Appamāda
Apramāda is a Buddhist term translated as 'conscientious' or 'concern'. It is defined as taking great care concerning what should be adopted and what should be avoided. In the Pāli Canon, a collection of the Buddha's earliest teachings, the term appamāda is quite significant; the essence of its meaning cannot be captured with a single English word. 'Heedfulness', 'diligence', and 'conscientiousness' all capture certain aspects of appamāda. It is identified as one of the eleven virtuous mental factors in the Mahayana Abhidharma teachings.
Etymology
Appamāda is a negation of pamāda, which means 'negligent' or 'lax'. Therefore, Appamāda means 'non-negligence', 'non-laxity', 'non-intoxication', 'non-deluded', correctly translated as 'heedfulness', or whichever word fully captures the sense of the term. 'Heedfulness', 'diligence', and 'conscientiousness' all capture certain aspects of appamāda.Explanation
The Buddhist text Abhidharma-samuccaya states the following:The scholar Alexander Berzin comments on carefulness:
The scholar Robert Thurman emphasizes the high degree of apramāda of a person who has realized emptiness :
The term is described at length in the fourth chapter of the Buddhist text Bodhicharyavatara.