As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means descriptions of miracles.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

In the Vedas, the name originally meant “child of Aditi” so that in some texts it refers to a group of deities. However, in the Kāraṇḍavyūha it has the later meaning of being synonymous with Surya, the deity of the sun. It was translated into Tibetan simply as the common word for sun.

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 (moha). 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.

See “aggregates.”

The Vedic deity of fire. The name can also mean fire, particularly the sacrificial fire.

This might be a variation on the name for the third of the eight hot hells, the “crushing hell,” (Tib. bsdus ’joms, Skt. saṃghāta) as the name occurs in no other sūtra than the Kāraṇḍavyūha.

The divine nectar that prevents death.

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

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.

This is the name for epilepsy, but also refers to the demon that causes epilepsy and loss of consciousness, as in the Kāraṇḍavyūha. The Tibetan specifically means “causing forgetting.”

The “apsarases” are popular figures in Indian culture, they are said to be goddesses of the clouds and water and to be wives of the gandharvas. However, in the Kāraṇḍavyūha, they are presented as the female equivalent of the devas. Therefore the Tibetan has translated them as if the word were devī (“goddess’’).

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.

The asuras are the enemies of the devas, fighting with them for supremacy.

As one of the twelve aspects of Dharma, it means stories of previous lives of beings.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

First appeared as a bodhisattva beside Amitābha in the Sukhāvativyūha. The name has been variously interpreted. “The lord of Avalokita,” Avalokita has been interpreted as “seeing,” although, as a past passive participle, it is literally “lord of what has been seen.” One of the principal sūtras in the Mahāsamghika tradition was the Avalokita Sūtra, which has not been translated into Tibetan, in which the word is a synonym for enlightenment, as it is “that which has been seen” by the buddhas. In the early tantras, he was one of the lords of the three families, as the embodiment of the compassion of the buddhas. The Potalaka Mountain in South India became important in Southern Indian Buddhism as his residence in this world, but Potalaka does not feature in the Kāraṇḍavyūha.

The lowest hell, translated in two different ways within the sūtra and in the Mahāvyutpatti concordance, although mnar med became the standard form.

Bali wrested control of the world from the devas, establishing a period of peace and prosperity with no caste distinction. Indra requested Viṣṇu to use his wiles so that the devas could gain the world back from him. He appeared as a dwarf asking for two steps of ground, was offered three, and then traversed the world in two steps. Bali, keeping faithful to his promise, accepted the banishment of the asuras into the underworld. A great festival is held in Bali’s honor annually in South India. In the Kāraṇḍavyūha, he abuses his power by imprisoning the kṣatriyas, so that Viṣṇu has cause to banish him to the underworld.

“One who has bhaga,” which has many diverse meanings including “good fortune,” “happiness,” and “majesty.” In the Buddhist context, it means one who has the good fortune of attaining enlightenment. The Tibetan translation has three syllables defined to mean “one who has conquered (the maras), possesses (the qualities of enlightenment), and has transcended (saṃsāra, or both saṃsāra and nirvāṇa).

A level of enlightenment, usually referring to the ten levels of the enlightened bodhisattvas.

This term in its broadest sense can refer to any being, whether human, animal, or nonhuman. However, it is often used to refer to a specific class of nonhuman beings, especially when bhūtas are mentioned alongside rākṣasas, piśācas, or pretas. In common with these other kinds of nonhumans, bhūtas are usually depicted with unattractive and misshapen bodies. Like several other classes of nonhuman beings, bhūtas take spontaneous birth. As their leader is traditionally regarded to be Rudra-Śiva (also known by the name Bhūta), with whom they haunt dangerous and wild places, bhūtas are especially prominent in Śaivism, where large sections of certain tantras concentrate on them.

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.

The personification of the universal force of Brahman, who became a higher deity than Indra, the supreme deity of the early Vedas.

A member of the priestly class or caste from the four social divisions of India.

An ideal monarch or emperor who, as the result of the merit accumulated in previous lifetimes, rules over a vast realm in accordance with the Dharma. Such a monarch is called a cakravartin because he bears a wheel (cakra) that rolls (vartate) across the earth, bringing all lands and kingdoms under his power. The cakravartin conquers his territory without causing harm, and his activity causes beings to enter the path of wholesome actions. According to Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa, just as with the buddhas, only one cakravartin appears in a world system at any given time. They are likewise endowed with the thirty-two major marks of a great being (mahāpuruṣalakṣaṇa), but a cakravartin’s marks are outshined by those of a buddha. They possess seven precious objects: the wheel, the elephant, the horse, the wish-fulfilling gem, the queen, the general, and the minister. An illustrative passage about the cakravartin and his possessions can be found in The Play in Full (Toh 95), 3.3–3.13.

Vasubandhu lists four types of cakravartins: (1) the cakravartin with a golden wheel (suvarṇacakravartin) rules over four continents and is invited by lesser kings to be their ruler; (2) the cakravartin with a silver wheel (rūpyacakravartin) rules over three continents and his opponents submit to him as he approaches; (3) the cakravartin with a copper wheel (tāmracakravartin) rules over two continents and his opponents submit themselves after preparing for battle; and (4) the cakravartin with an iron wheel (ayaścakravartin) rules over one continent and his opponents submit themselves after brandishing weapons.

The deity of the moon, as well as the moon itself. In the Kāraṇḍavyūha, when Avalokiteśvara emanates Candra, it is the deity that is meant.

A well-known site of pilgrimage in Bengal. Candradvīpa was a prosperous kingdom with Buddhist sites, located on what is now the south coast of Bangladesh, centered on the Barisal district.

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

In the higher tantras they are portrayed as keepers of tantric teachings or embodiments of enlightenment. Otherwise in Indian culture, however, they are possibly dangerous female spirits haunting crossroads and charnel grounds, and are in Kāli’s retinue.

“The son of Daśaratha” is actually Rāma. At the point in the Kāraṇḍavyūha where Nārāyaṇa, really Viṣṇu, rescues the kṣatriyas, he is inexplicably called by this name, which may reference a Rāma story. Rāma came to be viewed as one of the ten incarnations of Nārāyaṇa.

In the most general sense the devas‍—the term is cognate with the English divine‍—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who attend and celebrate the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuni and other buddhas and bodhisattvas. In Buddhist cosmology the devas occupy the highest of the five or six “destinies” (gati) of saṃsāra among which beings take rebirth. The devas reside in the devalokas, “heavens” that traditionally number between twenty-six and twenty-eight and are divided between the desire realm (kāmadhātu), form realm (rūpadhātu), and formless realm (ārūpyadhātu). A being attains rebirth among the devas either through meritorious deeds (in the desire realm) or the attainment of subtle meditative states (in the form and formless realms). While rebirth among the devas is considered favorable, it is ultimately a transitory state from which beings will fall when the conditions that lead to rebirth there are exhausted. Thus, rebirth in the god realms is regarded as a diversion from the spiritual path.

An alternative name for vidyā (knowledge) and synonymous with mantra.

In early Buddhism a section of the Saṅgha would be bhāṇakas, who, particularly before the teachings were written down and were transmitted solely orally, were the key factor in the preservation of the teachings. Various groups of bhāṇakas specialized in memorizing and reciting a certain set of sūtras or vinaya.

A gong, or a wooden block or beam, sounded to call the community together for a teaching or other assembly.

In distinction to the rūpakāya, or form body of a buddha, this is the eternal imperceptible realization of a buddha. In origin it was a term for the presence of the Dharma, and has come to become synonymous with the true nature.

The lord of death, who judges the dead and rules over the hells.

A pore on Avalokiteśvara’s body.

One of the synonyms for meditation, referring to a state of mental stability.

The five extremely negative actions which, once those who have committed them die, result in their going immediately to the hells without experiencing the intermediate state. They are killing an arhat, killing one’s mother, killing one’s father, creating schism in the Saṅgha, and maliciously drawing blood from a tathāgata’s body.

Four deities on the base of Mount Meru, each one the guardian of his direction: Vaiśravaṇa in the north, Dhṛtarāṣṭra in the east; Virūpākṣa in the west; and Virūḍhaka in the south.

For someone to be accepted into the Saṅgha, and for any other action that needs the assent of the Saṅgha, first a motion (jñāpti; gsol ba) is presented to the community, for example, a certain person’s wish for ordination. The motion would be followed by three propositions, in which is it said that all who assent should remain silent. If no one speaks up after the third proposition, the motion is passed. The Tibetan translated it literally as “supplication and fourth.”

In the Kāraṇḍavyūha it is the name of both a bodhisattva and a samādhi. In this sūtra the bodhisattva is a pupil of Buddha Viśvabhū, but he is also portrayed in other sūtras receiving teaching from Śākyamuni, and is one of the sixteen bodhisattvas in the Vairocana maṇḍala.

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.”

As a personal name this refers to the deity who is said to be the ancestor of all birds and became the steed of Viṣṇu; he is also worshipped in his own right.

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.

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means those teachings given in verse.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

As one of the twelve aspects of the Dharma, it means the repletion of prose passages in verse form.

See also “twelve wheels of the Dharma.”

A particular kind of sandalwood, known as “ox-head,” that grows in southern India. It is reddish in color and has medicinal properties. It is said to have the finest fragrance of all sandalwood. The Sanskrit word go means “ox,” and śīrṣa means “head;” candana means “sandalwood.” The name of this sandalwood is said to derive from either the shape of or the name of a mountain upon which it grew. The Tibetan translated gośīrṣa as ba lang gi spos or “ox incense.”

The first of the eight cold hells, named after the cries of the beings within it.

Unidentified river, possibly the Kali Gandaki.

The lord of the devas, the principal deity in the Vedas. Indra and Brahmā were the two most important deities in the Buddha’s lifetime, and were later eclipsed by the increasing importance of Śiva and Viṣṇu.