Buddhist Literacy Project

Buddhist Literacy Project Description

The purpose of this project is to develop a roadmap useful for navigating the world of Tibetan Buddhism.

Audience

The English-speaking public is our audience for this project. In general, the audience is assumed to be those interested in learning more about specific Buddhist topics as well as those specifically interested in the larger path to enlightenment in Tibetan traditions.

Scope and Goals

Scope
Our main purpose will be to increase general literacy regarding Buddhist subjects in English-speaking populations. We will strive to provide a trustworthy source of information regarding Tibetan Buddhism.

1. Goal - To provide a roadmap that helps people navigate the many sources of information about Buddhism online and in books.
2. Goal - To curate information already available so that people can access with more ease.
3. Goal - To provide a clear overview of the entire path of Tibetan Buddhism from multiple lineages.

Outline

• Home Page (Introduction)
• About
• Outline / Sitemap
• Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism
  • Overview of the Path and Goal
  • What is Vajrayana Buddhism?
  • The Path
• Buddhism: Key Ideas
  • Buddha Nature
  • Cyclic Existence, Change, and Suffering
    • Interdependence
  • Appearance and Reality
    • Emptiness
    • Luminosity
  • Meditation
    • Shamatha and Vipashyana
  • The Bodhisattva Path
    • The Paramitas
• Buddhist History
  • Buddhism in India
    • The Buddha
    • The Buddha's Lives
    • The Development of Buddhism in India
      • Early Buddhism
      • Buddhist Universities
      • Mahayana Buddhism in India
      • Tantric Buddhism in India
  • Buddhism in Tibet
    • The Early History of Tibet
      • The Dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet
      • The Triad of King, Preceptor, and Vajrayana Master
        • History and Development of Buddhism in Tibet
        • Practice and Study
        • Lineages and Texts
        • The Tibetan Buddhist Canon
        • The Roles of Monastics, Yogis, and Lay Practitioners of Buddhism
        • Lay Practitioners in Tibetan Buddhism
        • Yogis and Masters of Tibetan Buddhism
        • Retreat and Meditation
        • Monasticism in Tibet
          • Training and Monastic Colleges
          • Debate in Tibetan Buddhism
    • Ritual and Ceremony in Tibetan Buddhism
      • The Practice of Tibetan Buddhism
        • Tantra
        • The Place of the Tantras in Buddhist Literature
        • Tantra and the Mahāyāna
        • Tantric Symbols
        • Entering Tantric Practice
        • The Four Classes of Tantra
        • The Preliminary Practices
        • The Fourteen Root Downfalls
      • Death and Dying in Tibetan Buddhism
        • Death Meditation: Exoteric and Esoteric Traditions
        • The Bardo Process
        • Tibetan Rituals of Death and Dying
    • The Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet
      • Nyingma
        • History and Doctrines: The Nine Vehicles
        • Terma: Hidden Treasures
      • Marpa Kagyu
        • History and Doctrines
        • Meditation Practices
      • Shangpa Kagyu
        • History and Doctrines
        • Meditation Practices
      • Sakya Path and Result
        • History and Doctrines
        • Meditation Practices
      • Zhije and Chod
        • History and Doctrines
        • Meditation Practices
      • Orgyen Nyendrup and Kalachakra
        • History and Doctrines
        • Meditation Practices
      • The Jonangpa
        • History and Doctrines
        • Meditation Practices
      • The Kadampa
        • History and Doctrines
        • Meditation Practices
        • The Gelukpa Monastic System
      • Bon Teachings and Practices
  • Lexicon of Buddhist Terms
  • Glossaries and Indexes
  • Bibliographies
  • Persons
  • Locations
  • Texts

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. Skt. प्रभास्वर Tib. འོད་གསལ་ Ch. 光明

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. Skt. बोधिसत्त्व Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch. 菩薩

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. Skt. वज्रयान Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ། Ch. 金剛乘

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. Skt. तन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད། Ch. 密宗

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. Skt. महायान Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ། Ch. 大乘

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. Tib. རྙིང་མ་

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. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

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. Tib. ས་སྐྱ་

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. Skt. कालचक्र Tib. དུས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ། Ch. 時輪

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. Tib. དགེ་ལུགས་