# Glossary © 2026 Konchok Gyurme Tenzin. Licensed [CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/): share and adapt it with credit, never for sale. *The names and words of [The Life of Tilopa](marpas-life-of-tilopa.md), each with its Tibetan, in Wylie, and its Sanskrit where it has one.* ### Aḍona ཨ་ཌོ་ན *a ḍo na*. The temple of the monastery of the Crown Jewel. After the ḍākinīs give Tilopa the jewels in Oḍḍiyāna, the wisdom ḍākinī sends Tilopa to the monastery of the Crown Jewel to take Nāro, Riri and Kasori into their care, and Tilopa goes to this temple at the end of 1.2. ### Āryadeva ཨཱ་རྱ་དེ་ཝ *ā rya de wa*; Sanskrit Āryadeva. Nāgārjuna's disciple, who carried on Nāgārjuna's Madhyamaka and is counted among the eighty-four mahāsiddhas. In the song Tilopa sings to the ruler at the Sorrowless monastery in part 2, Tilopa says they've talked with Nāgārjuna and Āryadeva. ### Aṭṭahāsa ཧ་ཧ་སྒྲོག་པ *ha ha sgrog pa*; Sanskrit Aṭṭahāsa. One of the eight great charnel grounds; its name means "Loud Laughter". The magician Tilopa tames in 1.4.3, given the name Deceiver Who Tells the Truth, lives on there without dying. ### Bengal བྷང་ག་ལ *bhang ga la*. The land in the east of India where the prophecy sends Tilopa to serve Bharima, in the market of Pañcapana. There Tilopa pounds sesame by day, which earns them the name Tilopa. ### Bharima བྷ་རི་མ *bha ri ma*. The sex worker of the market of Pañcapana in Bengal. As the prophecy says, Tilopa serves their household, by night bringing people in and seeing them out and by day pounding sesame; with Bharima, Tilopa practices the Secret Mantra in the charnel ground of Kereli, and the two sing the song of the sesame oil before the ruler. ### Black Virtue ནག་པོ་དགེ་བ *nag po dge ba*. The name given the non-Buddhist of 1.4.2. A non-Buddhist teacher and siddha at Nālandā made all who didn't rise before them compete in power and in debate; Tilopa beat them at both, and they live on in Śītavana. ### Bliss-Making Joy བདེ་བྱེད་དགའ་བ *bde byed dga' ba*. The name given the butcher of 1.4.6. A butcher who had killed the young of every living thing saw their own child's limbs in the meat they cooked; they swore off killing, and they live on the island of the rākṣasas without dying. ### Cakrasaṃvara བདེ་མཆོག *bde mchog*; Sanskrit Cakrasaṃvara. The tantric deity of bliss whose emanation, and whose self, Tilopa is shown to be; "Saṃvara" where a song shortens the name. The text also writes *bde mchog 'khor lo*, *'khor lo bde mchog*, *'khor lo sdom pa*. ### Cārvāka རྒྱང་ཕན་པ *rgyang phan pa*; Sanskrit Cārvāka, Lokāyata. A materialist, who denies that acts bear fruit. In 1.4.7 a Cārvāka says there's neither virtue nor wrongdoing; Tilopa shows them the gods and the hells, they're terrified, and they're given the name Jinabodhi. ### Caryāpa ཙརྱ་པ *tsarya pa*; Sanskrit Caryāpa. One of the four human gurus, who gave Tilopa dream. A mahāsiddha of India, "the one of conduct", who the child asks for instruction in the charnel ground of Sala Bhehara in 1.1. The manuscript also writes *tsarya ba*. ### Śītavana སིལ་བའི་ཚལ *sil ba'i tshal*; Sanskrit Śītavana. A charnel ground near Bodh Gaya, the first of the eight great ones; its name means "Cool Grove". The non-Buddhist Tilopa tames at Nālandā in 1.4.2, given the name Black Virtue, lives on there without dying. ### ḍākinī མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ *mkha' 'gro ma*; Sanskrit ḍākinī. A female being of primordial wisdom who guards and gives the secret Dharma. ### Deceiver Who Tells the Truth སླུ་བྱེད་བདེན་སྨྲ *slu byed bden smra*. The name given the magician of 1.4.3. A magician was taking the ruler's country with an army of illusion; Tilopa broke the illusion and caught them, and they live on at Aṭṭahāsa. ### Dode མདོ་སྡེ *mdo sde*. Marpa's son, Darma Dode, who the life was written for. Marpa wrote it down at Drowolung for Dode, and the opening song says that for Dode's sake Marpa set the whispered lineage down in letters. ### Drowolung གྲོ་བོ་ལུང *gro bo lung*. Marpa's seat in Lhodrak, where they wrote this life. The colophon says Marpa wrote the life down at the monastery of glorious Drowolung, in the Trowo valley of Lhodrak, for Dode. ### Dukata དུ་ཀ་ཏ *du ka ta*. A river bank in the east of India, near the Sorrowless monastery. There, at the source of the river Khasu, in the charnel ground of the Masha Grove, stands the monastery where Tilopa is ordained in part 2. ### Dzako ཛ་ཀོ *dza ko*. Tilopa's birthplace, a city of Zahor in the east of India. Tilopa's family, Salwa, Salden and Saldrön, live there, and the child names it as their country when the ḍākinīs ask in 1.1. ### gandharva དྲི་ཟ *dri za*; Sanskrit gandharva. A celestial musician, known for sweet song; the city of the gandharvas is a mirage. ### Gandhola གྷནདོ་ལ *ghando la*; Sanskrit Gandhola. The temple in Oḍḍiyāna where the ḍākinīs keep the jewels. Tilopa crosses its moat on a bridge of jewels, climbs its iron wall on a crystal ladder and opens its gate with a pair of grass mice to ask for the three wish-fulfilling jewels in 1.2. The manuscript also writes *ghando li*, *ghando lir*, *ghan do la*. ### Giver of Bliss བདེ་སྟེར་མ *bde ster ma*. The ḍākinī the ḍākinīs name as the child's true sister. In 1.1 the ḍākinīs tell the child their true family, and in 1.2 Tilopa tells the retinue at Gandhola that the Giver of Bliss has sent them. ### Guhyasamāja གསང་བ་འདུས་པ *gsang ba 'dus pa*; Sanskrit Guhyasamāja. A tantric deity and its tantra, "Assembly of Secrets", one of the major tantras of the new schools; its deity is a form of the buddha Akṣobhya. A yogin gives the child its empowerment in 1.1, and in part 4 Tilopa's song names it as their aggregates and elements. ### Hevajra ཧེ་བཛྲ *he badzra*; Sanskrit Hevajra. A tantric deity and its tantra, a chief deity of the highest yoga tantra, much practiced by the new schools. The one who teaches the child in the temple gives them its empowerment in 1.1, and in part 4 Tilopa sings, "My body is Hevajra." The song of part 4 names them *kye'i rdo rje*. ### the island of Sosa སོ་ས་གླིང *so sa gling*. Where the beer-seller of 1.4.4 lives on. A monkey and a cat Tilopa sent drank their beer on credit; Tilopa filled every jar again, and given the name Sunlight Lamp, the seller lives on there without dying. ### the island of the rākṣasas སྲིན་པོའི་གླིང *srin po'i gling*; Sanskrit Laṅkā, the island of the rākṣasas. Where the butcher of 1.4.6 lives on. Given the name Bliss-Making Joy after Tilopa turned them from killing, they live on in this land of the rākṣasas, the cannibal spirits, without dying. ### Jinabodhi ཛི་ན་བྱང་ཆུབ *dzi na byang chub*; Sanskrit Jinabodhi. The name given the Cārvāka of 1.4.7. The Cārvāka denied that karma bears fruit until Tilopa showed them the gods and the hells, and they live on at Śrīparvata without dying. ### Kalapa ཀ་ལ་པ *ka la pa*. Tilopa's name as a monk at the Sorrowless monastery. Tilopa's own family ordained them there in part 2, and the assembly brought Tilopa to account for killing small birds, which flew up alive. ### Kalpa Zangmo སྐལ་བ་བཟང་མོ *skal ba bzang mo*. The ḍākinī among the four human gurus, who gave Tilopa inner heat. Their name means "Fortunate Lady"; it's kept in Tibetan, since the text gives no Sanskrit for it. ### Kasori ཀ་སོ་རི *ka so ri*. One of the three the wisdom ḍākinī tells Tilopa to take into their care at the monastery of the Crown Jewel, with Nāro and Riri, at the end of 1.2. Nothing more is told of Kasori in this life. ### Kereli ཀེ་རེ་ལི *ke re li*. The charnel ground where Tilopa and Bharima practice the conduct of the Secret Mantra to its end. They go there from the market of Pañcapana, and back in the market Tilopa wins the siddhi close to Mahāmudrā. ### Khasu ཁ་སུ *kha su*. A river in the east of India whose source is on the bank of the Dukata. There, in the charnel ground of the Masha Grove, stands the Sorrowless monastery where Tilopa is ordained in part 2. ### Kimitsikili ཀི་མི་ཙི་ཀི་ལི *ki mi tsi ki li*. Where the sorcerer of 1.4.8 lives on. A sorcerer killed everyone with black magic until Tilopa made them like an old tree stump; given the name Nyiimi, they live on at Kimitsikili. ### Lawapa ལ་ཝ་པ *la wa pa*; Sanskrit Lavapa, Kambala. One of the four human gurus, who gave Tilopa luminosity, and who slept twelve years at a crossroads. Also called Kambalapāda, they were named for the woolen blanket they wore. The manuscript also writes *la ba pa*. ### Lūhipa ལུ་ཧི་པ *lu hi pa*; Sanskrit Lūipa. The mahāsiddha whose meaning the ḍākinī teaches Tilopa in the temple. A mahāsiddha of the tenth century, the first of the eighty-four in Abhayadatta's list, who ate fish guts to purify their pride. ### Mahāmāyā མ་ཧཱ་མ་ཡ *ma hā ma ya*; Sanskrit Mahāmāyā. A tantric deity and its tantra, "Great Illusion", one of the mother tantras of the highest yoga tantra. In the song of part 4 Tilopa sings, "my speech is Mahāmāyā." ### Mahāmudrā ཕྱག་རྒྱ་ཆེན་པོ *phyag rgya chen po*; Sanskrit mahāmudrā. The nature of mind and the practice that realizes it. Lawapa won its siddhi sleeping at a crossroads; the wisdom ḍākinī tells Tilopa to practice it for their mind, and Tilopa wins the siddhi close to it. ### Maheśvara དབང་ཕྱུག་ཆེན་པོ *dbang phyug chen po*; Sanskrit Maheśvara. The great god, Śiva, who blessed the charnel ground of Sala Bhehara. The eight great charnel grounds are said to have grown up where the parts of Rudra's body fell. ### the Masha Grove རྨ་ཤའི་ཚལ *rma sha'i tshal*. The charnel ground of the Sorrowless monastery. It lies at the source of the river Khasu, on the bank of the Dukata in the east of India, and there Tilopa is ordained and named Kalapa. ### Melodious Silent One དབྱངས་ལྡན་ལྐུགས་པ *dbyangs ldan lkugs pa*. The name given the singer of 1.4.5. A skilled singer challenged Tilopa to a contest of songs; Tilopa's song had no end, and the singer lives on in Nagara. ### Mighty Intellect ནུས་ལྡན་བློ་གྲོས *nus ldan blo gros*. The name given the yogin of 1.4.1. The yogin called the Unrivaled offered to lead the ruler's feast; Tilopa matched and then outdid them in debate and magic, and they live on in Oḍḍiyāna. ### the monastery of the Crown Jewel གཙུག་གི་ནོར་བུའི་དགོན་པ *gtsug gi nor bu'i dgon pa*. Where the ḍākinī sends Tilopa; its temple is Aḍona. At the end of 1.2 the wisdom ḍākinī tells Tilopa to go there and take Nāro, Riri and Kasori into their care, and Tilopa goes, singing as they leave Gandhola. ### nāga ཀླུ *klu*; Sanskrit nāga. A serpent spirit of the waters and the underworld, one of the beings the Brahmin who reads the marks thinks the newborn Tilopa may be. ### Nagara ན་ག་ར *na ga ra*; Sanskrit Nagara. Where the singer lives on. The singer of 1.4.5, given the name Melodious Silent One after Tilopa's song had no end, lives on there without dying, as the book tells it. ### Nāgārjuna ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ *klu sgrub*; Sanskrit Nāgārjuna. One of Tilopa's four human gurus, who gave Tilopa the illusory body; here the tantric teacher of that name. The great teacher who founded the Madhyamaka is also counted among the eighty-four mahāsiddhas and stands in the Guhyasamāja tradition. ### Nālandā ནཱ་ལན་དཱ *nā lan dā*; Sanskrit Nālandā. The great monastery where Tilopa tames the non-Buddhist; "glorious Nālandā", as the manuscript writes it, *dpal shri na len tra*. It was the largest of the monastic universities of India, in today's Bihar. ### Nāropa ནཱ་རོ་པ *nā ro pa*; Sanskrit Nāropa, Nāḍapāda. Tilopa's disciple, the great paṇḍita, who went through twelve hardships under Tilopa; Marpa's guru. The homage calls Nāropa *nā ro'i paṇ chen*, "the great paṇḍita Nāropa", and the wisdom ḍākinī *na ro*, "Nāro", with Riri and Kasori. ### Nyiimi ཉི་ཨི་མི *nyi i mi*. The name given the sorcerer of 1.4.8, as the Tibetan writes it. A sorcerer was killing everyone with black magic; Tilopa outdid them and made them like an old tree stump, and they live on at Kimitsikili. ### Oḍḍiyāna ཨུ་རྒྱན *u rgyan*; Sanskrit Oḍḍiyāna, Uḍḍiyāna. The land of the ḍākinīs in the west. There, in the temple of Gandhola, Tilopa asks the ḍākinīs for the three wish-fulfilling jewels in 1.2. Many scholars put it in the Swat valley of today's Pakistan. ### Pañcapana པཎ་ཙ་པ་ན *paṇ tsa pa na*. The name the ḍākinīs give the child in their song, and the name Tilopa gives themselves at the palace of the ḍākinīs; nearly the name of the market town in Bengal, *paṇ tsha pa na*, where they serve Bharima. The text doesn't explain it. ### Prajñābhadra ཤེས་རབ་བཟང་པོ *shes rab bzang po*; Sanskrit Prajñābhadra. Tilopa's name given by the ḍākinīs in Oḍḍiyāna (1.2), meaning excellent wisdom; "Tilo Prajñābhadra" for *te lo shes rab bzang po*. The homage of part 0 bows to Prajñābhadra, and Tilopa sings the name as the bird of the mind takes wing. ### Rāhu སྒྲ་གཅན *sgra gcan*; Sanskrit Rāhu. The asura who swallows the sun and moon in eclipse; "Rāhu the asura" for *lha min sgra gcan*. In the opening song the whispered lineage is the sun's light, which dreads to hear Rāhu named, as the sun dreads eclipse. ### Riri རི་རི *ri ri*. One of the three Tilopa is told to take into their care, with Nāro and Kasori. Nothing more is told of Riri in this life; the wisdom ḍākinī names them at the end of 1.2. ### Sala Bhehara ས་ལ་བྷེ་ཧ་ར *sa la bhe ha ra*. A charnel ground in the south, blessed by Maheśvara. In 1.1 the ḍākinīs send the child there to find a guru, and there the child meets Caryāpa, Lawapa and the yogin sent in Nāgārjuna's place. ### Salden གསལ་ལྡན *gsal ldan*. Tilopa's mother, a Brahmin. They live in Dzako, and when the ugly ones with the marks appear, Salden fears for the child and asks what will help. The text also writes *gsal ldan ma*. ### Saldrön གསལ་སྒྲོན *gsal sgron*. Tilopa's sister, a Brahmin. They live in Dzako with the family, and the child names them in their song to the ḍākinīs in 1.1. The text also writes *gsal ba'i sgron ma*. ### Salwa གསལ་བ *gsal ba*. Tilopa's father, a Brahmin of Dzako. The family prayed at every shrine for a child, and in 1.2 Salwa finds the crystal ladder, the bridge of jewels and the grass mice. ### Salö གསལ་འོད *gsal 'od*. Tilopa's name as a child, "Clear Light", given because the east of India filled with light when they were born. It's the name the child gives in the song of 1.1. ### siddhi དངོས་གྲུབ *dngos grub*; Sanskrit siddhi. What practice attains, common or supreme. ### Siṃhacandra སེང་གེ་ཟླ་བ *seng ge zla ba*; Sanskrit Siṃhacandra. The ruler who invites the siddhas in part 4. The ruler asks for empowerment, and Tilopa raises a maṇḍala of colored powders in the sky that each sees differently. ### simple yogin ཀུ་ས་ལི *ku sa li*; Sanskrit *kusāli*. A yogin of simple practice, as against the learned paṇḍitas. ### Sorrowless མྱ་ངན་མེད་པ *mya ngan med pa*. The monastery where Tilopa is ordained. It stands in the charnel ground of the Masha Grove, by the source of the river Khasu, where Tilopa is named Kalapa and brought to account. ### Śrīparvata དཔལ་གྱི་རི *dpal gyi ri*; Sanskrit Śrīparvata. The mountain where Jinabodhi lives on. A mountain in the south of India where Nāgārjuna spent their last days; the Cārvāka of 1.4.7 lives on there without dying. ### Sunlight Lamp ཉི་འོད་སྒྲོན་མ *nyi 'od sgron ma*. The name given the beer-seller of 1.4.4. A monkey and a cat Tilopa sent drank a beer-seller's beer on credit; Tilopa filled every jar again, and the seller lives on the island of Sosa without dying. ### Tilopa ཏེ་ལོ་པ *te lo pa*; Sanskrit Tilopa, Tillipa. The mahāsiddha whose life this is, 988–1069 by the usual reckoning; the first of the Kagyü lineage, Nāropa's guru. The text also writes *ti lo pa*, *te lo*, *te los*, *ti lo pa'i*; "Tilo" where the Tibetan has *te lo* and the line wants it. ### Til Sungzhab ཏིལ་བསྲུངས་ཞབས *til bsrungs zhabs*. "The Sesame Keeper", the Tibetan the text gives for the name Tilopa, which they won pounding sesame in the market of Pañcapana. Til is Tibetan for sesame. ### the Unrivaled འགྲན་ཟླ་མེད་པ *'gran zla med pa*. The yogin of 1.4.1, whose name means "without rival". They offered to lead the ruler's feast, but Tilopa outdid them; given the name Mighty Intellect, they live on in Oḍḍiyāna. ### Vajrabhairava རྡོ་རྗེ་འཇིགས་བྱེད *rdo rje 'jigs byed*; Sanskrit Vajrabhairava. A wrathful tantric deity, "Vajra Terror", a form of Yamāntaka with a buffalo's face and many arms and legs; its tantra belongs to the father tantras. Tilopa's song in part 4 names it as their lesser limbs. ### Vajravārāhī རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕག་མོ *rdo rje phag mo*; Sanskrit Vajravārāhī. Cakrasaṃvara's partner in union, named as the child's true mother. "Vajra Sow", a wisdom ḍākinī shown red with a sow's head beside their own, the root of all the ḍākinīs' emanations. ### yakṣa གནོད་སྦྱིན *gnod sbyin*; Sanskrit yakṣa. A spirit of wealth and of wild places, powerful and quick to harm, one of the beings the Brahmin who reads the marks thinks the newborn Tilopa may be. ### Zahor ཟ་ཧོར *za hor*; Sanskrit Sahor. The land in the east of India where Tilopa is born, in the city of Dzako, and whose beings Tilopa sets on the path at the end.