Property:Gloss-def
From Buddha-Nature
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lit. continuum. The texts of Vajrayana Buddhism expounding the natural purity of the mind. The Nyingma school classifies the tantras into outer tantras (Kriya, Upa, and Yoga) and inner tantras (Mahayoga, Anuyoga, and Atiyoga). The Sarma, or New Translation, tradition uses another method, dividing the tantras into four classes: Kriya, Upa, Yogatantra, and Anuttaratantra. +
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lit. heap or aggregate. The five skandhas are the component elements of form, feeling, perception, conditioning factors, and consciousness. They are the elements into which the person may be analyzed without residue. When they appear together, the illusion of self is produced in the ignorant mind. +
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Primordial knowledge, divested of the dualistic mental activity characteristic of the ordinary mind, which "sees" (nondualistically) the ultimate reality or absolute truth. +
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The vows and disciplines of the Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. +
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Name given to the great sages of Indian mythology, endowed with great longevity and magical powers, who were instrumental in the creation, or reception, of the Vedas. In the Buddhist context, this word is usually translated as sage, hermit, or saint. +
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This word has several levels of meaning. At its most basic level, it may be understood simply as a configuration or intelligible unit of space. The mandala of the deity, for example, is the sacred area or palace of the wisdom deity. The mandala of a lama might be considered as the lama's place of residence and the retinue of disciples. The offering mandala is the entire arrangement of an offering, either in real terms or in the imagination, as when a practitioner offers the entire universe. +
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A great kalpa is the time period corresponding to a cycle of formation, duration, destruction, and vacuity of a universe (each of these four phases comprising twenty intermediate kalpas). There is also a so-called measureless kalpa (''grangs med bskal pa''), which, despite its name, does not refer to an infinite lapse of time but to a specific period defined in the Abhidharma as consisting of 10 kalpas. The present (great) kalpa is usually referred to as the Good or Fortunate Kalpa on account of the fact that a thousand universal Buddhas will appear in the course of it. The Buddha Shakyamuni is the fourth in the series. +
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''See'' Absolute truth. +
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lit. "meaning-generality." The conceptual image experienced by the mental consciousness (''rtog shes'') and resulting from the activity of the senses. The mental image is the means whereby objects are recognized and conceptually known, a process which is necessarily indirect in the sense that the mental image is not identical with, but only representative of, the thing in question. This representation of the object is of the most general kind and functions negatively in being an elimination or exclusion of all that is not the object. +
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''See'' Perfect Joy. +
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A type of prayer (of which there are innumerable examples) comprising the seven elements of homage and refuge, offering, confession, rejoicing in the virtues of others, the request for teachings, the supplication that the enlightened beings should not pass into nirvana, and the dedication of merit. +
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(1) The accumulation of merit performed on the basis of the discursive mind (''bsod nams kyi tshogs''), in other words, the positive energy arising from wholesome action and (2) the accumulation of wisdom beyond discursive thought (''ye shes kyi tshogs'') arising from the understanding that in all experience, subject, object, and action are devoid of inherent existence. +
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(1) those who aspire to happiness in the higher states of samsaric existence; (2) those who aspire to liberation from samsara altogether; and (3) those who aspire to buddhahood for the sake of all beings. +
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''See'' Five Bodies. +
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The traditional class distinctions of Indian society associated with different psychological types and the kind of work or social function deemed appropriate to them. Over the centuries the caste system developed and is now extremely complex. Buddhist texts refer only to the original fourfold system and repudiate it in the sense of rejecting the idea, still current in Indian society, that such distinctions are immutable and are dictated by the circumstances of birth. The four types or classes are the royal or ruling class (''kshatriya, rgyal rigs''), the priestly class (''brahmin, bram ze rigs''), the merchant class (''vaishya, rje 'u rigs''), and the menial class (''shudra, dmangs rigs''). +
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(1846—1912). One of the greatest scholars of the Nyingma tradition, famed for his immense erudition and versatility. He was a close disciple of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and thus associated with the Rimé, or nonsectarian movement. Through his learning and realization, he greatly contributed to the reinvigoration of study and practice in nineteenth-century Tibet. +
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The first of the hinayana tenet systems, in which the indivisible particle of matter and the indivisible instant of consciousness are regarded as ultimate truth. +
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The second divine sphere of the desire realm, situated on the summit of Mount Meru, presided over by thirty-three gods of whom Indra is the chief. +
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According to the teachings of the Mahayana, the transcendent reality of perfect buddhahood is described in terms of two, three, four, or five bodies, or kayas. The two bodies, in the first case, are the Dharmakaya, the Body of Truth, and the Rupakaya, the Body of Form. The Dharmakaya is the absolute or "emptiness" aspect of buddhahood. The Rupakaya is subdivided (thus giving rise to the three bodies mentioned above) into the Sambhogakaya, the Body of Perfect Enjoyment, and the Nirmanakaya, the Body of Manifestation. The Sambhogakaya, or the spontaneous clarity aspect of buddhahood, is perceptible only to beings of extremely high realization. The Nirmanakaya, the compassionate aspect, is perceptible to ordinary beings and appears in the world most often, though not necessarily, in human form. The system of four bodies consists of the three just referred to together with the Svabhavikakaya, or Body of Suchness, which refers to the union of the previous three. Occasionally there is mention of five bodies: the three kayas together with the immutable Diamond or Vajra Body (the indestructible aspect of buddhahood) and the Body of Complete Enlightenment (representing the aspect of enlightened qualities). +
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A Buddhist scripture, a transcribed discourse of the Buddha. There are Hinayana sutras and Mahayana sutras (as distinct from the tantras). Of the Mahayana sutras, some are categorized as being of expedient meaning (''drang don'') and their purpose, as the ''Akshayamatinirdesha-sutra'' explains, is to lead disciples onto the path. Other Mahayana sutras are classified as being of ultimate meaning (''nges don'') and introduce the hearers directly to the Buddha's wisdom. +
