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 Please see our Content Disclaimer regarding English terms in LYWA publications that may be outdated and should be considered in context.

loving kindness

maitri (Skt); yi ong jam pa (Tib); byams pa (Wyl)

In the context of the seven points of cause and effect, the wish for all beings to have happiness, with the added dimension of yi ong (beautiful or affectionate); often translated as “affectionate loving kindness.” Lama Zopa Rinpoche suggests this is the “loving kindness of seeing others in beauty.”

lower realms

ngen dro (Tib); ngan ‘gro (Wyl)

The three realms of cyclic existence with the most suffering: the hell, hungry ghost and animal realms.

lung (Tib), or wind disease

rlung (Wyl)

Literally, wind. The state in which the winds within the body are unbalanced or blocked, thus causing various illnesses. Note that wind disease and oral transmission have the same Tibetan phonetic spelling (lung), but the Wylie transliteration is slightly different.

Machig Labdrön (1055–1149)

Literally "Unique Mother Torch of Lab", she was a great tantric practitioner and teacher who developed several chöd practices.

madana (Skt)

Nectar; one of two offering substances in a tantric offering, the other is bala.

Madhyamaka (Skt)

u ma (Tib); bdu ma (Wyl)

The Middle Way school, one of the two Mahayana (Great Vehicle) philosophical schools. The Middle Way school does not assert true establishment even conventionally. There are two divisions of the Middle Way school: 1) Autonomists (Skt: Svatantrika) and 2) Consequentialists (Skt: Prasangika). The Middle Way school was founded by Nagarjuna, based on the Prajnaparamita sutras of Shakyamuni Buddha, and is considered to be the supreme presentation of emptiness according to the Gelug tradition. See also Madhyamika and the four Buddhist philosophical schools.

Madhyamakavatara (Skt)

u ma la jug pa (Tib); dbu ma la 'jug pa (Wyl)

A Guide to the Middle Way, a famous text composed by Chandrakirti to supplement Nagarjuna's treatise Mulamadhyamakakarika (Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way). It is used as the main source book by most Tibetan monasteries for the study of emptiness.