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.

ཏོང་ཀུ | Glossary of Terms

  • ཏོང་ཀུ

  • tong ku
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  • Place
Publications: 1
  • China
  • ཏོང་ཀུ
  • tong ku
Definition in this text:

It is believed that the term “Tongku” is derived from the Chinese dong jing (東京) or “Eastern capital” but came to refer to the Chinese lands east of Tibet. Use of this term is attested as early as 960 ᴄᴇ, before the creation of the modern political designation “China,” but it was used as an epithet for various Chinese empires over the course of centuries. For more on this term, see van Schaik 2013.