pad ma 'byung gnas;Padmasambhava;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. +
las gsogs pa;Accumulate an action;accumulate an action;To perform an action or karma. Actions leave traces in the alaya and will subsequently fructify in the sense of bringing forth experiential effects. +
nye ba'i sras brgyad;Eight Close Sons;eight close sons;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. +
zhi ba mtsho;Shantarakshita;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. +
chos kyi 'khor lo gsum;Three turnings of the Dharma wheel;three turnings of the dharma wheel;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. +
'dus ma byas;Uncompounded phenomenon;uncompounded phenomenon;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. +
og min;Akanishta;In general, the highest of all buddhafields, the place where, according to Vajrayana, Bodhisattvas attain final buddhahood. There are, in fact, six levels of Akanishta, ranging from the highest heaven of the form realm up to the ultimate pure land of the Dharmakaya. +
phan 'dogs pa'i gzhi;Field of benefits;field of benefits;Beings, such as one's parents, to whom a great debt of gratitude is owed for the kindness they have shown. The field of benefits also includes beings who are natural objects of compassion, such as the sick, the old, and the unprotected. All actions directed to them will bring forth a powerful result. +
khams bco brgyad;Eighteen Dhatus;eighteen dhatus;A "sphere" of experience involving a sense power, its object, and the consciousness arising from their conjunction. Although a dhatu in this sense may be considered as a composite of these three elements, in fact each of these elements is referred to as a dhatu in its own right. Thus, the six senses, six objects, and six corresponding consciousnesses may be referred to as the eighteen dhatus, as expounded in the Abhidharma. +
nyi tshe ba'i dmyal ba;Ephemeral hells;ephemeral hells;Infernal states, of varying duration, in which beings suffer due to the fact that they identify as their bodies physical objects such as logs of wood or stoves and suffer the effects of the use to which these objects are put (logs being burned, stoves being heated, doors being slammed, etc.). +
skye mched;Ayatana;Sometimes translated as "sense fields." The "six inner ayatanas" refer exclusively to the sense organs;the "twelve ayatanas" comprise these six plus the "six outer ayatanas," which are the corresponding sense objects. (The outer and inner ayatanas of the mind are the mental sense organ and mental objects. Here, the mental "organ" is the moment of consciousness immediately preceding the moment in which the mental object is perceived.) From the interaction of the six sense organs and their six objects, the six consciousnesses are engendered. +
rnam snang chos bdun;Seven-point posture of Vairochana;seven-point posture of vairochana;The ideal physical posture for meditation: legs crossed in the vajra posture, back straight, hands in the gesture of meditation, eyes gazing along the line of the nose, chin slightly tucked in, shoulders well apart and even, and the tip of the tongue touching the palate. +
rgyud;Tantra;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. +
phung po;Skandhas;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. +
don gyi ye shes;Absolute wisdom;absolute wisdom;Primordial knowledge, divested of the dualistic mental activity characteristic of the ordinary mind, which "sees" (nondualistically) the ultimate reality or absolute truth. +