There are a lot of numbered lists in the Buddha’s teachings – many of the key ones are listed below. In addition, some select words from the Pali language are also listed below.
Dharma lists
The Four Noble Truths
- There is Dukkha, i.e., unsatisfactoriness/suffering/discontent/stress (to be Understood)
- The cause of dukkha is clinging (to be Abandoned)
- Dukkha ceases with the relinquishment of clinging (to be Realized)
- The path leading to the cessation of dukkha is the Noble Eightfold Path (to be Developed)
The Eightfold Path (ariya-magga)
Wisdom/Discernment (panna)
- Wise/Right View or Understanding (samma-ditthi) – Understanding based on the framework of the Four Noble Truths
- Wise/Right Intention or Resolve (samma-sankappa) – Resolved on Renunciation, Loving-kindness, Harmlessness
Virtue (sila)
- Wise/Right Speech (samma-vaca) – abstaining from lying, malicious or divisive speech, abusive or harsh speech, and idle chatter
- Wise/Right Action (samma-kammanta) – abstaining from killing, stealing and sexual misconduct
- Wise/Right Livelihood (samma–ajiva) – abstaining from dishonest and harmful means of livelihood
Concentration/Meditation (samadhi)
- Wise/Right Effort (samma-vayama) – the effort of avoiding and overcoming unskillful qualities, and of developing and maintaining skillful qualities
- Wise/Right Mindfulness (samma-sati) – (see The Four Foundations of Mindfulness)
- Wise/Right Concentration (samma-samadhi) – (see the Four Jhanas
The Three Characteristics
Anything we experience or perceive is
- Impermanent or inconstant (anicca)
- Unsatisfactoryh or suffering (dukkha)
- Not-self (anatta) – empty of inherent existence; not “me”, “myself”, nor “what I am”
Three Pillars of Dhamma (dharma) or Grounds for Making Merit
- Generosity (dana)
- Moral restraint (sila)
- Meditation (bhavana) – consists of Concentration (samadhi) and Mindfulness (sati)
Three Poisons / Defilements (Kilesas)
- Greed (lobha) – mindfulness transforms this into Faith
- Aversion/hatred (dosa) – mindfulness transforms this into discriminating Wisdom
- Delusion (moha) – mindfulness transforms this into Equanimity
Three Refuges (Triple Gem, Three Jewels)
- Buddha – both the historical Buddha and one’s own innate potential for Awakening
- Dhamma – the Buddha’s teaching of liberation and the truth towards which it points
- Sangha – the community of followers of the Buddhist path and/or the community of those who have achieved some degree of Awakening
Three Types of Dukkha
- Dukkha as pain (dukkha–dukkhata) – body or mental pain
- Dukkha that is inherent in formation (sankhara-dukkhata) – maintenance of body and things, oppressive nature of continuous upkeep
- Dukkha of change (viparinama-dukkhata) – pleasant and happy conditions in life are not permanent
Four Bases of Power (iddhipada)
- Desire (chanda)
- Persistence/Energy/Effort (viriya)
- Intention, Mind, Thoughtfulness (citta)
- Investigation/Discrimination (vimamsa or panna)
Four Brahmaviharas (Highest Attitudes/Emotions)
Heavenly or sublime abodes (best home). Near enemy is a quality that can masquerade as the original, but is not the original. Far enemy is the opposite quality.
- Lovingkindness, good-will (metta): Near enemy: attachment; far enemy: hatred
- Compassion (karuna): Near enemy: pity; far enemy: cruelty
- Sympathetic joy, Appreciation (mudita), joy at the good fortune of others: Near enemy: comparison,hypocrisy, insincerity, joy for others but tinged with identification (my team, my child); far enemy: envy
- Equanimity (upekkha): Near enemy: indifference; far enemy: anxiety, greed
Four Foundations of Mindfulness
(from the Satipatthana Sutta)
- Mindfulness of the body (kaya)
- Mindfulness of feeling (vedana)-pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral
- Mindfulness of mind/consciousness (citta), of the mind-states, moods (greed, aversion, delusion and their opposites)
- Mindfulness of mind objects / mental events (dharmas); Five categories of dhammas: Five hindrances, Five aggregates, Six sense bases, Seven factors of enlightenment, Four Noble Truths
Four Jhanas / Meditative Absorptions
- First Jhana, characterized by intense pleasure, has five jhanic factors: applied thought (vittaka), sustained thought(vicara), joy (piti), happiness (sukha), one-pointednesss (ekkagata)
- Second Jhana, characterized by joy, has 3 factors: joy (piti), happiness (sukha) , and one–pointedness (ekkagata)
- Third Jhana, characterized by contentment, has 2 factors: contentment and one-pointedness (ekkagata)
- Fourth Jhana, characterized by equanimity and stillness, has 1 factor: one-pointedness (ekkagata)
Four Heavenly Messengers
- An old person
- A sick person
- A corpse
- A wandering monastic
Four Right Efforts (sammappadhana)
- Not to let an unwholesome/unskillful thought, which has not yet arisen, arise; (Guard)
- Not to let an unwholesome/unskillful thought, which has already arisen, continue; (Abandon)
- To make a wholesome/skillful thought, which has not yet arisen, arise; (Develop)
- To make a wholesome/skillful thought, which has already arisen, continue; (Sustain)
Four Taints / effluents / intoxicants / fermentations / cankers / defilements (asavas)
- attachment to sensuality
- attachment to existence/to becoming
- ignorance of the dhamma (of the way things are)
- attachment to opinions/views (most suttas do not include this one)
Five Aggregates / heaps (khandha)
Physical and mental components of sensory experience
- Form/physical phenomena, body (rupa )
- Feeling (vedana ) pleasant, unpleasant, neutral. Feelings arise when there is contact between the 6 internal organs and the 6 external objects: (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind and corresponding: sight, sound, odor, taste touch, mental object)
- Perception (sanna) – recognition
- Mental Formations (sankhara) – includes mental states, emotions, volition (fabrications)
- Consciousness (vinnana) – grasps the characteristics of the 6 external objects
Five Daily Recollections
- I am of the nature to grow old; I cannot avoid aging
- I am of the nature to become ill or injured; I cannot avoid illness or injury.
- I am of the nature to die; I cannot avoid death.
- All that is mine, dear and delightful, will change and vanish.
- I am the owner of my actions;
- I am born of my actions;
I am related to my actions;
I am supported by my actions;
Any thoughts, words or deeds I do, good or evil, those I will inherit.
* from AN V.57 Upajjhatthana Sutta: Subjects for Contemplation
Five Faculties (indriya) and Five Strengths / Powers
- Faith (saddha)
- Energy/Effort/Persistence (viriya)
- Mindfulness (sati)
- Concentration (samadhi)
- Wisdom/Discernment (panna)
Five Hindrances (nivarana)
- Sensual desire (kamacchanda)
- Aversion / Ill-will (vyapada)
- Sloth and torpor (thina middha)
- Restlessness (uddhacca-kukkucca)
- Skeptical doubt (vicikiccha)
Five Precepts
- To refrain from killing
- To refrain from taking that which is not freely offered
- To refrain from sexual misconduct
- To refrain from lying, harsh speech, idle speech, and slander
- Guidelines for Wise Speech: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it helpful? Is this the right time to say it?
- To refrain from taking intoxicants that cloud the mind and cause heedlessness
Five Daily Recollections
- I am of the nature to grow old; I cannot avoid aging.
- I am of the nature to become ill or injured; I cannot avoid illness or injury.
- I am of the nature to die; I cannot avoid death.
- All that is mine, dear and delightful, will change and vanish.
- I am the owner of my actions; I am born of my actions; I am related to my actions; I am supported by my actions; Any thoughts, words or deeds I do, good or evil, those I will inherit.
Five Things that lead to Awakening
- Admirable friends
- Morality, virtue
- Hearing the dharma
- Effort in abandoning unskillful qualities and cultivating skillful ones
- Awareness of impermanence
Six Senses
- Seeing
- Hearing
- Smelling
- Tasting
- Touching
- Thinking
Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga)
- Mindfulness (sati)
- Investigation of phenomena (dhamma vicaya)
- Energy/Effort (viriya)
- Rapture/Joy (piti)
- Calm/tranquility (passaddhi)
- Concentration (samadhi)
- Equanimity (upekkha)
Eight Worldly Dhammas (Conditions, Concerns)
- Gain and Loss
- Pleasure and Pain
- Praise and Blame
- Fame and Disrepute
Ten Perfections (Paramis/Paramitas)
- Generosity (dana)
- Morality/virtue/integrity (sila)
- Renunciation (nekkhamma)
- Wisdom (pañña)
- Energy/Strength (viriya)- effort
- Patience (khanti)
- Truthfulness (sacca)
- Resolve / determination (adhitthana)
- Lovingkindness (metta)
- Equanimity (upekkha)
Ten Fetters (samyojana)
- Self-identity beliefs
- Doubt
- Clinging to rites and rituals
- Sensual craving
- Ill will
- Attachment to form
- Attachment to formless phenomena
- Conceit (comparing oneself to others)
- Restlessness
- Ignorance
Four Stages of Enlightenment
- The Stream-enterer (sotapanna) has eradicated the first three fetters.
- The Once-returner (sakadagami) has eradicated the first three fetters and weakened the fourth and fifth fetters.
- The Non-returner (anagami) has eradicated the first five fetters.
- The Arahat has eradicated all ten fetters.
Twelve Links of Dependent Origination / Dependent Co-arising (Paticca-Samuppada)
- Ignorance
- From ignorance (avijja) comes karma formations/fabrications/volitional formations (sankhara)
- From karma formations comes consciousness (vinnana)
- From consciousness comes mind and matter (nama-rupa)
- From mind and matter come the six senses (salayatana)
- From the six senses comes contact (phassa)
- From contact comes feeling (vedana)
- From feeling comes craving (tanha)
- From craving comes clinging (upadana)
- From clinging comes becoming/existence (bhava)
- From becoming/existence comes birth (jati)
- From birth, then aging and death
Twelve Links of Transcendental Dependent Arising
- Suffering (dukkha)
- Faith (saddha)
- Joy (pamojja)
- Rapture (piti)
- Tranquility (passaddhi)
- Happiness (sukha)
- Concentration (samadhi)
- Knowledge and vision of things as they are (yathabhutananadassana)
- Disenchantment (nibbida)
- Dispassion (viraga)
- Emancipation (vimutti)
- Knowledge of destruction of the cankers (asavakkhaye nana)
37 Factors of Enlightenment / Wings of Awakening (bodhipakkhiya-dhamma)
- Four Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthana)
- Four Right Efforts (sammappadhana)
- Four Bases of Power (iddhipada)
- Five Faculties (indriya)
- Five Strengths (bala)
- Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga)
- Eight Fold Path (ariya-magga)
Select Pali Terms
anapanasati: mindfulness of breathing
anatta: not-self anicca: impermanence; inconstancy
Arahat: Liberated one
bhavana: meditation, cultivation
bhikku: monk
bhikkhuni: nun
bodhi: awakening; enlightenment
bodhicitta: awakened heart-mind
Bodhisatta (Sanskrit-Bodhisattva) A future Buddha Buddha: an Enlightened being
citta: mind, consciousness
Dhamma (Skt. dharma)-liberating law discovered by the Buddha, summed up in the Four Noble Truths, the Truth, Reality, natural law, all physical and mental phenomena dosa: aversion
dukkha– unsatisfactoriness, suffering, pain, distress, discontent, stress,
jhana: (Skt. dhyana) meditative absorption, a state of strong concentration.
kalyana mitta– spiritual friend
kamma (Skt. karma): (lit.-action) The law of cause and effect; intentional acts karuna: compassion
khandha (skandha):Five aggregates which form the raw material for one’s sense of self: form/body, feeling, perception, mental formations, consciousness
kilesa (defilements)- greed, aversion, delusion
lobha: greed magga: path
metta: Lovingkindness, good will mindfulness (sati) the quality of noticing, of being aware of what’s happening in the moment, not allowing the mind to be forgetful
moha: (lit.-to be stupified) delusion
nibbana (Skt. nirvana): the cessation of suffering, enlightenment, liberation
pañña: wisdom
papañca: Complication, proliferation; tendency of the mind to proliferate issues from the sense of “self.”
parami: perfections, virtues necessary for the realization of Awakening
sacca: truth
saddha: faith, confidence (Lit.-to place one’s heart on) samadhi: concentration; meditative absorption
sampajañña: clear comprehension
samsára: (lit.-perpetual wandering) moving through worldly suffering; round of rebirth; pursuit of renewed existence
samvega– spiritual urgency
sangha: the community of Buddhist monks & nuns; recently: “the community of followers on the Buddhist path.”
sati: mindfulness, awareness
sila: moral conduct; precept; virtue; moral restraint
sukha: happiness; pleasure; ease; bliss
sutta: (lit. thread; Skt. sutra) discourse of the Buddha or one of his leading disciples tanha: (lit. thirst) craving
Tathagata: (Lit. thus gone) an Enlightened person
Theravada: (Doctrine of the elders)- school of Buddhism that draws its inspiration from the Pali Canon, or Tipitaka, the oldest surviving record of the Buddha’s teachings. Has been the predominant religion of southeast Asia (Thailand, Sri Lanka, Burma)
upekkha: equanimity
Vipassana: literally, “to see clearly”; insight; insight into the truth of anicca (impermanence), anatta (not-self), & dukkha (unstatisfactoriness), to see things as they really are viriya: effort; persistence; energy
Tipitaka: The Pali Canon
The Tipitaka (Pali ti, “three,” + pitaka, “baskets”), or Pali Canon, is the collection of primary Pali language texts which form the doctrinal foundation of Theravada Buddhism. Theravada (Pali: thera “elders” + vada “word, doctrine”), the “Doctrine of the Elders”
The 3 divisions of the Tipitaka are:
- Vinaya Pitaka : Rules and origin of rules for monks (bhikkhus) and nuns (bhikkhunis). There are 227 rules for the bhikkhus, 311 for the bhikkhunis.
- Sutta Pitaka: The collection of discourses, attributed to the Buddha and a few of his closest disciples, containing all the central teachings of Theravada Buddhism
- Abhidhamma Pitaka: The Buddhist systematic analysis of mind and mental processes. Consists of 7 books.
Sutta Pitaka
The Sutta Pitaka, the second division of the Tipitaka, consists of over 10,000 suttas (discourses), attributed to the Buddha or his close disciples during the Buddha’s forty-five year teaching career.
Grouped intofive collections (nikayas):
- DighaNikaya
- The Mahasatipatthana Sutta (The Great Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness; DN 22),
- The Samaññaphala Sutta (The Fruits of the Contemplative Life; DN 2),
- The Mahaparinibbana Sutta (The Buddha’s Last Days; DN 16)
- Majjhima Nikaya – The “Middle-length” Discourses Consists of 152 suttas, including:
- The Satipatthana Sutta (Foundations of Mindfulness; MN 10),
- The Anapanasati Sutta (Mindfulness of Breathing; MN 118),
- The Kayagatasati Sutta (Mindfulness of the Body; MN 119),
- The Angulimala Sutta (MN 86)
- SamyuttaNikaya – The “Connected” Discourses Consists of 2,889 shorter suttas grouped together into 56 topics (samyuttas).
- AnguttaraNikaya
- Khuddaka Nikaya – The “Division of Short Books” Consists of 15 “anthologies” (17 in the Thai edition; 18 in the Burmese), including:
- The Dhammapada (Path of Dhamma,)
- Therigatha (Verses of the Elder Nuns)
- Theragatha (Verses of the Elder Monks)
- Sutta Nipata
- Udana
- Itivuttaka