..續本文上一頁eturner. An Anãgãmï is a person who has abandoned the five lower fetters that bind the mind to the cycle of rebirth, and who after death will appear in one of the worlds called the Pure Abodes, to eventually attain Nibbãna and thus never again to return to this world.
anattã: Not-self; the truth that all phenomena are devoid of anything that can be identified as “self”. This means that none of the physical and mental components of personality (the 5 khandhas ) make up an entity, either inpidual or collective, nor can a self-entity be found anywhere within the heart (citta). Therefore, what is experienced as being an abiding self is no more than a phantom personality born of ignorance and delusion—inherently transient, unstable, and bound up with suffering.
anicca: The unstable, impermanent, transient nature of all phenomena in all realms of existence. In other words, all things arise and cease, are subject to change, and will become otherwise, making them all inherently unsatisfactory and bound to cause suffering.
Arahant: A “fully enlightened one” or “pure one”. A person who, by following the Buddha”s Path to Freedom, has totally eradicated his mental defilements (kilesas) and thus possesses the certainty that all traces of ignorance and delusion have been conclusively destroyed, never to arise in his heart again in the future. Having completely severed the fetters that once bound him to the cycle of repeated birth and death, he is no longer destined for future rebirth. Thus, the Arahant is the inpidual who has attained Nibbãna; and though the physical and mental components of personality (khandhas) remain intact until his death, his citta—being free of all defiling elements whatsoever—is absolutely pure. At death, body and mind disintegrate, leaving only the unconditioned, absolutely pure nature of the citta—which is wholly beyond conventional description.
avijjã: Fundamental ignorance. This ignorance is the central factor in the delusion about the true nature of oneself and therefore the essential factor binding living beings to the cycle of rebirth. Avijjã exists entirely within the citta (the one who knows). Being an integral part of the citta”s conscious perspective since time-without beginning, it has usurped the citta”s “knowing nature” and distorted its intrinsic quality of simply “knowing” by creating the false duality of the “knower” and the “known”. From this inpidual viewpoint spring right and wrong, good and evil, heaven and hell, and the whole mass of suffering that comprises the world of samsãra. Thus avijjã is the seed of being and birth, the very nucleus of all existence. It is also the well-spring from which all other mental defilements arise.
Far from appearing dark and menacing, avijjã is the epitome of all the mental and spiritual virtues that living beings hold in the very highest esteem. This is its beguiling allure, the reason why living beings cannot se, e it for what it actually is—the great lord and master of birth and death. Appearing at first to be the ultimate in virtue and happiness, the citta”s true abiding sanctuary, when wisdom finally penetrates to its core and exposes its fundamental deception, avijjã promptly dissipates, revealing the pure, unblemished citta, the true Supreme Happiness, Nibbãna.
bhikkhu: A Buddhist monk; a male member of the Buddhist Sangha who has gone forth into homelessness and received the higher ordination. In Theravãda countries today, bhikkhus form the nucleus of the Buddhist community. Living entirely off donations of food and other basic requisites, their monastic lifestyle is based on the principles of poverty, celibacy, virtue, and meditati…
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