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
Bamboo Grove
Wylie: ’od ma’i tshal
Tibetan: འོད་མའི་ཚལ།
Sanskrit: veṇuvana
The famous bamboo grove near Rājagṛha where the Buddha regularly stayed and gave teachings. It was situated on land donated by King Bimbisāra of Magadha and was the first of several landholdings donated to the Buddhist community during the time of the Buddha.
g.2
eight classes of beings
Wylie: lha klu sde brgyad
Tibetan: ལྷ་ཀླུ་སྡེ་བརྒྱད།
The eight classes are gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas.
g.3
Maudgalyāyana
Wylie: maud gal gyi bu
Tibetan: མཽད་གལ་གྱི་བུ།
Sanskrit: maudgalyāyana
One of the closest disciples of the Buddha Śākyamuni, known for his miraculous abilities.
g.4
Mount Sumeru
Wylie: ri rab lhun po
Tibetan: རི་རབ་ལྷུན་པོ།
Sanskrit: sumeru
According to ancient Buddhist cosmology, this is the great mountain forming the axis of the universe. At its summit is Sudarśana, home of Śakra and his thirty-two gods, and on its flanks live the asuras. The mount has four sides facing the cardinal directions, each of which is made of a different precious stone. Surrounding it are several mountain ranges and the great ocean where the four principal island continents lie: in the south, Jambudvīpa (our world); in the west, Godānīya; in the north, Uttarakuru; and in the east, Pūrvavideha. Above it are the abodes of the desire realm gods. It is variously referred to as Meru, Mount Meru, Sumeru, and Mount Sumeru.
g.5
starving spirits
Wylie: ’dre bkren ltogs pa, ’dre ltogs
Tibetan: འདྲེ་བཀྲེན་ལྟོགས་པ།, འདྲེ་ལྟོགས།
A type of spirit whose description is very similar to pretas (Tib. yi dags). It is possible that this term is a translation of preta, and it appears to be essentially synonymous with it.