Buddhism, also known as Tibetan Buddhism, or commonly known as Lamaism, refers to the branch of Buddhism that was introduced to Tibet in China. It belongs to Northern Buddhism and is called the three major geographical systems of Buddhism along with Han Buddhism and Southern Buddhism. It belongs to Mahayana Buddhism, but it is characterized by Tantric inheritance.

what are the three main beliefs of Tibetan Buddhism?

This body of teachings and philosophies is rich and voluminous. Yet, it can be condensed into five essential doctrines, namely: The Four Noble Truths, The Noble Eightfold Path, the doctrines on Karma and Reincarnation, and the practice of Meditation. In this article, each of these beliefs will be briefly discussed.

Tibetan Buddhism does not have the inheritance of Theravada Buddhism. It is said that although all branches and scriptures have a certain degree of influence on the formation of Tibetan Buddhism, they are not the same in Buddhist practice and precepts, and they are not directly related. Inevitable relationship. From the judgment of Mahayana Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism Tantra and Mahayana Buddhism are obviously relative.

The spread of Tibetan Buddhism is concentrated in the main Tibetan areas of China (Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Yunnan, Ladakh), Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, Himachal Pradesh in India, and Dharamsala. Russia’s Kalmykia, Tuva and Buryatia. In modern times, Tibetan Buddhism has gradually spread all over the world

Buddhism gradually revived in Tubo and developed into Tibetan Buddhism with unique plateau ethnic characteristics. Various tribes began to form in the 11th century, and the formation of the Gelug Sect in the early 15th century did the branch of Tibetan Buddhism finally take shape. There are mainly four schools of Nyingma, Kadam, Sakya and Kagyupa in the early period and Gelugpa in the later period. After the rise of Gelugpa, Kadampa merged into Gelugpa and did not exist alone. The sect difference of Tibetan Buddhism is neither like the Hinayana 18 sects in India because they follow different precepts, but also different from India’s Mahayana sects because of different doctrines they advocate. The sect difference is due to the internal factors of Buddhism such as different teachers, different teachings, different scriptures based on and different understanding of the scriptures, and different regions, different donors and other external factors. This is another characteristic of Tibetan Buddhism.