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Institute
for Buddhist Studies, 1990.
Thurman-Robert-a-F-Tr-Tsong-Khapa-Losang-Drakpa-Brilliant-Illumination-of-the-Lamp-of-the-Five-Stages
truth (satya, dharma - bden pa, chos). For the most part a synonym of reality, though sometimes a statement that corresponds or indicates that reality. See "reality. "
Glossary of Unique Translation Terms ? 66 1 truth body (dharmaklyl a). See "three bodies of the Buddha (trikllya)" in the Numerical
Categories Glossary.
truth-habit (satyagraha - bden 'dzin). This refers to a type of objective self-habit, a sub- liminal form of misknowledge which reifies in things an unrealistic intrinsic reality that is not possibly there.
ultimate (paramllrtha - don dam). "Ultimate" is preferable to the usual "absolute" be- cause it carries fewer connotations than "absolute"-which, however, when understood logically. is also correct. It is contrasted with "superficial" (samvrtti) or "relative" (vyavahara) to give the two types, or "levels," of truth. It is synonymous with ultimate reality, the uncompounded. voidness, reality, limit of reality, absolute, nirvana, ultimate liberation, infinity, permanence, eternity, independence, etc. It also has the soteriologi- cal sense of "sacred" as opposed to "profane" as is conveyed by its literal rendering "supreme" (parama) "object" (artha).
Unexcelled Yoga Tantra (anuttarayogatantra - bla med rna/ 'byor rgyud). This is the highest category of Tantric teachings, according to the new translation schools (Kadam- Geluk, Sakya, and Kagyu orders), perhaps corresponding to the Maha-. Anu-. and Ali- yoga Tantras of the old translation school (Nyingma order). The word anuttara is often translated "highest," and they are placed highest in a hierarchy of efficacy. However there are Sanskrit words for "highest," notably parama. or uttama, and so I prefer "unexcelled," to convey the sense that these teachings cannot be surpassed, and all other teachings end up in them. Rather than being above the other teachings, they are at their heart or core, and so reaching full realization of whatever teaching the Buddha gives brings you to the place of the unexcelled.
Universal Vehicle (mahayana - theg chen). The messianic form of Buddhism. that emphasizes the teaching of love and compassion, the inevitable implication of selfless wisdom, providing a social teaching and a vehicle to carry all beings to enlightenment, built upon the foundation of the Individual or Monastic Vehicle that is designed to carry beings one by one.
vagina (bhaga - bha ga, pad ma). The sexual organ of a female practitioner or consort, standing also for voidness, the ultimate nature of reality. Thus, in Unexcelled Yoga Tantras the Buddha Vajrdhara is said to be dwelling in the "vaginas of the vajra women," i. e. in the ultimate reality of voidness experienced as a sensitive membrane that contains great bliss.
Vairochana. One of the five archetypal transcendent buddhas, Lord of the Transcendent Buddha-clan, associated with the eastern direction. He represents the mirror-like wisdom, the transmutation of the poison of delusion, the color white, and the aggregate of matter. His buddha consort is Lochana:.
vajra (vajra - rdo rje) (see also "adamantine, diamond"). This term is translated in Tibetan with the word for ''diamond" (lit. "supreme stone"), which word and object holds a simile for the unbreakability of the intuitive knowledge of the ultimate reality of all things, the infinite energy of the clear light of the void, the ground and substance of all things, known and manifested by all buddhas. The Sanskrit word had the Vedic mean- ing of "thunderbolt" and was the invincible weapon of lndra, king of the Vedic gods. transformed into a magical scepter, symbolizing for Tantric Buddhists the invincible
662 ? Glossary of Unique Translation Terms
power of universal compassion. Along with linga. it refers to the phallus, paired with
bhaga and padma for the vagina.
Vajradhara. The Tantric buddha par excellence, manifesting as a dark blue royally attired handsome male, a metamorphosis of Shllkyamuni and other humanoid buddhas in the context of teaching Tantric revelations.
Vajrasattva. The same buddha (as Vajradhara), here presented as a "diamond hero," an exemplary practitioner of the Tantra.
Vajrapal)i. The same buddha (as Vajradhara/sattva), here as a fierce black ogre-like bodhi- sattva who asks the Vajradhara Buddha manifestation the tough Tantric questions, receives the teachings, and remembers and preserves the Tantric Sutras.
vehicle (yana - theg pa). A conveyance that carries you from one place to another. There are Transcendence, Sutra, Mantra, Tantra, Vajra, and Orgasmic (Sahaja) Vehicles, and also Individual, Universal, Disciple, Hermit Buddha, and Buddha Vehicles.
voidness (siinyata - stong pa nyid). I prefer to translate this term as "voidness" because this English word is more rarely used than "emptiness" and does not refer to any sort of ultimate nothingness. as a thing-in-itself, or even as the thing-in-itself to end all things-in-themselves. It is a pure negation of the ultimate existence of anything or, in Buddhist terminology, the "voidness with respect to subjective and objective selves," or "with respect to intrinsic identity," or "with respect to intrinsic nature," or "with respect to essential substance," or "with respect to self-existence established by intrinsic identity," or "with respect to ultimate truth-status," etc. Thus voidness is a concept descriptive of the ultimate reality through its pure negation of whatever may be supposed to be ultimately real, including itself. It is an absence, hence not existent in itself. It is synonymous therefore with "infinity," "absolute," etc. , themselves all
negative terms, i. e. , formed etymologically from a positive concept by adding a negative prefix (in + finite = not finite; ab + solute = not compounded, etc. ). But, since our verbally conditioned mental functions are habituated to the connection of word and thing, we tend to hypostatize a "void," analogous to "outer space," a "vacuum," etc. , which we either shrink from as a nihilistic nothingness or become attached to as a liberative nothingness; this great mistake can be cured only by realizing the meaning of the "voidness of voidness," which brings us to the tolerance of inconceivability (see
"tolerance").
wind-energy (vayu - rlung). This term-sometimes "neural energy"-is used for the element "wind" (defined simply as "motility" or "movement" [cala - gyo ba]), and more importantly for the subtle inner winds that contribute the activity to the subtle body, moving the "drops" around the "channels. " Their supremely subtle form consti- tutes the extremely subtle body of the indestructible drop that is the mount of the clear light enlightened awareness of the subtlest soul. There are five main energies and five branch energies. The five main energies are the life or vitalizing, evacuating, ascend- ing. metabolic, and pervading energies, each associated with a particular channel- wheel, with a particular archetype buddha, a particular wisdom, and so forth. The branch energies are associated with the buddha consorts and the five elements and so forth. These wind-energies are also extremely important in Buddhist medicine, under- lying the technology of acupuncture and the understanding of most mental as well as many physical disorders.
Glossary of Unique Translation Terms ? 663
wisdom (prajiitl, jifllna - shes rab, ye shes). This word can be used for transcendent wisdom or for gnostic intuition. There is the wisdom of selflessness, the wisdom that realizes voidness, the five wisdoms, and so forth. This word also can be a name for the buddha conson, as in the "wisdom intuition initiation" (prajnll-jnllna-abhi$ekha).
wishlessness (apra(lihill'l - smon pa med pa). Third of the three doors of liberation. Objectively, it is equivalent to voidness: subjectively, it is the outcome of the noble gnosis of voidness as the realization of the ultimate lack of anything to wish for, whether voidness itself. or even buddhahood.
yoga (yoga - rna/ 'byor). From the verbal root yuj- "to yoke," yoga means uniting or connecting, the Tibetan translating "connecting with the essence," the "essence" (rna/) here being the bliss-void-indivisible, the ultimate or actual reality nondually united with the relative reality of life, the unlocated nirvana non-separate from samsara, the diamond clear light transparence of the void actual reality as the infinite energy of love and compassion tapped by the wisdom of selflessness, etc. There is a set of "six yogas" employed in performance of the creation stage: yoga, continuing yoga (anuyoga), great (mahll-) yoga, exteme yoga, mandala triumph yoga and evolutionary (karma) triumph yoga. The currently famous Hatha Yoga, though traditionally connected with the Saritkhya philosophy, rather seems to have arisen from Buddhist and Hindu Tantra, as the ha and the tha seem to refer to the right and left channels of the Tantric yogic subtle nervous system, and the Hatha Yoga focus on the body as a vehicle of enlightened experience seems contradictory to the Sarilkhya dualism and its effort to escape the body and the differentiated world into nirvikalpasamadhi, rather stemming from a Vedantic or Madhyamic nondual vision of life.
yogi or yogi/ni (yogi - rna/ 'byor pa). I use this gender-combined word throughout since in Sanskrit and therefore tacitly in Tibetan the masculine case in all words refers to both genders, as "man" in English is supposed to do when referring to "mankind" as "humankind. " Other English words tend to assume only the masculine unless modified in this way, just as his does not include the feminine referent, so all bodhisattvas are represented as male etc. , unless we write "his or her" etc. I go to this length especially in this Tantric context, in which there has been a lot of ink spilled to make it out as a male chauvinist preserve, while the tradition itself is distinguished by its special emphasis on honoring women in theory and practice (even though most of the historical authors have been men).
yogini (yogin/ - rnal 'byor ma). This word is used in certain contexts where a female yogini or deity is involved or Mother Tantra is intended.
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