Skip to main content
Glossary

This glossary contains an alphabetical list of Buddhist terms that you may find on this website. Many of the terms now include phoneticized Sanskrit (Skt) as well as two forms of Tibetan—the phonetic version (Tib), which is a guide to pronunciation, and transliteration using the Wylie method (Wyl). Search for the term you want by entering it in the search box or browse through the listing by clicking on the letters below. Please see our Content Disclaimer regarding English terms in LYWA publications that may be outdated and should be considered in context.

Drepung Monastery

The largest of the three major Gelugpa monasteries; founded near Lhasa by one of Lama Tsongkhapa's disciples. Now re-established in exile in south India.

drops

bindu, tilaka(Skt); tig le, jang sem (Tib)

Subtle substances that permeate the body, caused by the coalescing of the mind and its accompanying wind at certain parts of the body. Said to have originated from the original white drop from the father and the red drop from the mother, drops are an important element in Vajrayana practice.

drubkhang (Tib)

sgrub khang (Wyl)

Attaining house, a place where a meditation practice or retreat is done; so called because here attainments can be achieved.

dualistic view

The ignorant view characteristic of the unenlightened mind in which all things are falsely conceived to have concrete self-existence. To such a view, the appearance of an object is mixed with the false image of its being independent or self-existent, thereby leading to further dualistic views concerning subject and object, self and other, this and that, etc.

dukkha (Pali)

dukha (Skt); dugngäl (Tib); sdug bsngal (Wyl)

Suffering, the term used by the Buddha in the sutra Setting the Wheel of Dharma in Motion (Pali: Dammacakkappavattana-sutta), also known as the Four Noble Truths Sutra; often translated as dissatisfaction. See also the four noble truths.