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Revision as of 18:24, 18 February 2026
Glossary
A compendium of key terms related to bodhicitta and Śāntideva's works
placement meditation
འཇོག་སྒོམ་'jog sgomस्थाप्यभावना
Basic Meaning:
This is the meditation of directly observing the mind without engaging in any analytical or intellectual activity. (Thrangu Rinpoche, Transcending Ego, 102).
Has the sense of:
Also called Settling meditation (Skt. sthāpyabhāvanā; Tib. འཇོག་སྒོམ་, jokgom or jok gom, Wyl. 'jog sgom) — the counterpart of analytical meditation. The practice of settling or resting the mind, which is alternated with periods of analysis or visualization.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche says: "Whenever we reach a conclusion, or simply get tired, we just remain, settled in peace. This part is a little like shamatha." (Source: Rigpa Wiki)
"In placement meditation one goes directly into deep Shamatha meditation and then one "looks at mind" directly without any analysis and perceives its emptiness." (Thrangu Rinpoche, Transcending Ego, 86).Tibetan Noun
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abhidharma
अभिधर्मཆོས་མངོན་པ།chos mngon pa阿毗达磨
Basic Meaning:
Abhidharma generally refers to the corpus of Buddhist texts which deals with the typological, phenomenological, metaphysical, and epistemological presentation of Buddhist concepts and teachings. The abhidharma teachings present a meta-knowledge of Buddhist sūtras through analytical and systemic schemas and are said to focus on developing wisdom among the three principles of training. The Abhidharma is presented alongside Sūtra and Vinaya as one of the three baskets of the teachings of the Buddha.
Has the sense of:
The term has the sense of making knowledge and meaning manifest through intelligent analysis and systematic presentation.
Sanskrit Noun
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actualized enlightenment
始覺
Basic Meaning:
Actualized enlightenment is enlightenment that is attained through practice. It is contrasted with original enlightenment, which is the mind's innate purity in its natural state. Ultimately, there is no difference between them. Because of the presence of ignorance, sentient beings are blind to their true nature. By removing that ignorance, one actualizes enlightenment.
Has the sense of:
Enlightenment attained through practice.
Chinese Noun
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nonduality
अद्वयགཉིས་མེད་gnyis med不二
Basic Meaning:
Literally, "without duality," it refers to that which is indivisible, in that it is not divided into two.
Has the sense of:
Often used to reference the ultimate truth, which is beyond dualistic conceptions such as subject and object and so forth.
Sanskrit Adjective
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immaculate consciousness
dri ma med pa'i rnam shes啊摩羅識 and 無垢識
Basic Meaning:
The ninth consciousness, the immaculate pure mind.
Has the sense of:
According to East Asian Yogācāra, the absolute purity of mind of a buddha. While the Sanskrit term appears in Vasubandhu's Abidharmakośa and the accompanying Bhaṣya, the term as it is used in the sense of pure consciousness was first used in Chinese by Paramārtha and then expanded and changed by later Chinese Yogācāra writers. While Paramārtha associated it with thusness and used it to refer to a catalyst for enlightenment, it has come to refer to a ninth consciousness which only appears when the ālayavijñāna, the eighth consciousness, ceases. As such, it is pure, luminous, and permanent. Some writers, however, have equated it to the pure aspect of the ālayavijñāna, as well as with prakṛtiprabhāsvaracitta (the absolute purity of mind), tathāgatagarbha, and even emptiness.
Simplified English Usage:
At the moment of enlightenment, the eighth consciousness ceases, replaced by the ninth, the immaculate consciousness of a buddha.
Sanskrit Noun
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inference
अनुमानརྗེས་དཔག་rjes dpag比量
Basic Meaning:
a form of conceptual cognition that does not apprehend its object directly, but by using logical signs and valid reasons to infer the existence of more subtle phenomena that are not immediately accessible to our sense consciousnesses
Has the sense of:
a conceptual cognition that uses evidence and reasoning to imply or infer the existence of phenomena not directly manifest to us
Sanskrit Noun
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Anuyoga and Subsequent Yoga
अनुयोगཨ་ནུ་ཡོ་གanu yo ga
Basic Meaning:
The second set of the three inner tantras and the eighth of the nine vehicles according to the Nyingma tradition. Anuyoga includes many yogini tantras and focuses on the Completion Stage practices of sacred channels, energies and essential fluids and espouses the actualisation of empty bliss.
Has the sense of:
Anuyoga is generally associated with lung (ལུང་) or doctrinal teachings, wisdom aspect of the path and female tantras.
Sanskrit School
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selflessness
अनात्मन्བདག་མེད་པ་bdag med pa无我
Basic Meaning:
The nonexistence of the self as a permanent, unchanging entity.
Has the sense of:
A key feature of the Buddha's teachings that stood in direct contrast to the mainstream Indian religious-philosophical notion of an eternal self, or ātman.
Sanskrit Noun
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arhat
अर्हत्དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།dgra bcom阿羅漢
Basic Meaning:
A person who has reached nirvāṇa by eliminating the three poisons of attachment, hatred and ignorance having followed the path of seeking individual liberation as a Śrāvaka or a Pratyekabuddha. An arhat, thus, is a person who has overcome the cause of rebirth in the cycle of existence and will not take an ordinary birth again.
Has the sense of:
The term arhat refers to someone worthy of veneration as well as someone who has overcome the enemies of aversion, attachment, and so on. The Tibetan translation (དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ་“drajompa”) has the latter meaning as arhats are said to have defeated the foes of defiling emotions. Specifically, they are said to have defeated the four maras.
Sanskrit Noun
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Utmost Yoga
अतियोगཨ་ཏི་ཡོ་ག and ཤིན་ཏུ་རྣལ་འབྱོར།ati yoga and shin tu rnal 'byor
Basic Meaning:
A system of esoteric thought and practice associated with the Nyingma tradition and equivalent to Great Perfection, it is considered as the pinnacle of the nine vehicles or paths one can follow to reach Buddhahood. The system focusses on the pure, luminous and empty nature of the mind as the ground reality which must be realised through the path of trekchö and thögal practice.
Has the sense of:
Atiyoga is considered to be the highest yoga or path which can help attain Buddhahood very swiftly and easily by simply realising that all phenomena are expressions of the primordial wisdom.
Sanskrit School
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ignorance
अविद्याམ་རིག་པ་ma rig pa無明
Basic Meaning:
Literally "unknowing," it refers to a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of the nature of reality. As such, it is considered to be the root cause of suffering and the basis for the arising of all other negative mental factors.
Has the sense of:
This term can have different meanings and connotations depending on the context. Especially among Tibetan traditions such as the Nyingma, in which rig pa, usually translated as awareness, became a key concept, its opposite, ma rig pa, references the state in which that awareness is not recognized. In this context, ma rig pa should likely be treated as an indigenous Tibetan term rather than a direct translation of the Sanskrit term avidyā.
Sanskrit Noun
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enlightenment
बोधिབྱང་ཆུབ་byang chub悟 and 覺, 菩提
Basic Meaning:
Enlightenment or awakening. In Tibetan it is translated as "purified" (byang) and "perfected" (chub), which corresponds to Siddhartha Gautama's achievement of purifying all obscurations and perfecting or attaining all qualities associated with a buddha.
Has the sense of:
Enlightenment has the sense of complete actualization of one's true nature or total understanding of reality and freedom from suffering that comes from achieving that realization.
Enlightenment (Skt., bodhi; Tib., byang chub) is a state that can potentially be attained by any being with a mind. The very nature of the mind as a clear and radiant entity, and of the defilements as adventitious entities that are not essential to our nature, is what allows for the possibility of mental purification, and hence of enlightenment. The clearest doctrinal formulation of this idea is to be found in the concept of buddha-nature (tathagatagarbha; de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po). Whether buddha-nature is the primordial presence of an enlightened state in the minds of beings, something that merely needs to be uncovered, or only a potential that permits the attainment of that state is of course a disputed point in the tradition. Here, it is only important to note that the vast majority of Mahāyāna schools maintain that all beings, regardless of birth, race, social status, and gender, are capable of the attainment of the state of human perfection known as enlightenment.
Source: page 192, “Liberation: An Indo-Tibetan Perspective” by José Ignacio Cabezón. Buddhist-Christian Studies, Vol. 12 (1992), pp. 191-198 Published by: University of Hawai'i Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1389971Simplified English Usage:
". . . all beings, regardless of birth, race, social status, and gender, are capable of the attainment of the state of human perfection known as enlightenment."
(Source: page 192, “Liberation: An Indo-Tibetan Perspective” by José Ignacio Cabezón. Buddhist-Christian Studies, Vol. 12 (1992), pp. 191-198 Published by: University of Hawai'i Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1389971)
(Source: page 192, “Liberation: An Indo-Tibetan Perspective” by José Ignacio Cabezón. Buddhist-Christian Studies, Vol. 12 (1992), pp. 191-198 Published by: University of Hawai'i Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1389971)
Sanskrit Noun
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mind of enlightenment
बोधिचित्तབྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།byang chub sems菩提心
Basic Meaning:
The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution.
Has the sense of:
As this is the desire to achieve and help achieve the state of enlightenment for all sentient beings, it is called the thought or mind of awakening or enlightenment.
Simplified English Usage:
Thought of awakening
Sanskrit Noun
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quintessence of awakening
བྱང་ཆུབ་སྙིང་པོ་byang chub snying poबोधिगर्भ
Basic Meaning:
An alternative term for tathāgatagarbha found in early Nyingma sources. Though it is back-translated as bodhigarbha, this term does not seem to be found in Sanskrit sources. However, in other contexts, the Tibetan byang chub snying po is often used to translate the Sanskrit term bodhimaṇḍa, which is often translated as the "seat of enlightenment."
Has the sense of:
Buddha-nature in its ultimate sense as the primordially existing essence of buddhahood present in all beings. It is treated as a Tantric/Dzogchen equivalent of the more Sūtra-based terms tathāgatagarbha and sugatagarbha.
Tibetan Noun
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application bodhicitta
बोधिप्रस्थानचित्तབྱང་ཆུབ་འཇུག་པའི་སེམས་byang chub 'jug pa'i sems
Basic Meaning:
The mind or mental attitude that actually works towards enlightenment by continuously engaging in the trainings that lead to its accomplishment.
Has the sense of:
The practical application or fulfillment of the altruistic wish to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.
Sanskrit Noun
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Bodhisattva
बोधिसत्त्वབྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།byang chub sems dpa'菩薩
Basic Meaning:
A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses.
Has the sense of:
The term Bodhisattva rendered into Tibetan as བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་ (wyl. byang chub sems dpa') has the sense of heroic beings who have developed the thought of enlightenment or awakening. Thus, a Bodhisattva is defined as a person who has given rise to Bodhicitta or the thought of enlightenment.
Sanskrit Noun
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Brahman
ब्रह्मन्ཚངས་པ།tshangs pa
Basic Meaning:
Brahman is the universal principle, supreme truth or ultimate reality in the Hindu religion considered to be absolute, eternal and blissful. A metaphysical concept, it is described as the single binding unity behind the diversity of all that exists. In Buddhism, while this metaphysical principle is not presented, one finds frequent mention of the deity named Brahmā, who is the personification of this principle.
Has the sense of:
It has the sense of being pure and expansive as the universal principle. It is the source from which all things emanate, and to which they return.
Sanskrit Noun
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buddha-element
बुद्धधातुསངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཁམས་sangs rgyas kyi khams佛性
Basic Meaning:
A synonym for tathāgatagarbha widely used throughout the East Asian Buddhist traditions, as found in its translations as the Chinese term fó xìng and Japanese term busshō.
Has the sense of:
This is most likely the direct source of the English term buddha-nature via its translation into Chinese and Japanese. These traditions tended to treat the Sanskrit terms dhātu, gotra, and garbha as synonyms when compounded with the term buddha, though the translation of buddhadhātu seems to have been adopted as the standard technical term to reference the buddha-nature doctrine, as it could cover a wider range of possible meanings. In other words, the term dhātu could more easily reference both the causal aspect of this nature, commonly associated with the term gotra, and the fruition aspect of this nature, commonly associated with the term garbha.
Sanskrit Noun
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Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya
བྱམས་ཆོས་སྡེ་ལྔ་byams chos sde lnga
Basic Meaning:
This refers to a series of five texts that, according to the Tibetan tradition, Asaṅga received directly from Maitreya in the pure realm of Tuṣita.
Has the sense of:
The list of five is: Ornament of Clear Realization (Abhisamayālaṃkāra, mngon rtogs rgyan); Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sūtras (Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, theg pa chen po mdo sde rgyan); Differentiation of the Middle and the Extremes (Madhyāntavibhāga, dbus mtha' rnam 'byed); Differentiation of Phenomena and Their Nature (Dharmadharmatāvibhāga, chos dang chos nyid rnam 'byed); and The Mahāyāna Treatise of the Highest Continuum (Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra, theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos).
Tibetan Text
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seed
बीजས་བོན་sa bon無漏種
Basic Meaning:
A seed, commonly used figuratively in the sense of something which has the potential to develop or grow, and likewise as the basic cause for this development or growth.
Has the sense of:
This term can be used in a variety of contexts, though one of the more common usages is related to the Buddhist notion of karma, cause and effect. In this sense, bīja are the seeds of karmic actions, which have the potential to ripen into karmic consequences.
Sanskrit Noun
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Mind-Only
चित्तमात्रསེམས་ཙམ་sems tsam
Basic Meaning:
Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna.
Has the sense of:
It is a philosophical position that places mentation at the forefront of our experience of the world, rather than the seemingly real objects that consciousness perceives. It can also be used to refer to a Buddhist school, a genre of texts, or as a section of the Tibetan Buddhist canon. For instance, the Gyü Lama is in the sems tsam section of the Tibetan canon.
Sanskrit Noun
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expanse of phenomena
धर्मधातुཆོས་དབྱིངས་chos dbyings法界
Basic Meaning:
The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge.
Has the sense of:
The ultimate source of phenomenal appearances, or the basic nature which allows for phenomena to arise in all their multiplicity. It is often treated as a synonym for emptiness and the ultimate truth.
Sanskrit Noun
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true being
धर्मकायཆོས་སྐུ་chos sku法身
Basic Meaning:
"Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself.
Has the sense of:
Although this term is sometimes rendered into English as “truth body,” dharmakāya seems to have originally been meant to refer to the entire corpus (kāya) of the Buddha’s transcendent qualities (dharma). (The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, p. 242)
Sanskrit Noun
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element
धातुཁམས་khams界
Basic Meaning:
A fundamental component or essential constituent.
Has the sense of:
A term that has numerous meanings depending on the context, including physical realms or regions, the (five) elements, as well as aspects of the sense organs, bases, and fields. In terms of buddha-nature theory, it is often treated as synonymous with terms like gotra and garbha or even as equivalents of buddha-nature itself, such as sugatagarbha.
Sanskrit Noun
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analytical meditation
དཔྱད་སྒོམ་dpyad sgomविचारभावना
Basic Meaning:
Analytical meditation is a technique involving critical analysis that focuses the mind on a specific contemplation, such as impermanence.
Has the sense of:
The practical approach to gaining incontrovertible conceptual certainty is called analytical meditation or superior insight. (Brunnhölzl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky, 29)
"Another division of meditation is into “the analytical meditation of scholars” and “the resting meditation of mendicants,” or simply analytical meditation and resting meditation. The analytical meditation of scholars refers to the intellectual examination of all phenomena through reasoning. There are two key terms here: “discriminating knowledge” and “personally experienced wisdom.” The first step in this analytical meditation is to cultivate discriminating knowledge. This refers to all the levels of increasingly refined inferential valid cognition that are based on reasoning and developed through studying, reflecting, and meditating." (Brunnhölzl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky, 279)
"The general scope of analytical meditation encompasses all of the teachings of the Buddha, starting from contemplating impermanence and the preciousness of human existence up through ascertaining the two kinds of identitylessness. Resting meditation includes all types of meditations in which the conclusions achieved through preceding investigation become absorbed by the mind." (Brunnhölzl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky, 281)Simplified English Usage:
"Furthermore, broadly speaking, if [we look at this] from the perspective of the use of the terms “analysis” and “resting,” meditations that involve critical investigation must be considered analytical meditation, and meditations during which we settle into the natural state and rest must be resting meditation." (Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā, Elizabeth Callahan translation, 89)
Tibetan Noun
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Great Perfection
རྫོགས་ཆེན།rdzogs chenमहासन्धि
Basic Meaning:
Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition.
Has the sense of:
Dzogchen, or Great Perfection, refers more specifically to the nature of awareness, which is the innate state of perfect enlightenment latent in the mind. More broadly, it refers to the associated system of teachings, theories, and practices.
Tibetan Noun
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Geluk
དགེ་ལུགས་dge lugs
Basic Meaning:
The Geluk tradition traces its origin to Tsongkhapa, who propagated a modified version of the Kadampa lojong and lamrim teachings. It is the dominant tradition of Tibet, having established its control of the government under the figure of the Dalai Lama.
Tibetan School
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potential
गोत्रརིགས་rigs鍾姓,種性
Basic Meaning:
Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain.
Has the sense of:
Gotra is used in Buddhist literature in a wide variety of ways. In Yogācāra it is used in the sense of family, lineage, or type to classify beings according to their innate capacity for progress on the path to enlightenment.
Sanskrit Noun
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Great Middle Way
དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་dbu ma chen poमहामध्यमक
Basic Meaning:
The term Great Madhyamaka is utilized in different contexts depending on the tradition. In the Jonang tradition, it generally refers to the Zhentong Madhyamaka philosophy as it was developed and systematized by Dölpopa. In this context, the Great Madhyamaka refers to the presentation of ultimate truth, while Madhyamaka describes the emptiness of the relative level of truth. In the Nyingma tradition, Great Madhyamaka refers to the subtle, inner Madhyamaka that unifies the philosophical positions of Nāgārjuna and Asaṅga. This is presented in opposition to the coarse, outer Madhyamaka that is the dialectic approach of Prāsaṅgika and Svātantrika. In the Kagyu tradition, the term is used in a similar vein in that Madhyamaka is used to refer to philosophical inquiry, while Great Madhyamaka is used to refer to the view arrived at through yogic accomplishment. However, in all of these traditions, Great Madhyamaka is heavily associated with buddha-nature (tathāgatagarbha) and the definitive status of these teachings.
Tibetan Noun
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other-emptiness
གཞན་སྟོང་gzhan stong
Basic Meaning:
The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.
Has the sense of:
Though, as a noun, this term is commonly used to reference a subsect of the Madhyamaka school that lies in opposition to the more mainstream stance that asserts self-emptiness (rang stong), or the universal lack of inherent existence (rang bzhin med pa), it can also refer to different types of emptiness that describe the ultimate and relative levels of reality. Hence, relative phenomena are deemed to be self-empty since they lack independent defining characteristics, while the ultimate is said to be empty of other—namely, the afflictions and defilements that only incidentally seem to obscure it but by which it has actually never been sullied.
Tibetan Adjective
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ground
གཞི་gzhi
Basic Meaning:
The foundational basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. It is often used as a synonym for tathāgatagarbha and dharmadhātu.
Has the sense of:
In the Dzogchen teachings it is commonly counted among the trilogy of ground, path, and fruition. Sometimes referred to as the primordial ground (ye bzhi), it is the source from which all phenomena arise.
Tibetan Noun
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Lesser Vehicle
हीनयानཐེག་དམན།theg dman小乘
Basic Meaning:
The mainstream teachings and the early schools of Buddhism which primarily taught individual liberation through practice-focused renunciation and monasticism, considered lesser than the later movement of the Greater Vehicle (Mahāyāna), which professed enlightenment for all sentient beings and promoted compassion.
Has the sense of:
The term was used mainly by the proponents of the Greater Vehicle, who considered the goals, understanding, practices, methods, and results of this school as being lesser in scope.
Sanskrit Noun
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incorrigibles
इच्छन्तिकའདོད་ཆེན་ and འདོད་ཆེན་པོ་'dod chen and 'dod chen po一闡提
Basic Meaning:
Literally, "those with great desire," icchantikas could be rendered as hedonists or addicts. However, the term is generally used to refer to those who, due to their insatiable desire, are incapable of enlightenment.
Has the sense of:
Individuals who are so consumed by their desires or by a particular lifestyle that they would never even consider the need for self-improvement. Therefore, they have no interest in following any spiritual path, let alone the path to liberation.
Sanskrit Noun
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Jonang
ཇོ་ནང་jo nang
Basic Meaning:
The Jonang tradition was established by Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, a thirteenth-century Sakya monk famous for his Zhentong teachings. The Jonang teachings and monasteries were suppressed in Tibet in the seventeenth century but survived in Amdo.
Tibetan School
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primordial purity
ཀ་དགka dag
Basic Meaning:
Primordial purity is a term found in the Dzogchen tradition and refers to the empty nature of phenomena which is experienced through the practice of cutting-through meditation (khregs chod). It is often juxtaposed with spontaneous presence (lhun grub).
Has the sense of:
All things in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhism are said to be primordially empty and thus pure and free from extremes and defilements. More specifically, primordial purity refers to the nature of consciousness or buddha-nature, which is empty by nature but endowed with spontaneous luminosity. Primordial purity is the empty aspect of the buddha-nature which is primordially present in all beings.
Tibetan Noun
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Kadam
བཀའ་གདམས་bka' gdams
Basic Meaning:
The Kadam tradition, which traces its origin to the teachings of Atiśa, was the first of the so-called New Schools of Tibetan Buddhism, traditions which arose during or after the Second Propagation of Buddhism (phyi dar) in the tenth century.
Tibetan School
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Kagyu
བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་bka' brgyud
Basic Meaning:
The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa.
Has the sense of:
The Marpa Kagyu (mar pa bka’ brgyud) tradition originated in the eleventh century with the Tibetan translator Marpa Chokyi Lodro, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa’s disciple Milarepa famously attained enlightenment in the caves of southern Tibet after renouncing a life of violent revenge; his disciple Gampopa merged the lay siddha practice of his master with the Kadampa monasticism and scholarship that he had previously studied. Gampopa founded the first Kagyu monastery, Daklha Gampo, in southern Tibet. Following Gampopa the tradition split into multiple autonomous subsects known as the four primary (Barom, Pakdru, Karma, and Tselpa), and eight secondary traditions (Drigung, Drukpa, Martsang, Shukseb, Taklung, Tropu, Yabzang, and Yelpa Kagyu). Read more at Treasury of Lives
Tibetan School
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universal ground
ཀུན་གཞི་kun gzhiआलय
Basic Meaning:
Although it is commonly used as an abbreviation of ālayavijñāna (kun gzhi'i rnam shes), in later Tibetan traditions, particularly that of the Kagyu and the Nyingma, it came to denote an ultimate or pure basis of mind, as opposed to the ordinary, deluded consciousness represented by the ālayavijñāna. Alternatively, in the Jonang tradition, this pure version is referred to as ālaya-wisdom (kun gzhi'i ye shes).
Has the sense of:
This term entered the Tibetan lexicon as a translation of ālaya, and thus it is often rendered back to its Sanskrit antecedent in modern scholarship and translations. However, as a Tibetan term, it is more commonly read literally as the compound all-ground, or ground of everything. As such it is often used to describe a common locus, or substrate, out of which both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa emerge.
Tibetan Noun
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Wheel of Time
कालचक्रདུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ།dus kyi 'khor lo時輪
Basic Meaning:
Can refer to either the Kālacakra Tantra and its derivative texts or to the systematic tantric tradition based on these texts, as well as the deity Kālacakra upon which the associated practices are centered.
Has the sense of:
A highly influential and important Tantric corpus throughout Tibetan Buddhism, especially for the Sakya, Geluk, and Jonang traditions.
Sanskrit Noun
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freedoms and advantages
क्षणसंपद्དལ་འབྱོར་dal 'byor刹那具足
Basic Meaning:
These are the eighteen qualities specifically related to a precious human rebirth.
Has the sense of:
In Sanskrit it literally means a “fortunate moment,” or “auspicious moment,” in the sense of an “opportune birth” that specifically refers to rebirth as a human being with the conditions that permit practice of the dharma.
Simplified English Usage:
When we reflect in terms of causes, examples, or numerical comparison, it becomes clear that this precious human life, endowed with a full complement of eight freedoms and ten advantages, is extremely difficult to obtain. (The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, pp 44.)
Sanskrit Noun
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stages of the path
ལམ་རིམ། and ལམ་གྱི་རིམ་པ།lam rim and lam gyi rim paमार्गक्रम
Basic Meaning:
Lam rim refers to the stages on the path and, by extension, more commonly to the genre of teachings which contain practical instructions for training on the stages of the path to enlightenment. Related to the Lojong (བློ་སྦྱོང་ blo sbyong) practice, it is particularly known among the Kadampa and Geluk schools. Tsongkhapa's Byang chub lam rim chen mo is the most well-known in this genre, and the term lam rim is often used specifically to refer to this text.
Has the sense of:
Lam rim has the sense of gradual or graded practice starting from basic techniques to cultivate the thoughts of renunciation, compassion and loving kindness, etc. to insight into ultimate emptiness.
Tibetan Noun
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Middle Way school
मध्यमकདབུ་མ་dbu ma中觀見
Basic Meaning:
Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.
Sanskrit School
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Great Seal
महामुद्राཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།phyag rgya chen po
Basic Meaning:
Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā.
Has the sense of:
It has a sense of being the binding force and refers to the reality of all things. Just as a seal makes a document binding, reality binds all things, including our understanding of the true nature of things. It also refers to a symbolic gesture.
Sanskrit Noun
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Mahāyoga and Great Yoga
महायोगམཧཱ་ཡོ་ག and རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཆེན་པོ།rnal 'byor chen po
Basic Meaning:
This is first one of the inner tantric schools according to the Nyingma tradition. Mahāyoga includes two sub-sections of the tantras which includes eighteen tantras and the sādhanās that includes the eight sādhanā practices. Mahāyoga focuses on the Development Stage and espouses the view of equality and purity in which equality refers to equal nature of phenomena in being empty and purity refers to all appearances being inherently enlightened energies. The Mahāyoga path leads to four stages of vidyadharas.
Has the sense of:
Mahāyoga is great or supreme with respect to outer tantras and focuses on the skill-in-means, thus mainly refers to what are known as male tantras.
Sanskrit School
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Great Vehicle
महायानཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།theg pa chen po大乘
Basic Meaning:
Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion.
Has the sense of:
It is known as the Great Vehicle in comparison to the earlier schools of Buddhism which aimed only to reach individual liberation. Thus, this system claims to be superior to the early Buddhist schools in terms of the philosophical understanding of reality and the moral scope of rescuing all sentient beings.
Sanskrit Noun
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महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्रव्याख्या ( )
ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma'i bstan bcos rnam par bshad pa
Basic Meaning:
This is the title of Asaṅga's commentary to the Gyü Lama that is given by Tibetan sources instead of the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā.
Sanskrit Text
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essential nature
ངོ་བོ་ngo boभाव
Basic Meaning:
Essence or the most basic, fundamental nature or natural state of being. It is often used as a synonym for rang bzhin.
Has the sense of:
According to Ives Waldo, it is similar to rang bzhin, but when referring to sugatagarbha, ngo bo refers to the emptiness part, whereas rang bzhin refers to the luminosity or clarity part.
Tibetan Noun
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རྔོག་ལུགས་ (rngog lugs)
Basic Meaning:
Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's "analytic tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.
Has the sense of:
Also known as the analytic tradition (thos bsam gyi lugs), literally, "the tradition of hearing and contemplating," this form of exegesis explicated the Uttaratantra through philosophical reasoning and debate and thus entailed a primarily scholastic approach to the treatise. However, both the Ngok Tradition and its opposing counterpart, the Tsen Tradition, reportedly came from a single source, the Kashmiri scholar-yogi Sajjana.
Tibetan Noun
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emanation body
निर्माणकायསྤྲུལ་སྐུ།sprul sku化身
Basic Meaning:
An fully enlightened Buddha is said to have the power to manifest in many forms in order to help the sentient beings. The emanation body of a buddha, as the third of the three bodies of a buddha, refers to the many forms in which a buddha can manifest and which are accessible to ordinary sentient beings. Buddhist scholars present four types of emanation bodies: emanation as supreme being, emanation as rebirth, emanation as artisan and emanation in diverse forms.
Has the sense of:
Emanation body is considered as an apparitional form and thus not the actual physical form of a buddha but one projected for the purpose of helping sentient beings. This concept became later conflated with the Tibetan culture of religious incarnation and many lamas who are considered to be rebirths of earlier ones are also referred to as trulku.
Sanskrit Noun
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absence of own being
निःस्वभावताངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ཉིད་ngo bo nyid med pa nyid
Basic Meaning:
The state of lacking a truly independent existence.
Has the sense of:
Since phenomena are dependent on causes and conditions, their mode of being is generally characterized as an absence of self-nature or personally distinct essence.
Sanskrit Noun
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original enlightenment
本覺
Basic Meaning:
According to East Asian Buddhism, the intrinsic enlightenment of all sentient beings. This is obscured by the many stains present in the ālayavijñāna. When these are purified, the natural state of enlightenment is recovered, a status known as "actualized enlightenment."
Has the sense of:
The natural state of enlightenment that is obscured by the adventitious stains.
Chinese Noun
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ultimate truth
परमार्थसत्यདོན་དམ་བདེན་པ་don dam bden pa眞諦 and 第一義諦
Basic Meaning:
"Ultimate truth" or "absolute truth"; the reality of things as they truly are.
Has the sense of:
Reality as it appears to an enlightened being, in which all phenomena are perceived to be empty of an individual, permanent essence. This is contrasted to the "relative truth" as experienced by unenlightened beings.
Simplified English Usage:
"There is no higher truth to be seen. The mind that sees that reality experiences truth as it is. Thus it is called "ultimate truth," the essential mode of existence. For all other truths, their mode of appearance and their essential mode of existence are incongruent. Thus, they are called deceptive and superficial."
- The 14th Dalai Lama, Transcendent Wisdom (1988)
Sanskrit Noun
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dependent nature
परतन्त्रस्वभावགཞན་དབང་གི་རང་བཞིན་gzhan dbang gi rang bzhin
Basic Meaning:
The second of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the dependent nature that is used to describe the relationship between mind and its objects, though there is a clear emphasis on the latter. Hence, this nature is concerned with the nature of seemingly external objects that arise in dependence upon causes and conditions.
Has the sense of:
The relatively dependent nature of phenomena and the consciousness that perceives them.
Sanskrit Noun
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imaginary nature
परिकल्पितस्वभावཀུན་བཏགས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་kun btags kyi rang bzhin
Basic Meaning:
The first of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the imaginary nature which is falsely projected onto an object out of confusion.
Has the sense of:
The artificial and mistaken perception of phenomena as being something which they are not.
Sanskrit Noun
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consummate nature
परिनिष्पन्नस्वभावཡོངས་སུ་གྲུབ་པའི་རང་བཞིན་yongs su grub pa'i rang bzhin
Basic Meaning:
The third of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the perfect nature that represents the most authentic understanding of phenomena, which is classically defined as the complete absence of the imaginary nature within the dependent nature.
Has the sense of:
Of the three natures, this one is representative of the ultimate truth.
Sanskrit Noun
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implicative negation
पर्युदासप्रतिषेधམ་ཡིན་དགག་ma yin dgag
Basic Meaning:
A negation that denies one thing in such a way that it clearly implies another.
Has the sense of:
This is the type of negation most commonly used by proponents of other-emptiness. For instance, by denying the existence of adventitious stains, they imply the presence of enlightened qualities.
Sanskrit Noun
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luminous mind
प्रभास्वरचित्तའོད་གསལ་གྱི་སེམས་'od gsal gyi sems光明心
Basic Meaning:
The luminous aspect of mind that is often contrasted with its empty aspect. It is often used figuratively to reference the cognizant, or knowing, aspect of mind and sometimes more literally as the natural luminosity of mind and luminous wisdom that is experienced in meditation.
Has the sense of:
The natural radiance of mind.
Sanskrit Noun
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luminosity
प्रभास्वरའོད་གསལ་'od gsal光明
Basic Meaning:
In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas.
Has the sense of:
Radiance, brilliance, or effulgence.
Sanskrit Noun
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wisdom
प्रज्ञाཤེས་རབ་shes rab般若
Basic Meaning:
One of the key terms for wisdom or knowledge, most often having the sense of insight, transcendent knowledge, or perhaps gnosis. In some contexts it can also refer to cognition or intellectual understanding.
Has the sense of:
One of the most important terms in Buddhist philosophy, prajñā, or sherab in Tibetan, has the sense of "higher knowing" or "special insight." This is the prajñā in prajñāpāramitā, and it is associated with the wisdom that perceives/knows the actual nature of reality. See also jñāna.
Simplified English Usage:
Three types of wisdom (prajñā) are distinguished in Buddhist teachings: wisdom developed through study or learning, wisdom developed through reflection or analysis, and wisdom developed through cultivation or meditation.
Sanskrit Noun
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Perfection of Wisdom
प्रज्ञापारमिताཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ and ཤེར་ཕྱིན་shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa and sher phyin般若波羅蜜多
Basic Meaning:
A class of Mahāyāna sūtras which represents some of the earliest known literature of this genre of Buddhism. There are around forty texts associated with this category, though the most widespread is the exceedingly brief Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra, popularly known as the Heart Sūtra. This class of literature is typically associated with the second turning of the dharma wheel and especially with the teachings on emptiness (śūnyatā). As such, these texts were the primary scriptural source for the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school.
Has the sense of:
The term itself references a type of intelligence, discernment, or knowledge that embodies the insight which transcends the notions of the three spheres of agent, object, and action.
Sanskrit Noun
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correct cognition
प्रमानཚད་མ།tshad ma量
Basic Meaning:
In the Buddhist literature on pramāṇa, it refers to cognition that correctly apprehends its object without any deception or mistake. Such correct cognition include direct perception and inferential cognition.
Has the sense of:
The term has the sense of being valid, authentic or standard. In Buddhist epistemology, a correct cognition is considered to be the most authentic knowledge or accurate measure of the way things are.
Sanskrit Noun
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nonimplicative negation
प्रसज्यप्रतिषेधམེད་དགག་med dgag
Basic Meaning:
A negation that merely denies the existence of something without implicitly suggesting an alternative.
Has the sense of:
This is the type of negation that is associated with the classical Madhyamaka presentation of emptiness, in which that absence is taken literally. It is typical of the philosophical position that became known as self-emptiness.
Sanskrit Noun
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antidote
प्रतिपक्षགཉེན་པོ་gnyen po對治
Basic Meaning:
An antidote or remedy that contributes or supports the elimination or pacification of a particular ailment or affliction.
Has the sense of:
According to Dan Martin, it "seems to mean rather a kind of friendly opposition, an antidote, a harmony restorer."
Sanskrit Noun
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solitary realizer
प्रत्येकबुद्धརང་སངས་རྒྱས། and རང་རྒྱལ།rang sangs rgyas and rang rgyal緣覺
Basic Meaning:
Pratyekabuddhas are saints who, in their last birth in the cycle of existence, are said to become enlightened through solitary practice on the nature of dependent ordination. These saints are said to appear when there is no buddha around and work either alone or in small groups.
Has the sense of:
Because the pratyekabuddhas work on their own to seek enlightenment for themselves, they are considered as self-centred, but because they are superior to the śrāvakas but inferior to the buddhas in their calibre, they are called middling buddhas.
Sanskrit Noun
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dependent origination
प्रतीत्यसमुत्पादརྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ་ and རྟེན་འབྲེལ་rten cing 'brel bar 'byung ba and rten 'brel緣起
Basic Meaning:
The notion that all phenomena arise in dependence on causes and conditions.
Has the sense of:
In Madhyamaka thought it is used to describe the relative level of the truth. Since phenomena come into being interdependently at this level, they are therefore empty of inherent existence at the ultimate level.
Sanskrit Noun
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vow of individual liberation
प्रातिमोक्षसंवरསོ་སོར་ཐར་པའི་སྡོམ་པ་so sor thar pa'i sdom pa
Basic Meaning:
In the Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya that was preserved in Tibet, this refers to a set of seven types of vows of individual liberation that constitute formal ordination according to the precepts of the vinaya, or disciplinary code, of the fundamental vehicle. This set of seven is divided by gender and includes the vows for fully ordained monastics, novice monastics, and lay people, as well as specifc vows for novice nuns actively training for full ordination. Sometimes included as an eighth type of vow are the single day lay vows associated with the practice of sojong, "mending and purification" (gso sbyong), which is observed twice a month.
Has the sense of:
Moral-ethical disciplinary rules that act as a restraint on one's behavior due to their requirements to abide by a specific code of conduct.
Sanskrit Noun
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perfection
पारमिताཕར་ཕྱིན། and ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།phar phyin and pha rol tu phyin pa波羅蜜
Basic Meaning:
The six or ten types of practices which lead an individual to Buddhahood. The practice of perfections is particularly important in Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the entire path of the Bodhisattva to reach full enlightenment is included in the six or ten perfections. The six perfections are that of giving, of discipline, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The perfection of skill-in-means, aspirations, power, and pristine wisdom are added to them to make ten perfections.
Has the sense of:
The Sanskrit and Tibetan terms pāramitā and phar phyin imply crossing over or reaching the other side because these practices help the individual practitioner to cross the ocean of cycle of existence and reach Buddhahood.
Sanskrit Noun
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self-emptiness
རང་སྟོང་rang stong
Basic Meaning:
The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.
Has the sense of:
Since relative phenomena arise in dependence on causes and conditions, they cannot be said to exist based solely on their own defining characteristics. Thus they are deemed to be empty of an innate nature. As a noun, this term generally refers to the more traditional, or orthodox, philosophical stance of the Madhyamaka school and its view of emptiness, as opposed to those who profess other-emptiness (gzhan stong). For the latter group, self-emptiness is also asserted to be true, but it is only used to describe the relative truth. However, for traditional Mādhyamikas, emptiness is universally applied, and thus the lack of inherent existence is itself the ultimate truth.
Tibetan Adjective
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Three Jewels
रत्नत्रय / त्रिरत्नདཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ་dkon mchog gsum三寶
Basic Meaning:
These are the three main objects that Buddhists from all traditions take refuge in. They are the Buddha, Dharma, and the Saṅgha. In the Tibetan rendering they are “the three rare and supreme ones.”
Sanskrit Noun
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Vast Conduct
རྒྱ་ཆེན་སྤྱོད་བརྒྱུད་rgya chen spyod brgyud
Basic Meaning:
One of the two main traditions within the Mahāyāna: the "Profound View" (ཟབ་མོ་ལྟ་བརྒྱུད་) of Nāgārjuna and the "Vast Conduct" (རྒྱ་ཆེན་སྤྱོད་བརྒྱུད་) of Asaṅga.
Tibetan School
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acquired potential
समुदानीतगोत्रརྒྱས་འགྱུར་གྱི་རིགས་rgyas 'gyur gyi rigs習所成種性
Basic Meaning:
A potential or disposition that is acquired, accentuated, or developed through past karmic actions.
Has the sense of:
Fluidity, in that it is a potential that is developed through personal habits of study, practice, and exposure to a particular vehicle of Buddhism.
Sanskrit Noun
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Sangpu Neutok
གསང་ཕུ་ནེའུ་ཐོག་gsang phu ne'u thog
Basic Meaning:
Sangpu Neutok is an important monastery in central Tibet, just south of Lhasa, that was founded in 1072 by Ngok Lekpai Sherab, a disciple of Atiśa, and developed by his nephew, Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab. Originally a Kadam monastery with two colleges, it evolved into a monastery that includes both Sakya and Geluk traditions. At its peak in the 11th to 14th centuries, it was one of the most highly esteemed centers for monastic education and the study of Buddhist philosophy in all of the Tibetan plateau. Many influential philosophers of the time studied there.
Tibetan Place
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New School
གསར་མ།gsar ma
Basic Meaning:
The new Buddhist schools which began to rise in the second millennium in Tibet after Buddhism declined in the ninth century as a result of the fall of the Yarlung dynasty. The Sarma schools were mostly based on Buddhist teachings freshly received from India and Nepal in contrast to the revival of the old teachings which already existed in Tibet.
Has the sense of:
The term often refers to the new translation of Buddhist texts in contrast to the translations carried out in the first millennium, particularly of the tantric literature. The tantric tradition which is based on the tantras translated in the period of Early Diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet came to be known as sngags rnying ma or ancient mantra and those based on tantras translated during the Later Diffusion came to known as sngags gear ma or new mantra.
Tibetan School
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emptiness endowed with all supreme aspects
རྣམ་ཀུན་མཆོག་ལྡན་གྱི་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་rnam kun mchog ldan gyi stong pa nyid
Basic Meaning:
As opposed to a mere voidness, this phrase refers to an emptiness that is endowed with enlightened qualities and attributes.
Has the sense of:
It is an important term in the Mahāmudrā teachings, as well as in various Tibetan traditions that have a connection to buddha-nature theory, such as those associated with other-emptiness (gzhan stong).
Sanskrit Noun
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enjoyment body
संभोगकायལོངས་སྐུ། and ལོངས་སྤྱོད་རྫོགས་སྐུ།longs sku and longs spyod rdzogs sku報身
Basic Meaning:
The physical form of a buddha which resides in a pure buddha realm, possesses the marks and tokens of an enlightened being, teaches Mahāyāna teachings to a retinue of Bodhisattvas for eternity. This embodied form of a buddha is the source from which all the forms of emanation originate.
Has the sense of:
The enjoyment body of the buddha is so called for its perfect and luxurious nature. It is the highest physical form and normally enumerated as one of the three enlightened bodies of a buddha beside truth and emanation bodies.
Sanskrit Noun
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relative bodhicitta
संवृतिबोधित्तཀུན་རྫོབ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་kun rdzob byang chub kyi sems世俗菩提心
Basic Meaning:
Relative bodhicitta is the aspirational wish to attain the fully-enlightened state of a buddha. It aspires both to alleviate the suffering of all beings, and therefore to attain buddhahood in order to spontaneously and effortlessly act for the welfare of all beings
Has the sense of:
the conventional mind of enlightenment that wishes to attain the enlightened state to be of spontaneous benefit for all beings
Sanskrit Noun
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relative truth
संवृतिसत्यཀུན་རྫོབ་བདེན་པ་kun rdzob bden pa世俗諦 and 俗諦
Basic Meaning:
"Relative truth" or "conventional truth"; the erroneously perceived reality common to the unenlightened.
Has the sense of:
Reality as it is experienced by ordinary people whose perception is clouded by ignorance, in contrast to "ultimate truth" or "absolute truth," which is reality as perceived by an enlightened being. Relative truth has practical value in daily life, but upon examination all phenomena are found to be empty of individual, permanent existence.
Simplified English Usage:
Without a proper understanding of the vast aspects of the relative truth, meditation on Emptiness can be misleading and even dangerous.
- (Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso, Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness, 1988)
Sanskrit Noun
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essence of the Bliss Gone One
सुगतगर्भབདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་bde gshegs snying po
Basic Meaning:
Literally, the "essence" or "heart of the Bliss Gone One(s)," a synonym for tathāgatagarbha that is likewise often rendered into English by the term buddha-nature. Though it is often back translated into Sanskrit as sugatagarbha, this term is not found in Sanskrit sources.
Has the sense of:
The essence of enlightenment present in all sentient beings.
Sanskrit Noun
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intrinsic nature
स्वभावརང་བཞིན་rang bzhin自性
Basic Meaning:
The nature or essence of a thing, which originates only from itself and is not dependent on any external entities, causes, or conditions.
Has the sense of:
An innate attribute that establishes the completely independent existence of an entity, which is typically refuted in the Madhyamaka notion of emptiness.
Sanskrit Noun
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reflexive awareness
स्वसंवेदनརང་རིག་rang rig自證分
Basic Meaning:
An important term for the Yogācāra that refers to a consciousness of consciousness itself, or how one knows that they know something. It was a hotly debated topic that was disputed by followers of the Madhyamaka. In Tibet it would later become a common Dzogchen term, though with the entirely different meaning of one's own innate awareness (rig pa), a crucial concept in the Dzogchen teachings.
Has the sense of:
Mind seeing mind. The classic example is that of a lamp that illuminates the surrounding area as well as itself.
Sanskrit Noun
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practice method
साधनསྒྲུབ་ཐབས།sgrub thabs修行
Basic Meaning:
Sādhana refers to a method of practice through which one can actualise a specific spiritual result, and by extension to the texts and manuals which present such methods. A sādhana in the Vajrayāna Buddhist context generally involves the worship and visualisation of a tantric deity, chanting of mantras, and associated practices. The practice often begins with verses of taking refuge and cultivating altruistic thought, then carrying out meditation on emptiness and the mandala of deity, seven-part worship, chanting of mantras, and finally the dissolution of the deity which was visualised.
Has the sense of:
It is the means, method or technique of achieving a spiritual goal or power, and thus deals with the process of practice but does not explain or discuss concepts or theories. A sādhana is almost always a practical manual written for practice on a specific deity.
Sanskrit Noun
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scripture and discourse
सूत्रམདོ།mdo佛经
Basic Meaning:
Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon.
Has the sense of:
Sūtras originally referred to the aphoristic sayings and discourses, although one can find many exegetical and descriptive sūtras. In the Buddhist tradition, sūtras are generally considered to be the words of the Buddha or his immediate disciples, in contrast to the commentarial or synoptic literature, some of which summarized and condensed the teachings in the sūtras.
Sanskrit Noun
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continuum
तन्त्रརྒྱུད།rgyud密宗
Basic Meaning:
Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism.
Has the sense of:
The term implies a continuum or stream and is thus used to refer to scriptures which teach a substrate nature, such as buddha-nature, that underlies empirical phenomena.
Sanskrit Noun
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suchness
तथताདེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་de bzhin nyid
Basic Meaning:
Suchness itself, absolute reality, or thusness, as in the ultimate state of being of phenomena.
Has the sense of:
A synonym for emptiness or the nature of things, dharmatā; it can also be used to describe the unity of dependent origination and emptiness. (Source: Erik Pema Kunsang, Lamp of Mahamudra, 1989.)
Sanskrit Noun
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buddha-nature
तथागतगर्भདེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po如来藏
Basic Meaning:
Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)."
Has the sense of:
The seed or essence of enlightenment. Tathāgata loosely translates as "one who has gone to a state of enlightenment," while garbha has the sense of "womb," "essence," and "embryo." Tathāgatagarbha thus suggests a potential or an innate buddhahood possessed by all sentient beings that is either developed or revealed when one attains enlightenment.
In the scriptures:
Son of good family, the True Nature (dharmatā) of the dharmas is this:
whether or not tathāgatas appear in the world, all these sentient beings contain at all times a tathāgata.~ Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā 73.11-12. As translated in Zimmerman, A Buddha Within, 2002, p 40.
Sanskrit Noun
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Suchness
तत्त्वདེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད།de kho na nyid
Basic Meaning:
The reality or the objective state of things as they are. In the Buddhist context, it refers to the ultimate nature of things although what exactly suchness means would depend on the philosophical position of the specific schools. The Middle Way school, for instance, consider emptiness as the suchness of all things.
Has the sense of:
Reality or the natural state of things are called suchness or thatness in order to indicate that reality is the nature as it is without any any fabrication or imputation.
Sanskrit Noun
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ordinary mind
ཐ་མལ་གྱི་ཤེས་པ་tha mal gyi shes pa
Basic Meaning:
A Mahāmudrā term for the basic state of consciousness that has not been fabricated or altered in any way.
Has the sense of:
The mind in its natural state. Often used as a synonym for the nature of mind and buddha-nature.
Tibetan Noun
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meditation at death
ཐུགས་དམ།thugs dam
Basic Meaning:
Persons who have experience in meditation on the nature of the mind or emptiness are said to be able to remain in a meditative equipoise after death. Although they have stopped breathing and are clinically dead, they are said to be able to retain their body without decay, often with lustre and flexibility. They are believed to have actualised their buddha-nature at the time of death and attained the state of enlightenment.
Has the sense of:
Thugs dam generally refers to meditation and spiritual commitment of a religious practitioner but often has the specific meaning of remaining in the state of meditation after death in the Himalayan Buddhist tradition. Highly realised beings are said to remain in this state for period after their death until their enlightened spirit leaves the physical body.
Tibetan Noun
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the three turnings of the wheel of dharma
त्रिधर्मचक्रप्रवर्तनཆོས་འཁོར་རིམ་པ་གསུམ་chos 'khor rim pa gsum
Basic Meaning:
Three successive stages of the Buddhist teachings. Though they are traditionally attributed to the historical Buddha, modern scholarship tends to view them as developmental stages that occurred over the course of an extended period of time, with interludes of several centuries, in which we see major doctrinal shifts often based on seemingly newly emergent scriptural sources.
Sanskrit Noun
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three bodies
त्रिकायསྐུ་གསུམ།sku gsum三身
Basic Meaning:
The three enlightened forms of a buddha one attains when one becomes fully enlightened. They include the truth body (dharmakāya), enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya), and the emanation body (nirmāṇakāya). The three bodies comprise the many qualities and powers associated with buddhahood and thus are the result sought through Mahāyāna Buddhist practice.
Has the sense of:
The three aspects of perfect enlightenment of a buddha: the enlightened state of one's mind after full transformation, the pure physical existence one attains as a result of inner perfection, and the myriad forms one can emanate from the enlightened state to help others.
Sanskrit Noun
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three natures
त्रिस्वभावརང་བཞིན་གསུམ་rang bzhin gsum
Basic Meaning:
According to the Yogācāra school, all phenomena can be divided into three natures or characteristics: the imaginary nature (parikalpitasvabhāva), the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhāva), and the perfect or absolute nature (pariniṣpannasvabhāva).
Sanskrit Noun
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three poisons
त्रिविषདུག་གསུམ་dug gsum三毒
Basic Meaning:
The three poisons are a reference to the afflictive emotions of rāga (Tib. 'dod chags), dveṣa (Tib. zhe sdang), and moha (Tib. gti mug). These three detrimental states or afflictive behavioral patterns are difficult to definitively translate, and thus there are several common English variations of this group of three, such as desire, aggression, and bewilderment, or attachment, aversion, and delusion. It is useful to think of these three as a process that involves our insatiable urge to possess that which we desire and the ensuing aggravation that arises when we don't get what we want or have what we don't want forced upon us. Yet we are oblivious to the futility of these conditioned responses due to our lack of discernment, and thus we mindlessly continue to get caught up in this causal nexus.
Has the sense of:
These three are traditionally featured as the central hub in depictions of the so-called wheel of life (Skt. bhāvacakra, Tib. srid pa'i 'khor lo). In these images they are represented by a pig known for sleeping in their own filth and other such behavior as the embodiment of moha, a type of Indian bird that is known for its possessive attachment to its mate as the embodiment of rāga, and a snake that is quick to strike at the slightest provocation as the embodiment of dveṣa. These three are likewise depicted as chasing after, or being pulled along, by each other in a circle to demonstrate how these emotional reactions feed into each other and thus perpetuate this cycle. Though sometimes it is the pig which is pictured biting the tails of both the bird and the snake to show that both those emotional responses are rooted in our lack of understanding.
Sanskrit Noun
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three vehicles
त्रियानཐེག་པ་གསུམ་theg pa gsum三乗
Basic Meaning:
Commonly seen in a Mahāyāna context, the three vehicles are the Śrāvakayāna, Pratyekabuddhayāna, and Bodhisattvayāna, which reference the three different types of Buddhist practitioners. However, these three vehicles can also reference the three types of Buddhist teachings of the Hīnayāna, Mahāyāna (or Pāramitāyāna), and the Vajrayāna.
Has the sense of:
Three ways of arriving at enlightenment or traversing the path.
Sanskrit Noun
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བཙན་ལུགས་ (btsan lugs)
Basic Meaning:
Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.
Has the sense of:
Also known as the "meditative tradition" (sgom lugs), this form of exegesis was primarily concerned with the practical application of the teachings contained in the Uttaratantra as a means to experience buddha-nature for oneself. However, both the Tsen Tradition and its opposing counterpart, the Ngok Tradition, reportedly came from a single source, the Kashmiri scholar-yogi Sajjana.
Tibetan Noun
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Ultimate Continuum
उत्तरतन्त्रརྒྱུད་བླ་མ་rgyud bla ma寶性論
Basic Meaning:
The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra.
Has the sense of:
There is extensive discussion of the title in multiple academic sources. For further information about the text and its title, please see the entry for this text, Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra. And for a short essay on the translation of this term, see "Continuum vs. Teachings."
Sanskrit Text
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vajra topics
वज्रपदརྡོ་རྗེའི་གནས་rdo rje'i gnas
Basic Meaning:
Literally, vajra-footing, or base. In the context of the Ratnagotravibhāga, this is the name given to the seven subjects that are addressed in the treatise. These seven are the buddha, dharma, saṅgha, the element (dhātu), enlightenment (bodhi), enlightened qualities (guṇa), and enlightened activities (karman).
Has the sense of:
Vajra has a variety of meanings depending on the context, thus it is often left untranslated. For instance, it can refer to both a physical diamond and something which has the physical qualities of a diamond (i.e., something that is indestructible or indivisible). In this latter sense it is often rendered as "adamantine." In the Ratnagotravibhāga the seven main topics of the treatise are called "vajra" subjects because they are difficult to penetrate through an understanding that is arrived at through merely hearing or contemplating. In other words, they require direct experience.
Sanskrit Noun
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Diamond Vehicle
वज्रयानརྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ།rdo rje theg pa金剛乘
Basic Meaning:
The esoteric Buddhist tradition which developed as a syncretic system involving deity worship, use of mantras, physical energy, and mystical practices. It is also known as the mantra tradition and the tantric school as a result of being based on texts known as tantras.
Has the sense of:
An adamantine system for being based on the innate nature of reality and using the state of Buddha as a way to actualize enlightenment.
Sanskrit Noun
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discipline
विनयའདུལ་བ།'dul ba毘奈耶
Basic Meaning:
Vinaya refers to the corpus of Buddhist teachings on moral discipline and precepts and is one of the three canonical sets of teachings alongside Sūtra and Abhidharma. It also refers to the monastic tradition which has been passed down since the Buddha's time until our time.
Has the sense of:
Vinaya literally means taming, subduing, or conquering because the moral precepts and vows help to tame the practitioner and to develop the good discipline necessary for spiritual practice.
Sanskrit Noun
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misperception and wrong perception
विपर्यासཕྱིན་ཅི་ལོགphyin ci log顚倒
Basic Meaning:
The misperception or incorrect view a person has of reality, which must be overcome by having correct understanding and right view. The four well known incorrect views are seeing impermanent phenomena as permanent, dissatisfactory nature of things as blissful, impure things as pure, and illusory things as absolute and real. However, in the context of buddha-nature theory or other systems, there are also other forms of misconceptions which contradict with objective reality.
Has the sense of:
Viparyāsa is the mistaken and erroneous understanding of the way things are but also has the connotation of having a totally opposite or perverse view rather than a minor misunderstanding.
Sanskrit Noun
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freed effect
विसंयोगफलབྲལ་འབྲས་bral 'bras
Basic Meaning:
One of the five types of effects, or fruitions. It refers to an effect that arises from removing that which obscures or hinders it.
Has the sense of:
A fruition that comes about from being freed or separated, rather than being produced anew.
Sanskrit Noun
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seven branches
ཡན་ལག་བདུན་yan lag bdun
Basic Meaning:
The seven branches, or sections, of devotional religious services, or prayers, recited consecutively in order to accumulate merit. The typical set of seven are prostrations, offering, confession, rejoicing in virtue, requesting to turn the wheel of Dharma, requesting to not pass into nirvāṇa, and the dedication of merit, presented in that order.
Tibetan Noun
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Yoga-Practice school
योगाचारརྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་rnal 'byor spyod pa瑜伽行派
Basic Meaning:
Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).
Sanskrit School
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Lineage of Profound View
ཟབ་མོ་ལྟ་བརྒྱུད་zab mo lta brgyud
Basic Meaning:
One of the two main traditions within the Mahāyāna: the "Profound View" (ཟབ་མོ་ལྟ་བརྒྱུད་) of Nāgārjuna and the "Vast Conduct" (རྒྱ་ཆེན་སྤྱོད་བརྒྱུད་) of Asaṅga.
Tibetan School
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adventitious stains
आगन्तुकमलགློ་བུར་གྱི་དྲི་མ་glo bur gyi dri ma
Basic Meaning:
Mental stains that are not inherent to the nature of the mind but are temporarily present as the residue of past actions or habitual tendencies. It is sometimes iterated as adventitious defilements (Skt. āgantukakleśa, Tib. glo bur gyi nyon mongs), which references the fickle and temporary nature of disturbing emotions that lack an ultimately established basis for existence.
Has the sense of:
See also obscurations (āvaraṇa).
Something which has been incidentally added on and therefore can be removed.
Simplified English Usage:
Even though defilements exist, they are adventitious [to the buddha-element, because the buddha-element] is naturally pure.
- Sangpuwa Lodrö Tsungme, Wangchuk, Tsering trans. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows (2017), page 32.
Sanskrit Noun
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ground consciousness
आलयविज्ञानཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་kun gzhi'i rnam shes阿賴耶識 and 藏識
Basic Meaning:
A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences.
Has the sense of:
A central tenet of the Yogācāra school, in which it is listed as the eighth consciousness. It is also sometimes equated with tathāgatagarbha, in particular in its latent or impure form at the stage of ordinary sentient beings.
Sanskrit Noun
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self
आत्मन्བདག་bdag我 and 灵魂
Basic Meaning:
Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena.
Has the sense of:
The notion of ātman is often equated with the Western notions of an eternal soul.
Sanskrit Noun
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obscurations
आवरणསྒྲིབ་པ་sgrib pa
Basic Meaning:
Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient.
Has the sense of:
See also adventitious stains (āgantukamala)
Sanskrit Noun
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Hearer and Disciple
श्रावकཉན་ཐོས།nyan thos聲聞
Basic Meaning:
The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases.
Has the sense of:
Because they mainly rely on the words of the Buddha in their spiritual practice, they are known as Hearers or Listeners. The śrāvaka vehicle is the one of the three vehicles or yānas in Buddhism beside the vehicles of Solitary Realizers and Bodhisattvas
Sanskrit Noun
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emptiness
शून्यताསྟོང་པ་ཉིད་stong pa nyid空 and 空門
Basic Meaning:
The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics.
Has the sense of:
Though emptiness is generally predicated on the dependent origination of relative phenomena, it is a dialectic method of explaining the ultimate truth through a negative assertion and thereby highlighting what true reality lacks, rather than making a positive assertion of what that reality actually is.
In the scriptures:
Form is emptiness; emptiness is form.
Emptiness is not other than form; form is not other than emptiness.~ Heart Sūtra
Sanskrit Noun
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