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
beings who cause plague
Wylie: mi ngas
Tibetan: མི་ངས།
A class of potentially harmful spirit being associated with plague.
g.2
bhūta
Wylie: ’byung po
Tibetan: འབྱུང་པོ།
Sanskrit: bhūta AO
A class of potentially harmful spirit beings associated with various states of possession and mental illness.
g.3
Bodhi tree
Wylie: byang chub kyi shing
Tibetan: བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཤིང་།
Sanskrit: bodhivṛkṣa AO
g.4
graha
Wylie: gdon
Tibetan: གདོན།
Sanskrit: graha AO
A class of potentially harmful spirit beings associated with various states of possession and mental illness.
g.5
Heaven of Controlling the Emanations of Others
Wylie: gzhan ’phrul dbang byed
Tibetan: གཞན་འཕྲུལ་དབང་བྱེད།
Sanskrit: paranirmitavaśavartin AO
g.6
Laṅkāpūrī
Wylie: lang ka pu ri
Tibetan: ལང་ཀ་པུ་རི།
Sanskrit: laṅkāpūrī
The name of the city of Laṅkā, which is mythologized as the ancient capital of Śrī Laṅkā.
g.7
Mahākāla
Wylie: nag po chen po, mgon po nag po
Tibetan: ནག་པོ་ཆེན་པོ།, མགོན་པོ་ནག་པོ།
Sanskrit: mahākāla
Mahākāla is a wrathful Buddhist protector deity. In Tibetan, the name Mahākāla was mostly translated literally with nag po chen po (“Great Black One”) but on occasion it was rendered mgon po nag po (“Black Lord”). In Toh 440, for which the Sanskrit is extant, we have an attested example of this. Hence we have rendered both Tibetan terms in this text as Mahākāla. Outside the Buddhist tradition, Mahākāla is also a name for a wrathful form of Śiva.
g.8
rākṣasa
Wylie: srin po
Tibetan: སྲིན་པོ།
Sanskrit: rākṣasa AO
A class of nonhuman beings that are often, but certainly not always, considered demonic in the Buddhist tradition. They are often depicted as flesh-eating monsters who haunt frightening places and are ugly and evil-natured with a yearning for human flesh, and who additionally have miraculous powers, such as being able to change their appearance.
g.9
rākṣasīs who flash like lightning
Wylie: nam mkha’i glog ma srin
Tibetan: ནམ་མཁའི་གློག་མ་སྲིན།
A class of demonic female beings.
g.10
Vajra Seat
Wylie: rdo rje’i gdan
Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེའི་གདན།
Sanskrit: vajrāsana AO
g.11
vidyā
Wylie: rig pa
Tibetan: རིག་པ།
Sanskrit: vidyā AO
A term for a class of spell and the female beings or goddesses who embody the power of that spell and carry out the action for which that spell is employed.
g.12
warrior spirit
Wylie: dgra bla
Tibetan: དགྲ་བླ།
A class of nonhuman being.
g.13
yakṣa daughter
Wylie: gnod sbyin gyi bu mo
Tibetan: གནོད་སྦྱིན་གྱི་བུ་མོ།
A young female yakṣa, a class of potentially harmful nonhuman beings.