Twelve deeds
Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia is now 14 years old
Our Encyclopedia recently received a wonderful opportunity for a major renewal on its 14th birthday . After many years of growing our Encyclopedia had become bit slow and sometimes even decided not to answer when people knocked on the door.
A very big thank you and blessings to Dmytro Rudiy (rudiy.nl) for his great work in upgrading the server, website and all of the infrastructure and helping make TBE fast and reliable again for everyone! 🙏🙏🙏
We kindly ask our readers to help us cover the cost of this important work and also help with the ongoing costs of keeping the Encyclopedia alive and freely available.
Thank you for helping us keep this Dharma project alive and available to everyone.
or card
Every little donation helps and every one is deeply appreciated. 🙏🙏🙏
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM 🙏🙏🙏
May all be blessed who see this 🙏🙏🙏
The twelve deeds (Skt. dvadaśabuddhakārya; Wyl. mdzad pa bcu gnyis) carried out by a supreme nirmanakaya buddha, such as the Buddha Shakyamuni, are:
- the descent from Tushita, the Joyous pure land (dga' ldan gyi gnas nas 'pho ba),
- entering the mother’s womb (lhums su zhugs pa),
- taking birth[1] (sku bltams pa),
- becoming skilled in various arts (bzo yi gnas la mkhas pa),
- delighting in the company of royal consorts (btsun mo'i 'khor dgyes rol ba),
- developing renunciation and becoming ordained (rab tu byung ba),
- practicing austerities for six years (dka' ba spyad pa),
- proceeding to the foot of the bodhi tree (byang chub snying por gshegs pa),
- overcoming Mara’s hosts (bdud btul ba),
- becoming fully enlightened (mngon par rdzogs par sangs rgyas pa),
- turning the wheel of Dharma (chos kyi 'khor lo bskor ba), and
- passing into mahaparinirvana [2] (mya ngan las 'das pa)
Footnotes
- ↑ In the case of Buddha Shakyamuni, this was in the Lumbini garden.
- ↑ In the case of Buddha Shakyamuni, this was in the city of Kushinagara.