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)
• rarth lords (Tib. ས་བདག་, Wyl. sa bdag)
• kinnara (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