Tibetan Buddhism

I am not sure if I am doing the right thing by blogging about all my favourite subjects. I guess this way very soon I would run out of things to write. But then I might as well enjoy the process till it lasts.

Mike left a comment on my blog which got me thinking. The comment was 

When I was younger there was group of Dervishes who came to Australia and i remember that they danced (or whirled) all night long and it made me kind of afraid (your average modern day Christian is one in name only and very rarely has any connection with actual spirituality).

       

I had never been religious or spiritual and it wasn't inculcated in us by our family. We did visit the Gurudwara (Sikh place of worship) rarely but religion was never forced on my sister and me by my parents. That gave me the opportunity to chart my own course and find my own calling in matters of spirituality. There was a time in my life when everything around me was dark and scary. That is the time I was attracted to the teachings of Sufism, Buddhism and even some teaching of Sikhism. 

        

The simple living of the Buddhist Lamas attracted me towards the religion and also the undeniable aura of HH The Dalai Lama. The look on the face of most Lama is that of compassion and tranquility which is so hard to find in life nowadays. But what moved me even closer to the spiritual aspect of Tibetan Buddhism was the music of the monks. It is the most meditative and soothing music ever. I have visited Dharamshala (the seat of the Tibetan government in exile) a few times and have gathered a humble collection of Tibetan music. It's simply divine. 

I am going to post a few pictures from my Dharamshala trips. In one of the pics you can see the prayer flags (pieces of cloth with Tibetan Buddhist prayer written on it) that are ubiquitous in Tibetan Buddhism. The Tibetan believe that every time the flag is moved by the wind a prayer is said. And there are these big Tibetan prayer wheels in the temples and smaller ones that can be held in hand (they have pieces of paper with prayers written on them enclosed inside them) and rotated and it is believed that with each rotation a prayer is said. Then there are chimes, bells, Tibetan flute, Tibetan prayer bowl and gongs that form the instrumentation for the music along with deep throat vocal chants. 

The religion has a very simple but powerful spiritual message. It's called the Four Nobel truths

1. The world is full of suffering
2. The cause of all the suffering is desire
3. In order to end the suffering we need to cease our desires
4. The path to cease desire is the Eight fold path

The eight fold path  is very basic but all encompassing. But with time Buddhism too has had to deal with the usual corruption of religion. There have been many sub sects that have come into being and the adoption of Tantric practices along with some other vices has led to the degradation of the religion. Nevertheless the basic spiritual core of the religion remains the same and it's that along with the music which attracts me to the spiritual aspect of the religion. 

Zen Buddhism too deserves a mention here. My knowledge about the Zen is very limited so I an not going to comment on it. Those interested in the history of Tibetan Buddhism (which travelled to Tibet from India) should also read about Bon religion. Bon predates Buddhism in Tibet. The Search of Shangri-La by Charles Allen is a good starting point for Bon. And the numerous books by Shambhala Publication is a good starting point for Tibetan Buddhism.

If you would like to listen to Tibetan Music  that I like you could hear it here and here or through the playlist in the sidebar. Here is a blog of some pictures I took on my trips to Dharamshala. One of the best website to know more about the Tibetan culture is the website of the Norbulingka Institute. If you have questions about any of the photographs I'd be more than happy to answer them. Each has a story or significance behind it.