Property:Gloss-def
From Buddha-Nature
This is a property of type Text.
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Also called simply the Jowo, a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha at the age of twelve. The most revered statue in Tibet, it is believed to date back to the time of the Buddha. +
A "hearer" or "listener," one who follows the practices of the Foundational Vehicle to move through four stages of realization and arrive at the stage of an arhat, the highest level in this tradition. +
The rules and regulations covering the practices of the ordained communities of monks and nuns. It is the first of the three divisions of the Tripitaka. +
Special beings who assist warriors in battle. +
Metaphorically, this refers to the three major teachings of the Buddha: in the first turning of the wheel of Dharma, he focused on the Four Noble Truths; in the second turning, he taught emptiness inseparable from compassion; and in the third turning he focused on the buddha nature pervading all living beings. +
The fifth of the six perfections, this meditative stability involves a focused attention, undisturbed by the afflictions. +
First of the three is the desire realm, which has six divisions: hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, demigods, and gods. These are also modes of experience, created by our minds and then taken to be real. The form realm has seventeen levels and the formless realm, four. All three realms together constitute samsara. +
A monument enshrining the relics of a buddha or realized master. There are many different kinds, but stupas usually have a square base with a round midsection topped by a spire. They symbolize the mind of the Buddha and are often major sites of pilgrimage, such as the Baudhanath Stupa outside Kathmandu, Nepal. +
Treasures concealed by Guru Rinpoche and his consort Yeshe Tsogyal to be discovered at a later time when they would be needed. Of the many kinds, the most prevalent are mind terma, which are discovered in the depth of a tertön's mind, and earth terma, which take many forms, including texts, ritual and natural objects, and relics. +
One of the two Madhyamaka schools, the Rangtong promotes a view that emphasizes the empty nature of all phenomena and their lack of inherent existence while focusing on the mind as free of mental constructs. The name translates as "empty in and of itself," reflecting the radical focus on emptiness. ''See also'' Shentong. +
Vows of individual liberation taken by the ordained sangha of the Foundational Vehicle. +
"the Lady who Liberates," a female buddha much loved by the Tibetans. To protect beings from danger and assist them on life's path, she has twenty-one forms, the most popular being Green Tara and White Tara. +
Known as the Mind Only school and belonging to the Mahayana, this philosophical school emphasizes the mental nature of all phenomena as they arise from the seeds of habitual patterns. An analogy for this mental nature is the dream, wherein both subject and object are mentally produced. Further, just as we wake up from a dream, so can we realize the illusory nature of perception divided into subject and object. The self-awareness that comes to know this reality beyond duality is posited as the ultimate. +
This refers to a teaching that was given when disciples were not yet ready to hear a more profound explanation, and therefore it is open to other levels of interpretation. It is paired with the term "definitive meaning." +
A long, deep-toned, telescoping horn that is played during ritual ceremonies. +
The first phase of visualization practice, in which the deity, arising out of emptiness, is brought to mind in vivid detail as a central focus while the deity's mantra is recited. ''See also'' completion stage. +
Relative truth involves the ordinary appearances of the everyday world and dualistic perception; whatever appears is interpreted in terms of subject and object. Ultimate truth is beyond the mundane world and its duality; a synonym for emptiness and free of all mental fabrications, it is also radiant and clear. +
The channels of the subtle body through which the winds, or prana, flow, +
A native intelligence that sees beyond the surface to a more profound reality, which can be seeing the impermanence of all phenomena, or more deeply, mind's nature itself. In dialectics, deeper knowing is traditionally defined as the faculty of the mind that is able to distinguish between the relative and the ultimate. +
Common to most Buddhist schools, this is a meditation practice of bringing one's mind into sustained tranquillity. Through repeated practice, distractions are stilled and the mind is able to abide wherever it is placed. Calm abiding is the basis for the practice of deep insight. +
