Preface

Following the tradition of Tibetan texts I would like to pay homage to all Buddhas and bodhisattvas who have strived to reach enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I would like to express my gratitude to the many individuals who have assisted me in the last three years, namely people in the Friends World Program, my family and friends in the United States, and all my supporters in the Tibetan community of Dharamsala. I give special thanks to my partner, Dugjam, who acted as translator and general supporter during my time in Dharamsala. It is my wish that this thesis will play a role, however small, in the spread of the rich tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and benefit sentient beings everywhere.

Introduction

In the last two years, I have resided in Dharamsala, India for seven months. During these months I have spent all of my time living with Tibetan refugees, studying Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and observing the Buddhist practices of the Tibetan community. In the many books I have read on Tibetan Buddhism I have found little regarding the laity and even less regarding the lay practice of refugees in India. Therefore, I believe the daily practice of the typical Tibetan refugee is a valuable topic of study.

Inherent in every small practice is a seed of the entire philosophical tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. For this amazing tradition to survive, the culture, especially the Buddhist practice of the collective, must also survive in a pure form. I personally value the philosophy a great deal and I believe Tibetans do also. If they did not value their culture and religious traditions it would not have continued as it has. The value of this tradition can be viewed in the daily life of all Tibetans, as a religion that has succeeded in forming a peace-loving and content society.

The focus of this thesis is the lay practice of one particular Tibetan refugee community, Dharamsala in the Himalayan foothills of northern India. In many ways this community is a good example of a typical Tibetan community but it has certain characteristics which make it unique. Dharamsala is the home of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama and he plays a central role in the life of the Tibetan community. The village is also the location of the Tibetan Government in Exile, making it a decidedly political atmosphere. In the thesis, it is my wish to be apolitical but it would be an inaccurate picture to leave out politics completely.

In the research and writing of this thesis I had a limited amount of time, thus my scope was limited to my direct purposes. I wish to give an overview of the Tibetan Buddhist lay practice of the refugees of Dharamsala in a manner that individuals of all backgrounds can understand and appreciate. The focus is on the major aspects of lay practice, both the internal practices of the mind and the external daily rituals. The thesis is broken into five sections which explain: 1) the historical context of Tibetan Buddhism and the basic philosophy; 2) the iconography of Tibetan Buddhism which is essential in lay practice and an omnipresent part of Dharamsala; 3) the role of the main religious leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama; 4) a layout of common practices and the tools applied; and 5) the activities surrounding Losar and Monlam, two major Tibetan festivals in which I participated. All of these categories are interrelated and should be understood as integral parts of a whole.

The first section is a general introduction to Tibetan Buddhism in which there are three sub-sections. The first portion is a brief overview of the history of Buddhism in Tibet. This allows the reader to perceive the historical context in which Tibetan Buddhism is connected to the wider Buddhist history of the world and the conditions that allowed Buddhism to prosper in Tibet. The second sub-section is a brief explanation of Buddhist philosophy, concentrating on the three trainings of ethics, meditation, and wisdom. The final section of part one is an explanation of Buddhist cosmology, an understanding of each individual's position in existence. I believe this is an important key to understanding the mind of Buddhists and to conceive of the ultimate goal of Buddhism, the escape from cyclic existence.

Section two is an overview of Tibetan Buddhist iconography and the system of symbols that is utilized by the religion. I focused on the major deities, explaining the significance and the variety of symbols that are common to each. The deities chosen are central to worship in Dharamsala and I explain how each aspect of the images communicates to the populace.

The third part is regarding His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the role of the spiritual teachers of Tibet. As I previously mentioned, living in Dharamsala was to be living among His Holiness. He is the locus of the village and in the hearts of the refugee community. In understanding the position of Dalai Lamas one can capture the vital role of all Tibetan spiritual teachers. I examine the practices of faith that holds particular importance for Tibetan laity.

Part four presents the basic practices of Dharamsala's lay community that I have observed. I emphasize the specific daily actions, displaying the necessity of strong communal practices for the continuation of religious traditions. As a collective, religious subjects are never far from the villagers' minds. In the next section I focus on specific religious events that impact the entire refugee community, namely the festivals Losar and Monlam. By describing my personal experiences of these festivals, I present the position communal events have in binding the individuals of a culture.

The combination of all these subjects gives a broad perspective of Tibetan Buddhist lay practice in the refugee community of India. It is my wish that readers of this thesis will come away with a diffuse understanding of Buddhism, Tibetan culture, and the Tibetan people of Dharamsala. It is also my goal to display the importance of the survival of this remarkable religious and cultural system.

Technical Note

The study of Tibetan Buddhism as a Westerner creates an interesting lingual encumbrance. Most Buddhist literature in English uses mainly Sanskrit terminology, while Tibetans know the terms only in Tibetan. Therefore, a Western scholar of Tibetan Buddhism must work with three different languages. Primarily, I have stuck with the Sanskrit terms and names and have added the Tibetan equivalent in parentheses. The Tibetan language is difficult to translate into Roman letters and I have seen several different systems used in books. I have decided to write the Tibetan words phonetically, while still maintaining the basic spelling. Some letters and letter combinations are different than English, an ‘h’ after a consonant adds aspiration and other consonants are softer. The Tibetan language is split into syllables and at some points I combine syllables to form words. Basically, if a reader wants to pronounce a word precisely and write it in Tibetan, that person should find another source.