Pali word of the day

[Sekha]

very nice initiative Dave

This is a thread I'll follow keenly

[David N. Snyder]

very nice initiative Dave
This is a thread I'll follow keenly

Up to now, the words have probably been very easy, at least for most of us. But soon we will get to some more less commonly known Pali words.

[David N. Snyder]

Up to now, the words have probably been very easy, at least for most of us. But soon we will get to some more less commonly known Pali words.

And with the statement above, the next word:

Khanti

   ...patience, tolerance, endurance, forbearance
   It is the enduring of suffering caused by others or the forbearance
   of others’ wrongs.

       A person who practices patience will not allow the thought of
   revenge or retaliation to enter his mind when he is tested with
   anger. Instead he tries to put the wrongdoer on the path of Right-
   eousness and extends to him thoughts of love and compassion.
       To practice khanti, one should be able to control one’s temper
   through the right understanding of the real nature of life. By los-
   ing our temper, we are not only losing our peace, happiness,
   health, beauty, friendship and popularity, but also the ability to
   distinguish the good from the bad and the right from the wrong.
       The characteristic of khanti is acceptance and its function is to
   endure the desirable and the undesirable things. While the mani-
   festation of khanti is a non-oppositional character, the quality to
   achieve it is wisdom – the ability to see things as they really are.
   By understanding the three characteristics of life (anicca,
   dukkha, and anattà) and the law of Kamma, one will be able to
   manage one’s senses.
                                   (from A Pali Word a Day, BuddhaNet pdf)

[David N. Snyder]

lobha

  ...greed, covetousness, a synonym of taïhà
      (craving, desire) and ràga (passion)

  Being the root cause of evil, it transforms itself into many faces.
  Hoarding – holding on without letting go, obsession with materi-
  al gain, miserliness, and yearning – desire to possess what others
  have, clinging to desirable objects of sense, etc.
     In a subtle form, thriftiness – a kind of reluctance to waste
  things – appears to have the element of lobha in its root. While
  the stronger one turns itself into grasping onto the mind object as
  sense desire.
     It has the function “to stick” and the manifestation of lobha is
  not giving up. The proximate cause is seeing the enjoyment in
  things that lead to bondage.
     Lobha can turn easily into dosa when one fails to get the desir-
  able object and thus creates all the possible akusala kamma
  (unwholesome deeds).
     One needs to learn how to be contented (santosa) and let go
  of sensual lust (kàma). One needs to watch out that clinging to
  rules and rituals will hinder one’s spiritual progress.
                                  (from A Pali Word a Day, BuddhaNet pdf)

[David N. Snyder]

alobha

Greedlessness; one of the 3 kammically advantageous roots (mūla).

[David N. Snyder]

cattāri ariyasaccāni

The Four Noble Truths

cattāri = Four
ariya = Noble
saccāni = Truths

see also: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4178

[David N. Snyder]

ariya aññhaïgika magga

The Noble Eightfold Path

ariya = Noble
aññhaïgika = Eightfold
magga = Path

[Sekha]

is it not rather "aṭṭhaṅgika" ?

[David N. Snyder]

is it not rather "aṭṭhaṅgika" ?

Thanks! Yes, I believe you are right. I think I originally got that from Wikipedia, not a good source for Pali.
Also eightfold is sometimes: aṭṭhavidha

[David N. Snyder]

eight = aṭṭha
so it may have a bad use of diacritics with the aññhaïgika

[David N. Snyder]

corrected version:

Ariyo aṭṭhaṅgiko maggo

or perhaps?

Ariya aṭṭhaṅgika magga

[Sekha]

I think the ending depends on the declension case.


My turn today:

sampajañña


The Buddha always included the term sampajañña [constant thorough understanding of impermanence] or sampajāno (the adjective form of sampajañña) whenever he was asked to explain sati (awareness). As a result of the frequent association of these words, sampajañña has often been defined as nearly synonymous with sati - as "full awareness," or "clear comprehension" - or as an exhortation to remain mindful. Another traditional translation of sampajañña, which is closer to the full meaning is "thorough understanding."

In the Sutta Piṭaka the Buddha gave two explanations of the term. In the Saṃyutta-nikāya (VRI III. 401; PTS V, 180-1) he defines it as follows:

Kathañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhu sampajāno hoti? Idha bhikkhave, bhikkhuno viditā vedanā uppajjanti, viditā upaṭṭhahanti, viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti; viditā saññā uppajjanti, viditā upaṭṭhahanti, viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti; viditā vitakkā uppajjanti, viditā upaṭṭhahanti, viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti. Evaṃ kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu sampajāno hoti.

And how, monks, does a monk understand thoroughly? Here, monks, a monk experiences sensations arising in him, experiences their persisting, and experiences their vanishing; he experiences perceptions arising in him, experiences their persisting, and experiences their vanishing; he experiences each initial application of the mind [on an object] arising in him, experiences its persisting, and experiences its vanishing. This, monks, is how a monk understands thoroughly.

In the above statement it is clear that one is sampajāno only when one understands the characteristic of impermanence (arising, persisting and vanishing). This understanding must be based on sensation (viditā vedanā). If the characteristic of impermanence is not experienced at the level of vedanā, then one’s understanding is merely an intellectualization, since it is only through sensation that direct experience occurs. The statement further indicates that sampajañña lies in the experience of the impermanence of saññā and vitakkā. Here we should note that impermanence understood at the level of vedanā actually covers all three cases since according to the Buddha’s teaching in the Aṅguttara-nikāya (VRI III. Dasakanipāta, 58; PTS V. 107):

Vedanā-samosaraṇā sabbe dhammā.

Everything that arises in the mind flows together with sensations.

The second explanation of sampajañña given by the Buddha emphasizes that it must be continuous. In several places he repeats the words of the Sampajānapabbaṃ of Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta, as in this passage from the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta (Dīgha-nikāya II: VRI. 160; PTS 95):

Kathañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhu sampajāno hoti? Idha bhikkhave, bhikkhu abhikkante paṭikkante sampajānakārī hoti, ālokite vilokite sampajānakārī hoti, samiñjite pasārite sampajānakārī hoti, saṅghāṭipattacīvaradhāraṇe sampajānakārī hoti, asite pīte khāyite sāyite sampajānakārī hoti, uccārapassāvakamme sampajānakārī hoti, gate ṭhite nisinne sutte jāgarite bhāsite tuṇhībhāve sampajānakārī hoti.

And how, monks, does a monk understand thoroughly? Here, monks, a monk, while going forward or backward, he does so with constant thorough understanding of impermanence; whether he is looking straight ahead or looking sideways, he does so with constant thorough understanding of impermanence; while he is bending or stretching, he does so with constant thorough understanding of impermanence; whether wearing his robes or carrying his bowl, he does so with constant thorough understanding of impermanence; whether he is eating, drinking, chewing or savouring, he does so with constant thorough understanding of impermanence; while attending to the calls of nature, he does so with constant thorough understanding of impermanence; whether he is walking, standing, sitting, sleeping or waking, speaking or in silence, he does so with constant thorough understanding of impermanence.

With proper understanding of the teaching of the Buddha, it becomes clear that if this continuous sampajañña consists only of the thorough understanding of the external processes of walking, eating, and other activities of the body, then what is being practised is merely sati. If, however, the constant thorough understanding includes the characteristic of the arising and passing away of vedanā while the meditator is performing these activities, then sampajāno satimā is being practised, paññā (wisdom) is being developed.

The Buddha describes this more specifically in this passage from the Aṅguttara-nikāya (VRI I. Catukkanipāta, 12; PTS II 15) in words reminiscent of Sampajānapabbaṃ:

Yataṃ care yataṃ tiṭṭhe, yataṃ acche yataṃ saye
yataṃ samiñjaye bhikkhu, yatamenaṃ pasāraye
uddhaṃ tiriyaṃ apācīnaṃ, yāvatā jagato gati,
samavekkhitā ca dhammānaṃ, khandhānaṃ udayabbayaṃ.

Whether the monk walks or stands or sits or lies,
whether he bends or stretches, above, across, backwards,
whatever his course in the world,
he observes the arising and passing away of the aggregates.

The Buddha clearly emphasized the thorough understanding of anicca (impermanence) in all bodily and mental activities. Therefore, since the proper understanding of this technical term, sampajañña, is so critical for an understanding of this sutta, we have translated it as "the constant thorough understanding of impermanence," even though this definition is less concise than the traditional "thorough understanding."


Commentary to the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta by VRI:
http://www.tipitaka.org/stp-pali-eng-parallel#note3

[David N. Snyder]

My turn today:
sampajañña

Yes, it is good to see another posting here too, anyone can post.

Good word choice and good details provided for this important term.

[David N. Snyder]

Paññā

Wisdom;

'understanding, knowledge, understanding, insight', comprises a very wide field. The specific Buddhist knowledge or understanding, however, as part of The Noble Eightfold Middle Path magga to deliverance, is insight Vipassana, i.e. that intuitive knowledge which brings about the 4 stages of Nobility and the realization of Nibbana see: ariya-puggala and which consists in the penetration of the impermanency anicca, misery dukkha see: sacca and impersonality anattā of all forms of existence. Further details, see: under tilakkhana.

With regard to the condition of its arising one distinguishes 3 kinds of knowledge knowledge based on thinking cintā-mayā-paññā knowledge based on learning suta-mayā-paññā knowledge based on mental development bhāvanā -mayā-paññā D. 33.

'Based on thinking' is that knowledge which one has accquired through one's own thinking, without having learnt it from others. 'Based on learning' is that knowledge which one has heard from others and thus acquired through learning. 'Based on mental development' is that knowledge which one has acquired through mental development in this or that way, and which has reached the stage of full concentration; appanā Vis.M XIV.

Wisdom is one of the 5 mental abilities see: bala one of the 3 kinds of training sikkhā, and one of the perfections see: pāramī For further details, see: vipassanā and the detailed exposition in Vis.M XIV, 1-32.

Maha Thera Nyanatiloka. Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, Buddhist Publication Society, first edition 1952.

[David N. Snyder]

Samudaya-sacca

'truth of the origin', i.e. the origin of suffering, is the 2nd of The Four Noble Truths.

[David N. Snyder]

Since the last post was Samudaya, the 2nd Noble Truth, can you, Dukkhanirodha, provide us with a good definition of the 3rd Noble Truth, since after all it is your username? (for today's word)

[David N. Snyder]

Avijjā

Ignorance, nescience, the blindness of not knowing, is synonymous with confusion moha (see mūla), is the primary & deepest root of all evil and suffering in the world, veiling man's mental eyes and preventing him from seeing the true nature of things. It is the confusion that fools beings by making life appear to them as permanent, happy, substantial and beautiful and preventing them from seeing that everything in reality is impermanent, liable to suffering, void of 'I' and 'mine', and basically impure see: vipallāsa. Ignorance is defined as not knowing The Four Noble Truths, namely, suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the way to its ceasing see: S. XII, 4.

[Sekha]

sorry for being late:

Dukkha-nirodha: cessation of suffering


From the Dhammacakkappacattana sutta:

What is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering? It is the remainderless fading and cessation of that same craving; the rejecting, relinquishing, leaving and renouncing of it. But whereon is this craving abandoned and made to cease? Wherever there is what seems lovable and gratifying, thereon it is abandoned and made to cease.

There is this Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before.

This Noble Truth is being penetrated to by realising the Cessation of Suffering....

This Noble Truth has been penetrated to by realising the Cessation of Suffering: such was the vision, insight, wisdom, knowing and light that arose in me about things not heard before.

The Third Noble Truth with its three aspects is: ‘There is the cessation of suffering, of dukkha. The cessation of dukkha should is being realised. The cessation of dukkha has been realised.’

[David N. Snyder]

sorry for being late:

Dukkha-nirodha: cessation of suffering

No problem, thanks for providing that definition, especially appropriate with that user-name.

[David N. Snyder]

Ariya, Ariyan: Noble, Noble One

See:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4178

And for today, I will also post some of the other well-known compounds with ariya in them.