Identity and Experience_Hamilton_1996

206 Identity and Experience
dhamma Most commonly, this term is used to refer to the teachings of
the Buddha as a whole: he taught 'the dhamma'. It also means the
Truth, in the sense that the Truth represents 'things as they really
are' (see yathibhzitam), and what he taught was a means whereby one
might experience that. Dhamma is also used as a generic term to refer
to all knowable things, and is a way of saying 'everything'.
duma Often translated 'suffering', but 'unsatisfactoriness' less misleadingly
conveys its meaning. It is the term that was used by the Buddha
in the first Noble Truth (9.v.) to describe the principal characteristic of
human existence in saysara (q-v.). It relates to the impermanence (and
hence ultimate unsatisfactoriness) of all things in sarpira. It can most
accurately be understood if it is borne in mind that this is a truth
statement, not a value judgement.
Enlightenment On experiencing Nirvana (q.~.), one is Enlightened: one
'sees things as they really are' (see yathabhzitam), thus experiencing the
cessation of ignorance. The word 'buddha' literally means awake,
the analogy being that ignorance corresponds to sleep and
Enlightenment/Nirvana corresponds to 'waking up' to 'how things
really are'. In Buddhism, the (gradual) eradication of ignorance (one
follows a progressive path over many lives) is referred to as acquiring
'insight'.
jkna Literally meditation. In Buddhism (and in other Indian religions),
a common kind of meditation is said to be stratified into 'levels',
meaning levels of experience and/or insight that are characterised
in certain ways, and it is to such levels that jhiina refers. In the Pali
texts, sometimes four and sometimes eight jhanas (levels of meditation)
are referred to. When eight are referred to, these are usually
sub-divided as to four riipajhinas and four arzipajhinas. Rzipa and
ariipa mean 'form' and 'formless' respectively. According to the
Buddha, even experiencing the highest of such meditational levels
does not in itself constitute insight into 'things as they really are' (see
yathibhzitam/Nirvana). It is this insight that distinguishes Buddhist
forms of meditation from others.
karma Literally 'action', karma more specifically means (in Indian
religions as a whole) that actions have consequences. The Buddha
taught that the consequential aspect of any action (put into effect
through thought, word or deed) lies in the intention behind it.
lokuttara Literally 'above the world', this term refers both to those who
have made spiritual progress beyond the merely mundane/ordinary
level of the putthujnna (g.v.), and to anything associated with advanced
(supramundane) stages of the path.