Included here are short definitions of Buddhist terms as well as some of my own terminology, as used in this book. All non-English terms are in Sanskrit, except where noted.
AWAKENING The process of (a) waking up from unconscious tendencies, beliefs, reactions, and self-concepts that function automatically and keep us imprisoned in a narrow view of who we are and what life is about; and (b) waking up to our true nature as the free and spontaneous, transparent presence of being.
AWARENESS As used in this book, this term points to something much larger than the ordinary meaning of “I am aware that . . .” Awareness here indicates the very essence of the mind—a larger, direct knowing that is not dependent on concepts. This nonconceptual awareness is the larger, fluid, dynamic, expansive ocean that both underlies and constitutes all the various mind waves of thought and feeling.
Awareness in this larger sense is self-existing, for it is always present as the very core of our experience and thus cannot be fabricated. It also has its own experiential qualities of clarity, presence, energy, responsiveness, alertness, fluidity, spaciousness, and warmth.
BASIC GOODNESS The translation of a Tibetan term that refers to the wholesome nature of our being, as well as the intrinsic wonder and delight of reality when things are seen in their suchness. This is not a Pollyanna term meant to gloss over the evil, greed, and aggression in human behavior; instead, it signifies the unconditional awakeness and responsiveness that constitute our very essence. Basic goodness is nonconceptual and unconditional, having nothing to do with concepts of good versus bad. It is what we perceive when the doors of our perception are cleansed of egocentric fixation, bias, and grasping.
BEING A Western term that indicates our fundamental, essential nature, which is a living presence within us. As the Indian teacher Poonja said, “Being is presence. To recognize this is wisdom and freedom.” As a noun, the word being can sound static or abstract. But if we consider it as a verb form—be-ing—it denotes the living process that we are, an immediate coming-into-presence and engaging with what is. This nameless, formless presence—in, around, behind, and between all our particular thoughts and experiences—is what the Eastern traditions regard as our true nature, or home ground, and the Western traditions regard as the essential self or holy spirit. Because being is present in all things, our being is also, in Thich Nhat Hanh’s words, interbeing. (In this book I avoid capitalizing being except in cases where the syntax could otherwise be confusing.)
BODHICHITTA Although this term has different specific meanings in different Buddhist contexts and traditions, it generally refers to the mind that is turned toward awakening. Sometimes translated as “the mind of enlightenment” or “awakened heart,” this term is also usually associated with compassion and the genuine desire to help others. In many contexts it means the aspiration to awaken fully to our true nature, so that one can help others also awaken in this way.
BODY-MIND See MIND.
BUDDHA-NATURE Literally, our awake nature, embryonically present in all human beings. Although most people do not recognize their fundamentally awake nature, it nonetheless remains active and alive behind the scenes.
COEMERGENCE A term from the Mahamudra tradition that indicates the tendency of absolute and relative, clarity and confusion, true nature and ego to arise together as two inseparable aspects of human experience. From this perspective, the self-referential ego is not some separate principle, but only a limited version of true nature. Therefore, it need not be rejected, but can instead be transmuted into its essence, which is buddha-nature.
DHARMA The way reality works, the basic law of the universe. It also refers to the teachings about the nature of reality, as in the term Buddhadharma.
DZOGCHEN (Tibetan) Literally, the great completion or perfection. The ultimate nondual teaching found in the Tibetan tradition, oriented toward the pure nature of nonconceptual awareness. Dzogchen is often known as the path of self-liberation because it emphasizes allowing whatever arises in one’s experience to arise just as it is without reacting to it in any way; when one can meet one’s experience in this fresh, nonreactive way, it spontaneously releases any fixation or tension, revealing itself as none other than pure awareness itself.
EGO In this book I use this term broadly, to refer to the habitual activity of grasping onto images and concepts of oneself, an activity that separates us from our true nature. In Western psychology, ego has many different meanings, but generally refers to (a) the managerial capacity of the psyche that balances different impulses and demands and governs worldly functioning, and/or (b) the self-representational capacity that maintains a stable self-image and thus a consistent, continuous sense of self. Eastern and Western psychology could probably agree on a broad definition of ego as a fabricated or constructed sense of self, which provides a sense of control that we seem to need in our early development for survival and protection (see chapter 3).
EGOLESSNESS A translation of the Buddhist term anatman, which literally means no-self. This term is not meant to deny the conventional existence of a functional, working ego or self, but rather to point beyond it to our larger being, which is inherently free of egoic self-concern. Egolessness, then, is the ground of ego, just as an open hand is the basis for making a fist. In this analogy, the hand is more basic, more fundamental, more real than the fist, which is only a transitory contraction that arises out of the open hand (see chapter 3).
EMPTINESS This term, which has many levels of meaning in different Buddhist contexts and traditions, does not refer to some thing that can be pinned down, or to a definite attribute of things, like hot or cold, large or small. Emptiness is a word that points to what is beyond all words and concepts—the dimension of reality that cannot be pinned down as something definite, solid, fixed, unchanging, or graspable. It is the spacious boundlessness of being, or in Herbert Guenther’s term, “the open dimension of being.” It is being experienced as spaciousness, which is both pregnant with possibilities and intrinsically free of conceptual obscurations. Because it is what allows things to be, to manifest as what they are, it is also a fullness. And because of this spacious quality of being, no mental fixation or emotional compulsion can finally stick to us. Therefore, it forms the basis for spiritual liberation and awakening.
Other terms that approximate the meaning of emptiness: fathomlessness, expansiveness, the undefinable, the unknown or unknowable, ever-changingness, potentiality.
HEART Our basic openness and responsiveness to reality, which expresses itself in human tenderness and warmth. Heart is one possible way to translate the Buddhist term BODHICHITTA. In contrast to soul, which unfolds in time and space, like a seed developing its potential, heart is like the sun—already full and radiant.
IDENTITY A self-concept fashioned out of our childhood relations with others, which we identify with, imagining that it accurately represents who we are. This is like looking in a mirror and taking the image we see there as an accurate and complete picture of who we are, instead of recognizing that it is only a partial, superficial image of our bodily form. The identity structure is generally comprised of two halves: the conscious identity—a positive image of self that we actively try to promote in order to compensate for an underlying subconscious identity—a sense of deficiency that we try to cover up because it threatens our security and self-esteem.
IDENTITY PROJECT The continual attempt to establish our conscious identity as something solid, definite, and worthwhile. This is an endless project because identity is only a mental concept and can thus never be finally established. Part of the driving force behind the identity project is our need to establish and prove our conscious identity in order to counteract a subconscious, deficient identity that is threatening. For example, “I am in control” covers up the underlying fear that “I am helpless”; “I am independent” covers up “I am too needy”; and so on.
INDIVIDUATION The path of embodying our absolute true nature in an individual way that expresses our unique calling and unique gifts. Becoming a fully developed individual involves cultivating a whole range of our basic human resources, which exist as seed potentials within us, but which are often blocked by unconscious psychological patterns. Individuation in this sense has nothing to do with individualism—compulsively defending and reinforcing our separate individuality. Instead, it involves forging a vessel—the authentic individual—through which we can bring absolute true nature into form—the “form” of our person. The authentic individual is fully transparent to the larger ground of being.
KARMA The chain of cause and effect, conditioned responses, and habitual patterns. More specifically, the transmission of tendencies from one mind-moment to the next, the process of one thing leading to another, usually without much consciousness on our part. The path of awakening is often seen as a process of bringing consciousness to bear on this unconscious functioning of habitual patterns from the past, so that they no longer rule our life.
KAYA Literally, body; used in Buddhism to refer to the three bodies of the Buddha, the three ways in which reality manifests: as form (nirmanakaya), energy (samboghakaya), and space (dharmakaya) (see introduction to part 1).
KLESHA Emotional fixations that accompany the activity of ego clinging, namely, pride, aggression, greed, jealousy, and indifference.
MAHAMUDRA Literally, the great gesture. The complete, spontaneous opening to reality as it is through recognizing reality as no different from oneself, no different from the awareness that is opening to it, so that there is complete interpenetration of self and world. Mahamudra also refers to the Vajrayana tradition that practices this teaching.
MAITRI Loving-kindness, unconditional friendliness; the willingness to allow ourselves to feel what we feel and have the experience we are having, without judging ourselves for it. This is the basis for real growth and change, for as long as we stand in judgment of ourselves, we remain divided and cannot move forward in any wholesome, unified way.
MIND As generally used in this book, this term refers to the whole of our experiencing, not just mental functioning. What we usually call mind in the West refers to the surface level of conceptual activity. Yet beyond the conceptual mind we also can find two larger levels of mind always operating. Body-mind is a more subtle, holistic way of sensing, knowing, and interacting with reality that usually operates outside the range of normal consciousness. At this level, I am not just my fleshly body, not just my thoughts, not just my feelings, and not just my bounded ego, but a larger field of energy, which is intimately interconnected with the whole of reality and can therefore tap into subtler ways of knowing and being. Body-mind is a bridge between the form-oriented functioning of surface mind and the deeper, formless dimension of big mind, nonconceptual awareness. Nonconceptual awareness is the larger essence of mind itself, an eternal, living presence that gives rise to all the mind activity at the other two levels. These three levels of mind correspond to the gross, subtle, and causal bodies in certain esoteric systems and to the three KAYAS in Buddhist psychology (see part 1 introduction, and chapter 4).
MINDFULNESS Clear attention to what is happening in one’s MINDSTREAM, in one’s activity, or in the environment. This involves noticing what is happening without reacting to it or becoming identified with it. Mindfulness meditation is a practice that deliberately cultivates this kind of nonreactive witnessing.
MINDSTREAM The ongoing stream of mind activity, whose dynamic is an alternation between movement and stillness, between differentiated mind-moments (thought, feeling, sensation, and perception) and undifferentiated mind-moments (open spaces, gaps, silence, and nondoing) that point to the larger, unconditional stillness of the ground of being, which lies behind the mindstream altogether.
NONDUAL Refers to the highest level of the Eastern spiritual teachings, which emphasize that our relative self is not essentially different or separate from the absolute ground of being, the true nature of all things. Nondual teachings take the absolute perspective, where individual differences are recognized but not regarded as fundamental. For example, there are countless forms of gold jewelry in existence, yet they are all fundamentally gold. Whether we judge their particular shapes and forms beautiful or ugly does not alter the fact that they are all equally gold.
Thus, from a nondual perspective, personal and suprapersonal, body and mind, individual and universal, matter and spirit, are only different expressions of a more primary, fundamental reality, which, strictly speaking, cannot even be named. Because this fundamental reality is our very nature, we cannot stand back from it and objectify it.
NONMEDITATION A term from the DZOGCHEN tradition that refers to completely resting, without meditation technique, in the pure, transparent presence of self-existing awareness. From this perspective, formal meditation methods still remain within the sphere of conceptual mind because they involve some directed intention or method. Nonmeditation is the fruition of meditation practice and goes beyond the conceptual mind altogether.
OBJECT RELATIONS A technical term that refers to the self/other imprints that form in the course of our development and shape our sense of identity. To say that our identity is based on object relations means that it is constructed out of our reaction to how significant others saw us, treated us, and responded to us.
Every object relation consists of three elements: a view of other, a view of self in relation to other, and a feeling that accompanies this particular relation. For example, if we see our parents as caring and supportive, we may develop a view of ourselves as worthwhile, and the corresponding feeling might be confidence or self-respect. If our parents are abusive, we may come to see others as threatening and ourselves as a victim, and our life may be permeated by a mood of fear, distrust, or paranoia. From this perspective, every view of other implies a view of self, and every view of self implies a view of other. A less technical term I use for object relations is self/other setups.
ONTOLOGY The study of being. An ontological approach looks at things in light of our essential being, rather than in light of more contingent conditions that have shaped us. Psychology, by contrast, is the study of developmental, environmental, temperamental, and organic conditions that shape human life, in contrast to the more fundamental perspective of ontology, the study of being itself and how it infuses our life.
OPEN GROUND, OPEN SPACE The fundamentally open nature of awareness underlying all conditioned states of mind. This open background awareness—somewhat analogous to the screen on which a film is projected—can be glimpsed in the spaces between thoughts and moments of mind fixation. Meditation provides a more formal way of noticing these gaps in the MINDSTREAM.
PERSON When I use the term true or authentic person, I am referring to the way in which absolute true nature can manifest and express itself in a uniquely personal way. The person in this sense is the uniquely human vehicle through which true nature shines. It is not a solid, substantial structure, but rather a particular quality of presence. The true person develops through inner work, through stripping away the dross—the conditioning and obscurations that prevent us from embodying our individual seed potentials. The true person is the fruition of the process of individuation. Person is the outer manifestation of this fruition—how we manifest. SOUL is the inner manifestation—how we are. The true person is the capacity for personal presence, personal contact, and personal love—which makes it possible for personal intimacy to become a transformative path.
PERSONALITY The whole complex of our conditioned nature, including the managerial ego, the ego identity, and all the habitual patterns that arise out of taking ourselves to be this identity. Conditioned personality is thus quite different from the true person.
PHENOMENOLOGY Literally, the study of phenomena; the study of the structure of experience and how it works. Thus, a phenomenological psychology does not start with theories or hypotheses but stays very close to experience. Its concepts are experience-near. For example, defining ego as the synthesizing activity of the psyche is not phenomenological, because we cannot actually experience this synthesizing activity. Ego in this definition is merely a theoretical construct, what the philosopher F. S. C. Northrup calls a concept by postulation. Defining ego as the activity of grasping, by contrast, is phenomenological because we can actually experience this grasping activity as a tension in the mind and in the body. This is what Northrup calls a concept by intuition.
Of course, concepts by postulation have their place and their usefulness. But in the realm of psychology they can become problematic, especially when they are jumbled together with experiential realities. The psychoanalytic concept of ego, for example, is often confusing because it mixes hypothetical and experiential elements together.
SAMSARA The way that the mind creates a deluded view of reality through mistaken or false ideas. In Tibetan, this terms implies “going around in circles.” Samsara is the confusion and suffering that results from not recognizing our true nature, but instead basing our life on the fiction of the constructed self, imagining that our thoughts about who we are represent reality.
SKANDHAS Literally, aggregates of tendencies that form the building blocks of EGO. These five constituents of ego activity include: form (the tendency to contract against the open ground and solidify self as separate from other, as well as separate from Being itself), feeling (taking positions for or against, based on that initial split), impulse (grasping, rejecting, ignoring), conceptualization (developing elaborate story lines and beliefs about self and other), and consciousness (the ongoing stream of mind activity, the busy mind).
SOUL Our true nature as it unfolds and individuates in time and space, soul is, in Rumi’s words, “a growing consciousness.” In Aurobindo’s words it is a “spark of the divine” that contains a double yearning: (a) to connect with our ground, to realize our deeper essence as pure, open presence; and (b) to embody our larger nature in this world, to know ourselves in this human form. Thus, soul is an intermediate principle or bridge, which allows a living integration between the two sides of our nature: the individual and the universal, the embodied realm of personal experience and the formless presence of pure being.
Soul is like a seed, an embryonic potential of authentic humanness that may or may not sprout and develop in a given individual. In this sense, soul needs to be cultivated if it is to reach its full potential. Soul is the inner side of the authentic person.
SUCHNESS The pure, ineffable isness of things, which can only be known directly and wordlessly. For example, how could anyone ever put into words the particular youness of you, the quality of your unique presence, which no one else manifests in just the same way? Suchness means as it is in itself, just so.
TANTRA, TANTRIC BUDDHISM Tantra literally means continuity, referring to the continuity and coemergence of absolute and relative truth, heaven and earth, spirit and matter, emptiness and form, awakening and SAMSARA. From the Tantric perspective, samsara and awakening are woven together as two sides of one cloth. That is why confused emotions and mind-states can suddenly transform into awakened consciousness, and why Tantra is known as the path of transformation. Therefore, one does not have to try to escape or avoid impurity, confusion, pain, darkness, aggression, fear, and all the other difficult states. In fact, the more one flees these states or tries to fix them, the more one distances oneself from the potential awakening hidden within them. See also VAJRAYANA.
TRANSMUTATION A process of psychological transformation that involves dissolving negative, harmful states of mind back into their true nature as pure, awake AWARENESS.
TRUE NATURE That which is intrinsic and unconditioned; roughly synonymous with BUDDHA-NATURE and ground of being. This term is an attempt to name the unnamable. Our essential nature is a presence that we can directly experience but cannot capture in words, any more than we can really describe what a peach tastes like. For this reason, some Eastern teachers prefer not to use any word to name our fundamental nature, using only the term That.
UNCONDITIONAL PRESENCE The capacity to fully acknowledge, allow, and open to our immediate experience just as it is, without agenda, judgment, or manipulation of any kind. Here we are at one with our experience, without the subject/object barrier. This is an innate capacity of our being, yet we usually have to learn to cultivate it at first, because the habitual tendency of EGO always involves grasping and rejecting, which reinforce separation and counteract authentic presence.
UNDERSTANDING In the context of psychological work, this term is meant to indicate empathic knowing, rather than purely intellectual comprehension. For example, if your child is crying, you can be understanding without having to know the exact cause of the tears: “I can see you’re hurting. I understand you’re having a hard time.” That type of kind understanding is what we need to extend to ourselves when we are caught up in our various conditioned mind-states. As a blend of both wisdom and compassion, it has a clarifying and liberating effect.
VAJRAYANA Literally, the indestructible path; this term is roughly synonymous with TANTRA in the Buddhist tradition. This path is considered indestructible because it works directly with all the energies of the psyche and the phenomenal world, transmuting negative forces and emotions into qualities of awakened AWARENESS. Vajrayana Buddhism developed mainly in Northern India and Tibet, though it can also be found in all the Himalayan countries, as well as in Japan.