| Key Term |
bīja |
| In Tibetan Script |
ས་བོན་ |
| Wylie Tibetan Transliteration |
sa bon |
| Devanagari Sanskrit Script |
बीज |
| Romanized Sanskrit |
bīja |
| Chinese Script |
無漏種 |
| Chinese Pinyin |
zhongzi |
| Japanese Transliteration |
shuji |
| English Standard |
seed |
| Richard Barron's English Term |
potential(ity) |
| Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term |
seed |
| Dan Martin's English Term |
seed |
| Ives Waldo's English Term |
seed; germ; grain; semen; bindu; seed syllable |
| Term Type |
Noun |
| Source Language |
Sanskrit |
| Basic Meaning |
seed |
| Definitions |
| Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism |
See page 119: In Sanskrit, “seed,” a term used metaphorically in two important contexts: (1) in the theory of karman, an action is said to plant a “seed” or “potentiality” in the mind, where it will reside until it fructifies as a future experience or is destroyed by wisdom; (2) in tantric literature, many deities are said to have a “seed syllable” or seed mantra that is visualized and recited in liturgy and meditation in order to invoke the deity. |
| Rangjung Yeshe's English Term |
1) seed; germ, seed-corn, corn, grain. 2) potential(ity); seed, 3) seed syllable |
| Other Definitions |
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." |