DHARMADHATU (chos kyi dbyings). The “realm of phenomena”; the suchness in which emptiness and dependent origination are inseparable. The nature of mind and phenomena that lies beyond arising, dwelling, and ceasing.
DHARMAKAYA (chos sku). See Three kayas.
DHARMATA (chos nyid). The innate nature of phenomena and mind.
DORJE DRAKTSAL, the secret practice. “Powerful Vajra Wrath.” A wrathful form of Guru Rinpoche.
DORJE LOBPÖN (rdo rje slob dpon). Vajra master.
DÜ SUM KHYENPA, the first Karmapa (1110–1193). One of the main disciples of Gampopa.
DZOGCHEN. Also known as Great Perfection and Ati Yoga, the highest teachings of the Nyingma school of the Early Translations. In this world the most well known human lineage masters are Garab Dorje, Mañjushrimitra, Shri Singha, Jñanasutra, Vimalamitra, Padmasambhava, and Vairochana. Dzogchen has two chief aspects: the lineage of scriptures and the lineage of teachings. The scriptures are contained in the tantras of the Three Sections of Dzogchen: Mind Section, Space Section, and Instruction Section. The first two were brought to Tibet chiefly by Vairochana, while the Instruction Section was mainly transmitted by Vimalamitra and Padmasambhava. In addition, numerous Dzogchen termas were concealed by these masters and revealed through the following centuries. The lineage of teachings is embodied in the oral instructions one receives personally from a qualified master and holder of the Dzogchen lineage. Dzogchen is the ultimate of all the 84,000 profound and extensive sections of the Dharma, the realization of Buddha Samantabhadra, exactly as it is.
EIGHT WORLDLY CONCERNS. Attachment to gain, pleasure, praise, and fame, and aversion to loss, pain, blame, and bad reputation.
EIGHTEEN CONSTITUENTS (Skt. dhatu). The six collections of consciousness, the six senses, and the six sense objects.
ESSENCE. See Essence, nature, and capacity.
ESSENCE, NATURE, AND CAPACITY. The three aspects of the sugatagarbha according to the Dzogchen system. Essence (ngo bo) is the primordially pure wisdom of emptiness. The nature (rang bzhin) is the spontaneously present wisdom of cognizance (gsal ba). The capacity (thugs rje) is the all-pervasive wisdom of indivisibility. This is, ultimately, the identity of the Three Roots, the Three Jewels, and the three kayas.
ETERNALISM AND NIHILISM. Eternalism is the belief that there is a permanent and causeless creator of everything; in particular, that one’s identity or consciousness has a concrete essence that is independent, everlasting, and singular. Nihilism in this context is literally “the view of discontinuance,” or the extreme view of nothingness: no rebirth or karmic effects and the nonexistence of a mind after death.
FIRST TURNING OF THE WHEEL OF DHARMA (chos ’khor dang po). The teachings focusing on renunciation, karma, and the Four Noble Truths.
FIVE AGGREGATES (Skt. skandha). The five aspects that comprise the physical and mental constituents of a sentient being: physical forms, sensations, conceptions, formations, and consciousnesses.
FIVE ELEMENTS. Earth, water, fire, wind, and space.
FIVE FEMALE BUDDHAS. Dhatvishvari, Mamaki, Locana, Pandaravasini, and Samayatara.
FIVE MALE BUDDHAS. Vairochana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi.
FOUR IMMEASURABLES. Compassion, love, joy, and impartiality. Also called the “four abodes of Brahma” because their cultivation causes rebirth as the king of the gods in the Realm of Form within samsaric existence. When embraced by the attitude of bodhichitta, the wish to attain enlightenment for the welfare of others, their cultivation causes the attainment of unexcelled buddhahood.
FOUR MARAS. The first of the four maras, or demons, is the demon of the Lord of Death, which cuts our life short. Second is the demon of the physical aggregates, which prevents the attainment of the rainbow body. Third is the demon of the disturbing emotions, the three poisons that prevent liberation from samsara. Finally there is the demon of the son of the gods, which is distraction in the meditation state and the tendency to postpone practice. Procrastination is the mara of the son of the gods, which creates obstacles for samadhi. The real demon is our conceptual thinking. When we recognize our mind essence, all demons are defeated; the four maras are vanquished and all obstacles are done away with. The main point is to train in that.
FOUR MEANS OF MAGNETIZING. Being generous, uttering kind words, giving appropriate teachings, and keeping consistency between words and actions. Padmasambhava says in the Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo:
Having ripened your own being, gather followers through generosity,
Delight them with pleasing words, and comfort them by being consistent.
Through giving them counsel to meaningful conduct, establish them temporarily and ultimately,
In the full splendor of benefit and well-being.
FOUR MIND-CHANGINGS (blo ldog rnam bzhi). (1) The freedoms and riches comprising the precious human body that are so difficult to find; (2) impermanence and death; (3) karma, the law of cause and effect; and(4) the sufferings of samsara. Reflecting on these four topics regarding the facts of life causes one’s mind to change and be directed toward Dharma practice.
FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS (’phags pa’i bden pa bzhi). The four truths are the truth of suffering, of origin, of cessation, and of the path. The truth of suffering refers to the world and sentient beings. The truth of origin refers to karmic actions and disturbing emotions. The truth of cessation is the state of having relinquished both the karmas and disturbing emotions along with their effects. The truth of the path is the paths and levels of Buddhism, the ultimate solution to suffering. The truth of suffering is like a sickness, the truth of origin is the cause of the sickness, the truth of cessation is like having recovered from the sickness, and the truth of the path is like following a cure for the sickness. These four truths can be understood in increasingly deeper ways as the practitioner progresses through the three vehicles.
FOUR ROOT PRECEPTS. Not taking lives, not taking what is not given, not lying, and not engaging in sexual misconduct.
FOURFOLD SPHERES OF PERCEPTION. Same as the four formless realms. The four unenlightened meditative states of dwelling on the thoughts: Infinite Space, Infinite Consciousness, Nothing Whatsoever, and Neither Presence nor Absence of Conception.
GANACHAKRA (tshogs kyi ’khor lo) A feast offering; a practice in which attachment and habitual sense perceptions are transformed and become part of the path. A feast assembly is performed by Vajrayana practitioners to accumulate merit and purify the sacred commitments (samayas).
GANDHARVA (dri za). (1) A class of sentient beings who live on scents. (2) A type of celestial musician living on the rim of Mount Sumeru. A “city of the gandharvas” (Skt. gandharva nagara; dri za’i grong khyer) is an imaginary city in the sky, like a fairy castle in the clouds.
GREAT PERFECTION (rdzogs pa chen po, Skt. mahasandhi). See Dzogchen.
GUHYAGARBHA TANTRA. The widely renowned Mahayoga tantra of the Early Translations.
KARMA. The unerring law that virtuous actions yield virtuous results, and so forth. Voluntary actions of thought, word, and deed, the effects of which determine the rebirths and experiences of individual sentient beings.
KARMAPA. The great master and chief figure of the Karma Kagyu school.
KAYAS (sku). See Three kayas.
KLESHA (nyon mongs pa). “Disturbing emotion.” Usually the five poisons known as desire, anger, delusion, pride, and envy.
KUNZANG TUKTIG (kun bzang thugs thig). The “Heart Essence of Samantabhadra.” A collection of terma teachings revealed by Chokgyur Lingpa focused on the peaceful and wrathful deities as the development stage and on Trekchö and Tögal as the completion stage.
LONGCHEN RABJAM. A major lineage master and writer of the Nyingma lineage. Longchen Rabjam was an incarnation of Princess Pema Sal, the daughter of King Trisong Deutsen, to whom Guru Rinpoche had entrusted his own lineage of Dzogchen known as Khandro Nyingthig. He is regarded as the single most important writer on Dzogchen teachings. His works include The Seven Grea
t Treasuries, The Three Trilogies, and his commentaries in the Nyingthig Yabshi. A more detailed account of his life and teachings is found in Buddha Mind by Tulku Thondup Rinpoche (Snow Lion Publications).
MADHYAMIKA. See Middle Way.
MAHAMUDRA. Literally, “great seal.” A very direct practice for realizing one’s buddha nature. A system of teachings that is the basic view of Vajrayana practice according to the Sarma or “new” schools of Kagyü, Gelug, and Sakya. In particular, the essential view of our natural state is introduced directly and without reliance upon philosophical reasoning.
MANTRIKA (sngags pa). A practitioner of Vajrayana.
MAYA (sgyu ma). Magical illusion.
MIDDLE WAY (Skt. madhyamaka). The highest of the four Buddhist schools of philosophy. The Middle Way means not holding any extreme views, especially those of eternalism or nihilism.
MIND ONLY. Chittamatra. A Mahayana school of India, founded on the Lankavatara Sutra. Its main premise is that all phenomena are only mind, i.e., mental perceptions that appear within the all-ground consciousness due to habitual tendencies. Positively, this view relinquishes the fixation on a solid reality. Negatively, there is still clinging to a truly existing “mind” within which everything takes place.
NAROPA. The great mahasiddha of India, chief disciple of Tilopa and the guru of Marpa in the Kagyü lineage. See The Rain of Wisdom and The Life of Marpa (both Shambhala Publications).
NATURE. See Essence, nature, and capacity.
NGÖNDRO (sngon ’gro). See Preliminary practices.
NIRMANAKAYA (sprul sku). See Three kayas.
NONCONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE THREE SPHERES. Not retaining concepts of subject, object, and action.
PHONYA (pho nya). (1) Messenger, emissary. (2) Spiritual consort in Vajrayana practice.
PRAJÑA AND UPAYA. Prajña (literally, “best knowing”) is knowledge or intelligence; in particular, the knowledge of realizing egolessness. Upaya (literally, “skillful means”) is the method or technique that brings about realization.
PRAJÑAPARAMITA (shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa). “Transcendent knowledge.” The Mahayana teachings on insight into emptiness, transcending the fixation of subject, object, and action. Associated with the Second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma. Since Prajñaparamita eliminates the most subtle obscuration, this insight is often called the Mother of All Buddhas.
PRANA (rlung). The winds or energy currents of the vajra body. See also Channels, winds, and essences.
PRASANGIKA. A branch of the Madhyamika, distinguished by complete reliance of refutation and taking no stands.
PRATIMOKSHA (so so thar pa). Individual liberation, the seven sets of precepts for ordained and lay people according to the Vinaya scriptures on Buddhist ethics and discipline.
PRATYEKABUDDHA (rang rgyal, rang sangs rgyas). “Solitarily enlightened one.” A Hinayana arhat who attains nirvana chiefly through contemplation of the twelve links of dependent origination in reverse order, without needing teachings in that lifetime. A pratyekabuddha lacks the complete realization of a buddha and so cannot benefit limitless sentient beings as a buddha does.
PRELIMINARY PRACTICES (sngon ’gro). The general outer preliminaries are the four mind-changings. The special inner preliminaries are the “four times 100,000 practices” of refuge and bodhichitta, Vajrasattva recitation, mandala offering, and guru yoga. See Jamgön Kongtrül, The Torch of Certainty (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1977).
PURE PERCEPTION. The attitude of sacred outlook, or pure perception, is the special quality of Vajrayana. Sacred outlook refers to seeing things as they actually are, not in the ordinary deluded way wherein we think that earth is simply solid matter, water is merely water, wind is wind, and so forth. In actuality, what appear to us as the ordinary experience of the five elements are the five female buddhas; the five aggregates are the five male buddhas, and so forth. Therefore, training oneself in pure perception is not a way of convincing oneself that things are what they are not, but rather is training in seeing things as they truly are.
RAINBOW BODY. At the time of death of a practitioner who has reached the exhaustion of all grasping and fixation through the Dzogchen practice of Tögal, the five gross elements that form the physical body dissolve back into their essences, five-colored light. Sometimes only the hair and the nails are left behind.
RIGPA (rig pa). The state of awareness devoid of ignorance and dualistic fixation.
RINCHEN TERDZÖ. The Great Treasury of Precious Termas. A sixty-three-volume collection of the most important revealed termas of Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra, Vairochana, and other of their closest disciples, gathered by Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thaye with the help of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.
RIWOCHE. Major Kagyü and Nyingma monastery situated between Central Tibet and Kham.
RUPAKAYA (gzugs kyi sku). “Form body.” A collective term for both sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. See also Three kayas.
SADHANA (sgrub thabs). “Means of accomplishment.” Tantric liturgy and procedure for practice, usually emphasizing the development stage. The typical sadhana structure involves a preliminary part including the taking of refuge and arousing bodhichitta, a main part involving visualization of a buddha and recitation of the mantra, and a concluding part with dedication of merit to all sentient beings.
SAMADHI OF SUCHNESS. The first of the “three samadhis” of suchness, of illumination, and of the seed syllable. The samadhi of suchness is to rest in the composure of the innate emptiness of all phenomena, as pointed out by one’s root master, or simply to imagine that all things are empty like space. The samadhi of illumination is to let natural compassion manifest like sunlight illuminating the sky, or simply to generate compassion for all the beings who fail to realize the nature of things. The samadhi of the seed syllable is the innate unity of emptiness and compassion manifesting in the form of a syllable that is the seed or source from which the deity and the entire mandala will appear during the practice. These three samadhis are the indispensable framework for the development stage of Vajrayana practice. In his Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo, Padmasambhava says, “The main part begins with the profound and vast samadhis which purify the manner of death, bardo, and rebirth: The great emptiness space of suchness is pure like the sky. Rest evenly in this space of the undivided two truths. Emanate the magic of compassion, an all-illuminating cloud of awareness, filling the space, radiant yet without fixation. The single mudra in the manner of a subtle syllable is the causal seed which produces everything. Keep this changeless wisdom essence, manifest in space, one-pointedly in mind and bring its vivid presence to perfection.” For more details, see The Light of Wisdom, Volume II, pp. 88–89.
SAMAYA (dam tshig). The sacred pledges, precepts, or commitments of Vajrayana practice. Samayas essentially consist of outwardly maintaining harmonious relationships with the vajra master and one’s Dharma friends and inwardly not straying from the continuity of the practice.
SAMBHOGAKAYA (longs spyod rdzogs pa’i sku). See Three kayas.
SAMPA LHUNDRUB. A supplication to Guru Rinpoche as well as a terma of Chokgyur Lingpa.
SAUTRANTIKA. A Hinayana school of philosophy and the second of the four major Buddhist schools. One of its branches was known for its reliance on the sutras instead of Abhidharma.
SECOND TURNING OF THE WHEEL OF DHARMA (chos ’khor gnyis pa). The teachings emphasizing bodhichitta and emptiness, that all phenomena are devoid of a self-entity and true existence.
SHAMATHA (zhi gnas). Stillness, literally, “calm abiding” or “remaining in quiescence” after thought activity has subsided. It can also mean the meditative practice of calming the mind in order to rest free from the disturbance of thought. Shamatha with support (zhi gnas rten bcas) is the practice of calming the mind while using an object of concentration—material or mental or simply the breath. Shamatha without support (zhi gnas rten med) is the act of calming the mind without any particular object, resting undistractedly. This practice serves as a prelude for Mahamudra and Dzog
chen and should not be mistaken for “ordinary mind” or the view of Trekchö.
SHRAMANERA (dge tshul). Novice, a lesser number of vows taken prior to the full ordination of a monk.
SHRAVAKA (literally, “hearer” or “listener”). Hinayana practitioner of the First Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma on the Four Noble Truths who realizes the suffering inherent in samsara and focuses on understanding that there is no independent self. By conquering disturbing emotions, the shravaka liberates oneself, attaining first the stage of Stream Enterer at the Path of Seeing, followed by the stage of Once-Returner who will be reborn only one more time, and the stage of Nonreturner, who will no longer be reborn into samsara. The final goal is to become an arhat. These four stages are also known as the “four results of spiritual practice.”
SIDDHI (dngos grub). “Accomplishment.” The attainment resulting from Dharma practice, usually referring to the “supreme siddhi” of complete enlightenment. It can also mean the common siddhis, eight mundane accomplishments such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, flying in the sky, invisibility, everlasting youth, or powers of transmutation; the ability to control the body and external world. The most eminent attainments on the path are, however, renunciation, compassion, unshakable faith, and realization of the correct view.
SIX PARAMITAS. The six transcendent actions of generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, and discriminating knowledge.
SKANDHAS. See Five aggregates.
SUGATA (bde bar gshegs pa). “Blissfully gone.” A synonym for buddha.
SVATANTRIKA (rang rgyud pa). Branch of the Madhyamika, distinguished by the use of conventional forms of philosophical reasoning.
TERTÖN (gter ston). A revealer of hidden treasures, concealed mainly by Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal.
THIRD TURNING OF THE WHEEL OF DHARMA (chos ’khor gsum pa). The last teachings of the Buddha, including the sutras on the definitive meaning placing emphasis on buddha nature, the unity of luminosity and emptiness devoid of constructs.
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