This page is only meant to be a quick reference for some of the words and terms used in this blog. In other words, the definitions and descriptions below should be construed as temporary crutches to follow along with a post. Please view my reading list or wikipedia or your local Zen master 
for more complete and authoritative explanations.
A useful resource for all kinds of information about Buddhist teachings is The Buddhist Book of Numbers.
Afflictive Emotions – a term used by the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan teachers to refer to negative emotions such as greed, hate, covetousness, that are antithetical to Buddhist values and having an open, compassionate heart.
Dukha – interpreted as ‘suffering’ but is a Sanskrit word meaning an ‘unbalanced wheel’.
Dharma – the way of following the Buddhas teachings – sometimes noted as our duty or work on the path.
Discursive Thought – this is a catch-all term to refer to the manifold streams of self-talk and rationalizations that we employ that take us out of the present moment and into the realm of ‘longing and loathing’.
Emptiness – Buddhism isn’t a nihilist philosophy that declares that nothing really exists. Quite the contrary the Buddha’s teaching is that all that everything that exists comes into being in this moment, and each successive moment. There isn’t an objective reality that is “a certain way” and this is the emptiness that to which the Dharma points.
Enlightenment – variously interpreted but I prefer Steven Hagen’s simple notion of the state of ‘being awake’. This is one of the central tenets of Buddhism – one of the 4 Noble Truths – so again, please check the reading list.
Getting Ground Under Our Feet – this is a phrase that I learned from Pema Chodron and it refers to our attempts to rationalize and engage in all kinds of self-talk to make ourselves feel comfortable and at peace with our actions or a situation.
Inka – Japanese for seal of approval or transmission from a Roshi to approve another as a Roshi.
Karma – an instance of the law of dependent origination. The common shorthand in western popular culture for this is ‘what comes around goes around.’ Karma is a central element of Buddhist belief – please see my reading list if you’re interested in a more detailed explanation.
Law of Dependent Origination – this is one of the central philosophical principles of Buddhism that states that all things come about due to an aggregation of causes and conditions. In other words, there is no objective reality to refer to there is only this moment flashing in and out of existence as you read this. This is tied to the concept of the ‘emptiness of all things’.
Losing Our Seat – this phrase I believe I have read in both Zen and Tibetan tradition literature. The ‘seat’ is a metaphor for our current feeling of being in the moment (harkens to our meditation seat too). When we ‘lose our seat’ we are typically off balance and are sent spinning into discursive thinking rather than remaining present and experiencing fully whatever is making us uncomfortable.
Roshi – Japanese for Zen Master
Sangha – the community of practitioners that follow the Buddha’s teachings.
Satori – Japanese term for enlightenment.
Sesshin – Japanese term for an extended period of training – a retreat.
Tonglen – a system for training the mind and cultivating loving kindness based upon 59 slogans. (see Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Pema Chodron books).
Zazen – Japanese word for seated meditation.
Zen Buddhism – one of the many sects in the Buddhist tradition. Zen is mostly associated with Japan but there were Zen masters and practitioners in China in earlier times.
- – To be continued – -