Glossary of terms

A treatise composed by the venerable Master Vasubandhu around the 4th or 5th century, which synthesizes the doctrines of the Sarvastivadin school into eight chapters, totaling approximately 600 verses. The Abhidharmakosha-sastra holds immense value in elucidating Early Buddhism and serves as a foundational cornerstone for Mahayana Buddhism. This treatise has been extensively studied across India, China, Tibet, and Japan.

The miraculous liquid of the heavens, which appeared when “the ocean was churned”. The Sanskrit term (Skt. amrita) carries the sense of “deathless liquid”, or “wine of the gods”. The Tibetan term (Tib. bdud rtsi) implies a nectar (rtsi) that overcomes the demon of death (bdud). According to the Vedas this is the drink of the gods, conferring long life and freedom from ageing, and sweet as honey — hence “sweet dew”. In Tibetan art amrita is commonly rendered as a swirling blue liquid.

One of the four fruitions of the shravaka path, denoting one who has attained nirvana, has extinguished every deluding emotion and is no longer carried through the six realms of samsara. The term is often used more narrowly for the highest attainment in Theravada Buddhism, whose ultimate aim is liberation for oneself.

“A hero (sattva) of awakening (bodhi)”: a practitioner far advanced on the spiritual path, who vows to lead all sentient beings to enlightenment through the selfless compassion of bodhichitta. In the context of Vajrayana deities, a bodhisattva is a spiritual son of the Five Wisdom Buddhas.

According to Deity, Mantra and Wisdom in Vajrayana Practice, this is the rite by which a master who has realised and accomplished a given practice transmits it directly to disciples. The rite takes in description, explanation and visualisation, an account of the stages of practice, and the corresponding offerings and mantra. Empowerment nonetheless means more than the sum of its parts — it is the transmission of the blessing and the power of an entire lineage.

An empowerment may be short or long, simple or elaborate, but it usually falls into three parts: (1) wang (Skt. abhisheka) — consecrating the disciple as the meditational deity; (2) lung (the oral transmission) — the recitation of a text, either in condensed form or read rapidly in full; (3) tri — the instruction on how the practice is to be carried out.

The teaching of the “four truths”, first revealed by Shakyamuni Buddha in the Deer Park near Sarnath (present-day Varanasi, India): (1) the truth of suffering (Skt. dukkha-satya) — all phenomena arising and ceasing within samsara contain, in the final analysis, suffering; (2) the truth of the origin of suffering (Skt. samudaya-satya) — craving gives rise to affliction and to karma, and has the power to accumulate the fruit of suffering; (3) the truth of the cessation of suffering (Skt. nirodha-satya) — if the cause of suffering, craving, is cut off, suffering ceases and nirvana is attained; (4) the truth of the path (Skt. marga-satya) — discerning the truth of the path that ends suffering, by practising which one may reach the peace of nirvana. The Four Noble Truths are fundamental to every Buddhist tradition, and hold a position of the first importance in Theravada Buddhism.

“Hinduism” is used by Western scholars as a synthesis, or reconciliation, of Indian traditions and cultures, usually implying Neo-Brahmanism — a social, or socially oriented, religion formed by absorbing Buddhist and Jain teaching together with a complex body of folk belief. At the beginning of the twenty-first century Hinduism had close to a billion adherents worldwide, and was the religion of some 80% of the population of India.

A mantra is sacred speech — a single syllable, a word or a sentence — holding a concentration of positive spiritual energy. It may be spoken aloud as chant, or recited silently in thought, sometimes repeated over a long period, sometimes said only once. In Sanskrit the root man- means “to think” and the suffix -tra means “instrument”; joined, they give mantra, implying thought that is both liberated and protected. Spiritually, mantra is a means of communicating and connecting with a deity, with the buddhas and bodhisattvas, helping beings purify karma and cultivate the awakened mind.

The best known mantra in Buddhism is the six-syllable Om Mani Padme Hum.

The Noble Eightfold Path develops directly out of the fourth of the Four Noble Truths, and is the means by which suffering is brought to an end and the awakened mind cultivated in a bodhisattva. It comprises: (1) right view — holding a correct understanding of truth and of the teaching; (2) right intention — freedom from craving, from hatred, and from the wish to harm others; (3) right speech — abstaining from lying, slander, harsh speech and idle talk; (4) right action — abstaining from killing and stealing, and guarding one’s every deed; (5) right livelihood — not living by wrongful means; (6) right effort — diligence in preventing and abandoning what is unwholesome, and in undertaking and cultivating what is wholesome; (7) right mindfulness — awareness, knowing things fully as they are, not straying from the present moment, contemplating body, feeling, mind and phenomena; (8) right concentration — leaving behind craving and unwholesome states so as to accomplish the first through the fourth dhyana.

The “ancient translation lineage”, Nyingma (Tib. snga ’gyur rnying ma), is the oldest of the four great traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Its teachings were principally propagated and translated by masters such as Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra, Shantarakshita and Vairotsana, from the reign of King Trisong Detsen (742–797) down to Rinchen Zangpo in the tenth century.

The remains of the Buddha and of eminent masters after cremation. The term usually implies relics in the form of pearl-like or crystalline grains, holding the power to bestow blessing (Skt. adhisthana) upon devoted and karmically connected Buddhists. In Himalayan cultures, relics are also held to drive away malevolent spirits.

The methods by which merit is accumulated through the five “paternal” paramita — generosity, discipline, patience, diligence and meditative concentration. Skilful means is itself one of the Ten Paramitas, implying the performance of virtuous deeds for the benefit of beings. In the father tantra, cultivating skilful means also implies the sexual techniques (Tib. sbyor ba) activated through the channels, winds and subtle drops. As the “paternal” symbol, the implement of “means” is held in the deity’s right hand.

“The Great Liberation through Hearing in the Intermediate State”, a classic work of Tibetan Buddhism composed by Padmasambhava in the eighth century and later revealed as treasure by Karma Lingpa in the fourteenth. The book describes, and gives instruction to, the consciousness of the deceased concerning the experiences that arise in the intermediate stage (Tib. bar do) between death and rebirth, helping them pass beyond panic and choose an auspicious rebirth. The Bardo Thodol is customarily recited from just before the moment of death, where possible, until the end of forty-nine days — the longest interval before consciousness takes rebirth.

One of the eight classes of beings under the rule of Vaishravana, often accompanying the rakshasa. They dwell on the earth or in the air and enjoy great pleasure and power, at times using their strength to harm people, at times their authority to protect the Dharma.

The practitioner’s principal meditational deity, and one of the “three roots” (Tib. rtsa gsum).