Glossaries

Word List

We have compiled this word list because the translation of Tibetan terms has yet to be standardized and readers may encounter alternative translations of key terms in other texts and teachings. To aid readers unfamiliar with the Wylie system of transliteration, we have included phoneticized equivalents of the terms according to the Kham dialects of eastern Tibet. When more than one English translation is given for a single Tibetan term, the entry listed first is the most common version. If several versions are equally common, they are listed separately. Some terms are not listed individually but can be found in an idiomatic expression (for example, “ description” is listed under the idiom ubeyond description, imagination, or expression” ). Some of the translations occur only in negative constructions (for example, “indepen- dent nature” is found under “ without independent nature” ).

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
abandon	spong ba	སྤོང་བ་	pong wa
abide, remain, dwell	gnas pa	གནས་པ་	nay pa
acceptance and rejection, value judgments	blang dor	བླང་དོར་	lang dor
accomplished	grub pa	གྲུབ་པ་	drūp pa
achieve, achievement	sgrub pa	སྒྲུབ་པ་	drūp pa
adornment	rgyan	རྒྱན་	jen
adventitious distortions	glo bur gyi dri ma	གློ་བུར་གྱི་དྲི་མ་	lo būr ji dri ma

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
affirmation and denial	rtag chad	རྟག་ཆད་	tak chay
afflictive emotions	nyon mongs pa	ཉོན་མོངས་པ་	nyön mōng pa
all-consuming concepts / thought patterns	kun rtog	ཀུན་རྟོག་	kūn tōk
all-creating	kun byed	ཀུན་བྱེད་	kūn jay
all-embracing seal	rgyas 'debs	རྒྱས་འདེབས་	jay dep
apparent / manifest (sense) objects	yul snang	ཡུལ་སྣང་	yūl nang
apparent yet empty	snang stong	སྣང་སྟོང་	nang tōng
arise	'char ba	འཆར་བ་	char wa
attributes	mtshan nyid	མཚན་ཉིད་	tsen nyi
authentic	bden pa, yang dag pa	བདེན་པ་ ཡང་དག་པ་	den pa, yang dak pa
awakened mind	byang chub kyi sems	བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་	jang chūp chi sem
awareness	rig pa	རིག་པ་	rik pa
awareness’s own manifestations	rang snang	རང་སྣང་	rang nang
bare，pure and simple	zang ka	ཟང་ཀ་	zang ka
basic space of phenomena (Skt. dharmadhatu)	chos dbyings	ཆོས་དབྱིངས་	chö ying
become fully evident	mngon du gyur pa	མངོན་དུ་གྱུར་པ་	ngön du jūr pa
beyond characterization or expression	mtshon brjod las ’das pa	མཚོན་བརྗོད་ལས་འདས་པ་	tsön jö lay day pa
beyond description, imagination, or expression	smra bsam brjod las ’das pa	སྨྲ་བསམ་བརྗོད་ལས་འདས་པ་	ma sam jö lay day pa
bias, distinction	ris	རིས་	ree
body, speech, and mind	sgo gsum	སྒོ་གསུམ་	go sum
boundless, unlimited	mtha’ yas, mtha’ med	མཐའ་ཡས་ མཐའ་མེད་	ta yay, ta may
calm abiding	zhi gnas	ཞི་གནས་	zhi nay
cannot be characterized	mtshan ma med pa	མཚན་མ་མེད་པ་	tsen ma may pa

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
Category of Direct Transmission	man ngag sde	མན་ངག་སྡེ	men ngak day
Category of Expanse	klong sde	ཀློང་སྡེ་	long day
Category of Mind	sems sde	སེམས་སྡེ་	sem day
cause and effect / result, causality	rgyu ’bras	རྒྱུ་འབྲས་	ju dray
cessation	’gog pa	འགོག་པ་	gōk pa
characteristics	mtshan nyid, mtshan ma	མཚན་ཉིད་ མཚན་མ་	tsen nyi, tsen ma
clarity	gsal ba	གསལ་བ་	sal wa
clear distinction	shan 'byed	ཤན་འབྱེད་	shen jay
cleared away	sangs	སངས་	sang
clearly apparent without truly existing	med pa gsal snang	མེད་པ་གསལ་སྣང་	may pa sal nang
complete evenness	phyam phyam	ཕྱམ་ཕྱམ་	cham cham
composite, compounded	'dus byas	འདུས་བྱས་	dü jay
conceptual mind	yid	ཡིད་	yi
concerted effort	bya rtsol	བྱ་རྩོལ་	ja tsol
conditioned existence and the state of peace	srid zhi	སྲིད་ཞི་	si zhi
conduct	spyod pa	སྤྱོད་པ་	chö pa
confirmed or refuted	grub bsal	གྲུབ་བསལ་	drūp sal
confusion	’khrul pa	འཁྲུལ་པ་	trūl pa
consciousness	rnam shes, shes pa	རྣམ་ཤེས་ ཤེས་པ	nam shay, shay pa
consciousness as the ground of all ordinary experience	kun gzhi’i rnam shes	ཀུན་གཞིའི་རྣམ་ཤེས་	kūn zhee nam shay
consummate	thar thug pa	ཐར་ཐུག་པ་	tar tūk pa
consummation	thar phyin pa	ཐར་ཕྱིན་པ་	tar chin pa
continuous	'gag med, ma 'gags pa	འགག་མེད་ མ་འགགས་པ་	gak may, mon gak pa
continuum of being	lu gu gyud	ལུ་གུ་གྱུད་	lu gu jü
continuum	gyud	གྱུད་	jü
conventional designation	tha snyad	ཐ་སྙད་	ta nyay
cutting through solidity	khregs chod	ཁྲེགས་ཆོད་	trek chö

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
decisive experience (come to a)	la bzla ba	ལ་བཟླ་བ་	la da wa
definitive conclusion (reach a)	gtan la ’bebs pa	གཏན་ལ་འབེབས་པ་	ten la bep pa
definitive meaning	nges don	ངེས་དོན་	ngay don
direct experience	car phog tu	ཅར་ཕོག་ཏུ་	char pōk tu
direct introduction	ngo sprod	ངོ་སྤྲོད་	ngo trö
direct perception / experience	mngon sum	མངོན་སུམ་	ngön sūm
discern the implication	’gag bsdams pa	འགག་བསྡམས་པ	gak dam pa
discerning timeless awareness	so sor rtog pa’i ye shes	སོ་སོར་རྟོག་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་	so sor tōk pay ye shay
dispel constraints	’phrang bsal	འཕྲང་བསལ	trang sal
display	rol pa	རོལ་པ་	rōl pa
distillation, vital essence	bcud	བཅུད་	chü
distinction, classification	dbye ba	དབྱེ་བ་	ye wa
do not come together or separate	du dral med pa	དུ་དྲལ་མེད་པ་	du dral may pa
domain, range, environment	yul, spyod yul	ཡུལ,་སྤྱོད་ཡུལ་	yūl,chö yūl
dualistic perception(s)	gzung ’dzin, gnyis 'dzin, gnyis snang	གཟུང་འཛིན,་གཉིས་འཛིན,་གཉིས་སྣང་	zung dzin, nyee dzin, nyee nang
dynamic energy	rtsal	རྩལ་	tsal
effort and achievement	rtsol sgrub	རྩོལ་སྒྲུབ་	tsōl drūp
effort and striving	’bad rtsol	འབད་རྩོལ	bay tsōl
eight avenues of consciousness	tshogs brgyad	ཚོགས་བརྒྱད་	tsōk gyay
elaboration	spros pa	སྤྲོས་པ་	trö pa
elicited in all its nakedness	rjen la bud pa	རྗེན་ལ་བུད་པ་	jen la bü pa
embrace the larger scope	chings su bcing ba	ཆིངས་སུ་བཅིང་བ་	ching su ching wa
embraced	bcing pa, ’dus pa	བཅིང་པ,་འདུས་པ་	ching pa, dü pa
emptiness	stong pa nyid	སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་	tōng pa nyi

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
empty yet lucid	Example		Example
encompassed	Example		Example
enlightened activity / action / deed	Example		Example
enlightened dimension	Example		Example
enlightened intent	Example		Example
enlightened mind	Example		Example
enlightened perspective	Example		Example
enlightened speech enlightenment	Example		Example
ensured	Example		Example
environment, place	Example		Example
equalness (state of)	Example		Example
essence (of being)	Example		Example
evanescent	Example		Example
evidence	Example		Example
evident	Example		Example
exaggeration and underestimation, misinterpretation	Example		Example
existence	Example		Example
expand into evenness	Example		Example
expanse	Example		Example
expressions of emptiness	Example		Example
extreme	Example		Example
fade away	Example		Example
final resolution	Example		Example
fixation	Example		Example
fixed construct	Example		Example
four methods of resting	Example		Example
framework, frame of reference	Example		Example
free, freedom	Example		Example
free of anything needing to be done	stong gsal ’khyil ba phrin las sku dgongs pa thugs snang ba gsung byang chub grub pa gnas mnyam panyid ngo bo yal ba rtags gsal ba sgro skur yod pa phyam gdal klong tòng sal chil wa trin lay ku gòng pa tūk nang wa sung jang chūp drūp pa nay nyam pa nyi ngo wo		yal wa tak sal wa drō kur yö pa cham dal long töng zūk ta, chōk, ree yal wa pu tak chay pa zhen dzin tay dzin zhak tap zhi mik pa drōl wa ja dral stong ，gzugs phyogs, ris yal ba phu thag bead pa zhen ’dzin gtad ’dzin gzhag thabs bzhi dmigs pa Jgrol ba

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
free of restrictions	Example		Example
free in their own place	Example		Example
freedom in immediate perception	Example		Example
freedom in oneness	Example		Example
fruition	Example		Example
fully embraced / encompassed	Example		Example
fundamental nature (of being)	Example		Example
fundamentally unconditioned	Example		Example
genuine, what has genuine meaning	Example		Example
great perfection (approach)	Example		Example
ground of all ordinary experience	Example		Example
ground for all that arises	Example		Example
ground (of being), matrix	Example		Example
ground of being as basic space	Example		Example
ground of being manifesting as sensory appearances	Example		Example
habitual pattern	Example		Example
has never existed	Example		Example
heart drop	Example		Example
heart essence	Example		Example
identifiable essence	Example		Example
identify	Example		Example
identity	Example		Example
illumination	rgya grol rang sar grol ba cer grol gcig drol ’bras bu ’ub chub khams gshis rnal ma rdzogschen kun gzhi ’char gzhi gzhi gzhi dbyings gzhi snang bag chags ma grub pa snying thig snying po		ja drōl rang sar drōl wa cher dròl chik drōl dray bu ūpchūp kham shee nal ma dzōk chen kūn zhi char zhee zhi zhi ying zhi nang bak chak ma drūp pa nying tik nying po ngo wo ngö zung ngo zung wa ö, nang, sal ngo bo ngos gzung ngo bzung ba bda，g snang, gsal

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
immediate perception imputation	Example		Example
in direct response to	Example		Example
in the immediacy of	Example		Example
in its / their own right in light of inconceivable indescribable indeterminate indivisible, not subject	Example		Example
to extremes ineffable, ineffability inexpressible	Example		Example
infinite	Example		Example
infinite evenness infinitely pervasive inherently pristine innate clarity /	Example		Example
limpidity innate (state of)	Example		Example
immediacy inner glow intangible interdependent	Example		Example
connection investigate	Example		Example
knowing quality, knowledge	Example		Example
knowing quality of timeless awareness	Example		Example
label, name	Example		Example
laxity and agitation level (of realization),	Example		Example
state	Example		Example
level of truth limitation, limit	cer mthong btags pa thog tu thogtu rang mtshan du ngor bsam med brjod med ma nges pa, nges med ris med med pa brjod med byams klas pa phyam gdal / brdal khyab gdal / brdal rang sangs ngang dvangs thog babs mdangs mthong med rten ’brel dpyod pa shes pa mkhyen pa’i ye shes ming bying rgod sa yang dag sa mtha’，phyogs		cher tōng tak pa tōk tu tōk tu rang tsen du ngor sam may jö may ma ngay pa, ngay may ree may may pa jö may jam lay pa cham dal chap dal rang sang ngang dang tōk bap dang tōng may ten drel chö pa shay pa khyen pay ye shay ming jing gö sa yang dak sa ta, chōk

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
limpid, limpid clarity lucidity	Example		Example
luminous, illuminating	Example		Example
magical / miraculous display, magical expression	Example		Example
manifest yet nonexistent	Example		Example
master of awareness meaning (ultimate) meditation	Example		Example
(cultivate in) meditative	Example		Example
absorption meditative	Example		Example
experience meditative stability mind (ordinary) mind itself mindstream mirrorlike timeless	Example		Example
awareness mode of freedom	Example		Example
natural attribute natural condition natural freedom natural great	Example		Example
perfection	Example		Example
natural mind natural place natural place	Example		Example
/ state /	Example		Example
state of rest	Example		Example
naturally clear / evident	dvangs gsal ba ’od cho ’phrul medsnang rig ’dzin don sgom pa ting nge ’dzin nyams bsam gtan sems sems nyid rgyud me long Ita bu’i ye shes grol lugs rang chas babs rang grol rang bzhin rdzogs pa chen po rang sems rang sa, rang so rang mal rang gsal med snang		dang sal wa chom trūl may nang rik dzin dön gōm pa ting ngay dzin nyam sam ten sem sem nyi jü me long ta bui ye shay drōllūk rang chay bap rang drōl rang zhin dzōk pa chen po rang sem rang sa, rang so rang mal rang sal may nang

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
naturally occurring naturally settled, settled	Example		Example
in its own place nature (of being) nature of mind nondual nonexistence nonrecognition	Example		Example
(of awareness) nonreferential	Example		Example
not made or unmade not subject to bias	Example		Example
or division	Example		Example
objects of the phenomenal world	Example		Example
omnipresent	Example		Example
one taste	Example		Example
oneness	Example		Example
one’s perception of	Example		Example
sense objects open avenue open dimension openness ordinary	Example		Example
consciousness ordinary mental	Example		Example
processes original purity origination own mode own place	Example		Example
perceive perceiver perception perspective phenomenon	rang byung rang babs rang bzhin sems kyi rang bzhin gnyis med med pa ma rig pa dmigs med ’du ’bral med pa phyogs ris med pa choscan spyi blugs ro gcig gcig pu snang yul sgo ma ’gags pa go skabs phyal ba bio byung tshor ka dag skye ba rang lugs rang sa / so ’dzin pa, mthong ba yulcan snang ba snang ba chos		rangjūng rang bop rang zhin sem chi rang zhin nyee may may pa ma rik pa mik may du dral may pa chōk ree may pa chö chen chi lūk ro chik chik pu nang yul go mon gak pa go kap chal wa lo jūng tsor ka dak chay wa ranglūk rang sa / so dzin pa, töng wa yūl chen nang wa nang wa chö

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
pith instructions pivotal (point) plans and actions positive
positive and negative primordial	Example		Example
pristine	Example		Example
produced, created profound insight pure, innately pure pure perception /	Example		Example
vision	Example		Example
qualities (positive / enlightened)	Example		Example
radiance	Example		Example
rationale	Example		Example
reach full expression reactions	Example		Example
real	Example		Example
realization recognition,	Example		Example
recognize	Example		Example
reference point reflection	Example		Example
reification	Example		Example
reifying fixation reject, renounce relative reality / level relax(ed) renunciation and	Example		Example
acceptance resolution of phenomena resolution of	Example		Example
phenomena in their true nature	man ngag gnam gzer bya byed bzang po dkar nag, dge sdig gdod ma’i, thog ma’i sangs pa, sangs se ba byas pa lhag mthong dag pa dag snang yon tan gdangs ’thad pa rtsal rdzogs pa spang blang dngos rtogs pa ngo shes gtad so gzugs brnyan ’dzin pa gtad ’dzin pong ba kunrdzob lhug pa spang blang choszad chos nyid zad pa		men ngak nam zer jajay zang po kar nak，gay dik dö may, tōk may sang pa, sang se wa jay pa lhaktōng dak pa dak nang yön ten dang tay pa tsal dzōk pa pang lang ngö tōk pa ngo shay tay so zūk nyen zin pa tay dzin pōng wa kūn dzōp lhūk pa pang lang chö zay chö nyi zay pa

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
resolve, fall away responsiveness, innate
responsiveness rest	Example		Example
resting in equipoise resting in the	Example		Example
immediacy of resting imperturbably,	Example		Example
imperturbable rest resting imperturbably	Example		Example
in awareness	Example		Example
resting imperturbably	Example		Example
like a mountain resting imperturbably	Example		Example
like an ocean	Example		Example
Samantabhadra (Skt.) scope, state, context,	Example		Example
realm seamless	Example		Example
self-identity self-knowing	Example		Example
awareness self-knowing timeless	Example		Example
awareness	Example		Example
sense faculties sensory appearances significance	Example		Example
six avenues of	Example		Example
consciousness skillful means spacious sphere spontaneous	Example		Example
fulfillment spontaneous presence stray, deviate	zad pa thugs rje ’jog pa mnyam bzhag cer gzhag cog bzhag rig pa cog gzhag ri bo cog gzhag rgya mtsho cog gzhag kun tu bzang po ngang bar med, bar mtshams med pa gang zag gi bdag rang rig rang rig ye shes dbang po snang ba don tshogs drug thabs yangs pa thig le bya ba grub pa lhun grub g.yo ba		zay pa tūk jay jōk pa nyam zhak cherzhak chōk zhak rik pa chök zhak ri wo chōk zhak ja tso chōk zhak kūn tu zang po ngang bar may, bar tsam may pa gang zak gi dak rang rik rang rik ye shay wang po nang wa dön tsōk drūk tap yang pa tig lay ja wa drūp pa lhun drūp yo wa

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
subject to restrictions sublime knowing,
knowledge substance,	Example		Example
(substantial) thing subsumed	Example		Example
suchness	Example		Example
sugata (Skt.) sugatagarbha (Skt.),	Example		Example
buddha nature suppression or	Example		Example
indulgence surpass	Example		Example
ten attributes tension or laxity thinking	Example		Example
(recollection and) thing	Example		Example
thorough discernment	Example		Example
thoughts, thought patterns, concepts	Example		Example
timeless awareness timeless awareness of all that there is	Example		Example
timeless awareness as the basic space of phenomena	Example		Example
timeless awareness as equalness	Example		Example
imeless awareness functioning as cognition	Example		Example
timeless awareness as spontaneous fulfillment	rgya chad shes rab dngospo ’dus pa de bzhin nyid bde gshegs bde gshegs nying po dgagsgrub zil gyis gnon pa rang bzhin bcu sgrim glod dran bsam chos rnam dpyod rtog pa, rnam rtog ye shes ji snyed mkhyen pa’i ye shes chos dbyings ye shes mnyam nyid ye shes rig byed ye shes bya ba grub pa’i ye shes		a chay shey rap ngö po dü pa de zhin nyi de shek de shek nying po gak drūp zil jee non pa rang zhin chu drim lö dren sam chö nam chö tōk pa, nam tōk ye shay ji nyay chen pay ye shay chö ying ye shay nyam nyi ye shay rik jay ye shay ja wa drūp pay ye shay

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
timeless awareness of what simply is	ji lta ba mkhyen pa’i ye shes	ཇི་ལྟ་བ་མཁྱེན་པའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་	Example
timelessly	ye nas	ཡེ་ནས་	Example
timelessly and innately present	ye babs	ཡེ་བབས་	Example
total freedom	yongs grol	ཡོངས་གྲོལ་	Example
total purity	yongs dag	ཡོངས་དག་	Example
transmission (scriptural)	lung	ལུང་	Example
true existence, truth	bden pa	བདེན་པ་	Example
true nature (of phenomena)	chos nyid	ཆོས་ཉིད་	Example
ultimate level / reality	don dam	དོན་དམ་	Example
unbiased	phyogs med	ཕྱོགས་མེད་	Example
unborn	skye med	སྐྱེ་མེད་	Example
unceasing, ceaseless	'gag med, ma 'gags pa	འགག་མེད,་མ་འགགས་པ	Example
uncompounded, noncomposite	’dus ma byas	འདུས་མ་བྱས	Example
uncontrived	ma bcos pa	མ་བཅོས་པ་	Example
underlying logic	’thad pa	འཐད་པ	Example
understand	rtogs pa	རྟོགས་པ་	Example
undistorted, flawless	dri med	དྲི་མེད་	Example
unfettered	rgya yan	རྒྱ་ཡན་	Example
unhindered	thogs med	ཐོགས་མེད་	Example
uninterrupted	rgyun chad med pa, bar med	རྒྱུན་ཆད་མེད་པ,་བར་མེད་	Example
unique	nyag gcig	ཉག་གཅིག	Example
uniquely decisive	gcig chod	གཅིག་ཆོད་	Example
unity of appearance and emptiness	snang stong	སྣང་སྟོང་	Example
unity of awareness and emptiness	rig stong	རིག་སྟོང་	Example
unity beyond union or separation	'du ’bral med pa	འདུ་འབྲལ་མེད་པ	Example
universe (of appearances and possibilities)	(snang srid) snod bcud	༼སྣང་སྲིད༽་སྣོད་བཅུད	chö nyi dön dam chōk may chay may gak may, mon gak pa dü ma jay ma chö pa tay pa tōk pa dri may ja yen tōk may jūn chay may pa, bar may nyak cheek cheek chö nangtōng rik tōng du dral may pa (nang si) nö chü

English	Wylie Transliteration	Tibetan	Pronunciation
unobscured	sgrib med	སྒྲིབ་མེད་	Example
unobstructed	zang thal	ཟང་ཐལ་	Example
unpredictable	ma nges pa, nges med	མ་ངེས་པ,་ངེས་མེད་	Example
unrestricted, without restrictions	rgya yan	རྒྱ་ཡན་	Example
utter lucidity, utterly lucid	’od gsal	འོད་གསལ	Example
vanish	'grol ba, yal ba	འགྲོལ་བ,་ཡལ་བ	Example
vast expanse	klong chen	ཀློང་ཆེན་	Example
very essence	rang ngo, ngo bo nyid, snying po	རང་ངོ,་ངོ་བོ་ཉིད,་སྙིང་པོ་	Example
vision, perspective	snang ba	སྣང་བ་	Example
waver, vacillate	g.yo ba	གཡོ་བ	Example
way of abiding	gnas lugs	གནས་ལུགས	Example
wholly positive	kun tu bzang po	ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོ་	Example
without anything needing to be done	byar med	བྱར་མེད་	Example
without differentiation / division or exclusion	dbye bsal med pa	དབྱེ་བསལ་མེད་པ་	Example
without finite essence	ngo bo med pa	ངོ་བོ་མེད་པ་	Example
without independent nature	rang bzhin med pa	རང་བཞིན་མེད་པ་	Example
without transition or change	pho ’gyur med pa	ཕོ་འགྱུར་མེད་པ་	Example
without (underlying) basis	gzhi med	གཞི་མེད་	Example
yoga	Example	རྣལ་འབྱོར་	Example
yogin	rnal 'byor pa	རྣལ་འབྱོར་པ་	drip may zang tal ma ngay pa, ngay may ja yen ö sal drōl wa, yal wa long chen rang ngo, ngo wo nyi, nying po nang wa yo wa nay lūk kūn tu zang po jar may ye sal may pa ngo wo may pa rang zhin may pa pon jūr may pa zhi may nal jor nal jor pa