compiled by Richard Darsie (Lhakthong Gyürme)



2 Truths
3 Jewels
3 Poisons
3 Universal Laws
3 Yanas
3 Kayas
4 Noble Truths
4 Immeasurables
4 Reminders
4 Foundations of Mindfulness    
4 Dharmas of Gampopa
4 Powers of Purification
4 Great Vows
 5 Skandhas
5 Hindrances
5 Precepts
5 Kleshas
5 Paths
6 Paramitas
6 Realms of Existence
6 Bardos
7 Preliminaries for Practice    
7 Points of Mind Training
8-fold Path
8 Worldly Dharmas
 8 Verses on Thought Transformation      
8 Freedoms
8 Consciousnesses
9 Stages of Shamatha
10 Bhumis
10 Wholesome Deeds
10 Richnesses
10 Bulls
12-fold Chain of Causation
18 Root Bodhisattva Downfalls
37 Practices of a Bodhisattva
41 Prayers to Cultivate Awakening Mind
46 Secondary Bodhisattva Vows


2 Truths
The Two Truths are 1) the way things appear, and 2) the way they really are.

3 Jewels
The Three Jewels (also called the "Triple Gem") are Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, the objects of Buddhist refuge.

3 Poisons
The Three Poisons are the mental afflictions of greed (craving, strong desire), anger (hatred, aversion), and ignorance which together act to keep us trapped in the cyclical round of suffering (samsara).

3 Universal Laws
The Universal Laws are basic facts of existence taught by the Buddha.
  1. All things are impermanent (anicca)
  2. All life is subject to suffering or dissatisfaction (dukkha)
  3. There is no permanently abiding self (anatta)

3 Yanas
Usually translated as the "Three Paths," these are the Tibetan Buddhist formulation of different levels of aspiration and practice leading to awakening.
  1. Hinayana
  2. Mahayana
  3. Vajrayana

3 Kayas
The Three Kayas, or the Three Bodies of the Buddha, represent the ultimate fruition of practice, and are said to correspond with body, speech and mind. This is very abstract and advanced material.
  1. Dharmakaya ("Truth Body")
  2. Samboghakaya ("Bliss Body")
  3. Nirmanakaya ("Enjoyment Body" or "Activity Body")

4 Noble Truths
The Buddha's first exposition of Dharma teaching was in the form of the 4 Noble Truths: the pervasiveness of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path leading to the cessation of suffering (i.e., the Noble Eightfold Path).

4 Immeasurables
The Four Immeasurables are four qualities of awakened mind: lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. They are called "immeasurable" because they can be developed to an unlimited degree.

4 Reminders
The Four Reminders are contemplations which serve to motivate the practice of Dharma.
  1. The preciousness of our human birth
  2. The truth of impermanence and death
  3. The inexorability of the law of cause and effect (karma)
  4. The shortcomings of samsara

4 Foundations of Mindfulness
The Four Foundations of Mindfulness were taught by the Buddha in the Satipatthana Sutta. They are:
  1. Contemplation on the body
  2. Contemplation on feelings
  3. Contemplation on the mind
  4. Contemplation on dharmas

4 Dharmas of Gampopa
Gampopa was the Dharma heir of the great master Milarepa. His Four Dharmas are a summary of the path of awakening:
  1. The mind turns towards Dharma
  2. Dharma becomes the path
  3. The path dispels confusion
  4. Confusion arises as wisdom

4 Powers of Purification
The Four Powers of Purification (also called the "Four Opponent Powers") have to do with purifying past karma.
  1. Power of the Object
  2. Power of Regret
  3. Power of Promise
  4. Power of Practice

4 Great Vows
The Four Great Vows are the way that the Bodhisattva Vow is usually framed in the Zen tradition. They are:
  1. Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them.
  2. Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them.
  3. The Dharmas are boundless, I vow to master them.
  4. The Buddha Way is unsurpassable, I vow to attain it.

5 Skandhas
The Five Skandhas (usually translated as "aggregates of existence", but sometimes as "piles" or "heaps") are the basic underpinning of samsaric existence. They are:
  1. Form
  2. Sensation or Feeling (i.e., senses)
  3. Perception (i.e., what an individual receives from the senses)
  4. Formation or Discrimination (i.e., picking and choosing through attachment or aversion)
  5. Consciousness

5 Hindrances
The Five Hindrances to meditation were taught by the Buddha in the Satipatthana Sutta. They are:
  1. Desire (especially sense desires)
  2. Ill-will
  3. Sloth and torpor
  4. Distraction and worry
  5. Doubt or wavering

5 Precepts
The Five Precepts are the main ethical principles for Buddhist laypeople.
  1. To refrain from taking life
  2. To refrain from taking what is not given
  3. To refrain from sexual misconduct
  4. To refrain from incorrect speech (i.e., lying, gossiping, uncourteous, divisive, etc.)
  5. To refrain from intoxicants leading to heedlessness

5 Kleshas
"Klesha" is usually translated as "negative emotion" or "mental affliction". The kleshas are strong negative habitual patterns of mind that keep us stuck in the karmic round. There are various enumerations of kleshas in different traditions - sometimes "doubt" and "wrong views" are included. The listing below comes from the teaching of Pema Chödrön. Note that the first three kleshas on this list are identical to the Three Poisons.
  1. Anger (or "hatred" or "aggression")
  2. Craving ("lust" or "addiction")
  3. Ignorance (or "indifference")
  4. Jealousy
  5. Pride (or "arrogance")

5 Paths
The Five Paths are the means by which one cultivates wisdom and compassion through which the obscurations (kleshas) are purified.
  1. The Path of Accumulation
  2. The Path of Preparation (or Application)
  3. The Path of Seeing (or Insight)
  4. The Path of Meditation
  5. The Path of Complete Perfection (or No Further Training)

6 Paramitas
The Six Paramitas (variously translated as "perfections" or "activities of awakening") are aspects of the Bodhisattva path. The six are:
  1. Generosity
  2. Discipline
  3. Patience
  4. Exertion
  5. Meditation
  6. Wisdom

6 Realms of Existence
The Six Realms are the basic modalities of samsaric existence. These are divided into three upper realms (gods, jealous gods or titans, humans) and three lower realms (animals, hungry ghosts, hells). Birth in the human realm is considered the most fortunate of all samsaric births because it affords the best opportunity for awakening from samsara altogether. This is because of the balance between pleasure and pain in the human realm: there is enough suffering to make us want to escape but not enough (at least in fortunate cases) to render practice impossible. There are differences of opinion on whether the Six Realms are actual locations or states of mind.
6 Bardos
In Tibetan Buddhism, the Six Bardos are states of samsaric consciousness. Literally "an interval between two things", a bardo state is thus thought of as a consciousness experienced between two boundary events. For example, our ordinary everyday consciousness is the "Bardo between Birth and Death". Bardo teachings concerning experiences between death and subsequent rebirth comprise a great portion of the Tibetan Book of the Dead (which is actually called the Bardo Thodol in Tibetan).
7 Preliminaries for Practice
Referred to as the "Seven-Limb Practice", these actions taken before listening to and practicing dharma help establish a mindstate more conducive to such activities. Sometimes only six are given.
7 Points of Mind Training
The Seven Points of Mind Training is the formal term for the "lojong" teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. The "seven points" (enumerated below) subsume 59 "slogans" which together comprise a complete set of practical guidelines for the awakening of bodhichitta.
  1. The Preliminaries, Which Are a Basis for Dharma Practice
  2. The Main Practice, Which is Training in Bodhichitta
  3. Transformation of Bad Circumstances into the Way of Enlightenment
  4. Showing the Utilization of Practice in One's Whole Life
  5. Evaluation of Mind Training
  6. Disciplines of Mind Training
  7. Guidelines of Mind Training

8-Fold Path
The last of the Four Noble Truths is the Noble Eightfold Path which leads to awakening.
  1. Right View
  2. Right Intentions
  3. Right Speech
  4. Right Action
  5. Right Livelihood
  6. Right Effort
  7. Right Mindfulness
  8. Right Concentration

8 Worldly Dharmas
The Eight Worldly Dharmas consist of four pairs of opposites, as follows:

What We Want What We Don't Want
praise, compliments criticism, blame
happiness, pleasure unhappiness, pain
fame, recognition disgrace
gain loss

8 Verses on Thought Transformation
This is a Tibetan Buddhist text composed by Geshe Langri Thangpa.
8 Freedoms
The 8 Freedoms, together with the 10 Richnesses, are part of the contemplation on having a "precious human birth" (one of the 4 Reminders. Four of the eight freedoms concern freedom from birth in non-human states where there is no opportunity (i.e., in lower realms) or inclination (i.e., in celestial realms) to practice dharma, and the other four are freedoms from states of human existence where there is no freedom to practice dharma.
8 Consciousnesses
The first five consciousnesses correspond to the five (physical) senses. The sixth consciousness (i.e.,our ordinary mind) integrates the perceptions of the five senses into coherent images and makes judgments about the external world. The seventh consciousness (afflicted or defiled mind) is said to be the active center of reasoning, calculation, and construction or fabrication of individual objects. The eighth consciousness is called the "ground" or "alaya" consciousness. It is the source of all the other consciousnesses, and is also the storehouse of karmic impressions.
9 Stages of Shamatha
The Nine Stages are a description of the process of training the mind in shamatha or "peacefully abiding" meditation.
10 Bhumis
The Ten Bhumis are stages on the Bodhisattva path.
10 Wholesome Deeds
The Ten Wholesome Deeds are to abstain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, duplicity, harsh speech, lying, irresponsible speech, greed, anger, and foolishness (i.e., wrong views or "stupidity"). In total these ten address conduct of body (first 3), speech (next 4), and mind (last 3).
10 Richnesses
The Ten Richnesses (also called "Endowments"), together with the 8 Freedoms, are part of the contemplation on having a "precious human birth". Of the ten, five are personal factors and five have to do with the society in which we live.
10 Bulls
The Ten Bulls (also called the "Ten Oxherding Pictures") is a series of illustrations in the Zen tradition, forming a visual allegory of the path to awakening.
12-Fold Chain of Causation
Also referred to as "dependent origination", this teaching from the Abhidharma describes the series of steps by which all phenomena come to be.
18 Root Bodhisattva Downfalls
The 18 Root Downfalls are specific negative actions that cause the loss of bodhisattva vows. They are called "downfalls" because they lead to a decline in spiritual development and hinder the growth of positive qualities.
37 Practices of a Bodhisattva
The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva were enumerated in a 14th-century Tibetan text composed by Ngolchu Thogme Rinpoche.
41 Prayers to Cultivate Awakening Mind
These are a series of aspirations to be kept in mind during specific circumstances. Taken from the Flower Ornament Scripture.
46 Secondary Bodhisattva Vows
The 46 Secondary Bodhisattva Vows consist of faulty actions that hinder one's development of the 6 paramitas, but do not cause the loss of bodhisattva vows.

May the merit of this page be dedicated to the liberation of all sentient beings without one exception!

May all sentient beings enjoy happiness and the root of happiness!
May they be free from suffering and the root of suffering!
May they not be separated from the great happiness devoid of suffering!
May they dwell in the great equanimity, free from passion, aggression, and prejudice!