Pali glossary

akusala

Bad action (in thinking, in saying, in gesture).

Bad action will be resulting in bad consequence for the person who did it.

anatta

Fact that it cannot be existing by itself.

If a person or a thing exists it’s because of multitude of elements.

anicca

Impermanence.

Everything that arises passes away, nothing can last for ever. Everything is ephemeral.

arahanta

One who has eliminated dirty or impurity of mind.

This person has no more attachment, so he bears no more suffering.

bhikkhu

A man who has left everething in order to devote himself to the the way of wisdom.

We use this term also to designate the members of the Buddha disciples community.

dáyaka

Donator.

A dáyaka is person who gives as donation to monks things they need.

deva

Being who lives in a pleasant world that humans cannot see.

The deva can see human being, they live for a very long time and have extra powers such as remembering their former lives or seeing through the earth.

dhamma

Reality as it is.

What we call dhamma is the teachings of Buddha and all the way which leads to Enlightenment.

dhammadána

Real way of living as a gift (dhamma = real way of living ; dána = gift).

Teaching the dhamma is also a way to do generosity because we give knowledges.

dukkha

Unpleasant, painful.

In life, everything is dukkha, because nothing can bring totl and durable satisfaction.

kamma

Cause and effect law. The link between the action done by an individual and its result.

Everything that happens to us is not by accident. Everyone is responsible of his own acts, one will receive the result of his act (good or bad) according to his merit.

kappiya

A person who performs tasks that the monks are not allowed to do.

A kappiya helps the monks by doing tasks that the monastic rules don’t allowed them to do such as, buying, gathering fruits etc.

karuna

Compassion, kindness.

When we have compassion we’re respectful of all people and of all animals, even insects and we love help all those need help.

kilesá

Dirtiness, default, mental impurity.

Following are some kilesá: Having doubt in dhamma, believing that rituals will bring result, looking for pleasures, having hatred, having pride.

kusala

Good action (in thoughts, by parole or in doing), meritorious act.

All good action will bring back good result to the person who did it.

mettá

Love (without attachment, without desire) Kindliness.

When we have mettá, we wish all happiness to all the people. It’s very important to have and to develop more kindliness.

nibbána

Extinguish of conscience and by consequence all mental impurities.

nibbána is the goal of the dhamma for all the people. It’s the only way to free from samsará. To reach this goal, one needs to develop vipassaná.

paduma

Lotus.

Big and beautiful flowers which grow in the ponds.

páli

Pali.

Pali is a dialect spoken by the Buddha and the people in his country. Pali is did not have a written alphabetic of its own. To write pali we can use other written alphabetic: Burmese, Khmer, or Roman, etc.

páramí

Achievement, maturity of wisdom aspect.

To succeed in practicing the dhamma, we need lots of páramí, which we can develop by doing positive actions in order to make progress in the wisdom aspect.

sádhu

To indicate that we are satisfied with a action or event suitable to dhamma.

Generally, we’re saying the word three time.

samatha

Quietness, serenity.

The meditation samatha is aiming to the concentration on one object for a long period of time so that to develop a higher stat of concentration. This practice bring quietness but not wisdom..

samgha

Community of monks created by the Buddha.

The samgha helps the monks to be in the best conditions to practice Buddhism and also preserve the learning the transmission of dhamma et à les apporter aux autres.

samsará

Endless cycle of lives, deaths and rebirths.

nibbána is the only way to free oneself from samsará.

síla

Vertue, good behaviour, morality.

Virtue is the base of any practice of dhamma. To gain a good síla, one need to observe the 5 precepts.

sutta

Parole which explain the meanings. Sermon. Parole of the Buddha (and his pricipal disciples).

suttas are generally sermons or small stories which explain the points of the Buddha Teaching and the parctice of dhamma.

theraváda

Teaching of Buddha in his original version (thera = old ; váda = tradition, teaching).

The Buddha teaching has been preserved intactly until today thank to an uninterruptible succession of accomplished monks who's stayed loyally to the original community.

vipassaná

Multiple observation, instant by instant. Examining the reality directly.

To develop vipassaná, calling also direct seeing of the reality, we examine thing that we perceive such as we perceive.

yogí

A person who trains to develop the concentration.

A yogí is a person practices meditation or develops the direct vision of the reality.