Eight classes of gods and demons
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Eight classes of gods and demons (Tib. ལྷ་འདྲེ་སྡེ་བརྒྱད་, Wyl. lha 'dre sde brgyad) — a classification of worldly spirits. There are many different classifications; one of them is:
- dü (Tib. བདུད་, Wyl. bdud; Skt. māra)—see four maras
- mamo (Tib. མ་མོ་, Wyl. ma mo; Skt. mātrika)
- naga (Tib. ཀླུ་, Skt. nāga; Tib. lu; Wyl. klu)
- ging (Tib. གིང་, Wyl. ging)
- rahula (Skt. rāhula)
- tsen (Tib. བཙན་, Wyl. btsan)
- rakshasa (Skt. rākṣasa; Tib. སྲིན་པོ་, sinpo; Wyl. srin po)
- yaksha (Skt. yakṣa; Tib. གནོད་སྦྱིན་, Wyl. gnod sbyin)
On an inner level, they correspond to the eight consciousnesses.
Alternative Classifications
Alternative classifications include gods and demons such as:
- gods (Skt. deva; Tib. ལྷ་, Wyl. lha)
- yama (Skt.; Tib. གཤིན་རྗེ་, Wyl. gshin rje)
- gyalpo (Tib. རྒྱལ་པོ་, Wyl. rgyal po)
- sadak (Tib. ས་བདག་, Wyl. sa bdag)
- miamchi (Tib. མིའམ་ཅི་, Wyl. mi'm ci)
- teurang (Tib. ཐེའུ་རང་, Wyl. the'u rang)
Further Reading
- Revue d'Études Tibétaines, Number 2, April 2003 - Numéro spécial Lha srin sde brgyad
Source
RigpaWiki:Eight classes of gods and demons
Eight classes of gods and demons (lha srin sde brgyad). There are various descriptions but in the sutras the most general is:
All of them were able to receive and practice the teachings of the Buddha. These eight classes can also refer to various types of mundane spirits who can cause either help or harm, but remain invisible to normal human beings:
On a subtle level, they are regarded as the impure manifestation of the eight types of consciousness.