In a general sense, samādhi can describe a number of different meditative states. In the Mahāyāna literature, in particular in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, we find extensive lists of different samādhis, numbering over one hundred.

In a more restricted sense, and when understood as a mental state, samādhi is defined as the one-pointedness of the mind (cittaikāgratā), the ability to remain on the same object over long periods of time. The Drajor Bamponyipa (sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa) commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti explains the term samādhi as referring to the instrument through which mind and mental states “get collected,” i.e., it is by the force of samādhi that the continuum of mind and mental states becomes collected on a single point of reference without getting distracted.

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 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 bodhisattva present during the delivery of the King of the Array of all Dharma Qualities.

A bodhisattva present during the delivery of the King of the Array of all Dharma Qualities.

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.

For the reason why Avaloki­teśvara received his name, see 1.21.

The famous bamboo grove near Rājagṛha where the Buddha regularly stayed and gave teachings. It was situated on land donated by King Bimbisāra of Magadha and, as such, was the first of several landholdings donated to the Buddhist community during the time of the Buddha.

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.

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 religious mendicant; in Buddhist texts this is often paired with parivrājaka in stock lists of followers of non-Buddhist ascetic traditions.

The Tibetan term ’gron bu is generally restricted to “cowry shell,” but the term hiraṇya more typically refers to “gold coins” and can be applied to any form of currency, which includes cowry shells.

A verbal formula or phrase that can serve a variety of purposes depending on the genre of text. Most popularly, a dhāraṇī is a magical incantation for effecting mundane goals.

A buddha who gave teachings to the buddha Śakyāmuni in one of his previous lives.

One of the four great guardian kings, he presides over the eastern quarter and rules over the gandharvas.

The five extremely negative actions which, once those who have committed them die, result in the perpetrators going immediately to the hells without experiencing the intermediate state. They are killing an arhat, killing one’s mother, killing one’s father, creating schism in the saṅgha, and maliciously drawing blood from a tathāgata’s body.

The powerful non-human guardian kings of the four quarters‍—Virūḍhaka, Virūpākṣa, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, and Vaiśravaṇa‍—who rule, respectively, over kumbhāṇḍas in the south, nagas in the west, gandharvas in the east, and yakṣas in the north.

Boswelia serrata Roxb, commonly known as Indian frankincense. (The Tibetan ce pog seems to be corrupted.)

A class of generally benevolent nonhuman beings who inhabit the skies, sometimes said to inhabit fantastic cities in the clouds, and more specifically to dwell on the eastern slopes of Mount Meru, where they are ruled by the Great King Dhṛtarāṣṭra. They are most renowned as celestial musicians who serve the gods. In the Abhidharma, the term is also used to refer to the mental body assumed by sentient beings during the intermediate state between death and rebirth. Gandharvas are said to live on fragrances (gandha) in the desire realm, hence the Tibetan translation dri za, meaning “scent eater.”

In Buddhist cosmology, an important heaven of the desire realm ruled by Śakra.

A thus-gone one from whom the buddha Śakyāmuni received a dhāraṇī called victorious in one of his previous lives.

A generally malevolent class of semi-divine being.

Literally, “The Squirrel Feeding Ground.” A location within the Veṇuvana where the Buddha stayed. The place was given its name by King Bimbisāra after being saved from being attacked by a snake there by the squawking of many kalandaka‍—flying squirrels, Sanskrit and Pali sources suggest, but crows or other birds according to the Tibetan rendering.

A coin of a particular weight or measure.

A class of nonhuman beings that resemble humans to the degree that their very name‍—which means “is that human?”‍—suggests some confusion as to their divine status. Kinnaras are mythological beings found in both Buddhist and Brahmanical literature, where they are portrayed as creatures half human, half animal. They are often depicted as highly skilled celestial musicians.

A generally malevolent class of semi-divine being.

A class of spirit-deity identified by their gourd-like shape.

A bodhisattva present during the delivery of the King of the Array of all Dharma Qualities.

Literally “great serpents,” mahoragas are supernatural beings depicted as large, subterranean beings with human torsos and heads and the lower bodies of serpents. Their movements are said to cause earthquakes, and they make up a class of subterranean geomantic spirits whose movement through the seasons and months of the year is deemed significant for construction projects.

The bodhisattva Maitreya is an important figure in many Buddhist traditions, where he is unanimously regarded as the buddha of the future era. He is said to currently reside in the heaven of Tuṣita, as Śākyamuni’s regent, where he awaits the proper time to take his final rebirth and become the fifth buddha in the Fortunate Eon, reestablishing the Dharma in this world after the teachings of the current buddha have disappeared. Within the Mahāyāna sūtras, Maitreya is elevated to the same status as other central bodhisattvas such as Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara, and his name appears frequently in sūtras, either as the Buddha’s interlocutor or as a teacher of the Dharma. Maitreya literally means “Loving One.” He is also known as Ajita, meaning “Invincible.”

For more information on Maitreya, see, for example, the introduction to Maitreya’s Setting Out (Toh 198).

The demon who assailed Śākyamuni prior to his awakening; any demonic force; the personification of conceptual and emotional obstacles.

Commiphora mukul Engl, a type of myrrh commonly known as Indian bdellium.

A class of nonhuman beings who live in subterranean aquatic environments, where they guard wealth and sometimes also teachings. Nāgas are associated with serpents and have a snakelike appearance. In Buddhist art and in written accounts, they are regularly portrayed as half human and half snake, and they are also said to have the ability to change into human form. Some nāgas are Dharma protectors, but they can also bring retribution if they are disturbed. They may likewise fight one another, wage war, and destroy the lands of others by causing lightning, hail, and flooding.

The Tibetan means “naked one,” and the Sanskrit “without possessions” or “without ties.” In Buddhist usage, a non-Buddhist religious mendicant who eschews clothing and possessions, often referring to Jains.

A bodhisattva present during the delivery of the King of the Array of all Dharma Qualities.

A religious mendicant; in Buddhist texts this is often paired with caraka in stock lists of followers of non-Buddhist ascetic traditions.

A balacakravartin king is a lesser kind of cakravartin (universal monarch) who has attained his dominion through his great might and his powerful army.

See also “universal monarch.”

One of the five or six classes of sentient beings, into which beings are born as the karmic fruition of past miserliness. As the term in Sanskrit means “the departed,” they are analogous to the ancestral spirits of Vedic tradition, the pitṛs, who starve without the offerings of descendants. It is also commonly translated as “hungry ghost” or “starving spirit,” as in the Chinese 餓鬼 e gui.

They are sometimes said to reside in the realm of Yama, but are also frequently described as roaming charnel grounds and other inhospitable or frightening places along with piśācas and other such beings. They are particularly known to suffer from great hunger and thirst and the inability to acquire sustenance. Detailed descriptions of their realm and experience, including a list of the thirty-six classes of pretas, can be found in The Application of Mindfulness of the Sacred Dharma, Toh 287, 2.­1281– 2.1482.

The ancient capital of Magadha prior to its relocation to Pāṭaliputra during the Mauryan dynasty, Rājagṛha is one of the most important locations in Buddhist history. The literature tells us that the Buddha and his saṅgha spent a considerable amount of time in residence in and around Rājagṛha‍—in nearby places, such as the Vulture Peak Mountain (Gṛdhrakūṭaparvata), a major site of the Mahāyāna sūtras, and the Bamboo Grove (Veṇuvana)‍—enjoying the patronage of King Bimbisāra and then of his son King Ajātaśatru. Rājagṛha is also remembered as the location where the first Buddhist monastic council was held after the Buddha Śākyamuni passed into parinirvāṇa. Now known as Rajgir and located in the modern Indian state of Bihar.

A class of semi-divine beings that are often, but certainly not always, considered demonic in the Buddhist tradition.

The term dharmakṣāṇti can refer either to a set of ways one becomes “receptive” to key points of the Dharma, or it can be an abbreviation of anutpattikadharmakṣāṇti, “receptivity to the unborn nature of phenomena.”

The lord of the gods in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three (trāyastriṃśa). Alternatively known as Indra, the deity that is called “lord of the gods” dwells on the summit of Mount Sumeru and wields the thunderbolt. The Tibetan translation brgya byin (meaning “one hundred sacrifices”) is based on an etymology that śakra is an abbreviation of śata-kratu, one who has performed a hundred sacrifices. Each world with a central Sumeru has a Śakra. Also known by other names such as Kauśika, Devendra, and Śacipati.

An epithet for the historical Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama: he was a muni (“sage”) from the Śākya clan. He is counted as the fourth of the first four buddhas of the present Good Eon, the other three being Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, and Kāśyapa. He will be followed by Maitreya, the next buddha in this eon.

A bodhisattva present during the delivery of the King of the Array of all Dharma Qualities.

Literally “Dharma eye,” this term refers to different, advanced modes of insight into the nature of reality.

The pure realm of the buddha Amitābha.

A bodhisattva present during the delivery of the King of the Array of all Dharma Qualities.

A bodhisattva present during the delivery of the King of the Array of all Dharma Qualities.

One of the two main lineages through which different Kangyurs can be traced, although most are of more or less mixed lineage. This lineage started with a manuscript called the Thempangma that was produced at Gyantsé (rgyal rtse) in 1431 from sources in the locality.

The largest universe described in Buddhist cosmology. This term, in Abhidharma cosmology, refers to 1,000^³ world systems, i.e., 1,000 “dichiliocosms” or “two thousand great thousand world realms” (dvi­sāhasra­mahā­sāhasra­lokadhātu), which are in turn made up of 1,000 first-order world systems, each with its own Mount Sumeru, continents, sun and moon, etc.

One of the two main lineages through which different Kangyurs can be traced, although most are of more or less mixed lineage. This lineage started with an edited version of the Kangyur produced at the monastery of Tshal Gungthang in 1347-1351.