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.

ཐབས། | Glossary of Terms

  • ཐབས་མཁས་པ།

  • ཐབས་མཁས།
  • ཐབས་ལ་མཁས་པ།
  • ཐབས།
  • thabs
  • thabs mkhas pa
  • thabs mkhas
  • thabs la mkhas pa
  • upāya
  • upāyakuśala
  • upāyakauśalya
  • Term
Publications: 23

The concept of skillful or expedient means is central to the understanding of the Buddha’s enlightened deeds and the many scriptures that are revealed contingent on the needs, interests, and mental dispositions of specific types of individuals. It is, therefore, equated with compassion and the form body of the buddhas, the rūpakāya.

According to the Great Vehicle, training in skillful means collectively denotes the first five of the six perfections when integrated with wisdom, the sixth perfection. It is therefore paired with wisdom (prajñā), forming the two indispensable aspects of the path. It is also the seventh of the ten perfections. (Provisional 84000 definition. New definition forthcoming.)