Sankhara: “Formation”; the formative element in kamma, which determines and shapes one’s next existence.

Sutta: A religious discourse. Sanskrit: Sutra.

Tanha: The “craving” or “desire” which is the most powerful cause of suffering.

Tapas: Asceticism; self-mortification.

Tathagata: “Thus Gone,” the title given to the Buddha after enlightenment, sometimes translated as “the Perfect One.”

Tipitaka: Literally “Three Baskets,” the three main divisions of the Pali Canon.

Upadana: “Clinging,” attachment; it is etymologically related to upadi, fuel.

Uposatha: The days of fasting and abstinence in the Vedic tradition.

Upanisad: The esoteric texts that developed a mystical and spiritualized understanding of the Vedas, and which would form the basis of Hinduism.

Vassa: The retreat during the monsoon rains from June to September.

Veda: The inspired texts, recited and interpreted by the brahmins, in the Aryan religious system.

Vinaya: The monastic code of the Buddhist Order; one of the “Three Baskets” of the Tipitaka.

Vaisya: The third caste of farmers and stockbreeders in the Aryan system.

Vasana: The subconscious activities of the mind.

Yama: The “prohibitions” observed by yogins and ascetics, who were forbidden to steal, lie, have sex, take intoxicants or to kill or harm another being.

Yoga: The discipline of “yoking” the powers of the mind in order to cultivate alternative states of consciousness and insight.

Yogin: A practitioner of yoga.

Karen Armstrong

"I say that religion isn't about believing things. It's ethical alchemy. It's about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness."

Karen Armstrong is one of the most provocative, original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world. Armstrong is a former Roman Catholic nun who left a British convent to pursue a degree in modern literature at Oxford. In 1982 she wrote a book about her seven years in the convent, Through the Narrow Gate, that angered and challenged Catholics worldwide; her recent book The Spiral Staircase discusses her subsequent spiritual awakening after leaving the convent, when she began to develop her iconoclastic take on the great monotheistic religions.

She has written more than 20 books around the ideas of what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and around their effect on world events, including the magisterial A History of God and Holy War: The Crusades and Their Impact on Today's World. Her latest book is The Bible: A Biography. Her meditations on personal faith and religion (she calls herself a freelance monotheist) spark discussion – especially her take on fundamentalism, which she sees in a historical context, as an outgrowth of modern culture.

In the post-9/11 world, she is a powerful voice for ecumenical understanding.