A devaputra present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A ṛṣi present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A world system in the southern direction.
A nāga king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
Dhyāna is defined as one-pointed abiding in an undistracted state of mind, free from afflicted mental states. Four states of dhyāna are identified as being conducive to birth within the form realm. In the context of the Mahāyāna, it is the fifth of the six perfections. It is commonly translated as “concentration,” “meditative concentration,” and so on.
A river in the town of Great Sands in the future.
The daughter of the king Increasing Majesty
The name of a Licchavi youth present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A bhūta king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A Licchavi youth present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A bhūta king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
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.
A ṛṣi present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
The five psycho-physical constituents of an individual, which are collectively taken as a “self.”
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.
A ṛṣi present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A world system in the southern direction.
The buddha of the western buddhafield of Sukhāvatī, where fortunate beings are reborn to make further progress toward spiritual maturity. Amitābha made his great vows to create such a realm when he was a bodhisattva called Dharmākara. In the Pure Land Buddhist tradition, popular in East Asia, aspiring to be reborn in his buddha realm is the main emphasis; in other Mahāyāna traditions, too, it is a widespread practice. For a detailed description of the realm, see The Display of the Pure Land of Sukhāvatī, Toh 115. In some tantras that make reference to the five families he is the tathāgata associated with the lotus family.
Amitābha, “Infinite Light,” is also known in many Indian Buddhist works as Amitāyus, “Infinite Life.” In both East Asian and Tibetan Buddhist traditions he is often conflated with another buddha named “Infinite Life,” Aparimitāyus, or “Infinite Life and Wisdom,”Aparimitāyurjñāna, the shorter version of whose name has also been back-translated from Tibetan into Sanskrit as Amitāyus but who presides over a realm in the zenith. For details on the relation between these buddhas and their names, see The Aparimitāyurjñāna Sūtra (1) Toh 674, i.9.
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.
A nāga king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A devaputra present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A class of nonhuman beings, usually female, known for their beauty.
The ancient Indian army was composed of four branches (caturaṅga)—infantry, cavalry, chariots, and elephants.
A rākṣasa king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A ṛṣi present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
An asura king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
The historical Indian king of the Maurya dynasty who ruled over most of India c. 268–232 ʙᴄᴇ. His name means “without sorrow.”
A ṛṣi present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A class or powerful nonhuman beings, sometimes called demigods, who are often portrayed as the enemies of the devas. One of the six classes of beings.
This stock phrase refers to states of peace or absence of disturbing thoughts and emotions. In his commentary on the Kāśyapaparivarta, Sthiramati correlates these three states of peace with deepening stages of meditation on the Buddhist path.
A garuḍa king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A land in the southern region in the future.
A garuḍa king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A kinnara king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A nāga king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A devaputra present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A garuḍa king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A country in the southern region in the distant future.
A devaputra present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
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 ṛṣi present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
The term bhikṣu, often translated as “monk,” refers to the highest among the eight types of prātimokṣa vows that make one part of the Buddhist assembly. The Sanskrit term literally means “beggar” or “mendicant,” referring to the fact that Buddhist monks and nuns—like other ascetics of the time—subsisted on alms (bhikṣā) begged from the laity.
In the Tibetan tradition, which follows the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, a monk follows 253 rules as part of his moral discipline. A nun (bhikṣuṇī; dge slong ma) follows 364 rules. A novice monk (śrāmaṇera; dge tshul) or nun (śrāmaṇerikā; dge tshul ma) follows thirty-six rules of moral discipline (although in other vinaya traditions novices typically follow only ten).
The term bhikṣuṇī, often translated as “nun,” refers to the highest among the eight types of prātimokṣa vows that make one part of the Buddhist assembly. The Sanskrit term bhikṣu (to which the female grammatical ending ṇī is added) literally means “beggar” or “mendicant,” referring to the fact that Buddhist nuns and monks—like other ascetics of the time—subsisted on alms (bhikṣā) begged from the laity. In the Tibetan tradition, which follows the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya, a bhikṣuṇī follows 364 rules and a bhikṣu follows 253 rules as part of their moral discipline.
For the first few years of the Buddha’s teachings in India, there was no ordination for women. It started at the persistent request and display of determination of Mahāprajāpatī, the Buddha’s stepmother and aunt, together with five hundred former wives of men of Kapilavastu, who had themselves become monks. Mahāprajāpatī is thus considered to be the founder of the nun’s order.
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.
An asura king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A preta king present in the assembly of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
The buddhafield of the buddha Amitābha.
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.
sprin chen po’i mdo (Mahāmeghasūtra). Toh 232, Degé Kangyur vol. 64 (mdo sde, wa), folios 113.a–214.b.
dri med grags pa’i bstan (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa). Toh 176, Degé Kangyur vol. 60 (mdo sde, ma), folios 175.a–239.a. English translation in Thurman 2017.
yongs su mya ngan las ’das pa chen po (Mahāparinirvāṇa). Toh 120, Degé Kangyur vol. 54 (mdo sde, tha), folios 1.b–151.b.
gser ’od dam pa mdo sde’i dbang po’i rgyal po (Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtrendrarāja). Toh 556, Degé Kangyur vol. 89 (rgyud, pa), folios 151.b–273.a; Toh 557, vol. 90 (rgyud, pha), folios 1.b–62.a. English translations in Roberts 2024ab.
Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan[/lhan] dkar gyi chos ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Toh 4364, Degé Tengyur vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
Phangthangma (dkar chag ’phang thang ma). Beijing: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2003.
Anesaki, Masaharu. “Docetism (Buddhist).” In Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, edited by J. Hastings, 835–40. (Available on Internet Archive). Edinburgh: Clark, 1911.
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Seyfort-Ruegg, David (2017). “Problems of Attribution, Style, and Dating Relating to the ‘Great Cloud Sutras’ in the Chinese Buddhist Canon (T 387, T 388/S. 6916).” In Buddhist Transformations and Interactions: Essays in Honor of Antonino Forte, edited by Victor H. Mair, 235–89. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2017.
Suzuki Takayasu. “The Mahāmeghasūtra as an Origin of an Interpolated Part of the Present Suvarṇaprabhāsa.” Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies 45, no. 1 (1996): 28–30.
Thurman, Robert A. F., trans. The Teaching of Vimalakīrti (Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, Toh 176). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2017.
Ye Shaoyong (2023a). “Phun tshogs Tshe brtan, Dngos grub Tshe ring: A Preliminary Report on the ‘Burnt Manuscripts’ from Retreng Monastery; Bundle A.” In Śāntamatiḥ: Manuscripts for Life; Essays in Memory of Seishi Karashima, edited by Noriyuki Kudo, 447–65. Tokyo: International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University, 2023.
Ye Shaoyong (2023b). “The Prophecy about Nāgārjuna in the Mahāmeghasūtra: A Perspective Based on the Sanskrit Manuscript Preserved in the Potala Palace.” Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies 71, no. 3 (2023): 62–67.
Yoshimura Shuki. The Denkar-ma: An Oldest Catalogue of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons. Kyoto: Ryukoku University, 1950.