The Dhammapada

Abhidhamma (Abhidharma) The section of the Tipiṭaka concerned with the detailed analysis of psychological states. It is said in the Theravāda tradition to have been taught by the Buddha on a visit to the Tusita heaven, and transmitted by Sāriputta. Not all the early Mainstream Buddhism schools regarded the Abhidhamma/Abhidharma as canonical.

accharā (apsaras) A heavenly nymph, one of the beautiful dancers attending the gods of the Tāvatiṃsa heaven.

Ajātasattu (Ajātaśatru) A king of Māgadha in the Buddha’s time. When young he killed his father, Bimbisāra, in order to seize the throne, and supported Devadatta in his attempt to kill the Buddha. He repented and became a powerful supporter of the Buddha, though he could not escape the consequences of his actions (kamma).

Ājīvika (also spelled ‘Ājīvaka’) A member of a religious movement founded around the fifth–fourth century BCE by Makkhali Gosāla, said to have been a contemporary of the Buddha and of Mahāvīra, the founder of Jainism. The Ājīvikas seem to have rejected the idea of kamma/karma as understood by other groups, and taught that in order to achieve liberation, the individual just had to live out (ā-jīv-) his or her own destiny. The Ājīvika religion survived in southern India until at least the fourteenth century CE, but has now disappeared.

anāgāmin ‘Non-Returner’: one who has attained the third of the Higher Stages. He or she has abandoned the five lower fetters (saṃyojana), and after death will be reborn in the heaven of the Pure Abodes, and attain Arahatship there.

Anāthapiṇḍika (Anāthapiṇḍada) ‘Giver of Alms to the Refuge-less’ – a wealthy seṭṭhi and generous layman-supporter of the Buddha.

anattā (anātman) ‘No-self’: the Buddhist teaching that there is no unchanging, abiding self (attā, Sanskrit ātman) within living beings.

anicca (anitya) ‘Impermanence’: the Buddhist teaching that no conditioned thing can remain unchanged, so attachment to such things necessarily entails suffering (dukkha).

Arahat (Arhat) ‘Worthy One’: one who has attained the fourth of the Higher Stages, a fully liberated being. Though used also as a title for the Buddha, in its specialized sense it refers specifically to one who has attained liberation by following the teaching of a Fully Awakened Buddha (whether in that Buddha’s lifetime or in after centuries). Cf. Buddha, Paccekabuddha.

asura (‘powerful one’) Generally translated as ‘demon’ or ‘titan’: a being of comparable powers to the devas, but jealous of and constantly at war with them.

Avīci A hell realm (niraya), frequently appearing as an awful warning in the commentarial stories. The etymology is doubtful: it is sometimes explained, not very satisfactorily, as ‘waveless’, or ‘without intermission’; but I wonder if it is an irregular formation from avāc, ‘downwards’, since this realm is pictured as being below the earth.

awakened My preferred English translation of Pali/Sanskrit buddha, closer to the original sense than the more conventional ‘enlightened’.

bhante ‘Blessed one’, ‘venerable one’ – a polite form of address to a monk.

Bimbisāra King of Māgadha in the early years of the Buddha’s teaching career, and a devout supporter. He was murdered by his son Ajātasattu, with the collusion of Devadatta.

Brahmā A high deity living in a ‘formless’ realm, far above such sensuous heavens as the Tāvatiṃsa. In Buddhist thought, there are a multiplicity of Brahmās, and their worlds, though very long-lasting, are characterized by impermanence (anicca), like everything else in saṃsāra: Buddhist thought has no room for a Creator Deity, like the Brahmā of Hinduism. In the accounts of the life of the Buddha, the deity Brahmā Sahampati seems to embody the impulse of universal compassion that inspired the Buddha to undertake his arduous career of travel and teaching, rather than settle for a life of meditative ease.

Brāhmī (Sanskrit) An ancient Indian script, the ancestor of most of the modern Indian scripts and many of those of South East Asia. It was written from left to right. Cf. Kharoṣṭhī.

Brahmin (Sanskrit and Pali brāhmaṇa) A member of the priestly class, highest in the Hindu social system. For my use of this form of the word, see Introduction, n. 39.

Buddha ‘Awakened One’, an enlightened being: (1) A Fully Awakened One (sammāsambuddha), capable of teaching the Dhamma to countless other beings; in particular (2) the Buddha Gotama (Sanskrit Gautama, also known in Sanskrit as Śākyamuni, the Sage of the Śākyas), regarded as the most recent in the succession of such teachers. His traditional dates are 623–543 BCE, though modern scholars place him up to 150 years later: see Introduction, ‘Life of the Buddha’. (3) More broadly, any liberated being, including Paccekabuddhas and Arahats. A Fully Awakened Buddha rediscovers and teaches the Dhamma in an age when it has been forgotten on earth – though he has received teaching from other Buddhas in previous lives. A Paccekabuddha discovers the Dhamma for himself, without teaching from others: it is said that for that reason he does not have the teaching ability of the Fully Awakened Buddha. An Arahat or Anubuddha, ‘Awakened following [a Buddha]’, is liberated by teachings received from a Fully Awakened Buddha, either in person or through the tradition established by that Buddha. According to most traditional sources, Fully Awakened Buddhas and Paccekabuddhas are all male, and females aspiring to these states will have to be reborn as males to achieve them; Arahats, however, can be male or female. (4) As the first of the Three Refuges, the Buddha represents not only the historical founder of the tradition, but the potential for awakening within all beings.

conditions, conditioned things My preferred translations of saṅkhāras (others use ‘formations’, ‘fashionings’ or ‘volitional forces’), a technical term applied in Buddhist thought to the processes that fashion the physical, mental and emotional states of living beings, and the results of these processes. The terminology reflects the belief that everything in saṃsāra is subject to conditions: i.e. it comes into being as a result of previous states and processes, and passes away when the conditions that maintain it pass away. Therefore all saṅkhāras are subject to impermanence (anicca) and incapable of providing permanent satisfaction, hence subject to suffering (dukkha). Only nibbāna is unconditioned (asaṅkhata).

cūḷa/cūla/culla ‘Small’, often used as a title for a junior brother or sister: cf. mahā. The variant forms of the word seem to be more or less interchangeable.

deva (‘bright one’) Generally translated as ‘god’: a being in one of the higher realms of rebirth, ranging from the high and rarefied beings generally called Brahmās, through powerful deities such as Sakka and Yama, to nature spirits such as yakkhas and nāgas.

Devadatta The Buddha’s cousin, who tried to take over the community from the Buddha, and even to have him assassinated. He appears as the villain in many of the stories of previous lives of the Buddha.

Dhamma (Dharma) (1) The teaching, regarded as perennial truth, discovered and taught by all Buddhas: the second of the Three Refuges. (2) (With lower case in the text) any natural, perennial truth, e.g. in Dhammapada 3–4; a general term for any mental or physical state, viewed as an instance of such truth, e.g. in Dhammapada 1–2.

dukkha (duḥkha) ‘Suffering’, ‘dis-ease’, ‘unsatisfactoriness’: the Buddhist teaching that no permanent satisfaction can be found in any conditioned thing.

Eightfold Path (aṭṭhaṅgika magga) The path to freedom from suffering: (1) right view (sammā diṭṭhi), (2) right thought (sammā saṅkappa), (3) right speech (sammā vācā), (4) right action (sammā kammanta), (5) right livelihood (sammā ājīva), (6) right effort (sammā vāyāma), (7) right mindfulness (sammā sati), (8) right concentration (sammā samādhi).

Elder (thera, fem. therī; Sanskrit sthavira, fem. sthavirī) A title given to senior monks and nuns; in the Commentary, often, but not always, used of Arahats.

Ender, the (Pali/Sanskrit Antaka) A frequent name for Yama, the god of Death.

gandhabba (gandharva) A minor deity, one of the musicians in the Tāvatiṃsa heaven: male counterpart of the nymphs (accharās).

gati ‘Going’, ‘bourn’, ‘destination’, a place of rebirth. In the Commentary, one of the realms in which a being who has not become free of saṃsāra can be reborn, in accordance with previous actions. There are generally said to be six: a being can be reborn among the gods (devas), human beings, demons (asuras), animals, unsatisfied ghosts (petas), or the denizens of a hell realm (niraya).

Higher Stages The attainments of those who, through following the Buddha’s path, achieve various degrees of freedom from the fetters (saṃyojana). The Stream-Enterer (sotāpanna) gets rid of the first three fetters; the Once-Returner (sakadāgāmin) in addition weakens the fourth and fifth fetters, while the Non-Returner (anāgāmin) gets rid of them completely; the Arahat gets rid of all the rest. Each of these attainments itself has two stages, the path, magga (mārga), the moment at which the attainment takes place, and the fruit, phala, the transformed state of mind experienced thereafter.

hindrance (nīvaraṇa) One of the five hindrances to meditation: (1) sense-desire, (2) ill will, (3) sloth and torpor, (4) excitement and depression, and (5) sceptical doubt.

hiri (hrī) Generally coupled with ottappa (Buddhist Sanskrit apatrapya/apatrapā). Both words are notoriously difficult to translate into English: attempts include ‘shame and regard for consequences’, ‘moral shame and moral dread’. Hiri is the (inner) quality that prevents us from doing actions that would go against our self-respect, while ottappa is the fear of the (external) consequences of doing such actions. In a frequent analogy, if we were to see an iron bar covered with filth at one end and red hot at the other, hiri would stop us picking it up by the filthy end, and ottappa would stop us picking it up by the red-hot end. Together, hiri and ottappa are called ‘the Guardians of the World’.

iddhi (ṛddhi) A psychic attainment or power. The psychic powers attained by the Buddha or Arahat are described in, for example, Dīgha Nikāya 1.87 (Sutta 2: Sāmaññaphala Sutta):

He then enjoys different powers: being one, he becomes many – being many, he becomes one; he appears and disappears; he passes through fences, walls and mountains unhindered as if through air; he sinks into the ground and emerges from it as if it were water; he walks on the water without breaking the surface as if on land; he flies cross-legged through the sky like a bird with wings; he even touches and strokes with his hand the sun and moon, mighty and powerful as they are; and he travels in the body as far as the Brahmā world. (tr. Walshe 1987: 105)

Jains , Jainism The Jain religion – founded by Mahāvīra, ‘Great Hero’, also known as the Jina, or ‘Conqueror’ – has much in common with Buddhism. Mahāvīra and the Buddha were contemporaries, both practising in the samaṇa tradition: both rejected theistic explanations of the universe, the authority of the Vedas, and much of the Hindu social system. In Pali literature, the Jains are called Nigaṇṭhas (‘Those Who are Free from Knots/Ties’), partly perhaps because the monks of one of the two main denominations go naked. (The monks of the other denomination, and all nuns, wear white robes.)

Jātaka Literally, ‘Birth’. (1) A story of one of the previous existences of the Bodhisatta or Buddha-to-be. (2) A collection of such birth-stories, such as that found in the Khuddaka Nikāya of the Pali Canon (though strictly speaking only the verses are regarded as canonical).

jhāna (dhyāna) (1) Meditation. (2) Specifically, one of a series of four (or in some lists) five stages of meditative experience, based on concentration, which purify and transform the mind, freeing it from defilements so that insight and wisdom can arise.

Jīvaka Physician to King Ajātasattu, and a supporter of the Buddha.

kamma (karma) Actions viewed as incurring consequences for the future, in the present life or a future one.

Kassapa (Kaśyapa) The name of various men, including (1) a previous Buddha; (2) Mahā Kassapa (‘Kassapa the Great’), one of the leading Arahats, noted for his austere way of life. After the Buddha’s parinibbāna, he became the leader of the monastic order, as Sāriputta and Moggallāna had predeceased the Buddha; (3) Kumāra Kassapa, a prince.

khandha (skandha) ‘Aggregate’: one of the five physical and mental components of that which we regard as ‘ourselves’: rūpa, ‘form’; vedanā, ‘feeling’; saññā (sañjñā), ‘perception’; saṅkhāra (saṃskāra), ‘mental creations’; viññāna (vijñāna), ‘consciousness’.

Kharoṣṭhī (Sanskrit) An early script used in north-west India, particularly in Gāndhārī texts. Unlike Brāhmī, it has no current descendants. It was written from right to left.

Khattiya (Kṣatriya) The second class in the Hindu social system, that of the warriors and princes: the class from which the future Buddha came.

Khemā (Kṣemā) A great Arahat and chief of the nuns, renowned for wisdom: the female counterpart of Sāriputta.

Kumāra Kassapa Kassapa the Prince (or Youth), adopted grandson of King Pasenadi.

mahā ‘Great’, often as a title for an elder sibling (cf. cūḷa), or to distinguish a particularly important holder of a name (e.g. Mahā Moggallāna, Mahā Kassapa – both often written as one word), especially where the name is a fairly common one.

Mahāyāna ‘Great Vehicle’: the form of Buddhist practice based on the Bodhisattva (Bodhisatta) path; by extension, the Northern School of Buddhism, which emphasizes the Mahāyāna path.

Mainstream Buddhism My preferred term (following Paul Harrison 2005) for the early schools of Buddhism from which the Mahāyāna schools broke away.

Māra ‘Death-Causer’: a renegade deity of high rank who seeks to keep beings imprisoned in saṃsāra by tempting them, primarily through lust and fear. His three alluring daughters are named in the commentaries as Ragā (from rāga, ‘Passion’) or Rati (‘Pleasure’), Arati (‘Displeasure’, ‘Aversion’) and Taṇhā (‘Craving’). Like all states within saṃsāra, the role of Māra is subject to impermanence (anicca), and the wrong actions performed by a Māra are liable to bring grievous consequences in subsequent rebirths.

meditation Conventionally used to translate two Buddhist terms, neither of which exactly corresponds to its conventional English meaning: (1) jhāna, a particular kind of concentration-based practice, and (2) bhāvanā (‘causing to be’, ‘bringing into being’), covering all aspects of spiritual development.

mindfulness (sati, Sanskrit smṛti) Awareness: the quality of being present in the moment rather than letting the mind wander elsewhere – an important aspect of meditation, often paired with concentration.

Moggallāna (Maudgalyāyana) A great Arahat (often referred to as Mahā Moggallāna or Mahāmoggallāna – ‘Moggallāna the Great’) – famous for his psychic powers, and, with Sāriputta, one of the two chief monks.

nibbāna (nirvāṇa) The freedom attained by Arahats, Paccekabuddhas and Buddhas. During their lifetimes they still experience a remnant of suffering, through the physical body and its attendant ills, but on death (called parinibbāna, because it is different from the deaths of other beings) they attain complete freedom from suffering, and are reborn no more.

Noble As in ‘Noble Truths’, ‘Noble Eightfold Path’: translation of ariya (ārya), elsewhere a word with connotations of high birth or social class, but in Buddhist texts used to refer to high attainments and the knowledge and practices that lead to such attainments (see the story of Ariya in the note on v. 270).

Noble Ones Used of Stream-Enterers, Once-Returners, Non-Returners, Arahats, Paccekabuddhas and Buddhas, it implies experience of the unconditioned.

Non-Return The attainment of a Non-Returner (anāgāmin). See Higher Stages.

Once-Return The attainment of a Once-Returner (sakadāgāmin). See Higher Stages.

Paccekabuddha (Pratyekabuddha) ‘Private Buddha’, ‘Individual Buddha’: an enlightened being who, unlike the Fully Awakened Buddha, is not a world-teacher, and does not found a Saṅgha.

pāda ‘Foot’ or ‘quarter’, one of the half-lines of traditional Indian verse. Most Dhammapada verses contain four pādas; some, such as vv. 1, 2, 7, 8 and 20, have six.

parinibbāna (parinirvāṇa) The complete freedom (nibbāna) attained by awakened beings on death. In the case of the Buddha it is often called the Mahāparinibbāna (Mahāparinirvāṇa).

Pasenadi (Prasenajit) King of Kosala, mentioned in the Canon and prominent in the stories of the Dhammapada Commentary.

peta (preta) ‘One who has passed away/died’ – a type of ghost. In the Commentary, a term particularly applied to a being in one of the lower kinds of rebirth who is suffering the results of some serious wrong action.

Pure Abodes (Pali suddhāvāsa, Sanskrit śuddhāvāsa) One of the heavens of the Brahmā gods.

Rains Retreat (vassa) Three months of the year, beginning around July, when monks are expected not to wander but to stay in one place. The Buddha is said to have given this Vinaya rule so that monks would not damage growing crops by walking through the fields during the rainy season. The period is observed as a retreat, with extra time set aside for study and meditation.

Refuges, Three (Pali tisaraṇa, Sanskrit triśaraṇa) Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha, the ‘triple gem’ (tiratana, Sanskrit triratna) to which Buddhists make their commitment.

sakadāgāmin (sakṛdāgāmin) ‘Once-Returner’: someone who has attained the second of the Higher Stages. He or she has abandoned the first three of the fetters (saṃyojana) and weakened the next two, and after death will be reborn in this world only once more.

Sakka (Śakra, ‘Powerful’, but in Sanskrit more commonly known as Indra) Thunderbolt-wielding sky god, ruler of the Thirty-Three Gods in the Tāvatiṃsa heaven.

sal (Pali sāla, Sanskrit śāla) A tall forest tree (Shorea robusta) found throughout South and South East Asia: the species of tree under which both the birth and the parinibbāna of the Buddha took place.

samaṇa (śramaṇa) Literally, ‘striver’: a wandering spiritual seeker, practising outside the conventional stages of life, often paired (and contrasted) with the Brāhmaṇa (Brahmin). In the Dhammapada, it is used more or less as a synonym for bhikkhu. Possibly the origin of the word ‘shaman’: see Introduction, n. 80.

samatha (śamatha) Calm, especially of a way of meditation based on developing wholesome states of concentration (jhāna). With vipassanā, one of the two basic forms of meditation in the Buddhist tradition.

saṃsāra The conditioned universe in which beings die and are reborn. All realms, from the highest heavens to the lowest hells, are part of saṃsāra, and all are liable to their own particular kinds of suffering. Only those who attain nibbāna become free of it.

Saṅgha The Community, with a number of shades of meaning. (1) Any of the four communities of the followers of the Buddha: those of monks (bhikkhu-saṅgha), nuns (bhikkhunī-saṅgha), laymen (upāsaka-saṅgha) and laywomen (upāsikā-saṅgha). (2) In common usage, often used by itself to refer to the bhikkhu-saṅgha. (3) The Buddhist community as a whole (probably a modern usage). (4) As the third of the Refuges, the community of all those beings who have attained the Higher Stages and serve as an example and inspiration to all Buddhists.

saṅkhāra (saṃskāra) The process of conditioning and anything created by conditions; specifically, (conditioned) mental states, viewed as a component of what is generally experienced as ‘self’ (khandha).

Sāriputta (Śāriputra/Śāliputra/Śāradvatīputra) The chief Arahat, nicknamed ‘the General of the Dhamma’ (dhammasenāpati), famous for his wisdom and knowledge of the Abhidhamma, but also for his kindness in training novice monks. Curiously, unlike other great Arahats such as Moggallāna and Kassapa, he never seems to be referred to with a Mahā (‘Great’) in front of his name: perhaps he was considered so unmistakable that it was not felt necessary.

Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta ‘Sutta on the Setting Up of Mindfulness’: a discourse on practising meditation through observing the body, feelings etc. (Majjhima Nikāya 1.55–68 (Sutta 10)).

sāvaka (śrāvaka) Disciple (literally ‘hearer’), a committed follower of the Buddha, especially one who has attained one of the Higher Stages.

seṭṭhi (śreṣṭhin) Translated in the notes as ‘banker’, the seṭṭhi is a prominent figure in the Dhammapada Commentary, with Anāthapiṇḍika as the supreme example. There is some controversy about the role of the seṭṭhi: was he a wealthy merchant, a moneylender, the head of a guild, or a royal appointee? The descriptions in the texts seem to combine aspects of all these, and we find the word variously translated as ‘treasurer’, ‘guildmaster’, or even ‘millionaire’. In the Dhammapada Commentary, the seṭṭhi appears at times to have a magical power over money, as a result of acts of generosity in previous lives. (See Fišer 1954; Fick 1920: 257–66.)

signs, three The characteristics of all existence in saṃsāra: anicca (impermanence), dukkha (suffering) and anattā (no-self). Contemplation of these signs leads to insight.

sotāpanna (śrotrāpanna) ‘Stream-Enterer’ or ‘Stream-Winner’: one who has abandoned the first three fetters (saṃyojana), and is irrevocably destined to liberation in, at most, seven lives.

Śrāvakayāna (Sanskrit) ‘Vehicle of the Disciples [cf. sāvaka]’, i.e. of the Arahats and those who have attained the other Higher Stages. When used to denote non-Mahāyāna Buddhism, it is a politer term than ‘Hīnayāna’ (‘Lesser Vehicle’), but still not entirely satisfactory as a description of early Mainstream Buddhism, or of modern-day practice in the Theravāda tradition.

Stream-Entry The attainment of a Stream-Enterer (sotāpanna). See Higher Stages. Burlingame (1921: passim) somewhat distractingly uses the expression ‘Conversion’ for this stage.

sukha ‘Happiness’, ‘bliss’: linguistically, the opposite of dukkha. Buddhism does not deny the possibility of happiness, but points out that all forms of happiness dependent on conditioned things are subject to impermanence (anicca) and alloyed with dukkha. (Even rebirth in a heavenly realm will end eventually, leading to grief.) Only the freedom of nibbāna brings true happiness. (See Dhammapada Chapter 15, especially vv. 197–205.)

Tantra ‘Loom’, ‘framework’, ‘treatise’: (1) the name of certain texts, both Hindu and Buddhist; (2) the teachings embodied in these texts: a way of spiritual practice that seeks to use the body and its drives as a means to liberation by transforming, rather than rejecting, them. It is viewed as a rapid but dangerous path, characterized by transgressive rituals, which are practised in reality (in ‘left-handed’ forms of Tantra), or symbolically (in ‘right-handed’ forms). Tantra (of the right-handed kind) plays a powerful role in Vajrayāna Buddhism, and its influence is pervasive in the art and ritual of Tibetan Buddhism.

Tathāgata ‘Thus-gone’, a title used for Fully Awakened Buddhas. The meaning has been debated, but it probably suggests ‘one who has gone by the same path as all the Buddhas of the past’.

Tāvatiṃsa (Trāyastriṃśa) ‘[Heaven] of the Thirty-Three’: the realm ruled by Sakka, a place of great beauty and pleasure, where nymphs (accharā) and celestial musicians (gandhabba) attend those who have performed acts of merit. In the Buddhist view, this is a fairly lowly heaven, in comparison with, for example, the Brahmā realms: but in any case, all heavens, like everything else in saṃsāra, are impermanent.

Theravāda (Sthaviravāda) ‘Doctrine of the Elders’, the Buddhism of present-day Sri Lanka and South East Asia, based on the early Mainstream Buddhism tradition.

Thirty-Three Gods Deities of a similar kind to the Olympian gods of classical myth: gods of sun, moon, fire, wind etc., living in the Tāvatiṃsa heaven.

Tipiṭaka (Tripiṭaka) ‘Three Baskets’, the Buddhist canonical scriptures, consisting of Vinaya, Sutta and Abhidhamma collections.

Tissa (Tiṣya) A fairly common name for men, including several monks, in the commentarial stories.

Tusita (Tuṣita) ‘Joyful [heaven]’, where future Buddhas are said to live just before their final birth on earth. According to Theravāda tradition, the Buddha’s mother, who died after giving birth to him, was reborn here, and he visited her there one year for the Rains Retreat, teaching the Abhidhamma for the first time to her and the other deities.

udāna An inspired utterance of the Buddha (or of one of his followers, endorsed by him), often in verse; also used of a collection of such utterances.

unconditioned, the (Pali asaṅkhata, Sanskrit asaṃskṛta) Nibbāna, as being free from conditions (saṅkhāras)

uposatha (upavasatha) Literally, ‘fast’: the full moon, new moon and two half-moon days of each month, when the monastic community meet together and laypeople often visit monasteries and devote the day to spiritual practice.

Uppalavaṇṇā (Utpalavarṇā) A great Arahat and, with Khemā, one of the two chief nuns. Skilled in psychic powers, she is the female counterpart of Moggallāna.

Vajrayāna (Sanskrit) ‘Vehicle of the Diamond/Thunderbolt’: the Tantric form of Buddhism (cf. Tantra), influential in the Tibetan tradition.

Veda The most ancient scriptures of South Asia. Their authority, basic to the Hindu tradition, was rejected by the Buddhists and Jains.

Vinaya The disciplinary code for Buddhist monks and nuns, and the collection of scriptures (see Tipiṭaka) dealing with it.

vipassanā (Buddhist Sanskrit vipaśyanā) Insight, especially of a way of meditation, based on observing the changes in body and mind rather than seeking to control them. With samatha, one of the two basic forms of meditation in Buddhism.

yakkha (fem. yakkhinī) (yakṣa, fem. yakṣī/yakṣiṇī) A nature spirit, often associated with trees. In stories, the females are often portrayed as man-eaters, in every sense of the word.

Yoga Literally ‘application’, ‘yoke’, ‘union’, from yuj-, ‘to join’, ‘to yoke’, ‘to apply oneself’. In Asian religions, any way of spiritual practice, not necessarily one involving particular physical postures. In the Dhammapada, it seems to refer either to the Buddhist path in general or specifically to the practice of meditation.

Glossary