Choosing The Right Word

Chakgya Chenpo (phyag rgya chen po) The Tibetan word for mahamudra is chag gya chenpo (chak chen for short). In Sanskrit,maha means “large” or “great.” [...]

Nyering Tang Nyom (nye ring btang snyom) The four limitless ones culminate in a supplication for equanimity: “May they [all sentient beings] dwell in the [...]

Ösel ('od gsal) An interesting and sometimes perplexing word worth shedding some light on involves the very notion of “light.” The term ösel (Tib.’od gsal) [...]

Ziji (gzi brjid) Ziji appears in the language of both Buddhism and Shambhala. The Vidyadhara commented that both zi and ji have a sense of [...]

Trötral (spros bral) Our chosen translation, “simplicity,” for trötral in Tibetan or nishprapancha in Sanskrit, is often rendered by other translators as “freedom from complexities” [...]

Zungwa dang Dzinpa (gzung ba dang 'dzin pa) We generally translate zungwa and dzinpa as “grasping and fixation” (“fixation” referring to zungwa and “grasping” referring [...]

Trangdön dang Ngedön (drang don dang nges don) The Translation Committee learned early on that translating Tibetan could force one to explore new frontiers of [...]

Lha La (lha bla) Some confusion exists between two Tibetan words, sometimes used interchangeably:lha and la. The first, lha, is the Tibetan word used to [...]