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དགོངས་པ་ངེས་འགྲེལ།

Unraveling the Intent
Chapter 7

Saṃdhi­nirmocana
འཕགས་པ་དགོངས་པ་ངེས་པར་འགྲེལ་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།
’phags pa dgongs pa nges par ’grel pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo
The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra “Unraveling the Intent”
Āryasaṃdhinirmocana­nāmamahāyānasūtra

Toh 106

Degé Kangyur, vol. 49 (mdo sde, ca), folios 1.b–55.b

Imprint

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Translated by the Buddhavacana Translation Group (Vienna)
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha

First published 2020

Current version v 1.0.27 (2025)

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co.

Table of Contents

ti. Title
im. Imprint
co. Contents
s. Summary
ac. Acknowledgements
i. Introduction
+ 5 sections- 5 sections
· Setting and Summary
· The Context
· Main Points of the Subject Matter
+ 3 sections- 3 sections
· The Basis
· The Path
· The Result
· Source Text and Various Versions
· Translation Issues and Academic Research
+ 5 sections- 5 sections
· 1. Identifying and organizing source texts 
· 2. Evaluating the available translations
· 3. Checking intertextual patterns and delineating the scope of primary sources
· 4. Collating academic research
· 5. Organizing academic resources according to the text structure and specific translation issues
+ 1 section- 1 section
· Translating the text
tr. The Translation
+ 10 chapters- 10 chapters
p. Prologue
1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
ab. Abbreviations
n. Notes
b. Bibliography
+ 2 sections- 2 sections
· Tibetan Sources
+ 1 section- 1 section
· Other Canonical Sources for Samdh.
· Other Sources
g. Glossary

s.

Summary

s.­1

In Unraveling the Intent, the Buddha gives a systematic overview of his three great cycles of teachings, which he refers to in this text as the “three Dharma wheels” (tri­dharma­cakra). In the process of delineating the meaning of these doctrines, the Buddha unravels several difficult points regarding the ultimate and relative truths, the nature of reality, and the contemplative methods conducive to the attainment of complete and perfect awakening, and he also explains what his intent was when he imparted teachings belonging to each of the three Dharma wheels. In unambiguous terms, the third wheel is proclaimed to be of definitive meaning. Through a series of dialogues with hearers and bodhisattvas, the Buddha thus offers a complete and systematic teaching on the Great Vehicle, which he refers to here as the Single Vehicle.


ac.

Acknowledgements

ac.­1

Translation by the Buddhavacana Translation Group.

The text was translated by Gregory Forgues and edited by Casey Kemp. With special thanks to Harunaga Isaacson, Matthew Kapstein, Klaus-Dieter Mathes, Jonathan Silk, Lambert Schmithausen, Tom Tillemans, and William Waldron for their helpful comments and advice.

The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.


ac.­2

The generous sponsorship of Qiang Li (李强) and Ya Wen (文雅), which helped make the work on this translation possible, is most gratefully acknowledged.


i.

Introduction

Setting and Summary

i.­1

In Unraveling the Intent, the Buddha gives a systematic overview of his three great cycles of teachings, which he refers to in this text as the “three Dharma wheels” (tri­dharma­cakra). In the process of delineating the meaning of these doctrines, the Buddha unravels several difficult points regarding the ultimate and relative truths, the nature of reality, and the contemplative methods conducive to the attainment of complete and perfect awakening, and he also explains what his intent was when he imparted teachings belonging to each of the three Dharma wheels. Through a series of dialogues with hearers and bodhisattvas, the Buddha thus offers a complete and systematic teaching on the Great Vehicle, which he refers to here as the Single Vehicle .

The Context

Main Points of the Subject Matter

The Basis

The Path

The Result

Source Text and Various Versions

Translation Issues and Academic Research

1. Identifying and organizing source texts 

2. Evaluating the available translations

3. Checking intertextual patterns and delineating the scope of primary sources

4. Collating academic research

5. Organizing academic resources according to the text structure and specific translation issues

Translating the text


Text Body

The Translation
The Noble Great Vehicle Sūtra
Unraveling the Intent

p.

Prologue

[F.1.b]


p.­1

Homage to all buddhas and bodhisattvas!


Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in an unfathomable palace, built with the blazing seven precious substances,34 that emitted35 great light rays suffusing countless universes.36 Each of its rooms was well arranged and its design was infinite. It was the undivided maṇḍala, the domain transcending the three worlds. Arising from the supreme roots of virtue of the one who transcends the world,37 it was characterized by the perfectly pure cognition of the one who has achieved complete mastery.38 Abode of the Tathāgata where the assembly of innumerable bodhisattvas gathered, it was attended by countless gods, nāgas, [F.2.a] yakṣas, gandharvas, demigods, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, and nonhumans. Supported by the great joy and bliss of savoring the Dharma and designed to accomplish the complete welfare of all beings, it was free of any harm caused by the stains of afflictions and clear of any demon. Surpassing all manifestations, this unfathomable palace was displayed by the sovereign power of the Tathāgata. Mindfulness, intelligence, and realization were its pathway;39 mental stillness and insight were the vehicle leading to it; the great gates of liberation‍—emptiness, appearancelessness, and wishlessness‍—were its entrance. It was set on foundations adorned with an infinite accumulation of excellent qualities, which were like great kings of jeweled lotuses.40


1.

Chapter 1

1.­1

At that time, the bodhisattva Vidhi­vatpari­pṛcchaka questioned the bodhisattva Gam­bhīrārtha­saṃdhi­nirmo­cana on the ultimate whose defining characteristic is inexpressible and nondual:53 “O son of the Victorious One, when it is said that all phenomena are nondual, what are these phenomena? In what way are they nondual?”

Gam­bhīrārtha­saṃdhi­nirmo­cana replied, “Noble son, all phenomena, what we refer to as all phenomena, are of just two kinds: conditioned and unconditioned. With respect to these, the conditioned is neither conditioned nor unconditioned. The unconditioned is neither unconditioned nor conditioned.”


2.

Chapter 2

2.­1

Then the bodhisattva Dharmodgata spoke these words: “Blessed One, very long ago in ancient times, beyond as many universes as there are grains of sand in seventy-seven Ganges rivers, I was residing in the world Kīrtimat of the tathāgata Viśālakīrti. There I saw 7,700,000 non-Buddhists, together with their teachers, who had gathered in one place to consider the ultimate defining characteristic of phenomena.65 [F.5.b] Although they had examined, analyzed, investigated, and considered in detail the ultimate defining characteristic of phenomena, they did not understand it. They had changing opinions, lacked certainty, and were slow-witted as well as argumentative. Insulting one another with harsh words, they became abusive, agitated, unprincipled, and violent. Then, Blessed One, I thought to myself, ‘This is so sad, and yet, how marvelous, how wonderful are the manifestations of the tathāgatas in the world and, through their manifestations, the realization and actualization of the ultimate whose defining characteristic is beyond all speculation!’ ”66


3.

Chapter 3

3.­1

Then the bodhisattva Su­viśuddha­mati addressed the Blessed One, “Blessed One, at an earlier time, you spoke these words: ‘The ultimate is subtle and profound. Characterized as transcending what is distinct or indistinct74 [from conditioned phenomena], it is difficult to understand.’ How wonderful indeed are these words of yours! Blessed One, regarding this point, I once saw many bodhisattvas who, having attained the stage of engagement through aspiration,75 assembled in one place to discuss in the following way whether conditioned phenomena and the ultimate are distinct or indistinct. Among them, some declared, ‘The defining characteristic of conditioned phenomena and the defining characteristic of the ultimate are indistinct.’76 Others replied, ‘It is not the case that the defining characteristic of conditioned phenomena and the defining characteristic of the ultimate are indistinct, for they are distinct indeed.’ [F.7.a] Some others, who were perplexed and lacked certainty, said, ‘Some pretend that the defining characteristic of conditioned phenomena and the defining characteristic of the ultimate are distinct. Some pretend that they are indistinct. Which bodhisattvas speak the truth? Which speak falsity? Which are mistaken? Which are not?’ Blessed One, I thought to myself, ‘So, none of these noble sons understands the ultimate whose subtle defining characteristic transcends whether it is distinct or indistinct from conditioned phenomena. These bodhisattvas are truly77 naive, confused, dull, unskilled, and mistaken.’ ”


4.

Chapter 4

4.­1

Then the Blessed One spoke these words to Subhūti: “Subhūti, do you know how many beings in the world90 display their knowledge91 under the influence of conceit? Do you know how many beings in the world display their knowledge without conceit?”

Subhūti answered, “Blessed One, according to my knowledge, there are only a few in the world of beings who present their knowledge without conceit, but countless, innumerable, and inexpressible in number are those who do so under its influence. Blessed One, at one time I was staying in a hermitage set in a great forest. There were many monks living in the vicinity who had also established themselves there. At sunrise, I saw them gather together. They showed their knowledge and revealed their understanding by taking various aspects of phenomena as referential objects.92


5.

Chapter 5

5.­1

Then, the bodhisattva Viśālamati asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, when bodhisattvas who are skilled in the secrets of mind, thought, and cognition are called ‘skilled in the secrets of mind, thought, and cognition,’ what does it mean?101 When they are designated in this way, what does it refer to?”

The Blessed One answered, “Viśālamati, you are asking this for the benefit and happiness of many beings, out of compassion for the world, and for the welfare, benefit, and happiness of all beings, including gods and humans. Your intention is excellent when questioning the Tathāgata on this specific point. Therefore, listen, Viśālamati. I will explain to you in which way bodhisattvas are skilled in the secrets of mind, thought, and cognition.


6.

Chapter 6

6.­1

Then, the bodhisattva Guṇākara asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, when bodhisattvas who are skilled in the defining characteristics of phenomena are called ‘skilled in the defining characteristics of phenomena,’ what does it mean? Moreover, when the Tathāgata designates them as such, what does it refer to?”

6.­2

The Blessed One replied to the bodhisattva Guṇākara, “Guṇākara, for the benefit and happiness of many beings, out of compassion for the world, for the welfare, benefit, and happiness of all beings, including gods and humans, you are asking this. Your intention is excellent when questioning the Tathāgata on this specific point. Therefore, listen, Guṇākara, I will explain to you in which way bodhisattvas are skilled in the defining characteristics of phenomena.


7.

Chapter 7

7.­1

At that time, the bodhisattva Para­mārtha­samud­gata asked the Blessed One, “Blessed One, when I was alone in a secluded place, I had the following thought: ‘The Blessed One also spoke in many ways of the defining characteristic specific to the five aggregates, mentioning the defining characteristic of their arising, disintegration, abandonment, and comprehension.137 In the same way, he spoke of the twelve sense domains, dependent arising, and the four kinds of sustenance. The Blessed One also spoke in many ways of the defining characteristic of the four noble truths, mentioning the comprehension of suffering, the abandoning of the cause of suffering, the actualization of the cessation of suffering, and the practice of the path. The Blessed One also spoke in many ways of the defining characteristic specific to the eighteen constituents, mentioning their varieties, manifoldness, abandonment, and comprehension. The Blessed One also spoke in many ways of the defining characteristic specific to the four applications of mindfulness, mentioning their adverse factors, antidotes, practice, their arising from being non-arisen, their remaining after they arose, and their maintaining, resuming, or increasing. Similarly, he also spoke in many ways of the defining characteristic specific to the four correct self-restraints, the four bases of supernatural powers, the five faculties, the five forces, and the seven branches of awakening. [F.16.b] The Blessed One also spoke in many ways of the defining characteristic specific to the eight branches of the path, mentioning their adverse factors, antidotes, and practices, their arising from being non-arisen and remaining after they arose, and their maintaining, resuming, or increasing.’

“When the Blessed One further said, ‘All phenomena are without an essence,138 unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa,’ what was the underlying intent of the Blessed One? I would like to ask the Blessed One about this point: what was the Blessed One thinking when he said, ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa’?”

7.­2

The Blessed One replied to the bodhisattva Para­mārtha­samud­gata, “Para­mārtha­samud­gata, this reflection of yours arose virtuously and appropriately. It is excellent indeed. You are asking this for the benefit and happiness of many beings, out of compassion for the world, and for the welfare, benefit, and happiness of all beings, including gods and humans. Your intention is excellent when questioning the Tathāgata on this specific point. Therefore, listen, Para­mārtha­samud­gata. I will explain to you what my underlying intent was when I declared, ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, [F.17.a] primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa.’139

7.­3

“Para­mārtha­samud­gata, the essencelessness of all phenomena has three aspects. Having in mind essencelessness regarding defining characteristics, essencelessness regarding arising, and essencelessness regarding the ultimate, I thus taught what is called the essencelessness of all phenomena.

7.­4

“Para­mārtha­samud­gata, what is the essencelessness of all phenomena with regard to defining characteristics? It is the imaginary defining characteristic [of phenomena]. Why? Because as much as this defining characteristic is nominally and conventionally posited, it is not posited140 on the basis of an essence or a distinctive [characteristic].141 Therefore, it is called the essencelessness of all phenomena with regard to defining characteristics.

7.­5

“Para­mārtha­samud­gata, what is the essencelessness of all phenomena with regard to arising? It is the other-dependent defining characteristic of phenomena. Why? Because this is [the defining characteristic] arising on account of causes other [than itself] and not by itself. Therefore, it is called essencelessness with regard to arising.

7.­6

“Para­mārtha­samud­gata, what is the essencelessness of all phenomena with regard to the ultimate? Phenomena arising in dependence upon causes, which lack an essence on account of lacking an essence in terms of arising and also lack an essence on account of lacking an ultimate essence. Why? Because, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, I showed that the referential object conducive to purification within phenomena is the ultimate, but the other-dependent defining characteristic is not the referential object conducive to purification. Therefore, this essencelessness is called essencelessness with regard to the ultimate.

“Moreover, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, the actual defining characteristic of phenomena should also be referred to as essencelessness with regard to the ultimate. Why? Because, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, the selflessness of phenomena is called the essencelessness of phenomena, which is the [F.17.b] ultimate, but the ultimate is characterized by142 the essencelessness of all phenomena. Therefore, it is called essencelessness with regard to the ultimate.143

7.­7

“Para­mārtha­samud­gata, it is like this: consider essencelessness with regard to defining characteristics to be exactly like a [nonexistent] sky flower; consider essencelessness with regard to arising, as well as essencelessness with regard to the ultimate in one of its aspects, to be exactly like a magic illusion;144 consider essencelessness with regard to the ultimate in its other aspect, which consists in the selflessness of phenomena and pervades everything, to be exactly like space, which consists in the essencelessness of form and pervades everything.145

7.­8

“Para­mārtha­samud­gata, with this threefold essencelessness in mind, I taught what is called the essencelessness of all phenomena. Para­mārtha­samud­gata, having in mind essencelessness with regard to defining characteristics, I taught, ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa.’ Why? Because, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, what lacks a specific defining characteristic is unborn. What is unborn is unceasing. What is unborn and unceasing is primordially in the state of peace. What is primordially in the state of peace is naturally in the state of nirvāṇa. For what is naturally in the state of nirvāṇa, there is nothing in the slightest that passes into the state of nirvāṇa. Therefore, having in mind essencelessness with regard to defining characteristics, I taught, ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa.’

7.­9

“Para­mārtha­samud­gata, having in mind essencelessness with regard to the ultimate, [F.18.a] which is characterized by selflessness, I taught, ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa.’ Why? Because essencelessness with regard to the ultimate, which is characterized by selflessness, indeed abides permanently and immutably. As the nature of phenomena, it is unconditioned and free from all afflictions. What permanently and immutably abides as the very nature of phenomena, being unconditioned, is unborn and unceasing due to being unconditioned. Because it is free from all afflictions, it is primordially in the state of peace and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa.146 Therefore, having in mind essencelessness with regard to the ultimate, which is characterized by selflessness, I taught, ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa.’

7.­10

“Para­mārtha­samud­gata, I did not designate three kinds of essencelessness because those in the world of beings consider that the imaginary essence and the other-dependent essence, as well as the actual essence, are different by nature.147 Rather, I did so because they superimpose an imaginary essence on the other-dependent essence and the actual essence and because they designate the other-dependent essence and the actual essence as the defining characteristics of an imaginary essence. While they designate them in this way, their minds,148 which are saturated with designations, become confined to such designations and predisposed149 toward them. On this basis, they wrongly conceive the other-dependent essence and the actual essence as the defining characteristics of an imaginary essence. [F.18.b] Wrongly conceiving them in this way, with their wrong conception of the other-dependent essence as the defining characteristic of an imaginary essence acting as a cause and condition, they will give rise in the future to an other-dependent essence.150 As a result of this, they will be afflicted by the afflictions of defilements, karma, and birth. Because they will not pass beyond saṃsāra, they will transmigrate and wander among hell beings, animals, hungry ghosts, gods, demigods, and humans for a very long time.

7.­11

“Among these beings, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, some do not produce roots of virtue from the very beginning. They do not clear obstructions or bring their mental continuums to maturity. Their confidence in my teaching is limited and they have not accomplished the accumulations of merit and gnosis. I impart to those beings the teaching on essencelessness with regard to arising. Once they have heard this teaching, they understand that conditioned phenomena arising in dependence on causes are of an impermanent, unstable, and unreliable nature. They develop aversion and repulsion towards conditioned phenomena. Once they have done this, they turn away from wrongdoing. Not committing any wrongdoing, they establish themselves in virtue. With this as a cause, they produce the roots of virtue that were yet to be produced. They clear obstructions that were yet to be cleared. They bring their mental continuums, which were not yet mature, to maturity. As a result, their confidence in my teaching becomes vast, and they will accomplish the accumulations of merit and gnosis.

7.­12

“Although such beings have produced in this way roots of virtue up to the accomplishment of the accumulation of merit and gnosis, they [F.19.a] do not understand essencelessness with regard to arising just as it is, as the essencelessness with regard to defining characteristics and the essencelessness with regard to the ultimate in its two aspects. For this reason, they will not be completely repulsed by all conditioned phenomena, completely free from desire, or completely liberated. They will not be completely liberated from all the afflictions of defilements, karma, and birth. It is therefore for them that the Tathāgata imparts the teaching on the essencelessness with regard to defining characteristics and the essencelessness with regard to the ultimate. He does so in order to make them feel repulsion towards all conditioned phenomena, as well as to free them from desire, to completely liberate them, and to take them perfectly151 beyond the afflictions of defilements, karma, and birth.

7.­13

“Once they have heard this teaching, they do not wrongly conceive the other-dependent essence as the defining characteristic of an imaginary essence. As a result, they accept the essencelessness with regard to arising as the essencelessness with regard to defining characteristics and the essencelessness with regard to the ultimate in its two aspects. They discern and understand it exactly as it is. It is like this: Their minds,152 which are no longer saturated with designations, are not confined to these designations or predisposed toward them. As a result, by attaining the powers of wisdom in this life and perfectly cutting off the continuity [of the aggregates] into a future existence, they will put an end to the other-dependent defining characteristic. On this basis, they will be completely repulsed by all conditioned phenomena, completely free from desire, and completely liberated. [F.19.b] They will be completely liberated from all the afflictions of defilements, karma, and birth.

7.­14

“Moreover, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, even those belonging to the lineage of the hearers’ vehicle attain nirvāṇa, the unsurpassable happiness, through this very path and journey,153 as do those belonging to the lineage of the solitary realizers’ vehicle and the lineage of the tathāgatas. This is why it is the single path of purification for hearers, solitary realizers, and bodhisattvas. Since there is only a single purification, there is no other. Therefore, with this in mind, I taught the Single Vehicle. Yet, it is not the case that those in the world of beings are not of various types corresponding to their capacities, be they weak, average, or sharp in accordance with their nature.

7.­15

“Para­mārtha­samud­gata, even if they were to exert themselves as all buddhas did,154 individuals belonging to the hearers’ lineage with the state of peace as their sole journey could not reach the heart of awakening and attain the unsurpassable, complete and perfect awakening. Why? Because, having limited compassion and a great fear of suffering, they belong to a lineage that is by nature inferior. Thus, having limited compassion, they avoid striving for beings’ welfare. Being afraid of suffering, they stay clear from the conditioning process of the mental factors.155 However, I did not teach that avoiding striving for beings’ welfare and staying clear from the conditioning process of the mental factors was the unsurpassable, complete and perfect awakening. Therefore, these individuals are called those who have the state of peace as their sole journey.

7.­16

“I taught that hearers who evolve toward awakening belong to the [F.20.a] category of bodhisattvas because, liberated from the obscuration of defilements and inspired by the tathāgatas, they liberate their minds from the obscuration of cognitive objects. It is [only] because they first liberated themselves from the obscuration of defilements for their own sake that the Tathāgata designated them as the lineage of hearers.

7.­17

“Thus, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, there are beings with various degrees of confidence in my Dharma and my Vinaya, which are well proclaimed, well imparted, pure in their intention, and well communicated. In this teaching, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, the Tathāgata, having in mind the three kinds of essencelessness, teaches through a discourse of provisional meaning: ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa.’

7.­18

“Among such beings, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, some have produced roots of virtue, purified their obscurations, and brought their mental continuum to maturity. They have much confidence in my teaching and have accomplished the accumulations of merit and gnosis. Once they have heard my teaching, they understand my explanations in accordance with my underlying intent exactly as it is. Moreover, they recognize that this teaching is the truth.156 Through their wisdom, they realize its meaning exactly as it is. By also engaging in the practice of this realization, they will very quickly attain the ultimate state. They will develop faith in these teachings, and think, ‘Amazing! The Blessed One is completely and perfectly awakened. Through him, one becomes perfectly awakened with respect to all phenomena.’

7.­19

“Among such beings, some have not produced roots of virtue, purified their obscurations, and brought their mental continuums to maturity. Their confidence in my teaching is limited and [F.20.b] they have not accomplished the accumulations of merit and gnosis. They are honest and sincere. Unable to evaluate and refute157 [others’ views], they do not consider their own as supreme. Once they have heard my teaching, although they do not understand my explanations in accordance with my underlying intent exactly as it is, they still develop confidence and faith in these teachings: ‘The Tathāgata’s discourse is profound and has the appearance of profundity. [Because] emptiness is the topic of this discourse, it is difficult to perceive and difficult to understand. Being beyond judgment, it does not belong to the domain of speculation. It can [only] be known by intelligent scholars well versed in the subtle.’158 They think, ‘We do not understand the meaning of this sūtra and these teachings that were taught by the Blessed One. Profound is the awakening of the Buddha and the nature of phenomena. Only the Tathāgata understands them. We, however, do not. The Dharma taught by the tathāgatas arises according to the various inclinations of beings. Their gnosis159 and perception are infinite, whereas ours are merely like the [shallow] hoofprints left by a cow.’ Filled with devotion for these discourses, they also write them down. Having written them down, they also keep them in mind, read them, propagate them, venerate them, expound them, recite them, and chant them aloud. However, because they do not understand these profound teachings in accordance with my underlying intent, they are unable to engage themselves in the various aspects of practice. As a consequence of this, they will further develop their accumulation of merit and gnosis, and those whose mental continuums are still immature will bring them to maturity.

7.­20

“Other beings have not perfectly completed these stages up to the great accumulation of merit and gnosis. [F.21.a] They are dishonest and insincere. Capable of evaluating and refuting [others’ views], they consider their own as supreme. Once they have heard my teaching, they do not understand my profound explanations in accordance with my underlying intent exactly as it is. Although they have confidence in this teaching, they wrongly conceive it according to its literal meaning: ‘All phenomena are only without an essence, only unborn, only unceasing, only primordially in the state of peace, and only naturally in the state of nirvāṇa.’ As a consequence of this, they acquire the view that all phenomena are inexistent and the view that they are without defining characteristics. Then, once they have acquired these views, they negate all phenomena by [negating] all defining characteristics, thereby negating the imaginary defining characteristic as well as the other-dependent and actual defining characteristics. Why is it said that they negate all three defining characteristics? Because, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, if the other-dependent and actual defining characteristics are accepted, then the imaginary defining characteristic also will be distinctly perceived. Now, those who consider the other-dependent and actual defining characteristics as inexistent have already negated the imaginary defining characteristic. This is why they are called those who negate all three defining characteristics. They consider my teaching to be the truth while considering some nonsense to be its meaning. Those who consider my teaching to be the truth while considering some nonsense to be its meaning cling to my teaching as the truth while at the same time clinging to some nonsense as its meaning. Since they have confidence in my teaching, they will progress by developing virtuous qualities. However, because they wrongly conceive some nonsense to be the meaning of my teaching, they will stray from wisdom. Straying from wisdom, [F.21.b] they will stray from the vast and immeasurable virtuous qualities.

7.­21

“Others hear from those beings that my teaching is the truth while some nonsense is its meaning. Then, delighted by this view, they accept that my teaching is the truth and some nonsense is its meaning. Thus, they wrongly conceive my teaching as the truth with some nonsense as its meaning. As a consequence of this, you should know that they will likewise stray from virtuous qualities.

7.­22

“Others who take no delight in this view are overcome by fear and anxiety when they hear that all phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa. They then say, ‘These are not the words of the Buddha but the words of Māra!’ Thinking in this way, they reject this discourse, disparage it, denigrate it, and criticize it. As a consequence of this, they will obtain the great misfortune as well as the great karmic obscuration [of rejecting the truth].160 This is precisely why I said, ‘Those who mislead the multitude of beings into obtaining the great karmic obscuration, who consider all defining characteristics as inexistent and teach some nonsense as the meaning of my teaching, are burdened with great karmic obscuration [of rejecting the truth].

7.­23

“Para­mārtha­samud­gata, among such beings, some have not produced roots of virtue, purified their obscurations, and brought their mental continuum to maturity. Their confidence in my teaching is limited, and they have not accomplished the accumulations of merit and gnosis. They are dishonest and insincere. Although they are unable to evaluate and refute [others’ views], they consider their own as supreme. When they hear my teaching, they neither understand my explanations in accordance with my underlying intent exactly as it is, nor do they develop confidence in this teaching. They accept that my teaching is not the truth and its meaning is some nonsense. They say, ‘These are not the words of the Buddha [F.22.a] but the words of Māra!’ Thinking in this way, they reject this discourse, disparage it, denigrate it, criticize it, and distort [its meaning]. In many ways, they apply themselves to discarding, undermining, and subverting this discourse, considering as enemies those who are devoted to it. From the very beginning, they are affected by the karmic obscuration [of rejecting the truth]. As a consequence of this, they also cause [others] to be obscured by this karmic obscuration. Although it is easy to determine the beginning of this karmic obscuration, it is difficult to know how many myriad eons it will last.

“Thus, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, those are the various degrees of confidence in my Dharma and my Vinaya,161 which are well proclaimed, well imparted, pure in their intention, and well communicated.”

7.­24

Then, at that moment, the Blessed One spoke these verses:

“All phenomena are without an essence, unborn,
Unceasing, primordially in the state of peace,
And naturally in the state of nirvāṇa.
What wise person would say this without an underlying intent?
“I have spoken of essencelessness
With regard to defining characteristics, arising, and the ultimate.
No wise person who understands my underlying intent
Will travel the path leading to corruption.
“There is only one path of purification for all beings,
As there is only one purification, not two.
This is why, even if there are various lineages of beings,
I proclaimed the Single Vehicle.
“In the world of beings, innumerable are
The solitary beings who attain nirvāṇa,
While rare are those who have attained nirvāṇa
And possess the energy and compassion to not turn away from beings. [F.22.b]
“Subtle, inconceivable, and undifferentiated
Is the uncontaminated domain of those who are liberated.
Nondual and inexpressible, blissful and immutable,
It is the accomplishment of all [intentions], the release from all suffering and defilements.”
7.­25

Then, the bodhisattva Para­mārtha­samud­gata said to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, the speech expounding the underlying intent of the buddhas is subtle, extremely subtle, profound, extremely profound, difficult to understand, and extremely difficult to understand. How marvelous, how wonderful it is!

“This is how I understand the meaning of the words spoken by the Blessed One: The phenomenal appearance of conditioned phenomena, namely, the basis of the imaginary defining characteristic, the object of conceptualization,162 is nominally and conventionally posited as an essential characteristic or a distinctive characteristic,163 for example as the aggregate of form, its arising, its cessation, its abandonment, or the comprehension of this aggregate. What is posited in this way is the imaginary defining characteristic. For this reason, Blessed One, you referred to essencelessness with regard to the defining characteristics of phenomena. The phenomenal appearance of conditioned phenomena, namely, the basis of the imaginary defining characteristic, the object of conceptualization, is the other-dependent defining characteristic. For this reason, Blessed One, you referred to essencelessness with regard to both the arising of phenomena and the ultimate in one of its aspects.

“This is how I understand the meaning of the words spoken by the Blessed One: this very phenomenal appearance of conditioned phenomena, namely, the basis of the imaginary defining characteristic, the object of conceptualization, is devoid of any actuality or essence as that which has an imaginary defining characteristic.164 [F.23.a] On account of this, this essencelessness or selflessness of phenomena, true reality, the referential object conducive to purification, is the actual defining characteristic. For this reason, Blessed One, you referred to the essencelessness of phenomena with regard to the ultimate in its other aspect.

“One should proceed in exactly the same way with the remaining aggregates as well as with each of the twelve sense domains, the twelve factors of conditioned existence, the four kinds of sustenance, and the six and eighteen constituents.

7.­26

“This is how I understand the meaning of the words spoken by the Blessed One: The phenomenal appearance of conditioned phenomena, namely, the basis of the imaginary defining characteristic, the object of conceptualization, is nominally and conventionally posited as an essential characteristic or a distinctive characteristic, for example as the noble truth of suffering or the comprehension of suffering. For this reason, Blessed One, you referred to essencelessness with regard to the defining characteristics of phenomena. The phenomenal appearance of conditioned phenomena, namely, the basis of the imaginary defining characteristic, the object of conceptualization, is the other-dependent defining characteristic. For this reason, Blessed One, you referred to essencelessness with regard to both the arising of phenomena and the ultimate in one of its aspects.

“This is how I understand the meaning of the words spoken by the Blessed One: This very phenomenal appearance of conditioned phenomena, namely, the basis of the imaginary defining characteristic, the object of conceptualization, is devoid of any actuality or essence as that which has an imaginary defining characteristic.165 [F.23.b] On account of this, this essencelessness or selflessness of phenomena, true reality, the referential object conducive to purification, is the actual defining characteristic. For this reason, Blessed One, you referred to the essencelessness of phenomena with regard to the ultimate in its other aspect.

“As with the noble truth of suffering, one should proceed in exactly the same way with the other truths. As with the truths, so one should proceed in exactly the same way with each of the applications of mindfulness, the self-restraints, the bases of supernatural powers, the faculties, the forces, the branches of awakening, and the branches of the path.

7.­27

“This is how I understand the meaning of the words spoken by the Blessed One: The phenomenal appearance of conditioned phenomena, namely, the basis of the imaginary defining characteristic, the object of conceptualization, is nominally and conventionally posited as an essential characteristic or a distinctive characteristic, for example as correct concentration,166 its adverse factors and antidotes, its practice, its arising from being non-arisen, its remaining after it arose, and its maintaining, resuming, increasing, or expanding. For this reason, Blessed One, you referred to essencelessness with regard to the defining characteristics of phenomena. The phenomenal appearance of conditioned phenomena, namely, the basis of the imaginary defining characteristic, the object of conceptualization, is the other-dependent defining characteristic. For this reason, Blessed One, you referred to essencelessness with regard to both the arising of phenomena and the ultimate in one of its aspects.

“This is how I [F.24.a] understand the meaning of the words spoken by the Blessed One: This very phenomenal appearance of conditioned phenomena, namely, the basis of the imaginary defining characteristic, the object of conceptualization, is devoid of any actuality or essence as that which has an imaginary defining characteristic. On account of this, this essencelessness or selflessness of phenomena, true reality, the referential object conducive to purification, is the actual defining characteristic. For this reason, Blessed One, you referred to the essencelessness of phenomena with regard to the ultimate in its other aspect.

7.­28

“Blessed One, thus it is said, for example, that dried ginger should be added to all medicinal powders and elixirs. Likewise, this teaching of definitive meaning expounded by167 the Blessed One in reference to the statement, ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa,’168 should also be added to all the discourses of provisional meaning.169

“Blessed One, it is like this: for example, the canvas for a painting, whether blue, yellow, red, or white, is identical for all painted figures and thus perfectly clarifies their contours. Likewise, this teaching of definitive meaning expounded by the Blessed One in reference to the statement, ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa,’ is identical in all discourses of provisional meaning and thus perfectly clarifies their interpretable intent.

“Blessed One, it is like this: for example, adding clarified butter to all sorts of stews, meat dishes, and porridge is delicious. Likewise, it is delightful to add to all discourses of provisional meaning this teaching of definitive meaning expounded by the Blessed One in reference to the statement, ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa.’ [F.24.b]

“Blessed One, it is like this: for example, space is identical everywhere and, [being empty and free from all obstruction,] does not hinder any endeavor. Likewise, this teaching of definitive meaning expounded by the Blessed One in reference to the statement, ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa,’ is identical in all discourses of provisional meaning and does not hinder any endeavor in the course of the hearers’, solitary realizers’, or bodhisattvas’ vehicle.”

7.­29

Following these words, the Blessed One complimented the bodhisattva Para­mārtha­samud­gata: “Excellent, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, this is excellent! You have understood my explanation in accordance with the Tathāgata’s underlying intent. Your examples of the dried ginger, painting, clarified butter, and space perfectly illustrated its point. Para­mārtha­samud­gata, so it is, and not otherwise. Therefore, keep in mind this teaching in this way.”

7.­30

Then, the bodhisattva Para­mārtha­samud­gata spoke again to the Blessed One: “In the deer park of Ṛṣivadana in Vārāṇasī, the Blessed One first set in motion the wonderful wheel of Dharma by teaching the four noble truths to those who were engaged in the hearers’ vehicle. Not a single god or human in the world had previously ever turned such a wheel of Dharma. However, this turning of the Dharma wheel by the Blessed One was surpassable and adapted to the circumstances. Being of provisional meaning,170 it became a topic of dispute. Then, for those who were engaged in the Great Vehicle, [F.25.a] you turned the second, even more wonderful, wheel of Dharma in the form of a teaching on emptiness: ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa.’ However, this turning of the Dharma wheel by the Blessed One was surpassable and adapted to the circumstances. Being of provisional meaning, it became a topic of dispute. Then, for those who were engaged in all vehicles,171 you turned the third wonderful Dharma wheel of excellent discernment in reference to the statement, ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and by nature in the state of nirvāṇa.’172 This turning of the Dharma wheel by the Blessed One was unsurpassable and not limited to the circumstances. Being of definitive meaning, it did not become a topic of dispute.

7.­31

“Blessed One, when sons or daughters of noble family have heard the teaching of definitive meaning taught by the Blessed One in reference to the statement, ‘All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa,’ they develop devotion for this teaching and commission its transcription into writing. Once it has been put into writing, they keep it in mind, read it, venerate it, propagate it, expound it, chant it aloud, contemplate it, and apply it in their practice. As they do so, how much merit will they produce?”

7.­32

The Blessed One answered, “Para­mārtha­samud­gata, these sons and daughters of noble family will produce immeasurable and [F.25.b] incalculable merit. Although it is difficult to illustrate this with examples, I will briefly explain it to you. Para­mārtha­samud­gata, it is like this: Compared to the amount of earth, the amount of dirt at the tip of a fingernail does not come close to a hundredth, a thousandth, a one hundred thousandth of it, or anything implying calculation, partition, numeration, analogy, or comparison. Compared to the amount of water contained in the four great oceans, the amount of water contained in the hoofprint of an ox does not come close to a hundredth, a thousandth, a one hundred thousandth of it, or anything implying calculation, partition, numeration, analogy, or comparison. Likewise, Para­mārtha­samud­gata, compared to the amount of merit accumulated by developing confidence in my teaching of definitive meaning up to applying it in one’s practice, the amount of merit accumulated by developing confidence in my teaching of provisional meaning … up to applying it in one’s practice does not come close to a hundredth, a thousandth, a one hundred thousandth of it, or anything implying calculation, partition, numeration, analogy, or comparison.”

7.­33

The bodhisattva Para­mārtha­samud­gata inquired, “Blessed One, what is the name of this teaching as a Dharma discourse that unravels the Tathāgata’s intent?173 How should I keep it in mind?”174

The Blessed One answered: “Para­mārtha­samud­gata, this is a teaching of definitive meaning on the ultimate. Therefore, keep it in mind as The Teaching of Definitive Meaning on the Ultimate.”

As the Blessed One expounded this teaching of definitive meaning on the ultimate, six hundred thousand beings produced the mind directed at the unsurpassable, complete and perfect awakening;175 three hundred thousand hearers purified the Dharma eye from impurities and contaminations; one hundred and fifty hearers who were without attachment liberated their minds from all outflows; and seventy-five thousand bodhisattvas attained the acceptance that phenomena are non-arisen. [F.26.a]

This was the chapter of the bodhisattva Para­mārtha­samud­gata‍—the seventh chapter.


8.

Chapter 8

8.­1

Then, the bodhisattva Maitreya asked a question to the Blessed One, “Blessed One, when bodhisattvas practice mental stillness and insight in the Great Vehicle, what is their support and basis?”

The Blessed One answered, “Maitreya, their support and basis are the discourses teaching Dharma and the constant aspiration to attain the unsurpassable, complete and perfect awakening.

8.­2

“The Blessed One taught that four things are the referential objects of mental stillness and insight: the image with conceptualization; the image without conceptualization; the point where phenomena end; and the accomplishment of the goal.”


9.

Chapter 9

9.­1

Then the bodhisattva Avaloki­teśvara addressed the Blessed One, “Blessed One, the ten stages of the bodhisattva are called (1) Utmost Joy, (2) Stainless, (3) Illuminating, (4) Radiant, (5) Hard to Conquer, (6) Manifest, (7) Far Reaching, (8) Immovable, (9) Excellent Intelligence, and (10) Cloud of Dharma. When taken together with the eleventh, [called] Buddha Stage, in how many kinds of purification and subdivisions are they included?”


10.

Chapter 10

10.­1

Then the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī addressed the Blessed One, “Blessed One, when you mention ‘the truth body of the tathāgatas,’ what is the defining characteristic of this truth body of the tathāgatas?”

The Blessed One answered, “Mañjuśrī, the truth body of the tathāgatas is characterized when one has fully achieved a shift in one’s basis of existence, the emergence [from cyclic existence] through the practice of the stages and the perfections.308 Because of the two [following] reasons, you should know that this truth body is characterized by inconceivability: (1) it is beyond mental elaborations and is not produced by intentional action,309 (2) while beings are fixated on mental elaborations and produced by intentional action.”


ab.

Abbreviations

Bd Bardan (Zanskar) canonical collection
C Choné xylograph Kangyur
Cbeta Chinese Electronic Buddhist Association, (www.cbeta.org)
Cz Chizhi Kangyur
D Degé xylograph Kangyur
Dd Dodedrak Kangyur
Dk Dongkarla Kangyur
Do Dolpo canonical collection
F Phukdrak manuscript Kangyur
Go Gondhla (Lahaul) canonical collection
Gt Gangteng Kangyur
H Lhasa xylograph Kangyur
He Hemis I Kangyur
J ’jang sa tham/Lithang xylograph Kangyur
Kʙ Berlin manuscript Kangyur
Kǫ774 Peking 1737 xylograph Kangyur
L London (Shelkar) manuscript Kangyur
Lg Lang mdo Kangyur
Mvyut Mahāvyutpatti
N Narthang xylograph Kangyur
Ng Namgyal Kangyur
Np Neyphug Kangyur
O Tawang Kangyur
Pj Phajoding I Kangyur
Pz Phajoding II Kangyur
R Ragya Kangyur
S Stok manuscript Kangyur
Saṃdh. Saṃdhi­nirmocana­sūtra
Saṃdhdh Dunhuang manuscript: Stein Tib. n°194 (49 folios) and Stein Tib. n°683 (1 folio) (Hakamaya 1984–1987)
T Tokyo manuscript Kangyur
Taishō 676 解深密經, translated by Xuanzang (596–664 ᴄᴇ)
TrBh Sthiramati’s Triṃśikāvijñaptibhāṣyam
U Urga xylograph Kangyur
V Ulaanbaatar manuscript Kangyur
VD Degé; xylograph of the Viniścaya­saṃ­grahaṇī of the Yogācāra­bhūmi from the Tengyur
VG Golden; xylograph of the Viniścaya­saṃ­grahaṇī of the Yogācāra­bhūmi from the Tengyur
VP Peking; xylograph of the Viniścaya­saṃ­grahaṇī of the Yogācāra­bhūmi from the Tengyur
VinSg Viniścaya­saṃ­grahaṇī of the Yogācāra­bhūmi
X Basgo manuscript Kangyur
YBht P ’i Tibetan translation of Acarya Asanga’s Yogācāra­bhūmi from the Peking Tengyur (n°. 5540, sems-tsam, ’i 143aI-382a5 (vol. I l l : 121-217)
Z Shey Palace manuscript Kangyur

n.

Notes

n.­1
See glossary entry “ultimate.”
n.­2
See Brunnhölzl 2018, p. 1590, n. 89 on this point.
n.­3
The numbering of paragraphs of the Saṃdhi­nirmocana­sūtra follows Lamotte’s critical edition.
n.­4
See Radich 2007, p. 1257 on the relationship between āśraya­parivṛtti and dauṣṭhulyakāya. Saṃdh. is the only text in the entire Kangyur in which the term dauṣṭhulyakāya is found.
n.­5
In bold are textual resources I used to translate the text into English.
n.­6
See Powers 2015. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to consult this reference work at the time of completing this translation.
n.­7
Here is a list of the sigla I used to identify the various witnesses of Saṃdh.:
(1) Witnesses of the sūtra found in the available Kangyurs and canonical collections (MsK = manuscript Kangyur, PK = xylograph): Kʙ: Berlin MsK, C: Choné PK, Cz: Chizhi, D: Degé PK, Dd: Dodedrak, Dk: Dongkarla, F: Phukdrag MsK, H: Lhasa PK, Gt: Gangteng, He: Hemis I, J: ’jang sa tham/Lithang PK, L: London (Shelkar) MsK, Lg: Lang mdo, N: Narthang PK, Ng: Namgyal, Np: Neyphug, O: Tawang, Pj: Phajoding I, Pz: Phajoding II, Kǫ: Peking 1737 PK, R: Ragya, S: Stok MsK, T: Tokyo MsK, U: Urga PK, V: Ulaanbaatar MsK, W: Wangli supplement, X: Basgo MsK, Z: Shey Palace MsK. Other canonical collections: Ba: Basgo fragments (Ladakh), Bd: Bardan (Zanskar), Go: Gondhla (Lahaul), Do: Dolpo. Source: http://www.rkts.org (last accessed on July 20, 2020). I am following the typology of Kangyur groups suggested by rKTs (Vienna University). I would like to warmly thank Professor Helmut Tauscher and Bruno Lainé for making available to me the editions I used for this translation project. For a general discussion of some Tibetan sources, see Skilling 1994, p. 775.
(2) Xylographs of the Viniścaya­saṃ­grahaṇī of the Yogācāra­bhūmi from the Tengyur: VD Degé, VG Golden, VP Peking. My thanks go to Kojirō Katō for having shared with me the bibliographical detail of these witnesses. The Viniścaya­saṃ­grahaṇī is also available in Chinese under the following title: 瑜伽師地論卷第七十六攝決擇分.
n.­8
For the reference of possible additional folios, see Chayet 2005, p. 67 (n°615‍—1 folio, n°590‍—6 folios).
n.­34
rin po che sna bdun does not refer to jewels only, as found in Lamotte (1935) and Keenan (2000). I follow here Powers (1995), Cornu (2005), and Cleary (1999).
n.­35
The logical subject of ’jig rten gyi khams dpag tu med pa rgyas par ’gengs pa’i ’od zer chen po shin tu mnga’ ba is the palace (khang). Cornu (2005) and Keenan (2000) seem to read this phrase as a qualifier for the seven precious substances.
n.­36
The first paragraph of the nidāna is a presentation of the place where the Buddha is dwelling. As already mentioned in the introduction, a succession of compounds, mainly bahuvrīhis, enables the topicalization of the temple (khang). Lamotte’s translation reflects this literary device, contrary to Powers who does not topicalize the palace to the same degree on account of some ambiguities regarding the logical subject of a few clauses describing this palace. To illustrate this point, it seems unclear whether the adjectives “steadfast,” “enduring,” or “free” in Powers’ translation qualify the temple or the beings attending it. Cornu mainly follows Powers here but the grammatical necessity to indicate the gender and number of qualifiers in French limits the risk of confusion, which is obviously not the case in English. Regarding the usage of tenses, Lamotte is the only translator who uses both narrative past and present in this first paragraph. He thus switches from the past tense to the present tense in order to describe the characteristics of the temple, a decision I chose not to follow in the present translation.
n.­37
Lamotte, Cornu, and Powers do not translate the anaphoric pronoun de in ’jig rten las ’das pa de’i bla ma’i dge ba’i rtsa ba las byung ba. Powers explains in a footnote (see Power 1995, p. 313, n. 3) that this pronoun refers to gnosis according to Wonch’uk, although his translation does not reflect this interpretation. Since wisdom has not been mentioned earlier in the text and since the pronoun de is anaphoric, I read de as referring to the Buddha. Moreover, the concept of “root of virtue” is usually associated with persons and we have a reference to dbang sgyur ba in the next qualifying phrase.
n.­38
The clause dbang sgyur ba’i rnam par rig pa shin tu rnam par rig pa’i mtshan nyid is problematic. Lamotte translates it in the following way: “très pur, il se caractérise par une pensée maîtresse de soi.” Cornu and Powers follow the reading found in D, folio  2.a; S, folio 4.a; Kǫ, folio 1.a; L, folio 3.a; and H, folio 3.a ( dbang sgyur ba’i rnam par rig pa shin tu rnam par rig pa’i mtshan nyid) and render the two occurrences of rnam par rig pa by an apposition: “It was characterized by perfect knowledge, the knowledge of one who has mastery.” (Powers 1995, p. 5). However, in F, folio 4.b we find a variant reading which, I believe, makes more sense: dbang byed pa’i rnam par rig pa shin tu rnam par dag pa’i mtshan nyid. The Tibetan verbal prefix shin tu rnam par is used to render the upasarga su- in Sanskrit, like in suviśuddha. In Mvyut 351, blo shin tu rnam par dag pa thus translates the Sanskrit suviśuddhabuddhiḥ.
n.­39
nges par ’byung ba. In Skt. niḥsaraṇa or niryāṇa, which have the meaning of setting forth, issue, exit, departure, escape, a road out of town. The analogy here is not about emancipation or renunciation as Powers and Cornu translated it but rather with the metaphor of the journey. In that sense, what is meant here is the departure to reach the palace. Lamotte (1935), Keenan (2000), and Cleary (1999) follow Xuanzang’s translation: 大念慧行以為游路 (Cbeta, Taishō 676). Interestingly enough, F does not have nges par ’byung ba but just ’byung ba.
n.­40
rin po che’i pad ma’i rgyal po chen po yon tan gyi tshogs mtha’ yas pas brgyan pa’i bkod pa la rten pa na bzhugs te. This clause has been translated in various ways depending on how one understands the compound rin po che’i pad ma’i rgyal po chen po yon tan gyi tshogs mtha’ yas pas. Lamotte (1935), Powers (1995), and Cornu (2005) read it as a dvandva: “II est orné de qualités infinies, de joyaux, de lotus et de grands rois” (Lamotte 1935, p. 167); “this pattern was adorned with boundless masses of excellent qualities, and with great kingly jeweled lotuses” (Powers 1995, pp. 5–6); “paré d’infinies qualités et de grands lotus royaux incrustés de pierreries” (Cornu 2005, p. 26). However, it seems to me that it would be better to read this compound as a karmadhāraya. Folio 5.a offers a variant reading that could support this interpretation: yon ten gyi tshogs mtha’ yas pas/ brgyan pa’i rin po che chen po pad mo’i rgyal po’i bkod pa’i gnas na nyan thos kyi dge ’dun tshad med pa dang / thabs gcig tu bzhugs te. In addition to this problem, one should note that Lamotte’s translation of the compound rin po che’i pad ma’i rgyal po chen po as a dvandva is inaccurate here. Powers’ reading of this term is correct.
n.­53
brjod du med pa dang / gnyis su med pa’i mtshan nyid. I read this compound as a bahuvrīhi. The full clause [brjod du med pa dang / gnyis su med pa’i mtshan nyid] + [don dam pa] is a karmadhāraya meaning literally “the ultimate that is that whose defining characteristic is inexpressible and absolute.” Powers’ suggestion is also possible here (“the ultimate whose defining characteristic is inexpressible and non-dual”). Lamotte leaves out mtshan nyid. Cornu somewhat mixes qualifiers and qualified terms in his rendering of this clause.
n.­65
brtsams pa; ārabhya with the meaning of “referring to/having to do with,” a frequent occurrence in Saṃdh. See Edgerton 1953, p. 102.
n.­66
rtog ge thams cad las yang dag par ’das pa; sarva­tarka­samati­krānta. Regarding the translation of the term rtog ge (tarka), Powers 1995, p. 25 suggests “argumentation,” but the emphasis in the present context is not on logical reasoning. The term tarka denotes here any kind of assumption, presupposition, representation, or conjecture regarding the absolute that is the product of the intellect (manas).
n.­74
I am using the adjective “indistinct” here in the sense of the first definition given in the Oxford English Dictionary: “1. Not distinct or distinguished from each other, or from something else; not kept separate or apart in the mind or perception; not clearly defined or marked off.” Oxford English Dictionary Online, s.v. “indistinct,” accessed July 20, 2020, https://www-oed-com.ezproxy.leidenuniv.nl:2443/view/Entry/94602?redirectedFrom=indistinct#eid.
n.­75
mos pa; praṇidhāna. See mos pa spyod pa’i sa. See Mvyut 897: mos pa spyod pa’i sa; adhimukticaryābhūmiḥ.
n.­76
Schmithausen reads don dam pa’i mtshan nyid (paramārthalakṣaṇa) as “the defining characteristic that is the ultimate” in 3.­5 (see Schmithausen 2014, p. 558, §512.3). However, Saṃdh. chapter 3 is about conditioned phenomena in relation to the ultimate when their respective defining characteristics are examined. The question here is not to determine whether the ultimate is the defining characteristic of conditioned phenomena. Rather, it is to determine whether the conditioned and the ultimate are different by examining their defining characteristics. Therefore, I read don dam pa’i mtshan nyid as “the defining characteristic of the ultimate,” namely, as a genitive tatpuruṣa and not as a karmadhāraya.
n.­77
To render sha stag.
n.­90
Lit. “in the world of beings.”
n.­91
F reads here shes pa in agreement with D. See F, folio 14.bff.
n.­92
dmigs pa; ālambana. I think it is important here to read dmigs pa as meaning “object” because in folio 11.a the Buddha contrasts these various objects (aggregates, sense sources, constituents, truths, etc.) with the “object conducive to purification” (rnam par dag pa’i dmigs pa, *viśuddhyālambana; see Schmithausen 2014, p. 362, §306.5 and n. 1644). Translating dmigs pa here as “observing” would weaken the central opposition between (a) the objects taken as a reference point for their practice by those who have not realized the defining characteristic of the ultimate and (b) the object conducive to purification, which is present within all phenomena. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce this fundamental point.
n.­101
ji tsam gyis; kiyant. The complete sentence reads, “In what sense are they skilled in the secrets of mind, thought, and cognition?”
n.­137
This enumeration follows the structure found in 4.­2.
n.­138
D: thams cad ngo bo nyid ma mchis pa for chos thams cad ngo bo nyid ma mchis pa (D, folio 16.b passim).
n.­139
For a list of texts including this sentence, see Lamotte 1935, p. 198.
n.­140
rnam par gnas pa; vyavasthita (Chinese: 安立).
n.­141
See Lamotte’s and Frauwallner’s translations of this passage (Lamotte 1935, p. 194 and Frauwallner 1969, p. 291). Both read rnam par gnas pa (“établi,” “beruht”) as the main verb in both clauses, which is syntactically dubious. Xuanzang’s translation concords with D: 善男子云何諸法無自性性謂諸法遍計所執相。何以故。此由假名安立為相非由自性安立為相 (Cbeta, Taishō 676). The complete definition of pari­kalpita­lakṣaṇa in 6.­4: D should be kept in mind when translating the definition of the lakṣaṇaniḥsva­bhāvatā: yon tan ’byung gnas de la chos rnams kyi kun brtags pa’i mtshan nyid gang zhe na/ ji tsam du rjes su tha snyad gdags pa’i phyir chos rnams kyi ngo bo nyid dam bye brag tu ming dang brdar rnam par gzhag pa gang yin pa’o.
n.­142
rab tu phye ba; prabhāvita (see Schmithausen 2014, p. 400, n. 1770).
n.­143
See Schmithausen 2014, p. 559. Schmithausen reads paramārthaniḥsva­bhāvatā as “lack of own-being [that is] the ultimate reality.”
n.­144
For a discussion of the syntactic construction gcig … gcig, refer to Tillemans 1997, pp. 161–64.
n.­145
See Schmithausen 2014, p. 560 on the textual material pertaining to this sentence.
n.­146
See Schmithausen 2014, p. 561ff.
n.­147
For a complete comparison of this passage across editions, see Kojirō Katō’s forthcoming edition of the text. As an example, it is interesting to compare the syntax of D and F. D: don dam yang dag ’phags pas ni sems can gyi khams na sems can rnams kyis kun brtags pa’i ngo bo nyid ngo bo nyid kyis tha dad par mthong zhing gzhan gyi dbang gi ngo bo nyid dang / yongs su grub pa’i ngo bo nyid kyang ngo bo nyid kyis tha dad par mthong na/ de’i phyir ngo bo nyid med pa nyid rnam pa gsum mi ’dogs kyi. Interestingly, L, S, and T are in agreement with D, as are C, J, N. P. VD, VG, and VP. Only F offers a variant reading (folio 25.b): don dam yang dag ’phags sems can gyi khams ni/ sems can rnams kyis kun brtags pa’i rang bzhin ngo bo nyid kyis tha dad par mi mthong / gzhan gyi dbang gi rang bzhin dang / yongs su grub pa’i rang bzhin yang ngo bo nyid kyis tha dad par yang mi mthong ste/ de’i phyir ngas rang bzhin med pa rnams gsum du gzhag go. F explains why the Buddha taught an essencelessness by referring to beings as not perceiving a distinct essence in the three natures: “Para­mārtha­samud­gata, beings in the world of beings do not consider the imaginary essence as different from an essence. They do not even consider the other-dependent essence and the actual essence as different from an essence. As a consequence, I presented the threefold essencelessness.” This does not make much sense. I therefore follow the reading found in D. Frauwallner chose to follow D very closely here. He takes as the subject of the verb mi ’dogs the Buddha, like Powers and Lamotte: “Ich habe … die dreifache Wesenlosigkeit nicht verkündet, weil die Lebewesen in der Sphäre der Lebewesen das vorgestellte Wesen seinem Wesen nach als etwas Verschiedenes ansehen, und weil sie das abhängige Wesen und das vollkommene Wesen seinem Wesen nach als etwas Verschiedenes ansehen.” Lamotte’s translation (Lamotte 1935, p. 196) reads, “Si j’expose [for ’dogs] la triple Irréalité, ce n’est pas parce que les êtres, dans le monde des êtres, considèrent la nature imaginaire comme une nature distincte, ou les natures dépendante et absolue comme des natures distinctes. Au contraire…” With “au contraire,” Lamotte expresses the adversative function of the particle kyi at the end of the clause de’i phyir ngo bo nyid med pa nyid rnam pa gsum mi ’dogs kyi. To achieve this, Lamotte reads mi ’dogs in an affirmative mode and in the negative the statement regarding beings, which is in agreement with Xuanzang’s translation: 復次勝義生非由有情界中諸有情類別觀遍計所執自性為自性故。亦非由彼別觀依他起自性及圓成實自性為自性故我立三種無自性性。然由有情於依他起自性及圓成實自性上增益遍計所執自性故我立三種無自性性 (Cbeta, Taishō 676).
n.­148
sems; citta. This is one of the synonyms for the subliminal mind (kun gzhi rnam par shes pa; ālayavijñāna) as explained in chapter 5. See chapters 5 and 6 on the latent disposition of the mind through karmic seeds in the sense of conventions.
n.­149
bag la nyal; anuśaya. In the sense of “adhering/sticking” and “being latent/inclined” here (see Schmithausen 2014, p. 687).
n.­150
Powers’ translation does not render the meaning of this sentence: “Due to these causes and conditions, in the future [this view of] the own-being of the other-dependent proliferates.” (Powers 1995, p. 107). The other-dependent in the sense of dependent arising refers here to rebirth and future lives.
n.­151
yang dag par (“perfectly”) is important here, as it echoes the statement above and without it the entire paragraph loses its meaning: to achieve perfect liberation, the teaching on essencelessness with regard to both defining characteristics and the ultimate is necessary.
n.­152
L, S, T, and F (e.g., F, folio 27.a) logically confirm shes pa, which is interesting since it establishes a distinction between occurrences of shes pa and ye shes, which D does not do systematically (see Kojirō Katō’s edition of chapter 7). The term here is a synonym for sems; see the parallel passage above in 7.­10.
n.­153
F, folio 27.a, has lam ’di nyid dang ’grod pa ’di nyid kyis instead of D: lam ’di nyid dang sgrub pa ’di nyid kyis grub pa dang. C, H, J, N, and Kǫ also read sgrub; VD, VG, VP: bsgrub; L, S: bgrod; F, T: ’grod. (cf. Kojirō Katō’s edition).
n.­154
don dam yang dag ’phags nyan thos kyi rigs can gang zag zhi ba’i bgrod pa gcig pu pa ni sangs rgyas thams cad brtson pa dang ldan par gyur kyang byang chub kyi snying po la bzhag ste. Brunnhölzl reads the qualifying clause sangs rgyas thams cad brtson pa dang ldan par gyur in quite a different way here: “even if all buddhas with [all] their effort] were [to attempt] to establish persons with the śrāvaka disposition…” (Brunnhölzl 2018, p. 1522).
n.­155
’du byed mngon par ’du bya ba; saṃskārābhi­saṃskaraṇa. Compare with the Sanskrit sentence in Tucci’s edition of Bhāvanākrama (Tucci 1971, p. 22): ekānta­sattvārtha­vimukhasya ekānta­saṃsārābhi­saṃskāra­vimukhasya [nā]uttarā samyaksaṃbodhir uktā mayeti, which has saṃ­sārābhi­saṃskāra instead of saṃskārābhi­saṃskaraṇa as found in Tibetan.
n.­156
chos; dharma.
n.­157
drang po dang drang po’i rang bzhin can/ rtog pa dang sel mi nus pa. Powers understands rtog pa dang sel as “to remove conceptuality.” (Powers 1995, p. 117). F, folio 28.b reads, brtag pa dang / bzhig pa mi nus pa. The problem is that sel is a transitive verb. It is therefore syntactically difficult to take rtog pa as the object of sel. In the present case, Keenan’s solution based on Chinese is interesting: “to make judgments” (Keenan 2000, p. 42).
n.­158
zhib mo brtags pa’i mkhas pa dang ’dzangs pas rig pa; sūkṣmaṃ nipuṇapaṇḍitavijñavedanīyaḥ (see Mvyut 2918). Lit. “It is to be known.” All Sanskrit synonyms for this sentence are found in Mvyut 2013–20.
n.­159
In accordance with the multiple occurrences of this phrase in chapter 2, shes pa should be read here as ye shes in agreement with F.
n.­160
See Lamotte 1935, p. 201, n. 31: las kyi sgrib chen po refers here to saddharmapratikṣepakarmāvaraṇa.
n.­161
chos ’dul ba; dharmavinaya (read as a dvandva).
n.­162
I read rnam par rtog pa’i spyod yul kun brtags pa’i mtshan nyid kyi gnas ’du byed kyi mtshan ma (D) as a karmadhāraya, which means that the last compound in the series of three should be topicalized. It seems to me that since the opposition between nimitta (“phenomenal appearance”) and svabhāva or svalakṣaṇa (“unique/specific/particular defining characteristic or essence”) is central throughout the text, reading the compound in this way clarifies the meaning of this definition of the parikalpita, which basically results from the operation consisting in attributing an essence to appearance by means of verbal conventions.
n.­163
This definition elaborates on the definition of parikalpitasvabhāva formulated in 6.­4. In 6.­5 and 6.­7; that which has the defining characteristic of dependent arising is equated with phenomenal appearance. On the basis of what is dependent on an other, essence is imputed in the sense of a real entity, independent of any other cause to exist as what it is. This corresponds to the imaginary defining characteristic.
n.­164
Lamotte’s translation is built on the same structure but inverts the main clauses of the sentence: In the nimitta, the parikalpita is unestablished. See Lamotte 1935, p. 204.
n.­165
Lamotte’s translation is built on the same structure but inverts the main clauses of the sentence: In the nimitta, the parikalpita is unestablished. See Lamotte 1935, p. 204. D: kun brtags pa’i mtshan nyid der yongs su ma grub. I read kun brtags pa’i mtshan nyid as a bahuvrīhi: “that which has the imaginary defining characteristic” or “that which consists in/is characterized by the imaginary.”
n.­166
yang dag pa’i ting nge ’dzin; samyaksamādhi.
n.­167
D: bcom ldan ’das nges pa’i don bstan pa ’di should be read bcom ldan ’das kyi (or kyis as in VD) nges pa’i don bstan pa ’di, lit. “of the Blessed One,” rendered here as “[expounded] by the Blessed One.” bcom ldan ’das is omitted in L, S, T, and F; see Katō’s edition of chapter 7.
n.­168
Lamotte and Powers understand the statement “All phenomena are without an essence, unborn, unceasing, primordially in the state of peace, and naturally in the state of nirvāṇa” to be the teaching of definitive meaning (see Lamotte 1935, p. 206 and Powers 1995, pp. 135–37). However, the entire point of this chapter is that there is an underlying intent of definitive meaning to this statement. This is the reason why it is explained in the next paragraphs that a third turning of the wheel of Dharma was necessary.
n.­169
D: de bzhin du chos rnams kyi ngo bo nyid ma mchis pa nyid las brtsams/ skye ba ma mchis pa dang / ’gag pa ma mchis pa dang / gzod ma nas zhi ba dang / rang bzhin gyis yongs su mya ngan las ’das pa nyid las brtsams nas/ bcom ldan ’das nges pa’i don bstan pa ’di yang drang ba’i don gyi mdo sde thams cad du stsal bar bgyi pa lags so. C, H, J, N, Kǫ, VG, VP, L, S, T, and F also read stsal; VD: bstsal (cf. Kojirō Katō’s edition). Lamotte translates stsal with “se recommande” to create a parallel construction with the analogy of the dried ginger (see Lamotte 1935, p. 205). This somehow does not solve our problem. Powers translates stsal bar gyi with a past tense “placed” (see Powers 1995, p. 137). Keenan 2000, p. 48 offers a Literal rendering of Xuanzang’s translation that is similar to the Tibetan version of the text (如是世尊依此諸法皆無自性無生無滅本來寂靜自性涅槃無自性性了義言教遍於一切不了義經皆應安處, Cbeta, Taishō 676): “just so, World-Honored One, the explicit teaching that all things have no-essence, no arising, and no passing away, are originally quiescent, and are essentially in cessation must be put into all the scriptures of implicit meaning.”
n.­170
D: drang ba’i don rtsod pa’i gzhi’i gnas su gyur pa lags la in the sense of drang ba’i don lags te/ rtsod pa’i gzhi’i gnas su gyur pa lags la as in nges pa’i don lags te/ rtsod pa’i gzhi’i gnas su gyur pa ma lags so (see D, folio 25.a).
n.­171
This is an important statement regarding the intent of the third turning of the wheel, which is to bring together those following the hearers’ and the bodhisattvas’ paths within a single vehicle.
n.­172
By repeating the same statement to describe the second and third turnings, it is made clear that interpreting this statement in terms of emptiness alone is provisional. The underlying intent of the statement corresponds to the teaching found in the third turning.
n.­173
Lit. “Blessed One, what is the name of that which has been taught as a Dharma discourse ascertaining the [Tathāgata’s] intent?”
n.­174
gzung bar bgyi; dhārayāmi (cf. Sanskrit text in Matsuda 2013, p. 940 ad Lamotte VIII.41). I suggest reading dhārayāmi, which is a causative present of dhṛ-, as an optative here.
n.­175
This refers to byang chub kyi sems; bodhicitta.
n.­308
See translation of VinSg 16 in Sakuma 1990, p. 202: “Der Dharmakāya der Tathāgatas ist dadurch charakterisiert, daß die [ihn konstituierende] ‘Umgestaltung der Grundlage’ daraus hervorgegangen ist, daß man die [Bodhisattva-]Stufen und Vollkommenheiten durch intensive Übung gemeistert hat.”
n.­309
mngon par ’du bya ba med pa; anabhisaṃskāraṇa.

b.

Bibliography

Tibetan Sources

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’phags pa dgongs pa nges par ’grel pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo. bka’ ’gyur (dpe bsdur ma) [Comparative Edition of the Kangyur], krung go’i bod rig pa zhib ’jug ste gnas kyi bka’ bstan dpe sdur khang (The Tibetan Tripitaka Collation Bureau of the China Tibetology Research Center). 108 volumes. Beijing: krung go’i bod rig pa dpe skrun khang (China Tibetology Publishing House), 2006–9, vol. 49, pp. 3–131.

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Other Canonical Sources for Samdh.

Bd3.7 vol. 3 (ta) pha, folios 1.b–84.a

C747 vol. 29 (mdo sde, ca), folios 1.b–71.a

Dd031-001 (mdo ca), folios 1.b–69.b

Dk034-001 (mdo na), folios 1.b–87.b

Do (mdo sde, da), folios 196.a–246.b

F156 vol. 68 (mdo sde, tsha), folios 1.b–72.a

Go19,01 vol. 19 (ka), folios 1.b–36.a

Gt028-001 (mdo na), folios 1.b–72.b

H109 vol. 51 (mdo sde, ca), folios 1.b–87.b

He64.6 (mdo, wa), folios 62.b–125.b

J51 vol. 44 (mdo sde, ca), folios 1.b–59.b

Kǫ774 vol. 29 (mdo sna tshogs, ngu), folios 1.b–60.b

L82 vol. 42 (mdo sde, na), folios 1.b–80.b

N94 vol. 51 (mdo sde, ca) folios 1.a–81.a.

Np012-001 (mdo na), folios 1.b–87.a

Pj043-001 (mdo ca), folios 1.b–62.b

Pz045-001 (mdo ca), folios 1.b–61.a

R106 vol. 49 (mdo sde, ca), folios 1.b–55.b

S106 vol. 63 (mdo sde, na), folios 1.b–80.b

U106 vol. 49 (mdo sde, ca), folios 1.b–55.b

X (mdo sde, wa), folios 66.a–132.a

Z137 vol. 59 (mdo, na), folios 1.b–93.a

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g.

Glossary

Types of attestation for names and terms of the corresponding source language

AS

Attested in source text

This term is attested in a manuscript used as a source for this translation.

AO

Attested in other text

This term is attested in other manuscripts with a parallel or similar context.

AD

Attested in dictionary

This term is attested in dictionaries matching Tibetan to the corresponding language.

AA

Approximate attestation

The attestation of this name is approximate. It is based on other names where the relationship between the Tibetan and source language is attested in dictionaries or other manuscripts.

RP

Reconstruction from Tibetan phonetic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the Tibetan phonetic rendering of the term.

RS

Reconstruction from Tibetan semantic rendering

This term is a reconstruction based on the semantics of the Tibetan translation.

SU

Source unspecified

This term has been supplied from an unspecified source, which most often is a widely trusted dictionary.

g.­1

abiding in phenomena

Wylie:
  • chos gnas pa nyid
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་གནས་པ་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • dharmasthititā

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 4.­10
g.­2

absorption

Wylie:
  • snyoms par ’jug pa
Tibetan:
  • སྙོམས་པར་འཇུག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • samāpatti

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Sanskrit literally means “attainment,” and is used to refer specifically to meditative attainment and to particular meditative states. The Tibetan translators interpreted it as sama-āpatti, which suggests the idea of “equal” or “level”; however, they also parsed it as sam-āpatti, in which case it would have the sense of “concentration” or “absorption,” much like samādhi, but with the added sense of “attainment.”

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 8.­34-35
  • 9.­3
  • 9.­5
  • g.­359
g.­3

absorption in the state of cessation

Wylie:
  • ’gog pa la snyoms par zhugs pa
Tibetan:
  • འགོག་པ་ལ་སྙོམས་པར་ཞུགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • nirodhasamāpatti

See Mvyut 1500 and 1988.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 10.­9
g.­4

accept

Wylie:
  • len
Tibetan:
  • ལེན།
Sanskrit:
  • ādadante

cf. Sanskrit text in Matsuda 2013, p. 940 ad Lamotte VIII.40.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • i.­21
  • 7.­13
  • 7.­20-21
  • 7.­23
  • 8.­40
  • n.­136
  • n.­343
g.­5

acceptance that phenomena are non-arisen

Wylie:
  • mi skye ba’i chos la bzod pa
Tibetan:
  • མི་སྐྱེ་བའི་ཆོས་ལ་བཟོད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • anutpattidharmakṣānti

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The bodhisattvas’ realization that all phenomena are unproduced and empty. It sustains them on the difficult path of benefiting all beings so that they do not succumb to the goal of personal liberation. Different sources link this realization to the first or eighth bodhisattva level (bhūmi).

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 7.­33
g.­6

accomplishment of the goal

Wylie:
  • dgos pa yongs su grub pa
Tibetan:
  • དགོས་པ་ཡོངས་སུ་གྲུབ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • kṛtyānuṣṭhāna

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • i.­16
  • 8.­2
  • 8.­15
  • 8.­35-36
  • n.­230-231
  • n.­239
g.­7

accumulated

Wylie:
  • kun tu bsags pa
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་ཏུ་བསགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • ācita

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • p.­3
  • 5.­3
  • 5.­6
  • 7.­32
  • 9.­10
  • 9.­13
  • n.­118
g.­11

actual defining characteristic

Wylie:
  • yongs su grub pa’i mtshan nyid
Tibetan:
  • ཡོངས་སུ་གྲུབ་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • pari­niṣpanna­lakṣaṇa

Located in 15 passages in the translation:

  • i.­10-12
  • i.­17
  • 6.­3
  • 6.­7
  • 6.­9-11
  • 7.­6
  • 7.­20
  • 7.­25-27
  • 8.­31
g.­12

actual essence

Wylie:
  • yongs su grub pa’i ngo bo nyid
  • yongs su grub pa’i rang bzhin
Tibetan:
  • ཡོངས་སུ་གྲུབ་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད།
  • ཡོངས་སུ་གྲུབ་པའི་རང་བཞིན།
Sanskrit:
  • pariniṣpannasvabhāva

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­10
  • n.­147
g.­13

actualization

Wylie:
  • mngon du bya ba
Tibetan:
  • མངོན་དུ་བྱ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • sākṣātkāra

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­1
  • 4.­3-4
  • 7.­1
  • 10.­5
  • g.­181
g.­15

affliction

Wylie:
  • kun nas nyon mongs pa
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་ནས་ཉོན་མོངས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • saṃkleśa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A term meaning defilement, impurity, and pollution, broadly referring to cognitive and emotional factors that disturb and obscure the mind. As the self-perpetuating process of affliction in the minds of beings, it is a synonym for saṃsāra. It is often paired with its opposite, vyavadāna, meaning “purification.”

Located in 30 passages in the translation:

  • i.­8
  • i.­10
  • i.­12
  • i.­17
  • i.­23
  • p.­1
  • 3.­4-6
  • 6.­11-12
  • 7.­9-10
  • 7.­12-13
  • 8.­19-20
  • 8.­22
  • 8.­30-31
  • 8.­35-36
  • 9.­4
  • 9.­7
  • 9.­20
  • 9.­22
  • 10.­5
  • 10.­7-8
  • n.­279
g.­16

aggregate

Wylie:
  • phung pho
Tibetan:
  • ཕུང་ཕོ།
Sanskrit:
  • skandha

The five skandhas (pañcaskandha) are: forms (rūpa), sensation (vedanā), conception (saṃjñā), formations (saṃskāra), consciousness (vijñāna).

Located in 16 passages in the translation:

  • i.­11
  • i.­14
  • i.­19
  • 2.­3
  • 4.­2
  • 4.­8-10
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­13
  • 7.­25
  • 8.­20-21
  • 8.­38
  • 9.­32
  • n.­92
g.­23

appearance

Wylie:
  • snang ba
Tibetan:
  • སྣང་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • pratibhāsa

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • i.­7
  • 1.­5
  • 7.­19
  • 8.­8
  • 8.­17
  • 8.­28
  • n.­162
  • n.­186
g.­24

appearancelessness

Wylie:
  • mtshan ma med pa
Tibetan:
  • མཚན་མ་མེད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • animitta

One of the three gates of liberation along with emptiness and wishlessness.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • p.­1
  • 9.­18
  • g.­188
  • g.­408
g.­25

applications of mindfulness

Wylie:
  • dran pa nye bar gzhag pa
Tibetan:
  • དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་གཞག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • smṛtyupasthāna

The four foundations of mindfulness refers to the application of mindfulness to: the body, sensations, the mind, phenomena.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­5
  • 4.­8-10
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­26
  • 8.­21
  • 10.­7
g.­28

aspiration

Wylie:
  • smon lam
Tibetan:
  • སྨོན་ལམ།
Sanskrit:
  • praṇidhāna

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 8.­1
  • 9.­8
  • 9.­10
  • 9.­13
  • 9.­33
g.­30

assumption

Wylie:
  • mngon par zhen pa
Tibetan:
  • མངོན་པར་ཞེན་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • abhiniviśanti

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 9.­13
  • n.­66
g.­31

attaining the powers

Wylie:
  • stobs bskyed pa
Tibetan:
  • སྟོབས་བསྐྱེད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • balādhāna

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 7.­13
g.­34

Avaloki­teśvara

Wylie:
  • spyan ras gzigs
  • ’phags pa spyan ras gzigs dbang phyug
Tibetan:
  • སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས།
  • འཕགས་པ་སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་དབང་ཕྱུག
Sanskrit:
  • avaloki­teśvara
  • āryāva­loki­teśvara

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the “eight close sons of the Buddha,” he is also known as the bodhisattva who embodies compassion. In certain tantras, he is also the lord of the three families, where he embodies the compassion of the buddhas. In Tibet, he attained great significance as a special protector of Tibet, and in China, in female form, as Guanyin, the most important bodhisattva in all of East Asia.

In this text:

Also mentioned in this text as Āryāva­loki­teśvara, the noble Avaloki­teśvara.

Located in 34 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­4
  • p.­4
  • 9.­1-3
  • 9.­5-31
  • 9.­33
g.­35

awakening

Wylie:
  • byang chub
Tibetan:
  • བྱང་ཆུབ།
Sanskrit:
  • bodhi

Located in 43 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1
  • i.­5-6
  • i.­21
  • i.­56
  • 1.­2-3
  • 2.­2
  • 3.­3
  • 3.­6
  • 4.­7
  • 6.­6
  • 7.­15-16
  • 7.­19
  • 7.­33
  • 8.­1
  • 8.­10
  • 8.­13
  • 8.­17
  • 8.­20-21
  • 8.­36
  • 8.­40-41
  • 9.­5
  • 9.­18-19
  • 9.­23-24
  • 9.­31
  • 10.­4-5
  • 10.­9-10
  • n.­80
  • n.­82
  • n.­95
  • n.­126
  • n.­191
  • n.­231
  • g.­178
g.­37

awakening mind

Wylie:
  • byang chub kyi sems
Tibetan:
  • བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས།
Sanskrit:
  • bodhicitta

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In the general Mahāyāna teachings the mind of awakening (bodhicitta) is the intention to attain the complete awakening of a perfect buddha for the sake of all beings. On the level of absolute truth, the mind of awakening is the realization of the awakened state itself.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­49
  • 9.­9
  • n.­175
g.­39

bahuvrīhi

Wylie:
  • —
Tibetan:
  • —
Sanskrit:
  • bahuvrīhi

Type of Sanskrit compound.

Located in 14 passages in the translation:

  • i.­42
  • i.­45
  • i.­50
  • n.­36
  • n.­53
  • n.­73
  • n.­86
  • n.­94
  • n.­135
  • n.­165
  • n.­311
  • n.­327
  • n.­361
  • n.­370
g.­40

bases of supernatural powers

Wylie:
  • rdzu ’phrul gyi rkang pa
Tibetan:
  • རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་གྱི་རྐང་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • ṛddhipādaḥ

The four bases of supernatural powers (ṛddhipāda, rdzu ’phrul gyi rkang pa bzhi) are: (1) concentration through will (chanda, ’dun pa), (2) concentration through vigor (vīrya, brtson ’grus), (3) concentration through the mind (citta, bsam pa), and (4) concentration through investigation (mīmāṃsā, dpyod pa ). See Rahula 2001, p. 163.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­5
  • 4.­8-10
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­26
g.­45

blessed one

Wylie:
  • bcom ldan ’das
Tibetan:
  • བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།
Sanskrit:
  • bhagavān
  • bhagavat

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In Buddhist literature, this is an epithet applied to buddhas, most often to Śākyamuni. The Sanskrit term generally means “possessing fortune,” but in specifically Buddhist contexts it implies that a buddha is in possession of six auspicious qualities (bhaga) associated with complete awakening. The Tibetan term‍—where bcom is said to refer to “subduing” the four māras, ldan to “possessing” the great qualities of buddhahood, and ’das to “going beyond” saṃsāra and nirvāṇa‍—possibly reflects the commentarial tradition where the Sanskrit bhagavat is interpreted, in addition, as “one who destroys the four māras.” This is achieved either by reading bhagavat as bhagnavat (“one who broke”), or by tracing the word bhaga to the root √bhañj (“to break”).

Located in 114 passages in the translation:

  • p.­1-4
  • 2.­1-2
  • 2.­4
  • 3.­1-2
  • 3.­7
  • 4.­1
  • 4.­6-7
  • 4.­12
  • 5.­1
  • 5.­7
  • 6.­1-2
  • 6.­12
  • 7.­1-2
  • 7.­18-19
  • 7.­24-33
  • 8.­1-3
  • 8.­5-10
  • 8.­12-19
  • 8.­24-36
  • 8.­38-41
  • 9.­1-2
  • 9.­4-33
  • 10.­1-12
  • n.­167
  • n.­173
  • n.­200
g.­47

branches of awakening

Wylie:
  • byang chub kyi yan lag
Tibetan:
  • བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག
Sanskrit:
  • bodhyaṅgāni

The seven branches of awakening are: (1) correct mindfulness, (2) correct discrimination of dharmas, (3) correct vigor, (4) correct joy, (5) correct flexibility, (6) correct concentration, and (7) correct equanimity.

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­5
  • 4.­8-10
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­26
  • n.­93
g.­48

bring together

Wylie:
  • kun ’byung ba
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་འབྱུང་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • samudaya

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • i.­43
  • 8.­15
  • n.­171
g.­51

Buddha Stage

Wylie:
  • sangs rgyas kyi sa
Tibetan:
  • སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ས།
Sanskrit:
  • buddhabhūmi

The name of a bodhisattva stage.

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • 9.­1
  • 9.­3-6
  • 9.­20
  • 9.­29
g.­52

can [only] be known by intelligent scholars well versed in the subtle

Wylie:
  • zhib mo brtags pa’i mkhas pa dang ’dzangs pas rig pa
Tibetan:
  • ཞིབ་མོ་བརྟགས་པའི་མཁས་པ་དང་འཛངས་པས་རིག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • sūkṣmaṃ nipuṇapaṇḍitavijñavedanīyaḥ

Mahāvyutpatti 2918.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 7.­19
g.­55

changing opinions

Wylie:
  • blo gros tha dad pa
Tibetan:
  • བློ་གྲོས་ཐ་དད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • matibheda

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 2.­1
g.­56

characterized by

Wylie:
  • rab tu phye ba
Tibetan:
  • རབ་ཏུ་ཕྱེ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • prabhāvita

See Schmithausen 2014, p. 557, §512.1. Also translated here as “consisting in” and “constituted.”

Located in 30 passages in the translation:

  • i.­8
  • i.­10
  • i.­22
  • i.­42
  • i.­45
  • p.­1
  • 2.­2
  • 3.­1
  • 3.­5-6
  • 4.­6-11
  • 6.­11-12
  • 7.­6
  • 7.­9
  • 10.­1
  • 10.­7
  • 10.­9-10
  • n.­165
  • n.­180-181
  • n.­370
  • g.­83
  • g.­87
g.­57

clarified butter

Wylie:
  • mar gyi snying khu
Tibetan:
  • མར་གྱི་སྙིང་ཁུ།
Sanskrit:
  • sarpirmaṇḍa

Mahāvyutpatti 5683.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 3.­6
  • 7.­28-29
g.­59

Cloud of Dharma

Wylie:
  • chos kyi sprin
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྤྲིན།
Sanskrit:
  • dharmameghā

The name of a bodhisattva stage.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 9.­1
  • 9.­4
g.­60

cognition

Wylie:
  • rnam par shes pa
Tibetan:
  • རྣམ་པར་ཤེས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • vijñāna

Located in 26 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • i.­9-10
  • i.­12
  • i.­16
  • i.­18
  • i.­22
  • i.­44
  • i.­55
  • i.­58
  • 5.­1
  • 5.­3-6
  • 8.­7
  • 8.­11
  • 8.­20
  • 8.­37
  • 10.­9
  • n.­101
  • n.­108
  • n.­181
  • g.­16
  • g.­161
  • g.­258
g.­66

comprehension

Wylie:
  • yongs su shes pa
Tibetan:
  • ཡོངས་སུ་ཤེས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • parijñā

Located in 11 passages in the translation:

  • i.­44
  • 4.­3
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­25-26
  • 8.­21
  • 8.­23-24
  • 10.­5
  • n.­187
  • g.­181
g.­68

concentration

Wylie:
  • ting nge ’dzin
Tibetan:
  • ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
Sanskrit:
  • samādhi

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In a general sense, samādhi can describe a number of different meditative states. In the Mahāyāna literature, in particular in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, we find extensive lists of different samādhis, numbering over one hundred.

In a more restricted sense, and when understood as a mental state, samādhi is defined as the one-pointedness of the mind (cittaikāgratā), the ability to remain on the same object over long periods of time. The Drajor Bamponyipa (sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa) commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti explains the term samādhi as referring to the instrument through which mind and mental states “get collected,” i.e., it is by the force of samādhi that the continuum of mind and mental states becomes collected on a single point of reference without getting distracted.

Located in 23 passages in the translation:

  • i.­16-17
  • 8.­4-5
  • 8.­7
  • 8.­9-10
  • 8.­17
  • 8.­24
  • 8.­30
  • 8.­32
  • 8.­34
  • 8.­37
  • 9.­3-4
  • 9.­18
  • 9.­33
  • n.­181
  • n.­200
  • g.­167
  • g.­168
  • g.­258
  • g.­359
g.­69

conception

Wylie:
  • ’du shes
Tibetan:
  • འདུ་ཤེས།
Sanskrit:
  • saṃjñā

Located in 15 passages in the translation:

  • i.­6
  • i.­10
  • i.­44
  • 1.­4-5
  • 7.­10
  • 8.­11
  • 8.­20
  • 8.­37
  • 9.­18-20
  • 10.­5
  • n.­191
  • g.­16
g.­71

conceptualization

Wylie:
  • rnam rtog
  • rnam par rtog pa
Tibetan:
  • རྣམ་རྟོག
  • རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • vikalpa

Located in 13 passages in the translation:

  • i.­12
  • i.­16
  • p.­4
  • 1.­5
  • 5.­2
  • 7.­25-27
  • 8.­2
  • 8.­34
  • 8.­36-37
  • n.­84
g.­74

conditioned

Wylie:
  • ’du byas
Tibetan:
  • འདུ་བྱས།
Sanskrit:
  • saṃskṛta

Located in 25 passages in the translation:

  • i.­6-10
  • i.­12
  • i.­17
  • 1.­1-5
  • 3.­5
  • 4.­10
  • 8.­36
  • 9.­3
  • 9.­17
  • 10.­5
  • 10.­7
  • n.­64
  • n.­76
  • n.­88
  • n.­125
  • n.­290
  • g.­161
g.­75

conditioned phenomena

Wylie:
  • ’du byed
Tibetan:
  • འདུ་བྱེད།
Sanskrit:
  • saṃskāra

Also translated here as “conditioning mental factors.”

Located in 33 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • i.­8
  • i.­10-11
  • i.­13
  • i.­15
  • i.­17
  • i.­20
  • 3.­1-7
  • 6.­12
  • 7.­11-13
  • 8.­12
  • 8.­15
  • 8.­20
  • 8.­29
  • 10.­7
  • n.­76
  • n.­80
  • n.­82
  • n.­100
  • n.­217
  • n.­337
  • n.­339
  • g.­76
  • g.­182
g.­76

conditioning mental factors

Wylie:
  • ’du byed
Tibetan:
  • འདུ་བྱེད།
Sanskrit:
  • saṃskāra

Also translated here as “conditioned phenomena.”

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 6.­5
  • 8.­30
  • n.­134
  • g.­75
g.­77

conditioning process of the mental factors

Wylie:
  • ’du byed mngon par ’du bya ba
Tibetan:
  • འདུ་བྱེད་མངོན་པར་འདུ་བྱ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • saṃskārābhi­saṃskaraṇa

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 7.­15
g.­78

conducive

Wylie:
  • grogs
Tibetan:
  • གྲོགས།
Sanskrit:
  • sahāya

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1
  • 8.­15
  • 8.­19-20
  • 9.­28
  • 10.­7
g.­79

confined

Wylie:
  • rjes su ’brel ba
Tibetan:
  • རྗེས་སུ་འབྲེལ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • anubandha

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­10
  • 7.­13
g.­83

consisting in

Wylie:
  • rab tu phye ba
Tibetan:
  • རབ་ཏུ་ཕྱེ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • prabhāvita

Also translated here as “characterized by” and “constituted.” See Schmithausen 2014, p. 557, §512.1.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • i.­42
  • 8.­30
  • 9.­4-5
  • n.­162
  • n.­290
  • g.­56
  • g.­87
g.­85

constant

Wylie:
  • rnam par gnas pa
Tibetan:
  • རྣམ་པར་གནས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • vyavasthita

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­10
  • 8.­1
g.­86

constituent

Wylie:
  • khams
Tibetan:
  • ཁམས།
Sanskrit:
  • dhātu

The eighteen constituents are: eye, visual object, visual consciousness; ear, sound, auditive consciousness; nose, smell, olfactory consciousness; tongue, taste, gustative consciousness; body, touch, tactile consciousness; mind, mental objects, mental consciousness. When it refers to six elements, they are: earth, water, fire, air, space, and consciousness.

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­4
  • 4.­8-10
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­25
  • n.­92
  • n.­100
  • n.­286
g.­87

constituted

Wylie:
  • rab tu phye ba
Tibetan:
  • རབ་ཏུ་ཕྱེ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • prabhāvita

See Schmithausen 2014, p. 557, §512.1. Also translated here as “characterized by” and “consisting in.”

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • i.­16
  • 8.­7
  • n.­181
  • g.­56
  • g.­83
g.­89

convention

Wylie:
  • rjes su tha snyad
Tibetan:
  • རྗེས་སུ་ཐ་སྙད།
Sanskrit:
  • anuvyavahāra

Located in 17 passages in the translation:

  • i.­6-8
  • i.­12
  • 1.­2-3
  • 2.­2-4
  • 3.­6
  • 4.­7
  • 6.­9
  • 10.­7
  • n.­124
  • n.­148
  • n.­162
  • n.­343
g.­90

conventionally

Wylie:
  • brda
Tibetan:
  • བརྡ།
Sanskrit:
  • saṃketa

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • 6.­4
  • 7.­4
  • 7.­25-27
  • n.­124
  • n.­133
g.­91

correct concentration

Wylie:
  • yang dag pa’i ting nge ’dzin
Tibetan:
  • ཡང་དག་པའི་ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།
Sanskrit:
  • samyaksamādhi

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­27
  • g.­47
g.­92

correct self-restraints

Wylie:
  • yang dag par spong ba
Tibetan:
  • ཡང་དག་པར་སྤོང་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • samyakprahāṇa

See “four correct self-restraints.”

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­8-10
  • 7.­26
  • 8.­21
g.­93

corruption

Wylie:
  • gnas ngan len
Tibetan:
  • གནས་ངན་ལེན།
Sanskrit:
  • dauṣṭhulya

Located in 15 passages in the translation:

  • i.­16
  • 3.­3
  • 3.­7
  • 7.­24
  • 8.­15
  • 8.­32
  • 8.­34
  • 8.­36-38
  • 9.­5
  • 9.­29-30
  • n.­82
  • n.­191
g.­97

deer park

Wylie:
  • ri dags kyi nags
Tibetan:
  • རི་དགས་ཀྱི་ནགས།
Sanskrit:
  • mṛgadāva

The forest, located outside of Varanasi, where the Buddha first taught the Dharma.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 7.­30
g.­98

defilement

Wylie:
  • nyon mongs pa
Tibetan:
  • ཉོན་མོངས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • kleśa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The essentially pure nature of mind is obscured and afflicted by various psychological defilements, which destroy the mind’s peace and composure and lead to unwholesome deeds of body, speech, and mind, acting as causes for continued existence in saṃsāra. Included among them are the primary afflictions of desire (rāga), anger (dveṣa), and ignorance (avidyā). It is said that there are eighty-four thousand of these negative mental qualities, for which the eighty-four thousand categories of the Buddha’s teachings serve as the antidote.

Kleśa is also commonly translated as “negative emotions,” “disturbing emotions,” and so on. The Pāli kilesa, Middle Indic kileśa, and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit kleśa all primarily mean “stain” or “defilement.” The translation “affliction” is a secondary development that derives from the more general (non-Buddhist) classical understanding of √kliś (“to harm,“ “to afflict”). Both meanings are noted by Buddhist commentators.

Located in 24 passages in the translation:

  • i.­25
  • 7.­10
  • 7.­12-13
  • 7.­16
  • 7.­24
  • 8.­20
  • 8.­34-35
  • 8.­37
  • 9.­4-5
  • 9.­9-10
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­18
  • 9.­27-28
  • 9.­31
  • 10.­7-8
  • n.­191
  • n.­300-301
g.­99

defining characteristic

Wylie:
  • mtshan nyid
Tibetan:
  • མཚན་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • svabhāvalakṣaṇa

Located in 70 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • i.­8
  • i.­10-11
  • i.­13-15
  • i.­17
  • i.­20-21
  • i.­55
  • 1.­1
  • 2.­1
  • 2.­3
  • 3.­1-7
  • 4.­3
  • 4.­6
  • 4.­8
  • 4.­10-12
  • 6.­1-3
  • 6.­6
  • 6.­9
  • 6.­11-12
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­4-5
  • 7.­7-8
  • 7.­10
  • 7.­12-13
  • 7.­20
  • 7.­22
  • 7.­24
  • 8.­20-21
  • 8.­23
  • 8.­29
  • 8.­31
  • 9.­31
  • 10.­1
  • 10.­7
  • 10.­9-10
  • n.­76
  • n.­80
  • n.­82
  • n.­88
  • n.­92
  • n.­94
  • n.­124-125
  • n.­133-134
  • n.­151
  • n.­162-163
  • n.­343
  • n.­370
g.­101

delusion

Wylie:
  • gti mug
Tibetan:
  • གཏི་མུག
Sanskrit:
  • moha

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the three poisons (dug gsum) along with aversion, or hatred, and attachment, or desire, which perpetuate the sufferings of cyclic existence. It is the obfuscating mental state which obstructs an individual from generating knowledge or insight, and it is said to be the dominant characteristic of the animal world in general. Commonly rendered as confusion, delusion, and ignorance, or bewilderment.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 3.­6
  • 8.­21
  • 9.­5
  • g.­273
g.­105

designation

Wylie:
  • btags pa
Tibetan:
  • བཏགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • prajñapti

Located in 17 passages in the translation:

  • i.­10
  • i.­17
  • 7.­10
  • 7.­13
  • 8.­20-27
  • 8.­29
  • 8.­40
  • n.­63
  • n.­202
  • n.­218
g.­108

Dharma discourse

Wylie:
  • chos kyi rnam grangs
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་གྲངས།
Sanskrit:
  • dharmaparyāya

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­33
  • 8.­41
  • 9.­33
  • 10.­12
  • n.­173
g.­110

Dharmodgata

Wylie:
  • chos ’phags
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་འཕགས།
Sanskrit:
  • dharmodgata

A bodhisattva mahāsattva.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­4
  • i.­50
  • p.­4
  • 2.­1-4
g.­112

diligence

Wylie:
  • brtson ’grus
Tibetan:
  • བརྩོན་འགྲུས།
Sanskrit:
  • viryā

Also translated here as “vigor.”

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • 6.­6
  • 9.­9-12
  • 9.­14
  • 9.­18
  • g.­176
  • g.­398
g.­118

discourses teaching Dharma

Wylie:
  • chos gdags pa rnam par gzhag pa
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་གདགས་པ་རྣམ་པར་གཞག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • dharmaprajñaptivyavasthā(pa)na

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 8.­1
  • 8.­3
g.­120

discrimination of dharmas

Wylie:
  • chos rab tu rnam par ’byed pa
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་རབ་ཏུ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • dharmapravicaya

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • g.­47
g.­121

distinct

Wylie:
  • tha dad pa
Tibetan:
  • ཐ་དད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • bheda

Located in 24 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • i.­8
  • i.­20
  • 3.­1-7
  • 4.­10-12
  • 8.­6-8
  • 8.­36
  • 9.­32-33
  • 10.­9
  • n.­82
  • n.­147
  • n.­181
  • n.­230
g.­122

distinctive

Wylie:
  • bye brag
Tibetan:
  • བྱེ་བྲག
Sanskrit:
  • viśeṣa

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 6.­4
  • 7.­4
  • n.­133
g.­123

distinctive characteristic

Wylie:
  • bye brag gi mtshan nyid
Tibetan:
  • བྱེ་བྲག་གི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • viṣeśalakṣaṇa

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­25-27
  • 8.­19
g.­124

distinctly perceive

Wylie:
  • rab tu shes
Tibetan:
  • རབ་ཏུ་ཤེས།
Sanskrit:
  • prajānāti

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 6.­10-12
  • 7.­20
g.­130

dvandva

Wylie:
  • —
Tibetan:
  • —
Sanskrit:
  • dvandva

Type of Sanskrit compound.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­42
  • n.­40
  • n.­161
  • n.­230
g.­136

emancipation

Wylie:
  • nges par ’byung ba
Tibetan:
  • ངེས་པར་འབྱུང་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • niḥsaraṇa
  • niryāṇa

Also translated here as “pathway.”

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • p.­3
  • n.­286
  • g.­178
  • g.­193
  • g.­285
g.­137

emptiness

Wylie:
  • stong pa nyid
Tibetan:
  • སྟོང་པ་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • śūnyatā

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Emptiness denotes the ultimate nature of reality, the total absence of inherent existence and self-identity with respect to all phenomena. According to this view, all things and events are devoid of any independent, intrinsic reality that constitutes their essence. Nothing can be said to exist independent of the complex network of factors that gives rise to its origination, nor are phenomena independent of the cognitive processes and mental constructs that make up the conventional framework within which their identity and existence are posited. When all levels of conceptualization dissolve and when all forms of dichotomizing tendencies are quelled through deliberate meditative deconstruction of conceptual elaborations, the ultimate nature of reality will finally become manifest. It is the first of the three gateways to liberation.

Located in 16 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­8
  • i.­17
  • p.­1
  • 7.­19
  • 7.­30
  • 8.­29-31
  • 9.­18
  • n.­172
  • n.­186
  • g.­24
  • g.­188
  • g.­194
  • g.­408
g.­141

equanimity

Wylie:
  • btang snyoms
Tibetan:
  • བཏང་སྙོམས།
Sanskrit:
  • upekṣā

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 8.­11
  • 8.­18
  • 9.­3
  • 9.­18
  • g.­47
g.­143

essence

Wylie:
  • ngo bo nyid
Tibetan:
  • ངོ་བོ་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • svabhāva

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

This term denotes the ontological status of phenomena, according to which they are said to possess existence in their own right‍—inherently, in and of themselves, objectively, and independent of any other phenomena such as our conception and labelling. The absence of such an ontological reality is defined as the true nature of reality, emptiness.

Located in 42 passages in the translation:

  • i.­10-13
  • i.­19
  • i.­22
  • i.­34
  • i.­58
  • 6.­4
  • 6.­9
  • 7.­1-2
  • 7.­4
  • 7.­6
  • 7.­8-9
  • 7.­17
  • 7.­20
  • 7.­22
  • 7.­24-28
  • 7.­30-31
  • 8.­26
  • 8.­29
  • 9.­18
  • 9.­26
  • 9.­32
  • 10.­7-8
  • n.­64
  • n.­124
  • n.­133
  • n.­147
  • n.­162-163
  • n.­168-169
  • g.­205
g.­144

essencelessness

Wylie:
  • ngo bo nyid med pa nyid
Tibetan:
  • ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • niḥsva­bhāvatā

The three kinds of essencelessness are essencelessness regarding defining characteristics, essencelessness regarding arising, and essencelessness regarding the ultimate.

Located in 27 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • i.­11
  • i.­14
  • i.­34
  • i.­55
  • 3.­5
  • 7.­3-8
  • 7.­10
  • 7.­12-13
  • 7.­17
  • 7.­24-27
  • 9.­18
  • 9.­26
  • n.­54
  • n.­133-134
  • n.­147
  • n.­151
g.­145

essencelessness regarding arising

Wylie:
  • skye ba ngo bo nyid med pa nyid
Tibetan:
  • སྐྱེ་བ་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • utpattiniḥsva­bhāvatā

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • i.­11
  • 7.­3
  • 7.­5
  • 7.­7
  • 7.­11-13
  • n.­134
  • g.­144
g.­146

essencelessness regarding defining characteristics

Wylie:
  • mtshan nyid ngo bo nyid med pa nyid
Tibetan:
  • མཚན་ཉིད་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • lakṣaṇaniḥsva­bhāvatā

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • i.­11
  • 7.­3
  • 7.­25-27
  • 9.­18
  • n.­141
  • g.­144
g.­147

essencelessness regarding the ultimate

Wylie:
  • don dam pa ngo bo nyid med pa nyid
Tibetan:
  • དོན་དམ་པ་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་མེད་པ་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • paramārthaniḥsva­bhāvatā

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • i.­11
  • i.­14
  • 7.­3
  • 7.­6-7
  • 7.­9
  • 7.­12-13
  • g.­144
g.­148

essential characteristic

Wylie:
  • ngo bo nyid kyi mtshan nyid
Tibetan:
  • ངོ་བོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • svabhāvalakṣaṇa

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­17
  • 7.­25-27
g.­149

established

Wylie:
  • rnam par bzhag pa
Tibetan:
  • རྣམ་པར་བཞག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • vyavasthā

Also translated here as “posited” and “determination.”

Located in 18 passages in the translation:

  • i.­46
  • 2.­2
  • 3.­5-6
  • 4.­7
  • 8.­12
  • 9.­11
  • 9.­17
  • 10.­3
  • 10.­7
  • 10.­10
  • 10.­12
  • n.­121
  • n.­125
  • n.­330
  • n.­336
  • n.­339
  • g.­296
g.­152

examine

Wylie:
  • ’jal ba
Tibetan:
  • འཇལ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • —

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 2.­1
g.­155

Excellent Intelligence

Wylie:
  • legs pa’i blo gros
Tibetan:
  • ལེགས་པའི་བློ་གྲོས།
Sanskrit:
  • sādhumatī

The name of a bodhisattva stage.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 9.­1
  • 9.­4
g.­161

factors of conditioned existence

Wylie:
  • srid pa’i yan lag
Tibetan:
  • སྲིད་པའི་ཡན་ལག
Sanskrit:
  • bhavāṅga

The twelve factors or links of conditioned existence are: ignorance (avidyā), mental formations (saṃskāra), consciousness (vijñāna), mind and matter (nāmarūpa), the six sense organs (ṣaḍāyatana), contact (sparśa), sensation (vedanā), craving (tṛṣṇā), clinging (upādāna), becoming (bhava), birth (jāti), aging and dying (jarāmaraṇa).

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­25
  • 8.­30
  • n.­337
g.­162

faculties

Wylie:
  • dbang po
Tibetan:
  • དབང་པོ།
Sanskrit:
  • indriya

See “five faculties.”

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­8-10
  • 7.­26
g.­163

faith

Wylie:
  • dad pa
Tibetan:
  • དད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • śraddhā

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­18-19
  • 8.­37
  • 9.­22
  • g.­167
  • g.­168
g.­164

falsity

Wylie:
  • skyon chags pa
Tibetan:
  • སྐྱོན་ཆགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • duṣṭatā

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 3.­1
  • 6.­7
g.­165

Far Reaching

Wylie:
  • ring du song ba
Tibetan:
  • རིང་དུ་སོང་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • dūraṅgamā

The name of a bodhisattva stage.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 9.­1
  • 9.­4
g.­167

five faculties

Wylie:
  • dbang po lnga
Tibetan:
  • དབང་པོ་ལྔ།
Sanskrit:
  • pañcendriyāṇi

The five faculties are those of (1) faith, (2) vigor, (3) mindfulness, (4) concentration (samādhi), and (5) wisdom (prajñā). These are similar to the five forces but in a lesser stage of development.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­5
  • 7.­1
  • g.­162
  • g.­168
g.­168

five forces

Wylie:
  • stobs lnga
Tibetan:
  • སྟོབས་ལྔ།
Sanskrit:
  • pañcabalāni

Differing only in intensity, the five forces are similar to the five faculties: (1) faith, (2) vigor, (3) mindfulness, (4) concentration (samādhi), and (5) wisdom (prajñā).

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­5
  • 7.­1
  • g.­167
  • g.­174
g.­171

flexibility

Wylie:
  • shin tu sbyangs pa
Tibetan:
  • ཤིན་ཏུ་སྦྱངས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • praśrabdhi

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Fifth among the branches or limbs of awakening (Skt. bodhyaṅga); a condition of calm, clarity, and composure in mind and body that serves as an antidote to negativity and confers a mental and physical capacity that facilitates meditation and virtuous action.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 8.­3-5
  • 9.­18
  • n.­191
  • g.­47
g.­174

forces

Wylie:
  • stobs
Tibetan:
  • སྟོབས།
Sanskrit:
  • bala

See “five forces.”

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­8-10
  • 7.­26
g.­177

four correct self-restraints

Wylie:
  • yang dag par spong ba bzhi
Tibetan:
  • ཡང་དག་པར་སྤོང་བ་བཞི།
Sanskrit:
  • catvāri prahāṇāni

The four correct self-restraints are: giving up nonvirtues, avoiding nonvirtues, generating virtues, developing virtues. See Edgerton 1953, p. 389,2.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­5
  • 7.­1
  • g.­92
g.­179

four kinds of sustenance

Wylie:
  • zas bzhi
Tibetan:
  • ཟས་བཞི།
Sanskrit:
  • catvārāhārāḥ

The four kinds of sustenance are the sustenance of material ingestion, the sustenance of contact, the sustenance of will, and the sustenance of consciousness.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­2
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­25
  • g.­352
g.­181

four noble truths

Wylie:
  • ’phags pa’i bden pa bzhi
Tibetan:
  • འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ་བཞི།
Sanskrit:
  • catvāri āryasatyāni

The four noble truths, as stated in this sūtra, are: the comprehension of suffering, the abandoning of the cause of suffering, the actualization of the cessation of suffering, and the practice of the path.

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • 4.­3
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­30
  • 8.­36
  • 10.­7
  • g.­267
  • g.­375
g.­185

Gam­bhīrārtha­saṃdhi­nirmo­cana

Wylie:
  • don zab dgongs pa nges par ’grel
Tibetan:
  • དོན་ཟབ་དགོངས་པ་ངེས་པར་འགྲེལ།
Sanskrit:
  • gam­bhīrārtha­saṃdhi­nirmo­cana

A bodhisattva mahāsattva.

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­4
  • p.­4
  • 1.­1-2
  • 1.­4
  • 1.­6
g.­186

gandharva

Wylie:
  • dri za
Tibetan:
  • དྲི་ཟ།
Sanskrit:
  • gandharva

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of generally benevolent nonhuman beings who inhabit the skies, sometimes said to inhabit fantastic cities in the clouds, and more specifically to dwell on the eastern slopes of Mount Meru, where they are ruled by the Great King Dhṛtarāṣṭra. They are most renowned as celestial musicians who serve the gods. In the Abhidharma, the term is also used to refer to the mental body assumed by sentient beings during the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Gandharvas are said to live on fragrances (gandha) in the desire realm, hence the Tibetan translation dri za, meaning “scent eater.”

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • p.­1
  • 10.­12
g.­187

garuḍa

Wylie:
  • —
Tibetan:
  • —
Sanskrit:
  • garuḍa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In Indian mythology, the garuḍa is an eagle-like bird that is regarded as the king of all birds, normally depicted with a sharp, owl-like beak, often holding a snake, and with large and powerful wings. They are traditionally enemies of the nāgas. In the Vedas, they are said to have brought nectar from the heavens to earth. Garuḍa can also be used as a proper name for a king of such creatures.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • p.­1
g.­188

gates of liberation

Wylie:
  • rnam par thar pa’i sgo
Tibetan:
  • རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པའི་སྒོ།
Sanskrit:
  • vimokṣamukha

Emptiness, appearancelessness, and wishlessness.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • p.­1
  • g.­24
  • g.­408
g.­191

gnosis

Wylie:
  • ye shes
Tibetan:
  • ཡེ་ཤེས།
Sanskrit:
  • jñāna

Located in 29 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­6-9
  • i.­13-14
  • i.­17
  • i.­22
  • i.­56
  • 1.­4
  • 4.­9
  • 7.­11-12
  • 7.­18-20
  • 7.­23
  • 8.­25
  • 8.­36
  • 9.­4
  • 9.­9-10
  • 10.­7
  • 10.­10
  • n.­69
  • n.­191
  • n.­230
  • n.­287
g.­193

gone forth

Wylie:
  • nges par ’byung ba
Tibetan:
  • ངེས་པར་འབྱུང་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • niryātaka
  • parivrājaka

Having left one’s home to become a wandering mendicant. Also translated here as emancipation and as pathway.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • p.­4
  • g.­285
g.­195

Guṇākara

Wylie:
  • yon tan ’byung gnas
Tibetan:
  • ཡོན་ཏན་འབྱུང་གནས།
Sanskrit:
  • guṇākara

A bodhisattva mahāsattva.

Located in 18 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­4
  • i.­53
  • p.­4
  • 6.­1-12
  • n.­133-134
g.­197

Hard to Conquer

Wylie:
  • shin tu sbyang dka’
Tibetan:
  • ཤིན་ཏུ་སྦྱང་དཀའ།
Sanskrit:
  • sudurjayā

The name of a bodhisattva stage.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 9.­1
  • 9.­4
g.­198

hearer

Wylie:
  • nyan thos
Tibetan:
  • ཉན་ཐོས།
Sanskrit:
  • śrāvaka

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The Sanskrit term śrāvaka, and the Tibetan nyan thos, both derived from the verb “to hear,” are usually defined as “those who hear the teaching from the Buddha and make it heard to others.” Primarily this refers to those disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain the state of an arhat seeking their own liberation and nirvāṇa. They are the practitioners of the first turning of the wheel of the Dharma on the four noble truths, who realize the suffering inherent in saṃsāra and focus on understanding that there is no independent self. By conquering afflicted mental states (kleśa), they liberate themselves, attaining first the stage of stream enterers at the path of seeing, followed by the stage of once-returners who will be reborn only one more time, and then the stage of non-returners who will no longer be reborn into the desire realm. The final goal is to become an arhat. These four stages are also known as the “four results of spiritual practice.”

Located in 28 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1-3
  • i.­13
  • i.­19
  • i.­21
  • p.­3-4
  • 7.­14-16
  • 7.­28
  • 7.­30
  • 7.­33
  • 8.­20-21
  • 8.­32
  • 8.­34
  • 8.­41
  • 9.­31-32
  • 10.­2
  • 10.­6
  • 10.­10
  • n.­171
  • n.­226
  • g.­343
g.­199

hell being

Wylie:
  • dmyal ba pa
Tibetan:
  • དམྱལ་བ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • nāraka

Type of being in Buddhist cosmogony.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­10
  • 8.­37
  • g.­331
g.­200

how

Wylie:
  • ji tsam du
Tibetan:
  • ཇི་ཙམ་དུ།
Sanskrit:
  • tāvatā
  • tāvat
  • yāvat

With the meaning of “truly, really, indeed.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 3.­1
  • 4.­6
  • 7.­25
g.­201

hungry ghost

Wylie:
  • yi dags
Tibetan:
  • ཡི་དགས།
Sanskrit:
  • preta

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, into which beings are born as the karmic fruition of past miserliness. As the term in Sanskrit means “the departed,” they are analogous to the ancestral spirits of Vedic tradition, the pitṛs, who starve without the offerings of descendants. It is also commonly translated as “hungry ghost” or “starving spirit,” as in the Chinese 餓鬼 e gui.

They are sometimes said to reside in the realm of Yama, but are also frequently described as roaming charnel grounds and other inhospitable or frightening places along with piśācas and other such beings. They are particularly known to suffer from great hunger and thirst and the inability to acquire sustenance. Detailed descriptions of their realm and experience, including a list of the thirty-six classes of pretas, can be found in The Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma, Toh 287, 2.­1281– 2.1482.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­10
  • 9.­25
  • g.­331
g.­202

Illuminating

Wylie:
  • ’od byed pa
Tibetan:
  • འོད་བྱེད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • prabhākarī

The name of a bodhisattva stage.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 8.­16
  • 9.­1
  • 9.­4
g.­203

image

Wylie:
  • gzugs brnyan
Tibetan:
  • གཟུགས་བརྙན།
Sanskrit:
  • pratibimba

Also translated as “reflection.”

Located in 20 passages in the translation:

  • i.­16-17
  • 8.­2
  • 8.­4-10
  • 8.­24
  • 8.­30
  • 8.­36-37
  • n.­181
  • n.­199-200
  • n.­223
  • g.­258
  • g.­317
g.­204

imaginary

Wylie:
  • kun brtags pa
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་བརྟགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • parikalpita

Located in 15 passages in the translation:

  • i.­6
  • i.­10
  • i.­12
  • i.­14-15
  • 6.­11
  • 9.­18
  • 10.­7
  • n.­54
  • n.­64
  • n.­124-125
  • n.­162
  • n.­164-165
g.­205

imaginary defining characteristic

Wylie:
  • kun brtags pa’i mtshan nyid
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་བརྟགས་པའི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • pari­kalpita­lakṣaṇa

The imaginary defining characteristic corresponds to the attribution of an essence, an inherent entity, to that which is by nature dependent on an other (paratantra) to exist or appear as what it is perceived to be.

Located in 22 passages in the translation:

  • i.­10-12
  • i.­17
  • 6.­3-4
  • 6.­7
  • 6.­9-11
  • 7.­4
  • 7.­20
  • 7.­25-27
  • 8.­31
  • n.­124
  • n.­128
  • n.­133
  • n.­141
  • n.­163
  • n.­165
g.­206

imaginary essence

Wylie:
  • kun brtags pa’i ngo bo nyid
  • kun brtags pa’i rang bzhin
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་བརྟགས་པའི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད།
  • ཀུན་བརྟགས་པའི་རང་བཞིན།
Sanskrit:
  • parikalpitasvabhāva

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­10
  • 7.­13
  • 10.­7
  • n.­147
  • n.­163
g.­208

Immovable

Wylie:
  • mi g.yo ba
Tibetan:
  • མི་གཡོ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • acalā

The name of a bodhisattva stage.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 9.­1
  • 9.­4
  • n.­301
g.­213

Inexpressible

Wylie:
  • brjod du med
Tibetan:
  • བརྗོད་དུ་མེད།
Sanskrit:
  • anabhilāpya

Located in 17 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • i.­6-7
  • i.­56
  • 1.­1-6
  • 2.­2
  • 4.­1
  • 7.­24
  • 9.­26
  • n.­67
  • n.­71
  • g.­378
g.­219

insight

Wylie:
  • lhag mthong
Tibetan:
  • ལྷག་མཐོང་།
Sanskrit:
  • vipaśyanā

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

An important form of Buddhist meditation focusing on developing insight into the nature of phenomena. Often presented as part of a pair of meditation techniques, the other being śamatha, “calm abiding”.

Located in 41 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • i.­16-18
  • i.­59
  • p.­1
  • 3.­7
  • 8.­1-6
  • 8.­9-10
  • 8.­12-20
  • 8.­24-26
  • 8.­32-36
  • 9.­18
  • 10.­10
  • n.­126
  • n.­186
  • n.­200
  • n.­230-231
  • n.­239-240
g.­220

intelligence

Wylie:
  • blo gros
Tibetan:
  • བློ་གྲོས།
Sanskrit:
  • mati

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • p.­1
  • 9.­4
g.­221

intention

Wylie:
  • bsam pa
Tibetan:
  • བསམ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • āśaya

Located in 17 passages in the translation:

  • i.­19
  • i.­22
  • 5.­1
  • 6.­2
  • 7.­2
  • 7.­17
  • 7.­23-24
  • 9.­2
  • 9.­6
  • 9.­10
  • 9.­32
  • 10.­7-8
  • 10.­11-12
  • n.­230
g.­223

investigation

Wylie:
  • dpyod pa
Tibetan:
  • དཔྱོད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • vicāra

In our text, the specific quality of vicāra is to remain mindful of nimitta in the sense of “mentally watching” or noting them without engaging in a more discursive way.

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­16
  • 8.­17
  • 10.­5
  • g.­40
g.­225

joy

Wylie:
  • dga’ ba
Tibetan:
  • དགའ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • prīti

Located in 10 passages in the translation:

  • p.­1
  • p.­4
  • 8.­11
  • 8.­15
  • 8.­18
  • 8.­37
  • 8.­40
  • 9.­4
  • 9.­14
  • g.­47
g.­226

karmadhāraya

Wylie:
  • —
Tibetan:
  • —
Sanskrit:
  • karmadhāraya

Type of Sanskrit compound.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • i.­42
  • n.­40
  • n.­53
  • n.­76
  • n.­120
  • n.­162
  • n.­181
  • n.­370
g.­227

keep it in mind

Wylie:
  • gzung bar bgyi
Tibetan:
  • གཟུང་བར་བགྱི།
Sanskrit:
  • dhārayāmi

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­31
  • 7.­33
  • 8.­41
  • 9.­33
  • 10.­12
  • n.­267
g.­228

keep it in mind

Wylie:
  • zung shig
Tibetan:
  • ཟུང་ཤིག
Sanskrit:
  • dhāraya

(cf. Sanskrit text in Matsuda 2013, p. 940 ad Lamotte VIII.41). Dhāraya is a causative imperative of dhṛ-.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­29
  • 7.­33
  • 8.­41
  • 9.­33
  • 10.­12
g.­230

kinnara

Wylie:
  • —
Tibetan:
  • —
Sanskrit:
  • kinnara

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of nonhuman beings that resemble humans to the degree that their very name‍—which means “is that human?”‍—suggests some confusion as to their divine status. Kinnaras are mythological beings found in both Buddhist and Brahmanical literature, where they are portrayed as creatures half human, half animal. They are often depicted as highly skilled celestial musicians.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • p.­1
g.­231

Kīrtimat

Wylie:
  • grags pa can
Tibetan:
  • གྲགས་པ་ཅན།
Sanskrit:
  • kīrtimat

World of the tathāgata Viśālakīrti.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 2.­1
g.­233

lacked certainty

Wylie:
  • yid gnyis can
Tibetan:
  • ཡིད་གཉིས་ཅན།
Sanskrit:
  • vimati

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­1
  • 3.­1
g.­234

latent disposition

Wylie:
  • bag la nyal
Tibetan:
  • བག་ལ་ཉལ།
Sanskrit:
  • anuśaya

Also translated here as “predisposition.”

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • i.­9
  • i.­24
  • 9.­9
  • 9.­28-29
  • 10.­8
  • n.­148
  • g.­300
g.­235

liberation

Wylie:
  • rnam par thar pa
Tibetan:
  • རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • vimokṣa

See Hayal 1978: 229.

Located in 14 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­6
  • i.­13
  • i.­60
  • 8.­10
  • 8.­21
  • 8.­24
  • 8.­29
  • 8.­37
  • 8.­40
  • 9.­18
  • 10.­2
  • 10.­10
  • n.­151
g.­237

literal

Wylie:
  • sgra ji bzhin
Tibetan:
  • སྒྲ་ཇི་བཞིན།
Sanskrit:
  • yathāruta

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­20
  • 8.­24
  • 9.­13
  • 9.­32-33
g.­238

magic illusion

Wylie:
  • sgyu ma’i las
  • sgyu ma byas pa
Tibetan:
  • སྒྱུ་མའི་ལས།
  • སྒྱུ་མ་བྱས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • —

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­11
  • i.­14
  • 1.­4
  • 7.­7
g.­239

mahoraga

Wylie:
  • —
Tibetan:
  • —
Sanskrit:
  • mahoraga

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Literally “great serpents,” mahoragas are supernatural beings depicted as large, subterranean beings with human torsos and heads and the lower bodies of serpents. Their movements are said to cause earthquakes, and they make up a class of subterranean geomantic spirits whose movement through the seasons and months of the year is deemed significant for construction projects.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • p.­1
g.­240

Maitreya

Wylie:
  • byams pa
Tibetan:
  • བྱམས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • maitreya

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The bodhisattva Maitreya is an important figure in many Buddhist traditions, where he is unanimously regarded as the buddha of the future era. He is said to currently reside in the heaven of Tuṣita, as Śākyamuni’s regent, where he awaits the proper time to take his final rebirth and become the fifth buddha in the Fortunate Eon, reestablishing the Dharma in this world after the teachings of the current buddha have disappeared. Within the Mahāyāna sūtras, Maitreya is elevated to the same status as other central bodhisattvas such as Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara, and his name appears frequently in sūtras, either as the Buddha’s interlocutor or as a teacher of the Dharma. Maitreya literally means “Loving One.” He is also known as Ajita, meaning “Invincible.”

For more information on Maitreya, see, for example, the introduction to Maitreya’s Setting Out (Toh 198).

Located in 49 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­4
  • i.­16
  • i.­18
  • i.­44
  • p.­4
  • 8.­1
  • 8.­3
  • 8.­5-41
  • n.­181
  • n.­185
  • n.­199-200
g.­241

Manifest

Wylie:
  • mngon du gyur pa
Tibetan:
  • མངོན་དུ་གྱུར་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • abhimukhī

The name of a bodhisattva stage.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 9.­1
  • 9.­4
g.­242

Mañjuśrī

Wylie:
  • ’jam dpal
Tibetan:
  • འཇམ་དཔལ།
Sanskrit:
  • mañjuśrī

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Mañjuśrī is one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha” and a bodhisattva who embodies wisdom. He is a major figure in the Mahāyāna sūtras, appearing often as an interlocutor of the Buddha. In his most well-known iconographic form, he is portrayed bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñā­pāramitā­sūtra in his left. To his name, Mañjuśrī, meaning “Gentle and Glorious One,” is often added the epithet Kumārabhūta, “having a youthful form.” He is also called Mañjughoṣa, Mañjusvara, and Pañcaśikha.

Located in 17 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­4
  • i.­20
  • p.­4
  • 10.­1-12
  • n.­370
g.­245

meditative absorption

Wylie:
  • bsam gtan
Tibetan:
  • བསམ་གཏན།
Sanskrit:
  • dhyāna

See Hayal 1978, p. 221.

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • 8.­11
  • 8.­37
  • 9.­9-12
  • 9.­18
  • g.­176
  • g.­334
g.­247

mental elaboration

Wylie:
  • spros pa
Tibetan:
  • སྤྲོས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • prapañca

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • i.­7
  • i.­20
  • i.­25
  • 1.­6
  • 8.­40
  • 9.­14
  • 9.­18
  • 10.­1
  • 10.­8
g.­252

mental stillness

Wylie:
  • zhi gnas
Tibetan:
  • ཞི་གནས།
Sanskrit:
  • śamatha

Located in 36 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • i.­16-18
  • p.­1
  • 3.­7
  • 8.­1-6
  • 8.­9
  • 8.­11-20
  • 8.­24-26
  • 8.­32-36
  • n.­186
  • n.­199
  • n.­231
  • n.­239-240
g.­254

mind

Wylie:
  • sems
Tibetan:
  • སེམས།
Sanskrit:
  • citta

Located in 70 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • i.­6
  • i.­8-12
  • i.­14
  • i.­16
  • i.­18
  • i.­22
  • i.­34
  • i.­45
  • i.­51
  • i.­55-56
  • i.­58
  • p.­2-3
  • 1.­5
  • 5.­1
  • 5.­3
  • 5.­6
  • 6.­6
  • 7.­8
  • 7.­10
  • 7.­13-14
  • 7.­16
  • 7.­19
  • 7.­33
  • 8.­3-9
  • 8.­11
  • 8.­18
  • 8.­20
  • 8.­28
  • 8.­32
  • 8.­34
  • 8.­36-37
  • 8.­41
  • 9.­3-4
  • 9.­6
  • 9.­10
  • 9.­14
  • 9.­18
  • 10.­9
  • n.­69-70
  • n.­101
  • n.­106-107
  • n.­118
  • n.­148
  • n.­181
  • n.­199
  • n.­242
  • g.­25
  • g.­40
  • g.­161
  • g.­255
  • g.­324
  • g.­345
g.­256

mindfulness

Wylie:
  • dran pa
Tibetan:
  • དྲན་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • smṛti

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

This is the faculty that enables the mind to maintain its attention on a referent object, counteracting the arising of forgetfulness, which is a great obstacle to meditative stability. The root smṛ may mean “to recollect” but also simply “to think of.” Broadly speaking, smṛti, commonly translated as “mindfulness,” means to bring something to mind, not necessarily something experienced in a distant past but also something that is experienced in the present, such as the position of one’s body or the breath.

Together with alertness (samprajāna, shes bzhin), it is one of the two indispensable factors for the development of calm abiding (śamatha, zhi gnas).

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • p.­1
  • g.­25
  • g.­47
  • g.­167
  • g.­168
g.­257

nāga

Wylie:
  • klu
Tibetan:
  • ཀླུ།
Sanskrit:
  • nāga

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of nonhuman beings who live in subterranean aquatic environments, where they guard wealth and sometimes also teachings. Nāgas are associated with serpents and have a snakelike appearance. In Buddhist art and in written accounts, they are regularly portrayed as half human and half snake, and they are also said to have the ability to change into human form. Some nāgas are Dharma protectors, but they can also bring retribution if they are disturbed. They may likewise fight one another, wage war, and destroy the lands of others by causing lightning, hail, and flooding.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • p.­1
g.­259

nature of phenomena

Wylie:
  • chos nyid
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • dharmatā

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The real nature, true quality, or condition of things. Throughout Buddhist discourse this term is used in two distinct ways. In one, it designates the relative nature that is either the essential characteristic of a specific phenomenon, such as the heat of fire and the moisture of water, or the defining feature of a specific term or category. The other very important and widespread way it is used is to designate the ultimate nature of all phenomena, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms and is often synonymous with emptiness or the absence of intrinsic existence.

Located in 13 passages in the translation:

  • i.­8
  • i.­11
  • i.­13
  • i.­15
  • 1.­2-5
  • 4.­10
  • 7.­9
  • 7.­19
  • 10.­7
  • n.­100
g.­261

negate

Wylie:
  • skur pa ’debs
Tibetan:
  • སྐུར་པ་འདེབས།
Sanskrit:
  • apavāda

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­20
  • n.­126
g.­264

nidāna

Wylie:
  • gleng gzhi
Tibetan:
  • གླེང་གཞི།
Sanskrit:
  • nidāna

Introductory part of a sūtra .

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­29
  • i.­33
  • i.­50
  • n.­36
g.­265

nirvāṇa

Wylie:
  • mya ngan las ’das pa
Tibetan:
  • མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • nirvāṇa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

In Sanskrit, the term nirvāṇa literally means “extinguishment” and the Tibetan mya ngan las ’das pa literally means “gone beyond sorrow.” As a general term, it refers to the cessation of all suffering, afflicted mental states (kleśa), and causal processes (karman) that lead to rebirth and suffering in cyclic existence, as well as to the state in which all such rebirth and suffering has permanently ceased.

More specifically, three main types of nirvāṇa are identified. (1) The first type of nirvāṇa, called nirvāṇa with remainder (sopadhiśeṣanirvāṇa), is the state in which arhats or buddhas have attained awakening but are still dependent on the conditioned aggregates until their lifespan is exhausted. (2) At the end of life, given that there are no more causes for rebirth, these aggregates cease and no new aggregates arise. What occurs then is called nirvāṇa without remainder ( anupadhiśeṣanirvāṇa), which refers to the unconditioned element (dhātu) of nirvāṇa in which there is no remainder of the aggregates. (3) The Mahāyāna teachings distinguish the final nirvāṇa of buddhas from that of arhats, the nirvāṇa of arhats not being considered ultimate. The buddhas attain what is called nonabiding nirvāṇa (apratiṣṭhitanirvāṇa), which transcends the extremes of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, i.e., existence and peace. This is the nirvāṇa that is the goal of the Mahāyāna path.

Located in 30 passages in the translation:

  • i.­11
  • i.­49
  • 2.­3
  • 3.­3
  • 7.­1-2
  • 7.­8-9
  • 7.­14
  • 7.­17
  • 7.­20
  • 7.­22
  • 7.­24
  • 7.­28
  • 7.­30-31
  • 8.­12-13
  • 8.­35
  • 8.­38
  • 9.­3
  • 9.­5
  • 9.­8
  • 10.­5
  • 10.­7
  • n.­80
  • n.­82
  • n.­168
  • n.­191
  • g.­182
g.­267

noble truth

Wylie:
  • ’phags pa’i bden pa
Tibetan:
  • འཕགས་པའི་བདེན་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • ārya­satya

See “four noble truths.”

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 7.­26
g.­268

non-Buddhist

Wylie:
  • mu stegs pa
Tibetan:
  • མུ་སྟེགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • tīrthika

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Those of other religious or philosophical orders, contemporary with the early Buddhist order, including Jains, Jaṭilas, Ājīvikas, and Cārvākas. Tīrthika (“forder”) literally translates as “one belonging to or associated with (possessive suffix –ika) stairs for landing or for descent into a river,” or “a bathing place,” or “a place of pilgrimage on the banks of sacred streams” (Monier-Williams). The term may have originally referred to temple priests at river crossings or fords where travelers propitiated a deity before crossing. The Sanskrit term seems to have undergone metonymic transfer in referring to those able to ford the turbulent river of saṃsāra (as in the Jain tīrthaṅkaras, “ford makers”), and it came to be used in Buddhist sources to refer to teachers of rival religious traditions. The Sanskrit term is closely rendered by the Tibetan mu stegs pa: “those on the steps (stegs pa) at the edge (mu).”

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • i.­3
  • 2.­1
g.­269

nonduality

Wylie:
  • gnyis su med pa
Tibetan:
  • གཉིས་སུ་མེད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • advaya

Mahāvyutpatti 1717.

Located in 19 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­4
  • i.­6-9
  • i.­13
  • i.­15
  • i.­22
  • i.­56
  • p.­2
  • 1.­1
  • 1.­6
  • 4.­9
  • 7.­24
  • 10.­10
  • n.­365
  • n.­370
  • g.­378
g.­270

object

Wylie:
  • dngos po
  • yul
Tibetan:
  • དངོས་པོ།
  • ཡུལ།
Sanskrit:
  • vastu

Located in 80 passages in the translation:

  • i.­10-12
  • i.­16-18
  • i.­21
  • i.­34
  • 1.­2-5
  • 5.­3-6
  • 6.­7
  • 7.­25-27
  • 8.­4-7
  • 8.­9-10
  • 8.­12
  • 8.­19-27
  • 8.­29-30
  • 8.­33-38
  • 8.­40
  • 9.­3
  • 9.­5
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­14
  • 9.­17-18
  • 10.­4-5
  • 10.­7
  • n.­63
  • n.­68
  • n.­92
  • n.­95
  • n.­157
  • n.­181
  • n.­186
  • n.­189
  • n.­199-200
  • n.­202
  • n.­218
  • n.­230-231
  • n.­239-240
  • n.­290
  • n.­325
  • n.­329
  • n.­333
  • g.­129
  • g.­194
  • g.­258
  • g.­324
  • g.­334
  • g.­363
g.­271

object conducive to purification

Wylie:
  • rnam par dag pa’i dmigs pa
Tibetan:
  • རྣམ་པར་དག་པའི་དམིགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • *viśuddhyālambana

See Schmithausen 2014, p. 362, §306.5 and n. 1644.

Located in 11 passages in the translation:

  • i.­55
  • 4.­8
  • 7.­6
  • 7.­25-27
  • 8.­20
  • n.­92
  • n.­95
  • n.­125
  • n.­222
g.­273

obscuration

Wylie:
  • kun tu rmongs pa
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་ཏུ་རྨོངས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • saṃmoha

Also translated here as “delusion.”

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­16
  • 7.­18-19
  • 7.­22-23
  • g.­102
g.­274

obscuration of cognitive objects

Wylie:
  • shes bya’i sgrib pa
Tibetan:
  • ཤེས་བྱའི་སྒྲིབ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • jñeyāvaraṇa

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 7.­16
g.­276

obstruction

Wylie:
  • sgrib pa
Tibetan:
  • སྒྲིབ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • āvaraṇa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The obscurations to liberation and omniscience. They are generally categorized as two types: affective obscurations (kleśāvaraṇa), the arising of afflictive emotions; and cognitive obscurations (jñeyāvaraṇa), those caused by misapprehension and incorrect understanding about the nature of reality.

The term is used also as a reference to a set five hindrances on the path: longing for sense pleasures (Skt. kāmacchanda), malice (Skt. vyāpāda), sloth and torpor (Skt. styānamiddha), excitement and remorse (Skt. auddhatyakaukṛtya), and doubt (Skt. vicikitsā).

Located in 10 passages in the translation:

  • i.­18
  • 7.­11
  • 7.­28
  • 8.­33
  • 8.­35-36
  • 9.­4
  • 9.­25
  • 9.­28
  • n.­230
g.­277

of a single nature

Wylie:
  • ro gcig pa
Tibetan:
  • རོ་གཅིག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • ekarasa

Located in 12 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • i.­8
  • i.­17
  • 4.­6-12
  • n.­94
  • g.­378
g.­280

other-dependent

Wylie:
  • gzhan gyi dbang
Tibetan:
  • གཞན་གྱི་དབང་།
Sanskrit:
  • paratantra

Located in 10 passages in the translation:

  • i.­10
  • i.­12
  • i.­17
  • 6.­11
  • 7.­20
  • 8.­31
  • 9.­18
  • n.­95
  • n.­150
  • g.­205
g.­281

other-dependent defining characteristic

Wylie:
  • gzhan gyi dbang gi mtshan nyid
Tibetan:
  • གཞན་གྱི་དབང་གི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • para­tantra­lakṣaṇa

Located in 16 passages in the translation:

  • i.­10-11
  • i.­55
  • 6.­3
  • 6.­5
  • 6.­7
  • 6.­9-11
  • 7.­5-6
  • 7.­13
  • 7.­25-27
  • n.­134
g.­282

other-dependent essence

Wylie:
  • gzhan gyi dbang gi ngo bo nyid
  • gzhan gyi dbang gi rang bzhin
Tibetan:
  • གཞན་གྱི་དབང་གི་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད།
  • གཞན་གྱི་དབང་གི་རང་བཞིན།
Sanskrit:
  • paratantrasvabhāva

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­10
  • 7.­13
  • n.­147
g.­283

Para­mārtha­samud­gata

Wylie:
  • don dam yang dag ’phags
Tibetan:
  • དོན་དམ་ཡང་དག་འཕགས།
Sanskrit:
  • para­mārtha­samud­gata

A bodhisattva mahāsattva.

Located in 30 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­4
  • i.­11
  • i.­14
  • p.­4
  • 7.­1-11
  • 7.­14-15
  • 7.­17-18
  • 7.­20
  • 7.­23
  • 7.­25
  • 7.­29-30
  • 7.­32-33
  • n.­133-134
  • n.­147
g.­285

pathway

Wylie:
  • nges par ’byung ba
Tibetan:
  • ངེས་པར་འབྱུང་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • niḥsaraṇa
  • niryāṇa

Setting forth, issue, exit, departure, escape, a road out of town. Also translated here as “emancipated” and “gone forth.”

See also n.­39.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • p.­1
  • g.­136
  • g.­193
g.­288

perfection

Wylie:
  • pha rol tu phyin pa
Tibetan:
  • ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • pāramitā

Located in 25 passages in the translation:

  • i.­19-20
  • 9.­2
  • 9.­6
  • 9.­9-24
  • 9.­26-27
  • 9.­33
  • 10.­1
  • n.­291
g.­290

perfectly pure cognition

Wylie:
  • blo shin tu rnam par dag pa
Tibetan:
  • བློ་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྣམ་པར་དག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • suviśuddhabuddhiḥ

Mahāvyutpatti 351.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • p.­1
g.­292

phenomenal appearance

Wylie:
  • mtshan ma
Tibetan:
  • མཚན་མ།
Sanskrit:
  • nimitta

Located in 41 passages in the translation:

  • i.­6
  • i.­10
  • i.­17-18
  • 2.­2-3
  • 3.­3
  • 3.­7
  • 4.­2
  • 4.­4-5
  • 4.­11
  • 5.­2
  • 6.­7
  • 6.­10
  • 8.­10
  • 8.­12
  • 8.­15
  • 8.­17
  • 8.­26-27
  • 8.­29-30
  • 8.­32
  • 8.­34-37
  • 9.­3-5
  • 9.­18
  • n.­70
  • n.­82
  • n.­162-165
  • n.­185
  • n.­301
  • g.­223
g.­293

phenomenal appearance of conditioned phenomena

Wylie:
  • —
Tibetan:
  • —
Sanskrit:
  • saṃskāranimitta

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • i.­55
  • 1.­5
  • 3.­3
  • 7.­25-27
  • n.­82
g.­294

point where phenomena end

Wylie:
  • dngos po’i mtha’
Tibetan:
  • དངོས་པོའི་མཐའ།
Sanskrit:
  • vastvanta

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 8.­2
  • 8.­36
g.­296

posited

Wylie:
  • rnam par bzhag pa
Tibetan:
  • རྣམ་པར་བཞག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • vyavasthā

This term has the connotation of something being agreed upon, represented, arranged, settled, decreed, or established. Also translated here as “established” and “posited.”

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • 6.­4
  • 7.­4
  • 7.­25-27
  • n.­80
  • n.­82
  • n.­133
  • g.­149
g.­300

predisposition

Wylie:
  • bag la nyal
Tibetan:
  • བག་ལ་ཉལ།
Sanskrit:
  • anuśaya

Also translated here are “latent disposition.”

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­9
  • 7.­10
  • 7.­13
  • g.­234
g.­301

primordially in the state of peace

Wylie:
  • gzod ma nas zhib
Tibetan:
  • གཟོད་མ་ནས་ཞིབ།
Sanskrit:
  • ādiśānta

Located in 12 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­1-2
  • 7.­8-9
  • 7.­17
  • 7.­20
  • 7.­22
  • 7.­24
  • 7.­28
  • 7.­30-31
  • n.­168
g.­309

purification

Wylie:
  • rnam par dag pa
Tibetan:
  • རྣམ་པར་དག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • viśuddhi

Located in 31 passages in the translation:

  • i.­10-11
  • i.­13
  • i.­17-18
  • i.­23
  • 6.­11-12
  • 7.­14
  • 7.­24
  • 8.­15
  • 8.­19-20
  • 8.­22
  • 8.­29
  • 8.­31
  • 8.­36
  • 9.­1-2
  • 9.­4
  • 9.­6-7
  • 9.­18-19
  • 10.­5
  • 10.­7-8
  • n.­95
  • n.­191
  • n.­279
  • n.­292
g.­312

Radiant

Wylie:
  • ’od ’phro ba can
Tibetan:
  • འོད་འཕྲོ་བ་ཅན།
Sanskrit:
  • arciṣmatī

The name of a bodhisattva stage.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 9.­1
  • 9.­4
g.­316

referential object

Wylie:
  • dmigs pa
Tibetan:
  • དམིགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • ālambana

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

dmigs (pa) translates a number of Sanskrit terms, including ālambana, upalabdhi, and ālambate. These terms commonly refer to the apprehending of a subject, an object, and the relationships that exist between them. The term may also be translated as “referentiality,” meaning a system based on the existence of referent objects, referent subjects, and the referential relationships that exist between them. As part of their doctrine of “threefold nonapprehending/nonreferentiality” (’khor gsum mi dmigs pa), Mahāyāna Buddhists famously assert that all three categories of apprehending lack substantiality.

Located in 45 passages in the translation:

  • i.­16-17
  • i.­21
  • 4.­1-6
  • 4.­8
  • 8.­2-3
  • 8.­5-7
  • 8.­9
  • 8.­12-17
  • 8.­19-20
  • 8.­25-27
  • 8.­29
  • 8.­31
  • 8.­34
  • 8.­36-37
  • 9.­10
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­18
  • 10.­4-5
  • 10.­7
  • 10.­10
  • n.­42
  • n.­92
  • n.­95
  • n.­181
  • n.­199-200
g.­317

reflection

Wylie:
  • gzugs brnyan
Tibetan:
  • གཟུགས་བརྙན།
Sanskrit:
  • pratibimba

Also translated as “image.”

Located in 10 passages in the translation:

  • i.­9
  • i.­22
  • 5.­5
  • 7.­2
  • 8.­7
  • 9.­12
  • 10.­10
  • n.­215
  • n.­365
  • g.­203
g.­319

room

Wylie:
  • gnas
Tibetan:
  • གནས།
Sanskrit:
  • sthāna

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • p.­1
g.­320

Ṛṣivadana

Wylie:
  • drang srong smra ba
Tibetan:
  • དྲང་སྲོང་སྨྲ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • ṛṣivadana

A sacred area located outside of Vārāṇasī where many sages are said to have practiced in the past.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 7.­30
g.­324

sense domain

Wylie:
  • skye mched
Tibetan:
  • སྐྱེ་མཆེད།
Sanskrit:
  • āyatana

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

These can be listed as twelve or as six sense sources (sometimes also called sense fields, bases of cognition, or simply āyatanas).

In the context of epistemology, it is one way of describing experience and the world in terms of twelve sense sources, which can be divided into inner and outer sense sources, namely: (1–2) eye and form, (3–4) ear and sound, (5–6) nose and odor, (7–8) tongue and taste, (9–10) body and touch, (11–12) mind and mental phenomena.

In the context of the twelve links of dependent origination, only six sense sources are mentioned, and they are the inner sense sources (identical to the six faculties) of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.

Located in 12 passages in the translation:

  • i.­11
  • i.­14
  • i.­19
  • 4.­2
  • 4.­8-10
  • 7.­1
  • 7.­25
  • 8.­20-21
  • 9.­32
g.­325

sentient being

Wylie:
  • sems can
Tibetan:
  • སེམས་ཅན།
Sanskrit:
  • sattva

Often rendered simply as “being.”

Located in 56 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­5-7
  • i.­12-13
  • i.­20-22
  • p.­1
  • p.­4
  • 1.­5
  • 3.­7
  • 4.­1
  • 4.­6
  • 5.­2
  • 6.­2
  • 7.­2
  • 7.­10-12
  • 7.­14
  • 7.­17-20
  • 7.­24
  • 8.­3
  • 8.­8
  • 8.­20
  • 8.­23
  • 8.­40-41
  • 9.­6-10
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­15
  • 9.­17
  • 9.­24-25
  • 9.­31
  • 10.­1
  • 10.­4-5
  • 10.­7
  • 10.­9-10
  • 10.­12
  • n.­90
  • n.­102
  • n.­147
  • n.­290
  • g.­359
g.­327

seven precious substances

Wylie:
  • rin po che sna bdun
Tibetan:
  • རིན་པོ་ཆེ་སྣ་བདུན།
Sanskrit:
  • saptaratna

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

The set of seven precious materials or substances includes a range of precious metals and gems, but their exact list varies. The set often consists of gold, silver, beryl, crystal, red pearls, emeralds, and white coral, but may also contain lapis lazuli, ruby, sapphire, chrysoberyl, diamonds, etc. The term is frequently used in the sūtras to exemplify preciousness, wealth, and beauty, and can describe treasures, offering materials, or the features of architectural structures such as stūpas, palaces, thrones, etc. The set is also used to describe the beauty and prosperity of buddha realms and the realms of the gods.

In other contexts, the term saptaratna can also refer to the seven precious possessions of a cakravartin or to a set of seven precious moral qualities.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • p.­1
  • n.­35
g.­329

shift in one’s basis of existence

Wylie:
  • gnas gyur pa
Tibetan:
  • གནས་གྱུར་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • āśraya­parivṛtti

See n.­191.

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • i.­16
  • i.­20
  • i.­56
  • 8.­13
  • 10.­1
  • n.­191
  • n.­276
g.­330

Single Vehicle

Wylie:
  • theg pa gcig pa
Tibetan:
  • ཐེག་པ་གཅིག་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • ekayāna

Located in 10 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1
  • i.­4
  • i.­13
  • i.­19
  • i.­57
  • 7.­14
  • 7.­24
  • 9.­32
  • n.­171
g.­332

slow-witted

Wylie:
  • blo gros ngan pa
Tibetan:
  • བློ་གྲོས་ངན་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • kumati

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 1.­4
  • 2.­1
g.­333

solitary realizer

Wylie:
  • rang sangs rgyas
Tibetan:
  • རང་སངས་རྒྱས།
Sanskrit:
  • pratyekabuddha

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Literally, “buddha for oneself” or “solitary realizer.” Someone who, in his or her last life, attains awakening entirely through their own contemplation, without relying on a teacher. Unlike the awakening of a fully realized buddha (samyaksambuddha), the accomplishment of a pratyeka­buddha is not regarded as final or ultimate. They attain realization of the nature of dependent origination, the selflessness of the person, and a partial realization of the selflessness of phenomena, by observing the suchness of all that arises through interdependence. This is the result of progress in previous lives but, unlike a buddha, they do not have the necessary merit, compassion or motivation to teach others. They are named as “rhinoceros-like” (khaḍgaviṣāṇakalpa) for their preference for staying in solitude or as “congregators” (vargacārin) when their preference is to stay among peers.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • p.­4
  • 7.­14
  • 7.­28
  • 8.­20
  • 8.­34
  • 9.­31
  • 10.­2
  • 10.­10
g.­334

sovereign power

Wylie:
  • byin gyi rlabs
Tibetan:
  • བྱིན་གྱི་རླབས།
Sanskrit:
  • adhiṣṭhāna
  • adhiṣṭhita

This term is usually translated into English with “blessings.” However, as explained in Edgerton 1953, p. 15; Eckel 1994, pp. 90–93; Gómez 2011, pp. 539 and 541; and Fiordalis 2012, pp. 104 and 118, adhiṣṭhāna conveys the notions of control (of one’s environment as a result of meditative absorption), authority, or protection (see Abhidharmakośa VII.51, cf. La Vallée Poussin 1925, p. 119ff.). Adhiṣṭhāna is also used to convey the idea of transformation through exerting one’s control over objects, people, and places. The term “sovereign power” seems to cover all these shades of meaning as well as the various usages of the Sanskrit term, for example satyādhiṣṭhāna “the sovereign power of truth” and adhiṣṭhānādhiṣṭita “empowered by the sovereign power (of the Tathāgata).”

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • i.­21
  • p.­1
  • 10.­3-4
  • 10.­10-11
g.­335

space

Wylie:
  • nam mkha’
Tibetan:
  • ནམ་མཁའ།
Sanskrit:
  • ākāśa

Located in 10 passages in the translation:

  • i.­11
  • 4.­11
  • 7.­7
  • 7.­28-29
  • 8.­11
  • 8.­37
  • n.­277
  • g.­86
  • g.­194
g.­336

specific defining characteristic

Wylie:
  • rang gi mtshan nyid
Tibetan:
  • རང་གི་མཚན་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • svalakṣaṇa

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­1
  • 7.­8
  • 8.­36
  • 9.­13
  • n.­124
g.­339

stage

Wylie:
  • sa
Tibetan:
  • ས།
Sanskrit:
  • bhūmi

Located in 42 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4-5
  • i.­18-20
  • i.­40-41
  • i.­46-47
  • p.­4
  • 7.­20
  • 8.­16
  • 8.­35-36
  • 9.­1-6
  • 9.­20
  • 9.­27-28
  • 9.­31
  • 9.­33
  • 10.­1
  • 10.­4
  • n.­126
  • n.­276
  • n.­301
  • g.­51
  • g.­59
  • g.­155
  • g.­165
  • g.­167
  • g.­197
  • g.­202
  • g.­208
  • g.­241
  • g.­312
  • g.­342
  • g.­392
g.­340

stage of engagement through aspiration

Wylie:
  • mos pa spyod pa’i sa
Tibetan:
  • མོས་པ་སྤྱོད་པའི་ས།
Sanskrit:
  • adhimukticaryābhūmiḥ

Mahāvyutpatti 897.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • 3.­1
g.­342

Stainless

Wylie:
  • dri ma med pa
Tibetan:
  • དྲི་མ་མེད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • vimalā

The name of a bodhisattva stage.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 9.­1
  • 9.­4
g.­343

Subhūti

Wylie:
  • rab ’byor
Tibetan:
  • རབ་འབྱོར།
Sanskrit:
  • subhūti

The name of a hearer.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • 4.­1
  • 4.­7-12
g.­344

subliminal

Wylie:
  • kun gzhi
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་གཞི།
Sanskrit:
  • ālaya

See “subliminal cognition.”

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 5.­6
  • n.­148
  • g.­345
g.­345

subliminal cognition

Wylie:
  • kun gzhi rnam par shes pa
Tibetan:
  • ཀུན་གཞི་རྣམ་པར་ཤེས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • ālayavijñāna

See Schmithausen’s groundbreaking work on the topic (1987 and 2014). Schmithausen considers the ālayavijñāna to be “a continuous subliminal form of mind” (Schmithausen 2014, p. 27).

Located in 7 passages in the translation:

  • i.­9
  • i.­16
  • 5.­3
  • 5.­6
  • n.­148
  • n.­191
  • g.­344
g.­348

superimpose

Wylie:
  • sgro btags
Tibetan:
  • སྒྲོ་བཏགས།
Sanskrit:
  • samāropa

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­12
  • 6.­10
  • 7.­10
  • 8.­19
g.­353

Su­viśuddha­mati

Wylie:
  • blo gros shin tu rnam dag
Tibetan:
  • བློ་གྲོས་ཤིན་ཏུ་རྣམ་དག
Sanskrit:
  • su­viśuddha­mati

A bodhisattva mahāsattva.

Located in 13 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­4
  • p.­4
  • 3.­1-7
  • n.­80-82
g.­354

tathāgata

Wylie:
  • de bzhin gshegs pa
Tibetan:
  • དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • tathāgata

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A frequently used synonym for buddha. According to different explanations, it can be read as tathā-gata, literally meaning “one who has thus gone,” or as tathā-āgata, “one who has thus come.” Gata, though literally meaning “gone,” is a past passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. Tatha­(tā), often rendered as “suchness” or “thusness,” is the quality or condition of things as they really are, which cannot be conveyed in conceptual, dualistic terms. Therefore, this epithet is interpreted in different ways, but in general it implies one who has departed in the wake of the buddhas of the past, or one who has manifested the supreme awakening dependent on the reality that does not abide in the two extremes of existence and quiescence. It is also often used as a specific epithet of the Buddha Śākyamuni.

Located in 53 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­4-5
  • i.­20-22
  • i.­55
  • p.­1
  • p.­3
  • 2.­1
  • 4.­10
  • 5.­1
  • 5.­6
  • 6.­1-2
  • 6.­11
  • 7.­2
  • 7.­12
  • 7.­14
  • 7.­16-17
  • 7.­19
  • 7.­29
  • 7.­33
  • 8.­14
  • 8.­21
  • 8.­31-32
  • 8.­35-37
  • 8.­39
  • 8.­41
  • 9.­33
  • 10.­1-4
  • 10.­7-12
  • n.­173
  • n.­308
  • n.­358
  • n.­370
  • g.­178
  • g.­231
  • g.­334
  • g.­359
  • g.­400
g.­355

tatpuruṣa

Wylie:
  • —
Tibetan:
  • —
Sanskrit:
  • tatpuruṣa

Type of Sanskrit compound.

Located in 9 passages in the translation:

  • i.­42
  • n.­76
  • n.­86
  • n.­120
  • n.­124
  • n.­181
  • n.­222
  • n.­327
  • n.­370
g.­363

thing

Wylie:
  • dngos po
  • ngo bo
Tibetan:
  • དངོས་པོ།
  • ངོ་བོ།
Sanskrit:
  • bhāva

Also translated here as “object.”

Located in 19 passages in the translation:

  • i.­12
  • i.­16
  • i.­50
  • 1.­4-5
  • 8.­2-3
  • 10.­7
  • 10.­12
  • n.­100
  • n.­124
  • n.­169
  • n.­218
  • n.­339-340
  • n.­353
  • n.­357
  • n.­365
  • g.­178
g.­366

thought

Wylie:
  • yid
Tibetan:
  • ཡིད།
Sanskrit:
  • manas

Regarding the term “thought” as a translation for the Sanskrit manas, see Schmithausen 2014.

Located in 8 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • i.­9
  • i.­22
  • 5.­1
  • 5.­6
  • 8.­20
  • 10.­9
  • n.­101
g.­368

three worlds

Wylie:
  • khams gsum
Tibetan:
  • ཁམས་གསུམ།
Sanskrit:
  • tridhātu
  • traidhātuka

The three worlds are: the desire realm (kāmadhātu, ’dod khams), form realm (rūpadhātu, gzugs khams) and the formless realm (ārūpyadhātu, gzugs med khams). These three worlds include all of saṃsāra.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • p.­1
  • 8.­20
g.­373

true reality

Wylie:
  • de bzhin nyid
  • de kho na
  • de nyid
Tibetan:
  • དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད།
  • དེ་ཁོ་ན།
  • དེ་ཉིད།
Sanskrit:
  • tathatā
  • tattva

The true state or nature of things. See also n.­97.

Located in 26 passages in the translation:

  • i.­5
  • i.­16-17
  • i.­55
  • 4.­9
  • 6.­6
  • 7.­25-27
  • 8.­9
  • 8.­13
  • 8.­20-21
  • 8.­23
  • 8.­26-29
  • 8.­36-37
  • 9.­18
  • 10.­5
  • 10.­7
  • n.­97
  • n.­191
  • n.­217
g.­374

truly

Wylie:
  • ji tsam du
Tibetan:
  • ཇི་ཙམ་དུ།
Sanskrit:
  • yāvat
  • tāvatā
  • tāvat

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 9.­5
  • 9.­31
  • g.­200
g.­375

truth

Wylie:
  • bden pa
Tibetan:
  • བདེན་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • satya

See the “two truths” and “four noble truths.”

Located in 31 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1
  • i.­22
  • 1.­5
  • 3.­1
  • 3.­3
  • 4.­8-10
  • 7.­20-23
  • 7.­26
  • 8.­13-14
  • 8.­20
  • 9.­3
  • 9.­9
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­18
  • 10.­7
  • n.­80-82
  • n.­92
  • n.­191
  • n.­217
  • n.­366
  • g.­334
  • g.­377
g.­376

truth body

Wylie:
  • chos kyi sku
Tibetan:
  • ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ།
Sanskrit:
  • dharmakāya

Located in 16 passages in the translation:

  • i.­16
  • i.­18
  • i.­20
  • i.­22
  • 8.­15
  • 8.­35
  • 9.­3
  • 10.­1-3
  • 10.­9-10
  • 10.­12
  • n.­191
  • n.­230
  • n.­308
g.­377

two truths

Wylie:
  • bden pa gnyis
Tibetan:
  • བདེན་པ་གཉིས།
Sanskrit:
  • satyadvaya

The ultimate and relative, or conventional, truth.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • i.­5
  • i.­7
  • i.­57
  • n.­64
  • g.­375
g.­378

ultimate

Wylie:
  • don dam pa
  • don dam
Tibetan:
  • དོན་དམ་པ།
  • དོན་དམ།
Sanskrit:
  • paramārtha

The ultimate is said to be inexpressible, nondual, transcending speculation, transcending difference and sameness, and of a single nature (i.e., anabhilāpya, advaya, sarva­tarka­samati­krānta, bhe­dābhe­dasa­mati­krānta, ekarasa).

Located in 63 passages in the translation:

  • s.­1
  • i.­1
  • i.­4-11
  • i.­13
  • i.­15
  • i.­18
  • i.­21-22
  • 1.­1
  • 2.­1-4
  • 3.­1-7
  • 4.­6-12
  • 5.­6
  • 7.­6
  • 7.­18
  • 7.­24-27
  • 7.­33
  • 8.­21
  • 8.­29
  • 8.­37
  • 9.­12
  • 9.­18
  • 10.­7
  • n.­1
  • n.­53
  • n.­67-68
  • n.­71
  • n.­76
  • n.­80
  • n.­82
  • n.­92
  • n.­94-95
  • n.­125
  • n.­151
  • n.­191
  • g.­377
g.­380

ultimate reality

Wylie:
  • de bzhin nyid don dam pa
Tibetan:
  • དེ་བཞིན་ཉིད་དོན་དམ་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • —

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • i.­10
  • i.­56
  • 4.­9-10
  • n.­143
g.­382

unborn

Wylie:
  • ma skyes pa
Tibetan:
  • མ་སྐྱེས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • anutpanna

Located in 14 passages in the translation:

  • i.­11
  • i.­14
  • 7.­1-2
  • 7.­8-9
  • 7.­17
  • 7.­20
  • 7.­22
  • 7.­24
  • 7.­28
  • 7.­30-31
  • n.­168
g.­383

unconditioned

Wylie:
  • ’du ma byas
Tibetan:
  • འདུ་མ་བྱས།
Sanskrit:
  • asaṃskṛta

Located in 17 passages in the translation:

  • i.­6-8
  • i.­11
  • i.­22
  • i.­25
  • 1.­1-5
  • 7.­9
  • 8.­29
  • 8.­36
  • 10.­8
  • n.­64
  • n.­88
g.­392

Utmost Joy

Wylie:
  • rab tu dga’ ba
Tibetan:
  • རབ་ཏུ་དགའ་བ།
Sanskrit:
  • pramuditā

The name of a bodhisattva stage.

Located in 3 passages in the translation:

  • 8.­16
  • 9.­1
  • 9.­4
g.­396

Vārāṇasī

Wylie:
  • bA rA Na sI
Tibetan:
  • བཱ་རཱ་ཎ་སཱི།
Sanskrit:
  • vārāṇasī

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

Also known as Benares, one of the oldest cities of northeast India on the banks of the Ganges, in modern-day Uttar Pradesh. It was once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kāśi, and in the Buddha’s time it had been absorbed into the kingdom of Kośala. It was an important religious center, as well as a major city, even during the time of the Buddha. The name may derive from being where the Varuna and Assi rivers flow into the Ganges. It was on the outskirts of Vārāṇasī that the Buddha first taught the Dharma, in the location known as Deer Park (Mṛgadāva). For numerous episodes set in Vārāṇasī, including its kings, see The Hundred Deeds, Toh 340.

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 7.­30
  • g.­320
g.­397

Vidhi­vatpari­pṛcchaka

Wylie:
  • tshul bzhin kun ’dri
Tibetan:
  • ཚུལ་བཞིན་ཀུན་འདྲི།
Sanskrit:
  • vidhi­vatpari­pṛcchaka

A bodhisattva mahāsattva.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­4
  • p.­4
  • 1.­1-2
  • 1.­4
g.­398

vigor

Wylie:
  • brtson ’grus
Tibetan:
  • བརྩོན་འགྲུས།
Sanskrit:
  • vīrya

Also translated here as “diligence.”

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • g.­40
  • g.­47
  • g.­112
  • g.­167
  • g.­168
g.­400

Viśālakīrti

Wylie:
  • —
Tibetan:
  • —
Sanskrit:
  • viśālakīrti

The name of a tathāgata

Located in 2 passages in the translation:

  • 2.­1
  • g.­231
g.­401

Viśālamati

Wylie:
  • blo gros yangs pa
Tibetan:
  • བློ་གྲོས་ཡངས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • viśālamati

A bodhisattva mahāsattva.

Located in 10 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • i.­4
  • p.­4
  • 5.­1-7
g.­405

whose defining characteristic is beyond all speculation

Wylie:
  • rtog ge thams cad las yang dag par ’das pa
Tibetan:
  • རྟོག་གེ་ཐམས་ཅད་ལས་ཡང་དག་པར་འདས་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • sarva­tarka­samati­krānta

Located in 4 passages in the translation:

  • i.­4
  • 2.­1-2
  • 2.­4
g.­407

wisdom

Wylie:
  • shes rab
Tibetan:
  • ཤེས་རབ།
Sanskrit:
  • prajñā

Located in 23 passages in the translation:

  • p.­3
  • 1.­4-5
  • 7.­13
  • 7.­18
  • 7.­20
  • 8.­10
  • 8.­14
  • 8.­20
  • 8.­24
  • 8.­32
  • 9.­2
  • 9.­5
  • 9.­9-12
  • 9.­18
  • 10.­9
  • g.­167
  • g.­168
  • g.­176
  • g.­242
g.­408

wishlessness

Wylie:
  • smon pa med pa
Tibetan:
  • སྨོན་པ་མེད་པ།
Sanskrit:
  • apraṇihita

One of the three gates of liberation along with appearancelessness and emptiness.

Located in 5 passages in the translation:

  • i.­2
  • p.­1
  • 9.­18
  • g.­24
  • g.­188
g.­412

wrongly conceive

Wylie:
  • mngon par zhen
Tibetan:
  • མངོན་པར་ཞེན།
Sanskrit:
  • abhiniviśanti

See Edgerton 1953, p. 53. The term has various shades of meaning such as “to be attached to,” “to adhere to,” “to wrongly conceive,” “to hold fast to,” and “to believe in” with a negative connotation.

Located in 6 passages in the translation:

  • i.­24
  • 7.­10
  • 7.­13
  • 7.­20-21
  • 10.­8
g.­413

yakṣa

Wylie:
  • —
Tibetan:
  • —
Sanskrit:
  • yakṣa

Definition from the 84000 Glossary of Terms:

A class of nonhuman beings who inhabit forests, mountainous areas, and other natural spaces, or serve as guardians of villages and towns, and may be propitiated for health, wealth, protection, and other boons, or controlled through magic. According to tradition, their homeland is in the north, where they live under the rule of the Great King Vaiśravaṇa.

Several members of this class have been deified as gods of wealth (these include the just-mentioned Vaiśravaṇa) or as bodhisattva generals of yakṣa armies, and have entered the Buddhist pantheon in a variety of forms, including, in tantric Buddhism, those of wrathful deities.

Located in 1 passage in the translation:

  • p.­1
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