Original scientific paper

TIBET – IN THE LAND OF GODS

Tomo Vinšćak ; Filozofski fakultet Sveučilišta u Zagrebu

Abstract

The work is based on the results of a personal fieldwork research conducted by the author himself in 1993, 1999 and 2006 on the area of Tibet and in Nepal where the members of the Tibetan people live. The first-hand observations supplemented with the data from relevant literature and those related to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön are presented in the work.
One of the most often referred to sacred places on the Earth is Tibet (Bod Yul), the country of snow from the rooftop of the world. The work deals with the folk forms of Tibetan Buddhism, its rituals, customs, beliefs, and pilgrimages to holly places, of whish Mount Kailas is the most sacred one.
Tibetan Buddhism represents the third branch of Mahayana Buddhism. It was created in the 8th century. It is a complex religious phenomenon which alongside the Buddhist philosophy and psychology contains a considerable amount of magic and superstitions.
Besides the followers of the orthodox Buddhism, today in Tibet one can also find the members of Bön. As it has been mentioned, today it is a mixture of beliefs that differ from the original Bön and the original Buddhist teachings. According to tradition, Bön came from a country called Shan Shun that existed in the early Middle Ages on the territory of present-day west Tibet, Cashmere and south India. Today it is a religion that besides numerous characteristics of pre-Buddhist and folk beliefs was quite influenced by Buddhism, and it can be said that more layers or more manifestations of the Bön religion exist.
In every people and in every culture of the world, there is a division of the visible world on those things that are considered sacred or sacral and those that are considered secular or profane. The question now is which things are considered sacred to certain peoples and cultures. In the first place, those are divinities and divine creatures with a supreme deity at the head. Many peoples, as it is the case with the Tibetan people, as well as with the Croatian, have mountains, waters, springs, lakes, rivers, special stones and some kinds of trees that are sacred. The reason why certain things are sacred lays in the fact that the bearers of those beliefs think that those things hold something of a divine nature within themselves, in other words that they contain a mystical divine energy. People recognize those sacred things as reflections of the heavenly or the mythical which is present down on the Earth in the real surroundings. The sacral interpretation of the natural scenery is the method of transferring, or better to say, stamping of the heavenly geography down on the Earth.
One of the most important rituals in the life of every Tibetan is making pilgrimage to sacred places which are connected to the very foundations and the roots of the religion. There are two sacred placed that every Tibetian wants to visit at least once in his/her lifetime: the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa and Kailas, sacred mountain.
In order to understand the full meaning of Kailas and its fantastic surroundings, one has to observe it not just from its geographical, cultural, or historical point of view, but above all, one has to look at it through the eyes of pilgrim. The one who did khorra, pilgrimage to the sacred mountain, with complete dedication and perfect spiritual concentration, is considered to have passed through the full cycle of life and death. Mount Kailas has always represented a mythical and a spiritual centre of the world. It is the mountain of all mountains where all human souls aspire to.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

108906

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/108906

Publication date:

18.11.2007.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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