A
Arhat: one who
has attained nirvana, or complete liberation from suffering, but has
not yet attained enlightenment.
Atisha (982-1054): a great Indian master and scholar who
came to Tibet to help in the revival of Buddhism and established the
Kadam tradition. His text Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment became the
first in a tradition of teachings called the graduated path to enlightenment
(lam rim in Tibetan).
B
bodhicitta: the aspiration
to attain full enlightenment in order to help all beings.
bodhisattva: a being who has developed bodhicitta and is
striving for enlightenment for the sake of all beings.
Buddha: a fully-enlightened being; one who has overcome
all obstacles and completed all good qualities and is therefore able to
benefit all other beings to the maximum extent.
Buddhahood: see enlightenment.
C
compassion: empathy
with the suffering of others; the wish that other beings be free from
their suffering.
conviction: the mental factor that, once one has recognized
the valuable qualities of such an object as the Three Jewels, makes this
recognition firm and will not let it be lost.
D
delusion: a mental state
that causes our mind to be disturbed, and leads us to deal with people
and situations in mistaken, harmful ways, thus resulting in problems.
Examples are: anger, jealousy and attachment.
Dharma: spiritual teachings and practices; any knowledge
or method that frees us from confusion and suffering; specifically, the
Buddhist teachings.
E
emptiness: the actual way in which all things exist; the absence
of the apparent independent existence of things.
empowerment {Ongchen in Tib.} is the full initiation. It
grants the seed to achieve the four Kayas of the Buddha and allows practitioners
to engage in the practice of three Kaya taking into the path of generation
and the practice of the five stages of completion stage path of the Mahaanutara
Yoga tantra Buddha. Empowerment, if done correctly, usually takes two
days.
enlightenment: the highest, most perfect state of mind,
in which all negative aspects of mind have been eliminated, and all positive
qualities have been perfected; Buddhahood.
equanimity: an even-minded attitude towards everyone, cultivated
by overcoming the habit to classify others as either friend, enemy or
stranger.
G
Guru: Spiritual Teacher Guru, King of Sages, Vajradhara:
the central figure of the visualization - one's Root Guru, identical with
Shakyamuni Buddha, with Vajradhara at his heart.
I
ignorance: not understanding truth, especially the ignorance
that fails to understand emptiness, the actual way all things exist .
impermanence: the ever-changing nature of all things that
arise from causes and conditions.
inherent existence: the falsely-conceived mode of existence
of things, in which things seem to exist from their own side, independent
of anything else.
initiation: also known as Je-nang, is giving the permission
to practise the deities, normally deities of action, performance and Yoga
Tantra with just a few exceptional cases.
J
joy/rejoicing: the attitude of appreciating and feeling happy
about positive, virtuous actions, both one's own and others'; taking delight
in others' good qualities, success, good fortune, and so on.
K
karma: the law of cause and effect; the process whereby
virtuous actions lead to happiness and non-virtuous ones to suffering.
L
Lam rim: the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment.
lama: the Tibetan word for Guru.
liberation: the state of complete personal freedom
from suffering and its causes, delusions and karma.
love: the wish that other beings have happiness and its
causes.
M
Mahayana: the "Great Vehicle" - the practices
of a Bodhisattva. A Mahayana text or school is one in which these practices
are taught. Includes both the Vehicle of the Perfections and the Vajrayana,
but when contrasted with the latter it refers to the former.
mandala: in particular the entire world visualized
as an offering. When the array of a deity and his or her attendants, or
the diagram representing them, is meant, mandala is normally translated
into Tibetan as dkyil 'khor.
mantra: a series of syllables, usually Sanskrit, that are
recited as part of one's spiritual practice. Mantras can be recited for
various purposes, e.g. purification of negative karma, or development
of compassion or single-pointed concentration.
Master, The: Buddha Shakyamuni.
meditation: the process of becoming familiar with positive
states of mind, through both analytical investigation and single-pointed
concentration.
merit: positive energy created when one performs virtuous
actions.
mindfulness: awareness, especially awareness of one's own
thoughts, feelings, attitudes and behavior.
R
Red Loma Gyonma: Female Deity specially powerful to protect
and cure epidemics and contagious disease.
S
sadhana: rite of evocation of a deity.
samsara: the cycle of death and rebirth, fraught
with suffering and dissatisfaction, that arises due to the ignorance of
the true nature of all things.
Sangha: Absolute Sangha, the Object of Refuge,
is the Community of Arya Beings, or Saints. Relative Sangha is the community
of ordained monks and nuns.
sentient being: a being who has consciousness,
and has not yet attained enlightenment.
stupa: Indian Buddhist stupas were dome-shaped monuments
containing relics of the Buddha or His desciples. Their Tibetan successors
are usually purely symbolic; of any size and material, they are of carefully-defined
shape and proportions and represent the Buddha's Mind.
Sutra: the Discourses of the Buddha, the scriptural texts
and the Teachings they contain.
T
Tantra: practices involing indentification of oneself with
a fully Enlightened deity, esoteric practices not taught in the Sutras.
The four classes are Action Tantra, Performance Tantra, Yoga Tantra and
Highest Yoga Tantra.
thought transformation: teachings and meditation methods
for the purpose of training one's mind in the attitudes and practices
of a bodhisattva, e.g. compassion, love, patience, inner strength, wisdom,
etc.
V
vajra: a Tantric implement; as an adjective, "ada-mantine":
applied to anything used in Tantric practice to differentiate it from
everyday things.
W
wisdom: the correct understanding of things, especially the
correct understanding of emptiness, the ultimate, true nature of all phenomena;
the main antidote to ignorance.
Y
Yellow Loma Gyonma: Female Deity specially powerful to protect
and cure epidemics and contagious disease.
| Home | Teachers | Dharma-On-Demand | About MBA | News & Events | Membership & Sponsorship | Links | Contact Us |