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
bali offering
Wylie: gtor ma
Tibetan: གཏོར་མ།
Sanskrit: bali AD
An offering, originating in the Vedic tradition, traditionally made out of uncooked food and performed in the home prior to cooking a meal by arranging portions of the ingredients and then casting them outside or into the sacred fire.
g.2
Bharo Chakdum
Wylie: b+ha ro phyag rdum
Tibetan: བྷ་རོ་ཕྱག་རྡུམ།
Bharo “Maimed Hand,” the Newar master and who was one of Ra Lotsāwa’s main teachers. His work with Ra Lotsāwa, locates him in the eleventh to twelfth centuries.
g.3
Dīpaṅkara
Wylie: dI pa~M ka ra
Tibetan: དཱི་པྃ་ཀ་ར།
Sanskrit: dīpaṅkara
Also known as Dīpaṅkaraśrī, this is another name of the Newar master Bharo Chakdum, one of Ra. Lotsāwa’s main teachers.
g.4
enthralling
Wylie: dbang du ’gyur
Tibetan: དབང་དུ་འགྱུར།
Sanskrit: vaśīkṛta AD
One of the four primary categories of ritual activities, it involves summoning and controlling a desired target.
g.5
expelling
Wylie: skrod pa
Tibetan: སྐྲོད་པ།
Sanskrit: uccāṭana AD
A type of ritual activity that aims to drive someone out of an area, or to drive away non-human beings.
g.6
fire offering
Wylie: sbyin sreg
Tibetan: སྦྱིན་སྲེག
Sanskrit: homa AD
An oblation offered into a ritual fire; the repeated act of casting an offering into the fire, where each throw is accompanied by a single repetition of the mantra.
g.7
Mahādeva
Wylie: lha chen po
Tibetan: ལྷ་ཆེན་པོ།
Sanskrit: mahādeva AD
A common epithet of the god Śiva.
g.8
musk shrew
Wylie: te’u lo, ts+tshu ts+tshun d+ha ra
Tibetan: ཏེའུ་ལོ།, ཙྪུ་ཙྪུན་དྷ་ར།
Sanskrit: chucchundara AD
Possibly Sunucus murinus, which is also known as the Asian house shrew.
g.9
Ra Lotsāwa Dorjé Drak
Wylie: rwa lo tsA ba rdo rje grags, rwa rdo rje grags
Tibetan: རྭ་ལོ་ཙཱ་བ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གྲགས།, རྭ་རྡོ་རྗེ་གྲགས།
Ra Lotsāwa Dorjé Drakpa (rwa lo tsā ba rdo rje grags pa, c. 1016–1128) was an important translator and lineage holder of the Vajrabhairava teachings. He received his main tantric training (Vajrabhairava and Vajravārāhī) in Nepal under the master Bharo Chakdum (bha ro phyag rdum).
g.10
Thempangma
Wylie: thems spangs ma
Tibetan: ཐེམས་སྤངས་མ།
A major branch recension of the Kangyur originally based on a compilation of the Kangyur produced in 1431 in Gyantsé.
g.11
three hot substances
Wylie: tsha ba gsum
Tibetan: ཚ་བ་གསུམ།
Sanskrit: trikaṭuka AD
Three spicy substances of traditional South Asian medicine: black pepper, long pepper, and dry ginger.
g.12
Tshalpa
Wylie: tshal pa
Tibetan: ཚལ་པ།
A major branch recension of the Kangyur originally based on a compilation of the Kangyur produced at Gungthang monastery in central Tibet from 1347–51 under the sponsorship of the local ruler, Tshalpa Künga Dorjé (1309–64).
g.13
Vajrabhairava
Wylie: rdo rje ’jigs byed
Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་འཇིགས་བྱེད།
Sanskrit: vajrabhairava
A wrathful Buddhist tantric deity with the head of a buffalo. He is the main deity of the Vajrabhairava cycle of tantras (Toh 468–472) and is considered an emanation of Mañjuśrī.
g.14
vidyāmantra
Wylie: rig sngags
Tibetan: རིག་སྔགས།
Sanskrit: vidyāmantra AD
A type of incantation or spell used to accomplish a ritual goal. This can be associated with either ordinary attainments or those whose goal is awakening.
g.15
Yamāri
Wylie: gshin rje’i gshed
Tibetan: གཤིན་རྗེའི་གཤེད།
Sanskrit: yamāri
The Sanskrit literally means “enemy of Yama.
g.16
yojanas
Wylie: dpag tshad
Tibetan: དཔག་ཚད།
Sanskrit: yojana AD
The longest unit of distance in classical India. The lack of a uniform standard for the smaller units means that there is no precise equivalent, especially as its theoretical length tended to increase over time. Therefore it can mean between four and ten miles.