The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch
Introduction
Toh 145
Degé Kangyur, vol. 57 (mdo sde, pa), folios 34.a–82.a.
Translated by David Jackson
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2020
Current version v 1.4.11 (2021)
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Table of Contents
Summary
The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch starts with a profound conversation between the Buddha and the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī on the nature of the dharmadhātu, buddhahood, and emptiness. The bodhisattva Dharmamati then enters the meditative absorption called the infinite application of the bodhisattva’s jewel torch and, at the behest of the millions of buddhas who have blessed him, emerges from it to teach how bodhisattvas arise from the presence of a tathāgata and progress to the state of omniscience. Following Dharmamati’s detailed exposition of the “ten categories” or progressive stages of a bodhisattva, the Buddha briefly teaches the mantra of the dhāraṇī and then, for most of the remainder of the text, encourages bodhisattvas in a long versified passage in which he recounts teachings by a bodhisattva called Bhadraśrī on the qualities of bodhisattvas and buddhas. Some verses from this passage on the virtues of faith have been widely quoted in both India and Tibet.
Acknowledgements
Translated by David Jackson and edited by the 84000 editorial team. The introduction, also by the 84000 editorial team, expands on an original version by David Jackson. The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The generous sponsorship of Make and Wang Xiao Juan (馬珂和王曉娟), which helped make the work on this translation possible, is most gratefully acknowledged.
Introduction
Overview
In this profound Mahāyāna sūtra, The Dhāraṇī of the Jewel Torch, the Buddha Śākyamuni explains, with the help of the bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and Dharmamati, how bodhisattvas progress toward awakening.
Although seen as a sūtra in its own right, it is closely connected to the family of texts belonging to the Avataṃsakasūtra, two chapters of which it shares. As its title suggests, it can also be seen as a dhāraṇī, or as a sūtra about a dhāraṇī.
Substantial passages were quoted by Śāntideva in the Śikṣāsamuccaya, and these extracts are now the only remnants of the Sanskrit text. The Tibetan translation, by the Indian master Surendrabodhi and the chief-editor translator the monk Yeshé Dé, dates to the early, imperial translation period, and its verses on faith later had a wide impact in Tibetan works. The Chinese translation, by Fatian, dates to the late tenth century and is classified as an Avataṃsaka text.
Narrative and Doctrinal Content
The setting of the text is the Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha. Its audience is a great gathering of highly accomplished monks and bodhisattvas, headed by Samantabhadra who, as the initial interlocutor, asks the Buddha how dharmadhātu should be understood. A brief but profound exchange follows.
Mañjuśrī then appears and requests the Buddha to teach the dhāraṇī of the jewel torch (1.11). The Buddha insists that Mañjuśrī should request Samantabhadra to teach it instead, and Samantabhadra’s dialog with Mañjuśrī starts with the meaning of buddha. A brief interlude follows (1.40–1.54) in which Śāriputra (here Śāradvatīputra) compares his own understanding unfavorably with Mañjuśrī’s vast wisdom, and professes his inability and unwillingness to debate with him; similar brief conversations between Śāriputra and Mañjuśrī recur at several points in the text.
The bodhisattva Dharmamati then makes his appearance (1.55) and enters the meditative absorption called the infinite application of the bodhisattva’s jewel torch. Blessed and encouraged by millions of buddhas to summon the eloquence to teach, Dharmamati sets out the ten categories of bodhisattva (1.59–1.84) in the long passage that follows. A number of wonders then occur, after which Dharmamati summarizes the ten categories in verse (1.88–1.178).
The Buddha, in response to several ensuing requests to teach, briefly teaches the mantra of the dhāraṇī (1.213) and comments on its meaning. At Samantabhadra and Mañjuśrī’s request, he then explains the benefits that hearing this sūtra will have for future disciples (1.228–1.256). Here several stark warnings are given to future hearers (mainly future monks) who might one day criticize or reject this sūtra.
The final main section of the sūtra is a very long passage (twenty folios in the Degé edition) of versified encouragement for bodhisattvas, introduced by a prologue featuring Ānanda. The main versified part (2.20–2.396) is spoken by the Buddha as a narrative that introduces, relates, and concludes teachings given by the bodhisattva Bhadraśrī on the good qualities and modes of conduct of the bodhisattva. Bhadraśrī first eulogizes the thought of awakening (bodhicitta) and then a few verses later praises faith in a well-known passage, parts of which were quoted by Śāntideva (see below) and subsequently by many Tibetan authors. Bhadraśrī then describes many of the other qualities of bodhisattvas and their ability to manifest miraculously in different ways, including the astounding visual and other sensory content of their meditative absorptions, the many kinds of miraculous rays of light with which they bring benefit to the world and beings, and comparisons with the powerful magical displays of the ordinary gods such as Indra and the king of the nāgas.1
The Sūtra, the Avataṃsaka, and the Chinese Translation
Although it is found in the Kangyur among other Mahāyāna sūtras in the General Sūtra section (as Tōh 145 in the Degé Kangyur) and is listed as belonging to that general category in the Denkarma inventory of translated texts2 (as well as to the Dhāraṇī section, see below), the sūtra also belongs to the family of texts related to the Avataṃsakasūtra (phal po che, “The Ornaments of the Buddhas,” Toh 44). Indeed, in the other imperial period inventory, the roughly contemporary Phangthangma, it is listed under the heading of “the works included in the group of sūtras of the noble, great, very extensive Buddhāvataṃsaka.”3
The prominent role of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra; the centrality of the dharmadhātu; the vast numbers of buddhas who gather and the mention of the Buddha Vairocana in the pivotal passage about the absorption and blessing of Dharmamati; the tenfold division and subdivision of the categories of bodhisattva; the repeated vocative “O sons of the victors”;4 and many other features of this work, above all the central theme of how bodhisattvas first emerge in the presence of a tathāgata and progressively develop access to the buddha qualities, culminating in their regency and consecration, are all strongly reminiscent of the Avataṃsaka.
Two long passages in the text represent two complete chapters of the Avataṃsakasūtra.5 In terms of content they are close to being exact matches, although the translations in Tibetan are different. The long passage recounting Dharmamati’s absorption and his ensuing revelations in both prose and verse (from 1.55 to 1.178) is almost identical to the whole of chapter 20 of the Tibetan Avataṃsakasūtra, “The Ten Abodes of the Bodhisattvas” (chapter 15 of the Chinese),6 while almost the entirety of the final verse section recounting the teachings by Bhadraśrī (from 2.27 to 2.396 near the conclusion of the text) matches the whole of chapter 17 of the Tibetan Avataṃsakasūtra, “Bhadraśrī” (chapter 12 of the Chinese).7
The Chinese translation of this text, Taishō 299,8 made by Fatian almost a hundred years later than the Tibetan, in the year 983, is also classified as a sūtra of the Avataṃsaka family. It is placed in the Taishō in the Huayan volume, volume 10, along with the Avataṃsakasūtra itself and the other standalone texts related to it.9
Why Is the Sūtra Also a Dhāraṇī?
The text is classified not only as a sūtra, but also as a dhāraṇī, and in those Kangyurs that have an additional Dhāraṇī section it is duplicated there (as Tōhoku no. 84710 in the Degé Kangyur). Indeed, the title itself includes the word dhāraṇī, and the teaching requested of the Buddha is referred to as “the dhāraṇī of the jewel torch.”
The term dhāraṇī is derived from the Sanskrit root √dhṛ (“to hold” or “to maintain”), and among its wide range of meanings most are closely related to the retaining—in the mind, in memory, in words, or in writing—of a particular teaching, realization, or approach to awakening. Perhaps the two most widespread senses in which the term is used are when it refers to a mantra-like formula that “encodes” its meaning without necessarily expressing it in comprehensible speech, or when it describes the highly developed capacity of advanced practitioners to memorize and accurately retain a set of detailed and profound instructions. But as well as signifying the means by which such meanings or sets of instructions are retained (i.e., what holds them), it can also designate a specific meaning or instruction itself (i.e., what is held).
Furthermore, by extension from these senses of the term, a text that either contains a (mantra-like) dhāraṇī, or is about a dhāraṇī in any of these senses, may itself be referred to as a dhāraṇī. This is the basis for the term dhāraṇī having also come to designate a whole scriptural genre of Mahāyāna texts—well represented in the Kangyur, which contains some two hundred fifty texts in that category. However, as a genre it is both quite diverse in its composition and shares most of the texts it contains with other genres. It is often not entirely clear whether any one text is labeled a dhāraṇī because the text itself is a dhāraṇī, contains a dhāraṇī, or is about a dhāraṇī.
For all these reasons, each text placed in this genre deserves its own analysis of what makes it “a dhāraṇī.” In the case of the present text, mentions are made throughout to a “dhāraṇī of the jewel torch,” but it is difficult to determine whether they all have the same reference, or whether they variously refer to a particular realization of bodhisattvas, to a teaching on that realization, or to the text itself.
In the first chapter, there are four separate occasions on which the dhāraṇī seems to be taught. Although the corresponding mentions could conceivably all be understood as referring to one and the same instance of the dhāraṇī, three of the four occasions end with a statement that the dhāraṇī has now been taught, in the past tense. In the first of the four instances, the exchange between Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and the Buddha (starting at 1.11) is termed an explanation of the dhāraṇī in the initial request. In the second instance, Dharmamati’s long teaching on the ten levels of bodhisattvas is also described as a dhāraṇī immediately afterward by Samantabhadra (1.179). The third instance is a dialog between Mañjuśrī and Śāriputra (starting at 1.196) in response to the latter’s request for an explanation of the dhāraṇī, which is lauded as a teaching on that dhāraṇī afterward (1.205). The fourth instance is when yet another request is made to the Buddha, this time by Samantabhadra, to teach the dhāraṇī (1.211); the Buddha teaches what is described as a mantra, and in the discussions that follow it is made clear that the meaning it carries is that of the ineffable ultimate nature of reality.11
Along with dhāraṇīs, a number of sūtras mention gateways (Skt. mukha, Tib. sgo), meditative absorptions (Skt. samādhi, Tib. ting nge ’dzin), and liberations (Skt. vimokṣa, Tib. rnam par thar pa) as different kinds of qualities attained by bodhisattvas. That some of the mentions of the dhāraṇī in this sūtra fall into the category of such attained qualities is suggested by the first of the four instances instance here being also termed an “access” or gateway (1.34), and by the second instance being described as arising from the gnosis that Dharmamati has attained while immersed in a meditative absorption called “the infinite application of the jewel torch.”12 Nevertheless, this second instance, the long teaching on the ten levels of bodhisattvas, is clearly also seen as a teaching, in the sense of presenting specific doctrinal content. The third instance is heralded by Śāriputra’s announcement that a sūtra is to be taught, yet what happens turns out to be a short and somewhat cryptic dialog equating explanation with emptiness, and demonstrating how neither can be taught. Only the fourth instance, the mantra, can be reasonably clearly placed in the category of dhāraṇīs that are encoding formulae, and the meaning that the mantra can be assumed to express is linked to the first and third instances in the teaching by Samantabhadra that follows it, on how the dhāraṇī should be “retained” and cultivated as a teaching on thatness, the ultimate (Skt. tathatā, Tib. de bzhin nyid).
Most of the subsequent mentions of the dhāraṇī as such, in what remains of the first chapter and at the beginning of the second (it is not mentioned at all in the long verse section), are made in the context of its future holders and of its past history, intermingled with descriptions of it as a Dharma discourse. In other words, as a teaching—but also, in the kind of internal self-reference that is a common feature of many Mahāyāna sūtras, designating this very text itself.
The frequent mentions in this text of the “dhāraṇī of the jewel torch” are therefore quite varied in terms of the sense in which the term is being used. We have made no attempt to use capitalization or punctuation to distinguish those that may refer to the text itself, to a teaching, to the mantra, or to a realization.
Neither of the two long sections that appear as chapters in the Avataṃsakasūtra make any mention of a dhāraṇī. None of the excerpts in Sanskrit quoted by Śāntideva (see below) include passages where the dhāraṇī is mentioned in the Tibetan text, but the title Śāntideva uses to introduce his citations does include the designation dhāraṇī.
The Title and Its Variants
The Sanskrit title transliterated in the Tibetan text, Ratnolkādhāraṇī in its short form, is the same as the title that appears in the Sanskrit manuscripts of the Śikṣāsamuccaya (see below). The Sanskrit ulkā can mean a fiery phenomena in the sky, i.e., a meteor, and also a firebrand or torch.
Of the title in Tibetan, however, there are several different renderings. In all Kangyurs, the title is dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs, incorporating the unusual, archaic word ta la la, meaning “lamp” or “torch.” In some of the twenty or so Tengyur treatises that quote the text (including the Tibetan translation of the Śikṣāsamuccaya), the ta la la title is used, even if in some cases the word gzungs (dhāraṇī) is dropped or replaced by the word mdo (sūtra). In others, however, the title is rendered in various forms that use, instead of ta la la, the more usual Tibetan term for “lamp” or “torch,” sgron ma or sgron me.13 Probably as a consequence, later Tibetan authors of indigenous works (see below) use sometimes one version of the title, sometimes the other, and only some authors who use the sgron ma variants seem to be aware that the canonical work they are quoting is in the Kangyur under a different title.
The Sūtra in Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya and Other Treatises
The sūtra is quoted a little over twenty times in treatises in the Tengyur, notably by Atiśa, Vimalamitra, and Śāntideva, but also by lesser known authors. As noted above, both the dkon mchog ta la la and dkon mchog sgron ma forms of the title can be found, and there are considerable minor variations. Most, but not all, of the quotations are from the long verse section of the second chapter.
The most extensive extracts appear in Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya (Training Anthology), and indeed the sūtra appears to have been among Śāntideva’s favorite texts, as he quotes from it more than from any other work. His text contains two short extracts, one longer passage, and one very extensive section of the verses from the second chapter that makes up more than half of one of his chapters.14 The Śikṣāsamuccaya has survived in Sanskrit, as well as in its Tibetan translation in the Tengyur, and its Sanskrit text thus contains the only known remnants of the sūtra in Sanskrit.
The Sūtra’s Impact on Tibetan Works
The sūtra is listed in the Mahāvyutpatti as one of the hundred or so Dharma texts that were presumably best known at the time,15 and is frequently quoted by Tibetan authors of all the main traditions. The passages on the importance of faith are the most commonly quoted, and for some authors it is the scriptural source for there being—variously—three, four, or six kinds of faith.16 Other parts of both chapters are also cited.
Identifying quotes from the sūtra is made more difficult by the variety of titles used.17 In the case of several authors, including Chomden Rikpa Raltri (bcom ldan rig pa ral dri, thirteenth century), Longchen Rabjampa (klong chen rab ’byams pa, fourteenth century), and many of the early Sakya scholars, quotes using both the dkon mchog sgron ma and the dkon mchog ta la la forms of the title can be found in the same work, suggesting that in some cases they may have been consulting treatises or other sources that used these different titles as well as the canonical text itself without always recognizing that both titles designate the same sūtra. Shākya Chokden (shA kya mchog ldan, fifteenth century) specifically mentions the identity of both titles.
The Translation
This translation is based principally on the Degé block print and the Comparative Edition (dpe bsdur ma) of the Kangyur. Yeshé Dé’s early-ninth-century translation contains a few archaic words that have survived subsequent editing, including the ta la la in the title, mentioned above. A few other noteworthy archaic spellings, recorded in the notes, are byin as a verb of the Buddha’s speech (see 1.31); dbung, “center” (see 1.84);18 and the spelling nod pa for mnod pa (prahaṇam, “to receive”).19 In a few passages we have suggested a change in the text reading in an endnote, often in consultation with the Stok Palace version.
Chapter 1
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling on the Vulture Peak of Rājagṛha, seated together with a great gathering of fully ordained monks, all of whom had perfected virtuous qualities, roared mighty lion’s roars as great teachers, and were expert in seeking an immeasurable accumulation of gnosis, in all more than a thousand fully ordained monks.
Chapter 2
Then the venerable Ānanda arose from his seat and, covering one shoulder with his robe, knelt on one knee. Bowing with folded hands toward the seat of the Blessed One, he said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, this Dharma discourse is profound.”
The Blessed One said, “Ānanda, so it is. Because the aggregate of form is profound, it is profound. Because the aggregates of feeling, perception, mental forces, and cognition are profound, it is profound. Because emptiness is profound, it is profound. Because the element of space is profound, it is profound.”
Colophon
Translated, checked, and verified by the Indian preceptor Surendrabodhi and the chief editor and translator, Bandé Yeshé Dé.
Notes
Note that there is a discrepancy among various databases for cataloging the Toh 847 version of this text within vol. 100 or 101 of the Degé Kangyur. See Toh 847 note 10 for details.
Bibliography
Tibetan and Sanskrit Texts
’phags pa dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs (Ratnolkānāmadhāraṇī). Toh 145, Degé Kangyur vol. 57 (mdo sde, pa), folios 34.a–82.a.
’phags pa dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs (Ratnolkānāmadhāraṇī). Toh 847, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs, e), folios 3.b–54.b.
’phags pa dkon mchog ta la la’i gzungs. 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. 57, pp. 94–207.
Dzamthang Lama Ngawang Lodrö Drakpa. dpal ldan jo nang pa’i chos ’byung. Beijing: krung go’i bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang, 1992.
———. dpal ldan jo nang pa’i chos ’byung. Bir: Tsondu Senghe, 1983.
Drolungpa Lodrö Jungné. bstan rim chen mo. gsung ’bum: blo gros ’byung gnas. 2 volumes. n.p., n.d.
Bendall, Cecil (ed.). Çikshāsamuccaya: A Compendium of Buddhistic Teaching Compiled by Çāntideva Chiefly from Earlier Mahāyāna-Sūtras. Bibliotheca Buddhica I. St. Petersburg: Académie Impériale des Sciences, 1902.
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Braarvig, Jens. “Dhāraṇī and Pratibhāna: Memory and Eloquence of the Bodhisattvas.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 8, no. 1 (1985): 17–30.
Burchardi, Anne, trans. The Teaching on the Great Compassion of the Tathāgata (Toh 147, Tathāgatamahākaruṇānirdeśasūtra). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2020.
Buswell, Robert E. and Donald S. Lopez, eds. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013.
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———. “Studies in Dhāraṇī Literature II: Pragmatics of Dhāraṇīs.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 77 (2014): 5–61.
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Gyatso, Janet. “Letter Magic: A Peircean Perspective on the Semiotics of Rdo Grub-chen’s Dhāraṇī Memory.” In In the Mirror of Memory: Reflections on Mindfulness and Remembrance in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.
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————. “The Circulation of the Buddhāvataṃsaka in India.” In Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology (ARIRIAB), vol. XVI, pp. 193–216. Tokyo: Soka University, 2013.
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Glossary
Absence of conceptual elaborations
- spros med
- spros pa med pa
- སྤྲོས་མེད།
- སྤྲོས་པ་མེད་པ།
- —
Also translated here as “without conceptual elaborations.”
Absence of entities
- dngos po med pa
- དངོས་པོ་མེད་པ།
- —
Absence of phenomenal marks
- mtshan ma med pa
- མཚན་མ་མེད་པ།
- —
Adamantine Vajra
- rdo rje sra ba
- རྡོ་རྗེ་སྲ་བ།
- Dṛḥavajra
Ādityagarbha
- nyi gdugs snying po
- ཉི་གདུགས་སྙིང་པོ།
- Ādityagarbha
Ājīvaka
- kun tu ’tsho ba
- ཀུན་ཏུ་འཚོ་བ།
- Ājīvaka
A religious mendicant of the Indian sect founded by Gosāla Maṅkhaliputra.
Akaniṣṭhā
- ’og min
- འོག་མིན།
- Akaniṣṭhā
The highest of all the form realm (rūpadhātu) worlds. The world of devas “equal in rank” (literally “having no one as the youngest”).
Ākāśagarbha
- nam mkha’i snying po
- ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ།
- Ākāśagarbha
Akṣayamati
- blo gros mi zad pa
- བློ་གྲོས་མི་ཟད་པ།
- Akṣayamati
Always Burning
- rtag tu rab ’bar
- རྟག་ཏུ་རབ་འབར།
- —
Always Foul Smelling
- rtag tu dri nga
- རྟག་ཏུ་དྲི་ང།
- —
Always Laughs and His Faculties All Rejoice
- rtag tu dgod cing dbang po thams cad dga’ ba
- རྟག་ཏུ་དགོད་ཅིང་དབང་པོ་ཐམས་ཅད་དགའ་བ།
- —
Always Watching
- rtag tu lta
- རྟག་ཏུ་ལྟ།
- —
Amṛtamati
- bdud rtsi blo gros
- བདུད་རྩི་བློ་གྲོས།
- Amṛtamati
Lit. “Nectar Intelligence.”
Ānanda
- kun dga’ bo
- ཀུན་དགའ་བོ།
- Ānanda
Aniruddha
- ma ’gags pa
- མ་འགགས་པ།
- Aniruddha
Announcing Merits
- bsod nams mngon bsgrags
- བསོད་ནམས་མངོན་བསྒྲགས།
- —
Anther-Possessing Jewel
- rin chen ze ba ldan
- རིན་ཆེན་ཟེ་བ་ལྡན།
- —
Application
- sbyor ba
- སྦྱོར་བ།
- —
Apprehending
- dmigs pa
- དམིགས་པ།
- —
Arhat
- dgra bcom pa
- དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།
- arhat
Arising Joy
- dga’ ’byung
- དགའ་འབྱུང་།
- —
Array of Good Qualities
- yon tan bkod pa
- ཡོན་ཏན་བཀོད་པ།
- —
Ārya
- ’phags pa
- འཕགས་པ།
- ārya
A term for realized beings in Buddhism. Also translated here as “noble one.”
Aśmagarbha emerald
- rdo’i snying po
- རྡོའི་སྙིང་པོ།
- aśmagarbha
Aspect
- rnam pa
- རྣམ་པ།
- —
Assembly hall of Sudharmā
- ’dun sa chos bzang
- chos bzang ’dun sa
- འདུན་ས་ཆོས་བཟང།
- ཆོས་བཟང་འདུན་ས།
The dome-shaped assembly hall where Indra teaches the Dharma located on the southwest side of Mount Meru.
Associated with ordinary reality
- ’byung ba dang bcas pa
- འབྱུང་བ་དང་བཅས་པ།
- —
Avalokiteśvara
- spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug
- སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག
- Avalokiteśvara
Avoiding Evil Destinies
- ngan song spong
- ངན་སོང་སྤོང་།
- Apāyajaha
Negi gives the Skt. apāyajaha for ngan song spong ’joms pa, where it refers to the name of a bodhisattva.
Awareness of temporality
- dus shes pa
- དུས་ཤེས་པ།
- kālajña
Basic principle
- mtha’
- མཐའ།
- —
Bāśya
- rlangs pa
- རླངས་པ།
- Bāśya
Beginner
- las dang po pa
- ལས་དང་པོ་པ།
- —
Bhadrapāla
- bzang skyong
- བཟང་སྐྱོང་།
- Bhadrapāla
Bhadraśrī
- bzang po’i dpal
- bzang po dpal
- བཟང་པོའི་དཔལ།
- བཟང་པོ་དཔལ།
- Bhadraśrī
Bhaiṣajyarāja
- sman gyi rgyal po
- སྨན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- Bhaiṣajyarāja
Blessed One
- bcom ldan ’das
- བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།
- bhagavān
Bodhisattva who has generated the initial thought of awakening
- sems dang po bskyed pa’i byang chub sems dpa’
- སེམས་དང་པོ་བསྐྱེད་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།
- —
Bodhisattvas who are still youths
- gzhon nur gyur pa’i byang chub sems dpa’
- གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།
- —
Born as exalted in sacred scripture
- gsung rab ’phags par skyes pa
- གསུང་རབ་འཕགས་པར་སྐྱེས་པ།
- —
Translation tentative.
Boundless
- mtha’ ma med pa
- mtha’ yas pa
- མཐའ་མ་མེད་པ།
- མཐའ་ཡས་པ།
- —
Brahmā
- tshangs pa
- ཚངས་པ།
- Brahmā
A high-ranking deity presiding over a divine world where other beings consider him the creator. He is also considered to be the “Lord of the Sahā World” (our universe).
Brahmic stages
- tshangs pa’i gnas
- ཚངས་པའི་གནས།
- brahmāvihāra
Refers to the fourfold practice of love, compassion, joy, and impartiality.
Buddha multitudes
- sangs rgyas phal chen
- སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་ཆེན།
- —
Buddha of conditions
- rkyen gyi sangs rgyas
- རྐྱེན་གྱི་སངས་རྒྱས།
- —
Refers to a pratyekabuddha. See n.109.
Burning
- kun du ’bar ba
- ཀུན་དུ་འབར་བ།
- —
Candanaśrī
- tsan dan dpal
- ཙན་དན་དཔལ།
- Candanaśrī
Caraka
- spyod can
- སྤྱོད་ཅན།
- caraka
A general term for non-Buddhist religious mendicants, often occurring together with parivrājaka and nirgrantha in stock lists of followers of non-Buddhist movements.
Category of beginner bodhisattva
- las dang po pa’i byang chub sems dpa’ rnam par gzhag pa
- ལས་དང་པོ་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་རྣམ་པར་གཞག་པ།
- —
Category of bodhisattvas who are still youths
- gzhon nur gyur pa’i byang chub sems dpa’ rnam par gzhag pa
- གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་རྣམ་པར་གཞག་པ།
- —
Category of the bodhisattva who engages in yogic practice
- rnal ’byor spyod pa’i byang chub sems dpa’ rnam par gzhag pa
- རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་རྣམ་པར་གཞག་པ།
- —
Category of the bodhisattva who has generated the initial thought of awakening
- sems dang po bskyed pa’i byang chub sems dpa’ rnam par gzhag pa
- སེམས་དང་པོ་བསྐྱེད་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་རྣམ་པར་གཞག་པ།
- —
Category of the bodhisattva who has perfected application
- sbyor ba phun sum tshogs pa’i byang chub sems dpa’ rnam par gzhag pa
- སྦྱོར་བ་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་རྣམ་པར་གཞག་པ།
- —
Category of the bodhisattva who has perfected intention
- bsam pa phun sum tshogs pa’i byang chub sems dpa’ rnam par gzhag pa
- བསམ་པ་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་རྣམ་པར་གཞག་པ།
- —
Category of the bodhisattva who has received consecration
- dbang bskur ba thob pa’i byang chub sems dpa’ rnam par gzhag pa
- དབང་བསྐུར་བ་ཐོབ་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་རྣམ་པར་གཞག་པ།
- —
Category of the bodhisattva who has taken rebirth
- skye bar skyes pa’i byang chub sems dpa’ rnam par gzhag pa
- སྐྱེ་བར་སྐྱེས་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་རྣམ་པར་གཞག་པ།
- —
Category of the bodhisattva who is a regent
- rgyal tshab kyi byang chub sems dpa’ rnam par gzhag pa
- རྒྱལ་ཚབ་ཀྱི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་རྣམ་པར་གཞག་པ།
- —
Category of the bodhisattva who is irreversible
- phyir mi ldog pa’i byang chub sems dpa’ rnam par gzhag pa
- ཕྱིར་མི་ལྡོག་པའི་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་རྣམ་པར་གཞག་པ།
- —
Certain Destruction
- nges ’joms
- ངེས་འཇོམས།
- —
Class of pure abodes
- gnas gtsang ma’i ris
- གནས་གཙང་མའི་རིས།
- śuddhāvāsakāyika
The abodes inhabited by anāgāmins (“non-returners”) who are on the path to arhathood.
Cognitive faculties
- skye mched
- སྐྱེ་མཆེད།
- āyatana
Conceptualizing
- rnam par rtog pa
- རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ།
- —
Connections of latent tendencies
- bag chags kyi mtshams sbyor ba
- བག་ཆགས་ཀྱི་མཚམས་སྦྱོར་བ།
- —
Consecrated
- dbang bskur ba
- དབང་བསྐུར་བ།
- abhiśekha
Cūḍāpanthaka
- lam phran bstan
- ལམ་ཕྲན་བསྟན།
- Cūḍāpanthaka
Darkness
- mun khung
- མུན་ཁུང་།
- —
Decisively intent
- bsam pa nges pa
- བསམ་པ་ངེས་པ།
- —
Defining mark
- mtshan nyid
- མཚན་ཉིད།
- —
Definitive expertise
- tshang ’byin
- ཚང་འབྱིན།
- —
Dependent origination
- rten cing ’brel par ’byung ba
- རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་པར་འབྱུང་བ།
- pratītyasamutpāda
Designation
- btags pa
- gdags pa
- བཏགས་པ།
- གདགས་པ།
- —
Destruction
- rab ’joms
- རབ་འཇོམས།
- —
Dhanaśrī
- nor dpal
- ནོར་དཔལ།
- Dhanaśrī
Dhāraṇīdhara
- sa ’dzin
- ས་འཛིན།
- Dhāraṇīdhara
Dhāraṇīmati
- gzungs kyi blo gros
- གཟུངས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས།
- Dhāraṇīmati
Lit. “Intelligence of Dhāraṇī.”
Dharma discourse
- chos kyi rnam grangs
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས།
- —
Dharmadhātu
- chos kyi dbyings
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས།
- dharmadhātu
Dharmamati
- chos kyi blo gros
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས།
- Dharmamati
Dharmamatibhadra
- chos kyi blo gros bzang po
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་བློ་གྲོས་བཟང་པོ།
- Dharmamatibhadra
Dharmamegha
- chos kyi sprin
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྤྲིན།
- Dharmamegha
Lit. “Cloud of Dharma.”
Dharmaśrī
- chos dpal
- ཆོས་དཔལ།
- Dharmaśrī
Difficult to Touch
- reg dka’ ba
- རེག་དཀའ་བ།
- —
Direct insight
- snang ba
- སྣང་བ།
- —
Direct words
- drang tshig
- དྲང་ཚིག
- vyaktapada
One of ten different kinds of verbal phrase or statement (Skt. pada) mentioned in this text.
Dispute
- phyogs mi ’jog
- ཕྱོགས་མི་འཇོག
- —
Dramiḍa
- ’gro lding ba
- འགྲོ་ལྡིང་བ།
- Dramiḍa
Another name for the Dravidian, non-Aryan people and language(s) of South India and northern Sri Lanka. Dramiḍa (actually spelled drāmiḍa in the Sanskrit of the quote from this text in the Śikṣāsamuccaya) is the origin of the word Tamil; other Dravidian languages are Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.
Dṛḍhamati
- blo gros brtan pa
- བློ་གྲོས་བརྟན་པ།
- Dṛḍhamati
Dream-like
- rmi lam lta bu nyid
- རྨི་ལམ་ལྟ་བུ་ཉིད།
- —
Durabhisambhava
- ’byung dka’
- འབྱུང་དཀའ།
- Durabhisambhava
Effortless
- rtsol ba med pa nyid
- རྩོལ་བ་མེད་པ་ཉིད།
- —
Elements of perception
- khams
- ཁམས།
- dhātu
Elixir
- bcud len
- བཅུད་ལེན།
- rasāyana
Emancipation
- rnam par thar pa
- rnam thar
- thar pa
- རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ།
- རྣམ་ཐར།
- ཐར་པ།
- vimokṣa
Emptiness
- stong pa nyid
- སྟོང་པ་ཉིད།
- śūnyatā
Emptiness as their sphere of experience
- stong pa nyid spyod yul ba
- སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་སྤྱོད་ཡུལ་བ།
- —
Engage with
- kun tu sbyor ba
- ཀུན་ཏུ་སྦྱོར་བ།
- —
Engages in yogic practice
- rnal ’byor spyod pa
- རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ།
- —
Epithet
- tshig bla dwags
- tshig bla dags
- ཚིག་བླ་དྭགས།
- ཚིག་བླ་དགས།
- —
Equal to the unequaled
- mi mnyam pa dang mnyam pa
- མི་མཉམ་པ་དང་མཉམ་པ།
- asamasama
Erāvaṇa
- sa srung bu
- ས་སྲུང་བུ།
- Erāvaṇa
Essence
- ngo bo nyid
- ངོ་བོ་ཉིད།
- —
Essence of sandalwood
- tsan dan snying po
- ཙན་དན་སྙིང་པོ།
- —
Essence of Sandalwood
- tsan dan snying po
- ཙན་དན་སྙིང་པོ།
- —
Essence of Speed
- mgyogs pa’i snying po
- མགྱོགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ།
- —
Essence of the Moon
- zla ba’i snying po
- ཟླ་བའི་སྙིང་པོ།
- —
Essenceless
- ngo bo nyid med pa
- ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ།
- —
Excellent intention
- lhag pa’i bsam pa
- ལྷག་པའི་བསམ་པ།
- —
Excellent speech
- brjod pa bzang po
- བརྗོད་པ་བཟང་པོ།
- —
Experiences
- nye bar spyad pa
- ཉེ་བར་སྤྱད་པ།
- upabhoga
One of the ten factors to be understood in the context of the expertise of the bodhisattva who is a regent.
Expert Eloquence
- spobs pa mkhas
- སྤོབས་པ་མཁས།
- —
Exquisite
- mtshan rab
- མཚན་རབ།
- —
Extremely Thorough Destruction
- shin tu gnod ’joms
- ཤིན་ཏུ་གནོད་འཇོམས།
- —
Fierce
- drag po
- དྲག་པོ།
- —
Fivefold austerity
- dka’ thub lnga ldan
- དཀའ་ཐུབ་ལྔ་་ལྡནན།
- pañcatapas
The ascetic practice of sitting between “five fires,” i.e., a fire in each cardinal direction with the sun overhead.
Flickering
- lhab lhub
- ལྷབ་ལྷུབ།
- —
Fortunate beginner
- dang po’i las can
- དང་པོའི་ལས་ཅན།
- —
Foundationless
- gnas pa med pa
- གནས་པ་མེད་པ།
- —
Gayākāśyapa
- ga yA ’od srung
- ག་ཡཱ་འོད་སྲུང་།
- Gayākāśyapa
Glory of Thought
- rtog dpal
- རྟོག་དཔལ།
- —
Gnosis
- ye shes
- ཡེ་ཤེས།
- jñāna
Greatly illuminate
- shin tu dang byed
- ཤིན་ཏུ་དང་བྱེད།
- prasādakarī
Has perfected application
- sbyor ba phun sum tshogs pa
- སྦྱོར་བ་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ།
- —
Heap of Jewels
- rin chen phung po
- རིན་ཆེན་ཕུང་པོ།
- —
Heroic progress
- dpa’ bar ’gro ba
- དཔའ་བར་འགྲོ་བ།
- śūraṅgama
Heron
- bya gar
- བྱ་གར།
- baka
Highly secret words
- shin tu gsang ba’i gzhi
- ཤིན་ཏུ་གསང་བའི་གཞི།
- sūkṣmapada
One of ten different kinds of verbal phrase or statement (Skt. pada) mentioned in this text.
How wonderful is the Dharma!
- a la la chos
- ཨ་ལ་ལ་ཆོས།
- —
Hrādinī
- sgra ldan
- སྒྲ་ལྡན།
- Hrādinī
- Rāvaṇī
- Rutavatī
Hung
- rab dpyangs
- རབ་དཔྱངས།
- —
Imagining
- yongs su rtog pa
- ཡོངས་སུ་རྟོག་པ།
- —
Immeasurable
- gzhal du med pa
- གཞལ་དུ་མེད་པ།
- —
In the context of sentient beings being “immeasurable.” One of the ten topics to be expounded to the bodhisattva who has perfected application.
In reverse
- snrel zhi
- སྣྲེལ་ཞི།
- vyatyasta
Incense powder
- phye ma
- ཕྱེ་མ།
- —
Incomparable
- mtshungs med pa
- མཚུངས་མེད་པ།
- —
Indra
- brgya byin
- བརྒྱ་བྱིན།
- Indra
Hindu god of fire; a central deity in the Vedas.
Inestimable
- dpag tu med pa
- དཔག་ཏུ་མེད་པ།
- —
Innumerable
- grangs med pa
- གྲངས་མེད་པ།
- —
Intelligence of Conduct
- spyod pa’i blo gros
- སྤྱོད་པའི་བློ་གྲོས།
- —
Intense Burning
- rab tu ’bar ba
- རབ་ཏུ་འབར་བ།
- —
Iron Hammer
- lcags kyi thu lum
- ལྕགས་ཀྱི་ཐུ་ལུམ།
- —
Iron Stick
- lcags kyi be con
- ལྕགས་ཀྱི་བེ་ཅོན།
- —
Irreversible
- phyir mi ldog pa
- mi ldog pa
- ཕྱིར་མི་ལྡོག་པ།
- མི་ལྡོག་པ།
- —
Jambu River
- ’dzam bu
- འཛམ་བུ།
- Jambu
Jambudvīpa
- ’dzam bu’i gling
- འཛམ་བུའི་གླིང་།
- Jambudvīpa
Jewel torch
- dkon mchog ta la la
- དཀོན་མཆོག་ཏ་ལ་ལ།
- —
Kālasūtra
- thig nag
- ཐིག་ནག
- Kālasūtra
“Black Line.”
Kāli
- dkrugs ma
- དཀྲུགས་མ།
- Kāli
Lit. “Black One.”
Karañja
- ku ran gtsang
- ཀུ་རན་གཙང་།
- karañja
Indian beech tree (pongamia glabra); used medicinally.
Karmic conditioning
- mngon par ’du byed pa
- མངོན་པར་འདུ་བྱེད་པ།
- —
Kātyāyana
- kA tyA’i bu chen po
- ཀཱ་ཏྱཱའི་བུ་ཆེན་པོ།
- Kātyāyana
King Elevated by All Dharmas
- chos thams cad kyis mngon ’phags rgyal po
- ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིས་མངོན་འཕགས་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- —
King Who Smashes the Peak of the Mountain
- ri’i rtse mo rdob pa’i rgyal po
- རིའི་རྩེ་མོ་རྡོབ་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- —
Knowledge words
- shes pa’i tshig
- ཤེས་པའི་ཚིག
- jñānapada
One of ten different kinds of verbal phrase or statement (Skt. pada) mentioned in this text.
Known with a single thought
- sems gcig gis rnam par rig pa
- སེམས་གཅིག་གིས་རྣམ་པར་རིག་པ།
- —
Koṣṭhila
- gsus po che
- གསུས་པོ་ཆེ།
- Koṣṭhila
Layered Essence of Endless Gnosis
- ye shes thogs pa med pa brtsegs pa’i snying po
- ཡེ་ཤེས་ཐོགས་པ་མེད་པ་བརྩེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ།
- —
Letter
- yi ge
- ཡི་གེ
- —
Liberating words
- thar pa’i tshig
- ཐར་པའི་ཚིག
- mokṣapada
One of ten different kinds of verbal phrase or statement (Skt. pada) mentioned in this text.
Light of a Vajra
- rdo rje’i ’od
- རྡོ་རྗེའི་འོད།
- —
Not in Negi. rdo rje ’od ma appears in Negi as Skt. Vajrābha.
Magadha
- ma ga d+hA
- མ་ག་དྷཱ།
- Magadha
An ancient Indian kingdom located in what is today southern Bihar.
Magical vision
- rdzu ’phrul rnam par lta ba
- རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་རྣམ་པར་ལྟ་བ།
- —
Mahākāśyapa
- ’od srung chen po
- འོད་སྲུང་ཆེན་པོ།
- Mahākāśyapa
Mahāmati
- blo gros chen po
- བློ་གྲོས་ཆེན་པོ།
- Mahāmati
Lit. “Great Intelligence.”
Mahāmaudgalyāyana
- maud gal gyi bu chen po
- མཽད་གལ་གྱི་བུ་ཆེན་པོ།
- Mahāmaudgalyāyana
Mahāmeru
- lhun po chen po
- ལྷུན་པོ་ཆེན་པོ།
- Mahāmeru
Mahāsthāmaprāpta
- mthu chen thob
- མཐུ་ཆེན་ཐོབ།
- Mahāsthāmaprāpta
Lit. “Attained Great Magical Power.”
Maheśvara
- dbang phyug chen po
- དབང་ཕྱུག་ཆེན་པོ།
- Maheśvara
Maitreya
- byams pa
- བྱམས་པ།
- Maitreya
Mallikā flower
- ma li
- མ་ལི།
- mallikā
- mālatī
Maṇicūḍa
- gtsug na nor bu can
- གཙུག་ན་ནོར་བུ་ཅན།
- Maṇicūḍa
Maṇiprabha
- nor bu ’od
- ནོར་བུ་འོད།
- Maṇiprabha
Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta
- ’jam dpal gzhon nur gyur pa
- འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ།
- Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta
Also rendered here as “Mañjuśrī.”
Mantra words
- sngags kyi gzhi
- སྔགས་ཀྱི་གཞི།
- suguptapada
One of ten different kinds of verbal phrase or statement (Skt. pada) mentioned in this text.
Minute atom
- phra rab rdul
- ཕྲ་རབ་རྡུལ།
- —
Modes of conduct
- kun tu spyad pa
- ཀུན་ཏུ་སྤྱད་པ།
- samudācarita
Monkey Face
- spri’u gdong
- spre’u gdong
- སྤྲིའུ་གདོང་།
- སྤྲེའུ་གདོང་།
- —
Myriad arrays
- sna tshogs bkod pa
- སྣ་ཚོགས་བཀོད་པ།
- vicitravyūha
Mysterious words
- gsang tshig
- གསང་ཚིག
- rahasyapada
One of ten different kinds of verbal phrase or statement (Skt. pada) mentioned in this text.
Nadīkāśyapa
- chu klung ’od srung
- ཆུ་ཀླུང་འོད་སྲུང་།
- Nadīkāśyapa
Natural result
- rgyu mthun pa
- རྒྱུ་མཐུན་པ།
- —
Nature
- rang bzhin
- རང་བཞིན།
- —
Nirmāṇarati
- ’phrul dga’
- འཕྲུལ་དགའ།
- Nirmāṇarati
The second highest of the six heavens of the desire realm.
Nityodyukta
- rtag tu brtson
- རྟག་ཏུ་བརྩོན།
- Nityodyukta
Lit. “Always Energetic.”
Nityotkṣiptahasta
- rtag tu lag brkyang
- རྟག་ཏུ་ལག་བརྐྱང་།
- Nityotkṣiptahasta
Noble one
- ’phags pa
- འཕགས་པ།
- ārya
A term for realized beings in Buddhism. Also translated here as “ārya.”
Non-trainee
- mi slob
- mi slob pa
- མི་སློབ།
- མི་སློབ་པ།
- aśaikṣa
Nonexistent
- med pa nyid
- མེད་པ་ཉིད།
- —
Nonexistent nature
- med pa’i rang bzhin
- མེད་པའི་རང་བཞིན།
- —
Not apprehended
- dmigs pa med pa
- དམིགས་པ་མེད་པ།
- —
Not produced
- mngon par ’du byed pa med pa
- mngon par ’du byed med
- མངོན་པར་འདུ་བྱེད་པ་མེད་པ།
- མངོན་པར་འདུ་བྱེད་མེད།
- —
Not Seen when Viewed
- bltar mi mthong
- བལྟར་མི་མཐོང་།
- —
Not Taking or Rejecting
- mi len mi ’dor ba
- མི་ལེན་མི་འདོར་བ།
- —
Observing
- rnam par lta
- རྣམ་པར་ལྟ།
- —
Orders
- bka’ lung
- བཀའ་ལུང་།
- ājñā
Ornamented by Good Qualities
- yon tan gyis brgyan pa
- ཡོན་ཏན་གྱིས་བརྒྱན་པ།
- —
Ornamented by Marks
- mtshan gyis brgyan
- མཚན་གྱིས་བརྒྱན།
- —
Ornamented with Merit
- bsod nams kyis brgyan
- བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱིས་བརྒྱན།
- —
Overcoming All Sorrow and Darkness
- mya ngan dang mun pa thams cad ’joms pa
- མྱ་ངན་དང་མུན་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་འཇོམས་པ།
- —
Paranirmitavaśavartin
- gzhan ’phrul dbang byed
- གཞན་འཕྲུལ་དབང་བྱེད།
- —
The sixth and highest of the six heavens of the desire realm.
Passing beyond
- ’da’ bar byed pa
- འདའ་བར་བྱེད་པ།
- —
Path of all the best tastes
- ro mchog gi lam
- རོ་མཆོག་གི་ལམ།
- —
Path of form
- gzugs kyi lam
- གཟུགས་ཀྱི་ལམ།
- —
Path of mind
- sems kyi lam
- སེམས་ཀྱི་ལམ།
- —
Path of smells
- dri yi lam
- དྲི་ཡི་ལམ།
- —
Path of sound
- sgra kyi lam
- སྒྲ་ཀྱི་ལམ།
- —
Path of speech
- tshig lam
- ཚིག་ལམ།
- vākyapatha
Path of the body
- lus kyi lam
- ལུས་ཀྱི་ལམ།
- —
Path of the ears
- rna ba’i lam
- རྣ་བའི་ལམ།
- —
Path of the eyes
- mig gi lam
- མིག་གི་ལམ།
- —
Path of the nose
- sna yi lam
- སྣ་ཡི་ལམ།
- —
Path of the tongue
- lce yi lam
- ལྕེ་ཡི་ལམ།
- —
Path of touch
- reg pa’i lam
- རེག་པའི་ལམ།
- —
Perfected intention
- bsam pa phun sum tshogs pa
- བསམ་པ་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ།
- —
Phenomenal mark
- mtshan ma
- མཚན་མ།
- —
Pleasant sound
- sgra snyan
- སྒྲ་སྙན།
- sughoṣa
- sughoṣaka
Pleasure of happiness
- dga’ ba’i bde ba
- dga’ bde
- དགའ་བའི་བདེ་བ།
- དགའ་བདེ།
- prītisukha
- surata
Possible and impossible
- gnas dang mi gnas
- གནས་དང་མི་གནས།
- sthānāsthāna
Powers of reasoning
- rigs stobs
- རིགས་སྟོབས།
- —
Pratāpana
- rab tu tsha ba
- རབ་ཏུ་ཚ་བ།
- Pratāpana
Lit. “Very Hot.”
Pratibhākūṭa
- spobs pa brtsegs pa
- སྤོབས་པ་བརྩེགས་པ།
- Pratibhākūṭa
Lit. “Heap of Eloquence.”
Pratyekabuddha
- rang sangs rgyas
- རང་སངས་རྒྱས།
- pratyekabuddha
“Solitary realizer” or “solitary buddha.”
Pressing the Lips
- mchu rnon
- མཆུ་རྣོན།
- —
Puṇyaketu
- bsod nams dpal
- བསོད་ནམས་དཔལ།
- Puṇyaketu
Pure access to the Dharma
- rnam par dag pa’i sgo
- རྣམ་པར་དག་པའི་སྒོ།
- —
Pūrnamaitrāyaṇīputra
- byams ma’i bu gang po
- བྱམས་མའི་བུ་གང་པོ།
- Pūrnamaitrāyaṇīputra
Quick Eloquence
- spobs pa myur
- སྤོབས་པ་མྱུར།
- —
Rāhu
- sgra gcan
- སྒྲ་གཅན།
- Rāhu
Rāhula
- sgra gcan zin
- སྒྲ་གཅན་ཟིན།
- Rāhula
Rājagṛha
- rgyal po’i khab
- རྒྱལ་པོའི་ཁབ།
- Rājagṛha
Ratnākara
- dkon mchog ’byung gnas
- དཀོན་མཆོག་འབྱུང་གནས།
- Ratnākara
Ratnamudrāhasta
- lag na phyag rgya rin po che
- ལག་ན་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།
- Ratnamudrāhasta
Lit. “Jewel Mudrā in Hand.”
Realm of asuras
- lha min gnas
- ལྷ་མིན་གནས།
- —
Realm of kiṃnaras
- mi ci gnas
- མི་ཅི་གནས།
- —
Realm of nāgas
- klu yi gnas
- ཀླུ་ཡི་གནས།
- —
Realm of the gods of the protector class
- skyong ba’i gnas
- སྐྱོང་བའི་གནས།
- —
Realm of the gods of the Yāma class
- ’thab bral gnas
- འཐབ་བྲལ་གནས།
- —
Realm of the Nirmāṇarati gods
- ’phrul dga’ gnas
- འཕྲུལ་དགའ་གནས།
- —
Realm of the Tuṣita gods
- dga’ ldan gnas
- དགའ་ལྡན་གནས།
- —
Realm of the Vaśavartin gods
- dbang sgyur gnas
- དབང་སྒྱུར་གནས།
- —
Received consecration
- dbang bskur ba thob pa
- དབང་བསྐུར་བ་ཐོབ་པ།
- —
Regent
- rgyal tshab
- རྒྱལ་ཚབ།
- —
Remain established
- ’chags pa
- འཆགས་པ།
- —
Revata
- nam gru
- ནམ་གྲུ།
- Revata
Rises
- ldang ba
- ལྡང་བ།
- —
Rotten
- rul pa
- རུལ་པ།
- —
Royal palace
- rgyal po’i pho brang ’khor
- རྒྱལ་པོའི་ཕོ་བྲང་འཁོར།
- —
Sāgaramati
- blo gros rgya mtsho
- བློ་གྲོས་རྒྱ་མཚོ།
- Sāgaramati
Samantabhadra
- kun tu bzang po
- ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ།
- Samantabhadra
Same
- gcig pa nyid
- གཅིག་པ་ཉིད།
- —
Also translated here as “single” in the context of the ten continuities of Dharma.
Śāradvatīputra
- sha ra dwa ti’i bu
- ཤ་ར་དྭ་ཏིའི་བུ།
- Śāradvatīputra
Lit. “Son of Śāri,” also known as “Śāriputra,” one of two main male disciples of the Buddha.
Sarasvatī
- dbyangs can ma
- dbyangs ldan ma
- དབྱངས་ཅན་མ།
- དབྱངས་ལྡན་མ།
- Sarasvatī
Sarvadharmeśvara
- chos thams cad kyi dbang phyug
- ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག
- Sarvadharmeśvara
Śaśivimalagarbha
- zla ba dri ma med pa’i snying po
- ཟླ་བ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པའི་སྙིང་པོ།
- Śaśivimalagarbha
Secret eulogies
- gsang bstod sgra
- གསང་བསྟོད་སྒྲ།
- uccasvara
Secret victor
- rgyal gsang
- རྒྱལ་གསང་།
- —
Seeing All Purposes
- don kun mthong
- དོན་ཀུན་མཐོང་།
- —
Seer
- drang srong
- དྲང་སྲོང་།
- ṛṣi
Vedic term for a realized being.
Sign
- rtags
- རྟགས།
- —
Single
- gcig pa nyid
- གཅིག་པ་ཉིད།
- —
Also translated here as “same” in the context of the ten continuities of Dharma.
Snow cow
- kha ba ba mo
- ཁ་བ་བ་མོ།
- —
Someone who adheres to a heretical view
- dmigs pa can
- དམིགས་པ་ཅན།
- aupalambhika
Sound stream
- sgra rgyud
- སྒྲ་རྒྱུད།
- —
Sphere of experience
- spyod yul
- སྤྱོད་ཡུལ།
- gocara
Śrāvaka
- nyan thos
- ཉན་ཐོས།
- śrāvaka
Śrīgarbha jewel
- dpal gyi snying po
- དཔལ་གྱི་སྙིང་པོ།
- śrīgarbha
Subhūti
- rab ’byor
- རབ་འབྱོར།
- Subhūti
Subtle words
- phra ba’i gzhi
- ཕྲ་བའི་གཞི།
- sūkṣmapada
One of ten different kinds of verbal phrase or statement (Skt. pada) mentioned in this text.
Sucandra
- zla ba bzang po
- zla bzangs
- ཟླ་བ་བཟང་པོ།
- ཟླ་བཟངས།
- sucandra
A jewel.
Sumeru
- ri rab
- རི་རབ།
- Sumeru
Superior King
- mngon ’phags rgyal po
- མངོན་འཕགས་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- —
Surendrabodhi
- su ren+d+ra bo d+hi
- སུ་རེནྡྲ་བོ་དྷི།
- Surendrabodhi
Sūryagarbha
- nyi ma’i snying po
- ཉི་མའི་སྙིང་པོ།
- Sūryagarbha
Suvikrāntavikrāmin
- rab kyi rtsal gyis rnam par gnon pa
- རབ་ཀྱི་རྩལ་གྱིས་རྣམ་པར་གནོན་པ།
- Suvikrāntavikrāmin
Lit. “Pressing with Utmost Skill.”
Taken rebirth
- skye bar bskyed pa
- སྐྱེ་བར་བསྐྱེད་པ།
- —
Tapana
- tsha ba
- ཚ་བ།
- Tapana
Lit. “Hot.”
Ten categories of the bodhisattva
- byang chub sems dpa’ rnam par gzhag pa bcu
- བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་རྣམ་པར་གཞག་པ་བཅུ།
- —
Ten continuities of Dharma
- chos kyi rgyun bcu
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱུན་བཅུ།
- —
Ten factors
- chos bcu
- ཆོས་བཅུ།
- —
Ten objectives
- dmigs pa bcu
- དམིགས་པ་བཅུ།
- —
Ten realizations of knowledge
- shes pa mngon par sgrub pa bcu
- ཤེས་པ་མངོན་པར་སྒྲུབ་པ་བཅུ།
- —
Ten things that conform with phenomena
- chos kyi rjes su ’jug pa bcu
- ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྗེས་སུ་འཇུག་པ་བཅུ།
- —
Those who are still youths
- gzhon nur gyur pa
- གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ།
- kumārabhūta
Those with long matted hair
- ral pa ring
- རལ་པ་རིང་།
- dīrghajaṭa
Times of exhaustion
- zad pa’i dus
- ཟད་པའི་དུས།
- —
Tīrtha
- mu stegs
- མུ་སྟེགས།
- tīrtha
Literally meaning a “ford,” “crossing place,” or “confluence,” the term is used to refer to the geographical holy places and pilgrimage sites (whether associated with rivers or not) of both Hinduism and Jainism, and by extension to the spiritual practices of pilgrimage in general.
Tīrthika
- mu stegs can
- མུ་སྟེགས་ཅན།
- tīrthika
Tolerate
- bzod pa
- བཟོད་པ།
- —
Touched
- nyug pa
- ཉུག་པ།
- —
Trainee
- slob pa
- སློབ་པ།
- śaikṣa
Trāyastriṃśa
- sum bcu rtsa gsum
- སུམ་བཅུ་རྩ་གསུམ།
- Trāyastriṃśa
An important heaven in Hindu and Buddhist cosmologies; it is the second heaven in the realm of forms in Buddhist cosmology presided over by Śakra; also refers to the gods who dwell there.
Treasure deposits
- gter gzhi
- གཏེར་གཞི།
- —
Tumburu
- tum bu ru
- ཏུམ་བུ་རུ།
- Tumburu
Tuṣita
- dga’ ldan
- དགའ་ལྡན།
- Tuṣita
The third highest of the six heavens of the desire realm.
Ultimate reality
- chos nyid
- ཆོས་ཉིད།
- dharmatā
Ultimate rewards
- legs skyes mthar thug
- ལེགས་སྐྱེས་མཐར་ཐུག
- —
Unelaborated
- ma spros pa
- མ་སྤྲོས་པ།
- —
Unimaginable Intelligence
- bsam yas blo gros
- བསམ་ཡས་བློ་གྲོས།
- —
Upper Head
- mgo stod
- མགོ་སྟོད།
- —
Urdhvapāda
- spyi’u tshugs
- སྤྱིའུ་ཚུགས།
- Urdhvapāda
Urubilvākāśyapa
- lteng rgyas ’od srung
- ལྟེང་རྒྱས་འོད་སྲུང་།
- Urubilvākāśyapa
Vairocana
- rnam par snang mdzad
- རྣམ་པར་སྣང་མཛད།
- Vairocana
Vajra Intelligence
- rdo rje’i blo gros
- རྡོ་རྗེའི་བློ་གྲོས།
- Vajramati
Vajra Quintessence
- rdo rje’i snying po
- རྡོ་རྗེའི་སྙིང་པོ།
- Vajragarbha
Vajra words
- rdo rje’i tshig
- རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཚིག
- vajrapada
One of ten different kinds of verbal phrase or statement (Skt. pada) mentioned in this text.
Vajragarbha
- rdo rje’i snying po
- རྡོ་རྗེའི་སྙིང་པོ།
- Vajragarbha
Vajrapāṇi
- lag na rdo rje
- ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
- Vajrapāṇi
Valiant Eloquence
- spobs pa dpa’ ba
- སྤོབས་པ་དཔའ་བ།
- —
Varśika
- bar sha
- bar shi ka
- བར་ཤ།
- བར་ཤི་ཀ
- varśika
Vehicle of conditions
- rkyen gyi theg pa
- རྐྱེན་གྱི་ཐེག་པ།
- pratyayayāna
I.e., the pratyeka tradition.
Very fine quality cotton cloth
- bcos bu’i ras
- བཅོས་བུའི་རས།
- dūṣya
Viewing
- rnam par lta ba
- རྣམ་པར་ལྟ་བ།
- —
Vowed to ascetic discipline from youth
- gzhon nu’i brtul zhugs
- གཞོན་ནུའི་བརྟུལ་ཞུགས།
- kumāravrata
May also refer to practitioners who deliberately act like children; see n.113.
Vulture Peak
- bya rgod kyi phung po’i ri
- བྱ་རྒོད་ཀྱི་ཕུང་པོའི་རི།
- Gṛdhrakūṭaparvata
Weapon of a Vajra
- rdo rje’i mtshon cha
- རྡོ་རྗེའི་མཚོན་ཆ།
- —
Without conceptual elaborations
- spros med
- སྤྲོས་མེད།
- —
Also translated here as “absence of conceptual elaborations.”
Without conceptual thought
- rnam par rtog pa med pa nyid
- རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ་མེད་པ་ཉིད།
- —
Without defining marks
- mtshan nyid med pa
- མཚན་ཉིད་མེད་པ།
- —
Without increase
- dbugs ’byin pa med pa
- དབུགས་འབྱིན་པ་མེད་པ།
- —
Without limitation
- gtan pa med pa
- གཏན་པ་མེད་པ།
- nirargala
Without nature
- rang bzhin med pa nyid
- rang bzhin med pa
- རང་བཞིན་མེད་པ་ཉིད།
- རང་བཞིན་མེད་པ།
- —
Words for interpreting
- nges tshig
- ངེས་ཚིག
- niruktipada
One of ten different kinds of verbal phrase or statement (Skt. pada) mentioned in this text.
Words for interpreting the language of gods
- lha tshig nges tshig
- ལྷ་ཚིག་ངེས་ཚིག
- devaniruktipada
One of ten different kinds of verbal phrase or statement (Skt. pada) mentioned in this text.
Words for interpreting universally understood language
- kun la ’jug pa’i tshig nges tshig
- ཀུན་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་ཚིག་ངེས་ཚིག
- sarvapraveśaniruktipada
One of ten different kinds of verbal phrase or statement (Skt. pada) mentioned in this text.
Words with distinct syllables
- yi ge dbye tshig
- ཡི་གེ་དབྱེ་ཚིག
- akṣarabhedapada
One of ten different kinds of verbal phrase or statement (Skt. pada) mentioned in this text.
Workings
- kun du zhugs pa
- ཀུན་དུ་ཞུགས་པ།
- samāruḍa
- saṃpratisthata
Yāma
- ’thab bral
- འཐབ་བྲལ།
- Yāma
The third lowest of the six heavens of the desire realm.
Yama
- ’chi bdag
- འཆི་བདག
- Yama
Yaśodharā
- grags ’dzin
- grags ’dzin ma
- གྲགས་འཛིན།
- གྲགས་འཛིན་མ།
- Yaśodharā
Yeshé Dé
- ye shes sde
- ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ།
- —