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Fivefold Mahāmudrā
Mahāmudrā (Sanskrit: महामुद्रा, , contraction of ) literally means "great seal" or "great imprint" and refers to the fact that "all phenomena inevitably are stamped by the fact of wisdom and emptiness inseparable". Mahāmudrā is a multivalent term of great importance in later Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism which "also occurs occasionally in Hindu and East Asian Buddhist esotericism." The name also refers to a body of teachings representing the culmination of all the practices of the New Translation schools of Tibetan Buddhism, who believe it to be the quintessential message of all of their sacred texts. The practice of Mahāmudrā is also known as the teaching called "Sahajayoga" or "Co-emergence Yoga". In Tibetan Buddhism, particularly the Kagyu school, Sahaja Mahāmudrā is sometimes seen as a different Buddhist vehicle (yana), the "Sahajayana" (Tibetan: ''lhen chig kye pa''), also known as the vehicle of self-liberation. Jamgon Kongtrul, a Tibeta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mudra
A mudra (; , , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. As well as being spiritual gestures employed in the iconography and spiritual practice of Indian religions, mudras have meaning in many forms of Indian dance, and yoga. The range of mudras used in each field (and religion) differs, but with some overlap. In addition, many of the Buddhist mudras are used outside South Asia, and have developed different local forms elsewhere. In hatha yoga, mudras are used in conjunction with pranayama (yogic breathing exercises), generally while in a seated posture, to stimulate different parts of the body involved with breathing and to affect the flow of prana. It is also associated with bindu, bodhicitta, amrita, or consciousness in the body. Unlike older tantric mudras, hatha yogic mudras are generally internal actions, involvin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saraha
Saraha, Sarahapa, Sarahapāda (or, in the Tibetan language མདའ་བསྣུན་, anün Wyl. mda' bsnun The Archer), (''circa'' 8th century CE) was an Indian Buddhist Mahasiddha and poet. The name ''Saraha'' means "the one who has shot the arrow.". According to one, scholar, "This is an explicit reference to an incident in many versions of his biography when he studied with a dakini disguised as a low-caste arrow smith. Metaphorically, it refers to one who has shot the arrow of non duality into the heart of duality." Saraha is considered to be one of the founders of Vajrayana Buddhism, particularly the Mahāmudrā tradition associated with the mind teachings of Tibet. Saraha was originally known as Rāhula or Rāhulabhadra and was born in Roli, a region of the city-state of Rajni in eastern India, into a Shakya family and studied at the Buddhist monastic university Nalanda. The Arrow Making Dakini Saraha is normally shown seated and holding an arrow (Skt. śaru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pala Dynasty
The Pāla Empire was the empire ruled by the Pala dynasty, ("protector" in Sanskrit) a medieval Indian dynasty which ruled the kingdom of Gauda. The empire was founded with the election of Gopāla by the chiefs of Gauda in late eighth century CE. The Pala stronghold was located in Bengal and eastern Bihar, which included the major cities of Gauḍa, Vikramapura, Pāṭaliputra, Monghyr, Somapura, Ramavati ( Varendra), Tāmralipta and Jagaddala. The Pālas were astute diplomats and military conquerors. Their army was noted for its vast war elephant corps. Their navy performed both mercantile and defensive roles in the Bay of Bengal. At its zenith under emperors Dharmapala and Devapala in the early ninth century, the Pala empire was the dominant power in the northern Indian subcontinent, with its territory stretching across the Gangetic plain to include some parts northeastern India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Dharmapala also exerted a strong cultural influence through Budd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mahasiddhas
Mahasiddha (Sanskrit: ''mahāsiddha'' "great adept; ) is a term for someone who embodies and cultivates the "siddhi of perfection". A siddha is an individual who, through the practice of sādhanā, attains the realization of siddhis, psychic and spiritual abilities and powers. Mahasiddhas were practitioners of yoga and tantra, or ''tantrika''s. Their historical influence throughout the Indian subcontinent and the Himalayas was vast and they reached mythic proportions as codified in their songs of realization and hagiographies, or namtars, many of which have been preserved in the Tibetan Buddhist canon. The Mahasiddhas are identified as founders of Vajrayana traditions and lineages such as Dzogchen and Mahamudra, as well as among Bön, Nāth, and Tamil siddhars, with the same Mahasiddha sometimes serving simultaneously as a founding figure for different traditions. Robert Thurman explains the symbiotic relationship between Tantric Buddhist communities and the Buddhist un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samdhinirmocana Sutra
The ''Ārya-saṃdhi-nirmocana-sūtra'' (Sanskrit) or ''Noble Sūtra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets'' is a Mahāyāna Buddhist text and the most important sutra of the Yogācāra school. It contains explanations of key Yogācāra concepts such as the basal-consciousness (''ālayavijñāna''), the doctrine of appearance-only (''vijñaptimātra'') and the "three own natures" (''trisvabhāva''). Étienne Lamotte considered this sutra "the link between the ''Prajñāpāramitā'' literature and the Yogācāra Vijñānavāda school". This sūtra was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese four times, the most complete and reliable of which is typically considered to be that of Xuanzang. It also was translated into Tibetan. The original Sanskrit text has not survived to the present day. Nomenclature and etymology The ''Ārya-saṃdhi-nirmocana-sūtra'' (; ''Gongpa Ngédrel'') is variously romanized as ''Sandhinirmocana Sutra'' and ''Samdhinirmocana Sutra''. The full Sanskri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tathagatagarbha
In Buddhist philosophy and soteriology, Buddha-nature ( Chinese: , Japanese: , , Sanskrit: ) is the innate potential for all sentient beings to become a Buddha or the fact that all sentient beings already have a pure Buddha-essence within themselves.Heng-Ching ShihThe Significance Of 'Tathagatagarbha' – A Positive Expression Of 'Sunyata'/ref> "Buddha-nature" is the common English translation for several related Mahāyāna Buddhist terms, most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu'', but also ''sugatagarbha,'' and ''buddhagarbha''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' can mean "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone one" ('' tathāgata''), and can also mean "containing a ''tathāgata''"''. Buddhadhātu'' can mean "buddha-element", "buddha-realm", or "buddha-substrate". Buddha-nature has a wide range of (sometimes conflicting) meanings in Indian Buddhism and later in East Asian and Tibetan Buddhist literature. Broadly speaking, it refers to the belief that the lumi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yogacara
Yogachara (, IAST: ') is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation, as well as philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā). Yogachara was one of the two most influential traditions of Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhism in India, along with Madhyamaka. The compound ''Yogācāra'' literally means "practice of yoga", or "one whose practice is yoga", hence the name of the school is literally "the school of the yogins". Yogācāra was also variously termed ''Vijñānavāda'' (the doctrine of consciousness), ''Vijñaptivāda'' (the doctrine of ideas or percepts) or ''Vijñaptimātratā-vāda'' (the doctrine of 'mere representation'), which is also the name given to its major theory of mind which seeks to deconstruct how we perceive the world. There are several interpretations of this main theory: various forms of Idealism, as well as a Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buddhahood
In Buddhism, Buddha (, which in classic Indo-Aryan languages, Indic languages means "awakened one") is a title for those who are Enlightenment in Buddhism, spiritually awake or enlightened, and have thus attained the Buddhist paths to liberation, supreme goal of Buddhism, variously described as Enlightenment in Buddhism, awakening or enlightenment (''bodhi''), ''Nirvana (Buddhism), Nirvāṇa'' ("blowing out"), and Moksha, liberation (''vimokṣa''). A Buddha is also someone who fully understands the ''Dharma, Dhārma'', the true nature of all things or Phenomenon, phenomena (''Abhidharma, dhārmata''), the Two truths doctrine, ultimate truth. Buddhahood (Sanskrit: ''buddhatva''; or ; zh, c=成佛) is the condition and state of being a Buddha. This highest spiritual state of being is also termed ''sammā-sambodhi'' (Sanskrit: ''samyaksaṃbodhi''; "full, complete awakening") and is interpreted in many different ways across schools of Buddhism. The title of "Buddha" is most c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nonduality (spirituality)
Nondualism includes a number of philosophical and spiritual traditions that emphasize the absence of fundamental duality or separation in existence. This viewpoint questions the boundaries conventionally imposed between Self, self and other, mind-body dualism, mind and body, Subject and object (philosophy), observer and observed, and other dichotomies that shape our perception of reality. As a field of study, nondualism delves into the concept of nonduality and the state of nondual awareness, encompassing a diverse array of interpretations, not limited to a particular cultural or religious context; instead, nondualism emerges as a central teaching across various belief systems, inviting individuals to examine reality beyond the confines of dualistic thinking. Nondualism emphasizes direct experience as a path to understanding. While Intellectualism, intellectual comprehension has its place, nondualism emphasizes the Spiritual transformation, transformative power of firsthand e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gnosis
Gnosis is the common Greek noun for knowledge ( γνῶσις, ''gnōsis'', f.). The term was used among various Hellenistic religions and philosophies in the Greco-Roman world. It is best known for its implication within Gnosticism, where it signifies a spiritual knowledge or insight into humanity's real nature as divine, leading to the deliverance of the divine spark within humanity from the constraints of earthly existence. Etymology ''Gnosis'' is a feminine Greek noun which means "knowledge" or "awareness." Liddell Scottbr>entryγνῶσις, εως, ἡ, A. seeking to know, inquiry, investigation, esp. judicial, "τὰς τῶν δικαστηρίων γ." D.18.224; "τὴν κατὰ τοῦ διαιτητοῦ γdeetr." Id.21.92, cf. 7.9, Lycurg.141; "γ. περὶ τῆς δίκης" PHib.1.92.13 (iii B. C.). 2. result of investigation, decision, PPetr.3p.118 (iii B. C.). II. knowing, knowledge, Heraclit.56; opp. ἀγνωσίη, Hp. Vict.1.23 (dub.); opp. ἄγ� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
