Sanskrit terms

adhyāsaअध्यास

• Adhyāsa (Advaita Vedānta). Superimposition: taking one thing for another, as a rope for a snake.

advaitaअद्वैत

• Nonduality (Advaita Vedānta). The claim that reality is ultimately not two.

advayaअद्वय

• Nonduality. The claim that reality is ultimately not two.

ahiṃsāअहिंसा

• Ahiṃsā (Jainism). Non-harming: the refusal to injure any living being, central to Jain, Buddhist and Hindu ethics.

ālaya-vijñānaआलयविज्ञान

• Storehouse consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) (Yogācāra). In Yogācāra, the deepest layer of mind, holding the seeds of experience.

anātmanअनात्मन्

• Non-self (anātman) (Buddhism). The Buddhist teaching that no permanent self can be found in or behind experience.

anekāntavādaअनेकान्तवाद

• Anekāntavāda (Jainism). The Jain doctrine that reality is many-sided, and no single viewpoint captures it whole.

ātmanआत्मन्

• Ātman (Vedānta). The self, in the Upaniṣads and Vedānta.
• Self (Vedānta). What one is, beneath roles, thoughts and body.

avidyāअविद्या

• Avidyā. Ignorance: not a lack of information, but a misapprehension of what one is.

bhaktiभक्ति

• Bhakti. Loving devotion to a personal God.

bījaबीज

• Storehouse consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) (Yogācāra). In Yogācāra, the deepest layer of mind, holding the seeds of experience.

bodhiबोधि

• Enlightenment (Buddhism). Awakening; in Buddhism, the end of ignorance and suffering.

bodhicittaबोधिचित्त

• Bodhisattva (Mahāyāna). One who seeks awakening for the sake of all beings.

bodhisattvaबोधिसत्त्व

• Bodhisattva (Mahāyāna). One who seeks awakening for the sake of all beings.

brahmanब्रह्मन्

• Brahman (Vedānta). In the Upaniṣads, the ultimate reality underlying all things.

buddhānusmṛtiबुद्धानुस्मृति

• Nembutsu. Mindfulness of the Buddha, above all the recitation of Amida’s name, the central practice of Pure Land Buddhism.

citचित्

• Consciousness (Vedānta). Awareness: the fact that there is experience at all.

duḥkhaदुःख

• Dukkha (Buddhism). Suffering or unsatisfactoriness, the first of the Four Noble Truths.

guṇaगुण

• Guṇas (Sāṃkhya). The three strands of nature in Sāṃkhya, clarity, activity and inertia, of which everything material and mental is woven.
• Prakṛti. In Sāṃkhya and Yoga, nature or matter, including the mind.

īśvaraईश्वर

• Īśvara. The Lord: God as personal creator and ruler of the world.
• God (Vedānta). The supreme being of theistic traditions: creator, sustainer and object of worship.

jīvaजीव

• Jīva. The living, embodied self that acts, enjoys and transmigrates.

jīvanmuktiजीवन्मुक्ति

• Mokṣa (Advaita Vedānta). Liberation from the cycle of birth and death; the highest human goal.

jīvātmanजीवात्मन्

• Jīva. The living, embodied self that acts, enjoys and transmigrates.

jñānaज्ञान

• Knowledge. Justified understanding; in contemplative traditions, also knowledge by identity.
• Jñāna. Knowledge; in Vedānta, the liberating knowledge of the self.

karuṇāकरुणा

• Karuṇā (Mahāyāna). Compassion: the wish that beings be free from suffering.

kevala-jñānaकेवलज्ञान

• Kevala-jñāna (Jainism). In Jainism, the omniscience of the liberated soul, freed from the karma that obscured it.

līlāलीला

• Līlā (The bhakti movement). Divine play: creation as the spontaneous, purposeless delight of God.

mahākaruṇāमहाकरुणा

• Karuṇā (Mahāyāna). Compassion: the wish that beings be free from suffering.

māyāमाया

• Māyā (Advaita Vedānta). The power by which the one appears as many; in Advaita, the world as appearance.

mokṣaमोक्ष

• Mokṣa. Liberation from the cycle of birth and death; the highest human goal.

muktiमुक्ति

• Mokṣa. Liberation from the cycle of birth and death; the highest human goal.

nirvāṇaनिर्वाण

• Nirvāṇa (Buddhism). The cessation of craving and suffering; the goal of the Buddhist path.

paramārtha-satyaपरमार्थसत्य

• The two truths (Madhyamaka). Conventional truth and ultimate truth, and how they relate.

prajñāप्रज्ञा

• Wisdom. Understanding joined to right living.
• Prajñā (Mahāyāna). Wisdom: insight into the true nature of things.

prakṛtiप्रकृति

• Prakṛti (Yoga). In Sāṃkhya and Yoga, nature or matter, including the mind.

pramāṇaप्रमाण

• Epistemology. The study of knowledge and its limits.

prapattiप्रपत्ति

• Bhakti (Viśiṣṭādvaita). Loving devotion to a personal God.

pratītyasamutpādaप्रतीत्यसमुत्पाद

• Dependent origination (Buddhism). The teaching that everything arises in dependence on conditions.

pratyabhijñāप्रत्यभिज्ञा

• Pratyabhijñā (Kashmir Śaivism). Recognition: in Kashmir Śaivism, the self’s recognition that it is Śiva.

premaप्रेम

• Prema (The bhakti movement). Pure love of God, held by the Bengal Vaiṣṇavas to surpass even liberation.

puruṣaपुरुष

• Puruṣa (Yoga). In Sāṃkhya and Yoga, pure consciousness, distinct from all of nature.

sahajaसहज

• Sahaj. The natural, spontaneous state of equipoise reached in union with God.

sākṣātkāraसाक्षात्कार

• Realization (Vedānta). Knowing a truth so fully that it changes the knower.

sākṣinसाक्षिन्

• Awareness (Advaita Vedānta). Knowing presence; in several traditions, the witness of all experience.

śaktiशक्ति

• Śakti (Kashmir Śaivism). Power: the dynamic, creative energy of the divine, often worshipped as the Goddess.

samādhiसमाधि

• Samādhi. Meditative absorption, in which the mind is wholly one with its object or wholly still.

saṃvṛti-satyaसंवृतिसत्य

• The two truths (Madhyamaka). Conventional truth and ultimate truth, and how they relate.

satसत्

• Being (Vedānta). The fact or act of existing; the subject of ontology.

satyaसत्य

• Truth. What is so; the agreement of thought with reality, and in some traditions reality itself.

smṛtiस्मृति

• Mindfulness (sati) (Buddhism). Attentive awareness of body, feeling, mind and phenomena.

spandaस्पन्द

• Spanda (Kashmir Śaivism). In Kashmir Śaivism, the divine pulsation or vibration of consciousness.

śūnyatāशून्यता

• Emptiness (śūnyatā) (Madhyamaka). In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the absence of intrinsic existence in all things.

tathāgatagarbhaतथागतगर्भ

• Buddha-nature (Mahāyāna). The teaching that all beings have the potential, or the nature, of a buddha.

vairāgyaवैराग्य

• Detachment (Yoga). The letting go of self-will, images and attachments so that God, or the true self, can be found: Eckhart’s abegescheidenheit.

vijñānaविज्ञान

• Consciousness (Buddhism). Awareness: the fact that there is experience at all.

The whole glossary