"Now don't believe a single word just because a
Buddha told you, but see if it fits with your own experience. Be your own
guiding light."
--Buddha Sakyamuni (500 B.C.)
Buddhism spread throughout Asia after the death of the Buddha Sakyamuni,
also known as Prince Siddhartha, in 483 B.C. It found a place in India,
Thailand, Pakistan and through the following centuries took hold in places
as far off as the Aral Sea in the former Soviet Union and in the Middle
East. In 522 A.D., Buddhism made its way to Japan. One hundred years later,
some scholars from India climbed a Himalayan pass to introduce the religion
to an isolated plateau in Tibet.
In the eighth century, Islamic invaders spilled into India, erasing the
nearly 1500 years of Buddhist tradition in its place of origin. Thankfully
for Buddhists, the monasteries that had been built in Tibet carried the
religion forward. The Buddhist schools founded in Tibet, China and Japan
are known as the self-proclaimed Mahayana or "greater vehicle."
Another school of Buddhism known as Theravada is found in Sri Lanka, Burma
and Thailand.
The Tibetan Monastic tradition has been in continuous practice since
its seventh century origins -- a virtually unchanged flow of ritual and
meditation.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama is an emanation of this long honorable line
of meditation and practice.
The Chinese government threatened this continuous existence of Tibetan
Buddhism in 1959 when they banished the Dalai Lama from Tibet and forced
Chinese Communist rule upon the Tibetan nation.
A cooling period in the early 1980s allowed Tibetan Buddhists to continue
their practice without fear, but in the past decade greater force has been
exerted by the Chinese to douse the eternal flame of Buddhism in Tibet.
The Tibetan government in asylum in Dharamsala, India carries the torch
of Tibetan Buddhism to the world at large. A small number of determined
Buddhists monks in the few remaining Tibetan monasteries keep Buddhism alive
in Tibet.
Buddhism is based on the Three Jewels or Pillars -- the Buddha, the Dharma
(his teachings and wisdom) and the Sangha (the community of Buddhists).
The following passage describes the basic principles of Buddhism:
ON PRACTICE
Taking Refuge
--Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche
"To be able to free us from the whirlpool of samsara,
the basis of the refuge we seek must be something itself already totally
free. There is only one source of refuge free from all the limitations of
samsara, complete with all the qualities of ultimate realization, and possessing
the limitless compassion that can respond universally to the needs of sentient
beings and lead them all the way to enlightenment: the Three Jewels. The
Three Jewels are the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The Buddha is the
teacher, who displays the four kayas [embodiments] and five wisdoms. The
Dharma is the path, the teachings that are transmitted and realized. The
Sangha are the companions on the path, those who understand the meaning
of the teachings and who as a result are liberated. Taking refuge is the
gateway to the Dharma. It is common to all three vehicles and is the foundation
on which all practice depends. The attitude to samsara that motivates people
to take refuge, however, is not always the same. To be afraid of suffering
in samsara and therefore to take refuge for one's own sake would be an inferior
motivation. The best motivation would be the wish to liberate all sentient
beings completely from the suffering of samsara and to establish them in
the state of enlightenment. To take refuge with that thought is the attitude
of the ahayana."
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche was one of the principal lamas in the Nyingmapa
lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. "Taking Refuge" is adapted from The
Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones (Shambhala).
For more information on Tibetan Buddhism visit www.tibet.org.
Other excellent sources on Buddhism include Tricycle, a Buddhist journal
(www.tricycle.com) and Buddhism
Today (www.diamondway.org).
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