The Zen Glossary

Attachment - A deluded mental factor that observes a contaminated object, regards it as a cause of happiness, and wishes for it.

Bodhi Mind - Mind in which the aspiration for enlightenment has been awakened; the impulse that moves one towards self-realization.

Bodhisattva - One who practices the Buddha Way and compassionately postpones final enlightenment for the sake of others; the ideal of practice in Mahayana Buddhism.

Bodhi Tree - The fig tree under which the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Guatemala, attained complete enlightenment.

Buddha - The name for an enlightened being, usually used to refer to Sakymuni Buddha, the fifth century B.C. Indian founder of Buddhism.

Buddha-nature - The self experienced without separateness from all that is.

Dharma - Universal Truth or law; the Buddha's teachings; all phenomena that make up reality.

Dharma Combat - Unrehearsed dialogue in which two Zen practitioners test and sharpen their understanding of Zen truths.

Dharma Discourse - A formal talk on a koan or significant aspects of Zen teachings; not an intellectual presentation or a philosophical explanation, but a direct expression of the spirit of Zen by the teacher.

Dharma Name - Name given to a student by the teacher during jukai, the precepts ceremony.

Dogen Kigen Zenji - (1200-1253) Founder of the Japanese Soto School of Zen; Dogen established Eihei-ji, the principal Soto training monastery in Japan; he is the author of the Shobogenzo, an important collection of Dharma essays.

Dokusan / Daisan - Private interviews with the teacher during which students present and clarify their understanding of the Dharma.

Eightfold Path - The content of the Buddha's Fourth Noble Truth, the way out of suffering; it consists of right views, right determination right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration; some translators replace "right" with "perfect" to avoid dualistic connotations.

Eight Gates of Training - Training System used at Zen Mountain Monastery for complete living and realization. It includes zazen, Zen study with the teacher, academic study, liturgy, precepts practice, art practice, body practice, and work practice. It corresponds roughly to the aspects of the Buddha's Eightfold Path.

Enlightenment - The direct experience of one's true nature.

Four Noble Truths - The first teaching of the historical Buddha. It addresses the nature of all suffering and points to the way of overcoming suffering. The Truths are:

1. Life is suffering
2. Suffering has a cause
3. There is an end to the cause of suffering
4. The way to put an end to suffering is the Eightfold Path.

Four Vows - Vows taken by the bodhisattvas, expressing commitment to postpone their own enlightenment until all beings are liberated from delusion. They are chanted at the end of each day at Zen monasteries.

Gassho - Gesture of bringing one's hands together, palm to palm, embodying the identity of all dualities.

Gatha - Short sutra that presents the Dharma teachings in terse, pithy wording; frequently chanted.

Hara - Physical and spiritual center of one's body/mind; area in the lower belly used in centering one's attention in meditation and any activity.

Joriki - Power of concentration, developed through the practice of meditation, that allows a person to place their focus of attention where they choose for extended periods of time.

Jukai - Acknowledgement of and the reception of the Buddhist precepts; the ceremony of becoming a Buddhist.

Karma - The universal law of cause and effect, linking an action's underlying intention to that action's consequences. It equates the actions of body, speech, and thought as potential sources of karmic consequences.

Kensho - "Seeing into one's own nature"; first experience of realization.

Kesa - Monk's outer robe, worn across one shoulder.

Ki - Vital life-force present in and permeating all things; the energy which is the source of all creative activity.

Kinhin - Walking meditation; it provides a transitional stage for shifting the concentration developed in zazen into activity.

Koan - An apparently paradoxical statement or question used in Zen training to induce in the student an intense level of doubt, allowing them to cut through conventional and conditioned descriptions of reality and see directly into their true nature.

Mu - One of the first koans used in koan training. The first case in Master Wu-men's Gateless Gate collection of koans.

Nirvana - Union with the absolute. In Zen it is essential to realize that samsara is nirvana, form is emptiness, that all beings are innately perfect from the outset.

Oryoki - "Containing just enough"; set of bowls and the ceremonial meal eaten in silence in Buddhist monasteries.

Paramitas - Perfections; virtues of attitude and behavior cultivated by bodhisattvas in the course of their development, necessary on the path of transcendence or realization. "Reaching the other shore", the six (6) paramitas are:

1. generosity
2. discipline
3. patience
4. exertion
5. meditation
6. wisdom

Patriarch - A term meaning "father" applied to the founders and early influential contributors to Buddhism.

Prajna - Wisdom; not that which is possessed but that which is directly and thoroughly experienced.

Samsara - The world of appearances adn ever-changing flux. The illusion of separateness. Teh wheel of reincarnation that leads a soul through many births in its search of enlightenment.

Sanskrit - The sacred language of ancient India.

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