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 Please see our Content Disclaimer regarding English terms in LYWA publications that may be outdated and should be considered in context.

Yeshe Karda (Tib)

Transcendental Wisdom Star-Arrow, a deity used in water offering practices.

Yeshe, Lama Thubten (1935–1984)

Born and educated in Tibet, he fled to India, where he met his chief disciple, Lama Zopa Rinpoche. They began teaching Westerners at Kopan Monastery in 1969 and founded the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) in 1975.

yidam (Tib)

ishtadevata (Skt); yi dam (Wyl)

Literally, "mind-bound." One's own personal, main—or, as Lama Yeshe used to say, favorite—deity for tantric practice. The deity with which a practitioner has the strongest connection.

yoga (Skt)

näljor (Tib); rnal 'byor (Wyl)

Literally, “to yoke” or “to unite.” In Tibetan Buddhism, yoga refers to the spiritual discipline a practitioner commits to in order to attain realizations, for example, deity yoga.

yoga with signs

tsän chä kyi näljor (Tib); mtshan bcas kyi rnal ‘byor (Wyl)

Within the lower tantras, the practice that involves conceptuality (“sign”), before the realization of emptiness, comparable to the generation stage in Highest Yoga Tantra.

yoga without signs

tsänma me päi näljor (Tib); mtshan ma med pa’i rnal ‘byor (Wyl)

Within the lower tantras, when the practice is imbued with a realization of emptiness and hence beyond conceptuality (“sign”), comparable to the completion stage in Highest Yoga Tantra.