realm of sensuous existence immediately above the human realm.
Also known as rukkha or bhumma devas because of their natural
affinity with the earth, these beings normally “inhabit” the upper-
most foliage of large trees, a group or “family” of them often living
together in a cluster in one tree. Birth in this realm takes place as
a consequence of certain kinds of wholesome, meritorious actions,
combined with a strong attachment to the earth plane. It seems that
the majority of devas who visited Ãcariya Mun during his career as
a wandering monk were from the terrestrial realm, for remote wil-
derness areas have always been their preferred habitat.
Theravãda: “Doctrine of the Elders”. Handed down to us in the Pãli lan-
guage, it is the oldest form of the Buddha’s teachings. Theravãda is
the only one of the early schools of Buddhism to have survived into
the present. It is currently the dominant form of Buddhism in Thai-
land, Sri Lanka, and Burma.
three worlds of existence: The Sensuous World (Kãma-loka), The Fine
Material World (Rýpa-loka), and the Immaterial World (Arýpa-
loka), which together comprise the entire universe of sentient
existence. (for a graphic illustration of Buddhist cosmology see
The Thirty-One Planes of Existence at http://www.accesstoinsight.org))
vimutti: Absolute Freedom, that is, freedom from the fabrications
and conventions of the mind. Vimutti is a synonym for Nibbãna.
viññãõa: Consciousness; simple cognizance. As the fifth component of
personality, viññãõa khandha simply registers sense data, feelings,
and mental impressions as they occur. For instance, when visual
images make contact with the eye, or when thoughts occur in the
mind, consciousness of them arises simultaneously. When that
object subsequently ceases, so too does the consciousness that took
note of it.
vipassanã: Clear intuitive insight. Aided by a clear, quiet state of medita-
tive calm, vipassanã is spontaneous insight into physical and mental
phenomena, as they arise and cease, that sees them for what they
really are: inherently impermanent and unstable, bound up with
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
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