Introducing Tibetan Buddhism Chapter 1: Background

Main topics covered Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan society Environment and society in Tibet The growth of Buddhism in Tibet The evolution of the four main traditions Tibetan religious literature

Key points 1 Tibetan Buddhism is one of a number of forms of Buddhism. While it shares the central concerns and many features common to other Buddhist traditions, it also has many specific features and aspects of its own. Tibet’s environment and society, with its farming villages, pastoralist communities, and trading centres, form an essential background for understanding Tibetan Buddhism.

Tibetans today

Tibetan pastoralists Tibetan pastoral settlement, Amdo (north-east Tibet), 2010

Tibetan agriculturalists Village in Yarlung Valley, Central Tibet, 1987

Tibetan urban life Gyantse, Central Tibet, 1987

Key points 2 Tibetan Buddhism was originally introduced to Tibet under court patronage during the Imperial period (seventh to ninth centuries). It survived after the collapse of the early empire by becoming an integral part of village and pastoral society, especially by providing the techniques through which Tibetan communities dealing with the world of spirits through which they understood their relationship to their often dangerous and threatening natural environment. Tibetan Buddhism developed in the form of a number of separate but related traditions, often grouped into four main schools, the Nyingmapa, Kagyüdpa, Sakyapa and Gelugpa. The Bon religion, which claims pre-Buddhist but non-Tibetan origins, has close similarities to Buddhism and is in some respects a fifth school.

Chenrezig (Avalokiteśvara) Sangdok Pelri Monastery, Kalimpong, India 2007

Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) Sangdok Pelri Monastery, Kalimpong, India 2007

Tibetan mountain gods Rebkong, Northeast Tibet, 2010

Tibetan mountain gods Sangdok Pelri Monastery, Kalimpong, India 2007

Key points 3 Tibet has a very large body of religious literature, much of which has survived and been reproduced in recent years, and substantial parts of which are now available in translation. Tibetan religion is, however, centrally a tradition of practice, and its most important feature for the Tibetans is the ongoing practice tradition of Tantric yoga.

Tibetan literature Tirpai Gompa, Kalimpong, India, 2007

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