Property:Gloss-def
From Buddha-Nature
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Sacred vow or commitment. At each level of entry into the Buddhist path there are specific commitments which one vows to uphold. There is refuge ordination, the five lay precepts, the bodhisattva vow, monastic ordination, and tantra, and each stage has specific samayas. Also, when one receives tantric initiation from a vajra master into the mandala of a particular deity, one often receives a specific samaya associated with that practice. In general, the samaya of the Hinayana is to cause no harm to any sentient being; for the Mahayana the sa maya is to help all sentient beings; for the Vajrayana the samaya is to retain sacred outlook. The most important samaya in tantra is to retain a pure relationship with one's guru. +
is a place at the border of Tibet and Bhutan. +
Calm abiding. The meditation practice of calming the mind so that it can focus unwaveringly on the object of meditation. There are nine levels of shamatha, which prepare one for the practice of vipashyana or insight meditation. +
A male yoga practitioner. In Tibet, the term yogi is often used to contrast a lay practitioner from an ordained monk. Also, since yogi can sometimes mean someone who is practicing the higher yogas, which ultimately involve taking on a sexual consort, the term yogi was often used to designate married lamas and practitioners, in contrast to celibate monks. In its general sense, however, a yogi is anyone who practices yoga, so a monk can also be called a yogi. +
Incarnate lamas who have voluntarily taken human birth in fulfillment of their bodhisattva vows to help beings. The power to determine one's rebirth is gained upon attainment of the eighth stage of a bodhisattva. +
The meditation position where the legs are loosely crossed, with the left leg drawn up close (symbolizing control of sexual energy), and the right leg slightly out in front (symbolizing the readiness to act for the benefit of sentient beings). bodhisattva stages There are ten bodhisattva stages or bhumis: (1) The Joyous; (2) The Stainless; (3) The Radiant; (4) The Brilliant; (5) The Hard to Conquer; (6) The Realized; (7) The Reaching Far; (8) The Unshakable; (9) The Good Intelligence; (10) The Cloud of Dharma. At each stage, more defilements and obscurations are purified, and more enlightened qualities are manifested. The first six stages correspond to the realization of the six paramitas, and the last four to refinement of the perfection of wisdom (prajna paramita). The ten stages are progressive, but do not always occur in a linear fashion. Beyond the tenth stage is complete awakening, buddhahood. +
cup or bowl made of a human skull. Used in Vajrayana ritual, the kapala has numerous levels of symbolism. On one level it is a reminder of inevitable death, and goads one to use one's time to practice the Dharma fervently. On a higher level it leads one to transcend one's dualistic concepts of pure or impure, clean or unclean, good and evil. +
The term "lama" can apply to both monastic and lay teachers. It has the meaning of "teacher-mother," implying that the teacher who gives spiritual teachings that can guide one to Buddhahood is showing kindness as great as one's mother. In the Kagyu tradition it is a title usually reserved for those who have completed the traditional three-year, three-month, and three-day retreat. +
Sangha means the "excellent community." In the early days of Buddhism, the term was only applied to the ordained community of monks and nuns. It was later expanded to include lay disciples who had taken refuge in the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. In the Mahayana teachings, it can also be applied to include the mahasangha or "great community" of all sentient beings, in much the same sense that Native Americans refer to the myriad forms of creation as "all my relations." +
The four initiations are the four major empowerments given within a tantric initiation: (1) the vase empowerment, blessing one's body to become Buddha's body, and planting the seed to realize the nirmanakaya; (2) the secret empowerment, blessing one's speech to become Buddha's speech, and planting the seed to attain the sambhogakaya; (3) the wisdom empowerment, blessing one's mind to become Buddha's mind, and planting the seed to realize the dharmakaya; (4) the precious word empowerment, blessing one's body, speech, and mind to become inseparable from the state of Vajradhara, and planting the seed to realize the svabhavikakaya, the ultimate realization of suchness. +
These "twelve nidanas" describe the nature of samsara as well as its cause. The twelve nidanas are: (1) fundamental ignorance, (2) karmic formations or impulsive accumulations, (3) [dualistic] consciousness, (4) name and form, (5) sense consciousness, (6) contact with the phenomenal world, (7) sensation or feeling, (8) craving [for experience], (9) grasping, (10) becoming, (11) birth, (12) aging and death. +
Hindu mythology speaks of nine planets. Rahu is depicted as a demon whose head was severed from his body by Vishnu. These two parts of his body became the eighth and ninth planets, Rahu and Ketu. Rahu is the celestial body said to be responsible for eclipses by swallowing the sun and the moon. +
The buddha associated with healing, on both the spiritual and physical levels. He is blue in color, and holds a begging bowl full of medicine in his left hand, and a myrobalan (amra) flower in his right hand. +
One of Gampopa's foremost disciples, from Kham. Sal means "clear" and Tong is short for Tong Pa Nyid, meaning "emptiness," indicating that he was born with the realization of emptiness and clear luminosity. Shogum means "harelip," because he was born with a cleft palate. Saltong Shogum became the guru who founded the Traleg Kyabgon line of tulkus, the supreme abbots of Thrangu Monastery in Kham. +
Mount Gampo Dar is the location where Gampopa established his monastery, and it is the source 6f his name, Gampopa, "the man from Gampo." Gampo means calm, sober, deep. Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche says, "Of all the places in Tibet, Gampo Dar has the most breathtaking scenery." +
A level of meditation where one is so absorbed in meditative concentration that one needs no food. +
The intermediate state. Although bardo commonly refers to the state between death and rebirth, there are actually six bardos: (1) the bardo of dying; (2) the bardo of dharmata (the luminosity immediately following death); (3) the bardo of becoming (where one is drawn toward rebirth); (4) the bardo of birth and death (life in one of the six realms); (5) the bardo of dreaming (the state between falling asleep and waking); (6) the bardo of meditation (samadhi). +
Diamond Vehicle, also called Mantrayana or Tantrayana. A branch of Mahayana Buddhism that first began to emerge in India, particularly in the northwestern state of Oddiyana, between the first and sixth centuries c.E. Vajrayana embraced the Mahayana ideals, but was traditionally practiced in secret. It is often referred to as the "path of transformation," as the tantric meditator trains to transform his view of ordinary reality into the extraordinary and sacred insight and perception of a Buddha.
:Another hallmark of Vajrayana practice is its extensive use of visualization and ritual meditation, and the techniques of mantra, mudra, and samadhi within the context of deity yoga. Even though one is not yet enlightened, one emulates the body, speech, and mind of an enlightened deity. Thus Vajrayana is also called the "path of fruition or result," because it uses yogas that bring future results into the current practice. +
The story of Sadaprarudita searching for his guru is related in the last chapters of the ''Prajnaparamita Sutras''. +
Yogic breathing exercises designed to direct body, prana, and mind. +
