Alluvial gold; gold dust. Pali suvannacunna.

One of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India.

One of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India.

Paltsek (eighth to early ninth century), from the village of Kawa north of Lhasa, was one of Tibet’s preeminent translators. He was one of the first seven Tibetans to be ordained by Śāntarakṣita and is counted as one of Guru Rinpoché’s twenty-five close disciples. In a famous verse by Ngok Lotsawa Loden Sherab, Kawa Paltsek is named along with Chokro Lui Gyaltsen and Zhang (or Nanam) Yeshé Dé as part of a group of translators whose skills were surpassed only by Vairotsana.

He translated works from a wide variety of genres, including sūtra, śāstra, vinaya, and tantra, and was an author himself. Paltsek was also one of the most important editors of the early period, one of nine translators installed by Tri Songdetsen (r. 755–797/800) to supervise the translation of the Tripiṭaka and help catalog translated works for the first two of three imperial catalogs, the Denkarma (ldan kar ma) and the Samyé Chimpuma (bsam yas mchims phu ma). In the colophons of his works, he is often known as Paltsek Rakṣita (rak+Shi ta).

A cat’s-eye gem or beryl.

Understandings of what spug might refer to vary, but it could be musāragalva (Pali masāragalla), i.e., a green precious stone, a cat’s eye, or pukh as in pukhraj, i.e., yellow sapphire.

A jewel, gem, or crystal.

Lit. “produced as one sweats and becomes dirty.”

To refrain from (1) killing, (2) stealing, (3) sexual activity, (4) false speech, (5) intoxication, (6) singing, dancing, music, and beautifying oneself with adornments or cosmetics, (7) using a high or large bed, and (8) eating at improper times. Typically, this observance is maintained by lay people for twenty-four hours on new moon and full moon days, as well as other special days in the lunar calendar.

A branch or limb; member; subdivision or supplement; factor or element.

The Gaṅgā, or Ganges in English, is considered to be the most sacred river of India, particularly within the Hindu tradition. It starts in the Himalayas, flows through the northern plains of India, bathing the holy city of Vārāṇasī, and meets the sea at the Bay of Bengal, in Bangladesh. In the sūtras, however, this river is mostly mentioned not for its sacredness but for its abundant sands‍—noticeable still today on its many sandy banks and at its delta‍—which serve as a common metaphor for infinitely large numbers.

According to Buddhist cosmology, as explained in the Abhidharmakośa, it is one of the four rivers that flow from Lake Anavatapta and cross the southern continent of Jambudvīpa‍—the known human world or more specifically the Indian subcontinent.

The third of the six heavens of the desire realm.

The fifth of the six heavens of the desire realm.

Tuṣita (or sometimes Saṃtuṣita), literally “Joyous” or “Contented,” is one of the six heavens of the desire realm (kāmadhātu). In standard classifications, such as the one in the Abhidharmakośa, it is ranked as the fourth of the six counting from below. This god realm is where all future buddhas are said to dwell before taking on their final rebirth prior to awakening. There, the Buddha Śākyamuni lived his preceding life as the bodhisattva Śvetaketu. When departing to take birth in this world, he appointed the bodhisattva Maitreya, who will be the next buddha of this eon, as his Dharma regent in Tuṣita. For an account of the Buddha’s previous life in Tuṣita, see The Play in Full (Toh 95), 2.12, and for an account of Maitreya’s birth in Tuṣita and a description of this realm, see The Sūtra on Maitreya’s Birth in the Heaven of Joy, (Toh 199).

The sixth and highest of the six heavens of the desire realm.

The first of the six heavens of the desire realm.

The second heaven of the desire realm, it is found at the top of Mount Meru and is the abode of Śakra and the thirty-three gods.

The name of the southern continent in Buddhist cosmology, which can signify either the known human world, or more specifically the Indian subcontinent, literally “the jambu island/continent.” Jambu is the name used for a range of plum-like fruits from trees belonging to the genus Szygium, particularly Szygium jambos and Szygium cumini, and it has commonly been rendered “rose apple,” although “black plum” may be a less misleading term. Among various explanations given for the continent being so named, one (in the Abhidharmakośa) is that a jambu tree grows in its northern mountains beside Lake Anavatapta, mythically considered the source of the four great rivers of India, and that the continent is therefore named from the tree or the fruit. Jambudvīpa has the Vajrāsana at its center and is the only continent upon which buddhas attain awakening.

One of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India.

One of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India.

The name of a sage. See n.7.

The Śākya capital, where the Bodhisattva (i.e., Siddhārtha Gautama before his awakening) grew up.

One of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India.

One of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India.

One of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India.

A period of time related to the moon’s phases during which one engages in religious observances.

An ancient Indian kingdom that lay to the south of the Ganges River in what today is the state of Bihar. Magadha was the largest of the sixteen “great states” (mahājanapada) that flourished between the sixth and third centuries ʙᴄᴇ in northern India. During the life of the Buddha Śākyamuni, it was ruled by King Bimbisāra and later by Bimbisāra's son, Ajātaśatru. Its capital was initially Rājagṛha (modern-day Rajgir) but was later moved to Pāṭaliputra (modern-day Patna). Over the centuries, with the expansion of the Magadha’s might, it became the capital of the vast Mauryan empire and seat of the great King Aśoka.

This region is home to many of the most important Buddhist sites, including Bodh Gayā, where the Buddha attained awakening; Vulture Peak (Gṛdhra­kūṭa), where the Buddha bestowed many well-known Mahāyāna sūtras; and the Buddhist university of Nālandā that flourished between the fifth and twelfth centuries ᴄᴇ, among many others.

A large and/or deep-blue sapphire.

One of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India.

A month-long observance in which one begins by eating fourteen mouthfuls of food and decreases food intake by one mouthful every day until the new moon day, during which one does not eat anything at all. Then, during the moon’s waxing phase, one increases food intake by one mouthful a day until the full moon.

A grove of banyan trees (Skt. nyagrodha, Tib. nya gro dha) near Kapilavastu where the Buddha sometimes took up residence. It was a gift to the Buddhist community from King Śuddhodana, the father of the Buddha.

A river.

A river. Lit. “has a lake.” Possibly the Sarasvatī river, or one of the rivers connected to Lake Manasarovar, perhaps the Brahmaputra.

One of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India.

One of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India.

According to traditional accounts, the Kashmiri preceptor Sarvajñādeva was among the “one hundred” paṇḍitas invited by Trisong Detsen (r. 755–797/800) to assist with the translation of the Buddhist scriptures into Tibetan. Sarvajñādeva assisted in the translation of more than twenty-three works, including numerous sūtras and the first translations of Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra and Nāgārjuna’s Suhṛllekha. Much of this work was likely carried out in the first years of the ninth century and may have continued into the reign of Ralpachen (ral pa can), who ascended the throne in 815 and died in 838 or 841 ᴄᴇ.

A river. Possibly a phonetic approximation of Saritā, as in the river Saritā.

A type or stone or shell. Pali sankhasilā.

A sacred day; an ancient festival, not now kept. A special period of religious observance. Pali pāṭihāriyapakkha.

A Tibetan rendering of the name of one of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India.

One of the sixteen great kingdoms of ancient India.

The five great rivers of ancient India.

The name of one of the great sages of ancient India; one of the composers of the Vedic hymns. In Pali sources, a figure named Vāseṭṭha (Skt. Vasiṣṭha) also appears as a young brahmin.