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.

བ་ར་ན་སི། | Glossary of Terms

  • ཀ་ཤི་ཀ

  • ཁོར་མོར་འཇིགས།
  • བ་ར་ན་སི།
  • བ་ར་ནི།
  • ཝ་ར་ན་སི།
  • འཁོར་མོ་འཇིག
  • ཡུལ་ཀ་ཤི།
  • ba ra na si
  • yul ka shi
  • ba ra ni
  • khor mor ’jigs
  • ’khor mo ’jig
  • wa ra na si
  • ka shi ka
  • vārāṇasī
  • kāśi
  • Note: this data is still being sorted
  • Place
Publications: 26

Also known as Benares, one of the oldest cities of northeast India on the banks of the Ganges, in modern-day Uttar Pradesh. It was once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kāśi, and in the Buddha’s time it had been absorbed into the kingdom of Kośala. It was an important religious center, as well as a major city, even during the time of the Buddha. The name may derive from being where the Varuna and Assi rivers flow into the Ganges. It was on the outskirts of Vārāṇasī that the Buddha first taught the Dharma, in the location known as Deer Park (Mṛgadāva). For numerous episodes set in Vārāṇasī, including its kings, see The Hundred Deeds, Toh 340.