The Perfection of Generosity

Toh 182
Degé Kangyur, vol. 61 (mdo sde, tsa), folios 77.a–95.b.
Translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2019
Current version v 1.18.12 (2021)
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Table of Contents
Summary
In this sūtra a bodhisattva asks the Buddha how bodhisattvas should exert themselves after having given rise to the mind set on awakening. The Buddha replies by describing the ten virtuous actions and the motivation that bodhisattvas should engender when they engage in those practices. Next, after explaining how they should exert themselves in the ten perfections, the Buddha presents a detailed explanation of the perfection of generosity, focusing on the compassionate motivation that bodhisattvas cultivate while practicing it. A particular feature of this sūtra is how it details the significance of making different kinds of offering, in terms of the spiritual attainments, qualities of awakening, and other benefits that will result.
Acknowledgements
This text was translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee under the guidance of Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. Benjamin Collet-Cassart translated the text from Tibetan into English and wrote the introduction. Andreas Doctor compared the draft translation with the original Tibetan and edited the text. Anders Bjornback and Alex Yiannopoulos also assisted this project by sharing their draft translation of the first section of this sūtra with the other translators.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
Introduction
The Perfection of Generosity belongs to the general sūtra section of the Tibetan Kangyur. It does not appear to have been translated into Chinese, and we have not come across any mention of its title in Indian commentarial works. It does not seem, therefore, to have had a particularly influential role in Buddhist India. Until recently, it had also not attracted notable attention in modern scholarship. In 2014, however, Jason McCombs included a full translation of The Perfection of Generosity, along with an introduction to the text, in his doctoral dissertation.1
[How Bodhisattvas Exert Themselves in the Ten Virtuous Actions]
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One, in order to benefit his kinsmen and the local people, was residing in the parks of King Śuddhodhana in the city of Kapilavastu, parks adorned with many hundreds of thousands of trees of different types, such as sāla, palmyra, tamāla, karṇikāra, juniper, walnut, kharjūra, śipan, nīpa, mango, pear, āmalakī, wood apple, pomegranate, elephant apple, plantain, banyan fig, goolar fig, myrobalan, aśvattha, vārśika, nutmeg, dhanuṣkarī, rosewood, magnolia, aśoka, taraṇi, pāṭalā, śiriṣa, and arjun trees. The parks were beautified by cascading streams, waterfalls, lakes, pools, ponds, and springs of fragrant water filled with purple, pink, red, and white lotus flowers. There one could hear the calls of geese, peacocks, cranes, ducks, cuckoos, ospreys, parrots, grouse, pheasants, partridges, nightingales, and wild ducks. Countless honeybees buzzed in the air. The water in the parks possessed eight special qualities6 and was limpid, flavorful, cool, pristine, and pure. The grass was green, soft and tender, and as pleasing to the touch as silk, wool, cotton, raw silk, kācilindika cloth, and linen. Those fine parks were beautiful, clean, and free of any stones, pebbles, gravel, dirt, mud, or refuse. They were also home to various wild animals, such as śarabha, spotted deer, monkeys, cats, brown bears, rabbits, black bears, [F.77.b] hyenas, and a number of different birds. Hundreds of thousands of other beings were also present, such as gods and goddesses of the night, guardians of the world, Varuṇa, Śiva, Yama, Virūḍhaka, Kubera, Śakra, Virūpākṣa, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra, as well as asuras, garuḍas, gandharvas, kiṃnaras, and mahoragas.
[How Bodhisattvas Exert Themselves in the Ten Perfections]
“Furthermore, noble son, [F.84.a] after having first given rise to the mind set on awakening, bodhisattva great beings should exert themselves in the ten perfections. What are those ten? They are the perfections of generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, insight, skillful means, aspiration, power, and wisdom. Noble son, how do bodhisattva great beings exert themselves in those ten perfections? Noble son, bodhisattva great beings practice generosity, observe discipline, cultivate patience, engender diligence, rest in concentration, cause insight to blaze, become skilled in means, form aspiration prayers, apply the powers, and embrace wisdom.
Colophon
This was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian preceptor Prajñāvarman, the translator-editor Bandé Yeshé Dé, and others.
Abbreviations
C | Coné (co ne) Kangyur |
---|---|
D | Degé (sde dge) Kangyur |
H | Lhasa (zhol) Kangyur |
J | Lithang (’jang sa tham) Kangyur |
K | Peking (pe cin) Kangxi Kangyur |
KY | Peking Yongle (g.yung lo) Kangyur |
N | Narthang (snar thang) Kangyur |
S | Stok Palace (stog pho brang) Manuscript Kangyur |
Notes
Bibliography
’phags pa sbyin pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryadānapāramitāsūtra). Toh 182, Degé Kangyur vol. 61 (mdo sde, tsa), folios 77.a–95.b.
’phags pa sbyin pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–2009, vol. 61, pp. 203–247.
’phags pa sbyin pa’i pha rol tu phyin pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryadānapāramitāsūtra). S 222, Stok Palace Manuscript Kangyur vol. 73 (mdo sde, za), folios 240.b–266.b.
’phags pa sbyin pa’i phan yon bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryadānānuśaṃsānirdeśasūtra). Toh 183, Degé Kangyur vol. 61 (mdo sde, tsa), folios 95.b–96.b.
Denkarma (ldan dkar ma), pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos kyi ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag. Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur, vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), F.294.b–310.a.
Dayal, Har. The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature. 1932. Reprint, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1970.
Lalou, Marcelle. “Les textes bouddhiques au temps du roi Khri-sroṅ-lde-bcan.” Journal asiatique 241 (1953): 313–52.
McCombs, Jason Matthew. “Mahāyāna and the Gift: Theories and Practices.” PhD diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2014.
Rotman, Andy. Divine Stories: Divyāvadāna, Part I. Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 2008.
Glossary
Ājñātakauṇḍinya
- kun shes kauN+di n+ya
- ཀུན་ཤེས་ཀཽཎྡི་ནྱ།
- Ājñātakauṇḍinya
One of the five ascetics who later became the first five disciples of the Buddha.
Ākāśagarbha
- nam mkha’ snying po
- ནམ་མཁའ་སྙིང་པོ།
- Ākāśagarbha
One of the eight main bodhisattvas, the heart sons of the Buddha.
Ānanda
- kun dga’ bo
- ཀུན་དགའ་བོ།
- Ānanda
The Buddha’s cousin and principal attendant.
Anavatapta
- ma dros pa
- མ་དྲོས་པ།
- Anavatapta
A king of the nāgas.
Applications of mindfulness
- dran pa nye bar gzhag pa
- དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་གཞག་པ།
- smṛtyupasthāna
Four contemplations on: the body, feelings, mind, and phenomena. These are among the thirty-seven factors of awakening.
Aspiration
- smon lam
- སྨོན་ལམ།
- praṇidhāna
One of the ten perfections.
Avalokiteśvara
- spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug
- སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག
- Avalokiteśvara
One of the eight main bodhisattvas, the heart sons of the Buddha.
Bakkula
- ba ku la
- བ་ཀུ་ལ།
- Bakkula
An arhat disciple of the Buddha and one of the sixteen elders.
Bali
- stobs can
- སྟོབས་ཅན།
- Bali
A ruler of the asuras.
Bases of miraculous power
- rdzu ’phrul gyi rkang pa
- རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་གྱི་རྐང་པ།
- ṛddhipāda
Determination, discernment, diligence, and absorption. These are among the thirty-seven factors of awakening.
Bhadrika
- bzang ldan
- བཟང་ལྡན།
- Bhadrika
One of the first five disciples of the Buddha.
Bhairavī
- ’jigs byed ma
- འཇིགས་བྱེད་མ།
- Bhairavī
Fierce and terrifying Hindu goddess identified as the consort of Bhairava.
Bhaiṣajyarāja
- sman gyi rgyal po
- སྨན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- Bhaiṣajyarāja
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Bhaiṣajyasamudgata
- sman yang dag ’phags
- སྨན་ཡང་དག་འཕགས།
- Bhaiṣajyasamudgata
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Bharadvāja
- bha ra dva dza
- བྷ་ར་དབ༹་ཛ།
- Bharadvāja
One of the disciples of the Buddha. One of the first ten to be ordained.
Bhūta
- ’byung po
- འབྱུང་པོ།
- bhūta
A general term for spirit, ghost, or demon.
Branches of awakening
- byang chub kyi yan lag
- བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག
- bodhyaṅga
Recollection, analysis of the dharmas, diligence, joy, pliancy, absorption, equanimity. These are among the thirty-seven factors of awakening.
Candra
- zla ba
- ཟླ་བ།
- Candra
Lunar deity in Hindu mythology.
Candraprabha
- zla ’od
- ཟླ་འོད།
- Candraprabha
One of the bodhisattva great beings. He is also the principal interlocutor of The King of Samādhis Sūtra.
Concentration
- bsam gtan
- བསམ་གཏན།
- dhyāna
One of the six or ten perfections.
Crown Jewel of the Lord of Men Resembling a Sublime Lion Sporting and Roaring in Mountain Caves, Peaks, Clefts, Valleys, and Meadows
- ri’i phug dang zom dang ri sul dang gseb dang sman ljongs na seng ge’i mchog rnam par bsgyings shing nga ro rnam par sgrogs pa lta bu’i mi’i dbang po’i gtsug gi nor bu
- རིའི་ཕུག་དང་ཟོམ་དང་རི་སུལ་དང་གསེབ་དང་སྨན་ལྗོངས་ན་སེང་གེའི་མཆོག་རྣམ་པར་བསྒྱིངས་ཤིང་ང་རོ་རྣམ་པར་སྒྲོགས་པ་ལྟ་བུའི་མིའི་དབང་པོའི་གཙུག་གི་ནོར་བུ།
- —
Bodhisattva great being, interlocutor of the Buddha in The Perfection of Generosity.
Cūḍāpanthaka
- lam phran bstan
- ལམ་ཕྲན་བསྟན།
- Cūḍāpanthaka
One of the disciples of the Buddha.
Determined Effort
- spro ba brtan pa
- སྤྲོ་བ་བརྟན་པ།
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Devamukuṭa
- lha’i cod pan
- ལྷའི་ཅོད་པན།
- Devamukuṭa
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra
- yul ’khor srung
- ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྲུང་།
- Dhṛtarāṣṭra
One of the four great kings.
Diligence
- brtson ’grus
- བརྩོན་འགྲུས།
- vīrya
One of the six or ten perfections.
Discipline
- tshul khrims
- ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།
- śīla
One of the six or ten perfections.
Dṛḍhamati
- blo gros brtan
- བློ་གྲོས་བརྟན།
- Dṛḍhamati
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Dṛḍhavikrama
- mthu rtsal brtan
- མཐུ་རྩལ་བརྟན།
- Dṛḍhavikrama
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Dṛḍhavīrya
- brtson ’grus brtan
- བརྩོན་འགྲུས་བརྟན།
- Dṛḍhavīrya
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Druma
- ljon pa
- ལྗོན་པ།
- Druma
A king of the kiṃnaras.
Equal and Evenly Set Teeth White Like Silver, Conch Shells, the Moon, a White Lotus, and Milk
- so mnyam zhing thags bzang la dkar ba dngul dang dung dang zla ba dang ku mud dang ’o ma ltar dkar ba
- སོ་མཉམ་ཞིང་ཐགས་བཟང་ལ་དཀར་བ་དངུལ་དང་དུང་དང་ཟླ་བ་དང་ཀུ་མུད་དང་འོ་མ་ལྟར་དཀར་བ།
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Female Spear Holder
- mdung thogs ma
- མདུང་ཐོགས་མ།
- —
A Hindu goddess, unidentified. McCombs (p. 128) suggests that the Sanskrit name for this goddess might be Śūlinī (one of the names for Durgā) or Śaktidhārī.
Gavāṃpati
- ba lang bdag
- བ་ལང་བདག
- Gavāṃpati
One of the disciples of the Buddha. One of the first ten to be ordained.
Generosity
- sbyin pa
- སྦྱིན་པ།
- dāna
The first of the six or ten perfections, often explained as the essential starting point and training for the practice of the others.
Hair in a Topknot Shining Dark Like Bees, Ink, Peacocks, and Nightingales
- bung ba dang snag sa dang rma bya dang ’jon mo dang mugs gsal ral pa’i thor tshugs can
- བུང་བ་དང་སྣག་ས་དང་རྨ་བྱ་དང་འཇོན་མོ་དང་མུགས་གསལ་རལ་པའི་ཐོར་ཚུགས་ཅན།
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Hārītī
- ’phrog ma
- འཕྲོག་མ།
- Hārītī
A female yakṣa, previously an eater of children but tamed and converted by the Buddha and seen as a protectress. Consort of Pāñcika.
Hell of Endless Torment
- mtshams med
- མཚམས་མེད།
- avīci
The most severe among the eight hot hell realms. It is characterized as endless not only in terms of the torment undergone there, but also because of the ceaseless chain of actions and effects experienced, the long lifespan of its denizens, and their being so intensely crowded together that there is no physical space between them.
Insight
- shes rab
- ཤེས་རབ།
- prajñā
One of the six or ten perfections.
Jālinīprabha
- dra ba can gyi ’od
- དྲ་བ་ཅན་གྱི་འོད།
- Jālinīprabha
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Jambudvīpa
- ’dzam bu’i gling
- འཛམ་བུའི་གླིང་།
- Jambudvīpa
The continent (dvīpa) on which we live, shaped like a jambū fruit or rose-apple according to ancient South Asian cosmology.
Kācilindika
- ka tsa lin di ka
- ཀ་ཙ་ལིན་དི་ཀ།
- kācilindika, kācalindika
An epithet for softness, usually applied to cloth, and probably in reference, directly or metaphorically, to the down of the kācilindika bird. See Lamotte, Etienne. La Concentration de la Marche Héroïque. Bruxelles: Peeters (1975), p. 261, n. 321. The Mahāvyutpatti includes the term using the variant spelling kācalindika.
Kamaladalavimalanakṣatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijña
- pad ma’i ’dab ma ltar dri ma med pa rgyu skar rgyal po mngon par shes pa’i me tog shin tu rgyas pa
- པད་མའི་འདབ་མ་ལྟར་དྲི་མ་མེད་པ་རྒྱུ་སྐར་རྒྱལ་པོ་མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པའི་མེ་ཏོག་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པ།
- Kamaladalavimalanakṣatrarājasaṃkusumitābhijña
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Kapilavastu
- ser skya’i gnas
- སེར་སྐྱའི་གནས།
- Kapilavastu
The capital city of the Śākya kingdom, where the Buddha grew up.
Kapphiṇa
- ka pi na
- ཀ་པི་ན།
- Kapphiṇa
One of the disciples of the Buddha.
King Precious Moonlight of Pure Virtue
- dge ba dri ma med pa rnam dag rin chen zla ’od rgyal po
- དགེ་བ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པ་རྣམ་དག་རིན་ཆེན་ཟླ་འོད་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Mahākauṣṭhila
- gsus po che
- གསུས་པོ་ཆེ།
- Mahākauṣṭhila
One of the disciples of the Buddha.
Mahākāya
- lus chen
- ལུས་ཆེན།
- Mahākāya
A ruler of the garuḍas.
Mahāmaudgalyāyana
- maud gal gyi bu chen po
- མཽད་གལ་གྱི་བུ་ཆེན་པོ།
- Mahāmaudgalyāyana
One of the two closest disciples of the Buddha, known for his miraculous abilities.
Mahāśrīdevī
- dpal gyi lha mo chen mo
- དཔལ་གྱི་ལྷ་མོ་ཆེན་མོ།
- Mahāśrīdevī
Epithet of Lakṣmī, Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity and consort of Viṣṇu.
Mahāsthāmaprāpta
- mthu chen thob
- མཐུ་ཆེན་ཐོབ།
- Mahāsthāmaprāpta
Bodhisattva great being who represents the power of wisdom.
Mahātejas
- gzi chen
- གཟི་ཆེན།
- Mahātejas
A ruler of the garuḍas.
Mahotsāha
- spro ba che ba
- སྤྲོ་བ་ཆེ་བ།
- Mahotsāha
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Maitreya
- byams pa
- བྱམས་པ།
- Maitreya
One of the eight main bodhisattvas, the heart sons of the Buddha.
Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta
- ’jam dpal gzhon nur gyur pa
- འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ།
- Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta
One of the eight main bodhisattvas, the heart sons of the Buddha.
Māra
- bdud
- བདུད།
- Māra
Personification of everything that functions as a hindrance to awakening.
Moonlike Body
- lus zla ba
- ལུས་ཟླ་བ།
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Mount Sumeru
- ri rab
- རི་རབ།
- Sumeru
Center of the universe according to Buddhist and Hindu cosmology.
Nanda
- dga’ bo
- དགའ་བོ།
- Nanda
The Buddha’s half-brother and disciple.
Pañcaśikha
- zur phud lnga pa
- ཟུར་ཕུད་ལྔ་པ།
- Pañcaśikha
An eminent gandharva.
Pāñcika
- lngas rtsen
- ལྔས་རྩེན།
- Pāñcika
A leader of the yakṣas.
Patience
- bzod pa
- བཟོད་པ།
- kṣānti
One of the six or ten perfections.
Piśāca
- sha za
- ཤ་ཟ།
- piśāca
A class of demons. Literally “flesh eaters.”
Power
- stobs
- སྟོབས།
- bala
One of the ten perfections.
Powers
- dbang po
- དབང་པོ།
- indriya
Faith, diligence, mindfulness, absorption, and knowledge. These are among the thirty-seven factors of awakening.
Prajñāvarman
- pra dz+nyA bar ma
- པྲ་ཛྙཱ་བར་མ།
- Prajñāvarman
A Bengali paṇḍita resident in Tibet during the late eighth/early ninth centuries. Arriving in Tibet at the invitation of the Tibetan king, he assisted in the translation of numerous canonical scriptures. He is also the author of a few philosophical commentaries included in the Tibetan Tengyur (bstan ’gyur) collection.
Prāmodyarāja
- mchog tu dga’ ba’i rgyal po
- མཆོག་ཏུ་དགའ་བའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།
- Prāmodyarāja
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Pūrṇa
- gang po
- གང་པོ།
- Pūrṇa
At least five different disciples of the Buddha in the canonical texts have this name, but the Pūrṇa in this text is likely to be the eminent disciple of the Buddha from Kapilavastu, nephew of Ājñātakauṇḍinya who ordained him, and described as the foremost disciple in explaining the doctrine.
Rāhu
- sgra gcan
- སྒྲ་གཅན།
- Rāhu
A ruler of the asuras.
Rāhula
- sgra gcan zin
- སྒྲ་གཅན་ཟིན།
- Rāhula
The Buddha’s son and disciple.
Ratnacūḍa
- rin chen gtsug phud
- རིན་ཆེན་གཙུག་ཕུད།
- Ratnacūḍa
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Ratnagarbha
- rin chen snying po
- རིན་ཆེན་སྙིང་པོ།
- Ratnagarbha
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Ratnajālin
- rin chen dra ba can
- རིན་ཆེན་དྲ་བ་ཅན།
- Ratnajālin
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Ratnamukuṭa
- rin chen cod pan
- རིན་ཆེན་ཅོད་པན།
- Ratnamukuṭa
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Ratnapāṇi
- lag na rin chen
- ལག་ན་རིན་ཆེན།
- Ratnapāṇi
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Ratnaprabha
- rin chen ’od
- རིན་ཆེན་འོད།
- Ratnaprabha
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Ratnasiṃha
- rin chen seng ge
- རིན་ཆེན་སེང་གེ
- Ratnasiṃha
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Resembling the Karṇikāra Tree, the Mango Tree, and the Blooming Burflower Tree
- dong ka’i shing dang sa ha ka ra dang me tog ’byung ba’i ka dam pa lta bu
- དོང་ཀའི་ཤིང་དང་ས་ཧ་ཀ་ར་དང་མེ་ཏོག་འབྱུང་བའི་ཀ་དམ་པ་ལྟ་བུ།
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Rising Sun
- nyi ma’i ’char ka
- ཉི་མའི་འཆར་ཀ
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Sacrificial post
- mchod sdong
- མཆོད་སྡོང་།
- yūpa
A post set up as a marker to which offerings may be presented. Described in the Maitreyāvadāna (“The Story of Maitreya”), which in the Kangyur is found within the Bhaiṣajyavastu (in Vinayavastu, Toh 1, Degé Kangyur vol. kha, folios 29a-32b); a matching passage from the Divyāvadāna is translated in Rotman (2008), pp. 121–24.
Sāgara
- rgya mtsho
- རྒྱ་མཚོ།
- Sāgara
A king of the nāgas.
Sahā world
- mi mjed
- མི་མཇེད།
- Sahā
Indian Buddhist name for the universe in which we live. It means “endurance,” as beings there have to endure suffering.
Śakra
- brgya byin
- བརྒྱ་བྱིན།
- Śakra
The lord of the gods.
Samantabhadra
- kun tu bzang po
- ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ།
- Samantabhadra
One of the eight main bodhisattvas, the heart sons of the Buddha.
Śaṅkhinī
- dung can ma
- དུང་ཅན་མ།
- Śaṅkhinī
A Hindu goddess.
Śarabha
- ldang sko ska
- ལྡང་སྐོ་སྐ།
- śarabha
Mythical eight-legged lion.
Śāradvatīputra
- sha ra dva ti’i bu
- ཤ་ར་དབ༹་ཏིའི་བུ།
- Śāradvatīputra
One of the two closest disciples of the Buddha, known for his pure observance of discipline.
Seven precious things
- rin chen sna bdun
- རིན་ཆེན་སྣ་བདུན།
- saptaratna
The seven precious things comprise the seven precious metals and stones, namely, gold, silver, turquoise, coral, pearl, emerald, and sapphire. More generally, they may also comprise the symbols of royal dominion, namely, the wheel, gem, queen, minister, elephant, general, and horse.
Śiva
- zhi ba
- ཞི་བ།
- Śiva
One of the main Hindu gods.
Skillful means
- thabs
- ཐབས།
- upāya
One of the ten perfections.
Slender, Supple, Firm, Fine, and Smooth Limbs Youthful Like Flowers and with Copper-Colored Nails
- rka lag phra zhing mnyen la gzhon sha chags shing sra ba la ’jam zhing me tog ltar shin tu gzhon la rka lag gi sen mo zangs kyi mdog ’dra ba
- རྐ་ལག་ཕྲ་ཞིང་མཉེན་ལ་གཞོན་ཤ་ཆགས་ཤིང་སྲ་བ་ལ་འཇམ་ཞིང་མེ་ཏོག་ལྟར་ཤིན་ཏུ་གཞོན་ལ་རྐ་ལག་གི་སེན་མོ་ཟངས་ཀྱི་མདོག་འདྲ་བ།
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Smiling Face That Brightly Shines Like the Moon and a Lotus Flower
- pad ma dang zla ba ltar bzhin ’dzum zhing brjid la mdangs gsal ba
- པད་མ་དང་ཟླ་བ་ལྟར་བཞིན་འཛུམ་ཞིང་བརྗིད་ལ་མདངས་གསལ་བ།
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Stable Strength
- mthu brtan
- མཐུ་བརྟན།
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Subhūti
- rab ’byor
- རབ་འབྱོར།
- Subhūti
One of the closest disciples of the Buddha.
Sūryaprabha
- nyi ’od
- ཉི་འོད།
- Sūryaprabha
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Suśubha
- rab tu bzang po
- རབ་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ།
- Suśubha
One of the disciples of the Buddha.
Tongue Wide as the Leaves of Palm and Plantain Trees and Resembling a Copper Plate
- lce chu shing gi lo ma dang ta la’i ’dab ma ltar yangs shing zangs kyi glegs ma lta bu
- ལྕེ་ཆུ་ཤིང་གི་ལོ་མ་དང་ཏ་ལའི་འདབ་མ་ལྟར་ཡངས་ཤིང་ཟངས་ཀྱི་གླེགས་མ་ལྟ་བུ།
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Top Ornament of Precious Qualities with Magnificent Sapphire-Like Eyes
- rin po che mthon ka ltar mig shin tu mdzes pa yon tan rin po che’i tog
- རིན་པོ་ཆེ་མཐོན་ཀ་ལྟར་མིག་ཤིན་ཏུ་མཛེས་པ་ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་ཏོག
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
True exertions
- yang dag par spong ba
- ཡང་དག་པར་སྤོང་བ།
- samyakprahāṇa
Relinquishing negative acts in the present and future and enhancing positive acts in the present and future. These are among the thirty-seven factors of awakening. The term is often translated “true relinquishments,” which is the literal meaning of both the Sanskrit and Tibetan, but does not fit the third and fourth; Dayal, p. 102 ff. suggests the use of “effort” (samyakpradhāna) instead of lit. “abandonment” (samyakprahāna).
Upananda
- nye dga’ bo
- ཉེ་དགའ་བོ།
- Upananda
One of the disciples of the Buddha.
Vaiśravaṇa
- rnam thos kyi bu
- རྣམ་ཐོས་ཀྱི་བུ།
- Vaiśravaṇa
One of the four great kings, also known as Kubera.
Vajrapāṇi
- lag na rdo rje
- ལག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།
- Vajrapāṇi
A leader of the yakṣas.
Varuṇa
- chu lha
- ཆུ་ལྷ།
- Varuṇa
One of the guardian deities.
Virūḍhaka
- ’phags skyes po
- འཕགས་སྐྱེས་པོ།
- Virūḍhaka
One of the four great kings.
Virūpākṣa
- mig mi bzang
- མིག་མི་བཟང་།
- Virūpākṣa
One of the four great kings.
Voice as Delightful as the Songs of Cuckoos, Parrots, Grouse, Pheasants, and Kalaviṅka Birds
- khu byug dang ne tso dang ri skegs dang ku na la dang ka la ping ka skad ’byin pa lta bur yid du ’ong ba’i nga ro’i gdangs nges par sgrogs pa
- ཁུ་བྱུག་དང་ནེ་ཙོ་དང་རི་སྐེགས་དང་ཀུ་ན་ལ་དང་ཀ་ལ་པིང་ཀ་སྐད་འབྱིན་པ་ལྟ་བུར་ཡིད་དུ་འོང་བའི་ང་རོའི་གདངས་ངེས་པར་སྒྲོགས་པ།
- —
One of the bodhisattva great beings.
Wisdom
- ye shes
- ཡེ་ཤེས།
- jñāna
One of the ten perfections.
Yama
- gshin rje
- གཤིན་རྗེ།
- Yama
The lord of death.
Yellow-Robed
- ser mo
- སེར་མོ།
- —
A Hindu goddess, unidentified. McCombs (p. 128) suggests that the Sanskrit name for this goddess might be Pītā or Vāruṇī.
Yeshé Dé
- ye shes sde
- ཡེ་ཤེས་སྡེ།
- —
A prolific Tibetan translator active during the late eighth and early ninth centuries.