84000 Glossary of Terms

Our trilingual glossary combining entries from all of our publications into one useful resource, giving translations and definitions of thousands of terms, people, places, and texts from the Buddhist canon.

དྲི་ཟ། | Glossary of Terms

  • དྲི་ཟ།

  • dri za
  • gandharva
  • Term
Publications: 132

A class of generally benevolent nonhuman beings who inhabit the skies, sometimes said to inhabit fantastic cities in the clouds, and more specifically to dwell on the eastern slopes of Mount Meru, where they are under the jurisdiction of the Great King Dhṛtarāṣṭra. They are most renowned as celestial musicians who serve the gods. In the Abhidharma, the term is also used to refer to the mental body assumed by sentient beings during the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Gandharvas are said to live on fragrances (gandha) in the desire realm, hence the Tibetan translation dri za, meaning “scent eater.”

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva
Definition in this text:

The term usually (and elsewhere in this text) refers to a class of non-human beings sometimes known as “celestial musicians.” In this particular context, however, it designates a disembodied sentient being in the intermediate state between death and rebirth, seeking a new body in which to take rebirth.

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva
  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
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Definition in this text:

Gandharvas are generally regarded as a class of semi-divine beings, but in Abhidharma the term is often used differently‍—as a synonym for the mental body assumed by any being of the realm of desire (kāmadhātu) during the intermediate state between death and rebirth.

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
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  • དྲི་ཟ།
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  • 乾闥婆
  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva AD
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  • 乾闥婆
  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
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  • དྲི་ཟ།
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Definition in this text:

Usually, a particular category of semi-divine celestial being, one of the four kinds on the four sides of Mount Meru; but in the context of the process of rebirth (e.g. in 1.86 in this sūtra), gandharva refers to the consciousness of the being between death and the next rebirth.

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva
  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva
Definition in this text:

The term generally refers to a class of nonhuman beings sometimes known as “celestial musicians.” In Abhidharma cosmology, the term is also used to refer to the mental body assumed by any sentient being in the realm of desire (kāma­dhātu) during the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Gandharvas are said to live on fragrances in the desire realm, hence their Tibetan translation dri za, meaning “scent eater.”

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
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Definition in this text:

A class of semidivine beings known for their skills as musicians, sometimes said to inhabit fantastic cities in the clouds but more usually on the slopes of Mount Meru.

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
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Definition in this text:

Lit. “smell eater.” Gandharvas are a class of spirits and minor gods (deva) in both Hindu and Buddhist cosmologies. They are supposedly messengers, singers, and skilled musicians and dancers. Often closely associated with various nature spirits (yakṣa), they are on occasion depicted as disturbing to monks practicing meditation.

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva
Definition in this text:

In Indian religious mythology, a class of nonhuman beings who often appear as semidivine celestial musicians. The same term is used in certain Buddhist texts in a quite different sense: to denote a disembodied sentient being or anguished spirit in the intermediate state between two lives, seeking the conditions for a new birth as a human or other kind of embodied being.

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
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  • དྲི་ཟ།
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  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva
Definition in this text:

Here and very frequently in the canonical texts, a type of non-human, semi-divine celestial being or spirit. The term is also used to refer to the consciousness of a being between death and the next rebirth.

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva
  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
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  • gandharva
Definition in this text:

The name of a kind of preta (ghost). These spirits are said to live on odours, hence their name “smell-eater.” Known for their music.

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
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  • 乾闥婆
  • gandharva
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Definition in this text:

A lower class of divine being, under the control of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the Great King of the East. Capable of flight, they are often described as “celestial musicians.”

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva
  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
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  • དྲི་ཟ།
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Definition in this text:

A class of celestial beings.

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
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  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
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  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva
Definition in this text:

Literally “smell eaters,” these are a class of spirits, sometimes described as celestial musicians. In other contexts the term can also refer to beings in the bardo state.

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva
  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva
Definition in this text:

A class of celestial spirits and minor gods (deva) in both Hindu and Buddhist cosmologies who are said to live on scents. They are messengers, singers, and skilled musicians and dancers.

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
  • gandharva
Definition in this text:

Here and very frequently in the canonical texts, a type of non-human, semi-divine celestial being or spirit. In a very few texts (but not this one), e.g. The Questions of Bhadrapāla the Merchant, the term is also used to refer to the consciousness of a being between death and the next rebirth.

  • gandharva
  • དྲི་ཟ།
  • dri za
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