Resplendent Radiance

Tibetan Lesson - Zijid


Welcome to another installment of Lotus News’ Tibetan column! Our topic for this issue is Zijid in Tibetan, transliterated gzi brjid and pronounced Zijid in Tibetanor phoneticized as zi jid.

Zijid is often used as a dharma term, in which case it can be defined as:
1) brilliance; majestic brilliance; splendor; charisma; light; confidence; dignity, radiance; overwhelming presence; resplendent radiance; charisma. 2) full of splendor. blazing with the brilliance [of ...], splendorous, splendid. 3) to be resplendent, majestic, or dignified.

The term zijid is comprised of two words, zi and jid.

The first, zi in Tibetantransliterated as gzi and phoneticized as zi, can be defined as:

1) zi-stone, a kind of banded onyx which has zebra-like designs and a number of eye-shaped patterns; 2) burnished; a banded onyx commonly used for burnishing; 3) shine, brightness, clearness, splendor.


Zi stones are related to Ziji!If something is said to be zichen in Tibetan(transliterated as gzi can, phoneticized as zichen], it is said to be majestic or, literally, “to possess a gleam or shine”.

The second term, jid in Tibetan, transliterated as brjid and phoneticized as jid, can be defined as:

1) magnificent; imposing; resplendent; 2) brightness; luster; splendor; magnificence; dignity; resplendence.

According to the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, jid carries a sense of being “monolithic.”

To put these two terms together, zijid literally means “to gleam with splendor.” In the translations of his works, Trungpa Rinpoche preferred to emphasize the inner attributes which would produce this majestic splendour, and thus used the terms “confidence” or “dignity” to translate zijid.

Ziji drives the ChevyZiji does, indeed, have a charismatic radiance which attracts the affection of all those around him.

Lastly, and most apropos for those of us at Lotus Garden, there is a dog (see Ziji's interview in this issue). A gleaming dog, whose lustrous coat shines in the sun, whose glorious mane wreaths him in a continual glow of splendiferousness, Ziji does, indeed, have a charismatic radiance which attracts the affection of all those around him (as well as a bevy of ticks and other insects). He is the pride of everyone at Lotus Garden.

Ziji may not yet be a bastion of those inner qualities of confidence and dignity—as evidence, consider a recent story of his being frightened off from a local restaurant by the less-than-friendly greeting he received from the restaurant’s cat-in-residence, which sent him scurrying away into the night—but he is working on them. Oh yes, he is.

- In addition to teaching us Tibetan, Geoff Picus is a translator with the Dharmashri Translation Group and currently serves in the role of Lotus Garden secretary.

Photo credits: Zijid graphic; zi-stones; Ziji waiting in the Chevy for the garbage run (Laura Kollar)©2007 Mindrolling International All rights reserved