Property:Glossary-DefinitionOther
This is a property of type Text.
A
In a Buddhist context, ignorance is not mere nescience but mistaken apprehension. It is the incorrect understanding of, or failure to recognize, the ultimate nature of the person and phenomena, and the false ascription of true existence to them.
-Fletcher, W., Padmakara Translation Group, Blankleder, H. in ''Introduction to the Middle Way'' (2002). +
B
84000 Glossary-Definitions:
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.
A person who is dedicated not merely to attaining liberation through attaining the state of an arhat, but to becoming a buddha. A name created from the Sanskritization of the middle-Indic bodhisatto, the Sanskrit equivalent of which was bodhisakta, “one who is fixed on enlightenment.”
Someone who practices according to the Vehicle of the Bodhisattvas; one who aims for complete buddhahood; “awakening hero;” “one who has a wish for awakening;” “one who awakens sentient beings.”
A person who is dedicated not merely to gaining liberation through attaining the state of an arhat, but to becoming a buddha. A name created from the Sanskritization of the middle-Indic bodhisatto, the Sanskrit equivalent of which was bodhisakta, “one who is fixed on enlightenment.”
A being who is dedicated to the cultivation and fulfilment of the altruistic intention to attain manifestly perfect buddhahood, traversing the five bodhisattva paths and ten bodhisattva levels. Bodhisattvas purposely opt to remain within cyclic existence in order to liberate all sentient beings, instead of simply seeking personal freedom from suffering. Philosophically, they realize the two aspects of selflessness, with respect to afflicted mental states and the nature of all phenomena.
(See also note http: //read.84000.co/translation/UT22084-031-002.html#UT22084-031-002-142.)
According to the Mahāyāna, an individual with the intent to achieve awakening for the sake of all beings. +
Literally, "buddha-element," a synonym for what Rongtön calls natural buddha-nature or undefiled suchness. It is the empty nature of the mind, identical in both sentient beings and buddhas. - Bernert, Christian, ''Perfect or Perfected? Rongtön on Buddha-Nature'' (2018), page 114. +
Jeffrey Hopkins clarifies: "In the Mind-Only (''sems tsam'', citta-mātra) school, this is a synonym of bag chags; in the Consequentialist (''thal 'gyur'', prAsaGgika) school, it is not the same as bag chags." +
D
Jeffrey Hopkins' Comment: An equivalent of ultimate truth (don dam bden pa, paramArthasatya) so called because meditation within observing it acts as a cause of the qualities (dharma, chos) of Superiors (Arya, 'phags pa)." Emptiness, being uncaused, is not itself a cause (element), but meditation on it causes the development of marvelous qualities; thus, emptiness comes to be called a cause, an element producing those qualities. +
G
In the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions, the name given to the fusion of the teachings of the second and third turnings of the Dharma wheel. These two turnings are paralleled, respectively, by the approach of Nagarjuna, the view that ultimate reality is beyond conceptual formulation, and the approach of Asanga, the view that ultimate reality is the buddha nature, the tathagatagarbha, free from all defects and primordially endowed with all enlightened qualities. The Great Madhyamika is also referred to as the Yogachara Madhyamika, for it stresses the role of meditation in the realization of ultimate reality, the nature of the mind. Associated with this system is the expression gzhan stong, "emptiness of other," referring to the understanding that ultimate reality is an emptiness which is a freedom from all factors extraneous to itself. In other words, it is a positive value and not a mere negation.
-Fletcher, Wulstan, and Helena Blankleder (Padmakara Translation Group), in ''Treasury of Precious Qualities: Book One'' (2001) +
M
84000 Glossary Definition
The same as the Bodhisattva Vehicle, whose practitioners aim at complete buddhahood.
When the Buddhist teachings are classified according to their power to lead beings to an enlightened state, a distinction is made between the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle, which emphasizes the individual's own freedom from cyclic existence as the primary motivation and goal, and those of the Great Vehicle, which emphasizes altruism and has the liberation of all sentient beings as the principal objective. As the term “Great Vehicle” implies, the path followed by bodhisattvas is analogous to a large carriage which can transport a vast number of people to liberation, as compared to a smaller vehicle for the individual practitioner.
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.
Great Vehicle.
Literally the Sanskrit means “great way,” but in Buddhism this has developed the meaning of great vehicle, and so is translated literally into Tibetan as “great carrier.” +
N
"While Tibetan thinkers generally characterize definitive teachings as those that explicitly teach ultimate truth, which is the ultimate purport of the Buddha's teachings, and provisional teachings as those teachings that do not explain ultimate truth clearly and that require further interpretation in order to ascertain the ultimate purport of the Buddha's intent, they disagree on which of the Buddha's teachings are definitive or provisional." - Wangchuk, Tsering. ''The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows'' (2017), page 3. +
As cited in Kano 2006 (see Appendix H, p. 624), according to Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary on the ''Uttaratantra'', ''The Unassailable Lion's Roar'', the lineage of the Ngok Tradition is:
*Maitreya
*Maitrīpa
*Ānandakīrti
*Sajjana → Atiśa
*rNgog
*Gro lung pa
*Shang tshe spong pa
*Nyang bran pa
*Phywa pa
*gTsang nag pa
*Dan bag pa
*Blo gros mtshungs med
*Phag gru rgyal mtsan bzang po
*Rong ston +
"While Tibetan thinkers generally characterize definitive teachings as those that explicitly teach ultimate truth, which is the ultimate purport of the Buddha's teachings, and provisional teachings as those teachings that do not explain ultimate truth clearly and that require further interpretation in order to ascertain the ultimate purport of the Buddha's intent, they disagree on which of the Buddha's teachings are definitive or provisional." - Wangchuk, Tsering. ''The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows'' (2017), page 3. +
P
In contrast to a nonimplicative negation—the linguistically-bound negation of deconstruction—an implicative negation (Sanskrit ''paryudāsa-pratiṣedha''; Tibetan ''ma yin dgag'') is the type of negation preferred by the proponents of “other-emptiness,” like the Jonang tradition, in the way they approach the ultimate truth. An implicative negation is a negation that points beyond its constructed identity to something other. In this case, the system of linguistic representation does not merely deconstruct itself and succumb to the absence of its self-referential self-destruction. Rather, it is understood to imply, or presume, something else. The classic example of an implicative negation is: “The fat Devadatta does not eat during the day.”
While this statement is explicitly a negation, the connotative force of the statement implies something else: that he eats at night. This leaves the interpreter with an unstated, yet implied, state of affairs. In contrast, when we consider the classic example of a nonimplicative negation, “Brahmins should not drink alcohol,” we can see how the connotative force of this negation is simple denial devoid of implication. (Douglas Duckworth, "Onto-theology and Emptiness: The Nature of Buddha-Nature" [''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'' 82, no. 4, 2014], 1076). +
A nonimplicative negation is simply denial, like the denial of essence or identity, without implying anything else or deferring that essence to some “other.” . . . [W]hen we consider the classic example of a nonimplicative negation, “Brahmins should not drink alcohol,” we can see how the connotative force of this negation is simple denial devoid of implication. (Douglas Duckworth, "Onto-theology and Emptiness: The Nature of Buddha-Nature" [''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'' 82, no. 4, 2014], 1075-76). +
R
Generally speaking, the [other-emptiness] refers to the idea that ultimate truth is empty of defilements that are naturally other than ultimate truth, whereas self-emptiness implies that everything including ultimate truth is empty of its own inherent nature. - Wangchuk, Tsering. ''The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows'' (2017), page 4.
The term “zhentong” is used in contrast to “rangtong” (''rang stong''; “self-emptiness”), which refers to the school that adheres to the views of Nāgārjuna’s brand of Madhyamaka, which asserts that all phenomena, including the mind, are empty of self-nature. - Bernert, Christian. ''Adorning Maitreya's Intent'' (2017), page 11. +
S
T
Womb of the tathagatas
:Richard Barron:
::Sutra context: tathagatagarbha or "buddha nature"
::Dzogchen context: potential or heart essence that consitutes attaining (state of) suchness
“Containing the tathagatas”
“Womb”, “embryo”, “essence”, or “heart” (garbha) of the Thus Gone (tathāgata) +
According to the three-wheel scheme in the ''Discourse Explaining the Intent'' (''Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra''), the first wheel of doctrine conveys the teachings of “the four noble truths.” The emphasis of the teachings here is the nature of existence as suffering, impermanence, and no-self (''anātman''). The content of the second wheel of doctrine, which the sūtra calls “signlessness,” is characterized by emptiness (''śūnyatā''), the principle that all phenomena lack any true essence. While the second wheel of doctrine is certainly a response to the first, where the ethical foundations of Buddhism are laid, the dis-courses of the second wheel are not a critique of ethics per se, but rather critique a causally constructed, relational world composed of static, discrete entities. That is, the Perfection of Wisdom discourses of the second wheel convey that every phenomenon is empty; even wisdom, nirvana, and the principal teaching of the first wheel (the four noble truths) are denied the status of having any ultimate existence or real identity. Nāgārjuna (ca. 150–250 CE) showed how such denials cut through metaphysical views (''dṛṣti'') of reality when he stated: “The Victorious Ones have proclaimed emptiness as that which relinquishes all views; but those who hold emptiness as a view are incurable” (''Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way'' [''Mūlamadhyāmakakārikā'']XIII.8). In short, the second wheel exemplifies deconstruction.
In contrast to simply deconstruction, in the third wheel, we get a different characterization of the ultimate truth. The ''Discourse Explaining the Intent'' says that the third wheel contains “the excellent differentiation [of the ultimate].” Rather than simply depicting the ultimate truth ''via negativa'', the third wheel reveals the ultimate as an immanent reality; it depicts the pure mind as constitutive of the ultimate. It is the third wheel of doctrine that Tibetan exegetes identify with the teachings of the presence of buddha-nature (in addition to Yogācāra). Significantly, the relationship between emptiness in the second wheel and the presence of buddha-nature in the third wheel becomes a pivotal issue around which Buddhist traditions in Tibet stake their ground.
::(Douglas Duckworth, "Onto-theology and Emptiness: The Nature of Buddha-Nature" [''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'' 82, no. 4, 2014], 1073–74)
It is said that the Buddha’s method of guiding his followers was always adapted to his audience. His teaching is likened to the way specific medicines are used to cure particular diseases. Thus the instructions given to a certain group of disciples in a given context were not in line with—or even seemed to contradict—teachings given at another time, simply because it was not appropriate for all students to hear the same words in order to progress on the spiritual path.
To help later followers distinguish between the words that are to be taken literally and those that require interpretation, the ''Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra'' (''Sutra Unraveling the Intent'') introduces the hermeneutic principle of differentiating between interpretive meaning (''neyārtha; drang don'') and definitive meaning (''nītārtha; nges don''). With this tool, the discourses may be divided into three groups called ''turnings''. The first two turnings are interpretive and the third one is definitive, according to this sutra.
In the sutras of the first turning based on the exposition of the four ''ārya'' truths, the Buddha affirms the existence of certain phenomena such as form, feeling, discrimination, formative factors, and consciousness, that is, the five ''skandhas'', or psychophysical groups of phenomena that make up a human being. What is denied in those discourses is the existence of an independent, substantially existent identity or self, which is asserted to be imputed on the basis of those skandhas.
In the sutras of the second turning based on the Perfection of Wisdom (''prajñāpāramitā'') teachings, the existence of these phenomena is denied. In the discourses of this group we find words such as, “no form, no feeling, no
discrimination, no formative factors, no consciousness,” and so forth. These passages refer to the emptiness (''śūnyatā; stong pa nyid'') or lack of inherent existence of all phenomena, explained to be their ultimate reality.
To resolve the contradictions emerging from the first two turnings, the Buddha turned the Dharma wheel a third time, making a clear distinction between the discourses of interpretive meaning and those of definitive meaning. In these teachings, certain phenomena are identified as nonexistent, while others are defined as bearing the characteristics of existence. The emphasis in this group of discourses is on the luminous and primordially untainted nature of mind, the potential for awakening, or buddha-nature, present in all beings, and on the three-nature model of reality that will be explained below. The ''Sutra Unraveling the Intent'' is itself part of this group.
::(Christian Bernert, trans., ''Adorning Maitreya's Intent: Arriving at the View of Nonduality'' [Boulder, CO: Snow Lion Publications, 2017], 3–4)
As cited in Kano 2006 (see Appendix H, p. 624), according to Jamgön Kongtrul's commentary on the ''Uttaratantra'', ''The Unassailable Lion's Roar'', the lineage of the Tsen Tradition is:
*Sajjana
*gZus dga' ba'i rdo rje
*bTsan dri med shes rab
*Rang byung rdo rje
*Karma dkon gzhon
*Karma phrin las pa
*'Gos gZhon nu dpal
*Dol po pa
*Tāranātha
*Chos kyi don grub
*Kun zhig Chos kyi byung gnas
*lHa lung karma bstan 'phel +
V
Translation of Tshig mdzod chen mo: One of the five kinds of fruition; result of exhausting what is to be abandoned by prajna; the abandonment of obscurations through meditation on the path of the noble ones. +
a
The mental afflictions and their residues that temporarily cover the mind's true nature, thus preventing the attainment of buddhahood. Liberation is said to be possible precisely because these defilements are not inherent to the nature of the mind and can be removed by means of the path. - Bernert, Christian, trans. ''Perfect or Perfected? Rongtön on Buddha-Nature'' (2018), page 113. +
Ālaya-vijñāna (storehouse consciousness) refers to a level of subliminal mental processes that occur uninterruptedly throughout one’s life and, in the Buddhist view, one’s multiple lifetimes. It represents, in effect, one’s personal continuity along with the continuity of one’s accumulated karmic potential (hence, “storehouse”). Ālaya-vijñāna—along with Consciousness-Only (vijñapti-mātra) and the Three Natures (trisvabhāva)—is one of the distinguishing doctrines of the Yogācāra (“Practitioners of Yoga”) school of Indian Buddhism. The Yogācāra school flourished in India from the 3rd to 5th centuries of the Common Era and influenced all later types of Buddhism, particularly in Tibet and East Asia; the development of the concept of ālaya-vijñāna parallels this history. Initially, ālaya-vijñāna addressed a series of problems created by the Abhidharmic emphasis on the momentary nature of all mental processes, mostly concerning personal continuity: the continuity of karmic potential and the afflictions (kleśa) in a latent state, the gradual path to liberation, and the problem of rebirth. Once articulated, this underlying level of subliminal consciousness also allowed for a more robust explanation of the constructed nature of perception (“consciousness-,” “representation-,” or “appearance-only,” vijñapti-mātra) as well as the commonality of our experienced world (bhājana-loka). And since it represents the “store” of one’s past karma, ālaya-vijñāna is what must be eliminated, transformed, or purified on the path to liberation, when it becomes a “stainless consciousness” (amala-vijñāna). In some texts, it is even equated with tathāgatha-garbha (roughly, “buddha-nature”), a relationship later Tibetan and Chinese Buddhists developed along with other aspects of the Yogācāra traditions they received from India. More recently, ālaya-vijñāna has been compared with theories of unconscious mental processes in depth psychology and cognitive science. - William S. Waldron