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.
མཚན་མ། | Glossary of Terms
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མཚན་ཉིད།
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- mtshan nyid
- nimitta
- Term
- mark
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
A polyvalent term, it generally refers to the characteristic features of an object or image. Nimitta can refer to features of an object that attract the mind’s attention, engage with it more deeply, and develop emotional responses to it. Such marks or features are often considered to be ultimately false and deceptive. In a more positive sense nimitta can refer to the focus of meditation practice. The term applies to both external objects and visualized images that are used to deepen meditative concentration and absorption. Also translated here as “sign” and “feature.”
- mark
- མཚན་མ།
- མཚན་ཉིད།
- mtshan ma
- mtshan nyid
- nimitta
- 相
Can refer both to a physical mark or trait as well as to the data of perception.
- mark
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
See “sign.”
- mark
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
Can refer both to a physical mark or trait and to the data of perception.
- mark
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
Can refer both to a physical mark or trait, as well as the data of perception.
- sign
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
- sign
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
Also translated here as “mental image.”
- sign
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
A polyvalent term, it generally refers to the characteristic features of an object or image. Nimitta can refer to features of an object that attract the mind’s attention, engage with it more deeply, and develop emotional responses to it. Such marks or features are often considered to be ultimately false and deceptive. In a more positive sense nimitta can refer to the focus of meditation practice. The term applies to both external objects and visualized images that are used to deepen meditative concentration and absorption. Also translated here as “mark” and “feature.”
- sign
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
Any imagined mark or feature of an object, the misperception of which serves as the basis of perception and the arising of coarse conceptuality. Also translated here as “mark.”
- causal sign
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
A causal sign is the projected reality that functions as the objective support of a cognitive state. It cannot be separated out from the cognitive state and to that extent may enjoy a modicum of conventional reality. To “practice with a causal sign” means to look at an apparent phenomenon within accepting that it has more reality than it actually does.
- causal sign
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
A causal sign is the projected reality that functions as the objective support of a cognitive state. It cannot be separated out from the cognitive state and to that extent may enjoy a modicum of conventional reality. To “practice with a causal sign” means to look at an apparent phenomenon within accepting that it has more reality than it actually does.
- characteristics
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
A sign or characteristic, which refers to the generic appearance of an object, in distinction to its secondary characteristics or anuvyañjana. Advertence toward the generic sign and secondary characteristics of an object furnishes the conception or nominal designation (Skt. saṃjñā) of that object, which may in turn generate clinging or rejection and ultimately lead to suffering.
- conceptual signs
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
Conceptual characteristics or reifications that lead to distraction and a false understanding of reality.
- conceptualization
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
Literally “signs,” or attributes.
- distinguishing mark
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
A mark or feature of an object which serves as the basis for its being generically named and thus conceptually categorized. A distinguishing mark is usually imagined rather than being a real attribute of the object, and perception that operates by identifying distinguishing marks is therefore what defines coarse conceptuality. In some contexts (particularly with respect to meditative concentration practices) nimitta can be translated as “mental image.” Also translated in this text as “sign.”
- feature
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
A polyvalent term, it generally refers to the characteristic features of an object or image. Nimitta can refer to features of an object that attract the mind’s attention, engage with it more deeply, and develop emotional responses to it. Such marks or features are often considered to be ultimately false and deceptive. In a more positive sense nimitta can refer to the focus of meditation practice. The term applies to both external objects and visualized images that are used to deepen meditative concentration and absorption. Also translated here as “sign” and “mark.”
- mental image
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
Also translated as “sign.”
- phenomenal appearance
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta
- phenomenal mark
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- signs
- མཚན་མ།
- mtshan ma
- nimitta