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
Atiśa
Wylie: a ti sha
Tibetan: ཨ་ཏི་ཤ།
Sanskrit: atiśa
The Indian master Atiśa Dīpaṅkaraśrījñāna (982–1054) is renowned in the history of Tibetan Buddhism for coming to Tibet and revitalizing Buddhism there during the early eleventh century.
g.2
Avalokiteśvara
Wylie: spyan ras gzigs
Tibetan: སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས།
Sanskrit: avalokiteśvara
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.3
Bhṛkutī
Wylie: khro gnyer can
Tibetan: ཁྲོ་གཉེར་ཅན།
Sanskrit: bhṛkutī
According to Tibetan historical sources, the Nepalese princess who married the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo. She is believed to have arrived in Tibet in either 632 or 634.
g.4
dhāraṇī
Wylie: gzungs
Tibetan: གཟུངས།
Sanskrit: dhāraṇī
The term dhāraṇī has the sense of something that “holds” or “retains,” and as such 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 formulae.
g.5
Songtsen Gampo
Wylie: srong btsan sgam po
Tibetan: སྲོང་བཙན་སྒམ་པོ།
617–650; a famous king from Tibet’s Imperial Period.
g.6
Tārā
Wylie: sgrol ma
Tibetan: སྒྲོལ་མ།
Sanskrit: tārā
A goddess whose name can be translated as “Savior.” She is known for giving protection and is variously presented in Buddhist literature as a great bodhisattva or a fully awakened buddha.
g.7
Vajratārā
Wylie: rdo rje sgrol ma
Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་སྒྲོལ་མ།
Sanskrit: vajratārā
A form of Tārā, the Buddhist goddess of compassion, commonly depicted as golden yellow in color, with four faces and eight arms.