- Buddhist
Dictionary
- Manual
of Buddhist Terms
and Doctrines
by NYANATILOKA MAHATHERA
- ©1980 by Buddhist Publication
Society
- ISBN - 955 - 24 - 0019 - 8
From
The Preface To
The First Edition
As a first attempt
of an authentic
dictionary of Buddhist doctrinal terms, used in the Páli Canon and
its Commentaries, this
present manual will fill a real gap felt by many students of
Buddhism. It provides the
reader not with a mere superficial enumeration of important Páli
terms and their English
equivalents, but offers him precise and authentic definitions and
explanations of
canonical and post-canonical terms and doctrines, based on Sutta,
Abhidhamma and
Commentaries, and illustrated by numerous quotations taken from
these sources, so that, if
anyone wishes, he could, by intelligently joining together the
different articles, produce
without difficulty a complete exposition of the entire teachings
of Buddhism.
As already pointed
out by the author in
the preface to his Guide through the Abhidhamma-Pitaka (Colombo
1938), there are found in
the Abhidhamma Canon numerous technical terms not met with in the
Sutta Canon; and again
other terms are found only in the Commentaries and not in Sutta
and Abhidhamma. The author
therefore has made a first attempt - without, however, laying any
claim to absolute
reliability or completeness in this by no means easy undertaking -
to indicate in the
Appendix all the terms that in the oldest Sutta texts are either
not found at all, or at
least not in the same form or meaning, and to set forth how far
these are deviations from
the older texts, or further developments.
In this
connection, the author wishes to
state that the often quoted Patisambhidá-Magga, as well as
Niddesa, Buddhavamsa and
Cariyapitaka, though included in the Khuddaka Nikáya of the Sutta
Pitaka, nevertheless
bear throughout the character of Commentaries, and though
apparently older than the Sutta
Commentaries handed down to us in Buddhaghosa's version, must
doubtless belong to a later
period of origin than the Abhidhamma Canon.
In rendering the
terms into English, I
often had to differ considerably from the interpretation of
Western scholars, and to
introduce quite new words. A great number of such earlier
translations must be considered
partly as totally incorrect, partly as misleading, or at the very
least ambiguous.
Incorrect are, for instance, the English renderings of náma-rúpa
by 'name and
form'; javana (impulsion, i.e. the karmic impulsive
moments) by 'apperception',
etc.
The expositions
concerning the true nature
of the 8-fold Path, the 4 Noble Truths, the paticca-samuppáda
and the 5 groups of
existence - doctrines which, with regard to their true nature,
have been often
misunderstood by Western authors - are sure to come to many as a
revelation.
On the doctrine of
anattá, or
'egolessness', i.e. the impersonality and emptiness of all
phenomena of existence, the
author repeatedly felt the necessity of throwing light from every
possible point of view,
for it is exactly this doctrine which, together with the doctrine
of the conditionality of
all phenomena of existence, constitutes the very essence of the
whole Teaching of the
Buddha without which it will be by no means possible to understand
it in its true light.
Thus the doctrine of impersonality runs like a red thread right
through the whole book.
May this little
manual provide an
ever-helpful companion and vade mecum to all earnest
students in their study of the
original Buddhist scriptures, and also give to Buddhist authors
and lecturers the
opportunity of supplementing and deepening their knowledge of the
profound teachings of
the Buddha!
Should it, for a
better understanding,
prove necessary to give to certain subjects a more detailed
treatment, the carrying out of
this task may be reserved for a later edition of this work.
- NYANATILOKA
- Central
Internment Camp
- Dehra-Dun,
India
- 28-8-1946
Editor's Preface
To The Third Edition
The present
revised and enlarged Third
Edition was intended to be issued in commemoration of the tenth
anniversary of the
venerable author's passing away on 28th May 1957. But due to
unavoidable circumstances the
publication had to be delayed.
It was the
venerable author's wish to
enlarge the first edition of this work, but when a second edition
became necessary, he was
prevented from expanding it by the illness to which he later
succumbed. It rested,
therefore, with his pupil, the present editor, to make, within the
original scope and
character of the work, such additions and revisions as seemed
useful.
Over seventy
articles have been expanded
and partly rewritten; others were slightly revised; more source
references were included,
and information on literature for further study of the respective
subjects was added to
some of the articles. But only very few new words have been added
(e.g. anupassaná,
ánupubbi-kathá, etc.). This restriction was observed because
the venerable author
himself thought only of 'a more detailed treatment' of existing
articles (see Preface to
the 1st ed.) as he obviously wished to preserve the original form
and character of the
book. It was also considered that the adding of more words such as
those coined in later
commentarial and abhidhammic literature, would be superfluous as
in the English language
such terms will generally be found only in a few scholarly books
and translations which
themselves give the explanations needed.
This book is
chiefly intended for those
who study the Buddhist teachings through the medium of the English
language, but wish to
familiarize themselves with some of the original Páli terms of
doctrinal import. They are
in the same position as a student of philosophy or science who has
to know the terminology
of his field, which for common parlance is mostly not less
'unfamiliar' than are the words
of the Páli language found in the Dictionary.
Such acquaintance
with the Páli terms of
the original texts will also be useful to the student for the
purpose of identifying the
various renderings of them favored by different translators. It is
deplorable that there
is a considerable multiplication of new English coining for the
same doctrinal term. This
great variety of renderings has proved to be confusing to those
students of Buddhism who
are not familiar with the Páli language. Even at this late stage
when many translations
of Páli texts are in print, it will be desirable if, for the sake
of uniformity,
translators forgo their preference for their own coining, even if
they think them better
than others. In any case, doctrinal terms have to be known by
definition, just as in the
case of philosophical and technical terms in a Western language.
As a small help in
the situation
described, a number of alternative renderings used by other
translators have been included
in some articles of this edition. In a very few cases,
unacceptable though familiar
renderings have been bracketed. The Venerable Nyanatiloka's own
preferences have been
placed in inverted commas. Generally it may be said that his
renderings, based on his
comprehensive knowledge of texts and doctrine, are very sound and
adequate. Only in a very
few cases has the editor changed the author's preferred rendering
e.g. 'canker' for ásava
(instead of 'bias'), 'right view' for sammá-ditthi (instead
of 'right
understanding'). The latter change was made for the sake of
economizing with the few
English equivalents for the numerous Páli synonyms for 'knowing',
etc.; and also to avoid
having to render the opposite term, micchá-ditthi, by
'wrong understanding'.
This Dictionary
appeared also in the
author's own German version (published by Verlag Christiani,
Konstanz, Germany) and in a
French translation made by the late Mme Suzanne Karpeles
(published by 'Adyar', Paris,
1961).
- NYANAPONIKA
- Kandy, Ceylon
- February 1970
Only few and minor
revisions have been
made to the text of the Fourth Edition which is now issued by the
Buddhist Publication
Society.
- NYANAPONIKA
- Kandy, Sri
Lanka
- March 1980
Fourth Revised Edition, edited
by Nyanaponika Mahathera
Buddhist Publication Society
P. O. Box 61
54, Sangharaja Mawatha
Kandy, Sri Lanka
* * *
First Edition 1952
Second Revised Edition 1956
Third Revised & Enlarged
Edition 1972
(Pub. by Frewin & Co.,
Ltd., Colombo)
Fourth Revised Edition 1980
(Buddhist Publication Society)