Zahor: Somewhere to the east of Bodhgaya lies the site of the ancient country of Zahor. In 29 AN (after nirvana), texts containing the esoteric tantra fell onto the roof of the palace of Indrabhuti (King Dza) ruler of the land of Zahor. Mandarava, consort of Guru Rinpoche was born to King Indrabhuti in this same area. When Mandarava met Guru Rinpoche, she became his disciple, which enraged her father who was trying to find her a suitable husband. So he ordered his ministers to burn the intruder alive, but Guru Rinpoche transformed the fire into a lake of sesame oil, and in its center bloomed a wondrous lotus, with Guru Rinpoche sitting comfortably amused in the center of it. The astonished King repented and gave Padmasambhava his crown, and firmly established Dharma in the land of Zahor.

zazen (J): The central sitting meditation practice of Zen Buddhism.

zen: J: meditation from C. ch'an from S. dhyana. The Mahayana Buddhist School that originated in China (as Ch'an) that later took root in Japan. Zen emphasizes the practice of sitting in meditative absorption (zazen) as the shortest path to Enlightenment. It de-emphasizes rituals and intellectual studies. Probably the most common form of Buddhism in the West, Zen practitioners usually devote themselves to monastic life, as accomplishment requires extensive periods of meditation. It concentrates on making clear that reality is beyond words and language and beyond logic. To accomplish this, it makes use of the koan, zazen and sanzen. This school is said to be for those of superior roots. On reaching Korea, it became known as Son. See Ch'an and Chinese Buddhism

zhi-khro: Tibetan: Peaceful/wrathful, a reference to the peaceful and wrathful deities found in the inner tantra. It is a condensed teaching based upon the essential meaning of the Guhyagarbha Tantra combined with the views expressed in the anu and ati yoga teachings (yanas 8 and 9). -- the inner tantra of the inner tantra. This is the union of rigpa and emptiness, the oneness of birth, death, and life experiences. This teaching is known as the one that unifies everything into a single state. Zhi-khro is a practice of Tibetan Buddhism involving visualizing the body as a composite of the 108 peaceful and wrathful deities. In the practice, the deities are first visualized in mandalas of 58 peaceful and 42 wrathful deites centered in the heart, throat and crown chakra, and then in all the channels and nadis of the body. This is part of the group known as Bardo Teachings which were composed in Tibet in the 8th century by Guru Padmasambhava. Yeshe Tsogyal wrote them down and hid them to be discovered later. In the mid-14th century, they were recovered along with other texts in the Gampo hills of central Tibet by the accomplished yogi, Karma Lingpa. The collection of teachings entitled The Self-Emergence of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities from Enlightened Awareness (zhi khro dgongs pa rang grol) also included the texts of the now famous Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Bardo also known as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The practice is not one of imposing a visualization on the body we are accustomed to perceiving, but of uncovering a more true vision of what is. Mastering the visualizations of the deities completely can help with recognition and liberation from cyclic existence in the after-death state known as the Dharma Essence