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. +
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. +
A god realm where the beings are free from the desires of the Desire Realm, but still have attachment to subtler forms and sensations. There is neither taste nor smell in the Form Realm. The beings reborn here have cultivated various meditative absorptions; they are huge and live extremely long lives. +
Tibetan for" cotton-clad ones." It refers to followers of the tantric yogi path who practice the inner heat or tummo yoga. To demonstrate their mastery of the inner heat, their only garment is a lightweight cotton robe, even in the midst of the fierce Tibetan winter. +
Moon channel, lunar channel, object channel. This is the main left channel, white in color. It intersects the central channel at the tip of the sex organ. As it ascends, it separates slightly to the left of the central channel and rejoins it at the navel. From the navel to the crown it runs parallel and adjacent to the central channel. At the crown of the head it separates again to the left and terminates at the left nostril.
:The left channel is related to the nirmanakaya in its pure state, and to the conflicting emotion of desire in its afflicted state. In some tantras, the qualities and colors of the left and right channels are reversed for women, as men and women are considered to have opposite internal energy structures. +
Dombhi was one of the eighty-four mahasiddhas of the Indian Mahamudra lineage. A king of Magadha, Dombhi was initiated into the mandala of Hevajra by the mahasiddha Virupa. Although he was an enlightened ruler who brought peace to his nation, Dombhi was forced to abdicate for choosing a lower caste woman as his tantric consort. After his departure the country fell into misgovernment and longed for their old ruler back. Summoned to return from his jungle retreat, Dombhi emerged from the jungle astride a pregnant tigress, waving a poisonous snake as a whip, to demonstrate his attainments. +
Diamond Sow. One of the forms of Vajrayogini, the dakini consort of Chakrasamvara. Red in color, she has a small sow's head over her ear, representing the Buddha family of Vairochana, and the transformation of ignorance and passion into dharmadhatu wisdom and compassion. +
Cyclic existence, wheel of life and death. The state of ordinary beings experiencing suffering in the six realms of transmigratory existence due to primordial ignorance. +
Hidden treasures. Teachings, scriptures, sadhanas and sacred objects mystically cached by Padmasambhava and his Tibetan consort, Lady Yeshe Tsogyal. Termas have been discovered hidden in caves, rocks, rivers, and within walls of buildings.
:Not all termas were in material form. There are also mind termas, hidden in the dimension of meditative awareness and discovered by revelation. Termas form an important part of the Nyingmapa lineage teachings. +
The recorded discourses attributed to Shakyamuni Buddha. In Tibet these works comprised the Kangyur texts. Sutra can also refer to the "causal path," as compared to tantra, the "path of results." +
A hell realm where black lines are drawn on the victims' bodies and they are then cut along these lines. The Vajra Hells are the worst of the hot hell realms. +