TIBETAN BUDDHISM
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Definition: TIBETAN BUDDHISM

TIBETAN BUDDHISM: Tibetan Buddhism derives from the confluence of Buddhism and yoga which started to arrive in Tibet from India briefly around the late eighth century and then more steadily from the thirteenth century onwards.

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Extract from Timeless Wisdom of the Tibetans:

When the first Buddhists crossed the Himalayas they encountered in the early Bön system many beliefs that are completely opposed to the teachings of the Buddha. The original teachings of the Buddha, that you will read about in detail in the next chapter, offer us a philosophy of life that requires no belief in God, gods or superstition but urges its followers to test the philosophy for themselves by means of meditation. Furthermore the Buddha teaches that people should not believe what he says just because he says so, but should test out his words and directly experience his teachings. Bön on the other hand was closer to a shamanistic religion steeped in ritual, superstition and animalism with a separate priesthood that wielded political influence.

The non-violent teachings of Buddhism must have been particularly difficult to expound to a nation of regional tribal warlords under the authority of a divine royal family with ambitions for large-scale conquest. The Bön religion was also very sophisticated in that it practised large-scale sacrificial rituals, build intricate tumuli, had court priests and magicians, and worshipped a complex collection of gods governing all aspects family, tribal, regional and national issues.

Yet amazingly what happened in Tibet was that the somewhat cerebral philosophy of Buddhism integrated the instinctive philosophy of Bön. This unusual fusion of opposites, combined with the unique character of the Tibetan people and incubated in of the world's most magnificent environment, resulted in one of the world's most inspiring sources of wisdom.

Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet

But the introduction and spread of Buddhism into Tibet was by no means easy and met with great hostility from the native Bön religion. Not only did it have considerable influence in the court but it was also deeply rooted in the mind and traditions of the commoners. Yet despite this Buddhism had its appeal. On the surface it appeared to the uncouth Tibetans to be a superior form of magic and on a deeper level offered the opportunity for anyone to spiritually progress.

It is said in the legends that the Indian king named Rupati, who fled to Tibet after his defeat in the Mahabharata war, was enthroned as their king in 127 B.C.E. by twelve wise Bön priests who believed that he had descended from heaven. They gave him the name Nyatri Tsenpo. But Buddhism is believed to have first entered Tibet from India and China during the 7th century CE when Tibet's political power was expanding under the young warrior king Songtsen Gampo (AD 608 - 50) .He was probably encouraged in his interest by his two wives who were both Buddhists. At this time Tibet was a powerful warfaring nation and King Gampo posed a sufficient threat to China to be able to demand a Chinese princess as his bride. Emperor Tai Zong, the first of the Tang Dynasty, sent his adopted daughter, Wen Cheng, to Tibet with pomp and ceremony, along with a gold Buddha statue as her dowry. King Gampo also made another alliance by marrying Princess Tritsun of Nepal and his total of three wives gave birth to the children who founded Tibet's Tubo Dynasty.

Legend has it that the two foreign brides converted Gampo from the Bön faith to Buddhism. They also persuaded him to wear silk instead of sheepskins. In addition Songtsen Gampo built a fortress on Red Hill (the first Poala) for the brides to live in and he built the Jokhang and Ramoche temples in Lhasa to house the holy Buddha statues.

Songtsen Gampo is said to have sent an intelligent young man, Tönmi Sambhota, to India to collect Buddhist texts and invent a Tibetan system of writing. The new form of writing that Sambhota produced was an incredible intellectual achievement. His orthography was based on that of Kashmir and he adapted its script to the very complicated Tibetan language. Within 20 years of its invention Sambhota's system had come into wide use in Tibet for documents and laws as well as for writing translations of Buddhist texts.

Some authorities claim that king Songtsen Gampo didn't adopt Buddhism at all. He is likely to have been loyal to his ancestral religion which regarded him as a divine being. The enormous burial mound of King Srongtsan Gampo, which can still be seen in the Yarlung valley, bears testimony to his faith in which the funeral rites kings included complicated rituals on a large scale with animal and human sacrifice. Despite this much later when lamas governed Tibet, Songtsen Gampo, the first 'religious king', was proclaimed an incarnation of the bodhisattva of compassion and the patron saint of Tibet. His image is often seen in temples wearing a high orange or gold turban with a small Buddha head peeping over the top. His Chinese wife, Wen Cheng is always on the viewer's right with his Nepalese wife, Tritsun on the viewer's left.

TIBETAN BUDDHISM entry by Craig Hamilton-Parker email

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