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
Avalokiteśvara
Wylie: a ba lo ki te sh+wa ra, spyan ras gzigs
Tibetan: ཨ་བ་ལོ་ཀི་ཏེ་ཤྭ་ར།, སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས།
Sanskrit: avalokiteśvara RP
One of the “eight close sons of the Buddha,” he is also known as the bodhisattva who embodies compassion. In certain tantras, he is also the lord of the three families, where he embodies the compassion of the buddhas. In Tibet, he attained great significance as a special protector of Tibet, and in China, in female form, as Guanyin, the most important bodhisattva in all of East Asia.
g.2
Blessed One
Wylie: bcom ldan ’das
Tibetan: བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།
Sanskrit: bhagavān AD
In Buddhist literature, this is an epithet applied to buddhas, most often to Śākyamuni. The Sanskrit term generally means “possessing fortune,” but in specifically Buddhist contexts it implies that a buddha is in possession of six auspicious qualities (bhaga) associated with complete awakening. The Tibetan term—where bcom is said to refer to “subduing” the four māras, ldan to “possessing” the great qualities of buddhahood, and ’das to “going beyond” saṃsāra and nirvāṇa—possibly reflects the commentarial tradition where the Sanskrit bhagavat is interpreted, in addition, as “one who destroys the four māras.” This is achieved either by reading bhagavat as bhagnavat (“one who broke”), or by tracing the word bhaga to the root √bhañj (“to break”).
g.3
dhāraṇī
Wylie: gzungs
Tibetan: གཟུངས།
Sanskrit: dhāraṇī AD
The term dhāraṇī has the sense of something that “holds” or “retains,” and so it can refer to the special capacity of practitioners to memorize and recall detailed teachings. It can also refer to a verbal expression of the teachings—an incantation, spell, or mnemonic formula—that distills and “holds” essential points of the Dharma and is used by practitioners to attain mundane and supramundane goals. The same term is also used to denote texts that contain such formulas.
g.4
five deeds of immediate retribution
Wylie: mtshams med pa lnga
Tibetan: མཚམས་མེད་པ་ལྔ།
Sanskrit: pañcānantarya AD
Five acts said to lead to immediate and unavoidable birth in the hell realms: killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, sowing discord within the saṅgha, and drawing the blood of a tathāgata with ill intent.
g.5
Jamyang Loter Wangpo
Wylie: ’jam dbyangs blo gter dbang po
Tibetan: འཇམ་དབྱངས་བློ་གཏེར་དབང་པོ།
1847-1914. A master of the Sakya tradition.
g.6
Lokeśvara
Wylie: ’jig rten dbang phyug
Tibetan: འཇིག་རྟེན་དབང་ཕྱུག
Sanskrit: lokeśvara AD
A name of Avalokiteśvara.
g.7
Lokya Sherab Tsek
Wylie: klog skya shes rab brtsegs
Tibetan: ཀློག་སྐྱ་ཤེས་རབ་བརྩེགས།
An eleventh-century Tibetan master and translator who is specifically known for his Cakrasaṃvara lineage, which he received from teachers in the Kathmandu Valley.
g.8
Mañjuśrī
Wylie: ’jam dpal pa’ dbyangs
Tibetan: འཇམ་དཔལ་པའ་དབྱངས།
Sanskrit: mañjuśrī AD
Mañjuśrī is one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha” and a bodhisattva who embodies wisdom. He is a major figure in the Mahāyāna sūtras, appearing often as an interlocutor of the Buddha. In his most well-known iconographic form, he is portrayed bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñāpāramitāsūtra in his left. To his name, Mañjuśrī, meaning “Gentle and Glorious One,” is often added the epithet Kumārabhūta, “having a youthful form.” He is also called Mañjughoṣa, Mañjusvara, and Pañcaśikha.
g.9
Patshab Lotsawa Tsultrim Gyaltsen
Wylie: pa tshab lo tsA wa tshul khrims rgyal mtshan
Tibetan: པ་ཚབ་ལོ་ཙཱ་ཝ་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱལ་མཚན།
A Tibetan translator who lived in the eleventh to twelfth century. He translated the collection of sādhanas referred to as “The ‘Hundred’ Sādhanas translated by Patshab” (pa tshab kyis bsgyur ba’i sgrub thabs rgya rtsa), a collection of one hundred and sixty-three sādhanas. He mostly translated these in the presence of the paṇḍita Abhayākaragupta, who was a Bengali scholar and the abbot of Vikramaśīla. Patshab’s collection is included in the Tantra section of the Degé Tengyur.
g.10
Siṃhanāda
Wylie: seng ge’i sgra
Tibetan: སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ།
Sanskrit: siṃhanāda AD
“The Lion’s Roar,” the name of a form of Avalokiteśvara.
g.11
Vāgīśvara
Wylie: ngag gi dbang phyug
Tibetan: ངག་གི་དབང་ཕྱུག
Sanskrit: vāgīśvara AD
An Indian master active in the eleventh century. This may be a shortened name of Vāgīśvarakīrti, a renowned master of the Cakrasaṃvara who was formerly a gate keeper at Vikramaśīla and spent the latter part of his life in the Kathmandu Valley.