Schools of Tibetan Buddhism
The diagram to the right shows the growth of Tibetan Buddhist traditions. The four main ones overlap markedly, such that "about eighty percent or more of the features of the Tibetan schools are the same".[1] Differences include the use of apparently, but not actually, contradictory terminology, opening dedications of texts to different deities and whether phenomena are described from the viewpoint of an unenlightened practitioner or of a Buddha.[1] On questions of philosophy the inclusion (Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Kagyu) or exclusion (Gelugpa) of Yogacara and Buddha-nature teachings has been a historical divide between schools, which still colours the approaches to sunyata and ultimate reality.[2][3][4] The 19th century Rimé movement downplayed these differences, as still reflected in the stance of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, who states that there are no fundamental differences between these schools.[5] The Tibetan adjectival suffix -pa meaning "man" or "person" is translatable as English "-ist", e.g., "Nyingmapa" is "person who practises Nyingma".
Nyingma[edit]
"The Ancient Ones" is the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism and the original order founded by Padmasambhava (8th century) and Śāntarakṣita (725–788).[6] Whereas other schools categorize their teachings into the three yānas or "vehicles", Hīnayāna, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna, the Nyingma tradition classifies its teachings into Nine Yānas, among the highest of which is Dzogchen.[7] Terma "treasures" (revealed texts) are of particular significance to the Nyingma school.
Kadampa[edit]
The Kadam school (Tibetan: བཀའ་གདམས་པ་, Wylie: bka' gdams pa) of Tibetan Buddhism was founded by Dromtön (1005–1064), a Tibetan lay master and the foremost disciple of the great Bengali master Atiśa (982-1054). The Kadampa were quite famous and respected for their proper and earnest Dharma practice. The most evident teachings of that tradition were the teachings on bodhicitta. Later, these special presentations became known as lojong and lamrim by Atiś. adam instructional influence lingered long after the school disappeared.
Sakya[edit]
The "Grey Earth" school represents the scholarly tradition. Headed by the Sakya Trizin, this tradition was founded by Khön Könchok Gyelpo (Wylie: 'khon dkon mchog rgyal po, 1034–1102), a disciple of the great Lotsawa, Drogmi Shākya (Wylie: brog mi lo tsā wa ye shes) and traces its lineage to the mahasiddha Virūpa.[8] A renowned exponent, Sakya Pandita (1182–1251CE), was the great-grandson of Khön Könchok Gyelpo.
Jonang[edit]
The Jonang is a minor school that branched off from Sakya traditions; it was suppressed in 1650 in Gelug-controlled regions and subsequently banned and its monks and nuns converted to the Gelug school in 1658.
The Jonang re-established their religio-political center in Golok, Nakhi and Mongol areas in Kham and Amdo centered at Dzamthang Monastery and have continued practicing uninterrupted to this day. An estimated 5,000 monks and nuns of the Jonang tradition practice today in these areas and at the edges of historic Gelug influence.
However, their teachings were limited to these regions until the Rimé movement of the 19th century encouraged the study of non-Gelug schools of thought and practice.[9] In modern times it has been encouraged to grow by the 14th Dalai Lama, who installed the 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu as its head.
Kagyu[edit]
"Lineage of the (Buddha's) Word". This is an oral tradition which is very much concerned with the experiential dimension of meditation. Its most famous exponent was Milarepa, an 11th-century mystic. It contains one major and one minor subsect. The first, the Dagpo Kagyu, encompasses those Kagyu schools that trace back to the Indian master Naropa via Marpa Lotsawa, Milarepa and Gampopa[10] and consists of four major sub-sects: the Karma Kagyu, headed by a Karmapa, the Tsalpa Kagyu, the Barom Kagyu, and Pagtru Kagyu. There are a further eight minor sub-sects, all of which trace their root to Pagtru Kagyu and the most notable of which are the Drikung and Drukpa Lineages. The once-obscure Shangpa Kagyu, which was famously represented by the 20th century teacher Kalu Rinpoche, traces its history back to the Indian master Naropa via Niguma, Sukhasiddhi and Khyungpo Naljor.[11]
Gelug[edit]
The "Way of Virtue" school was originally a reformist movement and is known for its emphasis on logic and debate. The order was founded in the 14th to 15th century by Je Tsongkhapa, renowned for both his scholarship and virtue. He was a prominent supporter of the Madhyamika philosophy and formalized the Svatantrika-Prasaṅgika distinction. Its spiritual head is the Ganden Tripa and its temporal one the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama is regarded as the embodiment of Avalokiteśvara. After the civil war in the 17th century and the Mongol intervention, the Gelugpa school dominated Tibetan Buddhism, and successive Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet from the mid-17th to mid-20th centuries.
New Kadampa Tradition[edit]
The New Kadampa Tradition is a Buddhist new religious movement founded by Kelsang Gyatso in England in 1991, which branched-off from the Gelugpa school.
Rimé movement[edit]
In the 19th century the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism, along with some Bon scholars, cooperated the Rimé movement to prevent the loss of many of their teachings and revive their traditions, in response to the dominance of the Gelugpa school.[12]
Old Translation, New Translation[edit]
The four major schools are sometimes said to constitute the Nyingma "Old Translation," and Sarma "New Translation" traditions, the latter following from the historical Kadam lineage of translations and tantric lineages. Another common but trivial differentiation is into the Yellow Hat (Gelug) and Red Hat (non-Gelug) sects, a division that mirrors the distinction between the schools involved in the Rimé movement versus the one that did not, the Gelug.[citation needed]
The correspondences are as follows:
| Nyingma | Kagyu | Sakya | Gelug |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Translation | New Translation | New Translation | New Translation |
| Red Hat | Red Hat | Red Hat | Yellow Hat |
| Rimé | Rimé | Rimé | non-Rimé |
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 How Do the Tibetan Buddhist Traditions Differ?, Retrieved 04.06.2016
- ↑ Hookham 1991.
- ↑ Brunnhölzl 2004.
- ↑ Cornu 2001.
- ↑ http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=The_four_main_schools_of_Tibetan_Buddhism, retrieved 31.07.2013
- ↑ Berzin. Alexander (2000). How Did Tibetan Buddhism Develop?: StudyBuddhism.com
- ↑ Kagyuoffice.org Archived 2013-05-11 at the Wayback Machine See section: The Nine Yana Journey
- ↑ Berzin. Alexander (2000). How Did Tibetan Buddhism Develop?: StudyBuddhism.com
- ↑ Gruschke 2001, p.72; and A. Gruschke, "Der Jonang-Orden: Gründe für seinen Niedergang, Voraussetzungen für das Überdauern und aktuelle Lage", in: Henk Blezer (ed.), Tibet, Past and Present. Tibetan Studies I (Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of The IATS, 2000), Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden 2002, pp. 183-214
- ↑ Berzin. Alexander (2000). How Did Tibetan Buddhism Develop?: StudyBuddhism.com
- ↑ Berzin. Alexander (2000). How Did Tibetan Buddhism Develop?: StudyBuddhism.com
- ↑ Lopez, Donald S. (1998). Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, p. 190
This article "Schools of Tibetan Buddhism" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
