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
Akaniṣṭha
Wylie: ’og min
Tibetan: འོག་མིན།
Sanskrit: akaniṣṭha
The highest of the buddhafields. The term can be used to indicate the pure realm of the dharmakāya in general or can refer to the six realms between the highest heaven of the form realm and the realm of dharmakāya.
g.2
āli kāli
Wylie: A li kA li
Tibetan: ཨཱ་ལི་ཀཱ་ལི།
Sanskrit: āli kāli
The vowels (āli) and consonants (kāli) of the Sanskrit alphabet.
g.3
commitment
Wylie: dam tshig
Tibetan: དམ་ཚིག
Sanskrit: samaya
The level of commitments specifically associated with tantric practice. Also rendered here as “samaya.”
g.4
completion stage
Wylie: rdzogs pa’i rim pa
Tibetan: རྫོགས་པའི་རིམ་པ།
Sanskrit: niṣpannakrama
The second of the two stages of tantric sādhana practiced. Its practices are specific to individual tantric systems but typically include sexual yogas, the consumption of illicit substances, manipulation of the subtle energetic anatomy, or resting in an uncontrived state.
g.5
ḍākinī
Wylie: mkha’ ’gro ma
Tibetan: མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ།
Sanskrit: ḍākinī
Like yoginīs, these are semidivine female beings who have long haunted the margins of South Asian culture. They are frequently propitiated in order to acquire mundane and transcendent spiritual accomplishment.
g.6
development stage
Wylie: skyed pa’i rim pa
Tibetan: སྐྱེད་པའི་རིམ་པ།
Sanskrit: utpattikrama
The first of the two stages of tantric practice focused on the visualized development of the tantric maṇḍala and its deities and the recitation of mantra.
g.7
Egg of Brahmā
Wylie: tshangs sgo nga
Tibetan: ཚངས་སྒོ་ང།
Sanskrit: brahmāṇḍā
Traditional Brahmanical term for the created universe.
g.8
Gö Lhetsé
Wylie: ’gos lhas btsas
Tibetan: འགོས་ལྷས་བཙས།
Eleventh century translator and teacher of Guhyasamājatantra.
g.9
Great Illusion
Wylie: sgyu ’phrul chen mo
Tibetan: སྒྱུ་འཕྲུལ་ཆེན་མོ།
Sanskrit: mahāmāyā
The female central deity of the Mahāmāyā Tantra who appears in the form of the male Heruka. She was also a popular form of the Brahmanical great goddess (Mahādevī), to whom the Buddhist figure is intimately related. Also rendered here as “Mahāmāyā.”
g.10
guhyaka
Wylie: gsang ba pa
Tibetan: གསང་བ་པ།
Sanskrit: guhyaka
A type of semidivine being frequently found in the entourage of Kubera, the lord of wealth.
g.11
Heruka
Wylie: he ru ka
Tibetan: ཧེ་རུ་ཀ
Sanskrit: heruka
The wrathful form of Akṣobhya, buddha of the vajra family, who appears in the center of many tantric maṇḍalas. He is typicaly depicted wearing mortuary implements and wreathed in flame.
g.12
Indra’s Web
Wylie: mig ’phrul
Tibetan: མིག་འཕྲུལ།
Sanskrit: indrajāla
Traditional Brahmanical term for the illusory structure of mundane reality.
g.13
khaṭvāṅga
Wylie: kha TwAM ga
Tibetan: ཁ་ཊྭཱཾ་ག
Sanskrit: khaṭvāṅga
A staff with a single or three-pointed tip and a freshly decapitated head, a rotting head and a skull skewered on its shaft.
g.14
knowledge
Wylie: rig ma
Tibetan: རིག་མ།
Sanskrit: vidyā
An epithet of the female deity of the maṇḍala (most frequently as the consort of the main deity) who represents knowledge; the tantric consort; knowledge; frequently used in the sense of magical incantations and magical power. Also rendered here as “vidyā.”
g.15
Kṛṣṇavajra
Wylie: nag po rdo rje
Tibetan: ནག་པོ་རྡོ་རྗེ།
Sanskrit: kṛṣṇavajra
An Eleventh or Twelfth century Buddhist commentator. Wrote Recollection: a commentary on the Mahāmāyā Tantra.
g.16
Kukkuripa
Wylie: ku ku ri pa
Tibetan: ཀུ་ཀུ་རི་པ།
Sanskrit: kukkuripa
Counted among the most famous of the Indian Buddhist Mahāsiddhas and renowned for his association with packs of dogs (kukkura), he is a central figure in a number of tantric lineages, specifically of the Guhyasamāja Tantra and Mahāmāyā Tantra. He was active sometime between the eighth and tenth centuries.
g.17
Mahāmāyā
Wylie: sgyu ’phrul chen mo
Tibetan: སྒྱུ་འཕྲུལ་ཆེན་མོ།
Sanskrit: mahāmāyā
The female central deity of the Mahāmāyā Tantra who appears in the form of the male Heruka. She was also a popular form of the Brahmanical great goddess (Mahādevī), to whom the Buddhist figure is intimately related. Also rendered here as “Great Illusion.”
g.18
mahāyoga
Wylie: rnal ’byor chen po’i rgyud
Tibetan: རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཆེན་པོའི་རྒྱུད།
Sanskrit: mahāyogatantra
A term used to describe the later tantras of the Yoga class that incoporated more transgressive pactices and a wrathful aesthetic. Typified by the Guhyasamājatantra and Guhyagarbhatantra.
g.19
Marpa Chökyi Lodrö
Wylie: mar pa chos kyi blo gros
Tibetan: མར་པ་ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས།
(1012–1097) Tibetan translator and lay practitioner from Lhodrak. Traveled several times to Nepal and India to receive tantric Buddhist teachings, notably from Nāropa and Maitripā, and in Tibet established an important set of lineages through his “four pillar” disciples, Milarepa, Ngoktön Chöku Dorje, Tshurtön Wangki Dorje, and Metön Tshönpo.
g.20
movement of breath
Wylie: srog dang rtsol ba
Tibetan: སྲོག་དང་རྩོལ་བ།
Sanskrit: prāṇāyāma
The manipulation of breath by means of yogic exercise. The Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit compound prāṇāyāma is more usually the compound srog rtsol.
g.21
Nāropa
Wylie: na ro pa
Tibetan: ན་རོ་པ།
Sanskrit: nāropa, nāropadā
Indian scholar and practitioner (956–1041), a major figure in the transmission of tantric Buddhism to Tibet. Earlier in his life he was an important paṇḍita of Nālandā, but left to become a yogi and siddha, the student of Tilopā, and later the teacher of Kukkuripa, Marpa, and others.
g.22
Ratnākaraśānti
Wylie: rin chen ’byung gnas zhi ba
Tibetan: རིན་ཆེན་འབྱུང་གནས་ཞི་བ།
Sanskrit: ratnākaraśānti
An important eleventh-century Buddhist monastic scholar who wrote prolifically on a number on both Mahāyāna and Mantrayāna works.
g.23
sacramental substances
Wylie: dam tshig gyi rdzas
Tibetan: དམ་ཚིག་གྱི་རྫས།
Sanskrit: samayadravya
Sacramental substances ingested as part of tantric ritual; frequently composed of bodily fluids or illicit meats.
g.24
sādhana
Wylie: sgrub thabs
Tibetan: སྒྲུབ་ཐབས།
Sanskrit: sādhana
The method of practice. Experiential methods for actualizing spiritual attainments and liberation.
g.25
samaya
Wylie: dam tshig
Tibetan: དམ་ཚིག
Sanskrit: samaya
The level of commitments specifically associated with tantric practice. Also rendered here as “commitment.”
g.26
semen
Wylie: khu ba
Tibetan: ཁུ་བ།
Sanskrit: śukra
g.27
spiritual attainment
Wylie: dngos grub
Tibetan: དངོས་གྲུབ།
Sanskrit: siddhi
The mundane and transcendent abilities that are conferred through the perfection of yogic practices.
g.28
Unexcelled Yoga tantra
Wylie: bla na med pa’i rnal ’byor gyi rgyud
Tibetan: བླ་ན་མེད་པའི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་གྱི་རྒྱུད།
Sanskrit: yoganiruttaratantra
A category of tantra that includes the so-called Father tantras like the Guhyasamāja Tantra and the “Mother,” or Yoginī, tantras into a single genre of tantra.
g.29
vidyā
Wylie: rig ma
Tibetan: རིག་མ།
Sanskrit: vidyā
An epithet of the female deity of the maṇḍala (most frequently as the consort of the main deity) who represents knowledge; the tantric consort; knowledge; frequently used in the sense of magical incantations and magical power. Also rendered here as “knowledge.”
g.30
vidyādhara
Wylie: rig pa ’dzin pa
Tibetan: རིག་པ་འཛིན་པ།
Sanskrit: vidyādhara
A type of semidivine being whose identiy has shifted over time and genre. In their most popular form they are spell- ( vidyā ) wielding (dhara) beings capable of granting magical abilities to those they favor. The Buddhist tradition associated them more closely with soteriological aims, identifying them as realized beings who possess (dhara) knowledge or awareness ( vidyā ).
g.31
Virile One
Wylie: dpa’ bo
Tibetan: དཔའ་བོ།
Sanskrit: vīra
Closely associated with notions of virility, this term can denote the male deity of the maṇḍala (whose consort is the vidyā) or the yogī who practices this mode of tantra.
g.32
yoga
Wylie: rnal ’byor
Tibetan: རྣལ་འབྱོར།
Sanskrit: yoga
A term that is generally used to refer to a wide range of spiritual practices. It literally means to be merged with or “yoked to,” in the sense of being fully immersed in one’s respective discipline.
g.33
yoginī
Wylie: rnal ’byor ma
Tibetan: རྣལ་འབྱོར་མ།
Sanskrit: yoginī
With a long history in South Asian folklore and religious traditions, yoginīs are liminal, trangressive, and often ferocious semidivine female figures associated with the bestowal of temporal and transcendent spiritual accomplishment. In Buddhist tantra they are identical to ḍākinīs.
g.34
Yoginītantra
Wylie: rnal ’byor ma’i rgyud
Tibetan: རྣལ་འབྱོར་མའི་རྒྱུད།
Sanskrit: yoginītantra
The last development of Buddhist tantra in India, focused upon the figure of the yoginī and the meditative manipulation of the subtle energetic anatomy of the physical body. Typified by the Hevajratantra, Cakrasaṃvaratantra, and the Mahāmāyātantra.