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BCA Chapter 1
BCA Chapter 2
BCA Chapter 3
BCA Chapter 4
BCA Chapter 5
BCA Chapter 6
BCA Chapter 7
BCA Chapter 8
BCA Chapter 9
BCA Chapter 10
Śikṣā Chapter 1
Śikṣā Chapter 2
Śikṣā Chapter 3
Śikṣā Chapter 4
Śikṣā Chapter 5
Śikṣā Chapter 6
Śikṣā Chapter 7
Śikṣā Chapter 8
Śikṣā Chapter 9
Śikṣā Chapter 10
Śikṣā Chapter 11
Śikṣā Chapter 12
Śikṣā Chapter 13
Śikṣā Chapter 14
Śikṣā Chapter 15
Śikṣā Chapter 16
Śikṣā Chapter 17
Śikṣā Chapter 18
Śikṣā Chapter 19
Arousing Bodhicitta
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—————— Terms ——————
Actualized Enlightenment
byams chos sde lnga
dbyed sgom
Great Madhyamaka
gzhan stong
Kagyu
kun gzhi
Madhyamaka
Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā
ngo bo
Ngok Tradition
Original Enlightenment
prabhāsvara
rang stong
rgyu'i rgyud
sems nyid
tha mal gyi shes pa
Tsen Tradition
Protocols for Entering Topic Tags: Not entering data for translations of the BCA and Śikṣ
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
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་
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།
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
Amalavijñāna - The ninth consciousness, the immaculate pure mind. Skt अमलविज्ञान Ch 啊摩羅識;無垢識
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
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
Bhūmi - A plateau of spiritual development. Skt भूमि Tib ས་
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
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་
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
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
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
Gzhi - The foundational basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. It is often used as a synonym for tathāgatagarbha and dharmadhātu. Skt भूमि Tib གཞི་
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་
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
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
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།
Neyārtha - Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true. Skt नेयार्थ Tib དྲང་དོན་
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
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
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
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
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
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་
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་
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་
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
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
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་
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
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
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་
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
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
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
