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.

སྒྲུབ་པ། | Glossary of Terms

  • སྒྲུབ་ཐབས།

  • སྒྲུབ་པ།
  • སྒྲུབ་པའི་ཐབས།
  • sgrub pa
  • sgrub pa’i thabs
  • sgrub thabs
  • sādhana
  • Term
Publications: 12

Derived from the Sanskrit verb √sādh, “to accomplish,” the term sādhana most generically refers to any method that brings about the accomplishment of a desired goal. In Buddhist literature, the term is often specifically applied to tantric practices that involve ritual engagement with deities, mantra recitation, the visualized creation and dissolution of deity maṇḍalas, etc. Sādhanas are aimed at both actualizing spiritual attainments (siddhi) and reaching liberation. The Tibetan translation sgrub thabs means “method of accomplishment.”