by Arnie Kozak
Laos
As in Cambodia, Laotian Buddhism was probably introduced by the Khmer. Later, it was heavily influenced by Thailand and thusly became Buddhist in the Theravada school. Communists also tried to rid Laos of Buddhism in 1975, and a large percentage of the sangha fled the country. The remaining religious communities were under strict state control. Recent reforms and dialogues are moving to declare Theravada Buddhism the state religion. Fully 60 percent of the population is considered to be practicing Buddhists.
Indonesia
The first Buddhists arrived in Indonesia sometime in the first century from India. It is believed that Buddhism spread here through Ashoka’s missionaries as well. Both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism were prevalent, though Mahayana eventually took hold in the eighth century C.E. In the ninth century, the largest Buddhist shrine in the world was built on the island of Java. It is known as Borobudur, and this monumental stupa was most likely built at the end of the ninth century by Hindu kings as a central sanctuary of the Buddhist religion. Until recent history, Borobudur was mostly covered and just a small portion was visible above the surrounding earth and forests. It was restored just two hundred years ago. This enormous temple is said to be a mandala, a representation of the cosmos, constructed by practicing tantric Buddhists.
NORTHWARD BOUND
Mahayana Buddhism was spreading northward from India as Theravada was spreading throughout the south and southeast. Vajrayana Buddhism headed north to Tibet and took a fast hold of that isolated mountainous country. Mahayana Buddhism proliferated in China, Japan, and Korea.
The Silk Road
Silk was a hot commodity in the ancient world, and in the second century B.C.E., routes developed across Asia that allowed the passage of silk and other goods from one country to another. The main route, which came to be known as the Silk Road, was just north of India and west of Tibet. The 6,000-mile road traversed what would be Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwestern China today.
The Silk Road connected India to China. Silk and other goods went one way and gold and silver went the other. Early Chinese tradesmen started to hear of the wonderful teachings coming out of India and curiosity in Buddhism was aroused in China. The first missionaries to China arrived in the first century C.E. They headed northward from India to spread the teachings of the Buddha. Literate Chinese started translating the sutras into Chinese and continued to do so for eight centuries.
FARTHER EAST
Expansion Continues
Monks headed over the footpaths of the Himalaya Mountains into remote and isolated Tibet, taking their Buddhist practices with them. They reached Tibet and began to spread the teachings, as so many others were doing all over Southeast Asia. But it wasn’t until the seventh century, when the king of Tibet, Songtsen Gambo, married two Buddhist women—one a princess from Nepal and the other a princess from China—that Buddhism flourished in Tibet. It wasn’t long before the king became very interested in Buddhism, sending representatives from Tibet over to China and India to learn more about it.
He became convinced of the benefits of the Buddhist lifestyle and his faith strengthened. He built many temples and encouraged the growth of Buddhism among his people. Eventually Mahayana scriptures were translated into Tibetan. Buddhism remained a prominent part of life in Tibet until 1959, when the Dalai Lama went into exile in India after ten years of Chinese occupation.
KOREA
Buddhism arrived in Korea in 372. At that time shamanism—a religion based on nature worship and the belief in a world of gods, demons, and ancestral spirits—was the native religion. Buddhism would eventually blend in with shamanism to create Korean Buddhism. Shamanism promoted a belief in three gods: the god of the mountains, the hermit god, and the god of the seven stars. Korean Buddhism blended the belief in these gods into the teachings of the Buddha, and Korean Buddhism blossomed.
Pure Land and Son (Korean Zen or Chan) also found their way to Korea and took root there. Son emphasized meditation practice over text study, and eventually nine different Son schools emerged in Korea, which were called the Nine Schools of Son.
Today about half the population of Korea is Buddhist, though Buddhism has deep roots in the community and many others incorporate Buddhist practices into their lives, regardless of religious affiliation.
THE EAST TODAY
Millennia ago Buddhism spread quickly over Asia and was soon well on its way to becoming a major world religion. Theravada Buddhism flourished in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. Mahayana Buddhism had deep roots in Tibet, Japan, China, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Nepal. The twentieth century saw Buddhism emerge in the West, and now vital centers of Theravada, Zen, and Tibetan Buddhism are here in the United States.
Today, the top ten countries with the highest number of Buddhist practitioners are:
1. Thailand
2. Cambodia
3. Myanmar
4. Bhutan
5. Sri Lanka
6. Tibet
7. Laos
8. Vietnam
9. Japan
10. Macau
Although the countries with the greatest number of Buddhists are all in the Eastern hemisphere, Buddhism has made great inroads in the West. In the past fifty years, Americans and other Westerners have been increasingly interested in changing their lives through the practice of the dharma. Writers, philosophers, artists, and teachers have spread the word of Buddhism all over North America and Europe.
Refugees from Tibet have brought Buddhism into the public eye and the Dalai Lama tirelessly works with the hope of returning to his native Tibet. Emigrants from Asia have brought their practices westward and introduced new ideas and a new way of life into the hearts and minds of Americans and Europeans. Buddhism might be new to the West but the seeds of dharma have been firmly planted in Western soil.
VAJRAYANA
Tibetan Buddhism
Vajrayana Buddhism developed out of the Mahayana school of teachings sometime between the third and seventh centuries C.E. It is said that the Buddha practiced this esoteric tradition, but because of its advanced and special nature it didn’t evolve into common practice. Vajrayana Buddhists believe the Buddha taught these practices through special texts, called tantras, but the tantras themselves didn’t come to light until the seventh century.
Vajrayana Buddhists believe their teachings can be directly linked to the Buddha and that they practice the purest form of Buddhism. Vajrayana is found predominately in Tibet, a remote country, surrounded by the Himalaya Mountains and isolated from the rest of the world. Tibetan Buddhism emerged when Mahayana Buddhism reached Tibet and it became intertwined with the native Bön folk religion.
Other Names
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Vajrayana Buddhism is also called Tantric Buddhism, “Diamond Vehicle,” the “Completion Vehicle,” the “Thunderbolt Vehicle,” and the “Indestructible Path.”
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Tibet absorbed Buddhism into its culture wholeheartedly. According to Jack Maguire in Essential Buddhism, “No other country in history has absorbed this religion so thoroughly and, in turn, invested it with so much native character or so much cultural power. As Vajrayana grew increasingly influential in Tibet, so did the monastery as the focus of daily life, a position it retained until the mid-twentieth century . . . Over time, the monasteries assumed complete political control of the country, giving Tibet a singularly sacred form of government for centuries.”
Vajrayana relies heavily on symbol and ritual, more so than other forms of Buddhism. It invokes magical deities belonging to a cosmic monastery. The practices in Vajrayana Buddhism are special and complex. The teachings are designed to bring the student to enlightenment in this lifetime; therefore, the practices are intense, subtle, difficult, and enlightenment presumably occurs more quickly than with other forms of practice. The student of the tantric practices has a teacher, called a guru (an enlightened teacher is a lama). The practices are often kept secret between the st
udent and teacher, which adds to the mystery around the tradition.
VAJRAYANA’S TOOLBOX
The practices of Vajrayana revolve around a spiritual “toolbox” that contains such items as mandalas, mantras, yidams, mudras, and vajras.
Mandalas
Mandalas are maps of the spiritual world. They are usually represented in artwork as a symbolic pattern. The pattern is usually in the form of a circle with intricate designs within. The patterns are representative of the sacred place where the Buddha or deities abide. They are used for contemplation and meditation and are designed to guide the process of spiritual awakening.
Mantras
Mantras are mystical incantations whose repetitions contain the potential for spiritual connection. By repeating a mantra you can clear the mind and purify speech. The most famous mantra in Vajrayana is Om mani padme hum, which roughly translates to “Hail to the jewel in the lotus.” Viewing the written mantra is also just as powerful as the incantation. You can also spin the written form of the mantra around in a prayer wheel, which is believed to have the same beneficial properties as chanting and viewing the written form.
What and Who Is a Dalai Lama?
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The Dalai Lama is considered to be the present incarnation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The third great leader of the Geluk lineage of Tibetan Buddhism was given the title Dalai Lama (“Ocean of Wisdom”) and was deemed to be the physical manifestation of the compassionate bodhisattva. The present-day Dalai Lama is the fourteenth Dalai Lama.
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Prayer wheels, also called Mani wheels by the Tibetans, are mechanical devices for dispersing spiritual blessings. Prayer wheels look like two wheels with an axle in between them. Paper with the mantra printed on it many times over is rolled around an axle of the wheel in a protective container. Tibetan Buddhists will circumambulate a stupa that contains dozens or even hundreds of these prayer wheels while chanting Om mani padme hum and spinning the wheels as they walk by. Some wheels are portable, with a handle, and some are much larger and stationary.
Yidam
Yidam are meditational deities. Tibetan art colorfully represents a multitude of spiritual deities, both male and female. They are considered to be different manifestations of the Buddha. Some of the yidam are actually wrathful deities. Tantric masters subdue these demons to subordinate them to the service of the Buddha.
Mudra
A mudra is the formation your hands take when meditating. The formation is deeply symbolic and often relates to a particular deity. A common mudra is the cosmic mudra:
The dominant hand is held palm up on your lap. The other hand is placed on top of the dominant hand so that the knuckles of both hands overlap. The thumbs touch lightly so that you are forming a circle.
Vajra
Vajra is a sanskrit term meaning thunderbolt. It is dorje in Tibetan and can be translated as “diamond” or “adamantine” referring to its indestructible qualities of emptiness. Vajras are symbolic, ritual objects such as a bell or dagger used in the manifold Tibetan ceremonies, rites, and rituals.
Vajrayana Practice
The student in Vajrayana Buddhism is called the chela. The chela is initiated into his practice by his guru. The chela is given a mandala of his prescribed yidam. Practice can be arduous. For example, in one practice a chela would undertake to make 100,000 prostrations and numerous repetitions of mantras.
THE SIX TRADITIONS
Tibetan Spirituality
Historically, there are six traditions, or schools, of Tibetan spirituality. Four of these schools are considered the principal schools. The six traditions are:
1. The Bön tradition.
2. The Nyingma tradition (the Old Ones).
3. The Bound by Command School (Kadam).
4. The Sakya tradition.
5. The Kagyu tradition (the Transmitted Command School).
6. The Gelug tradition (the Virtuous School).
The four principal schools are: Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, and Gelug.
THE BÖN TRADITION
The Bön tradition is alive today and getting stronger after a long period of virtual invisibility in Tibet during the eighth to the eleventh centuries. The Bön community has been successful in establishing monasteries in India and Nepal. It is an integral part of Tibetan culture and history, and the Tibetans strive to preserve Bön customs.
The five other traditions of Tibetan spirituality are all Buddhist and combine elements of all three vehicles of Buddhism—Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana—leaning heavily on Tantra practices. They trace back to the different gurus, or lamas, who started the lineages.
THE NYINGMA TRADITION (THE OLD ONES)
The Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism traces its roots back to Padmasambhava and is the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism. Padmasambhava mixed native Bön practices and beliefs with Tantra Buddhism to develop a unique and mystical form of Tibetan Buddhism.
Guide to the Buddha’s Teachings
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Atisha wrote Lamp for the Path of Enlightenment for the Tibetan people, to answer the questions they had about practice and show them all the Buddha’s teachings—distilled from sutras and tantras—in a short guide that simplified direction for practice. These teachings on the stages of the Path were known as lam-rim. Lamp for the Path of Enlightenment is still used in practice today.
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It is believed that Padmasambhava found his disciples unready to experience the full disclosure of his knowledge, so he hid hundreds of teachings from them, to be revealed in the future to teachers more prepared for the knowledge he had to impart. Subsequently, teachers through the years have revealed these hidden treasures, known as terma, to their students to aid in their enlightenment.
There are nine paths to enlightenment in Nyingma, six based on the sutras, and three based on the tantras. Nyingma is based on the practice of Dzogchen—a practice of meditation that presupposes the existence of buddha-nature and strives to allow it to manifest.
Dzogchen has recently become very popular in the United States as a meditation practice.
THE BOUND BY COMMAND SCHOOL (THE KADAM)
The Bound by Command School traces its roots back to Atisha, a monk who taught in Tibet starting in 1040. Atisha was born Chandragarbha to a royal family in Bengal. He was renamed Atisha, which means “peace,” by a Tibetan king.
Atisha brought to Tibet a synthesis of the three major vehicles of Buddhism. His coming initiated the era of the Second Transmission of Buddhism to Tibet, seminal for the Bound by Command School of Tibetan Buddhism but also for the Virtuous School and Transmitted Command School.
Atisha was also known as one of the living Buddhas among the Tibetan people. He promoted the premise that the teachings of the guru, the lama, should be held above all else as the lama can demonstrate the living nature of the teachings and directly shows the student how to practice. The teacher could choose the specific practices that would benefit the specific student.
The Bound by Command School of Tibetan Buddhism did not last long. It was considered too strict for the Tibetan people, prohibiting intoxicants, money handling, sexual relations, and travel.
THE SAKYA TRADITION
Founded in 1073 by Khön Könchok Gyelpo, the Sakya school took its name from the monastery of the same name in central Tibet. Sakya means “Gray Earth.” The Sakya tradition, which developed out of the earlier Nyingma teachings, has been preserved to the present day through the unbroken succession of the heads of the Khön school. The lineage holders of the tradition pass down the transmission of the Path and Fruit (Lam-dre) teachings. The Path and Fruit teachings synthesize the teaching of the sutras and the tantras, and are designed to bring the student to enlightenment in a single lifetime.
The Sakya tradition continues to this day. The current head of the Sakya school is the forty-first in the lineage and practices in exile from Tibet.
THE KAGYU TRADITION (THE TRANSMITTED COMMAND SCHOOL)
The Transmitted Command School of Tibetan Buddhism can trace its roots back to two Indian masters: Naropa and Tilopa. These masters were skilled in advanced yogic practices. The emphasis in the Transmitted Command School has been and still is on practice and mysticism rather than academics. Kagyu tradition has some of the more familiar names in the history of Tibetan Buddhism. Naropa taught Marpa and Marpa took the teachings back to Tibet with him where he continued to practice as a layperson.
Marpa in turn passed the teachings on to his most famous student, Milarepa (1052–1135), one of the most popular figures of all time in Tibetan Buddhism. Milarepa started out as a dark figure in history—he was a black magician bent on revenging his widowed mother and sister who were being mistreated by relatives—but became a poet and a supremely powerful yogi who mastered self-knowledge and achieved liberation. He was legendary for his mystical powers.
Among Milarepa’s disciples was Gampopa, who wrote The Jewel Ornament of Liberation. Gampopa received the Six Yogas of Naropa from Milarepa as well as the practice of Mahamudra (“Great Seal” and one of the most important practices in Vajrayana focused on realization of emptiness), and then combined them into one lineage—Dakpo Kagyu. The Dakpo Kagyu school then gave rise to four additional schools. One of the most successful of these schools, the Karma Kagyu school, is still going strong today and is passed down through the reincarnations of the Karma Kagyu teachers.
