Exploring the Path - Pāli Course

abyākata:
a + byākata/vyākata: (pp.) of vyākaroti: explain, declare

not + explained, decided, determined -
indeterminate, neutral, unspecified, undefined, unexplained, undetermined, undeclared

A term that describes neutral phenomena, that are neither wholesome nor unwholesome in themselves. They do not manifest by way of an effect. It is used as a collective expression for kiriya and vipāka.²

akusala

unwholesome, unprofitable, unmeritorious, unskilful, bad, faulty

Not productive of a good result. It entails negative effects.
States that fall under this category are not free from corrupting impurities; thus akusala is also called ‘faulty’.

āyatana

sense organs and sense objects, region, sphere, place, occasion, base and base objects

Āyatana is the sphere of perception (i.e., of sense in general), sense organ and the object of impingement on the mind. They comprise six inner (ajjhattikani) organs and the respective six outer (bāhirani) objects. They get translated here as ‘base’ when referring to the sense-organ (ajjhattika) and as object or object-base, and when referring to an outside object (bāhira) cognized by any sense organ.³

cattāro khandhā arūpino

four + aggregates + immaterial

Four immaterial, mental aggregates – these refer to the mental aggregates of nāma:⁴ sensation, perception, mentally conditioned reactions or formations, and consciousness.

cetasikā

mental concomitants,
mental factors

These depend on and cannot arise without a citta. They occur in direct conjunction with it and they perform specific tasks within the related states of consciousness.

citta

mind, consciousness

In the context of Abhidhamma, citta is analyzed as the principal cognitive element, often translated as consciousness, different from mano. Citta is the apparatus by which the associated states are being recognized. It signifies that which cognizes and properly discerns an object.⁵ There are overall 89 different cittas, extended by closer analyses to 121. Of these 12 are kusala, 21 akusala, 36 vipāka and 20 kiriya.⁶

dhamma/ā

Dhamma, in general, remains untranslated when it is applied to the teaching of the Buddha. Dhamma denotes the essential nature and reality of existence and experience. It includes all laws of nature, an interdependent and interlocking assembly of concepts, phenomena and states. It is the way things are.
Dhamma gets translated in this context as ‘state’ when it is conditioning and as ‘phenomenon’ when it is a conditioned result.

kiriya (also kriya)

functional, indefinite, of no result

Used here as an adjective, it involves activity but it is neither kamma nor kamma resultant. It is casually ineffective and inoperative.⁷

kusala

wholesome, good, meritorious, moral, profitable, righteous, proper, faultless

Productive of a happy, good result.
The PTS translation uses ‘faultless’. In the context of the Abhidhamma its meaning refers to mental states where all corruptions are absent. Thus ‘free from the fault of corruptions’ means ‘faultless’. ETP uses ‘wholesome’.

mahābhūtā:
mahā + bhūtā

primary elements, great primaries, great elements

Refers to pathavī, āpo, tejo, vāyo but in this context especially to their characteristics of solidity & extension; liquidity & cohesion; maturity & temperature and motion & vibration.

manāyatana:
mano + āyatana

mind + base

manāyatana is described in one-fold up to twelve-fold classification. Mind-base is a collective term that describes consciousness in its entirety.⁸

manodhātu:
mano + dhātu:

mind + element,
mind-element

manodhātu is described as the first reaction to all the preceding arising and passing phenomena;⁹ mind-element refers to the dhatu of the mind in the sense as expressed with the other senses, like cakkhudhātu, sotadhātu. …¹⁰

manoviññāṇadhātu:
mano + viññāṇa + dhātu

mind + consciousness + element,
mind-consciousness-element

Arises immediately after the arising and passing away of manodhātu.¹¹

paccaya

lit. ‘resting on’: condition, determining condition, foundation, support, cause, by means of, caused by

Necessary or invariable condition for the existence of something. The condition that precedes the operation of a cause, something on which something depends.

paccayadhamma/ā

conditioning state/s

State on which the effect depends. It functions as a condition for other phenomena to arise, supporting and/or maintaining these.

paccayānuloma:
paccaya + anulomaṃ

condition + forward,
positive

Positive method of analysing the conditions. Analysis based on existence.

paccayapaccanīya:
paccaya + apaccanīya

condition + reverse,
negative, adverse

Negative method of analysing the conditions. Analysis based on negation.

paccayasatti

condition + ability
force, power

‘That which has the power to accomplish the conditioning’. It is the respective force enabling the conditioning states to function as condition, inherent in those states that bring about the conditioning; they cannot exist apart.

paccayene

inst. by means of,
through, by, by way of

The instrumental points to the way, the means, by which something occurs, is conditioned, supports as a condition. paccayene paccayo literally means: ‘… is a condition, as xxxx-condition’, ‘functions as a condition for’.

paccayuppannadhamma/ā:
paccaya + uppanna + dhamma

condition + arisen + phenomenon
conditioned phenomenon/a

The conditioned phenomena that result from a cause and arises and/or persists, through the effect originated through the conditioning state.

paṭicca

dependent on, relying on, grounded in, on account of, by means of, because of, produced from, with a cause

paṭṭhāna

setting forth, putting forward, relation yielding unavoidable effects

‘Book of origins’, ‘book of causes’, according to Ledi Sayadaw, ‘paṭṭhāna sets out the chief cause’, being a cause in many ways.

sampayuttaka:
sam + payutta + ka

associated with,
with + connected

samuṭṭhānāna:
sam + uṭṭhānānaṃ

rising, origination, cause
with + rising, origin

saṅkhāra

mentally conditioned reaction,
lit. coefficient, preparation, mental formation, ‘a thing conditioned’, volitional formation, essential condition, mental coefficient

Saṅkhāra is derived from saṅkharoti, which means put together, restore, form, prepare.
Saṅkhāra is widely discussed and has different connotations and various translations, such as formation, mental formation, kammic formation, prompting. ETP uses ‘mentally conditioned reaction’ when saṅkhāra refers to the mental aggregate. A meditator usually experiences on a deeper level how such conditioning manifests.¹²

saṅkhatā, saṅkhārika:
pp. of saṅkhāroti

to condition, produce from a cause, prepare, prompt, put together

Next to the more commonly known saṅkhāra these adjectives are used in Abhidhamma terminology to describe phenomena or states like citta or duka or tika to point to their different conditioning. Thus (sa + saṅkhārika) saṅkhatā means something that is conditioned, prompted, caused; a + saṅkhārika and a + saṅkhatā point to the fact that there is no cause behind it. The prompting can be done inwardly, premeditated by oneself or from outside by argument, convention or force.¹³

‘siyā atthi’
(opt.)

would there + be, exist, come into existence, ‘may there be?’

A grammatical term of raising seven core questions in regards to the possibility of the existence/arising of conditions/states/phenomena.

viññāṇadhātu

consciousness + element

The collective term for the six respective consciousness.¹⁴

vipāka

resultant,
fruit, effect, result, consequence

Vipāka describes the result of wholesome and unwholesome kamma. It is based on volitional activity associated with wholesome or unwholesome citta and results in citta of the same kammic character but has no further kammic effect. Vipāka designates the ‘ripened’ effect.