Seven Points of Mind Training

Appendicies

Glossary

alaya:
        The fundamental unbiased ground of mind.

alaya-vijnana:
        Arising from the ground of alaya, alaya-vijnana, the eighth
consciousness, is the point at which subtle seeds of bias or duality begin
to appear. As such it is the root of samsara.

amrita:
        Blessed liquor, used in vajrayana meditation practices. More
generally, spiritual intoxication. Also, profound essence of the teachings.

Avalokiteshvara:
        Bodhisattva of compassion.

bardo:
        "Existing in-between." Generally used to refer to the intermediate
state after death and before the next rebirth. (Also spelled "pardo.")

basic goodness:
        Unconditional goodness of mind at its most basic level. The
natural goodness of alaya.

bodhi:
        "Awake." The path of bodhi is a means of awakening from confusion.

bodhichitta:
        "Awakened mind/heart." Ultimate or absolute bodhichitta is the
union of emptiness and compassion, the essential nature of awakened mind.
Relative bodhichitta is the tenderness arising from a glimpse of ultimate
bodhichitta that inspires one to train oneself to work for the benefit of
others.

bodhisattva:
        "Awake being." A bodhisattva is someone who has completely
overcome confusion and dedicated his or her life and all his or her actions
to awakening or liberating all sentient beings.

bodhisattva path:
        Another term for the mahayana.

bodhisattva vow:
        The formal vow taken to make one's aspiration to become a
bodhisattva and one's actual entering the bodhisattva path of dedicating
one's life to all sentient beings.

buddhadharma:
        See dharma.

dark ages (five):
        The five dark ages are
        (1) when life becomes shorter;
        (2) when the view is based on corruption of the teachings;
        (3) when kleshas become more solid;
        (4) when sentient beings become untamable and difficult to
        convert to the dharma; and
        (5) when it becomes a time of sickness, famine, and war.

dharma:
        1. Teachings or truth, specifically the teachings of the Buddha,
        also called buddhadharma, 2. Phenomena in general.

dharmakaya:
        "Dharma-body." Basic unbounded openness of mind, wisdom beyond
        reference point. See also kaya.

dharmapala:
        "Dharma protector." A sudden reminder that shocks the confused
practitioner awake. The dharmapalas represent basic awareness, which brings
the confused practitioner back to his or her discipline.

don:
        A sudden attack of neurosis that seems to come from outside oneself.

dorje:
        A ritual scepter, symbolizing skillful means (upaya), the masculine
principle, which is used in tantric practice along with the bell,
symbolizing knowledge (prajna), or the feminine principle. Together, bell and
dorje symbolize the inseparability of masculine and feminine, skillful
means and knowledge.

Gampopa (1079-1153):
        The fifth major Kagyu enlightened lineage holder and foremost
disciple of the yogin Milarepa. Gampopa combined the Kadam teachings of
Atisha with the mahamudra tradition stemming from the Indian masters Tilopa
and Naropa.

Geluk:
        One of the four great lineages of Tibetan Buddhism known as the
reform tradition and emphasizing intellectual study and analysis.

hinayana:
        "Narrow way." The first of the three yanas of Tibetan Buddhism.
The focus of the hinayana is on individual salvation through taming
one's mind and on causing no harm to others. It is the essential starting
point on the path.

Jamgon Kongtrul of Sechen (1901-1960):
        Chogyam Trungpa's root teacher, one of the five incarnations of
Jamgon Kongtrul the Great. "A big jolly man, friendly to all without
distinction of rank, very generous and with a great sense of humor combined
with deep understanding; he was always sympathetic to the troubles of
others."--Chogyam Trungpa.

Jamgon Kongtrul the Great (1813-1899):
        One of the principal teachers of nineteenth-century Tibet, the
author of the commentary on slogan practice entitled "The Basic Path Toward
Enlightenment." Jamgon Kongtrul was a leader in the religious reform
movement called ri-me that sought to discourage sectarianism and encourage
meditation practice and the application of Buddhist principles in everyday
life.

jinpa:
        Generosity. One of the six paramitas.

Kadam:
        The Kadam lineage was founded by Dromtonpa, the main disciple of
Atisha, who came to Tibet in the eleventh century. Their teachings place
emphasis on monastic discipline and on training one's mind in bodhichitta
and compassion.

Kagyu:
        One of the four great lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyu
lineage is known as the "Practice Lineage" because of its emphasis on
meditative discipline.

Kalyanamitra:
        "Spiritual friend." It is said that in the hinayana one views one's
teacher as the elder, in the mahayana as a spiritual friend and in the
vajrayana as a vajra master.

karma:
        "Action." The entrapment of karma refers to the fact that our
actions, since they are based on ego-clinging, entrap us in a never ending
chain of cause and effect from which it is more and more difficult to
escape.

karuna:
        "Compassion."

kaya:
        Literally, "body." The four kayas refer in this text to four
aspects of perception. Dharmakaya is the sense of openness, nirmanakaya is
clarity, sambhogakaya is the link or relationship between those two; the
svabhavikakaya is the total experience of the whole thing.

klesha:
        Mental poison, confused emotionality. The five root kleshas are
passion or grasping, aggression, delusion or ignorance, arrogance, and envy.

lojong:
        "Mind training." Specifically, the practice of cultivating
bodhichitta outlined by the Kadampa slogans.

lord of speech:
        One of the three lords of materialism (lord of body, lord of
speech, lord of mind), or ways in which we consume our physical,
psychological, and spiritual experiences for the further bloating of ego's
realm.

mahakala:
        A wrathful dharmapala, or dharma protector. Iconographically,
mahakalas are depicted as dark and wrathful deities.

mahamudra:
        Literally "Great Symbol." The central meditative transmission of
the Kagyu lineage. The inherent clarity and wakefulness of mind, which is
both vivid and empty.

mahayana:
        The "giant vehicle," which emphasizes the emptiness (shunyata) of
all phenomena, compassion, and the acknowledgment of universal buddha
nature. The ideal figure of the mahayana is the bodhisattva; hence it is
often referred to as the bodhisattva path.

maitri:
        "Loving kindness," "friendliness." In connection with compassion or
karuna, maitri refers to the process of making friends with oneself as the
starting point for developing compassion for others.

maitri bhavana:
        The practice of maitri, or loving kindness. Tonglen practice is
also referred to as maitri practice, or maitri bhavana. This term also
applies to a monthly practice for the sick conducted at Vajradhatu centers.

Manjushri:
        Bodhisattva of knowledge and learning. Usually depicted with a book
and the sword of prajna.

Marpa (1012-1097):
        The third of the great Kagyu lineage holders and chief disciple of
Naropa. Known as Marpa the translator, Marpa was the first Tibetan in this
lineage and introduced many important teachings from India into Tibet.

Milarepa (1040-1123):
        The most famous of all Tibetan poets and quintessential wandering
yogin, Milarepa, or the "cotton-clad Mila" was Marpa's chief student and the
fourth major lineage holder of the Kagyu tradition.

mother sentient beings:
        A traditional phrase expressive of the view that all sentient
beings or living creatures, have at one time or another been one's mother.

nirmanakaya:
        "Emanation body,""form-body,""or body of manifestation."
Communication of awakened mind through form--specifically, through
embodiment as a human being. See also kaya.

paramita:
        Literally, "gone to the other shore." The essential activities of a
bodhisattva, or enlightened being. The six paramitas are generosity,
discipline, patience, exertion, meditation, and knowledge (prajna). The
paramitas are called "transcendent actions" because they are nondual, not
based on ego-clinging. Therefore, they transcend the entanglements of
karma.

prajna:
        "Transcendent knowledge," the sixth paramita. Prajna is the eyes
and the other five paramitas are the limbs of bodhisattva activity.

sadhana:
        A ritual text, as well as the accompanying practice. Ranging from
very simple to more elaborate versions, sadhanas engage the mind through
meditation, the body through gestures (mudras), and the speech through
mantra recitation.

samaya:
        "Sacred word" or "vow." The vajrayana principle of commitment,
whereby the student is bound completely to the discipline and to the
teacher and to his or her own sanity.

sambhogakaya:
        "Body of enjoyment" or energy. The environment of compassion and
communication linking the dharmakaya and the nirmanakaya. See also kaya.

sampannakrama:
        One of the two stages of vajrayana sadhana practice. Having dissolved
the visualization (utpattikrama), one rests effortlessly in sampannakrama,
or the completion stage of formless meditation.

samsara:
        The vicious cycle of existence, arising from ignorance and
characterized by suffering.

sangha:
        The third of the three objects of refuge (Buddha, dharma, sangha).
In a narrow sense sangha refers to Buddhist monks and nuns, in the mahayana
sense, sangha refers to the entire body of practitioners, both lay and
monastic.

self-liberate:
        Self-liberated means freed by itself on the spot. In the slogan
"Self-liberate even the antidote," the sense is that emptiness is free from
solidification.

Shambhala:
        "The Shambhala teachings are founded on the premise that there is
basic human wisdom that can help to solve the world's problems. This wisdom
does not belong to any one culture or religion, nor does it come only from
the West or the East. Rather it is a tradition of human warriorship that
has existed in many cultures throughout history."--Chogyam Trungpa.

Shamatha:
        Mindfulness practice. A basic meditation practice common to most
schools of Buddhism, the aim of which is to tame the mind.

shravakayana:
        "Way of the hearers." The focus of the shravakayana is on
individual salvation through listening to the teachings and gaining insight
into the four noble truths and the irreality of phenomena. The shravakayana
can be equated with the hinayana.

shunyata:
        "Emptiness,""openness." A completely open and unbounded clarity of
mind.

sugatagharba:
        Indestructible basic wakefulness, buddha nature, similar to
tathagatagarbha. See also tathagatagarbha.

Suvarnadvipa (sage of Suvarnadvipa):
        Atisha's teacher Dharmakirti lived on the island of Sumatra, in
Sanskrit name Suvarnadvipa or the "golden island." Hence he was called the
sage of Suvarnadvipa. In Tibetan, Dharmakirti was referred to as Serlingpa,
"the man from Serling" (Tibetan for "golden land").

svabhavakikakaya:
        "Body of self-nature." Total panoramic experience, the totality of
the kayas. See also kaya.

tantra:
        A synonym for vajrayana, third of the three yanas of Tibetan
Buddhism. Tantra means continuity and refers both to the root texts of the
vajrayana and to the systems of meditation they describe.

tathagatagarbha:
        Buddha nature, the enlightened basic nature of all beings.
Tathagata is an epithet of the Buddha, and garbha means "womb," or
"essence."

tonglen:
        The practice of sending and taking which is designed to reverse
ego-clinging and cultivate bodhichitta.

utpattikrama:
        Visualization practice. One of the two stages of vajrayana sadhana
practice in which one evokes awakened mind by visualizing a particular
tantric deity.

vajrayana:
        "Indestructible vehicle or way." The third of the three yanas of
Tibetan Buddhism.

vidyadhara:
        Insight holder or "crazy-wisdom holder." With a capital V, an
honorific title given to Chogyam Trungpa.

vipashyana:
        Awareness practice. With shamatha, one of the two main modes of
meditation common to most forms of Buddhism.

yana:
        "Vehicle." A coherent body of intellectual teachings and practical
meditative methods related to a particular stage of a student's progress on
the path of buddhadharma. The three main vehicles are the hinayana,
mahayana, and vajrayana.