Tibetan Buddhism

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Tibetan Buddhism is the form of Buddhist Vajrayana doctrine and institutions named after the lands of Tibet, but also found in the regions surrounding the Himalayas and much of Central Asia. It derives from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism and preserves "the Tantric status quo of eighth-century India." It has been spread outside of Tibet, especially due to the Mongol power of the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), founded by Kublai Khan, that also ruled China.

Tibetan Buddhism applies Tantric practices, especially deity yoga, and aspires to Buddhahood or the rainbow body. Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet has four major schools, namely Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug (developed out of Sakya). The Jonang is a smaller school, and the Rimé movement is an eclectical movement involving the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma schools. Among the prominent proponents of Tibetan Buddhism are the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, the leaders of Gelug school in Tibet.

Video Tibetan Buddhism

Nomenclature

Westerners unfamiliar with Tibetan Buddhism initially turned to China for an understanding. There the term used was "lamaism" (literally, "doctrine of the lamas": lama jiao) to distinguish it from a then traditional Chinese form (fo jiao). The term was taken up by western scholars including Hegel, as early as 1822. Insofar as it implies a discontinuity between Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, the term has been discredited.

Another term, "Vajray?na" is occasionally used mistakenly for Tibetan Buddhism. More accurately, it signifies a certain subset of practices included in, not only Tibetan Buddhism, but other forms of Buddhism as well.

The native Tibetan term for all Buddhism is "doctrine of the internalists" (nang-pa'i chos: ...of those who emphasise introspection).

There is a "close association between the religious and the secular the spiritual and the temporal" in Tibet. The term for this relationship is chos srid zung 'brel.

In the west the term "Indo-Tibetan Buddhism" has become current, in acknowledgement of its derivation from the latest stages of Buddhist development in northern India.

Maps Tibetan Buddhism

History

Tibetan Empire - first dissemination (7th-9th century)

Buddhism was formally introduced into Tibet during the Tibetan Empire (7th-9th century CE). Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures from India were first translated into Tibetan under the reign of the Tibetan king Songtsän Gampo (618-649), In the 8th century King Trisong Detsen (755-797) established it as the official religion of the state. Trisong Detsen invited Indian Buddhist scholars to his court, including Padmasambh?va (8th century) and ??ntarak?ita (725-788)), who founded the Nyingma, The Ancient Ones, the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism. There was also influence from the Sarv?stiv?dins from Kashmir to the southwest and Khotan to the northwest. Trisong Detsen also invited the Chan master Moheyan to transmit the Dharma at Samye Monastery. According to Tibetan sources, Moheyan lost the socalled council of Lhasa (793), a debate sponsored by Trisong Detsen on the nature of emptiness with the Indian master Kamala??la, and the king declared Kamala??las philosophy should form the basis for Tibetan Buddhism.

Era of fragmentation (9th-10th century)

A reversal in Buddhist influence began under King Langdarma (r. 836-842), and his death was followed by the socalled Era of Fragmentation, a period of Tibetan history in the 9th and 10th centuries. During this era, the political centralization of the earlier Tibetan Empire collapsed.

Tibetan Renaissance - second dissemination (10th-12th century)

The late 10th and 11th century saw a revival of Buddhism in Tibet. Coinciding with the early discoveries of "hidden treasures" (terma), the 11th century saw a revival of Buddhist influence originating in the far east and far west of Tibet. In the west, Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055) was active as a translator and founded temples and monasteries. Prominent scholars and teachers were again invited from India.

In 1042 Ati?a (982-1054 CE) arrived in Tibet at the invitation of a west Tibetan king. This renowned exponent of the P?la form of Buddhism from the Indian university of Vikramashila later moved to central Tibet. There his chief disciple, Dromtonpa founded the Kadampa school of Tibetan Buddhism, under whose influence the New Translation schools of today evolved.

The Sakya, the Grey Earth school, was founded by Khön Könchok Gyelpo (Wylie: 'khon dkon mchog rgyal po, 1034-1102), a disciple of the great Lotsawa, Drogmi Sh?kya (Wylie: brog mi lo ts? wa ye shes). It is headed by the Sakya Trizin, traces its lineage to the mahasiddha Vir?pa, and represents the scholarly tradition. A renowned exponent, Sakya Pandita (1182-1251CE), was the great-grandson of Khön Könchok Gyelpo.

Other seminal Indian teachers were Tilopa (988-1069) and his student Naropa (probably died ca. 1040 CE).The Kagyu, the Lineage of the (Buddha's) Word, is an oral tradition which is very much concerned with the experiential dimension of meditation. Its most famous exponent was Milarepa, an 11th-century mystic. It contains one major and one minor subsect. The first, the Dagpo Kagyu, encompasses those Kagyu schools that trace back to the Indian master Naropa via Marpa Lotsawa, Milarepa and Gampopa

Mongol dominance (13th-14th century)

Tibetan Buddhism exerted a strong influence from the 11th century CE among the peoples of Inner Asia, especially the Mongols. The Mongols invaded Tibet in 1240 and 1244. The Mongols had annexed Amdo and Kham to the east, and appointed Sakya Pa??ita Viceroy of Central Tibet by the Mongol court in 1249.

Tibet was incorporated into the Mongol Empire, retaining nominal power over religious and regional political affairs, while the Mongols managed a structural and administrative rule over the region, reinforced by the rare military intervention. Tibetan Buddhism was adopted as the de facto state religion by the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), founded by Kublai Khan, that also ruled China.

Tibetan independence (14th-18th century)

With the decline of the Yuan dymansty, Central Tibet was to ruled by successive families from the 14th to the 17th century, and Tibet would be de facto independent from the mid-14th century on, for nearly 400 years.

Family rule and establishment of Gelugpa school (14th-17th century)

Jangchub Gyaltsän (Byang chub rgyal mtshan, 1302-1364) became the strongest political family in the mid 14th century. During this period the reformist scholar Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) founded the Gelug sect which would have a decisive influence on Tibet's history. Internal strife within the Phagmodrupa dynasty, and the strong localism of the various fiefs and political-religious factions, led to a long series of internal conflicts. The minister family Rinpungpa, based in Tsang (West Central Tibet), dominated politics after 1435. In 1565 the Rinpungpa family was overthrown by the Tsangpa Dynasty of Shigatse which expanded its power in different directions of Tibet in the following decades and favoured the Karma Kagyu sect. They would play a pivotal role in the events which led to the rise of power of the Dalai Lama's in the 1640s.

Ganden Phodrang government (17th-18th century)

The Ganden Phodrang was the Tibetan regime or government that was established by the 5th Dalai Lama with the help of the Güshi Khan of the Khoshut in 1642. After the civil war in the 17th century and the Mongol intervention, the Gelugpa school dominated Tibetan Buddhism, and successive Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet from the mid-17th to mid-20th centuries.

Qing rule (18th-20th century)

The Qing dynasty (1644-1912) established their rule over Tibet after a Qing expedition force defeated the Dzungars in 1720, and lasted until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912. The rulers of the Manchu Qing dynasty supported Tibetan Buddhism, especially the Gelug sect, for most of their dynasty.

The Rimé movement was a 19th-century movement involving the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism, along with some Bon scholars. Having seen how the Gelug institutions pushed the other traditions into the corners of Tibet's cultural life, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892) and Jamgön Kongtrül (1813-1899) compiled together the teachings of the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma, including many near-extinct teachings. Without Khyentse and Kongtrul's collecting and printing of rare works, the suppression of Buddhism by the Communists would have been much more final. The Rimé movement is responsible for a number of scriptural compilations, such as the Rinchen Terdzod and the Sheja Dzö.

Modern history - 20th-21th century

In 1912 Tibet became de facto independent again, but was annexed by the Chinese People's republic in 1950. In 1959 the 14th Dalai Lama and a great number of clergy fled the country, to settle in India and other neighbouring countries.

Today, Tibetan Buddhism is adhered to widely in the Tibetan Plateau, Mongolia, northern Nepal, Kalmykia (on the north-west shore of the Caspian), Siberia (Tuva and Buryatia), the Russian Far East and northeast China. It is the state religion of Bhutan. The Indian regions of Sikkim and Ladakh, both formerly independent kingdoms, are also home to significant Tibetan Buddhist populations, as are the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh (which includes Dharamshala and the district of Lahaul-Spiti), West Bengal (the hill stations of Darjeeling and Kalimpong) and Arunachal Pradesh.

In the wake of the Tibetan diaspora, Tibetan Buddhism has gained adherents in the West and throughout the world. Fully ordained Tibetan Buddhist Monks now work in academia (see Ven. Alex Bruce ('Tenpa')).

Geoffrey Samuel sees the character of Tibetan Buddhism in the West as

...that of a national or international network, generally centred around the teachings of a single individual lama. Among the larger ones are the FPMT, which I have already mentioned, now headed by Lama Zopa and the child-reincarnation of Lama Yeshe; the New Kadampa, in origin a break-away from the FPMT; the Shambhala network, deriving from Chögyam Trungpa 's organization and now headed by his son; and the networks associated with Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche (the Dzogchen Community) and Sogyal Rinpoche (Rigpa).

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General characteristics

Commentatorial tradition

A small corpus of extra-canonical scripture, the treasure texts (terma) literature is acknowledged by Nyingma practitioners, but the bulk of the canon that is not commentary was translated from Indian, central Asian or Chinese sources. True to its roots in the P?la system of North India, however, Tibetan Buddhism carries on a tradition of eclectic accumulation and systematisation of diverse Buddhist elements, and pursues their synthesis. Prominent among these achievements have been the Stages of the Path and mind training, both stemming from teachings by the Indian pandit, Ati?a.

Literature

Literature is featured with pithy and easily memorized texts which condense classical teachings into practical instruction manuals, often cryptic in style and opening up a complete range. Patrul Rinpoche's The Words of My Perfect Teacher is a Tibetian Buddhism classical introduction that the Dalai Lama recommends.

Transmission and realization

There is a long history of oral transmission of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism. Oral transmissions by lineage holders traditionally can take place in small groups or mass gatherings of listeners and may last for seconds (in the case of a mantra, for example) or months (as in the case of a section of the Tibetan Buddhist canon). It is held that a transmission can even occur without actually hearing, as in Asanga's visions of Maitreya.

An emphasis on oral transmission as more important than the printed word derives from the earliest period of Indian Buddhism, when it allowed teachings to be kept from those who should not hear them. Hearing a teaching (transmission) readies the hearer for realization based on it. The person from whom one hears the teaching should have heard it as one link in a succession of listeners going back to the original speaker: the Buddha in the case of a sutra or the author in the case of a book. Then the hearing constitutes an authentic lineage of transmission. Authenticity of the oral lineage is a prerequisite for realization, hence the importance of lineages.

Reincarnated lamas

Significant genuine innovations in Tibetan Buddhism have been few. Although the system of incarnate lamas is popularly held to be an innovation, it is disputable that this is a distinctly Tibetan development. Two centuries before Buddhism was introduced to Tibet, in the fifth century CE, the Abhidharma teacher Buddhagho?a was declared by Sri Lankan elders to be a reincarnation of the bodhisattva Maitreya.

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Teachings and practices

Esotericism

In Vajray?na particularly, Tibetan Buddhists subscribe to a voluntary code of self-censorship, whereby the uninitiated do not seek and are not provided with information about it. This self-censorship may be applied more or less strictly depending on circumstances such as the material involved. A depiction of a mandala may be less public than that of a deity. That of a higher tantric deity may be less public than that of a lower. The degree to which information on Vajray?na is now public in western languages is controversial among Tibetan Buddhists.

Buddhism has always had a taste for esotericism since its earliest period in India. Tibetans today maintain greater or lesser degrees of confidentiality also with information on the vinaya and emptiness specifically. In Buddhist teachings generally, too, there is caution about revealing information to people who may be unready for it.

Lamrim

Lamrim (Tibetan: "stages of the path") is a Tibetan Buddhist textual form for presenting the stages in the complete path to liberation as taught by Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhist history there have been many different versions of lamrim, presented by different teachers of the Nyingma, Kagyu and Gelug schools. However, all versions of the lamrim are elaborations of Ati?a's 11th-century root text A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment (Bodhipathaprad?pa).

Although lamrim texts cover much the same subject areas, subjects within them may be arranged in different ways. The lamrim of Ati?a starts with bodhicitta, the altruistic mind of enlightenment, followed by taking the bodhisattva vows. Gampopa's lamrim, however, starts with the Buddha-nature, followed by the preciousness of human rebirth. Tsongkhapa's texts start with reliance on a guru (Tib.: lama), followed by the preciousness of human rebirth, and continue with the paths of the modest, medium and high scopes.

Gampopa and Tsongkhapa expanded the short root-text of Ati?a into an extensive system to understand the entire Buddhist philosophy. In this way, subjects like karma, rebirth, Buddhist cosmology and the practice of meditation are gradually explained in logical order.

Preliminary practices and approach to Vajray?na

Vajray?na is believed by Tibetan Buddhists to be the fastest method for attaining Buddhahood but for unqualified practitioners it can be dangerous. To engage in it one must receive an appropriate initiation (also known as an "empowerment") from a lama who is fully qualified to give it. From the time one has resolved to accept such an initiation, the utmost sustained effort in guru devotion is essential.

The aim of preliminary practices (ngöndro) is to start the student on the correct path for such higher teachings. Just as Sutray?na preceded Vajray?na historically in India, so sutra practices constitute those that are preliminary to tantric ones. Preliminary practices include all Sutray?na activities that yield merit like hearing teachings, prostrations, offerings, prayers and acts of kindness and compassion, but chief among the preliminary practices are realizations through meditation on the three principle stages of the path: renunciation, the altruistic bodhicitta wish to attain enlightenment and the wisdom realizing emptiness. For a person without the basis of these three in particular to practice Vajray?na can be like a small child trying to ride an unbroken horse.

While the practices of Vajray?na are not known in Sutray?na, all Sutray?na practices are common to Vajray?na. Without training in the preliminary practices, the ubiquity of allusions to them in Vajray?na is meaningless and even successful Vajray?na initiation becomes impossible.

The merit acquired in the preliminary practices facilitates progress in Vajray?na. While many Buddhists may spend a lifetime exclusively on sutra practices, however, an amalgam of the two to some degree is common. For example, in order to train in calm abiding, one might use a tantric visualisation as the meditation object.

Devotion to a guru

As in other Buddhist traditions, an attitude of reverence for the teacher, or guru, is also highly prized. At the beginning of a public teaching, a lama will do prostrations to the throne on which he will teach due to its symbolism, or to an image of the Buddha behind that throne, then students will do prostrations to the lama after he is seated. Merit accrues when one's interactions with the teacher are imbued with such reverence in the form of guru devotion, a code of practices governing them that derives from Indian sources. By such things as avoiding disturbance to the peace of mind of one's teacher, and wholeheartedly following his prescriptions, much merit accrues and this can significantly help improve one's practice.

There is a general sense in which any Tibetan Buddhist teacher is called a lama. A student may have taken teachings from many authorities and revere them all as lamas in this general sense. However, he will typically have one held in special esteem as his own root guru and is encouraged to view the other teachers who are less dear to him, however more exalted their status, as embodied in and subsumed by the root guru. Often the teacher the student sees as root guru is simply the one who first introduced him to Buddhism, but a student may also change his personal view of which particular teacher is his root guru any number of times.

Compassion

Compassion is a central element of Tibetan Buddhism. In Tibetan Buddhism, one of the foremost authoritative texts on the Bodhisattva path is the Bodhisattvacary?vat?ra by Shantideva. In the eighth section entitled Meditative Concentration, Shantideva describes meditation on Karun? as thus:

Strive at first to meditate upon the sameness of yourself and others. In joy and sorrow all are equal; Thus be guardian of all, as of yourself. The hand and other limbs are many and distinct, But all are one--the body to kept and guarded. Likewise, different beings, in their joys and sorrows, are, like me, all one in wanting happiness. This pain of mine does not afflict or cause discomfort to another's body, and yet this pain is hard for me to bear because I cling and take it for my own. And other beings' pain I do not feel, and yet, because I take them for myself, their suffering is mine and therefore hard to bear. And therefore I'll dispel the pain of others, for it is simply pain, just like my own. And others I will aid and benefit, for they are living beings, like my body. Since I and other beings both, in wanting happiness, are equal and alike, what difference is there to distinguish us, that I should strive to have my bliss alone?"

Analytic meditation and fixation meditation

Spontaneous realization on the basis of transmission is possible but rare. Normally an intermediate step is needed in the form of analytic meditation, i.e., thinking about what one has heard. As part of this process, entertaining doubts and engaging in internal debate over them is encouraged in some traditions.

Analytic meditation is just one of two general methods of meditation. When it achieves the quality of realization, one is encouraged to switch to "focused" or "fixation" meditation. In this the mind is stabilized on that realization for periods long enough to gradually habituate it to it.

A person's capacity for analytic meditation can be trained with logic. The capacity for successful focused meditation can be trained through ?amatha. A meditation routine may involve alternating sessions of analytic meditation to achieve deeper levels of realization, and focused meditation to consolidate them. The deepest level of realization is Buddhahood itself.

Deity yoga

Deity yoga (Tibetan: lha'i rnal 'byor; Sanskrit: Devata-yoga) is the fundamental, defining practice of Vajrayana Buddhism involving visualization of mental images. According to the Tibetan scholar Tsongkhapa, deity yoga is what separates Buddhist Tantra practice from the practice of other Buddhist schools.

Deity yoga involves two stages, the generation stage and the completion stage. In the generation stage, one dissolves the mundane world and visualizes one's chosen deity (yidam), its mandala and companion deities, resulting in identification with this divine reality. In the completion stage, one dissolves the visualization of and identification with the yidam in the realization of sunyata or emptiness. Completion stage practices can also include subtle body energy practices.

Sunyata - study of tenet systems

Madhyamaka is the dominant Buddhist philosophy of Tibetan Buddhism, but is interpreted in various ways. Sunyata, the true nature of reality, or the emptiness of inherent existence of all things, is propounded according to a typical Tibetan classification of four classical Indian schools of philosophical tenets. While the classical tenets-system, as propagated by the Gelugpa, is limited to four tenets (Vaibh??ika, Sautr?ntika, Yog?c?ra, and Madhyamaka), more complicated systems include also the shentong-view of the Jonang and the Kagyu, and also differentiates between the radical emptiness of the Gelugpa-school, and the experiential emptiness of the Nyingma and the Shakya.

Two belong to the older path referred to as the Hinayana, but do not include Theravada, the only surviving of the 18 classical schools of Buddhism:

Vaibh??ika (Wylie: bye brag smra ba). The primary source for the Vaibh??ika is the Abhidharma-ko?a of Vasubandhu and its commentaries.
Sautr?ntika (Wylie: mdo sde pa). The Abhidharmako?a was also an important source for the Sautr?ntikas. Dign?ga and Dharmak?rti are the most prominent exponents.

The other two are Mahayana:

Yog?c?ra, also called Cittam?tra "Mind-Only" (Wylie: sems-tsam-pa). Yogac?rins base their views on texts from Maitreya, Asa?ga and Vasubandhu. The system is entirely rejected by the Gelugpa, but elements of it form part of the teachings of the other schools.
Madhyamaka (Wylie: dbu-ma-pa) - N?g?rjuna and ?ryadeva

Rangtong, a term introduced by Dolpopa, which rejects any inherent existing self or nature. This includes:

Svatantrika

Sautrantika Sv?tantrika Madhyamaka - Bh?viveka
Yog?c?ra Sv?tantrika Madhyamaka - ??ntarak?ita and Kamala??la, the oldest Buddhist teachings to be introduced in Tibet

Prasa?gika, based on Buddhap?lita and Candrak?rti. Within prasangika, a further division can be made:

Intellectual emptiness, which is realized by absolute denial. This is the view of Tsong Khapa and the Gelugpa school, which rejects any statements on an absolute reality beyond mere emptiness.
Experiential emptiness, which is realized when the understanding of intellectual emptiness gives way to the recognition of the true nature of mind, c.q. rigpa. This is the view of Nyingma (Dzogchen) and Sakya.

Shentong, systematised by Dolpopa, and based on Buddha-nature teachings and influenced by ??ntarak?ita's Yogacara-Madhyamaka. It states that the nature of mind shines through when emptiness has been realized. This approach is dominant in the Jonang school, and can also be found in the Kagyu (Mahamudra) tradition.

The tenet systems are being used in the monasteries and colleges to teach Buddhist philosophy in a systematic and progressive fashion, each philosophical view being more subtle than its predecessor. Therefore, the four schools can be seen as a gradual path from a rather easy-to-grasp, "realistic" philosophical point of view, to more and more complex and subtle views on the ultimate nature of reality, that is on emptiness and dependent arising, culminating in the philosophy of the M?dhyamikas, which is widely believed to present the most sophisticated point of view. Non-Tibetan scholars point out that historically, Madhyamaka predates Cittam?tra, however.

Buddhahood

Tibetan Buddhism comprises the teachings of the three vehicles of Buddhism: the Foundational Vehicle, Mah?y?na, and Vajray?na. The Mah?y?na goal of spiritual development is to achieve the enlightenment of buddhahood in order to most efficiently help all other sentient beings attain this state. The motivation in it is the bodhicitta mind of enlightenment -- an altruistic intention to become enlightened for the sake of all sentient beings. Bodhisattvas are revered beings who have conceived the will and vow to dedicate their lives with bodhicitta for the sake of all beings. Tibetan Buddhism teaches methods for achieving buddhahood more quickly by including the Vajray?na path in Mah?y?na.

Buddhahood is defined as a state free of the obstructions to liberation as well as those to omniscience. When one is freed from all mental obscurations, one is said to attain a state of continuous bliss mixed with a simultaneous cognition of emptiness, the true nature of reality. In this state, all limitations on one's ability to help other living beings are removed.

It is said that there are countless beings who have attained buddhahood. Buddhas spontaneously, naturally and continuously perform activities to benefit all sentient beings. However it is believed that one's karma could limit the ability of the Buddhas to help them. Thus, although Buddhas possess no limitation from their side on their ability to help others, sentient beings continue to experience suffering as a result of the limitations of their own former negative actions.

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Schools

The diagram to the right shows the growth of Tibetan Buddhist traditions. The four main ones overlap markedly, such that "about eighty percent or more of the features of the Tibetan schools are the same". Differences include the use of apparently, but not actually, contradictory terminology, opening dedications of texts to different deities and whether phenomena are described from the viewpoint of an unenlightened practitioner or of a Buddha. On questions of philosophy the inclusion (Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Kagyu) or exclusion (Gelugpa) of Yogacara and Buddha-nature teachings has been a historical divide between schools, which still colours the approaches to sunyata and ultimate reality. The 19th century Rimé movement downplayed these differences, as still reflected in the stance of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, who states that there are no fundamental differences between these schools. The Tibetan adjectival suffix -pa meaning "man" or "person" is translatable as English "-ist", e.g., "Nyingmapa" is "person who practises Nyingma".

Nyingma

"The Ancient Ones" is the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism and the original order founded by Padmasambhava (8th century) and ??ntarak?ita (725-788). Whereas other schools categorize their teachings into the three y?nas or "vehicles", H?nay?na, Mah?y?na and Vajray?na, the Nyingma tradition classifies its teachings into Nine Y?nas, among the highest of which is Dzogchen. Terma "treasures" (revealed texts) are of particular significance to the Nyingma school.

Kadampa

The Kadam school (Tibetan: ???????????, Wylie: bka' gdams pa) of Tibetan Buddhism was founded by Dromtön (1005-1064), a Tibetan lay master and the foremost disciple of the great Bengali master Ati?a (982-1054). The Kadampa were quite famous and respected for their proper and earnest Dharma practice. The most evident teachings of that tradition were the teachings on bodhicitta. Later, these special presentations became known as lojong and lamrim by Ati?. adam instructional influence lingered long after the school disappeared.

Sakya

The "Grey Earth" school represents the scholarly tradition. Headed by the Sakya Trizin, this tradition was founded by Khön Könchok Gyelpo (Wylie: 'khon dkon mchog rgyal po, 1034-1102), a disciple of the great Lotsawa, Drogmi Sh?kya (Wylie: brog mi lo ts? wa ye shes) and traces its lineage to the mahasiddha Vir?pa. A renowned exponent, Sakya Pandita (1182-1251CE), was the great-grandson of Khön Könchok Gyelpo.

Jonang

The Jonang is a minor school that branched off from Sakya traditions; it was suppressed in 1650 in Gelug-controlled regions and subsequently banned and its monks and nuns converted to the Gelug school in 1658.

The Jonang re-established their religio-political center in Golok, Nakhi and Mongol areas in Kham and Amdo centered at Dzamthang Monastery and have continued practicing uninterrupted to this day. An estimated 5,000 monks and nuns of the Jonang tradition practice today in these areas and at the edges of historic Gelug influence.

However, their teachings were limited to these regions until the Rimé movement of the 19th century encouraged the study of non-Gelug schools of thought and practice. In modern times it has been encouraged to grow by the 14th Dalai Lama, who installed the 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu as its head.

Kagyu

"Lineage of the (Buddha's) Word". This is an oral tradition which is very much concerned with the experiential dimension of meditation. Its most famous exponent was Milarepa, an 11th-century mystic. It contains one major and one minor subsect. The first, the Dagpo Kagyu, encompasses those Kagyu schools that trace back to the Indian master Naropa via Marpa Lotsawa, Milarepa and Gampopa and consists of four major sub-sects: the Karma Kagyu, headed by a Karmapa, the Tsalpa Kagyu, the Barom Kagyu, and Pagtru Kagyu. There are a further eight minor sub-sects, all of which trace their root to Pagtru Kagyu and the most notable of which are the Drikung and Drukpa Lineages. The once-obscure Shangpa Kagyu, which was famously represented by the 20th century teacher Kalu Rinpoche, traces its history back to the Indian master Naropa via Niguma, Sukhasiddhi and Khyungpo Naljor.

Gelug

The "Way of Virtue" school was originally a reformist movement and is known for its emphasis on logic and debate. The order was founded in the 14th to 15th century by Je Tsongkhapa, renowned for both his scholarship and virtue. He was a prominent supporter of the Madhyamika philosophy and formalized the Svatantrika-Prasa?gika distinction. Its spiritual head is the Ganden Tripa and its temporal one the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is regarded as the embodiment of Avalokite?vara. After the civil war in the 17th century and the Mongol intervention, the Gelugpa school dominated Tibetan Buddhism, and successive Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet from the mid-17th to mid-20th centuries.

New Kadampa Tradition

The New Kadampa Tradition is a Buddhist new religious movement founded by Kelsang Gyatso in England in 1991, which branched-off from the Gelugpa school.

Rimé movement

In the 19th century the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism, along with some Bon scholars, cooperated the Rimé movement to prevent the loss of many of their teachings and revive their traditions, in response to the dominance of the Gelugpa school.

Old Translation, New Translation

The four major schools are sometimes said to constitute the Nyingma "Old Translation," and Sarma "New Translation" traditions, the latter following from the historical Kadam lineage of translations and tantric lineages. Another common but trivial differentiation is into the Yellow Hat (Gelug) and Red Hat (non-Gelug) sects, a division that mirrors the distinction between the schools involved in the Rimé movement versus the one that did not, the Gelug.

The correspondences are as follows:

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Women in Tibetan Buddhism

Under the Mulasarvastivadin Vinaya, as with the two other extant Vinaya lineages today (Theravada and Dharmaguptaka), in order to ordain bhik?u??s, there must be quorums of both bhik?u??s and bhik?us; without both, a woman cannot be ordained as a nun (Tibetan: ???????????, THL: gélongma). When Buddhism traveled from India to Tibet, apparently the quorum of bhik?u??s required for bestowing full ordination never reached Tibet.

Despite an absence of ordination there, bhik?u??s did travel to Tibet. A notable example was the Sri Lankan nun Candram?la, whose work with ?r?jñ?na (Wylie: dpal ye shes) resulted in the tantric text ?r?candram?la Tantrar?ja (Tibetan: ?????????????????????????????????????, Chinese: ???????).

There are singular accounts of fully ordained Tibetan women, such as the Samding Dorje Phagmo (1422-1455), who was once ranked the highest female master in Tibet, but very little is known about the exact circumstances of their ordination.

Buddhist author Michaela Haas notes that Tibetan Buddhism is undergoing a sea change in the West. "Of all these changes that we are watching Buddhism undergo in the West, the most momentous may be that women are playing an equal role." The Dalai Lama has authorized followers of the Tibetan tradition to be ordained as nuns in traditions that have such ordination. According to Thubten Chodron, the current Dalai Lama has said on this issue:

In 2005, the Dalai Lama repeatedly spoke about the bhik?u?? ordination in public gatherings. In Dharamsala, he encouraged, "We need to bring this to a conclusion. We Tibetans alone can't decide this. Rather, it should be decided in collaboration with Buddhists from all over the world. Speaking in general terms, were the Buddha to come to this 21st century world, I feel that most likely, seeing the actual situation in the world now, he might change the rules somewhat...."
Later, in Zürich during a 2005 conference of Tibetan Buddhist Centers, he said, "Now I think the time has come; we should start a working group or committee" to meet with monks from other Buddhist traditions. Looking at the German bhik?u?? Jampa Tsedroen, he instructed, "I prefer that Western Buddhist nuns carry out this work... Go to different places for further research and discuss with senior monks (from various Buddhist countries). I think, first, senior bhikshunis need to correct the monks' way of thinking.
"This is the 21st century. Everywhere we are talking about equality....Basically Buddhism needs equality. There are some really minor things to remember as a Buddhist--a bhikshu always goes first, then a bhikshuni....The key thing is the restoration of the bhikshuni vow."

Alexander Berzin referred to the Dalai Lama having said on occasion of the 2007 Hamburg congress:

Sometimes in religion there has been an emphasis on male importance. In Buddhism, however, the highest vows, namely the bhikshu and bhikshuni ones, are equal and entail the same rights. This is the case despite the fact that in some ritual areas, due to social custom, bhikshus go first. But Buddha gave the basic rights equally to both sangha groups. There is no point in discussing whether or not to revive the bhikshuni ordination; the question is merely how to do so properly within the context of the Vinaya.

Pema Chödrön is an American woman who was ordained as a bhik?u?? in a lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in 1981. Pema Chödrön was the first American woman to be ordained as a Buddhist nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

In 2010 the first Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in America, Vajra Dakini Nunnery in Vermont, was officially consecrated. It offers novice ordination and follows the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Buddhism. The abbot of the Vajra Dakini nunnery is Khenmo Drolma, an American woman, who is the first bhik?u?? in the Drikung lineage of Buddhism, having been ordained in Taiwan in 2002. She is also the first westerner, male or female, to be installed as an abbot in the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Buddhism, having been installed as the abbot of the Vajra Dakini Nunnery in 2004. The Vajra Dakini Nunnery does not follow The Eight Garudhammas.

In April 2011, the Institute for Buddhist Dialectical Studies (IBD) in Dharamsala, India, conferred the degree of geshe, a Tibetan Buddhist academic degree for monastics, on Kelsang Wangmo, a German nun, thus making her the world's first female geshe. In 2013 Tibetan women were able to take the geshe exams for the first time. In 2016 twenty Tibetan Buddhist nuns became the first Tibetan women to earn geshe degrees.

Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo gained international attention in the late 1980s as the first Western woman to be a His Holininess Penor Rinpoche enthroned tulku within the Nyingma Palyul.

Tibetan Buddhism, religious Cham mask dance at the important ...

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Glossary of terms used

Tibetan Buddhism, wall painting, meditating Buddha, many small ...

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Notes

Tibetan Buddhism Temple City Pattern Stock Photo - Image: 50085533

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References

Tibetan Buddhism Wheel Of Life 06 06-2 Hell Beings Hot

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Sources

External links

Tibetan Buddhism at Curlie (based on DMOZ)
Buddhist Meditation Traditions in Tibet: The Union of Three Vehicles by Georgios T. Halkias
LamRim.com -- Tibetan Buddhist Internet Radio
The Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library
The Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center
the Tibetan bibliography database
Tibetan Buddhism in the West by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche
Songtsen -- The rescue and preservation of Tibet's cultural and spiritual traditions
Tibetan Buddhism in Study Buddhism: An extensive source of authentic Buddhist teachings, presented in a down-to-earth and practical way -- formerly The Berzin Archives, a site maintained by Alexander Berzin
Lotsawa House | Tibetan Buddhist Texts | Translations
Tibetan Rimé Text Library -- Buddhist Text Library of all traditions
Tibetan Buddhism Forums
A Day In The Life Of A Tibetan Monk - article and slideshow by National Geographic
Student film about Tibetan Monks studying at Emory University
Tibetan Buddhist Practice eCalendar
Karma Kagyü Calendar
Tibetan Philosophy article in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The History of Relationship Development Between Imperial China and Tibetan Regime in Tang and Song Dynasty

Source of the article : Wikipedia

Selasa, 12 Desember 2017