Esoteric Buddhism 101

Merit transfer is also known as Spiritual Consolation when you offer it for a soul in the spiritual realm. Six Transcendent powers (abhijna) - supernatural abilities developed through Buddhist practice, can be thought of as the fruits of enlightenment. Obon - Japanese holiday where ancestors return from the spiritual realm for a few days in July or August.Ullambana - Buddhist service related to the above mentioned holiday. Maudgalyayana - buddhist monk in a story about the origination of the Merit

Bodhicitta - bodhi widsom, the aspiration to attain enlightenment. Ananda - one of Shakyamuni’s great disciples, known for intelligence and his great memory.

Samsara - the endless cycle of death and rebirth. 10 realms or existence - hell, hungry spirits, animals, fighting beings (ashuras), humans, celestial beings (these are the 6 lower realms into which you can transmigrate/reincarnate)pratyeka buddhas, shravakas, bodhisattvas, buddhas/tathagata (these are the 4 higher realms, no longer subject to reincarnation)sentient beings - any being that has life.

For our purposes, the 3 school of Buddhism will be Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana.Shrvakas - Hearers.Pratyeka Buddha - solitary awakened ones. Bodhisattva - others-focused buddha being that does not enter final nirvana until helping all sentient beings out of suffering. Japanese Esoteric Buddhist school - Shingon, Tendai, Shinnyoen.Abhiseka - Being initiated into esoteric rights, passing on esoteric teachings/enlightenment from master to disciple.

Karma is also known as the law of cause and effect - plant a good seed, get a good effect. Plant a bad seed, get a bad effect. You plant seeds with your thoughts, speech and actions (mind, mouth, body).You inherit karma from your ancestors/past lives and also create it yourself in this life!

Nirvana - a state of being in which desires/cravings no longer exist, also referred to as enlightenment. Three Poisons - greed, anger, spiritual ignorance8 layers of consciousness - sight, smell, touch, hearing, taste, conscious mind, karma consciousness/manas consciousness, buddha nature.Our senses gather information from the world around us, the physical or phenomenal world, and transmit that information to our conscious mind and karmic consciousness.Thoughts and feeling from other people, both