Glossary of Buddhism

Some Buddhist terms and concepts lack direct translations into English that cover the breadth of the original
term. Below are given a number of important Buddhist terms, short definitions, and the languages in which
they appear. In this list, an attempt has been made to organize terms by their original form and give
translations and synonyms in other languages along with the definition.

Languages and traditions dealt with here:

English (Eng.)
Pāli: Theravada Buddhism
Sanskrit (or Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit): primarily Mahayana Buddhism
Bengali (Bgd): Buddhism in Bangladesh
Burmese (Bur): Buddhism in Myanmar
Karen (Kar): Theravada Buddhism
Khmer: Buddhism in Cambodia
Mon (Mon): Theravada Buddhism
Mongolian (Mn): Buddhism in Mongolia
Shan (Shan): Theravada Buddhism
Tibetan (Tib): Tibetan Buddhism
Dzongkha ༼རྫོ ང་ཁ༽ (Dzo): Buddhism in Bhutan

Thai: Buddhism in Thailand

Lao: Buddhism in Laos
CJKV languages
Chinese (Cn): Chinese Buddhism
Japanese (Jp): Buddhism in Japan
Korean (Ko): Korean Buddhism
Vietnamese (Vi): Buddhism in Vietnam (Mahayana and Theravada)
Javanese (Jv): Buddhism in Indonesia

A
Definition Etymology In other languages
abhidhamma A category of
scriptures that attempts to use abhi is "above" or "about", Bur: အဘိဓမ္မာ
Buddhist teachings to create a dhamma is "teaching"
systematic, abstract description Pāli: abhidhamma abhidhamma
of all worldly phenomena (IPA: [əbḭdəmà])
Sanskrit: abhidharma
Khmer: អភិធម្ម âphĭthômm

Tib: ཆོ ས་མངོ ན་པ chos mngon

pa
 Mn: их ном, билиг ухаан;
ikh nom, bilig ukhaan
Thai: อภิธรรม a-pi-tam
阿毘達磨／阿毗昙
Cn: Āpídámó
Jp: Abidatsuma
Ko: 아비달마, Abidalma
Vi: a-tì-đạt-ma, thắng
pháp
Avataṃsakasūtra "Garland
Scripture" Sanskrit: Avataṃsakasūtra 大方廣佛華嚴經 / 華嚴經
Abhidhamma Pitaka The third
basket of the Tripitaka canon, Pāli: Abhidhamma-piṭaka Bur: အဘိဓမ္မာပိဋကတ်
the reorganization of all Sanskrit: Abhidharma-piṭaka
doctrines in a systematic way Abidhamma Pitakat
(IPA: [əbḭdamà pḭdəɡaʔ])
Mon: အဘိဓဝ်ပိတကတ
([əpʰìʔtʰò pɔeʔtəkɔt])
Thai: อภิธรรมปิฎก a-pi-tam-
pi-dok
論藏, 論蔵
Cn: Lùnzàng
Jp: Ronzō
Ko: 논장, Nonjang
Vi: Luận tạng, Tạng
luận, tạng thứ ba trong
ba tạng là kinh, luật và
luận
Mn: Илт ном, Ilt nom

Abhiniṣkramaṇasūtra Sanskrit:
Abhiniṣkramaṇasūtra
佛本行集經
acariya, lit. "teacher", One of
the two teachers of a novice Pāli: ācariya[1] (https://archiv Bur: ဆရာ saya
monk - the other one is called e.today/20121215030019/htt
upādhyāya p://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bi (IPA: [sʰəjà])
n/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:
1:2602.pali) Shan: ဢႃႇၸရီႉယႃႉ
Sanskrit: ācārya atsariya ([ʔaː˨ tsa˩ ri˥ jaː˥])
Thai: อาจารย์ ajahn
阿闍梨 or 阿闍梨耶
Cn: āshélí or āshélíyē
Jp: ajari or ajariya
 아사리, asari or 아
Ko:
사리야 asariya
Vi: a-xà-lê or a-xà-lê-da
or giáo thọ sư

Adbhutadharmaparyāyasūtra Sanskrit: 甚稀有經 or 未曾有經

Adbhutadharmaparyāyasūtra Cn: Shen xiyou jing
Adhigamadharma Realized
Dharma 證法
adhitthana Determination, to
pray, to wish Pāli: Adhiṭṭhāna Bur: အဓိဋ္ဌာန်
Sanskrit: अधिष्ठान
(IPA: [ədeɪʔtʰàɴ])
Thai: อธิษฐาน ah-tid-taan
決心 or 決意
Cn: Juéxīn, juéyì
Jp: kesshin
Ko: 결심, gyeolsim or 결
의 , gyeolui
Vi: nguyện lực
Āgama The non-Mahayana
divisions of the Sutra Pitaka Sanskrit: Āgama Pāli: Āgama (but usually
called Nikāya)
阿含
Cn: Āhán
Jp: Agon
Ko: 아함, Aham
Vi: A-hàm
Āgamadharma scriptural
Dharma Sanskrit: Āgamadharma 教法
ahimsa The devotion to non-
violence and respect for all Sanskrit: ahiṃsā Thai: อหิงสา 'ah-hing-sa'
forms of life. Practicers of
ahimsa are often vegetarians or
Pāli: ahiṃsā
不害
vegans Cn: bù hài
Jp: fugai
Ko: 불해, bulhae
Vi: bất hại
Akshobhya
Sanskrit: Akṣobhya Mn: ;
ᠬᠥᠳᠡᠯᠦᠰᠢ
ᠦᠭᠡᠢ᠂
ᠦᠯᠦ
ᠬᠥᠳᠡᠯᠦᠭᠴᠢ

Үл Хөдлөгч, Хөдөлшгүй;
 阿閦如來
Cn: Āchùrúlái
Jp: Ashuku Nyorai
Vi: A-súc Như Lai

Ködelüsi ügei, Ülü hödelügci

akuśalakarmapatha
unwholesome courses of action Sanskrit: akuśalakarmapatha
alayavijnana, see store
Sanskrit: ālayavijñāna
Tib: ཀུན་གཞི ་རྣམ་པར་ཤེ ས་
consciousness

པ་

kun gzhi rnam par shes pa

阿賴耶識, 阿頼耶識
Cn: ālàiyēshí
Jp: araya-shiki
Ko: 아뢰야식, aroeyasik
Vi: a-lại-da thức
Amitabha Lit. "The Buddha of
Infinite Light". The main Sanskrit: amitābha (lit. 阿彌陀 or 阿彌陀佛, 阿弥陀
or 阿弥陀仏
buddha of the Pure Land "limitless light") and
school, but is popular in other amitāyus (lit. "limitless life")
Mahayana sects as well. The Cn: Ēmítuó or Ēmítuó
image is of light as the form of fó
wisdom, which has no form. Jp: Amida or Amida-
Also interpreted as the butsu
Tathagata of Unhindered Light
that Penetrates the Ten 아미타, Amita or 아
Ko:
Quarters by Tan Luan, Shinran 미타불, Amitabul
and others Vi: A-Di-Đà, A-Di-Đà
Phật, or Phật A-Di-Đà

Tib: འོ ད་དཔག་མེ ད།

Mn: ;
ᠠᠮᠢᠨᠳᠠᠸᠠ᠂
ᠴᠠᠭᠯᠠᠰᠢ
ᠦᠭᠡᠢ
ᠭᠡᠷᠡᠯᠲᠦ

Аминдаваа, Цаглашгүй
гэрэлт;
Amindava, Tsaglasi ügei
gereltü

Amitābhasūtra Sanskrit: Amitābhasūtra 阿彌陀經

Amoghasiddhi Sanskrit: Amoghasiddhi Tib: Dön yö drub pa
Mn: ;

ᠲᠡᠭᠦᠰ
ᠨᠥᠭᠴᠢᠭᠰᠡᠨ᠂
ᠦᠢᠢᠯᠡ
ᠪᠦᠲᠦᠭᠡ᠋᠌᠋᠋ᠺᠴᠢ
Төгс Нөгчигсөн, Үйл Бүтээгч;
Tegüs nögcigsen, Üyile
Bütügegci
anagarika A white-robed
student in the Theravada Pāli: anāgarika Thai: อนาคาริก a-na-ka-rik
tradition who, for a few months,
awaits being considered for
Samaneras ordination
anapanasati Mindfulness of
the breath meditation Pāli: ānāpānasati
Sanskrit: ānāpānasmṛti
Bur: အာနာပါန anapana
(IPA: [ànàpàna̰])
anatta The principle denial of
the soul in any phenomena. Pāli: anattā Bur: အနတ္တ anatta
See also negative theology. Sanskrit: anātman
(IPA: [ənaʔta̰])
Shan: ဢၼတ်ႉတႃႉ ([ʔa˩
nat˥ taː˥])
無我
Cn: wúwǒ
Jp: muga
Ko: 무아 , mua
Vi: vô ngã
anicca Impermanence
Pāli: anicca Bur: အနိစ္စ aneissa
Sanskrit: anitya
(IPA: [əneɪʔsa̰])
Shan: ဢၼိၵ်ႈၸႃႉ ([ʔa˩
nik˧ tsaː˥])
Thai: อนิจจา anijja
無常
Cn: wúcháng
Jp: mujō
Ko: 무상, musang
Vi: vô thường
anitya Impermanence,
synonym to anicca
anuttara Unsurpassing Pāli: anuttara 阿耨多羅／阿耨多罗 (無上
Sanskrit: anuttara ／无上)
Cn: Ānòuduōluó
("wǔshàng")
Jp: anokutara
Ko: 아뇩다라 ,
anyokdara
Vi: A-nậu-đà-la (vô
thượng)
Fi: Ylittämätön
anuttara samyak sambodhi,
unsurpassable, complete, Pāli: Khmer: អនុត្តរសម្មា សម្ពោ ធិ
perfect enlightenment; Sanskrit: ânŭttârôsâmméasâmpoŭthĭ
unsurpassable, right, and full Tib:,
enlightenment
阿耨多罗三藐三菩提 (or 無
上正等正覺)
Cn: ānòuduōluó
sānmiǎosānpútí (or
wúshàng zhèngděng
zhèngjué)
Jp: anokutara
sanmyakusanbodai
Ko: 아뇩다라삼먁삼보리 ,
Anyokdara sammyak
sambori
Vi: A-nậu-đà-la tam-
miệu tam-bồ-đề, Vô-
thượng chánh-đẳng
chánh-giác, Sáng-suốt
giác-ngộ hoàn-toàn
arhat, lit. "the Worthy One", A
living person who has reached Pāli: arahat or arahant Bur: ရဟန္တာ yahanda
Enlightenment Sanskrit: arhat or arhant
(IPA: [jaháɴdà])
Shan: ရႁၢၼ်းတႃႇ rahanta
([ra˩ haːn˦ taː˨])

Tib: དགྲ་ཅོ མ་པ་, dgra com

pa
Mn: архад, arkhad
Thai: อรหันต์ uh-ra-hann
阿羅漢
Cn: āluóhàn
Jp: arakan
 Ko: 아라한 , arahan
Vi: a-la-hán

ārūpyarāga Sanskrit: ārūpyarāga 無色貪

Thai: อสูร asula
阿修羅
asura "nongods," Sanskrit: asura Cn: āxiūluó
Jp: ashuran
Ko: 아수라 , asura
Vi: A Tu La
atman literally "self",
sometimes "soul" or "ego". In Pāli: atta Bur: အတ္တ atta (IPA: [aʔta̰])
Buddhism, the predominant Sanskrit: ātman
teaching is the negating
doctrine of anatman, that there
我
is no permanent, persisting Cn: wǒ
atman, and that belief in atman Jp: ga
is the prime consequence of
ignorance, the foundation of 아
Ko: , a
samsara Vi: ngã
Avalokitesvara, lit. "One Who
Sanskrit: Avalokiteśvara
Tib: སྤྱན་རས་གཟི གས་
Hears the Suffering Cries of the
World", The bodhisattva of Bur: လောကနတ် lawka nat
compassion (see also Guan
Yin) (IPA: [lɔ́ka̰ naʔ]) spyan ras gzigs
Mn: Жанрайсиг, Janraisig
觀世音 or 觀音
Cn: Guānshì Yīn or
Guān Yīn
Jp: Kanzeon or Kannon
Ko:관세음, Gwanse-
eum or 관음, Gwaneum
Vi: "Quan Thế Âm Bồ
Tát", "Quán Thế Âm
Bồ Tát' or "Quan Âm"
avidya "ignorance" or
"delusion" Sanskrit: avidyā pāli: "avijjā Pāli: avijjā
Bur: အဝိဇ္ဇာ aweizza
(IPA: [əweɪʔ zà])
Shan: ဢဝိၵ်ႉၸႃႇ awitsa
([ʔa wik˥ tsaː˨])
Thai: อวิชชา aa-wit-sha
 Tib: མ་རི ག་པ་ ma rig-pa

無明
Cn: wúmíng
Jp: mumyō
Ko: 무명
, mumyeong
Vi: vô minh

B
Definition Etymology In other languages
bardo, lit. "intermediate state" or "in-
Sanskrit: antarābhava
Tib: བར་མ་དོ འི ་
between state", According to Tibetan
tradition, the state of existence intermediate Mn: зуурд, zuurd
between two lives 中有,中陰身
སྲི ད་པ་ bar ma Cn: zhongyǒu
Jp: chūu
do'i srid pa
중유 jungyu or 바
Ko:
르도 bareudo
Vi: trung hữu, trung
ấm thân, thân trung-
ấm
bhavacakra/bhavacakka A circular
symbolic representation of samsara, also Pāli: bhavacakka Bur: ဘဝစက် bawa set
known as Wheel of becoming Sanskrit: bhava-
cakra (IPA: [bəwa̰ sɛʔ])
Mon: ဘဝစက် ([həwɛ̀ʔ
cɛk])
Shan: ၽဝႃႉၸၢၵ်ႈ ([pʰa˩
waː˥ tsaːk˧])

Tib: སྲི ད་པའི ་འཁོ ར་ལ

Mn: Орчлонгийн
хүрдэн, Orchlongiin
khurden
有輪
Cn: yǒulún
Jp: ariwa
Ko: 유륜, yuryun
Vi: hữu luân
bhante The polite particle used to refer to
Pāli
Buddhist monks in the Theravada tradition. Bur: ဘန္တေ bhante
Bhante literally means "Venerable Sir."
(IPA: [bàɴdè])
bhava Becoming, being, existing; the 10th
link of Pratitya-samutpada Pāli, Sanskrit: Bur: ဘဝ bawa
bhava
(IPA: [bəwa̰])
Mon: ဘဝ ([həwɛ̀ʔ])

Shan: ၽဝႃႉ ([pʰa˩

waː˥])
Thai: ภาวะ pa-wah
有(十二因緣)
Cn: yǒu
Jp: u
Ko: 유, yu
Vi: hữu (thập nhị
nhân duyên)
bhikkhu/bhikshu, lit. "beggar", A Buddhist
monk Pāli: bhikkhu Bur: ဘိက္ခု bheikkhu
Sanskrit: bhikṣu
(IPA: [beɪʔkʰù])
Shan: ၽိၵ်ႈၶူႇ ([pʰik˧
kʰu˨])

Tib: དགེ ་སློ ང་ dge slong

Mn: гэлэн, gelen

Thai: ภิกขุ bhikku
比丘
Cn: bǐ qiū
Jp: biku
Ko:비구, bigu or 스
님 seunim, also 중,
jung (pejorative)
Vi: tì-kheo
bhikkhuni/bhikshuni A Buddhist nun
from bhikkhu Bur: ဘိက္ခုနီ bheikkhuni
Pāli: bhikkhuni
(IPA: [beɪʔkʰùnì])
Sanskrit: bhikṣuni
Shan: ၽိၵ်ႈၶူႇၼီႇ ([pʰik˧
kʰu˨ ni˨])
 Kar: ဘံကူနံ or ဖံဝါ
"beegoonee" or
"hpeewah"

Tib: དགེ ་སློ ང་མ་ sde

slong ma
Mn: гэлэнмаа,
gelenmaa
Thai: ภิกษุณี bhiksuni
比丘尼
Cn: bǐqiūní
Jp: bikuni
Ko:비구니, biguni, 여
승 (女僧), yeoseung
Vi: tỉ-khâu-ni, tỉ-
khưu-ni or tì-kheo-ni,
ni
bija, lit. "seed", A metaphor for the origin or
cause of things, used in the teachings of the Sanskrit: bīja Bur: ဗီဇ biza (IPA: [bì
Yogacara school
za̰])
種子
Cn: zhŏngzi
Jp: shūji
Ko: 종자, jongja
Vi: chủng tử, hạt
giống, hột giống
bodhi Awakening or Enlightenment
Pāli, Sanskrit: Bur: ဗောဓိ bawdhi
bodhi
(IPA: [bɔ́dḭ])
Shan: ပေႃးထီႉ ([pɔ˦
tʰi˥])
Thai: โพธิ์ poe

Tib: བྱང་ཆུབ byang chub

Mn: бодь, bodi

菩提
Cn: pútí
Jp: bodai
Ko: 보리, bori
 Vi: bồ-đề, giác, giác
ngộ

Bodhisattvapiṭaka "The Bodhisattva

Basket"
Sanskrit:
Bodhisattvapiṭaka 菩薩藏經
Bodhi tree The Sacred Fig (Ficus religiosa)
tree under which Gautama reached from bodhi above Bur: ဗောဓိညောင် bawdhi
Enlightenment
nyaung (IPA: [bɔ́ dḭ
ɲàʊɴ])
Shan: ၺွင်ႇပေႃးထီႉ
([ɲɔŋ˨ pɔ˦ tʰi˥])
菩提樹
Cn: Pútíshù
Jp: Bodaiju
Ko: 보리수, Borisu
Vi: Bồ-đề thụ, Bồ-đề
thọ, cây Bồ-đề
Bodhicaryāvatāra "Introduction to the
Practice of Enlightenment," written by
Śāntideva (685-763)
Sanskrit:
Bodhicaryāvatāra 菩提行經
bodhicitta The motivation of a bodhisattva
Pāli, Sanskrit: Bur: ဗောဓိစိတ္တ
bodhicitta
bawdhi seitta (IPA: [bɔ́dḭ
seɪʔ da̰])

Tib: བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི ་སེ མས་,

byang chub kyi sems

Mn: бодь сэтгэл, bodi
setgel
菩提心
Cn: pútíxīn
Jp: bodaishin
Ko: 보리심, borisim
Vi: bồ-đề tâm
bodhisattva One with the intention to
become a Buddha in order to liberate all Pāli: bodhisatta Bur: ဗောဓိသတ် bawdhi
other sentient beings from suffering Sanskrit:
bodhisattva that (IPA: [bɔ́ dḭ θaʔ])
Mon: တြုံ လၟောဝ် ကျာ်
([kraoh kəmo caik])
Thai: โพธิสัตว์ poe-ti-satt
 Tib: བྱང་ཆུབ་སེ མས་

དཔའ, byang chub sems

dpaʼ
Mn: бодьсад(ва),
bodisad(va)
菩薩
Cn: púsà
Jp: bosatsu
Ko: 보살 , bosal
Vi: bồ-tát
Boghda Holy, living Buddha, living
Tib: བོ ག་ད་ bogda
Boddhisattva. The title of Jebtsundamba Shan: ၽၵ်ႈၵဝႃႇ
Khutuktu; also title used with the names of
highest Buddhist masters, e.g. boghda ([pʰak˧ ka˩ waː˨])
Tsongkhapa, Panchen boghda Mn: богд, bogd
Buddha A Buddha; also, the Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama. from √budh: to Bur: ဗုဒ္ဓ bodha
awaken
Pāli, Sanskrit: (IPA: [boʊʔda̰])
buddha Shan: ပုၵ်ႉထႃႉ ([puk˥
tʰaː˥])

Tib: སངས་རྒྱས sangs

rgyas
Mn: бурхан, burhan
佛, 仏, 仏陀
Cn: fó
Jp: butsu or hotoke
or budda
불
Ko: , Bul or 부처,
Bucheo
Vi: Phật or Bụt
buddha nature The uncreated and
deathless Buddhic element or principle Sanskrit: buddha-
dhatu, buddha-
佛性, 仏性
concealed within all sentient beings to
achieve Awakening; the innate (latent) svabhāva, Cn: fóxìng
Buddha essence (esp. in the "tathagata-dhatu", Jp: busshō
Tathagatagarbha sutras, Tendai/Tiantai,
Nichiren thought)
or
tathagatagarbha. Ko: 불성, bulseong
Vi: Phật tính, Phật
tánh, Cái tánh sáng-
suốt giác-ngộ hoàn-
toàn
Buddhism
from √budh: to Bur: ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ boddha
awaken
Pāli, Sanskrit: batha (IPA: [boʊʔda̰
bàðà])
Shan: ပုၵ်ႉထႃႉၽႃႇသႃႇ
([puk˥ tʰaː˥ pʰaː˨ sʰaː˨])
Mon: ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာ ([pùttʰɛ̀ʔ
pʰɛ̀asa])

Tib: ནང་བསྟན།

Mn: Бурханы Шашин,

Burhanii Shashin
佛教, 仏教
Cn: Fójiào
Jp: bukkyō
Ko: 불교
, bulgyo
Vi: Phật-giáo

C
Definition Etymology In other languages
cetana Volition
Pali: cetana Bur: စေတနာ sedana
(IPA: [sèdənà])
Cetiya A reliquary holding holy objects of
veneration Pali: cetiya Bur: စေတီ zedi
Sanskrit: caitya
(IPA: [zèdi])
Khm:
Mon: စေတဳ setaow
([cetɔe])
Shan: ၸေႇတီႇ tseti
([tse˨ ti˨])
Sin: චෛත්‍යය chaithya
Thai: เจดีย์ chetiya

Tib: མཆོ ད་རྟེ ན༏ mchod

rten (chorten)
塔
Zh: Ta
 Vi: Tháp
Ko: Tap
Jp: 卒塔婆 sotōba
chanda intention, interest, desire to act,
Pali: chanda
Tib: འདུན་པ།
aspiration
Sanskrit: chanda

D
Definition Etymology In other languages
dakini A supernatural female with volatile
Sanskrit: ḍākinī
Tibetan: མཁའ་འགྲོ ་མ་ ,
temperament who serves as a muse for
spiritual practice. Dakinis are often
depicted naked to represent the truth
Wylie: mkha' 'gro ma
Mn: дагина, dagina
空行女, 荼枳尼天
Cn: kong xing mu
Jp: Dakini-ten
다키니 dakini or 공
Ko:
행녀 gonghaengnyeo
Vi: không hành nữ
Dalai Lama, lit. "the lama with wisdom
like an ocean", secular and spiritual Mn: далай, dalai,
lit. "ocean"
達賴喇嘛
leader of Tibet as nominated by the
Cn: Dálài Lǎma
Tibetan: ཏཱ་ལའི ་
Mongols
Jp: Darai Rama
Ko: 달라이 라마 dalai
བླ་མ་ taa-la'i bla- nama
Vi: Đạt Lai Lạt Ma or
ma Đạt-lại Lạt-ma
dana Generosity or giving; in Buddhism, it
also refers to the practice of cultivating Pāli, Sanskrit: Bur: ဒါန dana (IPA: [dàna̰])
generosity dāna
Mon: ဒါန ([tɛ̀anɛ̀ʔ]) or ဒါန်
([tàn])
Thai: ทาน taan
布施
Cn: bùshī
Jp: fuse
Ko: 보시 bosi
Vi: bố thí
Mn: өглөг
deva many different types of non-human
beings who share the characteristics of Pāli and Bur: ဒေဝ dewa
being more powerful, longer-lived, and, in Sanskrit: deva
general, living more contentedly than the (IPA: [dèwa̰])
average human being Khmer: ទេព or preah (ព្រះ)
Mn: тэнгэр tenger
Mon: ဒေဝတဴ tewetao
([tèwətao])
Shan: တေႇဝႃႇ ([a˨ wɔ˨])

天
Zh: tiān
Ko: cheon
Jp: ten
Vi: thiên
dependent origination, see
Pratityasamutpada Pāli: paṭicca- Bur: ပဋိစ္စသမုပ္ပါဒ်
samuppāda
Sanskrit: pratītya- padeissa thamopad
samutpāda (IPA: [pədeɪʔsa̰
θəmoʊʔpaʔ])
Tib:
rten.cing.'brel.bar.'byung.ba
Mn: шүтэн барилдлага
shuten barildlaga
因縁, also 緣起, 縁起
Cn: yīnyuan, also
yuánqǐ
Jp: innen, also engi
Ko: 인연 inyeon, also 연
기 yeongi
Vi: nhân duyên, duyên
khởi
dhamma/dharma Often refers to the
doctrines and teachings of the faith, but it from √dhṛ: to Bur: ဓမ္မ dhamma
may have broader uses. Also, it is an hold
important technical term meaning Pāli: dhamma (IPA: [dəma̰])
something like "phenomenological Sanskrit: dharma Mon: ဓဝ် ([thò])
constituent." This leads to the potential for
confusion, puns, and double entendres, Thai: ธรรมะ tharrma
as the latter meaning often has negative
Tibetan: ཆོ ས་, Wylie: chos
connotations

Mn: дээдийн ном, deediin

nom
法
 Cn: fă
Jp: hō
Ko: beop
Vi: pháp
dhamma name/dharma name A Dharma
name or Dhamma name is a new name from √dhṛ: to Bur: ဘွဲ့ (IPA: [bwɛ̰])
traditionally bestowed by a Buddhist hold
monastic, given to newly ordained monks, Pāli: dhamma Thai: ฉายา
nuns, and laity during both lay and Sanskrit: dharma Mn: номын нэр, nomyn ner
monastic Buddhist initiation ritual in
Mahayana Buddhism and monastic Zh:
ordination in Theravada Buddhism
(where it may also be called a Sangha Traditional: 法名 or 法
name). Dhamma names are usually 號
considered aspirational, not descriptive.
Simplified: 法名 法号
or
Pinyin: fǎmíng or fǎhào
Ja:

Kanji: 戒名
Rōmaji: kaimyō
Ko:

Hangeul:법명
Hanja: 法名
RR: beopmyeong
dhammavinaya The dharma and vinaya
(roughly "doctrine and discipline") Mn: суртгаал номхотгол,
considered together. This term essentially surtgaal nomkhotgol
means the whole teachings of Buddhism
as taught to monks
dhammacakka/dharmacakra A symbolic
representation of the dharma, also known Sanskrit: Bur: ဓမ္မစကြာ dhamma
as the Wheel of Dharma dharmacakra
Pāli: sekya (IPA: [dəməsɛʔtɕà])
dhammacakka
Tibetan: ཆོ ས་ཀྱི ་འཁོ ར་ལོ ,

Wylie: chos kyi ʼkhor lo

Mn: номын хүрдэн,
momiin khurden
法輪
Cn: Fǎlún
Jp: hōrin
Ko: beomnyun
Vi: pháp luân
Dhammapada a versified Buddhist
scripture traditionally ascribed to the Pāli: Bur: ဓမ္မပဒ dhammapada
Buddha dhammapada
(IPA: [dəma̰pəda̰])
 Sanskrit:
dharmapada
法句經
Chinese: 法句经 ;
pinyin: Fǎjù jīng
Jp: hokkukyō (shin. 法
句経 )
Ko: beopgugyeong
Vi: kinh pháp cú
dhammapala/dharmapala A fearsome
Sanskrit:
Tib: ཆོ ས་སྐྱོ ང་ chos skyong
deity, known as protector of the Dharma
dharmapāla
Pāli:
dhammapāla Mn: догшид, dogshid;
хангал, khangal
護法
Cn: hùfǎ
Jp: gohō
Ko: hobeop
Vi: Hộ Pháp
Dhyana, see jhana
Pāli: jhāna Bur: ဈာန် zan (IPA: [zàɴ])
Sanskrit: dhyāna
Mon: ဇျာန် ([chàn])
Mn: дияан, diyan
禪 or 禪那, 禅 or 禅那
Cn: Chán or Chánnà
Jp: Zen or Zenna
Ko: Seon
Vi: Thiền or Thiền-na
Dīpankara Buddha
Pāli: Dīpamkara Bur: ဒီပင်္ကရာ dipankara
Sanskrit:
Dīpankara (IPA: [dìpɪ̀ɴkəɹà])
Thai: พระทีปังกรพุทธเจ้า
燃燈佛
Cn: Rándēng Fo
Jp: Nentōbutsu
Vi: Nhiên-đăng Phật
doan In Zen, a term for person sounding
the bell that marks the beginning and end Japanese: 堂行
of Zazen dōan
dokusan A private meeting between a
Zen student and the master. It is an Japanese: 独参 獨參
important element in Rinzai Zen training, dokusan
Cn: dúcān
as it provides an opportunity for the Ko: dokcham
student to demonstrate understanding Vi: độc tham
dudie official certificate for monks and
nuns issued by government 度牒
Cn: dùdié
Jp: dochō
Ko: 도첩, docheop
Vi: ??
dukkha Suffering, dissatisfaction,
unsatisfactoriness, stress Pāli: dukkha Bur: ဒုက္ခ doukkha
Sanskrit: duḥkha
(IPA: [doʊʔkʰa̰])
Shan: တုၵ်ႉၶႃႉ ([tuk˥ kʰaː˥])

Thai: ทุกข์ took

Tib: སྡུག་བསྔལ་ sdug

bsngal
Mn: зовлон, zovlon
苦
Cn: kǔ
Jp: ku
Ko: go
Vi: khổ

dveṣa aversion Sanskrit: dveṣa 瞋

dzogchen The natural, intrinsic state of
Sanskrit: atiyoga
Tibetan: རྫོ གས་
every sentient being
大究竟
པ་ཆེ ན་པོ ་ rdzogs
Cn: dàjiūjìng
Jp: daikukyō
Ko: daegugyeong
pa chen po
Vi: đại cứu cánh

F
Definition Etymology In other languages
Five Five-Hundred-Year Periods Five sub-
divisions of the three periods following the 五箇五百歲, 五箇五百歳
Buddha's passing ( 三時繫念 Cn: sānshí; Jp:
Cn: 五箇五百歲 wǔ
sanji; Vi: tam thời), significant for many
Mahayana adherents: ge wǔbǎi suì
Jp: 五箇の五百歳 go
1. Age of enlightenment ( 解脱堅固 Cn: no gohyaku sai
jiětuō jiāngù; Jp: gedatsu kengo)
 2. Age of meditation ( 禅定堅固 Cn: Vi: ??
chándìng jiāngù; Jp: zenjō kengo)
These two ages comprise the Former
Day of the Law ( 正法時期 Cn: zhèngfǎ;
Jp: shōbō)
3. Age of reading, reciting, and listening ( 読
誦多聞堅固 Cn: sòngduōwén jiāngù; Jp:
dokuju tamon kengo)
4. Age of building temples and stupas ( 多造
塔寺堅固 Cn: duōzào tǎsì jiāngù; Jp: tazō
tōji kengo)
These two ages comprise the Middle
Day of the Law ( 像法時期 Cn: xiàngfǎ;
Jp: zōhō)
5. Age of conflict (闘諍堅固 Cn: zhēng
jiāngù; Jp: tōjō kengo), an age
characterized by unrest, strife, famine,
and other natural and human-made
disasters.
This age corresponds to the beginning of
the Latter Day of the Law ( 末法時期 Cn:
mòfǎ; Jp: mappō) when the (historical)
Buddha's teachings would lose all power
of salvation and perish ( 白法隠没 Cn:
báifǎméi; Jp: byakuhō onmotsu) and a
new Buddha would appear to save the
people.
The three periods and the five five-
hundred year periods are described in
the Sutra of the Great Assembly ( 大集
Cn: dàjí; Jp: Daishutu-kyō, Daijuku-kyō,
Daijikkyō, or Daishukkyō).
Four Noble Truths
Pāli: cattāri ariya-
1. Truth of dukkha (suffering, anxiety, saccāni
stress) (Sanskrit: duḥkhāryasatya; Bur: Sanskrit: चत्वारि
ဒုက္ခ dokkha; Thai: ทุกข์; 苦諦 Cn: kǔdì; आर्यसत्यानि catvāry
āryasatyāni
Jp: kutai; Vi: khổ đế; Mn: зовлон, zovlon)
2. Truth of the origin (samudaya) of dukkha Bur: သစ္စာလေးပါး thissa
(Sanskrit: samudayāryasatya; Bur:
lei ba (IPA: [θɪʔsà lé bá])
သမုဒယ thamodaya; Thai: สมุทัย; 集諦 Khmr: អរិយសច្ចៈទាំង៤
Cn: jídì; Jp: jittai; Vi: tập khổ đế; Mn:
зовлонгийн шалтгаан, zovlongiin
四諦, 四聖諦, 苦集滅道
shaltgaan) Cn: Sìdì
3. Truth of the cessation (nirodha) of Jp: shitai, shishōtai,
dukkha (Sanskrit: kujūmetsudō
Vi: Tứ diệu đế
 duḥkhanirodhāryasatya; Bur: နိရောဓ Thai: อริยสัจ 4

niyawdha; Thai: นิโรธ; 滅諦 Cn: mièdì; Jp:

Mn: Хутагтын дөрвөн
үнэн, khutagtiin dörvön
mettai; Vi: diệt khổ đế; Mn: гэтлэх, unen
getlekh)
4. The path (marga) that leads out of
dukkha (Sanskrit: duḥkhanirodhagāminī
pratipad; Bur: မဂ် meg; Thai: มรรค; 道諦
Cn: dàodì; Jp: dōtai; Vi: đạo đế; Mn: мөр,
mör)
fukudo In Zen, term for person who strikes
the han Japanese: 副堂
fukudō

G
Definition Etymology In other languages
gasshō A position used for greeting, with
the palms together and fingers pointing Japanese: 合掌 Sanskrit: anjali
upwards in prayer position; used in various
Buddhist traditions, but also used in
gasshō 合掌
numerous cultures throughout Asia. It Cn: hézhǎng (more
expresses greeting, request, thankfulness,
reverence and prayer. Also considered a
common to say 合十
héshí)
mudra or inkei of Japanese Shingon. See
also: Añjali Mudrā, Namaste, Sampeah and Vi: hiệp chưởng
Wai. Shaolin monks use half a gassho using
only one arm to greet.

In Japan, it is used not only during rituals

concerning Buddhism but also as a gesture
to appease the opposite party when making
apologies or asking for permission or favors.
In addition, there are cases where a person
greets them during a greeting before and
after a meal, which is a custom derived from
Buddhism. In Shinto, they clap hands
together as hands, but then lower their
hands, bow and worship (in Shinto worship,
they do not share hands).

Gautama Buddha
Pāli: Gotama Bur: ဂေါတမ
Sanskrit:
Gautama (IPA: [ɡɔ́dəma̰])
瞿曇 悉達多
Jp: Kudon Shiddatta
geshe A Tibetan Buddhist academic degree
Mn: гэвш gevsh
Tibetan: དགེ ་ཤེ ས་
in the Gelug tradition, awarded at the
格西
conclusion of lengthy studies often lasting
nine years or more
gongan, lit. "public case", A meditative
method developed in the Chán/Seon/Zen Chinese 公案 公案
traditions, generally consisting of a problem gōng-àn
that defies solution by means of rational Jp: kōan
thought; see koan Ko: gong'an
Vi: công án
Guan Yin The bodhisattva of compassion in
East Asian Buddhism, with full name being Chinese 觀音 觀音 or 觀世音
Guan Shi Yin. Guan Yin is considered to be Guān Yīn or 觀世 Jp: Kannon or
the female form of Avalokiteshvara but has
been given many more distinctive 音 Guān Shì Yīn Kanzeon
characteristics. Ko: Gwaneum or
Gwanse-eum
Vi: Quan Âm or
Quan Thế Âm

H
Definition Etymology In other languages
han In Zen monasteries, wooden board that
is struck announcing sunrise, sunset and the Japanese: 板
end of the day
Hinayana, lit. "small vehicle", A coinage by
the Mahayana for the Buddhist doctrines Sanskrit: Bur: ဟီနယာန hinayana
concerned with the achievement of Nirvana hīnayāna
as a Śrāvakabuddha or a Pratyekabuddha, (IPA: [hḭna̰jàna̰])
as opposed to a Samyaksambuddha. While
sometime thought as derogatory, it means in
小乘 or 小乗, 二乘
fact that the Hinayana doctrine is made to Cn: Xiǎoshèng
save but 1 individual, the one who follows its Jp: Shōjō
teachings, just like a 1 place vehicle, while
Vi: Tiểu thừa
the Mahayana allow the monk to take other
people along with him, like a bus or a great Mn: Бага хөлгөн, Baga
plane. hölgön

I
Definition Etymology In other languages
Ino, Jp. lit. "bringer of joy to the assembly."
Originally from Sanskrit karmadana, lit. Japanese: 維那
bestower of conduct [karma]. In Zen, the
supervisor of the meditation hall [sodo]. One
of the six senior temple administrators.
[1]

J
Definition Etymology In other languages
Jetavana
 衹樹給孤獨園
jhana Meditative contemplation; more often
associated with śamatha practices than from √dhyā: to Bur: ဈာန် zan (IPA: [zàɴ])
vipaśyana. See also: shamata, samadhi, think of, to
contemplate,
samapatti Mon: ဇျာန် ([chàn])
meditate on
Pāli: jhāna Thai: ฌาน chaan
Sanskrit: dhyāna
Sinhala: ජාන jhāna
禪 or 禪那, 禅 or 禅那
Cn: Chán or Chánnà
Jp: Zen or Zenna
Ko: Seon
Vi: Thiền or Thiền-
na
Mn: дияан, diyan
jisha In Zen, a senior priest's attendant
Japanese: 侍者
jisha
jukai Zen public ordination ceremony
wherein a lay student receives certain Chinese: 受戒,
Buddhist precepts. shou jie
Korean: 수계,
sugye

K
Definition Etymology In other languages
Kakusandha Buddha
Pāli: Kakusandha Bur: ကကုသန် Kakuthan
Sanskrit:
Krakkucchanda (IPA: [ka̰kṵθàɴ])
拘留孙佛
Zh: Jūliúsūn Fó
Vi: Câu-lưu-tôn Phật
karma, lit. "action", The law of cause
and effect in Buddhism from √kri: to do Bur: ကံ kan (IPA: [kàɴ])
Sanskrit: karma
Pāli: kamma or ကြမ္မာ kyamma
(IPA: [tɕəmà])
Mon: ကံ ([kɔm])

Shan: ၵျၢမ်ႇမႃႇ ([kjaːm˨

maː˨]) or ၵၢမ်ႇ ([kaːm˨])

Thai: กรรม gum

 Tib: ལས, las

Mn: үйлийн үр, uiliin ür

業¹, 因果²
Cn: ¹yè, comm.:
²yīnguǒ
Jp: gō, inga
Ko: 업 eob
Vi: nghiệp

Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa Sanskrit:
Karmasiddhiprakaraṇa
大乘成業論
Kassapa Buddha
Pāli: Kassapa Bur: ကဿပ Kathapa
Sanskrit: Kasyapa (IPA: [kaʔθəpa̰])
迦葉佛
Cn: Jiāyè Fó
Jp: Kashōbutsu
Vi: Ca-diếp Phật
kensho In Zen, enlightenment; has the
same meaning as satōri, but is Japanese: 見性 見性
customary used for an initial kenshō
awakening experience Cn: jiànxìng
Vi: kiến tính, kiến
tánh
khyenpo, also khenpo, An academic
degree similar to a doctorate in Tibetan
theology, philosophy, and psychology
khanti patience
Bur: ခန္တီ khanti
(IPA: [kʰàɴ dì])
Shan: ၶၼ်ႇထီႇ ([kʰan˨
tʰi˨])
Thai: ขันติ kanti
耐心
Cn: Nàixīn
Vi: nhẫn (trong lục
ba-la-mật)
kinhin Zen walking meditation
Japanese: 経行 kinhin 經行
or kyōgyō
Cn: jīngxíng
Vi: kinh hành
koan A story, question, problem or
statement generally inaccessible to
Japanese: 公案 kōan 公案
rational understanding, yet may be Cn: gōng-àn
accessible to Intuition Ko: gong'an
Vi: công án

kṣaṇa instant Sanskrit: kṣaṇa 剎那

kṣaṇasaṃpad opportune birth, born at
a time when either a Buddha is living Sanskrit:
and teaching on earth or when a kṣaṇasaṃpad
Buddha's teaching is available
ksanti The practice of exercising
patience toward behaviour or situations Sanskrit 忍辱
that might not necessarily deserve it—it
is seen as a conscious choice to Jp: ninniku
actively give patience as a gift, rather
than being in a state of oppression in
which one feels obligated to act in such
a way.
Kṣitigarbha "Earth Store," one of the
eight great Bodhisattvas. Sanskrit: Kṣitigarbha 地藏菩薩
Kṣitigarbhasūtra "The Scripture on
Kṣitigarbha"
Sanskrit:
Kṣitigarbhasūtra 地藏菩薩本願經
kleśa afflictions Sanskrit: kleśa 煩惱
Koṇāgamana Buddha
Pāli and Sanskrit: Bur: ကောဏာဂုံ
Koṇāgamana
Kawnagon
(IPA: [kɔ́nəɡòʊɴ])
拘那含佛
Zh: Jūnàhán Fó
Vi: Câu-na-hàm-
mâu-ni Phật

Thai: กุมภัณฑ์ gum-pan

Tib: གྲུལ་བུམ་ (grul bum)

Kumbhāṇḍa Sanskrit: Kumbhāṇḍa 鳩槃荼 or 鳩盤拏

Ko: 구반다 gubanda
Pāli: Kumbhaṇḍa

Zh: Jiū pán tú

Jp: kubanda
Vi: Cưu bàn trà
kuśalakarmapatha wholesome Sanskrit:
courses of action kuśalakarmapatha
kuśalamūla roots of virtue, wholesome
faculties; Sanskrit: kuśalamūla 善根
kyosaku In Zen, a flattened stick used
to strike the shoulders during zazen, to Japanese: 警策 香板
help overcome fatigue or reach satori kyōsaku, called
keisaku in Rinzai Cn: xiangban
죽비)
kr: jukbi(

L
Definition Etymology In other languages
lakṣaṇa characteristics, marks Sanskrit: lakṣaṇa 相
Lam rim chen mo "Great Treatise on the
Stages of the Path" written by Guru
Tsongkhapa in 1402
菩提道次廣論
Lalitavistara Tibetan: Rgya
cher rol pa 方廣大莊嚴經 / 普曜經
lama A Tibetan teacher or master; equivalent
Sanskrit: guru
to Sanskrit "guru" Tibetan: བླ་མ་ bla
喇嘛
ma
Cn: lǎma
Jp: rama
Vi: lạt-ma
Mn: лам, lam
lineage The official record of the historical
descent of dharma teachings from one 傳承
teacher to another; by extension, may refer to
a tradition

M
Definition Etymology In other languages
Mahābodhi Temple - "Temple of the
Great Awakening," the great stūpa at
Bodhgayā where Shakyamuni 大菩提寺
Buddha attain enlightenment.
Madhyamaka Buddhist
Sanskrit: mādhyamika
philosophical school, founded by Tib: དབུ་མ་པ་ dbu ma pa
Nagarjuna. Members of this school
are called Madhyamikas
Mn: төв үзэл, töv üzel
中觀宗, 中観派
Cn: Zhōngguānzōng
Jp: Chūganha
Vi: Trung quán tông
mahabhuta four great elements in
traditional Buddhist thought Pāli and Sanskrit: Bur: မဟာဘုတ်
Mahābhūta
 Mahabhot (IPA: [məhà
boʊʔ])
四大
mahamudra A method of direct
introduction the understanding of Sanskrit: mahāmudrā Bur: မဟာမုဒြာ maha
sunyata, of samsara and that the two
are inseparable modra (IPA: [məhà
moʊʔdɹà])
Tib: ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེ ན་པོ ་ chag-je

chen-po
Mn: махамудра,
mahamudra
大手印
Cn: dàshŏuyìn
Jp: daishuin
Vi: đại thủ ấn

Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra "Sutra
on the Great Perfection of Wisdom"
Sanskrit:
Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra 大般若波羅蜜多經
mahasiddha litt. great spiritual
accomplishment. A yogi in Tantric Sanskrit: mahāsiddha Bur: မဟာသိဒ္ဒ maha
Buddhism, often associated with the
highest levels of enlightenment theidda (IPA: [məhà
θeɪʔda̰])
Thai: มหายาน
大成就
Cn: dàchéngjiù
Jp: daijōju
Vi: đại thành tựu

Mahāvadānasūtra Sanskrit: Mahāvadānasūtra 大本經

Mahayana, lit. "great vehicle", A
major branch of Buddhism practiced Sanskrit: mahāyāna Bur: မဟာယာန
in China, Tibet, Japan, Korea,
Vietnam, and Taiwan. Main goal is mahayana
to achieve buddhahood or (IPA: [məhàjàna̰])
samyaksambuddha 大乘 or 大乗
Cn: Dàshèng
Jp: Daijō
Vi: Đại thừa
Mn: Ikh khölgön
Maitreya The Buddha of the future
epoch Pāli: Metteyya Bur: အရိမေတ္တေ ယျ
Sanskrit: Maitreya
arimetteya
(IPA: [əɹḭmèdja̰])
 Shan: ဢရီႉမိတ်ႈတေႇ

ယႃႉ ([ʔa˩ ri˥ mit˧ ta˨

jɔ˥])
Tib: བྱམས་པ, byams pa

Mn: Майдар, maidar

彌勒 or 彌勒佛, 弥勒 or
弥勒仏
Cn: Mílè or Mílè Fó
Jp: Miroku or Miroku-
butsu
Vi: Di-lặc or Phật Di-
l ặc
makyo In Zen, unpleasant or
distracting thoughts or illusions that Japanese: 魔境 makyō Vi: ma chướng
occur during zazen
Māna conceit, arrogance,
misconception Pāli and Sanskrit: Māna Bur: မာန mana
(IPA: [màna̰])
Mon: မာန် man ([màn])

Shan: မႃႇၼႃႉ ([maː˨

naː˥])
慢
Jp: man

manas-vijñāna seventh of the eight

Sanskrit: manas-vijñāna
末那識
counsciousnesses
Cn: Mònàshí
mandala a spiritual and ritual
symbol representing the Universe Sanskrit: मण्डल Maṇḍala 曼荼羅
(lit. "circle")
Cn: màntúluó
Jp: mandara
Vi: mạn-đà-la

maṅgala auspiciousness Sanskrit: maṅgala 吉祥

mantra Chant used primarily to aid
concentration, to reach Sanskrit: mantra Thai: มนตร์ moan
enlightenment. The best-known Mn: маань, тарни;
Buddhist mantra is possibly Om maani, tarni
mani padme hum
咒, 真言
Cn: zou
 Jp: shingon, ju
Vi: chân âm, thần
chú
Mappo The "degenerate" Latter Day
of the Law. A time period supposed Japanese: 末法 mappō 末法
to begin 2,000 years after
Sakyamuni Buddha's passing and Cn: mòfǎ
last for "10,000 years"; follows the Vi: mạt pháp
two 1,000-year periods of Former
Day of the Law (正法 Cn: zhèngfǎ;
Jp: shōbō) and of Middle Day of the
Law (像法 Cn: xiàngfǎ; Jp: zōhō).
During this degenerate age, chaos
will prevail and the people will be
unable to attain enlightenment
through the word of Sakyamuni
Buddha. See the Three periods
merit
Pāli: puñña Bur: ကုသိုလ် kutho
Sanskrit: puṇya
(IPA: [kṵðò])
Mon: ကုသဵု ([kaoʔsɒ]) or

ပိုန် ([pɒn])

Shan: ပုင်ႇၺႃႇ ([puŋ˨

ɲaː˨]) or ၵူႉသူဝ်ႇ ([ku˥

sʰo˨]) or ၵူႉသလႃႉ ([ku˥

sʰa˩ laː˥])
功徳
Jp: kudoku
mettā loving kindness
Pāli: Bur: မေတ္တာ myitta
Sanskrit:
(IPA: [mjɪʔtà])
Mon: မေတ္တာ ([mètta])

Shan: မိတ်ႈတႃႇ ([mit˧

taː˨]) or မႅတ်ႈတႃႇ ([mɛt˧

taː˨])
Thai: เมตตา metta
慈
Ch: Cí
Jp: ji
Vi: từ
Middle Way The practice of
avoidance of extreme views and Pāli: majjhimāpaṭipadā Bur: မဇ္ဇိမပဋိပဒါ
lifestyle choices Sanskrit:
madhyamāpratipad myizima badi bada
(IPA: [mjɪʔzḭma̰ bədḭ
bədà])
中道
Ch: zhōngdào
Jp: chūdō
Vi: trung đạo
Mn: дундаж зам мөр,
dundaj zam mör
(right) mindfulness The practice
whereby a person is intentionally Pāli: (sammā)-sati
aware of his or her thoughts and Sanskrit: (samyag)-smṛti
actions in the present moment, non-
judgmentally. The 7th step of the Bur: သတိ thadi
Noble Eightfold Path (IPA: [ðadḭ])
Thai: สัมมาสติ samma-
sati
正念
Cn: zhèngniàn
Jp: shōnen
Vi: chính niệm,
chánh niệm
moksha Liberation
Sanskrit: mokṣa Pāli: vimutti
Bur: ဝိမုတ္တိ wimouti
(IPA: [wḭmoʊʔtḭ])
解脱
Cn: jiětuō
Jp: gedatsu
Vi: giải thoát
mokugyo A wooden drum carved
from one piece, usually in the form of Japanese: 木魚 mokugyo 木魚
a fish
Cn: mùyú
Vi: mõ
mondo In Zen, a short dialogue
between teacher and student Japanese: 問答 mondō 問答
Cn: wèndǎ
Vi:
mudra lit. "seal", A gesture made
with hands and fingers in meditation Sanskrit: mudrā Bur: မုဒြာ modra
(IPA: [moʊʔdɹà])
 Tib: ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ phyag rgya

Mn: чагжаа, chagjaa

手印
Cn: sohyìn
(commonly only yìn)
Jp: shuin
Vi: ấn

N
Definition Etymology In other languages
namo An exclamation showing reverence;
devotion. Often placed in front of the name Pāli: namo Bur: နမော namaw
of an object of veneration, e.g., a Buddha's Sanskrit: namaḥ or
name or a sutra (Nam(u) Myōhō Renge namas (IPA: [nəmɔ́])
Kyō), to express devotion to it. Defined in Tib: ཕྱག་འཚལ་(ལོ ), chag
Sino-Japanese as 帰命 kimyō: to base Derivatives:
one's life upon, to devote (or submit) one's tsal (lo)
life to Sanskrit: namo-
'mitābhāya Mn: мөргөмү, mörgömü
Derivatives: 南無
Namo Amitabha Cn: nánmó
Jp: namu or nam
Ko: namu
Vi: nam-mô

Derivatives:

南無阿弥陀佛
Cn: Nánmó Ēmítuó
fó
Jp: Namu Amida
butsu
Ko: Namu Amita Bul
Vi: Nam-mô A-di-đà
Phật
南無觀世音菩薩
Cn: Nánmó Guán
Syr Yín Pū Sá
Jp: Namu Kanzeon
Butsu
Ko: Namu Gwan Se
Eum Bo Sal
Vi: Nam-mô Quan
Thế Âm Bồ Tát
Naraka realm of hell Pāli: niraya 地獄
Sanskrit: nāraka
Cn: Dìyù
nekkhamma renunciation
Pāli: Bur: နိက္ခမ neikhama
Sanskrit:
(IPA: [neɪʔkʰəma̰])
Thai: เนกขัมมะ
nekkamma
Mn: магад гарахуй,
magad garahui
出世
Cn: Chūshì
Jp: shusse
Vi: xuất thế
Nirvana/Nibbana Extinction or
extinguishing; ultimate enlightenment in the from niḥ-√vā: to Bur: နိဗ္ဗာန် neibban
Buddhist tradition extinguish
Pāli: nibbāna (IPA: [neɪʔbàɴ])
Sanskrit: nirvana Thai: นิพพาน nípphaan

Tib: མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ,

mya-ngan-las-'das-pa
Mn: нирван, nirvan
涅槃
Cn: Nièpán
Jp: Nehan
Ko: Yeolban
Vi: Niết-bàn
Nikaya, lit. "volume", The Buddhist texts in
Pāli Pāli: nikāya Sanskrit: Āgama
Bur: နိကာယ nikaya
(IPA: [nḭkəja̰])
部經
Cn: Bùjīng
Jp: bukyō
Vi: Bộ kinh
Noble Eightfold Path
Pāli: aṭṭhāṅgika- Bur: မဂ္ဂင် meggin
1. Right View (Pāli: sammā-diṭṭhi; magga
Sanskrit: samyag-dṛṣṭi; 正見 Cn: Sanskrit: (IPA: [mɛʔɡɪ̀ɴ])
zhèngjiàn; Vi: chính kiến) aṣṭāṅgika-mārga Thai: อริยมรรค ariya-
2. Right Thought (Pāli: sammā-saṅkappa; mak
Sanskrit: samyak-saṃkalpa; 正思唯 八正道
Cn: zhèngsīwéi; Vi: chính tư duy)
 These 2 constitute the path of Wisdom Cn: Bāzhèngdào
(Pāli: paññā; Sanskrit: prajñā) Jp: Hasshōdō
3. Right Speech (Pāli: sammā-vācā; Ko: Paljeongdo
Sanskrit: samyag-vāk; 正語 Cn: Vi: Bát chính đạo
zhèngyǔ; Vi: chính ngữ)
4. Right Action (Pāli: sammā-kammanta;
Sanskrit: samyak-karmānta; 正業 Cn:
zhèngyè; Vi: chính nghiệp)
5. Right Living (Pāli: sammā-ājīva;
Sanskrit: samyag-ājīva; 正命 Cn:
zhèngmìng; Vi: chính mệnh)
These 3 constitute the path of Virtue
(Pāli: sīla; Sanskrit: śīla)
6. Right Effort (Pāli: sammā-vāyāma;
Sanskrit: samyag-vyāyāma; 正精進 Cn:
zhèngjīngjìn; Vi: chính tinh tiến)
7. Right Mindfulness (Pāli: sammā-sati;
Sanskrit: samyag-smṛti; 正念 Cn:
zhèngniàn; Vi: chính niệm)
8. Right Concentration (Pāli: sammā-
samādhi; Sanskrit: samyak-samādhi; 正
定 Cn: zhèngdìng; Vi: chính định)
The last 3 constitute the path of
Concentration (Pāli, Sanskrit: samādhi)

O
Definition Etymology In other languages
oryoki A set of bowls used in a Zen eating
ceremony Japanese: 応量
器 ōryōki
osho A term used to address a monk of the
Zen Buddhist tradition. Originally reserved Japanese: 和尚
for high-ranking monks, it has since been oshō
appropriated for everyday use when
addressing any male member of the Zen
clergy

P
Definition Etymology In other languages
pabbajja, (a layperson) leaving home to join a
community of monks and nuns (lit. "to go forth") Sanskrit:
pravrajya
出家
Pali: Pabbajja Cn: chūjiā
Jp: shukke
Vi: xuất gia
panca skandha The five constituent elements
Sanskrit: pañca
into which an individual is analyzed. They are: skandha Bur: ခန္ဒာငါးပါး
1. "form": Pāli, Sanskrit: rūpa; Bu: ရူ ပ yupa; 色 Pāli: pañca
khandha khanda nga ba
(IPA: [kʰàɴdà ŋá bá])
Cn: sè; Jp: shiki
2. "sensation": Pāli, Sanskrit: vedanā; Bu: Shan: ႁႃႈ ၶၼ်ႇထႃႇ
ဝေဒန wedana; 受 Cn: shòu; Jp: ju ([haː˧ kʰan˨ tʰaː˨])

3. "cognition": Pāli: saññā; Sanskrit: saṃjñā; 五蘊, 五陰, 五薀

Bu: သညာ thinnya; 想 Cn: xiàng; Jp: sō Cn: wǔyùn
Jp: go-on,
4. "mental formations": Pāli: saṅkhāra; sometimes go-un
Sanskrit: saṃskāra; Bu: သင်္ခါရ thinkhaya; Vi: ngũ uẩn
行 Cn: xíng; Jp: gyō
5. "consciousness": Pāli: viññāṇa; Sanskrit:
vijñāna; Bu: ဝိညာဉ် winyin; 識 Cn: shí; Jp:
shiki
Panchen Lama The second highest ranking
lama in the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan: པན་ཆེ ན་བླ་ Sanskrit: paṇḍitaguru
after the Dalai Lama Mn: Банчин Богд,
Banchin Bogd
མ་ pan-chen bla-
班禪喇嘛
ma
Cn: Bānchán
Lǎma
Jp: ??
Vi: Ban-thiền Lạt-
ma
paññā, see prajna
Sanskrit: Bur: ပညာ pyinnya
(IPA: [pjɪ̀ɴɲà])
Mon: ပညာ ([pɔnɲa])

Shan: ပိင်ႇၺႃႇ ([piŋ˨

ɲaː˨])
Tibetan: ཤེ ས་རབ་ shes

rab
Mn: билиг, bilig
智慧 or 知恵 or 般若
Cn: Zhìhuì, zhīhuì,
bōrě
Jp: chie,hannya
Vi: bát-nhã
paramartha Absolute, as opposed to merely
conventional, truth or reality; see also samvrti Sanskrit:
 paramārtha Bur: ပရမတ် paramat
(IPA: [pəɹəmaʔ])
Thai: ปรมัตถ์ paramutt
真諦
Jp: shintai
paramita, lit. "reaching the other shore,"
usually rendered in English as "perfection." Pāli: pāramī Bur: ပါရမီ parami
The Mahayana practices for obtaining Sanskrit:
enlightenment; giving, ethics, patience, effort, pāramitā (IPA: [pàɹəmì])
concentration and wisdom Mon: ပါရမဳ
([parəmɔe])
Thai: บารมี baramee
Mn: барамид,
baramid
波羅蜜 or 波羅蜜多
Cn: bōluómì or
bōluómìduō
Jp: haramitsu or
haramita
Vi: ba-la-mật or
ba-la-mật-đa
parinibbana/parinirvana The final
nibbana/nirvana from Bur: ပရိနိဗ္ဗာန်
nibbana/nirvana
above pareineibban
Pāli: parinibbāna (IPA: [pəɹeɪʔneɪʔbàɴ])
Sanskrit: Thai: ปรินิพพาน pari-
parinirvāṇa nippaan
般涅槃
Cn: bōnièpán
Jp: hatsunehan
Vi: bát-niết-bàn
Perfection of Wisdom
from pāramitā Bur: ပညာပါရမီ
("perfection")
above and pyinnya parami
prajñā/paññā (IPA: [pjɪ̀ɴɲà pàɹəmì])
("wisdom") below
Mon: ပညာပါရမဳ
Sanskrit:
prajñāpāramitā ([pɔnɲa parəmɔe])
Pāli: Mn: билиг барамид,
paññāparami bilig baramid
般若波羅蜜 or 般若波
羅蜜多
 Cn: bōrě-bōluómì
or bōrě-
bōluómìduō
Jp: hannya-
haramitsu or
hannya-haramita
Vi: bát-nhã-ba-la-
mật or bát-nhã-
ba-la-mật-đa
Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch Sermon
of the sixth patriarch of Zen Buddhism 六祖壇經
Pointing-out instruction The direct
introduction to the nature of mind in the Tibetan: ངོ ་སྤྲོ ད་
lineages of Essence Mahamudra and
Dzogchen. A root guru is the master who gives ngo-sprod
the 'pointing-out instruction' so that the disciple
recognizes the nature of mind
prajna/paññā "wisdom", "insight"
Pāli: paññā Bur: ပညာ pyinnya
Sanskrit: prajñā
(IPA: [pjɪ̀ɴɲà])
Thai: ปัญญา pun-ya

Tibetan: ཤེ ས་རབ་ shes

rab
Mn: хөтлөх, khötlökh
般若
Cn: bōrě or
bānruò
Jp: hannya
Vi: bát-nhã

pratisaraṇa "reliance" Sanskrit:

pratisaraṇa 依
pratitya-samutpada "Dependent origination,"
the view that no phenomenon exists (or comes Pāli: paṭicca- Bur: ပဋိစ္စသမုပ္ပါဒ်
about) without depending on other phenomena samuppāda
or conditions contingent with it. In English also Sanskrit: pratitya- padeissa thamopad
called "conditioned genesis," "dependent co- samutpāda (IPA: [pədeɪʔsa̰
arising," "interdependent arising," etc. θəmoʊʔpaʔ])

A famous application of dependent origination Tib: རྟེ ན་ཅི ང་འབྲེ ལ་

is the Twelve Nidana, or 12 inter-dependences
(Sanskrit: dvādaśāṅgapratītyasamutpāda; 十二 བར་འབྱུང་བ་ rten
因緣 十二因縁
, Cn: shíàr yīnyuán; Jp: jūni
innen; Vi: thập nhị nhân duyên), which are:
cing `brel bar `byung
1. Ignorance (Pāli: avijjā; Sanskrit: avidyā; 無 ba
明 Cn: wúmíng; Jp: mumyō; Vi: vô minh; Mn: шүтэн
барилдлага, shuten
Mn: мунхрахуй, munhrahui)
 2. Ignorance creates Mental Formation (Pāli: barildlaga
行
saṅkhāra; Sanskrit: saṃskāra; Cn: xíng; 緣起 (thought to be an
Jp: gyō; Vi: hành; Mn: хуран үйлдэхүй, abbreviation for 因緣
khuran uildehui)
3. Mental Formation creates Consciousness
生起), 縁起
識
(Pāli: viññāṇa; Sanskrit: vijñāna; Cn: Cn: yuánqǐ
shí; Jp: shiki; Vi: thức; Mn: тийн мэдэхүй, Jp: engi
tiin medehui) Vi: duyên khởi
4. Consciousness creates Name & Form
(Pāli, Sanskrit: nāmarūpa; 名色 Cn:
Also called 因緣, 因縁
míngsè; Jp: myōshiki; Vi: danh sắc; Mn: Cn: yīnyuán
нэр өнгө, ner öngö) Jp: innen
5. Name & Form create Sense Gates (Pāli: Vi: nhân duyên
saḷāyatana; Sanskrit: ṣaḍāyatana; 六入 or
六処 Cn: liùrù; Jp: rokunyū or rokusho; Vi:
lục căn; Mn: төрөн түгэхүй, törön tugehui)
6. Sense Gates create Contact (Pāli: phassa;
觸触
Sanskrit: sparśa; , Cn: chù; Jp: soku;
Vi: xúc; Mn: хүрэлцэхүй, khureltsehui)
7. Contact creates Feeling (Pāli, Sanskrit:
受
vedanā; Cn: shòu; Jp: ju; Vi: thụ; Mn:
сэрэхүй, serehui)
8. Feeling creates Craving (Pāli: taṇhā;
愛
Sanskrit: tṛṣṇā; Cn: ài; Jp: ai; Vi: ái; Mn:
хурьцахуй, khuritsahui)
9. Craving creates Clinging (Pāli, Sanskrit:
取
upādāna; Cn: qǔ; Jp: shu; Vi: thủ; Mn:
авахуй, avahui)
10. Clinging creates Becoming (Pāli, Sanskrit:
有
bhava; Cn: yǒu; Jp: u; Vi: hữu; Mn:
сансар, sansar)
11. Becoming creates Birth (Pāli, Sanskrit: jāti;
生 Cn: shēng; Jp: shō; Vi: sinh; Mn:
төрөхүй, töröhui )
12. Birth leads to Aging & Death (Pāli,
Sanskrit: jarāmaraṇa; 老死 Cn: láosǐ; Jp:
rōshi; Vi: lão tử; Mn: өтлөх үхэхүй, ötlöh
uhehui)
Pratyekabuddha/Paccekabuddha, lit. "a
buddha by his own", A buddha who reaches Pāli: Bur: ပစ္စေကဗုဒ္ဓါ
enlightenment on his own paccekabuddha
Sanskrit: pyiseka boddha
pratyekabuddha (IPA: [pjɪʔsèka̰
boʊʔdà])
辟支佛
Cn: Bìzhī Fó
 Jp:
Hyakushibutsu
Vi: Bích-chi Phật
Pure Land Buddhism A large branch of
Mahayana, dominantly in East Asia. The goal 净土宗(Ch), 浄土教
of Pure Land Buddhism is to be reborn in the (Jp)
Western sukhavati of Amitabha, either as a
real place or within the mind, through the other- Cn: Jìngtǔ-zōng
power of repeating the Buddha's name, nianfo Jp: Jōdo-kyo
or nembutsu. Ko: Jeongtojong
Vi: Tịnh độ tông
Puruṣa Man (ep. representative of the male
gender); human being Pāli: purisa Tib: skyes pa
Sanskrit: puruṣa 人
Ch: rén
Jp: hito

R
Definition Etymology In other languages
rebirth The process of continuity of life after death
Pāli:
punabbhava
輪廻
Sanskrit: Cn: lunhui
punarbhava Jp: rinne
Vi: luân hồi
Ratnasambhava
Sanskrit:
Tib: རི ན་ཆེ ན་འབྱུང་
Ratnasambhava

གནས Rinchen Jung

ne
Mn: ᠡᠷᠳᠡᠨᠢ
ᠭᠠᠷᠬᠣ ᠢᠢᠨ ᠣᠷᠣᠨ᠂
ᠲᠡᠭᠦᠰ ᠡᠷᠳᠡᠨᠢ;
Эрдэнэ гарахын
орон, Төгс Эрдэнэ;
Erdeni garkhu yin
oron, Tegüs Erdeni
寶生佛, 宝生如来
Jp: Hōshō
Nyorai
Vi: Bảo-sanh
Như Lai
refuge Usually in the form of "take refuge in the
Three Jewels" Pāli: saraṇa Bur: သရဏဂုံ
 Sanskrit: śaraṇa tharanagon
(IPA: [θəɹənəɡòʊɴ])
Mn: аврал, avral
Tib: skyabs
Thai: สรณะ sorana
歸依
Cn: guīyī
Jp: kie
Vi: quy y
Rigpa, the knowledge that ensues from
Sanskrit: विद्या
recognizing one's nature Tibetan: རི ག་པ
(vidyā)
(rig pa)
Rinpoche, lit. "precious one", An honorific title for
a respected Tibetan lama, such as a tulku Tibetan: རི ན་པོ ་ཆེ ་, Mn: римбүчий,
rimbuchii
rin-po-che 仁波切
Cn: rénbōqiè
Jp: リンポチェ
rinpoche
Vi: ??
Rinzai Zen sect emphasizing koan study; named
for master Linji Yixuan Japanese: 臨済 臨濟宗
宗 Rinzai-shū Cn: Línjì-zōng
Vi: Lâm Tế tông
Rohatsu A day traditionally honored as the day of
the Buddha's enlightenment. While deep in Japanese: 臘八
meditation under a bodhi tree, he attained Rōhatsu or
enlightenment upon seeing the morning star just at Rohachi
dawn; celebrated on the 8th day either of
December or of the 12th month of the lunar
calendar
roshi, lit. "Master", An honorific given to Zen
teachers in the Rinzai and Obaku sects. Japanese 老師 禅師
Rōshi
Cn: chan shī
(lit., old master)

S
Definition Etymology In other languages
sacca truthfulness
Sanskrit: Satya Burmese: သစ္စာ thissa
(IPA: [θɪʔ sà])
Khmer: សច្ចា
UNGEGN: sâchcha
 ALA-LC: saccā
IPA: [saccaː]
Mon: သစ္စ ([sɔtcɛʔ])

Shan: သဵတ်ႈၸႃႇ ([sʰet˧

tsaː˨])
Thai: สัจจะ sadja
真
Cn: zhēn
Jp: shin
Vi:
Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra Lotus Sanskrit:
Sutra Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra 妙法蓮華經 / 法華經
ṣaḍgati "six destinies" Sanskrit: ṣaḍgati 六趣
samanera/shramanera A male
novice monk, who, after a year or Sanskrit: śrāmaṇera Burmese: (ရှင်)သာမဏေ
until the ripe age of 20, will be
considered for the higher Bhikkhu (shin) thamane
ordination (IPA: [(ʃɪ̀ɴ) θàmənè])
Khmer: សាមណេរ
UNGEGN: Samônér
ALA-LC: Sāmaṇer
IPA: [saːmaneː]
Mon: သာမ္မဏဳ
([samənɔe])
Shan: သႃႇမၼေႇ ([sʰaː˨
mne˨])
Thai: สามเณร sama-
naen
沙彌
Cn: shāmí
Jp: shami
Vi: sa-di, chú tiểu
samatha Mental stabilization;
tranquility meditation. Distinguished Pāli: samatha Bur: သမထ thamahta
from vipassanā meditation Sanskrit: śamatha
(IPA: [θəmətʰa̰])
Thai: สมถะ samatha
舍摩他
Cn: shěmótā
Jp: ??
 Vi: ??
samsara The cycle of birth and
rebirth; the world as commonly Pāli, Sanskrit: saṃsāra Bur: သံသရာ thanthaya
experienced
(IPA: [θàɴðəjà])
Thai: สังสารวัฏ sung-
sara-wat
Tib: འཁོ ར་བ khor ba

Bur: သံသရာ

Mn: орчлон, orchlon

輪迴, 輪廻
Cn: lúnhúi
Jp: rinne
Vi: luân hồi
samu Work, conceived as a part of
Zen training.[2] (https://web.archive. Japanese: 作務 samu 作務
org/web/20031215200529/http://ww
w.mbzc.org/glossary/#samu) Cn: zuòwù
Vi: ??
samvrti Conventional, as opposed
to absolute, truth or reality; see also Sanskrit: saṃvriti Bur: သမ္မုတိ thamudi
paramartha
(IPA: [θəmṵdḭ])
Thai: สมมุติ sommoot
俗諦
Jp: zokutai
sangha The community of Buddhist
monks and nuns. Teachers and Sanskrit: saṅgha Bur: သံဃာ thangha
practitioners.
(IPA: [θàɴɡà])
Mon: သဳလ ([sɛŋ])

Khmer: សង្ឃ
UNGEGN: sângkh
ALA-LC: sanggh
IPA: [sɑŋ]
Shan: သၢင်ႇၶႃႇ ([sʰaːŋ˨
kʰaː˨])
Thai: สงฆ์ song

Tib: ཚོ གས་ཀ་མཆོ ག tsog

gyu chog
 Mn: хуврагийн чуулган,
khuvragiin chuulgan
僧團
Cn: sēng tuan
Jp: sō, sōryō
Vi: tăng già
Sanlun Buddhist philosophical
school based on the Madhyamaka Chinese: 三論 sānlùn 三論宗
school
Cn: Sānlùnzōng
Jp: Sanron-shū
Vi: Tam luận tông
sanzen A formal interview with a
teacher in many traditions of Zen. Japanese
Similar to dokusan
satori Awakening; understanding.
A Japanese term for enlightenment Japanese: 悟り satori 悟
Cn: wú
Vi: ngộ
sayadaw Burmese meditation
master Bur: ဆရာတော် sayadaw
(IPA: [sʰəjàdɔ̀])
seichu In the Zen Buddhist
calendar, a period of intensive, Japanese: 制中 seichu
formal monastic training. It is
typically characterized by week-
long Daisesshins and periodic
sanzen
sesshin A Zen retreat where
practitioners meditate, eat and work Japanese: 接心, 摂心 佛七
together for several days
Cn: fóqī
坐臘/坐腊
Cn: zuòlà
shikantaza Soto Zen. "Only
concentrated on sitting" is the main Japanese: 只管打座 默照
practice of the Soto school of
Japanese Zen Buddhism Cn: mòzhào
shunyata Emptiness; see also
Nagarjuna Pāli: suññatā Bur: သုည
Sanskrit: śūnyatā
(IPA: [θòʊɴɲa̰])
Shan: သုင်ႇၺႃႉ ([sʰuŋ˨
ɲaː˥])
Tib: stong pa nyid
Mn: хоосон чанар,
khooson chanar
 空
Cn: kōng
Jp: kū
Vi: tính Không
Sikhī Buddha Buddha of
Knowledge Pāli: Sikhī Buddha Jp: Shiki Butsu
Sanskrit: Śikhīn Buddha
sila "morals", "morality", "ethics":
precepts Pāli: sīla Bur: သီလ thila
Sanskrit: śīla
(IPA: [θìla̰])
Khmer: សីល
UNGEGN: seil
ALA-LC: sīl
IPA: [səl]
Mon: သဳ ([sɔelaʔ])

Shan: သီႇလႃႉ ([sʰi˨

laː˥])
Thai: ศีล seen
尸羅,戒
Cn: jiè
Jp: kai
Vi: giới
Mn: шагшаабад,
shagshaabad
Sōtō Sect of Zen emphasizing
shikantaza as the primary mode of Japanese: 曹洞宗 Sōtō- 曹洞宗
practice; see also Dōgen shū
Cn: Cáodòng-zōng
Vi: Tào Động tông
store consciousness The base
consciousness (alayavijnana) Pāli, Sanskrit:
ālayavijñāna
阿頼耶識
taught in Yogacara Buddhism
Cn: āyēshí
Jp: arayashiki
Vi: a-lại-da thức

Śrāvastī Sanskrit: śrāvastī 舍衛國

sukha happiness; ease; pleasure;
bliss Pāli: sukha Bur: သုခ
Sanskrit: sukha
Khmer: សុខ
UNGEGN: sŏkh
ALA-LC: sukh
 IPA: [sok]
Mon: ??
Mn: ??
樂
Cn: lè
Jp: ??
Vi: ??
sutra Scripture; originally referred
to short aphoristic sayings and from √siv: to sew Bur: သုတ် thoht
collections thereof Sanskrit: sutra
Pāli: sutta (IPA: [θoʊʔ])
Khmer: សូត្រ
UNGEGN: sotr
ALA-LC: sūtr
IPA: [soːt]
Mon: သုတ် ([sɔt])

Mon: သုၵ်ႈ ([sʰuk˧])

Thai: สูตร soothe

Mn: судар, sudar
經, 経
Cn: jīng
Jp: kyō
Vi: kinh

Śūraṃgamasamādhisūtra Sanskrit:
Śūraṃgamasamādhisūtra
首楞嚴三昧經
Sutra Pitaka The second basket of
the Tripiṭaka canon, the collection Pāli: Sutta-piṭaka Bur: သုတ် thoht
of all Buddha's teachings Sanskrit: Sūtra-piṭaka
(IPA: [θoʊʔ])
Mon: သုတ် ([sɔt])

Mon: သုၵ်ႈ ([sʰuk˧])

Mn: Судрын аймаг

Sudriin aimag
經藏, 経蔵
Cn: jīngcáng
Jp: kyōzō
Vi: Kinh tạng

T
 Definition Etymology In other languages
tangaryō A period of waiting for admission
into a Zen monastery at the gate, lasting Japanese: 旦過
anywhere from one day to several weeks—
depending on the quality of one's sitting.
寮
Refers to the room traveling monks stay in
when visiting, or await admittance into the
sōdō.
tanha Craving or desire
Pāli: taṇhā Bur: တဏှာ tahna
Sanskrit: tṛṣṇā
(IPA: [tən̥à])
Khmer: តណ្ហា
UNGEGN: tânha
ALA-LC: taṇhā
IPA: [tɑnhaː]
Thai: ตัณหา tunha
Mn: хурьцахуй,
khuritsahui
愛
Cn: ài
Jp: ai
애
Kr: ae
Vi: ái
Tanto In Zen, one of the main temple
leaders, lit."head of the tan." In a Zen temple, Japanese: 単頭
the Tanto is one of two officers (with the
Godo) in charge monks' training.[2]
tantra Esoteric religious practices, including
yoga, mantra, etc. See also Vajrayana. Sanskrit: tantra Mn: тарнийн ёс,
дандар, tarniin yos,
dandar
續部,怛特羅
Cn: dátèluó
Jp: ??
Vi: đát-đặc-la
Tathagata one of the Buddha's ten epithets
Sanskrit: Bur: တထာဂတ
tathāgata; The
"Thus-Gone tahtagata
One" (IPA: [ta̰tʰàɡəta̰])
Khmer: តថាគត
UNGEGN: tâthakôt
ALA-LC: tathāgat
IPA: [tatʰaːkɔt]
Thai: ตถาคต tatha-kohd
 Mn: түүнчлэн ирсэн,
tuunchlen irsen
如来
Cn: rúlái
Jp: nyorai
Vi: như lai
tathagatagarbha Buddha-nature or the
seed of enlightenment Sanskrit:
tathāgatagarbha
佛性, 仏性
Cn: fóxìng
Jp: busshō
Also 覚性
Cn: juéxìng
Jp: kakushō
Vi: giác tính
Also 如来藏, 如来蔵
Cn: rúláizàng
Jp: nyuoraizō
Vi: như lai tạng
teisho A presentation by a Zen master
during a sesshin. Rather than an explanation Japanese: 提唱
or exposition in the traditional sense, it is teishō
intended as a demonstration of Zen
realisation
tenzo In Zen, the head cook for a sesshin. In
Zen temples, the officer in charge of the Japanese: 典座 典座
kitchen tenzo
Cn: diǎnzuò
Vi: điển toạ

Tevijja Sutta Discourse of the Three-fold

Knowledge
Sanskrit:
Tevijjasutta 三明經
Theravada, lit. "words of the elders", Most
popular form of Buddhism in Southeast Asia Pāli: theravāda Bur: ထေရဝါဒ
and Sri Lanka. Sanskrit:
sthaviravāda hterawada
(IPA: [tʰèɹa̰wàda̰] or
[tʰèja̰wàda̰])
Khmer: ថេរវាទ
UNGEGN: thérôvéat
ALA-LC: theravād
IPA: [tʰeːraviət]
Thai: เถรวาท tera-waad
上座部
Cn: shàngzuòbù
 Jp: jōzabu
Vi: Thượng toạ bộ
thera or their, lit. "elder", Honorific applied to
senior monks and nuns in the Theravada Pāli: thera Bur: ထေရ htera
tradition.
(IPA: [tʰèɹa̰])
Three Jewels Three things that Buddhists
take refuge in: the Buddha, his teachings Pāli: tiratana Bur: သရဏဂုံသုံးပါး
(Dharma) and the community of realized Sanskrit: triratna
practitioners (Sangha), and in return look tharanagon thon ba
toward for guidance (see also Refuge (IPA: [θəɹənəɡòʊɴ θóʊɴ
(Buddhism)) bá]) OR ရတနာသုံးပါး
yadana thon ba ([jədənà
θóʊɴ bá)])
Khmer: ត្រៃរតនៈ
UNGEGN:
trairôtâneă
ALA-LC: trairatană
IPA: [trajratanaʔ]
Thai: ไตรรัตน์ trai-rut

Tib: དཀོ ན་མཆོ ག་གསུམ,

dkon mchog gsum

Mn: чухаг дээд гурав
chuhag deed gurav
三寶
Cn: sānbăo
Jp: sanbō
Vi: tam bảo
Three periods
Three divisions of the time following the
三時
historical Buddha's passing: the Former Cn: Sānshí
(or Early) Day of the Law ( 正法 Cn: Jp: Sanji
zhèngfǎ; Jp: shōbō), the first thousand Vi: Tam thời
years; the Middle Day of the Law ( 像法
Cn: xiàngfǎ; Jp: zōhō), the second
thousand years; and the Latter Day of the
Law ( 末法 Cn: mòfǎ; Jp: mappō), which
is to last for 10,000 years.
The three periods are significant to
Mahayana adherents, particularly those
who hold the Lotus Sutra in high regard;
e.g., Tiantai (Tendai) and Nichiren
Buddhists, who believe that different
Buddhist teachings are valid (i.e., able to
lead practitioners to enlightenment) in
 each period due to the different capacity
to accept a teaching ( 機根 Cn: jīgēn; Jp:
kikon) of the people born in each
respective period.
The three periods are further divided into
five five-hundred year periods ( 五五百歳
Cn: wǔ wǔbǎi suì; Jp: go no gohyaku
sai), the fifth and last of which was
prophesied to be when the Buddhism of
Sakyamuni would lose all power of
salvation and a new Buddha would
appear to save the people. This time
period would be characterized by unrest,
strife, famine, and other, natural
disasters.
The three periods and the five five-
hundred year periods are described in
the Sutra of the Great Assembly ( 大集経
Cn: dàjí jīng; Jp: Daishutu-kyō, Daijuku-
kyō, Daijikkyō, or Daishukkyō).
Descriptions of the three periods also
appear in other sutras, some of which
ascribe different lengths of time to them
(although all agree that Mappō will last
for 10,000 years).
Three Poisons or Three Fires
Pāli: kilesa Sanskrit: triviṣa
The three primary causes of unskillful (Defilements) Tib: düsum (Wylie: dug
action that lead to the creation of Sanskrit: kleśa gsum)
"negative" karma; the three root
kleshas: Bur: မီးသုံးပါး mi thon ba
(IPA: [mí θóʊɴ bá])
1. Attachment (Pāli: lobha; Sanskrit: rāga;
Mn: гурван хор, gurvan
Tib.: འདོ ད་ཆགས་ 'dod chags) khor

2. Aversion (Pali: doha; Sanskrit: dveṣa;

三毒
Cn: Sāndú
Tib.: ཞེ ་སྡང་ zhe sdang; Mn: урин хилэн,
Jp: Sandoku
瞋
urin khilen; Cn: chēn; Jp: jin; Vi: sân) Vi: Tam độc
3. Ignorance (Pāli: moha; Sanskrit: moha;
Tib.: གཏི ་མུག་ gti mug)

Tiantai/Tendai A Mahayana school of China

that teaches the supremacy of the Lotus Chinese: 天台 天台宗
Sutra tiāntái
Cn: tiāntái zōng
Jp: tendai-shū
Vi: Thiên Thai tông
trailõkya The 3 "regions" of the world:
Sanskrit: triloka Pāli: tisso dhātuyo
 1. Kamaloka or Kamadhatu: world of
Tibetan: ཁམས་གསུམ་
desires (Sanskrit, Pāli: kāmaloka,
kāmadhātu; Tibetan: འདོ ད་ཁམས་ `dod khams gsum
Mn: гурван орон,
khams; Mn: амармагийн орон, gurvan oron
amarmagiin oron; 欲界
Cn: yùjiè, Jp: 三界
yokkai Vi: dục giới)
2. Rupaloka or Rupadhatu: world of form Cn: sānjiè
(Sanskrit: rūpaloka, rūpadhātu; Tibetan: Jp: sangai
གཟུགས་ཁམས་ gzugs khams; Mn: дүрстийн Vi: tam giới

орон, durstiin oron; 色界

Cn: sèjiè; Jp:
shikikai , Vi: sắc giới)
3. Arupaloka or Arupadhatu: world without
form or desire (Sanskrit: arūpaloka,
arūpadhātu; Tibetan: གཟུགས་མེ ད་ཁམས་

gzugs med khams; Mn: дүрсгүйн орон,

dursquin oron; 無色界 Cn: wú sèjiè, Jp:
mushikikai Vi: vô sắc giới)
trikaya The 3 "bodies" of Buddha:
Sanskrit: trikāya 三身
Dharma-kaya (Sanskrit: dharmakāya; 法
身 Cn: fǎshēn; Jp: hosshin; Vi: pháp Cn: sānshēn
Jp: sanjin
thân)
Sambhoga-kaya (Sanskrit: Vi: tam thân
saṃbhogakāya; 報身
Cn: bàoshēn; Jp:
hōshin; Vi: báo thân)
Nirmana-kaya (Sanskrit: nirmāṇakāya;
應身 化身 応身
, , Cn: yìngshēn; Jp: ōjin; Vi:
ứng thân)

Triṃśikā Sanskrit:
Triṃśikā 唯識三十論頌
Tripitaka The "Three Baskets"; canon
containing the sacred texts for Buddhism Pāli: tipiṭaka Burmese: တိပိဋက
(Pāli) Sanskrit: tripiṭaka
Tipitaka (IPA: [tḭpḭtəka̰])
Vinaya Pitaka (Pāli, Sanskrit: Vinaya- Thai: ไตรปิฎก Traipidok
piṭaka; Tib: འདུལ་བའི ་སྡེ ་སྣོ ད་ `dul ba`i sde
སྡེ ་སྣོ ད་་གསུམ, sde snod
snod; Mn: винайн аймаг сав vinain
aimag sav; 律藏 律蔵
, Cn: lǜzàng; Jp:
gsum
Mn: гурван аймаг сав,
Ritsuzō; Vi: Luật tạng)
gurvan aimag sav
Sutra Pitaka (Pāli: Sutta-piṭaka; Sanskrit:
Sūtra-piṭaka; Tib: མདོ ་སྡེ འི ་སྡེ ་སྣོ ད་ mdo sde`i
三藏, 三蔵
Cn: Sānzàng
sde snod; Mn: судрын аймаг сав sudriin Jp: Sanzō
 aimag sav; 經藏 経蔵
, Cn: jīngzàng; Jp: Ko: Samjang
Kyōzō; Vi: Kinh tạng) Vi: Tam tạng
Abhidhamma Pitaka (Pāli: Abhidhamma-
piṭaka; Sanskrit: Abhidharma-piṭaka; Tib:
མངོ ན་པའི ་སྡེ ་སྣོ ད་ mngon pa`i sde snod; Mn:

авидармын аймаг сав avidarmiin aimag

sav; 論藏 論蔵
, Cn: lùnzàng; Jp: Ronzō;
Vi: Luận tạng)
Triratna/Tiratana, see Three Jewels above
Pāli: tiratana
Tib: དཀོ ན་མཆོ ག་གསུམ,
Sanskrit: triratna
dkon mchog gsum
Mn: гурван эрдэнэ,
gurvan erdene

triviṣa three poisons Sanskrit: triviṣa 三毒

trsna, see tanha above
tulku A re-incarnated Tibetan teacher
Mn: хувилгаан,
Tibetan: སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་
khuvilgaan
tulku 再來人 (轉世再來的藏系
師長)
Cn: Zài lái rén
Jp: keshin
Vi: hoá thân

U
Definition Etymology In other languages

Udānavarga "Groups of Utterances" Sanskrit:

Udānavarga 出㬬經
upadana Clinging; the 9th link of Pratitya-
Samutpada; the Ninth Twelve Nidanas Pāli, Sanskrit: Bur: ဥပါဒါန် upadan
upādāna
(IPA: [ṵpàdàɴ])
Khmer: ឧបទាន
UNGEGN: ŭbâtéan
ALA-LC: upadān
IPA: [ʔupatiən]
Shan: ဢူႉပႃႇတၢၼ်ႇ
([ʔu˥ paː˨ taːn˨])
Thai: อุปาทาน u-pa-taan

Tib: ལེ ན་པ, len pa

 Mn: авахуй, avahui
取(十二因緣第九支)
Cn: qǔ
Jp: shu
Vi: thủ
Upajjhaya spiritual teacher
Pāli: Upajjhaya Bur: ဥပဇ္ဇာယ်ဆရာ
Sanskrit:
upādhyāy Upyizesaya (IPA: [ṵ
pjɪʔzèsʰajà])
upasaka A lay follower of Buddhism
Sanskrit: Bur: ဥပါသကာ upathaka
upāsaka
(IPA: [ṵpàθəkà])
Khmer: ឧបាសក
UNGEGN: ŭbasâk
ALA-LC: upāsak
IPA: [ʔuɓaːsɑk]
Mon: ဥပါသကာ
([ʊʔpasəka])
Thai: อุบาสก u-ba-sok
近事男, 優婆塞
Cn: jìnshìnán
Jp: ubasoku
Vi: cư sĩ
upasika A female lay follower
from upasaka Bur: ဥပါသိကာ upathika
above
Sanskrit: upāsika (IPA: [ṵpàθḭkà])
Khmer: ឧបាសិកា
UNGEGN: ŭbasĕka
ALA-LC: upāsikā
IPA: [ʔuɓaːsekaː]
Thai: อุบาสิกา u-ba-sika
近事女, 優婆夷
Cn: jìnshìnǚ
Jp: ubai
Vi: (nữ) cư sĩ
upaya Expedient though not necessarily
ultimately true. Originally used as a Sanskrit: upāya Bur: ဥပါယ် upe (IPA: [ṵ
polemical device against other schools -
calling them "merely" expedient, lacking in pè])
ultimate truth, later used against one's own Khmer: ឧបាយ
school to prevent students form forming UNGEGN: ŭbay
attachments to doctrines ALA-LC: upāy
In Mahayana, exemplified by the Lotus IPA: [ʔuɓaːj]

Tib: ཐབས, thabs

Sutra, upaya are the useful means that
Buddhas (and Buddhist teachers) use to free
beings into enlightenment
Mn: арга, arga
方便
Cn: fāngbiàn
Jp: hōben
Vi: phương tiện
upekkha equanimity
Pāli: upekkhā Bur: ဥပက္ခာ upyikkha
Sanskrit: upekṣā
(IPA: [ṵpjɪʔkʰà])
Khmer: ឧបេក្ខា
UNGEGN: ŭbékkha
ALA-LC: upekkhā
IPA: [ʔupeːkkʰaː]
Thai: อุเบกขา u-bek-kha

Tib: བཏང་སྙོ མས་, btang

snyoms
Mn: тэгшид барихуй,
tegshid barihui
镇定，沉着, 捨
Cn: Zhèndìng,
chénzhuó
Jp: sha
urna A concave circular dot on the forehead
between the eyebrows Sanskrit: urna Mn: билгийн мэлмий,
bilgiin melmii
白毫
Jp: byakugō
Vi: bạch hào

V
Definition Etymology In other languages
Vajrayana, The third major branch,
alongside Hinayana and Mahayana, Sanskrit: Bur: ဝဇိရယာန
according to Tibetan Buddhism's view of vajrayāna, lit.
itself "diamond wazeirayana
vehicle" (IPA: [wəzeiɹa̰ jàna̰])
 Thai: วชิรญาณ wachira-
yaan
Mn: Очирт хөлгөн,
ochirt khölgön
金剛乘
Cn: Jīngāng shèng
Jp: Kongō jō
Vi: Kim cương thừa
Vairocana
Sanskrit: वैरोचन
Tib: རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད།

rNam-par-snang mdzad
Mn:
;

ᠪᠢᠷᠦᠵᠠᠨ᠎
ᠠ᠂
ᠮᠠᠰᠢᠳᠠ
ᠭᠡᠢᠢᠭᠦᠯᠦᠨ
ᠵᠣᠬᠢᠶᠠᠭᠴᠢ᠂
ᠭᠡᠭᠡᠭᠡᠨ
ᠭᠡᠷᠡᠯᠲᠦ
Бярузана, Машид
Гийгүүлэн Зохиогч, Гэгээн
Гэрэлт;
Biruzana, Masida
Geyigülün Zohiyaghci,
Gegegen Gereltü
毗盧遮那佛, 大日如來
Cn: Pílúzhēnàfó
Jp: Dainichi Nyorai,
Birushana-butsu
Vi: Đại Nhật Như
Lai
Vāsanā habitual tendencies or dispositions
Pāli and Bur: ဝါသနာ wathana
Sanskrit: Vāsanā
(IPA: [wàðanà])
Khmer: វាសនា
UNGEGN:
véasânéa
ALA-LC: vāsanā
IPA: [ʋiəsnaː]
習気
Jp: jikke
Vinaya Pitaka, The first basket of the
Tripitaka canon, which deals with the rules of Pāli, Sanskrit: Bur: ဝိနည်းပိဋကတ် wini
monastic life vinaya-piṭaka, lit.
"discipline pitakat (IPA: [wḭní
basket" pḭdəɡaʔ])
Khmer: វិន័យបិដក
 UNGEGN: vĭnoăy
bĕdâk
ALA-LC: vinăy piṭak
IPA: [ʋinəj ɓeɗɑk]
Mon: ဝိနဲ ([wìʔnòa])

Shan: ဝီႉၼႄး ([wi˥˩ ɛ˦])

Thai: วินัย wi-nai

Tib: འདུལ་བའི ་སྡེ ་སྣོ ད་ dul-

bai sde-snod
Mn: Винайн аймаг сав,
vinain aimag sav
律藏
Cn: Lǜzàng
Jp: Ritsuzō
Vi: Luật tạng
vipassana Usually translated as "Insight"
meditation, most associated with the from vi-√dṛś: to Bur: ဝိပဿနာ wipathana
Theravāda tradition, but also present in see apart
some other traditions such as Tiantai. Often Pāli: vipassanā (IPA: [wḭpaʔθanà])
combined with śamatha meditation Sanskrit: Khmer: វិបស្សនា
vipaśyanā,
vidarśanā UNGEGN:
vĭbâssânéa
ALA-LC: vipassanā
IPA: [ʋipahsanaː]
Shan: ဝီႉပၢတ်ႈသၼႃႇ
([wi˥ paːt˧ sʰa˩ naː˨])
Thai: วิปัสสนา
wipadsana
Tib: ལྷག་མཐོ ངlhag mthong

Mn: үлэмж үзэл, ulemj

uzel
觀,観
Cn: guān
Jp: kan
Vi: quán
viriya energy, enthusiastic perseverance
from Khmer: វីរិយ
Pāli: viriya
UNGEGN: virĭy
Sanskrit: vīrya,
ALA-LC: vīriy
 IPA: [ʋiːrəj]
Tib: brtson-grus
Thai: วิริยะ wiriya
能量
Cn: néngliàng
Jp: nōryō
Vi: năng-lượng

Y
Definition Etymology In other languages
yāna divisions or schools of Buddhism
according to their type of practice (lit. Pāli: yāna Khmer: យាន
"vehicle") Sanskrit: yāna
UNGEGN: yéan
ALA-LC: yān
IPA: [jiən]
乘
Cn: shèng
Jp: jō
Vi: thừa

Z
Definition Etymology In other languages
zazen Sitting meditation as practiced in the
Zen School of Buddhism Japanese: 坐禅 坐禪
Cn: zuòchán
Kr: jwaseon
Vi: toạ thiền
Zen School A branch of Mahayana
originating in China that originally Japanese: 禅宗 禪宗
emphasizes non-dualism and intuition. Zen-shu
Modern monastic forms have a strong Cn: Chánzōng
emphasis on zazen (Korean) or on zazen Vi: Thiền tông
combined with militaristic top-down hazing
(Japanese)
zendo In Zen, a hall where zazen is
practiced Japanese: 禅堂 禪堂
Cn: chántáng
Vi: thiền đường

See also
Buddhism
 Buddhist texts
Glossary of Japanese Buddhism
Diamond Realm

References
1. Leighton / Okumura (1996). Dogen's Pure Standards for the Zen Community. Albany, NY:
SUNY. p. 214. ISBN 0-7914-2710-2.
2. Leighton/ Okumura (1996). Dogen's Pure Standards for the Zen Community. Albany: SUNY.
p. 231. ISBN 0-7914-2710-2.

External links
Pali Text Society Dictionary (https://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/Pali/) (Be sure to check
the "Unicode font" option, and to have one; also, if looking for a word, choose "words that
match")
Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/indologie/tami
l/mwd_search.html)
Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb) (Login with userid
"guest")
Kadampa Glossary of Buddhist Terms (http://kadampa.org/en/reference/glossary-of-buddhist
-terms/)
Fo Guang Shan Glossary of Buddhist Terms (with Chinese translation) (http://hsingyun.org/g
lossary/)

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