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.

ཆོས་ཀྱི་དུང་། | Glossary of Terms

  • ཆོས་ཀྱི་དུང་།

  • chos kyi dung
  • dharmaśaṅkha
  • Term
Publications: 1
  • Dharma conch
  • ཆོས་ཀྱི་དུང་།
  • chos kyi dung
  • dharmaśaṅkha
Definition in this text:

One of the eight auspicious emblems. As a musical instrument, the conch is blown like a trumpet, and throughout India’s history it has been a symbol of power, authority, and auspicious beginnings. In Buddhism, the Dharma conch has been variously described to represent the Buddha’s speech, his thought or intention (dgongs), or the sound of his teachings‍—in essence the Dharma itself. The sound of blowing the Dharma conch awakens beings from their sleep of delusion and ignorance.

1 Related glossary entries:

བཀྲ་ཤིས་རྟགས་བརྒྱད།

  • aṣṭamaṅgala
  • eight auspicious emblems
  • eight auspicious symbols