Buddha Nature Topics List

Abhidharma, Actualized enlightenment, Advaya, Amalavijñāna, Anuyoga, Anātman, Arhat, Atiyoga, Avidyā, Bhūmi, Bodhicitta, Bodhigarbha, Bodhiprasthānacitta, Bodhipraṇidhicitta, Bodhisattva, Brahman, Buddhadhātu, Byams chos sde lnga, Bīja, Cittamātra, Dharmadhātu, Dharmakāya, Dharmatā, Dhātu, Dpyad sgom, Dzogchen, Ekayāna, Geluk, Gotra, Great Madhyamaka, Guṇa, Guṇapāramitā, Hīnayāna, Icchantika, Jonang, Ka dag, Kadam, Kagyu, Kleśa, Kālacakra, Lam rim, Madhyamaka, Mahāmudrā, Mahāyoga, Mahāyāna, Mahāyānottaratantraśāstravyākhyā, Neyārtha, Ngo bo, Ngok Tradition, Nirmāṇakāya, Niḥsvabhāva, Niḥsvabhāvatā, Niṣprapañca, Nyingma, Nītārtha, Original enlightenment, Paramārthasatya, Paratantrasvabhāva, Parikalpitasvabhāva, Pariniṣpannasvabhāva, Paryudāsapratiṣedha, Prabhāsvaracitta, Prabhāsvaratā, Prajñā, Prajñāpāramitā, Prakṛtisthagotra, Pramāṇa, Prasajyapratiṣedha, Pratipakṣa, Pratyekabuddha, Pratītyasamutpāda, Prātimokṣasaṃvara, Pāramitā, Rang stong, Sakya, Samudānītagotra, Sangpu Neutok, Sarma, Saṃbhogakāya, Saṃvṛtisatya, Sems nyid, Sugatagarbha, Svabhāva, Svasaṃvedana, Sūtra, Tantra, Tathatā, Tathāgatagarbha, Tattva, Tha mal gyi shes pa, Thugs dam, Tridharmacakrapravartana, Trikāya, Trisvabhāva, Triviṣa, Triyāna, Tsen Tradition, Uttaratantra, Vajrapada, Vajrayāna, Vinaya, Viparyāsa, Visaṃyogaphala, Yan lag bdun, Yogācāra, Āgantukamala, Ālayavijñāna, Ātmaka, Ātman, Āvaraṇa, Bodhi, Rgyu'i rgyud, 'jog sgom, Kun gzhi, Sādhana, Sarvākāravaropetāśūnyatā, Śrāvaka, Śūnyatā, Test Term, Gzhan stong, Gzhi

The second set of the three inner tantras and the eighth of the nine vehicles according to the Nyingma tradition. Anuyoga includes many yogini tantras and focuses on the Completion Stage practices of sacred channels, energies and essential fluids and espouses the actualisation of empty bliss.

A system of esoteric thought and practice associated with the Nyingma tradition and equivalent to Great Perfection, it is considered as the pinnacle of the nine vehicles or paths one can follow to reach Buddhahood. The system focusses on the pure, luminous and empty nature of the mind as the ground reality which must be realised through the path of trekchö and thögal practice.

A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses.

Brahman is the universal principle, supreme truth or ultimate reality in the Hindu religion considered to be absolute, eternal and blissful. A metaphysical concept, it is described as the single binding unity behind the diversity of all that exists. In Buddhism, while this metaphysical principle is not presented, one finds frequent mention of the deity named Brahmā, who is the personification of this principle.

This refers to a series of five texts that, according to the Tibetan tradition, Asaṅga received directly from Maitreya in the pure realm of Tuṣita.

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

The mainstream teachings and the early schools of Buddhism which primarily taught individual liberation through practice-focused renunciation and monasticism, considered lesser than the later movement of the Greater Vehicle (Mahāyāna), which professed enlightenment for all sentient beings and promoted compassion.

The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa.

Can refer to either the Kālacakra Tantra and its derivative texts or to the systematic tantric tradition based on these texts, as well as the deity Kālacakra upon which the associated practices are centered.

Mahāmudrā refers to an advanced meditation tradition in Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna forms of Into-Tibetan Buddhism that is focused on the realization of the empty and luminous nature of the mind. It also refers to the resultant state of buddhahood attained through such meditation practice. In Tibet, this tradition is particularly associated with the Kagyu school, although all other schools also profess this tradition. The term also appears as part of the four seals, alongside dharmamūdra, samayamudrā, and karmamudrā.

This is first one of the inner tantric schools according to the Nyingma tradition. Mahāyoga includes two sub-sections of the tantras which includes eighteen tantras and the sādhanās that includes the eight sādhanā practices. Mahāyoga focuses on the Development Stage and espouses the view of equality and purity in which equality refers to equal nature of phenomena in being empty and purity refers to all appearances being inherently enlightened energies. The Mahāyoga path leads to four stages of vidyadharas.

Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion.

Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's "analytic tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.

The Nyingma, which is often described as the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, traces its origin to Padmasambhava, who is said to have visited Tibet in the eighth century.

The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre.

Sangpu Neutok is an important monastery in central Tibet, just south of Lhasa, that was founded in 1072 by Ngok Lekpai Sherab, a disciple of Atiśa, and developed by his nephew, Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab. Originally a Kadam monastery with two colleges, it evolved into a monastery that includes both Sakya and Geluk traditions. At its peak in the 11th to 14th centuries, it was one of the most highly esteemed centers for monastic education and the study of Buddhist philosophy in all of the Tibetan plateau. Many influential philosophers of the time studied there.

The new Buddhist schools which began to rise in the second millennium in Tibet after Buddhism declined in the ninth century as a result of the fall of the Yarlung dynasty. The Sarma schools were mostly based on Buddhist teachings freshly received from India and Nepal in contrast to the revival of the old teachings which already existed in Tibet.

The Ultimate Continuum, or Gyü Lama, is often used as a short title in the Tibetan tradition for the key source text of buddha-nature teachings called the Ratnagotravibhāga of Maitreya/Asaṅga, also known as the Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

This is the meditation of directly observing the mind without engaging in any analytical or intellectual activity. (Thrangu Rinpoche, Transcending Ego, 102).