Glossary
Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language
This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.
This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.
This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding language.
The attestation of this name is approximate. It is based on other names where the relationship between the Tibetan and source language is attested in dictionaries or other manuscripts.
This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.
This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.
This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.
g.1
Blessed One
Wylie: bcom ldan ’das
Tibetan: བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།
Sanskrit: bhagavat
In Buddhist literature, this is an epithet applied to buddhas, most often to Śākyamuni. The Sanskrit term generally means “possessing fortune,” but in specifically Buddhist contexts it implies that a buddha is in possession of six auspicious qualities (bhaga) associated with complete awakening. The Tibetan term—where bcom is said to refer to “subduing” the four māras, ldan to “possessing” the great qualities of buddhahood, and ’das to “going beyond” saṃsāra and nirvāṇa—possibly reflects the commentarial tradition where the Sanskrit bhagavat is interpreted, in addition, as “one who destroys the four māras.” This is achieved either by reading bhagavat as bhagnavat (“one who broke”), or by tracing the word bhaga to the root √bhañj (“to break”).
g.2
Mañjuśrī
Wylie: ’jam dpal
Tibetan: འཇམ་དཔལ།
Sanskrit: mañjuśrī
Mañjuśrī is one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha” and a bodhisattva who embodies wisdom. He is a major figure in the Mahāyāna sūtras, appearing often as an interlocutor of the Buddha. In his most well-known iconographic form, he is portrayed bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra in his left. To his name, Mañjuśrī, meaning “Gentle and Glorious One,” is often added the epithet Kumārabhūta, “having a youthful form.” He is also called Mañjughoṣa, Mañjusvara, and Pañcaśikha.
g.3
Themphangma Kangyur
Wylie: them spangs ma bka’ ’gyur
Tibetan: ཐེམ་སྤངས་མ་བཀའ་འགྱུར།
One of the two textual lineages of Kangyurs, starting from a manuscript so named that was produced at Gyantsé (rgyal rtse) in 1431. All the Themphangma Kangyurs are manuscript versions.
g.4
Tshalpa Kangyur
Wylie: tshal pa bka’ ’gyur
Tibetan: ཚལ་པ་བཀའ་འགྱུརཾཨརྐུཔ༔་པླེཨསེ་ལིནཀ་ཐིས་ཨེནཏརཡ་ཏོ་ཨཉ་ཨིནསྟནཅེ་ཨོཕ༹་ཐེ་ཝོརད་ཊསལྤ།
The name of one of the main textual lineages of Kangyurs. It comes from an early version of the Kangyur produced at Tshal Gungthang (tshal gung thang) monastery in central Tibet from 1347–51 under the sponsorship of the local ruler, Tshalpa Künga Dorje (tshal pa kun dga’ rdo rje, 1309–64). Later Kangyurs derived wholly, mainly, or to a significant degree from this original Tshalpa Kangyur manuscript are identified as belonging to the Tshalpa lineage of Kangyurs. They are almost all printed Kangyurs.
g.5
Vādisiṃha
Wylie: smra ba’i seng ge
Tibetan: སྨྲ་བའི་སེང་གེ
Sanskrit: vādisiṃha
An epithet of Mañjuśrī meaning Lion of Speech.
g.6
Vajrapāṇi
Wylie: phyag na rdo rje
Tibetan: ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
Sanskrit: vajrapāṇi
Vajrapāṇi means “Wielder of the Vajra.” In the Pali canon, he appears as a yakṣa guardian in the retinue of the Buddha. In the Mahāyāna scriptures he is a bodhisattva and one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha.” In the tantras, he is also regarded as an important Buddhist deity and instrumental in the transmission of tantric scriptures.
g.7
Vajrāsana
Wylie: rdo rje’i gdan, rdo rje gdan
Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེའི་གདན།, རྡོ་རྗེ་གདན།
Sanskrit: vajrāsana
The “vajra seat”; a name for the place in Bodhgaya where the Buddha Śākyamuni, and all buddhas, achieve awakening.