This term, used in apposition to purity, covers both the truth of suffering and the truth of the origin—in other words, saṃsāra and the whole process that results in saṃsāra. It is the opposite of purity. +
Also called complete purity. This term, used in apposition to defilement, covers the truth of cessation and the truth of the path, both the purity that is nirvāṇa and the process of purification that leads to nirvāṇa. It is the opposite of defilement. +
Depending on context, the extreme of saṃsāra and the extreme of nirvāṇa; the extremes of existence and nonexistence; the extremes of pleasurable indulgence and excessive austerity. +
The nondual ultimate reality that is neither existent nor nonexistent, neither the same nor different, neither produced nor destroyed, subject to neither growth nor diminution, neither pure nor impure. +
Also translated as “renunciation” and, depending on context, “certain deliverance.” The deeply felt wish to achieve liberation from cyclic existence. See also certain deliverance. +
The ultimate nature of the mind and the true status of phenomena, which can only be known by gnosis, beyond all conceptual constructs and duality. See also relative truth. +
The basic vehicle comprising the vehicles of the listeners and solitary realizers, whose ultimate result is the state of arhat. It is termed “lesser” or “lower” in comparison ro the Great Vehicle. +
“He whose accomplishment is related to the nāgas.” The great first-second-century Indian master and father of the Profound View tradition who rediscovered the Buddha’s teachings on transcendent wisdom (prajnāpāramitā) in the realm of the nāgas and composed numerous treatises that became the basic texts for the proponents of the Madhyamika or Middle Way philosophical system. +
The world of desire, the world of form, and the world of formlessness. Alternatively (Tib. ''‘jig rten gsum, sa gsum, srid gsum''): the world of gods above the earth, that of humans on the earth, and that of the nāgas under the earth. +
Also called literal definition, precise definition. A device used by commentators to provide a definition ofa term, usually based on a breakdown of the original Sanskrit term into its component roots. This does not necessarily correspond to the way in which etymologyis understood in the West. +
One’s own goal, benefit, or welfare (Tib. ''rang don'') and that of others (Tib. ''gzhan don''). Often understood in the ultimate sense of the goal for oneself being achieved by the realization of emptiness, the body of truth (Skt. ''dharmakāyd''), and the goal for others by compassion manifesting as the form body (Skt. ''rūpakāya''). +
Also translated as defilement aspect and purity aspect, defilement process and purification process. The sum of defilement and purity, the two sides of the whole of phenomena seen in the context of the spiritual path. See also defilement; purity. +
lit. “one who has vanquished the enemy” (the enemy being defilements). A practitioner of the Lesser Vehicle (that is, a listener or solitary realizer) who has attained the cessation of suffering, i.e., nirvaṇa, but not the perfect buddhahood of the Great Vehicle. +