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
asura
Wylie: lha ma yin
Tibetan: ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།
Sanskrit: asura AD
A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views, but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).
g.2
Bali
Wylie: stobs can
Tibetan: སྟོབས་ཅན།
Sanskrit: bali AD
A lord of the asuras, son of Virocana.
g.3
blessed one
Wylie: bcom ldan ’das
Tibetan: བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།
Sanskrit: bhagavat AD
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.4
buddha
Wylie: sangs rgyas
Tibetan: སངས་རྒྱས།
Sanskrit: buddha AD
A fully realized (“awakened”) being.
g.5
Campā
Wylie: tsam pa, tsam pa can
Tibetan: ཙམ་པ།, ཙམ་པ་ཅན།
Sanskrit: campā AD
A city in ancient India, located on the Campā River. It was the capital of the Aṅga state, which was located east of Magadha.
g.6
Candramas
Wylie: zla ba
Tibetan: ཟླ་བ།
Sanskrit: candramas AD
The god of the moon; the moon.
g.7
happiness
Wylie: bde ba
Tibetan: བདེ་བ།
Sanskrit: sukha AD
Also translated as “bliss.”
g.8
Rāhu
Wylie: sgra gcan, sgra gcan ’dzin
Tibetan: སྒྲ་གཅན།, སྒྲ་གཅན་འཛིན།
Sanskrit: rāhu AD
A lord of the asuras, who is supposed to seize the sun and moon and thus cause eclipses.
g.9
Three Jewels
Wylie: dkon mchog gsum
Tibetan: དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ།
Sanskrit: triratna AD
The Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha—the three objects of Buddhist refuge.
g.10
Traveler’s Pond
Wylie: ’gro ba po’i rdzing bu
Tibetan: འགྲོ་བ་པོའི་རྫིང་བུ།
The setting in Campā mentioned in this sūtra, which might refer to Gargā Pond, also known from many Pali suttas as Gaggarā (“Gurgling”) Pond.
g.11
Vemacitra
Wylie: thags bzangs ris
Tibetan: ཐགས་བཟངས་རིས།
Sanskrit: vemacitrin AD, vemacitra AD
A lord of the asuras.
g.12
Virocana
Wylie: rnam par snang byed
Tibetan: རྣམ་པར་སྣང་བྱེད།
Sanskrit: virocana AD
The father of the asura king Bali.
g.13
Well-Gone One
Wylie: bde bar gshegs pa, bde gshegs
Tibetan: བདེ་བར་གཤེགས་པ།, བདེ་གཤེགས།
Sanskrit: sugata AD
One of the standard epithets of the buddhas. A recurrent explanation offers three different meanings for su- that are meant to show the special qualities of “accomplishment of one’s own purpose” (svārthasampad) for a complete buddha. Thus, the Sugata is “well” gone, as in the expression su-rūpa (“having a good form”); he is gone “in a way that he shall not come back,” as in the expression su-naṣṭa-jvara (“a fever that has utterly gone”); and he has gone “without any remainder” as in the expression su-pūrṇa-ghaṭa (“a pot that is completely full”). According to Buddhaghoṣa, the term means that the way the Buddha went (Skt. gata) is good (Skt. su) and where he went (Skt. gata) is good (Skt. su).
g.14
worthy one
Wylie: dgra bcom, dgra bcom pa
Tibetan: དགྲ་བཅོམ།, དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།
Sanskrit: arhat AD
One who has achieved the fourth and final level of attainment on the hearer’s path and who has attained liberation from saṃsāra with the cessation of all defilements. Also used as an epithet of the buddhas.