Property:Gloss-def
From Buddha-Nature
This is a property of type Text.
T
The ritual of initiation in Vajrayana Buddhism. Most commonly, the ''abhisheka'' authorizes the practitioner to carry out the practice of one of the great tantric buddhas or deities, or ''yidam''. Each ''yidam'' and the associated cycles of practices requires a specific ''abhisheka'', and therefore, in the Vajrayana, many different ''abhishekas'' are known. +
In Buddhism, the term appears frequently and can have any one of a number of different meanings, depending on context. Prajna can indicate ordinary, worldly knowledge. More commonly, it is given in a set of "three ''prajnas''" indicating three progressively deeper states of understanding: (1) study or learning ("hearing"), in which one gains a conceptual knowledge of a certain teaching; (2) contemplating, in which one reflects on a particular teaching to understand its fuller meaning and ramifications; and (3) meditation, in which one sees the inner, nonconceptual meaning. In the Hinayana, ''prajna'' refers to the kind of knowledge known as ''vipashyana''. In the Mahayana teachings, ''prajna'', as in ''prajnaparamita'', "transcendent knowledge," refers to the understanding of ''shunyata'', or emptiness. +
"Little," "immediate," or "direct" vehicle. ''See'' three yanas. +
The "created body." ''See'' three bodies of the buddha. +
Enlightenment in the Mahayana is understood to be composed of two inseparable facets, wisdom (realizing emptiness) and compassion (reflected in skillful means). A buddha, whose mind is identified with emptiness, sees with perfect clarity what sentient beings need and also how that need may best be fulfilled. A buddha can be perfectly accurate (or skillful) in his or her actions (or means) precisely because, having realized emptiness, he or she has no self-serving agendas to promote. +
The "great symbol," the epitome of realization in the schools (Sakya, Kagyü, Gelug) that arose during the second spreading of Buddhism in Tibet (from the tenth to the end of the twelfth century). Mahamudra points to the union of appearance and emptiness in the realized state: ''mudra'' indicates appearance, the phenomena that arise within awareness, while ''maha'' indicates their utter emptiness — the fact that they are utterly beyond any formulation or conceptualization. Mahamudra is often divided into Ground Mahamudra (the inherent purity of awareness within all beings), Path Mahamudra (the practices through which the realization of Mahamudra is cultivated), and Fruition Mahamudra (enlightenment). +
One of the two stages of ''yidam'' practice. +
The "all-good," ultimate, ''dharmakaya'' buddha in the Nyingma tradition, depicted as naked and dark blue in color, often in union with his consort Samantabhadri, who is depicted as white in color. +
The wisdom of enlightenment. In the Vajrayana, "five wisdoms," taken together, represent the enlightened mind like five facets of a jewel. +
(989-1069 CE). One of the Indian ''mahasiddhas''. Tilopa was the founder of the Kagyü lineage. His primary disciple was Naropa, who taught the Tibetan Marpa. From Marpa, the lineage passed to Milarepa and an array of subsequent teachers and sublineages. +
"Wheel of dharma" or, more loosely, "promulgations of major cycles of Buddhist teaching." According to Tibetan Buddhism, Buddha Shakyamuni turned the wheel of dharma three times, first at the Deer Park in Varanasi where he taught the four noble truths, second on Vulture Peak Mountain near Rajagriha where he taught emptiness, and finally in a celestial palace where he taught the buddha-nature. +
"Truth" or "reality." Buddhism speaks of an outer dharma, namely, the teachings of the Buddha, and an inner dharma, reality when we see it as it truly is. From this latter point of view, all phenomena are expressions of dharma. +
The "body of truth" or "body of reality." ''See'' three bodies of the buddha. +
The sphere of a buddha's activity. In Mahayana cosmology, world systems — of which there are an infinite number throughout time and space — are typically presided over by a buddha. Buddha-fields are of two types, pure and impure; our world system is a representation of the latter. +
In the practice of Mahayana Buddhism, the development of the bodhisattva is described in a sequence of ten (sometimes expanded to thirteen) ''bhumis'', with the final one representing the complete and perfect enlightenment of a buddha. The ''bhumis'' all describe quite elevated levels of spiritual maturity. +
(1016—1100). Originally a highly accomplished Buddhist scholar and eventually abbot at Nalanda, the renowned Buddhist monastic university in northern India, Naropa one day realized that, in spite of all his learning, he did not really understand or embody the Buddhist teachings. He left his position at Nalanda and wandered through the jungles looking for a teacher who could train him and open his eyes. Eventually he met an apparently mad ''yogin'' named Tilopa (989-1069), who was a ''mahasiddha'' (an enlightened tantric master). Studying with him for twelve years, Naropa finally achieved realization and began teaching and accepting disciples of his own. One of these was Marpa, who took the lineage of Tilopa and Naropa to Tibet, where it became famed as the Kagyü lineage. +
Sanskrit words or syllables, sometimes with conceptual meaning, often without, that embody the energy of particular deities (''yidams''), who in turn embody aspects of the awakened state. Mantras are uttered in the context of ritual Vajrayana practice, during which one also carries out visualizations and performs various hand gestures (''mudras''). +
A Vajrayana text that includes various meditations and ritual practices that one carries out in association with a particular ''yidam'' or tantric deity after receiving ''abhisheka'' into that deity's ''mandala''. The primary tantras of each deity contain material that is similar, but in an often random or cryptic fashion, whereas in the ''sadhana'' the same practices are presented in a structured, accessible, and understandable way. +
''See'' three bodies of the buddha. +
The four thoughts that turn the mind (from samsara). These are (1) the preciousness of human birth (in this human life we have an opportunity to practice and attain realization); (2) impermanence (death is real and comes without warning); (3) the pain of samsara (there are six realms of existence, and inescapable suffering occurs within and as a result of each of them); and (4) karma (everything we do produces an effect that we will have to live with, producing happiness or suffering for us in the future). +
