The Encyclopedia of World Religions

452 S Tibetan religion

B UDDHISM is the dominant Tibetan religion, but B ON and popular practices are also important. HISTORY Little is known of Tibetan religion before the eight century C . E . Tradition calls this early religion Bon, but if that is right, the Bon religion has clearly changed between then and now. At least from the sixth century C . E . the ancient Tibetan religion glorified kings as the sons of god. The first king was said to have descended from HEAVEN . Early kings were thought to have returned bodily to heaven. Later kings most definitely died. They received elaborate funerary RITUALS that included the SACRIFICE of horses, sheep, and yaks. The ancient Tibetans believed in sacred beings who dwelled in the sky. They also knew less kindly beings of the underworld. They thought the under world consisted of water. In the seventh century C . E . Tibet was unified for the first time. In the next century Tibetan kings imported Buddhism, presumably to provide their newly unified realm with a “world class” religion. In the battle for supremacy that followed, the Tan tric Buddhism of India, known as V AJRAYANA , won out over the Chinese Ch’an tradition, known in Japan as Zen ( see T ANTRISM and Z EN B UDDHISM ). An important event in the struggle was the council held in Lhasa 792–794 C . E . ( see COUNCILS , B UDDHIST ). Tibet became the leading center of Vajrayana Buddhism. In the middle of the ninth century the Tibetan monarchy collapsed. Tibetan Buddhism collapsed along with it. But within a hundred years a Bud dhist revival began. Another hundred years later Bon was beginning to take the form that it has today. Perhaps because it was a minority religion, it developed teachings and practices that closely resemble Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism modeled itself on the Indian Buddhism of the time. That is, it developed large monastic institutions. Tibetan monks belonged to one of four schools: Kadampa, Kagyupa, Sakyapa, and Nyingmapa. Tibet also became a repository for a large number of Buddhist texts. The two groups of texts became known as Kanjur and Tenjur. The Kanjur (Word of the B UDDHA ) contain canonical

texts. The Tenjur (“Translation of Teachings”) contain later commentaries and other works. Bon texts, too, were divided into these two groups. During the 14th century, the important Gelukpa school of Buddhism arose as a reform movement within Kadampa. It is known as the “yellow hat school,” because its members wear yellow hats, as distinct from the red hats of their early political rivals, the Karmapa (a sect of Kagyupa) and the black hats of Bon priests. Eventually the leader of the Gelukpa sect received the title D ALAI L AMA . In the mid-17th century, the fifth Dalai Lama acquired full political control of Tibet. He did so because his patron, a Mongol leader, defeated the patron of the rival Karmapa school in battle. The fifth Dalai Lama built Potala Palace in Lhasa. From there subsequent Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet until 1950. In that year, the Chinese took control of Tibet. In 1959 the Dalai Lama fled to exile in India. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Tibetan monks and their institutions suffered tremendously at the hands of the Chinese government. The Chi nese forced many monks to leave the order and destroyed their monasteries. From the 1960s on, Tibetan Buddhist centers have been active in North America and Europe. In the 1980s, rebuild ing began in Tibet itself on a small scale. BUDDHISM AND BON Tibetan Buddhism and Bon share many charac teristics. Both are centered on large monasteries. Both revere teachers who revealed the truths of KARMA , rebirth, enlightenment, and release—for Buddhists the Buddha, for Bon, Tonpa Shenrap. Both religions possess scriptures divided into two collections, Kanjur and Tenjur. Both also make heavy use of Tantric features such as MANDALAS and MANTRAS . Typical Tibetan paintings known as thangkas illustrate the use of mandalas. A com mon Buddhist thangka shows a circle divided into the various worlds into which one may be reborn. Clutching the circle on all sides is a hideous demon with long, fang-like teeth. Tibetan religion also includes popular or “unnamed” practices. These are RITUALS that all