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.
ཤ་ཟ། | Glossary of Terms
ཤ་ཟ།
sha za
piśāca
- Term
A class of nonhuman beings that, like several other classes of nonhuman beings, take spontaneous birth. Ranking below rākṣasas, they are less powerful and more akin to pretas. They are said to dwell in impure and perilous places, where they feed on impure things, including flesh. This could account for the name piśāca, which possibly derives from √piś, to carve or chop meat, as reflected also in the Tibetan sha za, “meat eater.” They are often described as having an unpleasant appearance, and at times they appear with animal bodies. Some possess the ability to enter the dead bodies of humans, thereby becoming so-called vetāla, to touch whom is fatal.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of semidivine beings traditionally associated with the wild, remote places of the earth. They are considered particularly violent and known to devour flesh.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A flesh-eating demon, or a demon who can possess the body of a human and cause various illnesses or insanity. They are often depicted as red-eyed, dark-skinned, bulging-eyed creatures, although they seem to be able to assume many shapes.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A flesh-eating demon, or a demon who can possess the body of a human and cause various illnesses or insanity. They are often depicted as red-eyed, dark-skinned, bulging-eyed creatures, although they seem to be able to assume many shapes.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A spirit that haunts the night, feeds on corpses, and is fatal to see. The Tibetan means “flesh eater.” The Sanskrit does not have “eat” as part of the name, but piśa means “flesh.” An alternative etymology is that they are called piśāca because they are yellow in color, from the Sanskrit piśita, meaning “yellow.”
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A spirit that haunts the night, feeds on corpses, and is fatal to see.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A flesh-eating demon, or a demon who can possess the body of a human and cause various illnesses or insanity. They are often depicted as red-eyed, dark-skinned, bug-eyed creatures, although they seem to be able to assume many shapes.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of flesh-eating spirits.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A flesh-eating demon, or a demon who can possess the body of a human and cause various illnesses or insanity. They are often depicted as red-eyed, dark-skinned, bulging-eyed creatures, although they seem to be able to assume many shapes.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of demons. Literally “flesh eaters.”
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A type of malevolent ghost, considered to belong to the preta realm. Tibetan translates the term as “flesh-eaters.”
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of flesh-eating spirits.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of nonhumans said to dwell in impure and perilous places, where they feed on impure things, including flesh.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
Class of demons; literally “flesh eater.”
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of flesh-eating demons.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of nonhuman beings traditionally associated with the wild, remote places of the earth. They are considered particularly violent and known to devour flesh. Thus the term was translated into Tibetan as “flesh eater.”
Warning: Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra. Practitioners who are not sure if they should read this translation are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage. The responsibility for reading this text or sharing it with others who may or may not fulfill the requirements lies in the hands of readers.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of spirits.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A spirit that haunts the night, feeds on corpses, and is fatal to see. The Tibetan means “flesh eater.” The Sanskrit does not have “eat” as part of the name, but piśa means “flesh.” An alternative etymology is that they are called piśāca because they are yellow in color, from the Sanskrit piśita, meaning “yellow.”
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of demonic spirit beings.
- Piśāca
- འདྲེ།
- ’dre
- piśāca
A class of nonhuman beings traditionally associated with the wild, remote places of the earth. They are considered particularly violent and are known to devour flesh. Thus, the term was also translated into Tibetan as “flesh eater” (sha za).
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of flesh-eating demons.
Warning: Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra. Practitioners who are not sure if they should read this translation are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage. The responsibility for reading this text or sharing it with others who may or may not fulfill the requirements lies in the hands of readers.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of spirits.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
Warning: Readers are reminded that according to Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition there are restrictions and commitments concerning tantra. Practitioners who are not sure if they should read this translation are advised to consult the authorities of their lineage. The responsibility for reading this text or sharing it with others who may or may not fulfill the requirements lies in the hands of readers.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of spirits traditionally associated with the wild, remote places of the earth. They are considered particularly violent and known to devour flesh.
- Piśāca
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of flesh-eating demons
- Demon
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśāca
A class of flesh-eating and shape-shifting demons.
- Piśitāśa
- ཤ་ཟ།
- sha za
- piśitāśa
A class of flesh-eating spirits.