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 Please see our Content Disclaimer regarding English terms in LYWA publications that may be outdated and should be considered in context.
They are: the view of the changeable aggregates, the view of the extremes, the view of holding wrong views as supreme, the view of holding our own moral and religious discipline as supreme and wrong view.
Divine hearing, knowing others' thoughts, remembering past lives, knowing the various rebirths of sentient beings—these fall into common siddhis—and the knowledge of the exhaustion of contaminations, which only arhats and buddhas can know.
The five great mantras are: the mantra of Kunrig, the mantra of Buddha Mitukpa, the Stainless Pinnacle, the Wish-Granting Wheel mantra, and the mantras of Namgyälma. These and the ten great mantras are incredibly beneficial when a being is dying or dead. See also ten great mantras.
The five great masters (patriarchs) who founded the Sakya tradition: Sachen Küngya Nyingpo (1092–1158), Lobpön Sonam Tsemo (1142–82), Jetsün Drakpa Gyaltsen (1147–1216), Sakya Pandita (1182–1251) and Drogön Chögyal Phakpa (1235–80).
The five main texts studied in the great Gelug monasteries: the Abhisamayalamkara, Vinaya, Madhyamaka, Abhidharmakosha and Pramanavarttika.
Taught by the Buddha in the Satipatthana Sutta: desire (especially sense desires), ill-will, sloth and torpor, distraction and worry, doubt and wavering.
Also called the five uninterrupted negative karmas or actions, the five heinous crimes, the five actions without break or the five actions of immediate retribution. The five actions that are so heavy that they cause one to be reborn in hell immediately after death. They are: 1) killing one’s mother; 2) killing one’s father; 3) killing an arhat; 4) maliciously drawing blood from a buddha; and 5) creating a schism in the Sangha.
The precepts taken by lay Buddhist practitioners for life: to abstain from killing, stealing, lying, sexual misconduct and taking intoxicants. See also pratimoksha vows.
Also called the five parallel actions of immediate retribution. The five actions that are similar to the five immediate negativities in that they cause rebirth in hell immediately after death. They are: 1) defiling one’s mother or a female arhat through sexual misconduct; 2) killing one definitely abiding as a bodhisattva; 3) killing an arya who has not yet reached the arhat stage; 4) stealing the property of the Sangha; and 5) destroying a stupa. Rinpoche mentions that acts such as stepping over the guru’s robes, shadow or seat without permission, stepping on the shadow of a stupa or removing relics from a stupa without a Dharma reason are also heavily negative.
The Mahayana paths, or exalted mental states, along which beings progress to liberation and enlightenment: the path of merit, the path of preparation, the right-seeing path, the path of meditation and (the unification of) no more learning. As well as the five Mahayana paths, there are also five Hearer paths and five Solitary Realizer paths.
The five practices to be applied in this life and near the time of death. They are (1) the power of the white seed; (2) the power of intention; (3) the power of blaming the self-cherishing thought; (4) the power of prayer; and (5) the power of habituation. See also Liberation on the Palm of Your Hand, pp. 560–63.
Within Tibetan Buddhist education, they are: grammar, logic, medicine, arts and crafts, and religious philosophy.
