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sabhāva-dhamma:
Condition of nature; any phenomenon, event, property, or quality as experienced in and of itself.
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sacca:
Truthfulness. One of the ten perfections (pāramīs).
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saddhā:
Conviction, faith. A confidence in the Buddha that gives one the willingness to put his teachings into practice. Conviction becomes unshakeable upon the attainment of stream-entry (see sotāpanna).
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sādhu:
(exclamation) "It is well"; an expression showing appreciation or agreement.
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sagga:
Heaven, heavenly realm. The dwelling place of the devas. Rebirth in the heavens is said to be one of the rewards for practicing generosity (see dāna) and virtue (see sīla). Like all waystations in saṃsāra, however, rebirth here is temporary. See also sugati. [MORE]
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sakadāgāmī:
Once-returner. A person who has abandoned the first three of the fetters that bind the mind to the cycle of rebirth (see saṃyojana), has weakened the fetters of sensual passion and resistance, and who after death is destined to be reborn in this world only once more.
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sakkāya-diṭṭhi:
Self-identification view. The view that mistakenly identifies any of the khandha as "self"; the first of the ten fetters (saṃyojana). Abandonment of sakkāya-diṭṭhi is one of the hallmarks of stream-entry (see sotāpanna). [MORE]
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Sākyamuni:
"Sage of the Sakyans"; an epithet for the Buddha.
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sākya-putta:
Son of the Sakyan. An epithet for Buddhist monks, the Buddha having been a native of the Sakyan Republic.
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sallekha-dhamma:
Topics of effacement (effacing defilement) — having few wants, being content with what one has, seclusion, uninvolvement in companionship, persistence, virtue (see sīla), concentration, discernment, release, and the direct knowing and seeing of release.
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samādhi:
Concentration; the practice of centering the mind in a single sensation or preoccupation, usually to the point of jhāna. [MORE]
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samaṇa:
Contemplative. Literally, a person who abandons the conventional obligations of social life in order to find a way of life more "in tune" (sama) with the ways of nature.
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samaṇera (samaṇerī):
Literally, a small samaṇa; a novice monk (nun) who observes ten precepts and who is a candidate for admission to the order of bhikkhus (bhikkhunīs). See pabbajjā.
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sambhavesin:
(A being) searching for a place to take birth.
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sammuti:
Conventional reality; convention; relative truth; supposition; anything conjured into being by the mind.
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sampajañña:
Alertness; self-awareness; presence of mind; clear comprehension. See sati.
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saṃsāra:
Transmigration; the round of death and rebirth. See vaṭṭa. [MORE]
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saṃvega:
The oppressive sense of shock, dismay, and alienation that comes with realizing the futility and meaninglessness of life as it's normally lived; a chastening sense of one's own complacency and foolishness in having let oneself live so blindly; and an anxious sense of urgency in trying to find a way out of the meaningless cycle. [MORE]
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saṃyojana:
Fetter that binds the mind to the cycle of rebirth (see vaṭṭa) — self-identification views (sakkāya-diṭṭhi), uncertainty (vicikiccha), grasping at precepts and practices (sīlabbata-parāmāsa); sensual passion (kāma-rāga), resistance (vyāpāda); passion for form (rūpa-rāga), passion for formless phenomena (arūpa-rāga), conceit (māna), restlessness (uddhacca), and unawareness (avijjā). Compare anusaya.
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sandiṭṭhiko:
Self-evident; immediately apparent; visible here and now. An epithet for the Dhamma.
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saṅgha:
On the conventional (sammuti) level, this term denotes the communities of Buddhist monks and nuns; on the ideal (ariya) level, it denotes those followers of the Buddha, lay or ordained, who have attained at least stream-entry (see sotāpanna), the first of the transcendent paths (see magga) culminating in nibbāna. Recently, particularly in the West, the term "sangha" has been popularly adapted to mean the wider sense of "community of followers on the Buddhist path," although this usage finds no basis in the Pali canon. The term "parisā" may be more appropriate for this much broader meaning. [MORE]
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saṅkhāra:
Formation, compound, fashioning, fabrication — the forces and factors that fashion things (physical or mental), the process of fashioning, and the fashioned things that result. Saṅkhāra can refer to anything formed or fashioned by conditions, or, more specifically, (as one of the five khandhas) thought-formations within the mind.
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saññā:
Label; perception; allusion; act of memory or recognition; interpretation. See khandha.
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sanyojana:
See saṃyojana.
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sāsana:
Literally, "message." The dispensation, doctrine, and legacy of the Buddha; the Buddhist religion (see Dhamma-vinaya.
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sati:
Mindfulness, self-collectedness, powers of reference and retention. In some contexts, the word sati when used alone covers alertness (sampajañña) as well. [MORE]
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satipaṭṭhāna:
Foundation of mindfulness; frame of reference — body, feelings, mind, and mental events, viewed in and of themselves as they occur.
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sa-upādisesa-nibbāna:
Nibbāna with fuel remaining (the analogy is to an extinguished fire whose embers are still glowing) — liberation as experienced in this lifetime by an arahant. Cf. anupādisesa-nibbāna. [MORE]
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sāvaka:
Literally, "hearer." A disciple of the Buddha, especially a noble disciple (see ariya-puggala.)
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sayadaw:
(Burmese). Venerable teacher; an honorific title and form of address for a senior or eminent bhikkhu.
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sekha:
A "learner" or "one in training"; a noble disciple (ariya-puggala) who has not yet attained arahantship.[MORE]
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sīla:
Virtue, morality. The quality of ethical and moral purity that prevents one from falling away from the eightfold path. Also, the training precepts that restrain one from performing unskillful actions. Sīla is the second theme in the gradual training (see anupubbī-kathā), one of the ten pāramīs, the second of the seven treasures (see dhana), and the first of the three grounds for meritorious action (see dāna and bhāvanā). [MORE]
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sīma:
Boundary or territory within which the monastic saṅgha's formal acts (upasampadā, pātimokkha recitation, settling of disputes, etc.) must be performed in order to be valid. [MORE]
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sotāpanna:
Stream winner. A person who has abandoned the first three of the fetters that bind the mind to the cycle of rebirth (see saṃyojana) and has thus entered the "stream" flowing inexorably to nibbāna, ensuring that one will be reborn at most only seven more times, and only into human or higher realms. [MORE]
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stress:
See dukkha.
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stupa (Pali thūpa):
Originally, a tumulus or burial mound enshrining relics of a holy person — such as the Buddha — or objects associated with his life. Over the centuries this has developed into the tall, spired monuments familiar in temples in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Burma; and into the pagodas of China, Korea, and Japan.
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"such":
See tādi.
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sugati:
Happy destinations; the two higher levels of existence into which one might be reborn as a result of past skillful actions (see kamma): rebirth in the human world or in the heavens (See sagga). None of these states is permanent. Compare apāya-bhūmi. [MORE]
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sugato:
Well-faring; going (or gone) to a good destination. An epithet for the Buddha.
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sukha:
Pleasure; ease; satisfaction. In meditation, a mental quality that reaches full maturity upon the development of the third level of jhāna.
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sutta [Skt. sūtra]:
Literally, "thread"; a discourse or sermon by the Buddha or his contemporary disciples. After the Buddha's death the suttas were passed down in the Pali language according to a well-established oral tradition, and were finally committed to written form in Sri Lanka around 100 BCE. More than 10,000 suttas are collected in the Sutta Piṭaka, one of the principal bodies of scriptural literature in Theravāda Buddhism. The Pali Suttas are widely regarded as the earliest record of the Buddha's teachings. [MORE]
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tādi:
"Such," an adjective to describe one who has attained the goal. It indicates that the person's state is indefinable but not subject to change or influences of any sort.
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taṇhā:
Craving — for sensuality, for becoming, or for not-becoming (see bhava). See also lobha (greed; passion) [MORE]
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tāpas:
The purifying "heat" of meditative practice.
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Tathāgata:
Literally, "one who has truly gone (tatha-gata)" or "one who has become authentic "(tatha-agata)," an epithet used in ancient India for a person who has attained the highest spiritual goal. In Buddhism, it usually denotes the Buddha, although occasionally it also denotes any of his arahant disciples. [MORE]
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than, tan:
(Thai). Reverend, venerable.
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thera:
"Elder." An honorific title automatically conferred upon a bhikkhu of at least ten years' standing. Compare mahāthera.
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Theravāda:
The "Doctrine of the Elders" — the only one of the early schools of Buddhism to have survived into the present; currently the dominant form of Buddhism in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Burma. See also Hīnayāna. [MORE]
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ti-lakkhaṇa:
Three characteristics inherent in all conditioned phenomena — being inconstant (anicca), stressful (dukkha), and not-self (anattā).
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tipiṭaka [Skt. tripiṭaka]:
The Buddhist (Pali) Canon. Literally, "three baskets," in reference to the three principal divisions of the Canon: the Vinaya Piṭaka (disciplinary rules); Sutta Piṭaka (discourses); and Abhidhamma Piṭaka (abstract philosophical treatises). [MORE]
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tiratana:
The "Triple Gem" consisting of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha — ideals to which all Buddhists turn for refuge. See tisarana. [MORE]
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tisaraṇa:
The "Threefold Refuge" — the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha. See tiratana. [MORE]
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- ugghaṭitaññu:
- Of swift understanding. After the Buddha attained Awakening and was considering whether or not to teach the Dhamma, he perceived that there were four categories of beings: those of swift understanding, who would gain Awakening after a short explanation of the Dhamma; those who would gain Awakening only after a lengthy explanation (vipacitaññu); those who would gain Awakening only after being led through the practice (neyya); and those who, instead of gaining Awakening, would at best gain only a verbal understanding of the Dhamma (padaparama).
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Unbinding:
See nibbāna.
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upādāna:
Clinging; attachment; sustenance for becoming and birth — attachment to sensuality, to views, to precepts and practices, and to theories of the self.
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upasampadā:
Acceptance; full ordination as a bhikkhu or bhikkhunī. See pabbajjā.
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upāsaka/upāsikā:
A male/female lay follower of the Buddha. Compare parisā.
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upekkhā:
Equanimity. One of the ten perfections (pāramīs) and one of the four "sublime abodes" (brahma-vihāra). [MORE]
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uposatha:
Observance day, corresponding to the phases of the moon, on which Buddhist lay people gather to listen to the Dhamma and to observe special precepts. On the new-moon and full-moon uposatha days monks assemble to recite the Pātimokkha rules. [MORE]
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vassa:
Rains Retreat. A period from July to October, corresponding roughly to the rainy season, in which each monk is required to live settled in a single place and not wander freely about.
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vaṭṭa:
The cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. This denotes both the death and rebirth of living beings and the death and rebirth of defilement (kilesa) within the mind. See saṃsāra.
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vedanā:
Feeling — pleasure (ease), pain (stress), or neither pleasure nor pain. See khandha.
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Vesak, Vesakha, Visakha, Wesak, etc. (visākha):
The ancient name for the Indian lunar month in spring corresponding to our April-May. According to tradition, the Buddha's birth, Awakening, and Parinibbāna each took place on the full-moon night in the month of Visakha. These events are commemorated on that day in the Visakha festival, which is celebrated annually throughout the world of Theravāda Buddhism. [MORE]
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vicāra:
Evaluation; sustained thought. In meditation, vicāra is the mental factor that allows one's attention to shift and move about in relation to the chosen meditation object. Vicāra and its companion factor vitakka reach full maturity upon the development of the first level of jhāna.
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vijjā:
Clear knowledge; genuine awareness; science (specifically, the cognitive powers developed through the practice of concentration and discernment).
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vijjā-caraṇa-sampanno:
Consummate in knowledge and conduct; accomplished in the conduct leading to awareness or cognitive skill. An epithet for the Buddha.
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vimutti:
Release; freedom from the fabrications and conventions of the mind. The suttas distinguish between two kinds of release. Discernment-release (paññā-vimutti) describes the mind of the arahant, which is free of the āsavas. Awareness-release (ceto-vimutti) is used to describe either the mundane suppression of the kilesas during the practice of jhāna and the four brahma-vihāras [see AN 6.13], or the supramundane state of concentration in the āsava-free mind of the arahant.
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Vinaya:
The monastic discipline, spanning six volumes in printed text, whose rules and traditions define every aspect of the bhikkhus' and bhikkhunīs' way of life. The essence of the rules for monastics is contained in the Pātimokkha. The conjunction of the Dhamma with the Vinaya forms the core of the Buddhist religion: "Dhamma-vinaya" — "the doctrine and discipline" — is the name the Buddha gave to the religion he founded. [MORE]
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viññāṇa:
Consciousness; cognizance; the act of taking note of sense data and ideas as they occur. There is also a type of consciousness that lies outside of the khandhas — called consciousness without feature (viññāṇaṃ anidassanaṃ) — which is not related to the six senses at all. See khandha.
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vipāka:
The consequence and result of a past volitional action (kamma).
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vipassanā:
Clear intuitive insight into physical and mental phenomena as they arise and disappear, seeing them for what they actually are — in and of themselves — in terms of the three characteristics (see ti-lakkhaṇa) and in terms of stress, its origin, its disbanding, and the way leading to its disbanding (see ariya-sacca).
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vipassanūpakkilesa:
Corruption of insight; intense experiences that can happen in the course of meditation and can lead one to believe that one has completed the path. The standard list includes ten: light, psychic knowledge, rapture, serenity, pleasure, extreme conviction, excessive effort, obsession, indifference, and contentment.
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viriya:
Persistence; energy. One of the ten perfections (pāramīs), the five faculties (bala; see bodhi-pakkhiya-dhammā), and the five strengths/dominant factors (indriya; see bodhi-pakkhiya-dhammā).
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vitakka:
Directed thought. In meditation, vitakka is the mental factor by which one's attention is applied to the chosen meditation object. Vitakka and its companion factor vicāra reach full maturity upon the development of the first level of jhāna.
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yakkha:
One of a special class of powerful "non-human" beings — sometimes kindly, sometimes murderous and cruel — corresponding roughly to the fairies and ogres of Western fairy tales. The female (yakkhinī) is generally considered more treacherous than the male. [MORE]
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