This glossary contains an alphabetical list of Buddhist terms that you may find on this website. Many of the terms now include phoneticized Sanskrit (Skt) as well as two forms of Tibetan—the phonetic version (Tib), which is a guide to pronunciation, and transliteration using the Wylie method (Wyl). Search for the term you want by entering it in the search box or browse through the listing by clicking on the letters below. Please see our Content Disclaimer regarding English terms in LYWA publications that may be outdated and should be considered in context.

Glossary

All A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z

three modes of apprehending an object

Also known as the three I's when the referent object is the self; they are the three possible ways we can experience any object: seeing it as truly existent, seeing it as not truly existent and seeing it without qualifying it one way or the other.

three poisons

dug sum (Tib); dug gsum (Wyl)

Attachment, anger and ignorance.

three thousand great thousand universes

trisahasra (Skt); jigten tong sum (Tib); 'jig rten stong gsum (Wyl)

Aka trichiliocosm, so called because a thousand world systems makes a great world system and a thousand of those makes a second-order thousand-fold world system, and a thousand of those makes a third-order thousand-fold world system or three thousand great thousand universes.

three types of morality

tshultrim sum (Tib); tshul khrims gsum (Wyl)

Three aspects of the perfection of morality: the morality of restraining from wrong-doing, the morality of accumulating merit and the morality of benefiting sentient beings.

three vajras

dorje sum (Tib); rdo rje gsum (Wyl)

The holy body, speech and mind of a buddha.

three ways sentient beings are kind

Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches that sentient beings are kind in three ways: 1) all our happiness, including enlightenment, comes from sentient beings’ kindness; 2) our perfect human rebirth comes from their kindness; and 3) our shelter, food, and clothing come from their kindness.

three white and three red substances

A human body is said to be constituted of the three white substances received from the father—sperm, bone and marrow—and the three red substances from the mother—skin, blood and flesh.

throwing karma

phen jä kyi lä (Tib); 'phen byed kyi las (Wyl)

Also called projecting karma, the karmic imprint that ripens at the time of death to propel us into the next rebirth. See also completing karma.

thugpa (Tib)

A popular noodle soup made in the Himalayan Nepal and Tibet.

tirthika (Skt)

mu teg pa (Tib); mu stegs pa (Wyl)

An outer being, a proponent of a non-Buddhist system of beliefs with tenets that assert either eternalism or nihilism, views which bind them to samsara. Also known as an outsider (Tib: phy rol pa), one who adheres to an outsider doctrine (Tib: gzhan sde pa).

torma (Tib)

balimta (Skt); gtor ma (Wyl)

An offering cake used in tantric rituals. In Tibet, tormas were usually made of tsampa, but other edibles such as biscuits and so forth will suffice.

Trijang Rinpoche, His Holiness (1901–81)

The late Junior Tutor of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and root guru of Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche; also editor of Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.

true existence

den par yö pa (Tib); bden par yod pa (Wyl)

The concrete, real existence from its own side that everything appears to possess; in fact, both self and phenomena are empty of true existence.

tsa tsa (Tib)

A print of a buddha’s image made in clay or plaster from a carved mold.

tsenshab (Tib)

The title given to master debating partners of the Dalai Lama.

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