Glossary
This is a glossary of Sanskrit and specialist words found throughout this resource. Please note that the spellings of many of these Sanskrit words can vary and are often written using diacritic marks. A diacritic is a mark added to a letter to indicate how it should be pronounced or stressed. Some common examples of these include dots e.g. ạ or bars e.g. ā. Throughout this resource, we have written these words without diacritics, but both spellings can be viewed below where applicable.
| Word | With diacritics | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Abidharma | The third of the ‘Three baskets’ (tripitaka) of Buddhist scripture, these are Theravada texts concerned with the philosophical elaboration of the teachings in the sutras. | |
| Anitya | ‘Impermanence.’ The concept that everything undergoes change. In meditation the concept is applied to one’s own physical and mental constituents. | |
| Arhat | The name used in the Theravada for a monk who has achieved enlightenment. | |
| Avalokitesvara | Avalokiteśvara | The name of one of the most popular of the bodhisattvas, who is the embodiment of compassion. Known in Chinese as Guanyin and in Tibetan as Chenrezig. |
| Bodhisattva | In Theravada Buddhism, the name for a person on the path to enlightenment, often used for the previous lives of the Buddha. In Mahayana Buddhism, a fully enlightened being who remains in samsara through compassion for others. Some bodhisattvas such as Avalokitesvara are the object of prayers and devotional rituals. | |
| Brahmi | Brāhmī | The ancient script from which most Indic scripts and the Tibetan script developed. In Central Asia a late form of Brahmi is found in many manuscripts in the Sanskrit, Khotanese and Kuchean languages. |
| Buddha | ‘The Awakened One’. The name used in all Buddhist schools for the founder of the religion, Siddhartha Gautama, the prince who renounced the world, attained enlightenment and taught the Dharma. | |
| Dharma | The whole of the Buddha’s teachings and the commentaries upon them. | |
| Dharmapada | A collection of teachings attributed to the Buddha, popular in the Theravada schools. Often better known by its Pali name, Dhammapada. | |
| Dhyana | Dhyāna | A state of absorption in meditation. In Theravada Buddhism there are four levels of dhyana. The names Chan, a Chinese school, and Zen a Japanese school, are both derived from dhyana. |
| Duhkha | Duḥkha | The condition of suffering, which is, according to the Buddha, experienced by all beings in samsara. |
| Gandhara | Gandhāra | A region in what is now Northwest Pakistan which was once the centre of the Kushana empire. The language in use in the Kushan empire, and derived from Sanskrit, is known as Gandhari. Manuscripts in Gandhari, written in the Kharosthi script, have been found in modern Afghanistan and Central Asia. The style of Buddhist art which developed in this region, influenced by Hellenistic models, is known as Gandharan. |
| Jataka | Jātaka | A collection of stories, especially popular in Theravada Buddhism, illustrating Buddhist principles. Many of the stories concern events in the previous lives of the Buddha. |
| Kanishka | Kaniṣka | The Kushan king who reigned during the first half of the 2nd century CE and became a patron of Buddhism, assisting its transmission into Central Asia. |
| Karma | The results of actions. Buddhists believe that every action produces a result for the one who performed it, which may come in this life or after death, determining the nature of future rebirths. | |
| Karuna | Karuṇā | Compassion. A quality particularly stressed in Mahayana Buddhism, where the bodhisattva must develop compassion for all sentient beings. |
| Kharosthi | Kharoṣṭhī | A script used in the writing of documents in the Gandhari language in the Kushan empire. Unlike Brahmi, it did not survive or develop into other scripts. |
| Madhyamaka | Mādhyamika | Literally, ‘Middle Way’. A philosophical school within Mahayana Buddhism, which is concerned with the nature of emptiness or sunyata. |
| Mandala | Maṇḍala | A symmetrical design, usually with a deity at its centre, used in Vajrayana Buddhism. |
| Mantra | A group of syllables or words recited in meditation in Vajrayana Buddhism. | |
| Mahayana | Mahāyāna | ‘The Great Vehicle’. A movement in Buddhism that became popular from the beginning of the 1st millennium CE. |
| Maitreya | The Buddha of the future. | |
| Manjusri | Mañjuśrī | A bodhisattva that embodies wisdom. He is often depicted riding on a lion. In China, he is associated with Wutai Mountain in Shaanxi Province. |
| Mathura | Mathurā | A style of Indian Buddhist art which, along with the Gandharan style, was in use in the Kushan empire. |
| Mudra | Mudrā | Hand-gestures used in many of the rituals of the Vajrayana. |
| Nalanda | Nālānda | The largest and most important of the monastic universities in India. Nalanda was active from the 5th century CE until the end of the twelfth century, when it was destroyed by Muslim invaders. |
| Nirvana | Nirvāṇa | The ultimate goal of a Buddhist, the state of enlightenment achieved by a Buddha. Although it usually held to be beyond description, it is contrasted with the state of suffering experienced by sentient beings in samsara. |
| Parinirvana | Parinirvāṇa | The Buddha’s final passing away into Nirvaāṉa. |
| Punya | Puṇya | ‘Merit’. In Buddhism, it is necessary to accrue merit in order to obtain enlightenment. There are many meritorious activities. Examples are the circumambulation of stupas, the lighting of butter-lamps on shrines and the giving of alms to Buddhist monks. |
| Samsara | Saṃsāra | The state of suffering (duhkha) which, according to the Buddha, is experienced by sentient beings in an endless cycle of birth, death and rebirth. |
| Sangha | Saṅgha | In the Theravada, the Sangha is the community of Buddhist monks. In Mahayana Buddhism the Sangha may also include the lay Buddhist community. |
| Sunyata | Śūnyatā | ‘Emptiness’. The doctrine that nothings exists in itself but only in dependence on causes and conditions. |
| Sravakayana | Śrāvakayāna | A name for the type of Buddhism found in the earlier schools, such as the Sarvastivada. Here we have used the term Theravada instead. |
| Sutra | Sūtra | Buddhist Scriptures. The sutras comprise the first of the ‘three baskets’ (tripitaka) of the Buddhist scriptures. In Theravada Buddhism they generally recount the words of the Buddha, while in Mahayana Buddhism the main speaker may be a bodhisattva. |
| Stupa | Stūpa | A structure built as an object of worship, often said to contain a relic of the Buddha or another important Buddhist figure. The design of stupas varies through the different cultures in which Buddhism has been present. The circumambulation of stupas (walking around them in a circle) is a popular way of accumulating merit. |
| Tantra | The name for the scriptures of the Vajrayana. The largest collections of tantras are in the Tibetan canonical collections. | |
| Tathagatagarbha | Tathāgatagarbha | ‘Buddha nature’. The essence of enlightenment, which, according to some Mahayana traditions, exists in every sentient being. |
| Theravada | Theravāda | One of the Sravakayana schools, and the only surviving school. Its largest presence today is in Southeast Asia. |
| Tripitaka | Tripiṭaka | Meaning ‘Three baskets.’ Also known as the Pali Canon, these are the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism, which are categorised into the sutra (or agama), the vinaya, and the abhidharma. |
| Vairocana Buddha | The cosmic Buddha. He is often recognisable by the symbols of sun and moon and seated Buddhas on his body. | |
| Vajrayana | Vajrayāna | A method of Buddhist practice based on the tantras, usually considered to be a form of the Mahayana. |
| Vinaya | Vajrayāna | The second of the ‘Three Baskets’ (tripitaka) of Buddhist scripture, these are Theravada texts concerned with the rules of monastic discipline. Since Mahayana Buddhism did not develop a distinctive monastic code, the vinaya is also used by Mahayana monasteries. |
| Yoga | A name for certain meditation practices, especially those taught in the Vajrayana based on the tantras. |
