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 Please see our Content Disclaimer regarding English terms in LYWA publications that may be outdated and should be considered in context.
One of the five buddha types (Dhyani Buddhas), white in color, representing mirror-like wisdom and the purification of the form aggregate.
The ancient capital of the Licchavis, located in modern Bihar. The Buddha visited the city many times and it was here that he turned the final wheel of Dharma.
Literally, "adamantine", often translated as "thunderbolt" but usually left untranslated, the vajra is the four- or five-spoke implement used in tantric practice.
Implements used during tantric rituals: the vajra, held in the right hand, symbolizes bliss and the bell, held in the left, emptiness.
Male meditational deity; the form through which Shakyamuni Buddha revealed the teachings of secret mantra.
The buddha of power. A male meditational deity embodying the power of all enlightened beings to accomplish their goals.
A meditational deity embodying the purity of the enlightened mind. The practice of Vajrasattva uses the four opponent powers to remove obstacles caused by negative karma and broken vows.
Female meditational deity; consort of Heruka.
The adamantine vehicle; the second of the two Mahayana paths. It is also called Tantrayana or Mantrayana. This is the quickest vehicle of Buddhism as it allows certain practitioners to attain enlightenment within a single lifetime. See also tantra.
Female meditational deity from the mother class of Highest Yoga Tantra; sometimes a consort of Heruka.
A new non-deceptive cognition. There are two types: valid perception, such as the eye consciousness seeing a flower, and valid inference, such as inferring fire from seeing smoke.
A new non-deceptive outer cognition directly generated in dependence on its support, a correct reason.
The holiest town in India for Hindus; on the Ganges, very close to Sarnath, where the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths Sutra.
An Indian scholar and brother of Asanga, Vasubandhu wrote many commentaries and philosophical texts, including the Abhidharmakosha. He co-founded the Cittamatra school and is one of six great Indian scholars, known as the Six Ornaments.
One of the five extreme views where we see our constantly changing aggregates as permanent and without cause. Also called the “reifying view of the perishable aggregates” or “view of the transitory collection.”
The Buddha's teachings on ethical discipline (morality), monastic conduct and so forth; one of the three baskets (Tripitaka) of the Buddhist canon. See also Sutra and Abhidharma.
Positive karma; that which results in happiness.
The “noble friend” or “friend of virtue”, the term refers to the spiritual teacher or guru.
One of the six groups of mental factors, the virtuous mental factors are positive qualities of the mind that counteract the non-virtuous mental factors—the root delusions and secondary delusions. There are eleven: faith, shame (or self-respect), embarrassment (or consideration for others), non-attachment, non-hatred, non-ignorance, effort, pliancy, conscientiousness, equanimity, and non-harmfulness.
Precepts taken on the basis of refuge at all levels of Buddhist practice. The pratimoksha vows (individual liberation vows) include the five lay vows and the vows taken by monks and nuns. There are also the eight Mahayana precepts, as well as bodhisattva vows, which are given in various Mahayana contexts, and tantric vows, which are given only with Highest Yoga Tantra initiations.
The mountain near Rajgir, India, where the Buddha taught the Heart Sutra.
A Highest Yoga Tantra practice where the practitioner awakens visualizing themselves as the guru-deity in the mandala in order to make it easier to attain the clear light mind. In the generation stage, without the realization of emptiness, this is called "with fabrication" or "with sign"; in the completion stage, with a realization of emptiness, this is called "without fabrication" or "without sign." See also sleeping yoga.
See initiation.
The depiction of cyclic existence, showing the six realms cycling around the hub of ignorance, greed and hatred symbolized by a pig, a rooster and a snake, with the twelve links of dependent origination as the outer rim, all in the jaws and claws of Yama, the Lord of Death.
There are four days of the Tibetan lunar calendar considered especially auspicious, when extensive prayers are made. They are: the Day of Miracles, two weeks after the Tibetan New Year, Saka Dawa on the 15th of the fourth month, commemorating Shakyamuni Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana, the First Turning of the Dharma Wheel on the 4th of the sixth month and the Buddha's Descent from Heaven on the 15th of the ninth month.
A king who rules over all four continents, according to Buddhist cosmology, with love and ethics, according to the Dharma. Ashoka is a prime example of a wheel-turning king.
Virtuous and nonvirtuous actions respectively. See also karma.
A female form of Avalokiteshvara, the buddha of compassion. She has a thousand eyes that watch over living beings and a thousand arms that protect and assist them, thus she symbolizes the power of active compassion. The White Umbrella Deity practice is recommended for healing sickness, dispelling spirit harm and bringing auspiciousness.
Energy-winds. Subtle energies that flow in the channels in the body, which enable the body to function and which are associated with different levels of mind. See also lung (wind disease).
See lung.
Different levels of insight into the nature of reality. There are, for example, the three wisdoms of hearing, contemplation and meditation. Ultimately, there is the wisdom realizing emptiness, which frees us from cyclic existence and eventually brings us to enlightenment. The complete and perfect accumulation of wisdom results in dharmakaya. In order to attain buddhahood, practitioners must engage in both wisdom and method.