Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism – Brief Introduction

China is home to a multiplicity of religious beliefs, with the world's three major religions - Buddhism, Catholicism and Islamism - all having large congregations, organizations and activity venues in the country. Buddhism in China mainly includes Han Chinese language Buddhism, which spread into China in 2 B.C.; Tibetan language Buddhism, which spread into Tibet in the 7th century; and Pali language Buddhism, which spread into China in the 13th century. Tibetan Buddhism refers to Tibetan language Buddhism, and is also known as Lamaism. It is the most mysterious religion in China.

Tibetan Buddhism is a path of practice and spiritual development leading to Insight into the true nature of life. Buddhist practices such as meditation are means of changing oneself in order to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness, and wisdom. The experience developed within the Buddhist tradition over thousands of years has created an incomparable resource for all those who wish to follow a path - a path which ultimately culminates in Enlightenment or Buddhahood.

Tibetan Buddhism - Details

Because Tibetan Buddhism does not include the idea of worshipping a creator god, some people do not see it as a religion in the normal, Western sense. The basic tenets of Buddhist teaching are straightforward and practical: nothing is fixed or permanent; actions have consequences; change is possible. Thus Tibetan Buddhism addresses itself to all people irrespective of race, nationality, or gender. It teaches practical methods (such as meditation) which enable people to realise and utilise its teachings in order to transform their experience, to be fully responsible for their lives and to develop the qualities of Wisdom and Compassion.

Tibetan Buddhism has exerted extensive and profound influence on the Tibetan race. Buddhism spread into Tibet in the 7th century, and gradually infiltrate Tibet's history, politics, economics, culture, exchanges and habits and customs to become the most extensively worshipped religion of Tibetans. Prolonged ethnic cultural exchanges also enabled Tibetan Buddhism to make its way into the Mongolian, Tu , Yugu, Luoba, Moinba, Naxi, Purmi and other ethnic minority nationalitites throughout China. Buddhism has long been widely worshipped in China's Tibet Autonomous Region, as well as Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, and the Xinjiang Uygur and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions. It has also made its way into Sikkim, Bhuttan, Nepal, the Mongolian People's Republic and Buryat in the Republic of Russia.

More than 1,400 Tibetan monasteries and other religious venues were renovated and opened following the peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951. Chinese government and policies for religious freedom enable 34,000 monks in various monasteries to freely study Buddhist sutras and hold various types of Buddhist activities in their respective monasteries. In addition, the broad masses of religious have set up shrines, Buddha halls and sutra recitation rooms in their homes, and undertake pilgrimages to sacred sites.