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.
ལྷ། | Glossary of Terms
ལྷ།
lha
deva
- Term
Cognate with the English term divine, the devas are most generally a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who attend and celebrate the teachings of Śākyamuni and other buddhas and bodhisattvas. In Buddhist cosmology the devas occupy the highest of the five or six “destinies” (gati) of saṃsāra among which beings take rebirth. The devas reside in the devalokas, “heavens” that traditionally number between twenty-six and twenty-eight and are divided between the desire realm (kāmadhātu), material realm (rūpadhātu), and immaterial realm (ārūpyadhātu). A being attains rebirth among the devas either through meritorious deeds (in the desire realm) or the attainment of subtle meditative states (in the material and immaterial realms). While rebirth among the devas is considered favorable, it is ultimately a transitory state from which beings will fall when the conditions that lead to rebirth there are exhausted, Thus, rebirth in the god realms is regarded as a diversion from the spiritual path.
- God
- ལྷ།
- ལྷའི་བུ།
- lha
- lha’i bu
- deva
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the five or six classes of living beings, specifically engendered and dominated by exaltation, indulgence, and pride. The gods are said to exist in realms higher than that of the human realm within in the world system of desire (kāmadhātu), and also in the world system of form (rūpadhātu).
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
In Buddhist cosmology, the gods are one of the five or six classes of beings, and are said to populate realms higher than the human realm within the realm of desire (kāmadhātu), and to exist in the realm of form (rūpadhātu) and the formless realm (ārūpyadhātu) as well.
- God
- ལྷའི་བུ།
- lha’i bu
- devaputra
A being of any of the many levels of celestial or divine realms according to Buddhist cosmology.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
- God
- ལྷ།
- ལྷའི་བུ།
- lha
- lha’i bu
- deva
- devaputra
One of the five or six classes of living beings, specifically engendered and dominated by exaltation, indulgence, and pride. The gods are said to exist in realms higher than that of the human realm within in the world system of desire (kāmadhātu), and also in the world system of form (rūpadhātu).
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
A celestial being from the highest realm (in the sixfold division) of saṃsāra.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, specifically influenced by exaltation, frivolousness, and pride. According to Buddhist cosmology, the gods live in many divine realms within the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm.. Also rendered here as “devas.”
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, specifically engendered and dominated by exaltation, indulgence, and pride. The gods are said to exist in realms higher than that of the human realm within in the world system of desire (kāmadhātu), and also in the world system of form (rūpadhātu).
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
According to the Buddhist tradition, one of the five or six classes of sentient beings, specifically engendered and dominated by exaltation, indulgence, and pride. The gods are said to exist in many levels of celestial or divine realms, higher than that of the human realm, within in the desire realm (kāmadhātu), and also in the form realm (rūpadhātu) and the formless realm (ārūpyadhātu).
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
Gods are beings in the higher planes of existence in the desire realm, as well as in the form and formless realms.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, specifically engendered and dominated by exaltation, indulgence, and pride. According to Buddhist cosmology, the gods are said to exist in many levels of celestial or divine realms, higher than that of the human realm, within in the desire realm, in the form realm, and in the formless realm.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the six classes of beings.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, specifically dominated by exaltation, indulgence, and pride. According to Buddhist cosmology, the gods are said to exist in many levels of celestial or divine realms, higher than that of the human realm, in the desire realm, in the form realm, and in the formless realm.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
Long-lived celestial beings. One of the six classes of beings.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the six classes of sentient beings. According to Buddhist cosmology, the gods are said to exist in many levels of celestial or divine realms.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, specifically engendered and dominated by exaltation, indulgence, and pride. According to Buddhist cosmology, the gods are said to exist in many levels of celestial or divine realms, higher than that of the human realm, within in the desire realm, in the form realm, and in the formless realm.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, dominated by exaltation, frivolousness, and pride. According to Buddhist cosmology, the gods live in many divine realms within the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, specifically influenced by exaltation, frivolousness, and pride. According to Buddhist cosmology, the gods live in many divine realms within the desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
Gods, demigods, and human beings compose the three fortunate realms of higher rebirth. Gods enjoy comfort and peace, but rarely attain enlightenment. The three realms of gods include the desire realm, form realm, and formless realm.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
In most cases used to refer to a class of long-lived celestial being, but occasionally appears as an honorific term of address for royalty, similar to “Your Majesty,” here rendered as “Deva.”
- God
- ལྷའི་བུ།
- ལྷ།
- lha’i bu
- lha
- devaputra
- deva
- God
- ལྷའི་བུ།
- lha’i bu
- devaputra
Literally “son of gods” or “divine scion,” the Sanskrit devaputra is often simply used as a synonym for “god” (deva), with -putra indicating that it involves a male member of this category of beings. But the term can have the added connotation of a being of divine origin who, due to a heroic feat, is able to enjoy long-lasting bliss in heaven.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
The deities that dwell in the heavens of the highest realms of cyclic existence.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
A class of celestial beings.
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.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
See “deva.”
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.
- God
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
Cognate with the English term divine. The devas are most generically a class of divine, celestial beings who populate the narratives of Indian mythology. The term can also be used to refer to the major gods of the brahmanical pantheon.
- God
- ལྷ།
- ལྷའི་བུ།
- lha
- lha’i bu
- deva
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
A being in the paradises from the base of Mount Meru upward, this can also refer to a deity in the human world.
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
A being in the realms above the realm of humans.
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
A being in the paradises from the base of Mount Meru upward. Also can refer to a deity in the human world, or can be used as an honorific form of address for kings and other important personages.
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
A being in the realms above the human-inhabited world.
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
A being in the paradises from the base of Mount Meru upward. Also can refer to a deity in the human world.
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
Lit. “god.” A class of beings in the higher planes of existence in the desire realm, as well as in the form and formless realms.
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
See “gods.”
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, specifically dominated by exaltation, indulgence, and pride. According to Buddhist cosmology, the devas are said to exist in many levels of celestial or divine realms, higher than that of the human realm, in the desire realm, in the form realm, and in the formless realm.
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
General term for all sorts of gods and deities.
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
Gods; a class of beings in the higher planes of existence in the desire realm, as well as in the form and formless realms.
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
See “deity.”
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, specifically engendered and dominated by exaltation, indulgence, and pride. According to Buddhist cosmology, the gods are said to exist in many levels of celestial or divine realms, higher than that of the human realm, within in the desire realm, in the form realm, and in the formless realm.
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, specifically engendered and dominated by exaltation, indulgence, and pride. According to Buddhist cosmology, the gods are said to exist in many levels of celestial or divine realms, higher than that of the human realm, within in the desire realm, in the form realm, and in the formless realm.
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.
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
Celestial beings in the higher realms of existence.
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.
- Deva
- ལྷ།
- lha
- god
Cognate with the English term divine. The devas are most generically a class of divine, celestial beings who populate the narratives of Indian mythology. The term can also be used to refer to the major gods of the Brahmanical pantheon, in which case the term “god” has been used.
- Deity
- ལྷ།
- ལྷའི་བུ།
- lha
- lha’i bu
- deva
- devaputra
- Devaputra
- ལྷའི་བུ།
- lha’i bu
- devaputra
“Gods,” long-lived celestial beings. One of the six classes of beings.
- Devas
- ལྷ།
- lha
- deva
See “gods.”
- Divine son
- ལྷའི་བུ།
- lha’i bu
- devaputra
A common epithet for gods.
- Young god
- ལྷའི་བུ།
- lha’i bu
- devaputra
Generic term for a class of long-lived celestial beings.