Glossary: Difference between revisions

From Buddha-Nature
((by SublimeText.Mediawiker))
((by SublimeText.Mediawiker))
Line 8: Line 8:
<div style="clear: both;"></div>
<div style="clear: both;"></div>
<div id="terms" class="row">
<div id="terms" class="row">
{{#ask:[[Category:Terms]]
{{#ask:[[Category:Terms]][[Glossary-PartOfSpeech::!Abbreviation]]
|?Glossary-PartOfSpeech={{{2}}}
|?Glossary-PartOfSpeech={{{2}}}
|?Glossary-Devanagari={{{3}}}
|?Glossary-Devanagari={{{3}}}

Revision as of 13:40, 19 September 2018

'jog sgom

{{{18}}}
स्थाप्यभावना
འཇོག་སྒོམ་

Basic Meaning:

This is the meditation of directly observing the mind without engaging in any analytical or intellectual activity. (Thrangu Rinpoche, Transcending Ego, 102).

 ;  ;
Tibetan Noun

abhidharma

{{{18}}}
अभिधर्म
ཆོས་མངོན་པ།
阿毗达磨

Basic Meaning:

Abhidharma generally refers to the corpus of Buddhist texts which deals with the typological, phenomenological, metaphysical, and epistemological presentation of Buddhist concepts and teachings. The abhidharma teachings present a meta-knowledge of Buddhist sūtras through analytical and systemic schemas and are said to focus on developing wisdom among the three principles of training. The Abhidharma is presented alongside Sūtra and Vinaya as one of the three baskets of the teachings of the Buddha.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

actualized enlightenment

{{{18}}}
始覺

Basic Meaning:

Actualized enlightenment is enlightenment that is attained through practice. It is contrasted with original enlightenment, which is the mind's innate purity in its natural state. Ultimately, there is no difference between them. Because of the presence of ignorance, sentient beings are blind to their true nature. By removing that ignorance, one actualizes enlightenment.

In the scriptures:

Grounded in the original enlightenment is nonenlightenment. And because of nonenlightenment, the process of actualization of enlightenment can be spoken of.  
~ The Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna
 ;  ;
Chinese Noun

advaya

{{{18}}}
अद्वय
གཉིས་མེད་
不二

Basic Meaning:

Literally, "without duality," it refers to that which is indivisible, in that it is not divided into two.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Adjective

amalavijñāna

{{{18}}}
啊摩羅識, 無垢識

Basic Meaning:

The ninth consciousness, the immaculate pure mind.

Simplified English Usage:

At the moment of enlightenment, the eighth consciousness ceases, replaced by the ninth, the immaculate consciousness of a buddha.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

Anuyoga

{{{18}}}
अनुयोग
ཨ་ནུ་ཡོ་ག

Basic Meaning:

The second set of the three inner tantras and the eighth of the nine vehicles according to the Nyingma tradition. Anuyoga includes many yogini tantras and focuses on the Completion Stage practices of sacred channels, energies and essential fluids and espouses the actualisation of empty bliss.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit School

anātman

{{{18}}}
अनात्मन्
བདག་མེད་པ་
无我

Basic Meaning:

The nonexistence of the self as a permanent, unchanging entity.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

arhat

{{{18}}}
अर्हत्
དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།
阿羅漢

Basic Meaning:

A person who has reached nirvāṇa by eliminating the three poisons of attachment, hatred and ignorance having followed the path of seeking individual liberation as a Śrāvaka or a Pratyekabuddha. An arhat, thus, is a person who has overcome the cause of rebirth in the cycle of existence and will not take an ordinary birth again.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

Atiyoga

{{{18}}}
अतियोग
ཨ་ཏི་ཡོ་ག, ཤིན་ཏུ་རྣལ་འབྱོར།

Basic Meaning:

A system of esoteric thought and practice associated with the Nyingma tradition and equivalent to Great Perfection, it is considered as the pinnacle of the nine vehicles or paths one can follow to reach Buddhahood. The system focusses on the pure, luminous and empty nature of the mind as the ground reality which must be realised through the path of trekchö and thögal practice.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit School

avidyā

{{{18}}}
अविद्या
མ་རིག་པ་
無明

Basic Meaning:

Literally "unknowing," it refers to a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of the nature of reality. As such, it is considered to be the root cause of suffering and the basis for the arising of all other negative mental factors.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

bhūmi

{{{18}}}
भूमि
ས་

Basic Meaning:

A plateau of spiritual development.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

bodhi

{{{18}}}
बोधि
བྱང་ཆུབ་
菩提, 悟, 覺

Basic Meaning:

Enlightenment or awakening. In Tibetan it is translated as "purified" (byang) and "perfected" (chub), which corresponds to Siddhartha Gautama's achievement of purifying all obscurations and perfecting or attaining all qualities associated with a buddha.

Simplified English Usage:

". . . all beings, regardless of birth, race, social status, and gender, are capable of the attainment of the state of human perfection known as enlightenment."
(Source: page 192, “Liberation: An Indo-Tibetan Perspective” by José Ignacio Cabezón. Buddhist-Christian Studies, Vol. 12 (1992), pp. 191-198 Published by: University of Hawai'i Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1389971)

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

bodhicitta

{{{18}}}
बोधिचित्त
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས།
菩提心

Basic Meaning:

The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution.

Simplified English Usage:

Thought of awakening

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

bodhigarbha

{{{18}}}
बोधिगर्भ
བྱང་ཆུབ་སྙིང་པོ་

Basic Meaning:

An alternative term for tathāgatagarbha found in early Nyingma sources. Though it is back-translated as bodhigarbha, this term does not seem to be found in Sanskrit sources. However, in other contexts, the Tibetan byang chub snying po is often used to translate the Sanskrit term bodhimaṇḍa, which is often translated as the "seat of enlightenment."

 ;  ;
Tibetan Noun

Bodhisattva

{{{18}}}
बोधिसत्त्व
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།
菩薩

Basic Meaning:

A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

Brahman

{{{18}}}
ब्रह्मन्
ཚངས་པ།

Basic Meaning:

Brahman is the universal principle, supreme truth or ultimate reality in the Hindu religion considered to be absolute, eternal and blissful. A metaphysical concept, it is described as the single binding unity behind the diversity of all that exists. In Buddhism, while this metaphysical principle is not presented, one finds frequent mention of the deity named Brahmā, who is the personification of this principle.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

buddhadhātu

{{{18}}}
बुद्धधातु
སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཁམས་
佛性

Basic Meaning:

A synonym for tathāgatagarbha widely used throughout the East Asian Buddhist traditions, as found in its translations as the Chinese term fó xìng and Japanese term busshō.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

byams chos sde lnga

{{{18}}}
བྱམས་ཆོས་སྡེ་ལྔ་

Basic Meaning:

This refers to a series of five texts that, according to the Tibetan tradition, Asaṅga received directly from Maitreya in the pure realm of Tuṣita.

 ;  ;
Tibetan Text

bīja

{{{18}}}
बीज
ས་བོན་
無漏種

Basic Meaning:

A seed, commonly used figuratively in the sense of something which has the potential to develop or grow, and likewise as the basic cause for this development or growth.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

Cittamātra

{{{18}}}
चित्तमात्र
སེམས་ཙམ་

Basic Meaning:

Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

dharmadhātu

{{{18}}}
धर्मधातु
ཆོས་དབྱིངས་
法界

Basic Meaning:

The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

dharmakāya

{{{18}}}
धर्मकाय
ཆོས་སྐུ་
法身

Basic Meaning:

"Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

dharmatā

{{{18}}}
धर्मता
ཆོས་ཉིད་
法性

Basic Meaning:

The true nature of phenomenal existence.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

dhātu

{{{18}}}
धातु
ཁམས་

Basic Meaning:

A fundamental component or essential constituent.

In the scriptures:

The dhātu of beginningless time

Is the foundation of all phenomena.
Due to its existence, all forms of existence

And also nirvāṇa are obtained.
 
~ The Abhidharmamahāyānasūtra, as cited in the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā, Chapter 1, verse 149—152. Translated by Karl Brunnhölzl.
 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

dpyad sgom

{{{18}}}
དཔྱད་སྒོམ་

Basic Meaning:

Analytical meditation is a technique involving critical analysis that focuses the mind on a specific contemplation, such as impermanence.

Simplified English Usage:

"Furthermore, broadly speaking, if [we look at this] from the perspective of the use of the terms “analysis” and “resting,” meditations that involve critical investigation must be considered analytical meditation, and meditations during which we settle into the natural state and rest must be resting meditation." (Dakpo Tashi Namgyal, Moonbeams of Mahāmudrā, Elizabeth Callahan translation, 89)

In the scriptures:

If you discriminate that phenomena are identityless

And meditate by discriminating them in this way,
This is the cause for the result of attaining nirvāṇa.

Peace will not come about through any other cause.
 
~ pp 273, Brunnhölzl, Karl, The Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madhyamaka in the Kagyü Tradition. Nitartha Institute Series. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2004.
 ;  ;
Tibetan Noun

Dzogchen

{{{18}}}
महासन्धि
རྫོགས་ཆེན།

Basic Meaning:

Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition.

 ;  ;
Tibetan Noun

ekayāna

{{{18}}}
एकयान
ཐེག་པ་གཅིག་པ་
一乘

Basic Meaning:

The notion that ultimately there is only one vehicle, or means, of achieving enlightenment.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

Geluk

{{{18}}}
དགེ་ལུགས་

Basic Meaning:

The Geluk tradition traces its origin to Tsongkhapa, who propagated a modified version of the Kadampa lojong and lamrim teachings. It is the dominant tradition of Tibet, having established its control of the government under the figure of the Dalai Lama.

 ;  ;
Tibetan School

gotra

{{{18}}}
गोत्र
རིགས་
鍾姓, 種性

Basic Meaning:

Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

Great Madhyamaka

{{{18}}}
महामध्यमक
དབུ་མ་ཆེན་པོ་

Basic Meaning:

The term Great Madhyamaka is utilized in different contexts depending on the tradition. In the Jonang tradition, it generally refers to the Zhentong Madhyamaka philosophy as it was developed and systematized by Dölpopa. In this context, the Great Madhyamaka refers to the presentation of ultimate truth, while Madhyamaka describes the emptiness of the relative level of truth. In the Nyingma tradition, Great Madhyamaka refers to the subtle, inner Madhyamaka that unifies the philosophical positions of Nāgārjuna and Asaṅga. This is presented in opposition to the coarse, outer Madhyamaka that is the dialectic approach of Prāsaṅgika and Svātantrika. In the Kagyu tradition, the term is used in a similar vein in that Madhyamaka is used to refer to philosophical inquiry, while Great Madhyamaka is used to refer to the view arrived at through yogic accomplishment. However, in all of these traditions, Great Madhyamaka is heavily associated with buddha-nature (tathāgatagarbha) and the definitive status of these teachings.

 ;  ;
Tibetan Noun

guṇa

{{{18}}}
गुण
ཡོན་ཏན་
功德

Basic Meaning:

The qualities or attributes of an enlightened being.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

guṇapāramitā

{{{18}}}
गुणपारमिता
ཡོན་ཏན་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་
功德波羅蜜

Basic Meaning:

In the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra it is explained that the dharmakāya of a buddha possesses the four perfect qualities of purity, bliss, permanence, and self.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

gzhan stong

{{{18}}}
གཞན་སྟོང་

Basic Meaning:

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

In the scriptures:

Since adventitious, relative entities do not exist at all in reality, they are empty of their own essences; they are self-empty. The innate ultimate, which is the ultimate emptiness of these relative things, is never nonexistent; therefore, it is other-empty.  
~ Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, Collected Works ('Dzamthang ed., 1998), Vol. 6: 416. Translated by Douglas Duckworth in "Onto-theology and Emptiness: The Nature of Buddha-Nature." (2014), page 1075.
 ;  ;
Tibetan Adjective

gzhi

{{{18}}}
གཞི་

Basic Meaning:

The foundational basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. It is often used as a synonym for tathāgatagarbha and dharmadhātu.

 ;  ;
Tibetan Noun

Hīnayāna

{{{18}}}
हीनयान
ཐེག་དམན།
小乘

Basic Meaning:

The mainstream teachings and the early schools of Buddhism which primarily taught individual liberation through practice-focused renunciation and monasticism, considered lesser than the later movement of the Greater Vehicle (Mahāyāna), which professed enlightenment for all sentient beings and promoted compassion.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

icchantika

{{{18}}}
इच्छन्तिक
འདོད་ཆེན་, འདོད་ཆེན་པོ་
一闡提

Basic Meaning:

Literally, "those with great desire," icchantikas could be rendered as hedonists or addicts. However, the term is generally used to refer to those who, due to their insatiable desire, are incapable of enlightenment.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

Jonang

{{{18}}}
ཇོ་ནང་

Basic Meaning:

The Jonang tradition was established by Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, a thirteenth-century Sakya monk famous for his Zhentong teachings. The Jonang teachings and monasteries were suppressed in Tibet in the seventeenth century but survived in Amdo.

 ;  ;
Tibetan School

ka dag

{{{18}}}
ཀ་དག

Basic Meaning:

Primordial purity is a term found in the Dzogchen tradition and refers to the empty nature of phenomena which is experienced through the practice of cutting-through meditation (khregs chod). It is often juxtaposed with spontaneous presence (lhun grub).

 ;  ;
Tibetan Noun

Kadam

{{{18}}}
བཀའ་གདམས་

Basic Meaning:

The Kadam tradition, which traces its origin to the teachings of Atiśa, was the first of the so-called New Schools of Tibetan Buddhism, traditions which arose during or after the Second Propagation of Buddhism (phyi dar) in the tenth century.

 ;  ;
Tibetan School

Kagyu

{{{18}}}
བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

Basic Meaning:

The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa.

 ;  ;
Tibetan School

kleśa

{{{18}}}
क्लेश
ཉོན་མོངས་
煩惱

Basic Meaning:

Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

kun gzhi

{{{18}}}
आलय
ཀུན་གཞི་

Basic Meaning:

Although it is commonly used as an abbreviation of ālayavijñāna (kun gzhi'i rnam shes), in later Tibetan traditions, particularly that of the Kagyu and the Nyingma, it came to denote an ultimate or pure basis of mind, as opposed to the ordinary, deluded consciousness represented by the ālayavijñāna. Alternatively, in the Jonang tradition, this pure version is referred to as ālaya-wisdom (kun gzhi'i ye shes).

 ;  ;
Tibetan Noun

Kālacakra

{{{18}}}
कालचक्र
དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ།
時輪

Basic Meaning:

Can refer to either the Kālacakra Tantra and its derivative texts or to the systematic tantric tradition based on these texts, as well as the deity Kālacakra upon which the associated practices are centered.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

lam rim

{{{18}}}
मार्गक्रम
ལམ་རིམ།, ལམ་གྱི་རིམ་པ།

Basic Meaning:

Lam rim refers to the stages on the path and, by extension, more commonly to the genre of teachings which contain practical instructions for training on the stages of the path to enlightenment. Related to the blo sbyong practice, it is particularly known among the Kadampa and Geluk schools. Tsongkhapa's Byang chub lam rim chen mo is the most well known in this genre and the term lam rim is often used specifically to refer to this text.

 ;  ;
Tibetan Noun

Madhyamaka

{{{18}}}
मध्यमक
དབུ་མ་
中觀見

Basic Meaning:

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit School

Mahāmudrā

{{{18}}}
महामुद्रा
ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ།

Basic Meaning:

Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

Mahāyoga

{{{18}}}
महायोग
མཧཱ་ཡོ་ག, རྣལ་འབྱོར་ཆེན་པོ།

Basic Meaning:

This is first one of the inner tantric schools according to the Nyingma tradition. Mahāyoga includes two sub-sections of the tantras which includes eighteen tantras and the sādhanās that includes the eight sādhanā practices. Mahāyoga focuses on the Development Stage and espouses the view of equality and purity in which equality refers to equal nature of phenomena in being empty and purity refers to all appearances being inherently enlightened energies. The Mahāyoga path leads to four stages of vidyadharas.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit School

Mahāyāna

{{{18}}}
महायान
ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།
大乘

Basic Meaning:

Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun

Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā

{{{18}}}
महायानोत्तरतन्त्रशास्त्रव्याख्या
ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་རྒྱུད་བླ་མའི་བསྟན་བཅོས་རྣམ་པར་བཤད་པ།

Basic Meaning:

This is the title of Asaṅga's commentary to the Gyü Lama that is given by Tibetan sources instead of the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Text

neyārtha

{{{18}}}
नेयार्थ
དྲང་དོན་

Basic Meaning:

Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

 ;  ;
Sanskrit Noun
... further results