Table of Contents
Eight classes of gods and demons (Skt. Aṣṭagatyaḥ or Aṣṭauparṣadaḥ; Tib. ལྷ་འདྲེ་སྡེ་བརྒྱད་, lha dré dé gyé, Wyl. lha 'dre sde brgyad) — a classification of worldly spirits. There are many different classifications; one of them is:
- dü (Skt. māra; Tib. བདུད་, Wyl. bdud)—see four maras
- mamo (Skt. mātṛkā; Tib. མ་མོ་, Wyl. ma mo)
- ging (Skt. kiṃkaras; Tib. གིང་, Wyl. ging)
- rahula (Skt. rāhula)
- tsen (Tib. བཙན་, Wyl. btsan)
- yaksha (Skt. yakṣa; Tib. གནོད་སྦྱིན་, Wyl. gnod sbyin)
On an inner level, they correspond to the eight consciousnesses.
Alternative Classifications
Alternative classifications include gods and demons such as:
- yama (Skt.; Tib. གཤིན་རྗེ་, Wyl. gshin rje)
- earth lords (Tib. ས་བདག་, Wyl. sa bdag)
- teurang (Tib. ཐེའུ་རང་, Wyl. the'u rang)
According to Nupchen Sangye Yeshe | Nubchen Sangye Yeshe's “Dergye Serkyem” (Tib. སྡེ་བརྒྱད་གསེར་སྐྱེམས་, Wyl. sde brgyad gser skyems), “Offering of Golden Drink to the Eight Classes”, there are six series of eightfold groups of spirits.<ref>Dudjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, Volume 2. For a detailed description, see pages 158-159.</ref>
In East Asia, the following listing is common:
- yaksha (Skt. yakṣa; Tib. གནོད་སྦྱིན་, Wyl. gnod sbyin)
- garuda (Skt. garuḍa; Tib. ཁྱུང་, Wyl. khyung)
- mahoraga (Tib. ལྟོ་འཕྱེ་ཆེན་པོ་, Wyl. lto 'phye chen po)
References
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Further Reading
- Revue d'Études Tibétaines, Number 2, April 2003 - Numéro spécial Lha srin sde brgyad
Category of Gods and demons Category of Classes of beings Enumerations Category of 08-Eight