Portal:Vajrayana Buddhism

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Vajrayana Buddhism Portal

A digug dorje. Vajrayāna (Sanskrit: वज्रयान; Bengali: বজ্রযান; Devanagari: वज्रयान; Sinhala: වජ්‍රායන; Malayalam: വജ്രയാന; Oriya: ବଜ୍ରଯାନ; Tibetan: རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ་, rdo rje theg pa; Mongolian: Очирт хөлгөн, Ochirt Hölgön; Chinese: 金剛乘, pinyin: Jīngāng chéng), also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Way or Thunderbolt Way, is a complex and multifaceted system of Buddhist thought and practice which evolved over several centuries. According to Vajrayāna scriptures "Vajrayāna" refers to one of three vehicles or routes to enlightenment, the other two being the Hinayāna and Mahayana. Note that Hinayāna (or Nikaya) is not to be confused with Theravada (a practice lineage); although is sometimes equated to it. Founded by the Indian Mahāsiddhas, Vajrayāna subscribes to Buddhist tantric literature. Although the first tantric Buddhist texts appeared in India in the 3rd century and continued to appear until the 12th century, scholars such as Hirakawa Akira assert that the Vajrayāna probably came into existence in the 6th or 7th century, while the term Vajrayāna itself first appeared in the 8th century. Template:/box-footer The Kadam (Tibetan: བཀའ་གདམས་པ་, Wylie: Bka'-gdams-pa) tradition was a Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist school. Dromtönpa, a Tibetan lay master and the foremost disciple of the great Indian Buddhist Master Atisha (982-1054), founded it and passed three lineages to his disciples. The Kadampas were quite famous and respected for their proper and earnest Dharma practice. The most evident teachings of that tradition were the teachings on Bodhichitta (later these special presentations became known as Lojong (Blo-ljong) and Lamrim (Stages of the Path) by Atisha. Tsongkhapa (Btsong-ka-pa) a reformer, collected all the three Kadam lineages and integrated them, along with Sakya, Kagyu and other teachings, into his presentation of the Doctrine. The pervasive influence of Tsongkhapa was such that the Kadampas that followed were known as "New Kadampas" (Tibetan: Sarma Kadampa) or, more commonly, as the Gelug school, while those who preceded him became retroactively known as "Old Kadampas," or simply as "Kadampas." Kalachakra thangka from the Sera Monastery. In Tibetan Buddhist and Indian Hindu/Buddhist traditions, Shambhala (also spelled Shambala or Shamballa; Tibetan: བདེ་འབྱུང་; Wylie: bde 'byung, pron. de-jung; Chinese: 香巴拉; pinyin: xiāngbālā) is a kingdom hidden somewhere in Inner Asia. It is mentioned in various ancient texts, including the Kalachakra Tantra and the ancient texts of the Zhang Zhung culture which predated Tibetan Buddhism in western Tibet. The Bön scriptures speak of a closely related land called Olmolungring. Hindu texts such as Vishnu Purana mention Shambhala as the birth place of Kalki, the final incarnation of Vishnu who will usher in a new Golden Age (Satya Yuga). Whatever its historical basis, Shambhala gradually came to be seen as a Buddhist Pure Land, a fabulous kingdom whose reality is visionary or spiritual as much as physical or geographic. It was in this form that the Shambhala myth reached the West, where it influenced non-Buddhist as well as Buddhist spiritual seekers — and, to some extent, popular culture in general. Akong Rinpoche. Chöje Akong Tulku Rinpoche (25 December 1939 – 8 October 2013) was a tulku in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism and a founder of the Samye Ling Monastery in Scotland. He was born in 1939, near Riwoq, in Kham, Eastern Tibet. At the age of two he was discovered by the search party seeking the reincarnation of the previous (1st) Akong, Abbot of Dolma Lhakang monastery near Chamdo. The search party was following instructions given by the 16th Karmapa. At four he was taken to Dolma Lhakang to receive an education that included religion and traditional Tibetan medicine. When only a teenager he travelled, performing religious ceremonies and treating the ill. Later he went to the great monastic university of Sechen where he received transmission of the Kagyu lineage from Sechen Kongtrul Rinpoche, one of two tulkus of the first Jamgon Kongtrul. He also received instruction from the 16th Karmapa, who also certified him as a teacher of Tibetan medicine. In 1959, in the aftermath of that year's Tibetan Rebellion, he fled to India at age 20. Of the three hundred in his party only thirteen arrived successfully in India. They were so hungry after running out of food on the journey that they had to boil leather shoes and bags to make soup. After spending time in refugee camps he was asked to teach at the Young Lamas Home School in Dalhousie. In 1963, a sponsor paid for Akong Rinpoche and Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche to go to Oxford to learn English. As only Trungpa had a bursary, Akong worked as a hospital orderly in the Radcliffe Infirmary in order to support himself, Trungpa and Lama Chime Tulku Rinpoche (who had joined them at Oxford). Tibetan Buddhism Mongol Buddhism Russian Buddhism Shingon Buddhism in Japanese Buddhism Tangmi in Chinese Buddhism Newar Buddhism Newest transmissions: Blue Lotus Assembly Celtic Buddhism New Kadampa Tradition Shambhala Buddhism True Buddha School A Tibetan thangka of Heruka. Green Tara, painting by Prithvi Man Chitrakari, 1947. Tara (Sanskrit: तारा, tārā; Tibetan language: སྒྲོལ་མ, Drolma) or Ārya Tārā, also known as Jetsun Dolma (Tibetan language: rje btsun sgrol ma) in Tibetan Buddhism, is a deity in Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. She is known as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements. In Japan she is known as Tara Bosatsu (多羅菩薩), and little-known as Duōluó Púsà (多罗菩萨) in Chinese Buddhism. Tara is a tantric meditation deity whose practice is used by practitioners of the Tibetan branches of Vajrayana Buddhism to develop certain inner qualities and understand outer, inner and secret teachings about compassion and emptiness. Tara is actually the generic name for a set of Buddhas or bodhisattvas of similar aspect. These may more properly be understood as different aspects of the same quality, as bodhisattvas are often considered metaphoric for Buddhist virtues. The most widely known forms of Tārā are: Green Tārā, known as the Buddha of enlightened activity White Tārā, also known for compassion, long life, healing and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra Red Tārā, of fierce aspect associated with magnetizing all good things Black Tārā, associated with power Yellow Tārā, associated with wealth and prosperity Blue Tārā, associated with transmutation of anger Cittamani Tārā, a form of Tārā widely practiced at the level of Highest Yoga Tantra in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, portrayed as green and often conflated with Green Tārā Khadiravani Tārā (Tārā of the acacia forest), who appeared to Nagarjuna in the Khadiravani forest of South India and who is sometimes referred to as the "Twenty-second Tārā" There is also recognition in some schools of Buddhism of twenty-one Tārās. A practice text entitled In Praise of the Twenty-one Tārās, is recited during the morning in all four sects of Tibetan Buddhism. The main Tārā mantra is the same for Buddhists and Hindus alike: oṃ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā. It is pronounced by Tibetans and Buddhists who follow the Tibetan traditions as oṃ tāre tu tāre ture soha. Hinduism Buddhism Chinese folk religion Shinto Taoism Religion WikiProject Religion WikiProject Buddhism WikiProject Tibet Buddhism on WikiNews Buddhism on WikiQuote Buddhism on WikiBooks Buddhism on WikiSource Buddhism on Wiktionary Buddhism on Commons Template:/box-footer

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