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Āgantukamala - 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. Skt आगन्तुकमल Tib གློ་བུར་གྱི་དྲི་མ་
Abhidharma - 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 metaknowledge 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. Skt अभिधर्म Tib ཆོས་མངོན་པ། Ch 阿毗达磨
Advaya - Literally, "without duality," it refers to that which is indivisible, in that it is not divided into two. Skt अद्वय Tib གཉིས་མེད་ Ch 不二
Amalavijñāna - The ninth consciousness, the immaculate pure mind. Skt अमलविज्ञान Ch 啊摩羅識;無垢識
Anuyoga - 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 actualization of empty bliss. Skt अनुयोग Tib ཨ་ནུ་ཡོ་ག
Anātman - The Buddhist teaching of "non-self" or "selflessness"—the understanding that there is no permanent, unchanging self or soul within living beings. Along with impermanence (anitya) and suffering (duḥkha), it is one of the three marks of existence that characterize all conditioned phenomena. Skt अनात्मन् Tib བདག་མེད་པ་ Ch 无我
Arhat - 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. Skt अर्हत् Tib དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ། Ch 阿羅漢
Atiyoga - 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. Skt अतियोग Tib ཨ་ཏི་ཡོ་ག;ཤིན་ཏུ་རྣལ་འབྱོར།
Avidyā - 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. Skt अविद्या Tib མ་རིག་པ་ Ch 無明
Bhūmi - A plateau of spiritual development. Skt भूमि Tib ས་
Bodhicitta - 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. Skt बोधिचित्त Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། Ch 菩提心
Bodhigarbha - 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." Skt बोधिगर्भ Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སྙིང་པོ་
Bodhiprasthānacitta - The mind or mental attitude that actually works towards enlightenment by continuously engaging in the trainings that lead to its accomplishment. Skt बोधिप्रस्थानचित्त Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་འཇུག་པའི་སེམས་
Bodhipraṇidhicitta - The mind or mental attitude that aspires towards enlightenment. Skt प्रणिधिचित्त Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སྨོན་པའི་སེམས་
Bodhisattva - 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. Skt बोधिसत्त्व Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch 菩薩
Bodong - The Bodong tradition generally refers to the vast body of literature and activity stemming from Bodong Panchen Choklé Namgyal (1375/76-1451) and the monastery of Bodong E to the north of Sakya and the west of Narthang. Read more details from Sarah Harding here: Bodong Tradition Tib བོ་དོང་
Brahman - 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. Skt ब्रह्मन् Tib ཚངས་པ།
Buddhadhātu - 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. Skt बुद्धधातु Tib སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཁམས་ Ch 佛性
Bīja - 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. Skt बीज Tib ས་བོན་ Ch 無漏種
Cittamātra - 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. Skt चित्तमात्र Tib སེམས་ཙམ་
Dharmadhātu - The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge. Skt धर्मधातु Tib ཆོས་དབྱིངས་ Ch 法界
Dharmakāya - "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. Skt धर्मकाय Tib ཆོས་སྐུ་ Ch 法身
Dharmatā - The true nature of phenomenal existence. Skt धर्मता Tib ཆོས་ཉིད་ Ch 法性
Dhātu - A fundamental component or essential constituent. Skt धातु Tib ཁམས་ Ch 界
Dzogchen - 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. Skt महासन्धि Tib རྫོགས་ཆེན།
Ekayāna - The notion that ultimately there is only one vehicle, or means, of achieving enlightenment. Skt एकयान Tib ཐེག་པ་གཅིག་པ་ Ch 一乘
Geluk - 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. Tib དགེ་ལུགས་
Gotra - Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain. Skt गोत्र Tib རིགས་ Ch 鍾姓,種性
Madhyamaka - 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. Skt मध्यमक Tib དབུ་མ་ Ch 中觀見
Guṇa - The qualities or attributes of an enlightened being. Skt गुण Tib ཡོན་ཏན་ Ch 功德
Guṇapāramitā - In the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra it is explained that the dharmakāya of a buddha possesses the four perfect qualities of purity, bliss, permanence, and self. Skt गुणपारमिता Tib ཡོན་ཏན་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ Ch 功德波羅蜜
Hīnayāna - 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. Skt हीनयान Tib ཐེག་དམན། Ch 小乘
Icchantika - 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. Skt इच्छन्तिक Tib འདོད་ཆེན་;འདོད་ཆེན་པོ་ Ch 一闡提
Jonang - 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. Tib ཇོ་ནང་
Kadam - 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. Tib བཀའ་གདམས་
Kagyu - 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. Tib བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་
Karuṇā - The profound wish for all sentient beings to be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. It is a core virtue in Buddhism and, in the Mahāyāna tradition, develops into 'great compassion' (mahākaruṇā), the driving force behind the pursuit of enlightenment for the benefit of others. Skt करुणा Tib ཐུགས་རྗེ་ Ch 悲
Kleśa - Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that, when aroused, negatively affect or taint the mind. Skt क्लेश Tib ཉོན་མོངས་ Ch 煩惱
Kālacakra - 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. Skt कालचक्र Tib དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ། Ch 時輪
Kṣaṇasaṃpad - These are the eighteen qualities specifically related to a precious human rebirth. Skt क्षणसंपद् Tib དལ་འབྱོར་ Ch 刹那具足
Mahāmudrā - 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. Skt महामुद्रा Tib ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།
Mahāyoga - 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. Skt महायोग Tib མཧཱ་ཡོ་ག;རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཆེན་པོ།
Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of the 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. Skt महायान Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch 大乘
Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā - This is the title of Asaṅga's commentary to the Gyü Lama that is given by Tibetan sources instead of the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā. Skt महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्रव्याख्या Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།
Mettā - The unconditional wish for all sentient beings to experience happiness and the causes of happiness. It is a form of universal, selfless love and is one of the four immeasurables (or sublime abodes). Skt मैत्री Tib བྱམས་པ་ Ch 慈
Neyārtha - Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true. Skt नेयार्थ Tib དྲང་དོན་
Nirmāṇakāya - 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. Skt निर्माणकाय Tib སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་ Ch 化身
Niḥsvabhāva - Lacking inherent existence. Skt निःस्वभाव Tib ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་
Niḥsvabhāvatā - The state of lacking a truly independent existence. Skt निःस्वभावता Tib ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ཉིད་
Niṣprapañca - Freedom from conceptual elaborations. Skt निष्प्रपञ्च Tib སྤྲོས་བྲལ་
Nyingma - The Nyingma, which is often described as the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, traces its origin to Padmasambhava, who is said to have visited Tibet in the eighth century. Tib རྙིང་མ་
Nītārtha - Refers to a teaching that is literally true. Skt नीतार्थ Tib ངེས་དོན་
Paramārthasatya - "Ultimate truth" or "absolute truth"; the reality of things as they truly are. Skt परमार्थसत्य Tib དོན་དམ་བདེན་པ་ Ch 眞諦;第一義諦
Paratantrasvabhāva - 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. Skt परतन्त्रस्वभाव Tib གཞན་དབང་གི་རང་བཞིན་
Parikalpitasvabhāva - 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. Skt परिकल्पितस्वभाव Tib ཀུན་བཏགས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་
Pariniṣpannasvabhāva - 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. Skt परिनिष्पन्नस्वभाव Tib ཡོངས་སུ་གྲུབ་པའི་རང་བཞིན་
Paryudāsapratiṣedha - A negation that denies one thing in such a way that it clearly implies another. Skt पर्युदासप्रतिषेध Tib མ་ཡིན་དགག་
Prabhāsvaracitta - 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. Skt प्रभास्वरचित्त Tib འོད་གསལ་གྱི་སེམས་ Ch 光明心
Prabhāsvaratā - 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. Skt प्रभास्वरता Tib འོད་གསལ་ Ch 光明
Prajñā - 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. Skt प्रज्ञा Tib ཤེས་རབ་ Ch 般若
Prajñāpāramitā - 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. Skt प्रज्ञापारमिता Tib ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་;ཤེར་ཕྱིན་ Ch 般若波羅蜜多
Prakṛtisthagotra - The potential for awakening that is inherently present in all beings. Skt प्रकृतिस्थगोत्र Tib རང་བཞིན་གནས་རིགས་ Ch 本性住種性
Pramāṇa - 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. Skt प्रमाण Tib ཚད་མ། Ch 量
Prasajyapratiṣedha - A negation that merely denies the existence of something without implicitly suggesting an alternative. Skt प्रसज्यप्रतिषेध Tib མེད་དགག་
Pratipakṣa - An antidote or remedy that contributes or supports the elimination or pacification of a particular ailment or affliction. Skt प्रतिपक्ष Tib གཉེན་པོ་ Ch 對治
Pratyekabuddha - 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. Skt प्रत्येकबुद्ध Tib རང་སངས་རྒྱས།;རང་རྒྱལ། Ch 緣覺
Pratītyasamutpāda - The notion that all phenomena arise in dependence on causes and conditions. Skt प्रतीत्यसमुत्पाद Tib རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ་;རྟེན་འབྲེལ་ Ch 緣起
Prātimokṣasaṃvara - 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 specific 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 (gso sbyong), "mending and purification," which is observed twice a month. Skt प्रातिमोक्षसंवर Tib སོ་སོར་ཐར་པའི་སྡོམ་པ་
Pāramitā - 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. Skt पारमिता Tib ཕར་ཕྱིན།;ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ། Ch 波羅蜜
Sakya - The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre. Tib ས་སྐྱ་
Sambhāradvaya - the two accumulations of merit and wisdom Skt सम्भारद्वय Tib ཚོགས་གཉིས་
Samudānītagotra - A potential or disposition that is acquired, accentuated, or developed through past karmic actions. Skt समुदानीतगोत्र Tib རྒྱས་འགྱུར་གྱི་རིགས་ Ch 習所成種性
Sangpu Neutok - 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. Tib གསང་ཕུ་ནེའུ་ཐོག་
Sarma - 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. Tib གསར་མ།
Śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt शून्यता Tib སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch 空;空門
Śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt शून्यता Tib སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch 空;空門
Saṃbhogakāya - 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. Skt संभोगकाय Tib ལོངས་སྐུ།;ལོངས་སྤྱོད་རྫོགས་སྐུ། Ch 報身
Saṃvṛtisatya - "Relative truth" or "conventional truth"; the erroneously perceived reality common to the unenlightened. Skt संवृतिसत्य Tib ཀུན་རྫོབ་བདེན་པ་ Ch 世俗諦;俗諦
Sugatagarbha - 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. Skt सुगतगर्भ Tib བདེ་གཤེགས་སྙིང་པོ་
Svabhāva - The nature or essence of a thing, which originates only from itself and is not dependent on any external entities, causes, or conditions. Skt स्वभाव Tib རང་བཞིན་ Ch 自性
Svasaṃvedana - 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. Skt स्वसंवेदन Tib རང་རིག་ Ch 自證分
Sūtra - 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. Skt सूत्र Tib མདོ། Ch 佛经
Tantra - 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. Skt तन्त्र Tib རྒྱུད། Ch 密宗
Tathatā - Suchness itself, absolute reality, or thusness, as in the ultimate state of being of phenomena. Skt तथता Tib དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་
Tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt तथागतगर्भ Tib དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch 如来藏
Tattva - 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. Skt तत्त्व Tib དེ་ཁོ་ན་ཉིད།
Tridharmacakrapravartana - 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. Skt त्रिधर्मचक्रप्रवर्तन Tib ཆོས་འཁོར་རིམ་པ་གསུམ་
Trikāya - 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. Skt त्रिकाय Tib སྐུ་གསུམ། Ch 三身
Trisvabhāva - 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). Skt त्रिस्वभाव Tib རང་བཞིན་གསུམ་
Triviṣa - 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. Skt त्रिविष Tib དུག་གསུམ་ Ch 三毒
Triyāna - 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. Skt त्रियान Tib ཐེག་པ་གསུམ་ Ch 三乗
Uttaratantra - 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. Skt उत्तरतन्त्र Tib རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་ Ch 寶性論
Vajrapada - 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). Skt वज्रपद Tib རྡོ་རྗེའི་གནས་
Vajrayāna - 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. Skt वज्रयान Tib རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ། Ch 金剛乘
Vinaya - 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. Skt विनय Tib འདུལ་བ། Ch 毘奈耶
Viparyāsa - 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. Skt विपर्यास Tib ཕྱིན་ཅི་ལོག Ch 顚倒
Visaṃyogaphala - One of the five types of effects, or fruitions. It refers to an effect that arises from removing that which obscures or hinders it. Skt विसंयोगफल Tib བྲལ་འབྲས་
Yogācāra - 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). Skt योगाचार Tib རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch 瑜伽行派
Ālayavijñāna - 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. Skt आलयविज्ञान Tib ཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་ Ch 阿賴耶識;藏識
Anumāna - Inference (Skt. anumāna; T. rjes dpag) is a way of knowing something indirectly, using logic and reasoning rather than direct experience. For example, if you see smoke rising from a distant mountain, you can infer that there is a fire there, even if you can't see the fire directly yourself. It's a key way to understand things that are hidden from our senses. It is used in the Buddhist tradition to gain insight into deeper levels of reality of self and phenomena. Skt अनुमान Tib རྗེས་དཔག་ Ch 比量
Anumodanā - The practice of feeling genuine joy and appreciation for the good deeds, success, and positive qualities of others. It is a powerful way to overcome jealousy and build positive energy by simply delighting in the virtue found in the world. Skt अनुमोदना Tib རྗེས་སུ་ཡི་རང་བ་ Ch 隨喜
Apramāda - A state of being careful and attentive in one's actions, words, and thoughts. It means staying alert to avoid doing things that cause harm and focusing on what is helpful and virtuous. It is often called the 'path to the deathless' because it prevents the mind from wandering into negative habits. Skt अप्रमाद Tib བག་ཡོད་པ་ Ch 不放逸
Ātmaka - Literally, the state of possessing a self. It is usually used to denote something which is endowed with a certain innate, or natural, attribute. Skt आत्मक Tib བདག་ཉིད་ཅན་
Ātman - 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. Skt आत्मन् Tib བདག་ Ch 我;灵魂
Ātmaparaprativartana - One of the principal techniques in the Mahāyāna tradition for developing bodhicitta. The practice helps us learn how to view others as being of equal importance as oneself, and eventually to mentally 'exchange' one's own happiness for the suffering of others. This practice is designed to destroy selfishness, develop a heart of universal compassion, . Skt आत्मपरप्रतिवर्तन Tib བདག་གཞན་མཉམ་བརྗེ་ Ch 自他換
Āvaraṇa - 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. Skt आवरण Tib སྒྲིབ་པ་
Bodhi - 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. Skt बोधि Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་ Ch 菩提;悟;覺
Bodhisattvasaṃvara - The ethical code or 'vow' taken by a practitioner on the Great Vehicle path. It is a formal commitment to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings, involving the avoidance of selfish actions and the active practice of helping others. Unlike other Buddhist vows, this commitment is maintained across multiple lifetimes until all beings are liberated. Skt बोधिसत्त्वसंवर Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡོམ་པ་ Ch 菩薩戒
Dharmacakrapravartanādhyeṣaṇā - A significant spiritual practice of formally requesting or entreating a Buddha or a qualified teacher to share the Dharma. It is part of a series of practices called the Supreme Worship and encourages the flourishing of the Dharma. Skt धर्मचक्रप्रवर्तनाध्येषणा Tib ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ་བསྐོར་བར་བསྐུལ་བ་ Ch 請轉法輪
Dhyāna - A state of deep, one-pointed concentration where the mind is stable, calm, and focused on a single object, serving as a foundation for developing wisdom. Skt ध्यान Tib བསམ་གཏན་ Ch 禪;禪那;靜慮
Kṣānti - Patience is the ability to remain calm and composed when facing difficulties, suffering, or harm from others, without becoming angry or discouraged. Skt क्षान्ति Tib བཟོད་པ་ Ch 忍;忍辱
Gzhi - The foundational basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. It is often used as a synonym for tathāgatagarbha and dharmadhātu. Skt भूमि Tib གཞི་
Gzhi - The foundational basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. It is often used as a synonym for tathāgatagarbha and dharmadhātu. Skt भूमि Tib གཞི་
Pāpadeśanā - The Buddhist practice of 'confession' or 'laying aside evil.' It involves honestly acknowledging past mistakes and negative actions with regret, then committing not to repeat them. This process helps clear the mind of guilt and negative karmic imprints, creating space for positive qualities to grow. Skt पापदेशना Tib སྡིག་པ་བཤགས་པ་ Ch 懺悔;披露罪過
Paramārthabodhicitta - The direct realization of the true nature of reality, specifically emptiness, as an essential part of the path to enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Skt परमार्थबोधिचित्त Tib དོན་དམ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་ Ch 勝義菩提心
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Pariṇāmanā - The Buddhist practice of 'dedicating' or giving away the positive energy from one's good deeds for the benefit of others. It ensures that the goodness created is shared with all beings and directed toward the ultimate goal of enlightenment, preventing it from being exhausted. Skt परिणामना Tib བསྔོ་བ་ Ch 迴向
Pratigha - A negative mental state of hostility, anger, or aversion. It is an aggressive attitude toward people or situations that one finds unpleasant, with the wish to cause them harm. It is considered one of the primary 'afflictions' that disturb the mind's peace. Skt प्रतिघ Tib ཁོང་ཁྲོ་ Ch 瞋;恚
Puṇya - The positive energy or potential created through performing good deeds, such as generosity or kindness. In Buddhism, accumulating this positive force is seen as essential for finding happiness in future lives, and crucial as a foundation for following the spiritual path. Skt पुण्य Tib བསོད་ནམས་ Ch 福;功德
Ratnatraya - The Three Jewels—the Buddha, the Dharma (his teachings), and the Saṅgha (the spiritual community)—are the three central objects of refuge and inspiration for all Buddhists. Skt रत्नत्रय / त्रिरत्न Tib དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ་ Ch 三寶
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Sādhana - 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. Skt साधन Tib སྒྲུབ་ཐབས། Ch 修行
Saṃprajanyam - Vigilance or alertness is the mental function that monitors one's thoughts, speech, and physical actions to ensure they stay on the right path and avoid harmful distractions. Skt संप्रजन्य Tib ཤེས་བཞིན་ Ch 正知
Saṃvṛtibodhicitta - Relative bodhicitta (Skt. saṃvṛtibodhicitta; T. kun rdzob byang chub kyi sems) is the altruistic wish to become a fully enlightened Buddha in order to help all other beings who are suffering. It has two aspects: the strong wish and aspiration to become enlightened, and then actually engaging in the practices of the bodhisattva that lead to Buddhahood, like generosity and patience. Skt संवृतिबोधित्त Tib ཀུན་རྫོབ་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་ Ch 世俗菩提心
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Sarvākāravaropetāśūnyatā - As opposed to a mere voidness, this phrase refers to an emptiness that is endowed with enlightened qualities and attributes. Skt सर्वकारवरोपेताशून्यता Tib རྣམ་ཀུན་མཆོག་ལྡན་གྱི་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་
Śaraṇagamana - The foundational act of entering the Buddhist path by formally seeking protection and guidance from the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha. Skt शरणगमन Tib སྐྱབས་འགྲོ་ Ch 皈依
Śrāvaka - 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. Skt श्रावक Tib ཉན་ཐོས། Ch 聲聞
Śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt शून्यता Tib སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch 空;空門
Śūnyatā - The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics. Skt शून्यता Tib སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ Ch 空;空門
Śīla - The Buddhist practice of ethical behavior, like being honest, kind, and not harming others. It means following guidelines for good conduct, which helps calm the mind and live a wholesome life. It is the first of the Three Higher Trainings (triśikṣā: śīla, samādhi, prajñā), and the second of the six perfections (pāramitās). In daily practice, śīla is cultivated through mindful attention to one's actions, regular reflection on precepts, and the development of wholesome habits. Skt शील Tib ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ Ch 戒
Smṛtiḥ - Mindfulness is the ability to keep a chosen object or the present moment in mind without forgetting it. It acts as a stable foundation for meditation and daily awareness. Skt स्मृति Tib དྲན་པ་ Ch 念
Vīrya - Diligence is the joyful and consistent effort applied to virtuous actions and spiritual practice. It acts as the engine that drives progress and prevents laziness or discouragement on the path. Skt वीर्य Tib བརྩོན་འགྲུས་ Ch 精進
Gzhi - The foundational basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. It is often used as a synonym for tathāgatagarbha and dharmadhātu. Skt भूमि Tib གཞི་
Gzhi - The foundational basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. It is often used as a synonym for tathāgatagarbha and dharmadhātu. Skt भूमि Tib གཞི་
