SADASAE

The personal website of John Bruce Cantrell

Toolbox Philosophy

Being Alone/Being with Others (Buddhism)

Choosing the Good and the Beautiful (Ethics and Aesthetics)

A Fair Field of Folk (Politics and Religion)

The Meaning of Meaning (Language, Analysis, Logical Positivism)

Excuses, No Escape (Existentialism)

Prince Andre's Present-ment (Metaphysics)

Return to www.sadasae.com

Credits:

Angeles: Peter Angeles, The Harper-Collins Dictionary of Philossophy

Blackburn: Simon Blackburn, The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy

EOP: The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Paul Edwards et al.

Flew: Anthony Flew, A Dictionary of Philosophy, 2nd ed.

Lacey: A. R. Lacey, A Dictionary of Philosophy

OCP: The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, ed. Honderich

Awareness

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.

Buddha, teaching

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

Steve Hagen

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

Thich Nhat Hanh

We are born out of concern for all beings.

Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

All things appear and disappear because of the concurrence of causes and conditions. Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else.

Nishida Kitaro

There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth...not going all the way, and not starting.

Ch'ongnyon-sa,
Pyongch'ang-dong,
Chongno-gu, Seoul

You must leave righteous ways behind, nor speak of unrighteous ways.

Fortune Teller, Tongson-dong,
Songbuk-gu, Seoul

Karma is intention.

When all the world
recognizes beauty as beauty,
this in itself is ugliness.
When all the world
recognizes good as good,
this in itself is evil.

Lao Tzu

Those who really seek the path to Enlightenment dictate terms to their mind. Then they proceed with strong determination.

Thomas Merton

To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance.

D. T. Suzuki

We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

Fragrant Orchid Garden,
Tobong-gu, Seoul

A family is a place where minds encounter one another. If these minds love one another, the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden.

Hsin (mind-heart)

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Mia-dong,
Tobong-gu, Seoul

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.

Tonam Market, Tongson-dong,
Songbuk-gu, Seoul

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

Pagoda Park,
Chong-gu, Seoul

Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace.

Buddha, starving

It is within this fathoms-long carcass, with its mind and its notions, that I declare there is the world, the origin of the world, the cessation of the world, and the path leading to the cessation of the world.

Miss Lim

To refrain from evil and from strong drink and to be always steadfast in virtue; this is the good luck. To support mother and father, to cherish wife and child, and to have a simple livelihood; this is even better luck.

Alan Watts

No one saves us but ourselves.

Mun (gate)

Koan (Jap): a paradox used to train Zen Buddhist monks to abandon reason and nurture intuition.

Life is dear to all. Put yourself in the place of others.

Zen is individualistic,
and so iconoclastic and antinomian
in its individualism
that it will seem irreverent
to many Westerners;
but this is only because
Zen wishes to strip the individual naked
in order to return him to himself:
in the end he cannot lean
even upon the image of Buddha.

William Barrett

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.

Confucius

Good men and bad men differ radically. Bad men never appreciate kindness shown them, but wise men appreciate and are grateful. Wise men try to express their appreciation and gratitude by some return of kindness, not only to their benefactor, but also to everyone else.

Front Garden, Mia-dong,
Tobong-gu, Seoul

Whatever you are doing and wherever you are, you will find steadiness, calm, and concentration if you become conscious of your breathing.

Answer to the question,
What is Mind?

Q. Are words the mind?

A. No, words are external conditions, they are not the Mind.

Q. Apart from external conditions, where is the mind to be sought?

A. There is no Mind independent of words.

Q. If there is no Mind independent of words, What is the Mind?

A. The truth is, it is neither independent of nor dependent upon words. When you realize that the Mind is No-Mind, you understand the Mind and its workings.

Birthday Party, Mia-dong,
Tobong-gu, Seoul

Overcome the angry by non-anger; overcome the wicked by goodness; overcome the miser by generosity; overcome the liar by truth.

Stephen Batchelor

Tr. Stephen Batchelor

The greatest gift is to give people your enlightenment, to share it.

David Loy and wife
Linda Goodhew

What is meant by nonduality? It means that light and shade, long and short, black and white, can only be experienced in relation to each other.

Kimchi Pots,
Pyongch'ang-dong,
Chongno-gu, Seoul,
Summer 1986

Why, since I am myself subject to birth, ageing, disease, death, sorrows, and defilement, do I seek after what is also subject to these things?

Mia-dong, Tobong-gu,
Seoul, Summer 1985

Seeking but not finding the house builder I traveled through life after life. How painful is repeated birth! House-builders, you have now been seen. You will not build the house again.

D. T Suzuki

Enlightenment is a way of saying that all things are seen in their intrinsic, empty nature, their suchness, their ngraspableness.

Buddhist Cemetery

Everything is changing. It arisesand passes away. The one who realizes this is freed from sorrow. This is the shining path.

Buddhist Garden

To exist is to know suffering. Realize this and be free from suffering. This is the radiant path.

Buddhist Temple

There is no separate self to suffer. The one who understands this is free. This is the path of clarity.

Tao Chi

Emptyness means
empty of all notions and assumptions.

Buddha, sitting

Those who by form did see me and those who followed me by voice were wrong in the efforts they undertook; they did not see me.

Ch'ongnyon-sa,
Pyongch'ang-dong,
Chongno-gu, Seoul,
Summer 1986

Meditate. Live purly. Be quiet. Do your work with mastery.

Wu (nothingness)

Answers to the question,
Who is Buddha?

"One made of clay and decorated with gold."

"The one enshrined in the Buddha Hall."

"The dirt scraper all dried up."

"The bamboo grove at the foot of Chang-lin Hill."

"Three pounds of flax."

The whole secret of existence is to have no fear.

Nancy Wilson Ross

Being-alone/Being-with-others

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

I. Primary Definitions

BUDDHISM. The ethical, metaphysical, and epistemological ideas espoused by the Indian prince turned aesthetic Siddhartha Gautama (6th c. BC), known as the Buddha (enlightened one), who taught what became known as the Four Noble Truths, namely that life is suffering, that suffering involves a chain of causes (that ignorance leads to experience, which leads to thirst, which leads to clinging, etc.), that suffering can cease, and that there is a way to bring about this cessation. Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy?

Every other religion accepts the impermanence of man and the world, and the suffering inherent in being in this world, while also espousing the existence of a solid, eternal, everlasting principle in man. The eternal principal in man has been called soul, atman, jiva, anima, and thetan. The eternal principal in the universe has been called God, Jaweh, Allah, the Creator. Buddhism denies the eternal principle in both man and the universe.

Although our bodies are bounded with skin, and we can differentiate between outside and inside, they cannot exist except in a certain kind of natural environment ... If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet, you'll come to understand that you're connected with everything. Alan Watts

Buddhism is not a belief system. It is not about accepting certain tenets or believing a set of claims or principles. In fact, it is quite the opposite. It is about examining the world clearly and carefully, about testing everything and every idea. Buddhism is about seeing. Steve Hagen

You must understand as one of the fundamental points of Buddhism, the idea of the world as being in flux. Alan Watts

PRIMARY TEXTS: The Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha: Early Discourses, the Dhammapada, and Later Basic Writings, ed w/ commentary E. A Burtt (1955; rpt 1982); World of the Buddha: a Reader, from the Three Baskets to Modern Zen, ed w/ commentary Lucien Stryk (1968); and Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, tr. Stephen Batchelor (1992). The best explanations of Buddhism are Steve Hagen's Buddhism, Plain and Simple (1998) and Stephen Batchelor's Buddhism without Beliefs (1997). See Recommended Reading .

TAOISM (Ch, dao, lit. way; also manner, method, practice). The ethical, metaphysical, and epistemological ideas traditionally thought to have been espoused by Lao-tzu, an older contemporary of Kung Fu-tzu (Confucius) and author of the Tao Te Ching, in the 6th c. BC, that regrets the loss of community and loving-kindness and the various means (including those of Confucius) by which "virtue" and "morality" are enforced, teaching instead conformity to the Tao, the way of nature, the organic process of natural transformation, by unassertive action and simplicity. See TAO and TE.

The great Tao flows everywhere,/ to the left and to the right./ All things depend upon it to exist,/ and it does not abandon them./ To its accomplishment it lays no claim./ It loves and nourishes all things,/ but does not lord it over them. Lao-tzu

Taoism ... is generally a pursuit of older men, and especially of men who are retiring from active life in the community. Their retirement from society is a kind of outward symbol of an inward liberation from the bounds of conventional patterns of thought and conduct. For Taoism concerns itself with unconventional knowledge [knowledge that cannot be expressed in words], with the understanding of life directly, instead of in the abstract, linear terms of representational thinking. Alan Watts

PRIMARY TEXTS: The Texts of Taoism (I): The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu and The Writings of Chuang Tzu, Part I, tr James Legge (1891; pt 1962); The Texts of Taoism (II): The T'ai Shang Tractate and The Writings of Chuang Tzu, Part II, tr James Legge (1891; rpt 1962); Lao Tzu, Tao Teh Ching, tr John C. H. Wu (1961; rpt 1990). See Recommended Reading.

ZEN (Skt., dhyana, meditation, in Ch., ch'an, in Kor., son, and in Jap., zen). A Japanese sect of Mahayana Buddhism, passed down through China and Korea, that aims at personal enlightenment by intuition through meditation and through direct contact with and participation in everyday life.

The sudden or direct approach to Reality, transcending the intellect. Christmas Humphreys

The art of seeing into the nature of one's own being. D. T. Suzuki

PRIMARY TEXTS: The Diamond Sutra and The Sutra of Hui-neng, tr A. F. Price and Wong Mou-lam, w/ Forewords by W. Y Evans-Wentz and Christmas Humphreys (1990) and The Platform Scripture of the Sixth Patriarch (The Sutra of Hui-neng), Zen poems, sermons, and anecdotes in World of the Buddha: a Reader, from the Three Baskets to Modern Zen, ed w/ commentary Lucien Stryk (1968). See Recommended Reading.

II. Secondary Definitions

ABIDING, CALM . See SHAMATHA.

ADVAITA (Skt, lit., "not two") . The difficult idea that things can remain distinct while not being separate, that DUALISM or dichotomy are illusory phenomena, that there is no fundamental distinction between mind and matter, that the entire phenomenological world is an illusion (with reality being described variously as the Void, the Is, EMPTINESS, the mind of God, ATMAN or BRAHMAN.

ALIENATION (L, alienus, alien, fr. alius, another). A state of mind in which things become foreign and strange to us, characterized by ennui and detachment, thus a failure to identify with others and to be interested in and committed to the goals of others, thus a tendency to aversion and indifference.

ALTRUISM (F., altruisme, fr. autrui, other people, fr. autre, other, fr. Ltn. alter, other). The ethical doctrine that unselfish regard for and devotion to the welfare of others should be the actual motive and valid end of all conscious, human action. Contrast EGOISM.

The central claim of altruism ... is negative: that the explanation of morality cannot be reduced to self-interest. This can be stated more positively: that an interest in other people for their own sake is a necessary condition of morality. Antony Flew

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Jesus of Nazareth

ANATMAN (Skt, fr. an, not + atman, soul). In BUDDHISM, the denial of the existence of the soul, self, or ego. See ATMAN.

According to Buddhism, the Absolute Truth is that there is nothing absolute in the world, that everything is relative, conditioned, and impermanent, and that there is no unchanging, everlasting, absolute substance like Self, Soul, or Atman within or without. This is the Absolute Truth. Walpola Rahula

ANATTA (Pali, non-ego). The absence of a permanent, unchanging self. One of the "Three Signs of Being," along with ANICCA and DUKKHA. See BEING, THREE SIGNS OF. See ANATMAN

The correct position with regard to the question of Anatta is not to take hold of any opinion or views, but to try to see things objectively as they are without mental projections, to see that what we call "I", or "being," is only a combination of physical and mental aggregates, which are working together interdependently in a flux of momentary change within the law of cause and effect, and that there is nothing permanent, everlasting, unchanging and eternal in the whole of existence. Walpola Rahula

ANICCA (Skt, impermanence) The law of impermanence, a basic characteristic of all EXISTENCE. One of the "Three Signs of Being," along with ANATTA and DUKKHA. See BEING, THREE SIGNS OF.

ANXIETY (F. angoisse, sometimes anomie; Ger., angst). An overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear.

Anxiety, the illness of our time, comes primarily from our inability to dwell in the present moment. Thich Nhat Hanh

APPERCEPTION. In Psychology, introspective self-consciousness (conscious PERCEPTION with full AWARENESS), the perception of our own consciousness.

Two types of activity join ideas in consciousness. In one, the cause of the union of ideas is found primarily in conditions of the external world, with the direction of the union unclear in consciousness and therefore felt to be passive; this type of activity is called association. In the other, the cause of the union of ideas is found in consciousness, with the direction of the union clearly conscious and thus felt to be actively united; this second type of activity is called apperception. Nishida Kitaro

APPREHENSION (Ltn, apprehendere, to to lay hold on, to seize).. The power of graspting with the understanding a concept or of recognizing the meaning of a word or phrase.

ARHAT (Skt, lit., "one who has overcome the foe"). One who has freed himself from all EGO CRAVINGS and thus attained ENLIGHTENMENT. To become an arhat is the ideal and goal of all who practice Hinayana (Theravada) Buddhism

ATMAN (Skt). Soul, self, ego. "In Buddhism, the self or soul conceived of as lying behind the empirical self, and in Hindu thought as an eternal unity, identified with Brahman." (Simon Blackburn)

The Atman of the Upanishads is the absolute self, and is the property of no man. But this by the Buddha's day had become debased into an immortal entity within each mind of which it was possible to give the size. Against this view of the Atman (Pali, atta) the Buddha taught the doctrine of non-Atman (Pali, anatta) in which he analyzed the thing called man and proved it to contain no single permanent factor, nor anything resembling a changeless and immortal "soul." This, however, has been narrowed by later Buddhists to a doctrine of "no soul" for which there is neither Scriptural authority nor the support of sense. Christmas Humphreys

AUTHENTICITY. See INAUTHENTICITY.

AUTHORITY. Power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior.

Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

AVIDYA (Skt). Ignorance.

Vidya means seeing, understanding, or light. Avidya means the lack of light, the lack of understanding, or blindness ... The presence of ignorance means the absence of understanding. The Buddha said, "When ignorance comes to an end, understanding arises." Thich Nhat Hanh

AWARENESS. The state or condition of our being conscious, that is to say, CONSCIOUSNESS, the attention we focus on the content of a sensation, or SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS, the attention we focus sometimes on the act itself of focusing our attention on something. Compare SATORI. See CONSCIOUSNESS and SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS.

The method of Buddhism is above all the practice of clear awareness, of seeing the world yathabhutam-just as it is. Such awareness is a lively attention to one's direct experience, to the world as immediately sensed, so as not to be misled my names and labels. Alan Watts

BEING-IN. Being, the existence of particular entities.

BEING-IN-ITSELF. A difficult concept, perhaps "the self-contained reality of a thing" (EOP). See SAMSARA.

*BEING, THREE SIGNS OF. Impermanence (Pali, ANICCA), suffering (Pali, DUKKHA), and the denial of the soul (Pali, ANATTA).

Material shape is impermanent. What is impermanent, that is suffering. What is suffering, that is not the Self. What is not Self, that is not mine, that am I not, that is not my Self. Samyutta Nikaya

In brief, all is impermanent, including the soul. Christmas Humphreys

BHAVA (Skt) . Existence conditioned by disturbing conceptions and tainted action.

BODHI (Skt, Pali). Perfect wisdom, enlightenment, awakening.

The Buddha was the Buddha because he was Buddha, Awakened, Enlightened, made Aware. Bodhi, Wisdom, acquired by the faculty of Buddhi, intuition, the power of direct dynamic spiritual awareness, has many names and many degrees of achievement. Satori, the spiritual experience of Zen Buddhism, and Samahdi, the last step on the Noble Eightfold Path, are steps on the way to it; Nirvana (Pali, Nibbana) is its human goal. Yet beyond lies Parinirvana, for Buddhism is a process of becoming, and admits no conceivable end. Christmas Humphreys

See BUDDHI, SATORI, SAMAHDI, NIRVANA.

BODHICITTA (Skt ) . The aspiration to attain ENLIGHTENMENT for the sake of all sentient beings, the starting point and motivation behind the BODHISATTVA way of life.
This intention to benefit all beings,/ Which does not arise in others even for their own sakes,/ Is an extraordinary jewel of the mind,/ And its birth is an unprecedented wonder. Shantideva
BODHISATTVA (Skt) . A being who seeks buddhahood through the systematic practice of the PARAMITAS (the perfections, the perfect virtues) but who renounces complete entry into NIRVANA until all creatures are saved.
I bow down to the body of him/ In whom the sacred precious mind is born./ I seek refuge in that source of joy/ Who brings to happiness even those who harm him. Shantideva

BRAHMAN (Skt). The Universal Soul, sometimes identified with ATMAN; God as creator; in Indian metaphysics, the supreme principle of life.
In the Upanishads, the ground of all being; that in virtue of which all else exists; the ultimate reality, which makes possible time, space, and the natural order. As in Parmenides, this is an unchangeable, eternal unity, lying beyond all limitation and hence all description. Simon Blackburn
See ONE, THE (PARMENIDES).

BUDDHA (Skt, an awakened one.) Used most often to refer to Siddhartha Gautama (536-483 BC), the Indian prince and philosopher who became an All-Enlightened Being (experiencing anuttara samyak sambodhi, unexcelled complete awakening), the historic founder of Buddhism.
Wherever you go, you should be the master of your surroundings. This means you should not lose your way. So this is called Buddha, because if you exist in this way always, you are Buddha himself. Without trying to be Buddha, you are Buddha. This is how we attain enlightenment. To attain enlightenment is to be always with Buddha. Shunryu Suzuki
BUDDHI (Skt, intuition). The power of direct dynamic spiritual awareness by which wisdom (BODHI) is attained. See INTUITION.

BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY, PHILOSOPHY OF MIND AND. “ ... belief in the ineffability of the ultimate ... and in the transience and lack of essence of all empirical phenomena” (Flew). See also CH’AN SCHOOL OF CHINESE PHILOSOPHY.

A word about what is meant by the term ‘Mind’ (manas) in Buddhist philosophy may be useful here. It should clearly be understood that mind is not spirit as opposed to matter. It should always be remembered that Buddhism does not recognize a spirit opposed to matter, as is accepted by most other systems of philosophies and religions. Mind is only a faculty or organ (indriya) like the eye or the ear. Walpola Rahula

CH'AN (Ch). The Chinese word for the school of Buddhism that known as Son in Korea and Zen in Japan.

CH'AN SCHOOL OF CHINESE PHILOSOPHY. The "school of meditation," known in Korea as Sun and in Japan as ZEN, introduced into China from India in the sixth century by Bodhidharma, who emphasized sitting quietly and calmly and concentrating to the point of complete absence of thought in order to rid the mind of any and all attachments.

The Meditation doctrine, introduced from India by Bodhidharma (fl. 460-534), aimed at the realization of the Ultimate Reality through sitting in meditation. Its emphasis was on concentration to the point of absence of thought in order to get rid of attachments. As the Meditation school developed it conceived of the mind as split into the true mind, which does not have thought or attachments ... and the false mind, which has them. Sitting in meditation was the effort to get rid of them.

Hui-neng (638-713), an aboriginal from the south [i.e., a native of what is today southern China, as opposed to an Indian sage or prophet like Bodhidharma], ... and his followers refused to divide the mind but maintained that it is one and originally pure. Erroneous thoughts and erroneous attachments are similar to clouds hiding the sun. When they are removed the original nature will be revealed and great wisdom obtained. The way to discover the original nature is calmness and wisdom. Calmness does not mean not thinking .... Rather it means not being carried away by thought in the process of thought .... When the mind is unperturbed by selfishness or deliberate effort and is left to take its own course, it will reveal its pure nature, and enlightenment will come suddenly. Instead of assuming a dualistic nature of the mind, ignoring the external world, and aiming at uniting with the Infinite, as Indian meditation did, Chinese meditation assumed the original goodness of nature, took place in the midst of daily affairs, and aimed at self-realization. (EOP)

CHA-NO-YU (Jap, lit. "tea-and-water"). The term used to identify the Japanese tea ceremony.

COGNITION, OTHER . The aspect of mind that has only phenomena other than itself as objects. Syn ALTRUISM.

COGNITION, SELF. The aspect of mind that only has itself as object. Syn EGOISM.

COGNITION, VALID . See PRAMANA.

CONCEPTIONS, DISTURBING . See KLESHA.

CONDITIONED GENESIS. In Buddhism, the doctrine that there is no "first cause," that everything is relative and inter-dependent. Everything is dependent on something else, which in turn is dependent on something else, and so forth and so on, in a circle of causes and effects.
Nothing in the world is absolute. Everything is conditioned, relative, and interdependent. This is the Buddhist theory of relativity. Walpola Rahula
CONSCIOUSNESS (L., conscious, having knowledge of oneself, fr. con, with + scire, to know). Our awareness of something in the world, for example., a physical object, some particular state of affairs, some piece of factual data, and frequently our awareness of something within ourselves, for example, our existence (being), our sensations (pain, anger, jealousy), our thoughts (an image, a concept, a symbol), and sometimes of the relationship in our minds between the act of knowing and the content of that which is known. Syn AWARENESS.
All save consciousness is unreal, though in a world of appearances one acts as if appearances were real. Thus suffering (dukkha) belongs to the world of illusion, but a man should act as if the suffering were real and assist all suffers accordingly. Christmas Humphreys

DEATH. The end of life. See IMMORTALITY and "MY DEATH."

What we call death is the total non-functioning of the physical body. Do all these forces, energies, stop altogether with the non-functioning of the body? Buddhism says, "No." Will, volition, desire, thirst to exist, to continue, to become more and more, is a tremendous force that moves whole lives, whole existences, that even moves the whole world. This is the greatest force, the greatest in the world. According to Buddhism, this force does not stop with the non-functioning of the body, which is death; but it continues manifesting itself in another form, producing re-existence, which is called rebirth. Walpola Rahula

DEPENDENT ARISING, TWELVE LINKS OF (Skt, pratitya samutpada, lit. "in dependence, things rise up").. (1) Ignorance, which conditions (and is conditioned by) (2) volitional actions, (3) consciousness, (4) mind/body, (5) the six sense organs and their objects, (6) physical contact, (7) feeling, (8) craving, (9) grasping, (10) coming to be, (11) birth, and (12) old age and death. Syn INTERDEPENDENT CO-ARISING.

Pratitya Samutpada is sometimes called the teaching of cause and effect, but that can be misleading, because we usually think of cause and effect as separate entities, with cause always preceding effect, and one cause leading to one effect. According to the teaching of Interdependent Co-Arising, cause and effect co-arise (samutpada), and everything is the result of multiple cause and conditions. The egg is in the chicken, and the chicken is in the egg. Thich Nhat Hanh

DEPENDENT ORIGINATION. See DEPENDENT ARISING, TWELVE LINKS OF.

DHAMMA (Pali, righteousness, duty, law). See DHARMA.

*DHAMMAPADA (Skt, "the path of the dhamma"). The Dhammapada consists of 423 verses in Pali traditionally thought to have been uttered by the Buddha himself on some 305 occasions for the benefit of a wide range of human beings. These sayings were selected and compiled into one book as being worthy of special note because of their beauty and relevance for moulding the lives of future generations of Buddhists. They are divided into twenty-six chapters, the stanzas arranged according to subject matter.

*DHARMA (Skt, law, norm, duty, teaching, in Theravada Buddhism, "the teaching of the Buddha" [Buddha-Dharma], in Mahayana Buddhism, more metaphysical meanings than can be listed).

The Dharma that I have given you, let that be your teacher when I am gone. Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

The Fourth Noble Truth describes the Eightfold Path of the Buddha's Dharma, that is, the method or doctrine whereby self-frustration is brought to an end. Each section of the path has a name preceded by the word samyak (Pali, samma), which has the meaning of "perfect" or complete." The first two sections have to do with thought; the following four have to do with action; and the final two have to do with contemplation or awareness. Alan Watts

The primary purpose of Dharma [a process of authentication] is to reestablish a consciousness of being [in social and cultural lives dominated by secular and material values]. Stephen Batchelor

*DHARMA, FOUR SEALS OF THE. (1) All compounded things are impermanent. (2) All emotions are painful. (3) All phenomena are empty, i.e., without inherent existence. (4) Nirvana is beyond extremes.

"Buddhism is distinguished by four characteristics, or 'seals.' If all these four seals are found in a path or a philosophy, it can be considered the path of the Buddha." Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

DHARMAKAYA (Skt). The fully realized and awakened mind of Buddha.

The state of optimum being-for-oneself. Stephen Batchelor

*DHYANA (Skt, meditation). The Sanskrit term for dynamic meditation or contemplation leading to enlightenment. One of the three subjects of the Buddhist Triple Discipline: morality (SILA), meditation (DHYANA), and wisdom (PRAJNA). The words CH'AN and ZEN are corruptions of DHYANA. See SAMADHI.

As used in Buddhism, the term dhyana comprises both recollectedness (smriti) and samadhi [Skt, mental discipline, consisting of Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration], and can best be described as the state of unified or one-pointed awareness. One the one hand, it is one-pointed in the sense of being focused on the present, since to clear awareness there is neither past nor future, but just this one moment (ekaksana), which Western mystics have called the Eternal Now. On the other hand, it is one-pointed in the sense of being a state of consciousness without differentiation of the knower, the knowing, and the known ...Our intellectual discomfort in trying to conceive knowing without a distinct "someone" who knows and a distinct "something" which is known is like the discomfort of arriving at a formal dinner party in pajamas. The error is conventional, not existential. Alan Watts

DUALISM (L., dualis, two) . The idea that that over and beyond the physical reality there is a psychic or spiritual reality, that mystical phenomena, i.e., the subject matter of religion and metaphysics, pertain to the spiritual world, while books and pens and human bodies, i.e., the subject matter of science, pertain to the material world, the human entity being a dualistic combination of material physical body and immaterial consciousness or soul or spirit . Buddhists believe that one should make no fundamental distinction between mind and matter, that the entire phenomenological world is an illusion, and that the ultimate nature of all phenomena is EMPTINESS. See SHUNYATA.

There are still materialists who deny the existence of consciousness as a distinct phenomenon and regard human beings as no more than elaborate natural automata, but their view is so eccentric that it need not detain us here. The crucial distinction now is as between weak dualists or "epiphenomenalists," who regard consciousness as no more than the subjective reflection of what is going on in the brain, and strong or radical dualists, who regard [consciousness]as a function of mind and as having a controlling influence on what goes on in the brain. John Beloff

*DUKKHA (Pali, suffering , misery, unhappiness, pain). One of the "Three Signs of Being," along with ANICCA and ANATTA. See BEING, THREE SIGNS OF.

EGOISM (L., I, i.e., the self, especially as contrasted with other selves). The ethical doctrine that individual self-interest is, and should be, the actual motive and valid end of all conscious, human action: "systematic self-gratification, the belief that the aim of life is to procure satisfactions (pleasures) for oneself, in so far as humans are by nature selfish, self-seeking, self-interested, self-loving creatures" (Angeles). Contrast ALTRUISM.

There is an egoistic style of life, even one which calls itself Christian, but has nothing in common with what we see in Jesus Christ, since it seeks only its own happiness and interprets whatever happens to it as action of a God whose only concern is just with this lonely self, a God who is the counterpart of individuality, not the Lord of being. H. Richard Niebuhr

*EIGHTFOLD PATH, THE NOBLE. To achieve WISDOM (panna), practice (1) RIGHT VIEW and (2) RIGHT THOUGHT; to achieve MORALITY (sila), practice (3) RIGHT SPEECH, (4) RIGHT ACTION, and (5) RIGHT LIVELIHOOD; to acheive MEDITATION (samadhi), practice (6) RIGHT EFFORT, (7) RIGHT MINDFULNESS, and (8) RIGHT CONTEMPLATION.

To achieve NIRVANA, or the end of suffering, Buddhist followers must follow the Noble Eightfold Path as set forth by Buddha over 2,500 years ago. The eight steps of the path form the fourth truth of the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS, which are among the most fundamental of Buddhist teachings.

The Eightfold Path is often depicted as a Dharma wheel, closely resembling a ship’s wheel. The eight steps comprising the path or wheel result in a practical guide to ethics, mental rehabilitation, and mental deconditioning. By achieving these eight steps, a Buddhist follower will eliminate all suffering and reach the desired state of NIRVANA. The follower does not have to complete the steps sequentially, but rather, he may obtain them simultaneously.

EMOTION. The affective aspect of consciousness, a psychic and physiological reaction subjectively experienced as strong feeling. See FOUR SEALS OF BUDDHISM, THE.

The Tibetan word for emotion in this context is zagche, which means “contaminated” or “stained,” in the sense of being permeated by confusion or duality. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

EMPTINESS. "Absence of conception ... the plenum void ... the infinite potentiality of existence" (Nancy Wilson Ross). Syn NIRVANA. See SHUNYATA.

Emptiness is the track on which the centered person moves. Tsongkhapa

When we talk about emptiness, we mean that the way things appear is not the way they actually are. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

To know emptiness is not just to understand the concept. It is more like stumbling into a clearing in the forest, where suddenly you can move freely and see clearly. To experience emptiness is to experience the shocking absence of what normally determines the sense of who you are and the kind of reality you inhabit. It may last only a moment before the habits of a lifetime reassert themselves and close in once more. But for that moment, we witness ourselves and the world as open and vulnerable. Stephen Batchelor

ENLIGHTENMENT. See SATORI.

*ENLIGHTENMENT, FACTORS OF . (1) Mindfulness. (2) Curiosity. (3) Energy. (4) Happiness. (5) Tranquillity. (6) Concentration. (7) Equanimity.

ESSENCE (L., essentia, fr. esse, to be, form). The properties or attributes by means of which a thing can be placed in its proper class or category or identified as being what it is. Syn FORM.

Essence and form are not two different things. Huang-po

ESTRANGEMENT (MF, estranger, to alienate, fr. L., extraneus, strange). A state of mind in which we feel removed or dissociated from our customary surroundings, or angry or indifferent in relationships where formally there had been love, affection, friendship. Compare ALIENATION.

EVIL. Something that brings sorrow, distress, or calamity; the fact of suffering, misfortune, and wrongdoing.

To the Buddhist, good and evil are relative and not absolute terms. The cause of evil is man's inordinate desires for self. All action directed to selfish, separative ends is evil; all which tends to union is good. Christmas Humphreys

EVIL, PROBLEM OF. The most powerful objection to traditional theism, the problem of reconciling an imperfect world with the goodness of God.

The argument against the existence of God based on the fact of evil is as follows. If God is both benevolent and omnipotent, then he would not permit the existence of evil; since, however, evil does exist, a benevolent and omnipotent deity cannot exist. In another but equivalent version, the argument is that if evil exists, this is either because God cannot prevent it, in which case God is not omnipotent, or because God will not prevent it, in which case he is not benevolent; but a being which is [neither omnipotent nor benevolent] cannot be God, since benevolence and omnipotence are both defining properties of a divine being. Robert G. Olson

For Hindu thought there is no Problem of Evil. The conventional, relative world is necessarily a world of opposites. Light is inconceivable without darkness; order is meaningless without disorder; and. likewise, up without down, sound without silence, pleasure without pain. Alan Watts

EXISTENCE (L., existere, to come into being, to stand out in being, thus to appear, to emerge from non-being, fr. ex-, from, out of + sistere, to stand). The acute personal AWARENESS of radical contingency (the utter unpredictability of life), on the one hand, and of absolute and necessary FREEDOM and responsibility, on the other.

*EXISTENCE, THREE CHARACTERISTICS OF. (1) Transiency (ANICCA). (2) Sorrow (DUKKHA). (3) Selflessness (ANATTA). See BEING, THREE SIGNS OF.

EXISTENCE, CONDITIONED. Syn CYCLIC EXISTENCE. See BHAVA.

EXISTENCE, TRUE. See SATYA SIDDHA.

EXPERIENCE. Direct participation in life.

Personal experience ... is everything in Zen. No ideas are intelligible to those who have no backing in experience. This is a platitude ["No man's knowledge can go beyond his experience." John Locke] ... To get the clearest and most efficient understanding of a thing, therefore, it must be experienced personally. Especially when the thing is concerned with life itself, personal experience is an absolute necessity ... The foundation of all concepts is simple, unsophisticated experience. Zen places the utmost emphasis on this foundation. D. T. Suzuki

FINITUDE (L., finitus, pp. of finire, to limit). The quality or state of being finite, that is to say, having definite or definable limits. See FACTICITY.

Salvation must be sought in the finite, there is nothing infinite apart from finite things; if you seek something as transcendental, that will cut you off from this world of relativity, which is the same thing as the annihilation of yourself. D T. Suzuki

FORM (L, forma, Skt, rupa). The ESSENCE, or essential nature, of a thing, as distinguished from its matter. Syn ESSENCE. See NAMA-RUPA.

*FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS. (1) Suffering exists. (2) Suffering arises from attachment to desires. (3) Suffering ceases when attachment to desires ceases. (4) Freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the EIGHTFOLD PATH.

*FOUR SEALS OF BUDDHISM, THE. (1) All compounded things are impermanent. (2) All emotions are painful. (3) All phenomena are without inherent existence. (4) Nirvana is beyond extremes, i.e., it is not fabricated, not something to be held on to

FREEDOM. The quality or state of being free, that is to say, the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action.

FREE WILL. The belief, denied by most Buddhists, that choice is voluntary and indeterminate. See CONDITIONED GENESIS

There can be nothing absolutely free, physical or mental, as everything is interdependent and relative. If Free Will implies a will independent of conditions, independent of cause and effect, such a thing does not exist. Walpola Rahula

Buddhism is fatalistic in the sense that the present is always determined by the past; but the future remains free. Every action we make depends on what we have come to be at the time, but what we are coming to be at any time depends on the direction of the will. The karmic law merely asserts that this direction cannot be altered suddenly by the forgiveness of sins, but must be changed by our own efforts. Ananda Coomaraswamy

HEAVEN AND HELL. See REINCARNATION.

If there are any souls in Hell, it is not because they have bee sent there, but because Hell is where they insist upon being. W. H. Auden

*HINDRANCES. (1) Sensuous lust. (2) Aversion and ill will. (3) Sloth and torpor. (4) Restlessness and worry. (5) Sceptical doubt.

HSIN (Ch, mind, heart).

All in all it would seem that hsin means the totality of our psychic functioning, and, more specifically, the center of that functioning, which is associated with the central point of the upper body. The Japanese form of the word, kokoro, is used with even more subtleties of meaning, but for the present it is enough to realize that in translating it "mind" ... we do not mean exclusively the intellectual or thinking mind, nor ever the surface consciousness. The important point is that, according to both Taoism and Zen, the center of the mind's activity is not in the conscious thinking process, not in the ego. Alan Watts

IMPERMANENCE. The state or condition of being not permanent (Ltn. permanere, to endure), of not enduring or continuing throughout time without fundamental change.

All compounded things are impermanent . The First Seal of Buddhism

INAUTHENTICITY. One's failure to recognize and take full advantage of the full range of possibilities.

In the case of being-along, we will see that such actualization of possibility is limited by ignorance and selfishness; in the case of being-with, by self-concern and disregard for others. Thus in correlation with these two poles of existence, two distinct modes of inauthenticity become evident: inauthentic being-for-others and inauthentic being-with-others. Stephen Batchelor

INSIGHT, SPECIAL. See VIPASYANA.

INTERDEPENDENT CO-ARISING. See DEPENDENT ARISING, TWELVE LINKS OF.

INTELLECT (L, intellectus, fr. intellegere, to understand). In Zen Buddhism, a means of learning but not of knowing. See INTUITION.

The intellect is a developed instrument for the use of knowledge, but only the senses and the intuition acquire knowledge at first hand. The thought-machine, therefore, too easily becomes a cage, a workshop for the handling of second-hand material. Christmas Humphreys

INTENTION. That which one has in mind as the purpose, goal, design, meaning, import, or significance of one's own actions, or of the result or product of one's own actions. See KARMA.

INTUITION (L., intuitus, pp. of intueri, to look at attentively, gaze upon with astonishment, contemplate). Immediate apprehension, the power by which innate, instinctive knowledge reveals itself to us independently of reason or sensory experience.

At the base of thinking, there is always a certain unifying reality that we can know only through intuition. Kitaro Nishida

In truth, so long as we confine ourselves to intellection, however deep, subtle, sublime, and enlightening, we fail to see into the gist of the matter [the spiritual experience of Buddhism]. The is the reason why even the so-called primitive Buddhists, who are by some considered positivists, rationalists, and agnostics, were obliged to assume some faculty dealing with things far above relative knowledge, things that do not appeal to our empirical ego. D. T. Suzuki

JIJIMUGE (Jap, , the doctrine of the Kegon School of Japanese Buddhism). The idea that all things are the One, and that the One is all things and incomplete without each and every one of them.

Two points on the circumference of a circle, instead of looking to the self-same center, are at the center all the time. This means, of course, that the circle folds up, as it were, into the Void of the Unmanifest ... But though the intellect can just conceive that things are directly one, they never cease for a moment ... to be, as Zen with a maddening grin points out, their own incomparable selves. Christmas Humphreys

JOY (Pali, piti). One of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment, essential to the achievement of NIRVANA.

Buddhism is quite opposed to [a] melancholic, sorrowful, penitent, and gloomy state of mind, which is considered a hindrance to the realization of Truth. Walpola Rahula

KARMA (Skt, lit. action, deed). Volitional action, that is to say, something done consciously and on purpose. See VOLITION and INTENTION.

In Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, the universal law of cause and effect, as applied to he deeds of people. A deliberate good or bad deed leads a person's destiny in the [respective] direction. The ripening of the deed may take more than one lifetime, tying the agent to the cycle of rebirth, or samsara; only deeds free from desire and delusion have no consequences for karma. Simon Blackburn

Karma is intention. Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

KLESHA (Skt).

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LIBERATION. The act of becoming free from bondage or restraint.

Delusion arises when we do not acknowledge that all compounded things are impermanent. But when we realize this truth, deep down and not just intellectually, that is what we call liberation: release from this one-pointed, narrow-minded belief in permanence. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche See IMPERMANENCE.

MAYA (Skt, the world as conventionally conceived). One of the most important words in Indian philosophy, both Hindu and Buddhist, the manifold world of facts and events, ordinarily understood in far eastern religion and philosophy as an illusion, veiling perhaps an underlying reality, such as BRAHMAN, God.

*MEDITATION (Skt, SAMAHDI ). Mental discipline, consisting of RIGHT EFFORT, RIGHT MINDFULNESS, and RIGHT CONCENTRATION. See SAMAHDI.

MIND, AWAKENING. See BODHICITTA.

MIND, BUNDLE THEORY OF, THE (HUME). The idea that the mind is "nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement" [David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, I, iv, 6].

In concrete fact, I have no other self than the totality of things of which I am aware. Alan Watts' paraphrase of the Hua-yen (Kegon) doctrine of the Net of Jewels

MOKSHA (Skt). Liberation, freedom from illusion, specifically freedom from MAYA.

In this eternal repose the soul recovers its innate integrity; how this is thought to be achieved-whether by merging with Brahman or by eternal existence as a pure spirit-differs from system to system. Antony Flew

See BRAHMAN.

*MORALITY (Skt., sila). Moral precepts or rules. See SILA.

"MY DEATH." In western philosophy, psychology, and literature, the idea that one's own death, "the annihilation of the spectator," is something incomprehensible..

Our own death is unimaginable. Sigmund Freud

We in the west tend to ignore, push aside, or recoil from death. Although it is inescapable consequence of the very fact of having been born, the subject is taboo. Some part of our unexpressed fear and repugnance must surely be related to that ego identification with body and mind that the Buddha was so interested in dispelling and which is the aim of all Buddhist meditation techniques. Nancy Wilson Ross

MYSTICISM (ME, mysterie, fr. L., mysterium, fr. Gk., mysterion, fr. (assumed) mystos, keeping silence, fr. Gk., myein, to be closed [of the eyes or lips]). The idea that we can acquire directly and intuitively inexpressible knowledge or power.

MYSTICISM, ORIENTAL. The idea that all is quietude, the silence of the abyss, the silence of thunder, the silence of God in contemplation of His works past, present, and future.

When I say that the East is mystical, I do not mean that the East is fantastic, irrational, and altogether impossible to bring within the sphere of intellectual comprehension. What I mean is simply that in the working of the Eastern mind there is something calm, quiet, silent, undisturbable, which appears always to be looking into eternity. D. T. Suzuki

NAMA (Skt, name). See NAMA-RUPA.

NAMA-RUPA (Skt, name-form). Name-and-form, the mind's attempts to grasp by mean of classification and categorization the ultimate reality. See MAYA.

Maya [conventional division of the world into abstract and conceptual categories of thought] is usually equated with nama-rupa or "name-and-form," with the mind's attempt to grasp the fluid forms of nature in its mesh of fixed classes. Alan Watts

NET OF JEWELS. See MIND, BUNDLE THEORY OF, THE (HUME).

NIRVANA (Skt, lit. "blowing out, extinction"). Emancipation of the individual from the Wheel of Birth and Death, that is to say, birth, old age, decay, death , sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, distress, "the cessation of which I declare in this very life" (Buddha).

Although beauty and ugliness displayed before our eyes, the mind is as calm as the sea. Erroneous thoughts all cease, and there are no compulsions. One gets out of bondage and is free from hindrances, and forever cuts off the source of suffering. This is called entry into Nirvana. Fa-tsang

NO-MIND. See WU-HSIN.

NON-DUALITY. See ADVAITA.

NOTHINGNESS. The void, EMPTINESS, a metaphysical state opposed to and devoid of BEING. See EMPTINESS. Compare BEING, SUNYATA, WU.

The anguish of being [the fear, sorrow, and despair inspired by feelings of meaninglessness and nothingness is], the feeling we have whenever the thought comes to us that nothingness was and still is just as possible as being, whenever we ask ourselves how it is that there is something rather than nothing. It is a curious fact that one cannot experience the full wonder and mystery of being without thinking of absolute nothingness. Speaking metaphorically, it could be said that only from the vantage point of nothingness can we get a good look at being. Robert G. Olson

ONE, THE (PARMENIDES). The idea that the world must be ungenerated, imperishable, indivisible, perfect, and motionless. Compare JIJIMUGE.

ONTOLOGY (NL, ontologia, fr. Gk., ont- or onto-, fr. ont-, on, present participle of einai, being + logos, the study of). The study of the nature of being-in-itself apart from the study of particular things.

OTHER, THE. A thing opposite to or excluded from something else.

I am only in conjunction with the Other; alone I am nothing. Karl Jaspers

Hell is other people. Jean-Paul Sartre

PANNA (Skt, wisdom). See WISDOM.

PARAMARTHASATYA (Skt, "ultimate truth").

PARAMITA (Skt., lit., "that which has reached the other shore"). The paramitas, generally translated as "the perfections," are the six virtues perfected by a BODHISATTVA in the course of his development, namely:† generosity, discipline, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom.

PERCEPTION (L., perceptio, fr. percipere, to receive, to gather together). The gathering into awareness of physical sensations and their interpretation in the light of experience.

Many people think that perception and thinking are completely different because perception is a consciousness of concrete facts whereas thinking is a consciousness of abstract relations. But we cannot be conscious of purely abstract relations. The movement of thinking occurs in virtue of certain concrete mental images, and without them it cannot take place. Kitaro Nishida

PERCEPTION, TRUE. See PRATYAKSA.

*PERFECTIONS, TEN. (1) Generosity, giving of oneself. (2) Virtue, morality, proper conduct. (3) Renunciation. (4) Transcendental wisdom, insight. (5) Energy, diligence, vigor, effort. (6) Patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance. (7) Truthfulness, honesty. (8) Determination, resolution. (9) Loving-kindness. (10) Equanimity, serenity. Cf. ENLIGHTENMENT, FACTORS OF.

PHENOMENON. Any object or occurrence known by means of sense experience, an observable fact or event. See PERCEPTION.

The fact is that phenomena have the characteristics of existence, such as arising in dependence on other factors or causal conditions. Therefore, lacking any independent nature, phenomena are dependent: they are by nature dependent, and the very fact that they are by nature dependent on other factors is an indication of their lacking an independent nature. The Dalai Lama

Buddhists define a phenomenon as something with characteristics, and as an object that is conceived by a subject. To hold that an object is something external is ignorance, and it is this that prevents us from seeing the truth of that object. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche

PHENOMENOLOGY (HUSSERL). "A new, descriptive, philosophical method, which ... has established (1) an a priori [rational, intuitive] psychological discipline, able to provide the only secure basis on which a strong empirical [a posteriori] psychology can be built, and (2) a universal [general, all-encompassing] philosophy, which can supply an organon [instrument, tool] for the methodical revision of all the sciences" (Edmund Husserl, Ency. Brit., 14th ed.). A descriptive methodology requiring detailed examination and analysis of one's own intellect, consciousness, immediate experiences, and presuppositions (religious, moral, aesthetic, conceptual, sensuous), the goal of which is to identify and "bracket" these presuppositions so as to arrive at an enhanced under-standing of the essential nature of experience.

The practice of Buddhism is not concerned with the erection of a superstructure upon a set of passive data that remain unchanged, but with the transformation of life itself from a state of disorder and chaos into a condition of wholeness and purposefulness. A "transformation" implies that something undergoes a process of change or restructuring. The clearer we can initially describe and ascertain this "something," the more firmly based will our subsequent analyses of the Buddhist path be ... we must attempt to temporarily suspend our habitual judgment patterns and allow ourselves to confront the "phenomena" as they disclose themselves to us. Stephen Batchelor

PRAJNA (Skt, lit. "consciousness," insight, intiitive apprehension, wisdom"). The faculty that apprehends the truth of Buddhist teachings. One of the three subjects of the Buddhist Triple Discipline: morality (SILA), meditation (DHYANA), and wisdom (PRAJNA).

Although all beings possess PRAJNA, it is usually underdeveloped and [must] be cultivated through the practice of insight meditation. (ODB)

The definitive moment of PRAJNA is insight in to EMPTINESS (SHUNYATA), which is the true nature of reality. (SDBZ)

PRAMANA (Skt, valid cognition).

PRATYAKSA (Skt, true perception).

REINCARNATION (LL., re-, again + incarnare, to make flesh, fr. in- (causative) + caro, flesh). The quality or action of being invested anew with bodily nature and form, especially the rebirth of a soul in a new human body. See IMMORTALITY.

The doctrine variously called transmigration of souls, metempsychosis, palingenesis, rebirth, and reincarnation has been and continues to be widely believed. Although some of these terms imply belief in an immortal soul that transmigrates or reincarnates, Buddhism, while teaching rebirth, denies the eternity of the soul. The word "rebirth" is therefore the most comprehensive for referring to this range of beliefs. (EOP)

Beliefs in reincarnation can be found both in ancient Greece and in ancient India, and the Greek idea that the soul about to be reincarnated drinks from the river Lethe (forgetfulness) is typical of the assumption that those who are reincarnated remember little or nothing. The interesting philosophical question is: In what sense [is the reincarnated] the same person as the deceased? Ö Even if psychic drives of the deceased in some way led to the new life, the relation between the two lives could be compared to that of a new flame to the pre-existing flame from which it is lit. "Are these two different flames, or the same flame?" the Buddhist philosopher asks; and the implication is that there is no basis for an answer. (OCP)

Religions are united not by belief in God but by belief in life after death. According to religious Buddhism, we will be reborn in a form of life that accords with the ethical quality of actions committed in this or a previous life. A similar principle is followed in the monotheistic religions, although the postmortem options tend to be limited to heaven or hell. Stephen Batchelor

RELIGION. Any particular integrated personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

If we subject everything to reason, our religion will have nothing mysterious or supernatural; if we violate the principles of reason, our religion will be absurd and ridiculous. Blaise Pascal

*RIGHT ACTION. The Right Action forms a list of fundamental ethical behaviors all practicing Buddhists should follow. These are the Five Precepts: (1) To refrain from destroying living beings. (2) To refrain from stealing. (3) To refrain from sexual misconduct (adultery, rape, etc.). (4) To refrain from false speech (lying). (5) To refrain from intoxicants which lead to heedlessness.

*RIGHT CONTEMPLATION. Leading to the four stages of Dhyana: (1) passionate desires and certain unwholesome thought, like sensuous lust, ill-will, languor, worry, restlessness, and sceptical doubt, are discarded, and feelings of joy and happiness are maintained, along with certain mental activities; (2) all intellectual activities are suppressed, tranquility and "one-pointedness" of mind developed, and the feelings of joy and happiness are still retained; (3) the feeling of joy, which is an active sensation, also disappears, while the disposition of happiness still remains, in addition to mindful equanimity; (4) all sensations, even of happiness and unhappiness, of joy and sorrow, disappear, only pure equanimity and awareness remaining. See SAMADHI.

*RIGHT EFFORT. The energetic will (1) to prevent evil and unwholesome states of mind from arising, (2) to get rid of such evil and unwholesome states that have already arisen, (3) to produce good and wholesome states of mind not yet arisen, and (4) to develop and bring to perfection the good and wholesome states of mind already present in a man. See SAMADHI.

*RIGHT LIVELIHOOD. Those seeking enlightenment should pick the Right Livelihood to support the other fundamentals of Buddhism. Followers should avoid employment in positions where their actions may cause harm to others, be it directly or indirectly.

*RIGHT MINDFULNESS. To be diligently aware, mindful, and attentive with regard to (1) the activities of the body (kaya), (2) the sensations or feelings (vedana), (3) the activities of the mind (citta), and (4) the ideas, thoughts, conceptions, and things one experiences. See SAMADHI.

The Right Mindfulness, along with Right Concentration, is the foundation behind Buddhist meditation. Monks, or other followers, should focus their minds on their body, emotions, mental workings, and mental qualities, but not on worldly desire and aversion while meditating.

*RIGHT SPEECH. The focus of the Right Speech is to avoid harmful language, such as lying or unkind words. It is far better to use gentle, friendly and meaningful words, even when a situation calls for a truth that may be hurtful, despite the follower’s best intentions.

*RIGHT THOUGHT. To have the Right Thought, a follower should fully understand his purpose in following the teachings of the Buddha, as well as his outlook on the world and world issues.

*RIGHT VIEW. Right View is the right way to view the world. Wrong view occurs when we impose our expectations onto things; expectations about how we hope things will be, or about how we are afraid things might be. Right view occurs when we see things simply, as they are. It is an open and accommodating attitude. We abandon hope and fear and take joy in a simple straight-forward approach to life.

RUPA (Skt, form). See NAMA-RUPA.

*SAMAHDI (Skt, mental discipline, consisting of Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration).

Right Effort is the energetic will (1) to prevent evil and unwholesome states of mind from arising, and (2) to get rid of such evil and unwholesome states that have already arisen ... and also (3) to produce ... good and wholesome states of mind not yet arisen, and (4) to develop and bring to perfection the good and wholesome states of mind already present in a man. Right Mindfulness ... is to be diligently aware, mindful and attentive with regard to (1) the activities of the body (kaya), (2) sensations or feelings (vedana), (3) the activities of the mind (citta), and (4) ideas, thoughts, conceptions, and things (dhamma).... The third and last factor of Mental Discipline is Right Concentration leading to the four stages of Dhyana.... In the first stage of Dhyana, passionate desires and certain unwholesome thought like sensuous lust, ill-will, languor, worry, restlessness, and sceptical doubt are discarded, and feelings of joy and happiness are maintained, along with certain mental activities. In the second stage, all intellectual activities are suppressed, tranquility and "one-pointedness" of mind developed, and the feelings of joy and happiness are still retained. In the third stage, the feeling of joy, which is an active sensation, also disappears, while the disposition of happiness still remains in addition to mindful equanimity. In the fourth stage of Dhyana, all sensations, even of happiness and unhappiness, of joy and sorrow, disappear, only pure equanimity and awareness remaining. Walpola Rahula

SAMSARA (Skt, lit. "faring on," transmigration, coming to be, "birth and death"). "The inauthentic mode of existence in which one's actions are motivated by disturbing conceptions (klesha) rooted in ignorance (avidhya), characterized by anxiety, frustration, and suffering" (Stephen Batchelor). ant NIRVANA.

In Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, the "bondage of life, death, and rebirth," the cycle of birth and rebirth dictated by Karma. Release comes only with the attainment of true knowledge, requiring austere discipline. Simon Blackburn

The root of this condition is a state of ignorance in which we are blind to being itself [i.e., Being, or BEING-IN-ITSELF] and are only conscious of particular entities [i.e., being, or BEING-IN]. Moreover, this state of ignorance ascribes an inherent self-sufficiency to the entities with which it is concerned and thus raises them to an illusory position of ultimacy. Stephen Batchelor

SAMVRTISATVA (Skt, relative truth).

SATORI (Jap, enlightenment, "the sudden flashing into consciousness of a new truth hitherto undreamed of . . . a sort of mental catastrophe taking place all at once, after much piling up of matters intellectual and demonstrative" [D. T. Suzuki] ).

What is the goal of Zen? The answer is Satori . . . that condition of consciousness wherein the pendulum of the Opposites has come to rest, where both sides of the coin are equally valued and immediately seen. Silence alone can "describe" it, the silence of the mystic, of the saint, of the artist in the presence of great beauty. Christmas Humphreys

Imperturbable and serene the ideal man practices no virtue;/ Self-possessed and dispassionate he commits no sin;/ Calm and silent he gives up seeing and hearing;/ Even and upright, his mind abides nowhere. Hui-neng

SATYA SIDDHA (Skt, true existence).

SELF-ALIENATION. A state of mind in which one become alienated from, i.e., a stranger to, oneself, emotionally distancing oneself from oneself (if this sounds somewhat schizophrenic, it is). Compare ALIENATION and ESTRANGEMENT.

SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS. Intense, sometimes uncomfortable, consciousness of one's own actions, states of mind, appearance, or manners, as the object of others' scrutiny.

If we make ourselves into the object of our thinking, we ourselves become as it were the other, and yet at the same time we remain a thinking I, which thinks about itself but cannot aptly be thought of as an object because it determines the objectness of all things. Karl Jaspers

With its characteristic emphasis on the concrete, Zen points out that our precious "self" is just an idea, useful and legitimate enough if seen for what it is, but disastrous if identified with our real nature. The unnatural awkwardness of a certain type of self-consciousness comes into being when we are aware of conflict or contrast between the idea of ourselves, on the one hand, and the immediate, concrete feeling of ourselves, on the other. Alan Watts

SHAMATHA (Skt, calm abiding).

SILA (Skt, morality). Moral precepts or rules. One of the three subjects of the Buddhist Triple Discipline: morality (SILA), meditation (DHYANA), and wisdom (PRAJNA).

The precepts are not commandments and are not enforced by any religious authority. ... [They] are essentially a condensation of the moral behavior of the enlightened. (ODB)

SUNYATA (Skt, emptiness, void). The ultimate nature of all phenomena, i.e. their lack of true existence. In Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, especially Mahayana philosophy, the Absolute, the Transcendental, immanent in all concrete and particular things but in itself indefinable as anything but a certain "thusness" or "suchness" (TATHATA), the experience and knowledge of which, nevertheless, is necessary to enlightenment. Compare ESSENCE.

A negative term and distinctly epistemological . . . in emptiness there is neither creation nor destruction, neither defilement nor [spotlessness] . . . no limiting qualities are to be attributed to the Absolute. D. T. Suzuki

There are some to whom the thought of the Void is frightening; their eyes are as yet short-focused on the road ahead and they cannot see the Goal. It is hard indeed to focus on infinity, and all men have at times preferred to gaze upon something, albeit a Mind-projected Thing, just so much ahead of them, and not too far. Hence thoughts of God and gods, of Saints and Saviours. Christmas Humphreys

SUTRA (Skt). One of the Buddha's discourses as recorded by his followers.

TAO, or TAOISM (Ch, pronounced Dao, literally "the way,"or Daoism). A Chinese philosophical and spiritual system, founded on the principles of the Tao Te Ching (pronounced Dao De Jing), written by Lao Tzu. The verses written in the Tao Te Ching can be applied equally to Tai Chi practice and to daily life. Therefore, the principles of Tai Chi Chuan are based on the principles of the Tao.

TAI CHI. The workings of the Yin and the Yang, represented as a circle divided between a dark and a light half, two mutually complementary forces in nature: Yin, the force characterized as dark, cold, stillness, passiveness and potential; and Yang, the force characterized as light, warmth, action, aggressiveness and expression.

TANHA (Skt, thirst, craving). Bound up with passionate greed and worshiping the here and now, that which produces re-existence and re-becoming, namely thirst for sense pleasures, for existence and becoming, and for non-existence, self-destruction and annihilation.

TATHATA (Skt, in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, a difficult metaphysical term meaning "suchness," or "thusness," perhaps the ESSENCE or essential nature of a thing that otherwise does not exist, that is to say, that exists only as "suchness" or "thusness.")

The term Tathata was first used in The Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana in the fourth century AD, and being the highest conception possible, it is, if there be such a thing, the Godhead of Buddhism. But it is beyond all predicates. "It is neither that which is existent, nor non-existent ... neither one nor many ... It is altogether beyond the conception of human intellect, and the best way of designating seems to be to call it suchness." Christmas Humphreys

TAO (Ch, way, truth). According to the Chinese Tao-Te Chia (School of the Way), the idea that non-being (Ch, WU, nothing, nothingness), concentrated in the individual, is the source of man's force and power. See WU.

Tao is eternal and has no name. Though its simplicity seems insignificant, none in the world can master it. If kings and barons would hold onto it, all things would submit to them spontaneously. Lao-tzu

What heaven [Ch, t'ien, nature] imparts to man is called human nature. To follow our nature is called the Way (Tao). Cultivating the Way is called education. The Way cannot be separated from us even for a moment. Confucius

Since the Tao is unnamable, it therefore cannot be comprised in words. But since we wish to speak about it, we are forced to give it some kind of designation. We therefore call it Tao, which is really not a name at all. That is to say, to call the Tao Tao is not the same as to call a table table. When we call a table able, we mean that it has some attributes by which it can be named. But when we call the Tao Tao, we do not mean that it has any such namable attributes. It is simply a designation, or to use an expression common in Chinese philosophy, Tao is a name that is not a name. Fung Yu-lan

TE (Ch, virtue, power).

When a man has learned to let his mind alone so that it functions in the integrated and spontaneous way that is natural to it, he begins to show the special kind of "virtue" or "power" called te. This is not virtue in the current sense of moral rectitude but in the older sense of effectiveness, as when one speaks of the healing virtues of a plant. Alan Watts

THIRST. See TANHA

THREE FIRES. Hatred, anger, ill will (Pali, dosa), stupidity (Pali, moha), and restlessness (Skt, rajas).

TIME, SUBJECTIVE. The idea that there is a now, a present, which implies as well a past, that which has gone before, and a future, that which will take place in time to come.

Perhaps the most puzzling of the pure philosophical problems about time is that of its "passage." It is almost irresistible to think either in terms of its flowing or of our moving through it. But if so, we seem to imply that it could flow faster or slower-but then in respect to what? Antony Flew

[The] prototype of all conceived times is the specious present, the short duration of which we are immediately and incessantly sensible. William James

Time produces itself only insofar as man is. There is no time when man was not, not because man was from all eternity and will be for all eternity, but because time is not eternity and time fashions itself into a time only as a human, historical being-there. Martin Heidegger

Hindu mythology [from which Buddhism originates] elaborate the theme of the divine play on a fabulous scale, embracing not only colossal concepts of time and space, but also the widest extremes of pleasure and pain, virtue and depravity ... According to the myth, the divine myth goes on through endless cycles of time, through periods of manifestation and withdrawal of the worlds measured in units of kalpas, the kalpa being a span of 4,320,000,000 years. From the human standpoint, such a conception presents a terrifying monotony, since it goes on aimlessly for ever and ever. But from the divine standpoint, it has all the fascination of the repetitious games of children, which go on and on because time has been forgotten and has reduced itself to single wondrous moment. Alan Watts

TRUTH, DECEPTIVE. See SAMVRTISATVA.

TRUTH, ULTIMATE. See PARAMARTHASATYA.

TUN-WU (Ch, enlightenment). See SATORI.

TWO PATHS, THE. In Tibetan Buddhism, the doctrine of the "Eye" and the doctrine of the "Heart." The Dharma of the Eye is the embodiment of the external, and of the non-existing; the Dharma of the Heart is the embodiment of BODHI, the permanent and everlasting.

VIPASYANA (Skt). The heightened state of mind capable of recognizing and comprehending impermanence and EMPTINESS.

VIRTUE (L, virtus, strength, manliness). Conformity to a standard of rightness. Syn morality.

When Tao is lost, only then does the doctrine of virtue arise. Lao-tzu

Integrity has no need of rules ... The need to be right is the sign of a vulgar mind. Albert Camus

VOLITION (L., vol-, stem of velle, to will or wish, + -ition, itio, the act of wishing). The power of choosing or determining. Syn WILL.

For it to be true that a person is moving his hand, it must be true that his hand is in motion. However, the statement "He is moving his hand" does not mean the same as "His hand is in motion." Some philosophers think of a movement (as distinct from a motion) as being really two things causally connected: (1) a mental activity and (2) its effect, a bodily motion. Instances of the mental activity they call acts of volition, or acts of willing. (EOP)

WILL (OE, wille, wyllan, to wish; L, velle, to wish, desire). Whether in individuals or in groups and collectives, the mental powers conspicuous in wishing, choosing, desiring, or intending. Syn INTENTION.

Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes. Chinese proverb

*WISDOM (Skt., panna).

WU (Ch, nothing, nothingness, non-being, vacancy, void). "All things in the world come into being from Being (Yu), and Being comes into being from Non-being (Wu)." Lao-tzu.

There is nothing wrong in rendering wu as a negative. However, in some cases it has to be interpreted. For example, wu-hsin is not just "no mind" but "no deliberate mind of one's own," and wu-wei is not simply "inaction" but "taking no unnatural action.," or in Buddhist usage, "not produced from causes." [Some translators think that] yu and wu should be rendered as "being" and "non-being" because they are essentially transitive verbs. But in Lao-tzu, chs. 2, 40, etc., and in many places in the Chuang Tzu, for example, they are not verbs and mean exactly "being" and "non-being." Wing-tsit Chan

This saying of Lao-tzu does not mean that there was a time when there was only Non-being, and that then there came a time when Being came into being from Non-being. It simply means that if we analyze the existence of things, we see there must first be Being before there can be any things. Tao is the unnamable, is Non-being, and is that by which all things come to be. Therefore, before the being of Being, there must be Non-being, from which Being comes into being. What is here said belongs to ontology, not to cosmology. It has nothing to do with time and actuality. For in time and actuality, there is no Being; there are only beings. Fung Yu-lan

WU-HSIN (Ch, lit. no-mind, un-self-consciousness). A state of being in which the mind works freely and easily without any sense of necessity or coercion.

The baby looks at things all day without winking; that is because his eyes are not focused on any particular object. He goes without knowing where he is going, and stops without knowing why he is stopping. He is part of his surroundings and moves with them this way and that. This is what is meant by a healthy mind. Chuang-tzu

If the ordinary man is one who has to walk by lifting his legs with his hands, the Taoist is one who has learned to let the legs walk by themselves. Alan Watts

YOGI (Skt) . A being who has developed "calm abiding"(SHAMATHA) and special insight (VIPASYANA).

RECOMMENDED READING:

Steve Hagen, Buddhism, Plain and Simple (1998).

Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, Revised and Expanded Edition with Texts from Suttas and Dhammapada (1974).

Thich Nhat Hanh, The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching (1999).

Shantideva, A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, tr. Stephen Batchelor (1992).

D.T. Suzuki, Zen Buddhism, ed. William Barrett, Reprint edition (1996).

Philip Kapleau, The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment, Revised edition (1989).

Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1972).

Lao Tzu, Tao Teh Ching, tr. John C. H. Wu, Reprint edition (1990).

Arthur Waley, The Way and Its Power: a Study of the Tao Te Ching and Its Place in Chinese Thought (1958)

Alan Watts, The Way of Zen (1957)

RECOMMENDED ON-LINE SITES:

Buddhist Glossary

Buddhism Basics

Audio Dharma Teachings

Readings for Beginners

How to Meditate

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