In March 2009, there were two reports that passed through on the Internet, catching my attention: “Dalai Lama: Tibetans ‘suffering’ under China,” was the headline of the Associated Press (AP) piece filed on March 10, 2009. Then, “Tibetans attack police station, 93 monks arrested,” was the March 22, 2009 headline of the next AP piece.
Why these reports and why now?
According to the Dalai Lama, the Nobel Peace Laureate, “life for Tibetans under Chinese rule has been ‘hell on earth.’ He added that “These 50 years have brought untold suffering to the land and people of Tibet.”
On March 22, when the second piece was filed, hundreds of Tibetans had attacked a police station and government officials in northwestern China. This was despite heightened security.
Clearly, with nearly 100 monks being arrested, there was a message in this: The Tibetan Buddhists were fed up with suffering in silence, and they weren’t going to take the mistreatment anymore.
For a religion that practices love and peace towards all of mankind, this was a clear departure in responding to challenges. As a matter of fact, the primary goals for followers of Tibetan Buddhism is to find enlightenment themselves, so that they can show others the way to attain that state of being while still on Earth.
Once this “enlightenment,” defined as finding all there is to know, is found, then the person should be in a state of perpetual bliss. Finding enlightenment is also considered to be the same as finding “Buddhahood." So what happened to being in this state of perpetual bliss?
Conflict With the Chinese
The primary conflict with the Chinese comes from Tibetan Buddhism’s two seemingly conflicting practices of skepticism and guru devotion.
The issues stem from the committed practices at the CORE of Tibetan Buddhism: a healthy skepticism is encouraged to foster growth in the followers’ abilities in analytic meditation, and reverence for teachers, who in Tibetan Buddhism, are called lamas. These lamas are revered...the reverence becomes total devotion and unquestioning faith in the guru. This type of reverence for a teacher (leader) is in direct conflict with the Chinese Socialist orientations.
A student typically takes teachings from many authorities and revere them all as lamas in a general sense. Often, though, only one lama is held in special esteem as his own root guru. This most likely is the teacher who first introduced the person into Buddhism. Here's where the problem with the Socialist regime began.
The first military attacks by the People's Republic of China on Tibetan troops began at the end of May 1950 and escalated in late 1951, that's more than 50 years ago. This eventually led to armed conflicts later in the decade, with a failed uprising resulting in the exile of about 80,000 Tibetans, many of them Buddhist clergy members, to India. Some of them went further to the west, which in turn eventually led to the spread of Tibetan Buddhism to many Western countries, where the tradition has gained popularity.
Tibetan Definitions of "Buddhist"
Worldwide today there are about five million followers of Tibetan Bhuddism.
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India (Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Sikkim). It is also practiced in Mongolia and parts of Russia (Kalmykia, Buryatia, and Tuva) and Northeast China.
Tibetan Buddhism comprises many distinct schools but is primarily divided into four main traditions: Nyingma, Kagyu, Gelug, and Sakya. All schools are said to include the teachings of the three vehicles of Buddhism: the Foundational Vehicle, Mahayana, and Vajrayana, which some, like the Gelug tradition, consider to be a derivative of part of Mahayana.
Introspection as the mark of a Buddhist, is embodied in the Tibetan term for Buddhist, meaning, literally, internalist.
Tibetans specify the criteria for being Buddhist, as either, formal, where one practices; or in belief, where three or four marks of existence are accepted.
Tibetan Practices
Monasticism was the foundation of Buddhism in Tibet. There were over 6,000 monasteries in Tibet and nearly all were ransacked and destroyed by the Chinese communists (many of them young ethnic Tibetan Red Guards), mainly during the Cultural Revolution. Most of the major ones have been at least partially re-established but many still remain in ruins.
Tibetans are fond of quoting sutra (scripture) that one should test the Buddha's words as one would the quality of gold.
On the other hand, at the beginning of a public teaching, a lama will do prostrations to the throne on which he will teach due to its symbolism, or to an image of the Buddha behind that throne, then students will do prostrations to the lama after he is seated.
Merit accrues when one's interactions with the teacher are imbued with such reverence in the form of guru devotion, a code of practices governing them that derives from Indian sources.
Preliminary Practices (ngöndo, sngon-'gro)and the Tibetan Approach to Vajrayana
Vajrayana : said to be the fastest method for attaining Buddhahood but it carries the caution that for unqualified practitioners it can be dangerous. Even for a qualified advanced practitioner, to engage in Vajrayana, without having received the appropriate initiation (also known as an "empowerment") from a lama who is fully qualified to give it, is to court controversy.
From the time a person resolves to accept a Vajrayana initiation, skepticism towards the person giving that initiation as guru is suspended and the utmost sustained effort in guru devotion towards them is essential.
Just as Sutrayana preceded Vajrayana historically in India, so sutra practices constitute those that are preliminary to tantric ones.
Preliminary practices include all Sutrayana activities that yield merit like: hearing teachings, prostrations, offerings, prayers and acts of kindness and compassion. Chief among the preliminary practices are realizations through meditation on the three principle stages of the path: renunciation, the altruistic bodhicitta will for enlightenment and the wisdom realizing emptiness. Without the basis of these three in particular to practice Vajrayana, it can be a very challenging practice.
Dalai Lama, Tulku and Hollywood
The Dalai Lama is a lineage of religious leaders of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lamas were also the political leaders of Lhasa-based Tibetan government between the 17th century and 1959. With "Lama" being the general term referring to Tibetan Buddhist. teachers, the current "Dalai Lama" is often called "His Holiness" (HH) by Westerners, although this does not translate to a Tibetan title. Tibetans may refer to him by epithets such as Gyalwa Rinpoche, meaning "Precious Victor,"or Yishin Norbu, meaning "Wish-fulfilling Jewel."
The Dalai Lama is believed to be the rebirth of a long line of tulkus, who have chosen to be reborn in order to enlighten others. He is also the official leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile, or Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).
A tulku is a person who is recognized to be the reincarnation of someone who is deceased. The practice of recognizing tulkus is unique to Tibetan Buddhism. Through the centuries the many lineages of tulkus have become important to maintaining the integrity of monastic institutions and teachings.
Steven Seagal is one Hollywood celebrity closely associated with Tibetan Buddhists. Seagal has been recognized by Tibetan lama Penor Rinpoche as a reincarnated Tulku.
Let's hope that tantra prayers and the peacefulness of the Dalai Lama and other lamas work on behalf of Tibetan Buddhists scattered throughout the world. It would be a welcome sight to see the Holy Men once again just doing their analytical meditation or prostrations, or whatever they choose to do, before the Buddha in their search for "Buddhahood."
Namaste',
Che'
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