Introduction: Tibetan Buddhism

The history of Buddhism in Tibet effectively begins from 641 CE. During this year King Songtsen Gampo unified Tibet through military conquest and took two Buddhist wives, Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal and Princess Wen Cheng of China. These princesses introduced their husband to Buddhism.

The king also built first buddhist temples in Tibet and kept Tibetan translators to work on Sanskrit scriptures. There was no written script in Tibet till the 7th century. Once Buddhism reached Tibet, translations started. There was no vocabulary in Tibetan to translate Buddhist knowledge and traditions. So new words were created. So therefore, eventually Tibetan script is like a copy and very much similar to Sanskrit. 

Later during the reign of other ruler named King Trisong Detsen around 755 CE, Buddhism became the official religion of the Buddhist people. He invited famous Buddhist teachers such as Shantarakshita and Padmasambhava from India to Tibet.

Shantarakshita was the abbot(head of a abbey of monk) of Nalanda in India. He taught the Tibetan people to learn Buddhism not by faith but by reasoning, by logic and by analyzing the things for oneself. He attempted the synthesis of Yogacara and Madhyamika schools of philosophy.

Finding the Samye site auspicious Shantarakshita set about to build a structure there. However, the building would always collapse after reaching a certain stage. Terrified, the construction workers believed that there was a demon or obstructive thought form in a nearby River making trouble. However, when Shantarakshita’s contemporary Padmasambhava arrived from northern India, he was able to subdue the energetic problems obstructing the building of Samye.

Padmasambhava (Lotus Buddha), who came to use his wisdom and power to overcome “spiritual” forces that were stopping work on the new monastery. He is remembered by Tibetans as Guru Rinpoche (“Precious Master”), was an Indian master of tantra whose influence on the development of Tibetan Buddhism is incalculable. He is credited with building Samye, the first monastery in Tibet, in the late 8th century. He received most of his education from the Mahaviharas in Northern India. Nyingma, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, claims Guru Rinpoche as its patriarch.

Moreover, the building of Samye marked the foundation of the original school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Nyingma.

The most famous Indian scholar to visit Tibet during what came to be called the second dissemination of Buddhism was the Bengali master Atisa Dipankar, whose followers laid the foundation of the Kadampa school that in turn provided the model for all later Tibetan monasticism, especially seen in the Geluk school to which the Dalai Lamas have traditionally belonged to.

Figures such as Tilopa, Naropa and Virupa who were active in India during the 9^th and 10^th centuries CE were instrumental in the establishment of the Kagyu and Sakya schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The huge corpus of Sanskrit text was translated into Tibetan which were studied in the monasteries, and that formed the basis of the religious and spiritual tradition in Tibet and the Himalayas.

Changes brought by adoption of Buddhism:

Buddhism brought about a remarkable change in the Tibetan people. Until their conversion to Buddhism, they had always been a warlike race with imperialist ambitions who represented a perpetual threat to their Neighbours, particularly the Chinese. For a while they had even ruled Chang’an, China’s ancient capital, and occupied virtually the whole of Kansu, much of Szechuan and northern Yunnan, as well as Upper Burma and Nepal. But following their gradual conversion to Buddhism, with its gentle message of submission, the once dreaded martial reputation of the Tibetans began to decline. Finally, around the tenth century, the last of their empire collapsed. The Tibetans withdrew behind their mountain ramparts and their centuries of isolation began.

The Tibetan Buddhism is an infusion of Tantrism, an animistic creed which embraces magic, witchcraft and spells. The Buddhism is Tibet was in conflict with the old Bon religion that was animistic, shamanistic and believed in cannibalism, human sacrifices. The elements of Bon religion in certain form are part of Tibetan Buddhism.

Beliefs and Teachings of Tibetan Buddhism:

• Lama – A lama is a Tibetan buddhist teacher. They are considered the superior ones. They occupy a central role due to the influence of Tantric Buddhism .The Tantric Guru serves as the conduit for the teachings, transmitting secret instruction and rites though a series of initiations. All lamas complete a long course of study that prepares them for their future role. The Buddhist tradition in Tibet has a unique tradition of recognizing the reincarnations of Lamas that has been of immense help to both the Dharma and sentient beings, particularly to the monastic community. It is believed that the mind of a deceased lama can reappear in the new body of a child. In effect it came to mean rule by a religious hierarchy headed by the Dalai Lama. 
• Buddhas – The term “Buddha” means an “awakened” or “enlightened” one who has discovered true wisdom & attained nirvana in this world. It is a descriptive title given to all fully enlightened beings, rather than being the exclusive name of a single individual. There have been Buddhas in the past (for example Kashyapa, Dipankara, or Shakyamuni – the historical Buddha), and other Buddhas are expected in the future. Tibetan Buddhism teaches that we are all potential Buddhas because we are essentially pure and luminous at the most basic level of existence. That purity called Buddha-nature, is typically clouded over by a dense layer of ignorance and negativity, which dominates us and leads to suffering. The Tibetan Buddhist path encourages its practitioners to adopt the traits and characteristics of enlightened beings through the use of special meditational techniques.
• Mantras – Tibetan Buddhist practice features a number of rituals, and spiritual practices such as the use of mantras and yogic techniques.
• Beliefs of common or lay people – 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.
• Prayer wheel – An idea unique to Tibet is the prayer-wheel, or mani-chuskor. This consists of a metal cylinder, ranging in height from a mere two inches to a colossal eight or nine feet and containing a long scroll of paper bearing countless repetitions of the mystical, all-powerful Tibetan prayer: ‘Om! Mani Padme Hum!‘ Every time the cylinder is rotated, Tibetans believe a stream of prayer ascends skywards. The most common type of prayer-wheel is the small, individually-owned and hand-rotated kind.

Schools of Tibetan Buddhism:

The four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism trace their philosophical roots to numerous Vajrayana masters from India. In this context, the activities of the Eighty-four mahasiddhas from India assumes importance as many of them directly contributed in the creation of the various schools within Tibetan Buddhism. The role of the legendary Guru Padmasambhava, who was born in Swat valley, present-day Pakistan in the 8^th century CE in shaping Buddhism in Tibet and the Himalayas become important.

Four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism are:

1. Nyingma
2. Sakya
3. Kagyu
4. Gelug

NYINGMA SCHOOL:

• It is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism and literally means ‘ancient’. It is the old school as because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century.
• Its teachings are credited to Padmasambhava. He along with other Indian masters and select Tibetan translators propagated the teaching of Dzogchen, a tantric system.
• Dzogchen, or “Great Perfection”, is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by adherents of other Tibetan Buddhist sects. From the perspective of Dzogchen, the ultimate nature of all Sentient beings is said to be pure, all-encompassing, primordial clarity or naturally occurring timeless clarity. The analogy given by Dzogchen masters is that one’s nature is like a mirror which reflects with complete openness but is not affected by the reflections, or like a crystal ball that takes on the colour of the material on which it is placed without itself being changed.
• The knowledge that ensues from recognizing this mirror-like clarity (which cannot be found by searching nor identified ) is what Dzogchenpas refer to as rigpa.

SAKYA SCHOOL:

• During the second period of translation of Buddhist scripture from Sanskrit into Tibetan , Drogmi a famous scholar and translator studied under Naropa and other great Indian masters. Khon Gonchok Gyalpo met Drogmi and received all the profound tantric teachings from him.
• The Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism dates to the 11th century. The name comes from “pale earth” describing the grey landscape near Shigatse, Tibet where the Sakya Monastery – the first monastery of this tradition and the seat of the Sakya School was built in 1073. Khön Gönchok Gyalpo (1034-1102) built the first Sakya Monastery. Subsequently, the town that arose there, the family of the monastery’s founder (the Khön lineage) and a school of Tibetan Buddhism took the name of the monastery: Sakya.
• The Sakya Khön family lineage is thought of as divine because family records and Tibetan histories state that the noble family is descended from celestial beings from the Realm of Heavenly Clear Light.
• The head of Sakya School is the “Sakya Trizin” (“the holder of the Sakya throne”) who is always drawn from the male line of the Khön family.  Since the 11th century, the Sakya male offspring are regarded as emanations of Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom; Avalokiteshvara, Bodhisattva of Compassion or Vajrapani, Bodhisattva of Power.
• The central teaching and practice of Sakya is called Lamdrey or “the Path and Its Fruit.”

KAGYU SCHOOL:

• The Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism means “oral lineage” or “whispered transmission”. While it traces its origin back to Buddha Shakyamuni, the most important source for the specific practices of the Kagyu order is the great Indian yogi Tilopa (988-1069).
• It was founded in the 11th century by Master Gampopa who was one of the two principle disciples of Master Milarepa. Milarepa was a student of Marpa (1012-1097) who brought the core doctrines of this school from his master in India, Naropa (1016-1100). Naropa was the principle disciple of Tilopa (988-1069).
• The Kagyu lineage practices have a special focus on the tantric teachings of the Vajrayana and Mahamudra teachings.

GELUG SCHOOL:

• The Gelug or Gelugpa school is the newest and largest school of Tibetan Buddhism. Its story begins with Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), one of the period’s foremost authorities of Tibetan Buddhism who studied under Sakya, Kagyu, and Nyingma masters.
• Tsongkhapa, the most renowned teacher of his time founded Ganden Monastery in 1409 and though he emphasized a strong monastic sangha, he did not announce a new monastic order. Following his death, his followers established the Gelug (“the virtuous tradition”) school.
• The most influential figure is the Dalai Lama, who is a monk of the Gelug tradition but as the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet for over fifty years has always represented all Tibetans.

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, Tenzin Gyatso, was born in Amdo, Tibet in 1935 and is the fourteenth Dalai Lama.
• 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.
• The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and the patron saint of Tibet.

References:

• www.dalailama.com
• Frontline magazine
• www.LearnReligions.com
• www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/people/dalailama_1.shtml