1.
Leh district
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Leh is one of the two districts located in Ladakh, the other being the Kargil District to the west, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India. With an area of 45,110 km2, it is the second largest district in the country in terms of area and it is bounded on the north by Ghanche District, a small border with Xinjiang, China, via the Karakoram Pass which is part of the district. Aksai Chin and Tibet are to the east, Kargil district to the west, the district headquarters is based in Leh. It lies between 32 to 36 degree north latitude and 75 to 80 degree east longitude, the whole of Ladakh was under the administration of Leh until July 1,1979, when the Kargil and Ladakh administrative districts were created. Religion has been a source of grievances between Buddhists and Muslims since the late 20th century and was a contributor to this division, as of 2011 it is the second least populous district of Jammu and Kashmir, after Kargil. According to the 2011 census Leh district has a population of 147,104 and this gives it a ranking of 599th in India. The district has a density of 3 inhabitants per square kilometre. Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 25. 48%, Leh has a sex ratio of 583 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 80. 48%. According to the 2011 census of India, Leh district had a population of 147,104, Buddhists made up the majority at 66. 4%, followed by Hindus at 17. 1% and then Muslims at 14. 3%. Leh is divided into 3 tehsils and 9 blocks, the nine blocks are, Durbuk, Khalsi, Saspol, Kharu, Leh, Chuchot, Nobra, Panamik and Nyoma. The tehsils and villages are, Leh District has two constituencies, Nobra and Leh. Leh District is administered by a body known as the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council. The LAHDC was established in 1995, official Website of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh Ladakh Tourism Guide - Photo Gallery of Leh, Monasteries in Leh, NGO’s in Leh, Important Phone #
2.
Alchi
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Alchi is a village in the Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is located in the Khalsi tehsil, on the bank of Indus River 70 km downstream from the capital in Leh, unlike the other gompas in Ladakh, Alchi is situated on lowland, not on a hilltop. The Alchi Monastery is located in this village, according to the 2011 census of India, Alchi has 145 households. The effective literacy rate is 72. 51%, Alchi is a small village with several tourist homestays, most offering modern conveniences for overnight stays, The best time to visit is from June to September. Alchi monastery April 2010 Smithsonian Magazine Article
3.
Ladakh
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It is one of the most sparsely populated regions in Jammu and Kashmir and its culture and history are closely related to that of Tibet. Ladakh is renowned for its remote mountain beauty and culture, Aksai Chin is one of the disputed border areas between China and India. It is administered by China as part of Hotan County but is claimed by India as a part of the Ladakh region of the state of Jammu. In 1962, China and India fought a war over Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh. Since 1974, the Government of India has successfully encouraged tourism in Ladakh, since Ladakh is a part of strategically important Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian military maintains a strong presence in the region. The largest town in Ladakh is Leh, followed by Kargil, almost half of Ladakhis are Shia Muslims and the rest are mostly Tibetan Buddhists. In terms of pronunciation, the use of Ladakh, the Persian transliteration of the Tibetan La-dvags, is warranted by the pronunciation of the word in several Tibetan districts. Ladakh in the Farsi transliteration of the Tibetan La-dvags, which means on the borderland of extreme Pakistan, Ladakh has been described as The Mysterious Land of the Mystic Lamas, The Broken Moonland, or The Last Shangri-La for its unique landscape and exquisite culture. One sees no horizon here but only mountain peaks soaring up to 5 to 6 km, in the prehistoric period Ladakh formed a Great Lake. Even at present the region has some of the largest and most beautiful lakes, Pangong and it is a repository of myriad cultural and religious influences from Tibet, Indian subcontinent and Central Asia. Rock carvings found in parts of Ladakh indicate that the area has been inhabited from Neolithic times. Around the 1st century, Ladakh was a part of the Kushana empire, Buddhism spread into western Ladakh from Kashmir in the 2nd century when much of eastern Ladakh and western Tibet was still practising the Bon religion. The 7th century Buddhist traveler Xuanzang describes the region in his accounts, in the 8th century, Ladakh was involved in the clash between Tibetan expansion pressing from the East and Chinese influence exerted from Central Asia through the passes. Suzerainty over Ladakh frequently changed hands between China and Tibet, in 842 Nyima-Gon, a Tibetan royal prince annexed Ladakh for himself after the break-up of the Tibetan empire, and founded a separate Ladakhi dynasty. During this period, Ladakh acquired a predominantly Tibetan population, the dynasty spearheaded the second spreading of Buddhism, importing religious ideas from north-west India, particularly from Kashmir. The first spreading of Buddhism was the one in Tibet proper, according to Rolf Alfred Stein, author of Tibetan Civilization, the area of Zhangzhung was not historically a part of Tibet and was a distinctly foreign territory to the Tibetans. Then further west, The Tibetans encountered a distinctly foreign nation—Shangshung, mt. Kailāśa and Lake Manasarovar formed part of this country, whose language has come down to us through early documents. Though still unidentified, it seems to be Indo-European, geographically the country was certainly open to India, both through Nepal and by way of Kashmir and Ladakh
4.
Jammu and Kashmir
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Jammu and Kashmir is a state in northern India, often denoted by the acronym J&K. It is located mostly in the Himalayan mountains, and shares borders with the states of Himachal Pradesh, the state has special autonomy under Article 370 of the Constitution of India. A part of the erstwhile Princely State of Kashmir and Jammu, the western districts of the former princely state known as Azad Kashmir and the northern territories known as Gilgit-Baltistan have been under Pakistani control since 1947. The Aksai Chin region in the east, bordering Tibet, has been under Chinese control since 1962, Jammu and Kashmir consists of three regions, Jammu, the Kashmir Valley and Ladakh. Srinagar is the capital, and Jammu is the winter capital. Jammu and Kashmir is the state in India with a Muslim-majority population. The Kashmir valley is famous for its mountainous landscape. Ladakh, also known as Little Tibet, is renowned for its remote mountain beauty, Maharaja Hari Singh became the ruler of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in 1925, and he was the reigning monarch at the conclusion of the British rule in the subcontinent in 1947. Jammu and Kashmir had a Muslim majority, following the logic of Partition, many people in Pakistan expected that Kashmir would join Pakistan. However, the predominant political movement in the Valley of Kashmir was secular, so many in India too had expectations that Kashmir would join India. The Maharaja was faced with indecision, on 22 October 1947, rebellious citizens from the western districts of the State and Pushtoon tribesmen from the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan invaded the State, backed by Pakistan. The Maharaja initially fought back but appealed for assistance to the India, Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947 in return for military aid and assistance, which was accepted by the Governor General the next day. Once the Instrument of Accession was signed, Indian soldiers entered Kashmir with orders to evict the raiders, the resulting Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 lasted till the end of 1948. At the beginning of 1948, India took the matter to the United Nations Security Council, a ceasefire was agreed on 1 January 1949, supervised by UN observers. A special United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan was set up to negotiate the arrangements as per the Security Council resolution. The UNCIP made three visits to the subcontinent between 1948 and 1949, trying to find a solution agreeable to both India and Pakistan and it passed a resolution in August 1948 proposing a three-part process. It was accepted by India but effectively rejected by Pakistan, in the end, no withdrawal was ever carried out, India insisting that Pakistan had to withdraw first, and Pakistan contending that there was no guarantee that India would withdraw afterwards. No agreement could be reached between the two countries on the process of demilitarisation, India and Pakistan fought two further wars in 1965 and 1971
5.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
6.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
7.
States and union territories of India
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India is a federal union comprising twenty-nine states and seven union territories. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and further into smaller administrative divisions, the Constitution of India distributes the sovereign executive and legislative powers exercisable with respect to the territory of any State between the Union and that State. The Indian subcontinent has been ruled by different ethnic groups throughout its history. Between 1947 and 1950, the territories of the states were politically integrated into the Indian Union. The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950, the new republic was also declared to be a Union of States. The nine Part A states were Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The eight Part B states were former princely states or groups of states, governed by a rajpramukh, who was usually the ruler of a constituent state. The rajpramukh was appointed by the President of India, the Part B states were Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala and East Punjab States Union, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, and Travancore-Cochin. The ten Part C states included both the former chief commissioners provinces and some states, and each was governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. The Part C states were Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Cutch, Manipur, Tripura, the only Part D state was the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government. The Union Territory of Puducherry was created in 1954 comprising the previous French enclaves of Pondichéry, Karaikal, Yanam, Andhra State was created on 1 October 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 reorganised the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states, as a result of this act, Madras State retained its name with Kanyakumari district added to from Travancore-Cochin. Andhra Pradesh was created with the merger of Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in 1956, kerala was created with the merger of Malabar district and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara districts of Madras State with Travancore-Cochin. The Laccadive Islands which were divided between South Canara and Malabar districts of Madras State were united and organised into the territory of Lakshadweep. Bombay State was enlarged by the addition of Saurashtra State and Kutch State, Rajasthan and Punjab gained territories from Ajmer and Patiala and East Punjab States Union respectively and certain territories of Bihar was transferred to West Bengal. Bombay State was split into the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 by the Bombay Reorganisation Act. Nagaland was formed on 1 December 1963, the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 resulted in the creation of Haryana on 1 November and the transfer of the northern districts of Punjab to Himachal Pradesh. The act also designated Chandigarh as a territory and the shared capital of Punjab
8.
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh
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The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh is an Autonomous Hill Council that administers the Leh District of Jammu and Kashmir, India. In October 1993, the Indian Union Government and the Jammu, the council came into being with the holding of elections on August 28,1995. The inaugural meeting of the council was held at Leh on September 3,1995, an Autonomous Hill Council has also been established in neighbouring Kargil District www. kargil. nic. in. The council recently changed its logo to three head Sarnath lions of the Ashoka capital replacing the previous Buddhist eight arm wheel, the council is composed of 30 Councillors of which 26 are directly elected and 4 are nominated members. The executive arm of the consists of an executive committee composed of a Chief Executive Councillor, currently Dr Sonam Dawa Lonpo. On May 8,2013 mutual collaboration for sustainable development in Ladakh in the tune with Ladakh Vision Document 2025” was jointly organised by LAHDC and these members belonging to different fields of expertise had put a great effort in the conceptualisation of the Vision Document. CEC took the opportunity to felicitate them at the function with a traditional scarf and a memento
9.
Likir Monastery
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Likir Monastery or Likir Gompa is a Buddhist monastery in Ladakh, northern India, located approximately 52 kilometres west of Leh. It is picturesquely situated on a hill in the valley. It belongs to the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism and was established in 1065 by Lama Duwang Chosje, under the command of the king of Ladakh. Although Likir is relatively isolated, it was once on a trade route which travelled via Tingmosgang, Hemis. Likir is mentioned in the Ladakhi chronicles as having been erected by King Lhachen Gyalpo, the name Likir means The Naga - Encircled, representing the bodies of the two great serpent spirits, the Naga-rajas, Nanda and Taksako. It presumably, originally belonged to the early Kadampa order of Tibetan Buddhism, when Francke visited the monastery in 1909 he was shown a long inscription written in black ink on a wall which outlined the history of the monastery. Francke had it copied and interprets it as follows, King Lha-chen-rgyal-po founded the monastery in the 11th century, in the 15th century, Lama Lha-dbang-chos-rje converted the lamas to the reformed doctrines of the Ge-lug-pa order, and thus founded the monastery afresh as a Ge-lug-pa establishment. Then it is stated that seven generations after Lha-chen-rgyal-po, King Lha-chen-dngos-grub arose, the inscription itself is dated to the reign of King Thse-dbang-rnam-rgyal II, who repaired the monastery after a conflagration. Below the monastery was a large chorten with frescoes inside representing Tsongkapa, painted above the door, a very strange figure is found which looks much like one of the ordinary representations of Srong-btsan-sgam-po. I was told by the lamas that it represents a lama of Srong-btsan-sgam-pos times, the figure wears a three-pointed hat of white colour and carries two leopard skins under his arms. The lower part of the chorten is a room which a lama said was the earliest temple at Likir. The monastery currently has approximately 120 Buddhist monks and a school, the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies runs it and teaches in three languages, Hindi, Sanskrit and English. It also serves as the venue of an annual event Dosmochey and it is the seat of the Ngari Rinpoche, the present emanation of whom is the younger brother of the Dalai Lama. Although he does not permanently reside here, he attends for the more important pujas, the Dukhangs contain statues of Bodhisattva, Amitabha, three large statues of Sakyamuni, Maitreya and Tsong Khapa, founder of the yellow-hat sect. The verandah has thangka paintings of the Guardians of the Four Directions and wheel of life mandala held by Yama and the courtyard has a large Jupiter tree, the monastery is also a repository of old manuscripts, has a notable thangka collection and old costumes and earthen pots. Sitting on the roof is a 23-metre high gilded gold statue of Maitreya Buddha, the newer Dukhang, about 200 years old is located diagonally across from the courtyards entrance and contains a statue of Avalokitesvara with 1000 arms and 11 heads. Bookcases stand at the sides, with the volumes of the Sumbum, describing the life. The left wall has paintings of the 35 Confessional Buddhas while the wall has an image of Sakyamuni with two of his chiefs by his side
10.
Mangyu temple complex
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The Mangyu temple complex located in the village of Mangyu, Ladakh is one of the earliest in Ladakh region in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Main temple complex comprise two early temples situated adjacent to other and two chapels, one each on either side of the temples, that house large images of two armed and four armed Maitreya. Another two important structures are early period painted chortens, one of known as four image Chorten due to the four sculptures inside it. Unfortunately some of the paintings were lost and some were repainted in the past. But still there are good quality authentic paintings at this site, video of Vairocana temple Mangyu village is accessible by motorable roads and is about 70 km from Leh, a journey that will take about 2 hours by cabs. Important monasteries and sites like Basgo, Saspol, Alchi are all in this route with minor deviations, there are bus services from Leh to Mangyu twice a week. Mangyu is at a distance of about 15 km from Alchi monastery, in 2013 there were three shops in the village with various stationery items that include water, bottled soft drinks, tea, noodles, biscuits etc. There is a home stay, Mangyu guest house, with three rooms, two with attached toilets. The project carried out in five seasons was funded by Shinnyo-en
11.
Sumda Chun
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Temple at Sumda Chun, an early Tibetan Buddhist temple and monastery is located in the Sumda Chun village, a remote part of the Himalayas. The temple at Sumda Chun is under the management of Hemis Monastery that appoints monks for conducting daily rituals and this faith of the Buddhists puts this temple at a very important status thereby placing it in the Sumda-Mangyu-Alchi pilgrimage track that the pilgrims try to do in a single day. Sumda Chun village is at a height of 3500 metres from the sea level, the village lives in darkness and has no grid based electricity till date. The population of about 120 people staying in the village also contributes an active part in the day by day activities of the in the form of offerings to the temple, the track starts ascending to the west, through a gorge from the left bank of the stream. At one point, the crosses to the right bank. One or two houses come in the way before another gorge appears on the right leads to the Sumda chon Monastery. This track goes along the stream with plantations of Willow, after walking for an hour the monastery appears above the village houses. There is another track from Alchi village through Stakspila, the ascent from Alchi is more difficult. The conservation program was funded by the World Monuments Fund, the conservation project of Sumda Chun was awarded Award of excellence by UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation in the year 2011. Award citation reads as follows Sumda Chun Gonpa, Ladakh, India The heroic rescue of the Sumda Chun Gonpa has brought back to one of the oldest monasteries in a remote area of Ladakh. The restoration of the historically significant but severely dilapidated structure was carried out in a systematic, Conservation interventions combined world-class scientific methods with vernacular building know-how. The art conservation is particularly notable for its sophistication, the exemplary project was realized through the steadfast commitment of the local community and the monastic order, in cooperation with cultural foundations and international partners. A unique painted chorten of the complex dating to 13th century was conserved by M/s. Art Conservation Solutions in collaboration with Himalayan Cultural Heritage Foundation, conservation project was funded by World Monuments Fund in August 2013
12.
Rinchen Zangpo
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Rinchen Zangpo, also known as Mahaguru, was a principal lotsawa or translator of Sanskrit Buddhist texts into Tibetan during the second diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet. He was a student of the famous Indian master, Atisha, Zangpos disciple Guge Kyithangpa Yeshepal wrote Zangpos biography. He is said to have built one hundred monasteries in Western Tibet, including the famous Tabo Monastery in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh. He was possibly the single most important person for the Second Propagation of Buddhism in Tibet, some sources claim he became king of the western Himalayan Kingdom of Guge. Among his translations are the Viśeṣastavaṭikā by Prajñāvarman, which he together with Janārdhana. Tibet and Her Neighbors, A History, rin-chen-bzan-po and the Renaissance of Buddhism in Tibet Around the Millennium. First draft English translation by Nancy Kipp Smith, under the direction of Thomas J. Pritzker, Rinchen Zangpo - Rigpa Wiki Lochen Rinchen Sangpo, the Great Translator Gardner, Alexander. The Treasury of Lives, Biographies of Himalayan Religious Masters, the Kingdom of Guge, Western Tibet Mural of Rinchen Zangpo Tabo Ancient Monastery, Ajanta of the Himalayas. Tibetan Medical & Astrology Institute of the Dalai Lama Tibetanmedicine. com Central Council of Tibetan Medicine
13.
Chortens
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A stupa is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics that is used as a place of meditation. Stupas originated as pre-Buddhist tumuli in which śramaṇas were buried in a position called chaitya. After the parinirvana of the Buddha, his remains were cremated, the earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of Buddhist stupas dates to the late 4th century BCE in India. Buddhist scriptures claim that stupas were built at least a century earlier, however, some later stupas, such as at Sarnath and Sanchi, seem to be embellishments of earlier mounds. The earliest evidence of monastic stupas dates back to the 2nd century BCE and these are stupas that were built within Buddhist monastic complexes and they replicate in stone older stupas made of baked bricks and timber. Sanchi, Sarnath, Amaravati and Bharhut are examples of stupas that were shaped in stone imitating previously existing wooden parts, the stupa was elaborated as Buddhism spread to other Asian countries, becoming, for example, the chörten of Tibet and the pagoda in East Asia. The pagoda has varied forms that also include bell-shaped and pyramidal styles, in the Western context, there is no clear distinction between a stupa and a pagoda. Stupas were built in Sri Lanka soon after Devanampiya Tissa of Anuradhapura converted to Buddhism, the first stupa to be built was the Thuparamaya. Later, many more were built over the years, some like the Jetavanaramaya in Anuradhapura being one of the tallest ancient structures in the world, the earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of Buddhist stupas dates to the late 4th century BCE. In India, Sanchi, Sarnath, Amaravati and Bharhut are among the oldest known stupas, the tallest is the Phra Pathommachedi in Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand, at a height of 127 metres. The Swat Valley hosts a well-preserved stupa at Shingardar near Ghalegay, another stupa is located near Barikot, in Sri Lanka, the ancient city of Anuradhapura includes some of the tallest, most ancient and best preserved stupas in the world, such as Ruwanwelisaya. The most elaborate stupa is the 8th century Borobudur monument in Java, the upper rounded terrace with rows of bell-shaped stupas contained Buddha images symbolizing Arūpajhāna, the sphere of formlessness. The main stupa itself is empty, symbolizing complete perfection of enlightenment, borobudurs unique and significant architecture has been acknowledged by UNESCO as the largest buddhist monument in the world. It is also the world’s largest Buddhist temple, as well as one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world. Object stupa, in which the items interred are objects belonged to the Buddha or his disciples, such as a bowl or robe. Commemorative stupa, built to commemorate events in the lives of Buddha or his disciples, symbolic stupa, to symbolise aspects of Buddhist theology, for example, Borobudur is considered to be the symbol of the Three Worlds and the spiritual stages in a Mahayana bodhisattvas character. Votive stupa, constructed to commemorate visits or to gain spiritual benefits, the shape of the stupa represents the Buddha, crowned and sitting in meditation posture on a lion throne. His crown is the top of the spire, his head is the square at the base, his body is the vase shape, his legs are the four steps of the lower terrace
14.
Buddhism
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Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
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Hindu
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Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically used as a geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time, by the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who were not Turks or Muslims. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear, competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma, the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term Hindu in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals, scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is a spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the third largest group after Christians. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to Indias 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar. These together accounted for 99% of the worlds Hindu population, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries, the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama. The term Hindu in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term, the Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India. Among the earliest known records of Hindu with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang, Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose connotation overflows in the religious according to Arvind Sharma. The Hindu community occurs as the amorphous Other of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that Hindu retained its geographical reference initially, Indian, indigenous, local, virtually native. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves, the poet Vidyapatis poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes The Hindus and the Turks live close together, Each makes fun of the others religion
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Baroque
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The style began around 1600 in Rome and Italy, and spread to most of Europe. The aristocracy viewed the dramatic style of Baroque art and architecture as a means of impressing visitors by projecting triumph, power, Baroque palaces are built around an entrance of courts, grand staircases, and reception rooms of sequentially increasing opulence. However, baroque has a resonance and application that extend beyond a reduction to either a style or period. It is also yields the Italian barocco and modern Spanish barroco, German Barock, Dutch Barok, others derive it from the mnemonic term Baroco, a supposedly laboured form of syllogism in logical Scholastica. The Latin root can be found in bis-roca, in informal usage, the word baroque can simply mean that something is elaborate, with many details, without reference to the Baroque styles of the 17th and 18th centuries. The word Baroque, like most periodic or stylistic designations, was invented by later critics rather than practitioners of the arts in the 17th, the term Baroque was initially used in a derogatory sense, to underline the excesses of its emphasis. In particular, the term was used to describe its eccentric redundancy and noisy abundance of details, although it was long thought that the word as a critical term was first applied to architecture, in fact it appears earlier in reference to music. Another hypothesis says that the word comes from precursors of the style, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola and he did not make the distinctions between Mannerism and Baroque that modern writers do, and he ignored the later phase, the academic Baroque that lasted into the 18th century. Long despised, Baroque art and architecture became fashionable between the two World Wars, and has remained in critical favour. In painting the gradual rise in popular esteem of Caravaggio has been the best barometer of modern taste, William Watson describes a late phase of Shang-dynasty Chinese ritual bronzes of the 11th century BC as baroque. The term Baroque may still be used, usually pejoratively, describing works of art, craft, the appeal of Baroque style turned consciously from the witty, intellectual qualities of 16th-century Mannerist art to a visceral appeal aimed at the senses. It employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, germinal ideas of the Baroque can also be found in the work of Michelangelo. Even more generalised parallels perceived by some experts in philosophy, prose style, see the Neapolitan palace of Caserta, a Baroque palace whose construction began in 1752. In paintings Baroque gestures are broader than Mannerist gestures, less ambiguous, less arcane and mysterious, more like the stage gestures of opera, Baroque poses depend on contrapposto, the tension within the figures that move the planes of shoulders and hips in counterdirections. Baroque is a style of unity imposed upon rich, heavy detail, Baroque style featured exaggerated lighting, intense emotions, release from restraint, and even a kind of artistic sensationalism. There were highly diverse strands of Italian baroque painting, from Caravaggio to Cortona, the most prominent Spanish painter of the Baroque was Diego Velázquez. The later Baroque style gradually gave way to a more decorative Rococo, while the Baroque nature of Rembrandts art is clear, the label is less often used for Vermeer and many other Dutch artists. Flemish Baroque painting shared a part in this trend, while continuing to produce the traditional categories
17.
Tibetan Buddhism
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Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet, the regions surrounding the Himalayas and much of Central Asia. It derives from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism and preserves the Tantric status quo of eighth-century India, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Religious texts and commentaries comprise the Tibetan Buddhist canon, such that Tibetan is a language of these areas. Among its prominent exponents is the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the number of its adherents is estimated to be between ten and twenty million. Westerners unfamiliar with Tibetan Buddhism initially turned to China for an understanding, there the term used was lamaism to distinguish it from a then traditional Chinese form. The term was taken up by scholars including Hegel, as early as 1822. Insofar as it implies a discontinuity between Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, the term has been discredited, another term, Vajrayāna is occasionally used mistakenly for Tibetan Buddhism. More accurately, it signifies a certain subset of practices included in, not only Tibetan Buddhism, the native Tibetan term for all Buddhism is doctrine of the internalists. There is an association between the religious and the secular the spiritual and the temporal in Tibet. The term for this relationship is chos srid zung brel, in the west the term Indo-Tibetan Buddhism has become current, in acknowledgement of its derivation from the latest stages of Buddhist development in northern India. Tibetan Buddhism comprises the teachings of the three vehicles of Buddhism, the Foundational Vehicle, Mahāyāna, and Vajrayāna, the Mahāyāna goal of spiritual development is to achieve the enlightenment of buddhahood in order to most efficiently help all other sentient beings attain this state. The motivation in it is the mind of enlightenment — an altruistic intention to become enlightened for the sake of all sentient beings. Bodhisattvas are revered beings who have conceived the will and vow to dedicate their lives with bodhicitta for the sake of all beings, Tibetan Buddhism teaches methods for achieving buddhahood more quickly by including the Vajrayāna path in Mahāyāna. Buddhahood is defined as a free of the obstructions to liberation as well as those to omniscience. When one is freed from all mental obscurations, one is said to attain a state of continuous bliss mixed with a simultaneous cognition of emptiness, in this state, all limitations on ones ability to help other living beings are removed. It is said there are countless beings who have attained buddhahood. Buddhas spontaneously, naturally and continuously perform activities to all sentient beings. However it is believed that ones karma could limit the ability of the Buddhas to help them, there is a long history of oral transmission of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism
18.
Schools of Buddhism
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Schools of Buddhism refers to the various institutional and doctrinal divisions of Buddhism that have existed from ancient times up to the present. That have made up or currently make up the whole of Buddhist traditions, the sectarian and conceptual divisions of Buddhist thought are part of the modern framework of Buddhist studies, as well as comparative religion in Asia. The most common classification among scholars is threefold, with Mahāyāna itself split between the traditional Mahāyāna teachings, and the Vajrayāna teachings which emphasize esotericism, Vajrayāna, primarily in Tibet, Bhutan, Mongolia and the Russian republic of Kalmykia. The following terms may be encountered in descriptions of the major Buddhist divisions, Ekayāna Mahayana texts such as the Lotus Sutra and the Avatamsaka Sutra sought to unite all the different teachings into a single great way. These texts serve as the inspiration for using the term Ekayāna in the sense of one vehicle and this one vehicle became a key aspect of the doctrines and practices of Tiantai and Tendai Buddhist sects, which subsequently influenced Chán and Zen doctrines and practices. In Japan, the teaching of the Lotus Sutra also inspired the formation of the Nichiren sect. Esoteric Buddhism usually considered synonymous with Vajrayāna, some scholars have applied the term to certain practices found within the Theravāda, particularly in Cambodia. It is considered a term when applied by the Mahāyāna to mistakenly refer to the Theravāda school. Moreover, Hīnayāna refers to the now non extant schools with limited set of views, practices and results and its use in scholarly publications is now also considered controversial. Lamaism an old term, still used, synonymous with Tibetan Buddhism. Mahāyāna a movement that emerged from early Buddhist schools, together with its later descendants, Vajrayāna traditions are sometimes listed separately. The main use of the term in East Asian and Tibetan traditions is in reference to spiritual levels, mainstream Buddhism a term used by some scholars for the early Buddhist schools. Mantrayāna usually considered synonymous with Vajrayāna, the Tendai school in Japan has been described as influenced by Mantrayana. Newar Buddhism a non-monastic, caste based Buddhism with patrilineal descent, nikāya Buddhism or schools an alternative term for the early Buddhist schools. Non-Mahāyāna an alternative term for the early Buddhist schools, northern Buddhism an alternative term used by some scholars for Tibetan Buddhism. Also, a term still sometimes used to encompass both East Asian and Tibetan traditions. It has even used to refer to East Asian Buddhism alone. Secret Mantra an alternative rendering of Mantrayāna, a literal translation of the term used by schools in Tibetan Buddhism when referring to themselves
19.
Nyingma
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The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Nyingma literally means ancient, and is referred to as Ngangyur because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Old Tibetan in the eighth century. The Tibetan alphabet and grammar was created for this endeavour, in modern times, the Nyingma lineage has been centered in Kham. The Nyingmapa, a Red Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism, incorporate local religious practices and local deities and elements of shamanism, the group particularly believes in hidden terma treasures. Traditionally, Nyingmapa practice was advanced orally among a network of lay practitioners. Monasteries with celibate monks and nuns, along with the practice of reincarnated spiritual leaders are later adaptations, Nyingma maintains the earliest tantra teachings that have been given the popular nomenclature of Vajrayana. Early Vajrayana that was transmitted from India to Tibet may be differentiated by the specific term Mantrayana, T least in Eastern Tibet, there existed during and after the time of Lha-tho-tho-ri a solid knowledge of Buddhism and that the upper classes of the people were faithfully devoted to it. But the border regions in the north and west probably had also come into contact with Buddhism long before the time of Srong-btsan-sgam-po, there used to be contacts with the Tibetan population in these border regions. It is possible that the knowledge gained from these encounters was spread by merchants over large areas of Tibet, thus, when Srong-btsan-sgam-po succeeded to the throne of Tibet in the year 627, the country was ready for a systematic missionary drive under royal patronage. Around 760, Trisong Detsen invited Padmasambhava and the Nalanda abbot Śāntarakṣita to Tibet to introduce Buddhism to the Land of Snows, Trisong Detsen ordered the translation of all Buddhist texts into Tibetan. Padmasambhava, Śāntarakṣita,108 translators, and 25 of Padmasambhavas nearest disciples worked for years in a gigantic translation-project. The translations from this period formed the base for the large scriptural transmission of Dharma teachings into Tibet, Padmasambhava supervised mainly the translation of tantras, Śāntarakṣita concentrated on the sutras. Padmasambhava and Śāntarakṣita also founded the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet, from this basis, Tantric Buddhism was established in its entirety in Tibet. From the eighth until the eleventh century, the Nyingma was the school of Buddhism in Tibet. Langdarma persecuted monks and nuns, and attempted to wipe out Buddhism and his efforts, however, were not successful. A few monks escaped to Amdo in the northeast of Tibet, indeed, the Nyingma traditionally had no centralized authority or Nyingma-wide hierarchy. Only since the Tibetan diaspora following the Chinese annexure of Tibet have the Nyingma had a head of the Tradition, even so, the Nyingma tradition is still politically decentralized and often decisions are made in an oligarchy or community of the senior sangha within a given jurisdiction or locale. There was never a single head of the lineage in the manner of either the Ganden Tripa or Dalai Lama of the Gelug and it was only recently in exile in India that this role was created at the request of the Central Tibetan Administration and it is largely administrative
20.
Kagyu
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Along with the Sakya and Gelug schools, the Kagyu tradition is classified as one of the Sarma or New Transmission schools of Vajrayāna founded during the second diffusion of Buddhism into Tibet. It is a Red Hat sect along with the Nyingma and Sakya and these lineages are hereditary as well as mindstream emanation in nature. Strictly speaking, the term bka brgyud oral lineage, precept transmission applies to any line of transmission of a teaching from teacher to disciple. There are references to the Atiśa kagyu for the Kadam or to Jonang kagyu for the Jonang, today, however, the term Kagyu almost always refers to the Dagpo Kagyu and, less often, to the Shangpa Kagyu. The term Bka brgyud pa simply applies to any line of transmission of a teaching from teacher to disciple. We can properly speak of a Jo nang Bka brgyud pa or Dge ldan Bka brgyud pa for the Jo nang pa, similar teachings and practices centering around the Ni gu chos drug are distinctive of the Shangs pa Bka brgyud pa. These two traditions with their offshoots are often referred to simply as Bka brgyud pa. The term Dkar brgyud pa refers to the use of the white cotton meditation garment by all these lineages and this complex is what is normally known, inaccuratly, as the Bka brgyud pa. Nevertheless, it is fine if are all called Bka brgyud, at Thuu kwans suggestion, then, we will side with convention and use the term Bka brgyud. One source indicates, he term Kagyu derives from the Tibetan phrase meaning Lineage of the Four Commissioners, the Shangpa Kagyu differs in origin from the better known Marpa or Dagpo school that is the source of all present-day Kagyu schools. The Dagpo school and its branches primarily came from the lineage of the Indian siddhas Tilopa and Naropa transmitted in Tibet through Marpa, Milarepa, Gampopa and their successors. In contrast, the Shangpa lineage descended from two female siddhas, Naropas consort Niguma and Virupas disciple Sukhasiddhi, transmitted in Tibet in the 11th century through Khyungpo Nenjor, the tradition takes its name from the Shang Valley where Khyungpo Nenjor established the gompa of Zhongzhong or Zhangzhong. For seven generations, the Shangpa Kagyu lineage remained a one-to-one transmission, although there were a few temples and retreat centres in Tibet and Bhutan associated with the Shangpa transmission, it never really was established as an independent religious institution or sect. Rather, its teachings were transmitted down through the centuries by lamas belonging to different schools. In the 20th century, the Shangpa teachings were transmitted by the first Kalu Rinpoche, who studied at Palpung Monastery, the seat of the Tai Situpa. Kagyu begins in Tibet with Marpa Lotsawa who trained as a translator with Drogmi Lotsawa Shākya Yeshe and his principal gurus were the siddhas Nāropa - from whom he received the close lineage of Mahāmudrā and Tantric teachings, and Maitrīpāda - from whom he received the distant lineage of mahāmudrā. Marpas guru Nāropa was the disciple of Tilopa from East Bengal. From his own teachers Tilopa received the Four Lineages of Instructions, Marpa married the Lady Dagmema, and took eight other concubines as mudras
21.
Jonang
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The Jonang is one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Its origins in Tibet can be traced to early 12th century master Yumo Mikyo Dorje, but became much wider known with the help of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, a monk originally trained in the Sakya school. The Jonang re-established their religio-political center in Golok, Nakhi and Mongol areas in Kham, an estimated 5,000 monks and nuns of the Jonang tradition practice today in these areas and at the edges of historic Gelug influence. However, their teachings were limited to these regions until the Rimé movement of the 19th century encouraged the study of non-Gelug schools of thought, the monk Künpang Tukjé Tsöndrü established a kumbum or stupa-vihara in the Jomonang Valley about 160 kilometres northwest of the Tashilhunpo Monastery in Ü-Tsang. The Jonang tradition took its name from this monastery, which was expanded by Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen. The Jonang tradition combines two specific teachings, what has come to be known as the philosophy of śūnyatā. The origin of combination in Tibet is traced to the master Yumo Mikyo Dorje. The order remained in power in parts of Kham and Amdo centered on Dzamthang Monastery, the Jonang school generated a number of renowned Buddhist scholars, like Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, but its most famous was Taranatha, who placed great emphasis on the Kalachakra Tantra. After the Jonang monasteries and practitioners in Gelug-controlled regions were forcibly converted, taranathas influence on Gelug thinking continues even to this day in the teaching of the present 14th Dalai Lama, who actively promotes initiation into Kalachakra. The Gelug school held the distinct but related rangtong view that all phenomena are empty and it is empty of all that is false, not empty of the limitless Buddha qualities that are its innate nature. Modern historians have identified two reasons which more likely led the Gelugpa to suppress the Jonangpa. First, the Jonangpa had political ties that were very vexing to the Gelugpa, the Jonang school, along with the Kagyu, were historical allies with the powerful house of Tsangpa, which was vying with the Dalai Lama and the Gelug school for control of Central Tibet. This was bad enough, but soon after the death of Taranatha, taranathas tulku was discovered to be a young boy named Zanabazar, the son of Tüsheet Khan, Prince of Central Khalkha. Tüsheet Khan and his son were of Borjigin lineage, meaning they had the authority to become khagan. When the young boy was declared the leader of all of Mongolia. The sects and institutions associated with these monasteries cried foul, tibetans have a long memory, and this accusation still stands within certain circles. I once asked the present Dalai Lama about this and he replied These monasteries were closed for political reasons, not religious ones, and their closing had nothing to do with sectarianism. They had supported the Tsangpa king in the uprising, thus committing treason, the Great Fifth believed that they should be closed in order to insure the future stability of the nation, and to dissuade other monasteries from engaging in warfare
22.
Sakya
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This articles concerns the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. For information on the ancient Śākya tribe, see Shakya, the Sakya school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug. It is one of the Red Hat sects along with the Nyingma, the Sakya tradition developed during the second period of translation of Buddhist scripture from Sanskrit into Tibetan in the late 11th century. Konchog Gyalpo became Drogmis disciple on the advice of his elder brother, from Drokmi comes the supreme teaching of Sakya, the system of Lamdre Path and its Fruit deriving from the mahasiddha Virupa based upon the Hevajra Tantra. Mal Lotsawa introduced to Sakya the esoteric Vajrayogini lineage known as Naro Khachoma, from Bari Lotsawa came innumerable tantric practices, foremost of which was the cycle of practices known as the One Hundred Sadhanas. Other key transmissions that form part of the Sakya spiritual curriculum include the cycles of Vajrakilaya, Mahākāla and Guhyasamāja tantras. The main Dharma system of the Sakya school is the Path with its Result, the other major system of the Sakya school is the Naropa Explanation For Disciples. In due course, two subsects emerged from the main Sakya lineage, Ngor, founded in Tsang by Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo, the Ngor school is centered on Ngor Evam Choden monastery. It represents 85% of the Sakyapa school and most if not all the monasteries in India are Ngorpa, tshar, founded by Tsarchen Losal Gyamtso. Nalendra became the home of the whispered-lineage of the Tsar school, the Bodongpa tradition, founded by Bodong Panchen Chögle Namgyel, is considered by some scholars to be a sub-sect of the Sakya tradition. The Mongol conquest of Tibet began after the foundation of the Mongol Empire in the early 13th century, in 1264, the feudal reign over Tibet was given to Drogön Chögyal Phagpa by Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty. The leaders of the Sakya regime were as follows, Drogön Chögyal Phagpa 1253-1280 Dharmapala Raksita 1280-1282, d. The present Sakya Trizin, Ngawang Kunga Tegchen Palbar Trinley Samphel Wanggi Gyalpo, today, he resides in Rajpur, India along with his wife, Gyalyum Kushok Tashi Lhakyi, and two sons Ratna Vajra Rinpoche and Gyana Vajra Rinpoche. Ratna Vajra Rinpoche being the son, is the lineage holder and is married to Dagmo Kalden Dunkyi Sakya. Traditionally hereditary succession alternates between the two Sakya palaces since Khon Könchok Gyelpos reign, the Ducho sub-dynasty of Sakya survives split into two palaces, the Dolma Phodrang and Phuntsok Phodrang. Sakya Trizin is head of the Dolma Phodrang, dagchen Sakyas father was the previous Sakya Trizin, Trichen Ngawang Thutop Wangchuk, throne holder of Sakya, and his mother Dechen Drolma. Dagchen Sakya was married to Her Eminence Dagmo Jamyang Kusho Sakya, they have five sons, without Khyentse and Kongtruls collecting and printing of rare works, the suppression of Buddhism by the Communists would have been much more final. Tibet under Yuan rule Sakya Monastery Lamdré Tibetan Buddhism Jonang Patron and priest relationship Davidson, preliminary Studies on Hevajras Abhisamaya and the Lam bras Tshogs bshad
23.
Gelug
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The Gelug, Gelug-pa, dGe Lugs Pa, dge-lugs-pa or Dgelugspa is the newest of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded by Je Tsongkhapa, a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader, the first monastery he established was named Ganden, and to this day the Ganden Tripa is the nominal head of the school, though its most influential figure is the Dalai Lama. Allying themselves with the Mongols as a patron, the Gelug emerged as the pre-eminent Buddhist school in Tibet since the end of the 16th century. Ganden is the Tibetan rendition of the Sanskrit name Tushita, the Pure land associated with Maitreya Buddha, at first, Tsongkhapas school was called Ganden Choluk meaning the Spiritual Lineage of Ganden. By taking the first syllable of Ganden and the second of Choluk this was abbreviated to Galuk, the Gelug school was founded by Je Tsongkhapa. A great admirer of the Kadam school, Tsongkhapa was a promoter of the Kadam emphasis on the Mahayana principle of compassion as the fundamental spiritual orientation. He combined this with extensive writings on Madhyamaka and Nagarjunas philosophy of Śūnyatā that, in many ways, in 1577 Sonam Gyatso, who was considered to be the third incarnation of Gyalwa Gendün Drup, formed an alliance with the then most powerful Mongol leader, Altan Khan. Sonam Gyatso was very active in proselytizing among the Mongols, and this brought the Gelugpas powerful patrons who were to propel them to pre-eminence in Tibet. The Gelug-Mongol alliance was strengthened as after Sonam Gyatsos death, his incarnation was found to be Altan Khans great-grandson. By the end of the 16th century, following violent strife among the sects of Tibetan Buddhism, according to Tibetan historian Samten Karmay, Sonam Chophel, treasurer of the Ganden Palace, was the prime architect of the Gelugs rise to political power. Later he received the title Desi, meaning Regent, which he would earn through his efforts to establish Gelugpa power, from the period of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century, the Dalai Lamas held political control over central Tibet. The core leadership of this government was referred to as the Ganden Phodrang. Scottish Botanist George Forrest, who witnessed the 1905 Tibetan Rebellion led by the Gelug Lamas, according to his accounts, the Gelugpas were the dominant power in the region, with their Lamas effectively governing the area. Forrest said they used force and fraud to terrorise the, the central teachings of the Gelug School are Lamrim, based on the teachings of the Indian master Atiśa, and the systematic cultivation of the view of emptiness. The Guhyasamāja tantra is the principal one, as the Dalai Lama remarks, There is a saying in the Gelug, If one is on the move it is Guhyasamāja. If one is still, it is Guhyasamāja, If one is meditating, it should be upon Guhyasamāja. Therefore, whether one is engaged in study or practice, Guhyasamāja should be ones focus, the Gelug school focuses on ethics and monastic discipline of the vinaya as the central plank of spiritual practice. In particular, the need to pursue spiritual practice in a graded, arguably, Gelug is the only school of vajrayāna Buddhism that prescribes monastic ordination as a necessary qualification and basis in its teachers
24.
New Kadampa Tradition
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The New Kadampa Tradition – International Kadampa Buddhist Union is a global Buddhist organization founded by Kelsang Gyatso in England in 1991. In 2003 the words International Kadampa Buddhist Union were added to the original name New Kadampa Tradition, the NKT-IKBU is an international organization registered in England as a charitable, or non-profit, company. It currently lists more than 200 centres and around 900 branch classes/study groups in forty countries, the NKT-IKBU describes itself as ‘an entirely independent Buddhist tradition’ inspired and guided by ‘the ancient Kadampa Buddhist Masters and their teachings, as presented by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso’. Its founder, Kelsang Gyatso, has sought to make Buddhist meditation, the NKT-IKBU is described as being very successful at disseminating its teachings and Geshe Kelsangs books have been called very popular. The NKT-IKBU has expanded more rapidly than any other Buddhist tradition in Britain and it has been described as a controversial organization and a controversial New Religious Movement, a cult, or a breakaway Buddhist sect. The same year Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited Kelsang Gyatso in India and invited him over to teach at the Manjushri Institute, which was a part of their FPMT network. Kelsang Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist teacher, monk and scholar from the Gelug Tradition, according to David N. Kay, Kelsang Gyatso was invited in 1976 by Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who sought the advice of the Dalai Lama when choosing Kelsang Gyatso. Whereas according to a NKT brochure, Lama Yeshe requested Trijang Rinpoche to ask Kelsang Gyatso to become Resident Teacher of Manjushri Institute, Kelsang Gyatso was requested by Lama Yeshe to lead the General Program of Buddhist study. From 1982 to 1990 this program was led by Geshe Konchog Tsewang, according to a disciple of Lama Yeshe from this time, Lama Yeshe intended the institute to become the central monastery of the FPMT. One of the jewels of the FPMT crown and the pioneer among the western centres. In the late 1970s, Kelsang Gyatso, without consulting Lama Yeshe, Kay sees this as the beginning of a conflict between Lama Yeshe and Kelsang Gyatso. However, according to Kelsang Gyatso, the opening of the Centre in York caused not one moment of confusion or disharmony. Kelsang Gyatso was asked to resign so that another Geshe, described by Kay as more devoted to FPMT objectives, many students of Kelsang Gyatso petitioned him to stay and teach them, and on this basis he decided to remain. In the following years prior 1990 Kelsang Gyatso established 15 centers under his own direction in Great Britain and Spain, both Kay and Cozort describe the management committee of Manjushri Institute from 1981 onwards as made up principally of Kelsang Gyatsos closest students, also known as the Priory group. According to Kay, The Priory Group became dissatisfied with the FPMTs increasingly centralized organisation, according to Kay, Lama Yeshe tried at different times to reassert his authority over the Institute, but his attempts were unsuccessful. Kay goes on to describe a conflict of authority which developed between the Priory Group and the FPMT administration in 1983. In February 1984 the conflict was mediated by the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in London, Kay states that after the death of Lama Yeshe in March 1984, the FPMT lost interest because they saw it as a fruitless case. Further, Kay argues that Lama Yeshes and Geshe Kelsangs different ideological perspectives provided the conditions for the dispute between the Institute and the FPMT to escalate
25.
Padmasambhava
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Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche, was an 8th-century Indian Buddhist master. A number of legends have grown around Padmasambhavas life and deeds, and he is venerated as a second Buddha across Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan. The Nyingma school considers Padmasambhava to be a founder of their tradition, nyangrel Nyima Özer was the principal architect of the Padmasambhava mythos according to Janet Gyatso. Guru Chöwang was the major contributor to the mythos. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries there were several competing terma traditions surrounding Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra, Songtsän Gampo, and Vairotsana. At the end of the 12th century, there was the victory of the Padmasambhava cult, according to tradition, Padmasambhava was incarnated as an eight-year-old child appearing in a lotus blossom floating in Lake Dhanakosha, in the kingdom of Oddiyana. Padmasambhavas special nature was recognized by the local king of Oḍḍiyāna and was chosen to take over the kingdom. In Rewalsar, known as Tso Pema in Tibetan, he secretly taught tantric teachings to princess Mandarava, the king found out and tried to burn him, but it is believed that when the smoke cleared he just sat there, still alive and in meditation. Greatly astonished by this miracle, the king offered Padmasambhava both his kingdom and Mandarava, Padmasambhava left with Mandarava, and took to Maratika Cave in Nepal to practice secret tantric consort rituals. They had a vision of buddha Amitāyus and achieved what is called the rainbow body. Both Padmasambhava and one of his consorts, Mandarava, are believed to be alive and active in this rainbow body form by their followers. She and Padmasambhavas other main consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, who hid his numerous termas in Tibet for later discovery. Many thangkas and paintings show Padmasambhava in between them, with Mandarava on his right and Yeshe Tsogyal on his left. According to this story, King Trisong Detsen, the 38th king of the Yarlung dynasty. Śāntarakṣita started the building of Samye, demonical forces hindered the introduction of the Buddhist dharma, and Padmasambhava was invited to Tibet to subdue the demonic forces. The demons were not annihilated, but were obliged to submit to the dharma and this was in accordance with the tantric principle of not eliminating negative forces but redirecting them to fuel the journey toward spiritual awakening. According to tradition, Padmasambhava received the Emperors wife, identified with the dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, King Trisong Detsen ordered the translation of all Buddhist Dharma Texts into Tibetan. Padmasambhava, Shantarakṣita,108 translators, and 25 of Padmasambhavas nearest disciples worked for years in a gigantic translation-project
26.
Tilopa
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Tilopa was born in either Chativavo, Bengal or Jagora, Bengal in India. He was a practitioner and mahasiddha. He practiced Anuttarayoga Tantra, a set of practices intended to accelerate the process of attaining Buddhahood. Naropa is considered his main student, at Pashupatinath temple premise, greatest Hindu shrine of Nepal, there are two caves where Tilopa attained Siddhi and initiated his disciple Naropa. From the beginning, she made it clear to Tilopa that his parents were not the persons who had raised him. Advised by the dakini, Tilopa gradually took up a life, taking the monastic vows. The frequent visits of his dakini teacher continued to guide his spiritual path, as advised by Matangi, Tilopa started to work at a brothel in Bengal for a prostitute called Dharima as her solicitor and bouncer. During the day, he was grinding sesame seeds for his living, during a meditation, he received a vision of Vajradhara and, according to legend, the entirety of mahamudra was directly transmitted to Tilopa. After having received the transmission, Tilopa embarked on a wandering existence and he appointed Naropa, his most important student, as his successor. Tilopa gave Naropa a teaching called the Six Words of Advice, the original Sanskrit or Bengali of which is not extant, the text has reached us in Tibetan translation. ”According to Ken McLeod, the text contains exactly six words, the two English translations given in the following table are both attributed to him. Have compassion for those who suffer constant anxiety, sick of unrelenting pain and desiring release, adhere to a master, For when his blessing touches your heart, the mind is liberated. One of the most famous and important statements attributed to Tilopa is, “The problem is not enjoyment, the Life of the Mahāsiddha Tilopa. Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, tilopas Mahamudra Upadesha, The Gangama Instructions with Commentary. An English translation of The Ganges Mahamudra Several English translations of The Ganges Mahamudra
27.
Naropa
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Nāropā was an Indian Buddhist Mahasiddha. He was the disciple of Tilopa and brother, or some sources say partner and pupil, as an Indian Mahasiddha, Naropas instructions inform Vajrayana, particularly his six yogas of Naropa relevant to the completion stage of anuttarayogatantra. Although some accounts relate that Naropa was the teacher of Marpa Lotsawa. According to scholar John Newman, the Tibetans give Nāros name as Nā ro pa, Nā ro paṇ chen, Nā ro ta pa, the manuscript of the Paramarthasaṃgraha preserves a Sanskrit form Naḍapāda. A Sanskrit manuscript edited by Tucci preserves an apparent Prakrit form Nāropā, Naropa was a contemporary of Atiśa. Naropa was born in a high status Brahmin family of Bengal, from an early age showed an independent streak, hoping to follow a career of study and meditation. Succumbing to his parents wishes, he agreed to a marriage with a young Brahmin girl. After 8 years they both agreed to dissolve their marriage and become ordained, at the age of 28 Naropa entered the famous Buddhist University at Nalanda where he studied both Sutra and Tantra. He gained the reputation of a scholar and faultless debater. He eventually gained the title Guardian of the Northern gate, engaged in debates and taught. According to his Tibetan namtar, or spiritual biography, one day, while he was studying and he replied that he did and when she seemed happy with his response, he added that he also understood their meaning. At this point the dakini burst into tears, stating that he was a great scholar, on hearing the name Tilopa, he experienced an intense feeling of devotion, and Naropa realised he needed to find the teacher to achieve full realisation. He abandoned his studies and position at the university and set out to find Tilopa, Naropa then underwent what is known as the twelve minor hardships in his quest to find his teacher, all the hardships being hidden teachings on his path to enlightenment. When he finally met Tilopa, he was given the four complete transmission lineages which he began to practice. Naropa spent a total of twelve years with Tilopa, at the bank of river bagmati, in the premise of Hindu shrine Pashupatinath Temple, there is the cave where he was initiated by Tilopa and attained Siddhi. Later in his life Naropa stayed in Phullahari, where he died aged 85, Phullahari or Pullahari was located most likely in eastern Bihar or Bengal. Because I went alone as an insignificant monk to see the Lord Atisha —— and because he tarried for a year in Magadha – I thought I would go see the Lord Naropa, since his reputation was so great. I went east from Magadha for a month, as I had heard that the Lord was staying in the known as Phullahari
28.
Milarepa
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UJetsun Milarepa is generally considered one of Tibets most famous yogis and poets. He was a student of Marpa Lotsawa, and a figure in the history of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in the village of Kya Ngatsa – also known as Tsa – in Gungthang, a province of western Tibet, to a family, he was named Mila Thöpaga. His family name, Josay, indicates noble descent, a sept of the Khyungpo or eagle clan, when his father died, Milarepas uncle and aunt took all of the familys wealth. At his mothers request, Milarepa left home and studied sorcery, the villagers were angry and set off to look for Milarepa, but his mother got word to him, and he sent a hailstorm to destroy their crops. Milarepa later lamented his evil ways in his years in conversation with Rechungpa. Now, released from both good and evil, I have destroyed the root of karmic action and shall have no reason for action in the future, to say more than this would only cause weeping and laughter. What good would it do to tell you and he ascribes his gift to the clever control of internal air. David-Néel comments that at the house of the lama who taught him black magic there lived a trapa who was fleeter than a horse using the same skill, after witnessing such a monk David-Néel described how, He seemed to lift himself from the ground. His steps had the regularity of a pendulum, the traveller seemed to be in a trance. This esoteric skill, which is known as Lung-gom-pa in Tibet, is said to allow a practitioner to run at a speed for days without stopping. This technique could be compared to that practised by the Kaihōgyō monks of Mount Hiei and by practitioners of Shugendō, knowing that his revenge was wrong, Milarepa set out to find a lama and was led to Marpa the Translator. Before Marpa would teach Milarepa he had him build and then demolish three towers in turn, Milarepa was asked to build one final multi-story tower by Marpa at Lhodrag, this 11th century tower still stands. When Marpa still refused to teach Milarepa, he went to Marpas wife and she forged a letter of introduction to another teacher, Lama Ngogdun Chudor, under whose tutelage he practiced meditation. However, when he was making no progress, he confessed the forgery, Milarepa returned to Marpa, and was finally shown the spiritual teachings. Milarepa then left on his own, and after protracted diligence for 12 years he attained the state of Vajradhara and he then became known as Milarepa. Mila is Tibetan for, great man, and repa means, at the age of 45, he started to practice at Drakar Taso cave – Milarepas Cave, as well as becoming a wandering teacher. Here, he subsisted on nettle tea, leading his skin to turn green with a covering, hence the greenish color he is often depicted as having, in paintings
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Longchenpa
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Longchen Rabjampa, Drimé Özer, commonly abbreviated to Longchenpa, was a major teacher in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. Along with Sakya Pandita and Je Tsongkhapa, he is recognized as one of the three main manifestations of Mañjuśrī to have taught in Central Tibet. His major work is the Seven Treasuries, which encapsulates the previous six hundred years of Buddhist thought in Tibet, Longchenpa was a critical link in the exoteric and esoteric transmission of the Dzogchen teachings. He was abbot of Samye, one of Tibets most important monasteries and the first Buddhist monastery established in the Himalaya, but spent most of his life travelling or in retreat. Longchen Rabjampa was born at Gra-phu stod-gron in g. Yo-ru in Eastern dBus in Central Tibet on the day of the second lunar month of the Earth-Male-Ape year. The date of Longchen Rabjampas parinirvāṇa was the day of the twelfth lunar month of the Water-Female-Hare year at O-rgyan-rdzong in Gangs-ri thod-kar. Longchenpa is regarded as an incarnation of the princess Pema Sal. He was born to the master Tenpasung, an adept at both the sciences and the practice of mantra, and Dromza Sonamgyen, who was descended from the family of Dromton Gyelwie Jungne. Legend states that at age five, Longchenpa could read and write, Longchenpa was first ordained at the age of twelve and studied extensively with the Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje. He received not only the Nyingma transmissions as passed down in his family, at the age of nineteen, Longchenpa entered the famous shedra Sangpu Neutok, where he acquired great scholarly wisdom. He later chose to practice in the solitude of the mountains, when he was in his late twenties two events occurred that were to be of decisive importance in his intellectual and spiritual development. One was a vision of Guru Padmasambhava and his consort Yeshe Tsogyal, therefore, someone will come to hold my lineage. Together with Rangjung Dorje, Longchenpa accompanied Kumaraja and his disciples for two years, during which time he received all of Rigdzin Kumaradzas transmissions. After several years in retreat, Longchenpa attracted more and more students, during a stay in Bhutan, Longchenpa fathered a daughter and a son, of which the latter, Trugpa Odzer, also became a holder of the Nyingtig lineage. A detailed account of the life and teachings of Longchenpa is found in Buddha Mind by Tulku Thondup Rinpoche, Pema Lingpa the famous terton of Bhutan is regarded as the immediate reincarnation of Longchenpa. In the Nyingma lineage, Longchenpa, Rongzom, and Mipham are known as the Three Omniscient Ones, Longchenpa is widely considered the single most important writer on the Dzogchen teachings. He is also a commentator of the Kunyed Gyalpo Tantra, a text belonging to the Mind Class of the Ati Yoga Inner Tantras, the Precious Treasury of Pith Instructions. The Precious Treasury of Philosophical Systems, padma Publishing 2007 The Treasury of Doxography
30.
Patrul Rinpoche
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Patrul Rinpoche was a prominent teacher and author of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. He took ordination with Khen Sherab Zangpo, from Shechen Öntrul Thutob Namgyal, he received the reading transmission for the Translated Word of the Buddha and teachings on Sanskrit grammar. He received the transmissions for the Kangyur and Tengyur in their entirety, together with the writings of many masters of the old and new translation schools. He received instruction on the Longchen Nyingtik Ngondro some twenty-five times from Jikmé Gyalwé Nyugu, in addition, he received instruction on tsa-lung practice and Dzogchen, and studied many of the cycles of practice found in the canonical scriptures of the Nyingma Vajrayana. Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje introduced him to the awareness of rigpa while exhibiting wild. He trained for a time in the Longchen Nyingtik tsa-lung practices. To assemblies in Serthar and in the upper and lower regions of the Do valley he taught on The Way of the Bodhisattva, Mani Kabum, Aspiration Prayer of Sukhavati and so on. At the request of Situ Choktrul Chökyi Lodrö and others, he gave extensive explanations on The Way of the Bodhisattva to the assembly of monks. He went to major monasteries of the Riwo Gendenpa tradition such as Sershul, Labtridu, Chuhor and others and taught elaborately on The Way of the Bodhisattva and other topics. In addition, his disciples included many masters of the Sakya, Gelugpa and Kagyü schools, such as Sershul Lharampa Thubten, Palpung Lama Tashi Özer, Patrul Rinpoche died on the eighteenth day of the fourth lunar month in the Fire Pig year of the fifteenth calendrical cycle. Patrul Rinpoches writings were not collected by the master himself or by his attendants and those which were printed and which are now to be found comprise six volumes. Use the time of your life, recognize the impermanence of all outer pleasure. Live as a Yogi Do your spiritual practices, work as a Bodhisattva for a happy world. Become an Amitabha a Buddha of love and light, turn your world into the paradise Sukhavati, by unfolding the enlightenment energy within you. Search you a master, who knows the goal of enlightenment. Change your world into a place of grace, by understanding all the phenomena as spiritual exercises, dedicate your actions to the benefit of all beings. Live for the happiness of all beings, so you get the energy of light. The Way of the Bodhisattva Treasury of Precious Qualities The Words of My Perfect Teacher The Lotus Gardens Play, translated by Acharya Nyima Tsering, the Treasury of Lives, Biographies of Himalayan Religious Masters
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Rangjung Dorje, 3rd Karmapa Lama
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Rangjung Dorje was the third Karmapa, an important figure in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. He reportedly produced a black crown at the age of three and declared himself to be the mindstream reimbodiment of Karma Pakshi, 2nd Karmapa Lama. Born to a Nyingma family, he received the transmission of the Nyingma tradition in addition to that of the Karma Kagyu. Suchan links Rangjung Dorje to Rigdzin Kumaradza, Vimalamitra and Padmasambhava, The third Karmapa Lama, the latter taught Rangjung Dorje the nying-thig, heart-essence, teachings transmitted by Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra. Therefore, Rangjung Dorje belongs to the lineage of the Nyingma school. As a group, the Karmapa Lamas were among the earliest recognized Tulku and they were particularly influential at the Yuan and Ming courts of China. Their influence also extended to the court of the Tangut Xia Kingdom where a disciple of Dusum Khyenpa was given the title Supreme Teacher by a Tangut Xixia King. Rangjung Dorje was a scholar who composed many significant texts, the most famous of which is the Profound Inner Meaning. His mastery of both the Kagyu Mahamudra and Nyingma Dzogchen was widely renowned, and he was a Kalachakra master as well, in 1321 the famous scholar Dolpopa visited Tsurphu Monastery for the first time and had extensive discussions with Rangjung Dorje about doctrinal issues. It appears that Rangjung Dorje almost certainly influenced the development of some of Dolpopas theories, according to Karma phrin las, Dri lan yid, 91-92, his teacher, Chödrak Gyatso, the Seventh Karmapa, interpreted the nature of Zhentong accepted by Rangjung Dorje. Yungtön Dorjepel, studied the Great Perfection due to the inspiration of Rangjung Dorje. He visited China, where the emperor Toghon Temur became his disciple, upon his death, Rangjung Dorjes face is said to have appeared in the moon there. Schaeffer treats the Third Karmapas work on the Buddha Nature in a thesis, Lama Kunsang, Lama Pemo, Marie Aubèle. History of the Karmapas, The Odyssey of the Tibetan Masters with the Black Crown, snow Lion Publications, Ithaca, New York. The History of Sixteen Karmapas of Tibet, Rangjung Dorje, Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Peter Roberts. Transcending Ego - Distinguishing Consciousness from Wisdom, Rangjung Dorje, Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, John Rockwell. An Aspirational Prayer for Mahamudra Rangjung Dorje, Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, a Treatise entitled, “A Teaching on the Essence of the Tathagatas Gardner, Alexander. The Treasury of Lives, Biographies of Himalayan Religious Masters
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Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen
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While the doctrinal origins of the Jonang school can be traced to the early 12th-century master Yumo Mikyöt Dorjé, it became much wider known through the efforts of Dölpopa Shérap Gyeltsen. Dölpopa was born in Dölpo, but in 1309, when he was seventeen, he ran away home to seek the Buddhist teachings, first in Mustang. In time, Dölpopa became one of the most influential and original yet controversial of Tibetan Buddhist teachers, originally a monk of the Sakya school, he developed a teaching known as shentong, which is closely tied to Yogacara and Buddha-nature traditions. In 1321, Dölpopa visited Jonang Monastery at Jomonang for the first time and he then visited Tsurphu Monastery for the first time and had extensive discussions with Rangjung Dorje, 3rd Karmapa Lama, about doctrinal issues. It appears that the Karmapa Lama almost certainly influenced the development of some of Dölpopas theories, possibly including shentong. Other than this, Dölpopa had studied almost completely under the Sakya tradition until he was thirty years old in 1322 and he had taught for most of the previous decade at the great Sakya Monastery. In 1327, after the death of his guru Yönden Gyantso, in 1329 a large stūpa was quickly built at Upper Zangden, but it collapsed. In 1330 the foundations for a much larger stūpa were laid at a new site in Lower Zangden and it was a massive undertaking and involved many workers and artisans. Support flowed in from around Tibet and it was finally consecrated in 1333 and was the largest stūpa temple or kumbum. Equally controversially, Dölpopa was not afraid to employ the term Self or Soul to refer to the truth that according to him lay at the heart of all being. Great teachers of the Tibetan Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya schools have and do argue that such a view is fundamental to the practice of the Buddhist path and the attainment of Enlightenment. Buddha is by all accounts considered to be non-conditioned, eternal, unchanging, bliss, compassion, wisdom, power, for Shentongpas the fact that Buddha is non-conditioned means the essence of Buddha is complete with all the Buddha Qualities in a timeless sense. Dölpopa uses many scriptural citations to support his view, drawing upon sutras and tantras to substantiate his understanding of Mahayana, Dölpopa also frequently makes use of such positive terms which he finds in the selfsame scriptures and tantras as permanent, everlasting, eternal and Self. This, Dölpopa claims, all pertains to the realm of Nirvana and this felicitous state is said to lie within the being, eternally. But within the mode of perceiving, it is not recognised. For Dölpopa, the indwelling Buddha is genuinely real, yet empty in one sense - in that the internal Buddha or Buddha nature is empty of illusion, even having faith in the reality of these higher qualities helps remove spiritual veils. Dolpopa explains that the worldling believes he has self, permanence, bliss and those who are beyond the world also talk of Self, Permanence, Bliss, and Purity, but in their case it is meaningful, because they know what really has these qualities. Dolpopa remarks that just to believe this removes many veils, thus emphasising the power of faith, burns away all the veils that have been obscuring the spiritual qualities of the buddha-body of reality, which is eternal and spontaneously present within each living being
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Sakya Pandita
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Chöjé Sakya Paṇḍita Künga Gyeltsen was a Tibetan spiritual leader and Buddhist scholar and the fourth of the Five Sakya Forefathers. Künga Gyeltsen is generally known simply as Sakya Paṇḍita, a given to him in recognition of his scholarly achievements. He is held in the tradition to have been an emanation of Mañjuśrī and he is considered to be the fourth Sakya Forefather and sixth Sakya Trizin and one of the most important figures in the Sakya lineage. He was born as Palden Dondup at Sakya in the family of Jamyanggön. This lineage had held the abbotship of Sakya on a basis since 1073. His father was Palchen Öpoche and his mother Machig Nyitri Cham, Sakya Paṇḍita was the nephew of Jetsun Dragpa Gyaltsen, and became the principal disciple of this prominent scholar. He was instructed in the sutras and tantras by Dragpa Gyaltsen and mastered Sanskrit, eventually he was initiated as a śrāmaṇera by his master and given the religious name Künga Gyeltsen. As a young monk, he visited the prominent Kashmiri scholar Śakya Śri, who ordained him as a bhikśu in 1208, legend has it that he visited Kyirong in Nepal on his way back, and there defeated a brahman Shastri in a debate on logic. He then overcome his opponent in a contest of supernatural powers, as he wanted to show his fellow Tibetans the peculiar dress of Indian Brahmin priests, he brought the Shastri to Tibet where the unlucky loser was killed by the protective deities of the land. The Shastris head was tied to a pillar of the great temple in Sakya which remained until modern times. The experience of Sakya Paṇḍita with Indian learning provided a notably South Asian influence to his scholarship later on and his ordination as bhikśu marked the inception of Sakya as a proper monastic order. He acceded as dansa chenpo or abbot-ruler of Sakya upon the death of his uncle Dragpa Gyaltsen in 1216, according to later Tibetan historiography, Genghis Khan subjugated a king of Tibet in 1206 and then sent a letter to the Sakya abbot. After the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, the Tibetans stopped sending tribute and this is, however, a legend without historical foundation. It is known, however, that the grandson of Genghis Khan, in 1240 he sent an invasion force under Dorta into Tibet. The Mongols reached the Phanyul Valley north of Lhasa, killing some 500 monks and destroying and looting monasteries, villages, the Gyal Lhakhang Monastery went up in flames and many monks of the Reting Monastery were slaughtered by the horsemen. The Drigung Monastery was saved, ostensibly since the Mongols believed that an avalanche of stones could be attributed to the supernatural powers of the lamas. According to J. Y. Chang, it was rather the Drigung abbot who made the proposal, later chronicles assert that Dorta sent message to Prince Godan and enumerated the four foremost sects and lamas of Tibet, Kadam, Taklung, Drigung, and Sakya. Godan drew the conclusion that Sakya Paṇḍita was an important and wise lama who could show the road to salvation, and ordered to send a letter of invitation and presents to him
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Je Tsongkhapa
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Tsongkhapa, usually taken to mean the Man from Onion Valley, was a famous teacher of Tibetan Buddhism whose activities led to the formation of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is also known by his ordained name Losang Drakpa or simply as Je Rinpoche, in his two main treatises, the Lamrim Chenmo and Ngakrim Chenmo, Tsongkhapa meticulously sets forth this graduated way and how one establishes oneself in the paths of sutra and tantra. With a Mongolian father and a Tibetan mother, Tsongkhapa was born into a family in the walled city of Tsongkha in Amdo. At the age of seven, he was ordained as a śrāmaṇera by Döndrup Rinchen, the first abbott of Jakhyung Monastery, and was given the ordination name Losang Drakpa. He would go on to be a student of the vinaya, the doctrine of behaviour, and even later of the Six Yogas of Naropa, the Kalachakra tantra. At the age of 24, he received ordination as a monk of the Sakya school. From Zhönnu Lodrö and Rendawa, he received the lineage of the Pramanavarttika transmitted by Sakya Pandita and he mastered all the courses of study at Drigung kagyud Monastery in Ü-Tsang. As an emanation of Manjusri, Tsongkhapa is said have been of one mind with Atiśa, received the Kadam lineages and studied the major Sarma tantras under Sakya and Kagyu masters. He also studied with a Nyingma teacher, the siddha Lek gyi Dorjé and the abbot of Shalu Monastery, Chö kyi Pel, in addition to his studies, he engaged in extensive meditation retreats. He is reputed to have performed millions of prostrations, mandala offerings, Tsongkhapa often had visions of iṣṭadevatās, especially of Manjusri, with whom he would communicate directly to clarify difficult points of the scriptures. Tsongkhapa was one of the foremost authorities of Tibetan Buddhism at the time, Tsongkhapa died in 1419 at the age of sixty-two. After his death several biographies were written by Lamas of different traditions, wangchuk Dorje, 9th Karmapa Lama, praised Tsongkhapa as one who swept away wrong views with the correct and perfect ones. His main source of inspiration was the Kadam school, the legacy of Atiśa, Tsongkhapa received two of the three main Kadampa lineages from the Nyingma Lama, Lhodrag Namka-gyeltsen, and the third main Kadampa lineage from the Kagyu teacher Lama Umapa. Tsongkhapas teachings drew upon these Kadampa teachings of Atiśa, emphasizing the study of Vinaya, the Tripiṭaka, atiśas Lamrim inspired Tsongkhapas Lamrim Chenmo, which became a main text among his followers. At this time his account of the Madhyamaka focused on its interpretation as a negative dialectic structure, after this early work, his attention focussed on the Prajnaparamita sutras and Dharmakirtis Pramanavartika, and it is this emphasis that dominates all his later philosophical works. The classification into Prasangika and Svatantrika originated from their different usages of reason to make emptiness understandable, the Svātantrikas strive to make positive assertions to attack wrong views, whereas the Prasangikas draw out the contradictory consequences of the opposing views. In Tsongkhapas reading, the difference becomes one of the understanding of emptiness, the Svātantrikas state that conventional phenomena have particular characteristics, by which they can be distinguished, but without an ultimately existing essence. To exist at all entails having intrinsic existence, however, since there is nothing that holds up under ultimate analysis, everything is ultimately empty
35.
5th Dalai Lama
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Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso was the Fifth Dalai Lama, a key religious and temporal leader of Tibet who lived from 1617 to 1682. Gyatso is credited with unifying all Tibet after an era of civil wars. As an independent head of state, he established relations with China and other regional countries. The 5th Dalai Lamas father was called Dudul Rabten, the ruler of the Chonggye valley, also known as Hor Dudül Dorjé, his mother was called Tricham. His father had friendly relations with the Drugpa Kagyu and his mother had connections with the Jonangpa Kagyu through her family at Nakartse Dzong and his family called him Künga Migyur. The childs father, Dudul Rabten, was arrested in 1618 for his involvement in a plot to overthrow Karma Phuntsok Namgyal, Karma Phuntsoks grandfather Zhingshak Tseten Dorje had originally been appointed Governor of Tsang by the Rinpung Prime Minister Ngawang Namgyel in 1548. Tseten Dorje had rebelled against the heirs of Ngawang Namgyel starting in 1557, then Altan Khan, King of the Tumed Mongols, invited Drepung Monasterys abbot Sonam Gyatso to Mongolia. His two predecessors became known as the 1st and 2nd Dalai Lamas posthumously, the Samdruptse government saw this development as a politico-religious alliance between the Gelugpa and a foreign power. When Sonam Gyatso died, the Gelugpa recognised a Mongolian prince as his incarnation and so a Mongolian 4th Dalai Lama and this increased Mongolian involvement with the Gelugpa even further and enabled more Mongolian intervention in Tibetan affairs. Dudul Rabten escaped his captors and tried to reach eastern Tibet, Dudul Rabten died in captivity in 1626 at Samdruptse – Karma Phuntsok Namgyals castle also known as Shigatse – and thus, he never lived to see his son again. The former 4th Dalai Lamas chief attendant, Sonam Choephel, is credited with having discovered the incarnation, Lobsang Gyatso was the name which Künga Migyur received from Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen upon taking novice monastic ordination from him at Drepung. In 1638 when he took ordination, also in the presence of Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Ngawang was added to his name. At this time his interest in the Nyingmapa teachings began to deepen, Richardson, declared or pronounced the Panchen to be an incarnation of Dhayani Buddha Amitābha - although other sources all appear to indicate that he was considered as such from the start. Since then, every incarnation of the Panchen Lama has been the master of Tashilhunpo Monastery and it is there that they have all received their education, when Panchen Gyaltsen died in 1662 at 93, the 5th Dalai Lama immediately commenced the tradition of searching for his next incarnation. He composed a prayer asking his master to return and directed the monks of Tibets great monasteries to recite it. He also reserved the title of Panchen - which had previously been a courtesy title for all exceptionally learned lamas - exclusively for the Panchen Lama. He had also predicted that Gyaltsen would continue to be reincarnated in future as the Panchen Lama, the two had a teacher/disciple relationship going back to the 1st Dalai Lama Gendun Drup and his teacher Khedrup Je, considered by some in retrospect as the 1st Panchen Lama. His canonical works total 24 volumes, in all, by 1681 Lobsang Gyatso personally wrote three volumes and his last Regent Desi Sangye Gyatso added another two after his masters death in 1982
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13th Dalai Lama
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Thubten Gyatso was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet. In 1878 he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and he was escorted to Lhasa and given his pre-novice vows by the Panchen Lama, Tenpai Wangchuk, and named Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal. In 1879 he was enthroned at the Potala Palace, but did not assume power until 1895. Thubten Gyatso was a reformer who proved himself a skillful politician when Tibet became a pawn in British. Laird gives his birthdate as 27 May 1876, and Mullin gives it as dawn on the 5th month of the Fire Mouse Year, in 1879, he was enthroned in the Grand Reception Hall at the Potala Palace. The ceremony was approved by an imperial edict, according to Qing historian Max Oidtmann, the Lhasa ambans were involved in the installation of the three-year-old incarnation on his dais. On the first day the young Dalai Lama was taken before the image of emperor Qianlong and performed the “three genuflections and nine prostrations” before it. Agvan Dorzhiev, a Khori-Buryat Mongol, and a Russian subject, was born in the village of Khara-Shibir, not far from Ulan Ude and he left home in 1873 at 19 to study at the Gelugpa monastery, Drepung, near Lhasa, the largest monastery in Tibet. Having successfully completed the course of religious studies, he began the academic Buddhist degree of Geshey Lharampa. He continued his studies to become Tsanid-Hambo, or Master of Buddhist Philosophy and he became a tutor and debating partner of the teenage Dalai Lama, who became very friendly with him and later used him as an envoy to Russia and other countries. Mannerheim met Thubten Gyatso in Utaishan during the course of his expedition from Turkestan to Peking, Mannerheim wrote his diary and notes in Swedish to conceal the fact that his ethnographic and scientific party was also an elaborate intelligence gathering mission for the Russian army. The 13th Dalai Lama gave a blessing of white silk for the Russian Tsar and in return received Mannerheims precious seven-shot officers pistol with an explanation of its use. Obviously, the 14th Dalai Lama said, The 13th Dalai Lama had a desire to establish relations with Russia. To the English he was a spy, but in reality he was a good scholar, the Dalai Lama spent over a year in Urga and the Wang Khuree Monastery giving teachings to the Mongolians. In Urga he met the 8th Bogd Gegeen Jebtsundamba Khutuktu several times, the content of these meetings is unknown. The Dalai Lama insisted that if Russia would not help, he would even ask Britain, his former foe, after the Dalai Lama fled, the Qing dynasty immediately proclaimed him deposed and again asserted sovereignty over Tibet, making claims over Nepal and Bhutan as well. The Treaty of Lhasa was signed at the Potala between Great Britain and Tibet in the presence of the Amban and Nepalese and Bhutanese representatives on 7 September 1904, the provisions of the 1904 treaty were confirmed in a 1906 treaty signed between Great Britain and China. The Dalai Lama was suspected of involvement in the anti-foreign 1905 Tibetan Rebellion, the British invasion of Lhasa in 1904 had repercussions in the Tibetan Buddhist world, causing extreme anti-western and anti-Christian sentiment among Tibetan Buddhists
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14th Dalai Lama
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The 14th Dalai Lama (/ˈdɑːlaɪ ˈlɑːmə/, /ˌdælaɪ ˈlɑːmə/, is the current Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas are important monks of the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism which is headed by the Ganden Tripas. From the time of the 5th Dalai Lama to 1959, the government of Tibet. The Gelug schools government administered an area corresponding to the Tibet Autonomous Region just as the nascent PRC wished to assert central control over it. During the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the Dalai Lama fled to India, the 14th Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. His family was of Monguor extraction and his mother, Diki Tsering, gave birth to him on a straw mat in the cowshed behind the house. He was one of seven siblings to survive childhood, the eldest was his sister Tsering Dolma, eighteen years his senior. His eldest brother, Thupten Jigme Norbu, had been recognised at the age of eight as the reincarnation of the high Lama Taktser Rinpoche and his sister, Jetsun Pema, spent most of her adult life on the Tibetan Childrens Villages project. The Dalai Lamas first language was, in his own words, a broken Xining language which was the Chinese language, a form of Central Plains Mandarin, and his family did not speak the Tibetan language. Sir Basil Gould, British delegate to Lhasa in 1936, related his account of the team to Sir Charles Bell, former British resident in Lhasa. The Regent, Reting Rinpoche, shortly afterwards had a vision at the lake of Lhamo La-tso indicating Amdo as the region to search. This vision also indicated a large monastery with a roof and turquoise tiles. This team, led by Kewtsang Rinpoche, went first to meet the Panchen Lama, the Panchen Lama had been investigating births of unusual children in the area ever since the death of the 13th. He gave Kewtsang the names of three boys whom he had discovered and identified as candidates, within a year the Panchen Lama had died. There they found a house, as described in the vision, according to the 14th Dalai Lama, at the time the village of Taktser stood right on the real border between the region of Amdo and China. When the team visited, posing as pilgrims, its leader and he held an old rosary that had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama and the boy Lhamo Dhondup, aged two, approached and asked for it. The monk said if you know who I am, you can have it, the child said Sera Lama, Sera Lama and spoke with him in a Lhasa accent, in a language the boys mother could not understand. The next time the party returned to the house, they revealed their real purpose, one test consisted of showing him various pairs of objects, one of which had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama and one which had not
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Media related to Alchi Monastery at Wikimedia Commons