Abhimāna

abhimāna (T. mngon pa'i nga rgyal མངོན་པའི་ང་རྒྱལ་) is a type of arrogance (māna) that thinks one has attained qualities or spiritual accomplishments that one has not attained.

StudyBuddhism states:

False or anticipatory arrogance or arrogance of showing off (mngon-par nga-rgyal) is a puffed-up mind that feels I have attained some quality that I have not actually attained or not yet attained; or thinking one has achievements when one has achieved nothing.^[1]

Tsepak Rigdzin states:

Presumptuous pride [is] a feeling that you have realized something, or that you know something, when actually you do not.^[2]

The Khenjuk states:

Presumptuous conceit is to think, "I have attained the higher virtues!" without having attained them.^[3]

According to the Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, this refers to thinking one has attained supranormal powers (abhijna), high meditative states (dhyana) or other spiritual accomplishments, when one has not attained these goals.^[4]^[5]

According to the monastic code of conduct (Vinaya), this type of arrogance or haughtiness is a serious transgression of one's vows.^[4]

References

↑ Berzin, s.v. Mental factors.
↑ ང་རྒྱལ་བདུན་, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
↑ Mipham Rinpoche 2000, s.v. Chapter 13, line 60.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Buswell & Lopez 2014, s.v. adhimāna.
↑ Note: Buswell and Lopez label this term as adhimāna; this page is following the Tibetan sources such as the Steinert dictionary in their definitions for Tibetan term མངོན་པའི་ང་རྒྱལ་ (which these sources translate as abhimāna).