Pali Vocabulary

心

Mind / Heart / Consciousness

neuter noun (a-stem): from cinteti (to think)

Mind or consciousness — the knowing, experiencing aspect of the psyche. In Abhidhamma, citta is defined as that which 'thinks' or cognises an object (ārammaṇaṃ cintetī ti cittaṃ). There are 89 (or 121) types of citta catalogued in the Abhidhamma, classified by plane (kāmāvacara, rūpāvacara, arūpāvacara, lokuttara), quality (kusala, akusala, vipāka, kiriyā), and function. The bhavaṅga-citta is the 'life-continuum' — the resting state of consciousness between active cognitions.

思

Volition / Intention / Will

feminine noun (ā-stem)

Volition or intention — the most important of the mental factors (cetasika) in Theravada psychology. The Buddha identified cetanā as the definition of kamma: 'Cetanāhaṃ, bhikkhave, kammaṃ vadāmi.' Cetanā is present in every moment of consciousness and functions to organise other mental factors toward an object. Its quality (kusala, akusala, or neutral) determines the quality of the resulting kamma.

蘊

Aggregate / Heap / Group

masculine noun (a-stem)

One of the five aggregates (pañcakkhandha) that constitute what we conventionally call a 'person' — used to show there is no separate, permanent self beyond these five processes: (1) rūpa — material form; (2) vedanā — feeling tone (pleasant/unpleasant/neutral); (3) saññā — perception/recognition; (4) saṅkhārā — mental formations/volitions; (5) viññāṇa — consciousness. The Buddha used this analysis to deconstruct the illusion of a permanent self (attā).

受

Feeling / Sensation / Feeling-tone

feminine noun (ā-stem): from vedeti (to experience/feel)

The second aggregate — the affective quality of experience, classifying every moment of experience as pleasant (sukha-vedanā), unpleasant (dukkha-vedanā), or neutral (adukkhamasukha-vedanā). Vedanā is a crucial link in Dependent Origination: craving (taṇhā) arises from feeling. In Vipassanā practice, the close observation of vedanā without reactive craving or aversion is a central method of liberation.