One of the three gateways to liberation.
One of the three gateways to liberation.
The five aggregates of form, sensation, perception, formation, and consciousness. On the individual level the five aggregates refer to the basis upon which the mistaken idea of a self is projected.
The second King of Magadha during the Buddha’s time. He was the son of King Bimbisāra and one of his queens, Vaidehī (lus ’phags mo), and usurped his father’s throne. After Bimbisāra died in his subsequent imprisonment, Ajātaśatru felt remorse and became an ardent supporter of the Buddha.
A follower of a heterodox mendicant movement that emerged about the time of the Buddha around a pupil of Mahāvīra named Gośāla and survived until the 13th century; its followers adhered to a type of determinism and practiced strict asceticism.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
Four types of mindfulness that regard the body, feelings, the mind, and dharmas.
A bodhisattva.
One of the six classes of living beings, sometimes included among the gods and sometimes among the animals. A class of superhuman beings, sometimes misleadingly called demigods, engendered and dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility, who are metaphorically described as being incessantly embroiled in a dispute with the gods over the possession of a magical tree.
One of the “eight close sons of the Buddha,” he is also known as the bodhisattva who embodies compassion. In certain tantras, he is also the lord of the three families, where he embodies the compassion of the buddhas. In Tibet, he attained great significance as a special protector of Tibet, and in China, in female form, as Guanyin, the most important bodhisattva in all of East Asia.
Four types of absorption related to intention, diligence, attention, and analysis, respectively.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
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”).
A high-ranking deity presiding over a divine world; he is also considered to be the lord of the Sahā world (our universe). Though not considered a creator god in Buddhism, Brahmā occupies an important place as one of two gods (the other being Indra/Śakra) said to have first exhorted the Buddha Śākyamuni to teach the Dharma. The particular heavens found in the form realm over which Brahmā rules are often some of the most sought-after realms of higher rebirth in Buddhist literature. Since there are many universes or world systems, there are also multiple Brahmās presiding over them. His most frequent epithets are “Lord of the Sahā World” (sahāṃpati) and Great Brahmā (mahābrahman).
A collective term for the seventeen heavens in the form realm.
The aspects that constitute the path of seeing, namely mindfulness, analysis of phenomena, diligence, joy, pliancy, absorption, and sameness. These form a part of the thirty-seven factors to enlightenment.
A city in ancient India, located on the Campā River. It was the capital of the Anga state, which was located east of Magadha.
A god.
In Buddhist usage, a general term for non-Buddhist religious mendicants, paired with parivrājaka in stock lists of followers of heretical movements.
The tenth heaven of the form realm.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
A bodhisattva.
’phags pa rab tu zhi ba rnam par nges pa’i cho ’phrul gyi ting nge ’dzin zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo. Toh 129, Degé Kangyur vol. 55 (mdo sde, da), folios 174.b–210.b.
’phags pa rab tu zhi ba rnam par nges pa’i cho ’phrul gyi ting nge ’dzin 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), 2006–2009, vol. 55, pp. 458–544.
Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan dkar gyi chos ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
Bendall, Cecil, ed. Çikshāsamuccaya: A Compendium of Buddhistic Teaching Compiled by Çāntideva Chiefly from Earlier Mahāyāna-Sūtras. Bibliotheca Buddhica I. St. Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1902. Reprinted in: Indo-Iranian Reprints I. ’S-Gravenhage: Mouton and Co., 1957. For translations, see Bendall and Rouse (1922) and Goodman (2016) below.
Bendall, Cecil and W. H. D. Rouse, trans. Śikshā-Samuccaya: A Compendium of Buddhist Doctrine. London: John Murray, 1922. Reprinted as: Śikṣā-Samuccaya. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971-1981.
Goodman, Charles. The Training Anthology of Śāntideva: A Translation of the Śikṣā-samuccaya. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
Harrison, Paul. The Samādhi of Direct Encounter with the Buddhas of the Present: an Annotated English Translation of the Tibetan Version of the Pratyutpanna-Buddha-Saṃmukhāvasthita-Samādhi-Sūtra with Several Appendices relating to the History of the Text. Studia Philologica Buddhica Monograph Series V. Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 1990.
Harrison, Paul (tr.). “The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sūtra: Translated by Lokakṣema,” in Harrison, Paul, and John McRae. Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra and Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sutra. BDK English Tripiṭaka 25-II, 25-III. Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 1998.
Herrmann-Pfandt, Adelheid. Die lHan kar ma: ein früher Katalog der ins Tibetische übersetzten buddhistischen Texte. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.
Lamotte, Etienne (tr.), English translation by Sara Boin-Webb. Śūraṅgamasamādhisūtra: The Concentration of Heroic Progress, an Early Mahāyāna Buddhist Scripture. London: Curzon Press, 1998. Reprinted Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2003.
Roberts, Peter Alan, and Emily Bower. The King of Samādhis Sūtra (Samādhirāja, Toh 127). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018.
Skilton, Andrew. “State or Statement? Samādhi in Some Early Mahāyāna Sūtras.” In The Eastern Buddhist, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 51-93. Kyoto: The Eastern Buddhist Society, 2002.