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.

A tathāgata and important esoteric deity. Among the five families, he is head of the vajra family.

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.

An esoteric deity counted among the eight or ten dispellers of obstacles (vighnāntaka) .

According to Buddhist tradition, one who is worthy of worship (pūjām arhati), or one who has conquered the enemies, the mental afflictions (kleśa-ari-hata-vat), and reached liberation from the cycle of rebirth and suffering. It is the fourth and highest of the four fruits attainable by śrāvakas. Also used as an epithet of the Buddha.

A type of nonhuman being whose precise status is subject to different views, but is included as one of the six classes of beings in the sixfold classification of realms of rebirth. In the Buddhist context, asuras are powerful beings said to be dominated by envy, ambition, and hostility. They are also known in the pre-Buddhist and pre-Vedic mythologies of India and Iran, and feature prominently in Vedic and post-Vedic Brahmanical mythology, as well as in the Buddhist tradition. In these traditions, asuras are often described as being engaged in interminable conflict with the devas (gods).

One of the most popular bodhisattvas in the Mahāyāna Buddhist pantheon and one of the eight “close sons” of the Buddha. He is regarded as the embodiment of compassion.

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 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 general term for any structure or site that is deemed worthy of veneration. In Tibetan, the term can be literally translated as “a basis of worship.” Such a site can be naturally occurring but is more typically a structure erected for the purpose of worship. This can be a mound, a shrine, or other generically shaped structure, but in most Buddhist contexts is identified with the domed structure also known as a stūpa. Both caitya and stūpa are translated into Tibetan with the term mchod rten, but a stūpa is a subcategory of caitya that specifically contains a relic of the Buddha, another tathāgata, or another sacred person.

A technical term used to express ultimate reality. It is interpreted variously‍—given the many connotations of dharma/chos‍—as the sphere, element, or nature of phenomena, reality, or truth.

In this text, the term may refer to the dharmadhātu generically, or it may be the name of the specific maṇḍala associated with Dharmadhātu Vāgīśvara Mañjuśrī, the first of the seven principal maṇḍalas of the Mañjuśrī­nāma­saṅgīti (Toh 360).

In distinction to the rūpakāya, or form body of a buddha, this is the eternal, imperceivable realization of a buddha. In origin it was a term for the presence of the Dharma, and it has since become synonymous with the true nature.

These are five acts that, due to the severity of their transgression, will cause immediate rebirth in Avīci, the deepest of hells. The acts classically listed that lead to such rebirth are (1) killing one’s father, (2) killing one’s mother, (3) killing an arhat, (4) shedding a buddha’s blood with malicious intent, and (5) causing a schism in the saṅgha.

The tathāgata, vajra, jewel, lotus, and karma families. Each of these families is associated with a specific direction, type of activity, and mode of awakened wisdom, and each is headed by a specific tathāgata. When displayed in maṇḍala formation, Vairocana heads the tathāgata family at the center, and Akṣobhya presides over the vajra family in the east, Ratnasambhava over the jewel family in the south, Amitābha/Amitāyus over the lotus family in the west, and Amoghasiddhi over the karma family in the north. In maṇḍalas associated with the Mahāyoga tantras, Vairocana and Akṣobhya switch places.

The gross elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space.

The five wisdoms each express a distinct quality of awakened cognition associated with one of the buddhas of the five families. The five are (1) the wisdom of the dharmadhātu (dharmadhātu­jñāna; chos kyi dbyings kyi ye shes), (2) mirror-like wisdom (ādarśajñāna; me long lta bu’i ye shes), (3) the wisdom of equality (samatājñāna; mnyam nyid ye shes), (4) the wisdom of thorough discrimination (pratyavekṣaṇājñāna; so sor rtog pa’i ye shes), and (5) the wisdom of accomplishing activities (kṛtyānuṣṭhānajñāna; bya ba grub pa’i ye shes).

Four gods who live on the lower slopes (fourth level) of Mount Meru in the eponymous Heaven of the Four Great Kings (Cāturmahā­rājika, rgyal chen bzhi’i ris) and guard the four cardinal directions. Each is the leader of a nonhuman class of beings living in his realm. They are Dhṛtarāṣṭra, ruling the gandharvas in the east; Virūḍhaka, ruling over the kumbhāṇḍas in the south; Virūpākṣa, ruling the nāgas in the west; and Vaiśravaṇa (also known as Kubera) ruling the yakṣas in the north. Also referred to as Guardians of the World or World Protectors (lokapāla, ’jig rten skyong ba).

An important and polyvalent term in esoteric Buddhist literature, it is used here to refer to the form of Vajradhara as a “seal” of ultimate reality that one adopts in one’s meditative practice.

Karmic traces or residues imprinted by past actions that manifest as tendencies predisposing one to particular patterns of behavior.

The future buddha, he resides in Tuṣita heaven until his rebirth as the fifth of the thousand buddhas to appear in this eon.

Mañjuśrī is one of the “eight close sons of the Buddha” and a bodhisattva who embodies wisdom. He is a major figure in the Mahāyāna sūtras, appearing often as an interlocutor of the Buddha. In his most well-known iconographic form, he is portrayed bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñā­pāramitā­sūtra in his left. To his name, Mañjuśrī, meaning “Gentle and Glorious One,” is often added the epithet Kumārabhūta, “having a youthful form.” He is also called Mañjughoṣa, Mañjusvara, and Pañcaśikha.

According to ancient Buddhist cosmology, this is the great mountain forming the axis of the universe. At its summit is Sudarśana, home of Śakra and his thirty-two gods, and on its flanks live the asuras. The mount has four sides facing the cardinal directions, each of which is made of a different precious stone. Surrounding it are several mountain ranges and the great ocean where the four principal island continents lie: in the south, Jambudvīpa (our world); in the west, Godānīya; in the north, Uttarakuru; and in the east, Pūrvavideha. Above it are the abodes of the desire realm gods. It is variously referred to as Meru, Mount Meru, Sumeru, and Mount Sumeru.

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.

An offering of food items made to deities or spirits. Such an oblation may be elaborate and use multiple kinds of food articles, or it may simply be a ritual cake.

The obscurations to liberation and omniscience. They are generally categorized as two types: afflictive obscurations (kleśāvaraṇa), the arising of afflictive emotions, and cognitive obscurations (jñeyāvaraṇa), those caused by misapprehension and incorrect understanding of the nature of reality.

Water used ritually to receive or welcome deities and other beings into the ritual environment. It parallels the practice of offering washing water to a guest when they first arrive in one’s home.

Usually referring to the last five of the seventeen realms of the form realm (rūpadhātu) and often equated with Akaniṣṭha, which is the first of the highest five. In this text, the expression seems to refer to the heavens in the desire realm (kāmadhātu). See n.17.

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.

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.

The mode of making offerings in the mode of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, who emanated exponentially proliferating clouds of offerings.

The set of seven precious materials or substances includes a range of precious metals and gems, but their exact list varies. The set often consists of gold, silver, beryl, crystal, red pearls, emeralds, and white coral, but may also contain lapis lazuli, ruby, sapphire, chrysoberyl, diamonds, etc. The term is frequently used in the sūtras to exemplify preciousness, wealth, and beauty, and can describe treasures, offering materials, or the features of architectural structures such as stūpas, palaces, thrones, etc. The set is also used to describe the beauty and prosperity of buddha realms and the realms of the gods.

In other contexts, the term saptaratna can also refer to the seven precious possessions of a cakravartin or to a set of seven precious moral qualities.

A type of mantra-like formula that is used to accomplish a ritual goal. It can be associated with either ordinary attainments or the goal of awakening.

The Sanskrit term śrāvaka, and the Tibetan nyan thos, both derived from the verb “to hear,” are usually defined as “those who hear the teaching from the Buddha and make it heard to others.” Primarily this refers to those disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain the state of an arhat seeking their own liberation and nirvāṇa. They are the practitioners of the first turning of the wheel of the Dharma on the four noble truths, who realize the suffering inherent in saṃsāra and focus on understanding that there is no independent self. By conquering afflicted mental states (kleśa), they liberate themselves, attaining first the stage of stream enterers at the path of seeing, followed by the stage of once-returners who will be reborn only one more time, and then the stage of non-returners who will no longer be reborn into the desire realm. The final goal is to become an arhat. These four stages are also known as the “four results of spiritual practice.”

One of the eighty minor marks of a great being, it is a swirl of hair in the center of the chest, a symbol shared by the Brahmanical deity Viṣṇu. It is often symbolically referred to as an “endless knot.”

A stage on the bodhisattva path on which the practitioner will never turn back, or be turned back, from progress toward the full awakening of a buddha.

The ten stages of a bodhisattva’s progress to buddhahood: (1) Joyous (Pramuditā), (2) Stainless (Vimalā), (3) Luminous (Prabhākarī), (4) Radiant (Arciṣmatī), (5) Hard to Overcome (Sudurjayā), (6) Manifest (Abhimukhī), (7) Far-Reaching (Dūraṅgamā), (8) Immovable (Acalā), (9) Good Intellect (Sādhumatī), and 10) Dharma Cloud (Dharmameghā).

The ten negative actions to be avoided. Traditionally these are listed according to the threefold distinction of body, speech, and mind. The ten are (1) killing, (2) stealing, (3) sexual misconduct, (4) lying, (5) slanderous speech, (6) harsh speech, (7) meaningless speech, (8) covetousness, (9) ill will, and (10) wrong views.

Three families‍—tathāgata, vajra, and lotus‍—into which esoteric Buddhist deities are classified.

The three objects of refuge: the Buddha, the Dharma (his teachings), and the Saṅgha (the Buddhist community).

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.

The eleventh bodhisattva level, it is the level on which buddhahood is attained.

An ideal monarch or emperor who, as the result of the merit accumulated in previous lifetimes, rules over a vast realm in accordance with the Dharma. Such a monarch is called a cakravartin because he bears a wheel (cakra) that rolls (vartate) across the earth, bringing all lands and kingdoms under his power. The cakravartin conquers his territory without causing harm, and his activity causes beings to enter the path of wholesome actions. According to Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakośa, just as with the buddhas, only one cakravartin appears in a world system at any given time. They are likewise endowed with the thirty-two major marks of a great being (mahāpuruṣalakṣaṇa), but a cakravartin’s marks are outshined by those of a buddha. They possess seven precious objects: the wheel, the elephant, the horse, the wish-fulfilling gem, the queen, the general, and the minister. An illustrative passage about the cakravartin and his possessions can be found in The Play in Full (Toh 95), 3.3–3.13.

Vasubandhu lists four types of cakravartins: (1) the cakravartin with a golden wheel (suvarṇacakravartin) rules over four continents and is invited by lesser kings to be their ruler; (2) the cakravartin with a silver wheel (rūpyacakravartin) rules over three continents and his opponents submit to him as he approaches; (3) the cakravartin with a copper wheel (tāmracakravartin) rules over two continents and his opponents submit themselves after preparing for battle; and (4) the cakravartin with an iron wheel (ayaścakravartin) rules over one continent and his opponents submit themselves after brandishing weapons.

One of the thirty-two signs of a great being. In its simplest form it is that the head has a heightened or pointed shape (like a turban). More elaborately it refers to a dome-shaped extension of the top of the head, or even to an invisible extension of immense height.

In tantric traditions, the name of a primordial buddha.

A technical term roughly equivalent with dharmadhātu and most probably to be understood in the context of the respective maṇḍala central to many Yoga tantras.

Vajrapāṇi appears throughout Buddhist literature in the overlapping roles of a yakṣa, bodhisattva, and esoteric deity. As the latter, he is frequently an interlocutor in and transmitter of tantric scripture.