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.

མི་མཇེད། | Glossary of Terms

  • མི་མཇེད་ཀྱི་འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་ཁམས།

  • མི་མཇེད་ཀྱི་འཇིག་རྟེན།
  • མི་མཇེད་པ།
  • མི་མཇེད་འཇིག་རྟེན།
  • མི་མཇེད།
  • འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་ཁམས་མི་མཇེད།
  • mi mjed
  • mi mjed kyi ’jig rten
  • mi mjed kyi ’jig rten gyi khams
  • ’jig rten gyi khams mi mjed
  • mi mjed ’jig rten
  • mi mjed pa
  • sahā
  • sahā­loka­dhatu
  • sahālokadhātu
  • sahāloka
  • saha
  • sahaloka
  • Note: this data is still being sorted
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Publications: 62

The name for our particular world system, the universe of a thousand million worlds, or trichiliocosm, in which our four-continent world is located. Although it is sometimes said that it can refer only to our own four-continent world around Mount Meru, the sūtras largely seem to equate it with this trichiliocosm, and this is confirmed by scholars like Jamgön Kongtrul (see The Treasury of Knowledge, Book One). Each trichiliocosm is ruled by a god Brahmā; thus, in this context, he bears the title of Sahāṃpati, Lord of Sahā. Our world system of Sahā, or Sahālokadhātu, is also described as being the buddhafield of the Buddha Śākyamuni. He teaches the Dharma here to beings who adhere to inferior ways and perceive this universe as an impure buddhafield contaminated with the five degenerations (pañcakaṣāya, snyigs ma lnga): the degeneration of time, sentient beings, place, lifespan, and mental afflictions (see The Teaching of Vimalakīrti, Toh 176). It is also mentioned as the field of activity of all the thousand buddhas of this Fortunate Eon (see The White Lotus of Compassion, Toh 112).

The name Sahā possibly derives from the Sanskrit √sah, “to bear, endure, or withstand.” It is often interpreted as alluding to the inhabitants of this world having to endure suffering. The Tibetan translation, mi mjed, follows along the same lines. It literally means “not unbearable,” in the sense that beings here are able to bear the suffering they experience.