Eight classes of gods and demons

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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:

On an inner level, they correspond to the eight consciousnesses.

Alternative Classifications

Alternative classifications include gods and demons such as:

According to 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.[1]

In East Asia, the following listing is common:

References

  1. Dudjom Rinpoche, The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, Volume 2. For a detailed description, see pages 158-159.

Further Reading

  • Revue d'Études Tibétaines, Number 2, April 2003 - Numéro spécial Lha srin sde brgyad