Terma (གཏེར་མ་) means 'hidden treasure' in Tibetan. Texts, objects and thoughts are buried in the ground, sunk underwater, built into temples or statues, cut into rocks, trees and other plants or hidden in minds to be found by design or accident later. People who discover terma are called tertöns (གཏེར་སྟོན་).

Terma is hidden for different reasons: to safeguard important information at times of danger or, most importantly, to provide direct transmission of vital messages. If you find terma you enter into a one-to-one conversation with someone across time and can receive profound revelation that cuts through received notions and lies. 

Text terma are often found in boxes and can be written in magical script that disappears as you read it.