Property:Gloss-def
From Buddha-Nature
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One of the five main energy-winds or pranas. Also called the "life supporting wind," it is seated in the heart and spine, and is the mother of all the other winds in the body. +
Action seal. A yogic consort or tantric sexual partner. +
Awakening hero. One who is following the Mahayana path of the six paramitas and is cultivating bodhichitta, both relative and absolute. One formally takes the bodhisattva vow from one's spiritual master, and thereafter renews the vow daily with the aspiration to attain enlightenment not merely for oneself, but for the sake of all sentient beings, and to continue to be reborn within samsara until all beings have attained enlightenment. +
Holder of the Vajra. Vajradhara symbolizes the primordial state of the dharmakaya. Blue in color, Vajradhara is depicted wearing the ornaments of a sambhogakaya Buddha, holding a vajra in his right hand and a bell in his left hand. It is said that the Kagyu tradition was transmitted by Vajradhara to Tilopa in a vision. +
A rosary, usually with 108 beads, used to count mantra recitations. One round of the mala is counted as an even one hundred recitations, under the assumption that one's mind may have been distracted at some point during the round, so one adds an extra eight for good measure. +
One who has overcome the foe, foe destroyer. One who has overcome the obscurations of the four maras and has attained the final stage of the Hinayana path. +
The six psychic powers or siddhis are: (1) thought reading; (2) memory of past lives; (3) clairaudience, by which all languages including those of birds and animals can be understood, from both near and far; (4) clairvoyance, particularly the intuition of the suffering and needs of others; (5) the ability to perform miracles, such as manipulating the elements, flight, walking on water, and so forth; (6) the ability to stop the five passions. +
The Physician from Dakpo. Dakpo refers to the region where Gampopa set up his monastery, at Mount Gampo Dar, in the latter part of his life (hence the name Gampopa, the man from Gampo.) Gampopa is often referred to as Dakpo Lhaje, Dakpopa, or Dakpo Rinpoche. His lineage is also known as the Dakpo Kagyu. +
This refers to the subtle body, composed of nadis, prana, and bindu. It can also refer to the combination of the physical and subtle body in their perfected natural state. +
Drop, dot, semen, essence. The bindu or drops are about the size of sesame seeds, and are more substantive than prana. Although substantial, they are clear like a crystal or diamond, and magnificently bright. There are two basic types of drops: the white drops and the red drops. The white drops are the pure essence of the male seminal fluid (sperm). The red drops are related to the pure essence of the female menstrual blood (ovum). There are both gross and subtle aspects to the drops. The gross or substantive form of the red and white drops flow through the nadis or channels. The subtle drops exist within the center of the heart chakra which is penetrated by the central channel.
:The seat of the white drop is in the crown chakra at the top of the head, and it is from here that the semen originates. The seat of the red drop is in the navel chakra, and it is from here that the blood originates. The red drop is also the source of bodily warmth, and is the foundation for developing the inner heat of tummo. The energy of the drops have both a temporary and an ultimate value. Their temporary value is to produce the state of great bliss for Highest Yoga Tantra practitioners. Within that experience of the blissful state, one uses the mind of great bliss to meditate on emptiness. This is the ultimate value, the realization of the yidam Chakrasamvara (or Hevajra, Kalachakra, Guhyasamaja), whose essential nature is skillful means inseparable from emptiness.
:In some contexts, bindu refers specifically to the sexual essences, i.e. the semen and blood. Conservation of these substances is considered vital to Highest Yoga Tantra. +
A gathering of tantric practitioners for a sacred ritual feast, called "tsog kyi khor lo" or "tsog" in Tibetan. +
Indestructible, diamond-like, adamantine, thunderbolt. A ritual scepter, called "dorje" in Tibetan, used in Vajrayana practice. It symbolizes skillful means and compassion, the masculine aspect of enlightened activity. The vajra is diamond-like in that it is priceless, indestructible, and clear, symbolizing the qualities of that which is unborn and undying. It is a symbol of the power of highest truth. +
A semi-wrathful female yidam. Red in color, with one face and two arms, she holds an upraised hooked knife in her right hand and a skull cup full of blood in her left hand. She wears a skull crown and bone ornaments. Her symbolic meaning is the same as Vajravarahi. In some traditions, particularly the Kagyu, she is usually the first yidam used, as an introduction to the practice of Highest Yoga Tantra. +
Ground, stage, level. The levels or stages of realization on the bodhisattva path. See ''bodhisattva stages''. +
The name of Gampopa in a previous life, when he was a bodhisattva at the time of Buddha Shakyamuni: Tsoje Dawo Shunu in Tibetan, Chandraprabhava-kumara in Sanskrit. The full moon symbolizes complete enlightenment or Buddhahood. The light of the new or waxing moon symbolizes the realization of a bodhisattva, one who is partially illuminated and is on the path to complete spiritual realization. +
The four immeasurables are: Loving kindness, the desire to see all beings happy; compassion, the desire to see all beings free from suffering; joy in the joy of others; equanimity, caring equally for all beings without partiality. +
The three bodies of a Buddha: the nirmanakaya, the sambhogakaya, and the dharmakaya. They correlate, respectively, to the body, speech, and mind aspects of Buddha. +
A lay Buddhist who has taken one or more of the five lay precepts. upward moving energy-wind One of the five pranas, controlling speech and respiration. +
Hearer. A practitioner of the Hinayana path, noted for living in communities with other Hinayana followers. +
Arura is a name often used for the medicinal herb myrobalan, which is pictured in the right hand of the Medicine Buddha. +
