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Dictionary of Key Spiritual Terms

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Wylie | Tibetan

See also Satan

1. འདྲེ།

   Biblical: 1) demons: ཁོང་​ནང་​འདྲེ་​ཞུགས་​སོ། he has an evil spirit (Mk. 3:30), མཆོད་​པ་​ནི་​འདྲེ་​ལ་​འབུལ་​ལོ། sacrifices are given to demons (1 Cor. 10:20), འདྲེའི་​ཆོས་​ལ་​རྟེན། to follow the teaching of demons (1 Tim. 4:1-2); 2) ghosts: འདྲེ་​ལ་​ཤ་​དང་​རུས་​པ་​མེད། a ghost does not have flesh and bones (Lk. 24:39), འདྲེའོ་​ཟེར་​ཞིང་​འཇིགས་​པས་​འབོད་​བསྒྲགས་​སོ། "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear (Mt. 14:26).

   Buddhist: འདྲེ། the most general and inclusive term for evil spirit. Evil spirits are perceived on two levels in Bsm. Folk Bsts. accord them substantial existence and may even claim to have seen them; the more educated regard them as manifestations of impure mental consciousnesses (e.g. greed, lust, etc.). While different classes of evil beings are represented in the words given below, there is great overlap between each type (KTM). Though feared by the laity, the monks take a more sanguine view of the supernatural, as in the story about a geshe moved to tears by the sufferings of all sentient beings. When the local demons and spirits came to harm him, they found they could not, because of his attitude of compassion for all beings (JPG 395). 1) The འདྲེ། are one class of spirits which are quite powerful and invoke much fear (KTM): གུ་​རུ་​རིན་​པོ་​ཆེས་​ལྷ་​འདྲེ་​དམ་​ལ་​བཏགས་​ས། the place where Guru Rinpoche bound an evil spirit (DPD), འདྲེ་​དང་​གྲོགས་​པོ་​བྱེད་​ན། if you want to be friends with a spirit (KPU 33); 2) a bad person [this sense used only by educated modern people] (AMD).

   Cognates: འདྲེ་​ཤིག bedbug (DPD).

2. འགོང་​པོ།

   Biblical: a general term for demons [Gr. daimon] or evil spirits [prob. more common in Ladakh]: 1) demon འགོང་​ཞུགས་​ཤིན་​ཏུ་​དྲག་​པོ་​གཉིས། two very violent demon-possessed men (Mt. 8:28), ཁྱེད་​ཀྱི་​མཚན་​གྱི་​ངང་​ནས་​འགོང་​པོ་​མ་​བསྐྲད་​དམ། in your name did we not drive out demons? (Mt. 7:22), འགོང་​པོའི་​གཙོ་​བོ། the prince of demons (Mt. 9:34), འགོང་​པོ་​སྐྲོད་​པའི་​དབང་​། authority to drive out demons (Mk. 3:14), ཁྱེད་​འགོང་​ཞུགས་​ཡིན་​པ་​ད་​ཤེས་​སོ། we know you are demon-possessed (Jn. 8:52); 2) evil spirit: འགོང་​པོས་​མི་​དེ་​དཀྲུགས། the evil spirit shook the man violently (Mk. 1:26), འགོང་​པོ་​རྣམས་​ཀྱིས་​ཁོང་​མཇལ་​བ་​ཙམ། whenever the evil spirits saw him (Mk. 3:11).

   Buddhist: a general term for a class of demons believed to be responsible for producing illness. A sorcerer is usually called in to cast lots to determine if such a demon is present, then a ceremony of exorcism is performed to drive it out (EBN).

   Cognates: འགོང་​བ། to bewitch or enchant.

3. བདུད།

   demon or devil (see also Satan)

   Biblical: བདུད་​ཀྱང་​ཡིད་​ཆེས། the demons also believe (Jas. 2:19), བདུད་​ཀྱི་​སྟོབས་​ཐམས་​ཅད་​ལས་​རྒྱལ་​བའི་​དབང་​། authority to overcome all the power of the enemy (Lk. 10:19), འོན་​ཀྱང་​ཁྱེད་​ལས་​གཅིག་​ནི་​བདུད་​ཡིན། yet one of you is a devil (Jn. 6:70), བདུད་​རྣམས་​ཀྱི་​རྒྱལ་​པོ། the prince of demons (Mt. 9:34 SV).

   Buddhist: 1) In orthodox Bsm. the བདུད། are impersonal obstacles to Bst. practice, e.g. the བདུད་​བཞི། are ཕུང་​པོའི་​བདུད། aggregates, ཉོན་​མོངས་​པའི་​བདུད། ignorance འཆི་​བདག་​གི་​བདུད། death ལྷའི་​བུའི་​བདུད་​རྣམས། the evil of a son of a god [i.e. lust] (CNG 37). 2) these forces can be personified as the Bst. devil བདུད་​དགའ་​རབས་​དབང་​ཕྱུག the Lord of Desire, who is often depicted as the chief tempter of the Buddha and his saints བདུད་​དགའ་​རབས་​དབང་​ཕྱུག་​ཕྲག་​དོག་​སྐྱེས་​ནས། the evil spirit Sunandesvara had grown jealous (BLI 332 no. 83); 3) a general category of formless, invisible, omnipresent, and powerful evil beings. The purpose of the བདུད། is to keep people from Bsm. through various types of mischief (KTM). བདུད་​སྡིག་​ཏོ་​ཅན་​རྣམས། demonic tempters (SGN 11), བདུད་​དེས་​སངས་​རྒྱས་​ལ་​གནོད་​པ་​སྐྱེལ་​ཐབས་​བྱས་​ཀྱང་​། though the devil tried to harm the Buddha (SGN 18), བདུད་​ཀྱིས་​དགེ་​སློང་​ཞིག་​ལ་​ཉམས་​སད་​བཏང་​། the devil tempted a monk (DPD), ལྷ་​བདུད་​དུ་​མི་​དབབ། do not turn a god into a demon (UCO 150).

   Proverbs: བུད་​མེད་​ཡིན་​ན་​བདུད་​ཀྱི་​ཡན་​ལག་​རེད། woman is a manifestation [lit. branch] of the devil (KPU 33).

4. གདོན།

   Biblical: an unclean or evil spirit: unclean spirit གདོན་​མི་​གཙང་​བ། an unclean spirit (Mt. 12:43), གདོན་​མི་​གཙང་​བ་​མིའི་​ནང་​ནས་​ཐོན་​པའི་​ཚེ། when an evil spirit comes out of a man (Mt. 12:43).

   Buddhist: 1) impersonal forces obstructing the practice of Bsm. གདོན་​གསུམ། the three evil forces སྟེང་​གདོན་​གཟའ་​དང་​རྒྱུ་​སྐར། the planet of the upper world, བར་​གདོན་​བཙན་​དང་​རྒྱལ་​པོ། the mountain gods of the intermediate world, འོག་​གདོན་​ཀླུ་​དང་​ད་​བདག the nagas and earth lords of the subterranean world (TRI 138); 2) གདོན། is a class of demon which causes disease (KTM).

   Cognates: གདོན་​འདྲེ། = འགོང་​འདྲེ། evil spirit.

5. བགེགས།

   Biblical: a demon: བགེགས་​ཀྱིས་​ཟིན་​པའི་​མི་​གཉིས། two demon possessed men (Mt. 8:28 SV), ཁྱེད་​ཀྱི་​མཚན་​ནས་​བརྗོད་​དེ་​བགེགས་​བསྐྲད་​པ་​མ་​ཡིན། in your name did we not drive out demons? (Mt. 7:22 SV), བགེགས་​རྣམས་​སྐྲོད་​པའི་​དབང་​། authority to drive out demons (Mk. 3:14 SV), བགེགས་​རྣམས་​ཀྱི་​སྡོད་​གནས། a haunt for demons (Rev. 18:2).

   Buddhist: 1) obstacles, obstructions, impersonal forces obstructing the practice of Bsm. རང་​སྣང་​དབང་​དུ་​འདུས་​ན་​དགྲ་​བགེགས་​ཐུལ། as your perceptions come under control, enemies and obstructing influences are subjugated (HTE 186); 2) the བགེགས། [lit. hindrance, obstacle] is a class of demons believed to create obstacles and difficulties for man (KTM).

6. མི་​མ་​ཡིན།

   [lit. non human being]

   Biblical: མི་​མ་​ཡིན་​གྱི་​བསྟན་​པ་​རྣམས། things taught by demons (1 Tim. 4:1 SV); 2) ghosts: མི་​མ་​ཡིན་​ཞིག་​ལ་​ཤ་​དང་​རུས་​པ་​མེད། a ghost does not have flesh and bones (Lk. 24:39 SV).

7. ངན་​པ།

   Biblical: evil one: འདི་​ལས་​ལྷག་​པ་​ཇི་​ཡོད་​ངན་​པ་​ནས་​འབྱུང་​ངོ་​། anything beyond this comes from the evil one (Mt. 5:37).

8. གཤེད་​མ།

   Biblical: a killer demon: ལ་​ལས་​མ་​རངས་​པའི་​ཚིག་​སྨྲས་​ནས་​གཤེད་​མས་​བསད་​པ་​ལྟར། as the destroying angel killed some of them after they complained (1 Cor. 10:10)

   Buddhist: 1) A གཤེད་​མ། is a class of killer demon believed to take the life of an individual by seizing its life force སྲོག when it is in a deteriorated condition. The exorcism of a གཤེད་​མ། from the home of the deceased is known as ཟ་​འདྲེ་​ཁ་​སྒྱུར།, (turning away the mouth of the eating demon). Though a གཤེད་​མ། is what causes the death of an individual, its exorcism is known as the exorcism of a འདྲེ། (KTM), 2) a derogatory name for oppressive rulers, meaning "one who is completely selfish and without reason" (AMD).

Related Terms: a small sample of terms for evil spirits includes: 1) ལྷ་​འདྲེ་​གདུག་​པ་​ཅན། an evil spirit (DBG 239); 2) མ་​མོ། a class of wrathful protector goddesses (TRI 201); 3) གླུ་​གཉན། malignant or harmful nagas (TRI 9); 4) མཁའ་​འགྲོ། a dakini, witch, or goddess; 5) བཙན། a type of spirit living in mountains which may become familiar spirits for an oracle or shaman (TRI 210); 6) སྲི། an evil spirit born of a resurrected corpse (TRI 288); 7) ཕྲ་​མེན་​མ། vampire witches (BLI 396); 8) འབྱུང་​མོ། a demoness འབྱུང་​མོ་​བཅུ་​གཉིས་​ཀྱི་​བཟླས་​པ་​བྱས་​པས་​ཞག་​དང་​པོ་​ལ་​ས་​གཡོས། twelve demonesses shook the earth (BLI 396 no. 78); 9) སྲིན་​པོ། a class of large cannibal demons, one of whom (a female སྲིན་​མོ།) is supposed to be the mother of the Tibetan race (see Adam); 10) གཉན། or གཉན་​ཁྲ། a class of demigods; 11) གནོད་​སྦྱིན། a class of harmful spirits (TRI 155), believed to inhabit roads and mountain passes; they must be propitiated by travelers (EBN); 12) རོ་​ལང་​། the spirit of a dead person returned to earth = a ghost; also a spirit which occupies a dead body (TRI 263); རོ་​ལངས་​རྒྱག་​པ། to restore རོ་​ལངས་​རྒྱག་​པའི་​རྒྱལ་​རབས། the restored monarchy (SBC-1 61); 13) གྲུལ་​བུམ། a vampire-like demigod (TRI 40); 14) ཤ་​ཟ། a type of hungry ghost (preta) (TRI 272); 15) ཤ་​ཁོན། a vengeful spirit (TRI 272); 16) སྲུང་​མོ། one of the fierce protector demonesses of Tibet.