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Tibetan Buddhism

Buddhism has two sects: MAHAYANA BUDDHISM and HINAYANA BUDDHISM. Mahayana Buddhism was introduced into regions inhabited by the Han people, about the first century. It emphasizes the existence of many Buddhas. It focuses attention on Buddhas in heaven and on people who will become Buddhas in the future. It believes that these present and future Buddhas can save people through compassion and grace.

Hinayan Buddhism was introduced from Burma, about the 9th century. Into regions inhabited by the ethnic minorities in Yunnan Province. It emphasizes the importance of Buddha as a historical figure, the virtues of monastic life, and the authority of the Tripitaka.

Lamaism is a form of Buddhism intermingled with indigenous Tibetan religion known as Bon. Tibetan Buddhism slowly adopted some of the Bon rites, while Bon eventually took on Buddhist teachings and disappeared. Lamaism mainly gained its Buddhist knowledge from Han Mahayana Buddhist sources.

Of the various sects that eventually developed within Lamaist Buddhism, the main ones are Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug.

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. To explore the monasteries and temples of Tibet, to mix with its people and know nothing of Buddhism is like visiting Rome and knowing nothing of Christianity. Buddhism is perhaps the most tolerant of the worlds' religions, and wherever it went it adapted to local conditions, like a dividing cell, creating countless new schools of thought. Its basic tenets have remained very much the same and all schools are bound together in their faith in the value of the original teaching of the historical Buddha, Sakyamuni.

The following is a brief guide to some of the vast Tibetan Buddhist pantheon as well as important historical figures. Sanskrit names are given first ( with Tibetan names provided in parentheses ).