Tibetan Buddhism - not Just in Tibet
The Tibetan Tradition
Buddhism probably arrived in Tibet from India in the 8th century. That makes it part of the Mahayana tradition, but as it includes many tantric practices and elements of Vajrayana, it is often treated as a separate branch of Buddhism.
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| Tibetan Wheel |
I offer the above paragraph in good faith; I believe it to be accurate but I admit to not understanding some of the words. I have, though, observed that in Tibetan
Buddhism, as in Mahayana, Buddha images often come in threes, Bodhisattva
Maitreya (the Future Buddha), the Buddha, and Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (The
Compassion Buddha). Bodhisattvas are important, as are fearsome images of
guardians, but there seems less emphasis on Arhats. Like Theravada, Tibetan
Buddhism has a strong monastic tradition. Only Tibetan Buddhists use prayer
wheels, praying by rotating a wheel about a sacred text, and prayer flags where
sacred texts blow in the wind.
Although Tibetan Buddhism has several independent branches, each having its own monasteries and leaders, they remain closely
related. The Gelug (Yellow Hat) is the dominant school - not just in Tibet -
and the most influential Gelugpa is the Dalai Lama.
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| Tibetan Monasteries |
Tibetan Buddhism is not confined to Tibet, the map above shows the monasteries/temples covered in this post, though there will also be a
surprise visit to Beijing. But I will start in the obvious place. We visited Lhasa
in July/Aug 2005.
Tibet (officially the Xizang Autonomous Region, China)
Lhasa
Lhasa is an interesting city to visit. At 3,700m (12,000ft) most people suffer some effect of altitude; breathlessness, aching
joints, sleep disruption or even a brief collapse. In midsummer the air is pleasantly
warm though air-conditioning is not required.
Officially encouraged Han migration has resulted in half the 500,000 population being non-Tibetan. I deplore the destructive Chinese policy of squeezing the culture of ethnic minorities, though from an entirely selfish point of view, the Han presence - and the existence of a Nepali community - allowed us to eat well. Tibetans' own food never quite escapes the distinctive rancid flavour of yak butter.
The Jokhang Temple
The Jokhang Temple is the physical and spiritual centre of Lhasa. In summer the modest frontage on Barkhor Square was permanently semi-blocked by prostrating pilgrims. The interior was dark and the air dense with the smell of wood smoke and burning yak butter candles as devotees jostled to make their offerings.
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| Entrance to the Jokhang Temple, Lhasa |
We escaped to the roof.
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| Lynne on the roof of the Jokhang Temple, Lhasa |
The Potala Palace
From the Jokhang roof we looked across the Square to the dramatically sited Potala Palace the home of the Dalai Lama – though he has lived in exile since 1959.
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| The Potala Palace from the roof of the Jokhang Temple, Lhasa |
Once you have acquired a ticket and turned many prayer wheels…
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| There are many prayer wheels to turn in Lhasa |
…you have the freedom of the palace complex.
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| Inside the Potala Palace complex, Lhasa |
The Drepung Monastery
Five kilometres outside Lhasa, Drepung is the largest monastery in Tibet. At its peak there were as many as ten thousand monks. There
are now less than a thousand, and with tight Chinese control the monastery
lacks the moral authority it once had, but when we visited in 2005 it seemed a
thriving community.
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| Just Part of the Drepung Monastery Complex |
It is a large complex on many levels on the side of Mount Gephel. Climbing from courtyard to
courtyard up steps that were often more ladders than staircases was hard work.
It was our second full day in Lhasa and the thin air took its toll. Lynne
leaned against a wall to get her breath and then slowly slipped down to a
seated position. Leaving her in the ticket office in the care of some solicitous
and friendly monks....
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| Solicitous and friendly monks |
...I continued alone.
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| Drepung Monastry |
Sadly, she missed the hall full of monks chanting sutras.....
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| Chanting monks, Drepung Monastery |
....the monk's prayer hall near the top of the complex...
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| Prayer Hall, Drepung Monastery |
....and this view of a lone monk standing on a roof, surveying the world. A true son of Tibet, he stands
behind the gold encased finials waiting for his kettle to boil.
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| Waiting for his kettle to boil, Drepung Monastery |
As committed tea drinkers the Tibetans make the British look like amateurs. What I cannot understand, though, is why, once they have made a nice pot of tea they always stir in a dollop of yak butter. The advantage of yak butter is that never goes off, the disadvantage is that tastes like it has even when fresh.
Sera Monastery
At Sera monastery back in the city, the younger monks gather in a stony square two or three afternoons a week. The more senior monks
test their juniors on points of Buddhist philosophy asking question in an aggressive
if stylised manner.
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| Debating at Sera Monastery, Lhasa |
I have heard that important as this once was, it is now just for tourists. Perhaps, but they entered into it with vigour and
thought – and occasionally a little humour.
Mongolia
North from the Tibetan Plateau, across several hundred kilometres of dessert are the huge open grasslands of Mongolia, the least
densely populated country in the world.
Buddhism was introduced to the nomadic empires of Mongolia in the 1st century CE though in time it faded into Shamanism.
In the early 13th century Genghis Khan united Mongolia and went on to rule the largest contiguous empire ever seen. It fragmented after his
death, but his grandson Kublai Khan started out as ruler of most of Mongolia and northern
China. By 1271 he had unified China and established the Yuan Dynasty. He introduced Tibetan
Buddhism and monasticism into Mongolia, but after the demise of his dynasty
in 1368, Mongolia again slowly relapsed into shamanism.
During the 16th Mongolian cultural revival Altan Khan, a warlord with an eye to reunifying the country made an ally of the Dalai Lama.
Tibetan Buddhism returned to Mongolia and was reinforced by the Chinese Qing
dynasty in the next couple of centuries.
Ulaanbaatar
In 2007 selecting the southern option of the
Trans-Siberian Railway took us to Ulaanbaatar. Mongolians traditionally moved
with the seasons, and Ulaanbaatar only settled on its present site in 1789. It
is now home to 1.3 million, more than half the vast country’s population
Gandan Monastery
The first buildings of Ulaanbaatar’s
Gandan Monastery were constructed in 1809. Buildings have come and gone, but the
most impressive, the temple of Boddhisattva Avalokiteshvara was built in 1913.
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| Temple of the Boddhisattva Avalokiteshvara, Gandan Monastery |
Gandan closed in 1938 as Mongolia's client government obediently followed Stalin’s anti-religious line. After the Second World War Stalin decided to make token acknowledgment of traditional cultures and religions across the USSR. The Mongolian government followed suit, reopening Gandan in 1948, though with many restrictions. Since the end of communism in 1990 all restrictions have been lifted, and there has been a resurgence of Buddhism.
(see Ulaanbaatar: Part 11 of the Trans-Siberian Railway)
Bürd Sum
Leaving Ulaanbaatar with a driver and local guide we drove 340 km to the Bürd Sum (district) of Övörkhangai Aimag
(province) where we stayed with a local family. The first 50 km of the journey
were on tarmac, the rest over open steppe. Övörkhangai is three times the size
of Wales but the whole population would almost fit into the Principality
Stadium.
(see Across the Mongolian Steppe: Part 9 of the Trans-Siberian Railway)
Shaman Shrine
Next day we visited Erdene Zuu. More driving across grassland brought us to a proper road. At the road junction was a shrine. Mongolian
Buddhism has absorbed shamanism, and this is essentially a shaman shrine. We did
the proper thing, which is to walk round it three times clockwise and placed a
new stone on the top. Most passers-by contented themselves with a hoot on the
horn.
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| A shaman shrine, Ovorkhangai Province |
Kharkhorin, Övörkhangai Province
Ghengis Khan built his capital of Karakorum on the site of modern Kharkhorin in around 1220. Not being the settling down sort of guy, Ghengis soon moved on, though the city thrived for a while before being destroyed by a Ming army in 1388. Modern Kharkhorin is a major population centre, by Mongolian standards, with 13,000 inhabitants.
Erdene Zuu
The monastery of Erdene Zuu was built in 1585, using such remnants of Karakorum as were available. The boundary of the rectangular site is marked by 100 small stupas. 108 is the number of attributes of the Buddha, so either 8 stupas have been lost or somebody miscounted during the building process.
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| Erdene Zuu |
The modern city of Kharkhorin sits under the black smoke in the distance - a rare example of Mongolian industry.
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| Stupas, Erdene Zuu |
By the end of the 19th century there were over 60 temples on the site, but in 1939 most were destroyed by the communists.
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| Surviving Temple, Erdene Zuu |
All the surviving temples are open to visitors.
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| Inside a temple, Erdene Zuu |
In 1990 the site was handed back to the monks and Erdene Zuu became an active monastery again.
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| Monk taking a prayer wheel for a walk, Erdene Zuu |
(see With the Mongolian Nomads: Part 10 of the Trans-Siberian Railway)
Buryat Republic, Russia
Our previous stop on the Trans-Siberian had been at Ulan Ude, the capital of Buryatia, one of the constituent republics of the
Russian Federation. Buryats are ethnic Mongolians, and so Buddhists, but Buryatia
has been Russian since the seventeenth century. Then, Inner and Outer Mongolia
struggled under imperial Chinese rule while the Buryats traded with the
incoming Russians and enjoyed comparative freedom and prosperity.
Ivolginsk Datsan
Before the Russian Revolution, there were hundreds of Datsans in Buryatia and thousands of monks, but by the 1930’s the Datsans had all been closed and the monks dispatched to the Gulags. In the 1940s Stalin decided
it was time for more religious tolerance and so a Datsan was constructed at
Ivolginsk, 30 km west of Ulan Ude. It opened in 1947 on a site carefully chosen
by astrologers.
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| Ivolginsk Datsun, near Ulan Ude |
The architecture and decoration of the Johkang Temple, Potala Palace and Drepung Monastery in Lhasa are almost identical. Gandan and
Erdene Zuu are cut from similar cloth, but the main building at Ivolginsk, 3,000
km north of Lhasa, looks, unsurprisingly, less Tibetan and ever so slightly Russian.
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| The Temple at the Ivolginsk Datsun, near Ulan Ude |
…but from some angles the Tibetan look predominates.
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| Tibetan style stupas, Ivolginsk, near Ulan Ude |
Andre, our Christian European Russian guide was here when the Dalai Lama visited this outpost of his flock in the 1980s. He was very
taken by his serenity and almost tangible charisma.
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| Prayer wheels, Ivolginsk Datsun, near Ulan Ude with Tibetan script (her right) and Mongolian script |
China
Or, more accurately, China again as Tibet is part of China. Chinese Buddhism follows the Mahayana tradition, but that does not mean
there are no ‘Tibetan pockets.’
Beijing
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 over his disagreement with the Chinese authorities. He is a man of integrity and peace from whom the Chinese could learn much, but instead they regard him rather like the Americans regarded Osama bin-Ladin. It was not always that way.
Stupa, Beihai Park
Beihai Park, just north of Beijing’s centre was allegedly created by Kublai Khan. The stupa on the artificial island was built
to commemorate the visit of a 17th century Dalai Lama to Beijing.
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| Stupa on the artificial island, Beihai Park, Beijing |
(see Beijing (2): Xicheng and Beihai Park. Part 2 of Beijing, North Korea and Shanxi)
Yonghe Gong
The Yonghe Gong was our first ever Buddhist temple on out first ever visit to Beijing. It is a rare example of a Tibetan Temple in the Han heartland, though I doubt we realised that at the time.
It was built in 1649, as a residence for court eunuchs. It then became the palace of Prince Yong, who turned part of the complex into a lamasery when he became emperor in 1722. On his death in 1733 Tibetan Buddhists were invited to take over the whole site. Developments since then have produced buildings which mix Tibetan and Chinese styles.
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| Lynne at the Yonghe Gong |
The temple complex survived the Cultural Revolution and re-opened to the public in 1981. One of the charms of the place is that after so many years of religious repression many would-be devotees do not seem sure of what they should be doing.
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| Uncertain worshippers, Yonghe Gong |
The temple contains a remarkable 18m high statue of the Buddha carved from a single piece of sandalwood.
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| Maitreya Buddha carved from a single piece of sandalwood, Yonge Gong, Beijing |
India
Buddhism has all but died out in the country of its birth, but it is still possible to see dramatic Buddhist temples
Kushalnagar, Karnataka
The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile live in Dharamsala in the extreme north of India. We have not been there, but in 2010 we visited the small town of Kushalnagar in the southern state of Karnataka - as far south of Lhasa as Ulan Bator is north - where the state government has settled 10,000 exiled Tibetans.
Namdroling Monastery
As well as the usual secular requirements of any settlement, there are two Gelugpa monasteries and the much larger Namdroling Temple which follows the Nyingmapa tradition from Eastern Tibet.
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| Namdroling Monastery, Kushalnagar, Karnatica |
As can be seen both from the outside and the interior, Namdroling is well financed. It is known as ‘The Golden Temple’- and with good reason.
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| Interior of Namdroling - The Golden Temple, Kushalnagar |
The temple looks typically Tibetan and even displays a trio of Buddhas - as promised in the introduction. July in Lhasa had been pleasantly warm but air-conditioning was unnecessary, people merely left doors and windows open and allowed in the fresh, if rather thin, air. At other times of the year it can be viciously cold. February in Kushalnagar was hot and humid (it is equally hot, though far wetter in the monsoon season) and the vegetation around the temple could not have been less Tibetan. Namdroling looked like an exotic transplant from a faraway land.
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| Namdroling, The Golden Temple, Kushalnagar |
Buddhist Temples, Monasteries and Buddha Images
Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Mahayana Buddhism
Part 3: Tibetan Buddhism
Part 4: Theravada (1) Sri Lanka
Part 5: Theravada (2) Myanmar
Part 6: Theravada (3) Laos, Cambodia & Thailand
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