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3 What Buddha wanted to Buddhism in Tibet Buddhism became popular in Tibet as early as in the 8 th century, when the Tibet king Trisong Dense, allowed Buddhist teachers to enter Tibet from India. Unsurpassed masters like Padmasambhava, Vairocana, Santaraksita and Vimalamitra spread the word of Buddha in Tibet concentrating on the ways to please not only the people but also the authority to gain further permission to stay there. Buddhism in Tibet faced numerous persecutions when the teachers were not supported by the local government. At some point of time it almost got extinct in Tibet and could only recover in the late XI early XII centuries. In the following essay I am going to speak about what Buddha wanted from Buddhism in Tibet and how different was the factual Buddhism in Tibet compared the Buddhas desire.
Buddha had basic five desired applicable to his religion not only in Tibet but throughout the world. He preached a religion devoid of authority. By that he meant that no practitioner should get discriminated by the existing authority and prohibited from practicing Buddhism based on the kings desire. In Tibet, such thing was actually the case. Before Buddhism came to Tibet the prevalent religion was Bon, a set of local beliefs. It was a government approved shamanistic worship of nature spirits in which human and animal sacrifice, exorcism, magic and sorcery were practiced.
Bonus approximately in the 9 th century mingled with the teachings of Buddhism, without incorporating the former practices, while the government adopted Lamaism as its another approved religion (King, 2002). The fusion became known as Lamaism, from the word lama that meant master, guru or teacher. Another problem of Buddhism and authority came with the Chinese conquest of Tibet. During the World War I, the world politics were too concentrated on Europe, and completely neglected the Chinese intrusion into Tibet, forcing the local governments to subdue to the communists demands and free the populace from the opium for people that any religion according to communists represented. The peace negotiations between Tibet, China and Great Britain led to the division of Tibet into inner and outer Tibet; first was under the communist rule and the latter was free. In the late 1950 s Tibet strived to fight the injustice regarding government control of religion and failed.
Dalai Lama gained political asylum in India (King, 2002). He preached a religion devoid of ritual. The second aspect that Buddha wished for Tibet was also not implemented in Tibet since the time of Buddhism teachings there. As it was already said, the local beliefs were fully incorporated into Buddhism, that at first strived to be flexible and support minor deviations to get more followers.
Subsequently, shamans, lamas, spirits, and exorcism were in full harmony with Buddhism that it was virtually impossible to remove them to preserve Buddhism in Tibet. Even the Chinese conquerors could not instill atheism in Tibet. Thus, it can be considered that there exists not Buddhism in Tibet but rather a new combination called Lamaism that albeit being a religion that stresses high moral standards still remains a far cry from Buddhas desires for Tibet. As an example of the ritual that almost already became an indispensable part of modern day Tibet Buddhism was celibacy.
Originally founded by Tsong-khan, a father of the Gel-pa sect (Virtuous Way), or Yellow Hat sect, in the late XIV century celibacy started to be considered a norm, rather than a ritual in Tibet (Pederson, 2001). He preached a religion devoid of speculation (philosophizing). This was the most practical aspect of Buddhism: to keep it pure from philosophy. In Tibet there was, nevertheless a different situation. Having prior to Buddhism a sophisticated Bon religion, that contained philosophy, Buddhism could not be completely pure of philosophizing. Thus, Tibetan Buddhism divided into numerous "schools" or sects that speculated in small issues and debated on the authenticity of various Buddhism scriptures.
These schools are all Buddhist and doctrinally very similar, but are distinguished by the different teachers and approaches of achieving the ultimate Buddhism goals. Living Buddhist traditions (also known as linkage) are transmitted through these teachers, their texts and institutions. The basic outward mechanism of Buddhist lineage is the teacher-student relationship (King, 2002). A particular teacher teaches his students through oral means, and by selecting and explaining the meaning of certain authoritative Buddhist texts. Such oral teachings, and accompanying textual material, is passed by that student to his own student (s) in turn. Ideally, this outward process of exchange between teacher and student carries with it an inner process whereby the spiritual realization of the teacher is also passed from teacher to student.
It is indeed the transmission of this living quality of subtle wisdom which is the essential quality of Tibetan Buddhism today (Pederson, 2001). He preached a religion based on self effort. This aspect of Buddhism in Tibet is in my opinion the closest to what Buddha wanted from his teachings. In Tibet, despite the great number of different Buddhism schools, self-effort is considered to be one of the most important things to achieve Nirvana and do what Buddha wanted his followers to do on this earth.
Except for maybe, the Kagyu school that originated from the teachings of Indian Buddhists Mahasiddha Tilopa and stressed the realization of nirvana in blind service to the teacher, where the student does exactly what the teacher tells them to do, while being responsible for that student, Tibet Buddhism schools encourage guided self-effort in achieving new highs in Buddhism. He preached a religion devoid of the supernatural. This part of Buddhism has never been implemented regardless of the various attempts of the teachers or the communist Chinese. Starting with the first Tibet encounter with Buddhism that happened around 680 AD, when a Tantric master, Guru Rinpoche, came to tame the demons of Tibet, and following through the dark ages when Tibet was under Mongol or Chinese rule, the people of Tibet believed in the heavenly supernatural forces that rules peoples lives (Berman, 2001). It is no wonder why most of the lamas called themselves Holders of the fire bolts or teachers great as ocean, and rulers of the forces focusing their strength on the supernatural forces that were unavailable to the common mortals. Conclusion: In conclusion I would like to add that Buddhism in Tibet indeed differed from what Buddha wanted it to be.
The Tibet people could not completely remove the old religion Ron from the teachings of Buddhism and could not maintain separation of state and church, thus bringing Buddhism under the ruling political influence. The schools could not completely remove the rituals that were used to resist the supernatural forces: things that Buddha wished not to remain in his teachings. Finally I would like to add that Buddhism (or actually Lamaism) was highly philosophized in Tibet, although encouraging self-development and effort from the student, still focused on the ultimate authority of teacher over student, with various schools exercising such control to different degrees, that once again contradicted the Buddha teachings. Bibliography: Michael King, History of Buddhism in Tibet, Oxford University Press, 2002. George Pederson, The holy teachings of Buddha, McGraw Hill, 2001. Steve Berman, The history of Lamaism, Penguin Books, 2001.
Alfred Blum, Zen Buddhism and its legacy, Prentice Hall, 2000.
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