Glossary of Terms

MIDL has its own meditation language in order to convey meaning of meditation experience between the MIDL community members.

Allowing Stillness: The Third MIDL Pillar that arises through the Softening skill of using the abandonment of effort within the body to enter abandonment of participation within the mind by 'allowing' the mind to return to Stillness.

Flexible Attention: The First MIDL Pillar of unification and flexibility of awareness through the balanced development of investigation, mindfulness and momentary concentration. allowing the ability to be self-aware.

Four Elemental Qualities: The sensations that allow you to experience your body, senses and your mind during mindfulness meditation.

1. Earth: a range of softness to hardness.

2. Fire: A range of coolness to warmth.

3. Water: A range of dryness to wetness.

4. Wind: A range of contraction to expansion; movement.

Grounding: Grounding is the skill of immersing awareness within your body to withdraw it from the habitual patterns of your mind.  

Heaviness: The experience that arises within your body when it totally relaxes and your muscles no longer hold your weight.

MIDL: Meditation in Daily Life.

Meditative Hindrances: 16 hindrances to the development of attention that arise during mindfulness of breathing due to imbalance in effort and/or attention structure.

Six Sense Doors (or six senses): The six doorways through which the mind is aware of sensory experience in order to make sense of the world around it:

1. Eye door: sights.

2. Ear door: sounds.

3. Nose door: smells.

4. Tongue door: taste.

5. Body door: touch.

6. Mind door: mental experiences.

Softening: Softening is the meditative skill of abandoning effort, of letting go. Softening is expressed as the relaxing any underlying effort while tuning into the subtle pleasure of each release.  

Three Pillars of MIDL: The three skills of Flexible Attention, Softening Into and Allowing Stillness that create the foundation for insight. Simply: observe -> soften -> still.

Viewing Platform: The foundation from which to watch the habitual interaction between your mind and your six senses. 

The Buddha used an oral meditation language called Pali, which is a variant of Sanskrit with some changes in meaning to describe meditation experience.

Anapanasati (ana pana = in out (breathing), sati = mindfulness): Mindfulness of in and out breathing.

Anatta: The understanding that arises through observing the impersonal and uncontrollable nature of experience within the realm of the six senses.

Anicca: The understanding that arises through observing the impermanent, momentary and insubstantial nature of experience within the realm of the six senses.

Dukkha: The suffering that arises when we perceive that which is impermanent as being permanent and that which is impersonal as being personal and cling to this permanent and personal perception as if it is real. (fear of losing control). Dukkha arises in the gap between what we think should be happening, and what is actually happening now.

Five Hindrances (Nivarana): The five hindrances to the development of one-pointed concentration and the expression of Dukkha within daily life: 

1. Attraction. 

2. Aversion.

3. Mental Sluggishness.

4. Restlessness.

5. Doubt. 

These Five Hindrances are not hindrances in MIDL but rather they are known as the Five Characteristics of Distraction as they are the content of the meditation practice on which Wisdom is developed.

Four Noble Truths ( Chattari-ariyasaccani): The view that arises within the mind of a cultivated meditator starting at the first stage of realization Stream Enterer (Sotapanna) through systematic observing of the Four Satipattahanas: Bodily Sensations, Feeling Tones, Mind and Conditional Processes.

1. Dukkha (suffering) is understood.
2. How Dukkha arises is understood.
3. How Dukkha ceases is understood.
4. The Path that leads to the cessation of Dukkha is realised. (Noble Eightfold Path).

Four Satipatthana: Four Foundations of Mindfulness.

The four foundations for the cultivation of mindfulness and insight recommended by The Buddha in the Satipatthana Sutta. 

1. Kaya: bodily sensations.
2. Vedana: Feeling tone: pleasant, unpleasant or neither.
3. Citta: heart/mind.
4. Dhamma: conditional relationship between the above three.

Indrya Samvara: calming of the habitual 'going out' of attention towards the six sensoury fields: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, minding.

Jhana: Stages of mental absorption based on the development of one-pointed concentration lit: Samadhi (unification).

1. Jhana via sukha-vedana: accessed through the pleasantness of the pleasant feeling (piti/sukha), that arises through the seclusion of access concentration. This requires a medium level of concentration and is suitable for meditating in daily life.
2. Jhana via light nimitta: accessed through a mind generated light, as the sign of complete unification. This requires a high level of concentration, and a peaceful, quiet environment with long periods of meditation. 

Kaya-gata sati: Mindfulness of awareness immersed within the sensate quality of the body as a natural abiding or dwelling place for attention.

Noble Eightfold Path ( ariya aṭṭhaṅgika magga): This is the Four Noble Truth referring to the path of practice in Satipatthana Vipassana (Mindfulness meditation [MIDL]).

1. Right View.

2. Right Intention

3. Right Speech.

4. Right Action.

5. Right Livelihood.

6. Right Effort

7. Right Mindfulness.

8. Right Concentration.

Samadhi: Unification of attention, all factors of attention brought together as one in a unified and balanced mental posture.

Samatha Bhavana: Tranquility meditation. Tranquility of mind developed as a foundation of insight or jhana (absorption) by developing unified, stable attention on one object of meditation. EG: in mindfulness of breathing the sensate quality of the breath and the inherent pleasure within breathing itself that arises through letting go of interest in sensoury stimulation.

Sotapanna: Stream Enterer: 

Considered the first stage of Enlightenment in Theravadin Buddhism; has experienced a glimpse of Nibbana (lit: going out of a fire). 

Characteristics of Sotapanna:

1. Clear knowing of the Noble Eightfold Path.

2. Weakening of view of self.

3. No attachment to rites and rituals.

4. Full Saddha (verified faith) in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha.

The Three Characteristics: Anicca (impermanence), Dukkha (suffering) and Anatta (not-self). The specifics characteristics inherent in all sense experience. When viewed through a mind with attraction and aversion the characteristics of impermanence, suffering and not self-arise. When viewed through a mind free from attraction and aversion the characteristics of impermanence and not-self arise. (Individual characteristic explanation above).

Vipassana Bhavana: Insight or mindfulness meditation. 

The breaking up of meditative experience in a methodical way in order to deeply observe the Three Characteristics of anicca (impermanence), dukkha (suffering), anatta (not-self) within all that is experienced. This methodical investigation of experience leads to a change in view and uprooting of the conditions for the arising of dukkha.