Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [48]
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GOLDEN FISH
The sernga represents the auspiciousness of all beings in a state of fearlessness without drowning in the ocean of suffering.
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SCHOOLS OF BUDDHISM
Shortly after the death of Sakyamuni, disputes began to arise among his disciples over the interpretation of his teachings. The sutras were composed after his death and subsequently different schools of thought appeared, leading to a schism and the emergence of the two principal schools of Buddhism, Hinayana and Mahayana.
Hinayana, sometimes known at Theravada, focused on pursuing liberation for the individual. Mahayana took Buddhism in a different direction, emphasising compassion and the liberation of all living beings. The Hinayana teachings retreated to southern India before becoming established in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma and Cambodia. The Mahayana teachings were developed in the new Buddhist universities in northern India before being transmitted northwards through the Himalayas, to China, Japan and Korea.
Mahayana
The Mahayana school emerged in the 1st and 2nd centuries. It teaches that the bodhisattva (‘hero of enlightenment’) seeks enlightenment for the sake of all living beings, out of heartfelt compassion and self-sacrifice, rather than seeking liberation from samsara for her or himself. This altruistic attitude is referred to as bodhicitta, or mind of enlightenment, and involves cultivating love and great compassion towards others through the practice of the six perfections: generosity, moral discipline, patience, effort, concentrations and wisdom.
The Mahayana teachings on compassion permeate the religious beliefs and practices of the Bhutanese.
Tantrism (Vajrayana)
A new school emerged from the Mahayana in about AD 600. Both the Hinayana and Mahayana schools studied the sutras that recorded the teachings of Sakyamuni; however, the followers of Tantrism believed that he had left a collection of esoteric teachings to a select few of his early disciples. These were known as Tantra (gyu).
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VASE OF TREASURE
The bumpa represents long life, wealth and prosperity.
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Tantra (Sanskrit meaning ‘continuum’) has two meanings in Buddhism. It refers to the literature dealing with tantric teachings and secondly to the continuum of development from ignorance to enlightenment. Tantra involves identifying with a tutelary deity through deep meditation and the recitation of mantra. The two most well known mantras are om mani padme hum of Chenresig (Avalokiteshvara) and om vajra guru padme siddhi hum of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava).
In Bhutan many of the ritual objects and the imagery in the monasteries and temples are derived from tantric teachings. They display the many different aspects of enlightenment – at times gentle as in the image of Chenresig or the Medicine Buddha, at times wrathful as in the image of Dorje Drolo. The meditational deities sit at the centre of an elaborate mandala, a representation of the pure land where the deity resides. Through years of careful meditation the tantric practitioner identifies with the deity by visualising in detail the three-dimensional mandala.
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VICTORY BANNER
The gyeltshen represents the victory of the Buddhist doctrine over harmful forces.
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BUDDHISM IN BHUTAN
Arrival of Buddhism in Bhutan
The introduction of Buddhism occurred in the seventh century, when Tibetan king Srongtsen Gampo (r 627–49), a convert to Buddhism, ordered the construction of two Buddhist temples, at Bumthang in central Bhutan and at Kyichu