Glossary of Terms Flashcards
anuttara samyaksambodhi
Complete, perfect enlightenment
apasmaraka
A class of demonic beings
arhat (“one who is worthy”)
A saint who has completely eradicated the passions and attained liberation from the cycle of birth and death (samsara); arhatship is the highest of the four stages of spiritual attainment in the Hinayana. Capitalized, the term is an epithet for a buddha.
asura
A class of supernatural beings that are in constant conflict with the gods (devas)
Avalokitesvara
The name of a great bodhisattva who represents great compassion
Bhagavat (“Blessed One”)
A venerable teacher; an epithet of a buddha
birth and death (samsara)
The cycle of existence, the continuous round of birth and death through which beings transmigrate; the world of suffering, contrasted with the bliss of nirvana
bodhisattva (“enlightenment being”)
The spiritual ideal of the Mahayana, a selfless being with universal compassion who has generated the profound aspiration to achieve enlightenment in order to benefit sentient beings. In the course of their spiritual careers, bodhisattvas engage in the practice of the six perfections and pass through stages of increasingly higher levels of spiritual accomplishment
bodhi tree
The tree under which a buddha attains enlightenment
buddhahood
The state of becoming or being a buddha; the goal of the bodhisattva path
buddha land
A cosmic world or realm in which a particular buddha dwells
Brahma
Lord of the saha world
brahman
The priestly caste in the Indian caste system; in the Lotus Sutra the term also applies to a class of heavenly beings
Decadent Dharma
The last of the three ages of the Dharma, following the age of the Semblance Dharma, in which only the teaching of the Buddha exists but correct practice is no longer possible
dependent origination (pratityasamutpada)
The Buddhist Doctrine which holds that all phenomena (dharmas) arise in relation to causes and conditions and in turn are the causes and conditions for the arising of other phenomena. Nothing exists independently of its causes and conditions.
deva
A class of supernatural beings; a god or divine being
Devadatta (“God-given”)
A cousin of the Buddha who became his disciple but later tried to murder him and assume leadership of the sangha
dharani
A powerful verbal incantation or mantra
dharma
Any phenomenon, thing, or element; the elements that make up the perceived phenomenal world
Dharma
The truth, law; the teachings of the Buddha
Dharma body (dharmakaya)
The manifestation of the Buddha as ultimate reality
emptiness (sunyata)
The absence of substantiality or inherent existence of the self and all phenomena (dharmas); all dharmas arise only through the dependent origination of causes and conditions (pratityasamutpada). Direct insight into emptiness is the attainment of prajna (transcendental wisdom)
five skandhas
The five elements of form, feeling, conception, mental process, and consciousness which comprise the personality and give rise to the mistaken view of a permanent, inherent self
four modes of birth
According to Buddhism, the four possible ways that a being may be born, i.e., 1) from a womb, 2) from an egg, 3) from moisture, or 4) through metamorphosis or spontaneous generation
Four Noble Truths
The basic doctrine of Buddhism: 1) the truth of suffering, 2) the truth regarding the cause of suffering, 3) the truth regarding the extinction of suffering, and 4) the truth regarding the path to nirvana
gandharva
A heavenly musician
garuda
A mythological being in the form of a giant bird
Hinayana (“Lesser Vehicle”)
A derogatory term applied by Mahayana Buddhists to early schools of Buddhism whose primary soteriological aim is individual salvation. Hinayana followers are grouped into the two categories of sravakas and pratyekabuddhas and there are four stages of spiritual attainment, culminating in arhatship.
Jambudvipa
A mythological continent, one of the four continents that surround Mount Sumeru; the world of human beings
kalpa
An eon, an immensely long period of time
karma (“action”)
Any action of body, speech, or mind (thought), which may be either morally good, bad, or neutral. The concept of karma is connected with the Buddhist theory of transmigration in the cycle of birth and death.
kimnara
A class of mythological beings, half bird and half human, that make celestial music
koti
A large unit of measurement, said to equal ten million
krtya
A class of evil beings, sorcerers
ksatriya
The warrior caste in the Indian caste system; the politically governing or military
kumbhanda
A class of demonic beings
lion’s roar
A metaphor for great eloquence in teaching the Dharma
Mahayana (“Great Vehicle”)
A form of Buddhism that developed in India around 100 B.C.E. and which exalts as its religious ideal the bodhisattva, great beings who aspire to enlightenment on behalf of all sentient beings.
mahoraga
A class of snake-like mythical beings
Maitreya
The future Buddha, currently still a bodhisattva
Manjusri
The bodhisattva who represents great wisdom
manusyakrtya
A class of human sorcerers
Mara
The Evil One, the personification of death. The lower-case term mara refers to the afflictions that hinder progress on the path to buddhahood
Mount Sumeru
In Buddhist cosmology, the highest mountain rising from the center of the world, surrounded by an ocean in which the four continents that comprise the world of human beings are situated
nayuta
A large unit of numerical measurement, said to be equal to ten million or one hundred billion
nirvana
Liberation from the cycle of birth and death, a state in which all passions are extinguished and the highest wisdom (prajna) attained; bodhi, enlightenment
non-returner (anagamin)
The third of the four stages of spiritual attainment in the Hinayana; one who has attained this stage is no longer subject to the rebirth in the realm of desire
once-returner (sakrdagamin)
The second of the four stages of spiritual attainment in the Hinayana; one who has attained this state is subject to rebirth only once in each of the three realms of the triple world before attaining nirvana
parinirvana
Complete nirvana
prajna
Transcendental, liberative wisdom; one of the six perfections
pratyekabuddha (“solitary enlightened one”)
One of the two kinds of Hinayana followers, along with sravakas, who seek to reach the stage of arhat and attain nirvana. A pratyekabuddha attains liberation through direct observation and understanding of the principle of dependent origination without the guidance of a teacher, and does not teach others.
pisaca
A class of demonic beings
putana
A class of demonic beings that cause disease in children
raksasa
A type of demon. The female form is rakasi
saha world
The world of endurance, suffering
Sakra
Lord of the devas
Sakyamuni (“Sage of the Sakyas”)
The historical Buddha, who lived in India in the fifth century B.C.E. and whose life and teachings form the basis for Buddhism
Sakyas
The name of the historical Buddha Sakyamuni’s family clan
samadhi
Mental concentration; a meditative state
sangha
The Buddhist order, the community of Buddhist followers
Semblance Dharma
The second of the three ages of the Buddhist Dharma, following the age of the True Dharma, in which the Buddha’s teaching is practiced but enlightenment is no longer possible.
sense faculties
The sense perceptions that correspond to the six sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind) - visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, and mental perceptions
single vehicle (ekayana)
The one buddha vehicle, the Mahayana teaching espoused in the Lotus Sutra that leads to complete enlightenment and attainment of buddhahood, contrasted with the teachings of the two Hinayana vehicles. The single vehicle includes and transcends all three vehicles of the sravaka, pratyekabuddha, and bodhisattva paths.
six perfections (paramitas)
Six qualities perfected by bodhisattvas - 1) giving (dana), 2) integrity or good conduct (sila), 3) perseverance (ksanti), 4) diligence or effort (virya), 5) meditation (dhyana), and 6) wisdom (prajna)
skillful means (upaya)
The various methods and means used by buddhas and bodhisattvas to guide and teach sentient beings, adapted to their different capacities
sramana
Mendicant, monk; a Buddhist monk, originally applied to those who maintained an ascetic practice
sramanera
A novice in the Buddhist sangha
sravaka (“auditor”)
Originally, a disciple of the Buddha, one of those who heard him expound the teachings directly; later, the term came to refer to one of the two kinds of Hinayana followers, along with pratyekabuddhas, to distinguish them from followers of the Mahayana
steam-enterer (srota-apanna)
The first of the four stages of spiritual attainment in the Himayana; one who has entered the stream of the Dharma by destroying various wrong views
stupa
A tope; a structure in which the relics of a buddha are placed
Sugata (“Well-gone”)
An epithet for a buddha; one who has attained bliss
sutra
A Buddhist scripture, a discourse of the Buddha
Tathagata
An epithet for a buddha. It means “one who has gone to (gata) and come from (agata) the truth of suchness (tatha),” i.e., “one who embodies the truth of suchness.”
three vehicles
The paths of the sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas, respectively.
triple world
The three realms of samsaric existence in which living beings transmigrate as a result of their karma: 1) the realm of desire (kamadhatu), i.e. the world of ordinary consciousness accompanied by desires; the realm of form (rupadhatu), in which desires have been eliminated but the physical body remains; and the formless realm (arupyadhatu), in which the physical body no longer exists.
True Dharma
The first of the three ages of the Buddhist Dharma, in which the Buddhist teaching is properly practiced and enlightenment can be attained.
two vehicles
The two Hinayana paths of sravakas and pratyekabuddhas.
universal monarch (cakravartin)
The ideal king, as conceived of in Indian philosophy
yaksa
A class of demonic beings
yaksakrtya
A class of demonic sorcerers
yojana
An indian unit of distance, roughly equivalent to seven to nine miles, based on the distance the royal army could march in one day
