The Basket’s Display
Glossary

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means descriptions of miracles.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

In the Vedas, the name originally meant “child of Aditi” so that in some texts it refers to a group of deities. However, in the Kāraṇḍavyūha it has the later meaning of being synonymous with Surya, the deity of the sun. It was translated into Tibetan simply as the common word for sun.

Negative qualities in the mind, the basic three being ignorance, attachment, and aversion.

The constituents that make up a being’s existence: form, sensations, identifications, mental activities, and consciousnesses.

The Vedic deity of fire. The name can also mean fire, particularly the sacrificial fire.

This might be a variation on the name for the third of the eight hot hells, the “crushing hell,” (Tib. bsdus ’joms, Skt. saṃghāta) as the name occurs in no other sūtra than the Kāraṇḍavyūha.

The divine nectar that prevents death.

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

Anāthapiṇḍada was a wealthy merchant in the town of Śrāvastī, who became a patron of Buddha Śākyamuni. He bought the Jeta Park there to be the Buddha’s first monastery. He is better known in the West by the alternative Pāli form Anāthapiṇḍika.

This is the name for epilepsy, but also refers to the demon that causes epilepsy and loss of consciousness, as in the Kāraṇḍavyūha. The Tibetan specifically means “causing forgetting.”

The “apsarases” are popular figures in Indian culture, they are said to be goddesses of the clouds and water and to be wives of the gandharvas. However, in the Kāraṇḍavyūha, they are presented as the female equivalent of the devas. Therefore the Tibetan has translated them as if the word were devī (“goddess’’).

Used as both an epithet of the Buddha and the final accomplishment of early Buddhism, or the Hīnayāna.

The asuras are the enemies of the devas, fighting with them for supremacy.

As one of the twelve aspects of Dharma, it means stories of previous lives of beings.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

First appeared as a bodhisattva beside Amitābha in the Sukhāvativyūha. The name has been variously interpreted. “The lord of Avalokita,” Avalokita has been interpreted as “seeing,” although, as a past passive participle, it is literally “lord of what has been seen.” One of the principal sūtras in the Mahāsamghika tradition was the Avalokita Sūtra, which has not been translated into Tibetan, in which the word is a synonym for enlightenment, as it is “that which has been seen” by the buddhas. In the early tantras, he was one of the lords of the three families, as the embodiment of the compassion of the buddhas. The Potalaka Mountain in South India became important in Southern Indian Buddhism as his residence in this world, but Potalaka does not feature in the Kāraṇḍavyūha.

The lowest hell, translated in two different ways within the sūtra and in the Mahāvyutpatti concordance, although mnar med became the standard form.

Bali wrested control of the world from the devas, establishing a period of peace and prosperity with no caste distinction. Indra requested Viṣṇu to use his wiles so that the devas could gain the world back from him. He appeared as a dwarf asking for two steps of ground, was offered three, and then traversed the world in two steps. Bali, keeping faithful to his promise, accepted the banishment of the asuras into the underworld. A great festival is held in Bali’s honor annually in South India. In the Kāraṇḍavyūha, he abuses his power by imprisoning the kṣatriyas, so that Viṣṇu has cause to banish him to the underworld.

“One who has bhaga,” which has many diverse meanings including “good fortune,” “happiness,” and “majesty.” In the Buddhist context, it means one who has the good fortune of attaining enlightenment. The Tibetan translation has three syllables defined to mean “one who has conquered (the maras), possesses (the qualities of enlightenment), and has transcended (saṃsāra, or both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa).

A level of enlightenment, usually referring to the ten levels of the enlightened bodhisattvas.

This can be a general name for spirits or demons, but is also used specifically for ghosts.

A person who is dedicated not merely to attaining liberation through attaining the state of an arhat, but to becoming a buddha. A name created from the Sanskritization of the middle-Indic bodhisatto, the Sanskrit equivalent of which was bodhisakta, “one who is fixed on enlightenment.”

The personification of the universal force of Brahman, who became a higher deity than Indra, the supreme deity of the early Vedas.

A member of the priestly class or caste from the four social divisions of India.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The term “universal monarch” denotes a just and pious king who rules over the universe according to the laws of Dharma. Such a monarch is called a cakravartin because he wields a disk (cakra) that rolls (vartana) over continents, worlds, and world systems, bringing them under his power. A universal monarch is often considered the worldly, political correlate of a buddha. (Provisional 84000 definition. New definition forthcoming.)

The deity of the moon, as well as the moon itself. In the Kāraṇḍavyūha, when Avalokiteśvara emanates Candra, it is the deity that is meant.

A well-known site of pilgrimage in Bengal. Candradvīpa was a prosperous kingdom with Buddhist sites, located on what is now the south coast of Bangladesh, centered on the Barisal district.

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

In the higher tantras they are portrayed as keepers of tantric teachings or embodiments of enlightenment. Otherwise in Indian culture, however, they are possibly dangerous female spirits haunting crossroads and charnel grounds, and are in Kāli’s retinue.

“The son of Daśaratha” is actually Rāma. At the point in the Kāraṇḍavyūha where Nārāyaṇa, really Viṣṇu, rescues the kṣatriyas, he is inexplicably called by this name, which may reference a Rāma story. Rāma came to be viewed as one of the ten incarnations of Nārāyaṇa.

A being in the realms above the human-inhabited world.

An alternative name for vidyā (knowledge) and synonymous with mantra.

In early Buddhism a section of the Saṅgha would be bhāṇakas, who, particularly before the teachings were written down and were transmitted solely orally, were the key factor in the preservation of the teachings. Various groups of bhāṇakas specialized in memorizing and reciting a certain set of sūtras or vinaya.

A gong, or a wooden block or beam, sounded to call the community together for a teaching or other assembly.

In distinction to the rūpakāya, or form body of a buddha, this is the eternal imperceptible realization of a buddha. In origin it was a term for the presence of the Dharma, and has come to become synonymous with the true nature.

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

One of the synonyms for meditation, referring to a state of mental stability.

The five extremely negative actions which, once those who have committed them die, result in their going immediately to the hells without experiencing the intermediate state. They are killing an arhat, killing one’s mother, killing one’s father, creating schism in the Saṅgha, and maliciously drawing blood from a tathāgata’s body.

Four deities on the base of Mount Meru, each one the guardian of his direction: Vaiśravaṇa in the north, Dhṛtarāṣṭra in the east; Virūpākṣa in the west; and Virūḍhaka in the south.

For someone to be accepted into the Saṅgha, and for any other action that needs the assent of the Saṅgha, first a motion (jñāpti; gsol ba) is presented to the community, for example, a certain person’s wish for ordination. The motion would be followed by three propositions, in which is it said that all who assent should remain silent. If no one speaks up after the third proposition, the motion is passed. The Tibetan translated it literally as “supplication and fourth.”

In the Kāraṇḍavyūha it is the name of both a bodhisattva and a samādhi. In this sūtra the bodhisattva is a pupil of Buddha Viśvabhū, but he is also portrayed in other sūtras receiving teaching from Śākyamuni, and is one of the sixteen bodhisattvas in the Vairocana maṇḍala.

A race of deities who are particularly known to be musicians.

One of the races of supernatural beings said to come to listen to the Buddha’s teachings; it is a bird with humanoid features, gigantic in size.

As a personal name this refers to the deity who is said to be the ancestor of all birds and became the steed of Viṣṇu; he is also worshipped in his own right.

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means those teachings given in verse.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means the repletion of prose passages in verse form.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

A particular kind of sandalwood, known as “ox-head,” that grows in southern India. It is reddish in color and has medicinal properties. It is said to have the finest fragrance of all sandalwood. The Sanskrit word go means “ox,” and śīrṣa means “head;” candana means “sandalwood.” The name of this sandalwood is said to derive from either the shape of or the name of a mountain upon which it grew. The Tibetan translated gośīrṣa as ba lang gi spos or “ox incense.”

The first of the eight cold hells, named after the cries of the beings within it.

Unidentified river, possibly the Kali Gandaki.

The lord of the devas, the principal deity in the Vedas. Indra and Brahmā were the two most important deities in the Buddha’s lifetime, and were later eclipsed by the increasing importance of Śiva and Viṣṇu.

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

One of the most frequently used names for Śiva. A deity of the jungles, named Rudra in the Vedas, he rose to prominence in the Purāṇic literature at the beginning of the first millennium.

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means accounts of the lives of past buddhas and bodhisattvas.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

River carrying the remains of the golden fruit of a legendary jambu (rose apple) tree.

The name of the southern continent in Buddhist cosmology, which can mean the known world of humans or more specifically the Indian subcontinent. In the Kāraṇḍavyūha, Sri Laṅka is described as being separate from Jambudvīpa. A gigantic miraculous rose-apple tree at the source of the great Indian rivers is said to give the continent its name.

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means accounts of the Buddha’s previous lifetimes.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

A grove owned by Prince Jeta in Śrāvastī, the capital of the kingdom of Kośala (presently an area within Uttar Pradesh). It was bought by Anāthapiṇḍada and became the monastery that the Buddha spent most rainy seasons in, and is therefore the setting for many sūtras.

The second of the eight hot hells. Black lines are drawn on the bodies of the inhabitants and then they are sawed apart along those lines.

The last and worst of the four ages (yuga), the present age of degeneration.

A title for a teacher of the spiritual path.

Cotton from Vārāṇasī, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kashi, renowned as the best.

The hundred sons of King Dhṛtarāśtra, who were the enemies of their cousins, the Pāṇḍava brothers. Their family name means they are the descendants of the ancient King Kur (as were the Pāṇḍava brothers). Their battle is the central theme of the Mahābhārata, India’s greatest epic.

A tribe of people from the northwest of India and central Asia who were significant in ancient India and are described in the Mahābhārata as having taken part in the Kurukṣetra war on the side of the Kurus against the Paṇḍavas. The Purāṇic literature generally describes them in a negative light, as barbarians. They are often mentioned in Buddhist literature and presently maintain Khasa culture in Himachal Pradesh.

A race of celestial musicians who are half humanoid and half horse.

The fourth of the seven buddhas, with Śākyamuni as the seventh. Also the first of the buddhas in this eon, with Śākyamuni as the fourth. The Tibetan translation in the Kāraṇḍavyūha is “elimination of incorrect faith,” and this is found in the Mahāvyutpatti, whereas the later standard Tibetan translation is ’khor ba ’jig or “destruction of saṃsara.” It is a Sanskritization of the middle-Indic name Kakusaṃdha. Kaku may mean summit and saṃdha is the inner or hidden meaning.

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

The warrior, or royal, caste in the four-caste system of India.

A disease-causing demon, with an etymology of “little warm egg,” also used for benevolent deities. However, the Tibetan term used in the Kāraṇḍavyūha is more commonly used (as in the Mahavyutpatti concordance) to translate kumbhanda, a humanoid being with an animal’s head that dwells in the sea.

The phallus as the symbol of Śiva.

See also n.­91.

The ancient kingdom in what is now south Bihar. Its king, Bimbisāra, became a patron of Śakyāmuni.

Not to be confused with the protectors in the later higher tantras in this sūtra, or with Śiva who also has this name (though then it has the alternative meaning of “Great Time”), in the Kāraṇḍavyūha these are dangerous spirits. Elsewhere they are also said to be servants of Śiva, which may be the meaning here as they are grouped with the mātṛ goddesses.

An epithet for an accomplished bodhisattva.

Principal Hīnayāna pupils of the Buddha.

Vidyā is synonymous with mantra.

Literally the Sanskrit means “great way,” but in Buddhism this has developed the meaning of great vehicle, and so is translated literally into Tibetan as “great carrier.”

A name for Śiva.

A serpent deity that inhabits specific localities.

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

In the higher tantras this is usually a diagram representing the details of the visualization of a deity and its palace and retinue. In the Kāraṇḍavyūha it is a simpler representation of a few deities, made of precious powders.

Also called Mātarā and Mātṛkā. Normally seven or eight in number, these goddesses are considered dangerous, but have a more positive role in the tantra tradition.

Originally a place where the wandering “viharin” monks would stay during the monsoon only, they later developed into permanent domiciles for monks.

Unidentified mountain, probably synonymous with Cakravaḍa, which sometimes refers to the mountain that leads to hell.

In India, this was the cobra deity, which in Tibet was equated with water spirits and in China with dragons, neither country having cobras.

An alternate name for Viṣṇu. The Sanskrit is variously interpreted, including as “dwelling in water,” but is most obviously “the path of human beings.”

A 13th century Tibetan historian. Personal name: Drakpa Mönlam Lodrö (grags pa smon lam blo gros).

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means the introductions to teachings.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Sanskrit: the causes for saṃsāra are “extinguished.” Tibetan: suffering has been transcended.

The third of the four stages that culminate in becoming an arhat. At this stage a being will not be reborn in this world but will be reborn in the Śuddhāvāsa paradise where he will remain until liberation.

Second of the four stages that culminates in becoming an arhat. At this stage a being will only be reborn once again in this world.

The buddha who receives the six-syllable mantra from Avalokiteśvara.

Unidentified river, though there are Tibetan texts that use this name to refer to the source of the Brahmaputra.

A weight that in both Indian and Tibetan systems is in the range of 30 to 50 grams. The Tibetan is often translated as an ounce.

See also n.­332.

Five brothers who were the sons of Paṇḍu. The most famous was Arjuna (of Bhagavadgīta fame); the other four were Yudhiṣṭhira, Nakula, Sahadeva, and Bhīmasena. The story of the Pāṇḍava brothers and their battle with their cousins, the Kauravas, is the subject of the Mahābhārata, India’s greatest epic. In the sūtra, Bali imprisons the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas together.

An official title for a learned scholar in India.

A common description of buddhas. According to some explanations, “wisdom” refers to awakening, and “conduct” to the three trainings (bslab pa gsum) by means of which a buddha attains that awakening; according to others, “wisdom” refers to right view, and “conduct” to the other seven elements of the eightfold path.

A spirit that haunts the night, feeds on corpses, and is fatal to see.

The Kāraṇḍavyūha is referring to the goddess who is the personification of the perfection of wisdom, and is in the feminine case. However, the Tibetan has the male ending -pa, instead of the female ending -ma, which is presently normally used for the goddess, but does not appear in the Mahāvyutpatti Sanskrit-Tibetan concordance.

Someone who has attained liberation entirely through his own contemplation as a result of progress in previous lives but, unlike a buddha, does not have the accumulated merit and motivation to teach others.

Very hot hell. Probably a variation of Pratāpana (Tib. rab tu tsha ba), as the name occurs in no other sūtra.

A race of physical beings who are ugly, evil-natured, and have a yearning for human flesh, but who also have miraculous powers, such as being able to change their appearance, as in the Kāraṇḍavyūha.

A female rākṣasa.

The Kāraṇḍavyūha in the Vaidya edition references a group of islands, the distinction between singular and plural being lost in the Tibetan. Ratnadvīpa was one of the ancient names of Laṅka, as it was a rich source of jewels. In this same passage, however, Laṅka is identified as the land of the rākṣasīs. The theme of an ocean island rich in jewels appears frequently in Buddhist narratives.

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

In the Kāraṇḍavyūha he is, as well as being listed as present at Buddha Śākyamuni’s teachings, the one who is described in Śākyamuni’s memories as the bodhisattva who questions Buddha Vipaśyin. He is the principal bodhisattva being addressed by Śākyamuni in chapter 35 of the Avatamsaka Sūtra. In the early tantras he is one of the sixteen bodhisattvas in the dharmadhātu maṇḍala. In the higher tantras he is associated with the ratna family of Buddha Ratnasambhava.

This Buddha who sends the previous life of Śākyamuni to Buddha Padmottama. However, the Tibetan had dmar po’i mchog, “supreme red,” which would have been a translation of Raktottama, evidently a mistake for Ratnottama, which would have been translated as nor bu’i mchog or rin chen mchog.

The fourth of the eight hot hells. In later translations it is ngu ’bod, which also means “wailing” as a compound of the words for “weep” and “shout.”

King of the Rākṣasas in Laṅka. He features prominently in the Ramāyāna where he kidnaps Rāma’s wife Sīta.

The four armed goddess who is the embodiment of the six-syllable mantra. Though female in Sanskrit, it is translated into Tibetan as a male name.

Indian Buddhist name for the thousand-million world universe of ordinary beings. It means “endurance,” as beings there have to endure suffering.

More commonly known in the West as Indra, the deity who is called “lord of the devas” and dwells on the summit of Mount Sumeru and wields the thunderbolt. The Tibetan translation is based on an etymology that śakra is an abbreviation of śata-kratu, “one who has performed a hundred sacrifices.” The highest vedic sacrifice was the horse sacrifice and there is a tradition that he became the lord of the gods through performing them.

The hell of the Simul trees, also called cotton trees, that have vicious thorns. The Tibetan had a corrupted, transliterated version of the name. This is classed among the neighboring hells. It is where beings continually climb up and down the trees in search of a loved one.

One of the synonyms for the meditative state, meaning a completely focused state.

One of the eight principal bodhisattvas, he figures strongly in the Gaṇḍavyūha (the final chapter of the Avataṃsaka­sūtra) and in the Lotus Sūtra. His prominence in these sūtras is the reason why emphasis is placed on Avalokiteśvara’s superiority over him. (Not to be confused with the buddha in the Nyingma tradition.)

One of the synonyms for the meditative state. The Tibetan translation interpreted it as sama-āpatti, which brings in the idea of “equal,” or “level,” whereas it may very well be like “samādhi,” sam-āpatti, with the same meaning.

An unending series of unenlightened existences.

The goddess of music and eloquence. The Sanskrit name means “she who has flow,” or “she who has a body of water.” She was originally the personification of the Punjab river of that name.

One of the eight great bodhisattvas. In particular, he has an important role in the Lotus Sūtra, in which Buddha Śākyamuni sends him to Vārāṇasī to see Avalokiteśvara. This is paralleled in the Kāraṇḍavyūha, in which he is sent to Vārāṇasī to obtain Avalokitesvara’s mahāvidyā.

The sūtra contains the only known reference to a nāga king and kinnara king who both have this name in Sanskrit. The nāga’s name was translated into Tibetan as “hundred mouths” (kha brgya pa), and the kinnara as “hundred faces” (bzhin brgya pa). Other deities with the name Śatamukha appear in Indian literature.

The second of the seven buddhas, with Śākyamuni as the seventh. The Tibetan translation could also be read as “one with a crown protuberance.”

Sri Laṅka, formerly Ceylon. The Rāmāyaṇa epic specified that Laṅka is inhabited by rākṣasas. Siṃhala was the name by which Laṅka was referred to in the Mahābhārata. The indigenous Buddhist population and their language is still called Singhalese.

Unidentified river. Tibetan texts refer to the source of the Indus by this name.

This name for a hell, “cold water,” only appears in the Kāraṇḍavyūha.

Oṁ maṇipadme hūṁ. This appears to be a vocative call to Avalokiteśvara under the name of Maṇipadma (see Introduction, i.­21). Ṣadakṣarī (q.v.) is also the name of the four-armed goddess who personifies the mantra.

Ṣadakṣarī (q.v.) is also the name of the four-armed goddess who personifies the mantra. See “six-syllable mahāvidyā.”

See “six-syllable mahāvidyā.”

See “six-syllable mahāvidyā.”

See “aggregates.”

The capital of Kośala, a kingdom in what is now Uttar Pradesh, where Buddha Śākyamuni spent most of his life. There are differing explanations for the name, including that it was founded by King Śrāvasta or that it was named after a rishi, Sāvattha, who lived there.

The four stages of spiritual accomplishment are stream entrant, once-returner, non-returner, and arhat.

Reliquary for the remains of a buddha or enlightened master.

A form-realm paradise that is never destroyed during the cycles of the destruction and creation of the universe.

An epithet of the buddhas.

The realm of Buddha Amitābha, described in the Sukhāvatī­vyuha Sūtra, where Avalokiteśvara first appears in the sūtras.

Śukra is both the planet Venus and the guru of the asuras. In the Vaiśnavite literature, he loses an eye from his encounter with the dwarf incarnation of Viṣṇu. The Sanskrit also means “bright.”

Unidentified river. Possibly the Son River.

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

Generally used for pithy statements, rules, and aphorisms, for the Buddha’s non-tantric teachings in general, and as one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means “teaching given in prose.”

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

A region where the sun and moon do not shine.

The sixth of the hot hells. In later Tibetan translations it is “hot” (tsha ba).

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A frequently used synonym for buddha. According to different explanations, it can be read as tathā-gata, literally meaning “one who has thus gone,” or as tathā-āgata, “one who has thus come.” Gata, though literally meaning “gone,” is a past passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. Tatha­(tā), often rendered as “suchness” or “thusness,” is the quality or condition of things as they really are, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms. Therefore, this epithet is interpreted in different ways, but in general it implies one who has departed in the wake of the buddhas of the past, or one who has manifested the supreme awakening dependent on the reality that does not abide in the two extremes of existence and quiescence.

First recorded in medieval Tibetan literature as a seventh-century minister of the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo, he is credited with the invention of the Tibetan alphabet and the composition of two much-studied grammar texts.

Indra’s paradise on the summit of Sumeru.

The classification of all aspects of Buddha’s teachings into twelve types: sūtra, geya, vyākaraṇa, gāthā, udāna, nidāna, avadāna, itivṛttaka, jātaka, vaipulya, adbhutadharma, and upadeśa (see individual terms).

Respectively, the sūtras, literally “threads,” does not mean entire texts as in the general meaning of sūtra but the prose passages within texts; the geyas are the verse versions of preceding prose passages; the vyākaraṇas are prophecies; the gāthās are stand-alone verses; the udānas are teachings not given in response to a request; the nidānas are the introductory sections; the avadānas are accounts of the previous lives of individuals who were alive at the time of the Buddha; the itivṛttakas are biographies of buddhas and bodhisattvas in the past; the jātakas are the Buddha’s accounts of his own previous lifetimes; the vaipulyas are teachings that expand upon a certain subject; the adbhutadharmas are descriptions of miracles; and the upadeśas are explanations of terms and categories.

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means teachings that were not given in response to a request.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

Umādevī is also known as Pārvatī. The name is of obscure origin, but can mean “splendor,” “tranquility,” or “light.” She is the consort of Śiva, also known as Maheśvara, and believed to be the rebirth of Sīta, his previous consort.

The name that Avalokiteśvara prophecies the goddess Umādevī will have on attainment of Buddhahood.

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means the explanation of details in the teachings and is synonymous with Abhidharma.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

A personal preceptor and teacher. In Tibet, it has also come to mean a learned scholar, the equivalent of a paṇḍita, but that is not the intended meaning in the Kāraṇḍavyūha.

A male who has taken the layperson’s vows.

A female who has taken the layperson’s vows.

A great submarine fire in the far south-east of the ocean, which is the fire that will ultimately burn up the world. Also regarded as the entrance to the hells.

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means an extensive teaching on a subject.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

A river said to separate the living from the dead, like the River Styx. It causes great suffering to anyone who attempts to cross it.

The word vajra refers to the “thunderbolt,” the indestructible and irresistible weapon that first appears in Indian literature in the hand of the Vedic deity Indra. As a symbol of indestructibility and great power it is used in the Kāraṇḍavyūha to describe the qualities of the maṇi mantra.

A cave inhabited by the asuras.

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

He first appears in Buddhist literature as the yakṣa bodyguard of the Buddha, ready at times to shatter a person’s head into a hundred pieces with his vajra if he speaks inappropriately to the Buddha. His identity as a bodhisattva did not take place until the rise of the Mantrayāna in such sūtras as the Kāraṇḍavyūha. However, although listed (paradoxically along with Avalokiteśvara) as being in the assembly that hears the teaching of this sūtra, in the sūtra itself he is grouped with the worldly spirits that Avalokiteśvara frightens.

Also known as Benares, the oldest city of northeast India in the Gangetic plain. It was once the capital of its own small kingdom and was known by various names. It was an important religious center, as well as a major city in India, even during the time of the Buddha. The name may derive from being where the Varuna and Assi rivers flow into the Ganges.

In the Vedas, Varuṇa is an important deity and in particular the deity of the sky, but in later Indian tradition only of the water and the underworld. The Tibetan does not attempt to translate his name but instead says “god of water.” The Sanskrit name has ancient pre-Sanskrit origins, and as he was originally the god of the sky is related to the root vṛ, meaning “enveloping” or “covering.” He has the same ancient origins as the ancient Greek sky deity Uranus and the Zoroastrian supreme deity Mazda.

The deity of the air and the wind.

A spirit that can inhabit and animate dead bodies, a zombie spirit. Hence, the Tibetan means “risen corpse,” although in the context of the Kāraṇḍavyūha it refers to a disembodied spirit.

Popular in Indian literature as a race of superhuman beings with magical powers who lived high in the mountains, such as in the Malaya range of southwest India. The term vidyā could be interpreted as both “knowledge” and “mantra.”

A class of malevolent spirits.

“Lord of obstacles,” although the Tibetan translates it as “lord of no obstacles.” One of the names of the elephant-headed deity that is the son of Śiva and Pārvatī, also known as Ganesh (Ganeśa or Gaṇapati; tshogs kyi bdag po).

In the time of the Kāraṇḍavyūha this was a group of four demons that created obstacles. This later became the name for the deity Ganesh (as a remover of obstacles), but that is not what is intended here.

The first of the seven buddhas, with Śākyamuni as the seventh.

One of the central gods in the Hindu pantheon today. He had not yet risen to an important status during the Buddha’s lifetime and only developed his own significant following in the early years of the common era. Vaishnavism developed the theory of ten emanations, or avatars, the ninth being the Buddha. His emanation as a dwarf plays an important role in this sūtra. The Sanskrit etymology of the name is uncertain, but it was already in use in the Vedas, where he is a minor deity, and has been glossed as “one who enters (everywhere).”

The third of the seven buddhas, with Śākyamuni as the seventh (in some texts his name is rendered kun skyobs in Tibetan).

A legendary realm in which Śiva will attain buddhahood.

Prophecies. This is also specifically one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

This water lily, Nymphaea pubescens, can be pink or white and is sometimes incorrectly called a lotus. It flowers at night, and therefore is also called “night lotus.”

A class of supernatural beings, often represented as the attendants of the god of wealth, but the term is also applied to spirits. Although they are generally portrayed as benevolent, the Tibetan translation means “harm giver,” as they are also capable of causing harm.

The lord of death, who judges the dead and rules over the hells.

A valley in South Tibet.

Literally “The Barley Islands,” this refers to the land of the Greeks, whose empire at one time extended along the northern coasts of the Persian gulf as far as India.

Literally “union” in Sanskrit; Tibetan specifies “union with the natural state.”

The Tibetan means “one united with the genuine state,” in other words, “one who has attained the supreme accomplishment.”

The longest unit of distance in classical India. The lack of a uniform standard for the smaller units means that there is no precise equivalent, especially as its theoretical length tended to increase over time. Therefore it can mean between four and ten miles.