A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views, but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).

This term in its broadest sense can refer to any being, whether human, animal, or nonhuman. However, it is often used to refer to a specific class of nonhuman beings, especially when bhūtas are mentioned alongside rākṣasas, piśācas, or pretas. In common with these other kinds of nonhumans, bhūtas are usually depicted with unattractive and misshapen bodies. Like several other classes of nonhuman beings, bhūtas take spontaneous birth. As their leader is traditionally regarded to be Rudra-Śiva (also known by the name Bhūta), with whom they haunt dangerous and wild places, bhūtas are especially prominent in Śaivism, where large sections of certain tantras concentrate on them.

The king of Laṅkāpuri. He is also known as the king Rāvaṇa in the Rāmāyaṇa. To appease the devas and to save his own life, he is said to have offered his sister in marriage to Mahādeva. From this union the Dharma protector Rematī was born.

The term dhāraṇī has the sense of something that “holds” or “retains,” and so it can refer to the special capacity of practitioners to memorize and recall detailed teachings. It can also refer to a verbal expression of the teachings‍—an incantation, spell, or mnemonic formula‍—that distills and “holds” essential points of the Dharma and is used by practitioners to attain mundane and supramundane goals. The same term is also used to denote texts that contain such formulas.

A popular goddesses in the non-Buddhist pantheon. She is associated with overcoming demons and evil forces through wrathful methods. This activity is alluded to in her name, which means “fortress” or “citadel.”

In the most general sense the devas‍—the term is cognate with the English divine‍—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who attend and celebrate the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuni and other buddhas and bodhisattvas. In Buddhist cosmology the devas occupy the highest of the five or six “destinies” (gati) of saṃsāra among which beings take rebirth. The devas reside in the devalokas, “heavens” that traditionally number between twenty-six and twenty-eight and are divided between the desire realm (kāmadhātu), form realm (rūpadhātu), and formless realm (ārūpyadhātu). A being attains rebirth among the devas either through meritorious deeds (in the desire realm) or the attainment of subtle meditative states (in the form and formless realms). While rebirth among the devas is considered favorable, it is ultimately a transitory state from which beings will fall when the conditions that lead to rebirth there are exhausted. Thus, rebirth in the god realms is regarded as a diversion from the spiritual path.

Here an epithet for Śrīdevī Mahākālī.

A name of Śiva.

“Mothers”; a class of female spirits common to both the Buddhist and non-Buddhist traditions. Typically these spirits are associated with creating obstacles and illness during pregnancy and early childhood. However, when supplicated they can also protect against these very same obstacles.

A class of nonhuman beings who live in subterranean aquatic environments, where they guard wealth and sometimes also teachings. Nāgas are associated with serpents and have a snakelike appearance. In Buddhist art and in written accounts, they are regularly portrayed as half human and half snake, and they are also said to have the ability to change into human form. Some nāgas are Dharma protectors, but they can also bring retribution if they are disturbed. They may likewise fight one another, wage war, and destroy the lands of others by causing lightning, hail, and flooding.

A class of nonhuman beings that are often, but certainly not always, considered demonic in the Buddhist tradition. They are often depicted as flesh-eating monsters who haunt frightening places and are ugly and evil-natured with a yearning for human flesh, and who additionally have miraculous powers, such as being able to change their appearance.

A goddess who eventually becomes known as the Dharma protector Śrīdevī Mahākālī. Her parents are the goddess Umadevī and the god Mahādeva.

A wrathful Dharma protector who is often portrayed together with her mistress Śrīdevī Mahākālī. At times she is conflated with Śrīdevī Mahākālī, so that the two appear to be identical. She is most often portrayed riding on a donkey and adorned with various wrathful ornaments and hand implements. Rematī is also known for her ability to inflict disease on others and retract it at will. In Kangyur literature Rematī is at times linked to the Indian goddess Revatī and also to the rākṣasī demoness Revatī. This link appears to have been made by the editors of the Kangyur.

This name can refer to various non-Buddhist goddesses (such as Durgā), who often have a wrathful and protective nature. Revatī is also the name of a rākṣasī associated with the illness and mortality of children. Revatī is also one of the constellations in the heavens, personified as a goddess. The Tibetan rendering of this name can also refer to a group of local female deities and even a male monastic disciple of the Buddha Śākyamuni (in which case nam gru translates the Sanskrit name Revata). In Kangyur literature Revatī (both the goddess and the rākṣasī) is at times linked to the Dharma protector Rematī. This link appears to have been made by the editors of the Kangyur.

A common epithet of Indra, the lord of the gods, who dwells on the summit of Mount Sumeru and wields the thunderbolt. The Tibetan translation is based on an etymology that śakra is an abbreviation of śata-kratu: one who has performed a hundred sacrifices (Tib. brgya byin). The highest Vedic sacrifice was the horse sacrifice, and there is a tradition that he became the lord of the gods through performing a hundred of them.

An epithet for Śrīdevī Mahākālī. According to The Tantra of the Flaming Ḍākinī (Toh 842), Śrīdevī Mahākālī prays that in her next life she may meet the Buddha and become the sovereign goddess of the desire realm. When this becomes reality, she becomes known as “Sovereign Goddess of the Desire Realm‍.”

A wrathful Dharma protector who is often portrayed together with her servant Rematī. At times she is conflated with Rematī, so that the two appear to be identical. In the Tibetan tradition, she is better known under her Tibetan name, Palden Lhamo (dpal ldan lha mo). She is most often portrayed riding on a donkey and adorned with various wrathful ornaments and hand implements.

A goddess who is the wife of Mahādeva (Śiva). The name Umā is often synonymous with the two goddesses Durgā and Pārvatī. The Tibetan rendering of her name is also at times used as a translation of the name Durgā, a fact that highlights the close relationship between these two goddesses.

To help the devas win a battle against the asuras, Vajrapāṇi manifested the goddess Umadevī. Together with the god Mahādeva, she has two children: the girl Red Cāmuṇḍī and the boy Yāma Mahākāla.

A class of serpent-like beings.

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.

The colophon to this praise attributes its composition to a certain brahmin named Vararuci. However, in Toh 671, from which the praise was extracted, Vararuci utters not this praise but rather the subsequent tribute that follows in Toh 671 at 1.­105. In Toh 842, a brahmin Vararuci, who is most like the same person who appears in this text, acts as the first Buddhist teacher for Śrīdevī Mahākālī and Rematī after their encounter with the Buddha and their conversion to Buddhism. It is unclear whether this brahmin Vararuci is thought within the literature to be identical with the historical person Vararuci, a well-known author of several treatises on grammar and astrology.

A goddess who eventually becomes known as the Dharma protector Śrīdevī Mahākālī. Her parents are the goddess Umadevī and the god Mahādeva. She received her name by protecting a nāga called Conch Excrescence (dung gi mdzer ba can) from being killed by a garuḍa.

An epithet for Śrīdevī Mahākālī. According to The Tantra of the Flaming Ḍākinī (Toh 842), Śrīdevī Mahākālī was at one point tricked into marriage with the rākṣasa king Daśagrīva and so becomes known as “Wife of the Demon.”

The lord of death.

The divine brother of Red Cāmuṇḍī. His parents are the goddess Umadevī and the god Mahādeva.

An epithet for Śrīdevī Mahākālī. According to The Tantra of the Flaming Ḍākinī (Toh 842), Śrīdevī Mahākālī was originally born as a divine girl called Red Cāmuṇḍī. Her father was Mahādeva, her mother was Umadevī, and her brother at that time was called Yama Mahākāla. Hence, she is “Yama’s Sister.”