Property:Gloss-def
From Buddha-Nature
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A buddha. This term can also be used as an epithet for a great Buddhist master. The Conqueror is Śākyamuni Buddha. +
Literally, "fierce woman." A Sanskrit term used for the fire visualized inside the body during completion stage practices. +
The Tibetan word ''rgyud'' was used to translate the two Sanskrit words ''tantra'' and ''saṃtāna'', which are not synonyms in Sanskrit. The word ''tantra'' is primarily used for certain scriptures, systems of practice, and so forth. The word ''saṃtāna'' is used to mean "continuum," in the sense of the stream of being, mindstream, or continuum that constitutes a living being. In Tibetan, the word ''rgyud'' was used for both meanings. In this book ''continuum'' means the continuity, or continuum, of a living being. Furthermore, the terms ''root continuum (rtsa rgyud)'' and ''explanatory continuum (bshad rgyud)'' have an additional resonance in Tibetan because of the dual meaning of the Tibetan word ''rgyud''. In the context of its meaning as "tantra" or "tantric scripture," a root tantra such as the ''Hevajra Tantra'' is clarified by other scriptures referred to as ''explanatory tantras'', such as the ''Vajrapañjara'' and the ''Sampuṭa''. +
Sanskrit title for a learned master or scholar. +
These are the nine uncommon preliminary practices for all the yogas of the path. They are explained fully in Lama Dampa's commentary in the section on the path of the secret initiation. Briefly, these are three purifications of body, speech, and mind; three key points of body, speech, and mind; and three preliminary meditations. +
One of the three main channels. The lalanā is located to the left of the central channel. +
A Sanskrit term that literally means "seal," but also has many other uses. In the translated texts, perhaps the most common meaning of the term is "female consort," whether imagined or actual. In other contexts the word is used to mean "seal," "ornament," "ritual gesture," "formal position," "yogic technique," and more. Keeping these possible meanings in mind, a careful reader will be able to understand the intended meaning of the term in each specific instance. +
The translation "seminal drop" has been used for the physical reproductive fluids. The term "drop" has been used in other contexts involving the visualization of drops not related to the reproductive fluids. +
Four vast domains are associated with the four kāyas. In this context alone, the English translation "vast domain" has been used to clearly distinguish between this specific meaning and the more common general meaning of "paradise" or "pure realm." +
This term is oft en used in the tantric sense in the Tibetan texts translated in this book. It can refer to semen, to the reproductive fluids in both males and females, and to the clear essences of the essential constituents. Context dictates meaning. Often several layers of meaning exist simultaneously. +
A buddha. This term can also be used as an epithet for a great Buddhist master. The Omniscient One is Śākyamuni Buddha. +
The term ''wisdom (shes rab)'' refers to the female consort, or mudrā, whether imagined or actual, who is the ''embodiment of wisdom (shes rab ma)''. Through the practices of the third initiation, which are dependent on her, the connate ''primordial awareness (ye shes)'' arises. Chogye Trichen Rinpoché glossed the name of the third initiation with the phrase "connate primordial awareness dependent on a female embodiment of wisdom" ('''''shes rab''' ma la brten nas lhan cig skyes pa'i '''ye shes'''''). His Holiness Sakya Trizin agreed with this definition and the meaning is also clear in Lama Dampa's commentary. +
The two assemblies of merit (''bsod nams'') and primordial awareness (''ye shes'') must be accumulated to reach full enlightenment. +
Synonymous with the ten essential constituents and with the ten inner father and mother ḍākas and ḍākinīs. Five of the essential constituents are the five vital winds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space, which are also referred to as the five ḍākinīs. In the phrase ''vital winds and mind'', the word ''mind (sems)'' is an abbreviation for the five enlightenment minds (''byang sems''), which are the clear essences of the physical constituents of feces, urine, blood, reproductive fluid, and flesh. These five are also referred to as the five father ḍākas or as the enlightened bodies of the tathāgatas. To complicate matters, the enlightenment mind, or ''mind'' in this phrase, is the support of the ''mind'' in the usual sense of the word. Thus a double level of meaning is always present. States of mind are dependent on the inner movements and locations of the vital winds and enlightenment minds within the channel network of the subtle body. +
The first, the middle, and the final gatherings represent the gradual clearing and purification of the nine or ten essential constituents within the body. The four or five vital winds and the five enlightenment minds gather into different channel locations within the body due to the practice of yoga. When these nine or ten essential constituents (the ḍākinīs and ḍākas or buddhas) gather into those specific locations, the ordinary body is transformed into a rainbow body. +
The neuter Tibetan term ''mkha' 'gro'' is purposely used throughout the Tibetan texts. This term is the Tibetan translation of the masculine Sanskrit term ''ḍāka'', but is also used as an abbreviation for the feminine Tibetan term ''mkha' 'gro ma'', which is the Tibetan translation of the Sanskrit term ''ḍākinī''. Thus an inherent ambiguity is often present in the use of the Tibetan term without the feminine ending ''ma''. In the Tibetan texts translated in this book the term ''mkha' 'gro'' is used to embrace both the masculine and feminine meanings. In many instances the intended gender is clear from context. But when the meaning is ambiguous, the single term ''mkha' 'gro'' has been translated as "ḍākas and ḍākinīs." This decision is based on conversations with His Holiness Sakya Trizin, Khenchen Appey Rinpoché, and Dezhung Rinpoché. +
The four pulsations are the pulsations of: the channels; the syllables (that are channels in the crooked forms of syllables); the drops, enlightenment minds, or nectars (terms used synonymously at various times); and the vital winds. The advance and retreat ('' 'jug ldog'') of these four in and out of the saṃsāra channels of the rasanā and lalanā and the central channel of nirvāṇa is referred to as ''pulsation ('gros)''. When the four pulsations have gone into the central channel and no longer retreat, this is referred to as the ''dissolution of the four pulsations ('gros bzhi thim)''. +
The sitting position most often used for meditation, with the side of the left foot placed upon the right thigh and the side of the right foot placed upon the left thigh. +
Five of the essential constituents are the five vital winds of earth, water, fire, wind, and space, which are also referred to as the five ḍākinīs. The essential physical constituents of feces, urine, blood, reproductive fluid, and flesh are also referred to as the five nectars, or as the ḍākas or the enlightened bodies of the tathāgatas. Sometimes the vital wind of space is considered to be all-pervasive, and so the reference is to just nine essential constituents. +
One of the common terms used for the female consort, or mudrā, whether imagined or actual. Another similar term is ''female embodiment of wisdom (shes rab ma)''. +
