Why is Tibetan Buddhism so cool?

The boy rape is talking about how some lamas abuse their power and rape kids. When in position of near absolute power, shit like this happens.

There was also a system of punishment that was cruel and unusual by today's standard. The society was mainly nomadic with few in city doing trades/merchant shit.

>There was also a system of punishment that was cruel and unusual by today's standard.

a lot of it is basicaly old esoteric and folk religion stuff, not directly related with original buddhism

so it looks and sounds realy cool, whath with all the colors and costumes and loud noises and rituals and magic practices and elaborate spiritual beliefs about transmigration and written guides for the dead and systems of paralel universes/hells/heavens etc etc...

lots and lots of torture and corporal punisment, mutilation and the like

religious law, basicaly

tl;dr behead those who insult the Dalai Lama.

I wouldn't say lots, since these laws are mainly limited to criminals that commit horrible crimes.

Still shit like mutilation/torture existed long ago. I'd say the Tibetan law/punishment system was about roughly on par with the country of the same development path.

yep, plus lamas leading holy wars and everything

Tibetan Buddhism, although seemingly extremely complex in both their writings (the Tibetan Buddhist canon is over 100k pages long for some reason), and their practices, it is almost to be considered as Buddhism Lite. This is much more true for the Westernized garbage that exists, but it also applies to a large portion of the Tibetan traditions.

I have my quarrel with Mahayana (which also encapsulates most, if not all Tibetan traditions) because of how convoluted and unnecessary they have turned the teachings of the Buddha. Hell, in a lot of ways, Tibetan Buddhism shouldn't even be called Buddhism, seeing as how the local folkloric religious practices and other non-buddhistic elements got absorbed. Although you can make the case that other countries (like Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, for example) have done the same thing with their local folkloric elements. However, I think the difference is that in the latter countries, the folkloric elements have not really interfered with the Buddhistic elements, as they have remained quite separate in many ways, yet in the former religion, they have become quite intertwined.

incorporating local folk religion elements was kind of inevitable, much like with catholicism in a lesser way, especialy since buddhism has nothing to replace it with, neither does it explicitly negate divine or magical ''entities'' exist

This may be true, however, in the latter countries that I mentioned, a lot of the folkloric elements remain within the lay community, and not in the ordained one. Doesn't seem to be the case in Tibetan Buddhism from what I've seen.

The bhudda said that murder was a sin.
So they just removed limbs, flayed skin and scratched out eyes after a wide catalog of differing mutilations and their associated crimes.

On a positicve side, the bhuddist aspect of tibetan bhuddism removed the human sacrifiece parts of the old religion it merged with.

The shaivist connections arent all that vague. Around the time of abhinavagupta, much of buddhism and nondual Shiva tantra was highly syncretic and gurus tended to be from a shaivist background. They share a lot of phenomenology and practice alongside a metaphysical structure that differs only in vocabulary. Vajrayana came from this as a political schism favoring buddhism and monastic structure over smaller guru lineages and householder traditions. Many of the mahasiddhas that wrote much of the core Tibetan vajrayana tradition were against the ills of the monastic structure and policies and issues that stem from it and some weren't even buddhist. This is before Tibetan Buddhism even took hold, though the issue itself is more directly related to the timeframe you speak of.

I'd personally say that Mahayana, specifically much of the chan school and almost all of vajrayana has its roots in mahamudra, which is so alien to the rest of buddhism and more in common with Shiva tantra that it is buddhist only in the Bodhisattva path, but they are so syncretic and concurrent both at the time of the split and at the origin that such a distinction is meaningless.

But I have a head cold and can't properly structure my thoughts so I'm probably not on my game. What I'd hoped to impart is that Tibetan Buddhism and Kashmiri shaivism are fundamentally the same, differing only in structure and presentation. The Buddhists just won the political game and made it seem like monasticism was the true path and not the alternative that existed before, is constantly alluded to by the very writers of Tibetan doctrine, and still exists today outside Buddhism and I believe is coming back into vogue.

By the 9th century and onward, the difference between Buddhists of the area and the Shaivaists were minimal. There's is a reason for this specific thing. The decline of Buddhism was happening around India all across. Shankara was taking note of this and had been a force to establish a strong non-dual tradition within the Hindu structure. His work relied heavily on incorporating Buddhist works and repurposing them in Hindu sense. Shaivism was created with the non-dual principle told by Shankara. This is what created the buddhism shaivisim connection. Its not that buddhist copied shaivism, but rather the other way around. Shaivism applied buddhist phenomenology/vocabulary/reasoning/philosophy and melded them within the Hindu gods.

The tantras are independent of shaivism and buddhism but they both included them in their practice. I'd reckon it was the Buddhist that did that first, then after Shankara the Shaivist movement became popular and copied/mingled with either buddhist practices or created their own.

Tibetan Buddhism took hold in Tibet around 6th century or so, they had multiple points of entry throughout the centuries since. By Abhinavagupta's time, Tibet was a major Buddhist land.

Take basic Buddhism. Sensible, but boring. Not enough mysticism to get normal people to get anywhere near enlightenment.

Take weird Tantric and Tibetan folk beliefs. Slightly crazy, but the level of mysticism is enough to inspire regular people to have authentic religious experiences.

Now combine the two. You have a reasonably sensible philosophical framework alongside fantastically effective rituals and mystical practices. Great stuff.

That sounds awesome t b q h w y f.

Tibetan folk beliefs don't really play in much at all. Bön is entirely an invention of the 10th century.

I'm not strictly talking about Bön, but there were folk beliefs in Tibet beforehand which certainly played a role, as well as evolving into Bön later.

Tibetan folk beliefs do play roles in various rituals and practices. But those are not Bon practices, instead a much older practice and custom from before Buddhism took hold.

The legend states something about how a buddhist guru made the demons/old gods of Tibet into protectors of Buddhist teachings. This way, the people of the Tibet.

Ironically this is the current issue within the Tibetan buddhist sector regarding one of the old buddhist protector. Whether to worship or to ban it. One of the older Tibetan gods was a vengeful demon/god and Dalai Lama doesn't want this practice anymore. However hardcore believers/practitioners of the protector deity still want to practice it. So there's some controversy within the inner circle.

Tibetan Buddhism is metal as fuck

because the dalai lama is redpilled on muslims and wants germany to stay german

Look up Kalachakra Tantra. It describes events that took place around India during the Muslim invasion early in the 10th century or so.

Its called "wheel of time", basically predicts a muslim destruction of the Buddhist tradition in India and such. Which really did take place, so kinda makes it a true prediction.

Now that we are at it, can you guys recommend books on the history and evolution of buddhism? Mainly how the different schools came to be and how they developed in time and space. I'm pretty interested in this.

I did an A level in Buddhism and this book was useful. It covers the major schools, teachings, practices, scriptures and history in detail.

amazon.co.uk/Buddhism-Illustrated-Guide-Reference-Classics/dp/1844830071/

Bhutanese Buddhism > Tibetan Buddhism.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drukpa_Kunley#Biography

Tibetan Buddhism is like Left Hand Path buddhism.

Most think it's mindful remarks by His Holiness ( thank you dumbfuck media ), while it's more like consuming drinks with a skull cap and meditating in graveyards.

Also, can Veeky Forums please stop to act like a scholar about Buddhism as if it's a Abrahamitic shit tier religion with different factions who are "more right"..

>not directly related with original buddhism

Doesn't matter.
It's not like Christianity where they obsess over the original text. All the esoteric 'nonsense' is merely a tool towards realization.

Islam didn't really expand through violence ;)
In fact, many converted because of discriminatory laws, so it didn't spread by the sword.
Nice try, alt right.

This is the only thread I've seen without any of that. All I see here is discussion on the cultural hegemony of Tibetan Buddhism controlling the image of itself, it's roots in concurrent practices and some shitting on shortcomings that are whitewashed or ignored by its proponents and normalfags not up on rather obscure information.

I don't see anyone arguing that the esoteric aspect is anything but the point and that politics have buried or cloistered it both at its inception, ca. 800 when vajrayana was syncretic with freaky tantra to the point of being indistinguishable, and today with the public face of the Dalai Lama.

indeed.

"A kapala (Sanskrit for "skull") or skullcup is a cup made from a human skull used as a ritual implement (bowl) in both Hindu Tantra and Buddhist Tantra (Vajrayana). Especially in Tibet"

There is a ritual, the exact details of which I have forgotten, that involves killing before granting him nirvana. Or something like that. Tantra is edgy as fuck and I love it.

Also where can I get a skull cup or do I have to dig one up myself?

youtu.be/E30e1qjlu6g

Thank you very much familia.

A lot of religions who were practized in isolation have led to bizarre practizes.
Sokushinbutsu is another one of those practizes where bhuddism is taken to an extreme.

Relevant.
Nazis in Tibet.
They actually are quiet respectful in the depiction of their culture.

1:29:10 for headbanging tibetans.

youtube.com/watch?v=HskdtYx_MCI

False premise

Isn't Buthan just a tibetan kingdom that wasn't invaded by China?