This glossary contains an alphabetical list of Buddhist terms that you may find on this website. Many of the terms now include phoneticized Sanskrit (Skt) as well as two forms of Tibetan—the phonetic version (Tib), which is a guide to pronunciation, and transliteration using the Wylie method (Wyl). Search for the term you want by entering it in the search box or browse through the listing by clicking on the letters below. Please see our Content Disclaimer regarding English terms in LYWA publications that may be outdated and should be considered in context.

mental factors

chaita (Skt); sem jung (Tib); sems byung (Wyl)

Literally arising from the mind, a mental factor is a cognition that apprehends an attribute of its object and accompanies any principal consciousness that is concordant with it. There are traditionally fifty-one mental factors divided into six groups: five omnipresent factors, five object-determining factors, eleven virtuous factors, six root delusions, twenty secondary delusions and four changeable factors.

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