According to the Hindu Samkhya philosophy, the conscious Self, real and eternal, the counterpart of prakriti, the primal substance. ''See also'' Prakriti. +
The community of Buddhist practitioners, whether monastic or lay. The term "Noble Sangha" refers to those members of the Buddhist community who have attained the path of seeing and beyond. +
A technical term in Buddhist epistemology, referring to the consciousness that generally detects the presence of an object, whereas the different types of mental factors (''sems byung'') apprehend, and react to, particular aspects of that object. +
Members of an ancient Indian philosophical school professing metaphysical nihilism. The Charvakas denied causality, the law of karma, and the existence of past and future lives. +
A practice consisting of the visualization of the guru (in whichever form), prayers and requests for blessing, the visualized reception of these blessings, and the merging of the mind in the guru's enlightened wisdom mind. Guru yoga is the single most important practice of tantric Buddhism. +
(280—360 c.e.). The only acharya who enjoys equal prestige as an exponent of both the Hinayana and the Mahayana. During his Sarvastivadin phase he composed the ''Abhidharmakosbabhasya'', which is the most systematic and complete exposition of the Abhidharma and marks the summit of hinayana scholarship. Later in life, through his own inner development and under the influence of his elder brother Asanga, Vasubandhu adopted the mahayana yogachara view and composed many works of which the ''Trimsikavij-napti-karika (Thirty Stanzas on the Mind)'' is the most outstanding. +
lit. wheel of time. One of the main tantras practiced by the New Translation schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is celebrated for the unique cosmological system that it expounds and is closely associated with the hidden realm of Shambhala, the king of which was the first to receive this teaching from the Buddha. +
Also called Orgyen or Urgyen, a region in ancient India corresponding, according to some authorities, to the valley of Swat between Afganistan and Kashmir. Oddiyana was the birthplace of Guru Padmasambhava and Garab Dorje, the first human master of the Dzogchen tradition. +
lit. lotus-born. Referred to by many other titles such as the Master of Orgyen and Guru Rinpoche, Padmasambhava was predicted by the Buddha Shakyamuni as the one who would propagate the teachings of the Vajrayana. Invited to Tibet by King Trisong Detsen in the eighth century, he succeeded in definitively establishing there the Buddhist teachings of sutra and tantra. +
The eight main Bodhisattvas in the retinue of Buddha Shakyamuni. They are: Akashagarbha, Avalokiteshvara, Kshitigarbha, Maitreya, Manjushri, Samantabhadra, Sarvanivaranavishkambhin, and Vajrapani. Symbolically they represent the pure state of the eight consciousnesses. +
Also known as Khenpo Bodhisattva. Associated with the monastic university of Nalanda, Shantarakshita was the great exponent of the upper school of the Yogachara Svatantrika Madhyamika. He visited Tibet in the eighth century at the invitation of King Trisong Detsen and ordained the first seven Tibetan monks. He was thus the source of the so-called ''smad 'dul'', the Lowland or Eastern lineage of monastic ordination followed by Nyingmapas and many Gelugpas. Among the previous Indian holders of the lineage of Shantarakshita were Shariputra, Rahula (''sgra gcan 'dzin'', another name for Saraha), and Nagarjuna. It was at the suggestion of Shantarakshita that the king invited Guru Rinpoche to Tibet. +
The Buddha Shakyamuni gave teachings on three different levels, referred to as the three turnings of the Dharma wheel. On the first occasion at Sarnath, he expounded the doctrine of the four noble truths. Later, at Vulture Peak, he set forth the doctrine of emptiness subsequently recorded in the Prajnaparamita sutras. Finally, on various occasions, he gave teachings on the Tathagatagarbha, the buddha nature, such as are recorded in the ''Sandhinirmochana'' and other sutras. +
A phenomenon that is devoid of origin, abiding, and cessation and is therefore totally immutable, for example, space and nirvana. The hinayana and the mahayana tenet systems have different interpretations of this term. +