TIBETAN BUDDHISM

09th Dec 2024 By Tennor

A common misconception still prevails about Tibetan Buddhism that it is a shamanistic form of Buddhism heavily influenced by the indigenous Bon religion of Tibet. 

This misconception can be quickly reinforced by visiting Tibetan monasteries first-hand and seeing all manner of ferocious, seemingly demonic deities peering at you from the murals and thangkas.

But in every culture where Buddhism has spread, from Sri Lanka to Japan, the same phenomenon can be observed: instead of denouncing and stamping out the local gods, the Buddhists have converted them to their cause. 

Thus, people can continue using their traditional religious symbols but within a more highly evolved system of value and meaning. Tibet is no exception to this. 

The traditional religion of the region, in this case, Bon, has conditioned the form Buddhism has assumed but has had little influence on its meaning.

What is Tibetan Buddhism?

Since the arrival of Buddhism in Tibet, the importance of Bon has been entirely transformed by its presence.

Buddhism entered Tibet from India in two principal phases (about ninety per cent of the wrathful, Bon-type deities one sees are Indian in origin). 

• The first phase was during the reign of the Yarlung kings, particularly Trisong Detsen, the Indian figure most associated with Padmasambhava.
• The second phase was during the eleventh century, with Atisha and Milarepa being the best-known figures of this time. Although both Tibetan and Western scholars like to see the introduction of Buddhism as a systematic and almost deliberate effort, it is more likely that it was the gradual product of centuries of cultural and religious influence filtering from India and China into the Tibetan highlands. Only much later was this process simplified and categorised by the minds of historians.

One of the most distinctive features of Tibetan Buddhism is its integration of the three principal trends of Indian Buddhism into a coherent, systematic whole. 

These three trends are the Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana, which means the ‘lesser’, the ‘great’ and the ‘diamond’ vehicles to enlightenment. 

• The Hinayana: presents the primary teaching of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, still preserved in its original form by the Theravada tradition of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.
• The Mahayana: introduces the further evolution of ethical and philosophical understanding that emerged in India about five hundred years after Shakyamuni.
• The Vajrayana: is the culmination of the two other traditions, a powerful, direct path that utilises symbolic imagination, mantric sound and subtle physical energy to effect a complete physical transformation.

What Is Hinayana?

Buddhism starts by recognising the frustrating and essentially unsatisfactory nature of ordinary human existence. It then points out that the source of this frustration and unfulfillment lies not in the heart of the world itself or God’s intention or the Devil but in the intellectual bewilderment and emotional confusion within ourselves. 

Buddhism maintains the suffering we experience in life to an end by ridding ourselves of this confusion. It offers a way to realise this goal by following a path of personal development that includes examining and changing one’s attitudes, behaviour, livelihood, and psychological habits.

The basic teachings of Buddhism emphasise the need for strict moral discipline combined with rigorous training in meditation and insight as the means to liberate oneself from the negative, inner bondage of suffering. 

These elements are likewise stressed in Tibetan Buddhism and find their classical expression in its monastic institutes. Thus, the monk or nun consciously adopts a way of life that has been the most conducive to cultivating these qualities.

Ideally, a monk would devote the remainder of his life to study and spiritual discipline, aspiring to set an example to society by his embodiment of the values of Buddhism.

In practice, all the monks must attend special training in performing the complex rituals found in Tibetan Buddhism and much of their time is taken up by long sessions of chanting and praying. Either in the homes of the laity or in the monastery itself.

The monks and nuns are also the living symbols of the Buddhist spiritual community or ‘Sangha’. Therefore, as in all Buddhist societies, the Tibetans believe that a continued monastic presence is vital to the preservation of Buddhism. 

Thus, one of the responsibilities of the lay community is to support the monasteries either by donating food or money directly to them or by sponsoring one or more monks.

It was also a custom to present a son to the monastery. Both for his education and contribution to the human resources of the order. 

Another essential feature of basic Buddhism is the commitment to ‘Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels’. The Three Jewels, or the Triple Gem, are the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.

By committing one’s life to these three principles, one is considered a Buddhist. This commitment is the fundamental spiritual focus of Buddhism. It means directing one’s inner life towards the enlightenment and compassion personified by the Buddha.

In addition, they practise the Dharma (the ‘law or path revealed by the Buddha) as the means of realising enlightenment and devoting themselves to the community (Sangha) of men and women who are likewise engaged on this path to enlightenment.

This triad is supplemented by a fourth refuge in Tibetan Buddhism, the lama or spiritual teacher, the Yidam, or personal tantric deity. 

Quite early in their lives, most Tibetans will attend a formal ceremony of ‘taking refuge in the presence of a lama. During their daily practice, this commitment has to be made again. As a preparation for the more advanced tantric traditions, it has to be recited, together with n and contemplation, one hundred thousand times.

What Is Mahayana?

The “Great Vehicle” of the Mahayana is based upon and includes the Hinayana doctrines and practices but emphasises a different ethical standpoint.

The Mahayana grew up in India to critique certain tendencies in the Hinayana to renounce any further involvement in the world’s plight and strive instead for one’s release in the unconditioned, deathless realm of Nirvana.

The Mahayanists believed that by severing every last trace of attachment to the world, one failed to acknowledge the essential connectedness. One has with life to discover the meaning of one’s fundamental participation in existence, for true spiritual nobility was found primarily not in detachment and release but in compassion and love.

The Mahayana ideal is the Bodhisattva, the person who selflessly aspires to realise enlightenment for the sake of everything that lives.

In the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet, Tibetans were exposed to the ideas of the Mahayana. They accepted them readily, and there was never any actual conflict between followers of the Hinayana and Mahayana traditions.

The Tibetans understood the Mahayana critique as a critique of the tendency within oneself to Centre spiritual practice around one’s own needs and desires alone.

Thus, compassion became a central theme in Tibetan Buddhism and explained the tremendous devotion the Tibetans have for the archetypal Bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, or Tibetan’ Chenrezig’. Avalokiteshvara is the personification of the enlightened heart in several symbolic forms.

When that enlightened compassion is symbolising in sound, it becomes the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM. That’s the melody of Tibet, constantly murmured by the devout as they count their beads. 

As a mantra, it is used to concentrate the mind upon the meaning of compassion while its associations and vibratory resonance evoke corresponding feelings in the heart. 

Its syllables are those most commonly carved on the rocks and stones around holy shrines. In some places, you can see them outlined in white rock on distant hillsides.

The Bodhisattva realises that to overcome the world’s frustration and despair, ultimately, it is necessary to uproot the spiritual origins of suffering. 

From a Buddhist point of view, this goal will be achieved through enlightenment. Therefore, he sets out to gain this goal so that he will be in a position to lead others to a similar state.

Thus, he recognises that the optimal benefit he can bring to the world is his inner illumination, compassion and freedom. The treads’ path in the Mahayana teachings consists of six central qualities: generosity, ethics, tolerance, energy, meditation and wisdom. Of these six, wisdom is the key to enlightenment that must be kept up by the moral and psychological strength of the other five to be effective. 

The wisdom of enlightenment consists of direct, non-conceptional insight into the ultimate meaning of existence. In Mahayana Buddhism, the term used to refer to this truth is Shunyata, which means ’emptiness’. 

A well-known Tibetan lama was once asked by a Western student how, if everything were empty, one could still appreciate the beauty of nature. He replied that when you have realised emptiness you can fully appreciate the beauty of nature. 

Emptiness does not deny the presence and beauty of people, animals’ trees, mountains, and flowers. It simply negates the fiction we project upon these things that prevent us from experiencing them as they are. 

Thus, the philosophy of emptiness, profound and far-reaching as it may be, has to be driven home by the power of a concentrated, meditative awareness capable of counteracting the very force of conditioning itself.

Tibetan monks may spend many years studying, reflecting and meditating upon the meaning and implications of emptiness. They read texts, receive explanations, debate among themselves, and go into solitary retreats to deepen their understanding.

Volumes of commentaries to the vital Indian works on emptiness and original writings have been composed over the last thousand years by lamas from all the different orders of Tibetan Buddhism.

Mahayana practice aims to harmonise wisdom and compassion. The understanding of emptiness in no way diminishes the love the Bodhisattva has for the world.

On the contrary, by stripping his mind of fictitious notions, he breaks down the barriers that create a sense of separation between himself and others.

In this way, emptiness reveals the rich and dynamic Interrelatedness of all things. True wisdom and compassion mutually deepen each other and culminate in the liberated yet engaged enlightenment of the Buddha.