Tibetan Book of the Dead

Glossary

• Bardo the state between life and death
• Chonyid Bardo literally, “the experiencing of reality”
• Dharma-Kaya the ultimate essence of the enlightened mind
• dorje thunderbolt or diamond
• Herukas wrathful but enlightened beings that embody indivisible bliss
• kalpa an enormous unit or cycle of time
• karma the concept thatthe effects of a person’s actions determine one’s destiny in one’s next incarnation
• Kerima a being that accompanies a Wrathful Deity
• Mantrayana a type of Buddhism also known as Tantric Buddhism
• Nirmana-Kaya the form of the Buddha that appears in the world to teach people the path to liberation
• Sangsara a round of life-death-rebirth
• Sidpa Bardo the bardo of rebirth
• Sutras religious verses, aphorisms, or extracts
• Tantras scriptures pertaining to any of several Hindu and Buddhist traditions
• Thodol literally, “liberation”
• Vajra the thunderbolt of the goddess Indra; also, a central Buddhist principle representing indestructible substance that penetrates emotional instability or uncertainty
• Wrathful Deities fierce deities that ward off evil spirits, fight threats to Buddhism, and protect humans by adding fear to the evil spirits