Universal monarch: Difference between revisions

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A '''universal monarch''' (Skt. ''cakravartin'' or ''cakravartirāja''; [[Wyl.]] '' 'khor los bsgyur ba'i rgyal po'') is someone who has the power to overcome, conquer and rule all inhabitants of the [[four continents]] world system (see [[Mount Meru]]). In the Buddhist teachings this is considered an example of the most powerful rebirth possible within [[samsara]]. Rebirth as a universal monarch can occur only when the lifespan of the human beings of the four continent world system ranges from eighty thousand to a countless number of years.  
A '''universal monarch''' (Skt. ''cakravartin'' or ''cakravartirāja''; Tib. [[འཁོར་ལོས་སྒྱུར་བའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་]], ''khorlö gyurwé gyalpo'',  [[Wyl.]] '' 'khor los bsgyur ba'i rgyal po'') is someone who has the power to overcome, conquer and rule all inhabitants of a [[world|four-continent world system]]. In the Buddhist teachings this is considered an example of the most powerful rebirth possible within [[samsara]]. Rebirth as a universal monarch can occur only when the lifespan of the human beings of the four continent world system ranges from eighty thousand to a countless number of years. Universal monarchs are in possession of three sets of seven emblems:
#the [[seven precious emblems of royalty]],
#the seven secondary possessions, and
#the seven types of jewel insignia.


[[Category: Key Terms]]
==Further Reading==
*[[Jamgön Kongtrul]], ''Myriad Worlds'' (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1995), pages 134-138, ISBN 978-1559391887
*Robert Beer, ''The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols'' (Boston: Shambhala, 2003), pages 36-48.
 
[[Category: Titles]]

Revision as of 04:27, 2 June 2018

A universal monarch (Skt. cakravartin or cakravartirāja; Tib. འཁོར་ལོས་སྒྱུར་བའི་རྒྱལ་པོ་, khorlö gyurwé gyalpo, Wyl. 'khor los bsgyur ba'i rgyal po) is someone who has the power to overcome, conquer and rule all inhabitants of a four-continent world system. In the Buddhist teachings this is considered an example of the most powerful rebirth possible within samsara. Rebirth as a universal monarch can occur only when the lifespan of the human beings of the four continent world system ranges from eighty thousand to a countless number of years. Universal monarchs are in possession of three sets of seven emblems:

  1. the seven precious emblems of royalty,
  2. the seven secondary possessions, and
  3. the seven types of jewel insignia.

Further Reading

  • Jamgön Kongtrul, Myriad Worlds (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 1995), pages 134-138, ISBN 978-1559391887
  • Robert Beer, The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols (Boston: Shambhala, 2003), pages 36-48.