The Development of Rituals and Symbols in Tibetan Buddhism
Name: Yang Mao Cuo Student ID: B08152
Research paper supervisor:Dr.Sekou Conde
Minzu University of China
2008-2009 Academic Year
Abstract: Religious significance and cultural representation of rituals and symbols in Tibetan Buddhism has gone through changes and variations after it had been introduced and consolidated in Tibetan areas. Comparative study and descriptive explanation will be applied to focus on the local adaptation and indegenuos pecularity of these ritual and symbols, Tibetans’ contribution to the new development of Buddhist rituals and symbols, in the final analysis, thanks to the historical maintainance and long –term practice of those rituals and symbols by Tibetan people in their every day life. This cultural assimilation affirms the vitality and flexibility of Buddhist ideology and its substitutes.
Key words: development, rituals and symbols, Tibetan Buddhism
Introduction
Religion is the particularly special social phenomenon and means of reflecting inside emotions and characteristics by the large, it is the shared character of all religious entities that religion related features will go through continuous shifts within fluctuating social lives and backgrounds of constant-changing cultural communication. Rituals and symbols, the concrete substitutes in Tibetan Buddhism, as a main representation of abstract ideology and profound doctrines, is developing in the different cultural environment. Tibetans gave new meaning and features to these religious substitutes based on their own understanding and values, meanwhile, artistic orientation and secular significance has been added up by Tibetans to present a fresh image of rituals and symbols with Tibetan characteristics. This paper aims to demonstrate how Tibetans promote the new development of Buddhist rituals and symbols by searching and describing the changing parts of these substitutes in their useage, method and representation, and also tries to appeal to the approaches of comparative study to finally depict the developmental stage, the localization and secularization of rituals and symbols of Tibean Buddhism in a broader horizon.
1. Tibetan Buddhism
1.1 Introduction
In the long course of history, religion has assumed an important role in development of human civilization. Once acclaimed argument, “religion is poison”has been challenged by the cultural creativity and ideaistic dedication of religion. Thus, there is an underlying tendency to rethink and reevaluate the nature of religion, meantime, the public has been promoting a growing realization of social and cultural significance of religion nowadays. Tibetan Buddhism, as an overwhelming branch of this ideological mainstream, is in fact a combined a system of internal ideology and outside substitutes. To materialise those profound doctrines and abstract philosophies, a concrete and entitative way should be invented and applied by generations of its followers. Under this condition,various rituals and symbols in Tibetan Buddhism have become the choosen cultural approach to fulfill the religious significance and symbolize ideological content of Tibetan Buddhism. As a result, Tibetan Buddhism is an indigenous understanding of outside universe and a true representation of inward world of Tibetan people, generally, its origin can be traced back to Indian Buddhism when Shachamuni first introduced Buddhism in 6th BC. The early Buddhism(Indian Buddhism), although the origin of those substitutes can be traced back to its source of Indian Buddhism, a new representation based on Tibetans’ own understanding and values represent a bright Tibetan color as a whole.
1.2 Historical Review
Generally speaking, Tibetan Buddhism had been a part of ideology of Tibetan people since its first introduction to Imperial Tibet(btsan po rgyal rabs)in seventh centuries. But, this first introduction didn’t allow the newcome outsider to fully integrated into the wider Tibetan society and cultural region, doctrines and traditions at that time was only confined to royal court and noble families. The mass transmission of Tibetan Buddhism into broader Tibetan society began along with the collapse of the Imperial Tibet in ninth century, and this second introduction urged a new developmental current of Buddhism and thus Tibetan Buddhism was naturally blended into Tibetan’s mind. It was the renaissance of Buddhism in ninth century that inspired the new development of Buddhism in Tibetan cultural region, from then on, Buddhist transmission in Tibetan cultural area was granted with distinct Tibetan flavor. Meanwhile, internal doctrines and outside substitutes also won a clear Tibetan characteristics, different sects and traditions divided harmoniously, this represents the forming of Tibetan Buddhism in the course of history.
1.3 New Development of Tibetan Buddhism
Discussion of the new feature of Tibetan Buddhism would be better if begin with a basic question of how distinguish Tibetan Buddhism from its origin of Indian Buddhism. To this highly heated matter, several scholars have brought forward a number of opinions, Stephen Bachelor claims: “ In their presentation of Buddhism, the Tibetans did not diverge greatly from their Indian forerunners in terms of doctrinal content, but in the ways in which they organized this content into systematic stages leading to enlightenment. It is the logic of the Buddhist path which is Tibetan, not the individual doctrines or insights which are arranged in the light of this logic. What gives Tibetan Buddhism its own peculiar flavor is not any uniquely Tibetan ingrediant, but the way in which these common Buddhist ingredients have been blended together in the Tibetan mind.” [1] Martin A.Mills goes along with this argument and writes in his book : “The introduction and consolidation of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism into Tibet and sorrounding Himalayan regions eventually produced a set of religious forms and institutions which were, in many ways, unique in Asia.”[2] In order to further develop his perspective, Martin A.Mills goes deep into the issues and enumerates a number of features that signify Tibetan characteristics, he continuously argues that the development of a form of mass monasticism, the intermeshing of monastic and lamaic forms of religious authority, practices within a wider context of rituals and legitimising authority of incarnate lamas together reflect Tibetan pecularity, moreover, he also suggests that these four underlying features are Tibetans’ indigenous understanding of Buddhism. Carefully pondering the viewpoint of these two scholars, it goes without saying that there is something common in their statements. This sameness indicates Buddhism has experienced a new developmental stage when it had been first introduced into Tibetan area and maintained by Tibetan people through centuries.
In a nutshell, the suggestion of the way to enlightment is Tibetan’s contribution to the new development of Buddhism in Tibet, especially, it just goes to show that it is the religious approach including rituals and symbols that embodies Tibetan Buddhism.
2. Rituals in Tibetan Buddhism
2.1 Purpose
Buddhism performs a variety of rituals in order to smoothly get into the right way of enlightment, it is an effective approach of searching goals and also a gateway to represent the fundamental philosophy of Buddism. Although there are assorted rituals hold by Buddhists, the main purpose of these different rituals are almostly identical. For example, some practices such as meditation derive directly from Buddha’s teachings, and some such as mandala offerings are performed to show respect and sacrificial dedication to the three jewels and deities. Certain ritual has its own representation according to situations, they include establishing relations with spritual teachers, showing loyalty and respect to deities,praying for auspices, inspiration and liberation and so on. But when getting to the bottom of the issue, it is extremely obvious that the root purpose of all Buddhist rituals are same, they are well regulated and exactly maintained by Buddhist followers in order to liberate from Samsara and get absolute enlightment which is also the final destination of Buddhist practice.
2.2 Categories
Rituals in Tibetan Buddhism have a wider variety of categories that mainly based on different purposes, in other words, rituals are varied according to different occassions and individual needs. For example, they include not only various worship rites such as typical empowerments, consecrations and dharma dance, but also the rites of passage of certain societies such as birth and funeral, adulthood, marriages,house warming, festival celebrations and so on. Tibetan Buddhism has underlying link with everyday life of Tibetans, thus, famous Tibetan scholar Loden Sherap Dagxab Rinpoche clearly points out: “ Tibetan culture has been characterized by a powerful spirituality of Buddhist profound philosophical insight and intensive meditation practice, religious practice extended to nearly all areas of private and public life, and it was by no means at home only in monasteries, but also in the houses of farmers and in the tents of nomads. ”[3] Generally speaking, rituals in Tibetan Buddhism can be classified into two big categories, the one is religious rituals and the other is secular rituals. In this paper, I want to mainly focus on the religious significance [...]
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