Glossary of Sanskrit and Pāli Terms
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Glossary of Sanskrit and Pāli Terms Abhiniveśa Clinging to life, will-to-live, an urge for survival, or for self-preservation. Abhyāsa Practice. Ahaṁkāra The ego or self-referencing function of the mind, feelings, and thoughts about self at empirical level. Egoism or self-conceit; the self-arrogating principle “I” that is projected by the mind rather than the real self. Awareness of oneself, or of individuality. Ahiṁsā Nonviolence. Akliṣṭa Unhindered vṛttis (mental actions). Ālaya The subterraine stream of consciousness; self-existent consciousness con- ceived by the Vijñānavādins in Buddhism. Ānanda Bliss. Ānandamaya-kośa The “sheath of bliss”. Aṅga Limb or integral component of a system, such as in aṣṭāṅga (eight limbs) in Patañjali Yoga. Annamaya-kośa “The sheath of food (anna)”; the physical or gross body, nurtured by food; related to esoteric anatomy and physiology. Antaḥkaraṇa Literally means internal instrument, corresponding to what may be called the mind. Aparā Not transcendent; lower or limited; its opposite parā means supreme or superior. Placing an “a” before parā, makes it not superior or lower than. Parā can also mean far away (transcendent) so that aparā may mean empirical and immanent. Appanā The steady concentration leading to a state of absorption (Buddhist psychology). Arhant A high rank of self-realization lower than that of the Buddha. © Author(s) 2016 341 K. Ramakrishna Rao and A.C. Paranjpe, Psychology in the Indian Tradition, DOI 10.1007/978-81-322-2440-2 342 Glossary of Sanskrit and Pāli Terms Arūpaloka Formless world in Buddhism. Āsana Yogic physical posture, especially as recommended in Haṭha Yoga as one of the aids to concentration. Asmitā Ego consciousness; I-ness; the sense of “Iam”; “I exist”. Ātman The individual spirit or self; principle of life and sensation; subjective moment of consciousness; with capital Ā (Ātman), the universal spirit or the Supreme Soul of the universe. Avidyā Generally ignorance, or nescience; ignorance of one’s true nature, mis- taking of appearance for reality. Bhakti Faith, love, or devotion; as a religious principle, a means of salvation together with karma (action) and jñāna (spiritual knowledge). Bhāva Emotion; subjective state of being (existence). Bhavaṅga The foundational base of psychological being in Theravāda Buddhism. It is the ground condition that provides for continuity and identity of the changing states of the mind. Bhoktā One who enjoys and/or suffers; the experiencer of the fruits of one’s actions; subject; one who feels pleasure and pain. Brahmacarya Restraint or abstention from lustful sensuality; celibacy; conti- nence; self-restraint on all levels; discipline. Brahman The Absolute, single and cosmic principle of reality as conceived in the Upaniṣads and in Vedānta; the Supreme Reality that is one and indivisible, ubiquitous, formless, infinite, eternal, and essentially indescribable principle which is said to pervade the universe. It is often described as having three main aspects, namely being, consciousness, and bliss (sat-cit-ānanda); the universal Self. Buddhi According to Sāṁkhya-Yoga, as well as Advaita, one of the three aspects of the inner instrument, or antaḥkaraṇa. It is considered to be the chief instru- ment in one’s cognitive activity. Cetasikas Mental elements divided into four groups in Buddhism. Citta The mind or an aspect of it comprising of not only the cognitive processes and the ego but also instinctual tendencies inherited from previous lives and the effects of past actions in this life (vāsanās and saṁskāras). Dhāraṇā Concentration of mind; a yogic term meaning anchoring the stream of thoughts to a particular object of thought; one of the eight stages of Rāja Yoga; in Patañjali yoga, a step in the course of restraining the processes of consciousness. Glossary of Sanskrit and Pāli Terms 343 Dharma Duty; the righteous way of living, as enjoined by the sacred scriptures and spiritually illumined sages; characteristics; duties appropriate for one’s station in life; doing one’s duties is considered one of the four major goals of life, along with artha, kāma, and mokṣa. Dhyāna (jhāna) Meditation, contemplation, specifically defined in yogic termi- nology as a steady and homogeneous flow of thoughts; the seventh rung in the eight-step ladder of yoga. Ekāgra/Ekāgratā One-pointed focus and concentration. Grāhya An object of cognition or of knowledge. Guṇa Attribute; property, quality, or characteristic arising from nature (prakṛti) itself; as a rule, when “guṇa” is used, it is in reference to the three fundamental qualities, “strands” or interacting components of prakṛti, the primordial mate- riality of the universe. Jāgṛti Waking state. Jīva Person; embodied consciousness; individual spirit; embodied spirit; living organism; a conjoint psycho-somatic, psychophysical, conscious entity. Jīvan-mukti State of embodied liberation. Jñāna Cognition; wisdom; knowledge of reality or the Brahman, the absolute; enlightenment; supreme knowledge; self-realization; cognition. Jñātā Knower; the person or self with the capacity to know or understand. Kaivalya Literally, isolation. In Sāṁkhya and Yoga systems, the term kaivalya implies the state of release from the unending chain of actions and its conse- quences through the isolation or detachment of the self (puruṣa) from prakṛti; perfection, transcendental state of unconditioned freedom; a state of pure con- sciousness, free and unencumbered by the manifestations of prakṛti, which normally cloud consciousness as it is reflected on the buddhi. Kāmaloka The empirical world in Buddhism. Karma Literally, action; work; deeds; the result of action. Derived from the Sanskrit root kṛ, which means to act, do, or make, means any kind of action, including thought and feeling. Karma is both action and reaction, the meta- physical equivalent of the principle: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” There are three kinds of karma: (1) sañcita karma, which is all the accumulated actions of all previous births, (2) prārabdha karma, the particular portion of such karma allowed for being worked out in the present life, (3) āgāmi anārabdha karma, actions of the future, or those that are not yet begun. Karmāśaya The receptacle of karma that harbors saṁskāras that cause subsequent actions and produce behavioral modifications. 344 Glossary of Sanskrit and Pāli Terms Kartā Self as agent; one who acts; doer. Kleśa Defilement; affliction one encounters; pain or suffering arising from disease; various obstacles or hindrances that disturb the equilibrium of the mind. Kliṣṭa Hindered; afflicted by pain. Kośa Sheath; bag; a sheath enclosing the soul; body. The AdvaitaVedānta con- ceives jīva (person) as a multi-layered entity composed of five nested sheaths, with the body on the outside (annamaya), followed by bodily functions (prāṇamaya), sensory capacities (mano-maya), cognitive functions (vijñānamaya), and finally blissfulness at the core (ānandamaya). Lokuttara Transcendental plane of existence (Buddhism). Mahat The Great Principle; the essential principle of being; the first to be evolved from prakṛti; intellect, the principle of cosmic intelligence, or buddhi. Manas The mind. In AdvaitaVedānta, the basic features of manas are capabilities for cognitive differentiation and integration and for doubting and deciding. Also used for the aggregate of citta, buddhi, manas, and ahaṁkāra; the sensory mind; the perceiving faculty that receives the messages of the senses; inner sense. Manomaya kośa “The sheath of the mind”; the level (kośa) of the sensory mind. Māyā Advaitic conception of the veiling power, cosmic illusion; the person with her own identity, essentially the empirical mask masquerading for the true Self on the stage set in saṁsāra and the act played by māyā. Mokṣa Release; freedom from transmigration from the perpetual chain of actions and their consequences and the consequent cycle of birth, death, and rebirth; liberation; to free oneself from, to liberate, to emancipate from transmigration. Mukti Release; freedom from transmigration from the perpetual chain of actions and their consequences and the consequent cycle of birth, death, and rebirth; liberation; to free oneself from, to emancipate from transmigration. Nididhyāsana Uninterrupted and persistent contemplation; profound and contin- uous meditation that leads to transcendental realization of truth. It is the last of the three stages of realization in Vedanta. The state of being so completely absorbed in contemplation of Brahman that no other thought enters the mind. Niḥśreyasa The highest benediction; for the greatest welfare; final perfection of life; to achieve the ultimate goal of life; of the highest bliss; of what is very auspicious for personal transformation. Nirodha A state of restraint in which the normal processes of the mind come to a standstill and the mind becomes empty of any content derived from the sensory inputs. Nirvāṇa Liberation; final emancipation; the term is particularly applied to the liberation from the bondage of karma and the wheel of birth and death; absolute Glossary of Sanskrit and Pāli Terms 345 experience; the final state into which beings enter during the course of enlightenment and are no longer bound and driven by the consciousness of an illusory ego; release/freedom from the physical world (saṁsāra). The term usually refers to the state of perfect calm, repose, or bliss resulting from the absolute extinction of all desires. It is often used synonymously with other terms such as kaivalya, mokṣa, and mukti. It