By this virtue may I quickly
Become arya avalokiteshvara,
and then lead every living being
Without exception to that ground.
408
aVaLOkITESHVaRa SaDHaNa
May the precious, supreme bodhichitta
Grow where it has not yet grown;
Where it has grown may it not decrease, But flourish for evermore.
Prayers for the Virtuous Tradition
So that the tradition of Je Tsongkhapa, The king of the Dharma, may flourish,
May all obstacles be pacified
and may all favourable conditions abound.
Through the two collections of myself and others Gathered throughout the three times,
May the doctrine of Conqueror Losang Dragpa Flourish for evermore.
The nine-line Migtsema prayer Tsongkhapa, crown ornament of the scholars of the Land of the Snows,
You are Buddha Shakyamuni and Vajradhara, the source of all attainments,
avalokiteshvara, the treasury of unobservable compassion,
Manjushri, the supreme stainless wisdom, and Vajrapani, the destroyer of the hosts of maras.
O Venerable Guru-Buddha, synthesis of all Three Jewels,
With my body, speech, and mind, respectfully I make requests:
Please grant your blessings to ripen and liberate myself and others,
and bestow the common and supreme attainments. (3x) Colophon: This sadhana was translated under the compassionate guidance of Venerable Geshe kelsang Gyatso, 1978
409
Glossary
Absorption of cessation an uncontaminated wisdom focused single-pointedly on emptiness in dependence upon the actual absorption of peak of samsara. See Ocean of Nectar.
Action mudra a Highest Yoga Tantra consort who assists in developing great bliss. See Clear Light of Bliss and Tantric Grounds and Paths.
Affirming negative See Negative phenomenon.
Aggregate In general, all functioning things are aggregates because they are an aggregation of their parts. In particular, a person of the desire realm or form realm has five aggregates: the aggregates of form, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness. a being of the formless realm lacks the aggregate of form but has the other four. a person’s form aggregate is his or her body. The remaining four aggregates are aspects of his mind. See also Contaminated aggregate. See Heart of Wisdom.
Akshobya The manifestation of the aggregate of consciousness of all Buddhas. He has a blue-coloured body.
Alertness a mental factor that is a type of wisdom which exam-ines our activity of body, speech and mind, and knows whether or not faults are developing. See Understanding the Mind and Meaningful to Behold.
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MODERN BUDDHISM
Amitabha The manifestation of the aggregate of discrimination of all Buddhas. He has a red-coloured body. See Eight Steps to Happiness.
Amoghasiddhi The manifestation of the aggregate of compositional factors of all Buddhas. He has a green-coloured body.
Arya Tara/Tara a female Buddha who is a manifestation of the ultimate wisdom of all the Buddhas. ‘arya’ means ‘Superior’ and
‘Tara’ means ‘Liberator’. Because she is a wisdom Buddha, and a manifestation of the completely purified wind element, Tara is able to help us very quickly.
Aryadeva a third century aD Indian Buddhist scholar and meditation master, who was a disciple of Nagarjuna.
Attachment a deluded mental factor that observes its contaminated object, regards it as a cause of happiness and wishes for it.
See Understanding the Mind and Joyful Path of Good Fortune.
Attention a mental factor that functions to focus the mind on a particular attribute of an object. See Understanding the Mind.
Bardo See Intermediate state.
Basis of imputation all phenomena are imputed upon their parts, therefore any of the individual parts, or the entire collection of the parts, of any phenomenon is its basis of imputation. a phenomenon is imputed by mind in dependence upon its basis of imputation appearing to that mind. See Heart of Wisdom and Ocean of Nectar.
Beginningless time according to the Buddhist world view, there is no beginning to mind, and so no beginning to time. Therefore, all living beings have taken countless previous rebirths.
Blessing The transformation of our mind from a negative state to a positive state, from an unhappy state to a happy state, or from a state of weakness to a state of strength, through the inspiration of holy beings such as our Spiritual Guide, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
Bodh Gaya The place where Buddha Shakyamuni showed the manner of attaining enlightenment; near the modern city of Gaya in the north Indian state of Bihar.
412
GLOSSaRY
Brahma a worldly god who resides in the first form realm. See Ocean of Nectar.
Changing suffering For beings within samsara every experience of happiness or pleasure that arises from samsara’s enjoyments is changing suffering. This is because these experiences are contaminated and have the nature of suffering.
Commitments Promises and pledges taken when engaging in certain spiritual practices.
Compositional factors The aggregate of compositional factors comprises all mental factors except feeling and discrimination, as well as non-associated compounded phenomena. See Heart of Wisdom and Understanding the Mind.
Concentration a mental factor that makes its primary mind remain on its object single-pointedly. See Joyful Path of Good Fortune, Understanding the Mind and Meaningful to Behold.
Consciousness The six consciousnesses, or primary minds, are the eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness and mental consciousness.
See Understanding the Mind.
Conqueror Buddha Buddhas are called ‘Conquerors’ because they have conquered all the obstructions to attaining liberation and enlightenment, or maras. See also Mara.
Conscientiousness a mental factor that, in dependence upon effort, cherishes what is virtuous and guards the mind from delusion and non-virtue. See Meaningful to Behold and Understanding the Mind.
Contact a mental factor that functions to perceive its object as pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. See Understanding the Mind.
Contaminated aggregate any of the aggregates of form, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors and consciousness of a samsaric being. See also Aggregate. See Heart of Wisdom.
Dakini Land The Pure Land of Heruka and Vajrayogini. In Sanskrit it is called ‘keajra’ and in Tibetan ‘Dagpa khacho’. See Guide to Dakini Land.
413
MODERN BUDDHISM
Dakinis Female Tantric Buddhas and those women who have attained the realization of meaning clear light. Dakas are the male equivalent. See Guide to Dakini Land.
Damaru a small hand-drum used in Tantric rituals. Playing the damaru symbolizes the gathering of the outer Dakinis into our body, and the manifestation of the inner Dakini (the mind of clear light) within our mind through the blazing of inner fire. It is also used as a music offering to the Buddhas.
Deity ‘Yidam’ in Tibetan. a Tantric enlightened being.
Delusion a mental factor that arises from inappropriate attention and functions to make the mind unpeaceful and uncontrolled.
There are three main delusions: ignorance, desirous attachment and anger. From these arise all the other delusions, such as jealousy, pride and deluded doubt. See also Innate delusions and Intellectually-formed delusions. See Joyful Path of Good Fortune and Understanding the Mind.
Demi-god a being of the demi-god realm, the second highest of the six realms of samsara. Demi-gods are similar to gods but their bodies, possessions and environments are inferior. See Joyful Path of Good Fortune.
Desire realm The environment of hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings and demi-gods, and the gods who enjoy the five objects of desire.
Dharma Protector an emanation of a Buddha or a Bodhisattva whose main functions are to avert the inner and outer obstacles that prevent Dharma practitioners from gaining spiritual realizations, and to arrange all the necessary conditions for their practice. also called ‘Dharmapala’ in Sanskrit. See Heart Jewel.
Discrimination a mental factor that functions to apprehend the uncommon sign of an object. See Understanding the Mind.
Dorje Shugden a Dharma Protector who is an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri. His main functions are to avert the inner and outer obstacles that prevent practitioners from gaining 414
GLOSSaRY
spiritual realizations, and to arrange all the necessary conditions for their spiritual development. See Heart Jewel.
Dromtonpa (aD 1004-1064) atisha’s foremost disciple. See Joyful Path of Good Fortune.
Elements, four Earth, water, fire and wind. These elements are not the same as the earth of a field, the water of a river, and so forth. Rather, the elements of earth, water, fire and wind in broad terms are the properties of solidity, liquidity, heat and movement respectively.
Example clear light a mind of clear light that realizes emptiness by means of a generic image. See Clear Light of Bliss and Tantric Grounds and Paths.
Faith a naturally virtuous mind that functions mainly to oppose the perception of faults in its observed object. There are three types of faith: believing faith, admiring faith and wishing faith.
See Transform Your Life, Joyful Path of Good Fortune and Understanding the Mind.
Feeling a mental factor that functions to experience pleasant, unpleasant or neutral objects. See Understanding the Mind.
Field of Merit Generally, this refers to the Three Jewels. Just as external seeds grow in a field of soil, so the virtuous internal seeds produced by virtuous actions grow in dependence upon Buddha Jewel, Dharma Jewel and Sangha Jewel. also known as ‘Field for accumulating Merit’.
Form aggregate Includes all the objects of the five sense awarenesses – all colours and shapes (visual form), sounds, smells, tastes and tactile objects. a person’s form aggregate is his or her body.
Form realm The environment of the gods who possess form and who are superior to desire realm gods. So-called because the gods who inhabit it have subtle form. See Ocean of Nectar.
Functioning thing a phenomenon that is produced and dis-integrates within a moment. Synonymous with impermanent phenomenon, thing and product.
415
MODERN BUDDHISM
Gelug The tradition established by Je Tsongkhapa. The name
‘Gelug’ means ‘Virtuous Tradition’. a Gelugpa is a practitioner who follows this tradition. The Gelugpas are sometimes referred to as the ‘new kadampas’. See Heart Jewel.
Generic image The appearing object of a conceptual mind. a generic image, or mental image, of an object is like a reflection of that object. Conceptual minds know their object through the appearance of a generic image of that object, not by seeing the object directly. See Heart of Wisdom and Understanding the Mind.
Geshe a title given by kadampa monasteries to accomplished Buddhist scholars. Contracted form of the Tibetan ‘ge wai she nyen’, literally meaning ‘virtuous friend’.
Geshe Chekhawa (aD 1102-1176) a great kadampa Bodhisattva who composed the text Training the Mind in Seven Points, a commentary to Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa’s Eight Verses of Training the Mind. He spread the study and practice of training the mind throughout Tibet. See Universal Compassion.
Ghantapa a great Indian Mahasiddha and a lineage Guru in the Highest Yoga Tantra practices of Heruka and Vajrayogini. See Guide to Dakini Land.
Gods Beings of the god realm, the highest of the six realms of samsara. There are many different types of god. Some are desire realm gods, while others are form or formless realm gods. See Joyful Path of Good Fortune.
Gungtang Gungtang konchog Tenpai Dronme (aD 1762-1823), a Gelug scholar and meditator famous for his spiritual poems and philosophical writings.
Guru Sanskrit word for ‘Spiritual Guide’.
Heroes and Heroines a Hero is a male Tantric Deity embodying method. a Heroine is a female Tantric Deity embodying wisdom.
See Guide to Dakini Land.
Hevajra a principal Deity of Mother Tantra. See Great Treasury of Merit.
416
GLOSSaRY
Hinayana Sanskrit term for ‘Lesser Vehicle’. The Hinayana goal is to attain merely one’s own liberation from suffering by completely abandoning delusions. See Joyful Path of Good Fortune.
Hungry ghosts Beings of the hungry ghost realm, the second lowest of the six realms of samsara. also known as ‘hungry spirits’. See Joyful Path of Good Fortune.
Imprint/s There are two types of imprint: imprints of actions and imprints of delusions. Every action we perform leaves an imprint on the mental consciousness, and these imprints are karmic potentialities to experience certain effects in the future. The imprints left by delusions remain even after the delusions themselves have been abandoned, like the smell of garlic lingers in a container after the garlic has been removed. Imprints of delusions are obstructions to omniscience, and are completely abandoned only by Buddhas.
Imputation, mere according to the highest school of Buddhist philosophy, the Madhyamika-Prasangika school, all phenomena are merely imputed by conception in dependence upon their basis of imputation. Therefore, they are mere imputations and do not exist from their own side in the least. See Heart of Wisdom and Ocean of Nectar.
Imputed object an object imputed by the mind in dependence upon its basis of imputation. See Heart of Wisdom and Ocean of Nectar.
Indra a worldly god. See Heart of Wisdom.
Inferential cognizer a completely reliable cognizer whose object is realized in direct dependence upon a conclusive reason. See Understanding the Mind.
Inner fire ‘Tummo’ in Tibetan. an inner heat located at the centre of the navel channel wheel. See Clear Light of Bliss.
Intellectually-formed delusions Delusions that arise as a result of relying upon incorrect reasoning or mistaken tenets. See Understanding the Mind.
417
MODERN BUDDHISM
Intention a mental factor that functions to move its primary mind to the object. It functions to engage the mind in virtuous, non-virtuous and neutral objects. all bodily and verbal actions are initiated by the mental factor intention. See Understanding the Mind.
Intermediate state ‘Bardo’ in Tibetan. The state between death and rebirth. It begins the moment the consciousness leaves the body, and ceases the moment the consciousness enters the body of the next life. See Joyful Path of Good Fortune and Clear Light of Bliss.
Je Phabongkhapa (aD 1878-1941) a great Tibetan Lama who was an emanation of Heruka. Phabongkha Rinpoche was the holder of many lineages of Sutra and Secret Mantra. He was the root Guru of kyabje Trijang Dorjechang (kyabje Trijang Rinpoche).
Je Tsongkhapa (aD 1357-1419) an emanation of the Wisdom Buddha Manjushri, whose appearance in fourteenth-century Tibet as a monk, and the holder of the lineage of pure view and pure deeds, was prophesied by Buddha. He spread a very pure Buddhadharma throughout Tibet, showing how to combine the practices of Sutra and Tantra, and how to practise pure Dharma during degenerate times. His tradition later became known as the
‘Gelug’, or ‘Ganden Tradition’. See Heart Jewel and Great Treasury of Merit.
Kapala a skullcup used or visualized in Tantric meditation, symbolizing the indivisible union of great bliss and emptiness.
Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche (aD 1901-1981) a special Tibetan Lama of the twentieth century who was an emanation of Buddha Shakyamuni, Heruka, atisha, amitabha and Je Tsongkhapa. also known as ‘Trijang Dorjechang’ and ‘Losang Yeshe’.
Lineage a line of instruction that has been passed down from Spiritual Guide to disciple, with each Spiritual Guide in the line having gained personal experience of the instruction before pass-ing it on to others.
418
GLOSSaRY
Living being Synonymous with sentient being. any being who possesses a mind that is contaminated by delusions or their imprints. Both ‘living being’ and ‘sentient being’ are terms used to distinguish beings whose minds are contaminated by either of these two obstructions from Buddhas, whose minds are completely free from these obstructions.
Lord of Death although the mara, or demon, of uncontrolled death is not a sentient being, it is personified as the Lord of Death, or ‘Yama’. The Lord of Death is depicted in the diagram of the Wheel of Life clutching the wheel between his claws and teeth.
See Joyful Path of Good Fortune.
Losang Dragpa ‘Sumati kirti’ in Sanskrit. The ordained name of Je Tsongkhapa. See Great Treasury of Merit.
Mahamudra a Sanskrit term, literally meaning ‘great seal’.
according to Sutra, this refers to the profound view of emptiness.
Since emptiness is the nature of all phenomena, it is called a ‘seal’, and since a direct realization of emptiness enables us to accomplish the great purpose – complete liberation from the sufferings of samsara – it is also called ‘great’. according to Tantra, or Vajrayana, Mahamudra is the union of spontaneous great bliss and emptiness. See Mahamudra Tantra, Great Treasury of Merit and Clear Light of Bliss.
Mahayana Sanskrit term for ‘Great Vehicle’, the spiritual path to great enlightenment. The Mahayana goal is to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings by completely abandoning delusions and their imprints. See Joyful Path of Good Fortune and Meaningful to Behold.
Maitreya The embodiment of the loving kindness of all the Buddhas. at the time of Buddha Shakyamuni he manifested as a Bodhisattva disciple in order to show Buddha’s disciples how to be perfect Mahayana disciples. In the future, he will manifest as the fifth founding Buddha.
419
MODERN BUDDHISM
Mala a set of prayer beads used to count recitations of prayers or mantras, usually with one hundred and eight beads. See Guide to Dakini Land.
Mandala offering an offering of the entire universe visualized as a Pure Land, with all its inhabitants as pure beings. See Guide to Dakini Land and Great Treasury of Merit.
Mara a Sanskrit term for ‘demon’, and referring to anything that obstructs the attainment of liberation or enlightenment. There are four principal types of mara: the mara of the delusions, the mara of contaminated aggregates, the mara of uncontrolled death, and the Devaputra maras. Of these, only the last are actual sentient beings. The principal Devaputra mara is wrathful Ishvara, the highest of the desire realm gods, who inhabits the Land of Controlling Emanations. a Buddha is called a ‘Conqueror’ because he or she has conquered all four types of mara. See Heart of Wisdom.
Marpa (aD 1012-1096) Marpa Lotsawa, or Marpa the translator, was a great lay Tantric Yogi and the Spiritual Guide of Milarepa.
See Joyful Path of Good Fortune.
Meaning clear light a mind of clear light that realizes emptiness directly without a generic image. Synonymous with inner Dakini Land and with Mahamudra Tantra. See Clear Light of Bliss.
Meditation a mind that concentrates on a virtuous object, and is a mental action that is the main cause of mental peace. There are two types of meditation – analytical meditation and placement meditation. When we use our imagination, mindfulness and powers of reasoning to find our object of meditation, this is analytical meditation. When we find our object and hold it single-pointedly, this is placement meditation. There are different types of object. Some, such as impermanence or emptiness, are objects apprehended by the mind. Others, such as love, compassion and renunciation, are actual states of mind. We engage in analytical meditation until the specific object that we seek appears clearly to our mind or until the particular state of mind that we wish to generate arises. This object or state of mind is our object of placement meditation. See The New Meditation Handbook.
420
GLOSSaRY
Meditation break See Subsequent attainment.
Mental continuum The continuum of a person’s mind that has no beginning and no end.
Mental factor a cognizer that principally apprehends a particular attribute of an object. There are fifty-one specific mental factors. Each moment of mind comprises a primary mind and various mental factors. See Understanding the Mind.
Mental image See Generic image.
Mere appearance all phenomena are mere appearance because they are imputed by mind in dependence upon a suitable basis of imputation appearing to mind. The word ‘mere’ excludes any possibility of inherent existence. See Ocean of Nectar.
Merit The good fortune created by virtuous actions. It is the potential power to increase our good qualities and produce happiness.
Migrator a being within samsara who migrates from one uncontrolled rebirth to another. See also Living being.
Milarepa (aD 1040-1123) a great Tibetan Buddhist meditator and disciple of Marpa, celebrated for his beautiful songs of real ization.
Mindfulness