Matricide, parricide, killing an arhat, causing a schism in the monastic order, and drawing a buddha’s blood with malicious intention. These actions are said to result in immediate birth in the hells.
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 (avidyā). 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.
Translational terminology used before the revisions and codification of the ninth century.
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”).
One of the five “eyes,” or qualities of vision, possessed by a buddha, viz., the eye made of flesh (māṃsacakṣus), the divine eye (divyacakṣus), the eye of insight (prajñācakṣus), the eye of Dharma (dharmacakṣus), and the buddha-eye. The buddha-eye is the omniscience seeing both how things are ultimately and how they manifest in their variety.
Monier-Williams s.v. khadira: “Acacia Catechu (having very hard wood, the resin of which is used in medicine, called ‘Catechu,’ ‘Khayar,’ ‘Terra japonica’).”
A “thousandfold universe,” also called a “small chiliocosm” (sāhasracūḍiko lokadhātu), consisting of a thousand worlds each made up of their own Mount Meru, four continents, sun, moon, and god realms.
Literally “the non-humans,” i.e., demonic spirits.
A member of the Śākya clan.
The Śākyan cousin of the Buddha traditionally depicted as eager for gain and jealous of the Buddha’s fame.
A “twice thousandfold universe,” i.e. a millionfold universe, sometimes called a “second-order midsized-chiliocosm” (dvitīyamadhyamasāhasralokadhātu), consisting of a thousand chiliocosms (q.v.).
Here and very frequently in the canonical texts, a type of non-human, semi-divine celestial being or spirit. In a very few texts (but not this one), e.g. The Questions of Bhadrapāla the Merchant, the term is also used to refer to the consciousness of a being between death and the next rebirth.
The lord of the world; the permanent, single agent who created the universe; God as accepted by theistic brahmanical schools.
The Indian gooseberry, or emblic myrobalan. The simile of an āmalakī in the palm of one’s hand is used to illustrate yogic perception (yogipratyakṣa) where the clarity aspect (compared to a crystal) is emphasized. See, e.g., Dharmottara’s Nyāyabindhuṭīkā 1.11. It is also used to illustrate omniscience, or seeing all aspects of things, probably on the analogy of being able to see through the semi-transparent skin of the berry into its interior structure.
The realms of gods according to Buddhism; in Vedism the blissful afterlife presided over by Yama.
The city in the Śākyan kingdom where Gautama Buddha grew up. It is located on the northern side of the Gangetic plain near Lumbini.
A member of the Śākya clan.
Literally, a “sunstone” or “sun-crystal.”
See also n.8.
A Śākyan cousin of the Buddha. See Malalasekera s.v. Mahānāma, son of Amitodana.
A member of the Śākya clan.
The ninth century revision and codification of translational equivalents and procedure in Tibet. It was undertaken during the reigns of Senalek (sad na legs, d. 815 ᴄᴇ) and Ralpachen (ral pa can, r. 815–838) and resulted in the Mahāvyutpatti and Drajor Bampo Nyipa (sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa), the very influential manuals of translation from Sanskrit to Tibetan.
Name of the ancient tribe in which the Buddha was born as a prince; their kingdom was based to the east of Kośala, in the foothills near the present-day border of India and Nepal, with Kapilavastu as its capital.
“The renunciant Gautama,” the name by which the Buddha might have been referred to prior to his enlightenment or by those who were not his followers.
A stamp, signet, or seal.
The Buddha’s father, a Śākyan king.
A “thrice thousandfold universe,” i.e. a billionfold universe, sometimes called a “third-order great chiliocosm” (tṛtīyamahāsāhasralokadhātu), consisting of a billion worlds, i.e. a million chiliocosms (q.v.), or a thousand dichiliocosms (q.v.).
Monier-Williams s.v. plakṣa: “Ficus Infectoria (a large and beautiful tree with small white fruit).”
The Vedic afterlife presided over by the lord of death, Yama, and inhabited by the ancestors (pitṛ).
See also n.2.
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