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a Contemplative's Pali to English Dictionary
(a work in progress)
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-J-
(updated 11-01-05 with 21 Pali terms & 3 English terms defined)
Janaka: m. father.
janaka-kamma: 'regenerative karma'; s. karma.
Jananí: f. mother.
Janatá: f. multitude.
jará: 'old age, decay', is one of the 3 divine messengers (s. deva-dúta, q.v.). For its conditioning by birth, s. paticcasamuppáda (11).
Jar: gha.ta. n.
javana (fr. javati, to impel): 'impulsion', is the phase of full cognition in the cognitive series, or perceptual process (citta-víthi; s. viññána-kicca) occurring at its climax, if the respective object is large or distinct. It is at this phase that karma is produced, i.e. wholesome or unwholesome volition concerning the perception that was the object of the previous stages of the respective process of consciousness. There are normally 7 impulsive moments. In mundane consciousness (lokiya, q.v.), any of the 17 karmically wholesome classes of consciousness (Tab. I, 1-17) or of the 12 unwholesome ones (Tab. I, 22-23) may arise at the phase of impulsion. For the Arahat, however, impulsion has no longer a karmic, i.e. rebirth-producing character, but is a karmically independent function (kiriya, q.v.; Tab. I, 72-89). There are further 8 supermundane classes of impulsion (Tab. I, 18-21, 66-69).
Jaya: m. victory.
Jáyati: (jana) arises, is born.
játi: 'birth', comprises the entire embryonic process beginning with conception and ending with parturition.
"The birth of beings belonging to this or that order of beings, their being born, their conception (okkanti) and springing into existence, the manifestation of the groups (somatic, sensing, perception, mental structures, cognition; s. khandha), the acquiring of their sensitive organs: this is called birth" (D. 22). For its conditioning by the prenatal karma-process (kamma-bhava; s. bhava), s. paticcasamuppáda (9, 10), patisandhi.
Jeññha: eldest.
Jetu: m. conqueror.
Jewel: ma.ni. m.
jewels. The 3: ti-ratana (q.v.).
Jeyya: elder.
jhána: 'absorption, ecstasy' (meditation) refers chiefly to the four material ecstasies of the material sphere (rúpa-jjhána or rúpávacara-jjhána; s. avacara). They are achieved through the attainment of full (or ecstatic) contemplation (appaná, s. samádhi), during which there is a partial, suspension of the fivefold sense-awareness and of the 5 hindrances (s. nívarana). In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali they are called "samprajana-samadhi." The state of consciousness, however, is one of full alertness and lucidity. This high degree of absorption is generally developed by the practice of one of the 40 subjects of meditation as described in the various sati suttas (D 22, M 10, 118. 119). Often also in the commentaries the 4 immaterial spheres (arúpáyatana) are called absorptions of the immaterial sphere (arúpa-jjhána or arúpávacara-jjhána).
The rupa jhána are free from 5 things (i.e. the hindrances, nívarana, q.v.). Jhána in its widest sense (e.g. as one of the 24 conditions; s. paccaya 17). They are the source of at least 3 of the 7 factors of enlightenment (bliss piiti, tranquility passaddhi, and equanimity upekkha); they are the concequence of another of the factors of enlightenment (mindfulness sati); and they are the very definition of another (samádhi). The 6th factor of enlightenment, bliss (piiti), remains the backbone of all the jhanas, getting rarefied with each jhana. Thus jhana accounts for at least 5 of the 7 factors of enlightenment, and through experience this contemplative can say that the remaining two factors of enlightenment are also a consequence of the attainment of jhana [Wisdom (panna) and Energy (viriya)]. And, jhána are the very definition of the 8th fold of the Noble Eightfold Path (D 22).
The stereotype text, often met with in the Suttas, runs as follows: