Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Mahayana Buddhism that developed in Tibet and spread to neighboring countries of the Himalayas. Tibetan Buddhism is known for its rich mythology and iconography and for the practice of identifying the reincarnations of deceased spiritual masters.
The Origins of Tibetan Buddhism
The history of Buddhism in Tibet begins in 641 CE when King Songtsen Gampo (died circa 650) unified Tibet through military conquest. At the same time, he took two Buddhist wives, Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal and Princess Wen Cheng of China.
One thousand years later, in 1642, the Fifth Dalai Lama became the temporal and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. In those thousand years, Tibetan Buddhism developed its unique characteristics and also split into six major schools. The largest and most prominent of these are Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug.
Noble Eight Fold Path
This is the most fundamental teaching of Buddhism and is found across every single sect of Buddhism. These teachings were the first teachings taught by Sakyamuni Buddha when he attained enlightenment and form the crux of the rest of Buddhist philosophy.
1.Right View - Knowledge and acceptance of the Four Noble Truths.
2.Right Thought- The thought of having good-will, renunciation, and non-violence.
3.Right Speech - Refraining from false, or malicious, or Idle, or rough speech.
4.Right Action - Refraining from killing living beings, stealing, and sexual misconduct.
5.Right Livelihood - Refraining from engaging in livelihoods which harm oneself or others.
6.Right Endeavour - One makes an effort to improve their mind or action when an unwholesome thought arises or action is done.
7.Right Mindfulness - Contemplation of the nature of the body, mind, feelings, and other phenomena. The nature according to Tibetan Buddhism is that everything is inherently empty and transient.
8.Right Concentration - Concentrating the mind on meditative states, and on the practise to end suffering.
From Top Five Major Beliefs in Tibetan Buddhism -- Master Kungga Dundruk
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