(Tib. wang) Empowerment.

The conferring of power or authorization to practice the Vajrayana teachings, the indispensable entrance door to tantric practice.

(Skt. skandha, Tib. phung po nga) Literally, "heaps." These are the five basic transformations that perceptions undergo when an object is perceived. First is form, which includes all sounds, smells, etc., everything that is not thought. The second and third are sensations (pleasant and unpleasant, etc.) and their identification. Fourth are mental events, which actually include the second and third aggregates. The fifth is ordinary consciousness, such as the sensory and mental consciousnesses.

(Tib. bla-med rnal-'byor, Skt. a-nu yo-ga)

In the Sarma (New Translation Period) Tibetan Buddhist schools, the fourth or highest class of tantra practice, emphasizing special internal methods for actualizing oneself as a Buddha-figure.

In the Nyingma system, the second of the three inner classes of tantra, emphasizing practices involving the subtle energy-system of winds, channels, and creative energy-drops.

(Tib.: byang-chub sems, byang-sems) Usually used in the meaning of relative bodhichitta: A mind or heart focused first on the benefit of all limited beings and then on one's own individual future enlightenment, with the intention to attain that enlightenment and to benefit others by means of that attainment.

(Tib.: las)

(1) In all Tibetan Buddhist systems except Vaibhashika and Gelug Prasangika, equivalent to a subcategory of the mental factor, an urge. It is the mental factor that brings the mind in the direction of a specific physical, verbal, or mental action.

(2) In the Vaibhashika and Gelug Prasangika, with respect to mental karmic actions, it is the mental factor of the urge that brings the mind in the direction of that action. With respect to physical or verbal karmic actions, it is (a) the revealing form of the physical impulse of the physical action or the sound of the words of the verbal action, plus (b) the nonrevealing form of the subtle invisible "vibration" of the action, which continues during and after the action. Some translators render the term "karma" as "action."

(3) A general term used loosely for behavioral cause and effect. Also called: karmic impulse.