Jack Kornfield is one of America’s first vipassana meditation teachers. After a stint in Southeast Asia, Jack Kornfield stayed on in Thailand to study with the Buddhist forest monk Achaan Chaa. In 1976, Kornfield teamed up with Joseph Goldstein to serve as one of the lead instructors for the newly founded Insight Meditation Center in Barre, Massachusetts. By 1985, Kornfield had moved to the west coast, joining others to start the Spirit Rock Center in California.

A sutra is a text containing religious teachings. In the Buddhist tradition, sutras constitute one of the three canonical categories of teachings: vinaya (code of discipline), abhidharma (metaphysics), and sutra (discourses). This last category covers those texts that are said to record the sermons given by the Buddha and events that occurred in his presence. Such texts are usually introduced by the phrase “Thus have I heard.”

Avalokiteshvara is the bodhisattva who looks down with compassion upon the suffering of all beings. In East Asia, this bodhisattva came to be popular in female form as Guanyin (China), Kannon (Japan) or Kwan Um (Korea), holding a willow branch and vase symbolic of her miraculous healing power. In Tibet, Avalokiteshvara is known as Chenrezig; each Dalai Lama is regarded as the reincarnation of Chenrezig.

The term dao (or tao) literally the “path,” or “way,” has been employed in Chinese religious and philosophical traditions, including Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. In general usage, the Tao refers to the proper way to act so as to fulfill one’s true role in the world. In Daoism, dao points to the ineffable creative process which gives birth to heaven, earth, and the myriad creatures. The Dao is invisible, inaudible, and subtle, though it is not separate from the sights, sounds and objects of this world. It is that which leads from... Read more about Dao

Karmapa is the title conferred upon the head monk of the Karma Kagyu sect of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism. The term karmapa, “man of action,” is derived from the Sanskrit karma (action) and Tibetan pa (man). Each successive Karmapa is understood to be a new incarnation of Chenrezig, the bodhisattva of compassion. The 16th Karmapa, His Holiness the Gyalwa Karmapa, established a North American center in Woodstock, New York in 1978.

Padmasambhava is a Buddhist monk and sage considered the father of Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet who reportedly journeyed from India to the “Land of Snow” during the 9th century. He initially came to subdue the local deities which had been obstructing the building of Samye, the region’s first major monastery. Once he converted the local deities to Buddhism, Padmasambhava is said to have traveled throughout Tibet to teach Vajrayana doctrines. Many Tibetans consider him to still be alive and accessible to those of high spiritual attainment.

The Caodong school of Chan Buddhism was founded in China the 9th century. Dogen introduced Soto (the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese graphs for Caodong) to Japan in the 13th century, where it quickly developed into one of the preeminent schools. In Soto Zen, the main form of practice is “just sitting,” in which one strives to erase the rigid categories associated with language so that the mind’s natural ability to illumine reality can shine forth.

(also: Ch'an master; roshi; sensei) Because the Chan (Zen) tradition eschews traditional Buddhist textual, institutional, and ethical guides for the attainment of Buddhahood, the master has a critically important role in directing his or her students along the right path. The Japanese Zen tradition distinguishes between the sensei, or teacher, and roshi, or venerable teacher, the latter requiring years of additional experience for its attainment.

Amitabha Buddha, called Emituofo in China and Amida in Japan, is the Buddha of “Infinite Light.” This Buddha is the main focus of devotion in the Pure Land school of Chinese Buddhism, and the Pure Land (Shin) and True Pure Land (Jodo Shinshu) schools of Buddhism in Japan. This Buddha presides over Sukhavati, the Western Pure Land where anyone can be reborn by reciting his name with complete sincerity and concentration.

Chua is the Vietnamese term for temple. The Buddhist temples of Southeast Asia are distinctive in that the monastery and temple complex form a single institution.

Inka means “public seal.” In the Japanese Zen and Korean Son traditions, it refers to the certification that a student has successfully mastered gongan (koan) practice.

A nun is a woman who renounces worldly life and is ordinarily a member of a monastic order or community, thereby undertaking a special commitment to study, service, asceticism, prayer, or disciplined spiritual practice. In the Buddhist tradition, fully ordained nuns are called bhikkhunis, those who beg alms, depending upon the laity for their food and support. The early lineage of bhikkhunis died out long ago in the Theravada traditions of South Asia, but was preserved in the Mahayana traditions of East Asia where nuns outnumber monks today in Hong Kong and Taiwan. In the Jain tradition,... Read more about nun

Sitting is a general term used to refer to the most common meditation practice in the Buddhist tradition: establishing a sitting posture, often in a cross-legged lotus or half-lotus position, with spine erect, and bringing the body to stillness. Sitting also refers to a specified period of meditation, such as twenty minutes or an hour.

A wat (Thai) or watt (Cambodian) is a Buddhist temple-monastic complex. Thai and Cambodian temples typically have two sections, one in which both monks and laity worship the Buddha, and the other reserved for the monastic community. The former typically includes a reliquary tower and one or more image halls for religious observances. The monastic area will include living quarters, classrooms, business offices, and meditation rooms. The temple complex may also have a library, a Bodhi Tree, and guardian lions or serpents to protect the entrance.

Buddhist temples differ considerably from one another depending upon culture and particular school, but most are associated with the residence of the sangha of monks. Theravada temples focus on one or more images of Sakyamuni Buddha. In Mahayana and Vajrayana temples, Sakyamuni will be accompanied by a variety of bodhisattvas and other Buddhas.