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K
≫ kadak (Tibetan: ཀ་དག་, ka dak, Wylie: ka dag ; Sanskrit: आदिशुद्ध, adishuddha; IAST: ādiśuddha = आदि ādi “beginning, commencement” + शुद्ध śuddha “pure, clean, cleared, free from”) = primordial purity; essential purity; original purity; pure from the (timeless) beginning. The ground of Dzogchen is endowed with three qualities: essence, nature and capacity or compassionate energy (see: ngowo rangzhin tukjé). The first quality, the empty essence, is called primordial purity because it is free from adventitious defilements and empty of inherent existence.
• see also: ngowo rangzhin tukjé (essence, nature and capacity)
• external links: wikipedia / rigpawiki / rywiki
kado (Japanese: 華道, kadō, “the way of flowers”) = the Japanese art of flower arrangement – see ikebana (Japanese ≫ main entry)
• see also (the three classical Japanese arts of refinement): kado (flower arrangement), kodo (incense appreciation) and chado (tea and the tea ceremony)
• see also: shodo (Japanese calligraphy)
• external links: wiktionary
≫ Kagyu (Tibetan: བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་, Kagyü; Wylie: bka’ brgyud, “oral transmission”) = one of the four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyu lineages trace themselves back to the 11th century Indian mahasiddhas Naropa, Maitripa and the yogini Niguma, via their student Marpa Lotsawa who brought their teachings to Tibet. Often called the “Practice Lineage”, the Kagyu tradition places great emphasis on intensive meditation practice, Guru Yoga, and the power of devotion and direct transmission from master to disciple. Important teachings of the Kagyu school include Mahamudra and the Six Yogas of Naropa.
• see also: Naro Chödruk (Six Yogas of Naropa)
• external links: wiktionary / wikipedia / rigpawiki / rywiki / karmapa.org
≫ kalyanamitra (Sanskrit: कल्याणमित्र, IAST: kalyāṇamitra = कल्याण kalyāṇa “excellent, virtuous, good, illustrious, noble, generous” + मित्र mitra “friend, companion, associate”; Pāli: कल्याणमित्त, IAST: kalyāṇa-mitta; Tibetan: དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན་, gewé shenyen; Wylie: dge ba’i bshes gnyen) = spiritual friend.
• external links: wikipedia / rigpawiki
≫ kamadhatu (Sanskrit: कामधातु, IAST: kāmadhātu = काम kāma “wish, desire, longing; pleasure, enjoyment, love” + धातु dhātu “constituent part, ingredient, primitive matter” also “realm, elementary sphere as in dhātu-loka-; Tibetan: འདོད་ཁམས་, dö kham, Wylie: ‘dod khams) = the desire realm, one of the trailokya or three realms (Sanskrit: धातु, IAST: dhātu, Tibetan: ཁམས་, kham; Wylie: khams) in Buddhist cosmology into which a being wandering in samsara may be reborn. The desire realm is so called because the beings inhabiting it are prey to intense emotion and crave happiness based on the pleasures of the senses. The other two realms are the form realm (Sanskrit: rūpadhātu) and the formless realm (Sanskrit: ārūpadhātu).
• external links: wikipedia / rigpawiki
≫ karma (Sanskrit: कर्मन्, IAST: karman; note: karma is the Sanskrit form of karman used in compound words; Tibetan: ལས་, lé; Wylie: las) = action, law of cause and effect (in the sense of former acts leading to inevitable results), duty, religious rite.
• other languages: lé (Tibetan)
• external links: wiktionary / wikipedia / rigpawiki
≫ Karma Chagme (Tibetan: ཀརྨ་ཆགས་མེད་རཱ་ག་ཨ་སྱས།, Karma Chagmé Rāga Asya, also Karma Chakmé; Wylie: karma chags med rA ga a s+yas) (1613-1678) = a great 17th century master of both the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions. He is considered an emanation of Guru Rinpoche’s disciple Chok, and he was both the teacher and student of Tertön Mingyur Dorjé. He wrote the Instructions for Retreat Practice (Richö) and established the the Neydo Kagyu (Tibetan: གནས་མདོ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་; Wylie: gnas mdo bka’ brgyud) sub-school of the Karma Kagyu.
• Practice: White Umbrella (dharani and mantras from “The Swift Steed of Garuda” by Karma Chagme)
• external links: wikipedia / rigpawiki / rywiki / Lotsawa House
≫ karmé (Tibetan: དཀར་མེ་, karmé; Wylie: dkar me) = offering lamp, lamp, sacred fire.
≫ karuna (Pāli & Sanskrit: करुणा, karuṇā; Tibetan: སྙིང་རྗེ་, nyingjé; Wylie: snying rje; Chinese: 慈悲 / 慈悲, pinyin: cíbēi; also 悲, pinyin: bēi; note that the single logographs of 慈 and 悲 are sometimes understood as being synonymous, but they are also sometimes separated into the meanings of 慈 = “kindness” i.e. maitrī and 悲 = “pity, sympathy, compassion, mercy” i.e. karuṇā) = compassion, the wish to free all beings from suffering and the causes of suffering. The second of the 4 immeasurables (caturapramana) that comprise aspiration bodhichitta.
• note (on meaning): DJKR emphasizes that the semantic range of the English word “compassion” does not at all do justice to the meaning of nyingjé/karuna/bodhichitta. In particular, because it has a dualistic and hierarchical connotation of “one who needs help” (in a “lower” situation) and “one who helps” (from a “higher” situation); DJKR: “The word compassion involves a lot of hierarchy. It’s very limiting and limited”.
• dictionary definition of “compassion” = “sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others” (Google dictionary).
• other languages: nyingjé (Tibetan)
• see also: bodhichitta (the compassionate wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings and also to bring them to that state) ; brahmavihara (sublime attitude) ; caturapramana (4 immeasurables): (1) metta (loving-kindness), (2) karuna(compassion), (3) mudita (sympathetic joy), (4) upekkha (equanimity) ; jukpa semkyé(bodhichitta in action) ; mönpa semkyé (bodhichitta of aspiration) ; shatparamita (6 paramitas) ; tukjé (compassion)
• glossary: 3 types of compassion
• external links: wiktionary / wikipedia / rigpawiki
≫ Kashyapa (Sanskrit: काश्यप, IAST: kāśyapa; Pali: कस्सप, IAST: kassapa; Tibetan: འོད་སྲུང་, ösung; Wylie: ‘od srung) = (a) Buddha Kashyapa, the supreme nirmanakaya buddha immediately preceding Buddha Shakyamuni in this Fortunate Aeon; (b) also used as short form of Mahakashyapa, one of the Buddha’s principal disciples.
• see also: Mahakashyapa (one of the Buddha’s principal disciples)
• external links: wikipedia / rigpawiki / Himalayan Art
≫ kaya (Pāli & Sanskrit: काय, IAST: kāya; Tibetan: སྐུ་, ku; Wylie: sku) = “body” in the sense of a body or embodiment of numerous qualities; dimension; field; basis.
• see also: dharmakaya (“truth body” of a buddha), rupakaya (“form body” of a buddha), trikaya (three kayas)
• external links: (kaya): wiktionary / rigpawiki; (trikaya): wikipedia
≫ kha dok (Tibetan: ཁ་དོག, Wylie: kha dog) = (1) colour, hue. (2) beautiful appearance, complexion.
kham (Tibetan: ཁམས་, kham; Wylie: khams) = (1) realm, element, disposition, type, nature, component of experience. Used in the Uttaratantra-shastra to refer to Buddhanature; (2) (capitalised as Kham) historical region of East Tibet, where the people were renowned for their marksmanship and horsemanship – see dhatu (Sanskrit ≫ main entry).
• external links: wiktionary ; (Kham, historical region of East Tibet): wikipedia
≫ Khechara (Sanskrit: खेचर, Khechara ; IAST: khecara, literally “sky-enjoyer, enjoyment of/delight in space” ; Tibetan: མཁའ་སྤྱོད ; Wylie: mkha’ spyod) = the buddhafield of Vajravarahi.
• see also: zhing kham (buddhafield/pure land)
• external links: Wisdom Library / Himalayan Art
≫ khom (Tibetan: ཁོམས་, khom; Wylie: khoms) = familiarise, condition to, familiarisation.
khorwa (Tibetan: འཁོར་བ་, khorwa ; Wylie: ‘khor ba) = samsara, cyclic existence – see samsara (Sanskrit ≫ main entry).
• easily confused [homophones]: khorwa (samsara) & korwa (circumambulation)
• see also: yangsi (reincarnation, rebirth)
• external links: wiktionary
Khyentse Norbu (Tibetan: མཁྱེན་བརྩེ་ནོར་བུ་, Wylie: mkhyen brtse nor bu) = name given by his paternal grandfather H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche to Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche (Tibetan ≫ main entry).
• see also (DJKR teaching): DJKR tells the story of his names in Return to Normal, Day 1, Taipei (October 10, 2020)
≫ kira (Dzongkha: དཀྱི་ར་, kyira; Wylie: dkyi ra) = the Bhutanese traditional national dress for women, an ankle-length dress consisting of a rectangular piece of woven fabric.
• see also: gho (the Bhutanese traditional national dress for men)
• external links: wikipedia
≫ klesha (Sanskrit: क्लेश, IAST: kleśa ; Tibetan (1): ཉོན་མོང་, nyönmong ; Wylie: nyon mong ; Tibetan (2): ཉོན་མོངས་, Wylie: nyon mongs) = (1) pain, affliction, distress; (2) afflictive emotions, destructive emotions, disturbing emotions, negative emotions; (3) defilements, afflictions, mental afflictions, factors which disturb the mind. Building on the foundational categorization of the 3 poisons presented in the Pali Canon (ignorance/delusion, greed/attachment, and hatred/aversion), Vasubandhu presents a list of the mulaklesha, the 6 root disturbing emotions in the Abhidharmakosha (attachment, anger, ignorance, pride, doubt, wrong views).
• note (on meaning): the word “klesha” includes a sense of mental obscuration or defilement that is not fully captured by the English word “emotion” (according to Google Dictionary, “emotion” means “a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others” and “instinctive or intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge”).
• other languages: nyönmong (Tibetan)
• see also (DJKR teaching): the six root kleshas in The Way of the Tathagata, Day 1, Pune (December 27, 2019)
• see also: Abhidharmakosha (Treasury of the Abhidharma) ; mulaklesha (the 6 root disturbing emotions) ; nyöndrip (emotional obscurations) ; trivisha (the 3 poisons)
• external links: wiktionary / wikipedia / rigpawiki / study buddhism (Berzin)
≫ kleshavarana (Sanskrit: क्लेशावरण, IAST: kleśāvaraṇa from क्लेश + आवरण, IAST: kleśa + āvaraṇa) = emotional obscurations – see nyöndrip (Tibetan ≫ main entry).
• see also: drib (obscuration) ; dribpa nyi (2 obscurations): (1) emotional obscurations: nyöndrip (Tibetan), kleshavarana (Sanskrit); (2) cognitive obscurations: shédrip (Tibetan), jñeyavarana (Sanskrit) ; nyönmong (negative emotion)
≫ koan (Japanese: 公案, kōan, “public record” ; Chinese: 公案; pinyin: gōngàn, “public case”) = a story, dialogue, question, or statement used in Zen practice (Chinese: 禪宗, pinyin: Chánzōng, “meditation school”, typically shortened to Chan) to provoke the “great doubt” (Japanese: 大疑, taigi; Chinese: 大疑, pinyin: dàyí) and to practice or test a student’s progress in Zen. Literally means “public record”, serving as a metaphor for principles of reality beyond the private opinion of one person, and a teacher may test the student’s ability to recognize and understand that principle.
• see also: Chan (meditation) ; huatou (critical phrase) ; taigi (great doubt) ; Zen
• external links: wiktionary / wikipedia
kodo (Japanese: 香道, kōdō, “the way of fragrance”) = traditional Japanese art of incense burning and appreciation.
• see also (the three classical Japanese arts of refinement): kado (flower arrangement), kodo (incense appreciation) and chado (tea and the tea ceremony)
• see also: shodo (Japanese calligraphy)
• external links: wiktionary / wikipedia
≫ kor (Tibetan: བསྐོར་, kor ; Wylie: bskor) = surrounded by, encircle, revolve, circumambulate (around a holy object e.g. stupa).
• see also: korwa (circumambulation, to be turned around)
kora (Tibetan) = redirects to korwa.
≫ korwa (Tibetan: བསྐོར་བ་, korwa; Wylie: bskor ba; Sanskrit: प्रदक्षिण, pradakshina, literally “turning the right side towards”; IAST: pradakṣiṇa, also परिक्रम, IAST: parikrama “roaming about, circumambulating, pervading”) = to be turned around, circumambulation, encircle, surround.
• easily confused [homophones]: khorwa (samsara) & korwa (circumambulation)
• see also: kor (circumambulate, surrounded by); stupa (stupa)
≫ Krishna (Sanskrit: कृष्ण, IAST: kṛṣṇa) = the most celebrated hero of Indian mythology and the most popular of all the Hindu deities (Vishnu in his eighth incarnation); wicked, evil; black, dark, dark-blue; the black antelope; a crow; the (Indian) cuckoo; the dark half of a lunar month (from full to new moon); the Kali age.
• external links: wiktionary / wikipedia
≫ kshanti (Sanskrit: क्षान्ति, IAST: kṣānti; Pali: खन्ति, IAST: khanti; Tib. བཟོད་པ་, zöpa; Wylie: bzod pa; Chinese: 忍辱 / 忍辱, pinyin: rěnrù) = patience, forbearance, restraint, endurance, indulgence; defined as the ability not to be perturbed by anything. The third of the 6 paramitas.
• see also: paramita (transcendent perfection); shatparamita (6 paramitas): (1) dana(generosity), (2) shila (discipline), (3) kshanti (patience), (4) virya (diligence), (5) dhyana(meditative concentration), (6) prajña (wisdom).
• external links: wiktionary / wikipedia / rigpawiki
ku (Tibetan: སྐུ་, ku; Wylie: sku) = “body” in the sense of a body or embodiment of numerous qualities; dimension; field; basis – see kaya (Sanskrit ≫ main entry).
≫ kudang yeshe (Tibetan: སྐུ་དང་ཡེ་ཤེས་; Wylie: sku dang ye shes) = the (four) kayas and (five) wisdoms; the kayas and timeless awareness.
≫ Kukkuripa (Tibetan: ཀུ་ཀུ་རི་པ་; Wylie: ku ku ri pa) = an Indian mahasiddha said to have lived in the 9th/10th centuries in Kapilavastu at the Nepal-India border, who is often depicted together with a dog. During his travels as a wandering yogi, he found a starving dog in a bush. Moved by compassion, he fed the dog and took care of her. The two stayed together and eventually found a cave where Kukkuripa could meditate. When he went out for food, the dog would stay and guard the cave. He is counted as one of the 84 mahasiddhas.
• see also: mahasiddha
• external links: wikipedia / Himalayan Art / Treasury of Lives
kündzop (Tibetan: ཀུན་རྫོབ, kündzop; Wylie: kun rdzob) = relative truth – see kündzop denpa (Tibetan ≫ main entry).
≫ kündzop denpa (Tibetan: ཀུན་རྫོབ་བདེན་པ་; Wylie: kun rdzob bden pa; literally “all-concealing truth”, sometimes shortened to ཀུན་རྫོབ, kündzop; Wylie: kun rdzob, “what is apparent, ; Sanskrit: समावृतसत्य, IAST: samāvṛta + satya; also shortened to Sanskrit: समावृत, IAST: samāvṛta; literally “veiled, hidden, concealed”) = relative truth; conventional truth; apparent, concealing, conditional, superficial, mundane, worldly convention. [Note: many online sources have the Sanskrit as “saṁvṛiti-satya”, which does not appear in the Sanskrit dictionary).
• see also: denpa nyi (2 truths) = (1) döndam denpa (absolute or ultimate truth), (2) kündzop denpa (relative truth)
• external links: wikipedia / rigpawiki / rywiki
≫ Küntuzik (Tibetan: མགོན་པོ་ཀུན་ཏུ་གཟིགས་, gön po kün tu zik; Wylie: mgon po “lord, protector, guardian” + kun tu gzigs “he who sees everything and everywhere”; Sanskrit (reconstructed from the Tibetan): नाथ समन्तदर्षिन्, IAST: Nātha Samantadarṣin, many sources have Sanskrit: समन्तदर्शिन्, IAST: Samantadarśin) = Gönpo Küntuzik (also shortened to Küntuzik), the Buddha ‘All-Gazing’ or ‘All-Seeing Guide’; the name that bodhisattva Mañjushri will take when he is finally fully enlightened as a Buddha in the Vimala universe of the southern direction; See “Glossary of Names” in “Treasury of Knowledge, Book 1: Myriad Worlds”; DJKR: ‘The Buddha That Gazes At Everything’.
• external references: Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé, translated by Kalu Rinpoche Translation Group (2013) “Treasury of Knowledge, Book 1: Myriad Worlds”, Snow Lion: Boston and London.
• external links: (Buddhist cosmology): wikipedia; (the legend of Mañjushri from the Mahāprajñāpāramitāshāstra): Wisdom Library ; (Samantadarśin): Wisdom Library
künzop (Tibetan) – redirects to kündzop.
≫ Kurukulla (Sanskrit: कुरुकुल्ला, IAST: Kurukullā; Tibetan: ཀུ་རུ་ཀུ་ལླཱ་, Wylie: ku ru ku l+lA, also Tibetan: རིག་བྱེད་མ་, rikjéma; Wylie: rig byed ma) = a female deity usually depicted in red with four arms, holding a bow and arrow made of flowers in one pair of hands and a hook and noose of flowers in the other pair. She dances in a dakini-pose and crushes the asura Rahu (the one who devours the sun). She is particularly associated with activities of magnetizing and enchantment. Also spelled Kurukullé.
• external links: wikipedia / rigpawiki / Himalayan Art
Kurukullé (Sanskrit) – redirects to Kurukulla.
≫ kushiki (Japanese: 九識, ku “nine” + shiki “vijñāna”) = the nine consciousnesses, a concept from Nichiren Buddhism. The ninth and final consciousness is known as Buddhanature or Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, and it cannot be tarnished by any of the previous eight levels. Nichiren Daishonin, founder of Nichiren Buddhism, theorised that one can transform one’s karma in this lifetime by achieving the final level of consciousness, and he recommended the practice of chanting the mantra Namu Myoho Renge Kyo in order to do so.
• see also: ashtavijñanakaya (eight consciousnesses)
• external links: wikipedia / Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia
≫ Kushinagar (Sanskrit: कुशिनगर, IAST: kuśinagara ; Pali: Kusinārā ; Chinese: 九士生地, pinyin: Jiǔshìshēngdì) = the place where Gautama Buddha attained parinirvana. A town in the Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh, India, it is an important Buddhist pilgrimage site.
• external links: wikipedia
≫ kusulu (Tibetan: ཀུ་སུ་ལུ་; Wylie: ku su lu) = beggar, bum; natural, uncontrived; type of yogin who does what comes naturally; shaman; one who gives up all work and frequents mountain retreats; DJKR: renunciant, wanderer, yogi; “usually found in the bar or prostitutes’ house”.
≫ ku sung tuk yönten trinlé (Tibetan: སྐུ་གསུང་ཐུགས་ཡོན་ཏན་ཕྲིན་ལས ; Wylie: sku gsung thugs yon tan phrin las) = body, speech, mind, qualities and activities, the different dimensions of a Buddha’s enlightenment according to the Vajrayana. The integration and embodiment of these five aspects of enlightenment are considered essential for the complete realisation of Buddhahood.
• external links: rigpawiki / rywiki
≫ kyerim (Tibetan: བསྐྱེད་རིམ་, kye rim; Wylie: bskyed rim ; Sanskrit: उत्पत्तिक्रम, IAST: utpattikrama, “successive stages of creation” = उत्पत्ति, utpatti “arising, birth, production” + क्रम, krama “step, stage”) = the “generation phase” or “development phase” of practice in Vajrayana Buddhism. It is the first stage of tantric deity yoga in Highest Yoga Tantra (Anuttara Yoga Tantra), which focuses on deity visualization and mantra repetition. Kyerim comprises three stages known as the “three samadhis”, which proceed from the initial meditation on emptiness to the development of the full mandala of the deity. It is followed by dzogrim, the second stage of tantric deity yoga in Highest Yoga Tantra.
• other languages: utpattikrama (Sanskrit)
• see also: dzogrim (completion stage, the second stage of Highest Yoga Tantra); sadhana
• external links: wikipedia / rigpawiki / rywiki
≫ kyurura (Tibetan: སྐྱུ་རུ་ར, Wylie: skyu ru ra ; Sanskrit: अमला, IAST: amalā, also Sanskrit: आमलक, IAST: āmalaka ; Chinese: 菴摩勒, pinyin: ānmólè) = Indian Gooseberry or Emblic Myrobalan (Phyllanthus emblica syn. Emblica officinalis), a deciduous tree found throughout tropical and southern Asia. One of the “three precious jewels of Tibetan medicine” or the three myrobalan fruits (drébu sum), also known as aru-baru-kyuru. The kyurura appears in verse 6:224 of Chandrakirti’s Madhyamakavatara, where the sixth bhumi bodhisattva’s wisdom is said to be “As clear as a myrobalan fruit held in his own hand” (Tibetan: རང་གི་ལག་ན་གནས་པའི་སྐྱུ་རུ་ར་བཞིན་དུ, Wylie: rang gi lag na gnas pa’i skyu ru ra bzhin du): because the kyurura fruit is supposedly transparent, the lines of one’s hand are visible through it.
• see also: drébu sum (the three medicinal fruits): arura (Terminalia chebula) ; barura (Terminalia bellirica) ; kyurura (Phyllanthus emblica)
• external links: wikipedia