Glossary of Buddhist Terms

Glossary of Buddhist Terms bodhisattva: An individual who postpones his or her own entry into nirvana out o f compassion for the suffering of others. Such an individual dedicates himself to assisting others attain enlightenment. buddha: A being with completely expanded awareness. buddha-land: A land that's spiritually pure due to the presence of a buddha. Al so known as a pure land. canon: the collection of scriptures recognized by Mahayana Buddhism. dharma: Narrow sense of the word: a teaching of the Buddha Expansive sense of th e word: Anything held to be real, either provisionally or in an ultimate sense. Sometimes it's used to refer to righteous living. kalpa: A vast expanse of time; an eon. karma: Spiritual cause and effect. It's often interpreted as meaning that good behavior will be rewarded, and bad behavior will be punished... if not in this l ife, in some future reincarnation. nirvana: That which is experienced by enlightened individuals: profound peace, l imitless arwareness, bliss, unity samsara: That which is experienced by non-enlightened individuals: restlessness, suffering, non-awareness, multiplicity. shastra: Something said by a prominent disciple of the Buddha. sutra: Something said by the Buddha. Tathagata: Another name for Buddha. It's usually translated literally as meaning the "Thus come one", or the "Thus gone one." In my opinion this isn't a partic ularly meaningful translation. Tathagata is based on the word, tathata, often t ranslated as "thus" or "that". However when tathata is used in in spiritual lit erature, it refers to the indescribable essence of reality. Correspondingly I w ould interpret Tathagata as meaning that this indescribably reality has just wal ked on to the scene, so to speak. In other words, Buddha is the living embodime nt of this Ultimate Reality.