Property:Gloss-def
From Buddha-Nature
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A group of meditation practices, with and without a specific object of mindfulness, that bring the mind into a state of quiescence. The breath is most usually taken as the primary object of meditation in the practice of ''shamatha''. ''Shamatha'' is practiced in all the Buddhist meditation traditions and is commonly considered the preliminary to ''vipashyana'', or insight. ''See also'' vipashyana. +
"The vehicle of mantras," another term for Vajrayana Buddhism. +
more commonly translated into English (somewhat incorrectly) as "buddha-nature." The term refers to the embryonic enlightenment that is within each sentient being. +
A text containing the Vajrayana teachings of the Buddha. The tantras contain teachings, visualizations, and various ritual practices reflecting the Vajrayana, or diamond vehicle, and are typically geared to one or another of the great tantric ''yidams''. Most Tibetan Vajrayana practice is grounded in one or another of the classical tantras. +
The seventh of the nine ''yanas'' of the Nyingma path. Mahayoga emphasizes the visualization of tantric deities and the practice of the liturgies and meditations associated with them. +
(1079-1153 CE). One of the two principal students of Milarepa (the other being Rechungpa). When Gampopa met Milarepa, he was a Kadam monk, and subsequently he combined Milarepa's meditative and eremitical approach with the settled monasticism of his Kadam training. Through his disciple, Tusumkhyenpa, he was instrumental in the formation of the Kagyü sublineage, the Karma Kagyü, presided over by the Karmapa line of incarnations. +
"Mind (or heart) of enlightenment." ''Bodhichitta'' is the essence of enlightenment that, according to the Mahayana, exists in the heart of all sentient beings. Understood in Tibetan Buddhism as another name for the buddha-nature, it is gradually brought to the full maturity of buddhahood through the various Mahayana practices. +
The "great perfection"; according to the Nyingma lineage, the highest of the nine ''yanas'', or vehicles, of practice and realization. Dzogchen contains two major facets, ''trekchö'', "cutting through," and ''tögel'', "crossing over." ''Trekchö'' refers to the cultivation of a mind that is utterly empty and without any constraints, limitations, or preoccupations. ''Tögel'' refers to the practice of relating to appearance as a vehicle of immediate liberation. +
The teaching that while in ordinary experience there appears to be a substantial "self" at the root of our human person, when such a truly existing self is sought for, it cannot be found. Realization of no-self is described as the hallmark of enlightenment in the early Buddhist teachings. In the Mahayana, the doctrine of no-self is further developed: first is the no-self of the individual, and second, the no-self of all phenomena. This latter "selflessness of the dharmas" points to the fact that any aspect or element of our experience is also, itself, without a self. +
The three "vehicles," Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. +
Enlightenment +
Shakyamuni Buddha and all other buddhas are held to possess three bodies of enlightenment, the ''trikaya''. The ''nirmanakaya'', "the transformational body," is a buddha's physical body of flesh and blood, visible to ordinary sentient beings. The ''sambhogakaya'', the enjoyment body, is the form of the buddha seen through the medium of spiritual vision. This body has form but no material substantiality. The ''dharmakaya'', the body of truth or reality, is the ultimate nature of the buddha, the enlightened mind, the awakened state itself. All three bodies are united in a fourth body, the ''svabhavikakaya'', the essential body. +
Insight practice. ''See'' vipashyana. +
One of the two stages of ''yidam'' practice. ''See also'' yidam. +
The "evil one" who attempted, at the last minute, to dissuade Shakyamuni Buddha from completing his quest for enlightenment. Mara is the personification of the forces of ignorance that keep sentient beings enmeshed in samsara. In the developed tradition, Mara is said to have four primary forms: He manifests as the five ''skandhas''; the lord of death; the defiling emotions (''kleshas''); and as divine beings who carry out his biddings. +
One of the "three trainings," ''shila'' includes various codes of conduct that Buddhists follow as part of the path to awakening. Laypeople typically follow the five precepts (to refrain from taking life, stealing, false speech, sexual misconduct, and intoxicants that cloud the mind), while monks and nuns adhere to a collection of several hundred rules of monastic restraint divided into categories of varying severity. +
"The state in-between." Most commonly, ''bardo'' refers to the state after death through which the consciousness, now separated from the body, journeys on its way to a new birth. +
(ca. 563-483 BCE). The historical individual who founded the Buddhist tradition in this world. +
Commentaries, composed by renowned Buddhist authors, on teachings given by Shakyamuni Buddha. +
All the practices of Hinayana and Mahayana that are taught in the sutras of these two conventional, pretantric vehicles. +
