Tibetan Buddhism

A basic understanding of Buddhism is essential to getting beneath the skin of things in Tibet. Buddhism’s values and goals permeate almost everything Tibetan. Exploring the monasteries and temples of Tibet and mixing with its people, yet knowing nothing of Buddhism is like visiting the Vatican and knowing nothing of Roman Catholicism. To be sure, it might still seem an awe-inspiring experience, but much will remain hidden and indecipherable.

For those who already do know something of Buddhism, who have read something of Zen, for example, Tibet can be baffling on another lever. The grandeur of the temples, the worship of images and the fierce protective deities that stand in doorways all seem to believe the basic tents of an ascetic faith that is basically about renouncing the self and following a path of moderation.

On a purely superficial level, Buddhism has historically encompassed the moral precepts and devotional practices of lay followers, the scholastic tradition of the Indian Buddhist universities and a body of mystic Tantric teachings that had a particular appeal to followers of the shamanistic Bon faith.

Tibetan Buddhism’s reaction with existing Bon sprit worship and the Hindu pantheon created a huge range of deities, both wrathful and benign (although these are technically all merely aspects of the human ego). Apart from a whole range of different Buddha aspects there are also general protector gods called dharmapalas and personal dedicational deities called yidamad, which Tantric students adopt early in their spiritual training. Yet for all its confusing iconography the basic tents of Buddhism are very much rooted in daily experience. Even high lamas and monks come across as surprisingly down-to-earth.

Buddhism is perhaps the most tolerant of the world’s religions. Wherever it has gone it has adapted to local conditions, like dividing cell, creating countless new schools of thought. Its basic tents have remained very much the same and all schools are bound together and their faith in the value of the original teachings of Sakyamuni (Sakya Thukpa), the historical Buddha. The Chinese invasion has ironically caused a flowering of Tibetan Buddhism abroad and you can now find Tibetan monasteries around the world.

Closely linked to both Bon and Buddhism is the folk religion of Tibet, known as mi chos (the dharma of Man), which is primarily concerned with spirits. These spirits include nyen, which reside in rocks and tress; lu or naga, snake-bodied spirits, which live at the bottom of lakes, rivers and wells; sadok, lords of the earth, which are connected with agriculture; tsen, air or mountain spirits, which shoot arrows of illness and death at human; and dud, demons linked to the Buddhist demon Mara. Spirits of the hearth, roof and kitchen inhabit every Tibetan house. The religious beliefs of the average Tibetan are a fascinating mélange of Buddhism, Bon and folk religion.

Buddhism originated in the northeast of India around the 5th century BC, at a time when the local religion was Brahmanism. Some Brahman, in preparation for presiding over offering to their gods, partook of an asceticism that transported them to remote places where they fasted, meditated and practiced yogic techniques.

Many of the fundamental concepts of Buddhism find their origin in the Brahman society of this time. The Buddha (C480-400BC), born Siddhartha Gautama, was one of many wandering ascetics whose teachings let to establishment of rival religious schools. Jainism was one of these schools, Buddhism was another.

Little is known about the life of Siddhartha. It was probably not until some 200 years after his death that biographies were compiled, and by that time many of the circumstances of his life had merged with legend. It is known that he was born in Lumbini (Modern-day Nepal) of a noble family and that he married and had a son before renouncing a life of privilege and embarking on a quest to make sense of the suffering in the world.

After studying with many of the masters of his day be embarked on a course of intense ascetism, before concluding that such a pat was too extreme. Finally, in the place that is now known as Bodhgaya in India, Siddhartha meditated beneath a Bodhi (Pipal) tree. At the bread of dawn at the end of his third night of meditation he became a Buddha (awakened one).

Buddhism’s early teachings are bases on the insights of the Buddha, known in Mahayana tradition as Sakyamuni (Sakya Thukpa in Tibetan), and form the basis of all further Buddhist thought. Buddhism is not based on a revealed prophecy or divine revelation but rather is rooted in human experience. The later Mahayana school (to which Tibetan Buddhism belongs) diverged from these early teachings in some respects, but not in its fundamentals.

The Buddha commenced his teachings by explaining that there was a Middle way that steered a course between sensual indulgence and ascetic self-torment-a way of moderation rather than renunciation. This middle way could be pursued by following the Noble eightfold path. The philosophical underpinnings of this path were the Four Noble truths, which addressed the problems of karma and rebirth. These basic concepts are the kernel of early Buddhist thought.

In a modern sense, Buddhist thought stresses nonviolence, compassion, equanimity (evenness of mind) and mindfulness (awareness of the present moment).

Life is a cycle of rebirths. The common assumption is that there are many rebirths, but in Buddhist thought they are innumerable. The Sanskrit world “samsara” (Tibetan: Khorwa), literally ‘wandering on’, is used to describe this cycle, and life is seen as wandering on limitlessly through time, and through the birth, extinction and rebirth of galaxies and worlds. There are six level of rebirth or realms of existence. It is important to a accumulate enough merit to avoid the three lower realms, although in the long cycle of rebirth, all beings pass through them at some point. These six levels are depicted on the wheel of life. All beings are fated to tread this wheel continuously until they make a commitment of enlightenment.

All beings pass through the same cycle of rebirths. Their enemy may once have been their mother, and like all beings they have lived as an insect and as a good, and suffered in one of the hell realms. Movement within this cycle, though, is not haphazard. It is governed by karma.

Karma (las in Tibetan) is a slippery concept. It is sometimes translated simply as ‘action’, but it also implies the consequences of action. Karma might be thought of as an overarching condition of life. Every action in life leaves a psychic trace that carried over into the next rebirth. It should not be thought of as a reward or punishment, but simply as a result. In Buddhist thought karma is frequently likened to a seed that ripens into a fruit: thus a human reborn as an insect is harvesting the fruits of a previous immoral existence.

Given that karma is a kind of accumulated psychic baggage that we must lug through countless rebirths, it is the aim of all practicing Buddhists to try to accumulate as much ‘good karma’ –merit- as possible. Merit is best achieved through the act of rejoicing in giving, although merit can even be achieved through giving that is purely motivated by a desire for merit. The giving of alms to the needy and to monks, the relinquishing of a son to monk hood, and acts of compassion and understanding are all meritorious and have a positive karmic outcome.