Popular figures in Indian culture, apsarases are said to be goddesses of the clouds and water and to be wives of the gandharvas.

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.

A term used to express the absence of any intrinsic essence in all phenomena.

In Indian religious mythology, a class of nonhuman beings who often appear as semidivine celestial musicians. The same term is used in certain Buddhist texts in a quite different sense: to denote a disembodied sentient being or anguished spirit in the intermediate state between two lives, seeking the conditions for a new birth as a human or other kind of embodied being.

An Indian scholar who was involved in a number of translations during the eleventh century in Tibet.

A semidivine being, half horse, half human, also often described as a celestial musician.

Literally “great serpents,” mahoragas are supernatural beings depicted as large, subterranean beings with human torsos and heads and the lower bodies of serpents. Their movements are said to cause earthquakes, and they make up a class of subterranean geomantic spirits whose movement through the seasons and months of the year is deemed significant for construction projects.

The sixth of the six perfections, it refers to the profound understanding of the emptiness of all phenomena, the realization of ultimate reality.

Refers in this text to the Buddhist distinction between relative and ultimate. Relative reality refers to the world of reified entities that are believed to have essential existence, whereas ultimate reality refers to the emptiness or lack of inherent existence in all phenomena.

A famous Tibetan translator who lived from 958 to 1055 ᴄᴇ. He was mainly active in western Tibet, especially at Tholing monastery.

The lord of the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three (trāyastriṃśa). Alternatively known as Indra, the deity that is called “lord of the gods” dwells on the summit of Mount Sumeru and wields the thunderbolt. The Tibetan translation brgya byin (meaning “one hundred sacrifices”) is based on an etymology that śakra is an abbreviation of śata-kratu, one who has performed a hundred sacrifices. Each world with a central Sumeru has a Śakra. Also known by other names such as Kauśika, Devendra, and Śacipati.

Selflessness denotes the lack of inherent existence in self-identity and also, more subtly, in all physical and mental phenomena.

An accomplished being; a class of semidivine beings.

A follower of a non-Buddhist religious system or philosophy. It is of interest that in the first sentence of this text, “tīrthikas” are glossed as “those who hold views based on objectification and who engage in concepts and analysis.”

A class of semidivine beings who are famous for wielding (dhara) spells (vidyā). Loosely understood as “sorcerers,” these magical beings are frequently petitioned through dhāraṇī and Kriyātantra ritual to grant magical powers to the supplicant. The later Buddhist tradition, playing on the dual valences of vidyā as “spell” and “knowledge,” began to apply this term to realized figures in the Buddhist pantheon.

A class of semidivine beings who haunt or protect forests, rivers, and other natural spaces, or serve as guardians to villages and towns. They are traditionally propitiated for health, wealth, protection, and other boons.