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 Please see our Content Disclaimer regarding English terms in LYWA publications that may be outdated and should be considered in context.
The nine stages a meditator passes through to attain calm abiding (Skt: shamatha). They are mental placement, continuous placement, patched placement, close placement, taming, pacification, complete pacification, one-pointed attention, balanced placement.
The nine-point death meditation is an important meditation on the impermanence of this life. It consists of three main roots: 1) death is certain; 2) the time of death is uncertain; and 3) nothing can help at the time of death except Dharma practice. Each root has three points and a conclusion.
A meditation technique using nine inhalations and exhalations with specific visualizations to calm and clear the mind.
The emanation body of a buddha that manifests in a variety of forms for sentient beings. See also dharmakaya, rupakaya, sambhogakaya, two kayas, three kayas and four kayas.
See liberation.
The eight components of the path to cessation of suffering taught by the Buddha. They are: correct speech, correct action, correct livelihood, correct effort, correct mindfulness, correct concentration, correct understanding and correct view.
According to the Prasangika school, this is the nirvana of a buddha, free from both samsara and the nirvana of a Hinayana arhat; one of the three types of nirvana, or liberation; the other two are cessation with residue and cessation without residue.
Negative karma; that which results in suffering.
The old translation school of Tibetan Buddhism, which traces its teachings back to the time of Padmasambhava, the eighth century Indian tantric master invited to Tibet by King Trisong Detsen to clear away hindrances to the establishment of Buddhism in Tibet. The first of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Cf. Kagyü, Sakya and Gelug.
A follower of the Nyingma tradition.
A two-day Thousand-arm Chenrezig retreat that involves fasting, prostrations and silence.
An object to be refuted or eliminated. There are different objects of negation in different contexts, but when meditating on emptiness according to Prasangika (the Middle Way Consequence school), the object of negation is inherent existence.
One of the six groups of mental factors, these accompany all virtuous minds and their function is to ascertain the object. There are five: aspiration, belief, mindfulness, stabilization, and wisdom.
Also known as obstructions; the negative imprints left on the mind by negative karma and delusion, which obscure the mind. The disturbing-thought obscurations (Tib: nyön drib) obstruct attainment of liberation and the more subtle obscurations to knowledge (Tib: she drib) obstruct the attainment of enlightenment. See also two obscurations.
One of the two obscurations, the more subtle ones that block enlightenment; also known as subtle obscurations, obscurations to enlightenment and cognitive obscurations (Berzin’s translation). See also disturbing-thought obscurations and two obscurations.
See Orgyen.
The mani; the mantra of Chenrezig, Buddha of Compassion.
One of the six groups of mental factors, these accompany every main mind. There are five: feeling, discrimination, intention, mental engagement and contact.
See enlightenment.
The verbal transmission of a teaching, meditation practice or mantra from guru to disciple, the guru having received the transmission in an unbroken lineage from the original source. Note that oral transmission and wind disease have the same Tibetan phonetic spelling (lung), but the Wylie transliteration is slightly different.
Also known as Oddiyana, the place in Pakistan, generally thought to be in Swat Valley, where Shakyamuni Buddha manifested as Chakrasamvara to reveal the Chakrasamvara teachings. Also where Padmasambhava was said to be born. This place name is a Tibetan corruption of the Sanskrit “Uddiyana” and is sometimes seen as Urgyen, not to be confused with the Tibetan term for the ushnisha, the crown ornament of a buddha (Tib: urgyän; Wyl: dbu rgyan).
A person who relies on non-Buddhist philosophies and external phenomena as sources of happiness, as opposed to an "inner being" (Tib: nang pa) or Buddhist who relies on the teachings of the Buddha.
The Dharma practiced by non-Buddhists, as opposed to "inner Dharma" of Buddhist Dharma.
An influential and charismatic lama of the Gelug order, Pabongka Rinpoche was the root guru of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Senior and Junior Tutors. He also gave the teachings compiled in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.
A great Indian yogi who brought Buddhist teachings to China and Tibet. He taught in the Tingri region of Tibet and was the author of The Hundred Verses of Advice.
The eighth-century Indian tantric master who played a key role in establishing Buddhism in Tibet; he is revered by all Tibetans but especially by followers of the Nyingma tradition, which he founded. Often known in Tibetan as Guru Rinpoche.
Water (for washing); one of the offering substances.
A protector, said to be the special protector of Tibet.
Also known as Lobsang Palden Yeshe; the Sixth Panchen Lama.
A Gelug lineage of incarnations of Amitabha Buddha originally based in Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, Shigatse; the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama are the two highest spiritual leaders of Tibet.
The fourth Panchen Lama, who composed Guru Puja (Lama Chöpa) and Path to Bliss Leading to Omniscience, a famous lamrim text; a tutor of the Fifth Dalai Lama.
Scholar; learned person. Often referred to as pandit, (without the final a), which is the Hindi pronunciation of the Sanskrit.