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
acceptance that phenomena do not arise
Wylie: mi skye ba’i chos la bzod pa
Tibetan: མི་སྐྱེ་བའི་ཆོས་ལ་བཟོད་པ།
Sanskrit: anutpattikadharmakṣānti
Bodhisattvas’ realization that all phenomena are unproduced and empty. It sustains them on the difficult path of benefitting all beings so that they do not succumb to the goal of personal liberation. Different sources link this realization to the first or eighth bodhisattva level (bhūmi).
g.2
aggregates as the bases for clinging
Wylie: nye bar len pa’i phung po
Tibetan: ཉེ་བར་ལེན་པའི་ཕུང་པོ།
Sanskrit: upādānaskandha
The five aggregates (skandha) of matter (rūpa), sensation (vedanā), perception (saṃjñā), karmic dispositions (saṃskāra), and consciousness (vijñāna). They are referred to as the “bases for clinging” (upādāna) insofar as all conceptual grasping arises on the basis of these aggregates.
g.3
Avalokiteśvara
Wylie: spyan ras gzigs
Tibetan: སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས།
Sanskrit: avalokiteśvara
One of the “eight close sons of the Buddha,” he is also known as the bodhisattva who embodies compassion. In certain tantras, he is also the lord of the three families, where he embodies the compassion of the buddhas. In Tibet, he attained great significance as a special protector of Tibet, and in China, in female form, as Guanyin, the most important bodhisattva in all of East Asia.
g.4
Avikalpa
Wylie: rnam par mi rtog pa
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་པ།
Sanskrit: avikalpa
Name of a bodhisattva; “Nonconceptual.”
g.5
Avikalpacandra
Wylie: rnam par mi rtog zla ba
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་ཟླ་བ།
Sanskrit: avikalpacandra
Name of a bodhisattva; “Moon of Nonconceptuality.”
g.6
Avikalpaprabhāsa
Wylie: rnam par mi rtog snang ba
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་སྣང་བ།
Sanskrit: avikalpaprabhāsa
Name of a bodhisattva; “Light of Nonconceptuality.”
g.7
bodhisattva level
Wylie: sa
Tibetan: ས།
Sanskrit: bhūmi
The stages a bodhisattva must traverse before reaching perfect buddhahood; traditionally ten in number, though some systems present more.
g.8
cognitive representation
Wylie: rnam par rig pa
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་རིག་པ།
Sanskrit: vijñapti
g.9
conceptual
Wylie: rnam par rtog pa
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ།
Sanskrit: vikalpa
g.10
conceptual sign
Wylie: rnam par rtog pa’i mtshan ma
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པའི་མཚན་མ།
Sanskrit: vikalpanimitta
A “conceptual sign” should here be understood to refer to those signs that arise through conceptual engagement with the phenomenon under examination or discussion. See also “sign.”
g.11
essence
Wylie: snying po
Tibetan: སྙིང་པོ།
Sanskrit: garbha
g.12
field of phenomena
Wylie: chos dbyings
Tibetan: ཆོས་དབྱིངས།
Sanskrit: dharmadhātu
The nonconceptual, boundless field (dhātu) in which all phenomena (dharma) appear. A term for ultimate reality.
g.13
fundamental
Wylie: rang bzhin
Tibetan: རང་བཞིན།
Sanskrit: prakṛti
g.14
Great Perfection
Wylie: rdzogs pa chen po
Tibetan: རྫོགས་པ་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit: mahāsandhi
g.15
Heshang Moheyan
Ca. eighth century. A Chinese master of the Chan tradition who tradition holds lost a debate with Kamalaśīla regarding sudden versus gradual paths to awakening. He upheld the view of the sudden path.
g.16
imputation
Wylie: rnam par brtag pa
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་བརྟག་པ།
Sanskrit: vikalpa
g.17
insight
Wylie: shes rab
Tibetan: ཤེས་རབ།
Sanskrit: prajñā
The sixth of the six perfections.
g.18
intrinsic nature
Wylie: ngo bo nyid
Tibetan: ངོ་བོ་ཉིད།
Sanskrit: svabhāva
This term denotes the ontological status of phenomena, according to which they are said to possess existence in their own right—inherently, in and of themselves, objectively, and independent of any other phenomena such as our conception and labelling. The absence of such an ontological reality is defined as the true nature of reality, emptiness.
g.19
Kamalaśīla
Wylie: pad ma’i ngang tshul
Tibetan: པད་མའི་ངང་ཚུལ།
Sanskrit: kamalaśīla
Ca. late eighth century. An Indian monastic scholar important in the transmission of Buddhism to Tibet.
g.20
karmic dispositions
Wylie: ’du byed
Tibetan: འདུ་བྱེད།
Sanskrit: saṃskāra
One of the five aggregates; the very subtle karmic tendencies that give shape to an individual’s saṃsāric experience. In Abhidharma literature there are typically fifty-one saṃskāras.
g.21
limit of reality
Wylie: yang dag pa’i mtha’
Tibetan: ཡང་དག་པའི་མཐའ།
Sanskrit: bhūtakoṭi
This term has three meanings: (1) the ultimate nature, (2) the experience of the ultimate nature, and (3) the quiescent state of a worthy one (arhat) to be avoided by bodhisattvas.
g.22
Maheśvara
Wylie: rnam par rtog med dbang phyug chen po
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་མེད་དབང་ཕྱུག་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit: nirvikalpamaheśvara
“Great Lord”; the name of a bodhisattva in the Avikalpraveśdhāraṇī. This is more commonly used as an epithet of Śiva.
g.23
mark
Wylie: mtshan ma
Tibetan: མཚན་མ།
Sanskrit: nimitta
See “sign.”
g.24
Material form
Wylie: gzugs
Tibetan: གཟུགས།
Sanskrit: rūpa
See “matter.”
g.25
matter
Wylie: gzugs
Tibetan: གཟུགས།
Sanskrit: rūpa
The first of the five aggregates, defined in Abhidharma literature as anything comprised of the four major elements (earth, air, fire, and water), either alone or in combination. Also rendered here as “material form.”
g.26
Nirvikalpadharmanirdeśakuśala
Wylie: rnam par rtog med chos ston mkhas pa
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་མེད་ཆོས་སྟོན་མཁས་པ།
Sanskrit: nirvikalpadharmanirdeśakuśala
Name of a bodhisattva; “Skilled in Teaching the Dharma of Nonconceptuality.”
g.27
Nirvikalpamahāmaitrīśvara
Wylie: rnam par rtog med byams pa chen po dbang phyug
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་མེད་བྱམས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་དབང་ཕྱུག
Sanskrit: nirvikalpamahāmaitrīśvara
Name of a bodhisattva; “Lord of Nonconceptual Great Love.”
g.28
Nirvikalpamati
Wylie: rnam par rtog med blo gros
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་མེད་བློ་གྲོས།
Sanskrit: nirvikalpamati
Name of a bodhisattva; “Wise in Nonconceptuality.”
g.29
Nirvikalpanāda
Wylie: rnam par rtog med nga ro
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་མེད་ང་རོ།
Sanskrit: nirvikalpanāda
Name of a bodhisattva; “Roar of Nonconceptuality.”
g.30
Nirvikalpaspharaṇa
Wylie: rnam par rtog med khyab byed
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་མེད་ཁྱབ་བྱེད།
Sanskrit: nirvikalpaspharaṇa
Name of a bodhisattva; “Pervading Nonconceptuality.”
g.31
Nirvikalpasvabhāva
Wylie: rnam par rtog med ngo bo nyid
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་མེད་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད།
Sanskrit: nirvikalpasvabhāva
Name of a bodhisattva; “Having the Nature of Nonconceptuality.”
g.32
Nirvikalpasvara
Wylie: rnam par rtog med dbang phyug
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་མེད་དབང་ཕྱུག
Sanskrit: nirvikalpasvara
Name of a bodhisattva; “Lord of Nonconceptuality.”
g.33
Nirvikalpavīra
Wylie: rnam par rtog med dpa’ bo
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་མེད་དཔའ་བོ།
Sanskrit: nirvikalpavīra
Name of a bodhisattva; “Hero of Nonconceptuality.”
g.34
nonconceptual
Wylie: rnam par mi rtog pa
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་པ།
Sanskrit: avikalpa
g.35
nonconceptual realm
Wylie: rnam par mi rtog pa’i dbyings
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་པའི་དབྱིངས།
Sanskrit: avikalpadhātu
The state of nonconceptuality.
g.36
nonconceptuality
Wylie: rnam par mi rtog pa nyid
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་མི་རྟོག་པ་ཉིད།
Sanskrit: avikalpa
g.37
not direct the mind
Wylie: yid la mi byed pa
Tibetan: ཡིད་ལ་མི་བྱེད་པ།
Sanskrit: amanasikāra
To not conceptually engage or even direct the mind toward an object of perception.
g.38
Nubchen Sangyé Yeshé
Wylie: gnub chen sangs rgyas ye shes
Tibetan: གནུབ་ཆེན་སངས་རྒྱས་ཡེ་ཤེས།
Ca. eleventh century. An early Tibetan master of the Nyingma tradition.
g.39
omniscience
Wylie: rnam pa thams cad mkhyen pa nyid
Tibetan: རྣམ་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་པ་ཉིད།
Sanskrit: sarvākārajñatā
A description of the mode of omniscience in which all possible phenomena as well as their ultimate nature are known.
g.40
quality
Wylie: yon tan
Tibetan: ཡོན་ཏན།
Sanskrit: guṇa
g.41
Rājagṛha
Wylie: rgyal po’i khab
Tibetan: རྒྱལ་པོའི་ཁབ།
Sanskrit: rājagṛha
The ancient capital of Magadha prior to its relocation to Pāṭaliputra during the Mauryan dynasty, Rājagṛha is one of the most important locations in Buddhist history. The literature tells us that the Buddha and his saṅgha spent a considerable amount of time in residence in and around Rājagṛha—in nearby places, such as the Vulture Peak Mountain (Gṛdhrakūṭaparvata), a major site of the Mahāyāna sūtras, and the Bamboo Grove (Veṇuvana)—enjoying the patronage of King Bimbisāra and then of his son King Ajātaśatru. Rājagṛha is also remembered as the location where the first Buddhist monastic council was held after the Buddha Śākyamuni passed into parinirvāṇa. Now known as Rajgir and located in the modern Indian state of Bihar.
g.42
Ratnākaraśānti
Wylie: rin chen ’byung gnas zhi ba
Tibetan: རིན་ཆེན་འབྱུང་གནས་ཞི་བ།
Sanskrit: ratnākaraśānti
Ca. late tenth–early eleventh century. An important Indian monastic scholar who commented on both Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna texts.
g.43
secondary afflictive emotions
Wylie: nye ba’i nyon mongs
Tibetan: ཉེ་བའི་ཉོན་མོངས།
Sanskrit: upakleśa
A subsidiary set of afflictive emotions that differ in number depending on the system of Abhidharma that presents them.
g.44
sign
Wylie: mtshan ma
Tibetan: མཚན་མ།
Sanskrit: nimitta
Any imagined mark or feature of an object, the misperception of which serves as the basis of perception and the arising of coarse conceptuality. Also translated here as “mark.”
g.45
six perfections
Wylie: pha rol tu phyin pa drug
Tibetan: ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་དྲུག
Sanskrit: ṣaṭpāramitā
Generosity (Skt. dāna; Tib. byin pa), discipline (Skt. śīla; Tib. tshul khrims), patience (Skt. kṣānti; Tib. bzod pa), diligence (Skt. vīrya; Tib. brtson ’grus), meditative concentration (Skt. dhyāna; Tib. bsam gtan), and insight (Skt. prajñā; Tib. shes rab).
g.46
Sthiramati
Wylie: blo gros brtan pa
Tibetan: བློ་གྲོས་བརྟན་པ།
Sanskrit: sthiramati
Ca. sixth century. An important Indian commentator on the Yogācāra system.
g.47
suchness
Wylie: de bzhin nyid
Tibetan: དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད།
Sanskrit: tathatā
A common term describing ultimate reality.
g.48
true reality
Wylie: de kho na
Tibetan: དེ་ཁོ་ན།
Sanskrit: tattva
g.49
Vimalamitra
Wylie: dri med bshes gnyen
Tibetan: དྲི་མེད་བཤེས་གཉེན།
Sanskrit: vimalamitra
Ca. eighth century. An Indian master important in the transmission of Buddhism to Tibet.
g.50
wisdom
Wylie: ye shes
Tibetan: ཡེ་ཤེས།
Sanskrit: jñāna
Also rendered here as “knowing.”
g.51
worthy one
Wylie: dgra bcom pa
Tibetan: དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།
Sanskrit: arhat
According to Buddhist tradition, one who has conquered the enemy of the afflictions (kleśa-ari-hata) and reached the supreme purity. The term can refer to buddhas as well as to those who have reached realization of the disciple vehicle.