tibetan buddhism essay

What can we learn from the two Tibetan biographical texts (Korepa and Shungseb Jetsun) about how Tibetan Buddhists understand their religion?

Tibetan Buddhism is very distinct, both culturally and ideologically, from other forms of Buddhism and has adapted many of the pre-Buddhist Tibetan beliefs, such as, local deities and rituals into its religious, spiritual and cultural identity. The 13th century biography of Korepa (also known as Lorepa) and the 19/20th century biography of Shungseb Jetsun are both written by yogins (people who practice tantric yoga) . Despite the large chronological gap, both have lived very similar ascetic lives and have both used their lives and teaching to influence the understanding of Tibetan Buddhism to the general lay community but also the ideology and theology of Tibetan Buddhism. In this essay, I am going to evaluate what we can learn about the nature and beliefs of Tibetan Buddhism from the biographical accounts of the lives of yogins such as Korepa and Shungsep Jetsun and how this has influenced the knowledge of Tibetan Buddhists about the understanding of their religion.

In the biography of Shungsep Jetsun, her birth seems to compare to that of the Buddha’s, in the sense that it was miraculous and unusual events occurred such as in the delivery of Shungsep it was completely painless and there was a slight earth tremor and rain of flowers, and the child was said to have been born cross-legged with her arms crossed on her chest in a mudra (sacred hand gesture), also many heard her say, ‘Om mani padme hum’, which is the mantra (sacred chant) of Avalokiteshvara (the guardian deity of Tibet) . Also the miraculous nature of Shungsep Jetsun is showed when she is in the hell realms and is threatened...

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...ts that these events are a great place of spiritual importance for their defense against evil spirits.

In the biographical accounts, Shungsep is often given or performing ritual healings in times of illness or when she dies. The vase-like wind meditative practice is a common occurrence, such as when she drinks a bowl of poisoned milk, she practices the meditation of the vase-like wind to expel the milk from her body, and as a result it is riddled with snakes. Also Shungsep uses this ritual whilst saving her friend from drowning in the river by meditating ‘on the Vase-like wind and wishing that all sentient beings be freed from cyclic existence’ . These rituals used as forms of healing and in times of need again reinforce the mystical powers in which lamas poses and also encourages the use of these practices for in times of illness and also need.

In conclusion