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
Ākāśagarbha
Wylie: nam mkha’i snying po
Tibetan: ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ།
Sanskrit: ākāśagarbha
The name of a bodhisattva.
g.2
aloeswood
Wylie: a ga ru
Tibetan: ཨ་ག་རུ།
Sanskrit: aguru, śiṃśapā
The fragrant aloeswood tree Aquilaria agallocha. Alternately a Tibetan translation of śiṃśapā, which the Atharvaveda identifies as the tree Dalbergia sissoo or Indian redwood.
g.3
bitter gourd
Wylie: in dra ba ru na
Tibetan: ཨིན་དྲ་བ་རུ་ན།
Sanskrit: indrāvaruṇi
Cucumis trigonus; colocynth, a wild bitter gourd, Cucumis colocynthis; the favorite plant of Indra and Varuṇa.
g.4
bodhi tree
Wylie: byang chub kyi shing
Tibetan: བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཤིང་།
Sanskrit: bodhitaru, bodhivṛkṣa
Ficus religiosa.
g.5
cast offering
Wylie: gtor ma
Tibetan: གཏོར་མ།
Sanskrit: bali
An offering, originating in the vedic tradition, traditionally made out of uncooked food and performed at the home prior to cooking a meal by arranging portions of the ingredients and then casting them outside or into the sacred fire. Also translated here as “uncooked offering.”
g.6
corrupting being
Wylie: log ’dren
Tibetan: ལོག་འདྲེན།
Sanskrit: vināyaka
A class of being that misleads or has a corrupting influence.
g.7
date tree
Wylie: ’o ma can gyi shing, shing ’o ma can
Tibetan: འོ་མ་ཅན་གྱི་ཤིང་།, ཤིང་འོ་མ་ཅན།
Sanskrit: kṣīrikā, kṣīravṛkṣa
Identified in the Mahābhārata and Lalitavistara as a variety of date tree.
g.8
dhāraṇī
Wylie: gzungs
Tibetan: གཟུངས།
Sanskrit: dhāraṇī
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.
g.9
dill
Wylie: shu ti
Tibetan: ཤུ་ཏི།
Sanskrit: śatapuṣpa
Lit. “having one hundred flowers,” Monier-Williams notes this term is used in the Āyurvedic work Suśrutasaṃhitā to denote the plant Anethum sowa, also known as dill.
g.10
fever that returns every four days
Wylie: zhag bzhi pa
Tibetan: ཞག་བཞི་པ།
Sanskrit: caturthaka
g.11
four-day fever
Wylie: zhag bzhi pa
Tibetan: ཞག་བཞི་པ།
Sanskrit: caturthaka
See “fever that returns every four days.”
g.12
foxtail millet
Wylie: khre
Tibetan: ཁྲེ།
Sanskrit: priyaṅgu, pītataṇḍulā
Panicum italicum.
g.13
Infinite Flowers
Wylie: mtha’ yas me tog
Tibetan: མཐའ་ཡས་མེ་ཏོག
The name of a bodhisattva.
g.14
Kailāsa
Wylie: ti se’i ri
Tibetan: ཏི་སེའི་རི།
Sanskrit: kailāsa
Mount Kailash, often considered the earthly representation of Mount Meru, the central world-axis in numerous South Asian cosmographies. In its role as the center of the cosmos, Mount Kailash is considered to be the dwelling place of numerous Buddhist and non-Buddhist deities including the Hindu god Śiva, the tantric Buddhist god Cakrasaṃvara, Kubera, and others. The mountain is considered sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, and Bönpos.
g.15
Kanakamuni
Wylie: gser thub
Tibetan: གསེར་ཐུབ།
Sanskrit: kanakamuni
Fifth of the seven tathāgatas/buddhas. Identified in other texts as the second buddha to appear in the present eon.
g.16
Kāśyapa
Wylie: ’od srung
Tibetan: འོད་སྲུང་།
Sanskrit: kāśyapa
The sixth of the seven tathāgatas/buddhas. Identified in other texts as the third buddha to appear in the present eon, and thus the immediated predecessor of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
g.17
kaṭapūtana
Wylie: lus srul po
Tibetan: ལུས་སྲུལ་པོ།
Sanskrit: kaṭapūtana
A class of demonic, possessing beings.
g.18
Krakucchanda
Wylie: log par dad sel
Tibetan: ལོག་པར་དད་སེལ།
Sanskrit: krakucchanda
The fourth of the seven tathāgatas/buddhas. Identified in other texts as the first buddha to appear in the present eon.
g.19
leprosy
Wylie: mdze
Tibetan: མཛེ།
Sanskrit: kuṣṭha
g.20
lightning
Wylie: lce ’babs pa
Tibetan: ལྕེ་འབབས་པ།
Sanskrit: aśani
A thunderbolt or flash of lightning.
g.21
Maitreya
Wylie: byams pa
Tibetan: བྱམས་པ།
Sanskrit: maitreya
The name of a bodhisattva. Maitreya is considered to currently reside in Tuṣita and awaits rebirth in the human realm as the next Buddha of the current eon.
g.22
mango flowers
Wylie: a mra’i mgo ljogs
Tibetan: ཨ་མྲའི་མགོ་ལྗོགས།
Sanskrit: āmrastabaka
The blossoms of a mango tree.
g.23
nut grass
Wylie: gla skang
Tibetan: གླ་སྐང་།
Sanskrit: mustaḥ
Cyperus rotundus.
g.24
obstructing being
Wylie: bgegs
Tibetan: བགེགས།
Sanskrit: vighna
An obstacle and a class of demonic beings that cause obstacles.
g.25
oleander wood
Wylie: shing ka ra vI ra
Tibetan: ཤིང་ཀ་ར་བཱི༹་ར།
Sanskrit: karavīra
The wood of Nerium odorum.
g.26
possessed by a spirit
Wylie: ’byung pos zin
Tibetan: འབྱུང་པོས་ཟིན།
Sanskrit: bhūtagraha RS, bhūtāveśa RS
This is likely an alternate Tibetan translation for the Sanskrit phrase *bhūtagraha, more commonly rendered in Tibetan as ’byung po’i gdon. The phrase shares semantic resonances with the compound bhūtagrahāviṣṭa/’byung po’i gdon gyis non pa and the Sanskrit bhūtāveśa, all of which refer to being possessed by a class of spirit (bhūta/’byung po).
g.27
protection cord
Wylie: skud pa
Tibetan: སྐུད་པ།
Sanskrit: sūtra, tantru
A term used here to denote a piece of string incanted with a mantra that protects whomever wears it.
g.28
result of a humoral imbalance
Wylie: ‘dus pa las gyur pa
Tibetan: འདུས་པ་ལས་གྱུར་པ།
Sanskrit: sāṃnipātika
A term in the Suśrutasaṃhitā that denotes a dangerous illness that results when all three humors are out of balance.
g.29
saffron
Wylie: gum kum, kur kum
Tibetan: གུམ་ཀུམ།, ཀུར་ཀུམ།
Sanskrit: kuṅkuma
Crocus sativus, the plant and the pollen of the flowers.
g.30
Samantabhadra
Wylie: kun tu bzang po
Tibetan: ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ།
Sanskrit: samantabhadra
The name of a bodhisattva.
g.31
Samantakusuma
Wylie: kun nas me tog
Tibetan: ཀུན་ནས་མེ་ཏོག
Sanskrit: samantakusuma
The name of a bodhisattva.
g.32
sealing off the directions
Wylie: phyogs bcing ba
Tibetan: ཕྱོགས་བཅིང་བ།
Sanskrit: digbandha
A protection rite designed to guard the subject against attack or assault from demonic forces and mantra or vidyā beings.
g.33
secret mantra
Wylie: gsang sngags
Tibetan: གསང་སྔགས།
Sanskrit: guhyamantra
A spell. Although a technical term in its own right, it is also at times used interchangeably with the terms dhāraṇī and dhāraṇīmantra, vidyāmantra , etc.
g.34
seizer
Wylie: gdon
Tibetan: གདོན།
Sanskrit: graha
A class of demonic, possessing beings.
g.35
seizers that possess children
Wylie: byis pa rnams kyi gdon
Tibetan: བྱིས་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱི་གདོན།
Sanskrit: bālagrahaḥ
Literally “child snatchers,” the bālagrahaḥ are an important class of demonic being in both Āyurvedic literature and across both popular and institutional religious communities in South Asia and the broader South Asian cultural world.
g.36
Seven successive buddhas
Wylie: sangs rgyas rabs bdun
Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས་རབས་བདུན།
Sanskrit: saptatathāgata
The best known of many sets of past buddhas, including Śākyamuni as the seventh, his three predecessors in this eon, and the three last buddhas of the eon that preceded the present one.
g.37
Śikhin
Wylie: gtsug tor can
Tibetan: གཙུག་ཏོར་ཅན།
Sanskrit: śikhin
The second of the seven tathāgatas/buddhas. Identified in other texts as the penultimate buddha to appear in the eon that preceded the present one.
g.38
sirisa
Wylie: shi ri sha
Tibetan: ཤི་རི་ཤ།
Sanskrit: śirīṣa
The sirisa tree or Acacia sirissa.
g.39
spikenard
Wylie: na la da
Tibetan: ན་ལ་ད།
Sanskrit: nalada
Identified as Nardostachys jatamansi, or Indian spikenard, a plant recognized for its medicinal properties in the Atharvaveda and Suśrutasaṃhitā . The Sanskrit epic poem called Naiṣadhacarita identifies this plant as the root of Andropogon muricatus. A number of classical Sanskrit lexicographers identify this plant as the blossom of Hibiscus rosa sinensis.
g.40
spirit
Wylie: byung po
Tibetan: བྱུང་པོ།
Sanskrit: bhūta
A broad class of demonic, possessing beings of which there are numerous subdivisions outlined in Āyurvedic literature and Śaiva tantras, such as the Netratantra and Kriyākallotara, that preserve material from the now-lost genre of bhūtatantra that discusses the symptomology, pathology, and treatment of demonic possession.
g.41
Sukhāvatī
Wylie: bde ba can
Tibetan: བདེ་བ་ཅན།
Sanskrit: sukhāvatī
The name of the western buddhafield of the Tathāgata Amitābha.
g.42
Suśrutasaṃhitā
Sanskrit: suśrutasaṃhitā
An ancient Indian Āyurvedic work.
g.43
sweet flag
Wylie: shu dag
Tibetan: ཤུ་དག
Sanskrit: vacā, ugragandhā
The medicinal plant Acorus calamus.
g.44
swollen liver
Wylie: mchin skran
Tibetan: མཆིན་སྐྲན།
Sanskrit: gulmakuṣṭha
Listed as a type of leprosy in Monier-Williams, the literal translation of the term implies that it is a disease that is associated with the liver.
g.45
tumor
Wylie: skrangs, lhog
Tibetan: སྐྲངས།, ལྷོག
Sanskrit: śoṭha, śvayathu, gaṇḍa
A swelling, tumor, or morbid intumescence.
g.46
uncooked offering
Wylie: gtor ma
Tibetan: གཏོར་མ།
Sanskrit: bali
An offering, originating in the vedic tradition, traditionally made out of uncooked food and performed at the home prior to cooking a meal by arranging portions of the ingredients and then casting them outside or into the sacred fire. Also translated here as “cast offering.”
g.47
unnatural death
Wylie: dus ma yin pa’i ’chi ba
Tibetan: དུས་མ་ཡིན་པའི་འཆི་བ།
Sanskrit: akālamaraṇa
This term literally means an “untimely death.” In both Buddhist and non-Buddhist South Asian literature, human beings are said to be allotted a certain lifespan, and that lifespan is a function of the age in which they live. In the current age, the full human lifespan is said to be one hundred years. Thus any death that occurs before one has lived out an entire one hundred years is technically considered an “untimely death.” The list of various “untimely deaths” in Buddhist literature generally includes tragic and unnatural ways of dying such as drowning, contracting a sudden illness, being burned to death, etc.
g.48
untimely death
Wylie: dus ma yin pa’i ’chi ba
Tibetan: དུས་མ་ཡིན་པའི་འཆི་བ།
Sanskrit: akālamaraṇa
See “unnatural death.”
g.49
valerian
Wylie: rgya spos
Tibetan: རྒྱ་སྤོས།
Sanskrit: tagara, tagaraka, nata
Indian valerian or Valeriana jatamansi.
g.50
vidyāmantra
Wylie: rig sngags
Tibetan: རིག་སྔགས།
Sanskrit: vidyāmantra
A spell. Although a technical term in its own right, it is also used interchangeably at times with the terms dhāraṇī and dhāraṇīmantra, guhyamantra, etc.
g.51
Vipaśyin
Wylie: rnam par gzigs
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་གཟིགས།
Sanskrit: vipaśyin
The first of the seven tathāgatas/buddhas. Identified in other texts as the last but two of the buddhas that appeared in the eon that preceded the present one.
g.52
Viśvabhū
Wylie: thams cad skyob
Tibetan: ཐམས་ཅད་སྐྱོབ།
Sanskrit: viśvabhū
The third of the seven tathāgatas/buddhas. Identified in other texts as the last buddha to appear in the eon that preceded the present one.
g.53
vitiligo
Wylie: sha bkra, sha gar
Tibetan: ཤ་བཀྲ།, ཤ་གར།
Sanskrit: kilāsa, śvitra, sidhya, hariṇa
A skin disorder characterized by a loss of pigmentation.
g.54
wild asparagus
Wylie: nye’u shing, nye shing, rtsa ba brgya pa
Tibetan: ཉེའུ་ཤིང་།, ཉེ་ཤིང་།, རྩ་བ་བརྒྱ་པ།
Sanskrit: śatāvarī, śatamūlī
Asparagus racemosus, a common medicinal plant recognized as early as the Suśrutasaṃhitā .