See “shape shifter.”

See “conjuration.”

See UT22084-049-001-1099.

This refers to the miraculous power of the buddhas, and bodhisattvas at a certain stage of spiritual development, to project emanations of themselves in order to develop and teach sentient beings.

In reference to buddhas and bodhisattvas, nirmāṇa refers to the miraculous power of the buddhas, and bodhisattvas at a certain stage of spiritual development, to project emanations in order to develop and teach beings. In The Prophecy for Bhadra the Illusionist, the same term is used both for the Buddha’s emanations and the conjurations that Bhadra magically creates through his power of illusion. While the sūtra makes a qualitative distinction between the two (see UT22084-043-002-119), it is uncertain whether the same Sanskrit term underlies the Tibetan term sprul pa.

This refers to the miraculous power of the Buddha and bodhisattvas of a certain stage to emanate apparently living beings in order to develop and teach living beings. This power reaches its culmination in the nirmāṇa­kayā, the “incarnation body,” which is one of the three bodies of buddhahood and includes all physical forms of all buddhas, including Śākyamuni, whose sole function as incarnations is the development and liberation of living beings.

See “emanated incarnation.”

A noun derived from the verb mā, (“to create”) and connected to the term māyā (“magical illusion”).

A noun derived from the verb mā (“to create”) and connected to the term māyā (“magical illusion”).

Derived from the Sanskrit verb mā (“to measure out”, “to form”, “to create”, “to exhibit”), and thus probably connected to the term māyā (“magical illusion”), a nirmita in this sense is an object or image, often a replica of a person, that has been created through the superhuman power of creating magical illusions.

One of the classes of beings barred from joining the renunciate order. The word sprul pa denotes a wide range of phenomena‍—emanations, apparitions, conjurings, shape-shifting creatures, etc.‍—all united by their tendency to morph through their own agency or another’s. We have therefore translated sprul pa according to context as “emanation” or “shape shifter.”