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| Explanations of some Buddhist terms. | |
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| Term | Definition | |
| Naga | (skt.: naga; tib.: lu) The Sanskrit word naga means snake or serpent. Nagas belong half to the animal realm and half to the god realm. Nagas are often snake-like in form, creatures with the torso and head of humans, and the body and tail of a snake, though they can assume human form at will. They dwell in a variety of locations ranging from waterways and underground locations and also in unseen realms. They are broadly divided into two classes: those that live on land (thalaja) and those that live on water (jalaja). The Jalaja-naga live in rivers as well as in the sea, while the Thalaja-naga are regarded as living beneath the surface of the earth. Nagas have their own society and kingdoms under the earth and are often the custodian of treasures: either texts or actual material treasures under ground. Some are infinitely wealthy and owe their present form to a previous life of unethical generosity. Their lives are long and they are gifted with miraculous powers and great strength. Nagas are easily angered and passionate. Nagas are susceptible to suffering created by mankinds carelessness and basic ignorance of proper conduct in nature and disrespectful actions in relation to our environment. The weaker nagas will undergo great hardship or die off, while the more powerful will react with anger and strike back at the offenders, inflicting skin disases, death, and sudden catastrophe like floods and drought. Additionally, Nagas can bestow various types of wealth, bring rain and thus assure fertility of crops and the environment as well as decline these blessings. For this reason the practice of Lu Sang (offering of smoke) can be performed as a method to increase prosperity, and assist the Nagas by preserving the positive qualities of their natural environment. | |
| Ngondro | (tib.: ngon dro) Preliminary practices. Literally, to go before or preliminary. These practices are found in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism and are usually done 100,000 times each; there are many preliminary practices, but the four main ones are usually: recitation of refuge and bodhicitta prayer, mandala offering, prostrations, Vajrasattva mantra recitation. Sometimes the four main ones are: guru yoga, Vajrasattva mantra recitation, prostrations and mandala offerings. The Gelug tradition adds five more: guru yoga, water bowl offerings, Damtsig Dorje purifiyng meditation, making tsa-tsas (small sacred images, usually made of clay), Dorje Khadro burnt offering. Generally these practices help us to develop the two accumulations of merits and wisdom, necessary to our progression on the path. They help us to purify negativities which are obstacle to our practices, develop our faith and joy in the practice of Dharma. They also help us to stabilize our concentration. Here are more specific benefits of some of the preliminary practices: - preliminary practice of guru yoga is mainly done to receive the blessings of the guru in order to achieve realizations of the path to enlightenment - Vajrasattva practice and prostrations with meditation on and recitation of the holy names of the Thirty-five Buddhas are done to pacify obstacles - mandala offerings are done particularly to collect merit, the necessary condition to have realizations of the path to enlightenment. | |
| Nine stages to Shine | (tib.: sem ne gu) There are nine stages of settling the mind into a state of shamatha: 1.Setting the mind (sem jog pa) on the object of focus. At this stage, we are merely able to set or place our attention on the object of focus, but are unable to maintain it and have very little ability to hold the object except for a brief moment now and then. 2. Setting with some continuity (gyun du jog pa). Here, we are able to maintain our mental hold on the object for a minute of two before losing it. It takes some time before we recognize that we have lost the object and before we can reestablish our focus. The periods of distraction are longer than the periods of concentration. 3. Resetting (len du jog pa). Here, we are able to recognize as soon as we have lost our mental hold on the object, and we are able to reset or restore our focus immediately. Characterized by shorter breaks in concentration at this stage. 4. Closely setting (nye war jog pa). Here, we do not lose our mental hold on the object anymore, but there are still lots of coarse dullness and agitation. We no longer struggle to keep the object, but struggle with the quality of meditation. 5. Taming (dul war jed pa). Here, we no longer experience gross agitation or gross and middling dullness. However, we experience subtle dullness. 6. Stilling (zhi war jed pa). Here, although there is no longer great danger of subtle mental dullness, nevertheless in uplifting the mind, we became too excited and experience subtle agitation. 7. Complete stilling (nam pa zhi war jed pa). Here, although the danger of subtle flightiness or dullness is minimal, we still need to exert effort to rid ourselves of them completely. 8. Single-pointedness (tse chig tu jed pa). At the beginning of the session, you make a small effort to place the mind on the object, and then it remains there effortlessly. 9. Setting with ease (nyam par jog pa). There is effortless entering and abiding in deep meditation. This is the attainment of single-minded concentration (ting nge dzin, Skt. samadhi.) When, in addition to single-minded concentration, we gain the mental factor of an exhilarating sense of mental and physical fitness to concentrate perfectly on anything for as long as we wish, we gain shamatha. | |
| Nirmanakaya | (tib.: trul ku) Emanation body. There are three types of Nirmanakaya:
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| Nirvana | (skt.: nirvana, moksha; tib.: nyang de, nya ngen le de pa, thar pa) Literal translation from sanskrit could be blown out or extinction, while literal translation from tibetan could be gone beyond suffering. Nirvana is the goal of spiritual practice in Hinayana Buddhism, the liberation from the cycle of rebirth and suffering. Lord Buddha Shakyamuni in Anguttara Nikaya defined nirvana as: This is peace, this is exquisite - the resolution of all fabrications, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Nirvana. In commentary by Kedrup Tenpa Dhargye on Maitreyas work The ornament of Realizations another definition of nirvana is found: Nirvana is a cessation which comes from understanding, and which consists of having eliminated all mental afflictions (and potentials for them to arise in future). There are four types of nirvana: - natural nirvana, which refers to ultimate reality and it is grouped under nirvana because it can never cause mental afflictions - nirvana with something left over; when a being attains nirvana and still has a body (which is the result of past karma) till he/she dies - nirvana with nothing left over; when a being attains nirvana and does not have a body after he/she dies - nirvana which does not stay in the extreme of samsara or in the extreme of peace; refers to nirvana of a Buddha | |
| Noble one | (tib.: phag pa) A Noble being, who has attained the third path, the path of seeing emptiness directly. Arya knows the true nature of all phenomena and is a true Sangha refuge. There are three types of Aryas: 1. Hearer Arya (shravaka arya), 2. Solitary-realizer Arya (pratyekabuddha arya) 3. Arya Bodhisattva (bodhisattva arya). Hearer Arya and Solitary-realizer Arya belong to Hinayana, whereas Arya Bodihsattvas belong to Mahayana because they have also realized Bodhichitta. | |
| Nonduality | Nonduality means that the way we percieve is in accordance to reality. | |
| Nyingma | (tib.: nying ma) The Ancient Order. The Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism originates from the Indian adept Padmasambhava who came to Tibet in 817 CE at the invitation of King Trisong Deutsan (742-797) to clear away the influences obstructing the establishment of Buddhism. This school is also known as the Red hats. This is the oldest of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism (nyingma, kagyu, sakya, gelug). | |
| Definition | ||
