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W
≫ wabi-sabi (Japanese: 侘寂 or わび·さび, wabi-sabi) = a world view in traditional Japanese aesthetics centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. It is derived from the Buddhist teaching on the 3 marks of existence (三法印, sanbōin).
• see also: trilakshana (3 marks of existence): (1) anicca (impermanence), (2) dukkha (unsatisfactoriness) (3) anatta (nonself).
• glossary: 3 marks of existence
• external links: wiktionary / wikipedia
wadipa (Dzongkha: ཝ་དི་པ་) = cowherd – see nakdzi (Tibetan ≫ main entry).
wang (Tibetan: དབང་, wang; Wylie: dbang) = initiation, empowerment – see abhisheka (Sanskrit ≫ main entry).
• external links: wiktionary
≫ wang chu (Tibetan: དབང་བཅུ་, wang chu; Wylie: dbang bcu ; Sanskrit: दशवशिता, dashavashita ; IAST: daśavaśitā = दश daśa “ten” + वशिता vaśitā “subjugation, dominion; subduing by the use of magical means”) = the 10 strengths of the Buddha, also referred to as the 10 powers of the Buddha (Note: the list of 10 strengths/powers in the wang chu or dashavashita is different from the list of 10 powers in the tob chu or dashabala, which is a list of 10 ways of knowing that are unique to Buddhas, also known as jñana-bala).
• see also: jangchup sempé tob (10 powers of a bodhisattva) / tob chu (10 powers of the Buddha)
• external links: rigpawiki
≫ wangpo nönpo (Tibetan: དབང་པོ་རྣོན་པོ་; Wylie: dbang po rnon po ; Sanskrit: तीक्ष्णेन्द्रिय, tīkṣṇendriya; IAST: tīkṣṇa + indriya) = sharp faculties, keen faculties; sharp minded, intelligent, perceptive; as in “superior disciples of keen faculties” or “superior faculties” (as contrasted with inferior disciples with relatively dull faculties, wangpo tülpo)
• see also: wangpo tülpo (dull faculties)
• external links: (indriya): wiktionary
≫ wangpo tülpo (Tibetan: དབང་པོ་རྟུལ་པོ་; Wylie: dbang po rtul po ; Sanskrit: मृद्विन्द्रिय, mṛdv-indriya; IAST: mṛdv + indriya) = dull faculties; insensitive; as in “inferior disciples of dull faculties” or “inferior faculties” (as contrasted with superior disciples with relatively sharp faculties, wangpo nönpo)
• see also: wangpo nönpo (sharp faculties)
• external links: (indriya): wiktionary
≫ wei-ji (Chinese: 危機 / 危机; pinyin: wēijī) = crisis; hidden danger or disaster.
Note on meaning: In Western popular culture, the word wei-ji is frequently but incorrectly said to be composed of two Chinese characters signifying “danger” (危; wēi) and “opportunity” (機 / 机; jī). Although the second character is a component of the Chinese word for “opportunity” (機會 / 机会; jīhuì), it has multiple meanings, and in isolation means something more like “change point”. The mistaken etymology (i.e. “a crisis contains both danger and opportunity”) became a trope after it was used by John F. Kennedy in his presidential campaign speeches in the late 1950s and continues to be widely repeated in business, education and politics.
• see also: yin-yang (literally “dark-bright”, “negative-positive”, a concept of dualism in Taoism)
• external links: wiktionary / wikipedia / Chinese language stack exchange
≫ wu (Chinese: 無, pinyin: wú ; Japanese: 無, mu) = (a) nonexistence, nonbeing, nonentity (Sanskrit: असत्, IAST: asat ; Tibetan: མེད་པ་, mépa; Wylie: med pa), opposite of “there is” (Chinese: 有, pinyin: yǒu) ; (b) not having, not possessing, without (Sanskrit: अभाव, IAST: abhāva ; Tibetan: མི་མངའ་བ་, mi ngawa; Wylie: mi mnga’ ba). The Digital Dictionary of Buddhism explains that wu is the “original nonbeing” from which being is produced in the Tao Te Ching (which is different from the emptiness/form distrinction in Mahayana Buddhism), and it is thereby distinguished from the Buddhist word for emptiness or shunyata (Chinese: 空, pinyin: kōng). While both traditions see the ultimate reality as nondual, Taoism’s “original nonbeing” is often framed as a metaphysical principle. It describes the source of all creation and reflects the mystery of the Tao, emphasizing a harmonious and spontaneous unfolding of nature. In contrast, shunyata (emptiness) in Mahayana Buddhism is primarily an epistemological concept — it points to the nature of all phenomena as being empty of intrinsic existence and dependent on causes and conditions. The focus in Buddhism is on realizing this emptiness as part of the path to enlightenment and freedom from suffering. 無 is the central theme in one of the most famous of all koans, “Joshu’s Dog” (the first case in the collection of 48 koans called the “Gateless Gate” or Mumonkan), which begins: “A monk asked Joshu, a Chinese Zen master: “Has a dog Buddha-nature or not?” Joshu answered: “Mu.”
• see also: shunyata (emptiness) ; wu-wei (non-action)
• external links: wiktionary / wikipedia / Digital Dictionary of Buddhism ; (Joshu’s Dog, Gateless Gate #1): wikisource / Norman Fischer
≫ Wutaishan (Chinese: 五台山, pinyin: Wǔtái shān, literally “five-terrace mountain”) = Mount Wutai, the abode or home of bodhisattva Mañjushri, according to the Avatamsaka Sutra. Mount Wutai is one of the Four Sacred Mountains in Chinese Buddhism. Each of the mountains is viewed as the bodhimaṇḍa (Chinese: 道場; pinyin: dàocháng) of one of the four great bodhisattvas. Mount Wutai is located at the headwaters of the Qingshui in Shanxi Province, China. DJKR “about five hours’ drive from Beijing”. It is home to many of China’s most important monasteries and temples, and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009.
• see also: Emeishan (bodhimanda of Samantabhadra) ; Mañjushri ; Sida Mingshan (The Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains in China)
• external links: wikipedia
≫ wu-wei (Chinese: 无为/無為; pinyin: wúwéi, “non-active, laissez-faire, spontaneous”, literally “not to act”; corresponds to Sanskrit: असंस्कृत, IAST: asaṃskṛta; Tibetan: འདུས་མ་བྱས, dumajé, Wylie: ‘dus ma byas, “uncompounded, uncreated; beyond arising, dwelling and ceasing”) = non-action, effortless action. An ancient Chinese concept literally meaning “inexertion”, “inaction”, “effortless action”, and “to let nature takes it course”, wu-wei became an important concept in the Confucian Analects, Chinese statecraft, and Daoism. It was most commonly used to refer to an ideal form of government, including the behavior of the emperor, describing a state of personal harmony, free-flowing spontaneity and laissez-faire.
• see also: wu (nonexistence, without)
• external links: wiktionary / wikipedia
≫ wuzhong chan (Chinese: 五種禪, pinyin: wǔzhǒng chán) = five kinds of meditation, distinguished by Guifeng Zongmi 宗密 (740-841) (aka Kuei-feng Tsung-mi) in his Preface to the Collection of Chan Sources 禪源諸詮集都序 (T 2015.48.399b16), as part of his system of doctrinal classification (Chinese: 教判, pinyin: jiàopan, sometimes transliterated as panchiao). In Japanese, this became the five types of zen (Japanese: 五種の禅, go-shu no zen), where Hoshin roshi says “In this sense, we could say that zen with a small “z” means simply a form of practising”: (1) Bompu zen (“usual zen”, i.e. practices aiming for the usual results of health, happiness and wellbeing); (2) Gedō-zen (“outside way”, i.e. practices that aren’t Buddhist as such); (3) Shōjō-Zen (zen of Hinayana, e.g. practices of concentration and mindfulness); (4) Daijō-zen (“Great Practice Zen”, i.e. zen of Mahayana, which Hoshin roshi says ranges “from the Shin-shu and Tendai to the Vajrayana practices of Shingon and Tibetan Buddhism”); (5) Saijōjō-zen (“Great and Perfect Practice”, the highest form, where way and goal merge. Hoshin-roshi says “in the Tibetan schools it is called Mahamudra, Maha-ati or Chagya-chenpo and Dzogchen; the Theravadin school calls it Mahavipassana; within Soto Zen it is shikantaza, and in Rinzai Zen as well, one practices shikantaza after finishing koan study.”)
• external links: (Guifeng Zongmi): wikipedia / Tsadra ; (Zongmi’s five categories of Buddhist teachings): wikipedia ; (five styles of Zen): Anzan Hoshin roshi ; (doctrinal classification): wikipedia