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
Tibetan: ཨ་བ་ལོ་ཀི་ཏེ་ཤྭ་རཱ་ཡ།
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
bhūtagraha
Wylie: ’byung po’i gdon
Tibetan: འབྱུང་པོའི་གདོན།
Sanskrit: bhūtagraha AD
A general term for classes of spirits and demonic beings who possess humans and cause illnesses.
g.3
dhāraṇī
Wylie: gzungs
Tibetan: གཟུངས།
Sanskrit: dhāraṇī
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
graha
Wylie: gdon
Tibetan: གདོན།
Sanskrit: graha AD
A class of demonic being.
g.5
Three Jewels
Wylie: rat+na tra ya
Tibetan: རཏྣ་ཏྲ་ཡ།
Sanskrit: ratnatraya RP
The Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha—the three objects of Buddhist refuge. In the Tibetan rendering, “the three rare and supreme ones.”
g.6
Vajrapāṇi
Wylie: badz+ra pA Ni
Tibetan: བཛྲ་པཱ་ཎི།
Sanskrit: vajrapāṇi RP
Vajrapāṇi means “Wielder of the Vajra.” In the Pali canon, he appears as a yakṣa guardian in the retinue of the Buddha. In the Mahāyāna scriptures he is a bodhisattva and one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha.” In the tantras, he is also regarded as an important Buddhist deity and instrumental in the transmission of tantric scriptures.
g.7
Yaśovatī
Wylie: grags ldan ma
Tibetan: གྲགས་ལྡན་མ།
Sanskrit: yaśovatī AD
“Renowned.” The title of this text containing multiple dhāraṇīs. This name may refer to a goddess, to the dhāraṇī itself, or to both. See i.2.