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
banyan tree
Wylie: n+ya gro d+ha
Tibetan: ནྱ་གྲོ་དྷ།
Sanskrit: nyagrodha
A fast-growing fig tree that can quickly become a large tree. It features prominently in Indian stories and myths.
g.2
demon
Wylie: sha za
Tibetan: ཤ་ཟ།
Sanskrit: piśāca
A class of nonhuman beings that, like several other classes of nonhuman beings, take spontaneous birth. Ranking below rākṣasas, they are less powerful and more akin to pretas. They are said to dwell in impure and perilous places, where they feed on impure things, including flesh. This could account for the name piśāca, which possibly derives from √piś, to carve or chop meat, as reflected also in the Tibetan sha za, “meat eater.” They are often described as having an unpleasant appearance, and at times they appear with animal bodies. Some possess the ability to enter the dead bodies of humans, thereby becoming so-called vetāla, to touch whom is fatal.
g.3
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.4
eight dangers
Wylie: ’jigs pa brgyad, ’jigs pa brgyad
Tibetan: འཇིགས་པ་བརྒྱད།, འཇིགས་པ་བརྒྱད།
Sanskrit: aṣṭamahābhaya, aṣṭaghora RS
Listed in Tārā Who Protects from the Eight Dangers as lions, elephants, fire, snakes, robbers, waters, infectious diseases, and demons. A more common enumeration gives “imprisonment” rather than “infectious diseases.”
g.5
kalaviṅka
Wylie: ka la ping ka
Tibetan: ཀ་ལ་པིང་ཀ
Sanskrit: kalaviṅka
In Buddhist literature refers to a mythical bird with the head of a human and the body of a bird. The kalaviṅka’s call is said to be far more beautiful than that of all other birds and so compelling that it could be heard even before the bird has hatched. The call of the kalaviṅka is also used as an analogy to describe the voice of the Buddha.
g.6
league
Wylie: dpag tshad
Tibetan: དཔག་ཚད།
Sanskrit: yojana
A measure of distance. The exact value varies in different sources, though typically it is between 6 and 14 km.
g.7
mallow
Wylie: ha lo
Tibetan: ཧ་ལོ།
A flower belonging to the lcam pa family, a type of malva flower used in Tibetan medicine.
g.8
Mount Meru
Wylie: ri rab
Tibetan: རི་རབ།
Sanskrit: meru
According to ancient Buddhist cosmology, this is the great mountain forming the axis of the universe. At its summit is Sudarśana, home of Śakra and his thirty-two gods, and on its flanks live the asuras. The mount has four sides facing the cardinal directions, each of which is made of a different precious stone. Surrounding it are several mountain ranges and the great ocean where the four principal island continents lie: in the south, Jambudvīpa (our world); in the west, Godānīya; in the north, Uttarakuru; and in the east, Pūrvavideha. Above it are the abodes of the desire realm gods. It is variously referred to as Meru, Mount Meru, Sumeru, and Mount Sumeru.
g.9
perfections
Wylie: pha rol tu phyin pa
Tibetan: ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།
Sanskrit: pāramitā
The trainings of the bodhisattva path. Most commonly listed as six: generosity, moral conduct, patience, diligence, concentration, and insight. Sometimes, such as in this text, an additional four are added: method, aspiration, strength, and wisdom.
g.10
preta
Wylie: yi dwags
Tibetan: ཡི་དྭགས།
Sanskrit: preta
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, into which beings are born as the karmic fruition of past miserliness. As the term in Sanskrit means “the departed,” they are analogous to the ancestral spirits of Vedic tradition, the pitṛs, who starve without the offerings of descendants. It is also commonly translated as “hungry ghost” or “starving spirit,” as in the Chinese 餓鬼 e gui.They are sometimes said to reside in the realm of Yama, but are also frequently described as roaming charnel grounds and other inhospitable or frightening places along with piśācas and other such beings. They are particularly known to suffer from great hunger and thirst and the inability to acquire sustenance.
g.11
realm of gods atop Mount Meru
Wylie: ri rab kyi steng lha’i gnas
Tibetan: རི་རབ་ཀྱི་སྟེང་ལྷའི་གནས།
Likely refers to the Heaven of the Thirty-Three (Trāyastriṃśa, sum cu rtsa gsum), the second heaven of the desire realm situated on the summit of Mount Meru and presided over by thirty-three gods, of whom Śakra is the chief.
g.12
Tārā
Wylie: sgrol ma
Tibetan: སྒྲོལ་མ།
Sanskrit: tārā
A goddess (lit. “Savior”) known for giving protection. She is variously presented in Buddhist literature as a great bodhisattva or a fully awakened buddha.
g.13
trumpet flower
Wylie: ug chos
Tibetan: ཨུག་ཆོས།
Incarvillea compacta maxim, an herb with pink trumpet-shaped flowers used in Tibetan medicine.
g.14
vidyāmantra
Wylie: rig sngags
Tibetan: རིག་སྔགས།
Sanskrit: vidyāmantra
A sacred utterance or spell made for the purpose of attaining either worldly or transcendent benefits.
g.15
Yama
Wylie: gshin rje
Tibetan: གཤིན་རྗེ།
Sanskrit: yama
The lord of death who judges the dead and rules over the hells.