Empowerment (Vajrayana)
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Empowerment (Vajrayana)
In Vajrayāna Buddhism, esoteric transmission is the transmission of certain teachings directly from teacher to student during an empowerment (''abhiṣeka'') in a ritual space containing the mandala of the deity. Many techniques are also commonly said to be secret, but some Vajrayana teachers have responded that secrecy itself is not important and only a side-effect of the reality that the techniques have no validity outside the teacher-student lineage. The secrecy of teachings was often protected through the use of allusive, indirect, symbolic and metaphorical language (twilight language) which required interpretation and guidance from a teacher. The teachings may also be considered "self-secret", meaning that even if they were to be told directly to a person, that person would not necessarily understand the teachings without proper context. In this way, the teachings are "secret" to the minds of those who are not following the path with more than a simple sense of curiosity. B ...
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Vajrayāna
Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring to Buddhist traditions associated with Tantra and "Secret Mantra", which developed in the medieval Indian subcontinent and spread to Tibet, Nepal, other Himalayan states, East Asia, and Mongolia. Vajrayāna practices are connected to specific lineages in Buddhism, through the teachings of lineage holders. Others might generally refer to texts as the Buddhist Tantras. It includes practices that make use of mantras, dharanis, mudras, mandalas and the visualization of deities and Buddhas. Traditional Vajrayāna sources say that the tantras and the lineage of Vajrayāna were taught by Śākyamuni Buddha and other figures such as the bodhisattva Vajrapani and Padmasambhava. Contemporary historians of Buddhist studies meanwhile argue that thi ...
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Buddhist Philosophical Concepts
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia via the Silk Road. It is the world's fourth-largest religion, with over 520 million followers (Buddhists) who comprise seven percent of the global population. The Buddha taught the Middle Way, a path of spiritual development that avoids both extreme asceticism and hedonism. It aims at liberation from clinging and craving to things which are impermanent (), incapable of satisfying ('), and without a lasting essence (), ending the cycle of death and rebirth (). A summary of this path is expressed in the Noble Eightfold Path, a training of the mind with observance of Buddhist ethics and meditation. Other widely observed practices include: monasticism; " taking refuge" in the Buddha, the , and the ; and ...
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Subitism
The term subitism points to sudden awakening, the idea that insight into Buddha-nature, or the nature of mind, is "sudden," c.q. "in one glance," "uncovered all together," or "together, completely, simultaneously," in contrast to "successively or being uncovered one after the other." It may be posited as opposite to gradualism, the original Buddhist approach which says that following the dharma can be achieved only step by step, through an arduous practice. Etymology The application of the term "subitism" to Buddhism is derived from the French '' illumination subite'' (sudden awakening), contrasting with 'illumination graduelle' (gradual awakening). It gained currency in this use in English from the work of sinologist Paul Demiéville. His 1947 work 'Mirror of the Mind' was widely read in the U.S. It inaugurated a series by him on subitism and gradualism. The Chinese term ''tun'', as used in ''tun- wu'', translated as "subite," sudden, has a broader meaning than "sudden." It is ...
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Shaktipat
Shaktipat or Śaktipāta (Sanskrit, from ''shakti'' "(psychic) energy" and ''pāta'', "to fall")''Abhinavagupta : the Kula ritual, as elaborated in chapter 29 of the Tantrāloka'', John R. Dupuche, 2003, page 155 refers in Hinduism to the transmission (or conferring) of spiritual energy upon one person by another or directly from the deity. ''Shaktipat'' can be transmitted with a sacred word or mantra, or by a look, thought or touch – the last usually to the ajna chakra or agya chakra or third eye of the recipient. ''Saktipat'' is considered an act of grace (''anugraha'') on the part of the guru or the divine. It cannot be imposed by force, nor can a receiver make it happen. The very consciousness of the god or guru is held to enter into the Self of the disciple, constituting an initiation into the school or the spiritual family ( kula) of the guru. It is held that ''Shaktipat'' can be transmitted in person or at a distance, through an object such as a flower or fruit. ...
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Initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation in which the initiate is 'reborn' into a new role. Examples of initiation ceremonies might include Christian baptism or confirmation, Jewish bar or bat mitzvah, acceptance into a fraternal organization, secret society or religious order, or graduation from school or recruit training. A person taking the initiation ceremony in traditional rites, such as those depicted in these pictures, is called an ''initiate''. See also rite of passage. Characteristics William Ian Miller notes the role of ritual humiliation in comic ordering and testing. Mircea Eliade discussed initiation as a principal religious act by classical or traditional societies. He defined initiation as "a basic change in existential condition", which liberates man from p ...
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Nature Of Mind
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena. The word ''nature'' is borrowed from the Old French ''nature'' and is derived from the Latin word ''natura'', or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth". In ancient philosophy, ''natura'' is mostly used as the Latin translation of the Greek word ''physis'' (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics of plants, animals, and other features of the world to develop of their own accord. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socr ...
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Lama
Lama (; "chief") is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term ''guru'', meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. The Tibetan word "lama" means "highest principle", and less literally "highest mother" or "highest parent" to show close relationship between teacher and student."lama"
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Historically, the term was used for venerated spiritual masters or heads of . Today the title can be used as an
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Rigpa
In Dzogchen, ''rigpa'' (; Skt. vidyā; "knowledge") is knowledge of the ground. The opposite of ''rigpa'' is ''ma rigpa'' ('' avidyā'', ignorance). A practitioner who has attained the state of ''rigpa'' and is able to rest there continuously is called a ''Rigdzin'' (see Vidyadhara), which may be used as a title either pre- or post-nominally. ''Rigpa'' (knowledge) ''Rigpa'' (Sanskrit: ''vidyā'', 'knowledge') is a central concept in Dzogchen. According to Ācārya Malcolm Smith: ''Rigpa'' is the knowledge of the ground. It has also come to mean the 'pristine awareness' that is the fundamental ground itself. Erik Pema Kunsang translates a text which provides basic definitions of ''rigpa'' and ''ma rigpa'' in a Dzogchen context: Rigpa has two aspects, namely ''kadag'' and ''lhun grub''. ''Kadag'' means "purity" or specifically "primordial purity". ''Lhun grub'' in Tibetan normally implies automatic, self-caused or spontaneous actions or processes. As quality of ''rigp ...
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Jigme Lingpa
Jigme Lingpa (1730–1798) was a Tibetan ''tertön'' of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was the promulgator of the Longchen Nyingthig, the Heart Essence teachings of Longchenpa, from whom, according to tradition, he received a vision in which the teachings were revealed. The Longchen Nyingthik eventually became the most famous and widely practiced cycle of Dzogchen teachings. Career Jigme Lingpa's childhood monastery was the Nyingma school's Palri monastery, or Pelri Tekchen Ling, in Chonggye, established by Sherab Ozer. Prefiguring Jamgon Kongtrul's creation of the ''Five Collections'', Jigme Lingpa gathered Nyingma texts that had become rare, starting with Nyingma tantras held in the manuscript collection of the Mindrolling Monastery. This collection of the Nyingma tantras led to the amassing of the ''Nyingma Gyubum, Nyingma Gyübum'' (, "Collection of Nyingma Tantras") for which Getse Mahapandita wrote the catalogue, proofread and arranged for its printing by ...
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Dzogchen
Dzogchen (, "Great Perfection" or "Great Completion"), also known as ''atiyoga'' ( utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Yungdrung Bon aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence. The primordial ground (''gzhi'', "basis") is said to have the qualities of purity (i.e. emptiness), spontaneity (''lhun grub'', associated with luminous clarity) and compassion (''thugs rje''). The goal of Dzogchen is knowledge of this basis, this knowledge is called ''rigpa'' (Skt. ''vidyā''). There are numerous spiritual practices taught in the various Dzogchen systems for awakening rigpa. History Dzogchen developed in the Tibetan Empire period and the Era of Fragmentation (9th-11th centuries) and continues to be practiced today both in Tibet and around the world. It is a central teaching of the Yundrung Bon tradition as well as in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. In these traditions, Dzogchen is the highest and most defin ...
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Nomenclature
Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. The principles of naming vary from the relatively informal naming conventions, conventions of everyday speech to the internationally agreed principles, rules and recommendations that govern the formation and use of the specialist terms used in scientific and any other disciplines. Naming "things" is a part of general human communication using words and language: it is an aspect of everyday Taxonomy (general), taxonomy as people distinguish the objects of their experience, together with their similarities and differences, which observers Identification (information), identify, name and wikt:classification, classify. The use of names, as the many different kinds of nouns embedded in different languages, connects nomenclature to theoretical linguistics, while the way humans mentally structure the world in relation to semantics, word meanings and Experience ( ...
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