འདུ་བྱེད། | Glossary of Terms

The meaning of this term varies according to context. As one of the skandhas, it refers to various mental activities. In terms of the twelve phases of dependent origination, it is the second, “formation” or “creation,” referring to activities with karmic results.

The meaning of this term varies according to context; as one of the skandhas, it means “various mental activities.” In terms of the twelve phases of dependent origination it is the second, “formation” or “creation”: activities with karmic results.

Predispositions; conditioning (as in “conditioned existence”) in general; also the fourth aggregate, that of volition.

One of the five aggregates; formative forces concomitant with the production of karmic seeds causing future saṃsāric existence.

One of the five aggregates.

Fourth of the five aggregates, second of the twelve links of dependent origination, and in the context of the aggregates sometimes also called “volitions,” “volitional formations,” or “compositional factors,” these are complex propensities that bring about action.

One of the five aggregates; formative forces concomitant with the production of karmic seeds causing future samsaric existence.

The fourth of the five aggregates that constitute a living being (form, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness).

One of the five aggregates, they are formative forces concomitant with the production of karmic seeds causing future saṃsāric existence.

One of the five aggregates, second of the twelve links of dependent origination, and in the context of the aggregates sometimes also called “volitions,” “volitional formations,” or “compositional factors,” these are complex propensities that bring about action. This term may also refer to composite objects or conditioned things in the generic sense.

Factors involved in the perpetuation of conditioned existence; in the scheme of the twelve links of dependent origination, formations constitute the second link.

As one of the five aggregates and the second of the twelve links of dependent arising, these are complex propensities that bring about actions. This term may also refer to composite objects or conditioned things in the generic sense.

Patterns of karma involved in the perpetuation of conditioned existence; in the scheme of the twelve links of dependent origination, “formations” constitute the second link.

The second link of dependent arising. The fourth of the five aggregates.

In its most general usage this term refers to any phenomenon has been formed, conditioned, or dependently brought into being. It is this broad use of the term that is used in the Bhava­saṅkrānti­sūtra when King Bimbisāra asserts that “formations are empty” (UT22084-063-007-52). The same term is also used to describe the second of the twelve links of dependent origination (pratītya­samutpāda) and also the fourth of the five aggregates, where the term has a more specific usage related to those teachings.

The Sanskrit term saṃskāra varies according to context. It literally means something that “causes aggregation” or “causes to be put together.” In a general sense it refers to any phenomenon that comes into being on the basis of causes and conditions. In more specific usage it is also the term describing the fourth of the five aggregates and the second of the twelve links of dependent origination. Although both of these latter uses have their own technical contexts, in both cases the term carries a more active and volitional aspect and refers to the formative factors, mental volitions, and other supporting factors that perpetuate birth in saṃsāra.

Second of the twelve links of dependent origination. This term denotes the deep-seated predispositions inherited from past actions and experiences, some of which function in association with mind, while others do not. Formative predispositions are critical to the Buddhist understanding of the causal dynamics of karma and conditioning. It is the collection of such countless predispositions by afflicted mental states that constitutes the obscuration of misconceptions concerning the known range of phenomena, the total eradication of which occurs only when full enlightenment or buddhahood is achieved.

The fourth of the five aggregates.

Fourth of the five aggregates and the second of the twelve links of dependent origination. These are the formative factors, mental volitions, and other supporting factors that perpetuate future saṃsāric existence.

Fourth of the five aggregates and the second of the twelve links of dependent origination. These are the formative factors, mental volitions, and other supporting factors that perpetuate future saṃsāric existence.

In its broadest sense, the term saṁskāra includes all impermanent entities when understood as causes. The prefix sam is here understood as indicating “coming together” or “assembling,” while the root kṛ means “to produce,” “to create.”

Also translated here as “conditioning mental factors.”

This term refers to composite objects in the generic sense. In other contexts, it can also refer to “formations.”

Also translated here as “conditioned phenomena.”

The various conditioning factors and circumstances that affect rebirth, including primarily (but not only) karma. Formative factors also constitute one of the five aggregates and figure as one of the links in the twelve links of dependent arising to account for how karma eventually leads to rebirth.

Second of the twelve links of dependent origination. This term denotes the deep-seated predispositions inherited from past actions and experiences, some of which function in association with mind, while others do not. Formative predispositions are critical to the Buddhist understanding of the causal dynamics of karma and conditioning. It is the collection of such countless predispositions by afflicted mental states that constitutes the obscuration of misconceptions concerning the known range of phenomena, the total eradication of which occurs only when full awakening or buddhahood is achieved.

One of the five aggregates; the very subtle karmic tendencies that give shape to an individual’s saṃsāric experience. In Abhidharma literature there are typically fifty-one saṃskāras.

This term denotes the deep-seated predispositions inherited from past actions and experiences, some of which function in association with mind, while others do not. Karmic predispositions are critical to the Buddhist understanding of the causal dynamics of karma and conditioning. It is the collection of such countless predispositions by afflicted mental states that constitutes the obscuration of misconceptions concerning the known range of phenomena, the total eradication of which occurs only when full awakening or buddhahood is achieved.

The second of the twelve links of dependent origination. See “dependent origination.”

The meaning of this term varies according to context; as one of the skandhas it means the entire array of negative, positive, and neutral mental activities.

See “aggregate.”

The fourth of the five skandhas, often rendered as “formations,” “karmic formations,” or “volitional formations.” These are the very subtle karmic tendencies that shape an individual’s saṃsāric experience.