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
bhikṣu
Wylie: dge slong
Tibetan: དགེ་སློང་།
Sanskrit: bhikṣu
This term refers specifically to a monk who has received ordination, the highest level of monastic initiation available in the Buddhist tradition. The Sanskrit term literally means “beggar” or “mendicant,” referring to the fact that Buddhist monks and nuns—like other ascetics of the time—subsisted on alms begged from the laity.
g.2
blessed one
Wylie: bcom ldan ’das
Tibetan: བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།
Sanskrit: bhagavat
In Buddhist literature, this is an epithet applied to buddhas, most often to Śākyamuni. The Sanskrit term generally means “possessing fortune,” but in specifically Buddhist contexts it implies that a buddha is in possession of six auspicious qualities (bhaga) associated with complete awakening. The Tibetan term—where bcom is said to refer to “subduing” the four māras, ldan to “possessing” the great qualities of buddhahood, and ’das to “going beyond” saṃsāra and nirvāṇa—possibly reflects the commentarial tradition where the Sanskrit bhagavat is interpreted, in addition, as “one who destroys the four māras.” This is achieved either by reading bhagavat as bhagnavat (“one who broke”), or by tracing the word bhaga to the root √bhañj (“to break”).
g.3
Grove of Twin Sal Trees
Wylie: shing sA la zung gi tshal
Tibetan: ཤིང་སཱ་ལ་ཟུང་གི་ཚལ།
Sanskrit: yamakaśālavana
The grove in or near Kuśinagarī where the Buddha attained parinirvāṇa, it is named for the two sal trees between which the Buddha lay.
g.4
Kuśinagarī
Wylie: ku sha’i grong khyer
Tibetan: ཀུ་ཤའི་གྲོང་ཁྱེར།
Sanskrit: kuśinagarī
The city in or near which the Buddha attained parinirvāṇa.
g.5
Mallas
Wylie: gyad
Tibetan: གྱད།
Sanskrit: malla
The name of a tribe or clan in ancient northern India.
g.6
nirvāṇa
Wylie: mya ngan las ’das pa
Tibetan: མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།
Sanskrit: nirvāṇa
The “extinguishing” of suffering; the state of freedom from the suffering of saṃsāra.
g.7
parinirvāṇa
Wylie: yongs su mya ngan las ’da’ ba
Tibetan: ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདའ་བ།
Sanskrit: parinirvāṇa
The final stage of passing into nirvāṇa, which occurs when an arhat or buddha passes away.
g.8
Saṃsāra
Wylie: ’khor ba
Tibetan: འཁོར་བ།
Sanskrit: saṃsāra
A state of involuntary existence conditioned by afflicted mental states and the imprint of past actions, characterized by suffering in a cycle of life, death, and rebirth. On its reversal, the contrasting state of nirvāṇa is attained, free from suffering and the processes of rebirth.