Tibetan Buddhism Introduction
Tibetan Buddhism, also known as Lamaism, is a form of Mahayana Buddhism that developed in Tibet and spread to neighboring countries of the Himalayas. Tibetan Buddhism is known for its rich mythology and iconography and for the practice of identifying the reincarnations of deceased spiritual masters.
Tibetan Buddhism has exerted extensive and profound influence on the Tibetan race. Buddhism spread into Tibet in the 7th century, and gradually infiltrates Tibet's history, politics, economics, culture, exchanges and habits and customs to become the most extensively worshipped religion of Tibetans.
Someone think the Tibetan Buddhism is not an independent Buddhism system. They identify it as a mixture of the traditional Buddhism and the Bon religion. But in fact, it is a false perspective. Tibetan Buddhism contains the monks debating culture that is not existed in other religions. And the Buddhist figures in Tibetan Buddhism system are totally different in the appearances which may be a little frightening.
There are two definitions to explain Tibetan Buddhism. One refers to the Buddhism system which is formed in Tibetan regions and then has been spread over and influenced some neighbor districts such as Mongolia, Sikkim, Bhutan, etc. The other one refers to the Buddhism recorded and spread by Tibetan language, can be understood as the “Buddhism in Tibetan language”.
Began in the mid-seven century, Tibetan Buddhism or Lamaism has developed into a unique religion mixed political factors with religious culture. And in Qing Dynasty, rulers built up a strong relationship with Tibetan and Mongolians in Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Mongolia by show respects towards the Tibetan Buddhism. After 13th century, Tibetan Buddhism had influenced the centre government to make the political policy towards Tibet. And in the beginning of the last century, Tibetan Buddhism printed its footprints in Europe and America. At that time, organization about Tibetan Buddhism had been built up. And now, this religion has become one of the beliefs in the western courtiers.
