Glossary

This glossary includes technical terms used in the chapters of this collection, that is, it is not intended as a comprehensive glossary of tantric terms. (The Tāntrikābhidhānakośa (Hélène Brunner et al., eds.; 3 vols. to date, Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2000, 2004, 2013) is a comprehensive resource for Sanskrit tantric terminology with explanations in German, French, and English.) Except for a very few emendations by the editors, the English explanations (glosses) of the technical terms included here are those of the contributors. Proper nouns and accepted loanwords in English are not italicized and are not marked with diacritics. Some of the terms reach across several of the chapters, including crossing linguistic boundaries, as indicated by instances in which terms from different source languages are grouped together. These are just one indication of the extent to which concepts, categories, and concerns are shared throughout tantric culture when understood broadly as this collection does.

Unless otherwise indicated, terms are Sanskrit, and only when needed for clarity are marked S. Sanskrit root forms are marked √.

Tibetan terms appear frequently with alternative transcriptions.

P. Pāli T. Tibetan, Ch. Chinese, J. Japanese, M. Mongolian

 
• abhakṣyabhakṣaṇa

  eating what cannot be eaten

 
• ābhāsa

  manifestation

 
• ābhāsvara-citta (T. ‘od gsal)

  clear light

 
• abhayamudrā

  gesture that dispels fear

 
• abheda

  the one nondual reality

 
• abhicāra

  subjugation, liquidation; ritual function

 
• abhinaya

  whole body postures

 
• abhiṣeka (T. dbang bskur)

  initiation, consecration

 
• abhiṣekavidhi

  ritual texts for the performance of consecration ceremonies

 
• abhivyakti

  emergence or manifestation

 
• ācārya

  Buddhism: tantric master, preceptor; Jain: mendicant leaders

 
• adhiṣṭhāna (J. kaji, 加持)

  empowerment

 
• adhyātma

  spiritual practice

 
• adṛśya

  invisibility

 
• advaitācāra

  nondualism in ritual practice

 
• advaitāṃ

  nondual

 
• āgama-ghāra

  tantric-house

 
• āgama-koṭa

  tantric shrine room

 
• aghoramantra

  mantra of Bhairava, who is an avatar of Śiva

 
• Agni (Ch. Huo shen 火神, J. Ka Ten)

  Vedic deity of fire

 
• agnikārya

  fire oblations

 
• ahaṁkāra

  ego function of mind

 
• ahampratyavamarśa

  idealistically constitutive self-recognition

 
• ahiṃsā

  nonviolence

 
• āhvāna:

  Jain: inviting the goddess into the diagram (yantra)

 
• ajñāna

  nescience

 
• akala

  without parts

 
• ākarṣaṇa

  to attract, of ritual practices

 
• akṣaya

  imperishability

 
• akhyāti

  nonmanifestation

 
• akṣara

  syllable

 
• akṣaya-sarovara

  imperishable region

 
• ālayavijñāna

  storehouse consciousness

 
• amṛta

  nectar, immortality

 
• anahata cakra

  heart cakra

 
• anākhyā

  inexpressible

 
• ānanda

  cosmic bliss

 
• andhāra

  walled ambulatory

 
• anekānta

  Jain: nonabsolutism

 
• anekāntātmatattvajñā

  Jain epistemological stance that every object can be seen from multiple perspectives

 
• aṅgamantra

  body part mantras

 
• aṅkayantra

  numerical diagram

 
• antaḥ

  internal

 
• antaḥkaraṇa

  internal sense organ

 
• antarābhava (Ch. zhongyin 中陰, J. chūin)

  intermediate being

 
• antar-yāga

  internal worship, domestic practice, meditative and visual practices

 
• anugraha

  grace

 
• anukalpa

  symbolic substitutions of offerings

 
• anukarman

  maintenance of a temple

 
• anupāya

  “no means”

 
• anusaṃdhāna

  recognitive synthesis

 
• anuttara

  unsurpassable

 
• anuttarayoga

  supreme union, one of the categories of Buddhist tantras

 
• anyāpoha

  exclusion of the other

 
• anyonyaparihāra

  mutual exclusion

 
• āpatti

  downfalls

 
• apratiṣṭhitanirvāṇa

  nonsettled nirvana

 
• apūrṇatākhyāti

  incomplete manifestation

 
• arcana

  temple offerings

 
• arhat

  one worthy of veneration, Jain: enlightened souls

 
• āropa-sādhana

  attribution practice

 
• arthakriyā

  causal efficacy

 
• aśakta

  incapable

 
• āsana

  posture

 
• asidhārāvrata (also āsidhāraṃ, vratam, khaḍgadhārāvrata)

  the “sword’s edge” observance

 
• āśrayaparāvṛtti

  transformation of the basis, or fundamental transformation

 
• aṣṭamātṛkās

  eight mothers

 
• aṣṭāṅgayoga

  eight auxiliaries, eight-part yoga

 
• aṣṭapāśa

  eight impediments of the bound condition

 
• astrarāja

  chief of weapons

 
• aśubhabhāvanā

  meditation on impurity

 
• aśvamedha

  horse sacrifice

 
• ātmajñāna

  self-realization

 
• ātmaśuddhi

  purifications of one’s self

 
• atyantaniṣprapañcacaryā

  exceedingly without elaboration (highest kind of practice)

 
• avadhūtī

  one of the three main channels of yogic physiology

 
• āvāhana

  invoking a deity

 
• avaidhika

  non-Vedic

 
• avinābhāva

  inseparability

 
• bahir-yāga

  external worship, temple practice, externally oriented liturgical exercises; see also bāhyayaga

 
• bāhya

  external

 
• bāhyādhyātmikā mudrā

  exterior/interior consort

 
• bāhyāṅganām

  the outer belle

 
• bāhyayaga

  external sacrifice; see also bahir-yāga

 
• bālatantra

  childhood illness, midwifery

 
• bali (T. gtor ma)

  ritual offerings, animal sacrifice, food offerings

 
• bali-pūjā

  ritual in which offerings are made

 
• bandhas

  internal muscular locks, yogic practice, see also bandhu

 
• bandhu

  bonds; see also bandha

 
• bāṅkānadī

  crooked river

 
• beraśuddhi

  purification of the deity image; see also bimbaśodhana

 
• bhagabandhana

  sealing the vagina

 
• bhagavān

  lord, god

 
• bhagavatī

  goddess

 
• bhakti

  devotion

 
• bhāvanā

  visualization, cultivation

 
• bhāvārtha

  explicit reference, of mantras

 
• bhāvayet

  visualization

 
• bheda

  manifold expression, difference

 
• bhedābheda

  difference-in-unity

 
• bhedhābheda-vāda

  logic of unity-within-multiplicity, of difference-in-unity

 
• bhittis

  outer walls of a temple

 
• bhoga

  sacrificial feeding

 
• bhukti

  enjoyment

 
• bhūmi

  grounds, planes of reality

 
• bhumisparṣamudrā

  earth touching mudrā

 
• bhūtajaya

  mastery of the elements

 
• bhūtaśuddhi

  purification of the body, purification of the elements, visualizations of diagrams and seed syllables

 
• bhuvanas

  spheres, planes of existence

 
• bījamantra

  syllable mantra, lit. ‘seed’ mantra

 
• bījamantra-japa

  repetition of power-syllables

 
• bimbaśodhana

  purification of the deity image; see also beraśuddhi

 
• bindu

  dot, point of origins

 
• bodhi

  awakening

 
• bodhicitta (J. bodaishin, 菩提心, T. byang sems)

  intention to awaken, enlightened mind

 
• bodhicittahetukam

  caused by the will to awaken

 
• bonnō (J. 煩悩)

  see kleśa

 
• bonnō soku bodai (J. 煩悩即菩提 )

  transgressions (worldly desires, kleśa) are (identical to) enlightenment (bodhi)

 
• bōsotsu (J. 亡卒)

  dead soldiers; see also onryō

 
• brahmarandhra

  fontanelle

 
• brgyud pa (T.)

  transmission lineages

 
• bslab gsum (T.)

  three trainings

 
• buddhadharma (J. buppō, 仏法)

  teachings of the Buddha

 
• buddhavacana

  speech of the Buddha

 
• buddhi

  intellect

 
• buppō no dōri (J. 仏法の道理)

  principle of the buddhadharma

 
• caityagṛha

  monuments

 
• cakra

  wheels, circular regions or ‘wheels’ of the subtle body; discus: throwing weapon of a god

 
• cakravartin

  cosmic ruler, ideal universal ruler, universal ruler

 
• caṇḍalī (T. tummo, gtum mo)

  internal heat, ‘fury fire’

 
• candrakapāla

  a motif of a skull eating a half-moon

 
• caryā

  performance, one of the categories of Buddhist tantras

 
• caturānanda

  fourfold joy

 
• caturmudrā

  four seals

 
• chandas

  meter, pulse of a building

 
• chöd (T. gcod)

  severance

 
• chöjung (T. cho ‘byung)

  sacred history

 
• cidākāśa

  “sky of consciousness”

 
• dag snang (T.)

  pure visions

 
• dāgha

  fever, thirst, burning

 
• daihi taizō (J. 大悲胎蔵)

  great womb of compassion

 
• dai shijōkōhō (J. 大熾盛光法)

  Rite of Great Radiant Light, see also shijōkōhō

 
• ḍākinī (T. khandroma, mkha’ ‘dro ma)

  ‘she who flies in the sky’, i.e., in emptiness/śūnyatā; polyvalent goddess figure; also, incarnate ḍākinīs (T. zugpe khandroma, gzugs pa’i mkha’ ‘gro ma)

 
• ḍākinījāla

  esoteric name for the subtle body, ‘the invisible network of the ḍākinīs’; see manomaya-kāya

 
• dakṣiṇācāra

  right-handed practice, orthodox ritual practice

 
• dakṣiṇa-mārga

  right-handed path

 
• dam sri mdzad (T.)

  transgressor spirit

 
• ḍamaru

  hand-drum

 
• dāna

  giving

 
• dānapāramitānaya

  way of the perfection of charity

 
• darśana

  view

 
• daśāvatāras

  ten incarnations of Viṣṇu

 
• dehatattva

  principles of the body

 
• deśādhvan

  course of space

 
• deva-deha

  divine inner yogic body

 
• devarāja cakravartin

  coronation ritual

 
• devatāyoga (T. lha’i rnal ‘byor)

  deity yoga

 
• devātmaśakti

  divine self’s potency

 
• dhāraṇā

  visualization, fixation, retention

 
• dhāraṇī (J. darani; 陀羅尼)

  verbal formulae used ritually

 
• dharma (T. chos)

  teachings, also: Buddhism—ultimate constituents of existence

 
• dharmāḥ

  qualities

 
• dharmakāya (J. hosshin, 法身)

  qualities that make a Buddha, the body of the Buddha’s teachings, truth body

 
• dharmameghā

  tenth bodhisattva ground, lit. clouds of dharma

 
• dharmanairātmya

  non-selfhood of dharmas

 
• dharmapāla (T. chos skyong, M. choijin)

  guardians of the dharma

 
• dhruvapada

  refrain

 
• dhūpa

  incense

 
• dhyāna

  concentration, meditation, visualization

 
• dhyāna mudrā

  meditation mudrā

 
• dīkṣā

  initiation

 
• divyabhāva

  divine state

 
• divya-deha

  divine body

 
• dizhi (Ch. 地支)

  earthly branches

 
• dohās

  couplets

 
• dōri (J. 道理)

  principles of the Buddhist teachings

 
• Doyō (J. 土曜)

  Saturn

 
• dravyaśuddhi

  purification of the materials used in worship

 
• duṣkaraparityāgāni

  difficult relinquishments

 
• dūtikās

  messengers

 
• dvaitādvaita

  duality-within-nonduality

 
• dvarapāla

  gatekeeper, demonic guardians

 
• dveṣa

  aversion

 
• dvija

  twice-born

 
• Dzogchen (T. rdzogs chen, S. Mahāsandhi)

  Great Perfection

 
• dzogrim (T. rdzogs rim)

  completion or perfection stage of practice

 
• gān

  strophic lyrics

 
• gaṇacakra

  ritual of the ‘group circle’

 
• gaṇadhara

  Jain: disciples of the tīrthaṅkaras

 
• gandhaśakti

  energy of smell

 
• gāne siddha

  self-realization through singing songs

 
• gāner dharma

  ‘religion of songs’

 
• ganmon (J. 願文)

  liturgical genre of writing expressing one’s intentions

 
• garbha (J. zō 藏)

  repositories, matrices

 
• garbhagṛha

  innermost chamber of a temple

 
• gāruḍatantra

  texts on controlling snakes

 
• gdod ma’i gzhi (T.)

  primordial basis

 
• genja/geza (J. 験者)

  monastic exorcists

 
• geyō (J. 外用)

  outer action, or actions that manifest inner enlightenment

 
• ghaṭ

  a pot made of clay or metal

 
• ghāṭ

  landing stairs on rivers or ponds

 
• gītaṃ dhvanir nṛttam

  making noise and dancing

 
• gogyō (J. 五行)

  see wuxing

 
• gohō (J. 御法, 護法)

  dharma protector

 
• gohō zenjin (J. 護法善神)

  dharma protector good spirit

 
• goji gonshinkan (J. 五字嚴身觀)

  visualization of the five syllables on the practitioner’s body

 
• gojisō (J. 護持僧)

  protector monk

 
• golakābhyāsa

  ‘globule practice’

 
• goma (J. 護摩)

  see homa

 
• gopīs

  milk maidens

 
• gopura

  grand gateways

 
• gozō mandara (J. 五臓曼荼羅)

  mandala of the five viscera

 
• gṛhakleśanivāraṇa

  averting evil from the house

 
• gṛhastha

  householder

 
• grol gzhi (T.)

  basis of liberation

 
• gsang ba bla na med pa (T.)

  utmost secret, class of teachings

 
• gsang (T.)

  secret, class of teachings

 
• gser skyems (T.)

  ‘golden drink’, an alcoholic drink in the offerings to a fierce deity

 
• gter ston (T.)

  treasure-revealers

 
• guhyābhiṣeka

  secret consecration, secret initiation

 
• guṇa

  properties, qualities

 
• guṇasthānas

  Jain: quality stages

 
• guruparaṃparā

  preceptorial lineage

 
• gyokujo (J. 玉女, or pron. gyokunyo)

  jewel woman

 
• gzhan stong

  other-emptiness

 
• gzhi (T.)

  basis, ground

 
• haṭhamelaka

  violent consorting

 
• haṭhayoga

  forceful yoga

 
• heruka (T. trak-thung khrag ‘thung):

  ‘blood drinkers’, male counterparts to ḍākinī

 
• hlādini-śakti

  bliss emanation

 
• hokuto (J. 北斗)

  the Big Dipper, lit. ‘Northern Dipper’

 
• homa (J. goma, 護摩)

  votive fire offering ritual

 
• homa kuṇḍa

  hearth for the performance of homa

 
• honji-suijaku (J. 本地垂迹)

  the original ground and its traces

 
• hoshi mandara (J. 星曼荼羅)

  star mandalas

 
• hṛdaya

  heart

 
• hṛdaya cakra

  heart cakra

 
• indrābhiśeka

  second coronation, consecration that confers cakravartin status following a foreign acquisition

 
• iṣṭadevatā (T. yidams)

  meditational deities

 
• iṣṭaliṅga

  personal portable liṅga

 
• itihāsa

  great epics

 
• jagadānanda

  universal bliss

 
• jakyō (J. 邪教)

  heterodox, lit. ‘deviant teachings’

 
• japa

  mantric recitation, recitation of god’s name, prayer

 
• jaṭās

  dreadlocks

 
• jayatrayantra

  victory banner diagram

 
• jetsünmas (T. rje btsun ma)

  honorific title signifying powerful practice, great realization, and exemplary teaching

 
• jibo (J. 慈母)

  compassionate mothers

 
• jina (Jain; see also tīrthaṃkara)

  spiritual warriors of the past

 
• jīrṇoddhāra

  removal (uddhāra) of what is old (jīrṇa): maintenance, repair, and replacement of temples and images

 
• jīva

  living soul

 
• jīvanmukti

  liberation while living

 
• jñāna

  knowledge, wisdom

 
• jñānamudrā

  visualized consort

 
• jñānaśakti

  energy of gnosis, infinite powers of knowledge

 
• jñānasattva

  gnosis being

 
• jośīs

  astrologers

 
• jyotir-aṃśa

  particle of light

 
• kadevātmakan

  divine nature

 
• kaigen (J. 開眼)

  ‘eye-opening’ ritual

 
• kala, kalā

  aspects, phonematic particles, parts

 
• kāla

  time

 
• kālādhvan

  course of time

 
• kālajñāna

  knowing the time of death

 
• kalaśas

  ritual vessels, water pot

 
• kālavañca (also mṛtyuvañcana, or ‘conquering death’ mṛtyuñjaya)

  cheating death

 
• kali yuga

  Hindu cosmological term, period of moral decadence and spiritual emptiness

 
• kalpa

  ritual manual

 
• kalpanā

  imagination

 
• kāma

  pleasure, enjoyment, sexual desire

 
• kāpālikas

  skull-bearing Śaiva tantric practitioners who engaged in charnel ground rituals

 
• kaphamedayutaṃ śukram, purīṣamūtrasaṃyutam

  using sperm combined with phlegm, fat, excrement, and urine

 
• kārakas

  syntactico-semantic factors

 
• kāraṇa

  universal cause

 
• kāraṇaśarīra

  causal body

 
• karmamudrā (T. lekyi chag-gya, las kyi phyag rgya)

  physical consort, practice of sexual yoga

 
• karman

  retributive force of past actions

 
• karmasāmya

  balance of karmas

 
• kartā

  officiant

 
• kartṛtva

  universal first-person agency

 
• karuṇāmūlam

  rooted in compassion

 
• kautūhala

  conjuring

 
• kāvya

  courtly poetry

 
• kāyamaṇḍala (T. sku’i dkyil ‘khor)

  body mandala

 
• kāyavākcitta

  body, speech, mind

 
• kevalin

  Jain: the omniscient one

 
• khaṭvāṅga

  staff, often with a skull at top

 
• khenmos (T. mkhan mo)

  nuns who hold the highest monastic degree

 
• ’khrul gzhi (T.)

  basis of illusion

 
• kimon (J. 鬼門)

  ‘demon gate’, northeast direction

 
• kīrtana

  devotional songs

 
• kleśa (J. bonnō 煩悩)

  destructive afflictions

 
• klong sde (T.)

  “space class” of Dzogchen teachings

 
• kongō (J. 金剛)

  see vajra

 
• kongōsatta (J. 金剛薩埵)

  see vajrasattva

 
• kontai (J. 金胎)

  womb and diamond realms together

 
• kośa

  bodily ‘sheaths’

 
• koyomi (J. 曆)

  Chinese system of calendrical science

 
• krama

  systematic order

 
• kriyā

  √kṛ, action, one of the categories of Buddhist tantras

 
• kriyāśakti

  infinite powers of action

 
• kṛṣṇa-pakṣa

  waning of the moon

 
• kṣaṇa

  moment

 
• kṣaṇabhaṅgavāda

  doctrine of instantaneous destruction

 
• kṣaṇikatva

  universal momentariness

 
• kula

  embodied cosmos

 
• kula-devatā

  worship of tutelary deity, family or clan deities

 
• kula-pitṛ-pūjā

  worship of ancestors

 
• kumārī

  a clan virgin

 
• kumārī pūjā pūjā

  offered to prepubescent girls (kumārī)

 
• kuṇḍalinī

  cosmic energy, primal sexual energy, ‘coiled-one’ (serpent)

 
• kūṭa

  mantras with multiple syllables

 
• kyerim (T. bskyed rim)

  generation, also creation or development stage of practice

 
• lalanā

  one of the three main channels of yogic physiology

 
• lalitāsana

  posture of royal ease

 
• laukikya

  worldly

 
• lha’i nga rgyal (T.)

  divine pride

 
• liṅga, liṅgam

  phallus, symbol of Śīva

 
• liṅgadhārins

  bearer of a portable aniconic liṅga

 
• liṅgaśuddhi

  purification of the image worshiped

 
• lung (T. rlung = S. prāṇa)

  inner breath

 
• madhyamā

  middle (one of Bhartṛhari’s tripartite levels of speech)

 
• madya

  alcohol (one of the five transgressive substances)

 
• mahābhāva

  intense spiritual state

 
• mahābhūtas

  elements

 
• Mahādeva

  the great god

 
• Mahāmudrā (T. chagchen, phyag chen)

  ‘great seal’ category of teachings

 
• mahāpātakas

  greatest sins

 
• Mahāsandhi

  see Dzogchen

 
• mahāsiddha

  greatly accomplished saints

 
• mahāsukha (T. dewa chenpo, bde ba chen po)

  great bliss

 
• mahātantra

  extensive text

 
• mahāvākyas

  great sayings

 
• mahāvidyā

  wisdom goddesses; dasa mahāvidyā ten wisdom goddesses

 
• Mahāyāna

  ‘great vehicle’, Buddhist tradition

 
• Mahāyoga

  supreme yoga

 
• mahendra

  earth element

 
• maithuna

  sexual intercourse (one of the five transgressive substances)

 
• mala

  innate impurity, string of beads

 
• mālāmantra

  mantra in garland form

 
• māṃsa

  meat (one of the five transgressive substances)

 
• mānasayāga

  mental sacrifice

 
• mānasikaroga

  mental illness

 
• mandala (J. mandara, 曼荼羅)

  diagram of chief deity and his retinue, circular diagrams

 
• maṇḍalavidhi

  ritual texts for the construction of mandalas

 
• maṇḍapa

  temple

 
• maṇipura cakra cakra

  at the solar plexus

 
• mañjarī

  maidens

 
• mañjarī-sādhana

  maiden practice

 
• man ngag sde (T.)

  ‘pith instruction’, class of Dzogchen teachings

 
• manomaya-kāya

  subtle body

 
• mantra, (J. shingon, 真言)

  verbal formulae used ritually

 
• mantra japā

  silent or sonorous repetition of mantric syllables

 
• mantracaryānaya

  way of mantra praxis

 
• mantramārga

  path of mantra

 
• mantraśāstra

  mantra science

 
• mantramūrti

  mantra form

 
• mantranaya

  way of mantras, i.e., tantric Mahāyāna

 
• mantraśuddhi

  purification of mantras

 
• mantravāda

  mantra science

 
• mappō (J. 末法)

  ‘last dharma age’

 
• mapuṣpapāta

  consecration name

 
• māra

  demons

 
• māraṇa

  killing

 
• marman

  vulnerable points in the site of temple construction

 
• mātās

  local goddesses

 
• māṭhas

  monastic and teaching institutions

 
• mātṛ

  mothers, Brahminical

 
• mātrā

  prosodic instance

 
• mātṛkā

  phonemes of the syllabary, source, mother, syllabary, alphabet goddess, matrix

 
• matsya

  fish (one of the five transgressive substances)

 
• māyā

  apparent reality

 
• metta-bhāvanā

  loving-kindness meditation

 
• mdzod (T.)

  treasuries

 
• mikkyō (J. 密教)

  esoteric/tantric Buddhism

 
• mitsuzō (J. 密藏)

  esoteric treasury (bibliographic category)

 
• mohana

  delusion or bewilderment

 
• mokṣa

  liberation, spiritual freedom

 
• mokṣamārgāḥ

  paths to liberation

 
• mononoke chōbuku no kaji kitō (J. 物の気調伏の加持祈祷)

  spirit exorcism practices

 
• mṛtasaṃjīvana

  raising the dead

 
• mudrā (J. in)

  lit. ‘seal’, ritual hand gesture, also pounded grain (one of the five transgressive substances)

 
• muktapada

  the highest goal

 
• mukti

  liberation

 
• mūladhāra cakra

  root cakra

 
• mūla-dīkṣā

  root initiation

 
• mūlatantra

  root tantra

 
• mūrti

  image of the deity

 
• myōe ittai (J. 冥会一体)

  the myōe (profound state) in one body, see shinkyō myōe

 
• Myōken Bosatsu (J. 妙見菩薩)

  Sudṛṣṭi Bodhisattva, personifies Polaris, the North Star

 
• nāda

  divine resonance

 
• nāda brahman

  cosmic and cosmogonic sound-vibration

 
• nāḍī

  channels

 
• nāga, nāgas

  dragon, snake divinities

 
• nagarā-pūjā

  worship of musical instruments

 
• naishō (J. 内証)

  the inner realization of enlightenment

 
• naivedya

  offering of purified foods

 
• nakṣatras (Ch. ershi ba xiu 二十八宿)

  twenty-eight ‘lunar stations’

 
• namthar (T. rnam thar)

  hagiographies

 
• nang (T.)

  inner, class of teachings

 
• navasmaraṇa

  Jain: Śvetāmbara ‘nine remembrances’

 
• navātmamantra

  nine syllable mantra that ends in the cluster mlvyū plus an anusvara

 
• naya

  way, or guiding principle

 
• nayatraya

  three ways to salvation

 
• nāyikā

  heroines

 
• neyārtha

  provisional, nondefinitive, or indicative, of scriptures

 
• ngöndro (T. sngon ’gro)

  preliminary practices

 
• nigamana

  conclusion

 
• niḥsvabhāva

  non-entitiness

 
• ningyō-sho (J. 人形杵)

  human-shaped vajra

 
• nirākāra

  formless

 
• nirañjanām

  immaculate

 
• nirbījā dīkṣā

  seedless initiation

 
• nirguṇa

  attributeless

 
• nirmāṇa

  generated

 
• nirmāṇakāya (J. keshin, 化身)

  transformation body

 
• nirodha

  suspension

 
• nirvāṇ

  ritual removal of male sex organs

 
• nirvāṇa dīkṣā

  Śaiva initiation ritual, rite of liberating initiation

 
• nirvikalpa

  nonconceptuality

 
• niṣkalajñāna

  esoteric knowledge

 
• niṣpannakrama

  process of perfection, perfection stage, completion

 
• niṣprapañcacaryā

  practice without elaboration

 
• nītārtha

  definitive scriptures

 
• niteki wagō (J. 二滴和合)

  merging of two drops, red and white (semen and vaginal blood)

 
• nitya

  eternal

 
• nityapūjā

  daily standard worship

 
• niyama

  necessity

 
• nyāsa (or more specifically aṅganyāsa or dehanyāsa)

  placement, visualization of mantra deities in the body

 
• nye brgyud gter ma (T.)

  short transmission of treasure literature

 
• nyoraizō (J. 如来蔵)

  see tathāgatagarbha

 
• nyūga ganyū (J. 入我我入)

  ritual identification of practitioner and deity; interpenetration

 
• ōbō (J. 王法)

  imperial authority, cf. buppō

 
• ’od sku (T.)

  visible bodies of light

 
• onryō (J. 怨霊)

  vengeful spirits

 
• onryō no dōri (J. 怨霊の道理)

  principle of vengeful spirits

 
• padas

  sung verses

 
• paddhatis

  ritual manuals

 
• padma (J. renge 蓮華)

  lotus, one of three ‘families’ in tantric Buddhism; also female sexual organs

 
• pādukāsādhana

  acquisition of magic shoes

 
• pāṃśukūlikas

  rag-wearing monks

 
• pañcabāṇa

  five arrows (mantras)

 
• pañcabuddha

  five buddhas

 
• pañcadhāraṇā

  five fixations

 
• pañca-krama-yāga

  fivefold sequential sacrifice

 
• pañcakula (T. rigs lnga)

  five buddha families

 
• pañcamakāra

  five transgressive substances

 
• pañcāmnāyāḥ

  five revelations (āmnāyās)

 
• pañcamukhebhyaśca

  five faces

 
• pañcanamaskāra

  Jain: fivefold praise

 
• pañcaparameṣṭhin

  five supreme beings of Jainism

 
• pañcarākṣa

  five protective texts

 
• pañcaśuddhi

  five purifications

 
• pañcavaktra mukhaliṅga

  five-faced liṅga

 
• pañcavidyāsthāna (T. rigs gnas che ba lnga)

  five major fields of knowledge

 
• pañca-tattvas

  five elements

 
• pārada

  internal use of mercury

 
• parakāyapraveśa

  entering a foreign body

 
• parakīyā

  practice with another’s spouse

 
• paramānandāṃ

  supreme bliss

 
• paramārthasat

  real in the ultimate sense

 
• paramātmā

  Paramātman, supreme self

 
• pāramitānaya

  way of the perfections

 
• pāramitā-yāna

  vehicle of the perfections

 
• paranāda

  highest resonance

 
• parārthānumāna

  inference for another, publicly intelligible inference

 
• Parāśakti

  supreme goddess

 
• parasparaparihāra

  incompatibility

 
• paratantra

  heteronomous

 
• paratantrasvabhāva

  dependent nature

 
• parāvāc, parāvāk

  divine speech, supreme speech

 
• paravigraha

  supreme body

 
• parayoga

  supreme yoga

 
• parikalpitasvabhāva

  imagined or conceptualized nature

 
• pariṇāmavāda

  transformation, ontological pluralism

 
• pariniṣpannasvabhāva

  perfected nature

 
• paritta (P.)

  protective texts

 
• paśyantī

  visionary (one of Bhartṛhari’s tripartite levels of speech)

 
• pātañjala yoga

  the yoga of Patañjali

 
• pātraśuddhi

  purification of the ritual vessels

 
• pauṣṭika

  augmentation/increase ritual; ritual category

 
• phala-yāna

  result vehicle

 
• phur pa (T.)

  ritual dagger

 
• phyi (T.)

  outer, class of teachings

 
• phyi dar (T.)

  later transmission

 
• pīṭhas

  sacred sites

 
• prajñā (T. shes rab)

  wisdom

 
• prajñāpāramitānaya

  way of the perfection of wisdom

 
• prajña-upāya, prajñopāya

  insight and means

 
• prākāra

  outermost wall of a temple

 
• prakāśa

  illumination

 
• prakṛti

  primordial matter, female essence, an enduring, unifying nature

 
• pramā

  valid knowledge

 
• pramāṇa

  means of cognition

 
• pramātṛ

  cognizer

 
• prameya

  object of cognition

 
• prāṇa

  vital wind

 
• prāṇāyāma

  breath practice

 
• prapañcacaryā

  practice with specificity or elaboration

 
• prasādam

  food and drink offerings made first to the deity and then consumed as a blessing

 
• prasajyapratiṣedha

  a void, a total absence

 
• pratibimba

  mirroring

 
• pratikramaṇa

  Jain: repentance, expiation

 
• pratisthā

  installing a deity, also treatises specifically concerned with the construction, installation, and consecration of the tantric temple and the image within it

 
• pratiṣṭhācārya

  lay ritual specialists

 
• pratīti

  awareness

 
• pratītyasamutpada

  dependent origination

 
• pratyabhijñāna

  recognition of reality, idealistically constitutive self-recognition

 
• pratyāhāra

  withdrawal and internalization of the sense capacities

 
• pratyakṣa

  actual offerings/sacrifices

 
• pravarta

  beginner

 
• praviśya

  having entered

 
• prāyaścitta

  remediation

 
• prema, prem

  pure love

 
• pūjā

  ritual worship, Jain: having the goddess accept scented substances and other offerings

 
• puṇya

  merit

 
• pūrṇāhaṃtā

  divine perfect egoity

 
• pūrṇatā

  fullness

 
• purohita

  chief officiant for Vedic ritual

 
• puruṣa

  male essence, cosmic man

 
• puṣpa

  flowers

 
• putrakāmeṣṭi yajña

  ritual sacrifice with a specific objective

 
• putrakas

  principal disciples, “adopted son”

 
• rāga

  melodic framework

 
• rāga

  passion

 
• rāgānugā-bhakti sādhana

  practices of passionate devotion

 
• rahasyam

  secret teaching

 
• rajādhirāja

  supreme overlord

 
• rājaguru

  religious advisor

 
• rājasūya

  rite of royal consecration, or birth

 
• rākṣa

  protective texts

 
• rasanā

  one of the three main channels of yogic physiology

 
• rasaśālā

  laboratory

 
• rasa

  aesthetic experience, emotions, male semen

 
• rasaśāstra

  alchemical tradition, aesthetics

 
• rasāyana

  alchemy

 
• rasendra

  mercury

 
• rasika

  connoisseur of emotions

 
• rati

  delight, desire, female vaginal secretions

 
• rativajra

  sex-thunderbolt

 
• ṛddhi

  prosperity, paranormal abilities

 
• rdzogs pa (T.)

  perfection or completion

 
• renge (J. 蓮華)

  see padma

 
• retas

  semen

 
• richi (J. 理智)

  principle and wisdom

 
• rig pa rang sar (T.)

  self-arising nature of awareness

 
• Rinzai Zen (J. 臨済禅)

  Japanese form of Chinese Linji Chan meditation school

 
• rtogs-pa brjod-pa’i mgur (T.)

  songs of realization

 
• rūpa

  external form, shape

 
• rūpa-kāya

  form body

 
• ruvat

  exorcism

 
• ryōbu mandara (J. 両部曼荼羅 or ryōkai mandara 両界曼荼羅)

  the two mandalas of esoteric Buddhism

 
• śabda

  word

 
• śabda-brahma

  word-absolute

 
• śabdarāśi

  collection of letters, male counterpart to mātṛkā

 
• sabījā dīkṣā

  “seeded” initiation (see bījamantra: seed syllable mantra)

 
• ṣaḍāmnāya

  six transmissions from the six faces of Lord Paśupati, six streams of revelation

 
• ṣaḍaṅgayoga

  sixfold system

 
• sadguru

  true teacher

 
• √sādh/sidh

  to achieve, accomplish; verbal root from which siddhi, sādhana, sādhya, and sādhaka all derive

 
• sādhaka

  practitioner, accomplished

 
• sādhan–siddha

  perfecting the mind–body complex

 
• sādhana (T. drup-thap: sgrub thabs)

  ritual practice, Vajrayāna meditations

 
• sādhu

  ordinary mendicants

 
• sādṛśya

  similarity

 
• sahaja

  innate

 
• sahaja-mānuṣa

  the innate person

 
• sahānavasthiti

  mutual nonconcomitancy, co-presence of mutually distinct entities

 
• sahasrāradala padma

  thousand-petaled lotus

 
• Śaiva

  traditions of Hinduism devoted to Śiva

 
• śākta (T. shad ta pa)

  follower or related to the goddess śakti.

 
• śākta-pītḥa

  power-seat, ritual space

 
• śakti

  divine feminine being/energy.

 
• śakticakra

  wheel of śaktis

 
• śaktimān

  possessor of śakti

 
• śaktipāta

  emission of powers

 
• śakti-pūjā-yāga

  sacrificial worship of the goddesses

 
• śakti-upāsanā

  worship of the tantric goddesses

 
• Śākyamuni

  sage of the Śākya clan, honorific title of historical Buddha

 
• samādhi (T. ting nge ‘dzin)

  concentration, meditative concentration

 
• samāgama

  sexual union with the goddess, conjunction

 
• sāmānya

  real universal

 
• sāmānyalakṣaṇa

  conventional entities

 
• sāmarasya

  harmony

 
• śamasana

  charnel ground

 
• samatā

  equanimity

 
• samatha (P.; S. śamatha)

  calming, a style of meditation, cf. vipassanā

 
• samāviśya

  having co-penetrated

 
• samaya (T. damtsik, dam tshig)

  tantric commitments

 
• samayin

  preliminarily initiated neophyte

 
• sambandha

  relation

 
• śāmbhavopāya

  liberation through divine means

 
• saṃbhogakāya (J. hōshin, 報身)

  reward body

 
• saṃbhūti

  origination

 
• saṃdeha

  with the body

 
• saṃhāra

  withdrawal

 
• saṃhāra-krama

  order of dissolution

 
• saṃkalpa

  intention of the ritual

 
• saṃkalpa-mantra

  intention-mantra

 
• saṃketa

  convention

 
• sampannakrama (T. dzog-rim, rdzogs rim)

  completion stage practice

 
• saṃsāra

  change and suffering

 
• saṃsāranirvāṇavibhāvana

  codependence of saṃsāra and nirvana

 
• saṃskāra

  residual traces

 
• saṃskāras

  rites of passage

 
• saṃvṛtisat

  conventionally real

 
• saṃyagdṛṣṭi

  correct understanding

 
• saṃyama

  concentration

 
• saṃyoga

  connection

 
• ṣaṇḍhakaraṇa

  causing impotence

 
• sandhāna

  repair of a temple

 
• sandhyābhāṣā

  intentional or twilight language

 
• sang-yum (T. bsang yum)

  secret consort

 
• sannidhīkaraṇa

  Jain: having the goddess remain in the diagram (yantra)

 
• śānti

  pacification

 
• śāntika

  pacification/protection ritual; ritual category

 
• saptaratna

  seven treasures

 
• saptaratnābhiṣeka

  seven treasure initiation

 
• sarma (T. gsar ma)

  New tantra

 
• sarovara

  stepped ponds

 
• sarva

  total

 
• sarvabuddhasamāyoga

  equivalence with all Buddhas

 
• sarvajñajñānam

  gnosis of all-knowledge

 
• sarvākāśacarā siddhi

  yogic attainment that traverses the whole of space

 
• sarvāmnāya

  total revelation

 
• sarvatathāgata

  assembly of all tathāgatas

 
• śāsanadevatā

  deities who protect the teachings, usually referring to yakṣiṇī/yakṣī

 
• śāsanadevī

  local personal goddess

 
• śastra

  philosophical treatises

 
• ṣaṭkarman

  six acts

 
• satkārya

  the effect is already in the cause

 
• ṣaṭkoṭivyākhyā

  six-point hermeneutics

 
• savdag (M., T. sa bdag)

  land spirits

 
• sems nyid (T.)

  intrinsic nature of our mind

 
• sems sde (T.)

  Mind Class of Dzogchen teachings

 
• shakyōka (J. 釈教歌)

  genre of waka expressing Buddhist teachings

 
• shidai sho (J. 次第書)

  ritual manual

 
• shijōkōhō (J. 熾盛光法)

  rite of radiant light; see also dai shijōkōhō

 
• Shingi Shingon (J. 新義真言)

  ‘New Shingon’ movement

 
• shinkyō myōe (J. 心境冥会)

  profound state of unified mind

 
• shōchi hōmi (J. 聖智法味 )

  the ‘taste’ of the dharma

 
• Shugendō (J. 修験道)

  mountain-based asceticism

 
• shuo (Ch. 朔)

  new moon

 
• siddha

  perfected one, Jain: liberated souls

 
• siddha-deha

  perfected body

 
• siddhānta

  tenet systems, doctrine, ‘settled opinion’

 
• siddhi (T. ngödrup, dngos grub)

  success, realization power, mundane magical powers

 
• śīla (T. tshul khrims)

  morality, conduct

 
• śīlasamādhiprajñā

  ethical discipline, meditation, and insight

 
• śilpaśāstra

  non-tantric construction manuals

 
• śiṣya

  disciple

 
• śivabhakta

  devotee of Śiva

 
• smaraṇa

  recollection, remembering

 
• smaret

  remembering

 
• śmaśāna (T. turtrö, dur khrod)

  charnel grounds

 
• sngags nang pa (T.)

  inner tantras

 
• sngon ’gro (T.)

  preliminary practices

 
• śobha

  beautiful

 
• sokushin jōbutsu (J. 即身成仏)

  enlightenment with/in this very body

 
• soma

  highest Vedic ritual offering, ‘drink of the gods’, also Soma is deity

 
• spanda

  cosmic vibration, a synonym for Śakti

 
• śrāddha

  ancestral offering ritual

 
• śrīmatmahāsukhavajrasattvatvam

  the holy Vajrasattva-hood of great bliss

 
• śrīyantra

  sacred diagram of interlaced triangles

 
• sroter ujāna

  against the current

 
• sṛṣṭikrama

  order of emission, order of creation

 
• śrūti

  divine revelation

 
• stambhana

  immobilization, paralysis—a ritual function

 
• sthānaśuddhi

  purification of the sacrificial place

 
• sthāpana

  Jain: establishing the goddess in the diagram (yantra)

 
• sthūlaśarīra

  physical body, material body

 
• śubha

  suited to its task, Jain: psychic and bodily purity

 
• śuddha

  pure; Jain: psychic and bodily purity

 
• śuddhāṃ

  pure, absolute

 
• Sudṛṣṭi

  Bodhisattva see Myōken Bosatsu 妙見菩薩

 
• śukra

  semen

 
• śukrastambha

  suppression of ejaculation

 
• sūkṣma dhyāna

  subtle body meditation

 
• sūkṣma-śarīra

  subtle body

 
• sūkṣmayoga

  subtle yoga

 
• śūnyatā (T. tongpa-nyi)

  voidness, also emptiness

 
• sur

  musical style

 
• surāpānamadānvita

  intoxicated by liquor

 
• sūtra

  threads, verses

 
• svabhāva

  unique essence or identity, intrinsic nature

 
• svādhisthāna cakra cakra

  at the genitals

 
• svalakṣaṇa

  particular, real entities; the object of cognition, self-characterized particulars

 
• svārthānumāna

  inference for oneself

 
• svarūpa

  inner cosmic form

 
• svātantrya

  freedom, universal first-person agency

 
• svaẏaṃ–siddha

  born enlightened

 
• Taimitsu (J. 台密)

  Tendai esoteric teachings

 
• tainai goi (J. 胎内五位)

  five stages of the embryo in the womb

 
• tāl

  rhythmic pattern

 
• talacchandas

  rhythm of the plan of a temple

 
• tanmātra

  subtle element

 
• tantra

  scripture, bibliographic category

 
• tantrāvatāra

  descent of scripture

 
• tantrika

  tantric

 
• tarka

  rational inquiry and debate

 
• tathāgata

  ‘thus gone,’ epithet of the Buddha, one of three ‘families’ in tantric Buddhism

 
• tathāgatagarbha (J. nyoraizō 如来蔵)

  buddha nature, womb of tathāgata

 
• tattvas

  principles, levels of reality

 
• tattvajaya

  mastering existence

 
• tejopuñja

  mass of radiance

 
• tenmon (J. 天文)

  Chinese system of astronomy

 
• terma (T. gter ma)

  treasure-texts

 
• tertöns (T.)

  treasure-revealers

 
• thun mong gi sngon ‘gro (T.)

  ordinary preliminary practices

 
• thun mong ma yin gi sngon ‘gro (T.)

  extraordinary preliminary practices

 
• tiangan (Ch. 天干)

  heavenly stems

 
• tīrtha

  holy bathing site

 
• tīrthaṅkaras (see also jina)

  Jain: ford maker, spiritual warriors of the past

 
• tithis

  lunar days

 
• tögel (T. thod rgal)

  advanced contemplative methods, “leap over,” direct transcendence

 
• Tōmitsu (J. 東密)

  Shingon esoteric teachings

 
• tribhāva

  three states of being, three modes

 
• tridhātu

  three levels of meditation

 
• trikāya (J. sanshin, 三身)

  three bodies of the buddha

 
• triloka

  three levels of the cosmos (the heavens, earth, and underworld)

 
• tripuṭi

  epistemic triad of cognizer (pramātṛ), means of cognition (pramāṇa), and object of cognition (prameya)

 
• trividha yoga

  threefold yoga

 
• tsampa (T. rtsam pa)

  roasted barley flour

 
• tsogchin (M., T. tshogs chen)

  assembly temple

 
• tülku, (T. sprul sku)

  incarnate lama

 
• tummo (T. gtum mo)

  inner heat meditation

 
• uccāṭaṇa

  eradication, expulsion

 
• ulaṭ bāṃsī

  upside-down language

 
• ulṭā-sādhana

  reversal practice

 
• unmāda

  madness

 
• unmattavrata

  madness vow

 
• upabhoga

  objects of enjoyment

 
• upacāras

  Jain five stages of a ritual

 
• upādhyāya

  Jain: mendicant teachers

 
• upāya

  means

 
• upāyaparyavasānam

  brought to conclusion through skilful means

 
• ūrdhvacchandas

  rhythm of the elevation of a temple

 
• ūrdhvāmnāya

  upper revelation

 
• utkrāntiyoga

  yogic suicide

 
• utpattikrama (T. kye-rim: bskyed rim)

  creation stage practice

 
• uttamapuruṣa

  universal first-person agency

 
• uttaratantra (T. rgyud phyi ma)

  continuation tantra

 
• *uttarottaratantra

  a tantra that is the continuation of the continuation (note: S. name reconstructed from T.)

 
• vāc

  speech

 
• vācyavācakarūpa

  form of designatum and designator

 
• vācyavācakarūpatve

  nature of the designatum and designator

 
• vāgīśvarī

  speech goddess

 
• vaidhi bhakti

  external devotion

 
• vaidhika

  in accord with the Vedas

 
• vaikharī

  articulated (one of Bhartṛhari’s tripartite levels of speech)

 
• Vaiṣṇava

  strain of Hinduism devoted to Viṣnu

 
• vājīkaraṇa

  production of virility

 
• vajra (J. kongō 金剛)

  thunderbolt, ritual implement, one of three ‘families’ in tantric Buddhism, male sexual organs

 
• vajragīti

  tantric songs

 
• vajrajñāna

  thunderbolt-like gnosis

 
• vajrasattva (J. kongōsatta 金剛薩埵)

  vajra-being

 
• Vajrayāna

  tantric Buddhism

 
• vajrolīmudrā

  practice to control ejaculation

 
• vāmācāra

  left-hand, transgressive form of tantric practice, antinomian ritual practice

 
• vāma-mārga

  left-handed path

 
• varṇa

  phoneme

 
• vāsanās

  imprints

 
• vaśīkaraṇa

  to subjugate, of ritual practices

 
• vastu

  cosmic substance, real things

 
• vāstu

  site for the construction of a temple

 
• vāstupuruṣa

  man of the site: personification of the site of construction

 
• vedha

  penetration

 
• videha

  without the body: Vedantic path

 
• vidyā (also mahāvidyā, vidyādevī)

  knowledge, mantra of a feminine deity, spell goddess

 
• vidyārājas (J. myōō, 明王)

  wisdom kings

 
• vijñaptimātra

  only perceptions

 
• vimarśa

  reflexivity, recognitive apprehension

 
• vināśa

  destruction

 
• vipassanā (P.; S. vipaśyanā)

  insight, a style of meditation, cf. samatha

 
• vipatimantra

  snakebite-curing spell, the key Gāruḍa mantra

 
• vīryastambha

  suppression of ejaculation

 
• visaṃvādaka

  deceptive

 
• visarjana

  Jain: dismissing the goddess from the diagram (yantra) after worship is completed

 
• viśuddha cakra

  throat cakra

 
• viśuddhi

  purity

 
• vyādhikaraṇa

  causing illness

 
• vyākhyātantra (T. bshad pa’i rgyud)

  explanatory tantra, commentary tantra

 
• wagō (J. 和合)

  harmonious fusion, or interdependence

 
• wagōshō (J. 和合杵)

  vajra of sexual union

 
• waidan

  Ch., external alchemy

 
• waka (J. 和歌)

  a form of Japanese poetry

 
• wang (Ch. 望)

  full moon

 
• wuxing (Ch. 五行)

  the five phases, five agents

 
• wuzang (Ch. 五臓, J. gozō)

  the five viscera, the five major internal organs

 
• yab-yum (T.)

  yidam deities in sexual union

 
• yāga

  tantric worship

 
• yakṣa

  male nature spirit

 
• yakṣiṇī

  female nature spirit

 
• yakṣiṇīsādhana

  acquiring a yakṣiṇī

 
• yāna

  vehicle

 
• yantra

  tantric diagrams

 
• yātrā

  procession of a deity outside temple grounds

 
• yidam (T. yi dam)

  central deity, meditational deity; see also iṣṭadevatā

 
• yoga

  union, one of the categories of Buddhist tantras

 
• yogācāras

  Buddhist monks specializing in yogic practices

 
• yoginī

  female practitioner of yoga, female divinity

 
• yoginītantra

  class of Buddhist tantras

 
• yoginīvaktra

  mouth of the yoginī

 
• yoni

  vagina, womb, vulva, source

 
• yugal sādhanā

  spiritual-erotic companionship

 
• yuvatīratisaṃyuktaḥ

  enjoying young women

 
• zhelchem (T. zhal chems)

  last testaments