How Buddhism Came to Tibet

The history of Buddhism in Tibet begins with Bon. The Bon religion of Tibet was animistic and shamanistic, and elements of it live on today, to one degree or another, in Tibetan Buddhism.

Although Buddhist scriptures may have made their way into Tibet centuries earlier, the history of Buddhism in Tibet effectively begins in 641 CE. In that year, King Songtsen Gampo (d. ca. 650) unified Tibet through military conquest and took two Buddhist wives, Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal and Princess Wen Cheng of China. The princesses are credited with introducing their husband to Buddhism.

Songtsen Gampo built the first Buddhist temples in Tibet, including the Jokhang in Lhasa and the Changzhug in Nedong. He also put Tibetan translators to work on the Sanskrit scriptures.

Guru Rinpoche and Nyingma

During the reign of King Trisong Detsen, which began about 755 CE, Buddhism became the official religion of the Tibetan people. The King also invited famous Buddhist teachers such as Shantarakshitaand Padmasambhava to Tibet.

Padmasambhava, remembered by Tibetans as Guru Rinpoche ("Precious Master"), was an Indian master of tantra whose influence on the development of Tibetan Buddhism is incalculable. He is credited with building Samye, the first monastery in Tibet, in the late 8th century. Nyingma, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, claims Guru Rinpoche as its patriarch.

According to legend, when Guru Rinpoche arrived in Tibet he pacified the Bon demons and made them protectors of the Dharma.

Suppression

In 836 King Tri Ralpachen, a supporter of Buddhism, died. His half brother Langdarma became the new King of Tibet. Langdarma suppressed Buddhism and re-established Bon as the official religion of Tibet. In 842, Langdarma was assassinated by a Buddhist monk. Rule of Tibet was divided between Langdarma's two sons. However, in the centuries that followed Tibet disintegrated into many small kingdoms.

China's Tibetan Tussle

By JAYADEVA RANADE

Published: 17th September 2014 06:00 AM

Last Updated: 16th September 2014 10:35 PM

China has raised the profile of the Tibet issue in the weeks leading up to Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit (September 17-19) to India. There have been at least two direct propaganda initiatives and another is planned for September 19, when the Chinese ministry of defence will take dozens of Beijing-based defence attaches to witness the progress Tibet has made since the Chinese takeover. Incidentally, Chinese defence attaches based in India do not travel to Jammu and Kashmir on tours organised by India’s defence ministry as China considers the state “disputed”. Reliable reports earlier emanating from Beijing indicated China’s leadership was deliberating whether to insist that, in the joint statement to be issued after Xi Jinping’s visit, India should reiterate that Tibet is a part of China, a statement India has withheld making for the past four years.

The first propaganda initiative to get international endorsement of Tibet’s progress under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule was when China organised its first ever international “2014 Forum on the Development of Tibet’” in Lhasa on August 12-13. Over 100 invitees including 40 foreign delegates attended. N Ram —chairman of Kasturi and Sons Limited and publisher of The Hindu and an invitee—was quoted as saying that “thanks to China, Tibet’s interaction and integration with the rest of China has deepened and its isolation from the rest of the world has decisively been ended”. The delegates were later taken on “field trips” in Lhasa and to Nyingchi prefecture, which includes Arunachal Pradesh within its administrative jurisdiction.

"China's Policies toward Ethnic Minorities: Developments and Challenges."

Foundation for Non-Violent Alternatives, 143, 4th Floor, Uday Park - 110049, New Delhi

Speaker: Dr. Mumin Chen, Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Political Science, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan and member of International Affairs section, Taiwan Think-tank, Taiwan

Abstract: The Chinese government asserts that its policy toward ethnic minorities, National Regional Autonomy (minzu quyu zizhi), is one of the greatest achievements of six decades of Communist rule. The policy identifies the political status of all ethnic minority groups and grants them the right to self-rule, which has greatly alleviated the tension between ethnic minorities and Han majorities and encouraged the former to be supportive of state integrity. In recent years, however, more conflicts between the government and certain ethnic minorities have come into view. The Tibetan unrest in March 2008 and Uighur-Han clashes in Xinjiang in July 2009 are just two of the violent incidents that drew international attention. This paper attempts to examine and evaluate the NRA policy from three different perspectives. The first is to review its development over the past decades with the purpose of seeing how the government attempted to reconcile the opposing goals of granting the right of self-rule to ethnic minority groups and preserving national unity. The second is to examine the arguments regarding NRA by Chinese academics, particularly whether they support central government's strategy of coercive rule plus economic investment in ethnic minority areas. The third perspective is to employ observations from minority communities to assess the effectiveness of NRA. Focus is placed on how the policy is implemented at local level, and how Chinese scholars address and respond to the problems and challenges derived from the policy.

Dr. Mumin Chen earned his Ph.D. in International Studies from the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, USA (2004). Previous experiences include adjunct lecturer, School of International Studies, Peking University (2001-2002); special assistant to Vice President of Taiwan (2002-2004); assistant professor, National Changhua University of Education (2004-2008); visiting research fellow at East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore (2008); and visiting scholar at Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi (2009). He is the author of International Security Theory: Power, State and Threat (in Chinese, Wu-Nan, Taipei: 2009) and Prosperity but Insecurity: Globalization and China's National Security 1979-2000 (Lambert Academic Publishing, Germany: 2010). Chen's research focuses include: international security theory, Chinese politics and foreign policy, and South Asian security.

Must see place in Tibet by TOurist

Place to see in Tibet

Lhasa (3650 m)
Lhasa has always remained the cultural, political and economic centre of Tibet. It is the heart and soul of Tibet, the abode of the Dalai Lamas and an object of devout pilgrimage. The places of interest in Lhasa include the Potala palace, Norbulinka palace, Jokhang temple, Sera and Drepung monasteries etc. The JOkhang temple and Bharkhhor circumambulation circuit , full of pilgrims from all over Tibet ,innumerable shops and wayside peddlers selling everything from prayer flags to yak skulls is the most amazing of the experience of being in Tibet.

Potala Palace
Potala dominates the Lhasa skyline from every corner. Originally there were buildings from 640 AD but the present Potala palace was built in 17th century by the fifth Dalai Lama. It has served as the residence of the Dalai Lamas .It is 117 m high, 13 storied and has 1000 rooms. Different sections of the palace houses a great wealth of cultural and art objects of Tibet. Many parts of the palace , now turned to a museum is open for the visitors .

The History of Famous Tibet Potala

History of famous Tibet Potala Palace

The Potala Palace, perched high above Lhasa on the Marpori ( "red hill" ), is a place of pilgrimage and a mammoth tribute to Tibetan architectural skills.
In the 7th century King Sontsen Gampo first built a small meditation pavilion on this site, followed later by a palace. During the 9th century these buildings were destroyed after lightning set them on fire. On the orders of the 5th Dalai Lama construction was started in 1645, but he died before the Red Palace was started. However, before dying he asked his Prime Minister (Regent) to keep his death secret lest construction work be discontinued. The Prime Minister found a monk who resembled the deceased and thus was able to conceal the death until all 13 stories had been completed. From the time of the 5th Dalai Lama onwards, the Potala became the official winter residence of successive Dalai Lamas.
During the 1959 uprising, the PLA shelled the Potala. It is rumored that the whole scale destruction of the Potala during the cultural revolution was averted by Zhou Enlai, who pledged his own troops for its protection.
Built of wood, earth and stone, the Potala has 13 stories rising over 117 meters high. The whole structure is a maze of rooms - over 1000 of them, with 10,000 shrines and some 200,000 statues. The stories are not continuous, and access to particular halls may be hidden behind pillars. The walls, varying in thickness between two and five meters were strengthened against earthquakes by pouring in molten copper. No steel frame was used, and no nails were used in the woodwork. Stones were lugged in on donkey-back, or on the backs of humans. Simple equipment was used to fashion a skyscraper - an achievement on par with the building of the pyramids.
Seen from the front, the Potala consists of the Red Palace in the center flanked, on both sides, by the White Palace. The White Palace was completed in 1653, and construction on the Red palace was started in 1690( completed in 1694).

Winter-Worm, Summer-Grass: The Life Cycle of Cordyceps

Cordyceps was first recorded in 620 BCE in the Tang Dynasty as a mythical or magical creature that could transform from an animal to a plant throughout the different seasons. This seemingly magical transformation was later explained by the unusual life cycle of the mushroom. It mysteriously grows in the winter as a parasite feeding off caterpillars and in the summer as a plant through its emerging fruiting body. Cordyceps is therefore commonly referred to as “Chinese caterpillar fungus” or “winter-worm and summer-grass,” which is a literal translation from its Chinese name, “Dong Chong Xia Cao.”