Lojong (Tib. བློ་སྦྱོང་, Wyl. blo sbyong) — literally ‘training the mind’, or ‘transforming the mind’. These teachings, which emphasize the practice of bodhichitta and especially relative bodhichitta and the ‘exchanging oneself for others’, were introduced to Tibet by Lord Atisha in the eleventh century. Unlike the lamrim teachings, which were also introduced by Atisha at the same time, and which can be practised by anyone, the lojong teachings are intended primarily for disciples of the highest capacity and were not taught widely until the time of Geshe Chekawa.vajrayana

Mahayana (Skt. mahāyāna; Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ tekpa chenpo; Wyl. theg pa chen po) — the great or universal vehicle. The essence of the mahayana is the aspiration to attain buddhahood as the only means to help all beings find liberation from suffering. This aspiration is called bodhichitta, the ‘heart of enlightened mind’, and is realized on both an absolute and relative level.

Mandala (Skt. maṇḍala; Tib. དཀྱིལ་འཁོར་, kyilkhor; Wyl. dkyil ‘khor) — mandala can be translated literally as ‘center and circumference‘. A mandala is generally depicted as a circle that revolves around a centre. On the simplest level, a mandala can be understood to be us, the student or practitioner, and the phenomenal world around us. The word ‘mandala’ also describes an integrated structure that is organized around a central unifying principle.

Nirvana (Skt. nirvāṇa; Tib. མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་, nya ngen lé dé pa, Wyl. mya ngan las ‘das pa) – literally ‘extinguished’ in Sanskrit and ‘beyond suffering’ in Tibetan; enlightenment itself. It is the state of peace that results from cessation, the total pacification of all suffering and its causes.

Samsara (Skt. saṃsāra; Tib. འཁོར་བ་, khorwa, Wyl. ‘khor ba) is the cycle of conditioned existence, birth and death, which is characterized by suffering and in which one is continually reborn until attaining nirvana.