Property:Glossary-Senses
This is a property of type Text.
T
Also known as the "meditative tradition" (''sgom lugs''), this form of exegesis was primarily concerned with the practical application of the teachings contained in the ''Uttaratantra'' as a means to experience buddha-nature for oneself. However, both the Tsen Tradition and its opposing counterpart, the Ngok Tradition, reportedly came from a single source, the Kashmiri scholar-yogi Sajjana. +
U
There is extensive discussion of the title in multiple academic sources. For further information about the text and its title, please see the entry for this text, ''[[Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra]]''. And for a short essay on the translation of this term, see "[[Continuum vs. Teachings]]." +
V
''Vajra'' has a variety of meanings depending on the context, thus it is often left untranslated. For instance, it can refer to both a physical diamond and something which has the physical qualities of a diamond (i.e., something that is indestructible or indivisible). In this latter sense it is often rendered as "adamantine." In the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' the seven main topics of the treatise are called "vajra" subjects because they are difficult to penetrate through an understanding that is arrived at through merely hearing or contemplating. In other words, they require direct experience. +
An adamantine system for being based on the innate nature of reality and using the state of Buddha as a way to actualize enlightenment. +
Vinaya literally means taming, subduing, or conquering because the moral precepts and vows help to tame the practitioner and to develop the good discipline necessary for spiritual practice. +
Viparyāsa is the mistaken and erroneous understanding of the way things are but also has the connotation of having a totally opposite or perverse view rather than a minor misunderstanding. +
A fruition that comes about from being freed or separated, rather than being produced anew. +
a
See also [[āvaraṇa|obscurations (''āvaraṇa'')]].
Something which has been incidentally added on and therefore can be removed. +
A central tenet of the Yogācāra school, in which it is listed as the eighth consciousness. It is also sometimes equated with tathāgatagarbha, in particular in its latent or impure form at the stage of ordinary sentient beings. +
b
Enlightenment has the sense of complete actualization of one's true nature or total understanding of reality and freedom from suffering that comes from achieving that realization.
Enlightenment (Skt., ''bodhi''; Tib., ''byang chub'') is a state that can potentially be attained by any being with a mind. The very nature of the mind as a clear and radiant entity, and of the defilements as adventitious entities that are not essential to our nature, is what allows for the possibility of mental purification, and hence of enlightenment. The clearest doctrinal formulation of this idea is to be found in the concept of buddha-nature (''tathagatagarbha''; ''de bzhin gshegs pa'i snying po''). Whether buddha-nature is the primordial presence of an enlightened state in the minds of beings, something that merely needs to be uncovered, or only a potential that permits the attainment of that state is of course a disputed point in the tradition. Here, it is only important to note that the vast majority of Mahāyāna schools maintain that all beings, regardless of birth, race, social status, and gender, are capable of the attainment of the state of human perfection known as enlightenment.
Source: page 192, “Liberation: An Indo-Tibetan Perspective” by José Ignacio Cabezón. Buddhist-Christian Studies, Vol. 12 (1992), pp. 191-198 Published by: University of Hawai'i Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1389971 +
g
A proxy term for buddha-nature found in tantric literature. +
j
Also called Settling meditation (Skt. ''sthāpyabhāvanā''; Tib. འཇོག་སྒོམ་, ''jokgom'' or ''jok gom'', Wyl. '' 'jog sgom'') — the counterpart of analytical meditation. The practice of settling or resting the mind, which is alternated with periods of analysis or visualization.
Ringu Tulku Rinpoche says:
"Whenever we reach a conclusion, or simply get tired, we just remain, settled in peace. This part is a little like shamatha." (Source: Rigpa Wiki)
"In placement meditation one goes directly into deep Shamatha meditation and then one "looks at mind" directly without any analysis and perceives its emptiness." (Thrangu Rinpoche, ''Transcending Ego'', 86). +
k
This term entered the Tibetan lexicon as a translation of ''ālaya'', and thus it is often rendered back to its Sanskrit antecedent in modern scholarship and translations. However, as a Tibetan term, it is more commonly read literally as the compound ''all-ground'', or ''ground of everything''. As such it is often used to describe a common locus, or substrate, out of which both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa emerge. +
s
It is the means, method or technique of achieving a spiritual goal or power, and thus deals with the process of practice but does not explain or discuss concepts or theories. A sādhana is almost always a practical manual written for practice on a specific deity. +
It is an important term in the Mahāmudrā teachings, as well as in various Tibetan traditions that have a connection to buddha-nature theory, such as those associated with other-emptiness (''gzhan stong''). +