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    Vajrayana-The Diamond Vehicle 1 PDF

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    Vajrayana-The Diamond Vehicle 1 PDF

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    Vajrayana-The Diamond Vehicle 1 PDF

    Uploaded by

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Buddhism

    Vajrayana: The Diamond Vehicle

    Vajrayana: The Diamond Vehicle


    Summary: The major stream of Buddhism in Tibet, the Vajrayana emerged in the 7th century out of the Mahayana tradition.
    This form of Buddhism, sometimes called “Tantric Buddhism,” asserts that distinctive ritual practices and objects such
    as mantras, mandalas, and mudras allow one to quickly attain awakening.

    In the 7th century, a major movement within Mahayana Buddhism arose. This stream of Buddhism,
    called the Vajrayana, is most prominent in Tibet and its surrounding regions, although forms of it are
    found in China and Japan. The Vajrayana, literally the “Diamond Vehicle” or the “Thunderbolt
    Vehicle,” understands itself to be an esoteric form of Mahayana Buddhism with an accelerated path to
    enlightenment.

    This Tibetan tradition sees itself as embodying both the teaching and meditation practice of the
    Theravada monks, as well as the teaching of the “emptiness” of all conditioned things that is distinctive
    to Mahayana philosophy. Vajrayana is also called Tantrayana, because it is based on the tantras, the
    systems of practice which emphasize the indivisibility of wisdom and compassion, symbolized as the
    union of male and female.

    Three terms characterize the practice of Vajrayana, each one of which has overt ritual meanings, inner
    psychophysical meanings, and secret transcendent meanings:

    1. Mantra—a syllable or phrase for chanting or meditation, containing within it the sacred power
    and cosmic energies of a Buddha or bodhisattva. The mantra literally “protects the mind” from
    negative mental states by invoking these divine energies within oneself.
    2. Mandala—a “circle” or cosmic diagram for ritual or interior visualization, representing various
    realms of Buddhas and bodhisattvas and their cosmic energies in two- or three-dimensional
    forms.
    3. Mudra—a “symbol” or “ritual gesture,” made by the position of the hands or body, and
    signifying the qualities and presence of various Buddhas and bodhisattvas in Vajrayana ritual.

    Since the Tibetan uprising in 1959, more than 100,000 Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhists have become
    refugees in India and around the world. The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is head of one of the

    four major lineages of Tibetan monks and leads a Tibetan government in exile in north India. Other
    Tibetan teachers, called lamas, tulkus, or rinpoches, settled in the United States during the 1960s and
    70s, where they attracted a largely Euro-American following. Only in the 1990s did substantial numbers
    of Tibetan lay Buddhists arrive in the United States. As a result, America is now a place where a
    centuries-old Vajrayana tradition encounters a decades-old American convert Vajrayana practice.

    Copyright ©2020 President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Pluralism Project at Harvard University. For permissions please
    contact the Pluralism Project at (617) 496-2481 or [email protected]. For more resources and essays, please visit www.pluralism.org.

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