Glossary

The altar or shrine is the location of the symbolic representations of the body, speech, and mind of the buddhas as well as the offerings to them, such as offering bowls. The altar or shrine is usually in the same location where meditation practice is done and is clean, dignified, and elevated.

Skt. ghaṇṭa; Tib. དྲིལ་བུ་ dril-bu, is an important ritual implement in Vajrayana practices. The bell is always accompanied by a vajra (dorje) and symbolizes the wisdom of emptiness (feminine aspect) while the vajra symbolizes compassion and skillful means (masculine aspect). The number of spokes of the vajra and bell set, commonly five or nine, should be identical in style and number.

Skt. bodhisattva; Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་, jang-chub-sem-pa, "Those who seek buddhahood for the welfare of all beings are bodhisattva, awakened ones who dispel delusion in each moment by awareness and thus benefit others...'bodhisattva' can be translated as, "one of heroic mind who follows the path of purification and altruistic intention to benefit others." - Chagdud Khadro, The Red Tara Commentary.

Skt. buddha; Tib. སངས་རྒྱས་ sang-gyay, is a title referring to a completely enlightened being; one who has revealed endless wisdom and compassion as well as the unhindered power to benefit sentient beings. The words buddha and deity (Tib. ལྷ་ lha) in the Vajrayana tradition are often synonymous. ‘Buddha’ can also refer to Shakyamuni Buddha, the Indian prince Gautama Siddhartha, who reached enlightenment in the sixth century B.C. In other contexts, ‘Buddha’ can refer to our intrinsic nature, or ‘buddha nature.’

Tib. བུམ་པ་ bum-pa, is a ritual vase filled with consecrated water infused with saffron. These vases have varying ritual functions in Vajrayana Buddhism such as cleansing, consecrating, and empowerment. They can be placed on the shrine, puja table, or at a lama's table depending on their use. They are adorned on top by a peacock feather (བུམ་སྒྲོ་) to which is attached a hollow wand that sprinkles water.

Tib. བུམ་སྒྲོ་ bum-dro, is a peacock feather that adorns the top of a bumpa. Peacock feathers are a metaphor for the activity of a bodhisattva; peacocks transmute poisonous substances into the vibrant colors of their feathers and bodhisattvas transmute emotional defilements into wisdom.

Tib. མར་མེ་ mar-me, a butterlamp (sometimes written butter-lamp) is an important way to accumulate merit and wisdom. The light of the lamp, as well as its nutritional oil, is offered to the buddhas with the wish that all beings be free from suffering and attain enlightenment; just as the light of a butterlamp dispels darkness, wisdom dispels the suffering of beings.

Tib. གཅོད་ཌར་ chod-dar, the 'chod drum' or 'chod damaru' is a ritual implement used in the practice of chod (Tib. གཅོད་). Chod practices are designed to cut through the belief in self – the root of all ignorance and deluded perceptions – by the meditation of offering one's own body. Chod was introduced into Tibet by the Indian siddha Padampa Sangyay and his principal disciple, Machig Labdrön. The chod drum is a double-sided pellet drum made of wood and typically measures between seven and sixteen inches in diameter. It is held in the right hand and is paired with a bell in the left hand and played in the manner of smaller handheld damaru. (See damaru).

Tib. ཕྱུ་པ་ chu-ba, is a traditional Tibetan dress or skirt that has women's, men's, and unisex styles. A full chuba is a dress that covers the shoulders and extends to just below the knee or to the ankle. This type of chuba can be sleeveless or long-sleeved. A half-chuba is a meditation skirt that extends from the waist to the ankle. The unisex style of the half-chuba is a solid color and worn by lay practitioners, lamas, and monastics alike. Styles designed specifically for women can be made of multicolored and borcade fabrics. Chubas are tailored with pleats to allow for comfortable sitting while in cross-legged meditation posture.

The consort is inseparable from the principal deity and their unity represents the union of emptiness and skilful means/compassion. The consort is often depicted as a deity in sexual union with the principal deity or symbolically as a ritual implement such as a khatvanga. There is no spiritual difference between the principal deity and the consort.

Skt. vishva-vajra; Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་རྒྱ་གྲམ་, dorje gyadram, or crossed vajra is formed from four lotus-mounted vajra-heads that emanate from a central hub towards the four cardinal directions, and symbolizes the principle of absolute stability. It is the symbolic hand-implement of Amoghasiddhi and other deities in the assembly of the peaceful and wrathful deities, and it is generally emblematic of buddha-activity.

Skt. ḍākinī; Tib. མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ་, kha-dro-ma, on an outer level is a female embodiment of enlightened mind. ‘Khandro’ in Tibetan means ‘sky-goer,’ indicating one who traverses the sky-like expanse of wisdom. Dakinis can manifest in many different forms with playful, luminous, sharp intellectual, radical, and courageous qualities to benefit beings. On an inner level, the Vajrayana views the dakini is the most profound aspect of mind's natural awareness.

Skt. ḍāmaru; Tib. ཌཱ་མ་རུ་ or རྔེའུ་ཆུང་ neu-chung, is a small double-sided handheld pellet drum. A damaru is in an hourglass shape that is often made of wood. When played the drum is grasped at the waist and twisted back and forth rhythmically sending the corded pellets against the outward facing drum heads. The damaru is held in the right hand when played, and is paired with the bell, held in the left hand.

Tib. ལྷ་ lha, is synonymous with ‘buddha’ in the Vajrayana tradition and refers to a completely enlightened being. Please note, deity is different from 'god' in that deities are enlightened beings, whereas gods are considered worldly beings with superior faculties.

Skt. vajra; Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་ dorje, see 'vajra.'

1) The Most Precious Parasol: protects from suffering, destructive emotions, illness, harm and obstacles; 2) The Auspicious Golden Fishes: the fearless unblinking eye of compassion, freedom and liberation, as well as happiness, fertility and abundance; 3) The Wish-fulfilling Vase of Treasure: an inexhaustible source of long life, wealth, and prosperity, which fulfils all one’s spiritual and material wishes; 4) The Exquisite Lotus Blossom: purity of mind and heart, and transformation, as well as compassion, and all perfect qualities; 5) The Conch of Fame and Glory: the far-reaching melodious sound of the spiritual teachings (a white conch shell coilng to the right); 6) The Glorious Endless Knot: the sign of interdependence; 7) The Ever-flying Banner of Victory: victory over all disagreement, disharmony or obstacles, and the attainment of happiness, both temporary and ultimate; 8) The All-powerful Wheel (wheel of doctrine): the teaching of Buddha, and is the source of spiritual values, wealth, love and liberation.

Sk. caturkarman; Tib. ལས་བཞི་ lay-zhi, are the activity categories by which beings of immense compassion benefit beings: pacifying, increasing, magnetizing, and wrathful (subjugating). The first two categories, pacifying and increasing, are common to all Buddhist schools, whereas the second two, magnetizing and wrathful, are found only in the Vajrayana tradition.

Tib. གའུ gau, is a Tibetan amulet or locket that contains holy relics, prayers, images, and other sacred substances. Smaller gau can be worn around the neck while larger ones are placed on shrines.

Tib. སྤོས་ pö. In the Tibetan tradition incense comes in small sticks or in powdered form. Incense is burned as an offering to the buddhas at a shrine or is displayed unburnt in one of the seven traditional offering bowls on a shrine. When burned it is usually placed into a incense box/censer. Tibetan and Bhutanese incenses are made of fine herbs with medicinal qualities and have excellent aromas.

Tib. རྒྱས་པའི་ལས་ gyay-pai-lay, is one of the 'Four Activities.' Increasing or enriching activity brings the prosperity and longevity that creates positive conditions for the Buddhadharma to manifest and flourish; it also removes the poverty of beings to reduce their suffering. Buddhas that express this activity are associated with the color yellow. An example of this is the Buddha Ratnasambhava, and Dzambhala.

Skt. kapāla; Tib. ཐོད་པ་ tod-pa, a shrine should have a set of two kapala or skull cup: the left side filled with amrita (Skt. amṛta, Tib. སྨན་, men), and the right side filled with rakta (Skt. rakta, Tib. ཐོད་ཁྲག་, thod-t'hrag) – left and right are oriented towards your left and right as you face the shrine. The amrita kapala is a symbolic of the bliss of nonconceptual wisdom. The rakta kapala represents the conquering of the four maras. An amrita kapala can also be placed on a puja table for ritual and symbolic purposes.

Tib. ཁ་བཏགས་ katag, are scarfs that are used for a variety of ceremonial purposes such as holding incense, making offerings to a shrine, or for formal greeting of lamas and dharma teachers. As a greeting they are offered to the lama at the first meeting as a sign of respect. Most often the lama then returns the katag by placing it gently over the offeror's head and around their neck.

Skt. khaṭvāṅga; Tib. ཁ་ཊྭཱཾ་ག་ khatvanga, is a ritual trident that has historical roots in ancient India. In Vajrayana Buddhism the katvanga has complex symbolisms and in essence it symbolizes ultimate bodhicitta, the union of great bliss and emptiness. As a symbol for the consort it is held in the crook of the left arm.

An ancient calligraphic form of Sanskrit that often adorns holy books and objects with mantra.

Tib. ཚེ་བུམ་ tse-bum, is an emblem held by Amitayus and Tara an in imbued with the qualities of immortality.

Tib. པདྨ་ pad-ma, is a beautiful flower which grows from mud and is unstained by it. The lotus symbolizes our innate purity; though we are born as a suffering dualistic being, like the lotus we are ultimately unstained by these conditions; our nature is ultimately pure.

Tib. དབང་གི་ལས་ wang-gi-lay, is one of the 'Four Activities'. Magnetizing activity captivates and enchants beings in order to benefit them and turn their minds towards wisdom and virtue. Buddhas that express this activity are associated with the color red. Examples of this are Amitabha and Red Tara.

Skt. mala; Tib. འཕྲེང་བ་ treng-wa, is a rosary that consists of 108 or 111 beads and is used to count the recitation of mantra. The beads can be made of various substances such as crystal, lotus seed, wood, stone, coral, bodhi seed and more – each type of substance is thought to have a unique quality. A mala is usually held in the left hand when being used to count mantra recitations.

The mandala pan is a ritual pan/plate that is used in the practice of mandala offering – a practice of accumulating merit and wisdom for the benefit of others. Traditionally there are two kinds of mandalas: the accomplishment mandala, placed on the shrine as a support; and the offering mandala, used personally by the practitioner when making mandala offerings. As Patrul Rinpoche teaches, "The material out of which the mandala should be made depends on your means. The best kind of mandala base would be made of precious substances such as gold or silver. A medium quality one would be made of bell-metal or some other fine material. At worst, you could even use a smooth flat stone or piece of wood."

Refers to the mantra of Chenrezig, OM MANI PADME HUNG ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ།

Skt. mantra; Tib. སྔགས་, ngag, are sacred syllables used in Vajrayana practice to protect the minds of practitioners from negativity and ordinary impure perceptions. They also serve to invoke the yidam deities and their retinues.

Seven offering bowls and a butterlamp/light are arranged in a row on a shrine and offered daily to representations to the Three Jewels or the Buddha. The tradition of offering bowls comes from India and relates to the manner in which the ancient Indians would receive and honor a guest in their homes. The eight outer offerings are arranged in this order: water for drinking, water for washing, flowers, incense, a butterlamp/light, perfume, food, and music/sound. Offering bowls can also be used to make water offerings on a shrine.

Tib. ཕུར་པ་ p'hur-ba, is a ritual dagger with a pointed three-edge blade. The p’hurba is associated with wrathful activity, and is, for example, held by the deity Vajrakilaya, a buddha who embodies the quality of wrathful enlightened activity. A p'hurba can be placed on a shrine or be a meditation support on a puja table.

Tib. ཞི་བའི་ལས་ zhi-wai-lay, is one of the 'Four Activities.' Pacifying activity brings benefit by calming the negativities of beings and soothing their sufferings. Buddhas that express this activity are associated with the color white. Examples of this are Chenrezig, Vajrasattva, and White Tara.

Tib. དར་ལྕོག་ dar-cho. Tibetan prayer flags come in various styles, most commonly as five alternating colored square cloths attached to a long strand; or a single piece attached along the length of a pole. Prayers, mantras, deities, auspicious symbols, and mystical animals are printed on each flag; and the colors blue, white, yellow, red, and green represent the Five Buddha Families or the five elements. Prayer flags are considered sacred and hung high off the ground so that the passing breeze can carry their blessings and bring benefit to beings.

Tib. མ་ནི་འཁོར་ལོ་ ma-ni khor-lo, is an ornate cylinder filled with mantra designed to rotate clockwise. The Buddha taught that the rotation of mantra in a prayer wheel has the same benefit as recitation. Some prayer wheels fill entire rooms, however, most often they are small enough to fit on a table or mounted on top of a handle to be spun by hand. Prayer wheels are widely used by practitioners in Tibet and India.

Skt. dharmapāla; Tib. ཆོས་སྐྱོང་ cho-kyong, are a class of beings that take the form of fierce worldly gods that vow to protect the Dharma, the teachings, and practitioners. They are sometimes supermundane emanations of buddhas or bodhisattvas, or mundane spirits and demons who have been subjugated and bound under oath by great practitioners such as Guru Padmasambhava. Among the best known are Ekajati, Mahakala, Dza Rahula and Damchen Dorje Lekpa.

A small table separate from the shrine on which a practitioner places their practice texts and individual ritual implements. The practitioner can then sit at this table to do meditation practice.

Tib. གསེར་སྐྱེམས་ ser-kyem, is a two tiered offering vessel used to make offerings to the Dharma Protectors. The name translates as ‘golden drink’ which refers to the tea, beer, or wine used to fill the cup/chalice. The lower plate is often filled with cookies and other foods. When assembled, the cup/chalice stands atop the plate and the cookies and drink are then offered together.

The singing bowl is a type of standing bell that sits with its bottom surface on a pillow or table. When struck with a mallet singing bowls make a rich harmonic sound. Singing bowls are used in Buddhist shrines during prayer and meditation (for example, to signal the beginning and end to a meditation session).

Skt. stūpa; Tib. མཆོད་རྟེན་ cho-ten, is a reliquary monument or statue that represents the mind of enlightenment. They vary in size from giant monuments to small pendants and are filled with holy relics.

Tib. ཐང་ཀ་ t'hang-ka, is an iconographic painting on canvas of buddhas, bodhisattvas, mandalas, and great practitioners. The images on a t'hangka are painted according to classical proportions and the gestures, implements, and colors of the painted subject have symbolic spiritual value related directly to visualization practice. The canvas is usually mounted onto a brocade cloth frame and hung on a wall. Any image of a buddha or holy being is considered sacred, thus t’hangka should be displayed in a dignified place. T’hangkas can be rolled up like a scroll for transportation.

Skt. tantra; Tib. རྒྱུད་ gyü, are the root texts of the Vajrayana teachings, the type of Buddhism prevalent in Tibet.

Skt. tārā; Tib. སྒྲོལ་མ, drol-ma, is a buddha in a female form. As Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche teaches in his Introduction to the Red Tara Sadhana, "Tara is the flawless expression of the inseparability of emptiness, awareness and compassion. Just as you use a mirror to see your face, Tara meditation is a means of seeing the true face of your mind, devoid of any trace of delusion." Tara has made a particular commitment to liberate beings from the eight great fears and offer swift liberation from suffering.

Tib. ཏིང་ཤག་ ting-shag, are small metal cymbals that play a high pitched tone. They are used principally in sur practice (burnt offering) or as a symbolic sound offering on a shrine.

Tib. གཏོར་མ་ tor-ma, is a ritual sculpture that can symbolize a deity, mandala, food offering, or ritual activity. A ceremonial torma is hand-formed out of oats or roasted barley flour, painted with dyes, and decorated a butter wax mixed called ‘kargyen’. Permanent tormas are made from a variety of materials including wax, clay, plaster, and metal. The torma shapes are specific to their symbolic purpose and tradition and are displayed on shrines or offered accordingly. A torma that represents a deity and mandala, for example, will have a prominent place on a shrine, whereas a torma that represents a food offering would be placed lower.

Tib. ཚ་ཚ་ tsa-tsa, is a relief iconographic image made from an impression mold that depicts the form of a buddha or enlightened mind. These relief images are sacred and can be placed on altars or other dignified places as support for mediation practice. They are commonly made of clay, plaster, stone, resin etc.

Skt. vajra; Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་ dor-je, is an important ritual implement in Vajrayana Buddhism. It is symbolic of compassion and skillful means (masculine aspect) as well as the adamantine and indestructible quality of enlightened mind. The vajra is always accompanied by the bell, which is symbolic of the wisdom of emptiness (feminine aspect). The number of spokes, commonly five or nine, of the vajra and bell set should be identical in style and number.

Skt. vajrayāna; Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ་, dor-je tek-pa, or 'Vajra Vehicle' is one of the three main vehicles of Buddhism and is built upon the the foundation of the other two vehicles: the Sutrayana and Mahayana. The Vajrayana uses the special methods of the Tantras to swiftly pursue the path of enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. It originated in India and spread to Tibet where it has flourish for many centuries. The Vajrayana, sometimes known in Western culture as Tibetan Buddhism or Tantric Buddhism, is now practiced around the globe.

Tib. དྲག་པོའི་ལས་ drag-poi-lay, is one of the 'Four Activities.' Wrathful activity benefits beings by compassionately taming their strong negative impulses and the effects of strong negative karmas. Buddhas that engage in this activity are associated with dark colors such as black, dark blue, or dark green. Examples of this are Vajrakilaya and T'hroma.

Tib. གཟན་ zen, is a shawl worn by buddhist monastics and lay practitioners around the upper torso and over the left shoulder. Zens have specific colors, tailorings, and fabrics that vary depending on the tradition and type of practitioner. Common colors are: solid white, solid maroon, maroon with white stripes, and yellow/orange patchwork.