The Teaching on the Aids to Enlightenment

Any defiled mental state that disturbs the mind.

A set of thirty-seven essential Buddhist practices. See i.­4.

Speech with undisclosed meaning; speech that is indirect and therefore requires further interpretation.

See “four applications of mindfulness.”

As one of the twelve links of dependent origination, the noun form upādāna means to cling to existence.

A person who has achieved complete liberation from saṃsāra.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In Buddhist literature, an epithet applied to buddhas, most often to Śākyamuni. The Sanskrit term generally means “possessing fortune,” but in specifically Buddhist contexts it implies that a buddha is in possession of six auspicious qualities (bhaga) associated with complete awakening. The Tibetan term‍—where bcom is said to refer to “subduing” the four māras, ldan to “possessing” the great qualities of buddhahood, and ’das to “going beyond” saṃsāra and nirvāṇa‍—possibly reflects the commentarial tradition where the Sanskrit bhagavat is interpreted, in addition, as “one who destroys the four māras.” This is achieved either by reading bhagavat as bhagnavat (“one who broke”), or by tracing the word bhaga to the root √bhañj (“to break”).

A fully ordained monk.

According to Buddhist epistemology, to conceptualize is to cognize in such a way that language is involved as a medium.

Path leading to the attainment of an arhat, consisting of right (1) view, (2) intention, (3) speech, (4) action, (5) livelihood, (6) effort, (7) mindfulness, and (8) meditative concentration.

Cognitive error contrary to Buddhist truth, especially perceptions concerning purity, happiness, permanence, and the existence of an eternal self. See also “four errors.”

Something unreal that is constructed through imagination. Along with its related form abhūtaparikalpa, it conveys an important concept in Yogācāra Buddhist philosophy.

See “falsely imagined.”

(1) Faith, (2) effort, (3) mindfulness, (4) meditative concentration, and (5) wisdom.

A meditation in which (in the most basic form in which it is taught) one sees the body as impure, feeling as painful, mind as transient, and things as without self.

Concentration based on (1) will, (2) effort, (3) mind, and (4) analysis.

(1) Seeing what is miserable as pleasurable, (2) seeing what is impermanent as permanent, (3) seeing what is impure as pure, and (4) seeing what is devoid of a self as having a self. See also “error.”

That the translation of this term should not follow the Tibetan literally (which would yield “four kinds of abandoning”) is widely agreed. It is possible that the Tibetan translators may originally have confused the meaning in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS) of the term prahāṇa (“priority”) with its meaning in classical Sanskrit (“elimination”). The classical Sanskrit equivalent of BHS prahāṇa is pradhāna. See Dayal, p. 102 ff.

The four truths of the noble ones are the truths of (1) suffering, (2) the origin of suffering, (3) the cessation of suffering, and (4) the path.

To renounce settled, household life (“going forth from home to homelessness”) to become a monk or wandering spiritual practitioner.

A person who has not had a perceptual experience of the truth and has therefore not achieved the state of a noble person.

An even state of mind characterized by the lack of disturbance and pleasure, where one wishes neither to be separated from nor to approach the object.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The bodhisattva Maitreya is an important figure in many Buddhist traditions, where he is unanimously regarded as the buddha of the future era. He is said to currently reside in Tuṣita heaven, as Śākyamuni’s regent, where he awaits the proper time to take his final rebirth and become the fifth buddha in the Fortunate Eon, reestablishing the Dharma in this world after the teachings of the current buddha have disappeared. He is the only bodhisattva widely accepted outside the Mahāyāna traditions, though his role there is much less central than in the Mahāyāna schools of India, China, Tibet, Japan, Vietnam, and Korea. His future coming as a buddha is predicted in the Pali Canon, where he is mentioned in the Cakkavattisīhanādasutta of the Dīgha Nikāya, and in the Mahāvastu, a canonical text of the Lokottaravāda school of the Mahāsaṅghikas. The prophecy of the future awakening of Maitreya is told in the Mūla­sarvāstivāda­vinaya, in the Bhaiṣajya­­vastu, the sixth chapter of the Vinaya­vastu (The Chapter on Medicines, Bhaiṣajya­vastu, Toh 1, ch. 6). Within the Mahāyāna sūtras, Maitreya is elevated to the same status as other central bodhisattvas such as Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara, and his name appears frequently in sūtras, either as the Buddha’s interlocutor or as a teacher of the Dharma. His name literally means “Loving One.” He is also known as Ajita.

In the Kangyur, we find a few short sūtras, such as Maitreya’s Rebirth in the Heaven of Joy (Toh 199), describing the circumstances leading to his awakening, his future appearance in the world, and the methods to apply if one wishes to be reborn close to him at that time. On his bodhisattva career and the circumstances for his initial arousing of the mind set on awakening, see Maitreya’s Setting Out (Toh 198). Other sūtras in which previous lives of the bodhisattva Maitreya are recounted include The White Lotus of the Good Dharma (Toh 113), The Sublime Golden Light (Toh 555–57), and The Question of Maitreya (Toh 85). Maitreya also occupies a central role in some of the most famous Mahāyāna sūtras, such as The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Toh 176), The Rice Seedling (Toh 210), The Stem Array (Toh 44-45), The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Toh 12), and The King of Samādhis (Toh 127).

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Mañjuśrī is one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha” and a bodhisattva who embodies wisdom. He is a major figure in the Mahāyāna sūtras, appearing often as an interlocutor of the Buddha. In his most well-known iconographic form, he is portrayed bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñā­pāramitā­sūtra in his left. In addition to the epithet Kumārabhūta, which means “having a youthful form,” Mañjuśrī is also called Mañjughoṣa, Mañjusvara, and Pañcaśikha.

The chief antagonist in the life of the Buddha, who tried to prevent the Buddha from achieving enlightenment and later attempted many times to thwart his activity.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In a general sense, samādhi can describe a number of different meditative states. In the Mahāyāna literature, in particular in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, we find extensive lists of different samādhis, numbering over one hundred.

In a more restricted sense, and when understood as a mental state, samādhi is defined as the one-pointedness of the mind (cittaikāgratā), the ability to remain on the same object over long periods of time. The sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti explains the term samādhi as referring to the instrument through which mind and mental states “get collected,” i.e., it is by the force of samādhi that the continuum of mind and mental states becomes collected on a single point of reference without getting distracted.

Engaged single-pointedly in the meditative state.

Same as conceptualizing.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

This is the faculty that enables the mind to maintain its attention on a referent object, counteracting the arising of forgetfulness, which is a great obstacle to meditative stability. The root smṛ may mean “to recollect” but also simply “to think of.” Broadly speaking, smṛti, commonly translated as “mindfulness,” means to bring something to mind, not necessarily something experienced in a distant past but also something that is experienced in the present, such as the position of one’s body or the breath.

Together with alertness (samprajāna, shes bzhin), it is one of the two indispensable factors for the development of calm abiding (śamatha, zhi gnas).

Neither virtuous nor nonvirtuous.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

dmigs (pa) translates a number of Sanskrit terms, including ālambana, upalabdhi, and alambhate. These terms commonly refer to the apprehending of a subject, an object, and the relationships that exist between them. The term may also be translated as “referentiality,” meaning a system based on the existence of referent objects, referent subjects, and the referential relationships that exist between them. As part of their doctrine of “threefold nonapprehending/nonreferentiality” (’khor gsum mi dmigs pa), Mahāyāna Buddhists famously assert that all three categories of apprehending lack substantiality.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The ancient capital of Magadha prior to its relocation to Pāṭaliputra during the Mauryan dynasty, Rājagṛha is one of the most important locations in Buddhist history. The literature tells us that the Buddha and his saṅgha spent a considerable amount of time in residence in and around Rājagṛha enjoying the patronage of King Bimbisāra and then of his son King Ajātaśatru. Rājagṛha is also remembered as the location where the first Buddhist monastic council was held after the Buddha Śākyamuni passed into parinirvāṇa. Now known as Rajgir and located in the modern Indian state of Bihar.

Name of the clan into which the Buddha was born.

(1) Mindfulness, (2) discernment of phenomena, (3) effort, (4) joy, (5) suppleness, (6) meditative concentration, and (7) impartiality.

The Sanskrit term literally means “one who toils,” i.e., an ascetic, and the term is applied to spiritual renunciants or monks, whether Buddhist or otherwise.

A state in which body and mind engage with ease in virtuous activities.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

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

Remaining with the object of meditation single-pointedly without distraction; the cause of higher meditative states.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Gṛdhra­kūṭa, literally Vulture Peak, was a hill located in the kingdom of Magadha, in the vicinity of the ancient city of Rājagṛha (modern-day Rajgir, in the state of Bihar, India), where the Buddha bestowed many sūtras, especially the Great Vehicle teachings, such as the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras. It continues to be a sacred pilgrimage site for Buddhists to this day.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Yeshé Dé (late eighth to early ninth century) was the most prolific translator of sūtras into Tibetan. Altogether he is credited with the translation of more than one hundred sixty sūtra translations and more than one hundred additional translations, mostly on tantric topics. In spite of Yeshé Dé’s great importance for the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet during the imperial era, only a few biographical details about this figure are known. Later sources describe him as a student of the Indian teacher Padmasambhava, and he is also credited with teaching both sūtra and tantra widely to students of his own. He was also known as Nanam Yeshé Dé, from the Nanam (sna nam) clan.

Mañjuśrī who takes the form of a youth, an epithet by which the well-known bodhisattva is often referred.