Glossary

Skt. akṣobhya; Tib. མི་བསྐྱོད་པ་, Mi-kyod-pa. The Buddha Akshobhya is the lord of the Vajra family. He established the enlightened intention that all sentient beings could purify any degree of non virtue, and even the extreme non virtue of hatred, violence, and killing can be cleansed through relying on him as the focus of meditation. Akshobhya explicitly promised that the merit generated by reciting one-hundred-thousand of his long dhayani mantra and creating an image of him could be dedicated to another person, even someone long deceased, and they would be assured of release from lower states of existence and rebirth in spiritually fortunate circumstances. Akshobhya is a deep blue color and sits with his left hand in an earth-touching mudra and his right hand holds a vajra in the palm.

Skt. Amitābha; Tib. འོད་དཔག་མེད་ Od Pag-med, 'Buddha of Boundless Light' belongs to the Lotus Buddha Family (one of the Five Buddha Families). The Amitabhavyuha Sutra says that many aeons ago, as the monk Dharmakara, he generated bodhichitta in the presence of the Buddha Lokeshvara. At that time, he made fifty-one vows to lead all beings to his pure realm of Sukhavati (Tib. བདེ་བ་ཅན་, Dewachen). Amitabha is commonly associated with the practice of 'p'howa', the transference of consciousness at the time of death. P'howa into Amitabha's pure land of Dewachen is relatively easy to accomplish; due to Amitabha's blessings even ordinary people can accomplish it.

Skt. Amitāyus, Tib. ཚེ་དཔག་མེད་ Tse Pag-med, 'The Buddha of Boundless Life' is a sambhogakaya aspect of Buddha Amitabha. He is associated with the quality of longevity and is depicted in a red color, sitting, and holding in his hands a longevity vase containing the nectar of immortality.

Skt. Avalokiteśvara; Tib. སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ Chenrezig, is called the bodhisattva of great compassion. He is usually depicted as white in color, seated holding a lotus, a pearl mala, and a wish-fulfilling jewel at his heart. In his form as Avalokiteshvara he is standing with one-thousand arms. Chenrezig is of special importance to Tibetans, so much so that he is sometimes described as the patron deity of Tibet. Among his emanations are the lineages of Dalai Lamas and Karmapas.

Skt. jambhala; Tib. ཛམ་བྷ་ལ་ Dzambhala, is a buddha associated with the qualities of wealth and prosperity. He is usually depicted as yellow in color with a full figure and holding in his left hand a mongoose that spits jewels.

Skt. garuḍa; Tib. ཁྱུང་, khyung, is a mythical bird-like creature that has the upper torso of a human and holds a naga serpent in its mouth. The gaurda symbolizes various elements of the Buddhist path: it is said that the gaurda flies higher than anyother bird and thus symbolizes the highest view; and the garuda can be a symbol of protection and the freedom from hopes and fears as it overwhelms the causes of obstacles and disease. The garuda appears as an enlightened element in Vajrayana deity practices like Hayagriva and Vajrakilaya.

Skt. Śyāmatārā; Tib. སྒྲོལ་ལྗང་ Drol Jang, is known as the mother of all bodhisattvas because she loves all sentient beings like a mother. She is the embodiment of the quality of enlightened activity and offers swift protection from fear and delusions.

Skt. Padmasambhava or Skt. Padmākara, is known by the name Tib. གུ་རུ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ Guru Rinpoche meaning 'Precious Guru.' or Tib. པདྨ་འབྱུང་གནས་ Padmajungnay, meaning 'Lotus Born,' referring to his birth from a lotus in the land of Oddiyana. He is the founder of Tantric Buddhism (Vajrayana Buddhism) in Tibet and was invited to Tibet from India by the 37th king of Tibet, King Trisong Detsen, in the late 8th-century. He is considered the second Buddha of our time and if often depicted in three layers of robes with a lotus hat crown, holding a katvanga, a vajra, and skullcup filled with divine nectar. Guru Rinpoche has many forms and is said to have taken eight forms or manifestations representing different aspects of his activity to benefit beings.

Skt. kurukullā; Tib. རིག་བྱེད་མ་ Rigjed-ma, is a female buddha of the Lotus Family and a form of Tara associated with the activity of magnetizing and enchantment. She is depicted as red in color, in dancing posture and holding a flowery bow and arrow. Her name in Sanskrit is Kurukulla and in Tibetan she is known by Kurukulle or Padma Dakini.

Tib. ཀློང་ཆེན་པ་, also known as Longchen Rabjam (Tib. ཀློང་ཆེན་རབ་འབྱམས་), ‘Infinite, Vast Expanse of Space’, or Drimé Özer (1308-1364), was one of the most brilliant teachers of the Nyingma lineage. He systematized the Nyingma teachings in his ‘Seven Treasures’ and wrote extensively on Dzogchen. He transmitted the Longchen Nyingtik cycle of teachings and practice to Jikmé Lingpa, and it has since become one of the most widely practised of traditions.

Skt. Mañjuśrī; Tib. འཇམ་དཔལ་དབྱངས་ Jampal-yang, is the embodiment of the knowledge and wisdom of all the buddhas. He is orange in color and depicted brandishing a flaming sword of transcendent wisdom in his right hand. The scripture on the lotus held in his left hand is the renown 'Prajnaparamita' text, representing the attainment of ultimate realization which blossoms from wisdom. Manjushri has the qualities of increasing intelligence, acuity, and wisdom.

Skt. Bhaiṣajyagurubuddha; Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་སྨན་བླ་ Sangyay Menla, is also known as the Master of Medicine and King of Lapis Lazuli Light. The Medicine Buddha provides healing from illness, both physical and mental. He is peaceful, deep blue and hold a bowl full of medicine and a medicinal myrobalan flower.

Tib. སྒྲོལ་མ་དམར་མོ་ Drolma Marmo, belongs to the padma (lotus) family of deities who are associated with enlightened speech and the color red. Tara is ruby red, seated wearing jeweled ornaments, holding a longevity vase and a lotus on which rests a bow and arrow made of flowers. Red Tara has the magnetizing qualities to swiftly bring beings to the state of enlightenment. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche practiced and propagated the Red Tara practice revealed by Apong Terton (20th Century). This Apong Terton Red Tara practice is upheld by many sanghas in the West.

Skt. Śākyamuni; Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་ཤཱཀྱ་ཐུབ་པ་ Sangyay Shakya-t'hupa, refers to the Indian prince Gautama Siddhartha, who reached enlightenment (and thus became a buddha) in the sixth century B.C. The historical Shakyamuni Buddha is the founder and origin of Buddhism; as a buddha he is often depicted as golden in color wearing monk's robes.

Tib. ཁྲོ་མ་ནག་མོ་ T'hroma Nagmo, is a wrathful black dakini who has the quality of swiftly cutting through ego clinging; the root of all suffering. She is standing in dancing posture holding a curved-knife and a skullcup. According to Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche, "The T'hroma Nagmo based practice of Chod removes obstacles, both for our short-term happiness and those hindering our ultimate enlightenment. It carries extraordinary healing power and through its practice we can accumulate merit and wisdom in a vast and rapid way. Merely making a connection to T'hroma Nagmo practice brings great benefit and blessings." The T'hroma Nagmo from the Dudjom Tersar tradition contains a complete path to enlightenment and brings especially strong blessings.

Skt. Vajrakīlaya; Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕུར་པ་ Dorje Phurba, or Skt. Vajrakumāra; Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་གཞོན་ནུ་, Dorje Shön-nu. Heruka Vajrakilaya is the yidam deity who embodies the enlightened activity compassionate wrath. Vajrakilaya is powerful for removing obstacles, destroying the forces of negative tendencies, and purifying spiritual faults. The oldest tradition of Vajrakilaya is the Kön Vajrakilaya, which is an unbroken lineage of the Vajrakilaya practice since Guru Rinpoche introduced it in Tibet. More recently great tertons such as Dudjom Rinpoche (Dudjom Jikdral Yeshe Dorje) have revealed Vajrakilaya practices (’Pudri Rekpung: The Razor that Destroys at the Touch') that are practiced widely.

Skt. Vajrasattva; Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་སེམས་དཔའ་ Dorje Sempa, he embodies the Hundred Peaceful and Wrathful Deities, and the Five Buddha Families. The practice of Vajrasattva and the recitation of his mantra are effective for the purification of negative actions. As is says in the Tantra of Immaculate Confession, "The Hundred Syllable Mantra is the quintessence of the mind of all the Sugatas. Its purifies all violations, all breaches, all conceptual obscurations." Also, the vow made by Vajrasattva as bodhisattva states, "May all sentient beings, by merely hearing, remembering, or uttering my name in prayer, be purified of their karmic negativity, and be liberated from the depths of cyclic existence."

Skt. Sitatārā; Tib. སྒྲོལ་དཀར་ Drol-kar, White Tara brings serenity and long-life, and counteracts illness. She embodies enlightened compassion and is said to be as white and radiant as the moon. She has two arms seated on a white lotus and with eyes on her hands and feet, as well as a third eye on her forehead (thus she is "Seven eyed"). Also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra, she along with Green Tara is the most popular representation of Tara in Tibet.