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Author: Lama Döndrup
Like many religions, Buddhism inspired various paths of practice, philosophy, and ceremony. While there are many different lineages of Buddhism, the two main branches are Theravada and Mahayana. Vajrayana is part of the Mahayana.
Merit refers to the accumulation of beneficial karma or virtue through actions, thoughts, and intentions. It is considered to be a force that leads to favorable outcomes both in this life and in future lives.
While most of Buddha’s teachings could be described as method to train the mind, lojong is in a specific category of methods to train the mind or reorient ourselves to respond to ourselves, others, and the circum-stances of our lives from the perspective of altruism. These methods highlight the practices of equalizing self and other and ex-changing self and other
Vajrayana is the diamond path that lifts the veils that keep us from recognizing our indestructible, ever-present buddha nature, innate goodness, our inherent potential for enlightenment.
Lineage: An unbroken stream of spiritual masters through which the sacred teachings of the dharma flow, allow our present-day teachings to be traced back to their original source.
Tibetan: བརྒྱུད་པ
Phonetics: gyüpa
Wylie*: brgyud pa
Sanskrit: parampara
Compassion: the noble heart that feels the suffering of another being as if it were its own and wishes for all beings to be free of suffering and its causes.
Mahamudra is a practice of relaxing directly into our present experience and recognizing its true nature.
Sangha literally means that which is struck together well. In common usage, it generally refers to a community. It has been adopted by multiple religions.
Vajra is a symbol of indestructibility, immutability. It appears in various contexts in Buddhism.
In an empowerment, the vajra master transmits the realization of a particular practice to the initiate. This is not a bestowing of something to the initiate that they do not have. An empowerment activates a quality that is dormant. The vajra master’s transmission wakes up an innate quality to which the initiate does not have access because the quality is obscured by habitual patterns.
Karma is a Sanskrit word which has come into standard use in the English language. Karma is the law of cause and effect. For every action there is a result. When one engages in actions of body, speech, or mind, these actions leave imprints or karmic seeds in one’s alayavijnana or storehouse consciousness.
