Angry Monk Reflections On Tibet 2005

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Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism is a religion in exile, forced from its homeland when Tibet was conquered by the Chinese. At one time it was thought that 1 in 6 Tibetan men were Buddhist monks.

Norbulingka Palace ©

The best known face of Tibetan Buddhism is the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since he fled Chinese occupation of his country in 1959.

Tibetan Buddhism combines the essential teachings of Mahayana Buddhism with Tantric and Shamanic, and material from an ancient Tibetan religion called Bon.

Although Tibetan Buddhism is often thought to be identical with Vajrayana Buddhism, they are not identical - Vajrayana is taught in Tibetan Buddhism together with the other vehicles.

History

Buddhism became a major presence in Tibet towards the end of the 8th century CE. It was brought from India at the invitation of the Tibetan king, Trisong Detsen, who invited two Buddhist masters to Tibet and had important Buddhist texts translated into Tibetan.

First to come was Shantarakshita, abbot of Nalanda in India, who built the first monastery in Tibet. He was followed by Padmasambhava, who came to use his wisdom and power to overcome "spiritual" forces that were stopping work on the new monastery.

Groups within Tibetan Buddhism

• Nyingmapa: Founded by Padmasambhava, this is oldest sect, noted in the West for the teachings of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
• Kagyupa: Founded by Tilopa (988-1069), the Kagyupa tradition is headed by the Karmapa Lama. Important Kagyupa teachers include Naropa, Marpa, and Milarepa.
• Sakyapa: Created by Gonchok Gyelpo (1034-1102) and his son Gunga Nyingpo (1092-1158).
• Gelugpa: (The Virtuous School) Founded by Tsong Khapa Lobsang Drakpa (also called Je Rinpoche) (1357 - 1419), this tradition is headed by the Dalai Lama.
• New Kadampa Tradition: one of the major Buddhist schools in the UK, founded by the Tibetan-born Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Some Buddhists and non-Buddhists regard the NKT as outside the mainstream tradition.

Special features of Tibetan Buddhism

• the status of the teacher or "Lama"
• preoccupation with the relationship between life and death
• important role of rituals and initiations
• rich visual symbolism
• elements of earlier Tibetan faiths
• mantras and meditation practice

Tibetan Buddhist practice features a number of rituals, and spiritual practices such as the use of mantras and yogic techniques.

Supernatural beings are prominent in Tibetan Buddhism. Buddhas and bodhisattvas abound, gods and spirits taken from earlier Tibetan religions continue to be taken seriously. Bodhisattvas are portrayed as both benevolent godlike figures and wrathful deities.

This metaphysical context has allowed Tibetan Buddhism to develop a strong artistic tradition, and paintings and other graphics are used as aids to understanding at all levels of society.

Visual aids to understanding are very common in Tibetan Buddhism - pictures, structures of various sorts and public prayer wheels and flags provide an ever-present reminder of the spiritual domain in the physical world.

Tibetan Buddhism is strong in both monastic communities and among lay people.

The lay version has a strong emphasis on outwardly religious activities rather than the inner spiritual life: there is much ritual practice at temples, pilgrimage is popular - often including many prostrations, and prayers are repeated over and over - with the use of personal or public prayer wheels and flags. There are many festivals, and funerals are very important ceremonies.

Lay people provide physical support to the monasteries as well as relying on the monks to organise the rituals.

Lamas

Tibetan monastery ©

A lama is a teacher. They are often a senior member of a monastic community - a monk or a nun - but lay people and married people can also be lamas. They are very often reincarnations of previous lamas.

As well as being learned in Buddhist texts and philosophy, lamas often have particular skills in ritual.

The Dalai Lama

Dalai is a Mongol word meaning ocean, and refers to the depth of the Dalai Lama's wisdom.

The first Dalai Lama to bear the title was the 3rd Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso. (The two previous incarnations were named "Dalai Lama" after their deaths.)

The current Dalai Lama (2002), Tenzin Gyatso, was born in Amdo, Tibet in 1935 and is the fourteenth Dalai Lama.

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Tantra

Tibetan Buddhism was much influenced by Tantra, and this has brought in a wealth of complex rituals and symbols and techniques.

Tantra originated in India and appears in both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. It brings Tibetan Buddhism a magical element and a rich portfolio of heavenly beings. It also brings a wide variety of spiritual techniques such as mantras, mandalas, ceremonies, and many varieties of yoga.

Rituals

Rituals and simple spiritual practices such as mantras are popular with lay Tibetan Buddhists. They include prostrations, making offerings to statues of Buddhas or bodhisattvas, attending public teachings and ceremonies.

Tibetan temple ceremonies are often noisy and visually striking, with brass instruments, cymbals and gongs, and musical and impressive chanting by formally dressed monks. It takes place in strikingly designed temples and monasteries.

Advanced practices

Tibetan Buddhism also involves many advanced rituals. These are only possible for those who have reached a sophisticated understanding of spiritual practice.

There are also advanced spiritual techniques. These include elaborate visualisations and demanding meditations. It's said that senior Tibetan yoga adepts can achieve much greater control over the body than other human beings, and are able to control their body temperature, heart rate and other normally automatic functions.

Living and dying

Tibetan Buddhism emphasises awareness of death and impermanence. Everything is always dying - the cells of our bodies are dying even while we live, reminding us of our own impermanence. And all the living things around us are dying, too.

This awareness should not produce sadness or despair, nor should it cause a Buddhist to start a frantic pursuit of the impermanent pleasures of life. Instead, it should lead the Buddhist to see the value of every moment of existence, and be diligent in their meditation and other religious practice.

Awareness of death, combined with the understanding of the impermanence of everything, leads the Buddhist to realise that only spiritual things have any lasting value.

Preparing for death

Tibetan Buddhists use visualisation meditations and other exercises to imagine death and prepare for the bardo. They work towards a holistic understanding and acceptance of death as an inevitable part of their journey.

Another way of preparing for death is to take part in helping those who have died through their experience in the bardo. This not only aids the dead, but enables the living practitioner to gain a real experience of the bardo, before they themselves enter it.

Even those who cannot gain the spiritual awareness to have a consciousness of the bardo are helped by achieving a greater experience of the impermanence of everything.

Tibetan Book of the Dead

This is one of the great texts of Tibetan Buddhism, and a big seller in the west. The English title is not a translation of the Tibetan title - the book's true name is Great Liberation through hearing during the intermediate state, commonly known in Tibet as Liberation through hearing.

The book deals with the experiences of a person as they pass between death and rebirth.

Bardo

Bardo is the state between death and rebirth. The different schools of Tibetan Buddhism have different understandings of this state which is regarded as lasting for 49 days.

The experience of a person during bardo depends on their spiritual training during life. An untrained person is thought to be confused as to where they are, and may not realise that they have died. People are often unwilling to give up attachment to their previous life - and their negative emotions - may cause their rebirth to be less good than it would otherwise have been.

In traditional Tibetan Buddhism, the dead person is helped through bardo by a lama who reads prayers and performs rituals from the Book of the Dead, advising the deceased to break free from attachment to their past life and their dead body. In some schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the lama will actively help the dead person to transfer their consciousness from their body, in preparation for rebirth.

Many Tibetan Buddhists believe that it is possible for those left behind to assist the dead person on their journey by doing spiritual work that increases the merits of the deceased and thus helps them to a better rebirth.

During the 49 day period the dead can see clearly into the minds of those left behind, which allows the living to help the dead by thinking good thoughts, meditating on Buddha and other virtuous beings, and engaging in spiritual practices.

New Kadampa Tradition

The New Kadampa Tradition

Atisha reintroduced Buddhism into Tibet ©

The New Kadampa Tradition emerged from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and is one of the major Buddhist schools in the UK. Some Buddhists and non-Buddhists regard the NKT as outside the mainstream tradition.

Origins and history

The New Kadampa Tradition is one of the fastest growing Mahayana Buddhist traditions in the West, with 900 meditation centres in 37 countries. Founded by the Tibetan-born meditation master, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, supporters claim it offers local access to Buddha's teachings, meditation practice and an alternative view to life that promotes peace and harmony.

Kadampa Buddhism was founded in 11th Century Tibet by the Indian Buddhist Master Atisha (982 - 1054 CE). He was invited by King Jangchub Ö, a ruler of Ngari region of Tibet, to reintroduce Buddhism to Tibet. It had first been introduced by Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita 200 years earlier, but was largely destroyed by the anti-Buddhist purges of the Tibetan king, Lang Darma, who was a follower of Bön, the pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet.

Atisha did revive Buddhist practice in Tibet, and founded what is now the tradition of Kadampa Buddhism. Ka means word and refers to the teachings of the Buddha and dam refers to Atisha's special presentation of them, known as Lamrim or stages of the path to enlightenment. Lamrim literally means Stages of the Path and encompasses all Buddha's teachings. Atisha showed how the paths of Sutra and Tantra were not separate and could be practised together.

Three centuries later (in the 13th century) the Tibetan Buddhist master Je Tsongkharpa, one of Tibet's saints, developed and promoted Kadampa Buddhism throughout the country. He reformed the monasteries, emphasizing the practice of moral discipline, systematic study and meditation, which characterize the three Kadam lineages. He also wrote commentaries to many sacred Buddhist texts, clarifying their meanings, and taught the union of Sutra and Tantra. His life was an example of purity in body, speech and mind. His followers became known as New Kadampas or Gelugpas (The Virtuous Ones) who strived to become great Bodhisattvas and Buddhas themselves, so they could help release others from the suffering of cyclic existence.

The New Kadampa Tradition in the West

In 1976 Geshe Kelsang was invited to teach in the UK by Lama Yeshe, the headteacher of the FPMT, Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition.

He taught at FPMT-Centre Manjushri Institute which was based at Conishead priory, Ulverston, Cumbria, England (now called Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre) with the blessing of the Dalai Lama.

In the late 1970s Geshe Kelsang took the controversial decision of opening his own Buddhist Centre in York. He was asked to resign his post at Conishead Priory but resisted pressure to leave after a group of his closest students pleaded with him to stay.

Critics claim this was the beginning of a rift between Kelsang and the FPMT. They also accuse Kelsang of starting a breakaway movement and argue that the New Kadampa Tradition, as it is known today, is not part of the ancient Kadampa Tradition but a split from the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Disagreement with the Dalai Lama

Despite the popularity of the New Kadampa Tradition - often known as the NKT for short - the organisation was involved in a public dispute with the Dalai Lama which began in 1996.

The problem centres on the emphasis placed on the Dharma Protector Dorje Shugden by Kelsang.

According to the NKT's website: "A Dharma Protector is an emanation of a Buddha or a Bodhisattva whose main functions are to avert the inner and outer obstacles that prevent practitioners from gaining spiritual realizations, and to arrange all the necessary conditions for their practice".

Kelsang teaches that the deity Dorje Shugden is the Dharma protector for the New Kadampa Tradition and is a manifestation of the Buddha.

The spirit Dorje Shugden is described by some as a "wrathful, sword-waving deity with big ears and menacing fangs" or as "a ...warrior figure, riding a snow lion through a sea of boiling blood".

The New Kadampa Tradition offers this description: "In his left hand he holds a heart, which symbolises great compassion and spontaneous great bliss... His round yellow hat represents the view of Nagarjuna, and the wisdom sword in his right hand teaches us to sever ignorance... Dorje Shudgen rides a snow lion ...and has a jewel-splitting mongoose perched on his left arm, symbolising his power to bestow wealth on those who put their trust in him... His wrathful expression indicated that he destroys ignorance, the real enemy of all living beings, by blessing them with great wisdom."

Dorje Shugden atop his snow lion ©

The NKT venerates Dorje Shugden as its protector deity. The Dalai Lama, however, has rejected and spoken out against this practice. He has described Shugden as an evil and malevolent force, and argued that other Lamas before him had also placed restrictions on worship of this spirit.

After the Lama made these statements public in 1996 some followers of Dorje Shugden protested against the Dalai Lama in London, accusing him of suppressing their religious freedom.

Today members of the New Kadampa Tradition continue to worship Dorje Shugden.

The Dalai Lama

The rôle of the Dalai Lama

Potala Palace, the Dalai Lama's residence until 1959

The Dalai Lama is the head monk of Tibetan Buddhism and traditionally has been responsible for the governing of Tibet, until the Chinese government took control in 1959. Before 1959, his official residence was Potala Palace in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.

The Dalai Lama belongs to the Gelugpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, which is the largest and most influential tradition in Tibet.

The institution of the Dalai Lama is a relatively recent one. There have been only 14 Dalai Lamas in the history of Buddhism, and the first and second Dalai Lamas were given the title posthumously.

According to Buddhist belief, the current Dalai Lama is a reincarnation of a past lama who decided to be reborn again to continue his important work, instead of moving on from the wheel of life. A person who decides to be continually reborn is known as tulku.

Buddhists believe that the first tulku in this reincarnation was Gedun Drub, who lived from 1391-1474 and the second was Gendun Gyatso.

However, the name Dalai Lama, meaning Ocean of Wisdom, was not conferred until the third reincarnation in the form of Sonam Gyatso in 1578.

The current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso.

Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, as a child ©

Choosing a Dalai Lama

After the death of a Dalai Lama it has traditionally been the responsibility of the High Lamas of the Gelugpa Tradition and the Tibetan government to find his reincarnation.

The High Lamas search for a boy who was born around the same time as the death of the Dalai Lama.

It can take around two or three years to identify the Dalai Lama, and for the current, 14th Dalai Lama, it was four years before he was found.

There are several ways in which the High Lamas might find out where the next reincarnation will be found.

• Dream
  • One of the High Lamas may dream about some mark or location that will identify the boy.
• Smoke
  • If the previous Dalai Lama was cremated, High Lamas will watch the direction of the smoke and search accordingly.
• Oracle Lake
  • High Lamas go to a holy lake, called Lhamo Lhatso, in central Tibet and watch for a sign from the lake itself. This may be either a vision or some indication of the direction in which to search.The home and village of Tenzin Gyatso was identified in a vision from this lake.

Once the High Lamas have located the home and the boy, they present a number of artefacts which they have brought with them in preparation, to the child.

Amongst these artefacts are a number of items that belonged to the deceased Dalai Lama. If the boy chooses the items that belonged to the previous Dalai Lama, this is seen as a sign, in conjunction with all of the other indications, that the boy is a reincarnation.

This procedure, however, as Tenzin Gyatso has said himself, is not set in stone; if two thirds of the Tibetan people wish to change the method of identifying the next reincarnation, this would be just as valid.

The search for the Dalai Lama has usually been limited to Tibet, although the third tulku was born in Mongolia. However, as Tibet has been taken by the Chinese government, Tenzin Gyatso says that if he is reborn it will not be in a country run by the People's Republic of China, or any other country which is not free.

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Interestingly, Tenzin Gyatso has also expressed doubts over whether he will be reborn at all, suggesting the function of the Dalai Lama may be over. However, until Tibet is reunited with its spiritual leader, it seems likely that there will continue to be a Dalai Lama.

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Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso is the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in 1935 and recognised as the reincarnation of Thubten Gyatso at a young age.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

His Holiness, Tenzin Gyatso, was born Lhamo Dhondrub on July 6 1935 to a peasant family in the province of Amdo, in a village called Takster in northeastern Tibet.

The High Lamas of the Gelugpa tradition had been searching for many years for the next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, but according to reports, there were incidents which marked out Lhamo as the correct child.

The face of the embalmed thirteenth Dalai Lama is reported to have mysteriously turned north east. This, combined with a vision a High Lama had when looking in the sacred lake Lhamo Lhatso, indicated that Amdo was the village they should search. Furthermore, the vision also clearly indicated a three storey monastery with a gold and turquoise roof, and another vision of a small house with odd guttering.

A monastery at Kumbum in Amdo fitted the description given by the High Lama and, after a careful search of the neighbouring villages, the house of Lhamo Dhondrub was identified. Lhamo was around three years old at the time.

The search party went to his home and observed him without revealing their reasons. They came back a few days later with the formal intention of performing the final test.

They presented some items to the child, including a mala, or rosary, and a bell that belonged to the deceased Dalai Lama. Lhamo instantly identified the items shouting "It's mine, it's mine!"

At just over five years old, he was enrolled in the local monastery and began his training. He was also trained by the highest monks in the land at Lhasa, Tibet’s capital city, at that time his official residence. He was enthroned at the age of 15 in 1950 amidst the start of troubles with China, but continued to study until the age of 25, receiving the highest honours available.

The young Lhamo Dhondrub, who was renamed Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, took leadership of a country that was, according to traditional maps, still a Chinese province.

Around 1950, the political landscape of China was changing. Plans were made to bring Tibet officially under Chinese control. But in March 1959, Tibetans took to the streets demanding an end to Chinese rule. Chinese People’s Republic troops crushed the revolt and thousands were killed.

Fearing that the Chinese government would kill him, the Dalai Lama fled from Tibet to India with thousands of followers, where he was welcomed by Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Nehru gave him permission to form The Tibetan Government in Exile in Dharamsala in India. The Dalai Lama, and the refugees who followed him, created a society in which Tibetan language, culture, arts and religion are promoted.

He is the first Dalai Lama to travel to the West, and his charismatic manner has helped to draw much support for Buddhism and the Tibetan resistance movement.

In 1989 he received the Nobel Peace Prize for maintaining a policy of non violence with the Chinese government, despite the knowledge that many Tibetans would be happy to take up armed resistance to return him to his position as their leader.

Tibetan Buddhism

Last updated 2004-01-14

Tibetan Buddhism is a religion in exile, forced from its homeland when Tibet was conquered by the Chinese. This article is a detailed look at its history and practices.