Question: What is the relationship between
Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism ? What are their similarities and differences?
By Khenpo Tashi
To give you a short answer, Tibetan Buddhism is none other than Buddhism.
To give you a more detailed answer, we will trace the lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
THE SEVEN PATRIARCHS TO NAGARJUNA
After the Buddha passed away around 480 BCE, his chief monk, the Arhat (Sanskrit: noble, realized one) Mahakasyapa, served as the first holder of his teachings. During this time, a council of 500 arhats gathered. They chose the monk Upali to recite the Vinaya, Ananda recited the Sutra, and Mahakasyapa the Abhidharma. These are Buddhism’s three main collections of teachings.
Before Mahakasyapa passed away, he entrusted the entire teachings to Ananda (the second holder) and so on. Including Mahakasyapa, there were seven fully realized arhats who preserved the Buddha’s teachings up to Nagarjuna (150 – 250 CE) in India. The five other patriarchs after Ananda are Sanavasika, Upagupta, Dhitika, Krishna and Sudarsana.
Two more Buddhist councils followed the first Buddhist Council. The second happened around 380 BCE. After the third council around 260 BCE in India, Buddhism was slowly introduced to Sri Lanka and Thailand around that same time.
The body of teachings that reached South China (Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka and so on) are called Hinayana, or the “small vehicle”.
FROM INDIA TO TIBET
From Sudarsana (the 7th holder), the lineage was passed on to Nagarjuna.
Nagarjuna is one of the foremost abbots of Nalanda University in India. From Nalanda, the Buddha’s teachings spread to the west and north of India, to China and to Tibet. The body of teachings that arrived in China (Japan and Korea) is called Mahayana Sutra tradition. Mahayana means “great vehicle”. This started around the 1st Century CE.
FROM TIBET TO PRESENT
Lastly, the body of teachings that arrived in Tibet (Nepal, Bhutan and Mongolia) are the Mahayana Sutra and Mahayana Tantra traditions. This occurred in the 8th Century CE. The teachings that came to Tibet arrived in two separate periods and developed into five schools. The first period saw the formation of the first school, the Nyingma school.
The second period gave birth to the four other schools, the Kagyud, Sakya, Geluk and Jonang schools. The Nyingma school developed into six major monasteries in Tibet. Two Nyingma monasteries called “the Upper Two” are Minling and Dorje Drak Monasteries. The “Middle Two” are called Shechen and Dzogchen. The “Lower Two” are called Kathok and Palyul. These titles are due to their locations on the Tibetan map.
In summary, in Tibetan Buddhism, all the vast teachings of the Buddha – Sutras and Tantras – are preserved. The main language of Tibetan Buddhism is Tibetan because all the vast teachings were written down in Tibetan language.