Tibetan Buddhism
This is an average Tibetan Buddhist temple. Monks start a new day chanting. Buddhism was introduced to Tibet from Chinese inland, India and Nepal. Tibet Buddhism is a combination of original Buddhism and local religions. It is a religion with strong ethnic characteristics, a vast amount of scriptures and a special reincarnation system of living Buddha, or Tulkus.
In the mid-7th century CE, the Tibetan King, Songzain Gambo, married princesses from China's Tang Dynasty and Nepal. They brought two sculptures of the young Sakyamuni and many Buddhist scriptures to Tibet. Influenced by his wives, King Songzain Gambo believed in Buddhism and built the Johkang Temple and Ramoche Temple.
In the late 10th century, Tibetan Buddhism became a formal religion. It became popular in Mongolian area in the 13th century. In the next 3 hundred years, many influential groups were formed within the religion, including Nyingmapa, Kagyupa, Sakyapa and Gelugpa. The Panchan Lama and the Dalai Lama are two most important living Buddhas of the Gelugpa.
The original Tibetan religion, Bon, adopted many Buddhist thinkings and practices and is widely considered as a group within Tibetan Buddhism.
The development of Buddhism in Tibet is divided into two periods. Tibetan historical documents call them "Snga dar" and "Phyi dar". The period from the mid 7th century to mid 9th century is called "Snga dar" or 'Earlier dissemination', the "Phyi dar" or 'Later dissemination', starts from the tenth century. Tibetan Buddhism came into being during the "Phyi dar". Tibetan Buddhism has an abundance of texts. The Tibetan Tripitaka is divided into two parts: the "Kangyur" and the "Tengur". "Kangyur" are mainly original Buddhist classics, while "Tengyur" are the explanation and discussion of the "sayings of Buddha" by the disciples of Sakyamuni.
There are big and small temples of Tibetan Buddhism. Small temples might have only several monks, while large ones can have 7,000 to 8,000. A monastery usually includes chanting halls, a holy palace, halls for debating Buddhist Scriptures, Buddhist scripture houses, sleeping quarters for monks, offices, a storehouse, guest rooms. Historically, monasteries have the center of religion, culture, the economy and politics for a certain area in Tibet.
Most Tibetans believe in Tibetan Buddhism. In the past, if a family had more than one son, at least one had to become a monk. If there were two sons in a family, one would become a monk. If there were three sons, two would become monks. In the 1500s, a quarter of Tibet's population were monks. In 1951, there were about 120,000 monks in Tibet -- one tenth of the Tibetan population. Traveling today in Tibet, monasteries and temples have been rebuilt and can be seen everywhere, with robed monks in the streets.
In the 13th century, the most influential power in Tibetan Buddhism was the Sakyapa. With help from the central government of the Yuan Dynasty, the Sakyapa became a dominant power in Tibet's local regime. It combined political and religious power. From then on, the system of combining political and religious power in Tibet continued.
In the following centuries, both Kagyupa and Gelugpa one took control of Tibet's local regime, and became dominant sect of the Tibetan Buddhism.
During the development of Tibetan Buddhism, each school set its own inheritance system to safeguard their ruling authority, hold onto various privileges and maintain their political and religious interests. The tradition of living Buddha reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism is such an inheritance system, which is different from other Buddhist schools.
According to Tibetan Buddhism, the tradition of living Buddha reincarnation involves the rebirth of the living Buddha who is reincarnated to continue his mission of saving all human beings.
The tradition of living Buddha reincarnation has a whole set of scriptures and rituals. It was first practiced by Gyama Kargyu, one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. According to historical records, in the 12th century, the school's founder Dussum Khyenpa told his disciples before he died that he would be reincarnated and his disciples should look for the soul boy after his death. This was the first practice of living Buddha reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism. This tradition has solved many problems ranging from the continuance of religious and political authority to wealth inheritance. Under such a tradition, the school would not be weakened or divided by the death of the living Buddha. And so this practice was adopted by other schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
During the development of Buddha reincarnation system, the practice of seeking a soul boy became more complicated and mystical. It has a whole set of religious rituals and historical conventions. Religious rituals have been passed from generation to generation. They could determine the direction in which the living Buddha would be reincarnated through the rituals of augury, invoking spirits and observing the sacred lake. Then they could follow the direction to seek the soul boy. The soul boy can be finally acknowledged after he recognizes the relics of the previous living Buddha, by examining the boy's physical characteristics and behavior, and observing auspicious signs.
The historical conventions involve the system of drawing lots from a golden urn and approval from the central government.
The tradition of living Buddha reincarnation, under the ruling system with integration of politics and religion, was often regarded as a tool to seize power by senior monks and aristocrats. To curb abuses and malpractice in the process of living Buddha reincarnation, in 1793 the central government of Qing Dynasty issued the 29-Article Imperially Approved Ordinance for the More Efficient Governing of Tibet. The ordinance established the system of drawing lots from a golden urn and stipulated that the central government could host the ritual of drawing lots from gold urn if there was controversy between monks over recognition of a soul boy. If no controversy existed, the ritual of drawing lots from the gold urn was not necessary, but the decision should also be approved by the central government. Two golden urns were made by the Qing central government. The first is used to determine the soul boy of the Dalai and Panchen lamas and is now in the Jokhang Temple of Lhasa. Another one, in the Yonghe Lama Temple in Beijing, is used to determine the soul boy of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia.
The practice of drawing lots from a golden urn reflects the highest authority of the central government in the tradition of living Buddha reincarnation as well as the will of Sakyamuni in Buddhist scripture. It has become a historical convention for identifying soul boys in the tradition of living Buddha reincarnation for over 200 years.
After the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China enacted laws to manage monks and maintain the tradition of living Buddha reincarnation, following the historical conventions. The recognition of reincarnations of the 13th Dalai and the 9th Panchen lamas was conducted under these laws and conventions.
In 1995, the central government fully respected Tibetan Buddhist beliefs and traditional means of succession. The eleventh Panchen Lama was selected successfully according to religious ritual and historical regulations, with approval from the State Council. Since 1991, almost one thousand reincarnated living Buddhas have been approved by the local governments in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces. The Chinese government's approval of the reincarnation of living Buddhas is a transparent process and is accepted by religious leaders and the public.
Since the Qing Dynasty, greatest attention has been paid to the the system of reincarnation of two living Buddhas in the Gelugpa sect -- the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama.
'Dalai Lama', a title combining Tibetan and Mongolian, means "a teacher who is as spiritually deep as the Sea". The title was first conferred on Sonam Gyatso, founder of the Gelugpa sect, by the Mongol King Altan Khan in 1578. Under Gelugpa rituals for reincarnation of living Buddhas, the title "Dalai Lama" has been passed down through generations to the current 14th Dalai Lama. But this title did not ensure the Dalai Lama's sovereignty over Tibet.
In the middle of the 17th century, the fifth Dalai Lama and the Gelugpa sect united Tibet with the help of the Mongol Junggar cavalry. Like the previous authorities in Tibet which integrated politics and religion, the new Gelugpa regime needed official recognition from China's central government. At the same time, the newly founded Qing Dynasty also wanted to strengthen its administration over Tibet and other far-flung regions. So Emperor Shunzhi invited the fifth Dalai Lama for a meeting in Beijing. In 1653, the Dalai Lama arrived in Beijing and had an audience with Emperor Shunzhi. He received a warm welcome, and was endowed a golden scriptures and a golden seal from the central government. On the golden seal carved in Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan and Manchurian is the title conferred on the Dalai Lama from the central government. It means "the highest religious leader guiding his followers on the land under heaven." In this way, the government of the Qing Dynasty recognized the Dalai Lama's religious authority over Tibet and his ruling position over the Tibetan society combining politics and religion.
After receiving official recognition of his political and religious position from the central government, the Dalai Lama began his domination over Tibet, which continued for the next 300 years.
Three centuries later, Tibetan people abandoned the serf system integrating religion and politics under the rule of the Dalai Lama, and turned a new page for Tibet.
