Vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa

Vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa

འཕགས་པ་དྲི་མ་མེད་པར་གྲགས་པས་བསྟན་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།’ phags pa dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo The Noble Mahāyāna Sūtra “The Teaching of Vimalakīrti” Ārya­vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra .



ti. Title
co. Contents
s. Summary
ac. Acknowledgements
i. Introduction
tr. The Translation
1. Purification of the Buddhafield
2. Inconceivable Skill in Liberative Art
3. The Disciples’ and the Bodhisattvas’ Reluctance to Visit Vimalakīrti
4. The Consolation of the Invalid
5. The Inconceivable Liberation
6. The Goddess
7. The Family of the Tathāgatas
8. The Dharma-Door of Nonduality
9. The Feast Brought by the Emanated Incarnation
10. Lesson of the Destructible and the Indestructible
11. Vision of the Universe Abhirati and the Tathāgata Akṣobhya
12. Antecedents and Transmission of the Holy Dharma
c. Colophon
ab. Abbreviations
n. Notes
b. Bibliography
g. Glossary
s.

SUMMARY

s.­1 While the Buddha is teaching outside the city of Vaiśālī, a notable householder in the city—the great bodhisattva Vimalakīrti—apparently falls sick. The Buddha asks his disciple and bodhisattva disciples to call on Vimalakīrti, but each of them relates previous encounters that have rendered them reluctant to face his penetrating scrutiny of their attitudes and activities. Only Mañjuśrī has the courage to pay him a visit, and in the conversations that ensue between

Vimalakīrti, Mañjuśrī, and several other interlocutors, Vimalakīrti sets out an uncompromising and profound view of the Buddha’s teaching and the bodhisattva path, illustrated by various miraculous displays. Its masterful narrative structure, dramatic and sometimes humorous dialogue, and highly evolved presentation of teachings have made this sūtra one of the favorites of Mahāyāna literature.

ac.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ac.­1

Translated by Robert A. F. Thurman and first published, under the title The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti: A Mahāyāna Scripture, by the Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park and London, in 1976.

This electronic edition for 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, with an abridged introduction and notes, and lightly edited under the supervision of Professor Thurman, is published by his kind permission as the copyright holder.

From the Preface to the original edition:

I sincerely thank my friend and benefactor, Dr. C. T. Shen, both for his sponsorship of the work and for his most helpful collaboration in the work of comparing the Tibetan and Chinese versions. We were sometimes joined in our round-table discussions by Drs. C. S. George, Tao-Tien Yi, F. S. K. Koo, and T. C. Tsao, whose helpful suggestions I gratefully acknowledge. My thanks also go to Ms. Yeshe Tsomo and Ms. Leah Zahler for their invaluable editorial assistance, and to Ms. Carole Schwager and the staff of The Pennsylvania State University Press.

Preface to this electronic edition:

I earnestly thank Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche for his great efforts in creating the 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha project, to present in English the many great works of the Buddha’s teachings freely to the world.

I also thank John Canti, of 84000, for his careful, creative, and very learned translating and editorial work on this electronic edition, without which this improved translation would not have materialized. I thank Mr. Patrick Alexander, of the Penn State University Press, who was the one who informed me that the copyright to my original translation done for the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions had reverted to me upon the termination of that Institute, to which I had previously conveyed my rights.

I intend to publish in print form a further update of that original version at a future time. Since there have been a number of free-floating electronic forms of this text on the internet for some years now, I am happy that the sūtra in its current revision is now available in the 84000 Reading Room, among the many other translations on that site.

Sarva maṅgalam!

INTRODUCTION

Among Buddhist sūtras, The Teaching of Vimalakīrti stands out like a masterfully faceted diamond, so located between the heaps of gold, silver, and pearls of the Transcendent ‌Wisdom (Prajñā­pāramitā) Sūtras and the array of sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and other gems of the ‌Buddha Garland (Buddhāvataṃsaka), or Inconceivable Liberation (Acintyavimokṣa) Sūtras as to refract the radiances of all, beaming them forth to the beholder in a concentrated rainbow-beam of diamond light.

i.­2 I elaborate upon this traditional metaphor here to convey a sense of how the Vimalakīrti is truly unique among Buddhist sūtras. Unmatched in its content—a quintessence of Mahāyāna doctrines, both of the profound and of the extensive categories—its aesthetic virtue, too, makes it an object of the connoisseur’s delight. This helps us understand how a hundred generations of Mahāyāna Buddhists in India, Central Asia, China, Japan, and South East Asia were disposed to study, revere, and enjoy this sūtra, finding enlightenment, inspiration, and the grace of pleasant humor.

i.­3 The sūtra starts with the Buddha, in the presence of a large assembly of monks and bodhisattvas gathered before him in Āmrapālī’s grove outside Vaiśālī, receiving offerings from five hundred youths from the city, headed by the Licchavi bodhisattva Ratnākara, and in response revealing the entire universe as a vast buddhafield in a miraculous display, seen by all present. After pronouncing a notable praise to the Buddha in verse, Ratnakāra asks him to explain what is meant by a bodhisattva purifying his buddhafield. The Buddha’s response to this request, together with further descriptions in the fifth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters, constitute one of the most complete and profound teachings on the subject of buddhafields to be found in the canonical literature.

i.­4 The second chapter introduces the great Licchavi bodhisattva Vimalakīrti, master of the liberative art, who lives as a layman but transcends all categorization. Manifesting himself as if sick, he teaches all the notables and citizens of Vaiśālī, as they come to inquire about his health, on the insubstantial and unsatisfactory nature of the ordinary body, and compares it to the body of a tathāgata. In the third chapter, the Buddha asks his principal disciples, one by one, to visit Vimalakīrti on his sickbed. All of them in turn, however—first the great disciples, and then the bodhisattvas—feel reluctant to do so and decline on the grounds that previous encounters with him (recounted in detail) have left them astonished and somewhat discomfited by the profundity and transcendent nature of his views, often on topics or practices of which they had themselves hitherto been considered peerless masters.

i.­5 Mañjuśrī, despite his own reluctance, is the only bodhisattva to assent to the Buddha’s request, and the fourth and subsequent chapters describe the conversations between him, Vimalakīrti, and a number of other interlocutors from the large assembly accompanying Mañjuśrī to Vimalakīrt’s house in the eager anticipation of hearing the Dharma expressed in the exchange between these two high-level bodhisattvas. Their discussion starts with what is meant by sickness, how a bodhisattva should comfort another bodhisattva who is sick, and how a sick bodhisattva should

control his own mind, with most of the dialogue consisting of long passages spoken by Vimalakīrti in response to brief questions by Mañjuśrī. In the fifth chapter, Vimalakīrti performs the miraculous feat of bringing to his house in Vaiśālī millions of enormous thrones belonging to the entourage of a buddha from another, vastly distant universe, the Tathāgata Meru­pradīpa­rāja, and explains how such apparently impossible transformations of time, space, and other phenomena become possible for a bodhisattva who lives in the inconceivable liberation. In the sixth chapter—after a discussion with Mañjuśrī on sentient beings and compassion—he leaves it to a goddess living in his house to demonstrate graphically to the hapless great disciple Śāriputra the dualistic notions he holds on attainment, vehicle, and even gender.

i.­6 The seventh chapter opens with Vimalakīrti answering Mañjuśrī’s leading questions to explain that whatever ways a bodhisattva might follow, including those conventionally considered the most negative and harmful, will cause him to attain the qualities of the buddhas. This leads to a discussion on the family of the tathāgatas (tathāgatagotra) and a long speech in verse by Vimalakīrti extolling the ways in which the actions of bodhisattvas correspond to worldly activities, but transcend and surpass them by far. All of this is made possible by

bodhisattvas’ freedom from dualistic thinking, and in the eighth chapter Vimalakīrti individually questions the bodhisattvas present about how each of them practices non-duality, receiving thirty-one different replies all of which Mañjuśrī finds laudable, but nevertheless still tinged with dualism. He requests Vimalakīrti to add his own point of view, to which Vimalakīrti’s responds with his famous silence.

i.­7 Śāriputra again becomes an object of mind-opening critique when, at the opening of the ninth chapter, Vimalakīrti catches him wondering how everyone present is going to eat before noon. Vimalakīrti miraculously makes everyone perceive another distant buddhafield, where the Tathāgata Gandhottama­kūṭa and his bodhisattvas are about to take their meal. Vimalakīrti emanates a bodhisattva, a messenger who goes to

that buddhafield and invites all the bodhisattvas there back to the house in Vaiśālī, bringing a vessel of their miraculous, highly fragrant food for the assembly to enjoy. Vimalakīrti elicits from the visiting bodhisattvas an account of how Gandhottama­kūṭa teaches the Dharma only through perfumes, and explains to them how the Buddha Śākyamuni has to use much grosser expedients to tame the wild and difficult beings of his

own buddhafield, the Sahā world. The visitors are surprised and impressed by the Buddha’s compassion. They express the wish to pay him their respects and Vimalakīrti, in the tenth chapter, magically transports the entire assembly, including the visiting bodhisattvas, into the Buddha’s presence in Āmrapālī’s grove so that they may do so. A discussion between the Buddha, Vimalakīrti, and Ānanda of the

great variety of methods used to express the Dharma in different buddhafields ensues, and the Buddha gives the visitors, before they depart for their own buddhafield, a long teaching on “the destructible and indestructible,” explaining how bodhisattvas should neither destroy what is compounded nor rest in what is uncompounded.

i.­8 In the penultimate chapter, prompted by the Buddha, Vimalakīrti describes how he sees the Tathāgata. When Śāriputra asks where Vimalakīrti was before manifesting in this world, the Buddha tells him it was in Abhirati, the buddhafield of Akṣobhya. Everyone

present wants a glimpse of that buddhafield, so at the Buddha’s request Vimalakīrti physically miniaturizes Abhirati, brings it to Vaiśālī to show and inspire them all, and then replaces it where it was. In a dialogue with Śakra in the final chapter the

Buddha explains, as in many other sūtras, the extraordinary merit of studying and understanding this teaching, and recounts how in one of his own former lives he was taught the importance of Dharma-worship by the Tayhāgata Bhaiṣajyarāja. He then entrusts his own enlightenment along with this sūtra to Maitreya, explaining the importance it will have in conveying the profound principles of the Dharma to beings in the future, as well as asking Ānanda to memorize it and giving it several different names.

i.­9

In keeping with an alternative title of the sūtra (Inconceivable Liberation),1 Vimalakīrti lays great emphasis on the theme of inconceivability, that is, the ultimate incomprehensibility of all things, relative or absolute. He thus spells out the furthest implication of the application of voidness: that the finite, ego-centered mind cannot even conceive of the

ultimate nature of things and, hence, as far as such minds are concerned, their ultimate reality is itself inconceivability. This accords with the degree of attainment of the bodhisattva, so frequently reached by Vimalakīrti’s audiences, called “the

tolerance of the birthlessness of all things” (anutpattika­dharma­kṣānti). It is extremely significant that the term “tolerance” (kṣānti) is used here, rather than “conviction,” “understanding,” or “realization”; it emphasizes the fact that where the ultimate

is concerned, the mind is unable to grasp anything in the pattern of dualistic knowledge, for there is no finite object in this case and only relative objects can be grasped with relative certainty in the mundane sense. Yet that is not to say that the student’s task is to

simply put a label of “inconceivability” on all things and rest complacent with a sense of having reached a high state. Indeed, there are three stages of this tolerance: the verbal (ghoṣānugā), conforming (anulomikī), and true tolerance of the birthlessness of things. This indicates the difficulty of attainment of true tolerance, which occurs only at the eighth stage of bodhisattvahood.2 Inconceivability as a verbal concept is only a principle to be applied to the mind, just like the verbal concept of voidness, or even of infinity.

i.­10 When we reflect intensively on any of these concepts, our minds open gradually in an ever widening sphere whose limits proceed from preconceived limitation to preconceived limitation. We discover to our surprise that there is always something further, and we logically discard the possibility of any limit being ultimate because any limit serves as the near boundary of the next larger space or

dimension or time. If we adhere rigorously to this process, we soon find ourselves lost in the stars, as it were, with less and less security about ever having started from anywhere.

i.­11 The Buddha gave this type of deepest teaching only to disciples able to deal with it. Nāgārjuna himself rarely spelled it out explicitly, restricting himself to providing the means whereby the disciplined intellect can strip away its own conceptualizations and habitual notions. But Vimalakīrti felt that such a message should be available to a much larger circle of people, for he expressed himself definitively on all occasions, as recorded in this sūtra.

i.­12 The main technique Vimalakīrti uses that is of interest here—dichotomy—is found in his discourse, which relates to another alternative title of the sūtra, “Reconciliation of Dichotomies” (Yamaka­puṭa­vyatyasta­nihāra).3 This is in keeping with the traditional method of the Middle Way [

[masters]], who had great skill in pitting polar opposites against each other to eliminate the fixedness of each and to free the mind of the student who applies himself to the polarities to open

into a middle ground of reality beyond concepts. The mahāsiddhas of first-millennium India refined this art to a consummate degree in their songs and extraordinary deeds, and the Great Ch’an and Zen Masters wielded the same “double-edged sword” in their earthshaking statements and their illuminating activities. The singular quality of such teachers’ use of dichotomies lies in the fact that they relate them to the actual practice of the hearers, forcing

them to integrate them in their minds and actions. Thus, they expect them to be liberated inconceivably, while being totally engaged in the work of helping other living beings. They recommend their full cultivation of great love and great compassion while maintaining total

awareness of the total absence of any such thing as a living being, a suffering being, a being in bondage. In short, they show the way to the full nonduality of wisdom and great compassion, the latter being expressed as skill in liberative art—the integrated approach acknowledged by all the masters as the essence of the Mahāyāna.

i.­13 Vimalakīrti’s reconciliation of dichotomies is so thoroughgoing that he shocks the disciples by his advocacy of the most horrible things as being part of the bodhisattva’s path. The bodhisattva may commit the five deadly sins, follow the false outsider teachings, entertain the sixty-two [[false

views]], consort with all the passions, and so on. Even the māras, or devils, that plague the various universes are said to be bodhisattvas dwelling in inconceivable liberation—playing the devil, as it were, in order to develop living beings.

i.­14 It is an extraordinary fact that Vimalakīrti’s method in integrating the intellectual and behavioral dichotomies is one of many blatant hints of tantric ideas in the background of his teaching method. Futher research is needed to determine whether these connections prove the existence of tantrism at a time earlier than modern scholars generally believe or whether later tantrics found Vimalakīrti’s

teachings a source of inspiration. However, the concept of the adept using paths generally considered evil for the attainment of enlightenment and the buddha-qualities is basic in tantric doctrine and practice; Śākyamuni’s revelation of the Sahā world as a jeweled buddhafield accords with tantric method; and Vimalakīrti’s discussion of how a bodhisattva in inconceivable liberation can transfer

Mount Sumeru, or an entire universe, into a mustard seed is reminiscent of the yogic practices for transmuting dimensions of time and space found in the Guhyasamāja.4 The description of Vimalakīrti as versed in “esoteric practices”;5 the description of the “family of the tathāgatas”;6 Vimalakīrti’s verse identifying wisdom as the mother and liberative art as the father, exactly corresponding with the central

tantric symbolism of male and female as vajra and bell, and the like;7 the yogic powers ascribed to the bodhisattva in inconceivable liberation, such as the ability to take fire in his stomach;8 the mention of the appearance of many tathāgatas—including Akṣobhya, Amitābha, Ratnavyūha, Sarvārtha­siddha, and others—in the house of Vimalakīrti, teaching the esotericisms of the tathāgatas

(tathāgata-guhyak) ;9 and the culmination of the sūtra in the vision of the Buddha Akṣobhya:10 all these lend the sūtra a certain aura of tantra. Whatever the “historical” relationship may be, there is no doubt that the mahāsiddhas of later times would have felt at home in the house of Vimalakīrti.

i.­15 Nothing concrete is known about the “original text” of the Vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa. It purports to record events that took place during Gautama Buddha’s time (sixth to fifth century B.C.), but no text was apparent in India until after Nāgārjuna (c. first century B.C. to first century A.D.) had revived

the Mahāyāna traditions, discovering the Mahāyāna Sanskrit sūtras, the Vimalakīrti text among them. This text was subsequently translated into Chinese seven different times, starting in the second century with Yan Fodiao11 (A.D. 188), the version of Kumārajīva (A.D. 406) being the

most popular, and that of Xuanzang (A.D. 650) the most technically accurate. It was translated into Tibetan at least twice, the definitive version completed in the early ninth century by the well-known Tibetan translator Chönyi Tsültrim (chos nyid tshul khrims), also known as Dharmatāśīla,

who was one of the compilers of the Mahāvyutpatti.12 It was also translated into Sogdian, Khotanese, and Uighur. For many years it was thought that all Sanskrit texts of the work had been lost, except for some fragments quoted in Mahāyāna philosophical works. In

1998, however, a Sanskrit manuscript was found in the Potala Palace, Lhasa, of which edited versions were published in 2004 and 2006 by the Taishō University Study Group on Sanskrit Buddhist Literature.13

i.­16 The Japanese chose Kumārajīva’s version for their translation, and the majority of modern translations have been based on this text. In 1962, Dr. E. Lamotte set forth to rectify this situation by basing his fine French translation on the Tibetan and the

Xuanzang versions. The history comes full circle finally, as the Rev. E. Bangert first translated the Tibetan into modern Thai and then into current Sanskrit.

i.­17 My translation is based on the Tibetan version, as I am most at home in that language, although at times the simplicity of the Kumārajīva, the psychological precision of Xuanzang, or the elegance of Lamotte may have clarified the Tibetan, provided an alternative, or given me another reference point from which to find a middle way. Any significant departures from the basic Tibetan have been duly

noted. The recently discovered Sanskrit text of the sūtra only came to light thirty years after the first edition of this translation was published, but was consulted for this new edition and has helped to make some of the revisions, including the updating of a number of Sanskrit proper names.

The Teaching of Vimalakīrti

1.

Chapter 1

Purification of the Buddhafield

1.­1

[F.175.a] Reverence to all the buddhas, bodhisattvas, noble disciples, and pratyekabuddhas, in the past, the present, and the future.

1.­2 Thus did I hear on a single occasion. The Lord Buddha was in residence in the garden of Āmrapālī, in the city of Vaiśālī, attended by a great gathering. Of bhikṣus there were eight thousand, all arhats. They were free from impurities and afflictions, and all had attained self-mastery. Their minds were entirely liberated by perfect knowledge. They were calm and dignified, like royal elephants. They

had accomplished their work, done what they had to do, cast off their burdens, attained their goals, and totally destroyed the bonds of existence. Their true knowledge had made their minds entirely free. They all had attained the utmost perfection of every form of control over their minds.14

2. Chapter 2

Inconceivable Skill in Liberative Art

2.­1

At that time, there lived in the great city of Vaiśālī a certain Licchavi, Vimalakīrti by name. Having served the ancient buddhas, he had generated the roots of virtue by honoring them and making offerings to them. He had attained tolerance as well as eloquence. He played

with the great superknowledges. He had attained the power of retention and the fearlessnesses. He had conquered all demons and opponents. He had penetrated the profound way of the Dharma. He was liberated through the transcendence of wisdom. Having integrated his realization with skill in liberative art, he was expert in knowing the thoughts and actions of living beings. Knowing the strength

or weakness of their faculties, and being gifted with unrivaled eloquence, he taught the Dharma appropriately to each. Having applied himself energetically to the Mahāyāna, he understood it and accomplished his tasks with great finesse. He lived with the deportment of a buddha, and his

superior intelligence was as wide as an ocean. He was praised, honored, and commended by all the buddhas and was respected by Indra, Brahmā, and all the Lokapālas. In order to develop living beings with his skill in liberative art, he lived in the great city of Vaiśālī.

3.

Chapter 3

The Disciples’ and the Bodhisattvas’ Reluctance to Visit Vimalakīrti

3.­1

Then, the Licchavi Vimalakīrti thought to himself, “I am sick, lying on my bed in pain, yet the Tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly accomplished Buddha, does not consider me or take pity upon me, and sends no one to inquire after my illness.”

3.­2 The Lord knew this thought in the mind of Vimalakīrti and said to the venerable Śāriputra, “Śāriputra, go to inquire after the illness of the Licchavi Vimalakīrti.”

Thus addressed, the venerable Śāriputra answered the Buddha, “Lord, I am indeed reluctant to go to ask the Licchavi Vimalakīrti about his illness. Why? I remember one day, when I was sitting at the foot of a tree in the forest, absorbed in contemplation, the Licchavi Vimalakīrti came to the foot of that tree and said to me, ‘Reverend Śāriputra, this is not the way to absorb yourself in contemplation. You

should absorb yourself in contemplation so that neither body nor mind appear anywhere in the three realms. [F.184.b] You should absorb yourself in contemplation in such a way that you can manifest all ordinary behavior without forsaking cessation. You should absorb yourself in

contemplation in such a way that you can manifest the nature of an ordinary person without abandoning your cultivated spiritual nature. You should absorb yourself in contemplation so that the mind neither settles within nor moves without toward external forms. You should absorb yourself in

contemplation in such a way that the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment are manifest without deviation toward any convictions. You should absorb yourself in contemplation in such a way that you are released in liberation without abandoning the passions that are the province of the world.56

Chapter 4

The Consolation of the Invalid

Then, the Buddha said to the crown prince, Mañjuśrī, “Mañjuśrī, [F.198.a] go to the Licchavi Vimalakīrti to inquire about his illness.”

Mañjuśrī replied, “Lord, it is difficult to attend upon the Licchavi Vimalakīrti. He is gifted with marvelous eloquence concerning the law of the profound. He is extremely skilled in full expressions and in the reconciliation of dichotomies. His eloquence is inexorable, and no one can resist his imperturbable intellect. He accomplishes all the activities of the bodhisattvas. He penetrates all the secret mysteries of

the bodhisattvas and the buddhas. He is skilled in civilizing all the abodes of devils. He plays with the great superknowledges. He is consummate in wisdom and liberative art. He has attained the supreme excellence of the indivisible, nondual sphere of the

ultimate realm. He is skilled in teaching the Dharma with its infinite modalities within the uniform ultimate. He is skilled in granting means of attainment in accordance with the spiritual faculties of all living beings. He has

thoroughly integrated his realization with skill in liberative art. He has attained decisiveness with regard to all questions. Thus, although he cannot be withstood by someone of my feeble defenses, still, sustained by the grace of the Buddha, I will go to him and will converse with him as well as I can.”

5.

Chapter 5

The Inconceivable Liberation

5.­1

Thereupon, the venerable Śāriputra had this thought: “There is not even a single chair in this house. Where are these disciples and bodhisattvas going to sit?”

The Licchavi Vimalakīrti read the thought of the venerable Śāriputra and said, “Reverend Śāriputra, did you come here for the sake of the Dharma? Or did you come here for the sake of a chair?”

5.­2 Śāriputra replied, “I came for the sake of the Dharma, not for the sake of a chair.”

Vimalakīrti continued, “Reverend Śāriputra, he who is interested in the Dharma is not interested even in his own body, much less in a chair. Reverend Śāriputra, he who is interested in the Dharma has no interest in matter, sensation, intellect,

motivation, or consciousness. He has no interest in these aggregates, or in the elements, or in the sense-media. Interested in the Dharma, he has no interest in the realm of desire, the realm of pure matter, [F.204.a] or the immaterial realm.

Interested in the Dharma, he is not interested in attachment to the Buddha, attachment to the Dharma, or attachment to the Saṅgha. Reverend Śāriputra, he who is interested in the Dharma is not interested in recognizing suffering, abandoning its

origination, realizing its cessation, or practicing the path. Why? The Dharma is ultimately without formulation and without verbalization. Who verbalizes: ‘Suffering should be recognized, origination should be eliminated, cessation should be realized, the path should be practiced,’ is not interested in the Dharma but is interested in verbalization.134

6. Chapter 6

The Goddess

6.­1

Thereupon, Mañjuśrī, the crown prince, addressed the Licchavi Vimalakīrti: “Good sir, how should a bodhisattva regard all living beings?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Mañjuśrī, a bodhisattva should regard all living beings as a wise man regards the reflection of the moon in water or as magicians regard men created by magic. He should regard them as being like a face in a mirror; like the water of a

mirage; like the sound of an echo; like a mass of clouds in the sky; [F.208.b] like the previous moment of a ball of foam; like the appearance and disappearance of a bubble of water; like the core of a plantain tree; like a flash of lightning; like the fifth great element; like the seventh sense-medium; like the appearance of matter in an immaterial realm; like a sprout

from a rotten seed; like a tortoise-hair coat; like the fun of games for one who wishes to die; like the egoistic views of a stream-winner; like a third rebirth of a once-returner; like the descent of a non returner into a womb; like the existence of desire, hatred, and

folly in an arhat; [F.209.a] like thoughts of avarice, immorality, wickedness, and hostility in a bodhisattva who has attained tolerance; like the instincts of afflictions in a tathāgata; like the perception of color in one blind from birth; like

the inhalation and exhalation of an ascetic absorbed in the meditation of cessation; like the track of a bird in the sky; like the erection of a eunuch; like the pregnancy of a barren woman; like the unproduced afflictions of an emanated incarnation of the Tathāgata;

like dream-visions seen after waking; like the afflictions of one who is free of conceptualizations; like fire burning without fuel; like the reincarnation of one who has attained ultimate liberation. [F.209.b]

7. Chapter 7

The Family of the Tathāgatas

7.­1

Then, the crown prince Mañjuśrī asked the Licchavi Vimalakīrti, “‌Noble sir, how does the bodhisattva follow the way to attain the qualities of the Buddha?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Mañjuśrī, when the bodhisattva follows the wrong way, he follows the way to attain the qualities of the Buddha.”

7.­2 Mañjuśrī continued, “How does the bodhisattva follow the wrong way?”

Vimalakīrti replied, “Even should he enact the five deadly sins, he feels no malice, violence, or hate. Even should he go into the hells, he remains free of all taint of afflictions. Even should he go into the states of the animals, he remains free of darkness and

ignorance. When he goes into the states of the asuras, he remains free of pride, conceit, and arrogance. When he goes into the realm of the lord of death, he accumulates the stores of merit and wisdom. When he goes into the states of motionlessness and immateriality, he does not dissolve therein.

8. Chapter 8

The Dharma-Door of Nonduality

8.­1

Then, the Licchavi Vimalakīrti asked those bodhisattvas, “Good sirs, please explain how the bodhisattvas enter the Dharma-door of nonduality!”177

8.­2 The bodhisattva Dharmavikurvaṇa declared, “Noble sir, production and destruction are two, but what is not produced and does not occur cannot be destroyed. Thus the attainment of the tolerance of the birth-lessness of things is the entrance into nonduality.”

8.­3 The bodhisattva Śrīgupta declared, “ ‘I’ and ‘mine’ are two. If there is no presumption of a self, there will be no possessiveness. Thus, the absence of presumption is the entrance into nonduality.”

8.­4 The bodhisattva [F.218.a] Śrīkūṭa declared, “ ‘Defilement’ and ‘purification’ are two. When there is thorough knowledge of defilement, there will be no conceit about purification. The path leading to the complete conquest of all conceit is the entrance into nonduality.”

9. Chapter 9

The Feast Brought by the Emanated Incarnation

9.­1

Thereupon, the venerable Śāriputra thought to himself, “If these great bodhisattvas do not adjourn before noontime, when are they going to eat?”185

The Licchavi Vimalakīrti, aware of what the venerable Śāriputra was thinking, spoke to him: “Reverend Śāriputra, the Tathāgata has taught the eight liberations. You should concentrate on those liberations, listening to the Dharma with a mind free of preoccupations with material things. Just wait a minute, reverend Śāriputra, and you will eat such food as you have never before tasted.”

9.­2 Then, the Licchavi Vimalakīrti set himself in such a concentration and performed such a miraculous feat that those bodhisattvas and those great disciples were enabled to see the universe called Sarva­gandha­sugandhā, which is located in the direction of the zenith, beyond as many buddhafields as there are sands in forty-two Ganges rivers. There the tathāgata named Gandhottama­kūṭa resides, lives, and is manifest.

In that universe, the trees emit a fragrance that far surpasses all the fragrances, human and divine, of all the buddhafields of the ten directions. In that universe, even the names “disciple” and “solitary sage” do not exist, and the

Tathāgata Gandhottama­kūṭa teaches the Dharma to a gathering of bodhisattvas only. In that universe, all the houses, [F.221.b] the avenues, the parks, and the palaces are made of various perfumes, and the fragrance of the food eaten by those bodhisattvas pervades immeasurable universes.

10. Chapter 10

Lesson of the Destructible and the Indestructible

10.­1

Meanwhile, the area in which the Lord was teaching the Dharma in the garden of Āmrapālī expanded and grew larger, and the entire assembly appeared tinged with a golden hue. Thereupon, the venerable Ānanda asked the Buddha, “Lord, this expansion and enlargement of the garden of Āmrapālī and this golden hue of the assembly—what do these auspicious signs portend?”

The Buddha declared, “Ānanda, these auspicious signs portend that the Licchavi Vimalakīrti and the crown prince Mañjuśrī, attended by a great multitude, are coming into the presence of the Tathāgata.”

10.­2 At that moment the Licchavi Vimalakīrti said to the crown prince Mañjuśrī, “Mañjuśrī, let us take these many living beings into the presence of the Lord, [F.226.a] so that they may see the Tathāgata and bow down to him!”

11. Chapter 11

Vision of the Universe Abhirati and the Tathāgata Akṣobhya

11.­1

Thereupon, the Buddha said to the Licchavi Vimalakīrti, “Noble son, when you see the Tathāgata, how do you view him?”

Thus addressed, the Licchavi Vimalakīrti said to the Buddha, “Lord, when I see the Tathāgata, I view him by not seeing any Tathāgata. Why? I see him as not born from the past, not passing on to the future, and not abiding in the present time. Why? He is the

essence that is the reality of matter,202 but he is not matter. He is the essence that is the reality of sensation, but he is not sensation. He is the essence that is the reality of intellect, but he is not intellect. He is the essence that is the reality of

performance, yet he is not performance. He is the essence that is the reality of consciousness, yet he is not consciousness. Like the element of space, he does not abide in any of the four elements. Transcending the scope of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and

mind, he is not produced in the six sense-media. [F.231.b] He is not involved in the three worlds, is free of the three defilements, is associated with the triple liberation, is endowed with the three knowledges, and has truly attained the unattainable.

12. Chapter 12

Antecedents and Transmission of the Holy Dharma

12.­1

Then Śakra, the king of the gods, said to the Buddha, “Lord, formerly I have heard from the Tathāgata and from Mañjuśrī, the crown prince of wisdom, many hundreds of thousands of teachings of the Dharma, but I have never before heard a teaching of the Dharma as remarkable as this instruction in the entrance into the method of inconceivable transformations.206 Lord, those living beings who, having heard this

teaching of the Dharma, accept it, remember it, read it, and understand it deeply will be, without a doubt, true vessels of the Dharma; [F.235.a] there is no need to mention those who apply themselves to the yoga of meditation upon it. They will cut off all possibility of unhappy

lives, will open their way to all fortunate lives, will always be looked after by all buddhas, will always overcome all adversaries, and will always conquer all devils. They will practice the path of the bodhisattvas, will take their places upon the seat of enlightenment, and will have

truly entered the domain of the tathāgatas. Lord, the noble sons and daughters who will teach and practice this exposition of the Dharma will be honored and served by me and my followers. To the villages, towns, cities, states, kingdoms, and capitals wherein this teaching of the

Dharma will be applied, taught, and demonstrated, I and my followers will come to hear the Dharma. I will inspire the unbelieving with faith, and I will guarantee my help and protection to those who believe and uphold the Dharma.”

c.

COLOPHON

c.­1

It has 1,800 ślokas in six fascicles, and was translated, edited, and established by the monk Chönyi Tsultrim.

ab.

ABBREVIATIONS

Ch. Chinese

K Kumārajīva’s Ch. translation

X Xuanzang’s Ch. translation

n.

NOTES

n.1 Skt. acintyavimokṣa. See Chapter 12.

n.2 See Lamotte (Appendice, Note III, pp 407-413).

n.3 See Lamotte’s discussion of this concept (Lamotte, Introduction, pp 33-37), even though he emphasizes the rhetorical meaning more than the behavioral meaning. n.4

The Guhya­samāja­tantra (see bibliography) is generally recognized as one of the earliest systematic tantric texts. It expounds a philosophically pure Middle Way nondualism, combined with an explicit teaching of the reconciliation of dichotomies (i.e., how even evil can be transmuted

to enlightenment, etc.) and an elaborate meditational methodology, employing sacred formulae (mantra), rituals, and visualizations. The meditation of jewels, buddhas, sacred universes (maṇḍala), etc., as existing in full detail inside a mustard seed on the tip of the yogin’s nose is a characteristic exercise in the Guhyasamāja, as in Chap. 3.

n.5 See 2.­3. It is especially appropriate, in the light of the early tantric tradition, for Vimalakīrti, as a layman, to be an adept. b.

Tibetan and Sanskrit sources

’phags pa dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Ārya­vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra). Toh. 176, Degé Kangyur, vol. 60 (mdo sde, ma), folios 175b–239a.

’phags pa dri ma med par grags pas bstan pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo (Ārya­vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa­nāma­mahā­yāna­sūtra). [[[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. 60, pp. 476–635.

Study Group on Buddhist Sanskrit Literature. 梵文維摩經 : ポタラ宮所蔵写本に基づく校訂. Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, A Sanskrit Edition Based upon the Manuscript Newly Found at the Potala Palace. Tokyo: Institute for Comprehensive Studies of Buddhism, Taishō Daigaku Shuppankai, 2006.

Translations of this text

Lamotte, Étienne. L’Enseignement de Vimalakīrti (Vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa). Louvain: Université de Louvain, Institut Orientaliste, 1962. [Translated from Tib. and Xuanzang’s Chinese].

Luk, Charles (tr.). The Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa Sūtra. Berkeley and London: Shambhala, 1972. [Translated from Kumārajīva’s Chinese].

McRae, John R. (tr.). The Vimalakīrti Sūtra. Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2004. [Translated from Kumārajīva’s Chinese].

Canonical references

Saṃdhi­nirmocana­sūtra. Sanskrit text: see Lamotte 1935. Tibetan text: ’phags pa dgongs pa nges par ’grel pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Toh 106, Degé Kangyur vol. 49 (mdo sde, tsha), folios 1b–55b. English translation: see Buddhavacana Translation Group, forthcoming.

Saddharma­puṇḍarīka. Sanskrit text: see Vaidya 1960, Wogihara et al. 1934-1935. Tibetan text: dpal dam chos pad ma dkar po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po’i mdo, Toh 113, Degé Kangyur, vol. 51 (mdo sed, ja), folios 1b–180b. English translations: see Kern 1884; Roberts, 2018.

Guhya­samāja­tantra. Sanskrit text: see Bagchi 1965. Tibetan text: de bzhin gshegs pa thams cad kyi sku gsung thugs kyi gsang chen gsang ba ’dus pa zhes bya ba brtag pa’i rgyal po chen po, Toh 442, Degé Kangyur vol. 81 (rgyud ’bum, ca), folios 89b–148a.

Candrakīrti. Prasannapadā­nāma­mūla­madhyamaka­vṛtti. Sanskrit text: see La Vallée Poussin 1903-1912. Tibetan text: dbu ma rtsa ba’i ’grel pa tshig gsal ba, Toh 3860, Degé Tengyur vol. 102 (dbu ma, ’a), folios 1b–200a.

Nāgārjuna. Prajña­nāma­mūla­mādhyamaka­kārikā. Sanskrit text and translation: see Inada 1970. Tibetan text: dbu ma rtsa ba’i tshig le’ur byas pa shes rab, Toh 3824, Degé Tengyur vol. 96 (dbu ma, tsa), folios 1b–19a.

Śāntideva. Śikṣāsamuccaya. Sanskrit text: see Vaidya, 1961. Tibetan text: bslab pa kun las btus pa, Toh 3940, Degé Tengyur vol. 111 (dbu ma, khi), folios 3a–194b. English translation: see Goodman 2016.

Editions and translations of works referenced

Bagchi, S. (ed.). Guhya­samāja­tantra. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts, No. 9. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1965.

Buddhavacana Translation Group. The Sūtra Unravelling the Intent (Saṃdhi­nirmocana­sūtra, Toh 106). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, forthcoming.

Dayal, Har. The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature. 1932. Reprint, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1970.

Goodman, Charles. The Training Anthology of Śāntideva: A Translation of the Śikṣā-samuccaya. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Inada, K. Nāgārjuna. Buffalo, N.Y., 1970.

Kern, H. (ed.). Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka, or Lotus of the True Law. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXI. Oxford: Clarendon, 1884.

Lamotte, Étienne (tr.). Saṃdhi­nirmocana­sūtra: L’Explication des mystères. [Tib. text and French translation]. Louvain: Université de Louvain; and Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, 1935.

La Vallée Poussin, L. de (ed.). Mūla­madhyamaka­kārikās (Mādhyamika­sūtras) de Nāgārjuna avec la Prasanna­padā, commentaire de Candrakīrti . Bibliotheca Buddhica IV. St. Petersburg: Académie Impériale des sciences, 1903-1913.

Roberts, Peter (tr.). The White Lotus of the Good Dharma (Saddharma­puṇḍarīka­sūtra, Toh 113). 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2018 (read.84000.co).

Sakaki (ed.). Mahāvyutpatti, Skt.-Tib. lexicon. Kyoto, 1916-1925.

Vaidya, P. L. (ed.) Saddharma­puṇḍarīka­sūtra. Darbhanga: The Mithila Institute of Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1960.

———(ed.). Śikṣāsamuccaya of Śāntideva. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts, No. 11. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1961.

Wogihara, Unrai and Tsuchida, Chikao. Saddharma­puṇḍarīka-sūtram: Romanized and Revised Text of the Bibliotheca Buddhica publication by consulting a Sanskrit Ms. & Tibetan and Chinese translations. Tōkyō: Seigo-Kenkyūkai, 1934–1935.

g.

GLOSSARY

g.1

Abhidharma


chos mngon pa

ཆོས་མངོན་པ།

Abhidharma


Conventionally, the general name for the Buddhist teachings presented in a scientific manner, as a fully elaborated transcendental psychology. As one of the branches of the Canon, it corresponds to the discipline of wisdom (the Sūtras corresponding to meditation, and the Vinaya to morality). Ultimately the Abhidharma is “pure wisdom, with its coordinate mental functions” (Prajñāmalā sānucārā), according to Vasubandhu.

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g.2


Abhi­dharma­kośa

chos mngon pa’i mdzod

ཆོས་མངོན་པའི་མཛོད།

Abhi­dharma­kośa


An important work written by Vasubandhu, probably in the fourth century, as a critical compendium of the Abhidharmic science.

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g.3
Abhirati
mngon par dga’ ba


མངོན་པར་དགའ་བ།

Abhirati

Lit. “Intense Delight.” The universe, or buddhafield of the Tathāgata Akṣobhya, lying in the east beyond innumerable galaxies, whence Vimalakīrti came to reincarnate in our Sahā universe.


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g.4


Absence of self

bdag med pa

བདག་མེད་པ།

anātmatā · nairātmya


This describes actual reality, as finally there is no enduring person himself or thing itself, since persons and things exist only in the relative, conventional, or superficial sense, and not in any ultimate or

absolute sense. To understand Buddhist teaching correctly, we must be clear about the two senses (conventional/ultimate, or relative/absolute), since mistaking denial of ultimate self as denial of conventional

self leads to nihilism, and mistaking affirmation of conventional self as affirmation of ultimate self leads to absolutism. Nihilism and absolutism effectively prevent us from realizing our enlightenment, hence are to be avoided.

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g.5


Absorption

snyom ’jug

སྙོམ་འཇུག

samāpatti


“Absorption” has been translated as “meditation,” “contemplation,” “attainment,” etc., and any of these words might serve. The problem is to establish one English word for each of the important Sanskrit words samāpatti, dhyāna, samādhi, bhāvanā, etc., so as to preserve a

consistency with the original. Therefore, I have adopted for these terms, respectively, “absorption,” “contemplation,” “concentration” and “realization” or “cultivation,” reserving the word “meditation” for general use with any of the terms when they are used not in a specific sense but to indicate mind-practice in general.

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g.6


Affliction

nyon mongs

ཉོན་མོངས།

kleśa


Desire, hatred and anger, dullness, pride, and jealousy, as well as all their derivatives, said to number 84,000. Also translated “passions.”

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g.7

Aggregate

phung po

ཕུང་པོ།

skandha

This translation of skandha is fairly well established, although some prefer the monosyllabic “group.” It is important to bear in mind that the original skandha has the sense of “pile,” or “heap,” which has the connotation of utter lack of internal structure, of a randomly collocated pile of things; thus “group” may convey a false connotation of structure and ordered arrangement. The five “compulsive” (upādāna) aggregates are of great importance as a schema for

introspective meditation in the Abhidharma, wherein each is defined with the greatest subtlety and precision. In fact, the five terms rūpa, vedanā, samjñā, saṃskāra, and vijñāna have such a particular technical sense that many translators have preferred to leave them

untranslated. Nevertheless, in the sūtra context, where the five are meant rather more simply to represent the relative living being (in the realm of desire), it seems preferable to give a translation—in spite of the drawbacks of each possible term—in order to convey the same sense of a total categorization of the psychophysical complex. Thus, for rūpa,

“matter” is preferred to “form” because it more concretely connotes the physical and gross; for vedanā, “sensation” is adopted, as limited to the aesthetic; for samjñā, “intellect” is useful in conveying the sense of verbal, conceptual intelligence.

For samskāra, which covers a number of mental functions as well as inanimate forces, “motivation” gives a general idea. And “consciousness” is so well established for vijñāna (although what we normally think of as consciousness is more like samjñā, i.e., conceptual and notional, and vijñāna is rather the “pure awareness” prior to concepts) as to be left unchallenged.

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g.8


Aids to enlightenment

byang chub kyi phyogs kyi chos

བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཕྱོགས་ཀྱི་ཆོས།

bodhi­pakṣika­dharma


See “thirty-seven aids to enlightenment”


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g.9


Ajita Keśakambala

mi pham sgra’i la ba can

མི་ཕམ་སྒྲའི་ལ་བ་ཅན།

Ajita Keśakambala


One of the six outsider teachers defeated by the Buddha at Śrāvastī.

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Akaniṣṭha

’og min

འོག་མིན།

Akaniṣṭha


The highest heaven of the form-world, where a buddha always receives the anointment of the ultimate wisdom, reaching there mentally from his seat of enlightenment under the Bodhi-tree.

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g.11


Akṣayamati

blo gros mi zad pa

བློ་གྲོས་མི་ཟད་པ།

Akṣayamati


A bodhisattva in the assembly at Vimalakīrti’s house, often figuring in other Mahāyāna sūtras, especially Akṣayamati­nirdeśa­sūtra.

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g.12

Akṣobhya

mi ’khrugs pa

མི་འཁྲུགས་པ།


Akṣobhya Buddha of the universe Abhirati, presiding over the eastern direction; also prominent in tantric works as one of the five dhyāni buddhas, or tathāgatas (see Lamotte, pp. 360-362, n. 9).

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g.13

Amitābha

snang ba mtha’ yas

སྣང་བ་མཐའ་ཡས།

Amitābha


The Buddha of boundless light; one of the five Tathāgatas in Tantrism; a visitor in Vimalakīrti’s house, according to the goddess’s report.

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g.14


Āmrapālī

a mra srung ba

ཨ་མྲ་སྲུང་བ།

Āmrapālī


A courtesan of Vaiśālī who gave her garden to the Buddha and his retinue, where they stay during the events of the sūtra.


g.15

Ānanda

kun dga’ bo

ཀུན་དགའ་བོ།

Ānanda

A major śrāvaka disciple of the Buddha; his personal attendant. See also note 88 and note 193.



g.16

Ananta­guṇa­ratna­vyūha

yon tan rin chen mtha’ yas bkod pa

ཡོན་ཏན་རིན་ཆེན་མཐའ་ཡས་བཀོད་པ།

Ananta­guṇa­ratna­vyūha


Lit. “infinite array of jewel-qualities.” A universe of Buddha Ratnavyūha, also mentioned in the Lalita­vistara­sūtra.


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g.17

Anārambaṇa­dhyāyin

dmigs pa med pa’i bsam gtan]]

དམིགས་པ་མེད་པའི་བསམ་གཏན།

Anārambaṇa­dhyāyin


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g.18

Anikṣiptadhura'


brtson pa mi ’dor ba

བརྩོན་པ་མི་འདོར་བ།

Anikṣiptadhura

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g.19

Aniruddha

ma ’gags pa

མ་འགགས་པ།

Aniruddha


A śrāvaka disciple and cousin of the Buddha who was famed for his meditative prowess and superknowledges. See also note 78.


g.20

Arhat

dgra bcom pa

དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།

arhat


According to Buddhist tradition, one who has conquered his enemy passions (kleśa-ari-hata) and reached the supreme purity. The term can refer to buddhas as well as to those who have reached realization of the Disciple Vehicle.

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g.21

Āryadeva

’phags pa lha

འཕགས་པ་ལྷ།

Āryadeva


One of the great masters of Indian Buddhism. The main disciple of Nāgārjuna, he lived in the early a.d. centuries and wrote numerous important works of Mādhyamika philosophy.

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g.22

Āryāsaṅga

’phags pa thogs med · thogs med

འཕགས་པ་ཐོགས་མེད། · ཐོགས་མེད།

Āryāsaṅga · Asaṅga


This great Indian philosopher lived in the fourth century and was the founder of the Vijñānavāda, or “Consciousness-Only,” school of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

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g.23


Aśoka

mya ngan med pa

མྱ་ངན་མེད་པ།

Aśoka

Universe whence comes the Brahmā Śikhin.

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g.24

Asura

lha ma yin

ལྷ་མ་ཡིན།

asura

Titan .


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g.25

Auspicious signs and marks

mtshan dang dpe byad bzang po

མཚན་དང་དཔེ་བྱད་བཟང་པོ།

lakṣaṇānuvyañjana


The thirty-two signs and the eighty marks of a superior being.

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g.26

Avalokiteśvara

spyan ras gzigs kyi dbang phyug

སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག

Avalokiteśvara


A bodhisattva emblematic of the great compassion; of great importance in Tibet as special protector of the religious life of the country and in China, in female form, as Kwanyin, protectress of women, children, and animals.

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g.27

Avataṃsaka

phal po che

ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ།

Avataṃsaka


This vast Mahāyāna sūtra (also called the Buddhāvataṃsaka) deals with the miraculous side of the Mahāyāna. It is important in relation to the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, since the latter’s fifth chapter, “The Inconceivable Liberation,” is a highly abbreviated version of the essential teaching of the former.

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g.28

Bad migrations

ngan song

ངན་སོང་།

durgati


The three bad migrations are those of (1) denizens of hells, (2) inhabitants of the “limbo” of the pretaloka, where one wanders as an insatiably hungry and thirsty wretch, and (3) animals, who are trapped in the pattern of mutual devouring (Tib. gcig la gcig za).

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g.29

Basic precepts

[[bslab pa’i [gzhi rnams]]

བསླབ་པའི་གཞི་རྣམས།

sikṣāpada


These basic precepts are five in number for the laity: (1) not killing, (2) not stealing, (3) chastity, (4) not lying, and (5) avoiding intoxicants. For monks, there are three or five more; avoidance of such things as perfumes, makeup, ointments, garlands, high beds, and afternoon meals.

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g.30


Bhaiṣajyarāja

sman gyi rgyal po

སྨན་གྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

Bhaiṣajyarāja


Lit. “King of Healers.” In the story of Śākyamuni’s former life in this sūtra, he is the tathāgata of the universe Mahāvyūha, during the eon called Vicaraṇa, who taught Prince Candracchattra about Dharma-worship. In later Buddhism, this buddha is believed to be the supernatural patron of healing and medicine.

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Bhāvaviveka

legs ldan ’byed

ལེགས་ལྡན་འབྱེད།

Bhāvaviveka


(c. a.d. 400). A major Indian philosopher, a master of the Mādhyamika school of Buddhism, who founded a sub-school known as Svātantrika.

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Bhikṣu

dge slong

དགེ་སློང་།

bhikṣu


Lit. “beggar.” Buddhist mendicant monk; bhikṣuṇī is the female counterpart.

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g.33

Billion-world galaxy

stong gsum gyi stong chen po’i ’jig rten gyi khams

སྟོང་གསུམ་གྱི་སྟོང་ཆེན་པོའི་འཇིག་རྟེན་གྱི་ཁམས།

trisāhasra­mahā­sāhasra­loka­dhātu

Lit. “three-thousand-great-thousand-world realm.” Each of these is composed of one thousand realms, each of which contains one thousand realms, each of which contains one thousand realms = one thousand to the third power = one billion worlds.

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g.34

Birthlessness

mi skye ba

མི་སྐྱེ་བ།

anutpādatva


This refers to the ultimate nature of reality, to the fact that, ultimately, nothing has ever been produced or born nor will it ever be because birth and production can occur only on the relative, or superficial, level. Hence “birthlessness” is a synonym of “voidness,” “reality,” “absolute,” “ultimate,” “infinity,” etc.

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g.35


Bodhisattva

byang chub sems dpa’

བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།

bodhisattva


A living being who has produced the spirit of enlightenment in himself and whose constant dedication, lifetime after lifetime, is to attain the unexcelled, perfect enlightenment of Buddhahood.

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g.36


Body of Dharma

chos kyi sku

ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྐུ།

dharmakāya


Also translated “ultimate body.”

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g.37


Brahmā

tshangs pa

ཚངས་པ།

Brahmā


Creator-lord of a universe, there being as many as there are universes, whose number is incalculable. Hence, in Buddhist belief, a title of a deity who has attained supremacy in a particular universe, rather than a personal name. For example, the Brahmā of the Aśoka

universe is personally called Śikhin, to distinguish him from other Brahmās. A Brahmā resides at the summit of the realm of pure matter (rūpadhātu), and is thus higher in status than a Śakra.

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g.38


Brahmajāla

tshangs pa’i dra ba

ཚངས་པའི་དྲ་བ།

Brahmajāla


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g.39

Buddha

sangs rgyas

སངས་རྒྱས།

buddha


Lit. “awakened one.” Title of one who has attained the highest attainment possible for a living being. “The Buddha” often designates Śākyamuni because he is the buddha mainly in charge of the buddhafield of our Sahā universe.

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g.40


Buddha Gaya

Buddha Gaya


Ancient name for the town in Bihar province, where the Buddha attained his highest enlightenment under the Bodhi-tree. Modern name, Bodhgaya.

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g.41


Buddhafield

sangs rgyas kyi zhing

སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཞིང་།

buddhakṣetra


Roughly, a synonym for “universe,” although Buddhist cosmology contains many universes of different types and dimensions. “Buddhafield” indicates, in regard to whatever type of world-sphere, that it is the field of influence of a particular Buddha. For a detailed discussion of these concepts, see Lamotte, Appendice, Note I.


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g.42


Buddhapālita

sangs rgyas bskyang

སངས་རྒྱས་བསྐྱང་།

Buddhapālita


(c. fourth century). A great Mādhyamika master, who was later regarded as the founder of the Prāsaṅgika sub-school.

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g.43


Buddhāvataṃsaka

sangs rgyas phal po che

སངས་རྒྱས་ཕལ་པོ་ཆེ།

Buddhāvataṃsaka


See Avataṃsaka.


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g.44

Cakravāḍa

khor yug

ཁོར་ཡུག

Cakravāḍa


A mountain in this sūtra and many others; but, in systematized Buddhist cosmology, the name of the ring of mountains that surrounds the world.

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g.45


Candracchattra

zla gdugs

ཟླ་གདུགས།

Candracchattra


(1) Chief of the Licchavi. (2) Son of the king Ratnacchattra, mentioned in the former-life story told by the Buddha to Śakra in Chapter 12.

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g.46


Candrakīrti

zla ba grags pa

ཟླ་བ་གྲགས་པ།

Candrakīrti


(c. sixth century). The most important Mādhyamika philosopher after Nāgārjuna and Āryadeva, he refined the philosophical methods of the school to such a degree that later members of the tradition considered him one of the highest authorities on the subject of the profound nature of reality.

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g.47


Canon of the bodhisattvas

byang chub sems dpa’i sde snod

བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྡེ་སྣོད།

bodhi­sattva­piṭaka


The collection of the Vast (vaipulya) Sūtras of the Mahāyāna, supposed to have been collected supernaturally by a great assembly of bodhisattvas led by Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, and Vajrapāṇi. There is a Mahāyāna sūtra called Bodhisattvapiṭaka, but the word more usually refers to the whole collection (piṭaka) of Mahāyāna sūtras, to distinguish them from the Three Collections (Tripiṭaka) of the Hinayāna.

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g.48


Cessation

’gog pa

འགོག་པ།

nirodha


The third Noble Truth, equivalent to nirvāṇa.

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g.49

Ch’an
—

—

Chinese word for dhyāna, which was adopted as the name of the school of Mahāyāna practice founded by Bodhidharma, and later to become famous in the west as Zen.

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g.50

Chönyi Tsültrim
chos nyid tshul khrims

ཆོས་ཉིད་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།


Tibetan translator of this sūtra in the ninth century, also well known for his collaboration in compiling the Mahāvyutpatti (Skt.-Tib. dictionary).


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g.51


Cittamātra

sems tsam

སེམས་ཙམ།

Cittamātra


A name of the Vijñānavāda school of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy.

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g.52

Concentration

ting nge ’dzin

ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།

samādhi

See “absorption.”


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g.53

Conception of the spirit of enlightenment

byang chub kyi sems bskyed pa

བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་པ།

bodhi­cittotpāda


This can also be rendered by “initiation of…” because it means the mental event occurring when a living being, having been exposed to the teaching of the Buddha or of his magical emanations (e.g., Vimalakīrti), realizes simultaneously his own level of conditioned

ignorance, i.e., that his habitual stream of consciousness is like sleep compared to that of one who has awakened from ignorance; the possibility of his own attainment of a higher state of consciousness; and the necessity of attaining it in order to liberate other

living beings from their stupefaction. Having realized this possibility, he becomes inspired with the intense ambition to attain, and that is called the “conception of the spirit of enlightenment.” “Spirit” is preferred to “mind” because the mind of enlightenment should

rather be the mind of the Buddha, and to “thought” because a “thought of enlightenment” can easily be produced without the initiation of any sort of new resolve or awareness. “Will” also serves very well here.

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g.54


Conceptualization

rnam par rtog pa

རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་པ།

vikalpa


This brings up another important group of words that has never been treated systematically in translation: vikalpa, parikalpa, samāropa, adhyāropa, kalpanā, samjñā, and prapāñca. All of these refer to mental functions that tend to superimpose upon reality, either relative or

ultimate, a conceptualized reality fabricated by the subjective mind. Some translators have tended to lump these together under the rubric “discursive thought,” which leads to the misleading notion that all thought is bad, something to be eliminated,

and that sheer “thoughtlessness” is “enlightenment,” or whatever higher state is desired. According to Buddhist scholars, thought in itself is simply a function, and only thought that is attached to its own content over and above the relative object, i.e., “egoistic”

thought, is bad and to be eliminated. Therefore we have chosen a set of words for the seven Skt. terms: respectively, “conceptualization,” “imagination,” “presumption,” “exaggeration,” “construction,” “conception” or “notion,” and “fabrication.” This does not mean that these

words are not somewhat interchangeable or that another English word might not be better in certain contexts; it only represents an attempt to achieve consistency with the original usages.

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g.55


Conscious awareness

bag yod pa

བག་ཡོད་པ།

apramāda


This denotes a type of awareness of the most seemingly insignificant aspects of practical life, an awareness derived as a consequence of the highest realization of the ultimate nature of reality. As it is stated in the Anavatapta­nāga­rāja­paripṛcchā­sūtra (Toh 156): “He who realizes

voidness, that person is consciously aware.” “Ultimate realization,” far from obliterating the relative world, brings it into highly specific, albeit dreamlike, focus.

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g.56


Consciousness

rnam shes

རྣམ་ཤེས།

vijñāna


See “aggregate.”


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g.57

Contemplation

bsam gtan

བསམ་གཏན།

dhyāna


See “absorption.”

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g.58

Cosmic wind-atmosphere

rlung gi dkyil ’khor

རླུང་གི་དཀྱིལ་འཁོར།

vātamaṇḍalī


The ancient cosmology maintained that the cosmos was encircled by an atmosphere of fierce winds of impenetrable intensity (see Lamotte, p. 255, n. 15).

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g.59

Decisiveness

nges par sems pa

ངེས་པར་སེམས་པ།

nidhyapti


Analytic concentration that gains insight into the nature of reality, synonymous with “transcendental analysis,” vipaśyana (q.v.).

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g.60

Dedication

yongs su bsngo ba

ཡོངས་སུ་བསྔོ་བ།

pariṇāmana


This refers to the bodhisattva’s constant mindfulness of the fact that all his actions of whatever form contribute to his purpose of attaining enlightenment for the sake of himself and others, i.e., his conscious deferral of the merit accruing from any virtuous action as he eschews immediate reward in favor of ultimate enlightenment for himself and all living beings.

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g.61

Definitive meaning

nges don

ངེས་དོན།

nītārtha


This refers to those teachings of the Buddha that are in terms of ultimate reality; it is opposed to those teachings given in terms of relative reality, termed “interpretable meaning,” because they require further interpretation before being relied on to indicate the [[Wikipedia:Absolute

(philosophy)|ultimate]]. Hence definitive meaning relates to voidness, etc., and no statement concerning the relative world, even by the Buddha, can be taken as definitive. This is especially important in the context of the Mādhyamika doctrine, hence in the context of

Vimalakīrti’s teachings, because he is constantly correcting the disciples and bodhisattvas who accept interpretable expressions of the Tathāgata as if they were definitive, thereby attaching themselves to them and adopting a one-sided approach.

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g.62

Dependent origination

rten cing ’brel bar ’byung ba

རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ།

pratītya­samutpāda

See also “relativity.”

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g.63


Destined for the ultimate

[[yang dag pa nyid du nges pa]]

ཡང་དག་པ་ཉིད་དུ་ངེས་པ།

samyaktvaniyata

This generally describes one who has reached the noble path, either in Disciple Vehicle or Mahāyāna practice (see Lamotte, p. 115, n. 65).

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g.64


Destiny for the ultimate

nges pa la zhugs pa

ངེས་པ་ལ་ཞུགས་པ།

niyāmāvakrānti

This is the stage attained by followers of the Hinayāna wherein they become determined for the attainment of liberation (nirvāṇa, i.e., the ultimate for them) in such a way as never to regress from their goals, and by bodhisattvas when they attain the holy path of insight.

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g.65


Deva

lha

ལྷ།

deva


General term for all sorts of gods and deities.

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g.66


Devarāja

lha’i rgyal po

ལྷའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

Devarāja


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g.67


Dharma

chos

ཆོས།

Dharma


The second of the Three Jewels, that is, the teaching of the Buddha.

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g.68


Dharma-door

chos kyi sgo

ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྒོ།

dharmamukha

Certain teachings are called “Dharma-doors” (or “doors of the Dharma”), as they provide access to the practice of the Dharma.

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g.69


Dharma-eye

chos kyi mig

ཆོས་ཀྱི་མིག

dharmacakṣu


One of the “five eyes,” representing superior insights of the buddhas and bodhisattvas. The five eyes consist of five different faculties of vision: the physical eye (māṃsa­cakṣu), the divine eye (dīvya­cakṣu), the wisdom eye (prajñā­cakṣu), the Dharma-eye (dharma­cakṣu), and the Buddha-eye (buddha­cakṣu).

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g.70


Dharmaketu

chos kyi tog

ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཏོག

Dharmaketu

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g.71


Dharmeśvara

chos kyi dbang phyug

ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབང་ཕྱུག

Dharmeśvara

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g.72


Divine eye

lha’i mig

ལྷའི་མིག

divyacakṣu


One of the six “superknowledges” (q.v.) as well as one of the “five eyes,” this is the supernormal ability to see to an unlimited distance, observe events on other worlds, see through mountains, etc. The five eyes consist of five different faculties of vision: the physical eye (māṃsa­cakṣu), the divine eye (dīvya­cakṣu), the wisdom eye (prajñā­cakṣu), the Dharma-eye (dharma­cakṣu), and the Buddha-eye (buddha­cakṣu).

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g.73


Door of the Dharma

chos kyi sgo

ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྒོ།

dharmamukha

See “Dharma-door.”

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g.74


Duḥprasāha
bzod dka’

བཟོད་དཀའ།

Duḥprasāha

Buddha of the universe Marīci, located sixty-one universes away; mentioned also in other Mahāyāna sūtras, with the interesting coincidence that his teaching ceased at the moment Śākyamuni began teaching at Benares.

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g.75


Egoistic views

’jig tshogs la lta ba

འཇིག་ཚོགས་ལ་ལྟ་བ།

satkāyadṛṣṭi


This consists of twenty varieties of false notion, consisting basically of regarding the temporally impermanent and ultimately insubstantial as “I” or “mine.” The five compulsive aggregates are paired with the self, giving the twenty false notions. For example, the first four false notions are that

(1) matter is the self, which is like its owner (rūpaṃ ātmā svāmivat); (2) the self possesses matter, like its ornament (rūpavañ ātmā alaņkāravat); (3) matter belongs to the self, like a slave (ātmīyaṃ rūpaṃ bhṛtyavat); and (4) the self dwells in

matter as in a vessel (rūpe ātmā bhajanavat). The other four compulsive aggregates are paired with the self in the same four ways, giving sixteen more false notions concerning sensation, intellect, motivation, and consciousness, hypostatizing an impossible relationship with a nonexistent, permanent, substantial self.

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g.76


Eight liberations

rnam par thar pa brgyad

རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ་བརྒྱད།

vimokṣa


The first consists of the seeing of form by one who has form; the second consists of the seeing of external form by one with the concept of internal formlessness; the third consists of the physical realization of pleasant liberation and its successful

consolidation; the fourth consists of the full entrance to the infinity of space through transcending all conceptions of matter, and the subsequent decline of conceptions of resistance and discredit of conceptions of diversity; the fifth consists of full entrance into the [[infinity of

consciousness]], having transcended the infinity of space; the sixth consists of the full entrance into the sphere of nothingness, having transcended the sphere of the infinity of conscious­ness; the seventh consists of the full entrance into the sphere of neither conscious­ness nor un­conscious­

ness, having transcended the sphere of nothingness; the eighth consists of the perfect cessation of suffering, having transcended the sphere of neither conscious­ness nor un­conscious­ness. Thus the first three liberations form specific links to the ordinary perceptual world; the fourth to seventh are equivalent to the four absorptions; and the eighth represents the highest attainment.

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g.77


Eight perverse paths

log pa brgyad · log pa nyid brgyad

ལོག་པ་བརྒྱད། · ལོག་པ་ཉིད་བརྒྱད།

mithyātva

These consist of the exact opposites of the eight branches of the eightfold noble path (aṣṭāngikamārga).

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g.78


Eighteen special qualities of a bodhisattva

byang chub sems dpa’i chos ma ’dres pa bco brgyad

བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་ཆོས་མ་འདྲེས་པ་བཅོ་བརྒྱད།

aṣṭā­daśāveṇika­bodhi­sattva­dharma

These consist of the bodhisattva’s natural (uninstructed) possession of generosity, morality, tolerance, effort, meditation, and wisdom; of his uniting all beings with the four means of unification, knowing the method of dedication (of virtue to enlightenment),

exemplification, through skill in liberative art, of the positive results of the Mahāyāna, as suited to the (various) modes of behavior of all living beings, his not falling from the Mahāyāna, showing the entrances of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, skill in the technique of reconciliation of dichotomies, impeccable progress in all his lives, guided by wisdom without any conditioned activities,

possession of ultimate action of body, speech, and mind directed by the tenfold path of good action, nonabandonment of any of the realms of living beings, through his assumption of a body endowed with tolerance of every conceivable suffering, manifestation of that which delights all living beings, inexhaustible preservation of the mind of omniscience, as

stable as the virtue-constituted tree of wish-fulfilling gems, (even) in the midst of the infantile (ordinary persons) and (narrow-minded) religious disciples, however trying they might be, and adamant irreversibility from demonstrating the quest of the Dharma of the

Buddha, for the sake of the attainment of the miraculous consecration conferring the skill in liberative art that transmutes all things. (Mvy, nos. 787-804)

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g.79


Eighteen special qualities of the Buddha

sangs rgyas kyi chos ma ’dres pa bco brgyad

སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་ཆོས་མ་འདྲེས་པ་བཅོ་བརྒྱད།

aṣṭā­daśāveṇika­buddha­dharma



They are as follows: He never makes a mistake; he is never boisterous; he never forgets; his concentration never falters; he has no notion of diversity; his equanimity is not due to lack of consideration; his will never falters; his energy never fails; his mindfulness never falters; he never

abandons his concentration; his wisdom never decreases; his liberation never fails; all his physical actions are preceded and followed by wisdom; all his verbal actions are preceded and followed by wisdom; all his mental actions are preceded and followed by

wisdom; his knowledge and vision perceive the past without any attachment or hindrance; his knowledge and vision perceive the future without any attachment or hindrance; and his knowledge and vision perceive the present without any attachment or hindrance.

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Eightfold noble path

’phags pa’i lam gyi yan lag brgyad

འཕགས་པའི་ལམ་གྱི་ཡན་ལག་བརྒྱད།

āryāṣṭāṅga­mārga


These are right view (samyagdṛṣṭi), right consideration (samyak­saṃkalpa), right speech (samyakvāk), right terminal action (samyak­karmānta), right livelihood (samyagajiva), right effort (samyag­vyāyāma), right remembrance (samyak­smṛti), and right concentration (samyak­samādhi). They are variously defined in the different Buddhist schools. These eight form a part of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment (see entry).

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Element

khams · ’byung ba chen po

ཁམས། · འབྱུང་བ་ཆེན་པོ།

dhātu · mahābhūta


Depending on the context, may translate either: (a) Skt. mahābhūta, Tib. ’byung ba chen po, the four “main” or “great” outer elements of earth, water, fire, air, and (when there is a fifth) space; or: (b) Skt. dhātu, Tib. khams, the “eighteen elements” introduce, in the

context of the aggregates, elements, and sense-media, the same six pairs as the twelve sense-media, as elements of experience, adding a third member to each set: the element of consciousness (vijñāna), or sense. Hence the first pair gives the triad eye-element (caksur­

dhātu), form-element (rūpadhātu), and eye-consciousness-element, or eye-sense-element (caksur­vijñāna­dhātu)—and so on with the other five, noting the last, mind-element (manodhātu), phenomena-element (dharma­dhātu), and mental-sense-element (mano­vijñāna­dhātu).

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g.82


Emanated incarnation

sprul pa

སྤྲུལ་པ།

nirmāṇa


This refers to the miraculous power of the Buddha and bodhisattvas of a certain stage to emanate apparently living beings in order to develop and teach living beings. This power reaches its culmination in the nirmāṇa­kayā, the “incarnation body,” which is one of the three bodies of

buddhahood and includes all physical forms of all buddhas, including Śākyamuni, whose sole function as incarnations is the development and liberation of living beings.

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g.83


Emptiness

stong pa nyid

སྟོང་པ་ཉིད།

śūnyatā


This Skt. term is usually translated by “voidness” because that English word is more rarely used in other contexts than “emptiness” and does not refer to any sort of ultimate nothingness, as a thing-in-itself, or even as the thing-in-itself to end all

things-in-themselves. It is a pure negation of the ultimate existence of anything or, in Buddhist terminology, the “emptiness with respect to personal and phenomenal selves,” or “with respect to [[Wikipedia:Identity (social

science)|identity]],” or “with respect to intrinsic nature,” or “with respect to essential substance,” or “with respect to self-existence established by intrinsic identity,” or “with respect to ultimate

truth-status,” etc. Thus emptiness is a concept descriptive of the ultimate reality through its pure negation of whatever may be supposed to be ultimately real. It is an absence, hence not existent in itself. It is synonymous therefore with “infinity,”

“absolute,” etc.—themselves all negative terms, i.e., formed etymologically from a positive concept by adding a negative prefix (in + finite = not finite; ab + solute = not compounded, etc.). But, since our verbally conditioned mental functions are habituated to the

connection of word and thing, we tend to hypostatize a “void,” analogous to “outer space,” a “vacuum,” etc., which we either shrink from as a nihilistic nothingness or become attached to as a liberative

[nothingness]]; this great mistake can be cured only by realizing the meaning of the “emptiness of emptiness,” which brings us to the tolerance of inconceivability.

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Enlightenment

byang chub

བྱང་ཆུབ།

bodhi


This word requires too much explanation for this glossary because, indeed, the whole sūtra—and the whole of Buddhist literature—is explanatory of only this. Here we simply mention the translation equivalent.

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g.85


Family of the Buddha

sangs rgyas kyi rigs

སངས་རྒྱས་ཀྱི་རིགས།

buddhakula


Lit. “family” or “lineage of the Buddha.” One becomes a member on the first bodhisattva stage. In another sense, all living beings belong to this exalted family because all have the capacity to wake up to enlightenment, conceiving its spirit within themselves and thenceforward seeking its realization (see Chapter 7).

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g.86


Family of the tathāgatas

de bzhin gshegs pa’i rigs

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་རིགས།

tathāgatagotra


This term arises from a classification of beings into different groups (lineages) according to their destinies: disciple lineage, solitary buddha lineage, buddha lineage, etc. The Mādhyamika school, and the sūtras that are its foundation, maintains that [[all living

beings]] belong to the buddha lineage, that Disciple Vehicle nirvāṇa is not a final destiny, and that arhats must eventually enter the Mahāyāna path. Mañjuśrī carries this idea to the extreme, finding the tathāgata lineage everywhere, in all mundane things. See 7.­9, and Lamotte, Appendice, Note VII.

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g.87


Fearlessness

mi ’jigs pa

མི་འཇིགས་པ།

vaiśāradya

The Buddha has four fearlessnesses, as do the bodhisattvas. The four fearlessnesses of the Buddha are: fearlessness regarding the realization of all things; fearlessness regarding knowledge of the exhaustion of all impurities; fearlessness of foresight through

ascertainment of the persistence of obstructions; and fearlessness in the rightness of the path leading to the attainment of the supreme success. The fearlessnesses of the bodhisattva are: fearlessness in teaching the meaning he has understood from what he has learned and

practiced; fearlessness resulting from the successful maintenance of purity in physical, verbal, and mental action—without relying on others’ kindness, being naturally flawless through his understanding of the absence of self; fearlessness resulting from freedom from

obstruction in virtue, in teaching, and in delivering living beings, through the perfection of wisdom and liberative art and through not forgetting and constantly upholding the teachings; and fearlessness in the ambition to attain full mastery of omniscience—without any deterioration or deviation to other practices—and to accomplish all the aims of all living beings.

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g.88

Female attendants

slas

སླས།

sahacāri


Female attendants who normally assisted the wife of a wealthy householder.

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g.89


Five deadly sins

mtshams med lnga

མཚམས་མེད་ལྔ།

ānantarya


Lit. “sins of immediate retribution [after death].” These five, all of which cause immediate rebirth in hell, are killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, killing an arhat, breaking up the saṅgha, and causing, with evil intent, the Tathāgata to bleed.

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g.90


Five desire objects

’dod pa’i yon tan lnga

འདོད་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་ལྔ།

pañcakāmaguṇaḥ

Visibles, sound, scent, taste, and tangibles.

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g.91


Five obscurations

sgrib pa lnga

སྒྲིབ་པ་ལྔ།

nīvaraṇa


These are five mental impediments that hinder meditation: impediments of desire (kāmacchanda), malice (vyāpāda), depression and sloth (styānamiddha), wildness and excitement (auddhatya­kaukṛtya), and doubt, or perplexity (vicikitsa).

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g.92


Five powers

stobs lnga

སྟོབས་ལྔ།

bala


These are the same as the five spiritual faculties, at a further stage of development.

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g.93


Five spiritual faculties


dbang po lnga

དབང་པོ་ལྔ།

indriya


These are called “faculties” (indriya) by analogy, as they are considered as capacities to be developed: the spiritual faculties for faith (śraddhā), effort (vīrya), mindfulness (smṛti), concentration (samādhi), and wisdom (prajña). These are included in the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment.

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g.94


Four bases of magical power

rdzu ’phrul gyi rkang pa bzhi

རྫུ་འཕྲུལ་གྱི་རྐང་པ་བཞི།

ṛddhipāda


The first basis of magical power consists of the energy from the conscious cultivation of concentration of will (chanda­samādhi­prahāṇa­saṃskāra­samanvāgataḥ). The second consists of the energy from the conscious cultivation of concentration of mind (citta‑). The third

consists of concentration of effort (vīrya‑). The fourth consists of concentration of analysis (mīmāṃsa‑). These four form a part of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment.

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g.95


Four epitomes of the Dharma

chos kyi phyag rgya bzhi · bka’ rtags kyi phyag rgya bzhi

ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་བཞི། · བཀའ་རྟགས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་བཞི།

dharmoddāna

The four are as follows: All compounded things are impermanent (anityāḥ sarva­saṃskārāḥ). All defiled things are suffering (duḥkhāh sarva­sāsravāḥ). All things are without self (anātmanāḥ sarva­dharmāḥ). Nirvāṇa is peace (śāntaṃ nirvāṇaṃ). Also called “the four insignia of the Dharma.”

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g.96


Four foci of mindfulness

dran pa nye bar gzhag pa

དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་གཞག་པ།

smṛtyupasṭhāna


These are the stationing, or focusing, of mindfulness on the body, sensations, the mind, and things. These four form a part of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment.

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g.97


Four immeasurables

tshad med bzhi

ཚད་མེད་བཞི།

catvāryapramāṇāni


Immeasurable states, otherwise known as “pure abodes” (brahmā­vihāra). Immeasurable love arises from the wish for all living beings to have happiness and the cause of happiness. Immeasurable compassion arises from the wish for all living beings to be free from suffering

and its cause. Immeasurable joy arises from the wish that living beings not be sundered from the supreme happiness of liberation. And immeasurable impartiality arises from the wish that the preceding—love, compassion, and joy—should apply equally to all living beings, without attachment to friend or hatred for enemy.

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g.98


Four misapprehensions

phyin ci log bzhi

ཕྱིན་ཅི་ལོག་བཞི།

viparyāsa


These consist of mistaking what is impermanent for permanent; mistaking what is without self for self-possessing; mistaking what is impure for pure; and mistaking what is miserable for happy.

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g.99


Four reliances

rton pa bzhi

རྟོན་པ་བཞི།

pratiśārana


To attain higher realizations and final enlightenment, the bodhisattva should rely on the meaning (of the teaching) and not on the expression (artha­pratisāraṇena bhavitavyaṃ na vyañjana­pratisāraṇena); on the teaching and not on the person (who teaches it) (dharma­pratisāraṇena bhavitavyaṃ na

pudgala­pratisāraṇena); on gnosis and not on normal consciousness (jñāna­pratisāraṇena bhavitavyaṃ na vijñāna­pratisāraṇena); and on discourses of definitive meaning and not on discourses of interpretable meaning (nītārtha­sūtra­pratisāraṇena bhavitavyaṃ na neyārtha­sūtra­pratisāraṇena) according to

the order in this sūtra. The usual order, “teaching-reliance,” “meaning-reliance,” definitive-meaning-discourse-reliance,” and “gnosis-reliance,” seems to conform better to stages of practice.

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g.100


Four right efforts

yang dag par spong ba bzhi

ཡང་དག་པར་སྤོང་བ་བཞི།

samyak­prahāṇa · samyak­pradhāna


These are effort not to initiate sins not yet arisen; effort to eliminate sins already arisen; effort to initiate virtues not yet arisen; and effort to consolidate, increase, and not deteriorate virtues already arisen. For our use of “effort” (samyak­pradhāna) instead of lit. “abandonment” (samyak­prahāna) see Dayal, p. 102 ff. These four form a part of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment.

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g.101


Gaganagañja

nam mkha’i mdzod

ནམ་མཁའི་མཛོད།

Gaganagañja


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g.102


Gaja­gandha­hastin

spos kyi ba glang glang po che

སྤོས་ཀྱི་བ་གླང་གླང་པོ་ཆེ།

Gaja­gandha­hastin

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g.103


Gandhahastin

spos kyi glang po che

སྤོས་ཀྱི་གླང་པོ་ཆེ།

Gandhahastin


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g.104


Gandhamādana


 spos kyi ngad ldan

སྤོས་ཀྱི་ངད་ལྡན།

Gandhamādana


A mountain known for its incense trees.


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g.105


Gandharva

dri za

དྲི་ཟ།

gandharva



Lit. “scent-eater.” A heavenly musician.

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g.106


Gandha­vyūhāhāra

spos bkod pa’i zas

སྤོས་བཀོད་པའི་ཟས།

Gandha­vyūhāhāra

Deities who attend on the Buddha Sugandhakūta in the universe Sarva­gandha­sugandhā.

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g.107


Gandhottama­kūṭa

spos mchog brtsegs pa

སྤོས་མཆོག་བརྩེགས་པ།

Gandhottama­kūṭa


Buddha of the universe Sarva­gandha­sugandhā, from whom Vimalakīrti’s emanation-bodhisattva obtains the vessel of ambrosial food that magically feeds the entire assembly without diminishing in the slightest.

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g.108


Garuḍa

nam mkha’ lding

ནམ་མཁའ་ལྡིང་།

garuḍa


Magical bird, which protects from snakes.

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g.109


Gnosis

ye shes

ཡེ་ཤེས།

jñāna


This is knowledge of the nonconceptual and transcendental which is realized by those attaining higher stages.

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g.110


Grace
byin gyis brlabs

བྱིན་གྱིས་བརླབས།

adhiṣṭḥāna


The “supernatural power” with which the buddhas sustain the bodhisattvas in their great efforts on behalf of living beings.

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g.111


Great compassion

snying rje chen po

སྙིང་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahākaruṇā


This refers to one of the two central qualities of buddhas or high bodhisattvas: their feeling born of the wish for all living beings to be free of suffering and to attain the supreme happiness. It is important to note that this great compassion has nothing to do with any

sentimental emotion such as that stimulated by such a reflection as “Oh, the poor creatures! How they are suffering!” On the contrary, great compassion is accompanied by the clear awareness that ultimately there are no such things as living beings, suffering, etc., in

reality. Thus it is a sensitivity that does not entertain any dualistic notion of subject and object; indeed, such an unlimited sensitivity might best be termed “empathy.”

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g.112


Great love

byams pa chen po

བྱམས་པ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahāmaitrī


In an effort to maintain distinctions between Buddhism and Christianity, translators have used all sorts of euphemisms for this basic term. Granted, it is not the everyday “love” that means “to like”; it is still the altruistic love that is the finest inspiration of Christ’s teaching, as well as of the Mahāyāna.

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g.113

Great spiritual hero

sems dpa’ chen po

སེམས་དཔའ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahāsattva


This translation follows the Tib. (lit. “great mind- hero”), whose translation from Skt. derives from the lo tsā ba’s analysis of sattva as meaning “hero,” rather than simply “being.”

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g.114


High resolve

lhag pa’i bsam pa

ལྷག་པའི་བསམ་པ།

adhyāśaya


This is a stage in the conception or initiation of the spirit‌ of enlightenment‌. It follows upon the positive thought, or aspiration to attain it, wherein the bodhisattva becomes filled with a lofty determination that he himself should attain enlightenment, that it is the only thing

to do to solve his own problems as well as those of all living beings. This high resolve reaches its most intense purity when the bodhisattva simultaneously attains the Path of Insight and the first bodhisattva-stage, the Stage of Joy. The translation follows Lamotte’s happy coinage “haute résolution.”

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g.115


Highest deities

gzhan ’phrul dbang byed kyi lha

གཞན་འཕྲུལ་དབང་བྱེད་ཀྱི་ལྷ།

para­nīrmita­vaśa­vartin


The deities of this, the sixth level of the gods of the desire-realm, appropriate and enjoy the magical creations of others; hence their name, literally, “who assume control of the emanations of others.” Their abode contains all the wonders created elsewhere and is referred to as a standard of splendor.

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g.116


Himavat

gangs ri

གངས་རི།

Himavat

A mountain.


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g.117


Identity

rang bzhin

རང་བཞིན།

svabhāva


Svabhāva is usually rendered as “self-nature,” sometimes as “own-being,” both of which have a certain literal validity. However, neither artificial term has any evocative power for the reader who has no familiarity with the original, and a term must be found that the reader can immediately relate to his

own world to fulfill the function the original word had in its world. In our world of identities (national, racial, religious, personal, sexual, etc.), “identity” is a part of our makeup; thus, when we are taught the

ultimate absence of identity of all persons and things, it is easy to “identify” what is supposedly absent and hence to try to understand what that entails.

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g.118


Immaterial realm

gzugs med khams

གཟུགས་མེད་ཁམས།

ārūpyadhātu


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g.119


Incantation

gzungs

གཟུངས།

dhāraṇī


The incantations, or spells, are mnemonic formulas, possessed by advanced bodhisattvas, that contain a quintessence of their attainments, not simply magical charms—although the latter are included. The same term in Sanskrit and Tibetan also refers to a highly

developed power present in bodhisattvas that is a process of memory and recall of detailed teachings, best translated “retention” in certain contexts.

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g.120


Incarnation

sprul pa

སྤྲུལ་པ།

nirmāṇa


See “emanated incarnation.”

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g.121


Incarnation-body

sprul pa’i sku

སྤྲུལ་པའི་སྐུ།

nirmāṇakāya

See “emanated incarnation.”


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g.122

Incomprehensibility

mi dmigs pa

མི་དམིགས་པ།

anupalambha


This refers to the ultimate nature of things, which cannot be comprehended, grasped, etc., by the ordinary, conditioned, subjective mind. Hence it is significant that the realization of this nature is not couched in terms of understanding, or

conviction, but in terms of tolerance (kṣānti), as the grasping mind cannot grasp its ultimate inability to grasp; it can only cultivate its tolerance of that inability.

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g.123


Inconceivability

bsam gyis mi khyab pa

བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ།

acintyatā

Lit. “unthinkability,” (on the part of a mind whose thinking is conditioned and bound by conceptual terms). This is essentially synonymous with “incomprehensibility” (see entry).

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g.124


Inconceivable liberation

rnam par thar pa bsam gyis mi khyab pa

རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ་བསམ་གྱིས་མི་ཁྱབ་པ།

acintyavimokṣa


Inconceivable liberation of the bodhisattvas, a name of the Avataṃsaka, and a subtitle of the Vimala­kīrti­nirdeśa.

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g.125


Individual Vehicle

theg pa dman pa

ཐེག་པ་དམན་པ།

hīnayāna


See “Disciple Vehicle.”


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g.126


Indra

brgya byin

བརྒྱ་བྱིན།

Indra


A major god in the Vedic pantheon, he dwindled in importance after Vedism was transformed into Hinduism in the early A.D. centuries. However, he was reinstated in Buddhist sūtras as the king of the gods and as a disciple of the Buddha and protector of the Dharma and its practicers.

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g.127


Indrajāla

mig ’phrul can

མིག་འཕྲུལ་ཅན།

Indrajāla

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g.128


Instinct

bag chags

བག་ཆགས།

vāsanā


The subconscious tendencies and predilections of the psychosomatic conglomerate. This most obvious word is seldom used in this context because of the hesitancy of scholars to employ “scientific” terminology.

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g.129


Intellect

’du shes

འདུ་ཤེས།

samjñā


See “aggregate.”


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g.130


Interpretable meaning

drang don

དྲང་དོན།

neyārtha

See “definitive meaning.”



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g.131


Irreversible wheel of the Dharma

phyir mi ldog pa’i chos kyi ’khor lo

ཕྱིར་མི་ལྡོག་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་འཁོར་ལོ།

avaivartika­dharma­cakra


The fact that the Dharma is not a single dogma, law, or fixed system, but instead an adaptable body of techniques available for any living being to aid in his development and liberation is emphasized by this metaphor. This wheel is said to turn by the current of

energy from the needs and wishes of living beings, and its turning automatically converts negative energies (e.g., desire, hatred, and ignorance) to positive ones (e.g., detachment, love, and wisdom).

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g.132


Jagatindhara

’gro ba ’dzin

འགྲོ་བ་འཛིན།

Jagatindhara

A bodhisattva layman of Vaiśālī, who is saved by Vimalakīrti from being fooled by Māra posing as Indra. This bodhisattva is mentioned in Mvy, No. 728, and in the Rāṣṭra­pāla­paripṛccha (Toh 62, in the Ratnakūṭa; see Lamotte, p. 204, n. 120).

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g.133


Jālinīprabha

dra ba can gyi ’od

དྲ་བ་ཅན་གྱི་འོད།

Jālinīprabha


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g.134


Jambudvīpa

’dzam bu gling

འཛམ་བུ་གླིང་།

Jambudvīpa



The “Rose-apple continent,” a name for the human world in the ancient Indian cosmology, it can be translated perhaps as “this earth,” or even as “India.”

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g.135


Kakuda Kātyāyana

kA tya’i bu nog can

ཀཱ་ཏྱའི་བུ་ནོག་ཅན།

Kakuda Kātyāyana


One of the six outsider teachers.

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g.136


Kālaparvata

ri nag po

རི་ནག་པོ།

Kālaparvata

A mountain.

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g.137
Karma
las

ལས།

karma


Generally meaning “work,” or “action,” it is an important concept in Buddhist philosophy as the cumulative force of previous actions, which determines present experience and will determine future existences.

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g.138


Kātyāyana

ka tya’i bu

ཀ་ཏྱའི་བུ།

Kātyāyana


(also Mahākātyāyana). Disciple of the Buddha noted for his skill in analysis of the Buddha’s discourses and, traditionally, the founder of the Abhidharma. See also note 74.

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g.139


Kauśika


kau shi ka

ཀཽ་ཤི་ཀ

Kauśika

Another name for Indra. Kauśika, Śakra, and Indra all refer to the same god, centrally prominent in the Vedas, who in Buddhist cosmogony is regarded as the king of gods in the realm of desire.

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g.140


Kiṃnara

mi’am ci

མིའམ་ཅི།

kiṃnara


A mythical being with a horse’s head and human body.

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g.141


Knowledge and vision of liberation

rnam par grol ba’i ye shes mthong ba

རྣམ་པར་གྲོལ་བའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་མཐོང་བ།

vimukti­jñāna­darśana

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g.142


Krakucchanda

’khor ba ’jig · log par dad sel

འཁོར་བ་འཇིག · ལོག་པར་དད་སེལ།

Krakucchanda


The first Buddha of the “Good Eon” (bhadrakalpa) of one thousand buddhas, our own Śākyamuni having been the fourth, and Maitreya expected to come as the fifth. Also spelled Krakutsanda, Kukutsunda, Kukucchanda.

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g.143


Kṣetralaṃkṛta

zhing snyoms brgyan

ཞིང་སྙོམས་བརྒྱན།

Kṣetralaṃkṛta


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g.144


Kumārajīva


Kumārajīva

Translator of this sūtra into Chinese (344-409).

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g.145


Lakṣaṇa­kūṭa­samatikrānta

mtshan brtsegs yang dag ’das

མཚན་བརྩེགས་ཡང་དག་འདས།

Lakṣaṇa­kūṭa­samatikrānta

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g.146


Layman

dge bsnyen

དགེ་བསྙེན།

upāsaka


Householders with definite vows that set them off from the ordinary householder.

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g.147


Laywoman

dge bsnyen ma

དགེ་བསྙེན་མ།

upāsikā


Householders with definite vows that set them off from the ordinary householder.

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g.148


Liberation

mya ngan las ’das pa · rnam par grol ba · rnam par thar pa

མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ། · རྣམ་པར་གྲོལ་བ། · རྣམ་པར་ཐར་པ།

nirvāṇa · vimukti · vimokṣa


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g.149


Liberative art

thabs

ཐབས།

upāya


This is the expression in action of the great compassion of the Buddha and the bodhisattvas—physical, verbal, and mental. It follows that one empathetically aware of the troubles of living beings would, for his very survival, devise the most potent and efficacious techniques

possible to remove those troubles, and the troubles of living beings are removed effectively only when they reach liberation. “Art” was chosen over the usual “method” and “means” because it has a stronger connotation of efficacy in our technological world; also, in Buddhism, liberative art is

identified with the extreme of power, energy, and efficacy, as symbolized in the vajra (adamantine scepter): The importance of this term is highlighted in this sūtra by the fact that Vimalakīrti himself is introduced in the chapter entitled “Inconceivable Skill in Liberative

Art”; this indicates that he, as a function of the nirmāṇakāya (incarnation-body), just like the Buddha himself, is the very incarnation of liberative art, and every act of his life is therefore a technique for the development and liberation of living beings. The “liberative” part of the translation follows “salvifique” in Lamotte’s phrase “moyens salvifique.”

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g.150


Licchavi

lid tsa bI

ལིད་ཙ་བཱི།

Licchavi


Name of the tribe and republican city-state whose capital was Vaiśālī, where Vimalakīrti lived, and the main events of this sūtra take place.

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g.151


Life

’khor ba

འཁོར་བ།

saṃsāra


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g.152


Lokapāla

’jig rten skyong

འཇིག་རྟེན་སྐྱོང་།

Lokapāla


Lit. “World-Protectors.” They are the same as the four Mahārājas, the great kings of the quarters (rgyal chen bzhi), namely, Vaiśravaṇa, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virūḍhaka, and Virūpākṣa, whose mission is to report on the activities of mankind to the gods of the Trāyastriṃśa heaven and who have pledged to protect the practitioners of the Dharma. Each universe has its own set of four.

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g.153


Lord

bcom ldan ’das

བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདས།

Bhagavān


“Lord” is chosen to translate the title Bhagavān because it is the term of greatest respect current in our “sacred” language, as established for the Deity in the Elizabethan version of the Bible. Indeed, the Skt. Bhagavān was given as a title to the Buddha, although it also served the

non-Buddhist Indians of the day and, subsequently, it served as an honorific title of their particular deities. As the Buddha is clearly described in the sūtras as the “Supreme Teacher of Gods and Men,” there seems little danger that he may be confused with any particular

deity through the use of this term [as indeed in Buddhist sūtras various deities, creators, protectors, etc., are shown in their respective

roles]. Thus I feel it would compromise the weight and function of the original Bhagavān to use any less weighty term than “Lord” for the Buddha.

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g.154


Madhyamaka

dbus ma

དབུས་མ།

Madhyamaka

Teaching of the Middle Way.


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g.155


Mādhyamika

dbus ma pa

དབུས་མ་པ།

Mādhyamika


School based on Madhyamaka, and followers of that school.


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g.156


Madhyānta­vibhāga

dbus mtha’ rnam ’byed

དབུས་མཐའ་རྣམ་འབྱེད།

Madhyānta­vibhāga


The “Analysis of the Middle and the Extremes,” it is an important work of Vijñānavāda philosophy, said to have been received as a revelation from the future Buddha Maitreya by the great scholar and saint, Āryāsaṅga, after twelve years of meditation.

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g.157


Mahācakravāḍa

khor yug chen po

ཁོར་ཡུག་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahācakravāḍa


A mountain, or sometimes a range of mountains.

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g.158


Mahākāśyapa

’od srung chen po

འོད་སྲུང་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahākāśyapa


Foremost disciple of the Buddha; he inherited the leadership of the saṅgha after the Parinirvāṇa. See also note 62.

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g.159


Mahākātyāyana

ka tya’i bu chen po

ཀ་ཏྱའི་བུ་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahākātyāyana


(also Kātyāyana). Disciple of the Buddha noted for his skill in analysis of the Buddha’s discourses and, traditionally, the founder of the Abhidharma.

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g.160


Mahā­maudgalyāyana

maud gal gyi bu chen po

མཽད་གལ་གྱི་བུ་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahā­maudgalyāyana


One of the chief śrāvakas, paired with Śāriputra.

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g.161


Mahāmucilinda

ri btang zung chen po

རི་བཏང་ཟུང་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahāmucilinda

A mountain.


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g.162


Mahāsiddha

grub thob chen po

གྲུབ་ཐོབ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahāsiddha



A “Great Sorcerer,” a master of the esoteric teachings and practices of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

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g.163


Mahā­sthāma­prāpta

mthu chen thob

མཐུ་ཆེན་ཐོབ།

Mahā­sthāma­prāpta


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g.164


Mahāvyūha

bkod pa chen po

བཀོད་པ་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahāvyūha


The name of one of the bodhisattvas in the assembly in Chap. 1.


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g.165


Mahāvyūha

cher bkod pa

ཆེར་བཀོད་པ།

Mahāvyūha


The name of the universe in the distant past where the Buddha Bhaiṣajyarāja presided, and taught the prince Chandracchattra about the Dharma-worship (in the Epilogue).

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g.166


Mahāyāna

theg pa chen po

ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།

Mahāyāna


The “Great Vehicle” of Buddhism, called “great” because it carries all living beings to enlightenment of Buddhahood. It is distinguished from the Hinayāna, including the Śrāvāka­yāna (Śrāvaka Vehicle) and Pratyeka­buddha­yāna (Solitary Sage Vehicle), which only carries each person who rides on it to their own personal liberation.

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g.167


Mahoraga

lto ’phye chen po

ལྟོ་འཕྱེ་ཆེན་པོ།

mahoraga

A mythical serpent race.


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g.168


Maitreya

byams pa

བྱམས་པ།

Maitreya



A bodhisattva present throughout the sūtra, prophesied as one birth away from buddhahood and designated by Śākyamuni as the next buddha in the succession of one thousand buddhas of our era. According to tradition, he resides in the Tuṣita heaven preparing for his descent to earth at the appropriate time which, according to Buddhist belief, will occur in 4456 A.D.

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g.169


Maṇḍala

dkyil ’khor

དཀྱིལ་འཁོར།

maṇḍala


A mystic diagram, usually consisting of a square within a circle, used to define a sacred space in the context of esoteric rituals of initiation and consecration preliminary to certain advanced meditational practices.

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g.170


Maṇicūḍa
gtsug na nor bu

གཙུག་ན་ནོར་བུ།

Maṇicūḍa


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g.171


Maṇi­ratnacchattra

nor bu rin chen gdugs

ནོར་བུ་རིན་ཆེན་གདུགས།

Maṇi­ratnacchattra

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g.172


Mañjuśrī

’jam dpal · ’jam dpal gzhon nur gyur pa

འཇམ་དཔལ། · འཇམ་དཔལ་གཞོན་ནུར་གྱུར་པ།

Mañjuśrī · Mañjuśrī­kumāra­bhūta


The eternally youthful crown prince (kumārabhūta), so called because of his special identification with the Prajñā­pāramitā, or Transcendence of Wisdom. He is the only member of the Buddha’s retinue who volunteers to visit Vimalakīrti, and he serves as Vimalakīrti’s principal interlocutor throughout the sūtra. Traditionally regarded as the wisest of bodhisattvas, in Tibetan tradition he is known as rgyal ba’i yab gcig, the “sole father of buddhas,” as he inspires them in their realization of the profound. He is represented as bearing the sword of wisdom in his right hand and a volume of the Prajñā­pāramitā­sūtra in his left. He is always youthful in appearance, like a boy of sixteen.

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g.173


Māra

bdud

བདུད།

Māra

The devil, or evil one, who leads the forces of the gods of the desire-world in seeking to tempt and seduce the Buddha and his disciples. But according to Vimalakīrti he is actually a bodhisattva who dwells in the inconceivable liberation and displays evil activities in order to strengthen and consolidate the high resolve of all bodhisattvas.

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g.174


Mārajit

bdud las rgyal

བདུད་ལས་རྒྱལ།

Mārajit

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g.175


Mārapramardin

bdud ’joms

བདུད་འཇོམས།

Mārapramardin


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g.176


Marīci

smig rgyu

སྨིག་རྒྱུ།

Marīci


Universe of the Buddha Duṣprasāhā.

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g.177


Māskārin Gośāli­putra

kun tu rgyu gnag lhas kyi bu

ཀུན་ཏུ་རྒྱུ་གནག་ལྷས་ཀྱི་བུ།

Māskārin Gośāli­putra


One of the six outsider teachers.

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g.178


Materialism

ril por ’dzin pa

རིལ་པོར་འཛིན་པ།

piṇdagrāha


The sense, which ordinarily binds us, of the “objective” solidity and physical reality of things.

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g.179


Materiality

’jig tshogs

འཇིག་ཚོགས།

satkāya


Object of egoistic or materialist interest (satkāyadṛṣṭi). See “egoistic views.”

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g.180


Matter

gzugs

གཟུགས།

rūpa


See “aggregate.”


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g.181


Maudgalyāyana

maud gal gyi bu

མཽད་གལ་གྱི་བུ།

Maudgalyāyana


One of the chief śrāvakas, paired with Śāriputra. See also note 57.

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g.182


Means of unification

bsdu ba’i dngos po

བསྡུ་བའི་དངོས་པོ།

saṃgrahavastu


Four ways in which a bodhisattva forms a group of people united by the common aim of practicing the Dharma: giving (dāna); pleasant speech (priyavaditā); accomplishment of the aims (of others) by teaching Dharma (]]arthacaryā}}); and consistency of behavior with the teaching (samānārthatā).

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g.183


Meditation
—

—

See “absorption.”

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g.184


Mental construction

kun tu rtog pa

ཀུན་ཏུ་རྟོག་པ།

kalpanā · vikalpa


See “conceptualization.”


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g.185


Mental quiescence

zhi gnas

ཞི་གནས།

śamatha


“Mental quiescence” is a general term for all types of mind-practice, meditation, contemplation, concentration, etc., that cultivate one-pointedness of mind and lead to a state of peacefulness and freedom from concern with any sort of object. It is paired with

“transcendental analysis” or “insight,” which combines the analytic faculty with this one-pointedness to reach high realizations such as the absence of self (see “transcendental analysis”). “Mental quiescence” and “transcendental analysis” were coined by E. Obermiller in his

invaluable study “]]Prajṅa Pāramitā]] Doctrine, as Exposed in the Abhisamayālaṃkāra of Maitreya” (Acta Orientalia, Vol. XI [[[Heidelberg]], 1932], pp. 1-134).

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g.186


Merudhvaja

lhun po’i rgyal mtshan

ལྷུན་པོའི་རྒྱལ་མཚན།

Merudhvaja


Buddhafield beyond buddhafields as numerous as the sands of thirty-six Ganges rivers, administered by the Buddha Meru­pradīpa­rāja, whence Vimalakīrti obtains the lion-thrones on which he seats his visitors.

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g.187


Meru­pradīpa­rāja

lhun po’i sgron ma’i rgyal po

ལྷུན་པོའི་སྒྲོན་མའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

Meru­pradīpa­rāja


Buddha of the universe Merudhvaja.

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g.188


Morality

tshul khrims

ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས།

śīla


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g.189


Motivation

’du byed

འདུ་བྱེད།

saṃskāra


See “aggregate.”


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g.190


Mucilinda

ri btang bzung

རི་བཏང་བཟུང་།

Mucilinda


A mountain.

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g.191


Nāga

klu

ཀླུ།

nāga


One of the lords of the ocean, appearing as a great, many headed, sea dragon.

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g.192


Nāgārjuna

klu sgrub

ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ།

Nāgārjuna


Saint, scholar, and mystic of Buddhist India from about four hundred years after the Buddha; discoverer of the Mahāyāna sūtras and author of the fundamental Madhyamaka treatise.

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g.193


Nārāyaṇa

sred med kyi bu

སྲེད་མེད་ཀྱི་བུ།

Nārāyaṇa


In Indian lore, incarnation of Viṣṇu, whose strength was legendary (see Abhi­dharma­kośa VII, pp. 72-74).

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g.194


Narrow-minded attitude

nyi tshe ba’i spyod pa

ཉི་ཚེ་བའི་སྤྱོད་པ།

pradeśakārin
¨

This term refers to the restricted, biased, narrow-minded attitudes and practices of the Disciple Vehicle, which itself is called Skt. prādeśikāyāna (“limited, or narrow-minded, vehicle”) (Mvy, 1254). It is narrow-minded because it posits the reality of the elements of existence as apparently perceived and because it aspires only to personal liberation, not to the exaltation of buddhahood.

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g.195


Narrow-minded teachings

nyi tshe ba’i chos

ཉི་ཚེ་བའི་ཆོས།

pradeśika­dharma


I.e. the teachings of the Disciple Vehicle (śrāvakayāna). See “narrow-minded attitudes.”

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g.196


Nine causes of irritation

kun nas mnar gsems kyi dngos po dgu

ཀུན་ནས་མནར་གསེམས་ཀྱི་དངོས་པོ་དགུ

āghātavastu


These consist of various mental distractions caused by the nine considerations “He has caused, causes, will cause wrong to me. He has caused, causes, will cause wrong to one dear to me. He has served, serves, will serve my enemies.”

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g.197


Nirgrantha Jñāti­putra

gcer bu gnyen gyi bu

གཅེར་བུ་གཉེན་གྱི་བུ།

Nirgrantha Jñāti­putra


One of the six outsider teachers.


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g.198


Nirvāṇa

mya ngan las ’das pa

མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།

nirvāṇa


Final liberation from suffering. In the Hinayāna it is believed attainable by turning away from the world of living beings and transcending all afflictions and selfishnesses through meditative trances. In the Mahāyāna, it is believed attainable only by the

attainment of buddhahood, the nondual realization of the indivisibility of life and liberation, and the all-powerful compassion that establishes all living beings simultaneously in their own liberations.

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g.199


Nitya­prahasita­pramuditendriya

rtag tu dga’ dgod dbang po

རྟག་ཏུ་དགའ་དགོད་དབང་པོ།

Nitya­prahasita­pramuditendriya


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g.200


Nityotkaṇṭhita

rtag tu gdung

རྟག་ཏུ་གདུང་།

Nityotkaṇṭhita


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g.201


Nityotkṣipta­hasta
rtag tu lag brkyang

རྟག་ཏུ་ལག་བརྐྱང་།

Nityotkṣipta­hasta


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g.202


Nityotpalakṛta­hasta

rtag tu lag bteg

རྟག་ཏུ་ལག་བཏེག

Nityotpalakṛta­hasta


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g.203


Noble

’phags pa

འཕགས་པ།

ārya


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g.204


Noble disciple

’phags pa nyan thos

འཕགས་པ་ཉན་ཐོས།

āryaśrāvāka


A practitioner of the Disciple Vehicle teaching who has reached at least the initial stages of realization.

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g.205


Nonduality

gnyis su med pa

གཉིས་སུ་མེད་པ།

advayatvā


This is synonymous with reality, voidness, etc. But it must be remembered that nonduality does not necessarily mean unity, that unity is only one of the pair unity-duality; hence nonduality implies nonunity as well. This point is obscured by designating this nondual philosophy as “monism,” as too many modern scholars have done.

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g.206


Nonperception

mi dmigs pa

མི་དམིགས་པ།

anupalambha


This refers to the mental openness cultivated by the bodhisattva who has reached a certain awareness of the nature of reality, in that he does not seek to perceive or apprehend any object or grasp any substance in anything; rather, he removes any static pretension of his mind to have grasped at any truth, conviction, or view (see also “incomprehensibility”).

(See also note 124).

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g.207


Object-perception

lhag par dmigs pa

ལྷག་པར་དམིགས་པ།

adhyālambana

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g.208


Omniscience

thams cad mkhyen pa

ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་པ།

sarvajñatā


This refers to the gnosis of the Buddha, with which there is nothing he does not know. However, not to confuse “omniscience” with the theistic conception of an omniscient god, the “everything” here is specifically everything about the source of the predicament of

worldly life and the way of transcendence of that world through liberation. Since “everything” is only an abstract term without any particular referent, once we are clear about the implications of infinity, it does not refer to any sort of ultimate

totality, since a totality can only be relative, i.e., a totality within a particular frame of reference. Thus, as

Dharmakīrti has remarked, “it is not a question of the Buddha’s knowing the number of fish in the ocean,” i.e., since there are infinity of fish in infinity of oceans in infinity of worlds and universes. The Buddha’s omniscience, rather, knows how to develop and liberate any fish in any ocean, as well as all other living beings.

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g.209


Outsider

mu stegs pa

མུ་སྟེགས་པ།

tīrthika


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g.210


Padmaśrī­garbha

pad mo’i dpal gyi snying po

པད་མོའི་དཔལ་གྱི་སྙིང་པོ།

Padmaśrī­garbha


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g.211


Padmavyūha

pad mo bkod pa

པད་མོ་བཀོད་པ།

Padmavyūha


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g.212


Pāli

The canonical language of Ceylonese Buddhists, believed to be very similar to the colloquial language spoken by Śākyamuni Buddha.

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g.213


Parinirvāṇa

yongs su mya ngan las ’das pa

ཡོངས་སུ་མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ།

parinirvāṇa


A more emphatic term for nirvāṇa, when it is used in reference to the apparent passing away of a physical body of a buddha.

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g.214


Passion

nyon mongs

ཉོན་མོངས།

kleśa


Desire, hatred and anger, dullness, pride, and jealousy, as well as all their derivatives, said to number 84,000. Also translated “afflictions.”

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g.215


Positive thought

bsam pa

བསམ་པ།

āśaya


In general, a joyous attitude to help living beings and accomplish virtue. This is also the first stirring in the bodhisattva’s mind of the inspiration to attain enlightenment (see “high resolve”). See Lamotte, Appendice, Note II.

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g.216


Power of life

srog gi dbang po

སྲོག་གི་དབང་པོ།

jīvitendriya


One of the nonmental motivations, defined as the force of life-duration, being a concept of the Abhidharma. See T. Stcherbatski, Central Conception of Buddhism (London, 1923), p. 105.

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g.217


Prabhāketu

’od kyi tog

འོད་ཀྱི་ཏོག

Prabhāketu


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g.218


Prabhāvyūha

’od bkod pa

འོད་བཀོད་པ།

Prabhāvyūha


A bodhisattva present in the opening assembly, who later tells the story of his encounter with Vimalakīrti, who discourses to him about the seat of enlightenment.

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g.219


Prabhūtaratna

rin chen mang

རིན་ཆེན་མང་།

Prabhūtaratna


One of the buddhas who assembled at Vimalakīrti’s house to teach esoteric practices, according to the goddess (Chap. 7).

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g.220


Prajñākūta

shes rab brtsegs

ཤེས་རབ་བརྩེགས།

Prajñākūta


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g.221


Prajñā­pāramitā

shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa

ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།

Prajñā­pāramitā


Transcendental wisdom, being the profound nondual understanding of the ultimate reality, or voidness, or relativity, of all things; personified as a goddess, she is worshiped as the “Mother of all Buddhas” (Sarva­jina­mātā).

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g.222


Prajñā­pāramitā­sūtra

shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa’i mdo

ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པའི་མདོ།

Prajñā­pāramitā­sūtra


The sūtra in which the transcendental wisdom is taught. There are nineteen versions of different lengths, ranging from the Heart Sūtra of a few pages to the Hundred-Thousand. A great deal of information about these sūtras can be found in the works of Dr. Edward Conze.

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g.223


Prajñā­pāramitopadeśa

Prajñā­pāramitopadeśa


A commentary on the Prajñā­pāramitā­sūtras, composed by Kumārajīva from oral traditions derived from Nāgārjuna, and partially translated from Chinese into French by Dr. Etienne Lamotte, as Traité de la Grande Vertu de la Sagesse, Louvain, 1944-1949 (Bibliotheque du Museon, 18).

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g.224


Prāmodyarāja

mchog tu dga’ ba’i rgyal po

མཆོག་ཏུ་དགའ་བའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

Prāmodyarāja


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g.225


Praṇidhi­prayāta­prāpta

smon lam la zhugs pas phyin pa

སྨོན་ལམ་ལ་ཞུགས་པས་ཕྱིན་པ།

Praṇidhi­prayāta­prāpta



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g.226

Prāsaṅgika


thal ’gyur ba

ཐལ་འགྱུར་བ།

Prāsaṅgika


The sub-school of the Mādhyamika philosophical school founded by Buddha-Pālita and further developed by Candrakīrti.


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g.227


Prasannapadā

tshig gsal

ཚིག་གསལ།

Prasannapadā


Candrakīrti’s major commentary on Nāgārjuna’s Fundamental [Stanzas on Wisdom]].

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g.228


Pratibhāna­kūṭa

spobs pa brtsegs pa

སྤོབས་པ་བརྩེགས་པ།

Pratibhāna­kūṭa


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g.229


Prati­saṃvit­praṇāda­prāpta

so so yang dag par rig pa rab tu bsgrub pa thob

སོ་སོ་ཡང་དག་པར་རིག་པ་རབ་ཏུ་བསྒྲུབ་པ་ཐོབ།

Prati­saṃvitpraṇāda­prāpta


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g.230


Pratyekabuddha

rang sangs rgyas

རང་སངས་རྒྱས།

pratyekabuddha


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g.231


Priyadarśana

mthong dga’

མཐོང་དགའ།

Priyadarśana


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g.232


Purāṇa Kāśyapa

’od srung rdzogs byed

འོད་སྲུང་རྫོགས་བྱེད།

Purāṇa Kāśyapa


One of the six outsider teachers.

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g.233


Pūrṇa

gang po

གང་པོ།

Pūrṇa


Śrāvaka disciple of the Buddha noted for his ability as a preacher of the Hinayāna teaching, especially skillful in the conversion and training of young monks; also known as Pūrṇa­maitrāyaṇī­putra. See also note 72.

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g.234


Pūrṇa­maitrāyaṇī­putra

byams ma’i bu gang po

བྱམས་མའི་བུ་གང་པོ།

Pūrṇa­maitrāyaṇī­putra

See Pūrṇa.


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g.235


Rāhula

sgra gcan ’dzin

སྒྲ་གཅན་འཛིན།

Rāhula


Śākyamuni Buddha’s own son, who became a distinguished disciple. See also note 83.

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g.236


Ratnacandra

dkon mchog zla ba

དཀོན་མཆོག་ཟླ་བ།

Ratnacandra


One of the buddhas who assembled at Vimalakīrti’s house to teach the Tathāgata­guhyaka, according to the goddess.

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g.237


Ratnacchattra

rin chen gdugs

རིན་ཆེན་གདུགས།

Ratnacchattra


Wheel-turning king said by the Buddha to be a former incarnation of the Buddha Ratnārcis.

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g.238


Ratnajaha

rin chen gtong

རིན་ཆེན་གཏོང་།

Ratnajaha


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g.239


Ratnākara

dkon mchog ’byung gnas

དཀོན་མཆོག་འབྱུང་གནས།

Ratnākara


Wealthy young Licchavi noble who leads the delegation that brings the precious parasols to the Buddha.

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g.240


Ratnakūṭa

rin po che brtsegs pa

རིན་པོ་ཆེ་བརྩེགས་པ།

Ratnakūṭa


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g.241


Ratna­mudrā­hasta

lag na phyag rgya rin po che

ལག་ན་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།

Ratna­mudrā­hasta


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g.242


Ratnananda

rin chen dga’ ba

རིན་ཆེན་དགའ་བ།

Ratnananda


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g.243


Ratnapāṇi

lag na rin po che

ལག་ན་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།

Ratnapāṇi


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g.244


Ratnaparvata

rin po che’i ri

རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་རི།

Ratnaparvata


A mountain.


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g.245
Ratnārcis
dkon mchog ’od ’phro

དཀོན་མཆོག་འོད་འཕྲོ།

Ratnārcis


One of the buddhas who appear in the house of Vimalakīrti on esoteric occasions. According to the Prajñā­pāramitā, he is the Buddha of the universe Upaśānta, in the western direction (see Lamotte, p. 384, n. 27).

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g.246


Ratnaśrī

dkon mchog dpal

དཀོན་མཆོག་དཔལ།

Ratnaśrī


One of the buddhas who appear in the house of Vimalakīrti on esoteric occasions; the Sanskrit name, but with a different rendering in Tibetan, also refers to a bodhisattva.

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g.247


Ratnaśrī

rin chen dpal

རིན་ཆེན་དཔལ།

Ratnaśrī


A bodhisattva; the Sanskrit name, but with a different rendering in Tibetan, also refers to a tathāgata.

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g.248


Ratnavīra

rin chen dpa’

རིན་ཆེན་དཔའ།

Ratnavīra


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g.249


Ratnavyūha

dkon mchog dkod pa · rin po che bkod pa · rin chen bkod pa

དཀོན་མཆོག་དཀོད་པ། · རིན་པོ་ཆེ་བཀོད་པ། · རིན་ཆེན་བཀོད་པ།

Ratnavyūha


Lit. “Jewel-Array.” Name of one of the bodhisattvas in the original assembly (rendered in Tibetan as rin chen bkod pa); also the name (with several renderings in Tibetan) of a buddha who presides in the universe called Ananta­guṇa­ratna­vyūha, yet who comes to Vimalakīrti’s house

at the latter’s supplication, to participate in the esoteric teachings. He can be identified with the Tathāgata Ratnasaṃbhava, one of the five major buddhas of the Guhya­samāja­tantra.


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g.250


Ratnayaṣṭin

rin chen gdan dkar can

རིན་ཆེན་གདན་དཀར་ཅན།

Ratnayaṣṭin


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g.251


Ratnolkā­dhārin

rin chen sgron ma ’dzin

རིན་ཆེན་སྒྲོན་མ་འཛིན།

Ratnolkā­dhārin


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g.252


Reality-limit

yang dag pa’i mtha’

ཡང་དག་པའི་མཐའ།

bhūtakoṭi


A synonym of the ultimate reality. In the Mahāyāna sūtras, it has a somewhat negative flavor, connoting the Hinayāna concept of a static nirvāṇa. Sthiramati glosses the term as follows: “ ‘Reality’ means undistorted truth. ‘Limit’ means the extreme beyond which there is nothing to be known by anyone” (bhūtaṃ satyam aviparītamityarthaḥ / koṭiḥ paryanto yataḥ pareṇa-anyajjñeyaṃ nāsti…/).


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g.253


Realm of desire

’dod khams

འདོད་ཁམས།

kāmadhātu


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g.254
Realm of pure matter
gzugs khams

གཟུགས་ཁམས།

rūpadhātu

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g.255


Reconciliation of dichotomies

snrel zhi’i rgyud · snrel zhi ba

སྣྲེལ་ཞིའི་རྒྱུད། · སྣྲེལ་ཞི་བ།

yamaka­vyatyastāhāra


The twelfth of the eighteen special qualities of a bodhisattva.

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g.256


Relativity

rten cing ’brel bar ’byung ba

རྟེན་ཅིང་འབྲེལ་བར་འབྱུང་བ།

pratītya­samutpāda


In most contexts, this term is properly translated by “dependent origination.” But in the Mādhyamika context, wherein the concept of the ultimate nonorigination of all things is emphasized, “relativity” better serves to convey the message that things exist only in relation to verbal designation and that nothing exists as an independent, self-sufficient entity, even on the superficial level.


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g.257


Roca

snang mdzad

སྣང་མཛད།

Roca


Mentioned by the Buddha as the last of the thousand buddhas of this eon.

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g.258


Sacrifice

mchod sbyin

མཆོད་སྦྱིན།

yajña



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g.259


Sahā
mi mjed

མི་མཇེད།

Sahā


Universe and buddhafield of Śākyamuni; our world.

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g.260


Śaila­śikhara­saṃghaṭṭana­rāja

[[ri’i rtse mo kun tu ’joms pa’i rgyal po

རིའི་རྩེ་མོ་ཀུན་ཏུ་འཇོམས་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

Śaila­śikhara­saṃghaṭṭana­rāja


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g.261


Śakra

brgya byin

བརྒྱ་བྱིན།

Śakra


In Buddhist texts, usual name for Indra, king of gods of the desire-realm (kāmadhātu) of a particular universe; hence a Śakra is lower in status than a Brahmā, who resides at the summit of the realm of pure matter (rūpadhātu). As in the case of Brahmā, a title, or status, rather than a personal name; each universe has its Śakra.


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g.262


Śākya

shA kya

ཤཱ་ཀྱ།

Śākya


Name of the tribe dwelling in Northern India in which Gautama, or Śākyamuni, Buddha was born as prince Siddhārtha.

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g.263


Śākyamuni

shA kya thub pa

ཤཱ་ཀྱ་ཐུབ་པ།

Śākyamuni


The “Sage of the Śākyas,” name of the Buddha of our era, who lived c. 563-483 B.C.

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g.264


Samadarśin
mnyam par lta ba

མཉམ་པར་ལྟ་བ།

Samadarśin

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g.265


Samādhi

ting nge ’dzin

ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན།

samādhi


Concentration of total mental equanimity which is such a powerful mental state it can be turned to accomplish amazing results.


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g.266


Samādhi­vikurvaṇa­rāja

ting nge ’dzin rnam par sprul pa’i rgyal po

ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་རྣམ་པར་སྤྲུལ་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

Samādhi­vikurvaṇa­rāja


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g.267


Sama­viṣama­darśin

mnyam mi mnyam lta ba

མཉམ་མི་མཉམ་ལྟ་བ།

Sama­viṣama­darśin

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g.268


Saṃdhi­nirmocana­sūtra

mdo sde dgongs ’grel

མདོ་སྡེ་དགོངས་འགྲེལ།

Saṃdhi­nirmocana­sūtra


The “Sūtra of the Revelation of the Inner Intention,” it was the most important Mahāyāna sūtra for Āryāsaṅga and the Vijñānavāda school.

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g.269


Saṃjāyin Vairāṭī­putra

smra ’dod kyi bu mo’i bu yang dag rgyal ba can]]

སྨྲ་འདོད་ཀྱི་བུ་མོའི་བུ་ཡང་དག་རྒྱལ་བ་ཅན།

Saṃjāyin Vairāṭī­putra


One of the six outsider teachers.


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g.270


Saṃsāra

’khor ba

འཁོར་བ།

saṃsāra


The cycle of birth and death; that is, life as experienced by living beings under the influence of ignorance, not any sort of objective world external to the persons experiencing it.

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g.271


Saṃtuṣita

yongs su dga’ ldan

ཡོངས་སུ་དགའ་ལྡན།

Saṃtuṣita


King of the gods of the Tuṣita heaven.


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g.272


Saṃyaksaṃbuddha

yang dag par rdzogs pa’i sangs rgyas

ཡང་དག་པར་རྫོགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས།

saṃyak­saṃbuddha


Lit. “perfectly accomplished Buddha.” Name of the Buddha.


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g.273


Saṅgha

dge ’dun

དགེ་འདུན།

Saṅgha


The third of the Three Jewels (Triratna) of Buddhism, the Buddha, the Teaching, and the Community. Sometimes narrowly defined as the community of mendicants, it can be understood as including lay practitioners.

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g.274


Śāntideva

zhi ba lha

ཞི་བ་ལྷ།

Śāntideva


(Eighth century). A great master of the Mādhyamika, famous for his remarkable work, “Introduction to the Practice of Enlightenment” (Bodhi­caryāvatāra).

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g.275


Śāriputra

shA ri bu

ཤཱ་རི་བུ།

Śāriputra


One of the major śrāvaka disciples, paired with Maudgalyāyana, and noted for having been praised by the Buddha as foremost of the wise; hence, the most frequent target for Vimalakīrti’s attacks on the śrāvakas and on the Hinayāna in general.

(See also note 40)

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g.276


Sarva­gandha­sugandhā

spos thams cad kyi dri mchog

སྤོས་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱི་དྲི་མཆོག

Sarva­gandha­sugandhā


Universe of the Buddha Gandhottama­kūṭa; a universe wherein the Dharma is taught through the medium of scent. According to Lamotte, p. 319, n. 2, this universe is mentioned in the Śikṣāsamuccaya, the Laṇkāvatāra, and the Prasannapadā. However, In the Prasannapadā, this universe is said to be ruled by Samantabhadra, not Gandhottama­kūṭa (see Lamotte, p. 320, n. 3).

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g.277


Sarvārtha­siddha

don thams cad grub pa

དོན་ཐམས་ཅད་གྲུབ་པ།

Sarvārtha­siddha


One of the buddhas who appear in Vimalakīrti’s house to teach the Tathāgata­guhyaka, according to the goddess.

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g.278


Sarva­rūpa­saṃdarśana

gzugs thams cad ston pa

གཟུགས་ཐམས་ཅད་སྟོན་པ།

Sarva­rūpa­saṃdarśana


This bodhisattva asks Vimalakīrti the whereabouts of his family, etc., thus prompting the latter’s extraordinary verses on the family and accoutrements of all bodhisattvas (Chap. 8).

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g.279


Sarva­sukha­pratimaṇḍita

bde ba thams cad kyis rab tu brgyan pa

བདེ་བ་ཐམས་ཅད་ཀྱིས་རབ་ཏུ་བརྒྱན་པ།

Sarva­sukha­pratimaṇḍita


A universe, or buddhafield, where the bodhisattvas live in a constant state of bliss. The Skt. of the Potala MS has Sarva­sukha­pratimaṇḍita, that of the excerpt cited in the Śikṣāsamuccaya has Sarvasukhamaṇḍitā.

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g.280


Satatodyukta

rtag tu ’bad

རྟག་ཏུ་འབད།

Satatodyukta


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g.281


Seat of enlightenment

byang chub kyi snying po

བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སྙིང་པོ།

bodhimaṇḍa


Haribhadra defines it as “a place used as a seat, where the maṇḍa, here ‘essence,’ of enlightenment is present.” See Lamotte, p. 198, n. 105. The main “seat of enlightenment” is the spot under the bo tree at Buddha Gaya, where the Buddha sat and attained unexcelled, perfect enlightenment. It is not to be confused with bodhimaṇḍala, “circle of enlightenment.”

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Self

bdag

བདག

ātma


It is crucial to understand what is meant by “self,” before one is able to realize the all-important “absence of self.” Before we can discover an absence, we have to know what we are looking for. In Mahāyāna, there is a self of persons and a self of things, both presumed habitually by

living beings and hence informative of their perceptions. Were these “selves” to exist as they appear because of our presumption, they should exist as substantial, self-subsistent entities within things, or as the intrinsic realities of things, or as the intrinsic identities of

things, all permanent, unrelated and unrelative, etc. The nondiscovery of such “selves” within changing, relative, interdependent persons and things is the realization of ultimate reality, or absence of self.


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g.283


Selfish reticence

slob dpon dpe mkhyud

སློབ་དཔོན་དཔེ་མཁྱུད།

ācāryamuṣṭi


Lit. “The tight fist of the [bad] teacher.”

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g.284
Sensation
tshor ba

ཚོར་བ།

vedanā

see “aggregates”

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g.285


Sense-media

skye mched

སྐྱེ་མཆེད།

āyatana


The twelve sense-media are eye-medium (cakṣurāyatana), form-medium (rūpa-), ear-medium (śrotra-), sound-medium (śabda-), nose-medium (ghrāna-), scent-medium (gandha-), tongue-medium (jihvā-), taste-medium (rasa-), body-medium (kāya-), texture-medium (spraṣṭavya), mental-medium

(mana-), and phenomena-medium (dharmāyatana). In some passages they are enumerated as six, the object-faculty pair being taken as one, and it is this set of six that is the fifth member of the twelve links of dependent origination. The word āyatana is usually translated as “base,” but the Skt.,

Tib., and Ch. all indicate “something through which the senses function” rather than a basis from which they function; hence “medium” is suggested.



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g.286


Seven abodes of consciousness

rnam par shes pa la gnas pa bdun

རྣམ་པར་ཤེས་པ་ལ་གནས་པ་བདུན།

vijñānasthiti


This refers to the seven categories of living beings, as enumerated in the Abhi­dharma­kośa, III, v. 5-6a. The seven abodes of consciousness consist of beings who differ physically and intellectually; beings who differ physically but are similar intellectually; beings similar

physically but who differ intellectually; beings similar physically and intellectually; and three types of immaterial beings (nānātvakāya­saṃjñāś ca nānākāyaika­saṃjñinaḥ / viparyayāc caikakāya­saṃjñāś cārūpiṇas trayaḥ // vijñāna­sthitayaḥ sapta…). According to Vasubandhu the

first category consists of men, the six types of gods of the desire-realm, and the gods of the first realm of contemplation (brahma­vihāra) except those fallen from higher realms (prathamābhinivṛta); the second category consists of those fallen (prathamābhiniṛvṛta) gods who have different

bodies but whose intellects are single-mindedly aware of the idea of being created by Brahmā; the third category consists of the gods of the second realm of contemplation—the abhāsvara (clear-light) gods, the parīṭṭābha (radiant) gods, and the apramāṇābha

(immeasurably luminous) gods—who have similar luminous bodies but differ in their thoughts, which are bent on the experiences of pleasure and numbness; the fourth category consists of the śubhakṛtsna (pure-wholeness) gods, whose intellects are united in concentration

on bliss; the fifth category consists of the immaterial beings who reside in the realm of infinite space; the sixth category consists of

the immaterial beings who reside in the realm of infinite consciousness; and the seventh category consists of the immaterial beings who reside in the realm of nothingness. (See also Mvy, Nos. 2289-2295.)

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Seven factors of enlightenment

byang chub kyi yan lag bdun

བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཡན་ལག་བདུན།

saṃbodhyaṅga


These are the factors of remembrance (smṛti), discrimination between teachings (dharma­pravicaya), effort (vīrya), joy (prīti), ecstasy (praśrabdhi), concentration (samādhi), and equanimity (upekṣā). These seven form a part of the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment.

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g.288


Signlessness

mtshan ma med pa

མཚན་མ་མེད་པ།

animittatā


In ultimate reality, there is no sign, as a sign signals or signifies something to someone and hence is inextricably involved with the relative world. We are so conditioned by signs that they seem to speak to us as if they had a voice of their own. The letter

“A” seems to pronounce itself to us as we see it, and the stop-sign fairly shouts at us. However, the configuration of two slanted lines with a crossbar has in itself nothing whatsoever to do with the phenomenon made with the mouth and throat in the open position, when expulsion of breath

makes the vocal cords resonate “ah.” By extending such analysis to all signs, we may get an inkling of what is meant by “signlessness,” which is essentially equivalent to voidness, and to “wishlessness” (see entry). Voidness, signlessness, and wishlessness form the “Three Doors of Liberation.”


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g.289


Śikhin

ral pa can

རལ་པ་ཅན།

Śikhin


The Brahmā of the universe Aśoka, who is personally called Śikhin to distinguish him from Brahmās of other universes (see Brahmā). The second of the “seven buddhas of the past” is also called Śikhin but his name is rendered in Tibetan as gtsug gtor can.

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g.290


Śiksaṣāmuccaya

bslab pa kun las btus pa

བསླབ་པ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པ།

Śiksaṣāmuccaya


The “Compendium of Precepts,” in which Śāntideva collects pertinent quotes from the Mahāyāna sūtras and presents them according to a pattern suited for systematic practice. The quotations he included from the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa were the only extant remnants of the original Sanskrit of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa until the discovery of a Sanskrit text in the Potala Palace in 2002.

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g.291


Siṃhaghoṣa

seng ge’i sgra

སེང་གེའི་སྒྲ།

Siṃhaghoṣa


One of the buddhas who teach the Tathāgata­guhyaka on certain occasions in Vimalakīrti’s house.

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g.292


Siṃha­ghoṣābhigarjita­śvara

seng ge nga ro mngon par bsgrags pa’i dbyangs

སེང་གེ་ང་རོ་མངོན་པར་བསྒྲགས་པའི་དབྱངས།

Siṃha­ghoṣābhigarjita­śvara


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g.293


Siṃhanādanādī

seng ge bsgrags pa

སེང་གེ་བསྒྲགས་པ།

Siṃhanādanādī


One of the buddhas who teach the Tathāgata­guhyaka on certain occasions in Vimalakīrti’s house.


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g.294


Six outsider masters

[[ston pa Wiki|drug}}

སྟོན་པ་དྲུག

ṣāṭ śāstāraḥ


These six teachers of nihilism, sophism, determinism, asceticism, etc. sought to rival the Buddha in his day: Purāna Kāśyapa, who negated the effects of action, good or evil; Māskārin Gośāli­putra, who taught a theory of randomness, negating causality; Saṃjāyin

Vairaṭi­putra, who was agnostic in refusing to maintain any opinion about anything; Kakuda Kātyāyana, who taught a materialism in which there was no such thing as killer or killed, but only transformations of elements; Ajita Keśakambala, who taught a more extreme nihilism regarding

everything except the four main elements; and Nirgrantha Jñāti­putra, otherwise known as Mahāvīra, the founder of Jainism, who taught the doctrine of indeterminism (syādvāda), considering all things in terms of “maybe.” They were allowed to proclaim their doctrines unchallenged until a famous assembly at Śrāvastī, where the Buddha eclipsed them with a display of miracles and teachings.

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g.295


Six remembrances

rjes su dran pa drug

རྗེས་སུ་དྲན་པ་དྲུག

anusmṛti


These are six things to keep in mind: the Buddha, the Dharma, the Saṅgha, morality (śīla), generosity (tyāga), and deities (devatā).

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g.296


Sixty-two convictions

lta bar gyur pa drug cu rtsa gnyis

ལྟ་བར་གྱུར་པ་དྲུག་ཅུ་རྩ་གཉིས།

dṛṣṭigata


These are enumerated in the Brahmājāla­sūtra and in the Dighanikāya and consist of all views other than the “right view” of the absence of self. All sixty-two fall into either one of the two categories known as the “two extremisms:” “eternalism” (sāśvatavāda) and “nihilism” (ucchedavāda).

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g.297


Spirit of enlightenment

byang chub kyi sems

བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས།

bodhicitta


“Spirit” is preferred to “mind” because the mind of enlightenment should rather be the mind of the Buddha, and to “thought” because a “thought of enlightenment” can easily be produced without the initiation of any sort of new resolve or awareness. “Will” also serves very well here.

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g.298

[Spiritual]] benefactor

dge ba’i bshes gnyen

དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན།

kalyāṇamitra


A Mahāyāna teacher is termed “friend,” or “benefactor,” which indicates that a bodhisattva-career depends on one’s own effort and that all a teacher can do is inspire, exemplify, and point the way.

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g.299


Śrāvaka

nyan thos

ཉན་ཐོས།

śrāvaka


Lit. “listener.” Disciple of the Buddha and follower of the Hinayāna teaching.

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g.300


Śrāvakayāna

nyan thos kyi theg pa

ཉན་ཐོས་ཀྱི་ཐེག་པ།

śrāvakayāna


The vehicle comprising the teaching of the śrāvakas.

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g.301


Śrāvastī

mnyan yod

མཉན་ཡོད།

Śrāvastī


Capital city of the kingdom of Kosala, ruled by one of the Buddha’s royal patrons, king Prasenajit, where the Buddha often dwelt in the Jetavana grove, site of many Mahāyāna sūtras.

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g.302


Sthiramati

blo gros brtan pa

བློ་གྲོས་བརྟན་པ།

Sthiramati


(c. fourth century). One of the important masters of the Vijñānavāda school, he wrote important commentaries on the works of Vasubandhu and Āryāsaṅga.

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g.303


Stores of merit and wisdom

bsod nams dang ye shes kyi tshogs

བསོད་ནམས་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཚོགས།

puṇya­jñāna­saṃbhāra


The two great stores to be accumulated by bodhisattvas: the store of merit, arising from their practice of the first three transcendences, and the store of wisdom, arising from their practice of the last two transcendences. All deeds of bodhisattvas contribute to their accumulation

of these two stores, which ultimately culminate in the two bodies of the Buddha, the body of form and the ultimate body.



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Subconscious instinct

bag la nyal ba

བག་ལ་ཉལ་བ།

anuśaya


This is equivalent to vāsanā, “instinctual predilection,” and refers in Buddhist psychology to the subconscious habit patterns that underlie emotional responses such as desire and hatred.

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g.305


Subconsciousness

kun gzhi

ཀུན་གཞི།

ālaya


Identifiable with ālayavijñāna. However, as reference to the elaborate Vijñānavādin psychology of the “store-consciousness” is out of place in this sūtra, it is here simply translated “subconsciousness.”

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g.306


Śubhavyūha

dge ba bkod pa

དགེ་བ་བཀོད་པ།

Śubhavyūha


A supreme god, or Brahmā, of another universe, who visits our universe to converse with Aniruddha about the divine eye, and is taught instead by Vimalakīrti in Chap. 3.

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g.307


Subhūti

rab ’byor

རབ་འབྱོར།

Subhūti


Disciple noted for his profound concentration on voidness; as interlocutor of the Buddha, a major figure in the Prajñā­pāramitā­sūtras. See also note 65.

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g.308


Sudatta

legs par byin

ལེགས་པར་བྱིན།

Sudatta


Sudatta was a great lay patron of the Buddha and philanthropist of Śrāvastī, and is more commonly called Anāthapiṇḍada (mgon med zas sbyin); he known as “the foremost of donors” (Pāli; aggo dāyakānaṃ).

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g.309


Sugata

bde bar gshegs pa

བདེ་བར་གཤེགས་པ།

sugata


Lit. “who goes to bliss,” a contraction of the Sanskrit sukham gatah). A name of the Buddha.

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g.310


Sujāta

mdzes par skyes

མཛེས་པར་སྐྱེས།

Sujāta


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g.311


Sumati

rab kyi blo sgros

རབ་ཀྱི་བློ་སྒྲོས།

Sumati


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g.312


Sumeru

ri’i rgyal po ri rab

རིའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་རི་རབ།

Sumeru


The king of mountains; the axial mountain of the flat world in the exoteric cosmology.

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g.313


Śūnyatā

stong pa nyid

སྟོང་པ་ཉིད།

śūnyatā


Voidness, emptiness; specifically, the emptiness of absolute substance, truth, identity, intrinsic reality, or self of all persons and things in the relative world, being quite opposed to any sort of absolute nothingness (see glossary, under “emptiness”).

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g.314


Superknowledges

mngon par shes pa

མངོན་པར་ཤེས་པ།

abhijñā


Special powers of which five, acquired through the meditative contemplations (dhyāna), are considered mundane (laukika) and can be attained to some extent by outsider yogis as well as Buddhist arhats and bodhisattvas; and a sixth—being acquired through a

bodhisattva’s realization, or by buddhas alone according to some accounts—is supramundane (lokottara). The first five are: divine eye

or vision (divyacakṣu), divine hearing (divyaśrotra), knowledge of others’ minds (paracittajñāna), knowledge of former (and

future) lives ([[pūrva­[para]­nivāsānu­smṛti­jñāna]]), and knowledge of magical operations (ṛddhi­vidhi­jñāna). The sixth, supramundane one is knowledge of the exhaustion of defilements (āsravakṣaya­jñāna).

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g.315


Sūtra

mdo

མདོ།

sūtra


In general Indian usage, the word for a highly condensed arrangement of verses that lends itself to memorization, serving as a basic text for a particular school of thought. In Buddhism, a scripture, in as much as it records either the direct speech of the Buddha, or the speech of someone manifestly inspired by him.

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g.316


Suvarnacūḍa

gtsug na gser

གཙུག་ན་གསེར།

Suvarnacūḍa


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g.317


Tantra

rgyud

རྒྱུད།

tantra


Meaning “method” in general, in Buddhism it refers to an important body of literature dealing with a great variety of techniques of advanced meditations, incorporating rituals, incantations, and visualisations, that are stamped as esoteric until a practitioner has already attained a certain stage of ethical and philosophical development.

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g.318


Tarkajvāla

rtog ge ’bar ba

རྟོག་གེ་འབར་བ།

Tarkajvāla


The “Blaze of Reason,” an important treatise of Bhāvaviveka’s, in which he critically discusses all the major philosophical views of his day.

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g.319


Tathāgata

de bzhin gshegs pa

དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ།

tathāgata


Lit. “Thus-gone” or “Thus-come,” (one who proceeds always in consciousness of the ultimate reality, or thatness of all things). A name of the Buddha.

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g.320


Ten powers

stobs bcu

སྟོབས་བཅུ།

daśabala


There are two different sets of ten powers, those of the Buddha and those of bodhisattvas. Those of the Buddha consist of power from knowing right from wrong (sthānāsthāna­jñāna­bala); power from knowing the consequences of actions (karma­vipāka­jñāna-); power from

knowing the various inclinations (of living beings) (nānādhimukti­jñāna-); power from knowing the various types (of living beings) (nānādhātujñāna-); power from knowing the degree of the capacities (of living beings) (indriya­varāvara­jñāna-); power from knowing the path

that leads everywhere (sarva­tragāmīmpratipat­jñāna-); power from knowing the obscuration, affliction, and purification of all contemplations, meditations, liberations, concentrations, and absorptions (sarva­dhyāna­vimokṣa­samādhi­samāpatti­saṃkleśa­vyavadāna­vyutthāna­jñāna-); power from knowing his own former lives (pūrva­nivāsānu­smṛti­jñāna-); power from knowing deaths and future lives (cyutyutpatti­jñāna-); and power from knowing the exhaustion of defilements (āsravakṣaya­jñāna-). The latter set consists of the bodhisattva’s power of positive thought (āśayabala); power of high resolve (adhyāśaya-); power of application (prayoga-); power of wisdom (prajña-); power of

prayer (praṇidhāna-); power of vehicle (yāna-); power of activities (caryā-); power of emanations (vikurvaṇa-); power of enlightenment (bodhi-); and power of turning the wheel of the Dharma (dharma­cakra­pravartaṇa-).

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g.321


Ten sins

mi dge ba bcu · mi dge ba’i las kyi lam bcu

མི་དགེ་བ་བཅུ། · མི་དགེ་བའི་ལས་ཀྱི་ལམ་བཅུ།

akuśala


These are the opposite of the ten virtues, and consist of killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, harsh speech, backbiting, frivolous speech, covetousness, malice, and false views.

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g.322


Ten virtues

dge ba bcu

དགེ་བ་བཅུ།

kuśala


These are the opposite of the ten sins, i.e., refraining from engaging in activities related to the ten sins and doing the opposite. There are three physical virtues: saving lives, giving, and sexual propriety. There are four verbal virtues: truthfulness,

reconciling discussions, gentle speech, and religious speech. There are three mental virtues: loving attitude, generous attitude, and right views. The whole doctrine is collectively called the “tenfold path of good action” (daśa­kuśala­karma­patha).


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Thirty-seven aids to enlightenment

byang chub kyi phyogs sum cu rtsa bdun gyi chos

བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་ཕྱོགས་སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་བདུན་གྱི་ཆོས།

bodhi­pakṣika­dharma


These consist of the four foci of mindfulness, the four right efforts, the four bases of magical powers, the five spiritual faculties, the five powers, the seven factors of enlightenment, and the eightfold noble path.


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g.324


Three realms

khams gsum

ཁམས་གསུམ།

traidhātuka


The three worlds or realms of which all universes are composed: of desire (kāmadhātu), of pure matter (rūpadhātu), and the immaterial realm (ārūpyadhātu).


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g.325


Tolerance of the birthlessness of things

mi skye ba’i chos la bzod pa

མི་སྐྱེ་བའི་ཆོས་ལ་བཟོད་པ།

anutpattika­dharma­kṣānti


Here we are concerned with the “intuitive tolerance of the birthlessness (or incomprehensibility) of all things” (anutpattika­dharma­kṣānti or anupalabdhi­dharma­kṣānti). To translate kṣānti as “knowledge” or “conviction” defeats entirely the Skt. usage and its intended sense: In the face of

birthlessness or incomprehensibility (i.e., the ultimate reality), ordinary knowledge and especially convictions are utterly lost; this is because the mind loses objectifiability of anything and has nothing to grasp, and its process of coming to terms may be described only as a conscious

cancellation through absolute negations of any false sense of certainty about anything. Through this tolerance, the mind reaches a stage where it can bear its lack of bearings, as it were, can endure this kind of extreme openness, this lack of any conviction, etc. There are three

degrees of this tolerance—verbal (ghoṣānugā), conforming (anulomikī), and complete. See Introduction, i.­9, and Lamotte, Appendice, Note III.


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Tolerance of ultimate birthlessness

mi skye ba’i chos la bzod pa

མི་སྐྱེ་བའི་ཆོས་ལ་བཟོད་པ།

anutpattika­dharma­kṣānti

See “tolerance of the birthlessness of things.”


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g.327


Transcendental analysis

lhag mthong

ལྷག་མཐོང་།

vipaśyana


This is paired with “mental quiescence” (see entry). In general “meditation” is too often understood as only the types of practices categorized as “quietistic”—which eschew objects, learning, analysis, discrimination, etc., and lead only to the attainment of temporary peace

and one-pointedness. However, in order to reach any high realization, such as the absence of a personal self, the absence of a self in phenomena, or voidness, “transcendental analysis,” with its analytical penetration to the nature of ultimate reality, is indispensable.

The analysis is called “transcendental” because it does not accept anything it sees as it appears. Instead, through analytic examination, it penetrates to its deeper reality, going ever deeper in infinite penetration until tolerance is reached. All apparently self-sufficient

objects are seen through and their truth-status is rejected—first conceptually and finally perceptually, at buddhahood. Thus “meditation,” to be efficacious, must include both mental quiescence (śamatha), and transcendental analysis (vipaśyana) in integrated combination.


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Transcendental practice

ye shes sgrub pa

ཡེ་ཤེས་སྒྲུབ་པ།

jñāna­pratipatti


Transcendental practice, as opposed to practice at an earlier stage.


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g.329


Trāyastriṃśa
sum cu rtsa gsum pa

སུམ་ཅུ་རྩ་གསུམ་པ།

Trāyastriṃśa


The Heaven of the “Thirty-Three,” second level of the desire-realm, located on top of Mount Sumeru in the Buddhist cosmology.

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g.330


Tsong Khapa

tsong kha pa

ཙོང་ཁ་པ།


(1357-1419). One of the greatest of all Tibetan Lamas, his saintliness was evidenced in his altruistic deeds that caused a renaissance in Tibet, his enlightenment in the extraordinary subtlety and profundity of his thought, and his scholarship in the breadth and clarity of his voluminous writings.


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Tuṣita

dga’ ldan

དགའ་ལྡན།

Tuṣita


A heaven, the fourth level of the heavens of the realm of desire, and the last stopping place of a buddha before his descent and reincarnation on earth; at present the abode of the future Buddha Maitreya.


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Twelve ascetic practices

sbyangs pa’i yon tan bcu gnyis

སྦྱངས་པའི་ཡོན་ཏན་བཅུ་གཉིས།

dvādaśadhūtaguṇāḥ


These consist of (1) wearing rags (pāṃśukūlika, phyag dar khrod pa), (2) (in the form of only) three religious robes (traicīvarika, chos gos gsum), (3) (coarse in texture as) garments of felt ([[nāma[n]tika]], ’phyings pa pa), (4) eating by alms (paiṇḍapātika, bsod snyoms pa),

(5) having a single mat to sit on (aikāsanika, stan gcig pa), (6) not eating after noon (khalu paścād bhaktika, zas phyis mi len pa), (7) living alone in the forest (āraṇyaka, dgon pa pa), (8) living at the base of a tree (vṛkṣamūlika, shing drungs pa), (9) living in the open (not under a roof) (ābhyavakāśika, bla gab med pa), (10) frequenting burning grounds (Indian equivalent of cemeteries) (śmāśānika, dur khrod pa), (11) sleeping sitting up (in meditative posture) (naiṣadika, cog bu pa), and (12) accepting whatever seating position is offered (yāthāsaṃstarika, gzhi ji bzhin pa). Mahāvyutpatti, 1127-39.

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Ultimate

don dam pa

དོན་དམ་པ།

paramārtha


“Ultimate” is preferable to the usual “absolute” because it carries fewer connotations than “absolute”—which, however, when understood logically, is also correct. It is contrasted with “superficial” (vyavahāra) or “relative” (samvṛtti) to give the two types, or “levels.,” of

truth. It is synonymous with ultimate reality, the uncompounded, voidness, reality, limit of reality, absolute, nirvāṇa,

ultimate liberation, infinity, permanence, eternity, independence, etc. It also has the soteriological sense of “sacred” as opposed to “profane” as is conveyed by its literal rendering “supreme” (parama) “object” (artha).

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Ultimate realm

chos kyi dbyings

ཆོས་ཀྱི་དབྱིངས།

dharmadhātu


This compound is actually metaphorical in sense, with (at least) two interpretations possible because of ambiguities in the word dhātu. Dhātu as in the expression kāmadhātu (desire-realm), may mean “realm”; or it may mean “element,” as in the eighteen elements (see

entry), where it is explained as analogous to a mineral such as copper. Thus the realm of the Dharma is the dharmakāyā, the pure source and sphere of the Dharma. And the element of the Dharma is like a mine from which the verbal Dharma, the buddha-qualities, and the

wisdoms of the arhats and bodhisattvas are culled. This is metaphorical, as Vimalakīrti would remind us, because the Dharma, the

ultimate, is ultimately not a particular place; it is immanent in all places, being the actuality and ultimate condition of all things and being relatively no one thing except, like voidness, the supremely beneficent of concepts.

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g.335


Unmoving

mi g.yo ba

མི་གཡོ་བ།

āniñjya


Referring to actions, this term signifies the actions of beings in the subtle god-realms of form and formlessness that can only lead to rebirth in the same realm in the next life.

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g.336


Upāli

nye bar ’khor

ཉེ་བར་འཁོར།

Upāli


Disciple; originally the barber of the Śākya princes, ordained together with them, and noted as an expert on the Vinaya.

(See also note 80).

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g.337


Vaiśālī

yangs pa can

ཡངས་པ་ཅན།

Vaiśālī


Great city during the Buddha’s time, capital of the Licchavi republic; at present the town of Basarh, Muzaffarpur district, in Tirhut, Bihar province of India. (See Lamotte, pp. 80-83; p. 97, n. 1.).

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g.338


Vajrapāṇi

phyag na rdo rje

ཕྱག་ན་རྡོ་རྗེ།

Vajrapāṇi


An important bodhisattva, “Wielder of the Thunderbolt,” whose compassion is to manifest in a terrific form to protect the practicers of the Dharma from harmful influences.

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g.339


Vasubandhu

dbyig gnyen

དབྱིག་གཉེན།

Vasubandhu


(Fourth century). The younger brother of Āryāsaṅga, he was one of the greatest scholars in Buddhist history, author of the Abhi­dharma­kośa, the most definitive work on the Abhidharma, and later of numerous important works on the Vijñānavāda philosophy.

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g.340


Veda

rig byed

རིག་བྱེད།

Veda


Name of the ancient sacred Scriptures of Brahmanism, most famous of which is the Ṛig Veda.


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g.341


Vicaraṇa

rnam par sbyong ba

རྣམ་པར་སྦྱོང་བ།

Vicaraṇa


The name of the long-past eon during which the Buddha Bhaiṣajyarāja presided in the buddhafield Mahāvyūha.

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g.342


Vidyuddeva

glog gi lha

གློག་གི་ལྷ།

Vidyuddeva


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g.343


View

lta ba

ལྟ་བ།

dṛṣṭi


This means a mental conviction or opinion that conditions the mind and determines how it sees reality.

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g.344


Vijñānavāda

rnam par shes pa smra ba

རྣམ་པར་ཤེས་པ་སྨྲ་བ།

Vijñānavāda


The school of “Consciousness-Only” founded by Maitreya and Āryāsaṅga, which shares with the Mādhyamika most of the philosophical techniques of the Mahāyāna, while differing on the interpretation of the profound meaning of voidness, or the ultimate reality.

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g.345


Vikurvaṇarāja
rnam par ’phrul pa’i rgyal po

རྣམ་པར་འཕྲུལ་པའི་རྒྱལ་པོ།

Vikurvaṇarāja

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g.346


Vinaya

’dul ba

འདུལ་བ།

Vinaya


One of the three Piṭakas, or “Baskets,” of the Buddhist canon; the one dealing specifically with the code of the monastic disipline.

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g.347


Voidness

stong pa nyid

སྟོང་པ་ཉིད།

śūnyatā


See “emptiness.”


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g.348


Voidness of voidness

stong pa nyid kyi stong pa nyid

སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་སྟོང་པ་ཉིད།

śūnyatāśūnyatā


The voidness of voidness, an important concept that indicates the ultimate conceptuality of all terms, even those for the ultimate, to avoid the major error of absolutising the ultimate.

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g.349


Win

sdud pa

སྡུད་པ།

samgraha


Lit. “collect,” i.e., gather together into the Mahāyāna.

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g.350


Wisdom

shes rab

ཤེས་རབ།

prajñā


70 passages contain this term
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g.351


Wishlessness

smon pa med pa

སྨོན་པ་མེད་པ།

apraṇihitatā


Third of the Three Doors of Liberation (see glossary). Objectively, it is equivalent to voidness; subjectively, it is the outcome of the holy gnosis of voidness as the realization of the ultimate lack of anything to wish for, whether voidness itself, or even Buddhahood. See “emptiness.”

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g.352


Xuanzang

Seventh century Chinese scholar. One of the greatest translators in world history, he traveled to India, where he lived for many years, studying Sanskrit and all the sciences of the day. On his return to China he translated many volumes of important philosophical and religious works. He translated this sūtra in 650.

3 passages contain this term


g.353


Yakṣa

gnod sbyin

གནོད་སྦྱིན།

yakṣa

A forest demon.

8 passages contain this term
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