Nyanatiloka Thera

Buddhist Dictionary: A Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines

Buddhist Dictionary: A Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines

Translations of important Pali words and meditation terms arranged in alphabetical order; definitions include a longer discussion of certain complex concepts; source references.

There are translations of both English and Pali words, mixed together. This is a nice dictionary for someone who would like to be able to look up important Pali words or terms, or find them when they only know the English equivalent.

This first attempt of an authentic dictionary of Buddhist doctrinal terms, used in the Pāli Canon and its Commentaries, provides the reader not with a mere superficial enumeration of important Pāli terms and their English equivalents, but offers precise and authentic definitions and explanations of canonical and post-canonical terms and doctrines, based on Sutta, Abhidhamma and Commentaries, illustrated by numerous quotations taken from these sources, so that, anyone who wishes, could, by intelligently joining together the different articles, produce without difficulty a complete exposition of the entire teachings of Buddhism.


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About Nyanatiloka Thera

Nyanatiloka Mahathera (19 February 1878 – 28 May 1957) was the first Continental European in modern times to become a Buddhist monk and one of the foremost Western exponents of Theravada Buddhism in the twentieth century.

Born in Germany, he developed a keen interest in Buddhism in his youth and came to Asia intending to enter the Buddhist Order. He received ordination in Burma in 1903. The greatest part of his life as a monk was spent in Sri Lanka, where he established the Island Hermitage at Dodanduwa as a monastery for Western monks. His translations into German include the Anguttara Nikaya, the Visuddhimagga, and the Milindapañha.

You yourselves must strive, the Buddhas only point the way

Buddha, Dhp 276