• 600s CE: Royal wives from China and Nepal said to introduce Buddhism to court • Tibetan script developed using Sanskrit as basis • 700s: Indian Mahāyāna missionaries active in Tibet; indigenous religion disestablished by court • 779: Padmasambhava founds 1st Buddhist monastery; Buddhism established as state religion • 838: Pro-Buddhist king Relpachen assassinated and replaced by brother Lang Darma • 842: Lang Darma, final king, assassinated by Buddhist monk • 842-970: civil war, religious
th rivalry, political disunity 17 century depiction of king Padmasambhava Songtsän Gampo (r. 620-649 CE) • 1000s: Buddhism reintroduced (Sanskrit: “lotus-born,” a.k.a. Guru Rinpoche, and reestablished “Precious Master”)
Far away in the heavenly abode of the great god Indra, there is a wonderful net which has been hung by some cunning artificer in such a manner that it stretches out indefinitely in all directions…. A single glittering jewel [is suspended] at the net’s every node, and since the net itself is infinite in dimension, the jewels are infinite in number…. [E]ach of the jewels… is also reflecting all the other jewels, so that the process of reflection is infinite.
-- Avatamsaka-sūtra (c. 300s CE)
There is not the slightest difference between samsara and nirvāna…. There is… neither object nor subject.… Calm is the Innate and undifferentiated…. So the whole world is the Innate, for the Innate is its essence. Its essence too is nirvāna when the mind is in a purified state.
-- Hevajra-tantra (c. 700s CE)
Tibetan mandala depicting Indra’s Net
DHARMA AND NATION
• 1200: Mongols annex Tibet, establish Buddhist monks as viceroys (Mongols rule China, 1280- 1368) • As Mongol power wanes, Tibetans “discover” gter ma (“treasure texts”) – long-lost Indian scriptures, karmically timed to appear in crises • 1400s: Tibet increasingly independent of both Chinese-Mongol political control and Indian religious influence • Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) founds reformist Tsongkhapa, Gelugpa founder (1357-1419) Gelugpa (“system of virtue” a.k.a. Yellow Hat)
monastic sect • Later Gelugpa leaders adopt Mongol title Dalai Lama (“Ocean Guru”); regarded as tulku (incarnations) of Avalokiteśvara (Chenrezig) • 1578: Mongol rulers become Gelugpa patrons • 1642: 5th Dalai Lama assumes complete control of Tibet, asserts equality with Chinese and Mongol rulers • 1904-07: British and Manchurian invasions
• 1950: Chinese invasion th • 1959: Self-exile of 14 Dalai Lama begins Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama (1935-) • 1989: 14th Dalai Lama wins Nobel Peace Prize
MANDALA: MEANINGS & USES
• Buddhist tantra (Sanskrit: “warp” of loom, “strands” of braid; denotes esoteric movement in Indian religions) regards the universe as concrete manifestation of enlightened consciousness that creates and maintains it • Tantric practitioners use mandala (cosmic diagrams) as tool for accessing enlightened consciousness without (Buddhas) and within (tathāgatagarbha) • Mandala = 1. diagram of universe 2. diagram of mind 3. tracking device for spiritual power Tibetan Buddhist monks creating sand mandala 4. mesocosm that bridges microcosm (self) Hutchins Library and macrocosm (universe) Berea College April 2004 • Mandala constructed of painted sand often destroyed to symbolize truth of impermanence