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Abhayākaragupta
(11th/12th cent.).Buddhist monk and scholar, especially of Tantric Buddhism. He was born a brahman, but became Buddhist in response to a vision. He wrote many works on monastic discipline ...
Abhinavagupta
(c.975–1025)Greatest of the Kashmiri Śaiva theologians. His works deal with the theoretical, yogic, and ritual aspects of the Tantric Trika and Krama traditions, the theology of the Pratyabhijñā ...
abhiṣeka
(Skt.; Tib., dbang-bskur). Literally ‘sprinkling’, this is an initiatory ritual of consecration in tantric Buddhism based on the classical Indian ceremony of coronation which involved lustration. ...
ādi Buddha
(Skt.). The primordial Buddha.a term only found in late Mahāyāna and Tibetan traditions of tantric Buddhism.possibly not attested in Indian Buddhism but generated through hyper-Sanskritization (see ...
Aghorī
A member of a Śaiva ascetic sect, related to the now defunct Kāpālika tradition, that worships Śiva in his Aghora (terrible) form. Most prevalent in Vārāṇasī (but now few in number), Aghorīs live and ...
akṣara
(Skt.). A syllable, letter, or phoneme, especially of Sanskrit. In tantric Buddhism these syllables often constitute a hidden code with mystical significance known only to initiates.
Akṣobhya
(Skt.). The ‘Immovable One’, one of the five Jinas.normally depicted iconographically as a blue, or sometimes white, saṃbhoga-kāya Buddha associated with the eastern quarter. He is also viewed as the ...
Annen
(d. between 889 and 898).Early Tendai thinker and esoteric practitioner who revised the traditional Chinese T'ien-t'ai system of doctrinal classification in order to accommodate esoteric or tantric ...
anuttara-yoga-tantra
(Skt.; Tib., bla-na-med-pa'i rgyud).A modern Sanskritized form (see Sanskrit), unattested in original Indian texts, of the term commonly used to indicate the highest or ‘supreme’ form of the four ...
anuyoga
(Skt.). The fifth level of tantric teachings according to the Nyingma school, equivalent in some respects to the Mother Tantra class of the New Schools. The tantric texts that form this category are ...
Ardhanārī
(Skt., ‘half-female’).The androgynous form of a Hindu deity, especially of Śiva as Ardanārīśvara, ‘Hermaphrodite Lord’. In painting or sculpture, the ardhanārī is represented with the left side of ...
argha
(Skt.). A type of offering used in tantric rituals, often comprising of water mixed with flowers, leaves, and rice.
āsana
(Skt.). A yogic posture which provides a seat for meditational practice. The most common example is the ‘lotus posture’ (padmāsana) in which both feet rest on top of the thigh of the opposite leg.
Atiśa
(c.980–1055).The short name of Atiśa Dīpaṃkāra Śrījñāna. Born in Bengal into a royal family, he was a renowned Buddhist scholar and monk who later became one of the leading teachers at the university ...
atiyoga
(Skt.). The sixth level of tantric teachings according to the Nyingma school, equivalent in some respects to the Non-dual Tantra class of the New Schools. The tantric texts that form this class are ...
Avalokiteśvara
(Skt.; Tib., spyan-ras-gzigs; Chin, Kuan-yin; Jap., Kannon or Kwannon).One of the eight great Bodhisattvas.and one whose activities especially involve the active practice of compassion (karuṇā) in ...
Avatamsaka literature
An important and extensive literary compilation in Mahāyāna Buddhism centring on the Avatamsaka-sūtra, also known as Buddhāvatamsaka-sūtra (Sutra of the Garland of Buddhas; Chin., Hua-yen ching; ...
Bhairava
A ferocious form of Śiva; infused with a terrifying and ecstatic power, he is worshipped by Kāpālikas and others. The myth associated with him tells how he was generated from Śiva's fury at the ...
Bhūtaśuddhi
(Skt., ‘purification of the elements’).The ritual purification of the body in Tantrism, so as to render the body sacred in order to worship a deity. The body corresponds to ...
