afflictions. Mental factors that disturb the tranquility of the mind. These include disturbing emotions and wrong views.
afflictive obscurations. Obscurations that mainly prevent liberation; afflictions, their seeds, and polluted karma.
arhat. Someone who has eradicated all afflictive obscurations and is liberated from samsara.
arya. Someone who has directly and nonconceptually realized the emptiness of inherent existence.
bodhicitta. A main mental consciousness induced by an aspiration to bring about others’ welfare and accompanied by an aspiration to attain full awakening oneself.
bodhisattva. Someone who has spontaneous bodhicitta whenever he or she encounters a sentient being.
Buddha. A fully awakened being who has abandoned all obscurations completely and developed all excellent qualities limitlessly.
cognitive obscurations. Obscurations that mainly prevent full awakening.
collection of merit. A bodhisattva’s practice of the method aspect of the path that accumulates merit.
compassion. The wish for sentient beings to be free from all duhkha and its causes.
cyclic existence (samsara). The cycle of rebirth that occurs under the control of afflictions and karma.
Dharma. (1) The Buddha’s teachings. (2) True cessations and true paths that are one of the Three Jewels.
duhkha. Unsatisfactory experiences of cyclic existence.
emptiness. The lack of inherent existence, lack of independent existence.
full awakening. Buddhahood; the state where all obscurations have been abandoned and all good qualities developed limitlessly.
ignorance. A mental factor that is obscured and grasps the opposite of what exists. There are two types: ignorance regarding reality that is the root of samsara, and ignorance regarding karma and its effects.
karma. Volitional action.
liberation. The state of freedom from cyclic existence.
Mahayana. A collection of sutras and a way of practice that emphasizes attaining full awakening in order to benefit all sentient beings.
merit. Good karma.
mind. The clear, immaterial and aware part of living beings that cognizes, experiences, thinks, feels, and so on.
monastic. Someone who has received monastic ordination; a monk or nun.
nirvana. The cessation of afflictive obscurations and the rebirth in samsara that they cause.
pratimoksha. The different sets of ethical precepts that assist in attaining liberation.
samsara. The cycle of rebirth that occurs under the control of afflictions and karma.
Sangha. (1) One of the Three Jewels that is a reliable guide on the path; (2) The monastic community consisting of four or more fully ordained monks or nuns.
sentient being (sattva). Any being with a mind that is not free from pollutants; i.e., a being who is not a Buddha. This includes ordinary beings as well as arhats and bodhisattvas.
Tathagata. A Buddha.
Theravada. The predominant form of Buddhism practiced today in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and so forth.
Vinaya. Monastic discipline; the scriptures that present the monastic discipline.