Terms

Noun

This is the meditation of directly observing the mind without engaging in any analytical or intellectual activity. (Thrangu Rinpoche, Transcending Ego, 102).

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Noun

abhidharma

Abhidharma generally refers to the corpus of Buddhist texts which deals with the typological, phenomenological, metaphysical, and epistemological presentation of Buddhist concepts and teachings. The abhidharma teachings present a meta-knowledge of Buddhist sūtras through analytical and systemic schemas and are said to focus on developing wisdom among the three principles of training. The Abhidharma is presented alongside Sūtra and Vinaya as one of the three baskets of the teachings of the Buddha.

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Noun

actualized enlightenment

Actualized enlightenment is enlightenment that is attained through practice. It is contrasted with original enlightenment, which is the mind's innate purity in its natural state. Ultimately, there is no difference between them. Because of the presence of ignorance, sentient beings are blind to their true nature. By removing that ignorance, one actualizes enlightenment.

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Adjective

advaya

Literally, "without duality," it refers to that which is indivisible, in that it is not divided into two.

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Noun

amalavijñāna

The ninth consciousness, the immaculate pure mind.

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School

Anuyoga

The second set of the three inner tantras and the eighth of the nine vehicles according to the Nyingma tradition. Anuyoga includes many yogini tantras and focuses on the Completion Stage practices of sacred channels, energies and essential fluids and espouses the actualisation of empty bliss.

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Noun

anātman

The nonexistence of the self as a permanent, unchanging entity.

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Noun

arhat

A person who has reached nirvāṇa by eliminating the three poisons of attachment, hatred and ignorance having followed the path of seeking individual liberation as a Śrāvaka or a Pratyekabuddha. An arhat, thus, is a person who has overcome the cause of rebirth in the cycle of existence and will not take an ordinary birth again.

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School

Atiyoga

A system of esoteric thought and practice associated with the Nyingma tradition and equivalent to Great Perfection, it is considered as the pinnacle of the nine vehicles or paths one can follow to reach Buddhahood. The system focusses on the pure, luminous and empty nature of the mind as the ground reality which must be realised through the path of trekchö and thögal practice.

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Noun

avidyā

Literally "unknowing," it refers to a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of the nature of reality. As such, it is considered to be the root cause of suffering and the basis for the arising of all other negative mental factors.

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Noun

bhūmi

A plateau of spiritual development.

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Noun

bodhi

Enlightenment or awakening. In Tibetan it is translated as "purified" (byang) and "perfected" (chub), which corresponds to Siddhartha Gautama's achievement of purifying all obscurations and perfecting or attaining all qualities associated with a buddha.

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Noun

bodhicitta

The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution.

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Noun

bodhigarbha

An alternative term for tathāgatagarbha found in early Nyingma sources. Though it is back-translated as bodhigarbha, this term does not seem to be found in Sanskrit sources. However, in other contexts, the Tibetan byang chub snying po is often used to translate the Sanskrit term bodhimaṇḍa, which is often translated as the "seat of enlightenment."

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Noun

Bodhisattva

A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses.

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Noun

Brahman

Brahman is the universal principle, supreme truth or ultimate reality in the Hindu religion considered to be absolute, eternal and blissful. A metaphysical concept, it is described as the single binding unity behind the diversity of all that exists. In Buddhism, while this metaphysical principle is not presented, one finds frequent mention of the deity named Brahmā, who is the personification of this principle.

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Noun

buddhadhātu

A synonym for tathāgatagarbha widely used throughout the East Asian Buddhist traditions, as found in its translations as the Chinese term fó xìng and Japanese term busshō.

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Text

byams chos sde lnga

This refers to a series of five texts that, according to the Tibetan tradition, Asaṅga received directly from Maitreya in the pure realm of Tuṣita.

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Noun

bīja

A seed, commonly used figuratively in the sense of something which has the potential to develop or grow, and likewise as the basic cause for this development or growth.

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Noun

Cittamātra

Though it is sometimes used synonymously with Yogācāra, it is in fact one of the more prominent philosophical theories associated with this school. It asserts that the objects in the external world with which we interact are actually mentally created representations appearing as those objects. The character of these perceptions is predetermined by our own karmic conditioning that is stored in the ālayavijñāna.

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Noun

dharmadhātu

The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge.

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Noun

dharmakāya

"Truth body" or "true being" — One of the three bodies of a buddha. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, it often refers to a kind of fundamental principle or the true nature of reality itself.

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Noun

dharmatā

The true nature of phenomenal existence.

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Noun

dhātu

A fundamental component or essential constituent.

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Noun

dpyad sgom

Analytical meditation is a technique involving critical analysis that focuses the mind on a specific contemplation, such as impermanence.

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Noun

Dzogchen

Dzogchen is an advanced system of meditation techniques to reveal the innate state of perfection primarily, but not exclusively, espoused by the Nyingma Buddhist tradition and the Tibetan Bön tradition.

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Noun

ekayāna

The notion that ultimately there is only one vehicle, or means, of achieving enlightenment.

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School

Geluk

The Geluk tradition traces its origin to Tsongkhapa, who propagated a modified version of the Kadampa lojong and lamrim teachings. It is the dominant tradition of Tibet, having established its control of the government under the figure of the Dalai Lama.

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Noun

gotra

Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain.

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Noun

Great Madhyamaka

The term Great Madhyamaka is utilized in different contexts depending on the tradition. In the Jonang tradition, it generally refers to the Zhentong Madhyamaka philosophy as it was developed and systematized by Dölpopa. In this context, the Great Madhyamaka refers to the presentation of ultimate truth, while Madhyamaka describes the emptiness of the relative level of truth. In the Nyingma tradition, Great Madhyamaka refers to the subtle, inner Madhyamaka that unifies the philosophical positions of Nāgārjuna and Asaṅga. This is presented in opposition to the coarse, outer Madhyamaka that is the dialectic approach of Prāsaṅgika and Svātantrika. In the Kagyu tradition, the term is used in a similar vein in that Madhyamaka is used to refer to philosophical inquiry, while Great Madhyamaka is used to refer to the view arrived at through yogic accomplishment. However, in all of these traditions, Great Madhyamaka is heavily associated with buddha-nature (tathāgatagarbha) and the definitive status of these teachings.

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Noun

guṇa

The qualities or attributes of an enlightened being.

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Noun

guṇapāramitā

In the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra it is explained that the dharmakāya of a buddha possesses the four perfect qualities of purity, bliss, permanence, and self.

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Adjective

gzhan stong

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

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Noun

gzhi

The foundational basis of both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. It is often used as a synonym for tathāgatagarbha and dharmadhātu.

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Noun

Hīnayāna

The mainstream teachings and the early schools of Buddhism which primarily taught individual liberation through practice-focused renunciation and monasticism, considered lesser than the later movement of the Greater Vehicle (Mahāyāna), which professed enlightenment for all sentient beings and promoted compassion.

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Noun

icchantika

Literally, "those with great desire," icchantikas could be rendered as hedonists or addicts. However, the term is generally used to refer to those who, due to their insatiable desire, are incapable of enlightenment.

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School

Jonang

The Jonang tradition was established by Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, a thirteenth-century Sakya monk famous for his Zhentong teachings. The Jonang teachings and monasteries were suppressed in Tibet in the seventeenth century but survived in Amdo.

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Noun

ka dag

Primordial purity is a term found in the Dzogchen tradition and refers to the empty nature of phenomena which is experienced through the practice of cutting-through meditation (khregs chod). It is often juxtaposed with spontaneous presence (lhun grub).

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School

Kadam

The Kadam tradition, which traces its origin to the teachings of Atiśa, was the first of the so-called New Schools of Tibetan Buddhism, traditions which arose during or after the Second Propagation of Buddhism (phyi dar) in the tenth century.

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School

Kagyu

The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa.

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Noun

kleśa

Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind.

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Noun

kun gzhi

Although it is commonly used as an abbreviation of ālayavijñāna (kun gzhi'i rnam shes), in later Tibetan traditions, particularly that of the Kagyu and the Nyingma, it came to denote an ultimate or pure basis of mind, as opposed to the ordinary, deluded consciousness represented by the ālayavijñāna. Alternatively, in the Jonang tradition, this pure version is referred to as ālaya-wisdom (kun gzhi'i ye shes).

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Noun

Kālacakra

Can refer to either the Kālacakra Tantra and its derivative texts or to the systematic tantric tradition based on these texts, as well as the deity Kālacakra upon which the associated practices are centered.

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Noun

lam rim

Lam rim refers to the stages on the path and, by extension, more commonly to the genre of teachings which contain practical instructions for training on the stages of the path to enlightenment. Related to the blo sbyong practice, it is particularly known among the Kadampa and Geluk schools. Tsongkhapa's Byang chub lam rim chen mo is the most well known in this genre and the term lam rim is often used specifically to refer to this text.

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School

Madhyamaka

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

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Noun

Mahāmudrā

Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā.

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School

Mahāyoga

This is first one of the inner tantric schools according to the Nyingma tradition. Mahāyoga includes two sub-sections of the tantras which includes eighteen tantras and the sādhanās that includes the eight sādhanā practices. Mahāyoga focuses on the Development Stage and espouses the view of equality and purity in which equality refers to equal nature of phenomena in being empty and purity refers to all appearances being inherently enlightened energies. The Mahāyoga path leads to four stages of vidyadharas.

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Noun

Mahāyāna

Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion.

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Text

Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā

This is the title of Asaṅga's commentary to the Gyü Lama that is given by Tibetan sources instead of the Ratnagotravibhāgavyākhyā.

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Noun

neyārtha

Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

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Noun

ngo bo

Essence or the most basic, fundamental nature or natural state of being. It is often used as a synonym for rang bzhin.

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Noun

Ngok Tradition

Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's "analytic tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.

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Noun

nirmāṇakāya

An fully enlightened Buddha is said to have the power to manifest in many forms in order to help the sentient beings. The emanation body of a buddha, as the third of the three bodies of a buddha, refers to the many forms in which a buddha can manifest and which are accessible to ordinary sentient beings. Buddhist scholars present four types of emanation bodies: emanation as supreme being, emanation as rebirth, emanation as artisan and emanation in diverse forms.

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Adjective

niḥsvabhāva

Lacking inherent existence.

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Noun

niḥsvabhāvatā

The state of lacking a truly independent existence.

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Adjective

niṣprapañca

Freedom from conceptual elaborations.

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School

Nyingma

The Nyingma, which is often described as the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, traces its origin to Padmasambhava, who is said to have visited Tibet in the eighth century.

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Noun

nītārtha

Refers to a teaching that is literally true.

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Noun

original enlightenment

According to East Asian Buddhism, the intrinsic enlightenment of all sentient beings. This is obscured by the many stains present in the ālayavijñāna. When these are purified, the natural state of enlightenment is recovered, a status known as "actualized enlightenment."

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Noun

paramārthasatya

"Ultimate truth" or "absolute truth"; the reality of things as they truly are.

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Noun

paratantrasvabhāva

The second of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the dependent nature that is used to describe the relationship between mind and its objects, though there is a clear emphasis on the latter. Hence, this nature is concerned with the nature of seemingly external objects that arise in dependence upon causes and conditions.

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Noun

parikalpitasvabhāva

The first of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the imaginary nature which is falsely projected onto an object out of confusion.

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Noun

pariniṣpannasvabhāva

The third of the three natures, according to the Yogācāra school. It is the perfect nature that represents the most authentic understanding of phenomena, which is classically defined as the complete absence of the imaginary nature within the dependent nature.

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Noun

paryudāsapratiṣedha

A negation that denies one thing in such a way that it clearly implies another.

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Noun

prabhāsvaracitta

The luminous aspect of mind that is often contrasted with its empty aspect. It is often used figuratively to reference the cognizant, or knowing, aspect of mind and sometimes more literally as the natural luminosity of mind and luminous wisdom that is experienced in meditation.

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Noun

prabhāsvaratā

In a general sense, that which clears away darkness, though it often appears in Buddhist literature in reference to the mind or its nature. It is a particularly salient feature of Tantric literature, especially in regard to the advanced meditation techniques of the completion-stage yogas.

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Noun

prajñā

One of the key terms for wisdom or knowledge, most often having the sense of insight, transcendent knowledge, or perhaps gnosis. In some contexts it can also refer to cognition or intellectual understanding.

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Noun

Prajñāpāramitā

A class of Mahāyāna sūtras which represents some of the earliest known literature of this genre of Buddhism. There are around forty texts associated with this category, though the most widespread is the exceedingly brief Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra, popularly known as the Heart Sūtra. This class of literature is typically associated with the second turning of the dharma wheel and especially with the teachings on emptiness (śūnyatā). As such, these texts were the primary scriptural source for the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school.

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Noun

prakṛtisthagotra

The potential for awakening that is inherently present in all beings.

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Noun

pramāṇa

In the Buddhist literature on pramāṇa, it refers to cognition that correctly apprehends its object without any deception or mistake. Such correct cognition include direct perception and inferential cognition.

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Noun

prasajyapratiṣedha

A negation that merely denies the existence of something without implicitly suggesting an alternative.

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Noun

pratipakṣa

An antidote or remedy that contributes or supports the elimination or pacification of a particular ailment or affliction.

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Noun

Pratyekabuddha

Pratyekabuddhas are saints who, in their last birth in the cycle of existence, are said to become enlightened through solitary practice on the nature of dependent ordination. These saints are said to appear when there is no buddha around and work either alone or in small groups.

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Noun

pratītyasamutpāda

The notion that all phenomena arise in dependence on causes and conditions.

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Noun

pāramitā

The six or ten types of practices which lead an individual to Buddhahood. The practice of perfections is particularly important in Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the entire path of the Bodhisattva to reach full enlightenment is included in the six or ten perfections. The six perfections are that of giving, of discipline, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The perfection of skill-in-means, aspirations, power, and pristine wisdom are added to them to make ten perfections.

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Adjective

rang stong

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

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Noun

rgyu'i rgyud

The mind's natural mode that abides as suchness, which remains unchanged from the state of an ordinary being up until enlightenment.

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School

Sakya

The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre.

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Noun

samudānītagotra

A potential or disposition that is acquired, accentuated, or developed through past karmic actions.

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Place

Sangpu Neutok

Sangpu Neutok is an important monastery in central Tibet, just south of Lhasa, that was founded in 1072 by Ngok Lekpai Sherab, a disciple of Atiśa, and developed by his nephew, Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab. Originally a Kadam monastery with two colleges, it evolved into a monastery that includes both Sakya and Geluk traditions. At its peak in the 11th to 14th centuries, it was one of the most highly esteemed centers for monastic education and the study of Buddhist philosophy in all of the Tibetan plateau. Many influential philosophers of the time studied there.

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School

Sarma

The new Buddhist schools which began to rise in the second millennium in Tibet after Buddhism declined in the ninth century as a result of the fall of the Yarlung dynasty. The Sarma schools were mostly based on Buddhist teachings freshly received from India and Nepal in contrast to the revival of the old teachings which already existed in Tibet.

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Noun

sarvākāravaropetāśūnyatā

As opposed to a mere voidness, this phrase refers to an emptiness that is endowed with enlightened qualities and attributes.

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Noun

saṃbhogakāya

The physical form of a buddha which resides in a pure buddha realm, possesses the marks and tokens of an enlightened being, teaches Mahāyāna teachings to a retinue of Bodhisattvas for eternity. This embodied form of a buddha is the source from which all the forms of emanation originate.

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Noun

saṃvṛtisatya

"Relative truth" or "conventional truth"; the erroneously perceived reality common to the unenlightened.

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Noun

sems nyid

Commonly found in Dzogchen and Mahāmudrā literature, this term denotes the true, natural state of mind as it is. Often used in these traditions as a synonym for buddha-nature.

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Noun

sugatagarbha

Literally, the "essence" or "heart of the Bliss Gone One(s)," a synonym for tathāgatagarbha that is likewise often rendered into English by the term buddha-nature. Though it is often back translated into Sanskrit as sugatagarbha, this term is not found in Sanskrit sources.

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Noun

svabhāva

The nature or essence of a thing, which originates only from itself and is not dependent on any external entities, causes, or conditions.

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Noun

svasaṃvedana

An important term for the Yogācāra that refers to a consciousness of consciousness itself, or how one knows that they know something. It was a hotly debated topic that was disputed by followers of the Madhyamaka. In Tibet it would later become a common Dzogchen term, though with the entirely different meaning of one's own innate awareness (rig pa), a crucial concept in the Dzogchen teachings.

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Noun

sādhana

Sādhana refers to a method of practice through which one can actualise a specific spiritual result, and by extension to the texts and manuals which present such methods. A sādhana in the Vajrayāna Buddhist context generally involves the worship and visualisation of a tantric deity, chanting of mantras, and associated practices. The practice often begins with verses of taking refuge and cultivating altruistic thought, then carrying out meditation on emptiness and the mandala of deity, seven-part worship, chanting of mantras, and finally the dissolution of the deity which was visualised.

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Noun

sūtra

Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon.

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Noun

tantra

Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism.

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Noun

tathatā

Suchness itself, absolute reality, or thusness, as in the ultimate state of being of phenomena.

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Noun

tathāgatagarbha

Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)."

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Noun

tattva

The reality or the objective state of things as they are. In the Buddhist context, it refers to the ultimate nature of things although what exactly suchness means would depend on the philosophical position of the specific schools. The Middle Way school, for instance, consider emptiness as the suchness of all things.

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Noun

tha mal gyi shes pa

A Mahāmudrā term for the basic state of consciousness that has not been fabricated or altered in any way.

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Noun

thugs dam

Persons who have experience in meditation on the nature of the mind or emptiness are said to be able to remain in a meditative equipoise after death. Although they have stopped breathing and are clinically dead, they are said to be able to retain their body without decay, often with lustre and flexibility. They are believed to have actualised their buddha-nature at the time of death and attained the state of enlightenment.

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Noun

tridharmacakrapravartana

Three successive stages of the Buddhist teachings. Though they are traditionally attributed to the historical Buddha, modern scholarship tends to view them as developmental stages that occurred over the course of an extended period of time, with interludes of several centuries, in which we see major doctrinal shifts often based on seemingly newly emergent scriptural sources.

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Noun

trikāya

The three enlightened forms of a buddha one attains when one becomes fully enlightened. They include the truth body (dharmakāya), enjoyment body (saṃbhogakāya), and the emanation body (nirmāṇakāya). The three bodies comprise the many qualities and powers associated with buddhahood and thus are the result sought through Mahāyāna Buddhist practice.

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Noun

trisvabhāva

According to the Yogācāra school, all phenomena can be divided into three natures or characteristics: the imaginary nature (parikalpitasvabhāva), the dependent nature (paratantrasvabhāva), and the perfect or absolute nature (pariniṣpannasvabhāva).

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Noun

triviṣa

The three poisons are a reference to the afflictive emotions of rāga (Tib. 'dod chags), dveṣa (Tib. zhe sdang), and moha (Tib. gti mug). These three detrimental states or afflictive behavioral patterns are difficult to definitively translate, and thus there are several common English variations of this group of three, such as desire, aggression, and bewilderment, or attachment, aversion, and delusion. It is useful to think of these three as a process that involves our insatiable urge to possess that which we desire and the ensuing aggravation that arises when we don't get what we want or have what we don't want forced upon us. Yet we are oblivious to the futility of these conditioned responses due to our lack of discernment, and thus we mindlessly continue to get caught up in this causal nexus.

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Noun

triyāna

Commonly seen in a Mahāyāna context, the three vehicles are the Śrāvakayāna, Pratyekabuddhayāna, and Bodhisattvayāna, which reference the three different types of Buddhist practitioners. However, these three vehicles can also reference the three types of Buddhist teachings of the Hīnayāna, Mahāyāna (or Pāramitāyāna), and the Vajrayāna.

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Noun

Tsen Tradition

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.

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Text

Uttaratantra

The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra.

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Noun

vajrapada

Literally, vajra-footing, or base. In the context of the Ratnagotravibhāga, this is the name given to the seven subjects that are addressed in the treatise. These seven are the buddha, dharma, saṅgha, the element (dhātu), enlightenment (bodhi), enlightened qualities (guṇa), and enlightened activities (karman).

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Noun

Vajrayāna

The esoteric Buddhist tradition which developed as a syncretic system involving deity worship, use of mantras, physical energy, and mystical practices. It is also known as the mantra tradition and the tantric school as a result of being based on texts known as tantras.

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Noun

vinaya

Vinaya refers to the corpus of Buddhist teachings on moral discipline and precepts and is one of the three canonical sets of teachings alongside Sūtra and Abhidharma. It also refers to the monastic tradition which has been passed down since the Buddha's time until our time.

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Noun

viparyāsa

The misperception or incorrect view a person has of reality, which must be overcome by having correct understanding and right view. The four well known incorrect views are seeing impermanent phenomena as permanent, dissatisfactory nature of things as blissful, impure things as pure, and illusory things as absolute and real. However, in the context of buddha-nature theory or other systems, there are also other forms of misconceptions which contradict with objective reality.

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Noun

visaṃyogaphala

One of the five types of effects, or fruitions. It refers to an effect that arises from removing that which obscures or hinders it.

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School

Yogācāra

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

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Noun

āgantukamala

Mental stains that are not inherent to the nature of the mind but are temporarily present as the residue of past actions or habitual tendencies. It is sometimes iterated as adventitious defilements (Skt. āgantukakleśa, Tib. glo bur gyi nyon mongs), which references the fickle and temporary nature of disturbing emotions that lack an ultimately established basis for existence.

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Noun

ālayavijñāna

A neutral base consciousness that is posited as the storehouse for the seeds of past karmic actions in which they remain in a latent state until the circumstances arise for them to ripen as karmic consequences.

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Noun

ātmaka

Literally, the state of possessing a self. It is usually used to denote something which is endowed with a certain innate, or natural, attribute.

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Noun

ātman

Though it can simply be used as the expression "I" or "me", in Indian thought the notion of self refers to a permanent, unchanging entity, such as that which passes from life to life in the case of people, or the innate essence (svabhāva) of phenomena.

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Noun

āvaraṇa

Literally, that which obscures or conceals. Often listed as a set of two obscurations (sgrib gnyis): the afflictive emotional obscurations (Skt. kleśāvaraṇa, Tib. nyon mongs pa'i sgrib pa) and the cognitive obscurations (Skt. jñeyāvaraṇa, Tib. shes bya'i sgrib pa). By removing the first, one becomes free of suffering, and by removing the second, one becomes omniscient.

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Noun

śrāvaka

The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases.

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Noun

śūnyatā

The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics.

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