Marcia Calkowski. Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices. Editor: Thomas Riggs, 2nd Edition, Volume 1, Gale, 2015.
Overview
Tibetan Buddhism, which originated during the seventh and eighth centuries in Tibet, was founded by the Indian masters Santaraksita and Padmasambhava. Drawing many of its ritual practices from Indian Tantric Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, also known as Vajrayana Buddhism, stresses that the body, speech, and mind must be engaged in order for the individual to gain enlightenment and that the guidance of the lama, or spiritual teacher, is essential to the individual’s mastery of esoteric knowledge. Fundamental practices that engage the body include prostrations before sacred objects or along arduous pilgrimage routes and the uttering of prayers and mantras. Most importantly, the mind is engaged through various meditation techniques.
Tibet was an expanding empire when Buddhism was first introduced in the seventh century. For approximately the next 400 years, it vied with the indigenous Bon religion, but eventually Buddhism became dominant in Tibet. The Tibetan spiritual master Sakya Pandita (1182-1251) gained a devotee in the grandson of Genghis Khan (1162-1227), Prince Godan (1206-1251), who in turn made Sakya Pandita ruler over Tibet. The relationship between Sakya Pandita and Prince Godan launched a series of “patron-priest” relationships between Tibetan Buddhist masters and Mongolian and Chinese rulers. A Mongolian chieftain was also instrumental in supporting the ascendance of the Dalai Lama (spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism) as the spiritual and temporal ruler of Tibet. By the late 14th century Tibetan Buddhism was represented by four major sects: the Nyingma-pa, Sakya-pa, Kagyu-pa, and Geluk-pa. Upon establishment of the fifth Dalai Lama as the spiritual and political leader of the country in 1642, the Geluk-pa sect had the most influence on the government of Tibet. After the Dalai Lama’s escape to India in 1959, the traditional Tibetan government ceased to exist in Tibet and the Chinese assumed full political control. The Geluk-pa sect continues to be the most influential in the exile Tibetan government established by the Dalai Lama in India.
Tibetan Buddhism has approximately 20 million followers and is the major religion in Tibet; Bhutan; Mongolia; regions of China; the Russian republics of Tuva, Buryatia, and Kalmykia; and the Ladakh region of India. It is well represented in Nepal, the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim, India’s northeastern border regions, and the Tibetan refugee settlements in northern India. Following the flight of the 14th Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers into exile in 1959, Tibetan Buddhism spread to many Western countries.
History
The Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo (617-650) laid the foundation for Tibetan Buddhism by building temples for the Buddhist images brought to Tibet by his Nepalese and Chinese wives and by having a script developed for translating Buddhist texts into Tibetan. Trisong Detsen, who reigned from 754 to 797, invited to Tibet the great Indian Buddhist masters Santaraksita, who promoted the construction of the first Tibetan monastery, and Padmasambhava, a Tantric practitioner whose magical feats and charismatic presence drew many converts to Buddhism. During his reign from 815 to 836 the last Buddhist king, Ralpachen, sponsored the translation of the entire Buddhist canon into Tibetan. In the mid-ninth century the Tibetan kingdom disintegrated, and Buddhism in central Tibet declined.
A major Buddhist revival in Tibet began in the mid-11th century. The arrival of the Indian master Atisa (982-1054) inspired the emergence of a new Tibetan Buddhist sect, the Kadampa whose members vowed strict adherence to an ascetic lifestyle. Atisa’s contemporary Marpa (1012-1096), a great transmitter of Indian Tantric doctrines who had learned in India how to transfer consciousness into another body or realm, ultimately inspired the development of the Kagyu-pa sect. Konchok Gyalpo (1034-1102) founded a monastery in Sakya in 1073 and established the Sakya-pa order. Those who continued the Tantric householder life introduced by Padmasambhava came to be called Nyingma-pa (followers of the old order).
During the late 14th century the reformist scholar Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) and his followers founded the fourth major Tibetan Buddhist sect, the Geluk-pa, which stressed monastic discipline. In the 16th century the Mongol prince Altan Khan (d. 1583) bestowed the title Dalai Lama on Sonam Gyatso (1543-1588), the third reincarnation of one of Tsongkhapa’s chief disciples. In 1642 Mongol troops succeeded in establishing the fifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682) as the spiritual and political leader of Tibet, effectively creating a theocracy dominated by the Geluk-pa sect with the Dalai Lama at its apex. By the mid-19th century the Rimey movement, which adopted a nonsectarian approach to Tibetan Buddhist teachings, emerged in eastern Tibet, revitalizing the Sakya-pa, Nyingma-pa, and Kagyu-pa schools.
In 1950 troops of the People’s Republic of China occupied Tibet, and in 1959 the 14th Dalai Lama and 100,000 of his followers fled the war-torn country for refuge in Dharmsala, India. Although the Chinese have substantively repressed Tibetan Buddhism in the Tibet Autonomous Region and the Tibetan areas that have been incorporated into Chinese provinces, numerous monasteries have been rebuilt by Tibetans in exile. In 1967 a Karma Kagyu monastery, the first Tibetan center established in Europe, was built in Eskdalemuir, Scotland. The first Tibetan Buddhist nunnery, Sravasti Abbey, was founded in Newport, Washington, in 2003. In 2004 the Vajra Dakini Nunnery was established in Lincoln, Vermont.
Central Doctrines
Unlike other forms of Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism stresses Tantric practice as a means of attaining enlightenment in the practitioner’s current lifetime. Tantric practitioners incorporate rituals, symbols, and visualization techniques in their efforts to control or identify with beings in other realms of existence. Identification with these deities ultimately enables the practitioner to transform his or her consciousness into a higher state of being.
A key factor distinguishing Tibetan Buddhism from other forms of Mahayana Buddhism is the profound importance of the lama in the disciple’s spiritual progress. (Because of this, Tibetan Buddhism has often been erroneously referred to as Lamaism by Westerners.) The lama selects the disciple’s tutelary, or guiding, deity and determines when a disciple is ready for initiation into successively higher levels of secret teachings. The initiate is granted permission to read esoteric texts by the lama, who also provides instruction pertaining to the texts and empowers the meditations associated with them. Ideally, the disciple progresses until he or she can merge with the tutelary deity and the lama and thereby attain enlightenment. Spiritually advanced, reincarnated lamas are regarded as bodhisattvas, enlightened beings who have chosen to remain on Earth. These lamas, known as tulku (also sprul sku), embody the authority and power attributed to their previous incarnations and can thus perpetuate the transmission of a particular line of teachings.
Moral Code of Conduct
Different rules of conduct apply to monks, who must observe the Vinaya code of discipline (attributed to the Buddha), and to Tantrists, who do not generally reside in monasteries and who may drink alcoholic beverages. Although celibacy is expected of all monks, reincarnated lamas of the Nyingma-pa, Sakya-pa, and Kagyu-pa sects are viewed as nag-pa (also sngags pa; a kind of Tantric practitioner) and typically have female consorts or wives. Essential to the Tibetan Buddhist moral code is the practitioner’s absolute devotion to his or her lama.
Sacred Books
In addition to two great canons translated from Indic languages, the Kanjur (consisting of works attributed to the Buddha himself) and the Tenjur (a collection of commentaries on the Kanjur), Tibetan Buddhism has inspired a vast collection of sacred texts written by scholars from each sect. A number of important works known as terma were believed to have been written and buried by Padmasambhava and later discovered by his disciples.
Sacred Symbols
Sacred symbols in Tibetan Buddhism include the vajra (Tibetan: dorje; “thunderbolt”), which represents the union of method and wisdom that constitutes enlightened consciousness; a bell, typically combined with the vajra and symbolizing ultimate wisdom; and the mandala, a diagram or three-dimensional rendering of concentric circles that maps a sacred realm.
Early and Modern Leaders
Throughout the history of Tibetan Buddhism, hierarchs of the various sects have been key political figures. Sakya Pandita and his nephew Phakpa (1235-1280) were granted rulership over central Tibet by, respectively, the Mongol prince Godan and Kublai Khan (1215-1294). The fifth Dalai Lama, as the first theocratic ruler, engaged in nation building and instituted the office of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest-ranking Geluk-pa hierarch. The 13th Dalai Lama (1875-1933) proclaimed Tibet’s independence from China, and the 14th Dalai Lama (1935- ) received the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent efforts to free Tibet from Chinese control.
The most prominent modern leaders of Tibetan Buddhism, apart from the 14th Dalai Lama, have included Rangjung Rigpe Dorje (1924-1981), the 16th Karmapa (head of the Karma Kagyu sect), and Ogyen Trinley Dorje (1985- ), the 17th Karmapa; the Karma Kagyu lamas Tai Situ Rinpoche (1954- ) and Shamar Rinpoche (1952- ); the Nyingma-pa lamas Mindrolling Trichen (1931- ), head of the Nyingmapa sect, and Dudjom Rinpoche (1904-1987); and Sakya Trizin (1945- ), head of the Sakya-pa sect. Chogyam Trungpa (1939-1987), a Karma Kagyu tulku, and Geshe Rabten (1920-1986), a Geluk-pa monk who attained a geshe degree (the Tibetan Buddhist equivalent of a doctor of divinity degree), were important Tibetan Buddhist missionaries.
The recognition of the 17th Karmapa, the head of the Karma Kagyu sect, has caused a major division among Kagyu followers. Upon the death of the 16th Karmapa, four regents took over the task of overseeing the Karmapa’s monastery in exile, Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, and of searching for the Karmapa’s reincarnation. In 1992 Ogyen Trinley Dorje, whose candidacy was supported by some of the regents, was recognized by the Dalai Lama as the 17th Karmapa. The Chinese government immediately declared that Ogyen Trinley Dorje was the first living Buddha it had recognized. Shortly afterward, Ogyen Trinley Dorje was enthroned at Tsurpu Monastery, the historic monastery of the Karmapas in Tibet. One of Rumtek’s regents, however, supported the candidacy of Trinley Thaye Dorje, who was enthroned at the Karmapa International Buddhist Institution in New Delhi. In late 1999 the 17th Karmapa escaped to India, where he took up residence in a monastery near Dharamsala, the exile home of the Dalai Lama. In order to limit tensions among Kagyu followers in the region, the Indian government has permitted neither Ogyen Trinley Dorje nor Trinley Thaye Dorje to visit Rumtek Monastery.
On May 14, 1995, the Dalai Lama recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima (1989- ), a six-year-old boy who was living in Tibet, as the 11th Panchen Lama. Three days later the Chinese government abducted Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family, allegedly placing them under house arrest in an unknown location. In November of that year the Chinese government announced that the 11th Panchen Lama was Gyaincain Norbu. Currently Gyaincain Norbu is presented as the Panchen Lama in China, while most Tibetans view Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the legitimate 11th Panchen Lama. As of 2013 the Chinese government has refrained from disclosing his whereabouts or well-being.
Major Theologians and Authors
A key Nyingma-pa theologian was Longchen Rabjam (1308-1363). Jamyang Khentse Wangpo (1820-1892), a cofounder of the nonsectarian Rimey movement, exerted a major influence on such modern theologians as Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910-1991) and Dudjom Rinpoche. Prominent contributors to the other sects include Sakya Pandita of the Sakya-pa; Gampopa (1079-1153) and Milarepa (1040-1123) of the Kagyu-pa; and Tsongkhapa and the 14th Dalai Lama of the Geluk-pa.
Organizational Structure
Tibetan Buddhist monasteries are headed by a khenpo (abbot). Monks assume a variety of official roles within the monastery. Large Geluk-pa monasteries may be divided into two branches and subdivided into houses that represent the regional affiliations of their respective members. Each house has a guardian deity. Monasteries are typically associated with at least one reincarnated lama, who has his own labrang (personal estate) and attendants.
Since 2001 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India have engaged in the Science for Monks project. This initiative was directed by the 14th Dalai Lama, who has expressed his wish that Buddhist and scientific knowledge enhance one another.
A major transformation in the role of the Dalai Lama began on March 10, 2011, when he announced that he would step down from his role as political leader of the exile Tibetan government, deferring power to the elected Tibetan prime minister.
Houses of Worship and Holy Places
Tibetan Buddhist temples consist of a central hall containing a statue of the Buddha and an altar. The entrance itself is topped by renderings of the dharma wheel, which represents the Buddhist law concerning the endless cycle of birth and rebirth, and two deer. Temples may have a second floor and smaller chapels dedicated to specific deities flanking the main hall. Among the most important sacred sites in Tibet are Lhamo Lhatso, a lake whose waters are believed to reveal prophetic visions; Mount Kailash, which is regarded as the center of the world; Lake Manasarovar, where the Buddha’s mother is believed to have bathed; the Potala Palace of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa; and the Jokhang, a temple near the Potala that houses the most sacred Buddha statue in Tibet.
What is Sacred
Consecrated statues, masks, and paintings of the Buddha and Buddhist deities; consecrated amulets; Buddhist texts; relics of spiritual masters; food offerings that have been ritually blessed; prayer flags; stupas; and reincarnated lamas are considered sacred by Tibetan Buddhists.
Holidays and Festivals
Monlam Chenmo, the annual great prayer ceremony, commencing on the fourth day of the New Year and lasting 20 days, commemorates the Buddha’s expounding of the dharma (divine law) at Sravasti. Two days prior to the New Year, the Tse Gutor, a monastic dance exorcising the accumulated evil of the past year, is performed. Drugpa Tsechu, which celebrates the birthday of Padmasambhava on the 10th day of the sixth Tibetan month (typically July or August), features a series of monastic dances. Dzamling Chisang is an incense offering that marks Padmasambhava’s transformation of Tibet’s local deities into protectors of Buddhism. Lhabap Duchen, celebrated on the 22nd day of the ninth Tibetan month (usually November), is the anniversary of the Buddha’s descent from the Tushita heaven, which is devoid of suffering.
Most Tibetan Buddhists canceled their celebration of Losar, the Tibetan New Year, in 2009 in protest of the Chinese crackdown on peaceful protests in Tibet. The celebration of Losar was again canceled in 2012 and 2013 in protest of repressive measures imposed by the Chinese government on Tibetans. The Tibetan government-in-exile urged Tibetan Buddhists, however, to observe spiritual rituals during the normal period of Losar celebrations on behalf of those who had lost their lives and suffered in Tibet.
Mode of Dress
A monk’s basic dress consists of a red wrapped skirt with a yellow or red sleeveless shirt and a red shawl. Nuns may wear similar attire or a sleeveless red chupa, a long wrapped dress, over a yellow shirt. Tantric masters of the Nyingma-pa and Kagyu-pa sects wear off-white raw-silk shawls with pink to red stripes over a red chupa and secure their long hair in topknots. Hats of different colors and shapes distinguish the four sects as well as the monastic or spiritual rank of the wearer.
Dietary Practices
Most Tibetan Buddhists eat meat, but many avoid fish. Ritual foods include dre-see, a dish made from rice, brown sugar, raisins, and a root called droma, and dough cakes made from barley flour, butter, and brown sugar. Besides its ritual uses, butter may adorn gifts of black tea and is dabbed on the rims of cups or glasses containing beverages served during New Year festivities.
Rituals
Tibetan Buddhism has a rich variety of rituals. The most widely practiced include prostration, which expresses one’s desire to take refuge in the Buddha, dharma, and sangha (monastic order); the turning of dharma wheels; and the recitation of mantras. Pilgrims may journey to holy places by prostrating themselves repeatedly over distances of hundreds of miles. Prayer wheels, which range in size from those that can be held in the hand to huge mounted cylinders inscribed with the mantra om mani padme hum (“praise to the jewel in the lotus,” referring to praise of the body, speech, and mind of a Buddha), are rotated clockwise to generate the merit that will enhance one’s possibility of a good rebirth. Tibetan Buddhists attempt to gain the blessings of certain deities by raising prayer flags and burning juniper branches. Prayer flags are made from cloths in the five elemental colors of white, red, yellow, blue, and green and are stamped with woodblocks carved with mantras and auspicious animal images.
Many rituals entail constructing an altar and making offerings to the deities. These offerings include dough cakes, which are intended to serve as temporary abodes for the deities. At the completion of a ritual, consecrated food offerings are distributed to all in attendance. Tantric practice requires the officiating lama to merge with a deity during the ritual.
Rites of Passage
Following the death of a tulku a variety of divinatory techniques are employed to identify the child who is his—or (rarely) her—reincarnation. The child officially so recognized then undergoes an enthronement ceremony, during which offerings are made to persuade him not to leave this life.
Corpses may be conveyed to a funeral ground, where they are ritually dismembered and offered to vultures in a process known as sky burial, though Tibetan Buddhists commonly cremate their dead. Lamas are either cremated or, in exceptional cases, mummified. The soul, or, more precisely, consciousness, is believed to undertake a 49-day journey through an intermediary state known as bardo before it is reborn. Monks read the Bardo Thosgrol, the Tibetan book of the dead, every seven days for seven weeks to guide the consciousness to an auspicious rebirth.
Membership
The success of Tibetan Buddhist missionaries in converting Mongol princes in the 13th century had a major impact on Tibet’s political history as well as on the propagation of Tibetan Buddhism in Siberia and parts of China. In the early 21st century Tibetan Buddhist dharma centers may be found in many Western countries. Tibetan monasteries and dharma centers established in Tibetan exile communities and in Western countries use Web sites to announce teaching schedules and visits by important lamas; to describe the institution’s history and the spiritual lineages of its major teachers; and, on the Web sites of some Western centers, to even promote activities for children. Many videos of Tibetan Buddhist celebrations, teachings, and interviews with various lamas and tulkus are available on YouTube. These Web sites have contributed to the growth of the global community of Tibetan Buddhists.
Religious Tolerance
Tibetan Buddhism embraces tolerance of other religions. There have been occasions in Tibet’s history, however, when political rivals who supported different Tibetan Buddhist sects encouraged sectarian intolerance. For example, in the early 20th century several Geluk-pa lamas, against the wishes of the 13th Dalai Lama, forcibly converted some followers of other sects to the Geluk-pa order. By the end of the 20th century, the 14th Dalai Lama urged followers of the Geluk-pa sect not to seek the guidance of the Shugden Oracle, since this oracle has been known to advocate intolerance of non-Geluk-pa sects.
Social Justice
Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns have engaged in numerous peaceful demonstrations in Tibet, India, and Western countries advocating freedom for Tibet. Several monks and nuns who were imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese were finally released to the West following international diplomatic efforts, and they have become prominent campaigners for human rights. Among these are the monk Palden Gyatso (1931- ), who was imprisoned in Tibet from 1959 to 1992, and the nun Pasang Lhamo, imprisoned from 1994 to 1999. The 14th Dalai Lama, in addition to his endeavors to negotiate Tibet’s future with China, has also participated in world conferences to preserve the environment.
Social Life
Tibetan Buddhism weddings are not perceived as religious rituals, although monks may be invited to read prayers to bless a marriage. Tibetan Buddhist parents petition a lama to name a new child since they believe that the lama can identify the most auspicious name for the child. It is customary for families with several sons to send one to a monastery. Traditionally, some Tibetan parents chose to have their eldest daughters become nuns rather than marry and leave home so that the daughters would remain near the parents and take care of them in later years.
Controversial Issues
Despite the important roles played by women in the development of Tibetan Buddhism, nuns generally have had less access than monks to higher religious education, and they have not enjoyed equal status with monks. In the early 21st century, the 14th Dalai Lama observed that his reincarnation could be female.
Birth control is acceptable to Tibetan Buddhists, but abortion and euthanasia are, according to the 14th Dalai Lama, permissible only in exceptional cases.
In contravention of their vows, many Tibetan monks took up arms against the Chinese during the 1950s in response to attacks on Tibetan monasteries and to safeguard the escape of the Dalai Lama from Tibet. Since February 2009, 122 Tibetans have self-immolated (the deliberate sacrifice of oneself by fire) to protest Chinese rule in Tibet. For Tibetan Buddhists, suicide is considered an act of violence and is generally condemned because it prevents the individual from making maximal use of the potential uniquely associated with human life to gain enlightenment. However, another interpretation of these self-immolations is that they constitute an offering of the body in the service of others. The Dalai Lama has urged Tibetans not to take such actions.
Cultural Impact
Tibetan Buddhism is expressed and represented through a rich variety of performing and material art forms. Tibetan operas (Ache Lhamo) recount Jataka stories, tales about the Buddha’s previous lives, through glottal-stop vocalizing, dancing, and clowning to the accompaniment of a drum and cymbals. Monastic dances (cham) portray various Buddhist deities. Tibetan Buddhist material art includes statues of the Buddha, Buddhist deities, and lamas; scroll paintings (tangkas); butter sculptures; masks; and mandalas made of colored grains of sand.
During the 1990s Tibetan Buddhism featured prominently in three major films. Bernardo Bertolucci’s Little Buddha (1993) is a fictional account of the discovery of a child born to Western parents as the reincarnation of an important lama. Jean-Jacques Annaud’s 7 Years in Tibet (1997) is based on the Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer’s book recounting his experiences in Tibet in the 1940s and his friendship with the 14th Dalai Lama. Martin Scorsese’s Kundun portrays the life of the 14th Dalai Lama prior to his escape to India in 1959.
The Maitreya Project was launched in 1997 under the spiritual directorship of Lama Zopa Rinpoche with the goal of building a 150-foot-tall statue of the Maitreya Buddha in Bodh Gaya, India. Interest in the project has been generated through the Maitreya Relic Tour, which has exhibited relics of the Buddha and bodhisattvas (enlightened beings who forgo nirvana in order to save others) in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.