The Monkey Year falls every 12 years within the Tibetan calendar. The Monkey Month is the 6th month, according to the reckoning in Palyul monastery. The tenth day of this month by this calendar is the anniversary of Guru Rinpoche’s birth as Guru Tsokyé Dorje, born in the lotus in Dhanakhosha Lake. This auspicious day falls on the 27th of July in the 2004 Western calendar.

A "kalpa" consists of approximately 4.32 billion human years. The reckoning of time is based on the system in use in India at the time of Shakyamuni Buddha.

"The Three Times" means past, present and future.

The term "Secret Mantrayana" is another way of referring to Vajrayana Buddhism.

Dzogpachenpo is the highest teaching within the Secret Mantrayana.

This indicates that Guru Rinpoche spontaneously manifested rather than being born as the offspring of two parents.

Dhanakhosha Lake exists in the pure land of Oddiyana, located southwest of what is now India.

When Buddhas give teachings it is referred to as "Turning the Wheel of Dharma."

"Good karma" means that the causes and conditions including all circumstances and activities had been assembled by those beings to be able to receive those teachings. Thus, those beings had good fortune based not simply on fate, but on their own work towards assembling those causes and conditions themselves.

The Three Buddhas of the Past were Buddhas in this world in eons before the arrival of Shakyamuni Buddha.

Our world consists of Mt. Meru and the four continents, comprising one unit. One thousand times this unit to the third power comprises the Saha World or Universe (e.g., 10003 or 1000x1000x1000 worlds).

Vajrayana teachings are the teachings of the Secret Mantrayana and include the teachings in the Hinayana (Theraveda) and Mahayana.

Parinirvana means complete liberation from cyclic existence.

Shakyamuni Buddha is the historical Buddha who turned the Wheel of Dharma in our time.

"Dakini" (Tib. Khandroma) literally means "sky-goer" or "space-voyager."

King Indrabohdi is also known as King Dza of Sahor. It is he who first requested the teachings of the Secret Mantrayana.

Mamos are mundane female deities.

Pawo and Pamo (Tib.) are male and female heroic spirits, another word for Daka and Dakini.

Rinpoche actually mentions two thousand years as astrologers count 6 months as a full year based on the summer and winter solstices.

Also known as Vajrasaña, located in Bodhgaya.

Pandita means "scholar" in Sanskrit.

The four gates are at the north, south, east and west.

Tirthikas are non-Buddhist believers.

A charnel ground is a place where the dead are cremated. Not all of the Eight Charnel Grounds where Guru Rinpoche abided are accessible to ordinary beings. They are the abode of the Dakas and Dakinis.

King Songsten Gampo (6l7-698 A.D.), the first to attempt to establish Buddhism in Tibet, oversaw the building of Jokhang Temple in Lhasa.

"Bon" was the original religion in pre-Buddhist Tibet.

King Trisong Detsen (742-798 A.D.), who invited Guru Rinpoche to Tibet, built Samye Monastery and oversaw the establishment of Buddhism in Tibet.

Shamatha (Tib. Shine) is calm-abiding meditation.

Pemajungne is a name for Guru Rinpoche.

Hapori is the mountain by Samye Monastery, located about 100 miles east of Lhasa.

Jambudvipa is one of the four continents around Mt. Meru.