Eight classes of gods and demons

Eight classes of gods and demons (Tib. ལྷ་འདྲེ་སྡེ་བརྒྱད་, Wyl. lha 'dre sde brgyad) — a classification of worldly spirits. There are many different classifications; one of them is:

• dü (Tib. བདུད་, Wyl. bdud; Skt. māra)—see four maras
• mamo (Tib. མ་མོ་, Wyl. ma mo; Skt. mātrika)
• naga (Tib. ཀླུ་, Skt. nāga; Tib. lu; Wyl. klu)
• ging (Tib. གིང་, Wyl. ging)
• rahula (Skt. rāhula)
• tsen (Tib. བཙན་, Wyl. btsan)
• rakshasa (Skt. rākṣasa; Tib. སྲིན་པོ་, sinpo; Wyl. srin po)
• 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:

• gods (Skt. deva; Tib. ལྷ་, Wyl. lha)
• yama (Skt.; Tib. གཤིན་རྗེ་, Wyl. gshin rje)
• gyalpo (Tib. རྒྱལ་པོ་, Wyl. rgyal po)
• sadak (Tib. ས་བདག་, Wyl. sa bdag)
• miamchi (Tib. མིའམ་ཅི་, Wyl. mi'am ci)
• teurang (Tib. ཐེའུ་རང་, Wyl. the'u rang)

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.

Further Reading

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