Property:Gloss-def
From Buddha-Nature
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T
This term refers both to tantric ritual texts and to the practices presented in those texts. +
A term virtually synonymous with Buddhahood. It means the "Great Seal" or "Sublime Stance," the spontaneous embodiment of the all-knowing wisdom and limitless compassion of a Buddha. Mahamudra is also the name of the specific systems of spiritual practice inherited by the Tibetans from the Indian mahasiddhas. +
Offering ritual or ceremony of worship. +
Insight. After calming and clearing the mind through shamatha meditation, the yogin will begin to have insight into the nature of mind, phenomena, and emptiness. There are progressive levels of insight meditation leading ultimately to the perfection of wisdom. While there is a systematic series of analytical meditations, as well as questions similar to Zen koans, the goal is not simply to gain an intellectual understanding of mind, but rather for the yogi to clearly realize the true nature of mind experientially. +
The personal meditation deity of a Vajrayana practitioner. Although some yidams are prescribed and taught to everyone within a particular lineage at a preliminary level, the guru will later select a specific yidam for each practitioner in accordance with one's characteristic expression of Buddha nature.
:As a preliminary to yidam practice, the yogi must be accomplished in guru yoga and have great faith and devotion in the guru. This enables the practitioner to identify with the lineage and to establish a deep inner connection with the yidam. In this way one can transform the energy of one's neurosis into its enlightened expression, as represented in the yidam. Identification with the yidam also cuts through deeply entrenched attachment to one's physical form. +
The most important daily tantric practice, wherein one visualizes one's spiritual teacher in the center of the mandala, supplicates him, receives empowerments, blessings, and siddhis from him, and ultimately merges one's own mind inseparably with his. One must see the guru as none other than a fully realized Buddha to experience the full power and blessings of guru yoga.
:The different lineages have different visualizations of the guru. In the Kagyu lineage, one visualizes the guru either in the form of Vajradhara or in the form of the founders of the particular branch of the Kagyu lineage. In the Karma Kagyu, the guru is usually visualized in the form of the Karmapa. There are also special guru yogas of the founding Kagyu fathers: Marpa, Milarepa, and Gampopa. In the Nyingma lineages, generally one visualizes one's guru in the form of Padmasambhava. +
The first of the two main stages of tantric practice, wherein one's relative perceptions of reality are purified through mudra, mantra, and visualization of the deity. This serves to eliminate one's negative habitual tendencies of mind, and prepares one for the completion stage. See also ''completion stage''. +
The most important father tantra of Highest Yoga Tantra. Guhyasamaja belongs to the vajra family of the five buddha families, and represents the power of anger transformed into mirror-like wisdom. Blue in color, he is usually depicted with six arms and four faces. Guhyasamaja was one of Marpa's special practices. +
A semi-wrathful (ecstatic or blissful) male Heruka. One of the major yidams of both the Kagyupa and Sakyapa lineages. Hevajra was the main yidam of Marpa the Translator. Hevajra is blue in color, and appears in four, six, and twelve armed forms, in blissful union with his female consort, Nairatmya. The Hevajra Tantra is one of the main cycles of Buddhist tantra. +
This short AH is visualized in the navel area for the purpose of igniting the inner fire or tummo. This is one of the completion stage yogas of Highest Yoga Tantra. For further reading see Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, ''Clear Light of Bliss'', pp. 33-66. For a concise description of the practice see Kathleen MacDonald, How To Meditate, pp. 134-138. +
A female yoga practitioner. +
A two-headed hand-held drum used in Vajrayana ritual. +
Arya means "superior being," one who has had a direct experience of ultimate truth. The seven riches of a bodhisattva, one on the path to ultimate awakening, are: faith, discipline, generosity, learning, moral behavior, modesty, and knowledge. +
or Gradual Stages of the Path to Enlightenment is a system of teaching and meditation initially introduced into Tibetan Buddhism by Atisha. This approach integrates all the teachings of the three yanas (Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana) into one progressive system of training and realization on the path to Buddhahood. +
Wind, vital airs, energy. Prana is the life-force energy that flows through the channels (nadis) of the illusory body. Prana is the foundation of all movement and thus of all vital bodily functions. Prana is the bridge between the body and the mind. It is likened to a horse, with the mind as the rider and the nadis as the road. It corresponds to speech, breath, mantra, and to realization of the sambhogakaya. There are both pure and impure pranas (see ''karmaprana'' and ''jnanaprana''). See also ''nadi'' and ''bindu''. +
A tantra focused on Avalokiteshvara; belongs to Kriya Yoga and is also known as Amogha Pasha. +
(1) A discourse by or inspired by the Buddha. (2) A scripture of the sutra pitaka contained within the Tripitaka. (3) All exoteric teachings of Buddhism belonging to Hinayana and Mahayana—the causal teachings that regard the path as the cause of enlightenment, as opposed to the esoteric, tantric teachings. See also Tripitaka. +
"Lotus." (1) Same as Padmasambhava. (2) The lotus family, from among the five buddha families. +
The dharmadhatu wisdom, mirrorlike wisdom, wisdom of equality, discriminating wisdom, and all-accomplishing wisdom. They represent five distinctive functions of the tathagatagarbha, our enlightened essence. +
A gem that grants the fulfillment of all one could desire; thus the Buddha, one's personal master, and the nature of mind are often referred to as a wish-fulfilling gem. +
