Glossary from Dzogchen Primer

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Glossary from Dzogchen Primer, compiled by Erik Pema Kunsang.

• all-encompassing purity. All that appears and exists is actually all-encompassing purity. We really should understand that everything, all world-systems and all beings — whatever appears and exists, meaning the 'perceived' and the 'perceiver' — all takes place out of the sphere of the three kayas. Everything originates from the three kayas, takes place within the sphere of the three kayas, and dissolves back again into the sphere of the three kayas.
• Avalokiteshvara. The bodhisattva of compassion; an emanation of Buddha Amitabha. One of the eight main bodhisattvas.
• Barchey Künsel, "Clearing Away the Obstacles," the external practice. A cycle of teachings revealed by Chokgyur Lingpa together with Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo consisting of about ten volumes of texts.
• bardo. The general teachings outline six bardos. Two of these, the bardo of meditation and the bardo of dreams, occur within the bardo of this life, which is defined as the period following birth until the onset of death. The actual process of passing away is called the bardo of dying. The bardo of dharmata occurs immediately after death, with the cessation of the outer and inner breath. Finally, the consciousness seeking a new rebirth is called the bardo of becoming.
• bodhisattva. Someone who has developed bodhichitta, the aspiration to attain enlightenment in order to benefit all sentient beings. A practitioner of the Mahayana path; especially a noble bodhisattva who has attained the first level.
• capacity. In Dzogchen, one of the three most basic principles: essence, nature and capacity; the natural expression that is the indivisibility of emptiness and wakefulness. See also 'essence, nature and capacity.'
• Chokgyur Lingpa. (1829-1870). A treasure revealer and contemporary of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Jamgön Kongtrül. Regarded as one of the major tertöns in Tibetan history, his termas are widely practiced by both the Kagyü and Nyingma schools. For more details see The Life and Teachings of Chokgyur Lingpa (Rangjung Yeshe Publications). Chokgyur Lingpa means 'Sanctuary of Eminence.'
• common and supreme siddhis. The supreme siddhi is the accomplishment of complete enlightenment. The common siddhis are usually eight types of miraculous powers.
• completion stage. 'Completion stage with marks' means yogic practices such as tummo. 'Completion stage without marks' is the practice of Dzogchen. See also 'development and completion.'
• demons, four maras - The first of the four demons is the demon of the Lord of Death, which cuts our life short. Second is the demon of the physical aggregates, which prevents the attainment of the rainbow body. Third is the demon of the disturbing emotions, the three poisons which prevent liberation from samsara. Finally there is the demon of the son of the gods, which is distraction in the meditation state and the tendency to postpone practice. Procrastination is the mara of the son of the gods, which creates obstacles for samadhi. The real demon is our conceptual thinking. Falling into conceptualization is the demon. By recognizing our mind essence, all demons are defeated; the four maras are vanquished and all obstacles are done away with. The main point is to train in that.
• development and completion. The two main aspects, 'means and knowledge,' of Vajrayana practice. Briefly stated, development stage means positive mental fabrication while completion stage means resting in the unfabricated nature of mind.
• development stage. One of the two aspects of Vajrayana practice. The mental creation of pure images in order to purify habitual tendencies. The essence of the development stage is 'pure perception' or 'sacred outlook' which means to perceive sights, sounds and thoughts as deity, mantra and wisdom.
• Dorje Draktsal, the secret practice. 'Powerful Vajra Wrath.' A wrathful form of Guru Rinpoche.
• Düsum Khyenpa, the first Karmapa (1110-1193). One of the main disciples of Gampopa.
• eight worldly concerns. Attachment to gain, pleasure, praise and fame, and aversion to loss, pain, blame and bad reputation.
• eighteen constituents, or dhatus. The six collections of consciousness, the six senses and the six sense objects.
• essence. See 'essence, nature and capacity.'
• essence, nature and capacity. The three aspects of the sugatagarbha according to the Dzogchen system. Essence (ngo bo) is the primordially pure wisdom of emptiness. Nature (rang bzhin) is the spontaneously present wisdom of cognizance (gsal ba). Capacity (thugs rje) is the all-pervasive wisdom of indivisibility. This is, ultimately, the identity of the Three Roots, the Three Jewels and the three kayas.
• eternalism and nihilism. Eternalism is the belief that there is a permanent and causeless creator of everything; in particular, that one's identity or consciousness has a concrete essence which is independent, everlasting and singular. Nihilism in this context is literally 'the view of discontinuance.' The extreme view of nothingness: no rebirth or karmic effects, and the nonexistence of a mind after death.
• five aggregates. The five aspects which comprise the physical and mental constituents of a sentient being: physical forms, sensations, conceptions, formations, and consciousnesses.
• five elements. Earth, water, fire, wind and space.
• five female buddhas. Dhatvishvari, Mamaki, Lochana, Pandaravasini, Samayatara.
• five male buddhas. Vairochana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha and Amoghasiddhi.
• four immeasurables. Compassion, love, joy and impartiality. Also called the 'four abodes of Brahma' because their cultivation causes rebirth as the king of the gods in the Realm of Form within samsaric existence. When embraced by the attitude of bodhichitta, the wish to attain enlightenment for the welfare of others, their cultivation causes the attainment of unexcelled buddhahood.
• four means of magnetizing. Being generous, uttering kind words, giving appropriate teachings and keeping consistency between words and actions. Padmasambhava says in the Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo: Having ripened your own being, gather followers through generosity, Delight them with pleasing words, and comfort them by being consistent. Through giving them counsel to meaningful conduct, establish them temporarily and ultimately, In the full splendor of benefit and well-being.
• four root precepts. Not taking lives, not taking what is not given, not lying, and not engaging in sexual misconduct.
• fourfold spheres of perception. Same as the four formless realms. The four unenlightened meditative states of dwelling on the thoughts: Infinite Space, Infinite Consciousness, Nothing Whatsoever, and Neither Presence Nor Absence of conception.
• Guhyagarbha Tantra. The widely renowned Mahayoga tantra of the Early Translations.
• karma. The unerring law that virtuous actions yield virtuous results, etc. Voluntary action of thought, word, and deed, the effect of which determine the rebirths and experiences of individual sentient beings.
• Karmapa. The great master and chief figure of the Karma Kagyu school.
• Longchen Rabjam. A major lineage master and writer of the Nyingma lineage. Longchen Rabjam was an incarnation of Princess Pema Sal, the daughter of King Trisong Deutsen, to whom Guru Rinpoche had entrusted his own lineage of Dzogchen known as Khandro Nyingtig. He is single-handedly regarded as the most important writer on Dzogchen teachings. His works include the Seven Great Treasuries, the Three Trilogies and his commentaries in the Nyingtig Yabshi. A more detailed account of his life and teachings is found in Buddha Mind by Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, Snow Lion, 1989.
• Middle Way. Skt. madhyamaka. The highest of the four Buddhist schools of philosophy. The Middle Way means not holding any extreme views, especially those of eternalism or nihilism.
• Mind Only. Chittamatra. A Mahayana school of India. Founded on the Lankavatara Sutra, its main premise is that all phenomena are only mind, i.e. mental perceptions that appear within the all-ground consciousness due to habitual tendencies. Positively, this view relinquishes the fixation on a solid reality. Negatively, there is still clinging to a truly existing 'mind' within which everything takes place.
• Naropa. The great mahasiddha of India, chief disciple of Tilopa and the guru of Marpa in the Kagyü Lineage. See Rain of Wisdom and The Life of Marpa, Shambhala Publications.
• nature. See 'essence, nature and capacity'.
• nonconceptualization of the three spheres. Not retaining concepts of a subject, object, and action.
• original purity.
• prajna and upaya. Prajna is knowledge or intelligence; in particular, the knowledge of realizing egolessness. Upaya is the method or technique that brings about realization.
• pure perception - The attitude of sacred outlook or pure perception, is the special quality of Vajrayana. Sacred outlook refers to seeing things as they actually are, not in the ordinary deluded way where we think that earth is simply solid matter and water is merely water, wind is wind and so forth. In actuality, what appears to us as the ordinary experience of the five elements are the five female buddhas; the five aggregates are the five male buddhas, and so forth. Therefore, training oneself in pure perception is not a way of convincing oneself that things are what they are not, but rather is training in seeing things as they truly are.
• rainbow body. At the time of death of a practitioner who has reached the exhaustion of all grasping and fixation through the Dzogchen practice of Tögal, the five gross elements which form the physical body, dissolve back into their essences, five-colored light. Sometimes only the hair and the nails are left behind.
• Rinchen Terdzö. The Great Treasury of Precious Termas A collection of the most important revealed termas of Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra, Vairotsana and other of their closest disciples, gathered by Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thaye with the help of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. 63 volumes.
• Riwoche. Major Kagyü and Nyingma monastery situated between Central Tibet and Kham.
• samadhi of suchness. The first of the 'three samadhis.' The samadhi of suchness, of illumination and of the seed-syllable. The samadhi of suchness is to rest in the composure of the innate emptiness of all phenomena, as pointed out by one's root master, or simply to imagine that all things are empty like space. The samadhi of illumination is let natural compassion manifest like sunlight illuminating the sky, or simply to generate compassion for all the beings who fail to realize the nature of things. The samadhi of the seed-syllable is the innate unity of emptiness and compassion manifesting in the form of a syllable that is the 'seed' or source from which the deity and the entire mandala will appear during the practice. These three samadhis are the indispensible framework for the development stage of Vajrayana practice. In his Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo, Padmasambhava says, "The main part begins with the profound and vast samadhis which purify the manner of death, bardo, and rebirth: The great emptiness space of suchness is pure like the sky. Rest evenly in this space of the undivided two truths. Emanate the magic of compassion, an all-illuminating cloud of awareness, filling the space, radiant yet without fixation. The single mudra in the manner of a subtle syllable is the causal seed which produces everything. Keep this changeless wisdom essence, manifests in space, one-pointedly in mind and bring its vivid presence to perfection." For more details, see Light of Wisdom, Vol. 2, pgs 88-89.
• Sampa Lhundrub, the inner practice. A supplication to Guru Rinpoche as well as a terma of Chokgyur Lingpa.
• Sautrantika. A Hinayana school of philosophy and second of the four major Buddhist Schools. One of its branchess was known for its reliance on the Sutras instead of Abhidharma.
• shravaka. 'Hearer' or 'listener.' Hinayana practitioner of the First Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma on the four noble truths who realizes the suffering inherent in samsara, and focuses on understanding that there is no independent self. By conquering disturbing emotions, he liberates himself, attaining first the stage of Stream Enterer at the Path of Seeing, followed by the stage of Once-Returner who will be reborn only one more time, and the stage of Non-returner who will no longer be reborn into samsara. The final goal is to become an Arhat. These four stages are also known as the 'four results of spiritual practice.'
• six paramitas. The six transcendent actions of generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, concentration, and discriminating knowledge.
• three vajras - Our essence, nature and capacity are the dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. They are also the three vajras — the [[vajra body[[]], vajra speech]] and vajra mind of all the buddhas — which we are supposed to achieve. This real and authentic state is, in itself, empty, which is dharmakaya. Its cognizant quality, isn't that sambhogakaya? Its unconfined unity, isn't that nirmanakaya? This indivisible identity of the three kayas is called the 'essence body,' svabhavikakaya. when we have cut through karma and obscurations and habitual patterns, then the nature of the three vajras is primordially and spontaneously present already within us. Unless we had these how could we produce the three vajras. Its because the three vajras are present within the ground as the vajra body, vajra speech and vajra mind and which is primordially present in all sentient beings as well.
• Tilopa. (988-1069). Indian mahasiddha, the guru of Naropa and father of the Kagyü lineage.
• treasure. Terma. The transmission through concealed treasures hidden, mainly by Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal, to be discovered at the proper time by a 'tertön,' a treasure revealer, for the benefit of future disciples. It is one of the two chief traditions of the Nyingma School, the other being 'Kahma.' This tradition is said to continue even long after the Vinaya of the Buddha has disappeared.
• twelve sense-bases. The five senses and the mental faculty, and the five sense objects and mental objects.
• upaya. See 'prajna and upaya.'
• Vajradhara. 'Vajra-holder.' The dharmakaya buddha of the Sarma Schools. Can also refer to one's personal teacher of Vajrayana or to the all-embracing buddha nature.
• Vajrayana. The 'vajra vehicle.' The practices of taking the result as the path. Same as 'Secret Mantra.'
• Vimalamitra. A master in the Dzogchen lineage and the crown ornament of five hundred panditas, who had attained the indestructible form of the rainbow body. He received the transmission of Dzogchen from Shri Singha and Jnanasutra. Vimalamitra is regarded as one of the three main forefathers for establishing the Dzogchen teachings, especially the Instruction Section, in Tibet, which he chiefly transmitted to five people: King Trisong Deutsen, Prince Muney Tsenpo, Tingdzin Sangpo of Nyang, Kawa Paltsek and Chokro Lui Gyaltsen. Having translated these extremely profound instructions, he concealed the texts at Samye Chimphu for the sake of future generations. On his departure to the Five-peaked Mountain in China, Vimalamitra made the promise to return once every century in order to clarify and propagate the teachings of the secret, innermost essence, Sangwa Nyingtig. The oral lineage of his teachings on the Instruction Section was continued by Tingdzin Sangpo of Nyang who also concealed one set of the scriptures. one hundred and fifty five years after Vimalamitra departed from Tibet, an emanation of him named Dangma Lhüngyal took out the hidden texts. They are now included in the collection known as Vima Nyingtig, the Heart Essence of Vimalamitra. In his role as lineage holder of Nectar Quality among the Eight Sadhana Teachings, he is counted among the Eight Vidyadharas of India, the receiver of the Eightfold Volume of Nectar Quality. According to this lineage he was born in Elephant Grove, an area in the western part of India. He was learned in both the common and extraordinary topics of knowledge and received teachings on the tantras from Buddhaguhya and many other illustrious masters. Having practiced, he reached the accomplishment of the vidyadhara level of mahamudra and wrote numerous treatises, mainly on the teachings connected to the Magical Net.
• yidam practice. The main practice which traditionally follows the preliminaries. It includes the two stages of development and completion and is a perfect stepping stone for approaching the more subtle practices of Mahamudra and Dzogchen.
• yogic exercises. Exercises utilized in for instance the Six Doctrines of Naropa.