Tibetan Buddhism, also called (incorrectly) LAMAISM, distinctive form of Buddhism that evolved from the 7th century AD in Tibet. It is based mainly on the rigorous intellectual disciplines of Madhyamika and Yogacara philosophy and utilizes the symbolic ritual practices of Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhism). Tibetan Buddhism also incorporates the monastic disciplines of early Theravada Buddhism and the shamanistic features of the indigenous Tibetan religion, Bon. Characteristic of Tibetan Buddhism is the unusually large segment of the population actively engaged in religious pursuits (up until the Chinese communist takeover of the country in the 1950s an estimated one-quarter of the inhabitants were members of religious orders); its system of "reincarnating lamas"; the traditional merger of the spiritual and temporal authority in the office and person of the Dalai Lama; and the vast number of divine beings (each with its own family, consort, and pacific and terrifying aspects), which are considered symbolic representations of the psychic life by the religiously sophisticated and accepted as realities by the common people.

Buddhism was transmitted into Tibet mainly during the 7th to 10th centuries. Notable early teachers were the illustrious 8th-century Tantric master Padmasambhava and the more orthodox Mahayana teacher Shantiraksita. With the arrival from India in 1042 of the great teacher Atisha, a reform movement was initiated, and within a century the major sects of Tibetan Buddhism had emerged. The Dge-lugs-pa, or One of the Virtuous System, commonly known as the Yellow Hats, the order of the Dalai and the Panchen Lamas, has been the politically predominant Tibetan sect from the 17th century until 1959, when the hierocratic government of the Dalai Lama was abolished by the People's Republic of China.

By the 14th century the Tibetans had succeeded in translating all available Buddhist literature in India and Tibet; many Sanskrit texts that have since been lost in the country of their origin are known only from their Tibetan translations. The Tibetan canon is divided into the Bka'-'gyur, or Translation of the Word, consisting of the supposedly canonical texts, and the Bstan-'gyur, or Transmitted Word, consisting of commentaries by Indian masters.

In the second half of the 20th century Tibetan Buddhism spread to the West, particularly after the subjugation of Tibet to Chinese Communist rule sent many refugees, including highly regarded "reincarnated lamas," or tulkus, out of their homeland. Tibetan religious groups in the West include both communities of refugees and those consisting largely of occidentals drawn to the Tibetan tradition.

Vajrayana Schools
During the period when Tibet was being converted to Buddhism (7th to 11th centuries), the most dynamic form of Buddhism in India was Vajrayana. Thus, it was this Buddhist tradition that became established in Tibet. Though it is probable that some form of Vajrayana played an important role in the original conversion of Tibet (7th to 9th centuries), little is known about the details. Beginning in the 11th century, however, it is possible to identify several different schools. (see also Index: Tibetan Buddhism)

Like most Buddhist schools, those that developed within the Tibetan tradition were highly permeable associations that encompassed a number of different and often competing lineages. This having been said, it is still possible to single out several groupings.

Among the various Vajrayana schools of Tibet and neighbouring regions, the Rnying-ma-pa claims to preserve most purely the spirit of the teachings of the 8th-century Indian miracle worker Padmasambhava. It makes fuller use than any other school of a group of "discovered" texts, said to have been hidden since the period of persecution that began in Tibet in the first half of the 9th century. (In the Rnying-ma-pa tradition the notion of "hidden treasure" has strong spiritual as well as historical overtones.) The discoveries of hidden texts associated with Padmasambhava began to occur in the 11th century and have continued until very recently.

The Rnying-ma-pa order divides Buddhist revelation into nine progressively superior groups; it also subdivides the tantras in a manner somewhat different from the way they are divided in other Vajrayana schools. Six groups of tantras are enumerated: (1) Kriya, or ritual, (2) Upayoga, which involves the convergence of the two truths and meditation on the pentad of buddhas, (3) Yoga, which involves the evocation of the god, the identification of the self with the god, and meditation on the mandala (ritual drawing), (4) Mahayoga, which involves meditation on the factors of human consciousness (skandhas) as divine forms, (5) Anuyoga, which involves secret initiation into the presence of the god and his consort and meditation on "voidness" in order to destroy the illusory nature of things, and (6) Atiyoga, which involves meditation on the union of the god and his consort, leading to the experience of bliss. Those initiated into the Kriyatantra can attain buddhahood after seven lives, the Upayoga after five lives, the Yoga after three lives, the Mahayoga in the next existence, the Anuyoga at death, and the Atiyoga in the present existence.

Among the exponents of the Rnying-ma-pa tradition, Klong-chen rab-'byams-pa (1308-63), who wrote the Klong-chen-mdzod-bdun ("Seven Treasures of Klong-chen"), is one of the most profound Vajrayana thinkers. More recently, Mi-'pham of Khams (1846-1914) wrote important Vajrayana commentaries on the canonical texts.

Sa-skya-pa, Bka'-brgyud-pa, and related schools.
Several Tibetan schools that came into being during the 11th and 12th centuries traced their lineage back to particular Vajrayana saints who had lived in India some centuries earlier. Among these the Sa-skya-pa and the Bka'-brgyud-pa orders were especially prominent, and during the course of Tibetan history they gave rise to many other orders.
The Sa-skya-pa order traces its lineage back to an Indian mahasiddha named Virupa. The order's founder was a Tibetan named 'Brog-mi (992-1072) who went to India, received training in the Vajrayana, and translated the Hevajra-tantra into Tibetan; the order places a strong emphasis on this tantra. The Sa-skya-pa system is also called lam-'bras ("the path and its fruit").

The Sa-skya-pa order produced many great translators, and its scholars also contributed original works on Vajrayana philosophy and linguistics. On the ecclesiastical and political level the order sometimes exerted considerable power. During the 13th century, for example, the Sa-skya-pa abbot 'Phags-pa (1235-80?) conferred initiation according to the Hevajra-tantra on Kublai Khan (founder of the Yüan, or Mongol, dynasty in China) and in turn was appointed ti-shih (Chinese: "Imperial Preceptor") and invested with the authority to govern Tibet, though under the control of the Mongol court.

The Bka'-brgyud-pa school traces its spiritual lineage from the Indian master Tilopa, who transmitted the teachings to the Indian yogi Naropa, the master of Mar-pa, the 11th-century householder-teacher, who was in turn the master of Mi-la-ras-pa (1040-1123). The school has preserved an important collection of songs attributed to Mi-la-ras-pa and a fascinating hagiographic account of his life. Sgam-po-pa (1079-1153), who was his greatest disciple, did much to systematize the teaching and to establish the basis for further development. His most famous work, Thar-rgyan ("The Jewel Ornament of Liberation"), is one of the earliest examples of a genre that became extremely important in the later development of the Vajrayana tradition in Tibet and Mongolia. Known as Lam Rim ("Stages on the Path"), this genre presents the whole of Buddhist teachings in terms of gradations in a soteriological process leading to the attainment of buddhahood.

The Bka'-brgyud-pa teachers stressed, among other techniques, the exercises of Hatha Yoga (a yoga emphasizing breathing and special postures) and posited as the supreme goal the mahamudra ("the Great Seal"), or the overcoming of dichotomous thought in the emptiness of buddhahood. Frequent reference is made by the Bka'-brgyud-pa to the "Six Teachings of Naropa." These teachings set forth techniques for attaining enlightenment, either in this life or at the moment of death, that are associated with: (1) self-produced heat (the voluntary raising of the body temperature), (2) the illusory body, (3) dreams, (4) the experience of light, (5) the state of existence intermediate between death and rebirth (Bardo), and (6) the passing over from one existence to another.

Among the many lineages that have developed within the Bka'-brgyud-pa order, the one that is best known today is the Karma-pa (Black Hat) lineage, which has its major centre at the monastery of Mtshur-phu.

The Bka'-gdams-pa and Dge-lugs-pa.
The Bka'-gdams-pa school was based on the teachings of Atisha (an Indian monk who came to Tibet in the 11th century). It was founded by his chief disciple, 'Brom-ston (c. 1008-c. 1064), who emphasized austere discipline. The school produced the Bka'-gdams gces-bsdus ("Collection of the Sayings of the Bka'-gdams-pa Saints"), which preserves the often highly poetic utterances of those close to the founder. The central practice of the school was the purification of the mind, which required the elimination of intellectual and moral blemishes in order to obtain a clear vision of emptiness ( shunyata). The school relied on the Prajñaparamita and related texts and also made use of mantras. The Bka'-gdams-pa order was absorbed in the 15th century by the Dge-lugs-pa school.

The Dge-lugs-pa (Gelugpa; the "Virtuous") represents the reformed sect in Tibet; its members are commonly known as Yellow Hats from the colour of their head cover. Their founder, Tsong-kha-pa, attended the most important schools in 14th-century Tibet, the Sa-skya-pa, Bka'-brgyud-pa, and Bka'-gdams-pa. His own school is considered the continuation of the Bka'-gdams-pa. Tsong-kha-pa was prompted to initiate a reform of monastic discipline by what he considered to be a general laxity of morals, an increasingly less rigorous observance of monastic rules, and the prevalence of deviations in the interpretation of the tantras. He imposed respect for the traditional rules of the Vinaya and placed renewed emphasis on dogmatics and on logic as aids to salvation. His treatise, the Lam-rim chen-mo ("The Great Gradual Path"), is based on the Bodhipathapradipa by Atisha. In it Tsong-kha-pa presents a process of mental purification ascending through 10 spiritual levels (bhumi) that lead to buddhahood. The essential points of such a process are the state of quiescence and the state of enhanced vision.

Tsong-kha-pa attributed great importance to the study of logic and instituted regular debates at monasteries. Competing monks sought to reach, by means of formal logic and in the presence of an abbot of great learning, an unassailable conclusion on a chosen topic. Various ranks of monks were established on the basis of examinations, the highest being that of dge-bshes (the philosophers).

This insistence on the importance of doctrinal and logical problems did not exclude interest in the tantras, and Tsong-kha-pa's Sngags-rim chen-mo ("The Great Gradual Tantric Path") deals with Tantric ritual. Tantric initiation, however, was open only to those students who had previously mastered theoretical learning. The literature of the Dge-lugs-pa is enormous, including also the gigantic collections of the Dalai and Panchen lamas, both of whom are members of this school.

The Dge-lugs-pa assert that the nature of the mind element (sems) is light, which constitutes the cognitive capacity. The continuum of each person, therefore, is a thinking and luminous energy, which is in either a coarse or subtle state, the latter state being achieved only after purification through meditation and contemplation.