Padmasambhava8th-century Buddhist lamaColossus of Padmasambhava, 123 ft. (37.5 m) high, in mist overlooking Rewalsar Lake, Himachal Pradesh, IndiaPadmasambhava ('Born from a Lotus'), also known as Guru Rinpoche ('Precious Guru'), was a semi-legendary tantric Buddhist Vajra master from medieval India, who according to hagiographical sources fully revealed the Vajrayana in Tibet, circa 8th – 9th centuries.
SamyeSamye Monastery (Tibetan: བསམ་ཡས་, Wylie: bsam yas, Chinese: 桑耶寺), full name Samye Migyur Lhundrub Tsula Khang (Wylie: Bsam yas mi ’gyur lhun grub gtsug lag khang) and Shrine of Unchanging Spontaneous Presence, is the first Tibetan Buddhist and Nyingma monastery built in Tibet, during the reign of King Trisong Deutsen.
Pehar GyalpoAccording to Tibetan Buddhist myth, Gyalpo Pehar (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་པོ་དཔེ་ཧར, Wylie: rgyal po dpe har [also spelt: pe kar & dpe dkar]) is a spirit belonging to the gyalpo class. When Padmasambhava arrived in Tibet in the eighth century, he subdued all gyalpo spirits and put them under control of Gyalpo Pehar, who promised not to harm any sentient beings and was made the chief guardian spirit of Samye during the reign of Trisong Deutsen.
Tibetan mythologyTibetan mythology refers to the traditional as well as the religious stories that have been passed down by the Tibetan people. Tibetan mythology consists mainly of national mythology stemming from the Tibetan culture as well as religious mythology from both Tibetan Buddhism and Bön religion. These myths are often passed down orally, through rituals or through traditional art like sculptures or cave paintings.
Wylie transliterationWylie transliteration is a method for transliterating Tibetan script using only the letters available on a typical English-language typewriter. The system is named for the American scholar Turrell V. Wylie, who created the system and published it in a 1959 Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies article. It has subsequently become a standard transliteration scheme in Tibetan studies, especially in the United States.
René de Nebesky-WojkowitzRené de Nebesky-Wojkowitz (29 June 1923 – 9 July 1959) was a Czechethnologist and Tibetologist. He is mostly known for his 1956 publication Oracles and Demons of Tibet, which was the first detailed study of Tibetan deity cults. BiographyRené Mario de Nebesky-Wojkowitz was born in Velké Hoštice in Czechoslovakia on 29 June 1923.
DharmapalaA dharmapāla is a type of wrathful god in Buddhism. The name means "dharma protector" in Sanskrit, and the dharmapālas are also known as the Defenders of the Justice (Dharma), or the Guardians of the Law. There are two kinds of dharmapala, Worldly Guardians (lokapala) and Wisdom Protectors (jnanapala). Only Wisdom Protectors are enlightened beings.
Tibetan BuddhismTibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan, and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, as well as in Nepal.Tibetan scriptThis article contains Tibetan script. Without proper , you may see very small fonts, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Tibetan characters.
BonTibetan religionThe Bon monastery of Nangzhik Gompa in Ngawa, Sichuan, ChinaA statue of Tonpa Shenrab, the central Buddha in Yungdrung BonBon or Bön (Tibetan: བོན་, Wylie: bon, ZWPY: Pön, Lhasa dialect: ), also known as Yungdrung Bon (Tibetan: གཡུང་དྲུང་བོན་, Wylie: gyung drung bon, ZWPY: Yungchung Pön, lit.
Tibetic languagesThe Tibetan language or Tibetic languages are a branch of the Tibeto-Burman languages in the Sino-Tibetanlanguage family. Descending from Old Tibetan, there are 50 recognized Tibetic languages, which branch into more than 200 dialects, which can be grouped into eight dialect continua. These Tibetic languages are spoken in parts of China, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, India and Myanmar.
Four Heavenly KingsThe Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhist gods or devas, each of whom is believed to watch over one cardinal direction of the world. The Hall of Four Heavenly Kings is a standard component of Chinese Buddhist temples. The Four Heavenly Kings are celestial deities or guardian gods in Buddhist cosmology who preside over the four cardinal directions and protect the Dharma.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.