The essentially pure nature of mind is obscured and afflicted by various psychological defilements, which destroy the mind’s peace and composure and lead to unwholesome deeds of body, speech, and mind, acting as causes for continued existence in saṃsāra. Included among them are the primary afflictions of desire (rāga), anger (dveṣa), and ignorance (avidyā). It is said that there are eighty-four thousand of these negative mental qualities, for which the eighty-four thousand categories of the Buddha’s teachings serve as the antidote. Kleśa is also commonly translated as “negative emotions,” “disturbing emotions,” and so on. The Pāli kilesa, Middle Indic kileśa, and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit kleśa all primarily mean “stain” or “defilement.” The translation “affliction” is a secondary development that derives from the more general (non-Buddhist) classical understanding of √kliś (“to harm,“ “to afflict”). Both meanings are noted by Buddhist commentators.

The five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness. On the individual level, the five aggregates refer to the basis upon which the mistaken idea of a self is projected. They are referred to as the “bases for appropriation” (Skt. upādāna) insofar as all conceptual grasping arises on the basis of these aggregates.

Ānanda, the cousin of Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha Śākyamuni). The Buddha’s personal attendant, one of his closest disciples, and also the person who, according to tradition, preserved the oral transmission of the sūtras.

“Worthy one” or “someone who has killed their foes” (i.e., mental afflictions). A Buddhist saint who has obtained liberation from saṃsāra. Also used as an epithet for buddhas.

A grove of banyan trees (Skt. nyagrodha, Tib. nya gro dha) near Kapilavastu, where the Buddha resided during his first visit to the city after his awakening. It was donated to the monastic community by King Śuddhodana, the father of the Buddha. It is said that several rules of the Vinaya were promulgated there.

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”).

Though often specifically reserved for the monastic community, this term can be applied to any of the four Buddhist communities‍—monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen‍—as well as to identify the different groups of practitioners, like the community of bodhisattvas or the community of śrāvakas. It is also the third of the Three Jewels (triratna) of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Community.

In the present text this refers to the mental continuum.

See “māra.”

One of the three spheres of existence, it comprises the traditional six realms of saṃsāra up to and including the desire realm gods‍—including the human realm. Rebirth in this realm is characterized by intense cravings via the five senses and their objects.

An aeon or cosmic period of time.

This likely refers to the vase of inexhaustible treasures known from Indian mythology, which provides beings with copious wealth and sustenance.

In Buddhist cosmology, the sphere of existence one level more subtle than our own (the desire realm), where beings, though subtly embodied, are not driven primarily by the urge for sense gratification.

In Buddhist cosmology, the sphere of existence two levels more subtle than our own (the desire realm), where beings are no longer physically embodied, and thus not subject to the sufferings that physical embodiment brings.

To go forth from the home into homelessness, or to renounce the worldly life of a lay person, in order to become a monk or nun.

The realms of the gods.

An epithet for a monastic.

An ancient city, capital of the Śākya state, where Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha Śākyamuni) lived until the age of twenty-nine when he renounced worldly life. Later, some years after his awakening, the Buddha returned to Kapilavastu, where his cousins Ānanda and Devadatta, his half-brother Nanda, his barber Upāli, and his son Rāhula joined the monastic community.

Various unwholesome mental states that lead to continued suffering and existence.

Release or deliverance from saṃsāra.

The lower realms of hell beings, hungry ghosts (pretas), and animals.

Māra, literally “death” or “maker of death,” is the name of the deva who tried to prevent the Buddha from achieving awakening, the name given to the class of beings he leads, and also an impersonal term for the destructive forces that keep beings imprisoned in saṃsāra: (1) As a deva, Māra is said to be the principal deity in the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations (paranirmitavaśavartin), the highest paradise in the desire realm. He famously attempted to prevent the Buddha’s awakening under the Bodhi tree‍—see The Play in Full (Toh 95), 21.1‍—and later sought many times to thwart the Buddha’s activity. In the sūtras, he often also creates obstacles to the progress of śrāvakas and bodhisattvas. (2) The devas ruled over by Māra are collectively called mārakāyika or mārakāyikadevatā, the “deities of Māra’s family or class.” In general, these māras too do not wish any being to escape from saṃsāra, but can also change their ways and even end up developing faith in the Buddha, as exemplified by Sārthavāha; see The Play in Full (Toh 95), 21.14 and 21.43. (3) The term māra can also be understood as personifying four defects that prevent awakening, called (i) the divine māra (devaputra­māra), which is the distraction of pleasures; (ii) the māra of Death (mṛtyumāra), which is having one’s life interrupted; (iii) the māra of the aggregates (skandhamāra), which is identifying with the five aggregates; and (iv) the māra of the afflictions (kleśamāra), which is being under the sway of the negative emotions of desire, hatred, and ignorance.

Literally, a “practitioner of yoga,” meaning one dedicated to meditation practice. It can be synonymous with yogin. This is not a reference to the Yogācāra school of thought that developed within the Mahāyāna.

This is a reference to saṃsāra, which is called a “mountain of bones” since the skeletons of the beings born therein would, if accumulated over countless rebirths, be enough to form a mountain.

Prince Nanda was the younger half-brother of Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha Śākyamuni); his mother was Mahāprajāpatī Gotamī, Siddhārtha Gautama’s maternal aunt. Nanda was an important monastic disciple of the Buddha.

The “extinguishing” of suffering; the state of freedom from the suffering of saṃsāra.

One who will not have to be born again in the desire realm but will instead become an arhat.

Usually a reference to five hindrances: longing for sense pleasures (Skt. kāmacchanda), malice (Skt. vyāpāda), sloth and torpor (Skt. styānamiddha), excitement and remorse (Skt. auddhatyakaukṛtya), and doubt (Skt. vicikitsā).

This is a reference to saṃsāra, which is called an “ocean of milk” since the beings therein are sustained by their mother’s milk which, if accumulated over countless rebirths, would be enough to fill an ocean.

An epithet of a buddha.

Definite emergence or release from saṃsāra; also a term for renunciation.

An epithet for the historical Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama: he was a muni (“sage”) from the Śākya clan. He is counted as the fourth of the first four buddhas of the present Good Eon, the other three being Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, and Kāśyapa. He will be followed by Maitreya, the next buddha in this eon.

The cycle of birth and death driven by mental afflictions and karmic actions.

The seven precious royal treasures of a universal monarch: wheel, jewel, queen, minister/officer, elephant, excellent horse, and army officer.

Siddhārtha was the Buddha Śākyamuni’s personal name, while Gautama (“descendants of Gotama”) was his family name.

The Sanskrit term literally means “one who toils,” i.e., an ascetic, and the term is applied to spiritual renunciants or monks, whether Buddhist or otherwise.

The Sanskrit term śrāvaka, and the Tibetan nyan thos, both derived from the verb “to hear,” are usually defined as “those who hear the teaching from the Buddha and make it heard to others.” Primarily this refers to those disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain the state of an arhat seeking their own liberation and nirvāṇa. They are the practitioners of the first turning of the wheel of the Dharma on the four noble truths, who realize the suffering inherent in saṃsāra and focus on understanding that there is no independent self. By conquering afflicted mental states (kleśa), they liberate themselves, attaining first the stage of stream enterers at the path of seeing, followed by the stage of once-returners who will be reborn only one more time, and then the stage of non-returners who will no longer be reborn into the desire realm. The final goal is to become an arhat. These four stages are also known as the “four results of spiritual practice.”

The desire realm, form realm, and formless realm.

“Thus-Gone One,” an epithet of a buddha. A buddha is one who has “gone” to thusness, suchness, or nirvāṇa.

Editor of the Tibetan translation of The Sūtra of Nanda’s Going Forth.

The mythological flower of the fig tree said to appear on rare occasions, such as the birth of a buddha. The actual fig tree flower is contained within the fruit. The flower also came to be portrayed as a kind of lotus.

An ideal monarch or emperor who, as the result of the merit accumulated in previous lifetimes, rules over a vast realm in accordance with the Dharma. Such a monarch is called a cakravartin because he bears a wheel (cakra) that rolls (vartate) across the earth, bringing all lands and kingdoms under his power. The cakravartin conquers his territory without causing harm, and his activity causes beings to enter the path of wholesome actions. According to Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa, just as with the buddhas, only one cakravartin appears in a world system at any given time. They are likewise endowed with the thirty-two major marks of a great being (mahāpuruṣalakṣaṇa), but a cakravartin’s marks are outshined by those of a buddha. They possess seven precious objects: the wheel, the elephant, the horse, the wish-fulfilling gem, the queen, the general, and the minister. An illustrative passage about the cakravartin and his possessions can be found in The Play in Full (Toh 95), 3.3–3.13. Vasubandhu lists four types of cakravartins: (1) the cakravartin with a golden wheel (suvarṇacakravartin) rules over four continents and is invited by lesser kings to be their ruler; (2) the cakravartin with a silver wheel (rūpyacakravartin) rules over three continents and his opponents submit to him as he approaches; (3) the cakravartin with a copper wheel (tāmracakravartin) rules over two continents and his opponents submit themselves after preparing for battle; and (4) the cakravartin with an iron wheel (ayaścakravartin) rules over one continent and his opponents submit themselves after brandishing weapons.

A respectful form of address between monks, and also between lay companions of equal standing. It literally means “one who has a [long] life.”

A gem or jewel that grants the fulfillment of all one could desire.