The Play in Full
Toh 95
Degé Kangyur, vol. 46 (mdo sde, kha), folios 1.b–216.b.
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2013
Current version v 4.48.3 (2021)
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Table of Contents
Summary
The Play in Full tells the story of how the Buddha manifested in this world and attained awakening, as perceived from the perspective of the Great Vehicle. The sūtra, which is structured in twenty-seven chapters, first presents the events surrounding the Buddha’s birth, childhood, and adolescence in the royal palace of his father, king of the Śākya nation. It then recounts his escape from the palace and the years of hardship he faced in his quest for spiritual awakening. Finally the sūtra reveals his complete victory over the demon Māra, his attainment of awakening under the Bodhi tree, his first turning of the wheel of Dharma, and the formation of the very early saṅgha.
Acknowledgments
This text was translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the supervision of Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche.
Cortland Dahl, Catherine Dalton, Hilary Herdman, Heidi Koppl, James Gentry, and Andreas Doctor translated the text from Tibetan into English. Andreas Doctor and Wiesiek Mical then compared the translations against the original Tibetan and Sanskrit, respectively. Finally, Andreas Doctor edited the translation and wrote the introduction.
The Dharmachakra Translation Committee would like to thank Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche for blessing this project, and Khenpo Sherap Sangpo for his generous assistance with the resolution of several difficult passages.
This translation has been completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The generous sponsorship of 簡源震及家人江秀敏，簡暐如，簡暐丞 Chien YuanChen (Dharma Das) and his wife, daughter, and son for work on this sūtra is gratefully acknowledged.
Introduction
The Play in Full (Lalitavistara) is without a doubt one of the most important sūtras within Buddhist Mahāyāna literature. With parts of the text dating from the earliest days of the Buddhist tradition, this story of the Buddha’s awakening has captivated the minds of devotees, both ordained and lay, as far back as the beginning of the common era.
In brief, The Play in Full tells the story of how the Buddha manifested in this world and attained awakening. The sūtra, which is structured in twenty-seven chapters, begins with the Buddha being requested to teach the sūtra by several gods, as well as the thousands of bodhisattvas and hearers in his retinue. The gods summarize the sūtra in this manner (chap. 1):
The Setting
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was staying in Śrāvastī at Jeta Grove, in the park of Anāthapiṇḍada, along with a great saṅgha of twelve thousand monks.
Among them were venerable Ājñātakauṇḍinya, venerable Aśvajit, venerable Bāṣpa, venerable Mahānāma, venerable Bhadrika, venerable Yaśodeva, venerable Vimala, venerable Subāhu, venerable Pūrņa, venerable Gavāṃpati, venerable Urubilvā Kāśyapa, venerable Nadīkāśyapa, venerable Gayākāśyapa, venerable Śāriputra, venerable Mahāmaudgalyāyana, venerable Mahākāśyapa, [F.2.a] venerable Mahākātyāyana, venerable Mahākapphiṇa, venerable Kauṣṭhila,1 venerable Cunda, venerable Pūrṇamaitrāyaṇīputra, venerable Aniruddha, venerable Nandika, venerable Kampila, venerable Subhūti, venerable Revata, [2] venerable Khadiravaṇika, venerable Amogharāja, venerable Mahāpāraṇika, venerable Vakkula, venerable Nanda, venerable Rāhula, venerable Svāgata, and venerable Ānanda.
The Inspiration
Monks, the Bodhisattva dwelt in the supreme realm of the Heaven of Joy, where he was honored by offerings, received consecration, and was praised and revered by one hundred thousand gods. [8] He had achieved his goal and was elevated by his former aspirations. His intelligence was such that he had attained the entire range of the Buddhadharma. Indeed his eye of wisdom was at once both vast and utterly pure. Radiating with mindfulness, intelligence, realization, modesty, and joyfulness, his mind was extremely powerful. He had mastered the perfections of generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, mental stability, knowledge, and skillful means, and was adept in the fourfold path of Brahmā: great love, great compassion, great joy, and great equanimity. With great awareness, he was free of obscurations and had manifested the vision of wisdom free from attachment. Likewise he had perfected each and every quality of awakening: the applications of mindfulness, the thorough relinquishments, the bases of miraculous power, [F.6.a] the faculties, the powers, the branches of awakening, and the path.
The Purity of the Family
Monks, in this way the Bodhisattva was exhorted that the time for the Dharma had come. Emerging from that great celestial palace, [F.9.b] the Bodhisattva went to the great Dharmoccaya Palace, where he taught the Dharma to the gods in the Heaven of Joy. In the palace, he seated himself upon a lion throne known as Sublime Dharma. He was joined in the palace by a group of gods whose good fortune equaled that of the Bodhisattva, and who had entered the same vehicle. Bodhisattvas with similar conduct to the Bodhisattva gathered from throughout the ten directions. Retinues with equally pure intentions accompanied the gods, without the assembly of divine maidens and even without ordinary gods. Altogether a retinue of 680 million entered the palace, each sitting on a lion throne according to rank.
The Gateways to the Light of the Dharma
Monks, while the Bodhisattva was seeing the family of his birth, he dwelt in the Heaven of Joy in Uccadhvaja, a great celestial palace measuring sixty-four leagues around, where he taught the Dharma to the gods of the Heaven of Joy. The Bodhisattva had come to this great celestial palace where he now addressed all the gods of the Heaven of Joy. “Come, gather here,” he said. “Come listen to the Bodhisattva’s final teaching on the Dharma, a recollection of the Dharma entitled ‘The Application of Passing.’ ” [30]
Setting Out
Monks, in that way the Bodhisattva taught this Dharma discourse to the large congregation of gods, [F.24.a] instructed them, inspired them, delighted them, and caused them to be receptive. He then said to that assembly of fortunate gods:
“Friends, I will now proceed to Jambudvīpa. In the past when I practiced the conduct of a bodhisattva, I attracted sentient beings through the four activities of giving, pleasant speech, beneficial activity, and demonstrating consistency in speech and aims. But friends, I would be acting without gratitude, and it would be inappropriate, if I were not now to achieve unexcelled, perfect, and complete awakening.”
Entering the Womb
Monks, the cold season had passed and it was the third month of spring. It was the finest season, when the moon enters the constellation Viśākhā. The leaves of trees unfurled and the most exquisite flowers blossomed. It was neither cold nor hot, and there was no fog or dust in the air. Fresh green grass covered the grounds everywhere.
The Lord of the Three Worlds, [55] revered by all the worlds, now judged that the time had come. On the fifteenth day, during the full moon, while his future mother was observing the poṣadha precepts during the constellation of Puṣya, the Bodhisattva moved, fully conscious and aware, from the fine realm of the Heaven of Joy to the womb of his mother. [F.32.a]
The Birth
Monks, in this way ten months passed, and the time came for the Bodhisattva to take birth. At that time thirty-two omens occurred in King Śuddhodana’s parks:
All flowers budded and blossomed. In the ponds, all the blue, red, and white lotus flowers also budded and blossomed. New fruit and flower trees sprung from the earth, budded, and came into blossom. Eight trees of precious gems appeared. Twenty thousand great treasures emerged and remained on the grounds. [F.42.b] Inside the women’s quarters, jeweled shoots sprouted forth. Scented water, saturated with fragrant oils, flowed forth. Lion cubs descended from the snow mountains. They joyfully circled the sublime city of Kapilavastu and then rested by the gates without harming anyone. Five hundred young white elephants arrived, stroking King Śuddhodana’s feet with the tips of their trunks, and then settling down next to him. Divine children, wearing sashes, [77] were seen moving back and forth between the laps of the women in the retinue of King Śuddhodana’s queen.
Going to the Temple
Monks, on the very evening of the Bodhisattva’s birth, there were twenty thousand girls born among the ruling class, the priestly class, the merchants, and the householders, such as the landowners. All of them were offered to the Bodhisattva by their parents to serve and honor him. King Śuddhodana also gave twenty thousand girls to the Bodhisattva to serve and honor him. His friends, his ministers, his [118] kinfolk, and his blood relatives also offered twenty thousand girls to serve and honor the Bodhisattva. [F.63.a] Finally the members of ministerial assemblies also offered twenty thousand girls to serve and honor the Bodhisattva.
The Ornaments
Monks, at the time of the constellation of Citrā, after the constellation of Hastā had passed, the chief priest of the king, who was called Udayana, the father of Udāyin, [F.64.b] went before King Śuddhodana surrounded by some five hundred priests and said, “Your Majesty, please know that it is now proper for ornaments to be made for the prince.”
The king replied, “Very well, then do it.”
At that time King Śuddhodana had five hundred types of ornaments made by five hundred Śākyas. He commissioned bracelets, anklets, crowns, necklaces, rings, earrings, armbands, golden belts, golden threads, nets of bells, nets of gems, shoes bedecked with jewels, garlands adorned with various gems, jeweled bangles, chokers, and diadems. When the ornaments were completed the Śākyas went before King Śuddhodana at the time of the constellation of Puṣya and said, “King, please ornament the prince.”
The Demonstration at the Writing School
Monks, when the young child had grown a little older, he was taken to school. He went there amid hundreds of thousands of auspicious signs, and he was surrounded and attended by tens of thousands of boys, along with ten thousand carts filled with hard food, soft food, and condiments, and ten thousand carts filled with gold coins and gems. These were distributed in the streets and road junctions, and the entrances to the markets of the city of Kapilavastu. At the same time a symphony of eight hundred thousand cymbals was sounded, and a heavy rain of flowers fell.
The Farming Village
Monks, on another occasion when the prince had grown a little older, he went with the sons of the ministers and some other boys to visit a farming village. After seeing the village, he entered a park at the edge of the fields. The Bodhisattva wandered around there in complete solitude. As he was strolling through the park, he saw a beautiful and pleasant rose apple tree, and he decided to sit down cross-legged under its shade. Seated there, the Bodhisattva attained a one-pointed state of mind. [129]
Demonstrating Skill in the Arts
Monks, one time, when the prince had grown older, King Śuddhodana was sitting in the meeting hall together with the assembly of Śākyas. There some of the Śākya elders spoke to King Śuddhodana:
“Your Majesty, you know that the priests who are skilled in making predictions, as well as the gods who have definite knowledge, have foretold that if Prince Sarvārthasiddha renounces the household, he will become a thus-gone one, a worthy one, a completely perfect buddha. Yet if he does not renounce the household, he will become a universal monarch, a righteous Dharma king who has conquered the four quarters and is equipped with the seven treasures. The seven treasures that will be his are the precious wheel, the precious elephant, the precious horse, the precious wife, the precious jewel, [F.71.b] the precious steward, and the precious minister. He will have one thousand sons, all of them full, fierce warriors with well-built bodies that destroy the armies of the enemy. He will conquer the entire earth without the use of violence or weapons, and then he will rule [137] according to the Dharma. Therefore we must arrange a marriage for the prince. Once he is surrounded by a group of women, he will discover pleasure and not renounce the household. In that way the line of our universal monarchy will not be cut, and we will be irreproachably respected by all the kings of the realm.”
Encouragement
Monks, while the Bodhisattva was staying in the midst of his retinue of consorts, there were numerous gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, demigods, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas, as well as [160] Śakra and Brahmā and the guardians of the world, who were eager to make offerings to the Bodhisattva. They arrived calling out in joyous voices. However, monks, as time went on, many of these gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, demigods, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas, as well as Śakra, Brahmā, and the world protectors, began to think to themselves:
Dreams
Monks, while the god in this way was encouraging the Bodhisattva, a dream occurred to King Śuddhodana. As he was sleeping, King Śuddhodana dreamed that the Bodhisattva was leaving the palace in the quiet of the night, [186] surrounded by a host of gods. As the Bodhisattva left the palace, the king saw that he had become ordained and was wearing the saffron-colored robes.
As soon as the king awoke, he immediately asked the chamberlain, “Is the young prince with the consorts?”
Leaving Home
Monks, in the meantime the Bodhisattva thought to himself, “It would not be right if I did not share my plans with the great king Śuddhodana and simply left home without his permission. It would be very ungrateful of me.”
So that night when everything became quiet, he left his own quarters and entered the quarters of King Śuddhodana. As soon as the Bodhisattva stepped foot on the palace floor, the entire palace became illuminated with light. The king woke up and, when he saw the light, he promptly asked his chamberlain, “Did the sun rise? It is such a beautiful light!”
The Visit of King Bimbisāra
Monks, through the blessing of the Bodhisattva, Chanda told King Śuddhodana, the Śākya princess Gopā, the retinue of consorts, and everyone else among the Śākyas what had happened in order to alleviate their suffering. [238]
Monks, the Bodhisattva first gave his silken robes to a god in the form of a hunter, and then he donned the hunter’s saffron-colored robes. He adopted the lifestyle of a renunciant in order to act in agreement with the perception of worldly people, and also because he felt compassion for others and wished to mature them.
Practicing Austerities
Monks, at that time a son of Rāma by the name of Rudraka arrived in Rājagṛha, where he stayed with a large group of seven hundred of his students. He was teaching his students the principles of the disciplined conduct necessary for attaining the state where there is neither perception nor nonperception. [F.120.a]
Monks, the Bodhisattva saw that Rudraka, the son of Rāma, was in charge of a group, indeed a large group, and that as the head of the congregation, he was well-known, popular, venerated by the masses, and recognized by all scholars. Witnessing this, the Bodhisattva thought to himself:
The Nairañjanā River
Monks, during the six years that the Bodhisattva practiced austerities, he was continually followed by Māra, the evil one. Yet, although Māra tried his best to harm the Bodhisattva, he never found an opportunity. As it became apparent that it would be impossible to harm the Bodhisattva, Māra, sad and dejected, finally left. [261]
It is also expressed in this way:
Approaching the Seat of Awakening
Monks, when the Bodhisattva bathed in the Nairañjanā River and enjoyed a meal, his physical strength came back to him. With a triumphant gait, he now began the walk toward the great Bodhi tree. This tree was the king of trees and was found at a place characterized by sixteen unique features.
He walked with the gait of a great being. It was an undisturbed gait, a gait of the nāga Indrayaṣṭi, a steadfast gait, a gait as stable as Mount Meru, the king of mountains. He walked in a straight line without stumbling, not too fast and not too slow, without stomping heavily or dragging his feet. It was a graceful stride, a stainless stride, a beautiful stride, a stride free from anger, a stride free from delusion, and a stride free from attachment. It was the stride of a lion, the stride of the king of swans, the stride of the king of elephants, the stride of Nārāyaṇa, the stride that floats above the surface, the stride that leaves an impression of a thousand-spoked wheel on the ground, the stride of he whose fingers are connected through a web and who has copper-colored nails, the stride that makes the earth resound, and the stride that crushes the king of the mountains.
The Displays at the Seat of Awakening
Monks, as the Bodhisattva sat down at the seat of awakening, the gods of the six classes within the desire realm decided to protect the Bodhisattva from obstacles. These gods therefore took position in the eastern direction. Likewise the southern, western, and northern directions were taken over by other classes of gods.
Monks, when the Bodhisattva sat down at the seat of awakening, he began to emit a light known as inspiring the bodhisattvas. The light shone in all the ten directions, illuminating all the boundless and immeasurable buddha realms—the realms that filled the entire field of phenomena.
Conquering Māra
Monks, in order to venerate the Bodhisattva, the other bodhisattvas manifested many such displays at the seat of awakening. The Bodhisattva himself, however, caused all the displays that ornamented all the seats of awakening of the past, present, and future buddhas in all the buddha realms in the ten directions to become visible right there at the seat of awakening.
Monks, as the Bodhisattva now sat at the seat of awakening, he thought to himself, “Māra is the supreme lord who holds sway over the desire realm, the most powerful and evil demon. [F.147.b] [300] There is no way that I could attain unsurpassed and complete awakening without his knowledge. So I will now arouse that evil Māra. Once I have conquered him, all the gods in the desire realm will also be restrained. Moreover, there are some gods in Māra’s retinue who have previously created some basic goodness. When they witness my lion-like display, they will direct their minds toward unsurpassed and complete awakening.”
Perfect and Complete Awakening
Monks, once the Bodhisattva had destroyed his demonic opponents, vanquished his enemies, triumphed in the face of battle, and raised high the parasols, standards, and banners of conquest, he settled into the first meditative concentration. That state is free from desires, free of factors connected with evil deeds and nonvirtues, accompanied by thought and analysis, and imbued with the joy and pleasure born of discernment.
Exaltation
Then the gods from the pure realms circumambulated the Thus-Gone One, who sat at the seat of awakening. They showered him with a rain of divine sandalwood powder and praised him with these fitting verses: [358]
Trapuṣa and Bhallika
Monks, while the Thus-Gone One was being praised by the gods after he had reached perfect and complete awakening, he stared at the king of trees without blinking and without getting out of his cross-legged position. Seven days passed in this way while he was at the foot of the Bodhi tree experiencing bliss from the sustenance of concentration and joy.
Then, once the seven days had passed, the gods from the desire realm approached the Thus-Gone One, carrying tens of thousands of vases containing scented water. The gods from the form realm also approached the Thus-Gone One, carrying tens of thousands of vases containing scented water. When they arrived, they bathed the Bodhi tree and the Thus-Gone One with the scented water. Innumerable gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, demigods, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas anointed their own bodies with the scented water that had come into contact with the body of the Thus-Gone One. This engendered among them the intention set on unexcelled, perfect, and complete awakening. Even after the gods and the others had returned to their respective realms, they did not part from the scented water and desired no other scent. [370] Through the joy and the supreme joy that are born from respectfully taking to heart the Thus-Gone One, they became irreversible from unexcelled, perfect, and complete awakening.
Exhortation
Monks, while the Thus-Gone One was seated at the foot of the Bodhi tree, in the privacy of solitude after he had first attained perfect and complete awakening, he had the following thought about the conventions of the world: [F.187.b]
“Alas! This truth that I realized and awakened to is profound, peaceful, tranquil, calm, complete, hard to see, hard to comprehend, and impossible to conceptualize since it is inaccessible to the intellect. Only wise noble ones and adepts can understand it. It is the complete and definitive apprehension of the abandonment of all aggregates, the end of all sensations, the absolute truth, and freedom from a foundation. It is a state of complete peace, free of clinging, free of grasping, unobserved, undemonstrable, uncompounded, beyond the six sense fields, inconceivable, unimaginable, and ineffable. It is indescribable, inexpressible, and incapable of being illustrated. It is unobstructed, beyond all references, a state of interruption through the path of tranquility, and imperceptible like emptiness. It is the exhaustion of craving and it is cessation free of desire. It is nirvāṇa. If I were to teach this truth to others, they would not understand it. Teaching the truth would tire me out and be wrongly contested, and it would be futile. Thus I will remain silent and keep this truth in my heart.”
Turning the Wheel of Dharma
Monks, at that point the Thus-Gone One had accomplished everything he had to do. [F.193.a] With nothing more to achieve, all his fetters had been cut. All negative emotions had been cleared away, along with his mental stains. He had conquered Māra and all hostile forces, and [403] now he joined the Dharma-way of all awakened ones. He had become omniscient and perceived everything. He possessed the ten powers and had discovered the fourfold fearlessness. All the eighteen unique qualities of a buddha had unfolded within him. Equipped with the fivefold vision, he surveyed the entire world with the unobscured eye of an awakened one and began to reflect:
Epilogue
The gods, who had requested this Dharma teaching from the Thus-Gone One, were now gathered for the turning of the wheel of Dharma. In total there were more than 18,000 divine beings from the Pure Realms, led by such beings as Maheśvara, Nanda, Sunanda, Candana, Mahita, Śānta, Praśānta, and Vinīteśvara. At that point the Thus-Gone One addressed the divine beings, headed by Maheśvara, who had come from the pure realms, in the following way: [F.213.b]
Colophon
Colophon to the Sanskrit Edition
Colophon to the Tibetan Translation
This was taught and translated by the Indian preceptors Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Munivarman, and the translator-editor Bandé Yeshé Dé, who proofed and finalized the translation.
Notes
Bibliography
Source Texts
’phags pa rgya cher rol pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryalalitavistaranāmamahāyānasūtra). Toh 95, Degé Kangyur vol. 46 (mdo sde, kha), folios 1b–216b.
’phags pa rgya cher rol pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–2009, vol 46, pp. 3–434.
Lefmann, Salomon (1874). Lalitavistara: Erzählung von dem Leben und der Lehre des Çâkya Simha. Berlin: Dümmler, 1874.
Secondary Sources
Bays, Gwendolyn. The Voice of the Buddha, The Beauty of Compassion: The Lalitavistara Sutra. Tibetan Translation Series, vol. 2. Berkeley, CA: Dharma Publishing, 1983.
Foucaux, Édouard. Le Lalitavistara : l’histoire traditionnelle de la vie du Bouddha Çakyamuni. Les Classiques du bouddhisme mahāyāna, Musée National des Arts Asiatiques Guimet, vol. 19. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1892.
Lefmann, Salomon. Lalita Vistara. Halle: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, 1883.
Mitra, R. L. (1875) The Lalita Vistara. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1998.
Vaidya, P. L. Lalitavistara. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts, vol. 1. Darbhanga: The Mithila Institute, 1958.
Winternitz, Maurice (1927). A History of Indian Literature. 3rd ed. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1991, 2:249–56.
Further Resources
Goswami, Bijoya. Lalitavistara. Bibliotheca Indica Series, vol. 320. Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, 2001.
Khosla, Sarla. Lalitavistara and the Evolution of Buddha Legend. New Delhi: Galaxy Publications, 1991.
Thomas, E. J. “The Lalitavistara and Sarvastivada.” Indian Historical Quarterly 16:2 (1940): 239–45.
Glossary
Ābhāsvara
- ’od gsal
- འོད་གསལ།
- Ābhāsvara
Able One
- thub pa
- ཐུབ་པ།
- muni
Absorption
- ting nge ’dzin
- ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
- samādhi
Acalamati
- blo gros mi gyo ba
- བློ་གྲོས་མི་གྱོ་བ།
- Acalamati
Aḍakavatī
- lcang lo can
- ལྕང་ལོ་ཅན།
- Aḍakavatī
Āditya
- nyi ma
- ཉི་མ།
- Āditya
Aggression
- khro ba
- ཁྲོ་བ།
- krodha
Airāvaṇa
- sa srung gi bu
- ས་སྲུང་གི་བུ།
- Airāvaṇa
Ājīvika mendicant
- kun tu ’tsho ba pa
- ཀུན་ཏུ་འཚོ་བ་པ།
- Ājīvika
A follower of a non-Buddhist mendicant movement.
Ājñātakauṇḍinya
- kun shes kau N+Di nya
- ཀུན་ཤེས་ཀཽ་ཎྜི་ཉ།
- Ājñātakauṇḍinya
Akṣobhyarāja
- mi ’khrugs rgyal
- མི་འཁྲུགས་རྒྱལ།
- Akṣobhyarāja
Alambuśā
- rna cha
- རྣ་ཆ།
- Alambuśā
All-ground
- kun gzhi
- ཀུན་གཞི།
- ālaya
Alms bowl
- lhung bzed
- ལྷུང་བཟེད།
- pātra
Aloe wood
- a ga ru
- ཨ་ག་རུ།
- agaru
Amoghadarśin
- don yod mthong
- དོན་ཡོད་མཐོང་།
- Amoghadarśin
Amogharāja
- don yod rgyal po
- དོན་ཡོད་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- Amogharāja
Anāla
- tsan da ltar
- ཙན་ད་ལྟར།
- Anāla
Ānanda
- kun dga’ bo
- ཀུན་དགའ་བོ།
- Ānanda
Ānandita
- kun tu dga’ byed
- ཀུན་ཏུ་དགའ་བྱེད།
- Ānandita
Anāthapiṇḍada
- mgon med zas sbyin
- མགོན་མེད་ཟས་སྦྱིན།
- Anathapiṇḍada
Anavapta
- ma dros pa
- མ་དྲོས་པ།
- Anavapta
Aṅgiras
- shes ldan
- ཤེས་ལྡན།
- Aṅgiras
Aniruddha
- ma ’gags pa
- མ་འགགས་པ།
- Aniruddha
Anivartin
- phyir mi ldog pa
- ཕྱིར་མི་ལྡོག་པ།
- Anivartin
Antaka
- bdud
- བདུད།
- Antaka
Anumaineya
- rjes su dpag pa
- རྗེས་སུ་དཔག་པ།
- Anumaineya
Anupaśānta
- nye bar zhi ba
- ཉེ་བར་ཞི་བ།
- Anupaśānta
Anurādhā
- lha mtshams
- ལྷ་མཚམས།
- Anurādhā
Aparagodānīya
- ba lang spyod
- བ་ལང་སྤྱོད།
- Aparagodānīya
Aparājitā
- mi pham
- མི་ཕམ།
- Aparājitā
Applications of mindfulness
- dran pa nye bar bzhag pa
- དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་བཞག་པ།
- smṛtyupasthāna
Four contemplations on: (1) the body, (2) feelings, (3) mind, and (4) phenomena. These four contemplations are part of the thirty-seven branches of awakening.
Apratihatanetra
- mig thogs pa med pa
- མིག་ཐོགས་པ་མེད་པ།
- Apratihatanetra
Ārāḍa Kālāma
- sgyu rtsal shes kyi bu ring ’phur
- སྒྱུ་རྩལ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་བུ་རིང་འཕུར།
- Ārāḍa Kālāma
Arati
- dga’ can
- དགའ་ཅན།
- Arati
Arciketu
- spos mchog
- སྤོས་མཆོག
- Arciketu
Arcimat
- ’od ’phro can
- འོད་འཕྲོ་ཅན།
- Arcimat
Ardra
- lag
- ལག
- Ardra
Arjuna
- srid sgrub
- སྲིད་སྒྲུབ།
- Arjuna
Āruṇā
- skya rengs
- སྐྱ་རེངས།
- Āruṇā
Āśā
- nyer gnas
- ཉེར་གནས།
- Āśā
Āṣādhas
- chu smad
- ཆུ་སྨད།
- Āṣādhas
Asita
- nag po
- ནག་པོ།
- Asita
Aśleṣā
- nab so
- ནབ་སོ།
- Aśleṣā
Aspiration
- smon lam
- སྨོན་ལམ།
- praṇidhāna
Aṣṭaṃga
- nub
- ནུབ།
- Aṣṭaṃga
Aśvajit
- rta thul
- རྟ་ཐུལ།
- Aśvajit
Aśvin
- tha skar
- ཐ་སྐར།
- Aśvin
Aśvinī
- bra nye bsten
- བྲ་ཉེ་བསྟེན།
- Aśvinī
Atimuktakamalā
- a ti mug ta ka’i phreng ba can
- ཨ་ཏི་མུག་ཏ་ཀའི་ཕྲེང་བ་ཅན།
- Atimuktakamalā
Atyuccagāmin
- rab mthor gshegs
- རབ་མཐོར་གཤེགས།
- Atyuccagāmin
Avabhāsakara
- snang byed
- སྣང་བྱེད།
- Avabhāsakara
Avatāraprekṣin
- glags lta
- གླགས་ལྟ།
- Avatāraprekṣin
Āyustejas
- ’brug sgra
- འབྲུག་སྒྲ།
- Āyustejas
Balaguptā
- stobs sbed ma
- སྟོབས་སྦེད་མ།
- Balaguptā
Bālāhaka
- sprin gyi shugs can
- སྤྲིན་གྱི་ཤུགས་ཅན།
- Bālāhaka
Bases of miraculous power
- rdzu ’phrul gyi rkang pa
- རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་གྱི་རྐང་པ།
- ṛddhipāda
- ṛddhipada
Determination, discernment, diligence, and meditative concentration.
Bāṣpa
- rlangs pa
- རླངས་པ།
- Bāṣpa
Bayur tree
- dong ka’i shing
- དོང་ཀའི་ཤིང་།
- karṇikāra
Beneficial activity
- don spyad pa
- དོན་སྤྱད་པ།
- arthakriyā
Beryl
- be du rya
- བེ་དུ་རྱ།
- vaiḍūrya
Bhadraṃkara gem
- rin po che bzang byed
- རིན་པོ་ཆེ་བཟང་བྱེད།
- ratnabhadraṃkara
Bhadrasena
- sde bzang po
- སྡེ་བཟང་པོ།
- Bhadrasena
Bhadrika
- bzang po
- བཟང་པོ།
- Bhadrika
Bhaiṣajyarāja
- sman gyi rgyal
- སྨན་གྱི་རྒྱལ།
- Bhaiṣajyarāja
Bhallika
- bzang po
- བཟང་པོ།
- Bhallika
Bharaṇī
- bra nye
- བྲ་ཉེ།
- Bharaṇī
Bhayaṃkara
- ’jigs byed
- འཇིགས་བྱེད།
- Bhayaṃkara
Bhīmasena
- ’jigs sde
- འཇིགས་སྡེ།
- Bhīmasena
Bhṛgu
- rab ’gro
- རབ་འགྲོ།
- Bhṛgu
Bhūta
- ’byung po
- འབྱུང་པོ།
- bhūta
A class of spirit.
Bimba
- bim pa
- བིམ་པ།
- bimba
Peach
Bimbisāra
- gzugs can snying po
- གཟུགས་ཅན་སྙིང་པོ།
- Bimbisāra
Blessed One
- bcom ldan ’das
- བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།
- bhagavān
Sometimes also translated “Lord.”
Bliss-Gone One
- bde bar gshegs pa
- བདེ་བར་གཤེགས་པ།
- sugata
Bodhi
- byang chub
- བྱང་ཆུབ།
- bodhi
Brahmā
- tshangs pa
- ཚངས་པ།
- Brahmā
Brahma Realm
- tshangs ris
- ཚངས་རིས།
- brahmakāyika
Brahmadatta
- tshangs pas byin
- ཚངས་པས་བྱིན།
- Brahmadatta
Brahmamati
- tshangs pa’i blo gros
- ཚངས་པའི་བློ་གྲོས།
- Brahmamati
Brahmarṣi
- tshangs pa’i drang srong
- ཚངས་པའི་དྲང་སྲོང་།
- brahmarṣi
Brahmatejas
- sgra snyan
- སྒྲ་སྙན།
- Brahmatejas
Brahmottara
- tshangs mchog
- ཚངས་མཆོག
- Brahmottara
Caityaka
- ’od ’phro’i tog
- འོད་འཕྲོའི་ཏོག
- Caityaka
Campaka
- tsam pa ka
- ཙམ་པ་ཀ
- campaka
A tree, Magnolia champaca, with attractive cream or yellow-orange flowers used in India for offerings, decoration, and perfume.
Campakavarṇā
- me tog tsam pa ka’i kha dog
- མེ་ཏོག་ཙམ་པ་ཀའི་ཁ་དོག
- Campakavarṇā
Candana
- tsan dan
- ཙན་དན།
- Candana
Candra
- zla ba
- ཟླ་བ།
- Candra
Candraprabha
- zla ba’i ’od
- ཟླ་བའི་འོད།
- Candraprabha
Candrasūryajihmīkaraprabha
- nyi zla zil du rlag par byed pa’i ’od dang ldan pa
- ཉི་ཟླ་ཟིལ་དུ་རླག་པར་བྱེད་པའི་འོད་དང་ལྡན་པ།
- Candrasūryajihmīkaraprabha
Celestial palace
- gzhal med khang
- གཞལ་མེད་ཁང་།
- vimāna
Chanda
- dun pa
- དུན་པ།
- Chanda
Citrā
- ga pa
- ག་པ།
- Citrā
Clay kettledrum
- rdza rnga
- རྫ་རྔ།
- mṛdaṃga
Cloudless Heaven
- sprin med
- སྤྲིན་མེད།
- Anabhraka
Conscientious
- bag yod
- བག་ཡོད།
- apramāda
Cool pavillion
- bsil khang
- བསིལ་ཁང་།
- harmya
Craving
- sred pa
- སྲེད་པ།
- tṛṣṇā
Crown cannot be seen
- spyi gtsug bltar mi mthong ba
- སྤྱི་གཙུག་བལྟར་མི་མཐོང་བ།
- anavalokitamūrdhatā
A feature of the uṣṇīṣa whereby its top, or its upward extent, cannot be seen.
Crown extension
- gtsug tor
- གཙུག་ཏོར།
- uṣṇīṣa, uṣṇīṣaśīrṣa
A feature of the head often depicted as a topknot or a protrusion on the crown, sometimes understood as describing the lofty shape of the head; the Sanskrit term signifies that the head is “like a turban.” One of the thirty-two marks of a great being.
Cuckoo bird
- khyu byug
- ཁྱུ་བྱུག
- kokila
Cunda
- skul byed
- སྐུལ་བྱེད།
- Cunda
Dānaśīla
- dA na shI la
- དཱ་ན་ཤཱི་ལ།
- Dānaśīla
Daṇḍaka
- dan da ka
- དན་ད་ཀ
- Daṇḍaka
Daṇḍapāṇi
- lag na be con can
- ལག་ན་བེ་ཅོན་ཅན།
- Daṇḍapāṇi
Datṛmadaṇḍika
- gdul ba’i be con can
- གདུལ་བའི་བེ་ཅོན་ཅན།
- Datṛmadaṇḍika
Demigod
- lha ma yin
- ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།
- asura
The traditional adversaries of the devas (gods) who are frequently portrayed in the Brahmanical mythology as having a disruptive effect on cosmological and social harmony.
Demon
- bdud
- བདུད།
- māra
Dependent origination
- rten cing ’brel bar ’byung ba
- རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ།
- pratītyasamutpāda
The relative nature of phenomena, which arises in dependence upon causes and conditions. Together with the four noble truths, this was the first teaching given by the Buddha.
Devadatta
- lhas byin
- ལྷས་བྱིན།
- Devadatta
Devarṣi
- lha’i drang srong
- ལྷའི་དྲང་སྲོང་།
- devarṣi
Devī
- lha mo
- ལྷ་མོ།
- Devī
Dhaniṣṭhā
- mon gru
- མོན་གྲུ།
- Dhaniṣṭhā
Dhāraṇī
- gzungs
- གཟུངས།
- dhāraṇī
A statement, or spell, meant to protect or bring about a particular result; also refers to extraordinary skills regarding retention of the teachings.
Dharaṇīśvararāja
- gzung kyi dbang phyug rgyal po
- གཟུང་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- Dharaṇīśvararāja
Dharmacārin
- chos spyod
- ཆོས་སྤྱོད།
- Dharmacārin
Dharmacinti
- chos sems
- ཆོས་སེམས།
- Dharmacinti
Dharmadhvaja
- ’od zer rgyal mtshan
- འོད་ཟེར་རྒྱལ་མཚན།
- Dharmadhvaja
Dharmakāma
- chos ’dod
- ཆོས་འདོད།
- Dharmakāma
Dharmaketu
- chos kyi tog
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཏོག
- Dharmaketu
Dharmamati
- chos kyi blo gros
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས།
- Dharmamati
Dharmarati
- chos dags
- ཆོས་དགས།
- Dharmarati
Dharmaruci
- chos sred
- ཆོས་སྲེད།
- Dharmaruci
Dharmeśvara
- chos kyi dbang phyug
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག
- Dharmeśvara
Dharmoccaya
- chos kyis mtho ba
- ཆོས་ཀྱིས་མཐོ་བ།
- Dharmoccaya
Dhṛtarāṣṭra
- yul ’khor srung
- ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྲུང་།
- Dhṛtarāṣṭra
Dhvajavatī
- rgyal mtshan ldan pa
- རྒྱལ་མཚན་ལྡན་པ།
- Dhvajavatī
Diligence
- brtson ’grus
- བརྩོན་འགྲུས།
- vīrya
Dīpaṃkara
- mar me mdzad
- མར་མེ་མཛད།
- Dīpaṃkara
Dīptavīrya
- brtson ’grus ’bar
- བརྩོན་འགྲུས་འབར།
- Dīptavīrya
Dīrghabāhugarvita
- lag rings kyis bsgyings
- ལག་རིངས་ཀྱིས་བསྒྱིངས།
- Dīrghabāhugarvita
Discipline
- tshul khrims
- ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།
- śīla
Disciplined conduct
- brtul zhugs
- བརྟུལ་ཞུགས།
- vrata
Display of Gems
- rin po che sna tshogs bkod pa
- རིན་པོ་ཆེ་སྣ་ཚོགས་བཀོད་པ།
- nānāratnavyūha
Divine siddha
- lha dang grub
- ལྷ་དང་གྲུབ།
- surasiddha
Dṛḍhadhanu
- nor brtan
- ནོར་བརྟན།
- Dṛḍhadhanu
Dṛḍhavīryatā
- snums
- སྣུམས།
- Dṛḍhavīryatā
Dullness
- gti mug
- གཏི་མུག
- moha
Dundubhisvara
- rnga dbyangs ldan pa
- རྔ་དབྱངས་ལྡན་པ།
- Dundubhisvara
Durjaya
- rgyal bar dga’
- རྒྱལ་བར་དགའ།
- Durjaya
Durmati
- blo gros ngan pa
- བློ་གྲོས་ངན་པ།
- Durmati
Duścintitacintin
- nyes par bsam pa sems pa
- ཉེས་པར་བསམ་པ་སེམས་པ།
- Duścintitacintin
Eight fears
- ’jigs pa brgyad
- འཇིགས་པ་བརྒྱད།
- aṣṭabhaya
Fear of lions, elephants, fire, snakes, drowning, bondage, thieves, and demons.
Eight precepts
- yan lag brgyad
- ཡན་ལག་བརྒྱད།
- aṣṭāṅgapoṣadha
Abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, intoxication, eating after noon, dancing and singing, and lying on an elevated bed.
Eight worldly concerns
- ’jig rten gyi chos brgyad
- འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་ཆོས་བརྒྱད།
- aṣṭalokadharma
Hoping for happiness, fame, praise and gain and fearing suffering, insignificance, blame and loss.
Eight-legged lion beast
- ri dags ldang sko ska
- རི་དགས་ལྡང་སྐོ་སྐ།
- śarabha
Eightfold path of the noble ones
- ’phags pa’i lam yan lag brgyad
- འཕགས་པའི་ལམ་ཡན་ལག་བརྒྱད།
- āryāṣṭāṅgamārga
Correct view, intention, speech, actions, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration.
Ekādaśā
- cha med gcig
- ཆ་མེད་གཅིག
- Ekādaśā
Ekāgramati
- blo gros rtse gcig pa
- བློ་གྲོས་རྩེ་གཅིག་པ།
- Ekāgramati
Elixir
- bcud
- བཅུད།
- rasa
Envy
- phrag dog
- ཕྲག་དོག
- īrṣyā
Eon
- bskal pa
- བསྐལ་པ།
- kalpa
Equanimity
- btang snyoms
- བཏང་སྙོམས།
- upekṣā
The antidote to attachment and aversion; a mental state free from bias toward sentient beings.
Equipoise
- snyoms ’jug
- སྙོམས་འཇུག
- samāpatti
Faculty
- dbang po
- དབང་པོ།
- indriya
Fig tree
- blag sha
- བླག་ཤ།
- plakṣa
Five aggregates
- phung po lnga
- ཕུང་པོ་ལྔ།
- pañcaskandha
Form, feeling, perception, formation and consciousness.
Five ascetic companions
- lnga sde bzang po
- ལྔ་སྡེ་བཟང་པོ།
- pañcakā bhadravargīyāḥ
The first five disciples of the Buddha Śakyamuni who had been his companions earlier during his period of ascetic practice.
Five basic precepts
- bslab pa’i gzhi lnga
- བསླབ་པའི་གཞི་ལྔ།
- pañcaśikṣāpada
Abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and intoxication.
Five extraordinary abilities
- mngon par shes pa lnga
- མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པ་ལྔ།
- pañcābhijña
Divine sight, divine hearing, the ability to know past and future lives, the ability to know the minds of others, and the ability to produce miracles.
Five faculties
- dbang po lnga
- དབང་པོ་ལྔ།
- pañcendriya
Faith, diligence, mindfulness, absorption, and knowledge.
Fivefold vision
- spyan lnga
- སྤྱན་ལྔ།
- pañcacakṣuḥ
Flag
- ba dan
- བ་དན།
- patākā
Flanks
- glo
- གློ།
- pārśva
Flower of the aśoka tree
- mya ngan med pa’i me tog
- མྱ་ངན་མེད་པའི་མེ་ཏོག
- aśokakusuma
- aśokapuṣpa
Flute
- rgyud gcig pa
- རྒྱུད་གཅིག་པ།
- tūṇava
Fortunate
- bkra shis dang ldan pa
- བཀྲ་ཤིས་དང་ལྡན་པ།
- maṅgalya
Four communions with Brahmā
- tshangs pa’i gnas pa bzhi
- ཚངས་པའི་གནས་པ་བཞི།
- catvurbrahmavihāra
Love, compassion, joy, and equanimity.
Four noble truths
- ’phags pa’i bden pa bzhi
- འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞི།
- caturāryasatya
The first teaching of the Buddha, covering suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path to the cessation of suffering.
Four truths of the noble ones
- ’phags pa’i bden pa bzhi
- འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞི།
- caturāryasatya
The first teaching of the Buddha, covering suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path to the cessation of suffering.
Four ways of attracting students
- bsdu ba’i dngos po bzhi
- བསྡུ་བའི་དངོས་པོ་བཞི།
- catuḥsaṃgrahavastu
Generosity, kind talk, meaningful actions, and practicing what one preaches.
Fourfold fearlessness
- mi ’jigs pa bzhi
- མི་འཇིགས་པ་བཞི།
- caturabhaya
Fearlessness in declaring that one has (1) awakened, (2) ceased all illusions, (3) taught the obstacles to awakening, and (4) shown the way to liberation.
Gagaṇagañja
- nam mkha’ mdzod
- ནམ་མཁའ་མཛོད།
- Gagaṇagañja
Gandhamādana
- spos kyi ngad ldang ba
- སྤོས་ཀྱི་ངད་ལྡང་བ།
- Gandhamādana
Gandharva
- dri za
- དྲི་ཟ།
- gandharva
Lower class of divine being, under the control of the Guardian King of the East. Capable of flight, they are often described as “celestial musicians.”
Gaṇendra
- tshogs kyi dbang po
- ཚོགས་ཀྱི་དབང་པོ།
- Gaṇendra
Ganges
- gang gA
- གང་གཱ།
- Gaṅgā
Garuḍa
- nam mkha’ lding
- ནམ་མཁའ་ལྡིང་།
- garuḍa
Lower class of divine being, described as an eagle-type bird with a gigantic wingspan. They were traditionally enemies of the nāgas. In the Vedas, they were thought to have brought nectar from the heavens to earth.
Gate of Auspiciousness
- bkra shis kyi sgo
- བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཀྱི་སྒོ།
- Maṅgaladvāra
Gate of Warm Water
- chu dron can gyi sgo
- ཆུ་དྲོན་ཅན་གྱི་སྒོ།
- Tapodadvāra
Gautama
- gau ta ma
- གཽ་ཏ་མ།
- Gautama
Gavāṃpati
- ba lang bdag
- བ་ལང་བདག
- Gavāṃpati
Gaya
- ga yA
- ག་ཡཱ།
- Gayā
Gayākāśyapa
- ga y’a ’od srung
- ག་ཡའ་འོད་སྲུང་།
- Gayākāśyapa
Generosity
- sbyin pa
- སྦྱིན་པ།
- dāna
God
- lha
- lha’i bu
- ལྷ།
- ལྷའི་བུ།
- Kauṇḍinyadeva
- devaputra
Godānīya
- ba lang spyod
- བ་ལང་སྤྱོད།
- Godānīya
Gods of the Highest Heaven
- ’og min gyi lha
- འོག་མིན་གྱི་ལྷ།
- Akaniṣṭhānāṃ devānām
Gopā
- sa ’tsho ma
- ས་འཚོ་མ།
- Gopā
Gorgeous Heaven
- shin tu mthong
- ཤིན་ཏུ་མཐོང་།
- Sudarśana
Great being
- sems pa chen po
- སེམས་པ་ཆེན་པོ།
- mahāsattva
An alternate name for a bodhisattva.
Great Brahma
- tshangs chen
- ཚངས་ཆེན།
- Mahābrahma
Great Brahmā
- tshangs chen
- ཚངས་ཆེན།
- mahābrahma
Great trichiliocosm
- stong gsum gyi stong chen po
- སྟོང་གསུམ་གྱི་སྟོང་ཆེན་པོ།
- trisāhasramahāsāhasralokadhātu
The largest universe spoken of in Buddhist cosmology, consisting of one billion smaller world systems.
Guardians of the world
- ’jig rten skyong ba
- འཇིག་རྟེན་སྐྱོང་བ།
- lokapāla
Guṅāgradhāri
- yon tan mchog ldan
- ཡོན་ཏན་མཆོག་ལྡན།
- Guṅāgradhāri
Guṇākarā
- yon tan gyi ’byung gnas
- ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་འབྱུང་གནས།
- Guṇākarā
Guṇaketu
- yon tan ’byung gnas
- ཡོན་ཏན་འབྱུང་གནས།
- Guṇaketu
Guṇamati
- yon tan gyi blo gros
- ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་བློ་གྲོས།
- Guṇamati
Guṇarājaprabhāsa
- yon tan gyi rgyal po snang ba
- ཡོན་ཏན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ་སྣང་བ།
- Guṇarājaprabhāsa
Guṇarāśi
- yon tan phung po
- ཡོན་ཏན་ཕུང་པོ།
- Guṇarāśi
Hārītī
- ’phrog ma
- འཕྲོག་མ།
- Hārītī
Hastā
- dbo
- དབོ།
- Hastā
Hastināpura
- hasti na pu ra
- ཧསྟི་ན་པུ་ར།
- Hastināpura
Hearer
- nyan thos
- ཉན་ཐོས།
- śrāvaka
A follower of the early teachings of the Buddha, focusing on the monastic lifestyle. Also translated as “listener.”
Heaven Free from Strife
- ’thab bral
- འཐབ་བྲལ།
- Yāma
The lowest of the heavenly realms. Characterized by freedom from difficulty.
Heaven Fully Free from Strife
- ’thab bral rab
- འཐབ་བྲལ་རབ།
- Suyāmā
Heaven of Concept-Free Beings
- sems can ’du shes med pa
- སེམས་ཅན་འདུ་ཤེས་མེད་པ།
- Asaṃjñisattva
Heaven of Delighting in Emanations
- ’phrul dga’
- འཕྲུལ་དགའ།
- Nirmāṇarati
Heaven of Great Fruition
- ’bras bu che
- འབྲས་བུ་ཆེ།
- Bṛhatphala
Heaven of Increased Merit
- bsod nams skyes
- བསོད་ནམས་སྐྱེས།
- Puṇyaprasava
Heaven of Joy
- dga’ ldan
- དགའ་ལྡན།
- Tuṣita
Heaven of Limited Virtue
- dge chung
- དགེ་ཆུང་།
- Parīttaśubha
Heaven of Limitless Virtue
- tshad med dge
- ཚད་མེད་དགེ
- Apramāṇaśubha
Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations
- gzhan ’phrul dbang byed pa
- གཞན་འཕྲུལ་དབང་བྱེད་པ།
- Paranirmitavaśavartin
Heaven of No Hardship
- mi gdung ba
- མི་གདུང་བ།
- Atapa
Heaven of Perfected Virtue
- dge rgyas
- དགེ་རྒྱས།
- Śubhakṛtsna
Heaven of the Four Great Kings
- rgyal chen bzhi’i ris
- རྒྱལ་ཆེན་བཞིའི་རིས།
- Caturmahārājika
Heaven of the Thirty-Three
- sum cu rtsa gsum
- སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གསུམ།
- Trāyastriṃśa
Hell of Ultimate Torment
- mnar med
- མནར་མེད།
- Avīci
Hemajālālaṃkṛta
- gser gyi dra bas brgyan pa
- གསེར་གྱི་དྲ་བས་བརྒྱན་པ།
- Hemajālālaṃkṛta
Hemajālapratichannā
- gser gyi dra bas khebs pa
- གསེར་གྱི་དྲ་བས་ཁེབས་པ།
- Hemajālapratichannā
Hemavarṇa
- gser mdog
- གསེར་མདོག
- Hemavarṇa
Highest Heaven
- ’og min
- འོག་མིན།
- Akaniṣṭha
Hill of the Fallen Sages
- drang srong lhung ba
- དྲང་སྲོང་ལྷུང་བ།
- Ṛṣipatana
Himavat
- gangs ri
- གངས་རི།
- Himavat
Householder
- khyim bdag
- ཁྱིམ་བདག
- gṛhapati
Hṛīdeva
- khrel yod pa’i lha
- ཁྲེལ་ཡོད་པའི་ལྷ།
- Hṛīdeva
Hypocrisy
- ’chab pa
- འཆབ་པ།
- mrakṣa
Ignorance
- ma rig pa
- མ་རིག་པ།
- avidyā
Ikṣvāku
- bu ram shing pa
- བུ་རམ་ཤིང་པ།
- Ikṣvāku
Ilādevī
- rab chags lha mo
- རབ་ཆགས་ལྷ་མོ།
- Ilādevī
Ill will
- gnod sems
- གནོད་སེམས།
- vyāpāda
Maliciousness, malevolence, vindictiveness.
Indra
- dbang po
- དབང་པོ།
- Indra
Indrajālin
- dbang po’i dra ba can
- དབང་པོའི་དྲ་བ་ཅན།
- Indrajālin
Indraketu
- bang po’i tog
- བང་པོའི་ཏོག
- Indraketu
Indrayaṣṭi
- dbang po’i mchod sdong
- དབང་པོའི་མཆོད་སྡོང་།
- Indrayaṣṭi
Intelligence
- blo gros
- བློ་གྲོས།
- mati
Īśvara
- dbang phyug
- དབང་ཕྱུག
- Īśvara
Jambū
- ’dzam
- འཛམ།
- Jambū
- Jāmbū
Jambudvīpa
- ’dzam bu’i gling
- འཛམ་བུའི་གླིང་།
- Jambudvīpa
Jasmine
- sna ma
- སྣ་མ།
- mālatī
Jāṭilikā
- ral bu can
- རལ་བུ་ཅན།
- Jāṭilikā
Jayantī
- rgyal
- རྒྱལ།
- Jayantī
Jeṣṭhā
- snron
- སྣྲོན།
- Jeṣṭhā
Jeta Grove
- rgyal bu rgyal byed kyi tshal
- རྒྱལ་བུ་རྒྱལ་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ཚལ།
- jetavana
Jinamitra
- dzi na mi tra
- ཛི་ན་མི་ཏྲ།
- Jinamitra
Jinavaktra
- dmag tshogs las rgyal
- དམག་ཚོགས་ལས་རྒྱལ།
- Jinavaktra
Jitaśatru
- dgra las rgyal
- དགྲ་ལས་རྒྱལ།
- Jitaśatru
Jñānaketu
- ye shes tog
- ཡེ་ཤེས་ཏོག
- Jñānaketu
Jñānaketudhvaja
- ye shes tog gi rgyal mtshan
- ཡེ་ཤེས་ཏོག་གི་རྒྱལ་མཚན།
- Jñānaketudhvaja
Jñānameru
- ye shes lhun
- ཡེ་ཤེས་ལྷུན།
- Jñānameru
Joy
- dga’ ba
- དགའ་བ།
- muditā
- tuṣṭi
- nandana
- rati
Kācilindika
- ka tsa lin di
- ཀ་ཙ་ལིན་དི།
- kācilindika
An epithet for softness, probably in reference, direct or metaphorical, to the down of the kācilindika bird (see Lamotte, Etienne. La Concentration de la Marche Héroïque. Bruxelles: Peeters (1975), p261, n321).
Kailāśa
- ti se
- ཏི་སེ།
- Kailāśa
Kakubha tree
- shing sgrub byed
- ཤིང་སྒྲུབ་བྱེད།
- kakubha
Kālika
- nag po
- ནག་པོ།
- Kālika
Kampila
- ’ug pa
- འུག་པ།
- Kampila
The name of one of the Buddha’s arhat disciples, a former king, renowned as foremost among those who teach monks. This spelling is attested in the present text but in other texts his name is spelled Mahākapphiṇa, Kapphiṇa, Kapphina, Kaphiṇa, Kasphiṇa, Kaṃphina, Kaphilla, or Kaphiṇḍa.
Kanakamuni
- gser thub
- གསེར་ཐུབ།
- Kanakamuni
Kaṇṭhaka
- bsngags ldan
- བསྔགས་ལྡན།
- Kaṇṭhaka
Kapilavastu
- ser skya
- སེར་སྐྱ།
- Kapilavastu
The capital city of the Śākya kingdom, where the Bodhisattva grew up.
Kāśi
- gsal ldan
- ka shi
- གསལ་ལྡན།
- ཀ་ཤི།
- Kāśi
Kāśyapa
- ’od srung
- འོད་སྲུང་།
- Kāśyapa
Katyāyanī
- ka tya’i bu
- ཀ་ཏྱའི་བུ།
- Katyāyanī
Kauṇḍinya
- kau N+Di n+ya
- ཀཽ་ཎྜི་ནྱ།
- Kauṇḍinya
See also Ajñātakauṇḍinya.
Kauśika
- kau shi ka
- ཀཽ་ཤི་ཀ
- Kauśika
Kauṣṭhila
- gsus po che
- གསུས་པོ་ཆེ།
- Kauṣṭhila
Keśarin
- ral pa can
- རལ་པ་ཅན།
- Keśarin
Kettledrum
- rgyud gsum pa
- རྒྱུད་གསུམ་པ།
- bherī
Keyūrabala
- dpung rgyan stobs
- དཔུང་རྒྱན་སྟོབས།
- Keyūrabala
Khadiravaṇika
- seng ldeng nags pa
- སེང་ལྡེང་ནགས་པ།
- Khadiravaṇika
Kinnara
- mi ’am ci
- མི་འམ་ཅི།
- kinnara
- kiṃnara
A class of semidivine beings that resemble humans to the degree that their very name—which means “Is that a man?”—suggests some confusion as to their divine status.
Kimpala
- kim pa la
- ཀིམ་པ་ལ།
- kimpala
A musical instrument, of an unidentified kind though sometimes translated “cymbals.”
Kīrti
- grags pa
- གྲགས་པ།
- Kīrti
Kośala
- ko sa la
- ཀོ་ས་ལ།
- Kośala
Krakucchanda
- ’khor ba ’jig
- འཁོར་བ་འཇིག
- Krakucchanda
Kṛṣṇa
- nag po
- ནག་པོ།
- Kṛṣṇa
Kṛṣṇā Draupadī
- gnag dang stabs myur srid
- གནག་དང་སྟབས་མྱུར་སྲིད།
- Kṛṣṇā Draupadī
Kṛṣṇabandhu
- nag po
- ནག་པོ།
- Kṛṣṇabandhu
Kṛttikā
- smin drug
- སྨིན་དྲུག
- Kṛttikā
Kubera
- lus ngan
- ལུས་ངན།
- Kubera
Kumāra
- gzhon nu
- གཞོན་ནུ།
- Kumāra
Kumbhakārī
- rdza byed ma
- རྫ་བྱེད་མ།
- Kumbhakārī
Kumbhāṇḍa
- grul bum
- གྲུལ་བུམ།
- kumbhāṇḍa
A class of dwarf beings subordinate to the Guardian King of the South. The name uses a play on the word āṇḍa, which means egg but is a euphemism for testicle. Thus, they are often depicted as having testicles as big as pots (from khumba, or “pot”).
Kunāla bird
- ku na la
- ཀུ་ན་ལ།
- kunāla
Himalayan bird with beautiful bright eyes.
Kuru
- sgra mi snyan
- སྒྲ་མི་སྙན།
- Kuru
Lalitavyūha
- rtse ba bkod pa
- རྩེ་བ་བཀོད་པ།
- Lalitavyūha
League
- dpag tshad
- དཔག་ཚད།
- yojana
Limited Light
- ’od chung
- འོད་ཆུང་།
- Parīttābha
Limitless Light
- tshad med ’od
- ཚད་མེད་འོད།
- Apramāṇābha
Listener
- nyan thos
- ཉན་ཐོས།
- śrāvaka
A follower of the early teachings of the Buddha, focusing on the monastic lifestyle. Also translated as “hearer.”
Lokābhilāṣita
- ’jig rten mngon par smon
- འཇིག་རྟེན་མངོན་པར་སྨོན།
- Lokābhilāṣita
Lokapūjita
- ’jig rten mchod
- འཇིག་རྟེན་མཆོད།
- Lokapūjita
Lokasundara
- ’jig rten mdzes
- འཇིག་རྟེན་མཛེས།
- Lokasundara
Lord of Death
- gshin rje
- གཤིན་རྗེ།
- Yāma
From Vedic times, the Lord of Death who directs the departed into the next realm of rebirth.
Lower realms
- ngan song
- ངན་སོང་།
- apāya
- durgati
Lumbinī
- lum bi ni
- ལུམ་བི་ནི།
- Lumbinī
The birth place of the Bodhisattva, located in southern Nepal.
Luminous Heaven
- ’od gsal
- འོད་གསལ།
- ābhāsvara
Lute
- pi bang
- པི་བང་།
- vīṇā
A traditional Indian stringed instrument, much like a sitar.
Madhuranirghoṣa
- dbyangs snyan
- དབྱངས་སྙན།
- Madhuranirghoṣa
Madhusaṃbhava
- sbrang rtsi ’byung
- སྦྲང་རྩི་འབྱུང་།
- Madhusaṃbhava