དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ། | Glossary of Terms

In this text, Tathāgata (capitalized) refers to the Buddha Śākyamuni. One possible translation is “realized one.”

One of the titles of a buddha. Gata, though literally meaning “gone,” is a past passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. As the Buddha’s state is indescribable, he is said to have “become thus.”

A title of for a buddha. Gata, although literally meaning “gone,” is a past-passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. As buddhahood is indescribable it means “one who is thus.”

Also rendered here as “thus-gone.”

An epithet of the Buddha, meaning “one who has gone, reached, or had realized in that way.”

Epithet of a buddha, meaning “one who has arrived at, or understood, how things truly are.”

One of the Buddha’s titles. “Gata,” though literally meaning “gone,” is a past passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. As buddhahood is indescribable it means “one who is thus.”

An epithet for a buddha. The Sanskrit compound may be ambiguously parsed to mean either “thus-gone one” (tathā + gata) or “thus-come one” (tathā + āgata); this concurs with the Tibetan translation with the verb gshegs, which can mean either “to come” or “to go.” The Sanskrit root √gam (“to go”) also often denotes the meaning “to understand,” while tathā refers to thusness, suchness, or the way things really are, so the tathāgata can be rendered as the one who understands things as they really are or who has gone to such a state.

Lit. “Thus-gone” or “Thus-come,” (one who proceeds always in consciousness of the ultimate reality, or thatness of all things). A name of the Buddha.

A frequently used synonym for a buddha, literally meaning “one who has thus gone.”

Also rendered here as “thus-gone.”

“Thus-Gone One,” an epithet of a buddha. A buddha is one who has “gone” to thusness, suchness, or ultimate reality.

“Thus-gone one,” an epithet of a buddha. A buddha is one who has “gone” to thusness, suchness, or ultimate reality.

The term tathāgata is formed by the indeclinable tathā (“thus,” “in that manner”) and gata, a participle from the root gam (“to go,” but also, like all Sanskrit roots indicating going or reaching, “to understand”). According to the sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa commentary on the Mahāvyutpatti, the Tathāgata is one who has “gone in the same way that all the past buddhas have gone” (sngon gyi sangs rgyas rnams ji ltar gshegs zhing phyin pa) and also “someone who has understood the nature, i.e., the tathatā, of all the dharmas, as it is” (chos thams cad gyi rang bzhin de bzhin nyid ji lta ba mkhyen).

The Nibandhana commentary on Distinctly Ascertaining the Meanings derives tathāgata from the root gad (“to speak,” “to say”) and interprets it as meaning that “he teaches the Dharma just as it is, without distortion” (tathaivāviparīta­dharmaṁ gadatīti, Samtani 1971, p. 242).

Another explanation of the term tathāgata can be found in The Diamond Cutter Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra: “Tathāgata, Subhūti, is explained as not gone anywhere, not arrived from anywhere; in this sense he is called the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfect, complete Buddha.” (tathāgata iti subhūte ucyate na kvacidgato na kutaścidāgataḥ | tenocyate tathāgato 'rhan samyak­saṃbuddha iti, Vaidya 1961, p. 88).

A relic of the Sinitic vocabulary in Tibetan texts (see McKeown 2010, 23). yang dag par gshegs pa renders Chinese ru lai 如來, which in turn renders Sanskrit tathā + āgata (“thus come”). This was apparently given preference by the Chinese translators of canonical texts over ruqu 如去, Sanskrit tathā + gata (“thus gone”). According to R. A. Stein, Tibetan translators, while aware that ru lai 如來 was a translation of the Sanskrit compound tathāgata, chose to translate ru lai as yang dag par gshegs pa “perfectly (or purely) come (or gone).” By thus deviating from the original sense of the epithet they indirectly marked the Tibetan translation as potentially Chinese in origin (McKeown 2010, 23).

“One gone into thatness” or “one come from thatness,” “thatness” being the nature of dharmadhātu, the empty essence imbued with wisdom and compassion; the term may refer to any tathāgata (either human or the celestial sambhogakāya), or to Buddha Śākyamuni, in which case it is capitalized (the Tathāgata).

A buddha manifesting through the twelve great deeds; the principal deity of a buddha family; one of the group of eight buddhas, starting with Ratnaśikhin; the title used for some deities that emanate from the level of the supreme awakening, such as the eight uṣṇīṣa kings. The term is rendered elsewhere in this translation as “thus-gone.”

A frequently used epithet for Buddha Śākyamuni and other buddhas, literally meaning one who has “arrived at” (āgata), or “gone to” (gata), the ultimate state, or “thusness” (tathatā).

One of the Buddha’s titles. “Gata,” although literally meaning “gone,” is a past-passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. Because the Buddha’s state is inconceivable, he is called “the one who is thus.”

One of the Buddha’s titles. “Gata,” although literally meaning “gone,” is a past-passive participle used to describe a state or condition of existence. Because the Buddha’s state is inconceivable, he is called “the one who is thus.”

One who has attained ultimate awakening through the path of suchness that transcends the extremes of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. An epithet of the Buddha.

One of the standard epithets of the Buddha Śākyamuni. The expression is interpreted in different ways, but in general it means one who has thus gone (Skt. tathā + gata) or one who has thus come (Skt. tathā + āgata). The etymology of this term remains unclear and has, over the centuries, been variously interpreted as one who understands (gata) the way things are (tathā), one who has come (gata) into the world like other buddhas of the past, or one who (gata) has gone to nirvāṇa like other buddhas of the past.

A frequently used epithet for the Buddha Śākyamuni and other buddhas, literally meaning one who has arrived at, or gone to, the ultimate state.

See “tathāgata.”

Also rendered here as “tathāgata.”

“Thus-Gone One,” an epithet of a buddha. A buddha is one who has “gone” to thusness, suchness, or nirvāṇa.

See “tathāgata.”

A common epithet of the buddhas, translated into Tibetan as “the one gone thus,” from which one gets the translation “thus-gone one.” The term has a sense of literal movement, of having “gone” or “come” somewhere, but it also carries the sense of having “realized” something, in both senses of having understood it and made it real. In some traditional explanations of the term, the adverb tathā (“thus” or “in that way”) is therefore connected to tathatā (“the way things are”).