Property:Glossary-DefinitionPDB
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K
See page 438: In Sanskrit, “afflictions,” or “defilements”; mental factors that disturb the mind and incite unwholesome (akuśala) deeds of body, speech, and/or mind. In order to be liberated from rebirth, the kleśa and the actions they incite must be controlled and finally eliminated. A typical Standard list of kleśa includes the so-called three poisons (trjviṣa) of greed or sensuality (rāga or lobha), hatred or aversion (dveṣa), and delusion (moha). +
L
In Tibetan, “stages o f the path” ; a common abbreviation for byang chub lam gyi rim pa (jangchup lamkyi rimpa), or “stages of the path to enlightenment,” a broad methodological framework for the study and practice of the complete Buddhist path to awakening, as well as the name for a major genre of Tibetan literature describing that path. It is closely allied to the genre known as bstan rim, or “stages of the doctrine.” The initial inspiration for the instructions of this System is usually attributed to the Bengali master Atiśa Dīpamkaraśrījñāna, whose Bodhipathapradīpa (“Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment”) became a model for numerous later stages of the path texts. The system presents a graduated and comprehensive approach to studying the central tenets of Mahāyāna Buddhist thought and is often organized around a presentation o f the three levels o f spiritual predilection, personified as “three individuals” (skyes bu
gsum): lesser, intermediate, and superior. The stages gradually leadtheStudentfromthelowestlevelofseekingmerelytoobtain a better rebirth, through the intermediate level ofwishing for one’s own individual liberation, and finally to adopting the Mahāyāna outlook of the “superior individual,” viz., aspiring to attain buddhahood in order to benefit all living beings. The approach is most often grounded in the teachings of the sütra and usually concludes with a brief overview of tantra. +
M
See p. 487: In Sanskrit, “Middle Way (school)”; a proponent or follower of the middle way” (madhyamapratipad); Buddhism is renowned as the middle way between extremes, a term that appears in the Buddha’s first sermon (see P. ''Dhammacakkappavattanasutta'') in which he prescribed a middle path between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. Thus, all proponents of Buddhism are in a sense proponents of the middle way, for each school of Buddhist philosophy identifies different versions of the two extremes and charts a middle way between them. The term Madhyamaka has however come to refer more specifically to the school of Buddhist philosophy that sets forth a middle way between the extreme of eternalism (śāśvataḍṛṣṭi) and the extreme of annihilationism (ucchedaḍṛṣṭi)- The Madhyamaka school derives from the works of Nāgārjuna, the c. second century CE philosopher who is traditionally regarded as its founder. His major philosophical works, especially his ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' (a.k.a. ''Madhyamakaśāstra''), as well as the writings of his disciple Āryadeva, provide the locus classicus for the school (which only seems to have been designated the Madhyamaka school after Āryadeva’s time). Commentaries on their works (by such figures as Buddhapālita, Bhāvaviveka, and Candrakīrti) provide the primary medium for philosophical expression in the school. Madhyamaka was highly influential in Tibet, where it was traditionally considered the highest of the four schools of Indian Buddhist philosophy (Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, Sautrāntika, and Vaibhāṣika). Tibetan exegetes discerned two branches in the Madhyamaka, the Prāsaṅgika (associated with Buddhapālita and Candrakīrti) and the Svātantrika (associated with Bhāvaviveka and Śāntarakṣita). The works of Nāgārjuna and Āryadeva were also widely studied in East Asia, forming the basis of the “Three Treatises” school (C. San lun zong ; K. Sam non chong; J. Sanronshū), where the three treatises are the Zhong lun (the “Middle Treatise,” or ''Madhyamakaśāstra''), the Shi’ermen lun (“Twelve Gate Treatise,” or *''Dvādaśamukhaśāstra''), and the Bai Lun (“Hundred Verses Treatise,” *''Śataśāstra''), the latter two attributed to Āryadeva. The Madhyamaka school is most renowned for its exposition of the nature of reality, especially its deployment of the doctrines of emptiness (śūnyatā) and the two truths (satyadvaya).
In Sanskrit great yoga”; the seventh of the nine vehicles according to the Rnying ma sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Here, the system of practice described elsewhere as anuttarayogatantra is divided into three: mahäyoga, anuyoga, and atiyoga, with mahäyoga corresponding roughly to practices of the “stage of generation” (utpaitikrama), in which one visualizes oneself as a deity and one’s environment as a maņdala. Its root text is the Guhyagarbhatantra. +
N
In Sanskrit, “emanation body,” or “transfor mation body”; according to the M a h à y à n a descriptions, one of the three bodies (trikäya) of a buddha, together with the dharmakAya andthesambhogakäya. Inaccountswhereabud dha is said to have two bodies, the dharmakäya constitutes one body and the r ü p a k ä y a constitutes the other, with the rūpakāya subsuming both the sambhogakäya and the nirmānakāya. The term nirmānakāya may have been employed originally to describe the doubles of himself that the Buddha is sometimes said to display in order to teach multiple audiences simulta- neously. (Cf. m ahA prâtihärya.) In the Mahäyäna, however, the emanation body became the only body of a buddha to appear to ordinary beings, implying that the “historical Buddha” was in fact a display intended to inspire the world; in the debates about whether the Buddha feit hunger or suffered physical pain, the Mahäyäna schools as well as several of the mainstream Buddhist schools assertedthathedidnot,butratherappeared to do so in order to conform to worldly conventions. The nirmānakāya of a buddha is said to be able to appear in any form, including divinities, humans, animals, and inanimate objects; some texts even suggest that a buddha may appear as a bridge or a cooling breeze. The form of the nirmãnakāya that appeared in India as Śākyamuni is called a “supreme emanation body”(uttamanirmänakäya). Allsuchnirmānakāyasaresaidto perform twelve deeds, from waiting in t u s i t a heaven for their last rebirth to entering parinirväna. Another type of nirmānakāyaisthejanmanirmänakAya, the“birth”or“created” emanation body, which is the form of a buddha when he appears as a divinity, human, or animal to benefit sentient beings, or as a beneficial inanimate object, such as a bridge. A third type is the śilpanirm ãnakàya, an “artisan emanation body,” in which a buddha appears in the world as an artisan or as a work of art. The Sanskrit term nirmānakāya is translated into Tibetan as sp ru l sku, spelled in English as tulku.
P
See page 653: In Sanskrit, “mind of clear light.” According to the Systems of Anuttarayogatantra, this state of mind is the most subtle form of consciousness, which must be used to perceive reality directly in order to achieve buddhahood. +
See page 653: In Sanskrit, “luminous,” “resplendent”; referring to an effulgence of light and often used as a metaphor for either deep states of meditation or, especially, the nature of the mind. +
See page 655: In Sanskrit, typically translated “wisdom,” but having connotations perhaps closer to “gnosis,” “awareness,” and in some contexts “cognition”; the term has the general sense of accurate and precise understanding, but is used most often to refer to an understanding of reality that transcends ordinary comprehension. It is one of the most important terms in Buddhist thought, occurring in a variety of contexts. In Buddhist epistemology, prajñā is listed as one of the five mental concomitants (caitta) that accompany all virtuous (kuśala) states of mind. It is associated with correct, analytical discrimination of the various factors (dharma) enumerated in the Buddhist teachings (dharmapravicaya). In this context, prajñā refers to the capacity to distinguish between the faults and virtues of objects in such a way as to overcome doubt. +
See page 656: In Sanskrit, “perfection of wisdom” or “perfect wisdom”; a polysemous term, which appears in Päli accounts of the Buddha’s prior training as a bodhisattva (P. bodhisatta), but is widely used in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Prajñāpāramitā refers to a level of understanding beyond that of ordinary wisdom, especially referring to the the wisdom associated with, or required to achieve, buddhahood. The term receives a variety of interpretations, but it is often said to be the wisdom that does not conceive of an agent, an object, or an action as being ultimately real. The perfection of wisdom is also sometimes defined as the knowledge of emptiness (śūnyatā). As the wisdom associated with buddhahood, prajñāpāramitā is the sixth of the six perfections (pāramitā) that are practiced on the bodhisattva path. +
See pages 667 - 668: In Sanskrit, lit., “opposite”; a “counteragent” or “antidote,” a factor which, when present, precludes the presence of its opposite. In Buddhist meditation theory, an antidote may be a virtuous (kuśala) mental state (caitta) that is applied as a counteragent against a nonvirtuous (akuśala) mental state. The Buddhist premise that two contrary mental states cannot exist simultaneously leads to the development of specific meditations to be used as such counteragents, sometimes called the five “inhibitory” contemplations: (1) lust (rāga) is countered by the contemplations on impurity (aśubhabhāvanā), e.g., the cemetery contemplations on the stages in the decomposition of a corpse; (2) hatred (dveśa) is countered by the divine abiding (brahmavihāra) of lovingkindness (maitrī); (3) delusion (moha) is countered by contemplating the twelvefold chain of dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda); (4) ego-conceit (asmimāna) is countered by the contemplation on the eighteen sense-fields (dhātu); and (5) discursive thought (vitarka) is countered by mindfulness of breathing (ānāpānasmrti). Progress on the path to liberation is also described technically in terms of the abandonment of a specific afflictive state (kleśa) through the application of its specific antidote. Thus, afflictions and their antidotes are enumerated for the nine levels of samsāra (the sensuous realm, or kāmadhātu, the four levels of the subtle-materiality realm, or rūpadhātu, and the four levels of the immaterial realm, or arūpyadhātu). In each case, the antidote is an increasingly powerful level of wisdom (prajñā) that displaces increasingly subtle levels of the afflictions. Both the four types of noble persons (āryapudgala) and the ten stages (bhūmi) of the bodhisattva are defined by which antidotes have been successfully applied to eradicate specific afflictions. Thus, the accumulation and application of various antidotes is one of the practices that a bodhisattva must learn to perfect. The Buddha is said to have taught 84,000 antidotes for the 84,000 afflictions.
In Sanskrit, “individually enlightened one” or “solitary buddha”; an arhat who becomes enlightened through his own efforts without receiving instruction from a buddha in his final lifetime. Unlike the “perfectly enlightened buddhas” (samyaksambuddha), the pratyekabuddha refrains from teaching others about his experience because he has neglected to develop the same degree of great compassion (mahäkarunä) that moti- vates the samyaksambuddhas. Even though he does not teach others, he may still guide by example, or through the use of gestures. Pratyekabuddhas are also distinguished from those who achieve the goal of arhat via the Śrãvaka (“disciple”) path, because śrāvakas are unable to achieve enlightenment on their own and must be instructed in the principles of Buddhism in order to succeed in their practice. A pratyekabuddha is also distinguished from the śrāvaka by the duration o f his path: the pratyekabuddha path is longer because he must accumulate the necessary amount of merit (puņya) to allow him to achieve liberation without relying on a teacher in his final lifetime. A pratyekabuddha is said to achieve liberation through contemplation of the principle of dependent origination (pratItyasamutpäda), which accounts for the Chinese translation of yuanjue (“awakening via conditional- ity”). Two types of pratyekabuddhas are commonly enumerated in the literature: those who wander alone “like a rhinoceros” (khadgavisänakalpa) and the “congregators” (vargacärin).
According to the M ahäyäna, the path of the pratyekabuddha, together with the path of the śrāvaka, constitutes the hInayäna, or “lesser vehicle”; these two categories are also often referred to as the “two vehicles” (C. ER sheng) and their followers as “two- vehicle adherents.” These lesser “two vehicles” contrast with the third and highest vehicle, the bodhisattvayäna. +
See page 667: In Sanskrit, “restraint proffered by the disciplinary code” (prātimokṣa); one of the three types of restraint (saṃvara) mentioned in the Vaibhāṣika school of Sarvāstivāda abhidharma, which are associated with “unmanifest material force” or “hidden imprints” (avijñaptirūpa)... The restraint inherent in the disciplinary code creates a special kind of “force field” that automatically protects and dissuades monks and nuns from unwholesome activity, even when they are not consciously aware that they are following the precepts or when they are asleep. This specific type of restraint is what makes a person a monk or a nun, since just wearing robes and following an ascetic way of life would not in themselves be enough to instill in him or her the protective power offered by the prātimokṣa. +
In Sanskrit, “perfection,” a virtue or quality developed and practiced by a bodhisattva on the path to becoming a buddha. The term is paranomastically glossed by some traditional commentators as “gone beyond” or “gone to the other side” (see p a r a ) , although it seems in fact to derive from Skt. parama, meaning “highest” or “supreme.” The best-known enumeration of the perfections is a group of six: giving (däna), morality (śIla), patience or forbearance (ksänti), effort (vIrya), concentration (dhyäna), and wisdom (prajnä). There are also lists of ten perfections. In the M a h ä y ä n a (specif ically in the D aśabhūm ikasūtra), the list of ten includes the preceding six, to which are added method (upäya), vow (pranidhäna), power (bala), and knowledge (jnäna), with the explanation that the bodhisattva practices the perfections in this orderoneachofthetenbodhisattvastagesorgrounds(bhümi). Thus, giving is perfected on the first bhümi, morality on the second, and so on. In Päli sources, where the perfections are called pãramī, the ten perfections are giving (däna), morality (slla), renunciation (nekkhamma; S. n a i s k r a m y a ) , wisdom (paññā), effort (viriya), patience (khanti), truthfulness (sacca; S. satya), determination (adhitthāna; S. adhisthäna), loving- kindness (mettä; S. MAiTRl), and equanimity (upekkhā; S. upeksä). The practice of these perfections over the course of the many lifetimes of the bodhisattva’s path eventually fructifies in the achievement of buddhahood. The precise meaning of the perfec tions is discussed at length, as is the question of how the six (or ten) are to be divided between the categories o f merit ( p u ņ y a ) and wisdom ( j n ä n a ) . For example, according to one interpretation of the six perfections, giving, morality, and patience contribute to the collection of merit (punyasam bhära); concentration and wisdom contribute to the collection of wisdom (jnänasam bhära), and effort contributes to both. Commentators also consider what distinguishes the practice o f these six from other instances o f the practice o f giving, etc. Some M a d h y a m a k a exegetes, for example, argue that these virtues only become perfections when the bodhi sattva engages in them with an understanding of emptiness (śūnyatà); for example, giving a gift without clinging to any conception o f giver, gift, or recipient.
S
See page 759–60: In the Yogācāra school, a distinction is made between the indestructible, inherent “naturally endowed lineage” (prakṛtisthagotra) and this changeable, continuously acquired “lineage conditioned by habits” (samudānītagotra). In contrast to the former, which predetermines a person’s orientation toward the two vehicles of either Mahāyāna or Hīnayāna, the latter allows for some leeway for personal adaptations and change through doctrinal study, practice, and exposure (these are what are meant by “habits”). According to this controversial Yogācāra tenet, whereas a person cannot effect change in terms of his highest spiritual potential and vehicular predisposition because of his “naturally endowed lineage,” he can nevertheless influence the speed with which he is able to attain enlightenment, and other extrinsic variations within his predetermined “lineage.” This flexibility is the lineage that is conditioned, and can be altered, by “habits.” Together and in contrast with the “naturally endowed lineage,” they are known as “the two lineages: intrinsic and acquired” (xingxi er[zhong]xing). +
In Tibetan, “new,” and taken to mean, “followers of the new translations,” in contradistinction to the RNYING ma, the “old” or “followers of the old translations.” Tibetan historians describe the dissemination of Buddhism to Tibet as occurring in two waves, the first, called the earlier dissemination ( s n g a d a r ) , beginning in the seventh Century and ending with the persecutions of Buddhism under King Glang dar ma in the ninth Century. The second wave, called the latter dissemination (phyi dar), is generally marked by the return of the Tibetan translator Rin chen bzang po from India and the new translations undertaken by him and others of t a n t r a s that had been translated in the earlier period and the translations o f a ränge o f texts not previously translated. These are called the “new translations.” By extension, the sects that developed subsequendy based on the translations of these texts are called collectively the “new sects” (gsar ma), identified as the three sects o f B k a ’ b r g y u d , S a s k y a , and B k a ’ g d a m s (later D g e l u g s ) . Those who continued to rely on the earlier translations (which included works that some members of the new sects would claim to be apocryphal) came to be known as the “old sect” (Rnying ma). +
In Sanskrit, “enjoyment body” or “reward body”; in the MahAyäna, the second of the three bodies of a buddha (trikäya), along with the body of reality (dharmakäya) and the transformation body (nirmAnakäya). The sambhogakäya is described as simultaneously a body for one’s own enjoyment (C. zi shouyong shen), in which the buddha knows the joy that comes from experiencing the dharma for oneself; and a body for others’ enjoyment (C. ta shouyong shen), in which advanced bodhisattvas experience the increasing magnificence o f the buddha’s grandeur as they continue to move up the bodhisattva path (märga). The sambhogakäya buddha is adorned with all the accoutrements that are received as rewards for his advanced spiritual experi ence, which are only visible to similarly advanced beings, specifically bodhisattvas at the first bodhisattva stage (bodhisattvabhüm i) and upwards who are dwelling in buddha- fields (buddhaksetra). Lesser beings, such as humans, are only able to view the manifestation body (nirmānakāya) of a buddha, not his sambhogakäya. In bipartite divisions of the buddhas’ bodies as a flesh body (rüpakAya) and a body of reality (dharmakäya), the sambhogakāya and nirmānakāya are sub- sumed within the rūpakāya. A sambhogakäya is defined by five
certainties: it will always be in an AKANISTHA heaven, it will always teach Mahäyäna doctrine, it will always last until the end of samsära, it will always be surrounded exclusively by bodhisattvas who have reached the bodhisattva bhümis, and it will always be endowed with the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks of a great person (see mahäpurusalaksana). +
See page 865: in Sanskrit, “essence of the sugata,” a synonym for tathāgatagarbha. +
See page 879: In Sanskrit, “self-nature,” “intrinsic existence,” or “inherent existence,” the term has a general sense of “essence” or “nature,” but is used in philosophical literature. +
See page 882: In Sanskrit, lit.“self-knowledge” or “self-awareness,” also seen written as svasaṃveda, svasaṃvit, svasaṃvitti. In Buddhist epistemology, svasaṃvedana is that part of consciousness which, during a conscious act of seeing, hearing, thinking, and so on, apprehends not the external sensory object but the knowing consciousness itself. +
In Sanskrit, “method” or “technique,” used especially in reference to a tantric ritual designed to receive attainments (siddhi) from a deity. Tantric sädhanas generally take one of two forms. In the first, the deity (which may be a buddha, bodhisattva, or another deity) is requested to appear before the meditator and is then worshipped in the expectation of receiving blessings. In the other type of tantric sädhana, the meditator imagines himself or herseif to be the deity at this very moment, that is, to have the exalted body, speech, and mind of an enlightened being. Tantric sädhanas tend to follow a fairly set sequence, whether they are simple or detailed. More elabo- rate sädhanas may include the recitation of a lineage of gurus; the creation of a protection wheel guarded by wrathful deities to subjugate enemies; the creation of a body m aņdala, in which a pantheon of deities take residence at various parts of the medi- tator’s body, etc. Although there are a great many variations of content and sequence, in many sädhanas, the meditator is instructed to imagine light radiating from the body, thus beck- oning buddhas and bodhisattvas from throughout the universe. Visualizing these deities arrayed in the space, the meditator then performs a series of Standard preliminary practices called the sevenfold Service (saptāńgavidhi), a Standard component of sädhanas. The seven elements are (1) obeisance, (2) offering (often concluding with a gift of the entire physical universe with all its marvels), (3) confession of misdeeds, (4) admiration of the virtuous deeds of others, (5) entreaty to the buddhas not to pass into nirväna, (6) supplication of the buddhas and bodhi sattvas to teach the dharma, and (7) dedication of the merit of performing the preceding toward the enlightenment of all beings. The meditator then goes for refuge to the three jeweis (ratnatraya), creates the aspiration for enlightenment (bodhi- citta; bodhicittotpäda), the promise to achieve buddhahood in order to liberate all beings in the universe from suffering, and dedicates the merit from the foregoing and subsequent practices toward that end. The meditator next cultivates the four “bound- less” attitudes (apramäna) of loving-kindness (maitrI), compas- sion (karunä), empathetic joy (muditä), and equanimity or
impartiality (upeksà), before meditating on emptiness (śünyatā) and reciting the purificatory mantra, om svabhāvaśuddhāh sarvadharmāh svabhāvaśuddho ’ham (“Om, naturally pure are all phenomena, naturally pure am I”), understanding that emp tiness is the primordial nature of everything, the unmoving world and the beings who move upon it. Out of this emptiness, the meditator next creates the maņdala. The next Step in the sädhana is for the meditator to animate the residents of the maņdala by causing the actual buddhas and bodhisattvas, referred to as “wisdom beings” (jńānasattva), to descend and merge with their imagined doubles, the “pledge beings” (samayasativa). Light radiates from the meditator’s heart, draw- ing the wisdom beings to the maņdala where, through offerings and the recitation of mantra, they are prompted to enter the residents of the maņdala. With the preliminary visualization now complete, the stage is set for the central meditation of the sädhana, which varies depending upon the purpose of the sädhana. Generally, offerings and prayers are made to a sequence of deities and boons are requested from them, each time accompanied with the recitation o f appropriate m a n t r a . At the end of the session, the meditator makes mental offerings to the assembly before inviting them to leave, at which point the entire visualization, the palace and its residents, dissolve into emptiness. The sädhana ends with a dedication of the merit accrued to the welfare of all beings.