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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 Please see our Content Disclaimer regarding English terms in LYWA publications that may be outdated and should be considered in context.

Dagpo Rinpoche

Jampel Lhundrup. Pabongka Rinpoche's root guru for lamrim teachings; author of the Jorchö text A Necklace for the Fortunate; his reincarnation has lived in France for many years.

daka (Skt)

kha dro (Tib); mkha’ ’gro (Wyl)

Literally, a "sky-goer." A male being who helps arouse blissful energy in a qualified tantric practitioner.

dakini (Skt)

kha dro ma (Tib); mkha’ ’gro ma (Wyl)

Literally, a "female sky-goer." A female being who helps arouse blissful energy in a qualified tantric practitioner.

Dalai Lama (b. 1935)

Gyalwa Tenzin Gyatso. Revered spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and tireless worker for world peace; winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989; a guru of Lama Zopa Rinpoche.

Darma Dodé

The eldest son of Marpa, he died at a young age and returned as the Indian brahmin Paravatapada or Tiphupa, who became important for the future of the Kagyü lineage in Tibet.

definitive meaning

nitartha (Skt); ngedön (Tib); nges don (Wyl)

One of two main ways of understanding a Dharma teaching, this one is where the content is be taken literally and not open for interpretation, as opposed to the interpretive meaning.

degenerate time, or age

kaliyuga (Skt); nyigme dü (Tib); snyigs ma'i dus (Wyl)

We’re living in one! It has five characteristics: short life spans, scarce means of subsistence, mental afflictions, strong wrong views and weak sentient beings.

deity

ishtadevata (Skt); yidam (Tib); yi dam (Wyl)

An emanation of the enlightened mind, the meditational deity used as the object of meditation in tantric practices.