1.
Tibet
–
Tibet is a region on the Tibetan Plateau in Asia, spanning about 2.4 million km2 and nearly a quarter of Chinas territory. Tibet is the highest region on Earth, with an elevation of 4,900 metres. The highest elevation in Tibet is Mount Everest, Earths highest mountain, the Tibetan Empire emerged in the 7th century, but with the fall of the empire the region soon divided into a variety of territories. The current borders of Tibet were generally established in the 18th century, following the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing dynasty in 1912, Qing soldiers were disarmed and escorted out of Tibet Area. The region subsequently declared its independence in 1913 without recognition by the subsequent Chinese Republican government, later, Lhasa took control of the western part of Xikang, China. There are tensions regarding Tibets political status and dissident groups that are active in exile and it is also said that Tibetan activists in Tibet have been arrested or tortured. The economy of Tibet is dominated by agriculture, though tourism has become a growing industry in recent decades. The dominant religion in Tibet is Tibetan Buddhism, in there is Bön, which is similar to Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is an influence on the art, music. Tibetan architecture reflects Chinese and Indian influences, staple foods in Tibet are roasted barley, yak meat, and butter tea. The Tibetan name for their land, Bod བོད་, means Tibet or Tibetan Plateau, although it meant the central region around Lhasa. The Standard Tibetan pronunciation of Bod, is transcribed Bhö in Tournadre Phonetic Transcription, Bö in the THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription and Poi in Tibetan pinyin. Tibetan people, language, and culture, regardless of where they are from, are referred to as Zang although the geographical term Xīzàng is often limited to the Tibet Autonomous Region. The term Xīzàng was coined during the Qing dynasty in the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor through the addition of a prefix meaning west to Zang, the best-known medieval Chinese name for Tibet is Tubo. This name first appears in Chinese characters as 土番 in the 7th century, in the Middle Chinese spoken during that period, as reconstructed by William H. Baxter, 土番 was pronounced thux-phjon and 吐蕃 was pronounced thux-pjon. Other pre-modern Chinese names for Tibet include Wusiguo, Wusizang, Tubote, the English word Tibet or Thibet dates back to the 18th century. Historical linguists generally agree that Tibet names in European languages are loanwords from Semitic Ṭībat orTūbātt, itself deriving from Turkic Töbäd, literally, according to Matthew Kapstein, From the perspective of historical linguistics, Tibetan most closely resembles Burmese among the major languages of Asia. More controversial is the theory that the Tibeto-Burman family is part of a larger language family, called Sino-Tibetan
2.
Vajra
–
Vajra is a Sanskrit word meaning both thunderbolt and diamond. Additionally, it is a weapon won in battle which is used as an object to symbolize both the properties of a diamond and a thunderbolt. The vajra is essentially a type of club with a spherical head. The ribs may meet in a top, or they may be separate. The use of the vajra as a symbolic and ritual tool spread from India along with Indian religion and culture to other parts of Asia. According to Asko Parpola, the Sanskrit Vajra- and Avestan Vazra- both refer to a weapon of the Godhead, and are possibly from the Proto-Indo-European root *weg- which means to be powerful, the earliest mention of the vajra is in the Rigveda, part of the four Vedas. It is described as the weapon of Indra, the chief among Gods, Indra is described as using the vajra to kill sinners and ignorant persons. The Rigveda states that the weapon was made for Indra by Tvastar, the associated story describes Indra using the vajra, which he held in his hand, to slay the asura Vritra, who took the form of a serpent. On account of his skill in wielding the vajra, some used for Indra in the Rigveda were Vajrabhrit, Vajrivat or Vajrin, Vajradaksina. The association of the Vajra with Indra was continued with some modifications in the later Puranic literature, buddhaghoṣa, a major figure of Theravada Buddhism in the 5th century, identified the Bodhisattva Vajrapani with Indra. Many later puranas describe the vajra, with the modified from the Rigvedic original. One major addition involves the role of the Sage Dadhichi, according to one account, Indra, the king of the deva was once driven out of devaloka by an asura named Vritra. Indra, who had lost all hope of recovering his kingdom was said to have approached Shiva who could not help him, Indra along with Shiva and Brahma went to seek the aid of Vishnu. Vishnu revealed to Indra that only the weapon made from the bones of Dadhichi would defeat Vritra, Indra and the other deva therefore approached the sage, whom Indra had once beheaded, and asked him for his aid in defeating Vritra. Dadhichi acceded to the devas request but said that he wished that he had time to go on a pilgrimage to all the rivers before he gave up his life for them. Indra then brought all the waters of the holy rivers to Naimisha Forest. Dadhichi is then said to have given up his life by the art of yoga after which the gods fashioned the vajrayudha from his spine and this weapon was then used to defeat the asura, allowing Indra to reclaim his place as the king of devaloka. Another version of the story exists where Dadhichi was asked to safeguard the weapons of the gods as they were unable to match the arcane arts being employed by the asura to obtain them
3.
Bodhisattva
–
Bodhisattvas are a popular subject in Buddhist art. In early Indian Buddhism, the term bodhisattva was primarily used to specifically to Gautama Buddha in his former life. The Jataka tales, which are the stories of the Buddhas past lives, depict the various attempts of the bodhisattva to embrace qualities like self-sacrifice, mount Potalaka, for example, is one of Bodhisattvayana. Because Hinayana was disliked and the terms Śrāvaka-Bodhisattva or Pratyekabuddha-Bodhisattva were not widely used, nevertheless, bodhisattva retained an implied reference to someone on the path to become an arhat or pratyekabuddha. In contrast, the goal of Mahayanas bodhisattva path is to achieve Samyaksambodhiṃ, when, during his discourses, he recounts his experiences as a young aspirant, he regularly uses the phrase When I was an unenlightened bodhisatta. The term therefore connotes a being who is bound for enlightenment, in other words, in the Pāli canon, the bodhisatta is also described as someone who is still subject to birth, illness, death, sorrow, defilement, and delusion. Some of the lives of the Buddha as a bodhisattva are featured in the Jataka tales. According to the Theravāda monk Bhikkhu Bodhi, the path is not taught in the earliest strata of Buddhist texts such as the Pali Nikayas which instead focus on the ideal of the Arahant. In later Theravada literature, the bodhisatta is used fairly frequently in the sense of someone on the path to liberation. He also quotes an inscription from the 10th Century king of Sri Lanka, Mahinda IV, paul Williams writes that some modern Theravada meditation masters in Thailand are popularly regarded as bodhisattvas. Like perhaps some of the early Mahāyāna forest hermit monks, or the later Buddhist Tantrics and they are widely revered, worshipped, and held to be arhats or bodhisattvas. Mahāyāna Buddhism is based principally upon the path of a bodhisattva, according to Jan Nattier, the term Mahāyāna was originally even an honorary synonym for Bodhisattvayāna, or the Bodhisattva Vehicle. The Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra contains a simple and brief definition for the term bodhisattva and this definition is given as the following. Because he has enlightenment as his aim, a bodhisattva-mahāsattva is so called, the early Rastrapalapariprccha sutra also promotes a solitary life of meditation in the forests, far away from the distractions of the householder life. The Rastrapala is also critical of monks living in monasteries and in cities who are seen as not practicing meditation. These texts seem to indicate the initial Bodhisattva ideal was associated with a strict forest asceticism, Mahāyāna Buddhism encourages everyone to become bodhisattvas and to take the bodhisattva vows. With these vows, one makes the promise to work for the enlightenment of all sentient beings by practicing the six perfections. Indelibly entwined with the vow is merit transference
4.
Mahayana
–
Mahayana is one of two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice. The Buddhist tradition of Vajrayana is sometimes classified as a part of Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva who has accomplished this goal is called a samyaksaṃbuddha, or fully enlightened Buddha. A samyaksaṃbuddha can establish the Dharma and lead disciples to enlightenment, Mahayana Buddhists teach that enlightenment can be attained in a single lifetime, and this can be accomplished even by a layperson. The Mahāyāna tradition is the largest major tradition of Buddhism existing today, with 53. 2% of practitioners, major traditions of Mahāyāna Buddhism today include Chan Buddhism, Korean Seon, Japanese Zen, Pure Land Buddhism, and Nichiren Buddhism. It may also include the Vajrayana traditions of Tiantai, Tendai, Shingon Buddhism, and Tibetan Buddhism, according to Jan Nattier, the term Mahāyāna was originally an honorary synonym for Bodhisattvayāna — the vehicle of a bodhisattva seeking buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. The term Mahāyāna was therefore formed independently at a date as a synonym for the path. The earliest Mahāyāna texts often use the term Mahāyāna as a synonym for Bodhisattvayāna, the presumed dichotomy between Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna can be deceptive, as the two terms were not actually formed in relation to one another in the same era. Among the earliest and most important references to the term Mahāyāna are those that occur in the Lotus Sūtra dating between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE. Seishi Karashima has suggested that the term first used in an earlier Gandhāri Prakrit version of the Lotus Sūtra was not the term mahāyāna, the origins of Mahāyāna are still not completely understood. The earliest Western views of Mahāyāna assumed that it existed as a school in competition with the so-called Hīnayāna schools. The earliest textual evidence of Mahāyāna comes from sūtras originating around the beginning of the common era. There is also no evidence that Mahāyāna ever referred to a formal school or sect of Buddhism, but rather that it existed as a certain set of ideals. Membership in these nikāyas, or monastic sects, continues today with the Dharmaguptaka nikāya in East Asia, therefore, Mahāyāna was never a separate rival sect of the early schools. Paul Harrison clarifies that while monastic Mahāyānists belonged to a nikāya, from Chinese monks visiting India, we now know that both Mahāyāna and non-Mahāyāna monks in India often lived in the same monasteries side by side. Those who venerate the bodhisattvas and read the Mahayana sūtras are called the Mahāyānists, much of the early extant evidence for the origins of Mahāyāna comes from early Chinese translations of Mahāyāna texts. These Mahāyāna teachings were first propagated into China by Lokakṣema, the first translator of Mahāyāna sūtras into Chinese during the 2nd century CE. Guang Xing states, Several scholars have suggested that the Prajñāpāramitā probably developed among the Mahāsāṃghikas in southern India, in the Āndhra country, warder believes that the Mahāyāna originated in the south of India and almost certainly in the Āndhra country. They note that the ancient Buddhist sites in the lower Kṛṣṇa Valley, including Amaravati, Nāgārjunakoṇḍā and Jaggayyapeṭa can be traced to at least the third century BCE, akira Hirakawa notes the evidence suggests that many Early Mahayana scriptures originated in South India
5.
Vajrayana
–
Vajrayāna, Mantrayāna, Esoteric Buddhism and Tantric Buddhism refer to the Buddhist tradition of Tantra, an esoteric system of beliefs and practices that developed in medieval India. Vajrayāna is usually translated as Diamond Vehicle or Thunderbolt Vehicle, referring to the Vajra, according to Vajrayāna scriptures, the term Vajrayāna refers to one of three vehicles or routes to enlightenment, the other two being the Śrāvakayāna and Mahāyāna. Founded by Indian Mahāsiddhas, Vajrayāna subscribes to the known as the Buddhist Tantras. Elements of Tantric Buddhism can be traced back to groups of wandering yogis called mahasiddhas. These yogic circles came together in tantric feasts often in sacred sites and places which included dancing, singing, sex rites and it is interesting to note that at least two of the Mahasiddhas given in the Buddhist literature are actually names for Shaiva Nath saints who practiced Hatha Yoga. According to Schumann, a movement called Sahaja-siddhi developed in the 8th century in Bengal and it was dominated by long-haired, wandering yogis called mahasiddhas who openly challenged and ridiculed the Buddhist establishment. The Mahasiddhas pursued siddhis, magical powers such as flight and Extrasensory perception as well as liberation, earlier Mahayana sutras already contained some elements which are emphasized in the Tantras, such as mantras and dharani. The practice of visualization of Buddhas such as Amitabha is also seen in texts like the Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra. Vajrayana developed a large corpus of texts called the Buddhist Tantras, some of which can be traced to at least the 7th century CE, the dating of the tantras is a difficult, indeed an impossible task according to David Snellgrove. The earliest such texts include the Mahavairocana Tantra and the Guhyasamāja Tantra. Later monastic Vajrayana Buddhists reinterpreted and internalized these radically transgressive and taboo practices as metaphors, the Kalachakra tantra developed in the 10th century. It is farthest removed from the earlier Buddhist traditions, and incorporates concepts of messianism, various classes of Vajrayana literature developed as a result of royal courts sponsoring both Buddhism and Saivism. According to Alexis Sanderson, the Vajrayana Yogini-tantras draw extensively from Shaiva Bhairava tantras classified as Vidyapitha, there is even direct borrowing of passages from Saiva texts. The Guhyasiddhi of Padmavajra, an associated with the Guhyasamaja tradition, prescribes acting as a Shaiva guru and initiating members into Saiva Siddhanta scriptures. The Samvara tantra texts adopted the pitha list from the Shaiva text Tantrasadbhava, according to Louis de La Vallée-Poussin and Alex Wayman, the view of the Vajrayana is based on Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, mainly the Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools. The major difference seen by Vajrayana thinkers is Tantras superiority due to being a vehicle to liberation containing many skillful methods of tantric ritual. The doctrine of Buddha-nature, as outlined in the Ratnagotravibhāga of Asanga, was also an important theory which became the basis for Tantric views, by passion the world is bound, by passion too it is released, but by heretical Buddhists this practice of reversals is not known. As Snellgrove notes, this doctrine is also present in Asangas Mahayana-sutra-alamkara-karika and therefore it is possible that he was aware of Tantric techniques
6.
Shingon Buddhism
–
For that reason, it is often called Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, or Orthodox Esoteric Buddhism. The word Shingon is the Japanese reading of Chinese, 真言 Zhēnyán True Words, Kūkai returned to Japan as Huiguos lineage- and Dharma-successor. Shingon followers usually refer to Kūkai as Kōbō-Daishi or Odaishi-sama, the name given to him years after his death by Emperor Daigo. Before he went to China, Kūkai had been an independent monk in Japan for over a decade and he was extremely well versed in classical Chinese prose, calligraphy and Buddhist texts. Esoteric Buddhism was not considered to be a different sect or school yet at that time, Huiguo was the first person to gather the still scattered elements of Indian and Chinese Esoteric Buddhism into a cohesive system. When Kūkai was 22, he learned this mantra from Gonsō and he persevered in this mantra practice for seven years and mastered it. According to tradition, this brought him siddhis of superhuman memory retention. Kūkai would later praise the power and efficacy of Kokuzō-Gumonjiho practice, kūkais respect for Ākāśagarbha was so great that he regarded him as his honzon for the rest of his life. It was also during this period of intense mantra practice that Kūkai dreamt of a man telling him to out the Mahavairocana Tantra for the doctrine that he sought. The Mahavairocana Tantra had only recently made available in Japan. He was able to obtain a copy in Chinese but large portions were in Sanskrit in the Siddhaṃ script, which he did not know, and even the Chinese portions were too arcane for him to understand. He believed that teaching was a door to the truth he sought. Thus, Kūkai resolved to travel to China to spend the necessary to fully understand the Mahavairocana Tantra. When Kūkai reached China and first met Huiguo on the month of 805, Huiguo was age sixty. Huiguo exclaimed to Kūkai in Chinese, At last, you have come, I have been waiting for you. Quickly, prepare yourself for initiation into the mandalas, Huiguo had foreseen that Esoteric Buddhism would not survive in India and China in the near future and that it was Kukais destiny to see it continue in Japan. In the short space of three months, Huiguo initiated and taught Kūkai everything he knew on the doctrines and practices of the Mandala of the Two Realms as well as mastery of Sanskrit and Chinese. Huiguo declared Kūkai to be his disciple and proclaimed him a Dharma successor
7.
Samantabhadra
–
Samantabhadra is a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with practice and meditation. Together with Gautama Buddha and his fellow bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, he forms the Shakyamuni trinity in Buddhism and he is the patron of the Lotus Sutra and, according to the Avatamsaka Sutra, made the ten great vows which are the basis of a bodhisattva. In China, Samantabhadra is associated with action, whereas Mañjuśrī is associated with prajñā, in Japan, this bodhisattva is often venerated by the Tendai and in Shingon Buddhism, and as the protector of the Lotus Sutra by Nichiren Buddhism. In the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, Samantabhadra is also the name of the Adi-Buddha – in indivisible Yab-Yum with his consort, Samantabhadra is also a key figure in the Āvataṃsaka-sūtra, particularly the last chapter, the Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra. In the Āvataṃsaka-sūtra, the Buddha states that Samantabhadra Bodhisattva made ten great vows in his path to full Buddhahood, To pay homage, to praise the Thus Come One-Tathagata. To repent misdeeds and evil karmas, to rejoice in others merits and virtues. To request the Buddhas to continue teaching, to request the Buddhas to remain in the world. To follow the teachings of the Buddhas at all times, to accommodate and benefit all living beings. To transfer all merits and virtues to benefit all beings, unlike his more popular counterpart Manjusri, Samantabhadra is only rarely depicted alone and is usually found in a trinity on the right side of Shakyamuni, mounted on a white elephant. In those traditions that accept the Avatamsaka Sutra as its root instruction, Samantabhadra and Manjusri flank Vairocana Buddha and it is in this guise that Samantabhadra is revered as the patron bodhisattva of the monasteries associated with Mount Emei in western China. Some believe that the elephant mount of Samantabhadra was the same elephant that appeared to Queen Maya. Mahayana esoteric traditions treat Samantabhada as one of the Primordial Buddhas and this comes from the fact that both figures have the same name but their meaning within their respective traditions is quite different. In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, particularly the Nyingma school, Dharmakaya Samantabhadra is considered the most primordial Buddha, akin in status to Vajradhara for the Sarma traditions. Samantabhadra appears in the Vajrayana tantric text the Kunjed Gyalpo Tantra, as the Primordial Buddha, therefore, in Tibetan Buddhism the Nyingma, or Old Translation school, the Sakya and the Bön schools view Samantabhadra as the Primordial Buddha. In the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana, Samantabhadra is considered a primordial Buddha in indivisible yab-yum union with his consort Samantabhadri, however, the Kagyu and Gelug schools use Vajradhara to represent the Primordial Buddha. Samantabhadra is not a colored being with two eyes, etc, the Mirror of the Mind of Samantabhadra is one of the Seventeen Tantras of Dzogchen Upadesha. Sri Lankan people venerates Samantabhadra Bodhisatva as Saman, the name Saman means the rising morning sun. God Saman is considered one of the deities of the island
8.
Tibetan Buddhism
–
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, the regions surrounding the Himalayas and much of Central Asia. It derives from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism and preserves the Tantric status quo of eighth-century India, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Religious texts and commentaries comprise the Tibetan Buddhist canon, such that Tibetan is a language of these areas. Among its prominent exponents is the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the number of its adherents is estimated to be between ten and twenty million. Westerners unfamiliar with Tibetan Buddhism initially turned to China for an understanding, there the term used was lamaism to distinguish it from a then traditional Chinese form. The term was taken up by scholars including Hegel, as early as 1822. Insofar as it implies a discontinuity between Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, the term has been discredited, another term, Vajrayāna is occasionally used mistakenly for Tibetan Buddhism. More accurately, it signifies a certain subset of practices included in, not only Tibetan Buddhism, the native Tibetan term for all Buddhism is doctrine of the internalists. There is an association between the religious and the secular the spiritual and the temporal in Tibet. The term for this relationship is chos srid zung brel, in the west the term Indo-Tibetan Buddhism has become current, in acknowledgement of its derivation from the latest stages of Buddhist development in northern India. Tibetan Buddhism comprises the teachings of the three vehicles of Buddhism, the Foundational Vehicle, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna, the Mahāyāna goal of spiritual development is to achieve the enlightenment of buddhahood in order to most efficiently help all other sentient beings attain this state. The motivation in it is the mind of enlightenment — an altruistic intention to become enlightened for the sake of all sentient beings. Bodhisattvas are revered beings who have conceived the will and vow to dedicate their lives with bodhicitta for the sake of all beings, Tibetan Buddhism teaches methods for achieving buddhahood more quickly by including the Vajrayāna path in Mahāyāna. Buddhahood is defined as a free of the obstructions to liberation as well as those to omniscience. When one is freed from all mental obscurations, one is said to attain a state of continuous bliss mixed with a simultaneous cognition of emptiness, in this state, all limitations on ones ability to help other living beings are removed. It is said there are countless beings who have attained buddhahood. Buddhas spontaneously, naturally and continuously perform activities to all sentient beings. However it is believed that ones karma could limit the ability of the Buddhas to help them, there is a long history of oral transmission of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism
9.
Mahavairocana Tantra
–
The Mahāvairocana Tantra is an important Vajrayana Buddhist text. It is also known as the Mahāvairocana Abhisaṃbodhi Tantra, or more fully as the Mahāvairocana Abhisaṃbodhi Vikurvita Adhiṣṭhāna Tantra, in Tibet it is considered to be a member of the Carya class of tantras. In Japan where it is known as the Mahāvairocana Sūtra, it is one of two texts in the Shingon school, along with the Vajrasekhara Sutra. Both are also part of the Tendai school, the Mahāvairocana Tantra is the first true Buddhist tantra, the earliest comprehensive manual of tantric Buddhism. It was probably composed in the middle of the 7th century, the Sanskrit text of the Mahāvairocana Tantra is lost, but it survives in Chinese and Tibetan translations. The Chinese translation has preserved the original Sanskrit mantras in the Siddhaṃ script, there are translations from both into English. The text was translated into Chinese in 724 by Śubhakarasiṃha who had travelled to China from Nālandā and it is possible that the Sanskrit text was taken to China circa 674 by the Chinese pilgrim Wu-xing. It was translated into Tibetan sometime before 812 by Śīlendrabodhi and dPal brTsegs, a major commentary by Buddhaguhya was written in about 760 and is preserved in Tibetan. Hodge translates it into English alongside the text itself, kūkai learned of the Mahāvairocana Tantra in 796, and travelled to China in 804 to receive instruction in it. The Mahāvairocana Tantra consists of three primary mandalas corresponding to the body, speech and mind of Mahāvairocana, as well as preliminary practices, according to Buddhaguhya’s Piṇḍārtha the Mahāvairocana Tantra system of practice is in three stages, preliminary, application, and accomplishment. Attached here and there are doctrinal passages, and sadhana practices which relate back to the main mandalas, the following outline is based on Hodges translation of the Tibetan version of the Sutra. The Chinese version has differences in the order of the chapters, I - The sutra begins in a timeless setting of Mahavairocana Buddhas palace, with a dialogue between Mahavairocana Buddha and his disciple Vajrasattva. In chapter one, Mahavairocana Buddha expounds the Dharma to a great host of bodhisattvas, iI-VI Three chapter on the mandala of the Body Mystery with detailed instruction on the laying out of the mandala and the abhiṣekha ritual. This mandala is also known as the Mandala of the Womb Realm, vII-IX Three miscellaneous chapters originally at the end of the text. They are at the end in the Chinese version, x-XII Three chapters on the mandala of the Speech Mystery. Includes a series of glosses on meditating using the letter of the alphabet in various combinations, xII-XVI Five chapters on the mandala of the Mind Mystery XVII A stand alone chapter that may once have circulated separately. XVIII-XIX A further chapter regarding meditating on the letters of the alphabet which involves placing them around the body while visualising oneself as the Buddha, XX A standalone chapter address to bodhisattvas XXI-XXV Four chapters on the 100 syllable meditation. XXVI-XXX Five miscellaneous chapters including the six homa rites, instead it comes directly from Mahavairocana
10.
Vajrasekhara Sutra
–
The Vajrasekhara Sutra is an important Buddhist tantra used in the Vajrayana schools of Buddhism, but can refer to a number of different works. In Tibetan it is considered to be the representative of the Yoga Tantra class of texts. The sutra begins with Mahavairocana Buddha preaching the Dharma to a great host of Bodhisattvas, including Vajrasattva, as he preaches the Dharma, Prince Sarvarthasiddhi, the esoteric name of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, is meditating under the Bodhi Tree. Enlightenment is imminent, but the Prince has still not attained it because he is attached in some small way to his forsaken ascetic practices. Despairing over his inability to find Enlightenment, he is visited by Buddhist figures who were just now learning the Dharma from Mahavairocana and these same deities proceed to teach him a more direct path to Enlightenment through esoteric ritual. The sutra then details the rituals used to actualize the Dharma and these rituals help forming the basis of esoteric ritual in Shingon Buddhism, including such practices as meditating upon the full moon and the use of certain mantras. This sutra also introduces the Diamond Realm Mandala as a focus for meditative practices, in esoteric ritual, the teacher of the esoteric Buddhism assumes the role of the Prince who constructs the Mandala, while the master and student repeat specific mantras in a form of dialogue. The student, who is blindfolded, then throws a flower upon the Mandala that is constructed, from there, the students blindfold is removed and a vajra is placed in hand. Kukai Mahavairocana Sutra Shingon Ryuichi Abe, The Weaving of Mantra, Kukai, new York, NY, Columbia University Press,1999 ISBN 0-231-11286-6
11.
Diamond Realm
–
In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Diamond Realm is a metaphysical space inhabited by the Five Wisdom Buddhas. The Diamond Realm Mandala is based on an esoteric Buddhist sutra called the Vajrasekhara Sutra, the Diamond Realm is a very popular subject for mandalas, and along with the Womb Realm Mandala forms the Mandala of the Two Realms. This mandala, along with the Womb Realm, form the core of Japanese esoteric, or Shingon Buddhist, rituals, in this ritual, new initiates are blindfolded, and are asked to toss a flower upon a mandala. Where the flower lands helps decide which Buddhist figure the student should devote themselves to, in traditional Shingon Buddhist halls, the Diamond Realm Mandala is hung on the west wall symbolizing the final realization of Mahāvairocana Buddha. In this setting, the Womb Realm Mandala is hung on the east wall, dhatu - Vajradhatu - Garbhadhatu - Dharmadhatu Grotenhuis, Elizabeth Ten
12.
Akshobhya
–
In Vajrayana Buddhism, Akshobhya is one of the Five Wisdom Buddhas, a product of the Adibuddha, who represents consciousness as an aspect of reality. By convention he is located in the east of the Diamond Realm and is the lord of the Eastern Pure Land Abhirati and his consort is Lochanā and he is normally accompanied by two elephants. His color is blue-black and his attributes include the bell, three robes, and staff, along with a jewel, lotus, prayer wheel, and sword. Akshobhya appears in the Scripture of the Buddha-land of Akshobhya, which dates from 147 AD and is the oldest known Pure Land text. According to the scripture, a monk wished to practice the Dharma in the world of delight. He duly proved immovable and when he succeeded, he became the buddha Akshobhya, Akshobhya is sometimes merged with Acala, whose name also means immovable one in Sanskrit. However, Acala is not a buddha, but one of the Five Wisdom Kings of the Womb Realm in Vajrayana. Prior to the advent of Bhaisajyaguru, Akshobhya was the subject of a cult in Japan as a healing buddha. Recently, newly discovered Gāndhārī texts from Pakistan in the Bajaur Collection have been found to contain fragments of an early Mahāyāna sutra mentioning Akshobhya, preliminary dating through palaeography suggests a late 1st century to early 2nd century AD provenance. More conclusive radiocarbon dating is under way, a preliminary report on these texts has been issued by Ingo Strauch, with a paper on Akshobhya texts published 2010. Akshobhya is the embodiment of mirror knowledge, a knowledge of what is real, and what is illusion, or a mere reflection of actual reality. The mirror is mind itself - clear like the sky, empty yet luminous, holding all the images of space and time, yet untouched by them. He represents the mind, and the Vajra family is connected with reason. Its brilliance illuminates the darkness of ignorance, its sharpness cuts through confusion, the Vajra family, to which Akshobhya belongs, is associated with the element of water. This is why the two colours of Vajra are blue or white, bright white like sun reflecting off water, and blue, like the depths of the ocean. Even if the surface of the ocean is blown into crashing waves, and though water may seem ethereal and weightless, in truth it is extremely heavy. Water flows into the lowest place and settles there and it carves through solid rock, but calmly, without violence. When frozen, it is hard, sharp, and clear like the intellect and these are all the essential qualities of Akshobhya
13.
Nagarjuna
–
Nāgārjuna is widely considered one of the most important Mahayana philosophers. Along with his disciple Āryadeva, he is considered to be the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Nāgārjuna is also credited with developing the philosophy of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras and, in sources, with having revealed these scriptures in the world. Furthermore, he is supposed to have written several treatises on rasayana as well as serving a term as the head of Nālandā. Very little is known of the life of Nāgārjuna, since the surviving accounts were written in Chinese. According to some accounts, Nāgārjuna was originally from South India, some scholars believe that Nāgārjuna was an advisor to a king of the Satavahana dynasty. Archaeological evidence at Amarāvatī indicates that if this is true, the king may have been Yajña Śrī Śātakarṇi, on the basis of this association, Nāgārjuna is conventionally placed at around 150–250 CE. According to a 4th/5th-century biography translated by Kumārajīva, Nāgārjuna was born into a Brahmin family in Vidarbha, some sources claim that in his later years, Nāgārjuna lived on the mountain of Śrīparvata near the city that would later be called Nāgārjunakoṇḍa. The ruins of Nāgārjunakoṇḍa are located in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, the Caitika and Bahuśrutīya nikāyas are known to have had monasteries in Nāgārjunakoṇḍa. There exist a number of influential texts attributed to Nāgārjuna though, as there are many pseudepigrapha attributed to him, the only work that all scholars agree is Nagarjunas is the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, which contains the essentials of his thought in twenty-seven chapters. TRV Murti considers Ratnaavali, Pratitya Samutpaada Hridaya and Sutra Samuccaya to be works of Nagarjuna as the first two are quoted profusely by Chandrakirti and the third by Shantideva, in addition to works mentioned above, several others are attributed to Nāgārjuna. There is an ongoing, lively controversy over which of those works are authentic, contemporary research suggest that these works belong to a significantly later period, either to late 8th or early 9th century CE, and hence can not be authentic works of Nāgārjuna. However, several works considered important in esoteric Buddhism are attributed to Nāgārjuna and these historians try to account for chronological difficulties with various theories. For example, a propagation of later writings via mystical revelation, for a useful summary of this tradition, see Wedemeyer 2007. Lindtner considers that the Māhaprajñāparamitopadeśa Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom is not a work of Nāgārjuna. This work is attested in a Chinese translation by Kumārajīva. There is much discussion as to whether this is a work of Nāgārjuna. Étienne Lamotte, who translated one third of the work into French, the Chinese scholar-monk Yin Shun felt that it was the work of a South Indian and that Nāgārjuna was quite possibly the author. These two views are not necessarily in opposition and a South Indian Nāgārjuna could well have studied the northern Sarvāstivāda, neither of the two felt that it was composed by Kumārajīva, which others have suggested
14.
Tantra
–
Tantra is the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that co-developed most likely about the middle of 1st millennium CE. The term tantra, in the Indian traditions, also means any systematic broadly applicable text, theory, system, method, instrument, in Hinduism, the tantra tradition is most often associated with its goddess tradition called Shaktism, followed by Shaivism and Vaishnavism. In Buddhism, the Vajrayana tradition is known for its extensive tantra ideas, Tantric Hindu and Buddhist traditions have influenced other religious traditions such as Jainism, Sikhism, the Tibetan Bön tradition, Daoism, and the Japanese Shintō tradition. Tantra as genre of literature in Hinduism have been influential to its arts, icons, Hindu puja, temples and iconography are tantric in nature. The Hindu texts that describe these topics are called Tantras, Āgamas or Samhitās, in Buddhism, its tantra-genre literature has influenced the artworks in Tibet, historic cave temples of India, and imagery in southeast Asia. Tantra literally means loom, warp, weave, the connotation of the word tantra to mean an esoteric practice or religious ritualism is a colonial era European invention. The term is based on the metaphor of weaving, states Ron Barrett and it implies interweaving of traditions and teachings as threads into a text, technique or practice. The word appears in the hymns of the Rigveda such as in 10.71 and it is found in many other Vedic era texts, such as in section 10.7.42 of the Atharvaveda and many Brahmanas. In these and post-Vedic texts, the meaning of Tantra is that which is principal or essential part, main point, model, framework. The term “Tantra” after about 500 BCE, in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism is a bibliographic category, the same Buddhist texts are sometimes referred to as tantra or sutra, for example, Vairocabhisambodhi-tantra is also referred to as Vairocabhisambodhi-sutra. The various contextual meaning of the word Tantra varies with the Indian text, the earliest definitions and expositions on Tantra come from the ancient texts of Panini, Patanjali and the literature of the language-focussed, ritual-oriented Mimamsa school of Hindu philosophy. The word tantra, states Patanjali, means principal, main, Patanjali also offers a semantic definition of Tantra, stating that it is structural rules, standard procedures, centralized guide or knowledge in any field that applies to many elements. The ancient Mimamsa school of Hinduism uses the term tantra extensively, for example, When an action or a thing, once complete, becomes beneficial in several matters to one person, or to many people, that is known as Tantra. For example, a lamp placed amidst many priests, in contrast, that which benefits by its repetition is called Āvāpa, such as massaging with oil. Medieval texts present their own definitions of Tantra, in modern era scholarship, Tantra has been studied as an esoteric practice and ritualistic religion, sometimes referred to as Tantrism. There is wide gap between what Tantra means to its followers, and what Tantra has been represented or perceived as since colonial era writers began commenting on Tantra, many definitions of Tantra have been proposed ever since, and there is no universally accepted definition of Tantra. André Padoux in his review of Tantra definitions offers two, then rejects both, another definition, more common among observers and non-practitioners, is some set of mechanistic rituals, omitting entirely the ideological side. According to David N. Lorenzen, two different kinds of definitions of Tantra exist, a definition and a broad definition
15.
Mantra
–
A Mantra is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit believed by practitioners to have psychological and spiritual powers. A mantra may or may not have syntactic structure or literal meaning, the earliest mantras were composed in Vedic Sanskrit by Hindus in India, and are at least 3000 years old. Mantras now exist in various schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, in Japanese Shingon tradition, the word Shingon means mantra. Similar hymns, chants, compositions and concepts are found in Zoroastrianism, Taoism, Christianity, the use, structure, function, importance, and types of mantras vary according to the school and philosophy of Hinduism and of Buddhism. Mantras serve a role in tantra. In this school, mantras are considered to be a sacred formula, in other schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism or Sikhism, initiation is not a requirement. Mantras come in forms, including ṛc and sāman. They are typically melodic, mathematically structured meters, believed to be resonant with numinous qualities, at its simplest, the word ॐ serves as a mantra. In more sophisticated forms, mantras are melodic phrases with spiritual interpretations such as a longing for truth, reality, light, immortality, peace, love, knowledge. Some mantras have no meaning, yet are musically uplifting. The Sanskrit word mantra- consists of the root man- to think, scholars consider mantras to be older than 1000 BC. By the middle Vedic period—1000 BC to 500 BC—claims Frits Staal, mantras in Hinduism had developed into a blend of art, the Chinese translation is zhenyan 眞言, 真言, literally true words, the Japanese onyomi reading of the Chinese being shingon. Mantras are neither unique to Hinduism, nor to other Indian religions such as Buddhism, similar creative constructs developed in Asian, mantras, suggests Frits Staal, may be older than language. There is no accepted definition of mantra. Renou has defined mantra as thought, mantras are structured formulae of thoughts, claims Silburn. Farquhar concludes that mantras are a religious thought, prayer, sacred utterance, zimmer defines mantra as a verbal instrument to produce something in one’s mind. There is no universally applicable uniform definition of mantra because mantras are used in different religions, in some schools of Hinduism for example, suggests Gonda, mantra is sakti to the devotee in the form of formulated and expressed thought. Staal clarifies that mantras are not rituals, they are what is recited or chanted during a ritual, There is a long history of scholarly disagreement on the meaning of mantras and whether they are really instruments of mind, as implied by the etymological origin of the word mantra
16.
Standard Tibetan
–
Standard Tibetan is the most widely spoken form of the Tibetic languages. It is based on the speech of Lhasa, an Ü-Tsang dialect, for this reason, Standard Tibetan is often called Lhasa Tibetan. Tibetan is a language of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. The written language is based on Classical Tibetan and is highly conservative, like many languages, Standard Tibetan has a variety of language registers, Phal-skad, the vernacular speech. Zhe-sa, the spoken style, particularly prominent in Lhasa. Chos-skad, the style in which the scriptures and other classical works are written. In scientific and astrological works, the numerals, as in Vedic Sanskrit, are expressed by symbolical words, Tibetan is written with an Indic script, with a historically conservative orthography that reflects Old Tibetan phonology and helps unify the Tibetan-language area. Wylie transliteration is the most common system of romanization used by Western scholars in rendering written Tibetan using the Latin alphabet, Tibetan pinyin, however, is the official romanization system employed by the government of the Peoples Republic of China. Certain names may also retain irregular transcriptions, such as Chomolungma for Mount Everest, the following summarizes the sound system of the dialect of Tibetan spoken in Lhasa, the most influential variety of the spoken language. These sounds normally occur in closed syllables, because Tibetan does not allow geminated consonants, the result is that the first is pronounced as an open syllable but retains the vowel typical of a closed syllable. For instance, zhabs is pronounced and pad is pronounced, but the compound word and this process can result in minimal pairs involving sounds that are otherwise allophones. Sources vary on whether the phone and the phone are distinct or basically identical, phonemic vowel length exists in Lhasa Tibet but in a restricted set of circumstances. Assimilation of Classical Tibetans suffixes, normally ‘i, at the end of a word produces a long vowel in Lhasa Tibetan, in normal spoken pronunciation, a lengthening of the vowel is also frequently substituted for the sounds and when they occur at the end of a syllable. The vowels, and each have nasalized forms, and, respectively, in some unusual cases, the vowels, and may also be nasalised. The Lhasa dialect is described as having two tones, high and low. However, in words, each tone can occur with two distinct contours. It is normally safe to only between the two tones because there are very few minimal pairs that differ only because of contour. The difference occurs only in words ending in the sounds or, for instance
17.
Japanese language
–
Japanese is an East Asian language spoken by about 125 million speakers, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is a member of the Japonic language family, whose relation to language groups, particularly to Korean. Little is known of the prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century recorded a few Japanese words, during the Heian period, Chinese had considerable influence on the vocabulary and phonology of Old Japanese. Late Middle Japanese saw changes in features that brought it closer to the modern language, the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region in the Early Modern Japanese period. Following the end in 1853 of Japans self-imposed isolation, the flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, English loanwords in particular have become frequent, and Japanese words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative, mora-timed language with simple phonotactics, a vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length. Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or make questions. Nouns have no number or gender, and there are no articles. Verbs are conjugated, primarily for tense and voice, but not person, Japanese equivalents of adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a system of honorifics with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of the speaker, the listener. Japanese has no relationship with Chinese, but it makes extensive use of Chinese characters, or kanji, in its writing system. Along with kanji, the Japanese writing system uses two syllabic scripts, hiragana and katakana. Latin script is used in a fashion, such as for imported acronyms. Very little is known about the Japanese of this period, Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language. Through the spread of Buddhism, the Chinese writing system was imported to Japan, the earliest texts found in Japan are written in Classical Chinese, but they may have been meant to be read as Japanese by the kanbun method. Some of these Chinese texts show the influences of Japanese grammar, in these hybrid texts, Chinese characters are also occasionally used phonetically to represent Japanese particles. The earliest text, the Kojiki, dates to the early 8th century, the end of Old Japanese coincides with the end of the Nara period in 794
18.
Chinese language
–
Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases mutually unintelligible, language varieties, forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the Han majority and many ethnic groups in China. Nearly 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese as their first language, the varieties of Chinese are usually described by native speakers as dialects of a single Chinese language, but linguists note that they are as diverse as a language family. The internal diversity of Chinese has been likened to that of the Romance languages, There are between 7 and 13 main regional groups of Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin, followed by Wu, Min, and Yue. Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, although some, like Xiang and certain Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms, all varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic. Standard Chinese is a form of spoken Chinese based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. It is the language of China and Taiwan, as well as one of four official languages of Singapore. It is one of the six languages of the United Nations. The written form of the language, based on the logograms known as Chinese characters, is shared by literate speakers of otherwise unintelligible dialects. Of the other varieties of Chinese, Cantonese is the spoken language and official in Hong Kong and Macau. It is also influential in Guangdong province and much of Guangxi, dialects of Southern Min, part of the Min group, are widely spoken in southern Fujian, with notable variants also spoken in neighboring Taiwan and in Southeast Asia. Hakka also has a diaspora in Taiwan and southeast Asia. Shanghainese and other Wu varieties are prominent in the lower Yangtze region of eastern China, Chinese can be traced back to a hypothetical Sino-Tibetan proto-language. The first written records appeared over 3,000 years ago during the Shang dynasty, as the language evolved over this period, the various local varieties became mutually unintelligible. In reaction, central governments have sought to promulgate a unified standard. Difficulties have included the great diversity of the languages, the lack of inflection in many of them, in addition, many of the smaller languages are spoken in mountainous areas that are difficult to reach, and are often also sensitive border zones. Without a secure reconstruction of proto-Sino-Tibetan, the structure of the family remains unclear. A top-level branching into Chinese and Tibeto-Burman languages is often assumed, the earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 1250 BCE in the late Shang dynasty
19.
Japan
–
Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
20.
Vairocana
–
Vairocana is a celestial buddha who is often interpreted, in texts like the Flower Garland Sutra, as the Dharma Body of the historical Buddha. In Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Buddhism, Vairocana is also seen as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of Emptiness, in the conception of the Five Wisdom Buddhas of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Vairocana is at the centre and is considered a Primordial Buddha. Vairocana is not to be confused with Vairocana Mahabali, son of Virochana, Vairocana Buddha is first introduced in the Brahma Net Sutra, Now, I, Vairocana Buddha am sitting atop a lotus pedestal, On a thousand flowers surrounding me are a thousand Sakyamuni Buddhas. Each flower supports a hundred million worlds, in each world a Sakyamuni Buddha appears, all are seated beneath a Bodhi-tree, all simultaneously attain Buddhahood. All these innumerable Buddhas have Vairocana as their original body and he is also mentioned in the Flower Garland Sutra, however, the doctrine of Vairocana Buddha is based largely on the teachings of the Mahavairocana Sutra and to a lesser degree the Vajrasekhara Sutra. He is also mentioned as an epithet of the Buddha Śakyamuni in the Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue, who dwells in a place called Always Tranquil Light. Vairocana is the Primordial Buddha in the Chinese schools of Tiantai and Hua-Yen Buddhism, also appearing in schools including the Japanese Kegon, Shingon. In the case of Shingon and Hua-Yen schools, Vairocana is the central figure, as Xavier learned more about the religious nuances of the word, he substituted the term Deusu, which he derived from the Latin and Portuguese Deus. The Shingon Buddhist monk, Dohan, regarded the two great Buddhas, Amida and Vairocana, as one and the same Dharmakaya Buddha and as the nature at the core of all beings. With regard to Emptiness, the size and brilliance of Vairocana statues serve as a reminder that all conditioned existence is empty. The Vairocana statue in Naras Tōdai-ji in Japan was the largest bronze image of Vairocana Buddha in the world, the larger of the monumental statues that were destroyed at Bamyan in Afghanistan was also a depiction of Vairocana. In Java, Indonesia, the 9th-century Mendut temple near Borobudur in Magelang was dedicated to Dhyani Buddha Vairocana, built by the Sailendra dynasty, the temple featured a three-meter tall stone statue of Dhyani Buddha Vairocana, seated and performing the Dharmachakra mudra. The statue is flanked with statues of Boddhisatva Avalokitesvara and Boddhisatva Vajrapani, the Spring Temple Buddha of Lushan County, Henan, China, with a height of 126 meters, is the tallest statue in the world. Five Dhyani Buddhas Mahavairocana Tantra Mantra of Light Birmingham, Vessantara, meeting The Buddhas, Windhorse Publications, ISBN 0-904766-53-5. Cook, Francis H. Hua-Yen Buddhism, The Jewel Net of Indra, the meaning of Vairocana in Hua-Yen Buddhism, Philosophy East and West 22, 403-415 Park, Kwangsoo. A Comparative Study of the Concept of Dharmakaya Buddha, Vairocana in Hua-yen and Mahavairocana in Shingon Buddhism, International Journal of Buddhist Thought and Culture 2, 305-331 Reeves, the Lotus Sutra, A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic
21.
Amoghavajra
–
Born in Samarkand of an Indian father and Sogdian mother, he went to China at age 10 after his fathers death. In 719, he was ordained into the sangha by Vajrabodhi, after all foreign monks were expelled from China in 741, he and some associates went on a pilgrimage to gather texts, visiting Sri Lanka, Indochina and India. During this voyage, he apparently met Nagabodhi, Vajrabodhis master and he returned to China in 746 with some five hundred volumes. In 750, he left the court to join the military governorship of General Geshu Han of the Tang dynasty, for whom he conducted large-scale tantric initiations at his field headquarters. In 754, he translated the first portion of the Tattvasaṃgraha Tantra texts, central to the Outer Tantras of Vajrayana Buddhism and he regarded its teachings as the most effective method for attaining enlightenment yet devised, and incorporated its basic schema in a number of writings. Amoghavajra was captured in the An Lushan Rebellion but in 757 was freed by loyalist forces, whereupon he performed rites to purify the capital, two years later, he initiated the emperor Emperor Suzong of Tang as a chakravartin. In 765, Amoghavajra used his new rendition of the Humane King Sutra in a ritual to counter the advance of a 200, 000-strong army of Tibetan. Its leader, Pugu Huaien, dropped dead in camp and his forces dispersed, the opulent Jinge Temple on Mount Wutai was completed in 767, a pet project of Amoghavajra, one of his many efforts to promote the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī as the protector of China. Amoghavajra continued to perform rites to avert disaster at the request of Emperor Daizong of Tang, on his death in 774, three days of mourning were officially declared, and he posthumously received various exalted titles. The Chinese monks Huilang, Huiguo and Huilin were among his most prominent successors, seventy-seven texts were translated by Amoghavajra according to his own account, though many more, including original compositions, are ascribed to him in the Chinese canons. Digital Dictionary of Buddhism A review of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, Amoghavajra and the Ruling Elite, by Geoffrey C
22.
India
–
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
23.
Abhiseka
–
Abhisheka or Abhishekam is a Sanskrit term akin to puja, yagya and arati that denotes, a devotional activity, an enacted prayer, rite of passage and/or religious rite. Within this range of senses, abhiṣeka is common to all Dharmic faiths such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, Abhisheka, also called Abhishekam, is conducted by priests, by pouring libations on the image of the deity being worshipped, amidst the chanting of mantras. Usually, offerings such as milk, yogurt, ghee, honey, Panchaamrutam, sesame oil, rosewater and this rite is routinely performed in some Hindu and Jain temples. Rudraabhisheka is performed on Shiva lingams and it originally was used as a consecration rite. Water from the four oceans was poured out of golden jars onto the head of the royalty and it was used during the monarchs accession ceremony and also his investiture ceremony. The abhiseka rite is a prelude for initiation into mystical teaching, there are four classes of abhiseaka, each being associated with one of the four Tantras. They are master consecration, secret consecration, knowledge of prajna, the Abhiseka Ritual in Shingon Buddhism is the initiation rite used to confirm that a student of esoteric Buddhism has now graduated to a higher level of practice. The kanji used literally mean pouring from the peak, which describes the process of passing on the masters teachings to the student. The rite was popular in China during the Tang Dynasty, and Kukai, founder of Shingon, a separate initiation rite exists for the general public called the kechien kanjō, and symbolizes their initiation into esoteric Buddhism. This rite is generally offered at Mt. Koya in Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. The Shingon rite utilizes one of the two Mandala of the Two Realms, depending on the occasion. The student, who is blindfolded, then throws a flower upon the Mandala that is constructed, from there, the students blindfold is removed and a vajra is placed in hand. Mahaabhishekam conducted at the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain, ghanshyam Maharaja abhishekam at Swaminarayan Temple, Godhar, Panchmahal, Gujarat. Lord Rama performed Abhisheka after installing a Jyotirlinga in Rameswaram with presiding deity Ramalingeshwar, archived from the original on 2007-06-10. Healing Through Yagya / Pooja / Occult, archived from the original on 2007-02-06. The Weaving of Mantra, Kukai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse, OCLC263969 Hakeda, Yoshito S. Kūkai and His Major Works. ISBN 0-231-05933-7 Hayward, Jeremy Warrior-King of Shambhala, Remembering Chögyam Trungpa
24.
Dharma
–
Dharma is a key concept with multiple meanings in the Indian religions — Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. There is no single word translation for dharma in western languages, in Buddhism dharma means cosmic law and order, but is also applied to the teachings of the Buddha. In Buddhist philosophy, dhamma/dharma is also the term for phenomena, Dharma in Jainism refers to the teachings of tirthankara and the body of doctrine pertaining to the purification and moral transformation of human beings. For Sikhs, the word means the path of righteousness. The Classical Sanskrit noun dharma is a derivation from the root dhṛ, the word dharma was already in use in the historical Vedic religion, and its meaning and conceptual scope has evolved over several millennia. The antonym of dharma is adharma, the Classical Sanskrit noun dharma is a derivation from the root dhṛ, which means to hold, maintain, keep, and takes a meaning of what is established or firm, and hence law. It is derived from an older Vedic Sanskrit n-stem dharman-, with a meaning of bearer, supporter. In the Rigveda, the word appears as an n-stem, dhárman-, figuratively, it means sustainer and supporter. It is semantically similar to the Greek Ethos, in Classical Sanskrit, the noun becomes thematic, dharma-. The word dharma derives from Proto-Indo-European root *dʰer-, which in Sanskrit is reflected as class-1 root √dhṛ, etymologically it is related to Avestan √dar-, Latin firmus, Lithuanian derė́ti, Lithuanian dermė and darna and Old Church Slavonic drъžati. Classical Sanskrit word dharmas would formally match with Latin o-stem firmus from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer-mo-s holding, were it not for its development from earlier Rigvedic n-stem. In Classical Sanskrit, and in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Atharvaveda, in Pāli, it is rendered dhamma. In some contemporary Indian languages and dialects it occurs as dharm. Dharma is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion and it has multiple meanings in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It is difficult to provide a concise definition for dharma, as the word has a long and varied history and straddles a complex set of meanings. There is no equivalent single word translation for dharma in western languages, there have been numerous, conflicting attempts to translate ancient Sanskrit literature with the word dharma into German, English and French. The concept, claims Paul Horsch, has caused difficulties for modern commentators and translators. Dharma root is dhri, which means ‘to support, hold and it is the thing that regulates the course of change by not participating in change, but that principle which remains constant
25.
Mandala
–
A mandala is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the universe. In common use, mandala has become a term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically. The basic form of most mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point, each gate is in the general shape of a T. Mandalas often exhibit radial balance. The term appears in the Rigveda as the name of the sections of the work, a yantra is a two- or three-dimensional geometric composition used in sadhanas, puja or meditative rituals. It is considered to represent the abode of the deity, each yantra is unique and calls the deity into the presence of the practitioner through the elaborate symbolic geometric designs. Yantras are not representations, but are lived, experiential, nondual realities, as Khanna describes, Despite its cosmic meanings a yantra is a reality lived. The Rajamandala was formulated by the Indian author Kautilya in his work on politics and it describes circles of friendly and enemy states surrounding the kings state. In historical, social and political sense, the mandala is also employed to denote traditional Southeast Asian political formations. It was adopted by 20th century Western historians from ancient Indian political discourse as a means of avoiding the term state in the conventional sense, empires such as Bagan, Ayutthaya, Champa, Khmer, Srivijaya and Majapahit are known as mandala in this sense. The mandala can be found in the form of the stupa and in the Atanatiya Sutta in the Digha Nikaya, Mandalas are traditionally found in large amounts in Buddhist Monasteries all over the world. One can also buy Mandalas and Thankas/Pauva in places like Thamel, in the Tibetan branch of Vajrayana Buddhism, mandalas have been developed into sandpainting. They are also a key part of Anuttarayoga Tantra meditation practices, the mandala can be shown to represent in visual form the core essence of the Vajrayana teachings. The mind is a microcosm representing various divine powers at work in the universe, the mandala represents the nature of the Pure Land, Enlightened mind. A mandala can also represent the universe, which is traditionally depicted with Mount Meru as the axis mundi in the center. In the mandala, the circle of fire usually symbolises wisdom. Inside these rings lie the walls of the palace itself, specifically a place populated by deities. One well-known type of mandala is the mandala of the Five Buddhas, such Buddhas are depicted depending on the school of Buddhism, and even the specific purpose of the mandala. A common mandala of this type is that of the Five Wisdom Buddhas, when paired with another mandala depicting the Five Wisdom Kings, this forms the Mandala of the Two Realms
26.
Yoga
–
Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. There is a variety of Yoga schools, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism. Among the most well-known types of yoga are Hatha yoga and Rāja yoga, the chronology of earliest texts describing yoga-practices is unclear, varyingly credited to Hindu Upanishads. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali date from the first half of the 1st millennium CE, Hatha yoga texts emerged around the 11th century with origins in tantra. Yoga gurus from India later introduced yoga to the west, following the success of Swami Vivekananda in the late 19th, in the 1980s, yoga became popular as a system of physical exercise across the Western world. Yoga in Indian traditions, however, is more physical exercise, it has a meditative. One of the six orthodox schools of Hinduism is also called Yoga, which has its own epistemology and metaphysics. Many studies have tried to determine the effectiveness of yoga as an intervention for cancer, schizophrenia, asthma. On December 1,2016, Yoga was listed as UNESCO’s Intangible cultural heritage, in Sanskrit, the word yoga comes from the root yuj which means to add, to join, to unite, or to attach in its most common senses. By figurative extension from the yoking or harnessing of oxen or horses, all further developments of the sense of this word are post-Vedic. More prosaic moods such as exertion, endeavour, zeal, there are very many compound words containing yoga in Sanskrit. Yoga can take on such as connection, contact, union, method, application, addition. In simpler words, Yoga also means combined, thus, bhaktiyoga means devoted attachment in the monotheistic Bhakti movement. The term kriyāyoga has a sense, meaning connection with a verb. But the same compound is given a technical meaning in the Yoga Sutras, designating the practical aspects of the philosophy. In the context of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the root yuj samādhau is considered by commentators as the correct etymology. In accordance with Pāṇini, Vyasa who wrote the first commentary on the Yoga Sutras, according to Dasgupta, the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga or yuj samādhau. Someone who practices yoga or follows the philosophy with a high level of commitment is called a yogi or yogini
27.
Empowerment (Vajrayana)
–
An empowerment is a ritual in Vajrayana which initiates a student into a particular tantric deity practice. The Tibetan word for this is wang, which translates to power. The Sanskrit term for this is abhiseka which literally translates to sprinkling or bathing or anointing, a tantric practice is not considered effective or as effective until a qualified master has transmitted the corresponding power of the practice directly to the student. This may also refer to introducing the student to the mandala of the deity, an individual is not allowed to engage in a deity practice without the empowerment for that practice. The details of an empowerment ritual are often kept secret as are the rituals involved in the deity practice. By receiving the empowerment, the student enters into a connection with the teacher. At the level of the anuttarayoga tantra class of practices, the samayas traditionally entail fourteen points of observance, the vajra master may also include particular directives, such as specifying that the student complete a certain amount of practice. The vase empowerment symbolizes purification of the body, senses, and world into the body of the deity, chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche compared that to baptism. The secret empowerment involves receiving nectar to purify the breath and speech into the speech of that deity, the knowledge-wisdom empowerment involves uniting with a real or imaginary consort, called the prajna, to experience the blissful wisdom jnana) mind of the deity. The word empowerment involves means by word, sound, or symbols to realize the union, mind essence or mind nature, in the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions of Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen, respectively, one finds pointing-out instruction conferred outside of the context of formal abhiṣeka. Whether or not such instructions are valid without the formal abhiṣeka has historically been a point of contention with the more conservative Gelug, the pointing-out instruction is often equated with the fourth or word abhiṣeka. Abhiseka Adhisthana Dharma transmission Esoteric transmission Lineage Lung Sadhana Dhavamony, Mariasusai Phenomenology of Religion ISBN 88-7652-474-6 p
28.
Karma
–
Karma means action, work or deed, it also refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intent and actions of an individual influence the future of that individual. Good intent and good deed contribute to good karma and future happiness, while bad intent and bad deed contribute to bad karma, Karma is closely associated with the idea of rebirth in many schools of Asian religions. In these schools, karma in the present affects ones future in the current life, as well as the nature, with origins in ancient India, karma is a key concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Taoism. Karma is the deed, work, action, or act, and it is also the object. Halbfass explains karma by contrasting it with another Sanskrit word kriya, a good action creates good karma, as does good intent. A bad action creates bad karma, as does bad intent, Karma, also refers to a conceptual principle that originated in India, often descriptively called the principle of karma, sometimes as the karma theory or the law of karma. In the context of theory, karma is complex and difficult to define, other Indologists include in the definition of karma theory that which explains the present circumstances of an individual with reference to his or her actions in past. The law of karma operates independent of any deity or any process of divine judgment, Buddhism and Jainism have their own karma precepts. Thus karma has not one, but multiple definitions and different meanings and it is a concept whose meaning, importance and scope varies between Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and other traditions that originated in India, and various schools in each of these traditions. OFlaherty claims that, furthermore, there is a debate regarding whether karma is a theory, a model, a paradigm. Karma theory as a concept, across different Indian religious traditions, shares common themes, causality, ethicization. A common theme to theories of karma is its principle of causality, one of the earliest association of karma to causality occurs in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad of Hinduism. For example, at 4.4. 5-6, it states, The relationship of karma to causality is a motif in all schools of Hindu, Jain. Disinterested actions, or unintentional actions do not have the positive or negative karmic effect, as interested. Another causality characteristic, shared by Karmic theories, is that like deeds lead to like effects, thus good karma produces good effect on the actor, while bad karma produces bad effect. This effect may be material, moral or emotional — that is, the effect of karma need not be immediate, the effect of karma can be later in ones current life, and in some schools it extends to future lives. The consequence or effects of karma can be described in two forms, phalas and samskaras. A phala is the visible or invisible effect that is typically immediate or within the current life, the theory of karma is often presented in the context of samskaras
29.
September 11 attacks
–
The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11,2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia and it was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively. Suspicion for the attack fell on al-Qaeda. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Although al-Qaedas leader, Osama bin Laden, initially denied any involvement, al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U. S. support of Israel, the presence of U. S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives. Having evaded capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was located and killed by SEAL Team Six of the U. S. Navy in May 2011. S. many closings, evacuations, and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site was completed in May 2002, on November 18,2006, construction of One World Trade Center began at the World Trade Center site. The building was opened on November 3,2014. The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan and helped organize Arab mujahideen to resist the Soviets. Under the guidance of Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden became more radical, in 1996, bin Laden issued his first fatwā, calling for American soldiers to leave Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden used Islamic texts to exhort Muslims to attack Americans until the stated grievances are reversed, Muslim legal scholars have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries, according to bin Laden. Bin Laden, who orchestrated the attacks, initially denied but later admitted involvement, in November 2001, U. S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In the video, bin Laden is seen talking to Khaled al-Harbi, on December 27,2001, a second bin Laden video was released. In the video, he said, It has become clear that the West in general and it is the hatred of crusaders. Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, the transcript refers several times to the United States specifically targeting Muslims. He said that the attacks were carried out because, we are free, and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours, Bin Laden said he had personally directed his followers to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
30.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
31.
Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
–
The 7th Dzogchen Ponlop is an abbot of Dzogchen Monastery, president of Nalandabodhi, the founder of Nītārtha Institute, a leading Tibetan Buddhist scholar, and a meditation master. He is one of the highest tülkus in the Nyingma lineage, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche was born in 1965 at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, India. After receiving Buddhist refuge and bodhisattva vows from the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa and he subsequently received full ordination and became a bhikṣu, although he later returned his vows and is now a lay teacher. Rinpoche received most of his teachings and empowerments from the 16th Gyalwang Karmapa and Dilgo Khyentse, Ponlop Rinpoche began studying Buddhist philosophy at the primary school in Rumtek at age 12. Three years later, in 1980 on his first trip to the West, he accompanied the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa to Europe, United States, Canada, while serving as the Karmapas attendant, he also gave dharma teachings and assisted in ceremonial roles during these travels. In 1981, he entered the college at Rumtek, Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies where he studied the fields of Buddhist philosophy, psychology, logic. Rinpoche graduated in 1990 as Ka-rabjampa from Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies in Rumtek Monastery and he simultaneously earned the degree of Acharya, or Master of Buddhist Philosophy, from Sampurnanant Sanskrit University. Dzogchen Ponlop has also completed studies in English and comparative religion at Columbia University in New York City and he has also penned a number of books and articles, Dzogchen Ponlop. Rebel Buddha, On the Road to Freedom, Dzogchen Ponlop, Thang Tong Gyalpo, Jamgon Kongtrul, Khakyab Dorje, 15th Karmapa Lama. Trainings in compassion, manuals on the meditation of Avalokiteshvara, wild Awakening, The Heart of Mahamudra and Dzogchen. 2003, Brief Histories of the Sixteen Karmapas. in Martin, music in the sky, the life, art, and teachings of the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje. Turning towards liberation, the four reminders, audio Interview Series on Buddhist Geeks
32.
Syllable
–
A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the water is composed of two syllables, wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a nucleus with optional initial and final margins. Syllables are often considered the building blocks of words. They can influence the rhythm of a language, its prosody, its poetic meter, syllabic writing began several hundred years before the first letters. The earliest recorded syllables are on tablets written around 2800 BC in the Sumerian city of Ur and this shift from pictograms to syllables has been called the most important advance in the history of writing. A word that consists of a syllable is called a monosyllable. Syllable is an Anglo-Norman variation of Old French sillabe, from Latin syllaba, συλλαβή means what is taken together, referring to letters that are taken together to make a single sound. συλλαβή is a noun from the verb συλλαμβάνω syllambánō, a compound of the preposition σύν sýn with. The noun uses the root λαβ-, which appears in the aorist tense, the present tense stem λαμβάν- is formed by adding a nasal infix ⟨μ⟩ ⟨m⟩ before the β b and a suffix -αν -an at the end. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the period ⟨. ⟩ marks syllable breaks, in practice, however, IPA transcription is typically divided into words by spaces, and often these spaces are also understood to be syllable breaks. When a word comes in the middle of a syllable. The liaison tie is used to join lexical words into phonological words. In the typical theory of structure, the general structure of a syllable consists of three segments. e. Nucleus and coda are grouped together as a rime and onset are only distinguished at the second level, the nucleus is usually the vowel in the middle of a syllable. The onset is the sound or sounds occurring before the nucleus, and they are sometimes collectively known as the shell. The term rime covers the nucleus plus coda, in the one-syllable English word cat, the nucleus is a, the onset c, the coda t, and the rime at. This syllable can be abstracted as a consonant-vowel-consonant syllable, abbreviated CVC, languages vary greatly in the restrictions on the sounds making up the onset, nucleus and coda of a syllable, according to what is termed a languages phonotactics
33.
Om
–
Om is a sacred sound and a spiritual icon in Hindu religion. It is also a mantra in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Om is part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The symbol has a meaning in all Indian dharmas, but the meaning. In Hinduism, Om is one of the most important spiritual symbols and it refers to Atman and Brahman. The syllable is found at the beginning and the end of chapters in the Vedas, the Upanishads. The syllable is also referred to as omkara, aumkara, the syllable Om is referred to as praṇava. Other used terms are akṣara or ekākṣara, and omkāra, Udgitha, a word found in Sama Veda and bhasya based on it, is also used as a name of the syllable. The syllable Om is first mentioned in the Upanishads, the texts associated with the Vedanta philosophy. It has variously been associated with concepts of cosmic sound or mystical syllable or affirmation to something divine, in the Aranyaka and the Brahmana layers of Vedic texts, the syllable is so widespread and linked to knowledge, that it stands for the whole of Veda. The etymological foundations of Om are repeatedly discussed in the oldest layers of the Vedantic texts, the Brahmana layer of Vedic texts equate Om with Bhur-bhuvah-Svah, the latter symbolizing the whole Veda. The Sama Veda, the poetical Veda, orthographically maps Om to the audible, the syllable Om evolves to mean many abstract ideas in the earliest Upanishads. Phonologically, the syllable ओम् represents /aum/, which is regularly monophthongised to in Sanskrit phonology.1.95. It is sometimes also written ओ३म्, notably by Arya Samaj, the Om symbol is a ligature in Devanagari, combining ओ and chandrabindu. In Unicode, the symbol is encoded at U+0950 ॐ Devanagari OM, the Om or Aum symbol is found on ancient coins, in regional scripts. In Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura era coins are embossed with Aum along with other symbols, the Om symbol, with epigraphical variations, is also found in many southeast Asian countries. For example, it is called Unalom or Aum in Thailand and has been a part of various flags, the Cambodian official seal has similarly incorporated the Aum symbol. In traditional Chinese characters, it is written as 唵, there have been proposals that the Om syllable may already have had written representations in Brahmi script, dating to before the Common Era. A proposal by Deb held that the swastika is a representation of the syllable Om
34.
Lama
–
Lama is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru, historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of monasteries. Perhaps due to misunderstandings by early western scholars attempting to understand Tibetan Buddhism, the term Lamaism is now considered by some to be derogatory. In the Vajrayana path of Tibetan Buddhism, the lama is often the tantric spiritual guide, as such, the lama will then appear as one of the Three Roots, alongside the yidam and protector
35.
Jamgon Kongtrul
–
Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé, born in Rongyap, Kham, Tibet, was one of the most prominent Buddhist masters in Tibet in the 19th century. He is credited as one of the founders of the Rimé movement of Tibetan Buddhism and he achieved great renown as a scholar and writer, and authored more than one hundred volumes of scriptures. Without Khyentse and Kongtruls collecting and printing of works, the later suppression of Buddhism by the Communists would have been much more final. The biography of Khakyab Dorje, 15th Karmapa Lama mentions he had a vision in which he saw 25 simultaneous emanations of the master Jamgön Kongtrül, preeminent among these was Karsé Kongtrül. Karsé Kongtrül was born as the son of the 15th Karmapa and his formal religious name was as Jamyang Khyentsé Özer. Karsé Kongtrül was identified and enthroned by his father at age twelve in 1902, Karsé Kongtrül resided at Tsadra Rinchen Drak, the seat of his predecessor in eastern Tibet. He received the education and lineage transmission from the Karmapa. Among his other teachers were Surmang Trungpa Chökyi Nyinche, the 10th Trungpa tulku and he attained realization of the ultimate lineage, was one of the most renowned Mahamudra masters and transmitted the innermost teachings to Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa. Karsé Kongtrül died on 10 May 1952 at the age of 49, the 3rd Jamgon Kongtrul, Karma Lodrö Chökyi Senge, a tulku of Khyentse Özer, was born on 1 October 1954. He fled to India in 1959 in the aftermath of the 1959 Tibetan uprising and grew up at Rumtek Monastery under the care of Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, following the Karmapas death, the 3rd Jamgon Kongtrul was actively involved in the search for his successor. However, he died in a car accident on 26 April 1992 before the search could be completed, the 4th Jamgon Kongtrul Migyur Drakpa Senge was born on 17 December 1995 in the Kathmandu valley, as son of Beru Khyentse Rinpoche. The day before he was born, the late Chogye Trichen Rinpoche said in front of many Lamas and Tulkus, “Like prophesied_today Jamgon Rinpoche arrived. ”In 1996, when the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje, arrived in Bodhgaya, when he met the young Jamgon Rinpoche for the first time. Yangsi Rinpoche despite his age was able to spontaneously pick up some rice and toss it into the air as a mandala offering, Straight away he exclaimed, “This is the Jamgon Yangsi indeed. ”He then issued a recognition letter. From when he was five years old, he started to read books and memorizing the rituals, from the age of 14, he stayed in buddhist institute where he studied the great texts and buddhist philosophy. He received many Vajrayana empowerments from mainly Karma Kagyu lineage and other Guru Practices, furthermore, he has received training and transmission, oral instructions on Mahamudra. Kalu Rinpoche, also recognized post-facto as the incarnation of Lodrö Thayes activity, was never enthroned as such, according to the 15th Karmapa, there were 25 simultaneous reincarnations. The main corpus of Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thaye vast scholarly activities is known as the Great Treasuries, The Treasury of Encyclopedic Knowledge, summarizing the entire sutric and tantric paths. The Treasury of Precious Instructions, a compendium of empowerments and oral instructions of what he formulated as the Eight Great Chariots of the lineages in Tibet
36.
Tantra techniques (Vajrayana)
–
Tantra techniques in Vajrayana Buddhism are techniques used to attain Buddhahood. Vajrayana partially relies on various tantric techniques rooted in such as tantras. Tantra is defined as a realization that functions to prevent ordinary appearances and conceptions. The practitioner focusses on and identifies with the resultant buddha-form or meditation deity, in order to achieve this self-identification with the yidam, much symbolism, ritual and visualization is used in Buddhist tantric techniques. Secrecy is often a cornerstone of tantric Buddhism, simply to avoid harm to oneself, oral transmissions given by a tantric master. These teachings are only given personally from teacher to student and are secret, otherwise they may have a negative effect. A mature yogi dies in the course of the meditation and comes back again, use of specialized rituals and symbols rooted in Vajrayana cosmology and beliefs, Repetition of mantras and dharanis. Use of various techniques such as Trul Khor, including breath control, yantra. Use of a vocabulary of visual aids, such as cosmic mandala diagrams which teach. Seed syllables in Tibetan and Lendza are also used, the use of ritual objects such as the vajra and bell, phurba, hand drum, and many other symbolic tools and musical instruments. Ganachakra feasts with ritual consumption of meat and alcohol, Deity yoga is the fundamental Vajrayana practice, involving a sadhana practice in which the practitioner visualizes himself or herself as the meditation Buddha or yidam of the sadhana. The purpose of Deity yoga is to bring the meditator to the realization that the deity, the yidam generally appears in a mandala and the practitioner visualizes himself or herself and their environment as the yidam and mandala of their Deity Yoga practice. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, In brief, the body of a Buddha is attained through meditating on it. Representations of the deity, such as a statues, paintings, the mandalas are symbolic representations of sacred enclosures, sacred architecture that house and contain the uncontainable essence of a yidam. In the book, The World of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama describes a mandala, “This is the celestial mansion, all of these are available in Tibetan form, many are available in Chinese, and some are still extant in ancient Sanskrit manuscripts. The unfolding of the tantric ritual depends on the mandala, and where a mandala is not employed. The dedication of merit is a component in Vajrayāna sādhanās. The guru or spiritual teacher, in Tibetan Buddhism generally the lama, is essential as a guide during tantric practice, without the gurus example, blessings and grace, genuine progress is held to be impossible for all but the most keen and gifted
37.
Tibetan alphabet
–
The Tibetan alphabet is an abugida used to write the Tibetic languages such as Tibetan, as well as Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, and sometimes Balti. The printed form of the alphabet is called uchen script while the cursive form used in everyday writing is called umê script. The alphabet is closely linked to a broad ethnic Tibetan identity, spanning across areas in Tibet, Bhutan, India. The Tibetan alphabet is of Indic origin and it is ancestral to the Limbu alphabet, the Lepcha alphabet, the creation of the Tibetan alphabet is attributed to Thonmi Sambhota of the mid-7th century. Tradition holds that Thonmi Sambhota, a minister of Songtsen Gampo, was sent to India to study the art of writing, the form of the letters is based on an Indic alphabet of that period. The most important, an official orthography aimed to facilitate the translation of Buddhist scriptures, Standard orthography has not altered since then, while the spoken language has changed by, for example, losing complex consonant clusters. As a result, in all modern Tibetan dialects, in particular in the Standard Tibetan of Lhasa and this divergence is the basis of an argument in favour of spelling reform, to write Tibetan as it is pronounced, for example, writing Kagyu instead of Bka-rgyud. In contrast, the pronunciation of the Balti, Ladakhi and Burig languages adheres more closely to the archaic spelling, in the Tibetan script, the syllables are written from left to right. Syllables are separated by a tsek, since many Tibetan words are monosyllabic, spaces are not used to divide words. The Tibetan alphabet has thirty basic letters, sometimes known as radicals, as in other Indic scripts, each consonant letter assumes an inherent vowel, in the Tibetan script its ཨ /a/. The alphabet ཨ /a/ is also the base for dependent vowels marks, although some Tibetan dialects are tonal, the language had no tone at the time of the scripts invention, and there are no dedicated symbols for tone. However, since tones developed from segmental features they can usually be predicted by the archaic spelling of Tibetan words. The unique aspect of the Tibetan script is that the consonants can be either as radicals, or they can be written in other forms. To understand how this works, one can look at the radical ཀ /ka/, in both cases, the symbol for ཀ /ka/ is used, but when the ར /ra/ is in the middle of the consonant and vowel, it is added as a subscript. On the other hand, when the ར /ra/ comes before the consonant and vowel, ར /ra/ actually changes form when it is above most other consonants, thus རྐ rka. However, an exception to this is the cluster རྙ /rnya/, similarly, the consonants ཝ /wa/, ར /ra/, and ཡ /ja/ change form when they are beneath other consonants, thus ཀྭ /kwa/, ཀྲ /kra/, ཀྱ /kja/. Besides being written as subscripts and superscripts, some consonants can also be placed in prescript, postscript, the third position, the post-postscript position is solely for the consonants ད /tʰa/ and ས /sa/. The superscript position above a radical is reserved for the consonants ར /ra/, ལ /la/, the vowels used in the alphabet are ཨ /a/, ཨི /i/, ཨུ /u/, ཨེ /e/, and ཨོ /o/
38.
Longchen Nyingthig
–
Longchen Nyingthig is a terma, revealed scripture, of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, which gives a systematic explanation of Dzogchen. It was revealed by Jigme Lingpa, the Longchen Nyingtig may be translated as seminal heart of Longchenpa, a reference to the central figure of Jigme Lingpas pure visions in which the texts were revealed. It is worthy of note that thig is an etymon of thig-le which is the Tibetan cognate of the Sanskrit bindu the central point of the mandala, Dzogchen teachings have been classified in three sections namely, Semde, Longde, and Mengagde. Shri Singha divided the Mengagde into a further four cycles, the outer, inner, esoteric and they are teachings on the primordially pure nature. The recognition of this primordially pure nature is called trekchö, cutting all the grasping, clinging and apprehending which obscures the primordially pure pure nature. The innermost esoteric cycle of the Mengagde is focused upon the perfection of appearances (Lhündrub Tögal which is known as the direct approach. Into the mindstream of Jigme Lingpa merged the mindstream tributaries of Vimalamitra and King Trisong Detsen of whom he, now as was previously stated Vimalamitra brought the Vima Nyingthig to Tibet. Padmasambhava, who brought the Khandro Nyingthig to Tibet, transmitted this to King Trisong Detsen, so both the Khandro Nyingthig and the Vima Nyingthig were within the mindstream of Jigme Lingpa and were realised by him as mind ter or mind terma. As Thondup & Talbott state, Jigme Lingpa was a reincarnation of both Vimalamitra himself and King Trisong Detsen, who was a recipient of Nyingthig teachings from Guru Rinpoche, so the Nyingthig teachings of two major lineages flowed together in Jigme Lingpa. Longchen Nyingthig is the essence or embodiment of the two Nyingthig traditions, Vima Nyingthig and Khandro Nyingthig and he remained in the depths of that meditation experience of clear luminosity for a long time. While being absorbed in that luminous clarity, he experienced flying a distance through the sky while riding a white lion. He finally reached a circular path, which he thought to be the path of Charung Khashor, now known as Bodhnath Stūpa. Tradition holds that the first human master of the Longchen Nyingthig lineage was Prahevajra, the teaching was originally discovered as a terma, a revealed teaching given to the 18th century Nyingma teacher Kunkhyen Jigme Lingpa. Sam van Schaik opens discourse into English on the themes and motifs of the simultaneous, five Pure Lights Tantra Ganachakra Liturgy Gyatso, Janet. Apparitions of the Self, The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary, Princeton, New Jersey, USA, Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01110-9 Sam van Schaik, Approaching the Great Perfection, Simultaneous and gradual approaches to Dzogchen practice in Jigme Lingpas Longchen Nyingtig Thondup, Masters of Meditation and Miracles, Lives of the Great Buddhist Masters of India and Tibet. Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Shambhala, South Asia Editions, ISBN 1-57062-113-6, ISBN 1-56957-134-1 Thondup, Tulku & Harold Talbott. Enlightened Journey, Buddhist Practice as Daily Life, Longchen Nyingtik lineage Longchen Nyingtik at RangjungYesheWiki Lotsawa House www. zangthal. co. uk
39.
Diglossia
–
In linguistics, diglossia is a situation in which two dialects or languages are used by a single language community. The high variety may be a stage of the same language. Other examples include literary Katharevousa versus spoken Demotic Greek, literary Tamil versus spoken Tamil and Indonesian, with its Baku and Gaul forms, and literary versus spoken Welsh. The Greek word διγλωσσία normally refers to bilingualism in general, but was first used in the specialized meaning explained by Emmanuel Rhoides in the prologue of his Parerga in 1885. The term was adapted into French as diglossie by the Greek linguist and demoticist Ioannis Psycharis. The Arabist William Marçais used the term in 1930 to describe the situation in Arabic-speaking countries. The sociolinguist Charles A. Ferguson introduced the English equivalent diglossia in 1959, the article has become such a classic that it has been cited over 4,000 times according to Google scholar. In his 1959 article, Charles A. Here, diglossia is seen as a kind of bilingualism in a society in one of the languages has high prestige. In Fergusons definition, the high and low variants are closely related. For example, in Alsace the Alsatian language serves as and French as, heinz Kloss calls the variant exoglossia and the variant endoglossia. In some cases, the nature of the connection between and is not one of diglossia but a continuum, for example, Jamaican Creole as, is usually the written language whereas is the spoken language. In formal situations, is used, in situations, is used. One of the earliest known examples is Latin, Classical Latin being the, the latter, which is almost completely unattested in text, is the tongue from which the Romance languages descended. The variants are not just simplifications or corruptions of the variants, in phonology, for example, dialects are as likely to have phonemes absent from the as vice versa. Some Swiss German dialects have three phonemes, /e/, /ɛ/ and /æ/, in the space where Standard German has only two phonemes, /ɛ/ and /eː/. Jamaican Creole has fewer phonemes than standard English, but it has additional palatal /kʲ/ and /ɡʲ/ phonemes. Especially in endoglossia the form may also be called basilect, the acrolect. Fergusons classic examples include Standard German/Swiss German, Standard Arabic/vernacular Arabics, Standard French/Creole in Haiti, Creole is now recognized as a standard language in Haiti
40.
Pandit
–
A pandit, also spelled pundit is a scholar or a teacher of any field of knowledge in Hinduism, particularly the Vedic scriptures, dharma, Hindu philosophy, or secular subjects such as music. He may be a Guru in a Gurukul, in Sanskrit, states Monier Williams, Pandit generally refers to any wise, educated or learned man with specialized knowledge. The term is derived from paṇḍ which means to collect, heap, pile up, the term is found in Vedic and post-Vedic texts, but without any sociological context. In the colonial era literature, the term refers to Brahmins specialized in Hindu law. The related term Purohit refers to a house priest
