Amdo    Annapurna    Barkhor    Bö    Bodhi Tree    Bodh Gaya    Brahmaputra    Changtse-Shar    China    Dharamsala    Drepung Gomang    Düdtsi-til    Ganchen Kyishong    Geden Cheoeling    Himachala    Himalaya    India    Isipatana    Jokhang    Kailasa    Kailash    Kalimpong    Kapilavastu    Kelas    Kham    Kusinara    Kyi Chu    Ladakh    Lhasa    McLeod Ganj    Magadha    Manasa    Monasteries    Mongolia    Namgyal Monastery    Namgyalma Stupa    Nechung    Nepal    Norbulingka    Pepung    Potala    Russia    Sakya Kingdom    Sakya Monastery    Samye    Sarnath    Sera Monastery    Sikkim    Sri Lanka    Sungchorawa    Surmang    Takster    Thekchen Choeling    Tibet    Tsang Po    Tse School    Tso Pema    Tsulakhang    United States    Uruvela    U-tsang    Wutaishan Mountain    Yumbu Lagar   
Amdo Tibet (Tib.) Region in the north-east of Tibet.
His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama was born here, at Takster.
Many of the Tibetan refugees in Dharamsala, India, are from Amdo.
Barkhor Tibet (Tib.) Precincts of the temple of the Jokhang. Pilgrims walk round clockwise, reciting prayers. [ ref ]
Annapurna Nepal (Skt.) "food-filled" Mountain in Nepal. The name "Annapurna" is another name for Parvati, as Ambi Annapurna the mountain goddess.
Bö Tibet (Tib.) Tibet
Bodhi Tree   "awakening tree" Bodhi tree.
The fig tree in Bodh Gaya under which Gautama the Buddha achieved enlightenment.
"The fig tree is sacred in India - it is believed that women who pray in its shade will have children. Also gods and spirits are said to live in it. The banyan tree is also of the fig species." [ ref ]
Bodh Gaya "awakening ... "   The place where Gautama the Buddha achieved enlightenment, under the Bo Tree.
Located in Bihar in Northern India.
Brahmaputra Tibet (Skt.) "son of Brahma" The great river which springs from Mount Kailash, where Shiva resides. Flows east through Tibet past Lhasa, then turns south and finally joins the Ganges in Bengal and Bangladesh to form the earth's largest delta. Thus the son of Brahma and the sister of Parvati are united. [ ref ]
Changtse-Shar Tibet (Tib.) "The residence of the Dalai Lama's family before the Chinese invasion, located between the centre of Lhasa and the Potala." [ ref ]
China Eng.   An old country with a long history.
The Chinese invasion of Tibet, Mongolia, and East Turkestan, and the following "Cultural Revolution" wrought incredible havoc and suffering on the peoples of those countries, as well as of China itself.
Dharamsala Hindi? (Hindi)
pilgrim's rest 		Town in Northwest India, home of the exiled Dalai Lama, leader of Tibet, many refugees from Tibet, and the Tibetan Government-in-exile.
Drepung Gomang (aka Gomang) Tibet, India (Tib.)
"rice heap" 		Monastery of Tibet, now in South India.
Düdtsi-til Tibet (Tib.)
"hill of amrita" 		A smaller monastery of Surmang, in Kham. Founded by Künga-gyaltzen.
One of the homes of the Trungpa Tulku.
Ganchen Kyishong India (Tib.) The Central Tibetan Administration complex, in Dharamsala, North India.
Geden Cheoeling Tibet (Tib.) in North India - McLeod Ganj
Himachala Tibet, India   The Himalayan Mountains
Himalaya Tibet, India "abode of snow" Contains the sources of all the great rivers of India: Indus, Yamuna, Ganges, Brahmaputra (Tsang Po), and the five rivers of the Punjab.
Personified as the mighty Mountain God, father of the great goddess Parvati. [ ref ]
India   Bharat, Hindustan Home of Hinduism and birthplace of Buddhism. Gave, and still gives, refuge to the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people when they were invaded by the chinese government.
Isipatana India   The deer-park at Sarnath where the Gautama Buddha preached his first sermon.
Jokhang Tibet (Tib.) The Tsulakhang, the most important temple in Lhasa.
Kailasa Tibet "silver mountain" Mount Kailash
Kailash Tibet "silver mountain" Where Shiva has his palace, with Parvati. The Tsang Po (Bhramaputra) river springs from this mountain.
Also called Kailasa, Kelas.
Kalimpong India, Tibet   Once part of Tibet, now in Sikkim in India. Was a trade center and center of Buddhist studies. The Amdo monk Gendun Choephel lived there at that time.
Kapilavastu India   The capital of King Suddhodana of Sakya, on the River Rohini, c. 560 BCE, where Gautama Buddha lived, and where he returned for a while after his Enlightenment.
Kelas Tibet "silver mountain" Mount Kailash
Kham Tibet (Tib.) Province in eastern Tibet. Known for its warriors, khampas.
Kusinara India   The place where Gautama the Buddha attained his paranirvana.
Kyi Chu Tibet (Tib.)
"... water" 		The river flowing by Lhasa.
Ladakh Tibet, India (Tib.?) Once part of Tibet, now within borders of India.
Lhasa Tibet (Tib.) Capital of Tibet, located in U-tsang province. Location of the Jokhang temple, and home of the Dalai Lama before the invasion of the People's Republic of China.
McLeod Ganj Brit.   Upper Dharamsala, in Northwest India. Home of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and many Tibetan monasteries, people, and monks.
Magadha India (Skt.) The state now called Bihar. Where Gautama the Buddha reached enlightenment under the Bodhi-tree and where he preached. Pali was spoken there at that time.
Manasa Tibet (Skt.)
"spiritual" 		A lake on Mount Kailash.
Monasteries     Many of the monasteries of Tibet now have counterparts in, or have relocated to, India:
Drepung Gomang
Geden Cheoeling
Namgyal
Nechung
Pepung
Samye - Tibet
Sera - South India
Surmang - Tibet
Mongolia Mongolia   A large country between China, Tibet, and Russia. Portions of it are now part of other countries. The northern part (Buryatia) is a part of Russia today. Inner Mongolia and the northern part of current-day "Xinjiang" have been colonized and absorbed by China in this century, suffering the same tragedies as Tibet and East Turkestan (or, the Uiger country). So sadly, the word "Mongolia" these days only refers to the area named "Mongolia" on the world political map.
Mongolia had a long and important relationship with Tibet spirtually and politically.
See Mongol-Tibet Network and InterMongol Network for more information.
Namgyal Monastery Tibet, India (Tib.) Private monastery of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Now in North India, at Mcleod Ganj.
Has an audio/visual lab where teachings of His Holiness and others are preserved and are being digitized.
Namgyalma Stupa India (Tib.) Stupa in the center of McLeod Ganj, India.
Namgyal-tse Tibet (Tib.) A larger monastery of Surmang, in Kham. One of the homes of the Trungpa Tulku.
Nechung Monastery Tib   Monastery where the kuten of Dorje Drakden, the Nechung Oracle, lives, in Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamsala, North india.
Nepal ? ? A kingdom, north of india in the Himalayas.
Norbulingka Tibet (Tib.)
"Jewel Park" 		The Dalai Lama's summer palace in Lhasa, Tibet. Built in the eighteenth century by the seventh Dalai Lama.
"consisted of a series of small palaces and temples with marvellous gardens surrounded by a huge wall. At the first sign of spring, His Holiness [the Fourteenth Dalai Lama] used to go there with a long procession made up of dignatires from Lhasa. [ ref ]
A historical spot in the March 10th uprising of Tibetans against the Chinese invasion of Tibet.
It now has a counterpart in South India.
Pepung Tibet (Tib.) Buddhist monastery in the province of Derge in Kham.
Potala Tibet (Tib.) The Dalai Lama's winter palace in Lhasa, Tibet. Was built up by Songtsen Gampo in the seventh century, and enlarged by the Fifth Dalai Lama in the seventeenth.
"The central part of the edifice was 13 floors high, with large ceremonial rooms, chapels, cells for meditation, and the mausoleums where the Dalai Lamas were embalmed. The west wing housed a community of monks. and in the east wing were the administrative offices, with meeting rooms and a school for the monks to be employed by the government." [ ref ]
"[It also] contained armouries, ammunition stores, and cellars where the government's archives were kept: libraries with thousands of volumes testifying to the life and development of Tibetan culture. These libraries held ancient parchments, books written on the back of palm trees and imported from India several centuries before, as well as volumes of sacred texts written in a special ink made from a blend of gold or silver, and iron or copper powder, or sometimes from the powder of ground stones or shells." [ ref ]
"His Holiness' residence was at the top of the stairs, 400 feet above the town." [ ref ]
Now empty, and gutted by the Chinese invasion of Tibet.
Russia     One of the players in the "Great Game" of the big powers looking for influence in inner Asia, resulting only in tragedy for the peoples of Tibet, Mongolia, Turkestan, China, smaller countries within those, now swallowed up, and bordering peoples.
Sakya Kingdom India (Skt., Tib.) Kingdom in which Gautama Buddha was born, and of which he was prince. In what is now the state of Bihar in India, and the Kingdom of Nepal.
("Sakya", also, a school of Tibetan Buddhism.)
Sakya Monastery India (Skt., Tib.) A monastery in western Tibet, from which originated the Sakyapa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
Samye Monastery Tibet, India (Tib.) The first Buddhist monastery, 779 CE. in Tibet. Padmasambhava helped to build it.
Sarnath India   In Bihar, India. The location of the deer-park Isipatana where the Gautama Buddha preached his first sermon.
Sera Monastery Tibet, India   Early monastery, destroyed in Tibet (?), active in South India.
Shechen Monastery Tibet   Monastery of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Mostly destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and now being rebuilt.
Sikkim Tibet, India   Was part of Tibet. After the British invasion of Tibet in 1888, it was illegally brought within the boundaries of India. There are settlements of Tibetan refugees there.
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka   Also, "Ceylon". A center of Theravada Buddhism.
Sungchorawa Tibet   Place used for instruction in the Barkhor [ ref ]
Surmang Tibet (Tib.)
"many-cornered" 		The monasteries of the Trungpa Tulku, Karma-ka-gyu school. Some of them are Düdtsi-til and ...
The original Surmang monastery was founded by Trung-mase Rinpoche at the end of the 14th century. It was built of reeds and many-cornered. [ref]
Takster Tibet (Tib.) A farming village in Amdo, where His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama was born.
Thekchen Choeling India (Tib.)
"Island of the Mahayana Teaching" 		Area on ridgepoint in McLeod Ganj including the Tsulakhang, the Dalai Lama's residence and compound, Namgyal monastery, and the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics (IBD).
Tibet Tibet (??) Tibetan name for Tibet is Bö The highest country in the world, in Asia, surrounded by China, Nepal, India, East Turkestan, and Mongolia.
The home of Buddhism after it disppeared from its birthplace, India. Guardian diety is Padmasambhava.
Presently occupied and colonized by the People's Republic of China. [http://www.tibet.com/]
Tsang Po Tibet (Tib.) A great river which springs from Mount Kailash, flows east through Tibet (now occupied by the Chinese) past Lhasa, then turns south and finally joins the Ganges in Bengal and Bangladesh to form the earth's largest delta. Known in India as Bhramaputra, "Son of Brahma". Thus the son of Brahama and the sister of Parvati (the mountains) are united. [ ref ]
Tse School Tibet (Tib.) "School for training monks who formed cadres in the government of Tibet. Graduates from this school who wanted to work in the civil service then underwent higher traiing at the religious school. Lay civil servants were mainly trained at the Tse School." Was located at the Summit (the Potala). Founded by the Seventh Dalai Lama. [ ref ]
Tso Pema Tibet (Tib.)
"Lotus Lake" 		Lake near Rewalsar, about ninety miles from Dharamsala, India. Sacred to Buddhists, Sikhs and Hindus. For Buddhists it is associated with Padmasambhava, and is a place of pilgrimage and monasteries.
"The legend tells how the king of Mandi, the nearby city, was displeased by the sight of his beloved daughter paying attention to the wise man's teachings, and so gave orders for him to be taken and burned alive. The moment the pyre was lit, instead of flames it was a lake that sprang out, and there in the middle sat the Prevous Master, smiling, on a lotus flower." [ ref ]
Tsulakhang Tibet, India (Tib.) Main Temple in McLeod Ganj at Thekchen Choeling
In Lhasa, Tibet, it is the most important temple. This temple was built to house the gifts of images of Sakyamuni Buddha, brought by the Nepalese princess Brikuti who was one of the queens of King Songtsen Gampo who ruled Tibet between 630 to 649 CE.
It is the temple most venerated by Tibetan Buddhists. Pilgrims walk round the Barkhor, reciting prayers. [ ref ]
Contains three huge statues of Sakyamuni Buddha, Padmasambhava, and Avalokiteshvara. Parts of the Sakyamuni statue were smuggled out of Tibet.
The area of the temple and His Holiness' residence in McLeod Ganj, India, is also known as the TsulaKhang.
Also known as Jokhang, Ramoche Tsulakhang. Also Tsuklakhang, Tsuklag Khang.
United States     A country in the middle of the North American continent. Likes to think of itself as champion of freedom, but is noticeably absent from action when such championing is not in its own best interests: viz. its sudden dropping of support of Tibet, refusal to participate in world environmental crisis planning, ignoring of other countries whose issues are not affecting it economically and politically, etc. Culturally, closely resembles the Land of the Hungry Ghosts, of Buddhism.
Uruvela     A town in Bihar, near which the Buddha received enlightenment.
U-tsang Tibet (Tib.) Western province of Tibet, where Lhasa is located.
Wutaishan Chin. (Ch.)
five-peaked(?) mountain 		In Shansi province, China. The holiest place in China to Tibetan Buddhists. Sacred to buddhism for over 1400 years.
"Five-peaked mountain" to Tibetans.
Sacred to Manjushri, Buddha of wisdom, whose incarnation is the Manchu Emperor. The Dalai Lama is the incarnation of Chenresig (Avalokiteshvara), the Buddha of compassion.
Yumbu Lagar Tibet (Tib.) First fort in Tibet, at Yumbu. Constructed by Nyatri Tsampo