Glossary
Abstinence:refraining by one’s own choice
Acceptance: to regard as true; to believe
Ahimsa: non-injury
Allah: God’s name of essential being in Islam
Amends: compensation; reparation, payment made in satisfaction for insult, injury or loss
Ananda: bliss
Anatta: no-thingness; no-self; nothing has a discrete, unchanging and everlasting essence
Anicca: impermanence; nothing is permanent
Arjuna: seeker of truth in Bhagavad Gita
Asana: a Hatha Yoga pose
Atman: the Eternal light of consciousness that illumines the mind
Avidya/Avijja: ignorance; the root cause of all suffering
Bhakti: devotion; love of god
Big Book: the text of the Twelve Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous written in 1939 by its members. It explains the Twelve Steps and how they work, as well as containing personal stories which illustrate addiction-related problems and solutions
Brahman: the Absolute One
C
Character Defects: behaviors and attitudes which create difficulty in our lives, such as pride, impatience, intolerance, envy, jealousy, selfishness, self-pity, self-centeredness, arrogance, sloth, dishonesty, lust, greed and anger
Compassion: empathy with the pain and suffering of all sentient beings
Consciousness: awareness
Dharma: the collective teachings of the Buddha
Dhikr: remembrance of Allah with repetitive phrases
Dhyana: meditation
Dukkha: dissatisfaction or suffering; desire for conditions to be different
Fellowship: a group of people with common interests, experiences or and/or purpose.
Hadith: Collection of Muhammad’s sayings; the highest authority after the Qur’an
Hafiz: one who memorizes the Qur’an
Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca
Imam: spiritual leader in a local mosque
Islam: submission to the will of Allah
Guru: spiritual guide
Japa: mantra repetition
Jnana: wisdom; knowledge
K
Ka’aba: the “house of Allah”; a square building in Mecca which Muslims turn towards for prayer; it is believed to have been given to Gabriel and built by Abraham and Ishmael
Karma: action and reaction
Karma Yoga: performing acts of selfless service
Mahayana: “the greater vehicle”; one of the three major branches of Buddhism; the other two being Theravada and Vajrayana
Mantra: “that which makes the mind steady”; sound formula for meditation
Maya: illusion
Mecca: the birthplace of Muhammad in Saudi Arabia: the site of the hajj (pilgrimage)
Minaret: the prayer tower in the Mosque where the muezzin calls the rakats (prayer ritual)
Mindfulness: purposeful attention to an object; momentary absorption
Minyan: a quorum of ten
Moksha: liberation
Muezzin: leader who calls Muslims to prayer five times daily
Muhammad: Allah’s final and greatest prophet
Nirvana: state of liberation
OM: cosmic sound of vibration
Pali: scriptural and liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism
Prana: the vital energy
Qur’an: the collected texts of Allah’s revelation to Muhammad
Principle: a rule or code of conduct.
Raja Yoga: path of concentration and meditation based on ethics and control of the mind
Ramadan: the ninth month in the lunar calendar which commemorates the giving of the Qur’an to Muhammad
S
Sadhana: spiritual practice
Salat: the five prescribed daily prayers of Muslims
Samadhi: single-focused concentration
Samsara: endless cycle of suffering through repeated rebirths
Sangha: a Buddhist community
Sawm: fasting during Ramadan, one of the five pillars of Islam
Serenity: the state of being serene, calm or tranquil
Sponsee: Someone who is coached through the 12-Step program by a more experienced person.
Sponsor: Someone who assumes the responsibility to coach another through the 12-Steps
Sura: a chapter in the Qur’an
Theraveda: the doctrine or way of the Elders; one of the three branches of Buddhism, the others being Mahayana and Vajrayana
Vipassana: insight: knowledge of the true nature of things which is impermanence
Wudu: ablution before Islamic prayer
Yoga: paths to self-transformation
Zakat: almsgiving, Muslims give 1/40th of their worth