GLOSSARY

aggregates Form, feeling, discernment, compositional factors, and consciousness. These faculties serve as the basis for the arisal of an innate notion of self-identity in a person. They are called aggregates because of their being composed through the aggregation of many factors.

arhat A spiritually matured being who has succeeded in rooting out from his or her mental stream all delusions and the ignorance underlying them. Often this Sanskrit term is translated into English as foe-destroyer; foe here referring to delusions.

asana Sanskrit word for the cross-legged posture of meditation; sometimes the term is used in a metaphoric sense in a tantric context.

bhikshu Sanskrit term for a fully ordained monk; the female counterpart is bhikshuni.

bodhicitta A spontaneous and non-simulated aspiration to attain full enlightenment for the sake of all beings. This mental state can be generated through a process of intensive meditations based on a simulated universal love and compassion. The realization of bodhicitta marks the individual becoming a bodhisattva.

Bodhisattva A spiritual trainee who has successfully generated a non-simulated aspiration to become fully enlightened for the benefit of all. Bodhisattva can be literally translated as “the awakening warrior.”

Buddha A being who has become totally free of all limitations and is fully enlightened.

calm abiding A meditative state of mental absorption, accompanied by physical and mental suppleness, at which level one’s mind has become extremely serviceable in focusing toward a chosen object. It is attained only through a successful development of the faculty of concentration, which one possesses within the mind. It is called calm abiding because it is a mental state where distractions by external objects are calmed and where the mind firmly abides on the chosen object of meditation.

Cessation The third of the Four Noble Truths, a state of true cessation of sufferings and their causes.

Clear Light Clear Light is the subtlest level of mind, which becomes manifest only when all the gross minds have ceased their active functions. This state is experienced by ordinary beings naturally at the time of death, but can also be intentionally induced through meditative techniques.

consciousness In the Buddhist context, consciousness is used broadly to include all cognitive events and levels of the mind, even the very subtlest subconscious levels. Instinctive mental events and emotions also fall into this class of phenomena; thus animals are understood to possess consciousness.

dakini Lit: Sky-goer. Class of female deities in Buddhist tantra embodying the wisdom aspect of the path.

dharma This Sanskrit word has many different meanings. The most common usage denotes a “way of life” or “transformative process.” In this context, it not only refers to the process itself but also to the transformed result as well. Hence dharma refers to the true paths and the true cessations to which the paths lead.

dharmakaya Truth body of the Buddha, the ultimate expanse into which all defilements are purified. It is also the basis or source from which the Buddha assumes varying physical manifestations suited to the differing mental dispositions of beings.

dharmapalas Wrathful deities who are assigned by highly realized beings to protect the doctrine.

enlightenment Used in Buddhist context to mean an awakened state of mind attained by an individual through a transformative process of spiritual purification. Thus full enlightenment refers to the total awakening of a Buddha.

form & formless The four form and four formless states are meditative states in which the attraction to external form is successively and eventually reduced to the point where the mind is totally withdrawn. Such meditative states lead to the practitioner’s taking rebirths in form and formless realms.

four classes of tantra Action, performance, yoga, and highest yoga tantras.

Four Noble Truths The truths of (1) suffering, (2) its origin, (3) the cessation of suffering, and (4) the path which leads to the cessation of suffering.

Great Vehicle Mahayana, the path of great capacity, that emphasizes others’ welfare over one’s own. It has two divisions: Perfection Vehicle and Tantric Vehicle.

guru yoga Tantric meditation based on imagining one’s own mind and body as inseparable from one’s guru visualized as a meditational deity.

illusory body A very subtle body possessing specific characteristics assumed by a practitioner on a high level of completion stage in tantra. It is the main factor that purifies the ordinary intermediate state between death and rebirth.

Kadam A tradition that originated from the teachings of Atisha in Tibet.

kaya Sanskrit word for body, especially in the context of the different bodies of the Buddha, such as dharmakaya.

lamrim Stages of the path to enlightenment.

Lesser Vehicle Hinayana, the path of beings with lesser capacity, and a system that concentrates more on individual liberation rather than a universal enlightenment for all.

liberation In the Buddhist context, the term refers to a liberation from the bondage of delusion and sufferings in the cycle of existence.

Mahayana See Great Vehicle.

omniscience All-knowing wisdom of a buddha which is attained once all the obscurations to knowledge are removed from the mind.

Perfection Vehicle Sutra system of the Great Vehicle, which emphasizes the practice of bodhisattva deeds within the scope of the six perfections.

Prasangika A philosophical school of thought founded on the Emptiness doctrine of Nagarjuna by Buddhapalita and Chandrakirti in India.

prostration A physical gesture of homage in which one touches one’s palms, knees, and forehead to the ground in front of the object of homage.

protector See dharmapalas.

puja A ritual involving the making of ceremonial offerings to higher beings such as gurus, meditational deities, buddhas, et al.

root guru A person whom you have taken as your most important spiritual guide and mentor.

selflessness Used as a synonym for emptiness. Refers to the identity-lessness of things, that is, to the fact that things have no inherently existing self nature.

three scopes Initial, middling, and great capacities for the spiritual path.

two truths The dual aspect of all phenomena: the level of their appearance called conventional truth, and their ultimate reality known as ultimate truth.

wisdom beings Deities or buddhas evoked from their abodes in one’s meditative visualization to merge with and inhabit their forms imagined earlier in the meditative sequence.