Tibetan BuddhismForm of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and globallyTibetan Buddhism is a branch of the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism which developed in Tibet and is practised in parts of Asia. Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahayana Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Buddhism (which included many Vajrayana elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist tantric practices of the post-Guptaearly medieval period (500–1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments.
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.
Uchen scriptUchen (Tibetan: དབུ་ཅན་, Wylie: dbu-can; IPA: is the upright, block style of the Tibetan script. The name means "with a head", and is the style of the script used for printing and for formal manuscripts. It is used to write both the Tibetan language and Dzongkha, the official language of Bhutan.
NyingmaSchool of Tibetan BuddhismStatue of Padmasambhava, founder of the Nyingma school, in BhutanNyingma (Tibetan: རྙིང་མ་, Wylie: rnying ma, Lhasa dialect: , lit. 'old school'), also referred to as Ngagyur (Tibetan: སྔ་འགྱུར་རྙིང་མ།, Wylie: snga 'gyur rnying ma, Lhasa dialect: , lit. 'order of the ancient translations'), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
Tibetan scriptThis article contains Tibetan script. Without proper , you may see very small fonts, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Tibetan characters.
GelugDominant school of Tibetan BuddhismAn illustration of Je Tsongkhapa, the founder, and his two principal students (Kédrup and Gyeltsap) on his left and right with other lineage teachers and protectors of the Gelug traditionThe 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodhgaya (India)The Gelug (, also Geluk; lit. 'virtuous') is the youngest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
KagyuThe Kagyu school, also transliterated as Kagyü, or Kagyud (Tibetan: བཀའ་བརྒྱུད།, Wylie: bka' brgyud), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the four major schools (chos lugs) of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyu lineages trace themselves back to the 11th century Indian Mahasiddhas Naropa, Maitripa and the yogini Niguma, via their student Marpa Lotsawa (1012–1097), who brought their teachings to Tibet.
Schools of BuddhismThe schools of Buddhism are the various institutional and doctrinal divisions of Buddhism, which are based on various differences, such as geography, historical schisms and sectarianism, and the differing teachings and interpretations of Buddhist texts. The branching of Buddhism into separate schools has been occurring from ancient times up to the present, beginning with the first schism.
SakyaThe Sakya (Tibetan: ས་སྐྱ་, Wylie: sa skya, 'pale earth') school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug. It is one of the Red Hat Orders along with the Nyingma and Kagyu.
Rimé movementChinese nameTraditional Chinese利美運動Simplified Chinese利美运动The Rimé movement (Tibetan Wylie: ris med; approximate pronunciation "reemay") also written in some English sources as Rime, Ri-me, Rimay) is a movement or tendency in Tibetan Buddhism which promotes non-sectarianism and universalism. Teachers from all branches of Tibetan Buddhism – Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, Gelug, Jonang – and from Bon have been involved in the promoting of Rimé ideals.
Khamar MonasteryKhamar Monastery (Mongolian: Хамарын хийд, romanized: Khamar khiid) is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery belonging to the Red Hat sect, located in Sainshand, Dornogovi Province, Mongolia. Founded in 1820, the Khamar Monastery was an important Red Hat sect Buddhist monastic, cultural, and education center in Mongolia's Gobi Desert region until its destruction in 1937. It was rebuilt in 1990.
Thubten Chökyi Dorje, 5th Dzogchen RinpocheThubten Chökyi Dorje (Tibetan: ཐུབ་བསྟན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ་, Wylie: thub bstan chos kyi rdo rje, 1872–1935) was the 5th Dzogchen Rinpoche of Tibet in the Nyingma sect of Tibetan Buddhism. There is evidence to suggest that Thubten Chökyi Dorje was held in high regard by his peers and was regarded as an authority in the recognizing reincarnated lamas from all the schools of Tibetan Buddhism.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.