Name of a tathāgata.
Name of a bodhisattva. Not to be confused with mgon po mi pham, Maitreya.
Lit. “Not Disturbed” or “Immovable One.” The buddha in the eastern realm of Abhirati. A well-known buddha in Mahāyāna, regarded in the higher tantras as the head of one of the five buddha families, the vajra family in the east.
Buddha associated with Sukhāvatī; buddha of the western direction; principal buddha of the Pure Land tradition; as the bodhisattva Dharmākara, he made forty-eight original vows (praṇidhāna) to bring beings to enlightenment, thus establishing Sukhāvatī for their benefit; in tantrism he is one of the five dhyāni-buddhas and is associated with the aggregate of notions (saṃjñāskandha).
Name of a tathāgata.
Name of a tathāgata.
Buddha especially associated with life energy and long life; the sambhogakāya aspect of Amitābha. Also a name of Amitābha.
Name of a tathāgata.
A major śrāvaka disciple and personal attendant of the Buddha Śākyamuni during the last twenty-five years of his life. He was a cousin of the Buddha (according to the Mahāvastu, he was a son of Śuklodana, one of the brothers of King Śuddhodana, which means he was a brother of Devadatta; other sources say he was a son of Amṛtodana, another brother of King Śuddhodana, which means he would have been a brother of Aniruddha).
Ānanda, having always been in the Buddha’s presence, is said to have memorized all the teachings he heard and is celebrated for having recited all the Buddha’s teachings by memory at the first council of the Buddhist saṅgha, thus preserving the teachings after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa. The phrase “Thus did I hear at one time,” found at the beginning of the sūtras, usually stands for his recitation of the teachings. He became a patriarch after the passing of Mahākāśyapa.
Name of a bodhisattva.
Śrāvaka arhat.
According to Buddhist tradition, one who is worthy of worship (pūjām arhati), or one who has conquered the enemies, the mental afflictions (kleśa-ari-hata-vat), and reached liberation from the cycle of rebirth and suffering. It is the fourth and highest of the four fruits attainable by śrāvakas. Also used as an epithet of the Buddha.
Yeshé Dé (late eighth to early ninth century) was the most prolific translator of sūtras into Tibetan. Altogether he is credited with the translation of more than one hundred sixty sūtra translations and more than one hundred additional translations, mostly on tantric topics. In spite of Yeshé Dé’s great importance for the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet during the imperial era, only a few biographical details about this figure are known. Later sources describe him as a student of the Indian teacher Padmasambhava, and he is also credited with teaching both sūtra and tantra widely to students of his own. He was also known as Nanam Yeshé Dé, from the Nanam (sna nam) clan.
Precious/semiprecious stone; sometimes translated as lapis lazuli.
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”).
Śrāvaka arhat; one of the sixteen sthavira arhats (see “elder”).
A being who is dedicated to the cultivation and fulfilment of the altruistic intention to attain perfect buddhahood, traversing the ten bodhisattva levels (daśabhūmi, sa bcu). Bodhisattvas purposely opt to remain within cyclic existence in order to liberate all sentient beings, instead of simply seeking personal freedom from suffering. In terms of the view, they realize both the selflessness of persons and the selflessness of phenomena.
Lord of the Sahā world (q.v.). Buddhists see Brahmā as a god occupying a high position in cyclic existence, with a very long life and a great deal of power.
Name of a tathāgata.
The branches of (1) authentic mindfulness, (2) authentic discrimination of dharmas, (3) authentic perseverance, (4) authentic joy, (5) authentic serenity, (6) authentic meditative absorption, and (7) authentic equanimity.
Name of a tathāgata.
Śrāvaka arhat, one of the sixteen sthavira arhats (see “elder”).
Translator of the Sukhāvatīvyūhasūtra.
Name of a tathāgata.
Name of a tathāgata.
Name of a tathāgata.
Name of a tathāgata.
The term is used to designate a senior monk. The sixteen great arhats, or sixteen noble elders (āryasthavira), were the successors of the Buddha’s teaching after he passed. They promised to preserve the teaching until the coming of the future Buddha Maitreya. They are on the path of seeing of the arhat path. Each arhat lived in a specific place: (1) Aṅgaja on Mt. Kailash; (2) Ajita in the Crystal Wood of Sages; (3) Vanavāsin on Mt. Saptaparṇa; (4) Mahākālika in Tāmradvīpa; (5) Vajrīputra in Siṃhaladvīpa; (6) Śrībhadra on Yamunādvīpa; (7) Kanakavatsa in Kashmir; (8) Kanakabharadvāja in the western continent of Godānīya; (9) Bakula in the northern continent of Uttarakuru; (10) Rāhula in Priyaṅgudvīpa; (11) Cūḍapanthaka on Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa; (12) Piṇḍolabharadvāja in the eastern continent of Pūrvavideha; (13) Mahāpanthaka in Trayatriṃśa; (14) Nāgasena on Mt. Meru; (15) Gopaka on Mt. Bhihula; and (16) Abhedya in the Himālayas.
The five degenerations are (1) the degeneration of life span, (2) the degeneration of views, (3) the degeneration of the afflictions, (4) the degeneration of beings, and (5) the degeneration of the era.
A person who has manifested the complete enlightenment of a buddha of the Greater Vehicle.
Name of a bodhisattva.
Name of a tathāgata.
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.”
Name of a tathāgata.
Śrāvaka arhat; one of the Buddha’s five close arhat disciples. He took ordination from the Buddha and then became a disciple of Śāriputra.
Name of a tathāgata.
One of the first Buddhist monasteries, located in a park outside Śrāvastī, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kośala in northern India. This park was originally owned by Prince Jeta, hence the name Jetavana, meaning Jeta’s grove. The wealthy merchant Anāthapiṇḍada, wishing to offer it to the Buddha, sought to buy it from him, but the prince, not wishing to sell, said he would only do so if Anāthapiṇḍada covered the entire property with gold coins. Anāthapiṇḍada agreed, and managed to cover all of the park except the entrance, hence the name Anāthapiṇḍadasyārāmaḥ, meaning Anāthapiṇḍada’s park. The place is usually referred to in the sūtras as “Jetavana, Anāthapiṇḍada’s park,” and according to the Saṃghabhedavastu the Buddha used Prince Jeta’s name in first place because that was Prince Jeta’s own unspoken wish while Anāthapiṇḍada was offering the park. Inspired by the occasion and the Buddha’s use of his name, Prince Jeta then offered the rest of the property and had an entrance gate built. The Buddha specifically instructed those who recite the sūtras to use Prince Jeta’s name in first place to commemorate the mutual effort of both benefactors.
Anāthapiṇḍada built residences for the monks, to house them during the monsoon season, thus creating the first Buddhist monastery. It was one of the Buddha’s main residences, where he spent around nineteen rainy season retreats, and it was therefore the setting for many of the Buddha’s discourses and events. According to the travel accounts of Chinese monks, it was still in use as a Buddhist monastery in the early fifth century ᴄᴇ, but by the sixth century it had been reduced to ruins.
Śrāvaka arhat.
Lord of Death.
Śrāvaka arhat.
Śrāvaka arhat, one of the most important followers of the Buddha.
Name of a tathāgata.
Śrāvaka arhat.
Śrāvaka arhat, one of the most important followers of the Buddha.
Śrāvaka arhat.
Name of a tathāgata.
Name of a tathāgata.
Name of a tathāgata.
’phags pa bde ba can gyi bkod pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo. Toh 115, Degé Kangyur vol. 51 (mdo sde, ja), folios 195.b–200.b.
’phags pa bde ba can gyi bkod 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. 51, pp. 532–42.
Ha’o wun zhon and To’u tshun chi, eds. bod rgya shan sbyar gyi shes bya’i rnam grangs kun btus tshig mdzod. Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang (Minorities Publishing House), 1987.
bde smon phyogs bsgrigs [The Collection of Prayers for Sukhāvatī]. Chengdu: si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang (Sichuan Minorities Publishing House), 2007.
mkhas grub rā ga a syas mdzad pa’i rnam dag bde chen zhing gi smon lam [Long Prayer for Sukhāvatī]. Chengdu: si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang (Sichuan Minorities Publishing House), 2007.
’phags pa bzang po spyod pa’i smon lam gyi rgyal po [The Noble King of Prayers of Good Conduct]. Toh 1095, Degé Kangyur, vol. 101 (gzungs ’dus, waM), folios 262.a–266.b.
Āryasukhāvatīvyūhanāmamahāyānasūtra. http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de. Accessed August 25, 2010.
Epstein, Ronald, trans. The Amitābha Sūtra. Hsüan Hua, A General Explanation of the Buddha Speaks of Amitābha Sūtra. San Francisco: Buddhist Text Translation Society, 1974. online.sfsu.ed.
Fujita, Kōtatsu. “Textual Origins of the Kuan Wu-liang-shou ching.” In Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha, edited by Robert E. Buswell, Jr., 149–173. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1990.
Gomez, Luis O. Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless Light; Sanskrit and Chinese Versions of the Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtras. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1996.
Hapatsch, Hischam A., trans. and ed. Die Heiligen Schriften des Amitābha-Buddhismus: Das große Sukhāvatī-vyūha-Sūtra, Das kleine Sukhāvatī-vyūha-Sūtra, Das Meditationssūtra. Berlin, 2007. www.littera.de. Accessed 2010.
Müller, Max, and Bunyiu Nanjio, trans. “Āryasukhāvatīvyūhasūtra.” Anecdota Oxoniensia: Aryan Series. Vol. I, part II. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1883.
Nakamura, Hajime. Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publications, 1987.
Roberts, Peter Alan and Emily Bower, trans. The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra (Toh 674). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2016.
Utsuki, Nishu. The Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra or The Sūtra on the Buddha Amitāyus: Translated from the Chinese Version of Kumārajīva. Kyoto: Educational Department of the West Hongwanji, 1924. web.mit.edu.