The name of a bodhisattva.
The fragrant aloeswood tree Aquilaria agallocha. Alternately a Tibetan translation of śiṃśapā, which the Atharvaveda identifies as the tree Dalbergia sissoo or Indian redwood.
Cucumis trigonus; colocynth, a wild bitter gourd, Cucumis colocynthis; the favorite plant of Indra and Varuṇa.
Ficus religiosa.
An offering, originating in the vedic tradition, traditionally made out of uncooked food and performed at the home prior to cooking a meal by arranging portions of the ingredients and then casting them outside or into the sacred fire. Also translated here as “uncooked offering.”
A class of being that misleads or has a corrupting influence.
Identified in the Mahābhārata and Lalitavistara as a variety of date tree.
The term dhāraṇī has the sense of something that “holds” or “retains,” and so it can refer to the special capacity of practitioners to memorize and recall detailed teachings. It can also refer to a verbal expression of the teachings—an incantation, spell, or mnemonic formula—that distills and “holds” essential points of the Dharma and is used by practitioners to attain mundane and supramundane goals. The same term is also used to denote texts that contain such formulas.
Lit. “having one hundred flowers,” Monier-Williams notes this term is used in the Āyurvedic work Suśrutasaṃhitā to denote the plant Anethum sowa, also known as dill.
See “fever that returns every four days.”
Panicum italicum.
The name of a bodhisattva.
Mount Kailash, often considered the earthly representation of Mount Meru, the central world-axis in numerous South Asian cosmographies. In its role as the center of the cosmos, Mount Kailash is considered to be the dwelling place of numerous Buddhist and non-Buddhist deities including the Hindu god Śiva, the tantric Buddhist god Cakrasaṃvara, Kubera, and others. The mountain is considered sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, and Bönpos.
Fifth of the seven tathāgatas/buddhas. Identified in other texts as the second buddha to appear in the present eon.
The sixth of the seven tathāgatas/buddhas. Identified in other texts as the third buddha to appear in the present eon, and thus the immediated predecessor of the Buddha Śākyamuni.
A class of demonic, possessing beings.
The fourth of the seven tathāgatas/buddhas. Identified in other texts as the first buddha to appear in the present eon.
A thunderbolt or flash of lightning.
The name of a bodhisattva. Maitreya is considered to currently reside in Tuṣita and awaits rebirth in the human realm as the next Buddha of the current eon.
The blossoms of a mango tree.
Cyperus rotundus.
An obstacle and a class of demonic beings that cause obstacles.
The wood of Nerium odorum.
This is likely an alternate Tibetan translation for the Sanskrit phrase *bhūtagraha, more commonly rendered in Tibetan as ’byung po’i gdon. The phrase shares semantic resonances with the compound bhūtagrahāviṣṭa/’byung po’i gdon gyis non pa and the Sanskrit bhūtāveśa, all of which refer to being possessed by a class of spirit (bhūta/’byung po).
A term used here to denote a piece of string incanted with a mantra that protects whomever wears it.
A term in the Suśrutasaṃhitā that denotes a dangerous illness that results when all three humors are out of balance.
Crocus sativus, the plant and the pollen of the flowers.
The name of a bodhisattva.
The name of a bodhisattva.
A protection rite designed to guard the subject against attack or assault from demonic forces and mantra or vidyā beings.
A spell. Although a technical term in its own right, it is also at times used interchangeably with the terms dhāraṇī and dhāraṇīmantra, vidyāmantra, etc.
A class of demonic, possessing beings.
Literally “child snatchers,” the bālagrahaḥ are an important class of demonic being in both Āyurvedic literature and across both popular and institutional religious communities in South Asia and the broader South Asian cultural world.
The best known of many sets of past buddhas, including Śākyamuni as the seventh, his three predecessors in this eon, and the three last buddhas of the eon that preceded the present one.
The second of the seven tathāgatas/buddhas. Identified in other texts as the penultimate buddha to appear in the eon that preceded the present one.
The sirisa tree or Acacia sirissa.
Identified as Nardostachys jatamansi, or Indian spikenard, a plant recognized for its medicinal properties in the Atharvaveda and Suśrutasaṃhitā. The Sanskrit epic poem called Naiṣadhacarita identifies this plant as the root of Andropogon muricatus. A number of classical Sanskrit lexicographers identify this plant as the blossom of Hibiscus rosa sinensis.
A broad class of demonic, possessing beings of which there are numerous subdivisions outlined in Āyurvedic literature and Śaiva tantras, such as the Netratantra and Kriyākallotara, that preserve material from the now-lost genre of bhūtatantra that discusses the symptomology, pathology, and treatment of demonic possession.
The name of the western buddhafield of the Tathāgata Amitābha.
An ancient Indian Āyurvedic work.
The medicinal plant Acorus calamus.
Listed as a type of leprosy in Monier-Williams, the literal translation of the term implies that it is a disease that is associated with the liver.
A swelling, tumor, or morbid intumescence.
See “unnatural death.”
Indian valerian or Valeriana jatamansi.
A spell. Although a technical term in its own right, it is also used interchangeably at times with the terms dhāraṇī and dhāraṇīmantra, guhyamantra, etc.
The first of the seven tathāgatas/buddhas. Identified in other texts as the last but two of the buddhas that appeared in the eon that preceded the present one.
The third of the seven tathāgatas/buddhas. Identified in other texts as the last buddha to appear in the eon that preceded the present one.
A skin disorder characterized by a loss of pigmentation.
’phags pa sangs rgyas bdun pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryasaptabuddhakanāmamahāyānasūtra). Toh 270, Degé Kangyur vol. 68 (mdo sde, ya), folios 13.b–17.b.
’phags pa sangs rgyas bdun pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryasaptabuddhakanāmamahāyānasūtra). Toh 512, Degé Kangyur vol. 88 (rgyud ’bum, na), folios 39.a–42.b.
’phags pa sangs rgyas bdun pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryasaptabuddhakanāmamahāyānasūtra). Toh 852, Degé Kangyur vol. 100 (gzungs ’dus, e), folios 65.a–68.b.
’phags pa sangs rgyas bdun pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryasaptabuddhakanāmamahāyānasūtra). 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. 68, pp. 36–48.
’phags pa sangs rgyas bdun pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryasaptabuddhakanāmamahāyānasūtra). 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. 88, pp. 112–24.
’phags pa sangs rgyas bdun pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryasaptabuddhakanāmamahāyānasūtra). 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. 97, pp. 164–76.
’phags pa sangs rgyas bdun pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Āryasaptabuddhakanāmamahāyānasūtra). Stok Palace Kangyur, vol. 102 (rgyud ’bum, da), folios 15.b–21.b.
Denkarma (pho brang stod thang ldan [/ lhan] dkar gyi chos ’gyur ro cog gi dkar chag). Degé Tengyur, vol. 206 (sna tshogs, jo), folios 294.b–310.a.
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