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
Atīśa
Wylie: a ti sha
Tibetan: ཨ་ཏི་ཤ།
Sanskrit: atīśa
The Indian master Atīśa 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
Bhṛkuṭī
Wylie: khro gnyer can
Tibetan: ཁྲོ་གཉེར་ཅན།
Sanskrit: bhṛkuṭī
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.3
dānava
Wylie: lha ma yin
Tibetan: ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།
Sanskrit: dānava
As a subclass of asuras, dānavas are a class of nonhuman beings antagonistic to the devas (gods) and a consistently disruptive force in Indic mythology.
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
five acts with immediate retribution
Wylie: mtshams med pa lnga
Tibetan: མཚམས་མེད་པ་ལྔ།
Sanskrit: pañcānantarya
Acts for which one will be reborn in hell immediately after death, without any intervening stages; they are (1) killing one’s master or father, (2) killing one’s mother, (3) killing an arhat, (4) maliciously drawing blood from a buddha, and (5) causing a schism in the saṅgha.
g.6
Songtsen Gampo
Wylie: srong btsan sgam po
Tibetan: སྲོང་བཙན་སྒམ་པོ།
617–650; a famous king from Tibet’s Imperial Period.
g.7
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.