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
Dānaśīla
Wylie: dA na shI la
Tibetan: དཱ་ན་ཤཱི་ལ།
Sanskrit: dānaśīla
“Charitable,” an Indian paṇḍita who traveled to Tibet during the time of King Trisong Detsen to serve as a translator.
g.2
Dhṛtarāṣṭra
Wylie: yul ’khor srung
Tibetan: ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྲུང་།
Sanskrit: dhṛtarāṣṭra
“Protector of the Realm” (Tib.) or “Whose Realm is Stable,” (Skt.) guardian of the eastern direction. Also the name of a king in the Mahābhārata.
g.3
four great kings
Wylie: rgyal po chen po bzhi
Tibetan: རྒྱལ་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་བཞི།
Sanskrit: catur mahārāja
Four gods who live on the lower slopes (fourth level) of Mount Meru in the eponymous Heaven of the Four Great Kings (Cāturmahārājika, rgyal chen bzhi’i ris) and guard the four cardinal directions. Each is the leader of a nonhuman class of beings living in his realm. They are Dhṛtarāṣṭra, ruling the gandharvas in the east; Virūḍhaka, ruling over the kumbhāṇḍas in the south; Virūpākṣa, ruling the nāgas in the west; and Vaiśravaṇa (also known as Kubera) ruling the yakṣas in the north. Also referred to as Guardians of the World or World Protectors (lokapāla, ’jig rten skyong ba).
g.4
four guardians of the world
Wylie: ’jig rten skyong ba bzhi
Tibetan: འཇིག་རྟེན་སྐྱོང་བ་བཞི།
Sanskrit: catur lokapāla
See the “four great kings.”
g.5
Gaṅgā
Wylie: gang gA
Tibetan: གང་གཱ།
Sanskrit: gaṅgā
The Gaṅgā, or Ganges in English, is considered to be the most sacred river of India, particularly within the Hindu tradition. It starts in the Himalayas, flows through the northern plains of India, bathing the holy city of Vārāṇasī, and meets the sea at the Bay of Bengal, in Bangladesh. In the sūtras, however, this river is mostly mentioned not for its sacredness but for its abundant sands—noticeable still today on its many sandy banks and at its delta—which serve as a common metaphor for infinitely large numbers.According to Buddhist cosmology, as explained in the Abhidharmakośa, it is one of the four rivers that flow from Lake Anavatapta and cross the southern continent of Jambudvīpa—the known human world or more specifically the Indian subcontinent.
g.6
Jinamitra
Wylie: dzi na mi tra
Tibetan: ཛི་ན་མི་ཏྲ།
Sanskrit: jinamitra
“Friend of the Victor,” an Indian paṇḍita who traveled to Tibet during the time of King Trisong Detsen to serve as a translator.
g.7
lord of the guhyaka
Wylie: gsang ba pa’i bdag po
Tibetan: གསང་བ་པའི་བདག་པོ།
Sanskrit: guhyakādhipati
Epithet of Vaiśravaṇa.
g.8
upāsaka (precepts)
Wylie: dge bsnyen
Tibetan: དགེ་བསྙེན།
Sanskrit: upāsaka
The upāsaka precepts for lay practitioners include the five fundamental vows (pañcaśīla) not to (1) kill, (2) steal, (3) commit sexual misconduct, (4) lie, or (5) use intoxicants. Additionally, three other precepts are taken on full-moon and new-moon days for a total of eight (aṣṭāṅgaśīla): not to (6) eat after the noon meal, (7) engage in entertainment or adorn oneself with ornaments or cosmetics, or (8) sleep on high beds.
g.9
Vaiśravaṇa
Wylie: rnam thos kyi bu
Tibetan: རྣམ་ཐོས་ཀྱི་བུ།
Sanskrit: vaiśravaṇa
The “Son of Viśrava (Completely Renowned),” guardian of the northern direction. He and his father are both also referred to as Kubera, and he is also known as Jambhala. He rules over spirits called guhyakas (literally “secret/hidden ones”), described in various capacities, giving rise to his epithet Guhyakādhipati, “Lord of the Guhyakas.”
g.10
vidyāmantra
Wylie: rig sngags
Tibetan: རིག་སྔགས།
Sanskrit: vidyāmantra
Knowledge or awareness mantra.
g.11
Virūḍhaka
Wylie: ’phags skyes po
Tibetan: འཕགས་སྐྱེས་པོ།
Sanskrit: virūḍhaka
“Noble Birth” (Tib.) or “Sprouting/Growing Forth,” (Skt.) guardian of the southern direction. Also the name of a king of Kosala during the lifetime of Śākyamuni Buddha.
g.12
Virūpākṣa
Wylie: mig mi bzang
Tibetan: མིག་མི་བཟང་།
Sanskrit: virūpākṣa
“Deformed Eyes,” nāga king and guardian of the western direction. Also common epithet of Śiva, where it indicates his odd number of eyes.
g.13
Yeshé Dé
Wylie: ye shes sde
Tibetan: ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ།
Yeshé Dé (late eighth to early ninth century) was the most prolific translator of sūtras into Tibetan. Altogether he is credited with the translation of more than one hundred sixty sūtra translations and more than one hundred additional translations, mostly on tantric topics. In spite of Yeshé Dé’s great importance for the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet during the imperial era, only a few biographical details about this figure are known. Later sources describe him as a student of the Indian teacher Padmasambhava, and he is also credited with teaching both sūtra and tantra widely to students of his own. He was also known as Nanam Yeshé Dé, from the Nanam (sna nam) clan.