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Tibetan Buddhism is the body of religious , Mahayana , and Vajrayana (also known as Tantrayana). The invasion and occupation of Tibet by China in 1959 (which has become known as the Tibetan Diaspora) eventually led to the spread of Tibetan Buddhism to many Western countries where the tradition has gained great popularity. In the past, Tibetan Buddhism was referred to by some as "Lamaism" but this is now considered by many to be based on a misunderstanding of the practice of guru devotion ('guru' is the Sanskrit equivalent of the Tibetan word ' Lama ' and means 'spiritual teacher') in Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhists generally find the term "lamaism" offensive. INTRODUCTION Tibetan Buddhism is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition, meaning that the goal of all practice is to achieve full enlightenment (or Buddhahood) in order to remove all limitation on one's ability to help all other living beings to attain this state. This motivation for practice is called Bodhichitta (a Sanskrit word meaning 'mind of enlightenment'). Buddhahood is defined as freedom from the obstructions to liberation (or negative states of mind such as hatred and desirous attachment) and the obstructions to omniscience (which are the imprints of negative minds, or delusions). When one is freed from mental obscurations one is said to attain a state of unimaginable, continuous bliss where all limitations on one's ability to help all other living beings are removed. This includes the attainment of omniscience - that is all obstructions to knowing all phenomena (including knowing perfectly the minds of all sentient beings) are removed. In the Tibetan Buddhist view, when one perceives or conceives of a particular object the mind (carried upon a subtle energy - 'prana' in Sanskrit and 'lung' in Tibetan) goes to that object. Thus it is said that upon the attainment of omniscience, one's mind becomes omnipresent. There are said to be countless beings that have attained Buddhahood, or in other words there are countless Buddhas. Buddhas spontaneously, naturally and continuously perform activities to benefit all sentient beings. However it is believed that sentient beings' karma (or actions and results) has equal power to Buddhas. 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 their own negative actions (usually committed in previous lifetimes). VAJRAYANA Tibetan Buddhism encompasses Vajrayana (a Sanskrit word that is a conjunction of Vajra which may be translated as diamond, thunder or indestructible and Yana or vehicle). It is said that Vajrayana practice is the fastest method for attaining Buddhahood, however this is only the case for advanced practitioners who have a grounding in the preliminary practices (which may be categorised as renunciation, Bodhichitta and wisdom - specifically, the wisdom perceiving emptiness). For practitioners who are not qualified, Vajrayana practise is in fact dangerous, and will only lead to suffering if it is not practised with the pure motivation of Bodhichitta. For this reason also, Vajrayana should only ever be practised after receiving an appropriate initiation (also known as an empowerment) from a qualified lama. SCHOOLS OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM Tibetan Buddhism has four main traditions (the suffix ''pa'' is comparable to "er" in English):
, near Xining, Qinghai ( Amdo ), China . Foto by writer Mario Biondi , july 7, 2006'']]
See Tibetan Buddhist Canon for a list of important tantric texts recognized by different traditions. Red Hat and Yellow Hat Sects, Ka'ma and Sarma traditions The schools are sometimes divided into the "Old Translation", or Nyingma , and "New Translation" ( Sarma ) traditions, with the Kagyu, Sakya and Kadam/Gelug among the latter. They are also sometimes classified as " Red Hat " and " Yellow Hat " schools, with the Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya among the former and the Gelug comprising the latter. The terms "Old Translation" and "New Translation" particularly designate translations and lineages of various Tantric texts. Bön, Minor Schools, and Movements Besides the above main schools, there are a number of minor ones like Jonang , Zhije , Bodong and Buton . The Jonangpa were suppressed by the rival Gelukpa in the 1600s and were once thought extinct, but are now known to survive in Eastern Tibet . There is also an Ecumenical movement known as Rime (alternative spelling:''Rimed''). The Bön religion, which predated Buddhism in Tibet, has now been formally honoured by the Dalai Lama as the fifth religious tradition of Tibet. Bön practitioners honour Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche as their founder instead of Shakyamuni Buddha . STUDY OF TENET SYSTEMS IN TIBETAN BUDDHISM Tibetan Buddhists divide Buddhist philosophy as transmitted from India into four main streams of philosophical tenets: Two belong to the older Hinayana path (Skt. for ''Lesser Vehicle'', Tib. theg dman). ( Hinayana is sometimes referred to as Śravakayāna (Skt. ''Vehicle of Hearers'') because "lesser" may be considered derogatory):
Primary source for the former is the Abhidharmakosha by Vasubandhu and commentaries. The Abhidharmakosha is also an important source for the Sautrantikas, Dignaga and Dharmakirti are their most prominent exponents. The other two are Mahayana (Skt. ''Greater Vehicle'') (Tib. ''theg-chen''):
Yogacarin base their views on texts from Maitreya , Asanga and Vasubandhu , Madhyamikas on Nagarjuna and Aryadeva . There is a further classification of Madhyamaka into Svatantrika-Madhyamaka and Prasangika-Madhyamaka. The former stems from Bhavaviveka , Santaraksita and Kamalashila and the latter from Buddhapalita and Chandrakirti . It is not clear, if these four streams ever actually existed as distinct traditions in India or if this classification was introduced by Tibetan Scholars only after the transmission to Tibet. The tenet system is used in the monasteries and colleges to teach buddhist philosophy in a systematic way. Therein 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 more subtle views on the ultimate nature of reality, that is on Emptiness and Dependent Arising , culminating in the philosophy of the Madhyamikas, which is widely believed to present the most sophisticated point of view. MONASTICISM monastery.]] Although there were many Householder - Yogis in Tibet, monasticism was the foundation of Buddhism in Tibet. It is estimated that in the period from the 16th century through to the Chinese invasion in 1959 as much as 25% of the population of Tibet were monks . There were thousands of Monasteries in Tibet, and nearly all were ransacked and destoyed by the Chinese communists. Most of the major ones have been at least partially re-established. In Mongolia during the 1920s approximately one third of the male population were monks, though many lived outside monasteries. These monasteries were largely dismantled during Communist rule, but many have been reestablished with the Buddhist revival in Mongolia following the fall of Communism. Monasteries generally adhere to one particular school. Some of the major centers in each tradition are as follows: Gelug The three most important centers of the Gelugpa lineage are Sera, Drepung and Ganden Monasteries.
Kagyu Many Kagyu monasteries are in Kham, eastern Tibet. Tsurphu, one of the most important, is in central Tibet, as is Ralung.
Nyingma The Nyingma lineage is said to have "six mother monasteries," although the composition of the six has changed over time:
Also of note is
Sakya
s at a monastery in Sikkim ]] HISTORY OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM According to a Tibetan legendary tradition, Buddhist scriptures (among them the Karandavyuha Sutra ) and relics (among them the Cintamani ) arrived in southern Tibet during the reign of Lha Thothori Nyantsen , the 28th "king of Tibet" (fifth century), who was probably just a local chief in the Yarlung valley. The tale is miraculous (the objects fell from the sky on the roof of the king's palace), but it may have an historical background (arrival of Buddhist missionaries).Studholme, Alexander: ''The Origins of Om Manipadme Hum'', Albany, NY 2002, p. 14. The earliest well-documented influence of Buddhism in Tibet dates from the reign of king Songtsän Gampo , who died in 650. He married a Chinese Buddhist princess, Wencheng . According to a Tibetan legendary tradition, he also married a Nepalese Buddhist princess, Bhrikuti ; but Bhrikuti, who bears the name of a goddess, is not mentioned in reliable sources. Songtsän Gampo founded the first Buddhist temples. By the second half of the 8th century he was already regarded as an embodiment of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.Macdonald, Alexander: ''Religion in Tibet at the time of Srong-btsan sgam-po: myth as history'', in: ''The History of Tibet'', ed. Alex McKay, Vol. 1, London 2003, p. 354-363 (for the queens see p. 355); Dargyay, Eva: ''Srong-btsan sgam-po of Tibet: Bodhisattva and king'', in: ''The History of Tibet'', ed. Alex McKay, Vol. 1, London 2003, p. 364-378 (for the queens see p. 373). The successors of Songtsän Gampo seem to have been less enthusiastic about the propagation of Buddhism. But in the 8th century, emperor arrived in Tibet according to the Tibetan tradition. It was Padmasambhava (more commonly known in the region as ''Guru Rinpoche'') who merged tantric Buddhism with the local Bön religion to form what we now recognize as Tibetan Buddhism. In addition to writing a number of important scriptures (some of which he hid for future '' Terton s'' to find), Padmasambhava established the Nyingma school from which all schools of Tibetan Buddhism are derived. Tibetan Buddhism exerted a strong influence from the 11th century AD among the peoples of Central Asia , especially in Mongolia and Manchuria . It was adopted as an official state religion by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty that ruled China . TIBETAN BUDDHISM IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD Today, Tibetan Buddhism is adhered to widely in the Tibetan Plateau , Nepal , Bhutan , Mongolia , Kalmykia (on the north-east shore of the Caspian), Siberia (central Russia, specifically Buryatia and Chita Oblast ), and the Russian Far East (concentrated in Tyva ). In the wake of the Tibetan diaspora, Tibetan Buddhism has gained adherents in the West and throughout the world; there are estimated to be tens of thousands of practitioners in Europe and the Americas. Western celebrity Tibetan Buddhism practitioners include Richard Gere , Adam Yauch , Allen Ginsberg ; Philip Glass , and Steven Seagal , who has been proclaimed a Tulku . Steven Seagal - "The Action Lama" SEE ALSO ;Organizations REFERENCES FURTHER READING ;Introductory books
;Other books
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