Ritual
ཕྲེང་བ།

Mala

Buddhist malas are strings of beads. They are used by Buddhist practitioners to count mantra recitations and prayers.
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Last updated on November 13, 2024
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Terminology
དྲི་མ་དྲུག།

Six Stains of the Listener

The Six Stains of the Listener are part of a list of 14 types of mistaken conduct described by Buddhist...
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Last updated on February 19, 2024
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Terminology
སྣོད་ཀྱི་སྐྱོན་གསུམ།

Three Defects of the Vessel

In traditional Buddhist teachings, the three defects of the vessel are explained as something students should avoid when receiving dharma...
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Last updated on February 19, 2024
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Terminology
མི་འཛིན་པ་ལྔ།

Five Wrong Ways of Remembering

The Five Wrong Ways of Remembering is a list of five common mistakes a student can make when listening to...
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Last updated on February 19, 2024
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Ritual, Symbols & Iconography
ཕྱག་རྒྱ།

Mudra

Learn the famous offering mudras used in Tibetan Buddhist ritual practices.
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Last updated on February 3, 2024
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Ritual, Practices
བསང་མཆོད།

Scent Offerings in Vajrayana Buddhism

This article discusses the imporance of scent offerings such as the Sangchö (cleansing smoke offering) to Vajrayana Buddhism.
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Last updated on February 2, 2024
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Great Masters
འཇམ་མགོན་མི་ཕམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ།

Jamgön Mipham (Mipam) Gyatso

Mipham Rinpoche, or Jamgön Mipham Gyatso, was an exceptional scholar-practitioner and one of the foremost Tibetan commentators of the early...
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Last updated on January 16, 2024
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Terminology

Tibetan Translation History and Methodology

Translating the Buddhadharma from Indic languages into Sanskrit was a monumental effort. Under the sponsorship of Tibetan emperors, bilingual lexicons...
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Last updated on January 19, 2024
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Terminology
དྲན་པ།

Mindfulness 

Mindfulness in the Buddhist tradition is a technical term. It emphasizes remembering or holding something in mind and is considered...
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Last updated on January 15, 2024
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Terminology
བཅོམ་ལྡན་འདད་འདད།

Bhagavān

Bhagavān is one of the many epithets of the Buddha.
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Last updated on January 5, 2024
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Symbols & Iconography
རླུང་རྟ།

Prayer Flags

Tibetan prayer flags have now become very popular throughout the world. What is their history and significance?
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Last updated on January 2, 2024
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Ritual
འཆམ།

Ritual Dance: Tibetan Buddhist Cham

Cham is a performance of masked and costumed dance performed within the context of Vajrayana ritual ceremonies in the Himalayan...
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Last updated on December 29, 2023
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Terminology
བྱམས་པ།

Loving Kindness

Loving kindness or love in Buddhist terminology refers specifically to the wish that all sentient beings have happiness and the...
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Last updated on December 27, 2023
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Ritual, Symbols & Iconography
གཏོར་མ།

Torma

Torma are sculptures made traditionally of edible dough. In Vajrayana Buddhism they can be used in a variety of contexts,...
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Last updated on January 3, 2024
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Terminology
དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།

Arhat

“Foe Destroyer,” the English translation of the Tibetan dgra bcom pa (pronounced dra chom pa) may sound like an old-fashioned or unusual term....
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Last updated on December 15, 2023
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Terminology
དཀོན་མཆོག་གསུམ།

Three Jewels

The Three Jewels of the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha are the rare and supreme objects of refuge for...
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Last updated on December 15, 2023
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Terminology
ཞིང་ཁམས།

Buddhafields

Buddhafields as described in Mahayana activity are displays of wisdom spontaneously created by buddhas. Texts offer detailed descriptions of the...
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Last updated on September 15, 2023
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Terminology
བར་དོ།

Bardo

Bardo is a Tibetan term that translates as “the period between two events”. The Tibetan syllable “bar” means “between” or...
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Last updated on January 10, 2024
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Terminology
རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ།

Vajrayāna

The Vajrayāna, the “Diamond” or “Thunderbolt” Path of Buddhism is also known as the Mantrayana. The ultimate fruition of Buddhahood...
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Last updated on August 11, 2023
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Auspicious Days, Ritual

Ullambana

Ullambana festival (yu lan pen) is celebrated on the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar. The...
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Last updated on August 4, 2023
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Practices, Chokling Tersar
འཁོར་བ་དོང་སྤྲུག།

Korwa Dongtruk

Korwa Dongtruk is a teaching given by Guru Rinpoche and revealed by Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa. The practice, “Shaker of Saṃsāra...
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Last updated on August 4, 2023
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Terminology
སྡུག་བསྔལ།

Suffering

Suffering exists. The Buddha revealed this fact based on his own empirical observation. He noted that every sentient being experiences...
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Last updated on July 24, 2023
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Bodhisattvas
ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ།

Akashagarbha

Ākāśagarbha is a bodhisattva who features in the group known as the “eight close sons of the Buddha”. He is...
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Last updated on July 18, 2023
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Sacred Places, Symbols & Iconography
བདེ་བ་ཅན།

Sukhāvatī

Sukhāvatī or Dewachen is the western pure land of the buddha Amitābha. This land is said to be a paradise...
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Last updated on February 22, 2024
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Practices, Chokling Tersar
ཚེ་དཀར་སྒྲུབ་སྒྲུབ་ཆེན།

Tsekar Drubchen

The Tsekar (White Amitāyus) Drubchen is an extensive group practice from the Chokling Tersar tradition.
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Last updated on July 14, 2023
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Ritual
ཕྱིའི་མཆོད་པ།

Eight Outer Offerings

The eight outer offerings are a simple yet profound way to cultivate merit, respect for oneself and others, and a...
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Last updated on July 7, 2023
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Terminology, Deities
སངས་རྒྱས།

Buddha

Buddha, meaning “awakened one” is a title of great respect given to those who have completely accomplished the purification of...
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Last updated on June 29, 2024
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Terminology
རིགས་དྲུག།

Six Classes of Beings

Buddhism teaches that sentient beings cycle repeatedly through saṃsāra, taking rebirth in six main classes or realms. Each of these...
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Last updated on January 19, 2024
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Terminology
བླ་མའི་ཡོན་ཏན་བཅུ།

Ten Qualities of a Dharma Teacher

Buddhist texts stress the importance of following a good teacher as one proceeds along the path. Traditionally, students are advised...
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Last updated on February 22, 2024
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Terminology
བླ་མ།

Lama

Lama is the Tibetan title for a teacher of the Buddhadharma and is the translation of the Sanskrit word guru....
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Last updated on January 10, 2024
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Dharma Reflections

"When we remember our good heart, our sense of dignity is restored. We must always remember that we are good, even though we make mistakes. Being inherently good and making mistakes are not contradictory. Mistakes merely reflect that we are in a process of becoming who we already are; mistakes do not and cannot affect our pure nature."
Phakchok Rinpoche, Awakening Dignity, Chapter 3: Beyond the Beautiful and the Ugly
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