abhidharma (Skt), abhidhamma (Pali): The Buddhist psychology, a detailed and systematic analysis of the mind and body. It is the third great division of the Pali canon.
access concentration: A level of concentration in which the mind stays rhythmically on the object. This level is in the neighborhood of full absorption (jhana) concentration and provides access to it. It is also the basis for deeper stages of insight.
anatta: Selflessness; insubstantiality. One of the three characteristics of all conditioned existence.
arhant: One who is fully liberated, having eradicated all mental defilements.
bodhi tree: The tree under which the Bodhisattva (Siddhartha Gotama) attained full enlightenment.
bodhisattava: A being striving for buddhahood; Siddhartha Gotama prior to his enlightenment under the bodhi tree.
brahma realm: The highest realm of existence, attained through the development of jhana (absorption) concentration.
dependent origination: One of the fundamental laws of Buddhist teaching; it describes in twelve links how ignorance conditions old age, disease, and death.
deva: A celestial being.
dharma (Skt), dhamma (Pali): Ultimate Truth; Reality; the Buddha’s teachings revealing these truths, all mental and physical elements.
Eightfold Path: The Fourth Noble Truth of the Buddha’s teaching; a description of the path that leads to liberation: right understanding, right aim, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
Four Noble Truths: The basic teaching of the Buddha, explaining the truth of suffering, the causes of suffering, the end of suffering, and the path that leads to the end of suffering.
jhana: Meditative absorption, usually divided into eight stages of increasing concentration.
karma (Skt), kamma (Pali): The volition behind action, which has the power to produce favorable or unfavorable results, according to an impersonal, universal moral law.
karuna: Compassion.
Mara: The personification of forces antagonistic to enlightenment.
metta: Loving-kindness.
Middle Way: A description of the Buddha’s teaching as being midway between the extremes of self-mortification and self-indulgence.
mudita: Sympathetic joy; happiness in the happiness of others.
nirvana (Skt), nibbana (Pali): The cessation of suffering; the unconditioned.
parami: “Perfections”; virtues necessary for the realization of enlightenment.
saddha (Pali): Faith; confidence.
samadhi: Concentration.
samsara: Beginningless round of rebirths.
sangha: Community of monks and nuns; community of ariyas (noble ones), those who have attained to one of the stages of enlightenment.
santati: Illusion of continuity.
skandha: Aggregate. What we call a “being” is a grouping of five aggregates: material elements, feeling, perception, volitions, and consciousness.
sutra (Skt), sutta (Pali): A discourse of the Buddha.
vipassana: Insight meditation; insight into the true nature of phenomena.
yogi: Someone who practices meditation.