Tibet Religion

Tibet is called as a holy land of the religions. Most of the Tibetans believe in Buddhism and Bon. The Tibetan people are very faithful: Their oldest religion is Bon, after that the Buddhism has been spread.

Nowadays, most of the people in Tibet are Lamaists. This religion is a blend of the Bon and the Buddhism. And a small part of them believe in Catholicism. While the Muslims in Tibet area are the followers of the Islamism

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.

Tibetan Buddhism has exerted extensive and profound influence on the Tibetan race. Buddhism spread into Tibet in the 7th century, and gradually infiltrates Tibet's history, politics, economics, culture, exchanges and habits and customs to become the most extensively worshipped religion of Tibetans.

Prayer Wheels: One of the most famous aspects of Tibetan Buddhism is the prayer wheels. These are turned by the faithful in the conviction that the prayer will go up in the air and help humanity gain enlightenment

Lama is the pronunciation of Tibetan, meaning “superior master” or “superior man”. The ordinary monks were called “Drakpa” in Tibetan, while “Lama” was only for the temple abbots or adept monks. Later “Drakpa” are also called “lama”.

The oldest religion in Tibet is not the Buddhism, Bon Religion is the mother of all the Tibetan religions. About the bon-religion and its beginning isn't known much. Bon culture was spread in Tibet by Tanpa Sherap, who came from Tazig. There are different stories about Tanpa Sherap coming to Tibet and spreading his religion.

Although Bon Religion is the original one in Tibet, it is also influenced by the Buddhism. And Bon and the Buddhism are very close connected to each other. The Bon religion as it is now looks more like the Buddhism. The 2 religions have been mixed.

Many Tibetan people still believe Bon is their religion, but the Bon hasn't got monasteries. Buddhism has a lot of monasteries. The typical Tibetan flags on hills are to control the spirits in the mountains. They are from the Bon. The mills containing mantra's are from the Buddhism. So the 2 religions live together in peace and respect each other. The Chinese invaders do not respect any of these religions. Maybe some day the Tibetan people will have a new religion, but for our concern that must not be in the near future.

Sects and religious life: In the beliefs of Bon, all the things in nature, including sky, earth, sun, moon, lightning, thunder, animals and plants, have spirits themselves and worthy of worshipping. Earlier followers only indulged in the activities of divination, prayer, ghost-exorcising, sacrifice and others by sometimes using some supernatural magic, later they absorbed some essence of Buddhist sutras and formed their own classic Dharmas and a series of regulations. According to its development, Bon can be divided into three sects, namely Brdol Bon, Vkhyr Bon and Bsgyur Bon.