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དྲི་མེད་གྲགས་པས་བསྟན་པ།

The Teaching of Vimalakīrti
Introduction

Vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa
འཕགས་པ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པར་གྲགས་པས་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
’phags pa dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of Vimalakīrti”
Ārya­vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra
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Toh 176

Degé Kangyur vol. 60 (mdo sde, ma), folios 175.a–239.a

First published 2017
Current version v 1.45.19 (2022)
Generated by 84000 Reading Room v2.17.7

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co.

Table of Contents

ti. Title
im. Imprint
co. Contents
s. Summary
ac. Acknowledgments
i. Introduction
tr. The Translation
+ 12 chapters- 12 chapters
1. Purification of the Buddhafield
2. Inconceivable Skill in Liberative Art
3. The Disciples’ and the Bodhisattvas’ Reluctance to Visit Vimalakīrti
4. The Consolation of the Invalid
5. The Inconceivable Liberation
6. The Goddess
7. The Family of the Tathāgatas
8. The Dharma-Door of Nonduality
9. The Feast Brought by the Emanated Incarnation
10. Lesson of the Destructible and the Indestructible
11. Vision of the Universe Abhirati and the Tathāgata Akṣobhya
12. Antecedents and Transmission of the Holy Dharma
c. Colophon
ab. Abbreviations
n. Notes
b. Bibliography
+ 4 sections- 4 sections
· Tibetan and Sanskrit sources
· Translations of this text
· Canonical references
· Editions and translations of works referenced
g. Glossary

s.

Summary

s.­1

While the Buddha is teaching outside the city of Vaiśālī, a notable householder in the city‍—the great bodhisattva Vimalakīrti‍—apparently falls sick. The Buddha asks his disciple and bodhisattva disciples to call on Vimalakīrti, but each of them relates previous encounters that have rendered them reluctant to face his penetrating scrutiny of their attitudes and activities. Only Mañjuśrī has the courage to pay him a visit, and in the conversations that ensue between Vimalakīrti, Mañjuśrī, and several other interlocutors, Vimalakīrti sets out an uncompromising and profound view of the Buddha’s teaching and the bodhisattva path, illustrated by various miraculous displays. Its masterful narrative structure, dramatic and sometimes humorous dialogue, and highly evolved presentation of teachings have made this sūtra one of the favorites of Mahāyāna literature.


ac.

Acknowledgments

ac.­1

Translated by Robert A. F. Thurman and first published, under the title The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti: A Mahāyāna Scripture, by the Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park and London, in 1976.

This electronic edition for 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, with an abridged introduction and notes, and lightly edited under the supervision of Professor Thurman, is published by his kind permission as the copyright holder.

From the Preface to the original edition:

I sincerely thank my friend and benefactor, Dr. C. T. Shen, both for his sponsorship of the work and for his most helpful collaboration in the work of comparing the Tibetan and Chinese versions. We were sometimes joined in our round-table discussions by Drs. C. S. George, Tao-Tien Yi, F. S. K. Koo, and T. C. Tsao, whose helpful suggestions I gratefully acknowledge. My thanks also go to Ms. Yeshe Tsomo and Ms. Leah Zahler for their invaluable editorial assistance, and to Ms. Carole Schwager and the staff of The Pennsylvania State University Press.

Preface to this electronic edition:

I earnestly thank Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche for his great efforts in creating the 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha project, to present in English the many great works of the Buddha’s teachings freely to the world.

I also thank John Canti, of 84000, for his careful, creative, and very learned translating and editorial work on this electronic edition, without which this improved translation would not have materialized. I thank Mr. Patrick Alexander, of the Penn State University Press, who was the one who informed me that the copyright to my original translation done for the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions had reverted to me upon the termination of that Institute, to which I had previously conveyed my rights.

I intend to publish in print form a further update of that original version at a future time. Since there have been a number of free-floating electronic forms of this text on the internet for some years now, I am happy that the sūtra in its current revision is now available in the 84000 Reading Room, among the many other translations on that site.

Sarva maṅgalam!


i.

Introduction

i.­1

Among Buddhist sūtras, The Teaching of Vimalakīrti stands out like a masterfully faceted diamond, so located between the heaps of gold, silver, and pearls of the Transcendent ‌Wisdom (Prajñā­pāramitā) Sūtras and the array of sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and other gems of the ‌Buddha Garland (Buddhāvataṃsaka), or Inconceivable Liberation (Acintyavimokṣa) Sūtras as to refract the radiances of all, beaming them forth to the beholder in a concentrated rainbow-beam of diamond light.

i.­2

I elaborate upon this traditional metaphor here to convey a sense of how the Vimalakīrti is truly unique among Buddhist sūtras. Unmatched in its content‍—a quintessence of Mahāyāna doctrines, both of the profound and of the extensive categories‍—its aesthetic virtue, too, makes it an object of the connoisseur’s delight. This helps us understand how a hundred generations of Mahāyāna Buddhists in India, Central Asia, China, Japan, and South East Asia were disposed to study, revere, and enjoy this sūtra, finding enlightenment, inspiration, and the grace of pleasant humor.


i.­3

The sūtra starts with the Buddha, in the presence of a large assembly of monks and bodhisattvas gathered before him in Āmrapālī’s grove outside Vaiśālī, receiving offerings from five hundred youths from the city, headed by the Licchavi bodhisattva Ratnākara, and in response revealing the entire universe as a vast buddhafield in a miraculous display, seen by all present. After pronouncing a notable praise to the Buddha in verse, Ratnakāra asks him to explain what is meant by a bodhisattva purifying his buddhafield. The Buddha’s response to this request, together with further descriptions in the fifth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters, constitute one of the most complete and profound teachings on the subject of buddhafields to be found in the canonical literature.

i.­4

The second chapter introduces the great Licchavi bodhisattva Vimalakīrti, master of the liberative art, who lives as a layman but transcends all categorization. Manifesting himself as if sick, he teaches all the notables and citizens of Vaiśālī, as they come to inquire about his health, on the insubstantial and unsatisfactory nature of the ordinary body, and compares it to the body of a tathāgata. In the third chapter, the Buddha asks his principal disciples, one by one, to visit Vimalakīrti on his sickbed. All of them in turn, however‍—first the great disciples, and then the bodhisattvas‍—feel reluctant to do so and decline on the grounds that previous encounters with him (recounted in detail) have left them astonished and somewhat discomfited by the profundity and transcendent nature of his views, often on topics or practices of which they had themselves hitherto been considered peerless masters.

i.­5

Mañjuśrī, despite his own reluctance, is the only bodhisattva to assent to the Buddha’s request, and the fourth and subsequent chapters describe the conversations between him, Vimalakīrti, and a number of other interlocutors from the large assembly accompanying Mañjuśrī to Vimalakīrti’s house in the eager anticipation of hearing the Dharma expressed in the exchange between these two high-level bodhisattvas. Their discussion starts with what is meant by sickness, how a bodhisattva should comfort another bodhisattva who is sick, and how a sick bodhisattva should control his own mind, with most of the dialogue consisting of long passages spoken by Vimalakīrti in response to brief questions by Mañjuśrī. In the fifth chapter, Vimalakīrti performs the miraculous feat of bringing to his house in Vaiśālī millions of enormous thrones belonging to the entourage of a buddha from another, vastly distant universe, the Tathāgata Meru­pradīpa­rāja, and explains how such apparently impossible transformations of time, space, and other phenomena become possible for a bodhisattva who lives in the inconceivable liberation. In the sixth chapter‍—after a discussion with Mañjuśrī on sentient beings and compassion‍—he leaves it to a goddess living in his house to demonstrate graphically to the hapless great disciple Śāriputra the dualistic notions he holds on attainment, vehicle, and even gender.

i.­6

The seventh chapter opens with Vimalakīrti answering Mañjuśrī’s leading questions to explain that whatever ways a bodhisattva might follow, including those conventionally considered the most negative and harmful, will cause him to attain the qualities of the buddhas. This leads to a discussion on the family of the tathāgatas (tathāgatagotra) and a long speech in verse by Vimalakīrti extolling the ways in which the actions of bodhisattvas correspond to worldly activities, but transcend and surpass them by far. All of this is made possible by bodhisattvas’ freedom from dualistic thinking, and in the eighth chapter Vimalakīrti individually questions the bodhisattvas present about how each of them practices non-duality, receiving thirty-one different replies all of which Mañjuśrī finds laudable, but nevertheless still tinged with dualism. He requests Vimalakīrti to add his own point of view, to which Vimalakīrti’s responds with his famous silence.

i.­7

Śāriputra again becomes an object of mind-opening critique when, at the opening of the ninth chapter, Vimalakīrti catches him wondering how everyone present is going to eat before noon. Vimalakīrti miraculously makes everyone perceive another distant buddhafield, where the Tathāgata Gandhottama­kūṭa and his bodhisattvas are about to take their meal. Vimalakīrti emanates a bodhisattva, a messenger who goes to that buddhafield and invites all the bodhisattvas there back to the house in Vaiśālī, bringing a vessel of their miraculous, highly fragrant food for the assembly to enjoy. Vimalakīrti elicits from the visiting bodhisattvas an account of how Gandhottama­kūṭa teaches the Dharma only through perfumes, and explains to them how the Buddha Śākyamuni has to use much grosser expedients to tame the wild and difficult beings of his own buddhafield, the Sahā world. The visitors are surprised and impressed by the Buddha’s compassion. They express the wish to pay him their respects and Vimalakīrti, in the tenth chapter, magically transports the entire assembly, including the visiting bodhisattvas, into the Buddha’s presence in Āmrapālī’s grove so that they may do so. A discussion between the Buddha, Vimalakīrti, and Ānanda of the great variety of methods used to express the Dharma in different buddhafields ensues, and the Buddha gives the visitors, before they depart for their own buddhafield, a long teaching on “the destructible and indestructible,” explaining how bodhisattvas should neither destroy what is compounded nor rest in what is uncompounded.

i.­8

In the penultimate chapter, prompted by the Buddha, Vimalakīrti describes how he sees the Tathāgata. When Śāriputra asks where Vimalakīrti was before manifesting in this world, the Buddha tells him it was in Abhirati, the buddhafield of Akṣobhya. Everyone present wants a glimpse of that buddhafield, so at the Buddha’s request Vimalakīrti physically miniaturizes Abhirati, brings it to Vaiśālī to show and inspire them all, and then replaces it where it was. In a dialogue with Śakra in the final chapter the Buddha explains, as in many other sūtras, the extraordinary merit of studying and understanding this teaching, and recounts how in one of his own former lives he was taught the importance of Dharma-worship by the Tahāgata Bhaiṣajyarāja. He then entrusts his own enlightenment along with this sūtra to Maitreya, explaining the importance it will have in conveying the profound principles of the Dharma to beings in the future, as well as asking Ānanda to memorize it and giving it several different names.


i.­9

In keeping with an alternative title of the sūtra (Inconceivable Liberation),1 Vimalakīrti lays great emphasis on the theme of inconceivability, that is, the ultimate incomprehensibility of all things, relative or absolute. He thus spells out the furthest implication of the application of voidness: that the finite, ego-centered mind cannot even conceive of the ultimate nature of things and, hence, as far as such minds are concerned, their ultimate reality is itself inconceivability. This accords with the degree of attainment of the bodhisattva, so frequently reached by Vimalakīrti’s audiences, called “the tolerance of the birthlessness of all things” (anutpattika­dharma­kṣānti). It is extremely significant that the term “tolerance” (kṣānti) is used here, rather than “conviction,” “understanding,” or “realization”; it emphasizes the fact that where the ultimate is concerned, the mind is unable to grasp anything in the pattern of dualistic knowledge, for there is no finite object in this case and only relative objects can be grasped with relative certainty in the mundane sense. Yet that is not to say that the student’s task is to simply put a label of “inconceivability” on all things and rest complacent with a sense of having reached a high state. Indeed, there are three stages of this tolerance: the verbal (ghoṣānugā), conforming (anulomikī), and true tolerance of the birthlessness of things. This indicates the difficulty of attainment of true tolerance, which occurs only at the eighth stage of bodhisattvahood.2 Inconceivability as a verbal concept is only a principle to be applied to the mind, just like the verbal concept of voidness, or even of infinity.

i.­10

When we reflect intensively on any of these concepts, our minds open gradually in an ever widening sphere whose limits proceed from preconceived limitation to preconceived limitation. We discover to our surprise that there is always something further, and we logically discard the possibility of any limit being ultimate because any limit serves as the near boundary of the next larger space or dimension or time. If we adhere rigorously to this process, we soon find ourselves lost in the stars, as it were, with less and less security about ever having started from anywhere.

i.­11

The Buddha gave this type of deepest teaching only to disciples able to deal with it. Nāgārjuna himself rarely spelled it out explicitly, restricting himself to providing the means whereby the disciplined intellect can strip away its own conceptualizations and habitual notions. But Vimalakīrti felt that such a message should be available to a much larger circle of people, for he expressed himself definitively on all occasions, as recorded in this sūtra.

i.­12

The main technique Vimalakīrti uses that is of interest here‍—dichotomy‍—is found in his discourse, which relates to another alternative title of the sūtra, “Reconciliation of Dichotomies” (Yamaka­puṭa­vyatyasta­nihāra).3 This is in keeping with the traditional method of the Middle Way masters, who had great skill in pitting polar opposites against each other to eliminate the fixedness of each and to free the mind of the student who applies himself to the polarities to open into a middle ground of reality beyond concepts. The mahāsiddhas of first-millennium India refined this art to a consummate degree in their songs and extraordinary deeds, and the Great Ch’an and Zen Masters wielded the same “double-edged sword” in their earthshaking statements and their illuminating activities. The singular quality of such teachers’ use of dichotomies lies in the fact that they relate them to the actual practice of the hearers, forcing them to integrate them in their minds and actions. Thus, they expect them to be liberated inconceivably, while being totally engaged in the work of helping other living beings. They recommend their full cultivation of great love and great compassion while maintaining total awareness of the total absence of any such thing as a living being, a suffering being, a being in bondage. In short, they show the way to the full nonduality of wisdom and great compassion, the latter being expressed as skill in liberative art‍—the integrated approach acknowledged by all the masters as the essence of the Mahāyāna.

i.­13

Vimalakīrti’s reconciliation of dichotomies is so thoroughgoing that he shocks the disciples by his advocacy of the most horrible things as being part of the bodhisattva’s path. The bodhisattva may commit the five deadly sins, follow the false outsider teachings, entertain the sixty-two false views, consort with all the passions, and so on. Even the māras, or devils, that plague the various universes are said to be bodhisattvas dwelling in inconceivable liberation‍—playing the devil, as it were, in order to develop living beings.

i.­14

It is an extraordinary fact that Vimalakīrti’s method in integrating the intellectual and behavioral dichotomies is one of many blatant hints of tantric ideas in the background of his teaching method. Futher research is needed to determine whether these connections prove the existence of tantrism at a time earlier than modern scholars generally believe or whether later tantrics found Vimalakīrti’s teachings a source of inspiration. However, the concept of the adept using paths generally considered evil for the attainment of enlightenment and the buddha-qualities is basic in tantric doctrine and practice; Śākyamuni’s revelation of the Sahā world as a jeweled buddhafield accords with tantric method; and Vimalakīrti’s discussion of how a bodhisattva in inconceivable liberation can transfer Mount Sumeru, or an entire universe, into a mustard seed is reminiscent of the yogic practices for transmuting dimensions of time and space found in the Guhyasamāja.4 The description of Vimalakīrti as versed in “esoteric practices”;5 the description of the “family of the tathāgatas”;6 Vimalakīrti’s verse identifying wisdom as the mother and liberative art as the father, exactly corresponding with the central tantric symbolism of male and female as vajra and bell, and the like;7 the yogic powers ascribed to the bodhisattva in inconceivable liberation, such as the ability to take fire in his stomach;8 the mention of the appearance of many tathāgatas‍—including Akṣobhya, Amitābha, Ratnavyūha, Sarvārtha­siddha, and others‍—in the house of Vimalakīrti, teaching the esotericisms of the tathāgatas (tathāgata-guhyaka);9 and the culmination of the sūtra in the vision of the Buddha Akṣobhya:10 all these lend the sūtra a certain aura of tantra. Whatever the “historical” relationship may be, there is no doubt that the mahāsiddhas of later times would have felt at home in the house of Vimalakīrti.


i.­15

Nothing concrete is known about the “original text” of the Vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa. It purports to record events that took place during Gautama Buddha’s time (sixth to fifth century B.C.), but no text was apparent in India until after Nāgārjuna (c. first century B.C. to first century A.D.) had revived the Mahāyāna traditions, discovering the Mahāyāna Sanskrit sūtras, the Vimalakīrti text among them. This text was subsequently translated into Chinese seven different times, starting in the second century with Yan Fodiao11 (A.D. 188), the version of Kumārajīva (A.D. 406) being the most popular, and that of Xuanzang (A.D. 650) the most technically accurate. It was translated into Tibetan at least twice, the definitive version completed in the early ninth century by the well-known Tibetan translator Chönyi Tsültrim (chos nyid tshul khrims), also known as Dharmatāśīla, who was one of the compilers of the Mahāvyutpatti.12 It was also translated into Sogdian, Khotanese, and Uighur. For many years it was thought that all Sanskrit texts of the work had been lost, except for some fragments quoted in Mahāyāna philosophical works. In 1998, however, a Sanskrit manuscript was found in the Potala Palace, Lhasa, of which edited versions were published in 2004 and 2006 by the Taishō University Study Group on Sanskrit Buddhist Literature.13

i.­16

The Japanese chose Kumārajīva’s version for their translation, and the majority of modern translations have been based on this text. In 1962, Dr. E. Lamotte set forth to rectify this situation by basing his fine French translation on the Tibetan and the Xuanzang versions. The history comes full circle finally, as the Rev. E. Bangert first translated the Tibetan into modern Thai and then into current Sanskrit.

i.­17

My translation is based on the Tibetan version, as I am most at home in that language, although at times the simplicity of the Kumārajīva, the psychological precision of Xuanzang, or the elegance of Lamotte may have clarified the Tibetan, provided an alternative, or given me another reference point from which to find a middle way. Any significant departures from the basic Tibetan have been duly noted. The recently discovered Sanskrit text of the sūtra only came to light thirty years after the first edition of this translation was published, but was consulted for this new edition and has helped to make some of the revisions, including the updating of a number of Sanskrit proper names.


The Translation
The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra
The Teaching of Vimalakīrti

1.
Chapter 1

Purification of the Buddhafield

[F.175.a]


1.­1

Reverence to all the buddhas, bodhisattvas, noble disciples, and pratyekabuddhas, in the past, the present, and the future.


1.­2

Thus did I hear on a single occasion. The Lord Buddha was in residence in the garden of Āmrapālī, in the city of Vaiśālī, attended by a great gathering. Of bhikṣus there were eight thousand, all arhats. They were free from impurities and afflictions, and all had attained self-mastery. Their minds were entirely liberated by perfect knowledge. They were calm and dignified, like royal elephants. They had accomplished their work, done what they had to do, cast off their burdens, attained their goals, and totally destroyed the bonds of existence. Their true knowledge had made their minds entirely free. They all had attained the utmost perfection of every form of control over their minds.14


2.
Chapter 2

Inconceivable Skill in Liberative Art

2.­1

At that time, there lived in the great city of Vaiśālī a certain Licchavi, Vimalakīrti by name. Having served the ancient buddhas, he had generated the roots of virtue by honoring them and making offerings to them. He had attained tolerance as well as eloquence. He played with the great superknowledges. He had attained the power of retention and the fearlessnesses. He had conquered all demons and opponents. He had penetrated the profound way of the Dharma. He was liberated through the transcendence of wisdom. Having integrated his realization with skill in liberative art, he was expert in knowing the thoughts and actions of living beings. Knowing the strength or weakness of their faculties, and being gifted with unrivaled eloquence, he taught the Dharma appropriately to each. Having applied himself energetically to the Mahāyāna, he understood it and accomplished his tasks with great finesse. He lived with the deportment of a buddha, and his superior intelligence was as wide as an ocean. He was praised, honored, and commended by all the buddhas and was respected by Śakra, Brahmā, and all the Lokapālas. In order to develop living beings with his skill in liberative art, he lived in the great city of Vaiśālī.


3.
Chapter 3

The Disciples’ and the Bodhisattvas’ Reluctance to Visit Vimalakīrti

3.­1

Then, the Licchavi Vimalakīrti thought to himself, “I am sick, lying on my bed in pain, yet the Tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly accomplished Buddha, does not consider me or take pity upon me, and sends no one to inquire after my illness.”

3.­2

The Lord knew this thought in the mind of Vimalakīrti and said to the venerable Śāriputra, “Śāriputra, go to inquire after the illness of the Licchavi Vimalakīrti.”


4.
Chapter 4

The Consolation of the Invalid

4.­1

Then, the Buddha said to the crown prince, Mañjuśrī, “Mañjuśrī, [F.198.a] go to the Licchavi Vimalakīrti to inquire about his illness.”

Mañjuśrī replied, “Lord, it is difficult to attend upon the Licchavi Vimalakīrti. He is gifted with marvelous eloquence concerning the law of the profound. He is extremely skilled in full expressions and in the reconciliation of dichotomies. His eloquence is inexorable, and no one can resist his imperturbable intellect. He accomplishes all the activities of the bodhisattvas. He penetrates all the secret mysteries of the bodhisattvas and the buddhas. He is skilled in civilizing all the abodes of devils. He plays with the great superknowledges. He is consummate in wisdom and liberative art. He has attained the supreme excellence of the indivisible, nondual sphere of the ultimate realm. He is skilled in teaching the Dharma with its infinite modalities within the uniform ultimate. He is skilled in granting means of attainment in accordance with the spiritual faculties of all living beings. He has thoroughly integrated his realization with skill in liberative art. He has attained decisiveness with regard to all questions. Thus, although he cannot be withstood by someone of my feeble defenses, still, sustained by the grace of the Buddha, I will go to him and will converse with him as well as I can.”


5.
Chapter 5

The Inconceivable Liberation

5.­1

Thereupon, the venerable Śāriputra had this thought: “There is not even a single chair in this house. Where are these disciples and bodhisattvas going to sit?”

The Licchavi Vimalakīrti read the thought of the venerable Śāriputra and said, “Reverend Śāriputra, did you come here for the sake of the Dharma? Or did you come here for the sake of a chair?”

5.­2

Śāriputra replied, “I came for the sake of the Dharma, not for the sake of a chair.”


6.
Chapter 6

The Goddess

6.­1

Thereupon, Mañjuśrī, the crown prince, addressed the Licchavi Vimalakīrti: “Good sir, how should a bodhisattva regard all living beings?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Mañjuśrī, a bodhisattva should regard all living beings as a wise man regards the reflection of the moon in water or as magicians regard men created by magic. He should regard them as being like a face in a mirror; like the water of a mirage; like the sound of an echo; like a mass of clouds in the sky; [F.208.b] like the previous moment of a ball of foam; like the appearance and disappearance of a bubble of water; like the core of a plantain tree; like a flash of lightning; like the fifth great element; like the seventh sense-medium; like the appearance of matter in an immaterial realm; like a sprout from a rotten seed; like a tortoise-hair coat; like the fun of games for one who wishes to die; like the egoistic views of a stream-winner; like a third rebirth of a once-returner; like the descent of a nonreturner into a womb; like the existence of desire, hatred, and folly in an arhat; [F.209.a] like thoughts of avarice, immorality, wickedness, and hostility in a bodhisattva who has attained tolerance; like the instincts of afflictions in a tathāgata; like the perception of color in one blind from birth; like the inhalation and exhalation of an ascetic absorbed in the meditation of cessation; like the track of a bird in the sky; like the erection of a eunuch; like the pregnancy of a barren woman; like the unproduced afflictions of an emanated incarnation of the Tathāgata; like dream-visions seen after waking; like the afflictions of one who is free of conceptualizations; like fire burning without fuel; like the reincarnation of one who has attained ultimate liberation. [F.209.b]


7.
Chapter 7

The Family of the Tathāgatas

7.­1

Then, the crown prince Mañjuśrī asked the Licchavi Vimalakīrti, “‌Noble sir, how does the bodhisattva follow the way to attain the qualities of the Buddha?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Mañjuśrī, when the bodhisattva follows the wrong way, he follows the way to attain the qualities of the Buddha.”

7.­2

Mañjuśrī continued, “How does the bodhisattva follow the wrong way?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Even should he enact the five deadly sins, he feels no malice, violence, or hate. Even should he go into the hells, he remains free of all taint of afflictions. Even should he go into the states of the animals, he remains free of darkness and ignorance. When he goes into the states of the asuras, he remains free of pride, conceit, and arrogance. When he goes into the realm of the lord of death, he accumulates the stores of merit and wisdom. When he goes into the states of motionlessness and immateriality, he does not dissolve therein.


8.
Chapter 8

The Dharma-Door of Nonduality

8.­1

Then, the Licchavi Vimalakīrti asked those bodhisattvas, “Good sirs, please explain how the bodhisattvas enter the Dharma-door of nonduality!”177

8.­2

The bodhisattva Dharmavikurvaṇa declared, “Noble sir, production and destruction are two, but what is not produced and does not occur cannot be destroyed. Thus the attainment of the tolerance of the birthlessness of things is the entrance into nonduality.”


9.
Chapter 9

The Feast Brought by the Emanated Incarnation

9.­1

Thereupon, the venerable Śāriputra thought to himself, “If these great bodhisattvas do not adjourn before noontime, when are they going to eat?”185

The Licchavi Vimalakīrti, aware of what the venerable Śāriputra was thinking, spoke to him: “Reverend Śāriputra, the Tathāgata has taught the eight liberations. You should concentrate on those liberations, listening to the Dharma with a mind free of preoccupations with material things. Just wait a minute, reverend Śāriputra, and you will eat such food as you have never before tasted.”


10.
Chapter 10

Lesson of the Destructible and the Indestructible

10.­1

Meanwhile, the area in which the Lord was teaching the Dharma in the garden of Āmrapālī expanded and grew larger, and the entire assembly appeared tinged with a golden hue. Thereupon, the venerable Ānanda asked the Buddha, “Lord, this expansion and enlargement of the garden of Āmrapālī and this golden hue of the assembly‍—what do these auspicious signs portend?”

The Buddha declared, “Ānanda, these auspicious signs portend that the Licchavi Vimalakīrti and the crown prince Mañjuśrī, attended by a great multitude, are coming into the presence of the Tathāgata.”


11.
Chapter 11

Vision of the Universe Abhirati and the Tathāgata Akṣobhya

11.­1

Thereupon, the Buddha said to the Licchavi Vimalakīrti, “Noble son, when you see the Tathāgata, how do you view him?”

Thus addressed, the Licchavi Vimalakīrti said to the Buddha, “Lord, when I see the Tathāgata, I view him by not seeing any Tathāgata. Why? I see him as not born from the past, not passing on to the future, and not abiding in the present time. Why? He is the essence that is the reality of matter,202 but he is not matter. He is the essence that is the reality of sensation, but he is not sensation. He is the essence that is the reality of intellect, but he is not intellect. He is the essence that is the reality of performance, yet he is not performance. He is the essence that is the reality of consciousness, yet he is not consciousness. Like the element of space, he does not abide in any of the four elements. Transcending the scope of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind, he is not produced in the six sense-media. [F.231.b] He is not involved in the three worlds, is free of the three defilements, is associated with the triple liberation, is endowed with the three knowledges, and has truly attained the unattainable.


12.
Chapter 12

Antecedents and Transmission of the Holy Dharma

12.­1

Then Śakra, the king of the gods, said to the Buddha, “Lord, formerly I have heard from the Tathāgata and from Mañjuśrī, the crown prince of wisdom, many hundreds of thousands of teachings of the Dharma, but I have never before heard a teaching of the Dharma as remarkable as this instruction in the entrance into the method of inconceivable transformations.206 Lord, those living beings who, having heard this teaching of the Dharma, accept it, remember it, read it, and understand it deeply will be, without a doubt, true vessels of the Dharma; [F.235.a] there is no need to mention those who apply themselves to the yoga of meditation upon it. They will cut off all possibility of unhappy lives, will open their way to all fortunate lives, will always be looked after by all buddhas, will always overcome all adversaries, and will always conquer all devils. They will practice the path of the bodhisattvas, will take their places upon the seat of enlightenment, and will have truly entered the domain of the tathāgatas. Lord, the noble sons and daughters who will teach and practice this exposition of the Dharma will be honored and served by me and my followers. To the villages, towns, cities, states, kingdoms, and capitals wherein this teaching of the Dharma will be applied, taught, and demonstrated, I and my followers will come to hear the Dharma. I will inspire the unbelieving with faith, and I will guarantee my help and protection to those who believe and uphold the Dharma.”


c.

Colophon

c.­1

It has 1,800 ślokas in six fascicles, and was translated, edited, and established by Bandé Chönyi Tsultrim.


ab.

Abbreviations

Ch. Chinese
K Kumārajīva’s Ch. translation
X Xuanzang’s Ch. translation

n.

Notes

n.­1
Skt. acintyavimokṣa. See Chapter 12.
n.­2
See Lamotte (Appendice, Note III, pp 407-413).
n.­3
See Lamotte’s discussion of this concept (Lamotte, Introduction, pp 33-37), even though he emphasizes the rhetorical meaning more than the behavioral meaning.
n.­4
The Guhya­samāja­tantra (see bibliography) is generally recognized as one of the earliest systematic tantric texts. It expounds a philosophically pure Middle Way nondualism, combined with an explicit teaching of the reconciliation of dichotomies (i.e., how even evil can be transmuted to enlightenment, etc.) and an elaborate meditational methodology, employing sacred formulae (mantra), rituals, and visualizations. The meditation of jewels, buddhas, sacred universes (maṇḍala), etc., as existing in full detail inside a mustard seed on the tip of the yogin’s nose is a characteristic exercise in the Guhyasamāja, as in Chap. 3.
n.­5
See 2.­3. It is especially appropriate, in the light of the early tantric tradition, for Vimalakīrti, as a layman, to be an adept.
n.­6
See 7.­1-7.­15, where Vimalakīrti states that the “wrong way” leads to buddhahood, Mañjuśrī that all passions constitute the “tathāgata-family” (itself an important tantric concept), and Mahākaśyapa that only those guilty of the five deadly sins can conceive the spirit‌ of enlightenment‌. The Guhyasamāja (V.4) states: “Even those who have committed great sins, such as the five deadly sins, will succeed on the buddha-vehicle, there in the great ocean of the Mahāyāna” (ānantarya­prabhṛtayaḥ mahā­pāpakṛto ’pi ca | siddhyante buddhāydne ’smin mahā­yāna­mahodadhau ||). It then goes on to list in Vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa fashion all sorts of terrible crimes of lust and hatred, ending with the phrase that such “a mentally nondualistic, intelligent person’s buddhahood is attained” (siddhyate tasya buddhatvaṃ nirvi­kalpasya dhīmataḥ ||).
n.­7
See 7.­17. In the tantric male-female symbolism of the Guhyasamāja and other tantras, the female consort is called the “Wisdom” (prajña) and the male the “Liberative Technique” (upāya), and the bell (ghaṅṭa) and diamond-scepter (vajra) also symbolize female and male, respectively.
n.­8
See 5.­17. This type of yogic power is classified as a lesser attainment (siddhi), the superior attainment being buddhahood, in all tantric methodologies.
n.­9
See 6.­30. The Guhyasamāja elaborates the symbolism of the “Five Tathāgatas,” the leaders of the tathāgata-families, who are usually called Vairocana, Amitābha, Akṣobhya, Ratnasaṃbhava, and Amoghasiddhi, and thus correspond to the tathāgatas listed by the goddess too closely to be merely coincidentally related. Tathāgata­guhyaka, further, is a subtitle of the Guhyasamāja itself.
n.­10
Vimalakīrti’s special relation to the Tathāgata Akṣobhya (see 11.­9) is highly significant in this context, as Akṣobhya is central among the “Five Tathāgatas,” occupying the heart in the esoteric methodology which locates the five in the five important spots in the human body.
n.­11
Also transliterated Yen Fo-t’iao; his translation, like some of the other early translations, has not survived. See Lamotte p 2 et seq.
n.­12
The other Tibetan translation (or translations) by unknown translators surviving only in some of the fragments found at Dunhuang; these fragments may represent two different versions. See Lamotte p 19.
n.­13
See bibliography.
n.­14
This list of qualities of the noble disciples (āryāśravāka) is absent in the Chinese of K and X. It is, however, frequently found in Mahāyāna sūtras (see Lamotte, p 98, n 2).
n.­177
“Nonduality” (advayatva) = “Middle Path” (madhyama­pratipat) = freedom from extremes of being and nothingness (antadvaya­vivarjita). For numerous references, see Lamotte, pp 301-302, n 1.
n.­185
Those of the bodhisattvas who are monks, or who maintain ascetic practices, are allowed to eat only before noon; otherwise they must wait until dawn of the next day.
n.­202
Tib. gzugs kyi de bzhin nyid kyi rang bzhin, Skt. rūpa­tathatā­svabhāva, i.e., voidness, as “essence which is reality” is a euphemism for “essencelessness” (niḥsvabhāvatā). Thus the Tathāgata is the voidness of matter, i.e., matter in the ultimate sense, not mere relative matter‍—and so on for the remaining four aggregates. For interesting references on the ultimate nonexistence of the Tathāgata, see Lamotte, p 355, n 1. The reference given there is worth repeating here (from Prasanna­padā, p 435, quoting a Vaipulya­sūtra): “Those who see me by means of form, or who follow me by means of sound‍—they are involved with false and ruinous views and will never see me at all. The buddhas are to be seen by means of ultimate reality, since those leaders are Dharma-bodies, and ultimate reality is impossible to know, as it is not an object of discernment.”
n.­206
Skt. acintya­vikurvaṇa­naya­praveśa­nirdeśa. This is a description, not a title of the sūtra, as it is not mentioned at the end of this chapter, where the Buddha gives the titles to Ānanda.

b.

Bibliography

Tibetan and Sanskrit sources

’phags pa dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Ārya­vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra). Toh. 176, Degé Kangyur, vol. 60 (mdo sde, ma), folios 175b–239a.

’phags pa dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Ārya­vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra). [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. 60, pp. 476–635.

Study Group on Buddhist Sanskrit Literature. 梵文維摩經 : ポタラ宮所蔵写本に基づく校訂. Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, A Sanskrit Edition Based upon the Manuscript Newly Found at the Potala Palace. Tokyo: Institute for Comprehensive Studies of Buddhism, Taishō Daigaku Shuppankai, 2006.

Translations of this text

Lamotte, Étienne. L’Enseignement de Vimalakīrti (Vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa). Louvain: Université de Louvain, Institut Orientaliste, 1962. [Translated from Tib. and Xuanzang’s Chinese].

Luk, Charles (tr.). The Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra. Berkeley and London: Shambhala, 1972. [Translated from Kumārajīva’s Chinese].

McRae, John R. (tr.). The Vimalakīrti Sūtra. Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2004. [Translated from Kumārajīva’s Chinese].

Canonical references

Saṃdhi­nirmocana­sūtra. Sanskrit text: see Lamotte 1935. Tibetan text: ’phags pa dgongs pa nges par ’grel pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Toh 106, Degé Kangyur vol. 49 (mdo sde, tsha), folios 1b–55b. English translation: see Buddhavacana Translation Group.https://read.84000.co/translation/toh106.html

Saddharma­puṇḍarīka. Sanskrit text: see Vaidya 1960, Wogihara et al. 1934-1935. Tibetan text: dpal dam chos pad ma dkar po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Toh 113, Degé Kangyur, vol. 51 (mdo sed, ja), folios 1b–180b. English translations: see Kern 1884; Roberts, 2018.

Guhya­samāja­tantra. Sanskrit text: see Bagchi 1965. Tibetan text: de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi sku gsung thugs kyi gsang chen gsang ba ’dus pa zhes bya ba brtag pa’i rgyal po chen po, Toh 442, Degé Kangyur vol. 81 (rgyud ’bum, ca), folios 89b–148a.

yul ’khor skyong gis zhus pa (Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchā). Toh 62, Degé Kangyur vol. 42 (dkon brtsegs, nga), folios 227.a–257.a. English translation in Vienna Buddhist Translation Studies Group (2021).

Candrakīrti. Prasannapadā­nāma­mūla­madhyamaka­vṛtti. Sanskrit text: see La Vallée Poussin 1903-1912. Tibetan text: dbu ma rtsa ba’i ’grel pa tshig gsal ba, Toh 3860, Degé Tengyur vol. 102 (dbu ma, ’a), folios 1b–200a.

Nāgārjuna. Prajña­nāma­mūla­mādhyamaka­kārikā. Sanskrit text and translation: see Inada 1970. Tibetan text: dbu ma rtsa ba’i tshig le’ur byas pa shes rab, Toh 3824, Degé Tengyur vol. 96 (dbu ma, tsa), folios 1b–19a.

Śāntideva. Śikṣāsamuccaya. Sanskrit text: see Vaidya, 1961. Tibetan text: bslab pa kun las btus pa, Toh 3940, Degé Tengyur vol. 111 (dbu ma, khi), folios 3a–194b. English translation: see Goodman 2016.

Editions and translations of works referenced

Bagchi, S. (ed.). Guhya­samāja­tantra. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts, No. 9. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1965.

Buddhavacana Translation Group. The Sūtra Unravelling the Intent (Saṃdhi­nirmocana­sūtra, Toh 106). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.https://read.84000.co/translation/toh106.html

Dayal, Har. The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature. 1932. Reprint, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1970.

Goodman, Charles. The Training Anthology of Śāntideva: A Translation of the Śikṣā-samuccaya. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Inada, K. Nāgārjuna. Buffalo, N.Y., 1970.

Kern, H. (ed.). Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka, or Lotus of the True Law. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXI. Oxford: Clarendon, 1884.

Lamotte, Étienne (tr.). Saṃdhi­nirmocana­sūtra: L’Explication des mystères. [Tib. text and French translation]. Louvain: Université de Louvain; and Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, 1935.

La Vallée Poussin, L. de (ed.). Mūla­madhyamaka­kārikās (Mādhyamika­sūtras) de Nāgārjuna avec la Prasanna­padā, commentaire de Candrakīrti . Bibliotheca Buddhica IV. St. Petersburg: Académie Impériale des sciences, 1903-1913.

Roberts, Peter (tr.). The White Lotus of the Good Dharma (Saddharma­puṇḍarīka­sūtra, Toh 113). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018 (read.84000.co).

Sakaki (ed.). Mahāvyutpatti, Skt.-Tib. lexicon. Kyoto, 1916-1925.

Vaidya, P. L. (ed.) Saddharma­puṇḍarīka­sūtra. Darbhanga: The Mithila Institute of Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1960.

‍—‍—‍—(ed.). Śikṣāsamuccaya of Śāntideva. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts, No. 11. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1961.

Vienna Buddhist Translation Studies Group, trans. The Questions of Rāṣṭrapāla (Rāṣṭrapālaparipṛcchāsūtra, Toh 62). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2021.

Wogihara, Unrai and Tsuchida, Chikao. Saddharma­puṇḍarīka-sūtram: Romanized and Revised Text of the Bibliotheca Buddhica publication by consulting a Sanskrit Ms. & Tibetan and Chinese translations. Tōkyō: Seigo-Kenkyūkai, 1934–1935.


g.

Glossary

g.­1

Abhidharma

  • chos mngon pa
  • ཆོས་མངོན་པ།
  • Abhidharma

Conventionally, the general name for the Buddhist teachings presented in a scientific manner, as a fully elaborated transcendental psychology. As one of the branches of the Canon, it corresponds to the discipline of wisdom (the Sūtras corresponding to meditation, and the Vinaya to morality). Ultimately the Abhidharma is “pure wisdom, with its coordinate mental functions” (Prajñāmalā sānucārā), according to Vasubandhu.

7 passages contain this term:

  • n.­74
  • n.­190
  • g.­7
  • g.­137
  • g.­158
  • g.­215
  • g.­338

Links to further resources:

  • 3 related glossary entries
g.­2

Abhi­dharma­kośa

  • chos mngon pa’i mdzod
  • ཆོས་མངོན་པའི་མཛོད།
  • Abhi­dharma­kośa

An important work written by Vasubandhu, probably in the fourth century, as a critical compendium of the Abhidharmic science.

4 passages contain this term:

  • n.­175
  • g.­192
  • g.­285
  • g.­338
g.­3

Abhirati

  • mngon par dga’ ba
  • མངོན་པར་དགའ་བ།
  • Abhirati

Lit. “Intense Delight.” The universe, or buddhafield of the Tathāgata Akṣobhya, lying in the east beyond innumerable galaxies, whence Vimalakīrti came to reincarnate in our Sahā universe.

10 passages contain this term:

  • i.­8
  • 11.­9
  • 11.­13
  • 11.­14
  • 11.­15
  • 11.­17
  • 11.­18
  • 11.­19
  • 11.­20
  • g.­12

Links to further resources:

  • 17 related glossary entries
g.­6

Affliction

  • nyon mongs
  • ཉོན་མོངས།
  • kleśa

Desire, hatred and anger, dullness, pride, and jealousy, as well as all their derivatives, said to number 84,000. Also translated “passions.”

23 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­2
  • 3.­13
  • 3.­34
  • 3.­53
  • 3.­59
  • 3.­69
  • 3.­78
  • 3.­79
  • 4.­15
  • 4.­21
  • 4.­29
  • 6.­1
  • 6.­7
  • 6.­27
  • 7.­2
  • 7.­28
  • 9.­24
  • 10.­20
  • 11.­12
  • n.­68
  • g.­197
  • g.­213
  • g.­319

Links to further resources:

  • 60 related glossary entries
g.­7

Aggregate

  • phung po
  • ཕུང་པོ།
  • skandha

This translation of skandha is fairly well established, although some prefer the monosyllabic “group.” It is important to bear in mind that the original skandha has the sense of “pile,” or “heap,” which has the connotation of utter lack of internal structure, of a randomly collocated pile of things; thus “group” may convey a false connotation of structure and ordered arrangement. The five “compulsive” (upādāna) aggregates are of great importance as a schema for introspective meditation in the Abhidharma, wherein each is defined with the greatest subtlety and precision. In fact, the five terms rūpa, vedanā, samjñā, saṃskāra, and vijñāna have such a particular technical sense that many translators have preferred to leave them untranslated. Nevertheless, in the sūtra context, where the five are meant rather more simply to represent the relative living being (in the realm of desire), it seems preferable to give a translation‍—in spite of the drawbacks of each possible term‍—in order to convey the same sense of a total categorization of the psychophysical complex. Thus, for rūpa, “matter” is preferred to “form” because it more concretely connotes the physical and gross; for vedanā, “sensation” is adopted, as limited to the aesthetic; for samjñā, “intellect” is useful in conveying the sense of verbal, conceptual intelligence. For samskāra, which covers a number of mental functions as well as inanimate forces, “motivation” gives a general idea. And “consciousness” is so well established for vijñāna (although what we normally think of as consciousness is more like samjñā, i.e., conceptual and notional, and vijñāna is rather the “pure awareness” prior to concepts) as to be left unchallenged.

18 passages contain this term:

  • 2.­9
  • 3.­25
  • 3.­69
  • 4.­15
  • 5.­2
  • 8.­18
  • 8.­24
  • 10.­20
  • n.­52
  • n.­102
  • n.­202
  • g.­55
  • g.­74
  • g.­80
  • g.­128
  • g.­179
  • g.­188
  • g.­283

Links to further resources:

  • 57 related glossary entries
g.­12

Akṣobhya

  • mi ’khrugs pa
  • མི་འཁྲུགས་པ།
  • Akṣobhya

Buddha of the universe Abhirati, presiding over the eastern direction; also prominent in tantric works as one of the five dhyāni buddhas, or tathāgatas (see Lamotte, pp. 360-362, n. 9).

13 passages contain this term:

  • i.­8
  • i.­14
  • 6.­30
  • 11.­9
  • 11.­13
  • 11.­14
  • 11.­16
  • 11.­18
  • 11.­19
  • 11.­20
  • n.­9
  • n.­10
  • g.­3

Links to further resources:

  • 35 related glossary entries
g.­13

Amitābha

  • snang ba mtha’ yas
  • སྣང་བ་མཐའ་ཡས།
  • Amitābha

The Buddha of boundless light; one of the five Tathāgatas in Tantrism; a visitor in Vimalakīrti’s house, according to the goddess’s report.

3 passages contain this term:

  • i.­14
  • 6.­30
  • n.­9

Links to further resources:

  • 37 related glossary entries
g.­14

Āmrapālī

  • a mra srung ba
  • ཨ་མྲ་སྲུང་བ།
  • Āmrapālī

A courtesan of Vaiśālī who gave her garden to the Buddha and his retinue, where they stay during the events of the sūtra.

5 passages contain this term:

  • i.­3
  • i.­7
  • 1.­2
  • 1.­13
  • 10.­1

Links to further resources:

  • 3 related glossary entries
g.­15

Ānanda

  • kun dga’ bo
  • ཀུན་དགའ་བོ།
  • Ānanda

A major śrāvaka disciple of the Buddha; his personal attendant. See also n.­88 and n.­193.

25 passages contain this term:

  • i.­7
  • i.­8
  • 3.­41
  • 3.­42
  • 3.­43
  • 3.­44
  • 3.­45
  • 3.­46
  • 10.­1
  • 10.­8
  • 10.­9
  • 10.­10
  • 10.­11
  • 10.­12
  • 10.­13
  • 10.­14
  • 10.­15
  • 10.­16
  • 10.­17
  • 12.­27
  • 12.­28
  • 12.­29
  • n.­88
  • n.­193
  • n.­206

Links to further resources:

  • 78 related glossary entries
g.­20

Arhat

  • dgra bcom pa
  • དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།
  • arhat

According to Buddhist tradition, one who has conquered his enemy passions (kleśa-ari-hata) and reached the supreme purity. The term can refer to buddhas as well as to those who have reached realization of the Disciple Vehicle.

18 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­2
  • 3.­1
  • 3.­24
  • 4.­29
  • 6.­1
  • 6.­3
  • 6.­41
  • 12.­6
  • 12.­10
  • n.­59
  • n.­72
  • n.­144
  • n.­148
  • n.­199
  • g.­85
  • g.­88
  • g.­313
  • g.­333

Links to further resources:

  • 96 related glossary entries
g.­24

Asura

  • lha ma yin
  • ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།
  • asura

Titan .

10 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­11
  • 1.­14
  • 5.­12
  • 5.­14
  • 6.­24
  • 7.­2
  • 11.­14
  • 12.­12
  • 12.­19
  • 12.­29

Links to further resources:

  • 106 related glossary entries
g.­30

Bhaiṣajyarāja

  • sman gyi rgyal po
  • སྨན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
  • Bhaiṣajyarāja

Lit. “King of Healers.” In the story of Śākyamuni’s former life in this sūtra, he is the tathāgata of the universe Mahāvyūha, during the eon called Vicaraṇa, who taught Prince Candracchattra about Dharma-worship. In later Buddhism, this buddha is believed to be the supernatural patron of healing and medicine.

12 passages contain this term:

  • i.­8
  • 12.­6
  • 12.­7
  • 12.­8
  • 12.­9
  • 12.­10
  • 12.­11
  • 12.­14
  • 12.­15
  • 12.­18
  • g.­164
  • g.­340

Links to further resources:

  • 5 related glossary entries
g.­32

Bhikṣu

  • dge slong
  • དགེ་སློང་།
  • bhikṣu

Lit. “beggar.” Buddhist mendicant monk; bhikṣuṇī is the female counterpart.

5 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­2
  • 1.­11
  • 1.­56
  • 3.­21
  • 3.­49

Links to further resources:

  • 44 related glossary entries
g.­34

Birthlessness

  • mi skye ba
  • མི་སྐྱེ་བ།
  • anutpādatva

This refers to the ultimate nature of reality, to the fact that, ultimately, nothing has ever been produced or born nor will it ever be because birth and production can occur only on the relative, or superficial, level. Hence “birthlessness” is a synonym of “voidness,” “reality,” “absolute,” “ultimate,” “infinity,” etc.

7 passages contain this term:

  • i.­9
  • 3.­25
  • 3.­49
  • 4.­29
  • 10.­21
  • 12.­22
  • g.­324

Links to further resources:

  • 4 related glossary entries
g.­35

Bodhisattva

  • byang chub sems dpa’
  • བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།
  • bodhisattva

A living being who has produced the spirit of enlightenment in himself and whose constant dedication, lifetime after lifetime, is to attain the unexcelled, perfect enlightenment of Buddhahood.

250 passages contain this term:

  • s.­1
  • i.­3
  • i.­4
  • i.­5
  • i.­6
  • i.­7
  • i.­9
  • i.­13
  • i.­14
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­3
  • 1.­10
  • 1.­13
  • 1.­31
  • 1.­32
  • 1.­33
  • 1.­34
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­36
  • 1.­37
  • 1.­38
  • 1.­39
  • 1.­40
  • 1.­41
  • 1.­42
  • 1.­43
  • 1.­44
  • 1.­46
  • 3.­14
  • 3.­35
  • 3.­43
  • 3.­48
  • 3.­61
  • 3.­63
  • 3.­69
  • 3.­71
  • 3.­72
  • 3.­80
  • 3.­83
  • 4.­1
  • 4.­2
  • 4.­3
  • 4.­7
  • 4.­11
  • 4.­14
  • 4.­15
  • 4.­18
  • 4.­20
  • 4.­21
  • 4.­22
  • 4.­25
  • 4.­26
  • 4.­27
  • 4.­28
  • 4.­29
  • 4.­30
  • 5.­1
  • 5.­7
  • 5.­8
  • 5.­9
  • 5.­13
  • 5.­14
  • 5.­15
  • 5.­16
  • 5.­17
  • 5.­18
  • 5.­19
  • 5.­20
  • 5.­21
  • 5.­22
  • 6.­1
  • 6.­2
  • 6.­3
  • 6.­4
  • 6.­5
  • 6.­12
  • 6.­16
  • 6.­27
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­2
  • 7.­8
  • 7.­16
  • 7.­17
  • 7.­32
  • 7.­43
  • 8.­1
  • 8.­2
  • 8.­3
  • 8.­4
  • 8.­5
  • 8.­6
  • 8.­7
  • 8.­8
  • 8.­9
  • 8.­10
  • 8.­11
  • 8.­12
  • 8.­13
  • 8.­14
  • 8.­15
  • 8.­16
  • 8.­17
  • 8.­18
  • 8.­19
  • 8.­20
  • 8.­21
  • 8.­22
  • 8.­23
  • 8.­24
  • 8.­25
  • 8.­26
  • 8.­27
  • 8.­28
  • 8.­29
  • 8.­30
  • 8.­31
  • 8.­32
  • 8.­33
  • 8.­34
  • 8.­35
  • 9.­1
  • 9.­2
  • 9.­3
  • 9.­4
  • 9.­6
  • 9.­7
  • 9.­9
  • 9.­10
  • 9.­11
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­13
  • 9.­14
  • 9.­16
  • 9.­17
  • 9.­18
  • 9.­20
  • 9.­21
  • 9.­22
  • 9.­23
  • 9.­26
  • 9.­27
  • 9.­28
  • 9.­29
  • 10.­4
  • 10.­5
  • 10.­6
  • 10.­8
  • 10.­11
  • 10.­12
  • 10.­13
  • 10.­17
  • 10.­18
  • 10.­19
  • 10.­20
  • 10.­21
  • 10.­22
  • 10.­23
  • 10.­24
  • 11.­8
  • 11.­12
  • 11.­13
  • 11.­14
  • 11.­15
  • 11.­16
  • 11.­18
  • 12.­1
  • 12.­7
  • 12.­12
  • 12.­17
  • 12.­19
  • 12.­20
  • 12.­21
  • 12.­22
  • 12.­23
  • 12.­24
  • 12.­25
  • 12.­29
  • n.­16
  • n.­18
  • n.­19
  • n.­20
  • n.­35
  • n.­36
  • n.­37
  • n.­40
  • n.­55
  • n.­56
  • n.­73
  • n.­93
  • n.­99
  • n.­100
  • n.­111
  • n.­120
  • n.­125
  • n.­127
  • n.­128
  • n.­130
  • n.­144
  • n.­145
  • n.­147
  • n.­155
  • n.­158
  • n.­162
  • n.­168
  • n.­181
  • n.­185
  • n.­190
  • n.­195
  • n.­196
  • n.­198
  • g.­11
  • g.­26
  • g.­47
  • g.­59
  • g.­60
  • g.­63
  • g.­68
  • g.­69
  • g.­77
  • g.­81
  • g.­84
  • g.­86
  • g.­98
  • g.­106
  • g.­109
  • g.­110
  • g.­113
  • g.­118
  • g.­123
  • g.­131
  • g.­148
  • g.­163
  • g.­167
  • g.­171
  • g.­172
  • g.­181
  • g.­205
  • g.­214
  • g.­217
  • g.­245
  • g.­246
  • g.­248
  • g.­277
  • g.­278
  • g.­297
  • g.­302
  • g.­313
  • g.­319
  • g.­333
  • g.­337

Links to further resources:

  • 33 related glossary entries
g.­37

Brahmā

  • tshangs pa
  • ཚངས་པ།
  • Brahmā

Creator-lord of a universe, there being as many as there are universes, whose number is incalculable. Hence, in Buddhist belief, a title of a deity who has attained supremacy in a particular universe, rather than a personal name. For example, the Brahmā of the Aśoka universe is personally called Śikhin, to distinguish him from other Brahmās. A Brahmā resides at the summit of the realm of pure matter (rūpadhātu), and is thus higher in status than a Śakra.

26 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­11
  • 1.­49
  • 1.­50
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­6
  • 3.­27
  • 3.­28
  • 3.­29
  • 4.­2
  • 4.­3
  • 4.­30
  • 5.­8
  • 5.­18
  • 6.­24
  • 6.­27
  • 7.­39
  • 9.­21
  • 10.­4
  • 10.­20
  • 11.­14
  • 12.­3
  • g.­23
  • g.­260
  • g.­285
  • g.­288
  • g.­305

Links to further resources:

  • 125 related glossary entries
g.­39

Buddha

  • sangs rgyas
  • སངས་རྒྱས།
  • buddha

Lit. “awakened one.” Title of one who has attained the highest attainment possible for a living being. “The Buddha” often designates Śākyamuni because he is the buddha mainly in charge of the buddhafield of our Sahā universe.

272 passages contain this term:

  • s.­1
  • i.­3
  • i.­4
  • i.­5
  • i.­6
  • i.­7
  • i.­8
  • i.­11
  • i.­14
  • i.­15
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­2
  • 1.­3
  • 1.­5
  • 1.­7
  • 1.­11
  • 1.­12
  • 1.­13
  • 1.­14
  • 1.­15
  • 1.­24
  • 1.­25
  • 1.­26
  • 1.­29
  • 1.­30
  • 1.­31
  • 1.­32
  • 1.­33
  • 1.­46
  • 1.­47
  • 1.­48
  • 1.­50
  • 1.­52
  • 1.­53
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­3
  • 3.­1
  • 3.­2
  • 3.­4
  • 3.­10
  • 3.­12
  • 3.­13
  • 3.­15
  • 3.­16
  • 3.­17
  • 3.­21
  • 3.­24
  • 3.­25
  • 3.­27
  • 3.­28
  • 3.­30
  • 3.­31
  • 3.­37
  • 3.­38
  • 3.­41
  • 3.­46
  • 3.­47
  • 3.­48
  • 3.­49
  • 3.­55
  • 3.­60
  • 3.­61
  • 3.­63
  • 3.­69
  • 3.­74
  • 3.­78
  • 4.­1
  • 4.­6
  • 4.­18
  • 4.­30
  • 5.­2
  • 5.­17
  • 5.­18
  • 6.­3
  • 6.­5
  • 6.­6
  • 6.­24
  • 6.­25
  • 6.­28
  • 6.­31
  • 6.­35
  • 6.­36
  • 6.­41
  • 6.­43
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­5
  • 7.­8
  • 7.­11
  • 7.­13
  • 7.­14
  • 7.­15
  • 7.­29
  • 7.­30
  • 7.­48
  • 7.­57
  • 8.­23
  • 9.­3
  • 9.­9
  • 9.­10
  • 9.­13
  • 9.­14
  • 9.­15
  • 9.­16
  • 9.­23
  • 9.­25
  • 9.­26
  • 10.­1
  • 10.­3
  • 10.­4
  • 10.­5
  • 10.­6
  • 10.­8
  • 10.­12
  • 10.­13
  • 10.­15
  • 10.­16
  • 10.­17
  • 10.­18
  • 10.­19
  • 10.­20
  • 10.­21
  • 10.­22
  • 10.­24
  • 11.­1
  • 11.­4
  • 11.­9
  • 11.­13
  • 11.­14
  • 11.­18
  • 11.­19
  • 12.­1
  • 12.­2
  • 12.­5
  • 12.­6
  • 12.­8
  • 12.­12
  • 12.­13
  • 12.­14
  • 12.­17
  • 12.­23
  • 12.­24
  • 12.­25
  • 12.­26
  • 12.­27
  • 12.­28
  • 12.­29
  • n.­4
  • n.­6
  • n.­25
  • n.­26
  • n.­30
  • n.­32
  • n.­33
  • n.­34
  • n.­35
  • n.­36
  • n.­40
  • n.­52
  • n.­55
  • n.­57
  • n.­61
  • n.­62
  • n.­70
  • n.­74
  • n.­80
  • n.­83
  • n.­88
  • n.­93
  • n.­101
  • n.­103
  • n.­106
  • n.­110
  • n.­128
  • n.­133
  • n.­152
  • n.­162
  • n.­188
  • n.­192
  • n.­193
  • n.­195
  • n.­199
  • n.­202
  • n.­206
  • n.­208
  • n.­212
  • g.­9
  • g.­10
  • g.­12
  • g.­13
  • g.­14
  • g.­15
  • g.­16
  • g.­19
  • g.­20
  • g.­30
  • g.­40
  • g.­41
  • g.­45
  • g.­52
  • g.­60
  • g.­66
  • g.­68
  • g.­71
  • g.­73
  • g.­77
  • g.­81
  • g.­84
  • g.­85
  • g.­86
  • g.­105
  • g.­106
  • g.­109
  • g.­110
  • g.­125
  • g.­137
  • g.­141
  • g.­148
  • g.­152
  • g.­155
  • g.­157
  • g.­158
  • g.­164
  • g.­167
  • g.­171
  • g.­172
  • g.­175
  • g.­185
  • g.­186
  • g.­191
  • g.­207
  • g.­211
  • g.­212
  • g.­218
  • g.­220
  • g.­225
  • g.­232
  • g.­234
  • g.­235
  • g.­236
  • g.­238
  • g.­244
  • g.­245
  • g.­248
  • g.­256
  • g.­261
  • g.­262
  • g.­271
  • g.­272
  • g.­274
  • g.­275
  • g.­276
  • g.­280
  • g.­288
  • g.­290
  • g.­292
  • g.­293
  • g.­294
  • g.­296
  • g.­298
  • g.­300
  • g.­302
  • g.­306
  • g.­307
  • g.­308
  • g.­313
  • g.­314
  • g.­318
  • g.­319
  • g.­330
  • g.­333
  • g.­336
  • g.­340

Links to further resources:

  • 10 related glossary entries
g.­41

Buddhafield

  • sangs rgyas kyi zhing
  • སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་།
  • buddhakṣetra

Roughly, a synonym for “universe,” although Buddhist cosmology contains many universes of different types and dimensions. “Buddhafield” indicates, in regard to whatever type of world-sphere, that it is the field of influence of a particular Buddha. For a detailed discussion of these concepts, see Lamotte, Appendice, Note I.

82 passages contain this term:

  • i.­3
  • i.­7
  • i.­8
  • i.­14
  • 1.­9
  • 1.­31
  • 1.­32
  • 1.­33
  • 1.­34
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­36
  • 1.­37
  • 1.­38
  • 1.­39
  • 1.­40
  • 1.­41
  • 1.­42
  • 1.­43
  • 1.­44
  • 1.­45
  • 1.­46
  • 1.­48
  • 1.­49
  • 1.­50
  • 1.­52
  • 1.­53
  • 1.­54
  • 1.­55
  • 1.­56
  • 3.­28
  • 3.­43
  • 3.­69
  • 3.­79
  • 4.­8
  • 4.­23
  • 4.­24
  • 4.­30
  • 5.­6
  • 5.­7
  • 5.­17
  • 6.­27
  • 7.­31
  • 7.­44
  • 9.­2
  • 9.­4
  • 9.­7
  • 9.­11
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­13
  • 9.­15
  • 9.­22
  • 9.­26
  • 9.­27
  • 9.­28
  • 10.­4
  • 10.­9
  • 10.­12
  • 10.­13
  • 10.­14
  • 10.­15
  • 10.­18
  • 10.­20
  • 10.­22
  • 11.­4
  • 11.­9
  • 11.­12
  • 11.­18
  • 11.­20
  • 12.­25
  • n.­35
  • n.­36
  • n.­39
  • n.­113
  • n.­114
  • n.­115
  • n.­174
  • g.­3
  • g.­39
  • g.­185
  • g.­258
  • g.­278
  • g.­340

Links to further resources:

  • 25 related glossary entries
g.­43

Buddhāvataṃsaka

  • sangs rgyas phal po che
  • སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ།
  • Buddhāvataṃsaka

See Avataṃsaka.

2 passages contain this term:

  • i.­1
  • g.­27

Links to further resources:

  • 1 related glossary entry
g.­48

Cessation

  • ’gog pa
  • འགོག་པ།
  • nirodha

The third Noble Truth, equivalent to nirvāṇa.

11 passages contain this term:

  • 3.­2
  • 3.­50
  • 4.­18
  • 4.­27
  • 5.­2
  • 6.­1
  • 8.­24
  • 8.­29
  • 11.­3
  • n.­98
  • g.­75

Links to further resources:

  • 3 related glossary entries
g.­49

Ch’an

  • —
  • —
  • —

Chinese word for dhyāna, which was adopted as the name of the school of Mahāyāna practice founded by Bodhidharma, and later to become famous in the west as Zen.

1 passage contains this term:

  • i.­12
g.­50

Chönyi Tsültrim

  • chos nyid tshul khrims
  • ཆོས་ཉིད་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།
  • —

Tibetan translator of this sūtra in the ninth century, also well known for his collaboration in compiling the Mahāvyutpatti (Skt.-Tib. dictionary).

1 passage contains this term:

  • i.­15

Links to further resources:

  • 5 related glossary entries
g.­53

Conceptualization

  • rnam par rtog pa
  • རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ།
  • vikalpa

This brings up another important group of words that has never been treated systematically in translation: vikalpa, parikalpa, samāropa, adhyāropa, kalpanā, samjñā, and prapāñca. All of these refer to mental functions that tend to superimpose upon reality, either relative or ultimate, a conceptualized reality fabricated by the subjective mind. Some translators have tended to lump these together under the rubric “discursive thought,” which leads to the misleading notion that all thought is bad, something to be eliminated, and that sheer “thoughtlessness” is “enlightenment,” or whatever higher state is desired. According to Buddhist scholars, thought in itself is simply a function, and only thought that is attached to its own content over and above the relative object, i.e., “egoistic” thought, is bad and to be eliminated. Therefore we have chosen a set of words for the seven Skt. terms: respectively, “conceptualization,” “imagination,” “presumption,” “exaggeration,” “construction,” “conception” or “notion,” and “fabrication.” This does not mean that these words are not somewhat interchangeable or that another English word might not be better in certain contexts; it only represents an attempt to achieve consistency with the original usages.

5 passages contain this term:

  • i.­11
  • 3.­34
  • 6.­1
  • 8.­24
  • g.­183

Links to further resources:

  • 14 related glossary entries
g.­55

Consciousness

  • rnam shes
  • རྣམ་ཤེས།
  • vijñāna

See “aggregate.”

23 passages contain this term:

  • 3.­7
  • 3.­8
  • 3.­12
  • 4.­14
  • 5.­2
  • 5.­4
  • 8.­18
  • 8.­22
  • 11.­1
  • 11.­2
  • 12.­13
  • n.­98
  • g.­7
  • g.­22
  • g.­52
  • g.­74
  • g.­75
  • g.­80
  • g.­98
  • g.­285
  • g.­304
  • g.­318
  • g.­343

Links to further resources:

  • 21 related glossary entries
g.­56

Contemplation

  • bsam gtan
  • བསམ་གཏན།
  • dhyāna

See “absorption.”

12 passages contain this term:

  • 3.­2
  • 3.­3
  • 4.­22
  • 4.­30
  • 6.­3
  • 7.­4
  • 7.­26
  • g.­5
  • g.­184
  • g.­285
  • g.­313
  • g.­319

Links to further resources:

  • 49 related glossary entries
g.­58

Decisiveness

  • nges par sems pa
  • ངེས་པར་སེམས་པ།
  • nidhyapti

Analytic concentration that gains insight into the nature of reality, synonymous with “transcendental analysis,” vipaśyana (q.v.).

2 passages contain this term:

  • 3.­58
  • 4.­1

Links to further resources:

  • 2 related glossary entries
g.­66

Dharma

  • chos
  • ཆོས།
  • Dharma

The second of the Three Jewels, that is, the teaching of the Buddha.

134 passages contain this term:

  • i.­5
  • i.­7
  • i.­8
  • 1.­3
  • 1.­5
  • 1.­6
  • 1.­7
  • 1.­8
  • 1.­11
  • 1.­12
  • 1.­14
  • 1.­18
  • 1.­21
  • 1.­22
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­3
  • 2.­4
  • 2.­5
  • 2.­7
  • 2.­12
  • 3.­4
  • 3.­5
  • 3.­6
  • 3.­7
  • 3.­9
  • 3.­10
  • 3.­16
  • 3.­21
  • 3.­24
  • 3.­45
  • 3.­57
  • 3.­61
  • 3.­68
  • 3.­69
  • 3.­70
  • 3.­74
  • 3.­75
  • 3.­76
  • 3.­77
  • 3.­78
  • 3.­79
  • 3.­80
  • 3.­82
  • 4.­1
  • 4.­2
  • 4.­3
  • 4.­19
  • 4.­21
  • 4.­30
  • 5.­1
  • 5.­2
  • 5.­3
  • 5.­4
  • 5.­5
  • 5.­18
  • 5.­20
  • 6.­2
  • 6.­3
  • 6.­12
  • 6.­15
  • 6.­22
  • 6.­24
  • 6.­28
  • 6.­30
  • 7.­18
  • 7.­20
  • 7.­21
  • 7.­25
  • 7.­41
  • 7.­45
  • 7.­55
  • 8.­23
  • 9.­1
  • 9.­2
  • 9.­10
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­22
  • 9.­23
  • 9.­25
  • 9.­29
  • 10.­1
  • 10.­15
  • 10.­20
  • 10.­21
  • 10.­22
  • 11.­14
  • 11.­21
  • 11.­22
  • 12.­1
  • 12.­2
  • 12.­5
  • 12.­8
  • 12.­9
  • 12.­10
  • 12.­11
  • 12.­12
  • 12.­13
  • 12.­14
  • 12.­15
  • 12.­16
  • 12.­18
  • 12.­19
  • 12.­20
  • 12.­21
  • 12.­22
  • 12.­23
  • 12.­26
  • 12.­27
  • 12.­28
  • n.­30
  • n.­52
  • n.­59
  • n.­72
  • n.­85
  • n.­99
  • n.­106
  • n.­136
  • n.­138
  • n.­190
  • n.­197
  • n.­202
  • g.­30
  • g.­67
  • g.­77
  • g.­125
  • g.­130
  • g.­151
  • g.­164
  • g.­181
  • g.­275
  • g.­294
  • g.­319
  • g.­333
  • g.­337

Links to further resources:

  • 34 related glossary entries
g.­67

Dharma-door

  • chos kyi sgo
  • ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྒོ།
  • dharmamukha

Certain teachings are called “Dharma-doors” (or “doors of the Dharma”), as they provide access to the practice of the Dharma.

4 passages contain this term:

  • 8.­1
  • 10.­13
  • n.­162
  • g.­72

Links to further resources:

  • 3 related glossary entries
g.­74

Egoistic views

  • ’jig tshogs la lta ba
  • འཇིག་ཚོགས་ལ་ལྟ་བ།
  • satkāyadṛṣṭi

This consists of twenty varieties of false notion, consisting basically of regarding the temporally impermanent and ultimately insubstantial as “I” or “mine.” The five compulsive aggregates are paired with the self, giving the twenty false notions. For example, the first four false notions are that (1) matter is the self, which is like its owner (rūpaṃ ātmā svāmivat); (2) the self possesses matter, like its ornament (rūpavañ ātmā alaņkāravat); (3) matter belongs to the self, like a slave (ātmīyaṃ rūpaṃ bhṛtyavat); and (4) the self dwells in matter as in a vessel (rūpe ātmā bhajanavat). The other four compulsive aggregates are paired with the self in the same four ways, giving sixteen more false notions concerning sensation, intellect, motivation, and consciousness, hypostatizing an impossible relationship with a nonexistent, permanent, substantial self.

6 passages contain this term:

  • 3.­15
  • 6.­1
  • 7.­11
  • 8.­24
  • n.­102
  • g.­178

Links to further resources:

  • 16 related glossary entries
g.­75

Eight liberations

  • rnam par thar pa brgyad
  • རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ་བརྒྱད།
  • vimokṣa

The first consists of the seeing of form by one who has form; the second consists of the seeing of external form by one with the concept of internal formlessness; the third consists of the physical realization of pleasant liberation and its successful consolidation; the fourth consists of the full entrance to the infinity of space through transcending all conceptions of matter, and the subsequent decline of conceptions of resistance and discredit of conceptions of diversity; the fifth consists of full entrance into the infinity of consciousness, having transcended the infinity of space; the sixth consists of the full entrance into the sphere of nothingness, having transcended the sphere of the infinity of conscious­ness; the seventh consists of the full entrance into the sphere of neither conscious­ness nor un­conscious­ness, having transcended the sphere of nothingness; the eighth consists of the perfect cessation of suffering, having transcended the sphere of neither conscious­ness nor un­conscious­ness. Thus the first three liberations form specific links to the ordinary perceptual world; the fourth to seventh are equivalent to the four absorptions; and the eighth represents the highest attainment.

3 passages contain this term:

  • 3.­13
  • 7.­22
  • 9.­1

Links to further resources:

  • 16 related glossary entries
g.­80

Element

  • khams
  • ’byung ba chen po
  • ཁམས།
  • འབྱུང་བ་ཆེན་པོ།
  • dhātu
  • mahābhūta

Depending on the context, may translate either: (a) Skt. mahābhūta, Tib. ’byung ba chen po, the four “main” or “great” outer elements of earth, water, fire, air, and (when there is a fifth) space; or: (b) Skt. dhātu, Tib. khams, the “eighteen elements” introduce, in the context of the aggregates, elements, and sense-media, the same six pairs as the twelve sense-media, as elements of experience, adding a third member to each set: the element of consciousness (vijñāna), or sense. Hence the first pair gives the triad eye-element (caksur­dhātu), form-element (rūpadhātu), and eye-consciousness-element, or eye-sense-element (caksur­vijñāna­dhātu)‍—and so on with the other five, noting the last, mind-element (manodhātu), phenomena-element (dharma­dhātu), and mental-sense-element (mano­vijñāna­dhātu).

21 passages contain this term:

  • 2.­7
  • 2.­9
  • 3.­69
  • 4.­6
  • 4.­13
  • 4.­15
  • 5.­2
  • 6.­1
  • 8.­19
  • 10.­20
  • 11.­1
  • n.­49
  • n.­50
  • n.­59
  • n.­102
  • n.­118
  • n.­167
  • n.­182
  • g.­193
  • g.­293
  • g.­333

Links to further resources:

  • 56 related glossary entries
g.­81

Emanated incarnation

  • sprul pa
  • སྤྲུལ་པ།
  • nirmāṇa

This refers to the miraculous power of the Buddha and bodhisattvas of a certain stage to emanate apparently living beings in order to develop and teach living beings. This power reaches its culmination in the nirmāṇa­kayā, the “incarnation body,” which is one of the three bodies of buddhahood and includes all physical forms of all buddhas, including Śākyamuni, whose sole function as incarnations is the development and liberation of living beings.

4 passages contain this term:

  • 6.­1
  • 6.­38
  • g.­119
  • g.­120

Links to further resources:

  • 6 related glossary entries
g.­83

Enlightenment

  • byang chub
  • བྱང་ཆུབ།
  • bodhi

This word requires too much explanation for this glossary because, indeed, the whole sūtra‍—and the whole of Buddhist literature‍—is explanatory of only this. Here we simply mention the translation equivalent.

96 passages contain this term:

  • i.­8
  • i.­14
  • 1.­20
  • 1.­31
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­36
  • 1.­37
  • 1.­38
  • 1.­39
  • 1.­40
  • 1.­41
  • 1.­42
  • 1.­43
  • 1.­54
  • 1.­56
  • 2.­11
  • 2.­12
  • 3.­11
  • 3.­14
  • 3.­24
  • 3.­29
  • 3.­36
  • 3.­39
  • 3.­40
  • 3.­49
  • 3.­50
  • 3.­51
  • 3.­52
  • 3.­53
  • 3.­67
  • 3.­68
  • 3.­69
  • 3.­72
  • 3.­75
  • 3.­76
  • 3.­81
  • 3.­83
  • 4.­25
  • 4.­26
  • 4.­31
  • 5.­20
  • 6.­3
  • 6.­39
  • 6.­40
  • 6.­41
  • 6.­42
  • 7.­10
  • 7.­15
  • 7.­19
  • 7.­21
  • 7.­25
  • 7.­28
  • 7.­36
  • 7.­51
  • 7.­52
  • 7.­58
  • 9.­29
  • 10.­11
  • 10.­12
  • 10.­16
  • 11.­14
  • 11.­19
  • 12.­2
  • 12.­5
  • 12.­16
  • 12.­19
  • 12.­23
  • 12.­25
  • n.­4
  • n.­6
  • n.­29
  • n.­35
  • n.­53
  • n.­86
  • n.­96
  • n.­98
  • n.­104
  • n.­125
  • n.­163
  • g.­4
  • g.­35
  • g.­40
  • g.­52
  • g.­53
  • g.­59
  • g.­77
  • g.­84
  • g.­98
  • g.­113
  • g.­165
  • g.­214
  • g.­273
  • g.­280
  • g.­296
  • g.­319
  • g.­329

Links to further resources:

  • 9 related glossary entries
g.­85

Family of the tathāgatas

  • de bzhin gshegs pa’i rigs
  • དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་རིགས།
  • tathāgatagotra

This term arises from a classification of beings into different groups (lineages) according to their destinies: disciple lineage, solitary buddha lineage, buddha lineage, etc. The Mādhyamika school, and the sūtras that are its foundation, maintains that all living beings belong to the buddha lineage, that Disciple Vehicle nirvāṇa is not a final destiny, and that arhats must eventually enter the Mahāyāna path. Mañjuśrī carries this idea to the extreme, finding the tathāgata lineage everywhere, in all mundane things. See 7.­9, and Lamotte, Appendice, Note VII.

6 passages contain this term:

  • i.­6
  • i.­14
  • 7.­6
  • 7.­9
  • 7.­12
  • 7.­13

Links to further resources:

  • 4 related glossary entries
g.­86

Fearlessness

  • mi ’jigs pa
  • མི་འཇིགས་པ།
  • vaiśāradya

The Buddha has four fearlessnesses, as do the bodhisattvas. The four fearlessnesses of the Buddha are: fearlessness regarding the realization of all things; fearlessness regarding knowledge of the exhaustion of all impurities; fearlessness of foresight through ascertainment of the persistence of obstructions; and fearlessness in the rightness of the path leading to the attainment of the supreme success. The fearlessnesses of the bodhisattva are: fearlessness in teaching the meaning he has understood from what he has learned and practiced; fearlessness resulting from the successful maintenance of purity in physical, verbal, and mental action‍—without relying on others’ kindness, being naturally flawless through his understanding of the absence of self; fearlessness resulting from freedom from obstruction in virtue, in teaching, and in delivering living beings, through the perfection of wisdom and liberative art and through not forgetting and constantly upholding the teachings; and fearlessness in the ambition to attain full mastery of omniscience‍—without any deterioration or deviation to other practices‍—and to accomplish all the aims of all living beings.

8 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­7
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­10
  • 3.­60
  • 7.­15
  • 7.­52
  • 9.­13
  • 10.­15

Links to further resources:

  • 22 related glossary entries
g.­88

Five deadly sins

  • mtshams med lnga
  • མཚམས་མེད་ལྔ།
  • ānantarya

Lit. “sins of immediate retribution [after death].” These five, all of which cause immediate rebirth in hell, are killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, breaking up the saṅgha, and causing, with evil intent, the Tathāgata to bleed.

4 passages contain this term:

  • i.­13
  • 7.­2
  • 7.­13
  • n.­6

Links to further resources:

  • 28 related glossary entries
g.­106

Gandhottama­kūṭa

  • spos mchog brtsegs pa
  • སྤོས་མཆོག་བརྩེགས་པ།
  • Gandhottama­kūṭa

Buddha of the universe Sarva­gandha­sugandhā, from whom Vimalakīrti’s emanation-bodhisattva obtains the vessel of ambrosial food that magically feeds the entire assembly without diminishing in the slightest.

13 passages contain this term:

  • i.­7
  • 9.­2
  • 9.­3
  • 9.­7
  • 9.­10
  • 9.­11
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­14
  • 9.­22
  • 10.­4
  • 10.­9
  • 10.­18
  • g.­275
g.­109

Grace

  • byin gyis brlabs
  • བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབས།
  • adhiṣṭḥāna

The “supernatural power” with which the buddhas sustain the bodhisattvas in their great efforts on behalf of living beings.

3 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­3
  • 4.­1
  • 10.­22

Links to further resources:

  • 11 related glossary entries
g.­110

Great compassion

  • snying rje chen po
  • སྙིང་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ།
  • mahākaruṇā

This refers to one of the two central qualities of buddhas or high bodhisattvas: their feeling born of the wish for all living beings to be free of suffering and to attain the supreme happiness. It is important to note that this great compassion has nothing to do with any sentimental emotion such as that stimulated by such a reflection as “Oh, the poor creatures! How they are suffering!” On the contrary, great compassion is accompanied by the clear awareness that ultimately there are no such things as living beings, suffering, etc., in reality. Thus it is a sensitivity that does not entertain any dualistic notion of subject and object; indeed, such an unlimited sensitivity might best be termed “empathy.”

26 passages contain this term:

  • i.­12
  • 3.­10
  • 3.­75
  • 4.­7
  • 4.­18
  • 4.­21
  • 6.­3
  • 6.­4
  • 6.­23
  • 6.­25
  • 7.­5
  • 9.­19
  • 9.­26
  • 9.­27
  • 10.­15
  • 10.­20
  • 10.­21
  • 10.­22
  • 12.­11
  • n.­36
  • n.­126
  • n.­144
  • n.­146
  • n.­168
  • g.­26
  • g.­148

Links to further resources:

  • 4 related glossary entries
g.­111

Great love

  • byams pa chen po
  • བྱམས་པ་ཆེན་པོ།
  • mahāmaitrī

In an effort to maintain distinctions between Buddhism and Christianity, translators have used all sorts of euphemisms for this basic term. Granted, it is not the everyday “love” that means “to like”; it is still the altruistic love that is the finest inspiration of Christ’s teaching, as well as of the Mahāyāna.

11 passages contain this term:

  • i.­12
  • 3.­75
  • 3.­82
  • 6.­2
  • 6.­3
  • 6.­25
  • 10.­15
  • 10.­20
  • 10.­22
  • 12.­11
  • n.­147

Links to further resources:

  • 2 related glossary entries
g.­117

Immaterial realm

  • gzugs med khams
  • གཟུགས་མེད་ཁམས།
  • ārūpyadhātu

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The highest and subtlest of the three realms of saṃsāra in Buddhist cosmology. Here beings are no longer bound by materiality and enjoy a purely mental state of absorption. It is divided in four levels according to each of the four formless concentrations (ārūpyāvacaradhyāna), namely, the Sphere of Infinite Space (Ākāśānantyāyatana), the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness (Vijñānānantyāyatana), the Sphere of Nothingness (A­kiñ­canyāyatana), and the Sphere of Neither Perception nor Non-perception (Naiva­saṃjñā­nāsaṃjñāyatana). The formless realm is located above the other two realms of saṃsāra: the form realm (rūpadhātu) and the desire realm (kāmadhātu).

4 passages contain this term:

  • 2.­3
  • 5.­2
  • 6.­1
  • g.­323

Links to further resources:

  • 18 related glossary entries
g.­118

Incantation

  • gzungs
  • གཟུངས།
  • dhāraṇī

The incantations, or spells, are mnemonic formulas, possessed by advanced bodhisattvas, that contain a quintessence of their attainments, not simply magical charms‍—although the latter are included. The same term in Sanskrit and Tibetan also refers to a highly developed power present in bodhisattvas that is a process of memory and recall of detailed teachings, best translated “retention” in certain contexts.

11 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­4
  • 2.­1
  • 7.­8
  • 7.­21
  • 10.­16
  • 10.­17
  • 10.­20
  • 12.­11
  • 12.­15
  • n.­193
  • g.­316

Links to further resources:

  • 94 related glossary entries
g.­121

Incomprehensibility

  • mi dmigs pa
  • མི་དམིགས་པ།
  • anupalambha

This refers to the ultimate nature of things, which cannot be comprehended, grasped, etc., by the ordinary, conditioned, subjective mind. Hence it is significant that the realization of this nature is not couched in terms of understanding, or conviction, but in terms of tolerance (kṣānti), as the grasping mind cannot grasp its ultimate inability to grasp; it can only cultivate its tolerance of that inability.

5 passages contain this term:

  • i.­9
  • 1.­4
  • g.­122
  • g.­205
  • g.­324

Links to further resources:

  • 16 related glossary entries
g.­122

Inconceivability

  • bsam gyis mi khyab pa
  • བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ།
  • acintyatā

Lit. “unthinkability,” (on the part of a mind whose thinking is conditioned and bound by conceptual terms). This is essentially synonymous with “incomprehensibility” (see entry).

5 passages contain this term:

  • i.­9
  • 10.­7
  • n.­36
  • n.­145
  • g.­82

Links to further resources:

  • 2 related glossary entries
g.­123

Inconceivable liberation

  • rnam par thar pa bsam gyis mi khyab pa
  • རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ།
  • acintyavimokṣa

Inconceivable liberation of the bodhisattvas, a name of the Avataṃsaka, and a subtitle of the Vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa.

20 passages contain this term:

  • i.­1
  • i.­5
  • i.­9
  • i.­13
  • i.­14
  • 5.­13
  • 5.­14
  • 5.­16
  • 5.­17
  • 5.­18
  • 5.­19
  • 5.­20
  • 5.­21
  • 5.­22
  • 9.­12
  • n.­111
  • n.­139
  • n.­141
  • g.­27
  • g.­172
g.­127

Instinct

  • bag chags
  • བག་ཆགས།
  • vāsanā

The subconscious tendencies and predilections of the psychosomatic conglomerate. This most obvious word is seldom used in this context because of the hesitancy of scholars to employ “scientific” terminology.

5 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­26
  • 4.­29
  • 6.­1
  • 6.­16
  • n.­124

Links to further resources:

  • 11 related glossary entries
g.­128

Intellect

  • ’du shes
  • འདུ་ཤེས།
  • samjñā

See “aggregate.”

7 passages contain this term:

  • 4.­1
  • 5.­2
  • 8.­18
  • 11.­1
  • g.­7
  • g.­74
  • g.­285

Links to further resources:

  • 28 related glossary entries
g.­143

Kumārajīva

  • —
  • —
  • Kumārajīva

Translator of this sūtra into Chinese (344-409).

5 passages contain this term:

  • i.­15
  • i.­16
  • i.­17
  • n.­92
  • g.­222
g.­145

Layman

  • dge bsnyen
  • དགེ་བསྙེན།
  • upāsaka

Householders with definite vows that set them off from the ordinary householder.

6 passages contain this term:

  • i.­4
  • 1.­11
  • 2.­3
  • n.­5
  • n.­100
  • g.­131

Links to further resources:

  • 19 related glossary entries
g.­147

Liberation

  • mya ngan las ’das pa
  • rnam par grol ba
  • rnam par thar pa
  • མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།
  • རྣམ་པར་གྲོལ་བ།
  • རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ།
  • nirvāṇa
  • vimukti
  • vimokṣa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Literally “extinction,” the state beyond sorrow, it refers to the ultimate attainment of buddhahood, the permanent cessation of all suffering and of the afflicted mental states that lead to suffering. Three types of nirvāṇa are identified: (1) the residual nirvāṇa where the person is still dependent on conditioned psycho-physical aggregates, (2) the non-residual nirvāṇa where the aggregates have also been consumed within emptiness, and (3) the non-abiding nirvāṇa transcending the extremes of phenomenal existence and quiescence.

78 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­40
  • 2.­10
  • 3.­2
  • 3.­13
  • 3.­15
  • 3.­17
  • 3.­19
  • 3.­38
  • 3.­50
  • 3.­58
  • 3.­69
  • 3.­75
  • 4.­10
  • 4.­11
  • 4.­14
  • 4.­17
  • 4.­21
  • 4.­22
  • 4.­24
  • 4.­26
  • 4.­29
  • 4.­30
  • 5.­4
  • 5.­13
  • 6.­1
  • 6.­6
  • 6.­17
  • 6.­18
  • 6.­19
  • 6.­20
  • 6.­21
  • 6.­23
  • 7.­8
  • 7.­21
  • 7.­27
  • 7.­40
  • 8.­14
  • 8.­22
  • 8.­30
  • 9.­1
  • 9.­24
  • 10.­15
  • 10.­19
  • 10.­20
  • 10.­23
  • 11.­1
  • 11.­21
  • 12.­3
  • 12.­12
  • 12.­14
  • 12.­15
  • 12.­25
  • n.­34
  • n.­64
  • n.­71
  • n.­102
  • n.­109
  • n.­145
  • n.­156
  • n.­184
  • n.­193
  • n.­200
  • g.­63
  • g.­75
  • g.­78
  • g.­81
  • g.­96
  • g.­130
  • g.­148
  • g.­165
  • g.­193
  • g.­197
  • g.­207
  • g.­287
  • g.­319
  • g.­332
  • g.­350
g.­148

Liberative art

  • thabs
  • ཐབས།
  • upāya

This is the expression in action of the great compassion of the Buddha and the bodhisattvas‍—physical, verbal, and mental. It follows that one empathetically aware of the troubles of living beings would, for his very survival, devise the most potent and efficacious techniques possible to remove those troubles, and the troubles of living beings are removed effectively only when they reach liberation. “Art” was chosen over the usual “method” and “means” because it has a stronger connotation of efficacy in our technological world; also, in Buddhism, liberative art is identified with the extreme of power, energy, and efficacy, as symbolized in the vajra (adamantine scepter): The importance of this term is highlighted in this sūtra by the fact that Vimalakīrti himself is introduced in the chapter entitled “Inconceivable Skill in Liberative Art”; this indicates that he, as a function of the nirmāṇakāya (incarnation-body), just like the Buddha himself, is the very incarnation of liberative art, and every act of his life is therefore a technique for the development and liberation of living beings. The “liberative” part of the translation follows “salvifique” in Lamotte’s phrase “moyens salvifique.”

31 passages contain this term:

  • i.­4
  • i.­12
  • i.­14
  • 1.­4
  • 1.­41
  • 1.­44
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­6
  • 2.­7
  • 2.­10
  • 3.­58
  • 3.­69
  • 4.­1
  • 4.­22
  • 4.­23
  • 4.­24
  • 4.­25
  • 4.­26
  • 4.­27
  • 5.­21
  • 5.­22
  • 6.­3
  • 7.­5
  • 7.­33
  • 7.­55
  • 10.­18
  • 10.­22
  • n.­128
  • n.­139
  • g.­77
  • g.­86

Links to further resources:

  • 21 related glossary entries
g.­149

Licchavi

  • lid tsa bI
  • ལིད་ཙ་བཱི།
  • Licchavi

Name of the tribe and republican city-state whose capital was Vaiśālī, where Vimalakīrti lived, and the main events of this sūtra take place.

88 passages contain this term:

  • i.­3
  • i.­4
  • 1.­13
  • 1.­15
  • 1.­31
  • 1.­32
  • 1.­54
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­6
  • 2.­12
  • 3.­1
  • 3.­2
  • 3.­4
  • 3.­12
  • 3.­15
  • 3.­18
  • 3.­21
  • 3.­24
  • 3.­25
  • 3.­27
  • 3.­30
  • 3.­31
  • 3.­37
  • 3.­38
  • 3.­40
  • 3.­41
  • 3.­47
  • 3.­48
  • 3.­55
  • 3.­63
  • 3.­65
  • 3.­66
  • 3.­67
  • 3.­71
  • 3.­73
  • 3.­74
  • 4.­1
  • 4.­4
  • 4.­5
  • 5.­1
  • 5.­6
  • 5.­8
  • 5.­9
  • 5.­10
  • 5.­12
  • 5.­13
  • 5.­21
  • 6.­1
  • 6.­43
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­9
  • 7.­16
  • 8.­1
  • 8.­34
  • 9.­1
  • 9.­2
  • 9.­4
  • 9.­5
  • 9.­6
  • 9.­7
  • 9.­8
  • 9.­9
  • 9.­16
  • 9.­17
  • 9.­19
  • 9.­22
  • 9.­23
  • 9.­27
  • 9.­29
  • 10.­1
  • 10.­2
  • 10.­3
  • 10.­9
  • 10.­10
  • 10.­17
  • 11.­1
  • 11.­5
  • 11.­10
  • 11.­13
  • 11.­14
  • 11.­15
  • 11.­19
  • 11.­20
  • 12.­29
  • n.­20
  • g.­45
  • g.­238
  • g.­336

Links to further resources:

  • 15 related glossary entries
g.­151

Lokapāla

  • ’jig rten skyong
  • འཇིག་རྟེན་སྐྱོང་།
  • Lokapāla

Lit. “World-Protectors.” They are the same as the four Mahārājas, the great kings of the quarters (rgyal chen bzhi), namely, Vaiśravaṇa, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virūḍhaka, and Virūpākṣa, whose mission is to report on the activities of mankind to the gods of the Trāyastriṃśa heaven and who have pledged to protect the practitioners of the Dharma. Each universe has its own set of four.

11 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­11
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­6
  • 4.­2
  • 4.­3
  • 5.­8
  • 5.­18
  • 6.­24
  • 6.­27
  • 9.­21
  • 10.­4

Links to further resources:

  • 22 related glossary entries
g.­152

Lord

  • bcom ldan ’das
  • བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།
  • bhagavān

“Lord” is chosen to translate the title Bhagavān because it is the term of greatest respect current in our “sacred” language, as established for the Deity in the Elizabethan version of the Bible. Indeed, the Skt. Bhagavān was given as a title to the Buddha, although it also served the non-Buddhist Indians of the day and, subsequently, it served as an honorific title of their particular deities. As the Buddha is clearly described in the sūtras as the “Supreme Teacher of Gods and Men,” there seems little danger that he may be confused with any particular deity through the use of this term [as indeed in Buddhist sūtras various deities, creators, protectors, etc., are shown in their respective roles]. Thus I feel it would compromise the weight and function of the original Bhagavān to use any less weighty term than “Lord” for the Buddha.

88 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­2
  • 1.­12
  • 1.­14
  • 1.­15
  • 1.­18
  • 1.­25
  • 1.­31
  • 1.­32
  • 1.­47
  • 1.­49
  • 1.­51
  • 1.­52
  • 1.­55
  • 2.­7
  • 3.­2
  • 3.­3
  • 3.­4
  • 3.­11
  • 3.­12
  • 3.­14
  • 3.­15
  • 3.­18
  • 3.­20
  • 3.­21
  • 3.­24
  • 3.­25
  • 3.­26
  • 3.­27
  • 3.­30
  • 3.­31
  • 3.­35
  • 3.­37
  • 3.­40
  • 3.­41
  • 3.­42
  • 3.­43
  • 3.­47
  • 3.­48
  • 3.­54
  • 3.­55
  • 3.­62
  • 3.­63
  • 3.­73
  • 3.­74
  • 3.­81
  • 3.­83
  • 4.­1
  • 4.­21
  • 5.­8
  • 7.­39
  • 9.­8
  • 9.­9
  • 9.­10
  • 9.­11
  • 9.­14
  • 9.­15
  • 9.­22
  • 10.­1
  • 10.­2
  • 10.­6
  • 10.­7
  • 10.­8
  • 10.­12
  • 10.­13
  • 10.­17
  • 10.­18
  • 11.­1
  • 11.­4
  • 11.­9
  • 11.­15
  • 11.­18
  • 11.­20
  • 12.­1
  • 12.­4
  • 12.­6
  • 12.­10
  • 12.­18
  • 12.­19
  • 12.­23
  • 12.­24
  • 12.­25
  • 12.­26
  • 12.­27
  • 12.­29
  • n.­31
  • n.­33
  • g.­37
  • g.­190

Links to further resources:

  • 116 related glossary entries
g.­161

Mahāsiddha

  • grub thob chen po
  • གྲུབ་ཐོབ་ཆེན་པོ།
  • mahāsiddha

A “Great Sorcerer,” a master of the esoteric teachings and practices of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

2 passages contain this term:

  • i.­12
  • i.­14
g.­165

Mahāyāna

  • theg pa chen po
  • ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།
  • Mahāyāna

The “Great Vehicle” of Buddhism, called “great” because it carries all living beings to enlightenment of Buddhahood. It is distinguished from the Hinayāna, including the Śrāvāka­yāna (Śrāvaka Vehicle) and Pratyeka­buddha­yāna (Solitary Sage Vehicle), which only carries each person who rides on it to their own personal liberation.

59 passages contain this term:

  • s.­1
  • i.­2
  • i.­12
  • i.­15
  • 1.­36
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­4
  • 3.­14
  • 3.­23
  • 6.­3
  • 7.­23
  • 9.­3
  • 9.­27
  • 10.­20
  • 12.­30
  • n.­6
  • n.­14
  • n.­19
  • n.­20
  • n.­23
  • n.­24
  • n.­40
  • n.­48
  • n.­53
  • n.­57
  • n.­70
  • n.­72
  • n.­85
  • n.­90
  • n.­91
  • n.­94
  • n.­124
  • n.­128
  • n.­144
  • n.­145
  • n.­159
  • n.­165
  • n.­198
  • g.­11
  • g.­22
  • g.­27
  • g.­47
  • g.­49
  • g.­62
  • g.­73
  • g.­77
  • g.­85
  • g.­111
  • g.­161
  • g.­191
  • g.­197
  • g.­251
  • g.­267
  • g.­281
  • g.­289
  • g.­297
  • g.­300
  • g.­343
  • g.­348

Links to further resources:

  • 18 related glossary entries
g.­167

Maitreya

  • byams pa
  • བྱམས་པ།
  • Maitreya

A bodhisattva present throughout the sūtra, prophesied as one birth away from buddhahood and designated by Śākyamuni as the next buddha in the succession of one thousand buddhas of our era. According to tradition, he resides in the Tuṣita heaven preparing for his descent to earth at the appropriate time which, according to Buddhist belief, will occur in 4456 A.D.

22 passages contain this term:

  • i.­8
  • 1.­10
  • 3.­48
  • 3.­49
  • 3.­50
  • 3.­51
  • 12.­19
  • 12.­20
  • 12.­21
  • 12.­22
  • 12.­23
  • 12.­24
  • n.­59
  • n.­94
  • n.­95
  • n.­212
  • g.­47
  • g.­141
  • g.­155
  • g.­184
  • g.­330
  • g.­343

Links to further resources:

  • 83 related glossary entries
g.­168

Maṇḍala

  • dkyil ’khor
  • དཀྱིལ་འཁོར།
  • maṇḍala

A mystic diagram, usually consisting of a square within a circle, used to define a sacred space in the context of esoteric rituals of initiation and consecration preliminary to certain advanced meditational practices.

2 passages contain this term:

  • n.­4
  • n.­162

Links to further resources:

  • 10 related glossary entries
g.­171

Mañjuśrī

  • ’jam dpal
  • ’jam dpal gzhon nur gyur pa
  • འཇམ་དཔལ།
  • འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ།
  • Mañjuśrī
  • Mañjuśrī­kumāra­bhūta

The eternally youthful crown prince (kumārabhūta), so called because of his special identification with the Prajñā­pāramitā, or Transcendence of Wisdom. He is the only member of the Buddha’s retinue who volunteers to visit Vimalakīrti, and he serves as Vimalakīrti’s principal interlocutor throughout the sūtra. Traditionally regarded as the wisest of bodhisattvas, in Tibetan tradition he is known as rgyal ba’i yab gcig, the “sole father of buddhas,” as he inspires them in their realization of the profound. He is represented as bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñā­pāramitā­sūtra in his left. He is always youthful in appearance, like a boy of sixteen.

60 passages contain this term:

  • s.­1
  • i.­5
  • i.­6
  • 1.­10
  • 4.­1
  • 4.­2
  • 4.­3
  • 4.­4
  • 4.­5
  • 4.­7
  • 4.­8
  • 4.­9
  • 4.­10
  • 4.­11
  • 4.­12
  • 4.­13
  • 4.­14
  • 4.­15
  • 4.­20
  • 4.­27
  • 4.­28
  • 4.­31
  • 5.­6
  • 5.­7
  • 5.­9
  • 6.­1
  • 6.­2
  • 6.­3
  • 6.­4
  • 6.­5
  • 6.­6
  • 6.­7
  • 6.­8
  • 6.­9
  • 6.­10
  • 6.­11
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­2
  • 7.­8
  • 7.­9
  • 7.­10
  • 7.­13
  • 7.­15
  • 8.­33
  • 8.­34
  • 9.­4
  • 9.­5
  • 9.­29
  • 10.­1
  • 10.­2
  • 12.­1
  • 12.­29
  • n.­6
  • n.­114
  • n.­116
  • n.­147
  • n.­162
  • n.­184
  • g.­47
  • g.­85

Links to further resources:

  • 109 related glossary entries
g.­172

Māra

  • bdud
  • བདུད།
  • Māra

The devil, or evil one, who leads the forces of the gods of the desire-world in seeking to tempt and seduce the Buddha and his disciples. But according to Vimalakīrti he is actually a bodhisattva who dwells in the inconceivable liberation and displays evil activities in order to strengthen and consolidate the high resolve of all bodhisattvas.

27 passages contain this term:

  • i.­13
  • 1.­20
  • 3.­17
  • 3.­38
  • 3.­63
  • 3.­64
  • 3.­65
  • 3.­66
  • 3.­67
  • 3.­69
  • 3.­70
  • 3.­71
  • 3.­72
  • 3.­73
  • 4.­11
  • 4.­29
  • 5.­20
  • 5.­21
  • 7.­5
  • 7.­28
  • 7.­33
  • 7.­46
  • 10.­12
  • 12.­11
  • 12.­14
  • n.­145
  • g.­131

Links to further resources:

  • 115 related glossary entries
g.­179

Matter

  • gzugs
  • གཟུགས།
  • rūpa

See “aggregate.”

10 passages contain this term:

  • 3.­38
  • 5.­2
  • 6.­1
  • 8.­18
  • 11.­1
  • n.­202
  • g.­7
  • g.­74
  • g.­75
  • g.­323

Links to further resources:

  • 19 related glossary entries
g.­182

Meditation

  • —
  • —
  • —

See “absorption.”

33 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­4
  • 1.­39
  • 2.­2
  • 2.­3
  • 2.­10
  • 3.­56
  • 3.­69
  • 3.­76
  • 3.­77
  • 3.­78
  • 4.­22
  • 6.­1
  • 7.­26
  • 8.­21
  • 10.­20
  • 11.­21
  • 12.­1
  • n.­4
  • n.­24
  • n.­30
  • n.­53
  • n.­104
  • n.­120
  • g.­1
  • g.­5
  • g.­7
  • g.­77
  • g.­90
  • g.­155
  • g.­184
  • g.­316
  • g.­319
  • g.­326
g.­186

Meru­pradīpa­rāja

  • lhun po’i sgron ma’i rgyal po
  • ལྷུན་པོའི་སྒྲོན་མའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
  • Meru­pradīpa­rāja

Buddha of the universe Merudhvaja.

5 passages contain this term:

  • i.­5
  • 5.­7
  • 5.­8
  • 5.­11
  • g.­185
g.­188

Motivation

  • ’du byed
  • འདུ་བྱེད།
  • saṃskāra

See “aggregate.”

6 passages contain this term:

  • 5.­2
  • 6.­3
  • 8.­18
  • g.­7
  • g.­74
  • g.­215

Links to further resources:

  • 40 related glossary entries
g.­191

Nāgārjuna

  • klu sgrub
  • ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ།
  • Nāgārjuna

Saint, scholar, and mystic of Buddhist India from about four hundred years after the Buddha; discoverer of the Mahāyāna sūtras and author of the fundamental Madhyamaka treatise.

7 passages contain this term:

  • i.­11
  • i.­15
  • n.­103
  • g.­21
  • g.­46
  • g.­222
  • g.­226

Links to further resources:

  • 8 related glossary entries
g.­203

Noble disciple

  • ’phags pa nyan thos
  • འཕགས་པ་ཉན་ཐོས།
  • āryaśrāvāka

A practitioner of the Disciple Vehicle teaching who has reached at least the initial stages of realization.

2 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­1
  • n.­14
g.­204

Nonduality

  • gnyis su med pa
  • གཉིས་སུ་མེད་པ།
  • advayatvā

This is synonymous with reality, voidness, etc. But it must be remembered that nonduality does not necessarily mean unity, that unity is only one of the pair unity-duality; hence nonduality implies nonunity as well. This point is obscured by designating this nondual philosophy as “monism,” as too many modern scholars have done.

41 passages contain this term:

  • i.­12
  • 3.­25
  • 8.­1
  • 8.­2
  • 8.­3
  • 8.­4
  • 8.­5
  • 8.­6
  • 8.­7
  • 8.­8
  • 8.­9
  • 8.­10
  • 8.­11
  • 8.­12
  • 8.­13
  • 8.­14
  • 8.­15
  • 8.­16
  • 8.­17
  • 8.­18
  • 8.­19
  • 8.­20
  • 8.­21
  • 8.­22
  • 8.­23
  • 8.­24
  • 8.­25
  • 8.­26
  • 8.­27
  • 8.­28
  • 8.­29
  • 8.­30
  • 8.­31
  • 8.­32
  • 8.­33
  • 8.­34
  • 8.­35
  • n.­71
  • n.­157
  • n.­177
  • n.­184

Links to further resources:

  • 4 related glossary entries
g.­208

Outsider

  • mu stegs pa
  • མུ་སྟེགས་པ།
  • tīrthika

18 passages contain this term:

  • i.­13
  • 1.­20
  • 2.­3
  • 3.­27
  • 3.­38
  • 3.­44
  • 4.­11
  • 7.­8
  • n.­29
  • n.­79
  • n.­90
  • g.­9
  • g.­134
  • g.­176
  • g.­196
  • g.­231
  • g.­268
  • g.­313

Links to further resources:

  • 32 related glossary entries
g.­213

Passion

  • nyon mongs
  • ཉོན་མོངས།
  • kleśa

Desire, hatred and anger, dullness, pride, and jealousy, as well as all their derivatives, said to number 84,000. Also translated “afflictions.”

30 passages contain this term:

  • i.­13
  • 1.­8
  • 2.­8
  • 2.­11
  • 3.­2
  • 3.­17
  • 3.­31
  • 3.­60
  • 4.­25
  • 4.­26
  • 6.­2
  • 6.­3
  • 6.­16
  • 7.­5
  • 7.­10
  • 7.­11
  • 7.­12
  • 7.­13
  • 7.­19
  • 10.­11
  • 10.­12
  • 10.­20
  • 10.­22
  • n.­6
  • n.­68
  • n.­124
  • n.­148
  • n.­155
  • g.­6
  • g.­20

Links to further resources:

  • 60 related glossary entries
g.­220

Prajñā­pāramitā

  • shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa
  • ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།
  • Prajñā­pāramitā

Transcendental wisdom, being the profound nondual understanding of the ultimate reality, or voidness, or relativity, of all things; personified as a goddess, she is worshiped as the “Mother of all Buddhas” (Sarva­jina­mātā).

4 passages contain this term:

  • i.­1
  • n.­139
  • g.­171
  • g.­244

Links to further resources:

  • 20 related glossary entries
g.­229

Pratyekabuddha

  • rang sangs rgyas
  • རང་སངས་རྒྱས།
  • pratyekabuddha

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Literally, “buddha for oneself” or “solitary realizer.” Someone who, in his or her last life, attains awakening entirely through their own contemplation, without relying on a teacher. Unlike the awakening of a fully realized buddha (samyaksambuddha), the accomplishment of a pratyeka­buddha is not final or ultimate. They attain realization of the nature of dependent origination, the selflessness of the person, and a partial realization of the selflessness of phenomena, by observing the suchness of all that arises through interdependence. This is the result of progress in previous lives but, unlike a buddha, they do not have the necessary merit, compassion or motivation to teach others. They are named as “rhinoceros-like” (khaḍgaviṣāṇakalpa) for their preference for staying in solitude or as “congregators” (vargacārin) when their preference is to stay among peers.

1 passage contains this term:

  • 1.­1

Links to further resources:

  • 79 related glossary entries
g.­238

Ratnākara

  • dkon mchog ’byung gnas
  • དཀོན་མཆོག་འབྱུང་གནས།
  • Ratnākara

Wealthy young Licchavi noble who leads the delegation that brings the precious parasols to the Buddha.

10 passages contain this term:

  • i.­3
  • 1.­13
  • 1.­15
  • 1.­31
  • 1.­32
  • 1.­34
  • 1.­35
  • 1.­54
  • n.­20
  • n.­24

Links to further resources:

  • 18 related glossary entries
g.­248

Ratnavyūha

  • dkon mchog dkod pa
  • rin po che bkod pa
  • rin chen bkod pa
  • དཀོན་མཆོག་དཀོད་པ།
  • རིན་པོ་ཆེ་བཀོད་པ།
  • རིན་ཆེན་བཀོད་པ།
  • Ratnavyūha

Lit. “Jewel-Array.” Name of one of the bodhisattvas in the original assembly (rendered in Tibetan as rin chen bkod pa); also the name (with several renderings in Tibetan) of a buddha who presides in the universe called Ananta­guṇa­ratna­vyūha, yet who comes to Vimalakīrti’s house at the latter’s supplication, to participate in the esoteric teachings. He can be identified with the Tathāgata Ratnasaṃbhava, one of the five major buddhas of the Guhya­samāja­tantra.

5 passages contain this term:

  • i.­14
  • 1.­10
  • 1.­51
  • 6.­30
  • g.­16

Links to further resources:

  • 3 related glossary entries
g.­252

Realm of desire

  • ’dod khams
  • འདོད་ཁམས།
  • kāmadhātu

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In Buddhist cosmology, this is our own realm, the lowest and most coarse of the three realms of saṃsāra. It is called this because beings here are characterized by their strong longing for and attachment to the pleasures of the senses. The desire realm includes hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, asuras, and the lowest six heavens of the gods‍—from the Heaven of the Four Great Kings (Cāturmahā­rājika) up to the Heaven of Making Use of Others’ Emanations (Para­nirmita­vaśa­vartin). Located above the desire realm is the form realm (rūpadhātu) and the formless realm (ārūpyadhātu).

6 passages contain this term:

  • 2.­3
  • 5.­2
  • 9.­18
  • g.­7
  • g.­138
  • g.­330

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  • 24 related glossary entries
g.­253

Realm of pure matter

  • gzugs khams
  • གཟུགས་ཁམས།
  • rūpadhātu

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the three realms of saṃsāra in Buddhist cosmology, it is characterized by subtle materiality. Here beings, though subtly embodied, are not driven primarily by the urge for sense gratification. It consists of seventeen heavens structured according to the four concentrations of the form realm (rūpāvacaradhyāna), the highest five of which are collectively called “the five pure abodes” (Śuddhāvāsa). The form realm is located above the desire realm (kāmadhātu) and below the formless realm (ārūpya­dhātu).

5 passages contain this term:

  • 2.­3
  • 5.­2
  • 9.­18
  • g.­37
  • g.­260

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  • 20 related glossary entries
g.­254

Reconciliation of dichotomies

  • snrel zhi’i rgyud
  • snrel zhi ba
  • སྣྲེལ་ཞིའི་རྒྱུད།
  • སྣྲེལ་ཞི་བ།
  • yamaka­vyatyastāhāra

The twelfth of the eighteen special qualities of a bodhisattva.

8 passages contain this term:

  • i.­12
  • i.­13
  • 4.­1
  • 12.­20
  • n.­4
  • n.­44
  • n.­195
  • g.­77
g.­258

Sahā

  • mi mjed
  • མི་མཇེད།
  • Sahā

Universe and buddhafield of Śākyamuni; our world.

19 passages contain this term:

  • i.­7
  • i.­14
  • 9.­9
  • 9.­10
  • 9.­11
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­14
  • 9.­15
  • 9.­27
  • 9.­28
  • 10.­24
  • 11.­9
  • 11.­14
  • 11.­15
  • 11.­17
  • 11.­19
  • n.­212
  • g.­3
  • g.­39

Links to further resources:

  • 57 related glossary entries
g.­260

Śakra

  • brgya byin
  • བརྒྱ་བྱིན།
  • Śakra

In Buddhist texts, usual name for Indra, king of gods of the desire-realm (kāmadhātu) of a particular universe; hence a Śakra is lower in status than a Brahmā, who resides at the summit of the realm of pure matter (rūpadhātu). As in the case of Brahmā, a title, or status, rather than a personal name; each universe has its Śakra.

22 passages contain this term:

  • i.­8
  • 1.­11
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­6
  • 3.­63
  • 3.­65
  • 4.­2
  • 4.­3
  • 5.­8
  • 5.­18
  • 6.­24
  • 6.­27
  • 7.­39
  • 9.­21
  • 10.­4
  • 12.­1
  • 12.­2
  • 12.­4
  • 12.­6
  • g.­37
  • g.­45
  • g.­138

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  • 107 related glossary entries
g.­262

Śākyamuni

  • shAkya thub pa
  • ཤཱཀྱ་ཐུབ་པ།
  • Śākyamuni

The “Sage of the Śākyas,” name of the Buddha of our era, who lived c. 563-483 B.C.

27 passages contain this term:

  • i.­7
  • i.­14
  • 1.­20
  • 1.­46
  • 1.­49
  • 3.­27
  • 6.­30
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­14
  • 9.­23
  • 9.­26
  • 10.­18
  • 10.­24
  • 11.­18
  • 12.­19
  • n.­100
  • n.­212
  • g.­30
  • g.­39
  • g.­73
  • g.­81
  • g.­141
  • g.­167
  • g.­211
  • g.­234
  • g.­258
  • g.­261

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  • 52 related glossary entries
g.­272

Saṅgha

  • dge ’dun
  • དགེ་འདུན།
  • Saṅgha

The third of the Three Jewels (Triratna) of Buddhism, the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Community. Sometimes narrowly defined as the community of mendicants, it can be understood as including lay practitioners.

14 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­5
  • 3.­16
  • 3.­17
  • 3.­69
  • 5.­2
  • 5.­18
  • 8.­23
  • n.­62
  • n.­83
  • n.­88
  • n.­198
  • g.­88
  • g.­157
  • g.­294

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  • 32 related glossary entries
g.­274

Śāriputra

  • shA ri bu
  • ཤཱ་རི་བུ།
  • Śāriputra

One of the major śrāvaka disciples, paired with Maudgalyāyana, and noted for having been praised by the Buddha as foremost of the wise; hence, the most frequent target for Vimalakīrti’s attacks on the śrāvakas and on the Hinayāna in general.

(See also n.­40)

79 passages contain this term:

  • i.­5
  • i.­7
  • i.­8
  • 1.­46
  • 1.­47
  • 1.­48
  • 1.­49
  • 1.­50
  • 1.­52
  • 1.­53
  • 3.­2
  • 3.­3
  • 5.­1
  • 5.­2
  • 5.­3
  • 5.­4
  • 5.­5
  • 5.­10
  • 5.­11
  • 5.­12
  • 5.­13
  • 5.­14
  • 5.­16
  • 5.­19
  • 5.­20
  • 6.­13
  • 6.­14
  • 6.­15
  • 6.­16
  • 6.­17
  • 6.­18
  • 6.­19
  • 6.­20
  • 6.­21
  • 6.­22
  • 6.­23
  • 6.­24
  • 6.­25
  • 6.­26
  • 6.­27
  • 6.­28
  • 6.­29
  • 6.­30
  • 6.­31
  • 6.­32
  • 6.­33
  • 6.­34
  • 6.­36
  • 6.­37
  • 6.­38
  • 6.­39
  • 6.­40
  • 6.­41
  • 6.­42
  • 6.­43
  • 9.­1
  • 9.­19
  • 10.­6
  • 10.­8
  • 10.­9
  • 11.­4
  • 11.­5
  • 11.­6
  • 11.­7
  • 11.­8
  • 11.­9
  • 11.­10
  • 11.­11
  • 11.­12
  • 11.­20
  • n.­40
  • n.­56
  • n.­57
  • n.­157
  • n.­163
  • n.­164
  • n.­184
  • g.­159
  • g.­180

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  • 63 related glossary entries
g.­276

Sarvārtha­siddha

  • don thams cad grub pa
  • དོན་ཐམས་ཅད་གྲུབ་པ།
  • Sarvārtha­siddha

One of the buddhas who appear in Vimalakīrti’s house to teach the Tathāgata­guhyaka, according to the goddess.

2 passages contain this term:

  • i.­14
  • 6.­30

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  • 3 related glossary entries
g.­280

Seat of enlightenment

  • byang chub kyi snying po
  • བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ།
  • bodhimaṇḍa

Haribhadra defines it as “a place used as a seat, where the maṇḍa, here ‘essence,’ of enlightenment is present.” See Lamotte, p. 198, n. 105. The main “seat of enlightenment” is the spot under the bo tree at Buddha Gaya, where the Buddha sat and attained unexcelled, perfect enlightenment. It is not to be confused with bodhimaṇḍala, “circle of enlightenment.”

8 passages contain this term:

  • 3.­55
  • 3.­61
  • 3.­69
  • 12.­1
  • 12.­12
  • n.­98
  • g.­10
  • g.­217

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  • 32 related glossary entries
g.­283

Sensation

  • tshor ba
  • ཚོར་བ།
  • vedanā

see “aggregates”

9 passages contain this term:

  • 4.­18
  • 4.­30
  • 5.­2
  • 8.­18
  • 11.­1
  • n.­98
  • g.­7
  • g.­74
  • g.­95

Links to further resources:

  • 21 related glossary entries
g.­284

Sense-media

  • skye mched
  • སྐྱེ་མཆེད།
  • āyatana

The twelve sense-media are eye-medium (cakṣurāyatana), form-medium (rūpa-), ear-medium (śrotra-), sound-medium (śabda-), nose-medium (ghrāna-), scent-medium (gandha-), tongue-medium (jihvā-), taste-medium (rasa-), body-medium (kāya-), texture-medium (spraṣṭavya), mental-medium (mana-), and phenomena-medium (dharmāyatana). In some passages they are enumerated as six, the object-faculty pair being taken as one, and it is this set of six that is the fifth member of the twelve links of dependent origination. The word āyatana is usually translated as “base,” but the Skt., Tib., and Ch. all indicate “something through which the senses function” rather than a basis from which they function; hence “medium” is suggested.

11 passages contain this term:

  • 2.­9
  • 3.­53
  • 3.­69
  • 5.­2
  • 7.­9
  • 10.­20
  • 11.­1
  • n.­98
  • n.­102
  • n.­167
  • g.­80

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  • 58 related glossary entries
g.­302

Stores of merit and wisdom

  • bsod nams dang ye shes kyi tshogs
  • བསོད་ནམས་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཚོགས།
  • puṇya­jñāna­saṃbhāra

The two great stores to be accumulated by bodhisattvas: the store of merit, arising from their practice of the first three transcendences, and the store of wisdom, arising from their practice of the last two transcendences. All deeds of bodhisattvas contribute to their accumulation of these two stores, which ultimately culminate in the two bodies of the Buddha, the body of form and the ultimate body.

4 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­6
  • 2.­10
  • 7.­2
  • 7.­6
g.­311

Sumeru

  • ri’i rgyal po ri rab
  • རིའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རི་རབ།
  • Sumeru

The king of mountains; the axial mountain of the flat world in the exoteric cosmology.

13 passages contain this term:

  • i.­14
  • 1.­5
  • 1.­12
  • 1.­14
  • 1.­23
  • 3.­22
  • 5.­13
  • 7.­11
  • 9.­20
  • 11.­14
  • n.­23
  • n.­140
  • g.­328

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  • 70 related glossary entries
g.­313

Superknowledges

  • mngon par shes pa
  • མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པ།
  • abhijñā

Special powers of which five, acquired through the meditative contemplations (dhyāna), are considered mundane (laukika) and can be attained to some extent by outsider yogis as well as Buddhist arhats and bodhisattvas; and a sixth‍—being acquired through a bodhisattva’s realization, or by buddhas alone according to some accounts‍—is supramundane (lokottara). The first five are: divine eye or vision (divyacakṣu), divine hearing (divyaśrotra), knowledge of others’ minds (paracittajñāna), knowledge of former (and future) lives (pūrva­[para]­nivāsānu­smṛti­jñāna), and knowledge of magical operations (ṛddhi­vidhi­jñāna). The sixth, supramundane one is knowledge of the exhaustion of defilements (āsravakṣaya­jñāna).

17 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­3
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­10
  • 3.­27
  • 3.­58
  • 4.­1
  • 4.­30
  • 5.­9
  • 6.­43
  • 7.­23
  • 7.­53
  • 10.­20
  • 10.­22
  • 12.­15
  • n.­131
  • g.­19
  • g.­71

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  • 44 related glossary entries
g.­314

Sūtra

  • mdo
  • མདོ།
  • sūtra

In general Indian usage, the word for a highly condensed arrangement of verses that lends itself to memorization, serving as a basic text for a particular school of thought. In Buddhism, a scripture, in as much as it records either the direct speech of the Buddha, or the speech of someone manifestly inspired by him.

57 passages contain this term:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1
  • i.­2
  • i.­3
  • i.­8
  • i.­9
  • i.­11
  • i.­12
  • i.­14
  • i.­15
  • 12.­11
  • 12.­12
  • 12.­30
  • n.­14
  • n.­19
  • n.­20
  • n.­23
  • n.­29
  • n.­30
  • n.­40
  • n.­53
  • n.­90
  • n.­91
  • n.­94
  • n.­162
  • n.­184
  • n.­193
  • n.­195
  • n.­206
  • g.­1
  • g.­7
  • g.­11
  • g.­14
  • g.­27
  • g.­30
  • g.­44
  • g.­47
  • g.­50
  • g.­73
  • g.­83
  • g.­85
  • g.­98
  • g.­125
  • g.­143
  • g.­148
  • g.­149
  • g.­152
  • g.­167
  • g.­171
  • g.­191
  • g.­221
  • g.­251
  • g.­267
  • g.­289
  • g.­300
  • g.­304
  • g.­351

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  • 13 related glossary entries
g.­316

Tantra

  • rgyud
  • རྒྱུད།
  • tantra

Meaning “method” in general, in Buddhism it refers to an important body of literature dealing with a great variety of techniques of advanced meditations, incorporating rituals, incantations, and visualisations, that are stamped as esoteric until a practitioner has already attained a certain stage of ethical and philosophical development.

3 passages contain this term:

  • i.­14
  • n.­7
  • n.­128

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  • 1 related glossary entry
g.­318

Tathāgata

  • de bzhin gshegs pa
  • དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ།
  • tathāgata

Lit. “Thus-gone” or “Thus-come,” (one who proceeds always in consciousness of the ultimate reality, or thatness of all things). A name of the Buddha.

109 passages contain this term:

  • i.­4
  • i.­5
  • i.­7
  • i.­8
  • i.­14
  • 1.­15
  • 1.­32
  • 1.­48
  • 1.­49
  • 1.­51
  • 1.­53
  • 2.­9
  • 2.­10
  • 2.­11
  • 3.­1
  • 3.­18
  • 3.­24
  • 3.­35
  • 3.­39
  • 3.­42
  • 3.­45
  • 3.­50
  • 3.­72
  • 3.­82
  • 4.­10
  • 4.­11
  • 4.­30
  • 5.­7
  • 5.­8
  • 5.­11
  • 5.­13
  • 6.­1
  • 6.­3
  • 6.­30
  • 6.­37
  • 6.­38
  • 6.­41
  • 7.­15
  • 9.­1
  • 9.­2
  • 9.­3
  • 9.­5
  • 9.­7
  • 9.­9
  • 9.­10
  • 9.­11
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­13
  • 9.­14
  • 9.­15
  • 9.­19
  • 9.­20
  • 9.­22
  • 10.­1
  • 10.­2
  • 10.­4
  • 10.­9
  • 10.­12
  • 10.­13
  • 10.­14
  • 10.­15
  • 10.­16
  • 10.­18
  • 10.­20
  • 10.­24
  • 11.­1
  • 11.­2
  • 11.­3
  • 11.­7
  • 11.­9
  • 11.­13
  • 11.­14
  • 11.­15
  • 11.­16
  • 11.­18
  • 11.­19
  • 11.­20
  • 11.­21
  • 11.­22
  • 12.­1
  • 12.­2
  • 12.­3
  • 12.­6
  • 12.­7
  • 12.­9
  • 12.­10
  • 12.­11
  • 12.­14
  • 12.­15
  • 12.­17
  • 12.­18
  • 12.­23
  • 12.­24
  • 12.­25
  • n.­6
  • n.­9
  • n.­10
  • n.­104
  • n.­162
  • n.­202
  • g.­3
  • g.­12
  • g.­13
  • g.­30
  • g.­60
  • g.­85
  • g.­88
  • g.­246
  • g.­248

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  • 100 related glossary entries
g.­322

Thirty-seven aids to enlightenment

  • byang chub kyi phyogs sum cu rtsa bdun gyi chos
  • བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཕྱོགས་སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་བདུན་གྱི་ཆོས།
  • bodhi­pakṣika­dharma

These consist of the four foci of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four bases of magical powers, the five spiritual faculties, the five powers, the seven factors of enlightenment, and the eightfold noble path.

11 passages contain this term:

  • 1.­41
  • 2.­10
  • 3.­2
  • n.­133
  • g.­8
  • g.­79
  • g.­92
  • g.­93
  • g.­95
  • g.­99
  • g.­286

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  • 16 related glossary entries
g.­323

Three realms

  • khams gsum
  • ཁམས་གསུམ།
  • traidhātuka

The three worlds or realms of which all universes are composed: of desire (kāmadhātu), of pure matter (rūpadhātu), and the immaterial realm (ārūpyadhātu).

2 passages contain this term:

  • 3.­2
  • 4.­19

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  • 27 related glossary entries
g.­324

Tolerance of the birthlessness of things

  • mi skye ba’i chos la bzod pa
  • མི་སྐྱེ་བའི་ཆོས་ལ་བཟོད་པ།
  • anutpattika­dharma­kṣānti

Here we are concerned with the “intuitive tolerance of the birthlessness (or incomprehensibility) of all things” (anutpattika­dharma­kṣānti or anupalabdhi­dharma­kṣānti). To translate kṣānti as “knowledge” or “conviction” defeats entirely the Skt. usage and its intended sense: In the face of birthlessness or incomprehensibility (i.e., the ultimate reality), ordinary knowledge and especially convictions are utterly lost; this is because the mind loses objectifiability of anything and has nothing to grasp, and its process of coming to terms may be described only as a conscious cancellation through absolute negations of any false sense of certainty about anything. Through this tolerance, the mind reaches a stage where it can bear its lack of bearings, as it were, can endure this kind of extreme openness, this lack of any conviction, etc. There are three degrees of this tolerance‍—verbal (ghoṣānugā), conforming (anulomikī), and complete. See Introduction, i.­9, and Lamotte, Appendice, Note III.

7 passages contain this term:

  • i.­9
  • 3.­54
  • 6.­43
  • 8.­2
  • 8.­35
  • 9.­29
  • g.­325

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  • 27 related glossary entries
g.­332

Ultimate

  • don dam pa
  • དོན་དམ་པ།
  • paramārtha

“Ultimate” is preferable to the usual “absolute” because it carries fewer connotations than “absolute”‍—which, however, when understood logically, is also correct. It is contrasted with “superficial” (vyavahāra) or “relative” (samvṛtti) to give the two types, or “levels.,” of truth. It is synonymous with ultimate reality, the uncompounded, voidness, reality, limit of reality, absolute, nirvāṇa, ultimate liberation, infinity, permanence, eternity, independence, etc. It also has the soteriological sense of “sacred” as opposed to “profane” as is conveyed by its literal rendering “supreme” (parama) “object” (artha).

76 passages contain this term:

  • i.­9
  • i.­10
  • 1.­4
  • 1.­18
  • 3.­12
  • 3.­17
  • 3.­25
  • 3.­50
  • 4.­1
  • 4.­14
  • 4.­30
  • 6.­1
  • 6.­2
  • 6.­23
  • 7.­5
  • 8.­25
  • 10.­21
  • 11.­2
  • 11.­3
  • 11.­21
  • 12.­3
  • 12.­12
  • 12.­13
  • 12.­14
  • 12.­15
  • 12.­22
  • 12.­25
  • n.­27
  • n.­36
  • n.­51
  • n.­71
  • n.­95
  • n.­96
  • n.­98
  • n.­109
  • n.­113
  • n.­114
  • n.­115
  • n.­116
  • n.­117
  • n.­123
  • n.­153
  • n.­181
  • n.­183
  • n.­184
  • n.­194
  • n.­195
  • n.­200
  • n.­202
  • g.­4
  • g.­10
  • g.­34
  • g.­36
  • g.­53
  • g.­54
  • g.­59
  • g.­60
  • g.­63
  • g.­77
  • g.­82
  • g.­116
  • g.­121
  • g.­207
  • g.­220
  • g.­251
  • g.­255
  • g.­281
  • g.­287
  • g.­302
  • g.­318
  • g.­324
  • g.­326
  • g.­333
  • g.­343
  • g.­347
  • g.­350

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  • 7 related glossary entries
g.­333

Ultimate realm

  • chos kyi dbyings
  • ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས།
  • dharmadhātu

This compound is actually metaphorical in sense, with (at least) two interpretations possible because of ambiguities in the word dhātu. Dhātu as in the expression kāmadhātu (desire-realm), may mean “realm”; or it may mean “element,” as in the eighteen elements (see entry), where it is explained as analogous to a mineral such as copper. Thus the realm of the Dharma is the dharmakāyā, the pure source and sphere of the Dharma. And the element of the Dharma is like a mine from which the verbal Dharma, the buddha-qualities, and the wisdoms of the arhats and bodhisattvas are culled. This is metaphorical, as Vimalakīrti would remind us, because the Dharma, the ultimate, is ultimately not a particular place; it is immanent in all places, being the actuality and ultimate condition of all things and being relatively no one thing except, like voidness, the supremely beneficent of concepts.