Property:Gloss-def
From Buddha-Nature
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the designation given to those Vajrayana practitioners in India who were considered to have attained the complete perfection of enlightenment. The ''mahasiddhas'' were people from all castes and walks of life who followed a tantric guru, practiced meditation intensively, attained realization, and themselves became gurus to others. In the tradition, a group of eighty-four ''mahasiddhas'' was especially well known, all of whom are reputed to have lived in India between the eighth and the twelfth centuries. +
One of the eighty-four ''mahasiddhas'' or enlightened tantric masters. Saraha is known in Tibetan Buddhism as the "grandfather of the ''siddhas''," indicating a belief that his life falls rather at the beginning of the tradition of ''mahasiddhas''. He is particularly known for his instruction on Mahamudra, given in ''dohas'' (collections of realization songs). +
These are: (1) the knowledge and ability to perform wonders; (2) the knowledge of births and deaths of all beings; (3) the ability to hear all sounds throughout the three-thousandfold universe; (4) the knowledge of one's own and others' past lives; and (5) the knowledge of the minds of others. +
According to the teachings of the Mahayana, the transcendent reality of perfect buddhahood is described in terms of two, three, four, or five kayas, or bodies. 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, "emptiness" aspect of buddhahood and is perceptible only to beings on that level. The rupakaya is subdivided (thus giving rise to three bodies) into the sambhogakaya, the Body of Perfect Enjoyment, and the nirmanakaya, the Body of Manifestation. The sambhogakaya, or the spontaneous clarity aspect of buddha hood, is perceptible only to highly realized beings. The nirmanakaya, the compassionate aspect, is perceptible to ordinary beings and appears in the world usually, though not necessarily, in human form. The system of four bodies consists of the three just described together with the svabhavikakaya, or Body of Suchness, which refers to the union of the previous three. When five bodies are mentioned, this means the first three kayas together with the Immutable Diamond (or Vajra) Body (the indestructible aspect of buddhahood) and the Body of Complete Enlightenment (the aspect of enlightened qualities). +
Translated also as boundless thoughts, they are four highly virtuous states of mind, regarded as immeasurable because they focus on all beings without exception and are productive of boundless merits. They are: love, compassion, sympathetic joy, and impartiality. +
The teachings of expedient meaning are, for example, the instructions on the Four Noble Truths, the aggregates, the dhatus, and so forth, which insofar as they do not express the ultimate truth are of provisional validity only. They are nevertheless indispensable in that their purpose is to lead beings gradually on the path, bringing them to greater understanding and final accomplishment. Contrasted with the ultimate or definitive meaning (''nges don''). +
Also called Yogachara, this philosophical school of the Mahayana asserts the self-cognizing mind as the ultimate reality and identifies emptiness as the absence of the subject-object dualism that overspreads and obscures the underlying pure consciousness. Although this school is usually traced back to Asanga and his brother Vasubandhu (fourth century C.E.), who base themselves on the scriptures of the third turning of the Dharma wheel, such as the "Sandhinirmochana-sutra", the Chittamatra, as a tenet system, is more accurately associated with the sixthcentury master Dharmapala. +
Dualistic thought processes that apprehend subject, object, and action as being truly existent and that thus act as obstructions to the mind's omniscience. +
(seventh century C.E.). One of the greatest masters of logic in the tradition of Dignaga. He was the author of numerous works, the most celebrated of which is the ''Pramanavarttika (tshad ma rnam 'grel)''. +
A term coined by the Sautrantika-Svatantrikas to refer to phenomena considered as conventionally existent by virtue of their defining properties and functional efficiency. +
The highest level in the formless realm and thus the summit of all possible states in the dimension of samsaric existence. +
An important Indian religious system founded in the sixth century B.C.E.) by Jina (whence Jaina or Jain), also known as Vardhamana. The Jains advocate a very pure ethical system involving, in particular, an extreme form of ''ahimsa'' or nonviolence. They are subdivided in two groups, the naked ones (''gcer bu pa'') and the white-robed ones. +
One of the oldest and most important systems of the Indian philosophy, of which Kapila was the first exponent. It is a rationalistic interpretation of the Upanishads and posits two fundamental principles of matter (prakriti) and of mind (purusha), both of which are regarded as ultimately real. +
sense fields. The six inner ayatanas refer exclusively to the sense organs (the mind being the sixth); the twelve ayatanas comprise these six plus their outer corresponding objects. (The outer and inner ayatana of the mind is the mental sense organ and mental objects. In this case, the mental organ is the immediately preceding moment of consciousness.) From the interaction of the six sense organs and their six objects, the six consciousnesses are engendered. +
Innate and conceptual apprehension of the inherent existence of phenomena, which in fact lack such existence. +
lit. patience. Fearless acceptance of the ultimate nature of things. +
This term has different meanings. In the Hinayana context, it refers to the cessation of afflictive emotion brought about by wisdom. The cessation itself is the "small nirvana" of the Shravakas and the Pratyekabuddhas. +
A phenomenon belonging to the relative level, brought about by causes and conditions, and which appears to originate, remain, and eventually cease. +
(280-360 C.E.). The only Buddhist master to enjoy equal prestige as an exponent of the Hinayana and the Mahayana. During his Sarvastivadin phase he composed the ''Abhidharmakosha-bhasya'', which is the most systematic and complete exposition of the Abhidharma and is one of the summits 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 ''Trimsikavijnapti-karika (Thirty Stanzas on the Mind)'' is the most outstanding. +
Universal ideas and mental images of phenomena (''don spyi''), as contrasted with real, individual, concrete objects. See also Specifically characterized phenomena. +
