Pali Glossary

Pali is a Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is best known as the language of many of the earliest existing Buddhist scriptures, as collected in the Tipitaka, and as the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism. The Tipitaka (Pali ti, “three,” + pitaka, “baskets”), or Pali canon, is the collection of primary Pali language texts which form the doctrinal foundation of Theravada Buddhism.

adhiṭṭhāna (from adhi meaning “higher” or “best” plus sthā meaning “standing”) has been translated as “decision,” “resolution,” “self-determination,” “will” and “resolute determination.”In the late canonical literature of Theravada Buddhism, adhiṭṭhāna is one of the ten “perfections” (dasa pāramiyo), exemplified by the bodhisatta’s resolve to become fully awakened.
akusala: unwholesome, unskillfulness
anapanasati: mindfulness of breathing
anatta: not-self
anicca: impermanence; inconstancy
aparimāṇa: limitless; immeasurable, unconditional
Arahant: Liberated one
ariya (Skt. arya): noble; as in ariya-sacca, meaning “noble truth” or “truth of the noble ones.” More specifically, the term ariya-sacca refers to the Buddha’s “Four Noble Truths”.
asaññasatto: without thoughts or perceptions
āsava: mental effluent, pollutant, or fermentation. Four qualities — sensuality, views, becoming, and ignorance — that “flow out” of the mind and create the flood of the round of death and rebirth.
atanka: illness; disease
atta: (Skt. atman) refers to a self
avijja: ignorance or delusion

bhavana: meditation, cultivation of wisdom and virtue, insight
bhavanga: (Pali, “ground of becoming”) is the most fundamental aspect of mind in Theravada Buddhism. (The term does not occur in the Nikayas, though the Theravada tradition identifies it with one that does; the phenomenon described as “luminous mind.”)
bhikku: monk
bhikkuni: nun
bodhicitta: awakened heart-mind
Bodhisatta: (Skt. Bodhisattva) A future Buddha
Buddha: an Enlightened being “Awakened”
Buddho: one who is awakened to the truth

cārita: temperament, nature, character or habitual conduct
Cārita is of six types:
* Raga carita (the greedy or passionate nature)
* Dosa carita (the angry nature)
* Moha carita (the deluded nature)
* Saddha carita (the faithful nature)
* Buddhi carita (the intelligent nature)
* Vitakka carita (the ruminating or pondering nature)
chanda: (known in full as kusalachanda or dhammachanda). Chanda, or zeal, is the real incentive for any truly constructive actions. However, zeal may be impeded by desire and its attachments to laziness, lethargy, or personal comfort. In this case, desire will stain any attempts to perform good actions with suffering, by resisting the practice through these negative states. If there is clear understanding of the advantage of those actions and sufficient appreciation (chanda) of them, enabling the burdening effect of desire to be overcome, chanda becomes, in addition to an impetus for action, a cause for happiness.
cetanā: commonly translated as “volition”, “intention”, “directionality”, or “attraction”. It can be defined as a mental factor that moves or urges the mind in a particular direction, toward a specific object or goal.
cetovimutti: liberation of mind: liberation of mind from defilements
citta: mind, consciousness (Bhikkhu Bodhi: Citta signifies mind as the centre of personal experience, as the subject of thought, volition and emotion)

dana: ‘foodgiving’, generosity, offering
dosa: aversion

ehipassiko: The dhamma welcomes all beings to put it to the test and to experience it for themselves. Literally “Come and see for yourself.”

jara: old; decayed; decrepit

kalyana mitta: lovely friend (Sometimes interpreted as spiritual friend)
karuṇā: compassion
kasina: Spherical or disc shaped mental visual object of meditation
khanti: patience, tolerance, endurance, forebearance
kilesa: (defilements) greed, aversion, delusion
kusala: wholesome, skillful, of good merit

lobha: greed

magga: path
metta: Lovingkindness, good will
moha: (lit.-to be stupified) delusion
muditā: sympathetic joy or joy with others. The ability of being happy in the happiness of others and is therefore the opposite of jealousy, spite and envy.

nandi: joy, enjoyment, pleasure, delight, hedonic gratification
nibbida: Disenchantment; aversion; disgust; weariness. The skillful turning-away of the mind from the conditioned samsaric world towards the unconditioned, the transcendent; Nibbana.
nikati (Skt. nikṛti) fraud, deceit, cheating
nikāya: a word of meaning “collection” of discourses (used to describe groupings of discourses according to theme, length, or other categories. For example, the Sutta Piṭaka is broken up into five nikāyas)


pañña: wisdom
paramattha: absolute or ultimate reality
parami: perfections, virtues necessary for the realization of Awakening
passaddhi: calmness,tranquility, repose and serenity.
paticcasamuppāda: commonly translated as dependent origination or dependent arising.
piti: Rapture or happiness, bliss

sacca: truth
samadhi: concentration; meditative absorption; a deep state of meditation
samvega: spiritual urgency
sankara (Skt. samskara): concoctions; fabrications
sati: mindfulness, awareness
sati sampajañña: mindfully clearly know
sila: moral conduct; precept; virtue; moral restraint
sukha: happiness; pleasure; ease; bliss
suñña: void (ness), empty (emptiness)

tanha: (lit. thirst) craving
Tathagata: (Lit. thus gone) an Enlightened person
3. Vinaya Pitaka- rules for ordained monks and nuns

upāsaka/upāsikā: Buddhist lay men are called upāsaka and lay women upāsikā. Both Pali words are derived from ‘to sit close’ (upāsati) and ‘to attend to’ (upāsana) Monks.
upekkha: equanimity

Vipallāsa: perversions or distortions
viriya: effort; persistence; energy