- In the
discourses of the Pali Canon, this term simply means "higher Dhamma,"
and a systematic attempt to define the Buddha's teachings and
understand their interrelationships.
- A
later collection of analytical treatises based on lists of categories
drawn from the teachings in the discourses, added to the Canon several
centuries after the Buddha's life.
Timeless;
unconditioned by time or season.
Not-self;
ownerless.
Noble
Truth. The word "ariya" (noble) can also mean ideal or standard, and in
this context means "objective" or "universal" truth. There are four:
stress, the origin of stress, the disbanding of stress, and the path of
practice leading to the disbanding of stress.
Commentaries of Buddhist teachings.
A
Buddhist "monk" ("nun"); a man (woman) who has given up the
householder's life to live a life of heightened virtue in accordance
with the Vinaya in general, and the Patimokkha rules in particular.
Awake;
enlightened. An epithet for the Buddha.
The name
given to one who rediscovers for himself the liberating path of Dhamma,
after a long period of its having been forgotten by the world. According
to tradition, there is a long line of Buddhas stretching into the
distant past. The most recent Buddha was born Siddhattha Gotama in India
in the sixth century BCE. A well-educated and wealthy young man, he
relinquished his family and his princely inheritance in the prime of his
life to search for true freedom and an end to suffering (dukkha).
After seven years of austerities in the forest, he rediscovered the
"middle way" and achieved his goal, becoming Buddha.
Founded: About 525 BC, reportedly near Benares, India.
Founder: Gautama Siddhartha (ca. 562-480), the Buddha, who
achieved enlightenment through intense meditation.
Organization: The basic institution is the Sangha or
monastic order through which the traditions are passed to each
generation. Monastic life tends to be democratic and anti-authoritarian.
Large lay organizations have developed in some sects.
Philosophy: Buddhism defines reality in terms of
cause-and-effect relations, thus accepting the doctrine common to
Indian religions of Samara, or bondage to the repeating cycle of births
and deaths according to one's physical and mental actions.
(1)
Event; a phenomenon in and of itself;
(2) mental quality;
(2) doctrine, teaching;
(4) nibbana.
Also, principles of behavior that human beings ought to follow so as to
fit in with the right natural order of things; qualities of mind they
should develop so as to realize the inherent quality of the mind in and
of itself. By extension, "Dhamma" (usu. capitalized) is used also to
denote any doctrine that teaches such things. Thus the Dhamma of the
Buddha denotes both his teachings and the direct experience of nibbana,
the quality at which those teachings are aimed.
"doctrine
(dhamma) and discipline (vinaya)." The Buddha's own name for the
religion he founded.
suffering, oppression.
"Inferior
Vehicle," originally a pejorative term -- coined by a group who called
themselves followers of the Mahayana, the "Great Vehicle" -- to denote
the path of practice of those who adhered only to the earliest
discourses as the word of the Buddha. Hinayanists refused to recognize
the later discourses, composed by the Mahayanists, that claimed to
contain teachings that the Buddha felt were too deep for his first
generation of disciples, and which he thus secretly entrusted to
underground serpents. The Theravada school of today is a descendent of
the Hinayana.
action,
deed, work.
The Great
Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness.
Loving-kindness; goodwill. One of the ten perfections (paramis).
Liberation; literally, the "unbinding" of the mind from the mental
effluents, defilements, and the round of rebirth, and from all that can
be described or defined. As this term also denotes the extinguishing of
a fire, it carries the connotations of stilling, cooling, and peace.
(According to the physics taught at the time of the Buddha, a burning
fire seizes or adheres to its fuel; when extinguished, it is unbound.)
"Total nibbana" in some contexts denotes the experience of Awakening; in
others, the final passing away of an arahant.
Pali
language belonging to the Indic group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of
the Indo-European family of languages that is a scriptural and
liturgical language of Hinayana Buddhism.
The group
of five ascetics who met the Buddha shortly after he was enlightened.
Total
Unbinding; the complete cessation of the khandhas that occurs upon the
death of an arahant.
The basic
code of monastic discipline, consisting of 227 rules for monks
(bhikkhus) and 210 for nuns (bhikkhunis).
To
transliterate the sound of the word or phrase of non-English language
into English language spelling.
Conventional reality; convention; relative truth; supposition; anything
conjured into being by the mind.
Mindfulness; alertness; self-collectedness; powers of reference and
retention.
happiness.
Literally, "thread"; a discourse or sermon by the Buddha or his
contemporary disciples. After the Buddha's death the suttas were passed
down in the Pali language according to a well-established oral
tradition, and were finally committed to written form in Sri Lanka
around 100 BCE. Over 10,000 suttas are collected in the Sutta Pitaka,
one of the principal bodies of scriptural literature in Theravada
Buddhism. The Pali Suttas are widely regarded as the earliest record of
the Buddha's teachings.
The
Kingdom of Thailand, located in Southeast Asia on the Gulf of Thailand
and the Andaman Sea, shares boundaries with Myanmar (Burma) on the west
and northwest, Laos on the east and northeast, Cambodia (Kampuchea) on
the southeast, and Malaysia on the south. Known also as Siam
(before 1929 and from 1945 to 1949), the country was named Thailand,
meaning "land of the free," in 1929. Thailand, although rich in
rubber and in mineral resources, was never colonized by Europeans and
has existed as a unified monarchy since 1250. The capital, BANGKOK, an
attractive blend of Western and Thai architecture, was established in
1782.
Land And Resources:
Thailand consists of a compact heartland, or mainland, and a long southern
peninsular extension of the MALAY PENINSULA. It has a maximum
north-south extent of about 1,700 km (1,100 mi) and a maximum east-west
extent of about 800 km (500 mi). Forests occupy approximately 28% of the
land area and farmland approximately 29%.
Four
topographical regions are usually distinguished. Of these, the
most important is the central region, which occupies almost one-third of
the nation and includes the fertile alluvial lowlands of the Chao Phraya
River, Thailand's "rice bowl." The central region is the historical core
of Thailand, and all but one of the former capitals have been located on
the banks of the Chao Phraya or its distributary to the west. Thailand's
three other distinct topographical areas are the northern region, a
mountainous, forested section that rises to Doi Inthanon, (2,595 m/8,514
ft), the nation's highest peak; the northeastern, or Khorat Plateau,
region, an area poor in resources with unproductive lateritic soils;
and the southern, or peninsular, region on the Malay Peninsula, rich in
rubber and tin.
Thailand's richest natural resource lies in its agricultural potential.
The country's fertile central plain regularly produces more rice than
the nation requires. Other important crops include maize, cassava, and
kenaf. Thailand is one of the world's largest producers of rubber. The
extensive rain forests, long a source of teak and other valuable
hardwoods, are disappearing rapidly due to the demand for agricultural
land. Thailand is one of the world's leading producers of tin.
Other minerals include tungsten, lead, fluorite, and lignite. Petroleum
deposits in central and western Thailand and extensive offshore natural
gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand are being developed to reduce
petroleum imports.
Education: Education has been compulsory for many years, and all
children between the ages of 7 and 14 are now required to attend school.
Thai culture has its roots in Hinduism
and Buddhism, which reached Thailand from India after the 2rd century by
way of the Three Pagodas Pass in the Bilauktaung Range west of the
central region. Thailand's written literature dates from the 12th
century, when the modern system of Thai writing was introduced. The
golden age in Thai arts occurred during the 12th and 14th centuries and
is reflected at its best in the many temples (wats) surviving from that
period.
The
"Doctrine of the Elders" -- the only one of the early schools of
Buddhism to have survived into the present; currently the dominant form
of Buddhism in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Burma.
Sacred
Texts of Buddhism: The Tipitaka a collection of the Buddha's teachings,
rules of monastic life, and philosophical commentaries on the teachings;
also a vast body of Buddhist teachings. Buddhist sacred literature
comprises a vast body of texts--hundreds of works--that were transmitted
both orally and in written form and have been preserved
principally in four languages: Pali, Sanskrit, Chinese, and
Tibetan.
Of the
several different Buddhist ways of classifying this material, perhaps
the most important is the division into the three "baskets" (Tipitaka)
of the vinaya (which deals with monastic discipline), the sutra (which
contains discourses attributed to the BUDDHA himself), and the
abhidharma (which comprises scholastic elaboration and classifications
of the elements of reality). This three-basket division is most evident
in the organization of the Theravada Pali Canon, which is said to have
been written in the 1st century BC.
equanimity.
The
monastic discipline, whose rules and traditions comprise six volumes in
printed text. The Buddha's own name for the religion he founded was
"this dhamma-vinaya" -- this doctrine and discipline. The essence of the
rules for monastics is found in the Patimokkha.
Visakha (also Vesakha, Vesak, Wesak, etc.) |
The
ancient name for the Indian lunar month in spring corresponding to our
April-May. According to tradition, the Buddha's birth, Awakening, and
Parinibbana each took place on the full-moon night in the month of
Visakha. These events are commemorated on that day in the Visakha
festival, which is celebrated annually throughout the world of Theravada
Buddhism.
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