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English Glossary of Buddhist Terms
This glossary is only a partial list of technical terms found on the pages of the website. From time to time, as work progresses on the glossary project, new terms will be added to the list. Sanskrit equivalents for Tibetan terms have been provided only for select terms and all diacritical marks for transliterated Sanskrit have been omitted, for ease of display on all browsers.
Choose one of the letters below to see the glossary entries that start with this letter:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z everything
| English | Definition | Tibetan / Sanskrit / Pali |
|---|---|---|
| habit, karmic constant | ||
| hallmarks of the Dharma, four | ||
| hallowed | Pure and worthy of the highest respect; sacred. (Jeffrey Hopkins: excellent; the ultimate; highest) | Tib: dam-pa |
| happening, no-longer | See: no-longer-happening | |
| happening, not-yet | See: not-yet-happening | |
| happening, passed | See: no-longer-happening | |
| happening, present | See: present-happening | |
| happiness | That feeling which, when it stops, we wish to meet with it again. (Jeffrey Hopkins: bliss; pleasure; happiness; abiding; easy; easy to understand) | Tib: bde-ba Skt: sukha |
| happiness, mental | See: mental happiness | |
| hearer | See: shravaka | |
| heart essence division | Another name for the quintessence teachings division of treasure texts, and for the texts contained in this division. | Tib: snying-thig |
| heart essence teachings | Teachings emphasizing the primal purity aspect of pure awareness. | Tib: snying-thig |
| heartwarming love | The subsidiary awareness (mental factor) with which one has a feeling of closeness and warmth toward anyone one meets. | Tib: yid-'ong byams-pa |
| heavenly musician | ||
| heightened awareness | See: advanced awareness | |
| highly accomplished | Someone who has attained a spiritual goal. | |
| highly realized being | See: arya | |
| highly realized practitioner | See: arya | |
| Hinayana | Literally, a "Modest Vehicle of Mind" -- levels and states of mind with a modest motivation - renunciation - and, with modest methods, lead to the modest goal of liberation. Some translators render the term as "Lesser Vehicle." (Jeffrey Hopkins: Lesser Vehicle; Inferior Vehicle) | Tib: theg-dman Skt: hinayana |
| hold, mental | See: mental hold | |
| holding a deluded outlook as supreme | (1) According to Asanga, the disturbing attitude that regards as supreme any one of the three deluded outlooks -- a deluded outlook of a transitory network, an extreme outlook, or a distorted outlook -- and the samsara-perpetuating aggregates based on which the deluded outlook is produced. (2) According to Vasubandhu, the disturbing attitude that regards the samsara-perpetuating aggregates, based on which any of the three above-mentioned deluded outlooks is produced, with the discordant attention that they are totally clean by nature or a source of true happiness. | Tib: lta-ba mchog-tu 'dzin-pa |
| holding deluded morality or conduct as supreme | The disturbing attitude that regards as purified, liberated, and definitely delivered some deluded morality, some deluded conduct, and the samsara-perpetuating aggregate factors that give rise to the deluded morality and conduct. (Jeffrey Hopkins: conception of ethics and modes of conduct as supreme) | Tib: tshul-khrims-dang brtul-zhugs mchog-tu 'dzin-pa |
| horizontal mental synthesis | A kind mental synthesis that extends over many instances of the same type of phenomenon, such as many tables. | Tib: thad-ka'i spyi |
| hostility | A subcategory of anger: anger directed primarily, although not exclusively, at limited beings. One of the three poisonous emotions and attitudes. See: anger. (Jeffrey Hopkins: anger; hatred; rage) | Tib: zhe-sdang Skt: dvesha |
| householder | Someone who is neither a monk nor a nun. | Tib: 'jig-rten-pa |
| how things are | Also called: thusness. (Jeffrey Hopkins: reality; suchness; principle) | Tib: de-nyid |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z everything