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A special Highest Yoga Tantra guru yoga practice composed by the fourth Panchen Lama, Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen.

In order to amass the two collections of merit and purify negativities and obscurations, one views the guru as inseparable from a deity and/or from the Buddha. There are various guru yoga practices, some are done in accordance with tantra, for example, Guru Puja, and some in accordance with the sutra tradition, for example, the Hundred Deities of the Land of Joy (Ganden Lha Gyäma).

The inseparability of the deity and the spiritual master; a fundamental practice of tantra.

Gyaltsab Darma Rinchen was one of the two main disciples of Lama Tsongkhapa, with Khedrub-je. After Lama Tsongkhapa died, Gyaltsab-je became the second Ganden Tripa (spiritual head of the Gelug school). Read Gyaltsab-je’s biography in Treasury of Lives.

A disciple of Chökyi Dorje, Gyalwa Ensapa achieved enlightenment within a few years without bearing much hardship. He was predecessor of the Panchen Lamas and a guru of Khedrub Sangye Yeshe.

Highest Yoga Tantra aspect of Avalokiteshvara.

One of the five major monasteries of the Gelug school in or around Lhasa; it was founded in 1433 by Je Sherab Senge, a disciple of Lama Tsongkhapa. Originally located in lower Central Tibet and then Lhasa, it has now been re-established in Hunsur, south India. See also Gyüto (Upper Tantric College).

Founded in 1474 by Kunga Dhondup, Gyüto is a Gelug college in south India specializing in the study of tantric meditation. See also Gyüme (Lower Tantric College).

A samsaric being in the realms of suras, asuras or humans.

A tantric deity; a wrathful form of Avalokiteshvara.

See shravaka. 

See Shravakayana.

The shortest and most recited of the Prajnaparamita sutras (Skt), literally, "perfection of wisdom," the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha in which the wisdom of emptiness and the path of the bodhisattva are set forth.

The highest of the god realm abodes in Buddhist cosmology; it is atop Mount Meru and ruled by Indra.

The samsaric realm with the greatest suffering. There are eight hot hells, eight cold hells and four neighboring hells.

Also called “mistaken wrong views,” one of the five afflicted views that are part of the root afflictions. Heresy is a deluded intelligence that rejects the existence of something that exists, such as karma, reincarnation, the Three Jewels and so forth, and ascribes existence to that which is nonexistent. It is also holding incorrect views about the guru.

Male meditational deity from the mother tantra class of Highest Yoga Tantra. He is the principal deity connected with the Heruka Vajrasattva practice and was Lama Yeshe's yidam.

The highest of the three levels of practice or scopes, the higher capable being has the goal of full enlightenment. See also lower and middle capable being, and the graduated path of the three capable beings.

The higher realms comprise the more fortunate rebirths as a human, god or demi-god. See also the six realms.

The fourth and supreme division of tantric practice, sometimes called Maha-anuttara Yoga Tantra. It consists of the generation and completion stages. Through this practice, one can attain full enlightenment within one lifetime. See also the four classes of tantra.

Literally, Small, or Lesser, Vehicle. It is one of the two general divisions of Buddhism. The Hinayana practitioner's motivation for following the Dharma path is principally the intense wish for personal liberation from conditioned existence, or samsara. Two types of Hinayana practitioner are identified: the hearer (Skt: shravaka) and the solitary realizer (Skt: pratyekabuddha). Cf Mahayana; see also Theravada.

See major marks and minor signs of a buddha.

See drubkhang.

Ganden Lha Gyäma or Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, a practice performed daily in Gelug monasteries. Note: Land of Joy, Ganden (Tib) and Tushita (Skt) are synonymous. See also guru yoga.

The hungry ghost realm is one of the three lower realms of cyclic existence, exemplied by incredible insatiable hunger and thirst.

Literally, “not seeing” that which exists, or the way in which things exist. There are basically two kinds, ignorance of karma and ignorance of ultimate truth. Ignorance is the fundamental delusion from which all others spring, and is the first of the twelve links of dependent origination.

A subtle body generated through practice of the completion stage of Highest Yoga Tantra; the cause of the rupakaya.

The gross and subtle levels of the transience of phenomena. The moment things and events come into existence, their disintegration has already begun.

The seed, or potential, left on the mind by positive or negative actions of body, speech and mind.

See tulku.

The subtle drop at the center of the heart chakra where the very subtle consciousness resides. Originating from the father's red drop and the mother's white one, it consists of two halves, which split at the moment of death to release the very subtle consciousness.

The liberation achieved by the hearer (Skt: shravaka) or the solitary realizer (Skt: pratyekabuddha) within the Theravada tradition, as compared to enlightenment achieved by a practitioner of the Mahayana tradition.

See pratimoksha vows.

A powerful Hindu deity in the god realm.

What phenomena are empty of; the object of negation, or refutation. To ignorance, phenomena appear to exist independently or inherently, in and of themselves. See also: emptiness.

Transmission received from a tantric master allowing a disciple to engage in the practices of a particular meditational deity. It is also referred to as an empowerment. Tantric masters willl also often give a jenang, which is permission to practice a particular deity, rather than a full empowerment.