<p>According to Bhante Vimalaramsi, &quot;samadhi&quot; was coined by the Buddha.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Now, the last factor--I've got a lot to say about that one--&quot;Right
Concentration.&quot; One of the observations that Rhys Davies made about
the word &quot;concentration&quot; (or &quot;samadhi&quot; in Pali) was that that word was
never used in the time of the Buddha. The Buddha made this word up to
describe a particular kind of mental development. But Rhys Davies,
because of his ignorance, called it &quot;concentration,&quot; and it's been
called &quot;concentration&quot; ever since. And any time anybody thinks about
&quot;concentration,&quot; they think about one-pointedness of mind. Because
there were a lot of practices that were being practiced during the
time of the Buddha, a lot of different kinds of meditation, and they
were all one-pointed concentration. The Buddha could have picked up
one of those other Pali words that meant one-pointed concentration,
but he didn't. He made up a word to describe something different. So
my definition of &quot;samadhi&quot; is &quot;collectedness.&quot; Collectedness has
stillness, calm, and composure.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.dhammatalks.net/Books/Ven_Vimalaramsi_Noble_Eightfold_Path_and_Visuddhimagga.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This is at the beginning of VIII. Harmonious Collectedness</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-21T11:53:04.053Z
2021-08-21T11:53:04.053Z
triplej
<p>At large, the Sublime Buddha used existing perceptions, words, and gave them deeper meaning, meaning, perceptions which lead to longer happines and beyond. &quot;Put things upright, which had been overthrow..&quot; Sure, there might be conjunctions before not used that way. But as english is rather void of using conjunctions and usually inflexible used, it's difficult to draw a simile here. Now the answer requires to trust that one understands the meaning of perception/remembering.</p>
<p>Another point in the teachings of the Buddha is a remarkable, often misunderstood: sequences of words with similar meaning, to simply match others perception clear. Many think that certain list carry different, seeking for seperate different, but actually it has simple such purpose, as well as using different words for same, same. Perceptions are different for each person. How one perceives (remembers), so does one think. Way to the understanding of Dhamma means to train oneself in useful perceptions, remember right, turn attention toward what is worth of attention.</p>
<p>Yet, what if not getting this point here 'baken' would have made any use of a question whether the Buddha was a word-inventor or not?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-28T14:21:38.197Z
2021-08-28T14:21:38.197Z
user21750
<p>The Buddha invented his own terms and defined them, using everyday words that already existed in the local dialects.</p>
<p>First, discussion on the language he used, is found in &quot;<a href="https://ocbs.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/authenticity.pdf" rel="noreferrer">The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts</a>&quot; by Bhikkhu Sujato and Bhikkhu Brahmali below. Pali is a constructed language that is closely related to the Buddha's original dialect (Magadhan Prakrit).</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Early generations of Indologists accepted the traditional  Theravādin
claim that Pali was the language of the Buddha. More recent linguistic
studies,however, show that Pali is in part an artificial language,
created some time after the Buddha [3, 140]. However, the differences
in language between Pali and the historically datable language of the
Asokan pillars are no more than minor phonetic changes that rarely, if
ever, affect the meaning of the content. <strong>In all probability a
similarly close relationship obtains between Pali and the historical
Buddha’s own dialect</strong> [2, 194] [9, 11].</p>
<p><strong>Moreover, the Buddha himself may have used varying dialects depending
on where he travelled [2, 190–191] [5, 99], and certainly his
disciples did: they were in fact encouraged to speak in their own
dialect.</strong> As Buddhism spread throughout Northern India, this diverging
use of language must eventually have led to a need for
standardisation, and this probably explains the introduction and
development of Pali. Alternatively, or perhaps complementarily, Pali
is related to a particular dialect in India from where the missions to
Sri Lanka originated. A number of scholars are of the opinion that the
West-Indian dialect associated with the Asokan rockedicts at Girnār
and Bombay-Sopārā are closely related to Pali [7, 73–74][9, 8–9]. The
precise age of Pali, therefore, does not have any bearing onthe age of
the contents of the EBTs.</p>
<p>Finally, there are no certain traces of Sinhalese influence on the
Pali EBTs [4, 246] [5, 102–103]. This suggests that the EBTs were in a
standardised form when they arrived in Sri Lanka around the time of
Asoka and that they are unlikely to have been changed after this. As
Wynne says: “If the language of the Pali canon is north Indian in
origin, and without substantial Sinhalese additions, it is likely that
the canon was composed somewhere in north India before its
introduction to Sri Lanka, and is therefore a source for the period of
Buddhism in Northern India before this” <a href="https://sujato.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/why-vitakka-doesnt-mean-thinking-in-jhana/" rel="noreferrer">2</a>, that is,before Asoka. In
contrast, Pali texts actually composed in Sri Lanka do show influence
from both Sinhalese and Dravidian [6, 6]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to Bhikkhu Bodhi (from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pali#Modern_scholarship" rel="noreferrer">here</a>):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Scholars regard this language (Pali) as a hybrid showing features of
several Prakrit dialects used around the third century BCE, subjected
to a partial process of Sanskritization. While the language is not
identical to what Buddha himself would have spoken, it belongs to the
same broad language family as those he might have used and originates
from the same conceptual matrix. This language thus reflects the
thought-world that the Buddha inherited from the wider Indian culture
into which he was born, so that its words capture the subtle nuances
of that thought-world.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Secondly, the Buddha forbade his disciples from using Sanskrit, the language of the royal court and of the Brahman clergy. Instead he wanted his disciples to use the local dialects of the common people. This can be found here, in the Theravada Vinaya, in <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe20/sbe20048.htm" rel="noreferrer">Cullavagga, fifth Khandaka, chapter 33</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>And so sitting those Bhikkhus spake to the Blessed One thus:</p>
<p>'At the present time, Lord, Bhikkhus, differing in name, differing in
lineage, differing in birth, differing in family, have gone forth
(from the world). These corrupt the word of the Buddhas by (repeating
it in) their own dialect. Let us, Lord, put the word of the Buddhas
into (Sanskrit) verse.'</p>
<p>'How can you, O foolish ones, speak thus, saying, &quot;Let us, Lord, put
the word of the Buddhas into verse?&quot; This will not conduce, O foolish
ones, either to the conversion of the unconverted, or to the increase
of the converted; but rather to those who have not been converted
being not converted, and to the turning back of those who have been
converted.'</p>
<p>And when the Blessed One had rebuked those Bhikkhus, and had delivered
a religious discourse, he addressed the Bhikkhus, and said:</p>
<p><strong>'You are not, O Bhikkhus, to put the word of the Buddhas into
(Sanskrit) verse. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkata. I
allow you, O Bhikkhus, to learn the word of the Buddhas each in his
own dialect.'</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Thirdly, the Buddha redefined words from ordinary language into technical terms with specific meaning, depending on context.</p>
<p>For e.g. &quot;dhamma&quot; could mean &quot;phenomena&quot; or &quot;thing&quot;, &quot;concept&quot;, &quot;teachings&quot; depending on context.</p>
<p>And &quot;sankhara&quot; also means different things depending on context, as seen in <a href="https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/12691/471">this question</a>.</p>
<p>The five aggregates (rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara, vinnana) are defined in <a href="https://suttacentral.net/sn22.79/en/bodhi" rel="noreferrer">SN 22.79</a>.</p>
<p>The world or &quot;loka&quot; is discussed in <a href="https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/45355/471">this question</a>.</p>
<p>The All or &quot;sabba&quot; is discussed in <a href="https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/30382/471">this question</a>.</p>
<p>Heedfulness or &quot;appamada&quot; is discussed in <a href="https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/22181/471">this question</a>.</p>
<p>Noble or &quot;ariya&quot; is discussed in <a href="https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/41811/471">this question</a>.</p>
<p>Another one is &quot;ahara&quot; (nutriment) is defined in <a href="https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.011.than.html" rel="noreferrer">SN 12.11</a> and many more.</p>
<p>This is explained by Bhikkhu Sujato in <a href="https://sujato.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/why-vitakka-doesnt-mean-thinking-in-jhana/" rel="noreferrer">his blog entry</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If we look closely at the terms in the jhana formula, then, we find
that <strong>they are words that have a more coarse physical or psychological
meaning in everyday language. They are common words that everyone can
understand, and can relate to their own experience. And in every
single case, they clearly have a more subtle, abstract, evolved
meaning</strong> in the context of jhana. We have moved from the ordinary mind
to the ‘higher mind’, and everything about the experience is
transformed.</p>
<p>So, for example, the first word in the formula is viveka. This
normally means physical seclusion; going away from others into the
forest or a solitary spot. In jhana, however, it refers to a mental
seclusion, where the mind turns away from the senses and withdraws
into itself. The Pali texts make this distinction clear, as elsewhere
they speak of three kinds of seclusion: physical, mental (i.e. the
jhanas), and seclusion from all attachments (Awakening).</p>
<p>The next word in the formula is kama. In ordinary language this means
the pleasures of life, especially sex, but also food, drink, luxuries,
and other pleasures of the senses. In jhana, however, it has a more
subtle nuance, referring to the mind that inclines to taking pleasure
in any experience through the five senses.</p>
<p>Then there is the word akusala. Normally this means ‘unskilful’, as,
for example, someone who is no good at a certain craft. One who is
kusala, on the other hand, is clever and adroit. In the jhana formula,
however, kusala includes any tendency of the mind that creates
suffering.</p>
<p>Similarly there is the word dhamma, which is what akusala qualifies.
Dhamma in ordinary language has a variety of meanings, such as ‘law’,
‘custom’, and so on. In jhana, however, it takes on a far more subtle
meaning, that is, any object, quality, or tendency of the mind. The
akusala-dhammas, or ‘unskilful qualities’, especially refer to the
five hindrances which must be abandoned before entering jhana.</p>
<p>And so on. I could go on through the entire jhana formula and show how
<strong>each word is related to, but abstracted from, its more concrete
everyday basis, its ‘metaphier’</strong>. But I think that’s enough examples.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T10:43:18.673Z
I gave you a downvote in response to the portion of your answer that quotes Sujato's misinterpretation of vitakka.  No serious scholar of Early Buddhism interprets vitakka that way aside from he and B. Analayo.
frankk
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T12:16:21.500Z
Apart from or as well as reusing everyday words, I expect that the Pali canon used new "compound" words created using combinations of existing root words (like the English words "automobile" or "skyscraper)".
ChrisW
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T12:43:23.487Z
@frankk I have removed all direct references to vitakka in the answer.
ruben2020
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T12:46:49.343Z
@ChrisW Do you have examples of new compound words?
ruben2020
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T15:20:12.060Z
Well *ariyasacca* for example -- "Noble Truth" -- I think that a lot of Pali words are compound words. I don't know if they were all new, but they might be (and I expect so).
ChrisW
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-17T20:49:36.140Z
Curious about the choice for (the invention) of Pali instead of Magadhan Prakrit and how this came about
vimutti
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-07-13T07:02:53.223Z
2021-07-14T03:35:26.153Z
2021-07-14T03:35:26.153Z
ruben2020
<p>A person told me that the Buddha coined certain words as part of his teachings. I don't remember which words, but perhaps &quot;samadhi&quot; was one of them.</p>
<p>Is there any evidence the Buddha invented new words? If so, do we know which ones?</p>

<the-buddha><history><pali-language><pali>
Did the Buddha invent any words?
# Did the Buddha invent any words?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-07-12)

A person told me that the Buddha coined certain words as part of his teachings. I don't remember which words, but perhaps "samadhi" was one of them.

Is there any evidence the Buddha invented new words? If so, do we know which ones?

**Tags:** the-buddha, history, pali-language, pali


---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2021-07-13. Score: 5

The Buddha invented his own terms and defined them, using everyday words that already existed in the local dialects.

First, discussion on the language he used, is found in "[The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts](https://ocbs.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/authenticity.pdf)" by Bhikkhu Sujato and Bhikkhu Brahmali below. Pali is a constructed language that is closely related to the Buddha's original dialect (Magadhan Prakrit).

> Early generations of Indologists accepted the traditional Theravādin
> claim that Pali was the language of the Buddha. More recent linguistic
> studies,however, show that Pali is in part an artificial language,
> created some time after the Buddha [3, 140]. However, the differences
> in language between Pali and the historically datable language of the
> Asokan pillars are no more than minor phonetic changes that rarely, if
> ever, affect the meaning of the content. **In all probability a
> similarly close relationship obtains between Pali and the historical
> Buddha’s own dialect** [2, 194] [9, 11].
>
> **Moreover, the Buddha himself may have used varying dialects depending
> on where he travelled [2, 190–191] [5, 99], and certainly his
> disciples did: they were in fact encouraged to speak in their own
> dialect.** As Buddhism spread throughout Northern India, this diverging
> use of language must eventually have led to a need for
> standardisation, and this probably explains the introduction and
> development of Pali. Alternatively, or perhaps complementarily, Pali
> is related to a particular dialect in India from where the missions to
> Sri Lanka originated. A number of scholars are of the opinion that the
> West-Indian dialect associated with the Asokan rockedicts at Girnār
> and Bombay-Sopārā are closely related to Pali [7, 73–74][9, 8–9]. The
> precise age of Pali, therefore, does not have any bearing onthe age of
> the contents of the EBTs.
>
> Finally, there are no certain traces of Sinhalese influence on the
> Pali EBTs [4, 246] [5, 102–103]. This suggests that the EBTs were in a
> standardised form when they arrived in Sri Lanka around the time of
> Asoka and that they are unlikely to have been changed after this. As
> Wynne says: “If the language of the Pali canon is north Indian in
> origin, and without substantial Sinhalese additions, it is likely that
> the canon was composed somewhere in north India before its
> introduction to Sri Lanka, and is therefore a source for the period of
> Buddhism in Northern India before this” [2](https://sujato.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/why-vitakka-doesnt-mean-thinking-in-jhana/), that is,before Asoka. In
> contrast, Pali texts actually composed in Sri Lanka do show influence
> from both Sinhalese and Dravidian [6, 6]

According to Bhikkhu Bodhi (from [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pali#Modern_scholarship)):

> Scholars regard this language (Pali) as a hybrid showing features of
> several Prakrit dialects used around the third century BCE, subjected
> to a partial process of Sanskritization. While the language is not
> identical to what Buddha himself would have spoken, it belongs to the
> same broad language family as those he might have used and originates
> from the same conceptual matrix. This language thus reflects the
> thought-world that the Buddha inherited from the wider Indian culture
> into which he was born, so that its words capture the subtle nuances
> of that thought-world.

Secondly, the Buddha forbade his disciples from using Sanskrit, the language of the royal court and of the Brahman clergy. Instead he wanted his disciples to use the local dialects of the common people. This can be found here, in the Theravada Vinaya, in [Cullavagga, fifth Khandaka, chapter 33](http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe20/sbe20048.htm):

> And so sitting those Bhikkhus spake to the Blessed One thus:
>
> 'At the present time, Lord, Bhikkhus, differing in name, differing in
> lineage, differing in birth, differing in family, have gone forth
> (from the world). These corrupt the word of the Buddhas by (repeating
> it in) their own dialect. Let us, Lord, put the word of the Buddhas
> into (Sanskrit) verse.'
>
> 'How can you, O foolish ones, speak thus, saying, "Let us, Lord, put
> the word of the Buddhas into verse?" This will not conduce, O foolish
> ones, either to the conversion of the unconverted, or to the increase
> of the converted; but rather to those who have not been converted
> being not converted, and to the turning back of those who have been
> converted.'
>
> And when the Blessed One had rebuked those Bhikkhus, and had delivered
> a religious discourse, he addressed the Bhikkhus, and said:
>
> **'You are not, O Bhikkhus, to put the word of the Buddhas into
> (Sanskrit) verse. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkata. I
> allow you, O Bhikkhus, to learn the word of the Buddhas each in his
> own dialect.'**

Thirdly, the Buddha redefined words from ordinary language into technical terms with specific meaning, depending on context.

For e.g. "dhamma" could mean "phenomena" or "thing", "concept", "teachings" depending on context.

And "sankhara" also means different things depending on context, as seen in [this question](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/12691/471).

The five aggregates (rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhara, vinnana) are defined in [SN 22.79](https://suttacentral.net/sn22.79/en/bodhi).

The world or "loka" is discussed in [this question](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/45355/471).

The All or "sabba" is discussed in [this question](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/30382/471).

Heedfulness or "appamada" is discussed in [this question](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/22181/471).

Noble or "ariya" is discussed in [this question](https://buddhism.stackexchange.com/q/41811/471).

Another one is "ahara" (nutriment) is defined in [SN 12.11](https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn12/sn12.011.than.html) and many more.

This is explained by Bhikkhu Sujato in [his blog entry](https://sujato.wordpress.com/2012/12/06/why-vitakka-doesnt-mean-thinking-in-jhana/):

> If we look closely at the terms in the jhana formula, then, we find
> that **they are words that have a more coarse physical or psychological
> meaning in everyday language. They are common words that everyone can
> understand, and can relate to their own experience. And in every
> single case, they clearly have a more subtle, abstract, evolved
> meaning** in the context of jhana. We have moved from the ordinary mind
> to the ‘higher mind’, and everything about the experience is
> transformed.
>
> So, for example, the first word in the formula is viveka. This
> normally means physical seclusion; going away from others into the
> forest or a solitary spot. In jhana, however, it refers to a mental
> seclusion, where the mind turns away from the senses and withdraws
> into itself. The Pali texts make this distinction clear, as elsewhere
> they speak of three kinds of seclusion: physical, mental (i.e. the
> jhanas), and seclusion from all attachments (Awakening).
>
> The next word in the formula is kama. In ordinary language this means
> the pleasures of life, especially sex, but also food, drink, luxuries,
> and other pleasures of the senses. In jhana, however, it has a more
> subtle nuance, referring to the mind that inclines to taking pleasure
> in any experience through the five senses.
>
> Then there is the word akusala. Normally this means ‘unskilful’, as,
> for example, someone who is no good at a certain craft. One who is
> kusala, on the other hand, is clever and adroit. In the jhana formula,
> however, kusala includes any tendency of the mind that creates
> suffering.
>
> Similarly there is the word dhamma, which is what akusala qualifies.
> Dhamma in ordinary language has a variety of meanings, such as ‘law’,
> ‘custom’, and so on. In jhana, however, it takes on a far more subtle
> meaning, that is, any object, quality, or tendency of the mind. The
> akusala-dhammas, or ‘unskilful qualities’, especially refer to the
> five hindrances which must be abandoned before entering jhana.
>
> And so on. I could go on through the entire jhana formula and show how
> **each word is related to, but abstracted from, its more concrete
> everyday basis, its ‘metaphier’**. But I think that’s enough examples.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: I gave you a downvote in response to the portion of your answer that quotes Sujato's misinterpretation of vitakka.  No serious scholar of Early Buddhism interprets vitakka that way aside from he and B. Analayo.  
> **username_4**: Apart from or as well as reusing everyday words, I expect that the Pali canon used new "compound" words created using combinations of existing root words (like the English words "automobile" or "skyscraper)".  
> **username_2**: @username_3 I have removed all direct references to vitakka in the answer.  
> **username_2**: @username_4 Do you have examples of new compound words?  
> **username_4**: Well *ariyasacca* for example -- "Noble Truth" -- I think that a lot of Pali words are compound words. I don't know if they were all new, but they might be (and I expect so).  
> **username_5**: Curious about the choice for (the invention) of Pali instead of Magadhan Prakrit and how this came about  

---

### Answer by username_0 on 2021-08-21. Score: 1

According to Bhante Vimalaramsi, "samadhi" was coined by the Buddha.

> Now, the last factor--I've got a lot to say about that one--"Right
> Concentration." One of the observations that Rhys Davies made about
> the word "concentration" (or "samadhi" in Pali) was that that word was
> never used in the time of the Buddha. The Buddha made this word up to
> describe a particular kind of mental development. But Rhys Davies,
> because of his ignorance, called it "concentration," and it's been
> called "concentration" ever since. And any time anybody thinks about
> "concentration," they think about one-pointedness of mind. Because
> there were a lot of practices that were being practiced during the
> time of the Buddha, a lot of different kinds of meditation, and they
> were all one-pointed concentration. The Buddha could have picked up
> one of those other Pali words that meant one-pointed concentration,
> but he didn't. He made up a word to describe something different. So
> my definition of "samadhi" is "collectedness." Collectedness has
> stillness, calm, and composure.

[This is at the beginning of VIII. Harmonious Collectedness](https://www.dhammatalks.net/Books/Ven_Vimalaramsi_Noble_Eightfold_Path_and_Visuddhimagga.htm)


---

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-08-28. Score: 0

At large, the Sublime Buddha used existing perceptions, words, and gave them deeper meaning, meaning, perceptions which lead to longer happines and beyond. "Put things upright, which had been overthrow.." Sure, there might be conjunctions before not used that way. But as english is rather void of using conjunctions and usually inflexible used, it's difficult to draw a simile here. Now the answer requires to trust that one understands the meaning of perception/remembering.

Another point in the teachings of the Buddha is a remarkable, often misunderstood: sequences of words with similar meaning, to simply match others perception clear. Many think that certain list carry different, seeking for seperate different, but actually it has simple such purpose, as well as using different words for same, same. Perceptions are different for each person. How one perceives (remembers), so does one think. Way to the understanding of Dhamma means to train oneself in useful perceptions, remember right, turn attention toward what is worth of attention.

Yet, what if not getting this point here 'baken' would have made any use of a question whether the Buddha was a word-inventor or not?


---

