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
dwelling in the forest
Wylie: dgon pa la gnas pa
Tibetan: དགོན་པ་ལ་གནས་པ།
Sanskrit: araṇyavāsa AO
An ideal lifestyle for a practitioner is described as dwelling in a place suitably removed from the social world of the town so as to best enable spiritual practice. In some contexts the term can also be understood on a more inward level as remaining free from distraction and other disturbing states of mind.
g.2
lenience
Wylie: des pa
Tibetan: དེས་པ།
Sanskrit: sauratya
Gentleness, especially in one’s thoughts and behavior toward others; the absence of any desire for retaliation. This is often paired with tolerance.
g.3
spiritual friend
Wylie: dge ba’i bshes gnyen
Tibetan: དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན།
Sanskrit: kalyāṇamitra
A teacher of the spiritual path.
g.4
thought of awakening
Wylie: byang chub sems
Tibetan: བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།
Sanskrit: bodhicitta
In the general Mahāyāna teachings the mind of awakening (bodhicitta) is the intention to attain the complete awakening of a perfect buddha for the sake of all beings. On the level of absolute truth, the mind of awakening is the realization of the awakened state itself.
g.5
tolerance
Wylie: bzod pa
Tibetan: བཟོད་པ།
Sanskrit: kṣānti
A term meaning acceptance, forbearance, or patience. As the third of the six perfections, patience is classified into three kinds: the capacity to tolerate abuse from sentient beings, to tolerate the hardships of the path to buddhahood, and to tolerate the profound nature of reality. As a term referring to a bodhisattva’s realization, dharmakṣānti (chos la bzod pa) can refer to the ways one becomes “receptive” to the nature of Dharma, and it can be an abbreviation of anutpattikadharmakṣānti, “forbearance for the unborn nature, or nonproduction, of dharmas.”
g.6
Vasubandhu
Wylie: dbyig gnyen
Tibetan: དབྱིག་གཉེན།
Sanskrit: vasubandhu
The great scholar and author of fourth or fifth century Buddhist India, born in Gandhāra and said according to Tibetan and Chinese traditions to have been related to Asaṅga, perhaps as his younger brother.