cetanā—intention, volition, will.
cetasika—mental. (See citta.)


Jarā—ageing, decay.
jāti—birth.
jhāna—meditation.


Ñāna—knowledge.


Takka—reasoning, logic.
tanhā—craving.
Tathāgata—(usually untranslated epithet of) the Buddha, (and, by transference, of) an arahat.
Tāvatimsa—'Heaven of the Thirty-Three'.
theta—reliable, actual.


Ditthi—view. (Usually, wrong view.)
ditthigata—going to, involved with, consisting of, (wrong) view.
ditthisampanna—(one) attained to (right) view. (= sotāpanna.)
dukkha—unpleasure (opp. sukha), pain, suffering.
dutiya, tatiya tappurisa—accusative, instrumentive dependent determinative compound.
        (Grammatical terms.)
dussīla—immoral, unvirtuous.
domanassa—grief.
dosa—hate.
dvayam—dyad, duality.
dhamma—thing, image, idea, essence, universal, teaching, Teaching, nature, natural law, ethic, ethical law, &c.
        (cf. the Heraclitan 'logos').
dhamm'anvaya—inferability of the dhamma (to past and future).
dhammānusārī—teaching-follower. (Opp. saddhānusārī.)
dhātu—element.


Nāma—name.
nāmarūpa—name-&-matter.
nidassana—indication, indicative.
nibbāna—extinction.
nibbuta—extinguished.
niruddha—ceased.
nirodha—ceasing, cessation.


Paccaya—condition.
pañcakkhandhā—five aggregates.
pañc'upādānakkhandhā—five holding aggregates. (This needs expansion to be intelligible.)
paññā—understanding.
patigha—resistance.
paticcasamuppanna—dependently arisen.
paticcasamuppāda—dependent arising.
patiloma—against the grain. (Opp. anuloma.)
patisotagāmī—going against the stream.
paramattha sacca—truth in the highest, or ultimate, or absolute, sense.
paritassanā—anxiety, anguish, angst.
pariyesanā—seeking.
pahoti—(to) originate.
pāna—animal, living being.
pāpadhamma—evil-natured.
pāpima—evil one.
puggala—individual.
puñña—merit.
puthujjana—commoner. (Opp. ariya.)
punabbhavābhinibbatti—coming into renewed being, re-birth.
purisa—man, male.
phala—fruit, fruition.
phassa—contact.


Bala—power, strength.
bahiddhā—outside, external, objective. (Opp. ajjhatta.)
bhava—being, existence.
bhikkhu—monk, almsman.
bhikkhunī—nun, almswoman.
bhūta—being.


Magga—path.
maññati—(to) conceive. (See asmimāna.)
maññanā—conceiving. (See asmimāna.)
manasikāra—attention.
manussa—human (being).
mano—mind. (See citta.)
mama—mine, of me.
marana—death.
mahābhūta—great entity.
micchāditthi—wrong view. (Opp. sammāditthi.)
me—mine. (Weaker than mama.)
moha—delusion.


Rāga = lobha.
ruppati—(to) 'matter', be broken. (Untranslatable verb from rūpa.)
rūpa—matter, substance, (visible) form.


Lakkhana—mark, characteristic.
lābha—gain.
loka—world.
lokuttara—beyond the world, world-transcending.
lobha—lust.


Vacī—speech.
vicāra—pondering.
vijānāti—(to) cognize, be conscious (of).
vijjā—science. (Opp. avijjā.)
viññāna—consciousness, knowing.
vitakka—thinking, thought.
vipāka—ripening, result, consequence.
viriya—energy, exertion.
vedanā—feeling.
vediyati—(to) feel.


Sa—that, the same. (Opp. añña.)
sa-—with. (Prefix.)
saupādisesa—with residue.
sakkāya—person, somebody, personality.
sakkāyaditthi.—personality -view.
sankhata—determined.
sankhāra—determination, determinant.
sangha—Community, Order.
sacca—truth.
sañcetanā = cetanā.
sañjānāti—(to) perceive.
saññā—perception, percept.
saññāvedayitanirodha—cessation of perception and feeling.
sati—mindfulness, recollection, memory.
satta—creature, sentient being.
sattama puggala—seventh individual.
saddhā—faith, confidence, trust.
saddhānusārī—faith-follower. (Opp. dhammānusārī.)
sanditthika—evident, immediately visible.
samādhi—concentration.
samudaya—appearing, arising, coming into being.
sampajañña—awareness.
samphassa = phassa.
sammāditthi—right view. (Opp. micchāditthi.)
sassataditthi—eternalist-view. (Opp. ucchedaditthi.)
salāyatana—six bases.
samsāra—running on (from existence to existence).
sukha—pleasure. (Opp. dukkha.)
sutavā—instructed.
sekha—one in training, (self-)trainer.
so   (see sa).
sotāpatti—attaining of the stream.
sotāpanna—stream-attainer.
somanassa—joy.


Huram—yonder.
hetu—condition (= paccaya).