The Dwelling Place of Mañjuśrī

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A term meaning acceptance, forbearance, or patience. As the third of the six perfections, patience is classified into three kinds: the capacity to tolerate abuse from sentient beings, to tolerate the hardships of the path to buddhahood, and to tolerate the profound nature of reality. As a term referring to a bodhisattva’s realization, dharmakṣānti (chos la bzod pa) can refer to the ways one becomes “receptive” to the nature of Dharma, and it can be an abbreviation of anutpattikadharmakṣānti, “forbearance to the unborn nature, or nonproduction, of dharmas.”

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The essentially pure nature of mind is obscured and afflicted by various psychological defilements, which destroy the mind’s peace and composure and lead to unwholesome deeds of body, speech, and mind, acting as causes for continued existence in saṃsāra. Included among them are the primary afflictions of desire (rāga), anger (dveṣa), and ignorance (avidyā). It is said that there are eighty-four thousand of these negative mental qualities, for which the eighty-four thousand categories of the Buddha’s teachings serve as the antidote.

Kleśa is also commonly translated as “negative emotions,” “disturbing emotions,” and so on. The Pāli kilesa, Middle Indic kileśa, and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit kleśa all primarily mean “stain” or “defilement.” The translation “affliction” is a secondary development that derives from the more general (non-Buddhist) classical understanding of √kliś (“to harm,“ “to afflict”). Both meanings are noted by Buddhist commentators.

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:

According to Buddhist tradition, one who is worthy of worship (pūjām arhati), or one who has conquered the enemies, the mental afflictions or emotions (kleśa-ari-hata-vat), and reached liberation from the cycle of rebirth and suffering. It is the fourth and highest of the four fruits attainable by śrāvakas. Also used as an epithet of the Buddha.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views, but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).

An epithet for a buddha.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The final or complete nirvāṇa, which occurs when an arhat or a buddha passes away. It implies the non-residual nirvāṇa where the aggregates have also been consumed within emptiness. (Provisional 84000 definition. New definition forthcoming.)

Also translated as “practicing concentration.”

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A term meaning defilement, impurity, and pollution, broadly referring to cognitive and emotional factors that disturb and obscure the mind. As the self-perpetuating process of affliction in the minds of beings, it is a synonym for saṃsāra. It is often paired with its opposite, vyavadāna, meaning “purification.”

This phrase occurs throughout a number of Perfection of Wisdom discourses and several other sūtras (Apple 2014). See, for example, the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā §7 (Harrison 2006, p. 145).

Also translated as “non-decrease and non-increase.” See i.­8.

Refers to blissful meditative practices achieved in this life as a result of advanced progress on the path in mainstream forms of Buddhism. This phrase occurs throughout the Śrāvakabhūmi (D folios 25.a, 70.b, 74.b, and 152.a). It is synonymous with mthong ba’i chos la bde bar gnas pa (Skt. dṛṣta­dharma­sukha­vihāra, “abiding in bliss in the present life”), a term applied to certain types of arhats. Cf. Apple 2013.

See i.­5.

Emptiness (stong pa nyid), signlessness (mtshan ma med pa), and wishlessness (smon pa med pa) are known as the “three doors to deliverance” (triṇi­vimokṣa­mukhāni) or the “three concentrations” (trayaḥ samādhyaḥ) and as a set appear in both mainstream Buddhist sūtras and Mahāyāna sūtras. See Conze 1962, pp. 59–69; Lamotte 1944, pp. 1213–15; and Deleanu 2000, pp. 74–78.

The name of a buddha in the future.

These comprise (1) the meditative absorption of the sense field of infinite space, (2) the meditative absorption of the sense field of infinite consciousness, (3) the meditative absorption of the sense field of nothing-at-all, and (4) the meditative absorption of neither perception nor non-perception.

The four positive qualities of loving kindness (byams pa, maitrī), compassion (snying rje, karuṇā), sympathetic joy (dga’ ba, muditā), and equanimity (btang snyoms, upekṣā), which may be radiated towards oneself and then immeasurable sentient beings.

The four levels of meditative concentration previously attained by beings who inhabit the heavens of the form realm. These are named “first” through “fourth” and each is described at length in Buddhist texts.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of generally benevolent nonhuman beings who inhabit the skies, sometimes said to inhabit fantastic cities in the clouds, and more specifically to dwell on the eastern slopes of Mount Meru, where they are under the jurisdiction of the Great King Dhṛtarāṣṭra. They are most renowned as celestial musicians who serve the gods. In the Abhidharma, the term is also used to refer to the mental body assumed by any sentient being in the realm of desire (kāma­dhātu) during the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Gandharvas are said to live on fragrances in the desire realm, hence the Tibetan translation dri za, meaning “scent eater.”

Name of a mountain close to Rājgṛha. It is famous as the place where the Buddha is said to have taught the Prajñāpāramitā and other teachings.

The name of a hell realm. One of the eight hot hells.

Also translated as “unwavering.”

“Et cetera,” “in short,” “in brief”; a résumé of a preceding series of stanzas. Cf. Mahāvyupatti §5435; Edgerton 1953, p. 354a.

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.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

(1) The demon who assailed Śākyamuni prior to his awakening. (2) The deities ruled over by Māra who do not wish any beings to escape from saṃsāra. (3) Any demonic force, the personification of conceptual and emotional obstacles. They are also symbolic of the defects within a person that prevent awakening. (Provisional 84000 definition. New definition forthcoming.)

One of the three qualities of mindfulness (dran pa; smṛti) including familiarization (’dris pa’i dngos po; samstute vastuni) and nondistraction (mi g.yeng ba; avikṣipta). See, for example, Jaini 1992 (pp. 47–59) on asaṃpramoṣa in Abhidharma literature. The “absorption of nonforgetfullness” (asaṃpramoṣo nāma samādhiḥ) is listed in the Mahāvyutpatti §526.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Literally, “to flow” or “to ooze.” Mental defilements or contaminations that “flow out” toward the objects of cyclic existence, binding us to them. Vasubandhu offers two alternative explanations of this term: “They cause beings to remain (āsayanti) within saṃsāra” and “They flow from the Summit of Existence down to the Unwavering, out of the six wounds that are the entrances” (Abhidharma­kośa­bhāṣya on 5.40, Pradhan 1967, p. 308). The “Summit of Existence” is the highest point within saṃsāra, while the hell called “Unwavering” is the lowest; the six entrances here refer to the five sense faculties plus the mind, i.e., the six internal entrances in the scheme of twelve entrances.

Also translated as “concentrating.”

See Anālayo 2009 for this concept in early Buddhist sources.

Now known as Rajgir and located in the modern Indian state of Bihar, Rājagṛha was the capital of the kingdom of Magadha during the Buddha’s lifetime.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the principal śrāvaka disciples of the Buddha, he was renowned for his discipline and for having been praised by the Buddha as foremost of the wise (often paired with Maudgalyā­yana, who was praised as foremost in the capacity for miraculous powers). His father, Tiṣya, to honor Śāriputra’s mother, Śārikā, named him Śāradvatīputra, or, in its contracted form, Śāriputra, meaning “Śārikā’s Son.”

The name of an Eon in the future.

‍—

A “thrice thousandfold universe,” i.e. a billionfold universe, sometimes called a “third-order great chiliocosm” (tṛtīya­mahā­sāhasra­loka­dhātu), consisting of a billion worlds, i.e. a million chiliocosms (q.v.), or a thousand dichiliocosms (q.v.). In the verse of the Tibetan source the term has been abbreviated to stong gsum.

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Considered to be the second great Dharma king of Tibet, he is thought to have been born in 742, and to have reigned from 754 until his death in 797 or 799. It was during his reign that the “early period” of imperially sponsored text translation gathered momentum, as the Buddhist teachings gained widespread acceptance in Tibet, and under whose auspices the first Buddhist monastery was established.

One of the heavens of Buddhist cosmology, counted among the six heavens of the desire realm, it is home of future Buddha Maitreya.

Also translated as “immovable.”

Emptiness (stong pa nyid), signlessness (mtshan ma med pa), and wishlessness (smon pa med pa) are known as the “three doors to deliverance” (triṇi­vimokṣa­mukhāni) or the “three concentrations” (trayaḥ samādhyaḥ) and as a set appear in both mainstream Buddhist sūtras and Mahāyāna sūtras. See Conze 1962, pp. 59–69; Lamotte 1944, pp. 1213–15; and Deleanu 2000, pp. 74–78.

Emptiness (stong pa nyid), signlessness (mtshan ma med pa), and wishlessness (smon pa med pa) are known as the “three doors to deliverance” (triṇi­vimokṣa­mukhāni) or the “three concentrations” (trayaḥ samādhyaḥ) and as a set appear in both mainstream Buddhist sūtras and Mahāyāna sūtras. See Conze 1962, pp. 59–69; Lamotte 1944, pp. 1213–15; and Deleanu 2000, pp. 74–78.

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.

An epithet of the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī.