sanskrit: skandha

rough: heap/aggregate

chosen: aggregate

why: Standard rendering. The five-fold structure of self-grasping. Kept Sanskrit on first use.


sanskrit: rūpa-skandha

rough: form-heap

chosen: form-aggregate

why: Hyphenated. Covers physical body and the world it senses (Entry 2).


sanskrit: vedanā-skandha

rough: feeling-heap

chosen: feeling-aggregate

why: Hyphenated. The felt tone of each sense experience as it happens (Entry 2).


sanskrit: saṃjñā-skandha

rough: perception-heap

chosen: perception-aggregate

why: Hyphenated. Recognizing and naming what comes up in sense experience (Entry 2).


sanskrit: saṃskāra-skandha

rough: formation-heap

chosen: formation-aggregate

why: Hyphenated. Active forming of wholesome/unwholesome causes that shape what comes next (Entry 2). Forward-only — does NOT include the karmic backlog. Locked Entry 8.


sanskrit: vijñāna-skandha

rough: consciousness-heap

chosen: consciousness-aggregate

why: Hyphenated. The knowing that supports the other four (Entry 2).


sanskrit: dhātu

rough: realm/element

chosen: element

why: Standard. Used for the 18 elements. Carries faculty + material substrate as one unit when applied to senses (Entry 10 lock — eye and seeing as one element under two aspects).


sanskrit: āyatana

rough: sense-sphere

chosen: gateway

why: Plain English over academic 'sphere.' The gateway through which consciousness arises. Entry 1.


sanskrit: indriya

rough: faculty

chosen: sense

why: Plain English over academic 'faculty.' The sense as living capacity. Entry 1.


sanskrit: rūpa (sense-object)

rough: visible form

chosen: form

why: When pointing to what the eye sees. Includes color shape size brightness contrasts (Entry 18).


sanskrit: rūpa (general)

rough: form

chosen: form

why: The category that covers physical-and-experienced. Kept Sanskrit on first use of rūpa-skandha.


sanskrit: dharma (analytical)

rough: phenomenon/factor

chosen: factor

why: For dharmas as a class of analytical categories. Orientation paragraph still pending.


sanskrit: dharma (Teaching)

rough: Teaching

chosen: Dharma

why: Capitalized when it means the Buddha's Teaching.


sanskrit: dharma-dhātu / dharma-āyatana

rough: mind-realm/mind-sphere

chosen: mental object

why: For the sixth member of the sense-object pairs. Plain English. Entry 1.


sanskrit: upādāna

rough: grasping/clinging

chosen: grasping

why: Two-sided: reaches toward what hasn't arrived AND clings to what's here. Entry 4.


sanskrit: chanda-rāga

rough: desire-and-passion

chosen: fixation

why: Hendiadys — one named thing with two facets. 'Fixation' carries both reaching-toward and clinging-onto. Entry 4.


sanskrit: abhinirvartana

rough: bringing-into-being

chosen: pulls into being

why: The reaching-side of grasping. Future-directed. Entry 4.


sanskrit: aparihāra

rough: non-relinquishing

chosen: won't release

why: The clinging-side of grasping. Present-directed. Entry 4.


sanskrit: abhilāṣa

rough: longing

chosen: reaching toward

why: For grasping at what hasn't yet arrived. Entry 4.


sanskrit: adhyavasāna

rough: settled-on

chosen: clinging to

why: For grasping at what's already present. Entry 4.


sanskrit: lakṣaṇa

rough: characteristic/mark

chosen: hallmark

why: Plain English over academic 'characteristic.' What identifies the thing AS the thing. Locked across Entries 5-13.


sanskrit: rūpaṇa

rough: deformation/registering

chosen: way it registers

why: Functional gerund. Both the contact-side (body getting hit) and the partition-side (mind picking out 'form is here'). Entry 5.


sanskrit: sparśa

rough: touch/contact

chosen: contact

why: Same Sanskrit term in three contexts: Entry 5 (bodily-impact mode of form's registering); Entries 24/25/26/27 as saṃsparśa (the meeting-event at each sense that generates the aggregate-types); Entry 30 as the formal caitasika definition — when sense object and consciousness meet the sense-faculty is changed and contact is the defining of that change. Function: provides the basis for feeling. Earlier renderings stand. Entry 30.


sanskrit: trika-saṃnipāta

rough: meeting-of-three

chosen: sense object and consciousness meet

why: The standard Yogācāra/Abhidharma shorthand for the three-fold convergence at any sense-event. Asaṅga assumes the reader knows the trika; we expand inline. Xuanzang has 三和合. Entry 30.


sanskrit: indriya-vikāra

rough: modification-of-the-sense-faculty

chosen: the sense-faculty is changed

why: The change that occurs in the sense-faculty when the three meet. Vikāra rendered 'change' over 'modification' — modification reads academic. Entry 30.


sanskrit: pariccheda

rough: cutting-around / discrimination

chosen: defining

why: Literally pari + chid — cutting around / setting boundaries to. The mind marks off the change in the sense-faculty so it becomes a determinate thing for the rest of cognition. 'Defining' carries the cut-around quality in plain English. 'Discerning' tested and rejected (too passive). 'Distinguishing' taken by vijānanā (Entry 9). Xuanzang has 分別. Entry 30.


sanskrit: saṃniśraya

rough: thorough-resting-on

chosen: basis

why: The load-bearing support that the next factor rests on in caitasika function-clauses (saṃniśraya-dāna = providing the basis). Single-source — not one-of-many. 'Foundation' (tested) reads architectural and stiff in function-clauses; 'support' reads as one-of-many. 'Basis' carries the load-bearing single-source quality in plain American English. Distinct from āśraya (Entry 17 = foundation) — near-synonymous in this period but Asaṅga uses both; English distinction preserves the Sanskrit. Locked Entry 34; applied retroactively to Entries 30 and 31. ENGLISH RENDERING EXCEPTION (locked Entry 39): in function-clauses where saṃniśraya-dāna grounds a description of the factor's own direct effect rather than a structurally separate downstream caitasika — as with the three wholesome roots' duścaritāpravṛtti-saṃniśraya-dāna (basis for non-arising of misconduct) — the basis-language is redundant in English. There the function clause collapses to "Its function is to prevent misconduct from arising." When saṃniśraya-dāna grounds a separate downstream factor (sparśa → vedanā, chanda → vīrya, samādhi → jñāna, śraddhā → chanda, hrī/apatrāpya → saṃyama), the basis-language stays. Applies to Entries 39, 40, 41.


sanskrit: pradeśa

rough: place/region

chosen: partitioning

why: Activity-gerund — what the mind does when it picks out 'form is here / form is there.' Spatial nouns failed. Entry 5.


sanskrit: pratibimba

rough: reflection

chosen: impression

why: The mental image left by perception. Entry 5 / Entry 7.


sanskrit: citrī-kāra

rough: making-variegated

chosen: makes (impressions)

why: The mind's productive activity in registering form. Entry 5.


sanskrit: anubhava

rough: experience

chosen: experiencing

why: The hallmark of feeling. Pratyanubhavanti = 'one experiences.' Entry 6.


sanskrit: vipāka

rough: maturation/fruition

chosen: fruition / ripening

why: Karmic ripening. Used in 'fruition of past actions' (Entry 6) and 'ripening in the storehouse-consciousness' (Entries 10/12).


sanskrit: saṃjānanā

rough: recognizing

chosen: recognizing

why: The hallmark of perception. Entry 7.


sanskrit: udgrahaṇa

rough: seizing

chosen: grabbing

why: Active take-up of impressions. Entry 7.


sanskrit: abhisaṃskāra

rough: formative-action

chosen: active forming

why: The hallmark of formation. Forward-pointing. Entry 8.


sanskrit: prerayati

rough: impels

chosen: drives

why: Verb in formation's hallmark and in cetanā's function-clause. Drives mind into wholesome/unwholesome/neutral. Distinct from cetayate (= directs) — two Sanskrit verbs two English verbs. Entries 8 28.


sanskrit: cetayate

rough: intends/wills

chosen: directs

why: The cetanā-verb. The intending itself in motion. Renders 'directs the mind toward' — distinct from prerayati (= drives). Family-echo with 'intention' would require 'intends the mind' which reads awkward; the noun-verb echo dropped for English clarity. Entry 27.


sanskrit: manaskāra

rough: attention/mental-orientation

chosen: attention

why: The turning of the mind toward something. Defined Entry 29 as cetasa ābhogaḥ (bending of mind toward) with function ālambana-citta-dhāraṇa (holding mind on the object). 'Attention' is conventional Buddhist English; flagged for revisit if the passive reading ('something one has') creates trouble against Asaṅga's active sense. Xuanzang reaches for 發動 (rousing/activating) — different angle on the same move. Entry 29.


sanskrit: ābhoga

rough: bending/curving-toward

chosen: turning toward

why: The orienting move where mind turns to face an object before settling on it. Literally 'bending' or 'curving.' 'Turning toward' lands plainer in English. Defines manaskāra. Entry 29.


sanskrit: vijānanā

rough: distinguishing

chosen: distinguishing

why: The hallmark of consciousness. Telling apart objects. Entry 9.


sanskrit: bīja

rough: seed

chosen: seeds

why: Karmic seeds. The eye is also its accumulated seeds. Entry 10.


sanskrit: upacita

rough: accumulated

chosen: karmic

why: In compound 'upacita bīja' — the karmic seeds. Entry 10.


sanskrit: ālaya-vijñāna

rough: storehouse-consciousness

chosen: storehouse-consciousness

why: Hyphenated. Kept Sanskrit on first use. Entry 10.


sanskrit: vipāka-ālaya-vijñāna

rough: maturation-storehouse-consciousness

chosen: ripening in the storehouse-consciousness

why: Compound rendered as activity. Entry 10/12. Note: DSBC drops vipāka in Entry 10 but Xuanzang preserves; English assumes vipāka present.


sanskrit: āśraya

rough: support/basis

chosen: foundation

why: The structural ground that something rests on. Used Entry 12 (cakṣur-āśrayā = foundation of eye-consciousness) and Entry 17 (the five sense-faculties as foundations of their respective consciousnesses). Distinct from saṃniśraya (= basis) — āśraya is the structural ground a consciousness rests on; saṃniśraya is the function-clause load-bearer in caitasika definitions. Near-synonymous in this period; English distinction preserves the Sanskrit. Entries 12 17.


sanskrit: ālambana

rough: object/objective-support

chosen: object

why: Plain English. What consciousness takes up. Entry 12.


sanskrit: prativijñapti

rough: cognition/awareness

chosen: cognition

why: The specific knowing-of-form that is eye-consciousness. Entry 12.


sanskrit: mahā-bhūta

rough: great element

chosen: great element

why: Standard. The four ground-elements of physicality. Entry 14.


sanskrit: pṛthivī

rough: earth

chosen: earth

why: Standard. Defined as kaṭhinatā = solidity. Entry 15.


sanskrit: ab

rough: water

chosen: water

why: Standard. Defined as niṣyandatā = fluidity. Entry 15.


sanskrit: tejas

rough: fire

chosen: fire

why: Standard. Defined as uṣṇatā = heat. Entry 15.


sanskrit: vāyu

rough: wind

chosen: wind

why: Standard. Defined as kampanatā = liveliness. Entry 15.


sanskrit: kaṭhinatā

rough: hardness

chosen: solidity

why: The earth-quality. Entry 15.


sanskrit: niṣyandatā

rough: flowing

chosen: fluidity

why: The water-quality. Entry 15.


sanskrit: uṣṇatā

rough: hotness

chosen: heat

why: The fire-quality. Entry 15.


sanskrit: kampanatā

rough: trembling

chosen: liveliness

why: The wind-quality. The animating quick-making aspect. Xuanzang has 輕等動性 ('light-and-moving') matching Kosa-tradition; we follow DSBC's kampanatā directly. Entry 15.


sanskrit: upādāya-rūpa

rough: derived form

chosen: derived form

why: Standard. The sense-faculties + sense-objects (minus great elements) + form as mental object. Entry 16.


sanskrit: rūpa-prasāda

rough: form-clarity

chosen: transparent form

why: The subtle perceptual matter at the foundation of each sense-consciousness. Entry 17.


sanskrit: gocara

rough: range/field

chosen: what the eye-sense takes in

why: Used only for form (Entry 18). Form is the gocara outlier.


sanskrit: grāhya

rough: what is grasped

chosen: what the X-sense picks up

why: Used for sound smell taste touch (Entries 19-22). Pattern confirmed.


sanskrit: artha

rough: object/meaning

chosen: what

why: In compound 'X-indriya-grāhyo 'rthaḥ' — the 'what' the sense picks up. Plain English over 'object.'


sanskrit: ekadeśa

rough: one-part

chosen: (structural marker — 'including X as well as')

why: Asaṅga uses ekadeśa for touch alone because the great elements ARE part of touch. Form/sound/smell/taste have no overlap so no ekadeśa qualifier. The English carries the structural difference with 'including the four great elements as well as' rather than 'derived from.' Entry 22.


sanskrit: manojña / amanojña / ubhaya-viparīta

rough: agreeable / disagreeable / contrary-to-both

chosen: pleasing / displeasing / neither

why: The triad for sound (Entry 19) and taste (Entry 21). 'Neither' preserves the logical-negation structure of ubhaya-viparīta where 'neutral' would posit a positive middle category the Sanskrit doesn't claim.


sanskrit: śobhana / aśobhana / ubhaya-viparīta

rough: beautiful / ugly / contrary-to-both

chosen: beautiful / ugly / neither

why: Form's triad (Entry 18). Different Sanskrit pair from manojña/amanojña; same logical structure for the third item.


sanskrit: abhyavakāśa-rūpa

rough: open-space-form

chosen: open space / form of open space

why: Visible space as such. Both Entry 18 (in form list) and Entry 23 (as a kind of mental form).


sanskrit: vijñapti-rūpa

rough: communicating-form

chosen: visible action

why: Bodily gesture/expression that communicates intention. Entry 18.


sanskrit: upātta-mahā-bhūta-hetuka

rough: sourced-in-appropriated-elements

chosen: comes from a living body

why: Sound from breath/speech. Entry 19.


sanskrit: anupātta-mahā-bhūta-hetuka

rough: sourced-in-non-appropriated-elements

chosen: comes from external matter

why: Sound from objects. Entry 19.


sanskrit: loka-prasiddha

rough: world-established

chosen: everyday speech

why: Speech everyone agrees on the meaning of. Entry 19.


sanskrit: siddhopanīta

rough: perfected-and-presented

chosen: teaching reported from someone's direct realization

why: Speech grounded in awakening. Entry 19.


sanskrit: parikalpita

rough: imagined/constructed

chosen: built from someone's constructed conceptual system

why: The reaching-and-fitting move of conceptual construction. Used for speech (Entry 19) and for mental form (Entry 23) — same Sanskrit different domain. The doctrinal-construction sense. Sthiramati glosses as tīrthya-deśita (non-Buddhist teachings); we declined to import the gloss.


sanskrit: ārya-deśita / tīrtha-deśita

rough: taught-by-noble / taught-by-heretic

chosen: spoken truthfully / untruthfully

why: The truth-classification of speech. Entry 19.


sanskrit: surabhi / asurabhi / sama-gandha

rough: fragrant / foul / equal-smell

chosen: fragrant / foul / neutral

why: Smell's quality triad. Entry 20.


sanskrit: sahaja / sāṃyogika / pāriṇāmika

rough: innate / combined / transformed

chosen: comes with the thing itself / from things combining / from things changing

why: Source-triad applied to smell (Entry 20) and taste (Entry 21). Each compound expands to a relative clause.


sanskrit: kaṣāya

rough: astringent

chosen: astringent

why: Sixth taste. Standard Indian rasa list. Xuanzang has 淡 (bland) not 澀 — possible source variant. We follow Sanskrit. Entry 21.


sanskrit: kaṭuka

rough: sharp/pungent

chosen: spicy

why: 2026 American ear. 'Pungent' reads academic. Entry 21.


sanskrit: ślakṣṇatva

rough: smoothness

chosen: smoothness

why: Touch-quality #1. Entry 22.


sanskrit: karkaśatva

rough: roughness

chosen: roughness

why: Touch-quality #2. Entry 22.


sanskrit: manda-amanda

rough: slow-quick / soft-firm

chosen: softness firmness

why: Xuanzang has 緩急 (loose/tight). Both defensible; revisits if the pattern recurs.


sanskrit: vyavasthāna

rough: positioning/laying-out

chosen: break down / break into

why: The structural laying-out that classifies an aggregate into its parts/kinds. Distinct from katamat alone. Entries 14 16 24.


sanskrit: katamat (alone)

rough: which?

chosen: what counts as

why: Asks what falls under a category. Distinct from vyavasthāna which asks how the category structures. Lock across Entries 15 17 18-23.


sanskrit: saṃsparśaja

rough: contact-born

chosen: arises from contact

why: Feeling born of sense-contact. Sparśa proper (the meeting of three) gets defined later in saṃskāra list. Entry 24.


sanskrit: aduḥkhāsukhā

rough: neither-painful-nor-pleasant

chosen: neither

why: Logical negation of the prior two. Same structure as ubhaya-viparīta. Entry 24. Note: as the third member of the sukhā/duḥkhā/aduḥkhāsukhā vedanā triad, "neither" pairs with "pleasant" and "unpleasant" — the adjective-with-vedanā register where duḥkhā stays "unpleasant" (not "unsatisfying" — see duḥkha row).


sanskrit: vedanā-kāya

rough: feeling-body / feeling-group

chosen: (omitted in English; enumeration carries)

why: Sanskrit announces 'six vedanā-kāyas' before listing. English doesn't need the announcement; the enumeration counts itself. Register-fit move. Entry 24.


sanskrit: ābhisaṃkṣepika

rough: extremely-condensed

chosen: form that arises when you analyze a thing down to its smallest parts

why: The mental form of analytical reduction to paramāṇu (conceptual atom). Body-scan style atomic-decomposition meditations sit here. Entry 23.


sanskrit: sāmādānika

rough: vow-undertaken

chosen: form that arises from taking a vow

why: The unseen physical commitment generated by vow-taking. Entry 23.


sanskrit: vaibhutvika

rough: mastery-related

chosen: form produced by mastery in meditation

why: The visualizations and form-generation of advanced meditative attainment. Entry 23.


sanskrit: kāyikī vedanā

rough: bodily feeling

chosen: bodily feeling

why: Feeling that arises with the five sense-consciousnesses. Entry 25.


sanskrit: caitasikī vedanā

rough: mental feeling

chosen: mental feeling

why: Feeling that arises with mind-consciousness. Entry 25.


sanskrit: sāmiṣa vedanā

rough: with-flesh feeling

chosen: bound feeling

why: The bait/raw-flesh metaphor preserved by image-family rather than literal. Feeling tied to craving for self-existence — chained to continued becoming. Xuanzang takes the flavor side (有味). 'Hooked' was tested and rejected as too casual; 'bound' carries the weight. Entry 25.


sanskrit: nirāmiṣa vedanā

rough: without-flesh feeling

chosen: unbound feeling

why: Negation of sāmiṣa. Free of the self-existence craving. Entry 25.


sanskrit: gredhāśrita vedanā

rough: based-on-greed feeling

chosen: being based on greed

why: Feeling resting on craving for the five sense-pleasures. āśrita = rooted-in/based-on (foundational not directional). 'Greed-leaning' rejected — directional ambiguity. Entry 25.


sanskrit: naiṣkramyāśrita vedanā

rough: based-on-going-forth feeling

chosen: being based on renunciation

why: Feeling resting on renunciation. Negation of gredhāśrita. Entry 25.


sanskrit: ātma-bhāva-tṛṣṇā

rough: self-existence-craving

chosen: craving for self-existence

why: The craving for continued being. Defines sāmiṣa vedanā. Entry 25.


sanskrit: pañca-kāma-guṇa-tṛṣṇā

rough: five-sense-pleasure-craving

chosen: craving for the five sense-pleasures

why: The craving for sights/sounds/smells/tastes/touches. Defines gredhāśrita vedanā. Entry 25.


sanskrit: saṃjñā-kāya

rough: perception-body / perception-group

chosen: perception-body

why: Kept in English here unlike vedanā-kāya — Asaṅga's six-fold structure of perception by sense-contact. Hyphenated. Entry 26.


sanskrit: sa-nimitta

rough: with-mark/with-sign

chosen: with features

why: nimitta = the conceptual handle perception grabs to make a thing identifiable. 'Sign-bearing' is established Buddhist English but reads loose in modern American usage. 'Features' lands plainer. Object-grammar preserved: 'perception of things with features.' Entry 26.


sanskrit: animitta

rough: without-mark/signless

chosen: without features

why: Negation of sa-nimitta. Used both for the absorption-state (animitta-dhātu = 'featureless-element') and for non-language perception. Entry 26.


sanskrit: parītta

rough: limited

chosen: limited

why: Perception that recognizes the desire-realm. Standard. Entry 26.


sanskrit: mahad-gata

rough: gone-to-greatness

chosen: vast

why: Perception that recognizes the form-realm. 'Gone-to-greatness' literal but unwieldy; 'vast' carries the expansion plain. Xuanzang has 大. Entry 26.


sanskrit: apramāṇa

rough: immeasurable

chosen: immeasurable

why: Perception that recognizes the first two formless spheres (infinite space and infinite consciousness). Standard. Entry 26.


sanskrit: ākiṃcanya-āyatana

rough: nothing-whatever-sphere

chosen: sphere of nothing-whatsoever

why: The third formless sphere. 'Whatsoever' over 'whatever' — modern American 'whatever' reads casual. Entry 26.


sanskrit: avyavahāra-kuśala

rough: not-skilled-in-conventional-usage

chosen: without skill in conventional language

why: A being whose perception lacks the linguistic-conceptual marking of ordinary perception (non-language users — animals infants etc). One of the three carve-outs from sa-nimitta. Xuanzang confirms language reading (不善言說). Entry 26.


sanskrit: bhavāgra

rough: peak-of-existence

chosen: peak of existence

why: The fourth and highest formless absorption (naiva-saṃjñā-nāsaṃjñā-āyatana). Excluded from sa-nimitta but sits inside animitta. Entry 26.


sanskrit: cetanā

rough: intention/will/volition

chosen: intention

why: The prime caitasika and karma-maker. Defined Entry 28 as cittābhisaṃskāra (active forming of mind) glossed by manaskarma (mental action) — apposition rendered with colon. Function: drives the mind toward wholesome/unwholesome/neutral. 'Intention' over 'volition' (academic) and 'will' (loses directionality). Two distinct verbs: cetayate (Entry 27) = directs the mind toward; prerayati/preraṇa (Entries 8 28) = drives the mind. Earlier Entry 27 lock of 'drives' for cetayate revised to 'directs' to keep the verbs distinct in English.


sanskrit: saṃkleśa

rough: defilement/affliction

chosen: defiled / defilement

why: The afflictive direction of intention. Narrower than akuśala (the broader ethical category). Saṃkleśa points specifically at kleśa-laden activity. Adjective 'defiled' for parallel constructions; nominal 'defilement' otherwise. Note the triad swap: Entry 8 used kuśala/akuśala/avyākṛta; Entry 27 uses kuśalatva/saṃkleśa/avasthābheda — the English asymmetry mirrors the Sanskrit. Entry 27.


sanskrit: avasthābheda

rough: state-distinction/state-difference

chosen: neutral activity (provisional)

why: Literally 'state-distinction / difference of position.' The kind of willing that produces shifts of state without ethical valence — where citta-viprayuktas live. 'Neutral activity' flattens the bheda-quality; flagged for revisiting before the saṃskāra section closes. Sthiramati glosses as the avyākṛta-direction; we declined to import the gloss. Entry 27.


sanskrit: chanda

rough: desire/will/wish

chosen: wanting

why: The wish-faculty. As caitasika (Entry 31): morally neutral — wholesome unwholesome or neutral charge depending on its object. As one half of chanda-rāga (Entry 4): the kliṣṭa instance fused with rāga into the grasping mechanism. Same Sanskrit term different scope. Defined Entry 31 as kartṛ-kāmatā (wish to act) directed at īpsita vastu (something sought) and pulling together tat-tad (whatever) the action involves. Function: provides the basis for taking up effort. Locked Apr 21-22; reaffirmed Entry 31; saṃniśraya rendering updated to 'basis' Entry 34.


sanskrit: īpsita

rough: desired/wished-for

chosen: sought

why: Past participle of √āp. Agent-led not magnetic. 'Something sought' over 'something draws you' — protects chanda's moral neutrality by keeping the directionality subject-to-object rather than object-pulling-subject. Entry 31.


sanskrit: vastu

rough: thing/matter/basis

chosen: something

why: Broader than viṣaya/ālambana (which take 'object' in the log). Vastu = anything-that-is — thing situation state condition. Rendered 'something' or 'what' contextually in the determinative caitasikas. Not a term-lock; gets its own row when fires standalone in a way that matters. Entries 31 32 33.


sanskrit: kartṛ-kāmatā

rough: desire-to-be-the-doer

chosen: wish to act

why: The active-tense reading of chanda. 'Wish to act' over literal 'wish to be the doer' — avoids loop with 'wanting.' Entry 31.


sanskrit: tat-tad-upasaṃhata

rough: that-and-that-brought-together

chosen: pulling together whatever the action involves

why: Plural-aspectual. Tat-tad = 'this and that various.' Confirmed by Xuanzang's 彼彼引發所作 ('drawn out toward various what-is-to-be-done'). 'Whatever' over 'everything' — better carries the indefinite-plural quality. Entry 31.


sanskrit: vīryādāna

rough: taking-up-effort

chosen: taking up effort

why: Function-clause of chanda. Vīrya as the energy that follows from wanting. DSBC has variant vīryārambha (commencement); going with vīryādāna. Entry 31.


sanskrit: adhimokṣa

rough: inclination/resolve/conviction

chosen: conviction

why: Literally 'release-toward' (adhi + √muc) but the Sanskrit definition uses the function not the etymology — the cognitive faculty that makes a determination stay determined. Once mind has reached a niścaya conviction holds it just as it was determined. Function: keep from being swayed (asaṃhāryatā). Ontology not psychology — structural feature of cognition not a stubborn attitude. Earlier drafts ('holding to it') leaned attitudinal; locked English ('what makes the determination hold') names the function. Entry 32.


sanskrit: niścita / niścaya

rough: settled/ascertained

chosen: determined / determination

why: From niś + √ci 'fully gathered together / ascertained.' Epistemic not legal. Xuanzang's 決定 confirms. 'Determined' over 'ascertained' (academic) and over 'settled' (which carries dispute-resolution flavor in modern American). Entry 32.


sanskrit: yathā-niścayam

rough: according-to-the-determination

chosen: just as it was determined

why: Adverbial — the standard against which conviction holds. Preserves the niścite/niścayaṃ loop in English. Entry 32.


sanskrit: dhāraṇā (in adhimokṣa)

rough: holding

chosen: what makes (it) hold

why: In Abhidharma context dhāraṇā is the causing-to-hold not the act of someone gripping. Distinguished from manaskāra's dhāraṇa (Entry 29 — holding the mind on its object). Different work same root. Entry 32.


sanskrit: asaṃhāryatā

rough: not-carryable-away-ness

chosen: keep from being swayed

why: Function-clause of adhimokṣa. Xuanzang's 不可引轉 ('cannot be pulled away') confirms. 'Keep from being swayed' over 'unmovable' — verb form lands plainer. Entry 32.


sanskrit: smṛti

rough: memory/mindfulness/recollection

chosen: mindfulness

why: Conventional Buddhist English held. Defined Entry 33 as cetasaḥ asaṃpramoṣa (mind not losing hold) of saṃstuta vastu (something already in mind). Function: keep mind from drifting (avikṣepa-karmikā). NOT memory — present-moment cognitive holding of an object the mind has purchase on through prior engagement not retrieval of a past event. Distinct from adhimokṣa: smṛti holds an engaged object against drifting; adhimokṣa holds a determination against being swayed. Smṛti = the object stays in cognition; adhimokṣa = the conclusion stays the conclusion. Entry 33.


sanskrit: saṃstuta

rough: well-known/well-praised

chosen: already in mind

why: Saṃ + √stu — 'made familiar through repeated engagement.' Xuanzang's 串習 ('practiced through repetition') confirms. DSBC has saṃsṛta (likely OCR slip); functional sense identical. Earlier drafts ('something familiar' 'something it has worked with before') leaned past-tense and pulled smṛti toward memory. 'Already in mind' lands the present-moment cognitive purchase without temporal pastness. Entry 33.


sanskrit: asaṃpramoṣa

rough: non-letting-slip

chosen: not losing hold of

why: Pra + √muṣ = to make-disappear / steal. A-saṃpramoṣa = not-slipping-away. 'Not losing hold of' over 'not letting go of' (which carries affective clinging charge in English) and over 'not forgetting' (which would pull smṛti toward memory). Entry 33.


sanskrit: avikṣepa

rough: non-distraction / non-scattering

chosen: keep the mind from drifting

why: Function-clause of smṛti. Negative phrasing preserved — both terms in smṛti's definition (a-saṃpramoṣa a-vikṣepa) describe what doesn't happen. 'Keep from drifting' over 'non-distraction' (Latinate) and over 'concentration / focus' (which would flip the structural shape positive and conflate smṛti with samādhi). Entry 33.


sanskrit: upaparīkṣya

rough: closely-examined

chosen: thing being examined

why: From upa-pari-√īkṣ — to examine closely investigate. Locative upaparīkṣye vastuni sets the object-frame for samādhi (Entry 34) and prajñā (Entry 35) — the same 'thing being examined' that samādhi single-points on is what prajñā discriminates. Locking the pair preserves the structural link Asaṅga is making. Xuanzang renders 所觀 (samādhi) / 所觀法 (prajñā) — 'what is observed' — slightly broader than the Sanskrit's 'examined.' Flagged for potential revisit once more upaparīkṣya passages land. Entry 34.


sanskrit: samādhi

rough: concentration/absorption

chosen: concentration

why: Conventional Buddhist English held. Defined Entry 34 as cittasyaikāgratā (mind's single-pointed focus) on upaparīkṣye vastuni (the thing being examined). Function: provides the basis for knowing (jñāna-saṃniśraya-dāna). 'Single-pointed focus on it' renders ekāgratā with verb-feeling that 'one-pointedness' lacks in modern American English. DSBC has vittasya — OCR slip for cittasya; Xuanzang's 令心一境 confirms. Entry 34.


sanskrit: ekāgratā

rough: one-pointedness

chosen: single-pointed focus

why: Eka-agra-tā — 'one-pointed-ness.' The mind gathered and held on a single object without scatter. 'One-pointedness' is conventional Buddhist English but reads abstract-noun-stiff in function-clauses; 'single-pointed focus' carries verb-feeling and lands plainer in 2026 American English. Entry 34.


sanskrit: jñāna

rough: knowing/knowledge

chosen: knowing

why: Plain rendering. The cognitive resolution that samādhi provides the basis for. Distinct from prajñā (Entry 35) which is the discriminating-of-dharmas. Jñāna is the resolution; prajñā is the discriminating that arrives at it. Entry 34.


sanskrit: prajñā

rough: wisdom/discernment/insight

chosen: discernment

why: Asaṅga is naming the ordinary cognitive operation of sorting through dharmas — not awakening-wisdom (prajñāpāramitā). 'Discernment' carries the analytical work; 'wisdom' reads too contemplative for the function being described. Defined Entry 35 as dharmāṇāṃ pravicayaḥ (analysis of factors) on upaparīkṣya vastu (the thing being examined — same object as samādhi). Function: dispel uncertainty (saṃśaya-vyāvartana). Function-clause breaks the saṃniśraya-dāna pattern of sparśa/chanda/samādhi — prajñā doesn't provide the basis for further cognition; it resolves cognition itself. Entry 35.


sanskrit: pravicaya

rough: thorough-discrimination

chosen: analyzes

why: Pra (forth/thoroughly) + vi (apart) + √ci (gather/select). The analytical move of taking factors apart and seeing what each one is. 'Sorting-through' tested but loses the analytical-judgment quality. 'Discrimination' rejected (academic; loop with vijānanā = distinguishing). 'Analyzes' lands plain in 2026 American English. Verb form chosen over noun ('analysis of') for sentence-flow. Entry 35.


sanskrit: saṃśaya

rough: doubt/uncertainty

chosen: uncertainty

why: Genuine cognitive wavering between alternatives — the mind that hasn't settled. NOT the affective 'I doubt myself' sense modern American 'doubt' carries. Xuanzang's 疑 confirms the cognitive-uncertainty reading. 'Wavering' tested as more concrete but 'uncertainty' lands more natural. Entry 35.


sanskrit: vyāvartana

rough: turning-away/removing

chosen: dispel

why: Vi + ā + √vṛt — turning back/away. Active cutting-off of uncertainty. Xuanzang has 斷 (cut off). 'Dispel' carries the active-removal sense; 'cut off' tested but reads stronger than the Sanskrit warrants in this context. Entry 35.


sanskrit: śraddhā

rough: faith / trust / confidence

chosen: confidence

why: Three-and-three structure: confidence has three objects (what exists, what has virtue, what is capable) and three responses (conviction, clarity, aspiration). 'Faith' carries Christian weight in 2026 American register; 'trust' reads interpersonal. 'Confidence' lands clean — covers the conviction-component (full assent that something exists), the prasāda-component (the heart settling and clearing), and supports the aspiration-component without doctrinal baggage. Within the definition, abhilāṣa renders as 'aspiration' rather than 'longing' — abhi-laṣ is directional reach, and 'longing' both reads sentimental and crowds wanting (chanda). Function: provides the basis for wanting (chanda-saṃniśraya-dāna). DSBC has abhilāpaḥ (speech) — OCR slip for abhilāṣaḥ; Xuanzang's 希望 confirms. Locked Entry 36.


sanskrit: hrī

rough: shame / modesty / conscience

chosen: self-respect

why: The wholesome standing factor whose activity is the inward recoil (lajjanā) from one's own (svayam) wrongdoing (avadya). 'Shame' is conventional Buddhist English but imports toxic-shame baggage in 2026 American register — therapy-culture and Brené Brown frames make 'shame' read as a problem to heal from rather than a wholesome factor to cultivate. 'Conscience' was tested — closer to the cognitive faculty but loses the affective recoil quality of lajjanā. 'Conscientiousness' tested and rejected (modern American reads diligence not recoil). 'Self-respect' surface-inverts the polarity (positive standing trait rather than negative event) but accurately names the moral self-regard whose function is restraint from misconduct. The standing-factor reading, not event-reading, is what caitasika categories require. Pairs with apatrāpya as outward counterpart — Sthiramati's lokapālau (two guardians of the world). Function: provides the basis for restraint from misconduct (duścarita-saṃyama-saṃniśraya-dāna). Locked Entry 37.


sanskrit: apatrāpya

rough: shame before others / propriety / decency

chosen: decency

why: The wholesome standing factor whose activity is the inward recoil (lajjanā) from one's own wrongdoing (avadya) as witnessed by others (parato). Pairs with hrī as the outward counterpart. 'Decency' carries the moral weight without the social-etiquette reading of 'propriety' or the imported 'shame' we worked away from in Entry 37. The pair self-respect / decency reads as the two foundations of conduct in plain American English. Sthiramati glosses hrī and apatrāpya together as the lokapālau — two guardians of the world. Sanskrit pair is structural: same verb same object, only svayam (oneself) vs parato (from another) changes. English mirrors: 'as seen by others' carries the parato-shift. Function: tat-karmakam eva — same as hrī's. Locked Entry 38.


sanskrit: alobha

rough: non-greed / non-attachment

chosen: non-greed

why: First of the three wholesome roots (alobha / adveṣa / amoha). Defined Entry 39 via anāsakti (non-attachment) over the locative bhave bhavopakaraṇeṣu vā — existence and the supports of existence (the gear that props up continued becoming: possessions status body the apparatus of having-a-life). A wholesome factor named entirely through what it isn't — first caitasika in the list to fire that way. 'Non-greed' preserves the negation-structure of a-lobha and Xuanzang's 無貪. Declined: 'non-attachment' (too close to the definiens anāsakti), 'generosity' / 'contentment' (flip to positive value, lose the negation, import downstream effects). Function: prevent misconduct from arising (English-collapsed form of duścaritāpravṛtti-saṃniśraya-dāna — see saṃniśraya row's rendering exception). Locked Entry 39.


sanskrit: adveṣa

rough: non-hatred / non-aversion

chosen: non-hatred

why: Second wholesome root. Defined Entry 40 via anāghāta (the lashing-out doesn't fire) over three locatives: sattveṣu (at beings), duḥkhe (at the unsatisfying), duḥkha-sthānīyeṣu dharmeṣu (at what brings on the unsatisfying). Asaṅga uses the same three locatives later to define pratigha (anger / hatred — the unwholesome opposite), confirming the locatives as triggers-where-strike-out-would-fire, not objects-of-attitude. English grammar critical: "non-hatred toward suffering" reads as you-should-not-hate-suffering, importing a should-be-okay-with-suffering reading the Sanskrit doesn't carry. Locked English ("the mind not lashing out, whether at... or at...") names the absence-of-strike-out without that import. Sthiramati waves off the wholesome eleven entirely (hryādayaḥ sugamatvānna vibhajyante — "hrī and the rest aren't analyzed, they're easy"); doctrinal content for adveṣa recovered from his pratigha and āghāta commentary downstream. The session that locked this entry also produced the duḥkha lock for the whole project (see duḥkha row). Function: prevent misconduct from arising (English-collapsed form — see saṃniśraya row). Locked Entry 40.


sanskrit: amoha

rough: non-delusion / non-ignorance

chosen: non-delusion

why: Third wholesome root; closes the wholesome-roots triad. Defined Entry 41 via jñānaṃ pratisaṃkhyā (knowing — careful discernment, near-synonyms in apposition) arising from one of three sources: vipāka (karmic ripening), āgama (study / scripture / teaching), adhigama (direct realization / attainment). Xuanzang's 報教證 confirms the triple-source. 'Non-delusion' preserves the negation-structure (parallel to alobha / adveṣa) — 'wisdom' would flip to positive value and lose the structural shape. Declined 'non-ignorance' — moha is the active confusion that produces delusion not bare ignorance. Function: prevent misconduct from arising (English-collapsed form — see saṃniśraya row). Locked Entry 41.


sanskrit: duḥkha

rough: suffering / pain / unsatisfactoriness

chosen: unsatisfying (context-flex)

why: Etymology: duḥ- (bad / ill) + -kha (axle-hole / opening). Traditional commentarial reading: the bad axle-hole — the wheel that doesn't sit clean and grinds. Paired structurally with sukha (good axle-hole, runs smooth). Whether the kha = axle-hole derivation is historically accurate or folk-etymology, that's the etymology Asaṅga's tradition heard. Asaṅga uses duḥkha across at least three registers and English has no single word that spans them: (1) hedonic feeling-tone in vedanā triads — duḥkhā vedanā as ADJECTIVE form — stays "unpleasant" (Entries 24, 25); "unsatisfying" overreaches the small immediate feeling-tone sense. (2) Bare-noun aversive occasion in adveṣa / pratigha triads — renders "the unsatisfying" (Entry 40). (3) Structural diagnosis of conditioned existence in the four truths and aggregate-analysis — renders "unsatisfying / unsatisfactory / unsatisfaction" depending on grammar (Entries TBD). "Suffering" overshoots: duḥkha covers everything from a stubbed toe to existential dread, and most of its range is closer to chronic dissatisfaction than acute suffering. "Suffering" makes Buddhism sound like a complaint; "unsatisfying" lands the actual diagnostic. The trividha-duḥkhatā (three types of unsatisfactoriness — duḥkha-duḥkhatā, vipariṇāma-duḥkhatā, saṃskāra-duḥkhatā) all sit under the unsatisfying-rendering. Sanskrit grammar fixes register: adjective-with-vedanā = hedonic ("unpleasant"); bare noun in other contexts = "unsatisfying" / variants. Locked Entry 40.


sanskrit: sukha

rough: pleasure / happiness / ease

chosen: satisfying (context-flex)

why: Pair to duḥkha. Etymology: su- (good) + -kha (axle-hole) — the good fit, the wheel running smooth. Same register-split as duḥkha: adjective form with vedanā (sukhā vedanā) stays "pleasant" for the small hedonic-tone sense (Entries 24, 25); bare-noun standalone uses (when they arise) render "satisfying" / "the satisfying." Locked Entry 40 (paired with duḥkha).


sanskrit: āghāta

rough: striking / blow / hostility

chosen: lashing out

why: The active aversive mental move — literally "striking" (root √han, same as ghāta, killing-blow). Not a disposition or attitude but the impulse to strike out. Defines pratigha (hatred — same root term) and is what adveṣa is the absence of (anāghāta, Entry 40). Sthiramati glosses āghāta downstream as the mental state of a mind already striking out (in his asparśavihāra comment: "no-easy-dwelling refers to the duḥkha-vihāra of a mind with āghāta"). "Lashing out" carries the active-impulse quality plain in 2026 American English; "hostility" reads too dispositional, "malice" reads too narrow (premeditated). Locked Entry 40.


sanskrit: vīrya

rough: energy / diligence / exertion / zeal / wholeheartedness

chosen: zeal (provisional)

why: Provisional Entry 42. Defined as cetaso 'bhyutsāha (mind's vigorous lift) toward what is wholesome, in five locatives: sannāha (armoring-up, initial resolve), prayoga (engaging the work), alīnatva (not shrinking back when difficulty hits), avyāvṛtti (not turning away under setback), asantuṣṭi (not stopping at partial gain). Sthiramati treats these as stages of vīrya's activity; Xuanzang T.1605 matches item-by-item — 被甲 / 方便 / 無下 / 無退 / 無足. The category is wholesome by construction — vīrya names this charge only when directed at the wholesome; the same charge directed at the unwholesome would be a kleśa (rāga, krodha). English needs to carry the built-in wholesome direction along with the lift/charge. 'Energy' tested and rejected (too inert — describes a battery; loses the abhyutsāha lift). 'Wholeheartedness' tested — carried both built-wholesome and charge, but didn't capture the zealous-enthusiastic feeling Asaṅga is naming. 'Zeal' carries the charge and directedness but lacks the built-in wholesomeness (zealots can be zealous for anything). 'Diligence' leans virtuous but loses the lift — moved to apramāda (Entry 44). Function clause kuśala-pakṣa-paripūraṇa-pariniṣpādana-karmakam: direct function (fulfill-and-complete what is wholesome), not saṃniśraya-dāna. Sits with the three wholesome roots in this non-saṃniśraya pattern. Xuanzang T.1605 renders the head term 勤 (diligence). Open thread; revisit when vīrya fires in technical clusters downstream — seven bodhyaṅgas, four right exertions, noble eightfold path.


sanskrit: abhyutsāha

rough: up-rising-vigor / enthusiastic energy

chosen: exerting itself toward

why: Literally abhi-ut-sāha — up-rising-out-toward. Vigor with directional lift. The head verb-form in vīrya's definition (kuśale cetaso 'bhyutsāhaḥ). 'Exerting itself toward' lands the active-at-an-object structure in 2026 American English; 'vigor for' tested as compacter but reads slightly archaic. Distinct from cetayate (cetanā's directing) and prerayati (the driving in cetanā's function-clause) — abhyutsāha names the lift-and-charge specifically. Entry 42.


sanskrit: praśrabdhi

rough: pliancy / tranquility / suppleness / ease

chosen: ease

why: Locked Entry 43. Defined as the workability (karmaṇyatā) of body and mind that arises when their heaviness (dauṣṭhulya) subsides. Technical śamatha weight — marker of meditative workability at the threshold of access concentration. 'Suppleness' tested and rejected (archaic, not real American English). 'Pliancy' the conventional Buddhist English but archaic-leaning. 'Tranquility' loses the workability dimension. 'Lightness' tested as opposing-pair to 'heaviness' but reads imbalanced. 'Ease' lands clean: in 2026 American English 'with ease' already carries both released-from-strain and capable-fluent. Matches Xuanzang T.1605's 安 (ease/peace). The function clause (dispelling all obstructions) keeps it from going soft. Function is karmikā alone — direct, not saṃniśraya-dāna. Sits with vīrya and the three wholesome roots in this pattern. DSBC has aśrabdhiḥ in the opening — OCR slip; silently corrected. Locked Entry 43.


sanskrit: karmaṇyatā

rough: workability / fitness-for-action

chosen: workability

why: The state of being fit-to-work. The structural noun ease (praśrabdhi) names: the released-and-ready quality of body and mind after heaviness subsides. The factor is the workable-state itself, not the calming-event — per the standing-factor discipline. Entry 43.


sanskrit: dauṣṭhulya

rough: coarseness / dysfunction / unworkability / heaviness

chosen: heaviness (provisional)

why: Provisional Entry 43 — flagged for revisit. The technical Yogācāra term for the unworkable karmic residue body and mind carry. Load-bearing across the system — the sluggish-unworkable load that āśraya-parāvṛtti (the substrate-turning) targets. Xuanzang renders 麁重 ('coarse-heavy'). 'Heaviness' carries the somatic-mental drag and pairs cleanly against ease/workability for the Entry 43 contrast. Declined: 'coarseness' (archaic, loses drag), 'dysfunction' (too clinical), 'difficulty' (flattens to generic obstacle, loses the somatic-load specificity). Open question: 'heaviness' may not carry the full technical weight when dauṣṭhulya fires in non-praśrabdhi contexts where its role in āśraya-parāvṛtti is structural. Revisit downstream.


sanskrit: apramāda

rough: non-heedlessness / heedfulness / vigilance / diligence

chosen: diligence (provisional)

why: Provisional Entry 44 — tied to vīrya's open question (if vīrya moves off zeal, diligence may need to move back to vīrya). Literally 'non-heedlessness' / 'non-intoxication.' Structurally a meta-factor: rests on the three wholesome roots (alobha, adveṣa, amoha) plus vīrya, and does two things — cultivates wholesome dharmas and guards mind from contaminated (sāsrava) dharmas. Function clause covers laukika and lokottara sampatti — the biggest scope in the wholesome eleven so far. Parallel construction to upekṣā (Entry 45) — Asaṅga structurally pairs apramāda and upekṣā as the wholesome eleven's meta-factors. 'Heedfulness' the conventional Buddhist English but archaic. 'Vigilance' biases the guarding side over the cultivation side. 'Conscientiousness' too administrative. 'Diligence' carries the steady-applied integrative quality and is free now that vīrya holds 'zeal.' Xuanzang T.1605 renders 不放逸 ('non-slackening'). Entry 44.


sanskrit: upekṣā

rough: letting-go / equanimity

chosen: equanimity

why: Locked Entry 45. Defined in three progressive stages of śamatha: citta-samatā (mind grows even — the effortful first stage), citta-praśaṭhatā (settles on its own — naturally relaxed middle), cittasya anābhoga-avasthitatā (rests without effort — the mind no longer needing the attention-turn move). The three nominatives stacked in the Sanskrit read as sequential stages; Xuanzang's 心平等性 / 心正直性 / 心無功用住性 confirms the order. Rests on the three wholesome roots + vīrya — parallel construction to apramāda (Entry 44), structurally pairing apramāda and upekṣā as the wholesome eleven's meta-factors. Function clause saṃkleśa-anavakāśa-saṃniśraya-dāna-karmikā collapses per §9 to 'keep affliction from finding an opening' — same pattern as the three wholesome roots' duścaritāpravṛtti clause. Xuanzang T.1605 renders 捨 ('letting-go'), emphasizing the release-aspect over the resulting evenness; both angles are true.


sanskrit: anābhoga

rough: non-bending-toward / non-exertion

chosen: without effort

why: Third stage of upekṣā in Entry 45. Structurally inverts ābhoga from Entry 29 (manaskāra as cetasa ābhogaḥ — 'the turning of the mind toward'). There, active turning; here, the absence of needing to turn. Same root, opposite valence. The mature mind in śamatha no longer needs the attention-turn move. 'Without effort' lands plainer than 'without exertion' in this register. Entry 45.


sanskrit: praśaṭhatā

rough: well-loosened / naturally-relaxed

chosen: settles on its own

why: Second stage of upekṣā in Entry 45. From pra-śratha (well-loosened, naturally relaxed) — not from śāṭhya (cunning). DSBC's reading. Xuanzang's 正直性 (uprightness) is a different angle on the same middle-stage release. 'Settles on its own' carries the naturally-relaxed quality and reads as the verb-feeling middle stage between 'grows even' (effortful first stage) and 'rests without effort' (third stage). Entry 45.