The Foundations of Buddhism

Glossary

puJ.Iya/puiiiia 'merit'; auspicious and fortunate karma

samadhi 'concentration', cf. dhyiina

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samatha/samatha 'calm' (one of two main types of Buddhist medita-
tion); cf. vipasyana
sa~psara the round of rebirth
samyak-sambuddha/sammii-sambuddha a perfectly awakened one as
distinct from a sriivaka or pratyeka-buddha
Sangha the Buddhist monastic order of monks and nuns
Sariputra/Sariputta the disciple of the Buddha regarded as chief jn
wisdom
Sarvastivadin a follower of the Sarvastivada or 'teaching that all exists';
a Buddhist school
sastra a commentarial or exegetical manual as distinct from the 'word
of the Buddha' contained in the si1tras
Sautrantika 'a follower of the Siitras'; a school of thought which denied
the authority of the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma
sila/sila ethics, good conduct
sravaka/savaka 'hearer'; a disciple of the Buddha as distinct from one
following the bodhisattva path to full buddhahood of the samyak-
sambuddha
stream-attainer (srotiipanna/sotiipanna) one who has attained the
first of the four noble paths culminating in arhatship
siinyata/suiiiiata 'emptiness'; a Buddhist spiritual term used to charac-
terize the ultimate nature of things
siitra/sutta a discourse attributed to the Buddha; one of the three main
divisions of the ancient Buddhist canon
tantra a class of esoteric ritual and meditational Buddhist texts used in
Vajrayana/Mantrayana Buddhism
Tathiigata 'the thus gone/come'; an epithet of the Buddha
Theravadin a follower of the Theravada or 'teaching of the elders'; a
Buddhist school

fika a subcommentary

Tripifaka/Tipifaka 'three baskets' (= the three basic divisions of the
ancient Buddhist canon)
Tu~ita/Tusita the heaven ·of 'the Contented' where the bodhisattva
awaits the appropriate time to take birth as a human being before
finally becoming a buddha
Upani~ads a set of sacred brahmanical texts included in the Veda
upasaka male lay follower
upasikii female lay follower