Tibet

Photographs from The Dalai Lamas Secret Temple by Thomas Laird, used with permission.

Tibetan Buddhism The nine breathings of purification and tsa lung/trul khor exercises from the ancient Tibetan Bon Buddhist tradition, performed by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche.
For information about Tenzin Rinpoche and Tibetan Bon Buddhism, visit Ligmincha.org. For advance updates about his live Internet teachings, recorded teachings and in-person retreats, subscribe to Ligmincha’s free monthly e-newsletter at VoiceOfClearLight.org

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Many Christians I know find him fascinating. I have nothing against him, I am just curious what the attraction is. Are protestants secretly interested in what the Pope says?

To answer the first question the Dalia llama is a man of peace who seems to represent an oppressed people. Regardless of your religion he seems like a good person and speaks alot of truth, that’s not to say I dont disagree with him on religion.

As for the second one, I’m protestant and do occasionally check up on what the pope says. I heard a speech of his in the Vatican on a trip to rome once. Catholics are still christian and it is interesting to hear another way of interpreting the holy bible and see a big part of Christian history even if I dont accept the Popes authority.

Please specify the sources if any. Thanks!

As mentioned, over time, various traditions developed within Buddhism, and especially in Northern India, the Mahayana and Vajrayana were popular. From around the 8th century onwards, Buddhism from Northern India was introduced in Tibet, and when Buddhism virtually disappeared in entire India around the 11th century, then in Tibet and some other surrounding countries the Vajrayana tradition was preserved.
Despite what very old books write about Tibetan Buddhism, there were not many important additions from Tibet itself to that Vajrayana tradition.
Basically before some 50 years ago, most western scholars thought that the entire Vajrayana practice was shamanistic and came from the old Tibetan shamanistic traditions before Buddhism was introduced. However, most of the practices can be traced to original Sanskrit texts that came from Buddhist India.
One confusing aspect of Vajrayana is that it is to be kept secret to avoid abuse and misunderstanding, and this secrecy easily leads to misunderstanding with people who like to speculate on what it is, and many aspects certainly appear very strange for the average westerner!

Public

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I thought that in Buddhism there were no deities. Are they just symbolic? What is your opinion on Tibetan Buddhism?

They represent states of mind, and ideas.
Deities represented in Buddhism are not the same as represented in Biblical terms.
They are not Gods so to speak, but enlightened beings who have refused to enter nirvana in order to assist all sentient beings.

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I tried finding information about how the Dalai Lama affects the Tibetan Buddhism religion but I cannot find the right information.

My question:

How does the Dalai Lama affect Tibet and the Tibetan Buddhism religion?

and What is the role of the Dalai Lama?

The Dalai Lama is the title given many centuries ago to the secular leader of Tibet. At the same time, people have come to see how most the various rebirths of the Dalai Lama were highly realized Buddhist masters. So much so, that many Tibetans consider him to be a fully enlightened Buddha.

When many Tibetans fled Tibet after the occupation by China, the Dalai Lama was one of the refugees. As Tibetan Buddhism became popular in the West, many westerners heard of the Dalai Lama. Since then, as a Tibetan leader in exile, he was awarded the Nobel peace prize for his efforts to a peaceful solution for Tibet. In that way, he became the best-known Buddhist world-wide.
Put on top of that his leadership of the Tibetans, some people now believe he is like a Buddhist pope, but nothing is further from the truth. He is not even the leader of the tradition within Tibetan Buddhism that he is part of.

Strictly spoken, his influence on Tibetan Buddhism is very small; it is a tradition of over 1000 years old, and derived from much older Indian traditions; one person cannot simply change such a tradition. The point that many westerners know about Tibetan Buddhism because they are affected by the Dalai Lama is a very different thing altogether.

I am aware of the Centre Rigpe Dorje, which is of the Kagyu lineage, it would seem. Of the four Tibetan lineages — Kagyu, Nyingma, Gelukpa, Sakya — I follow the the Gelukpa tradition. Considering visiting San Antonio, TX, and possibly moving there, I would like to know in advance if there is a center I can visit.

I’ve checked two different and reasonably reliable sources, DharmaWeb and Buddhanet, and neither show a Gelugpa center in San Antonio.

Here are the references:

http://www.dharmaweb.org/index.php/Texas

http://www.buddhanet.info/wbd/search.php?keyword=san+antonio&search=Begin+Search&country_id=0&province_id=64

The Yogis of Tibet

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I try to be compassionate, but find people take advantage of my laid-back personality, especially by employees. I supervise 18 people and try to be extremely understanding and flexible. Lately the team has been in conflict because of mainly 1 person. She tries to get her co-workers in trouble, presumably to make herself look better. How can I be true to Buddhism when this employee seems to take advantage of me?

Doing what’s best for everyone does not always mean giving everyone what they want. People are by nature selfish and often do not know or care what is best for everyone. It is your job as an upright person and a supervisor to be firm. Flexibility should always be tempered with fairness and good judgment.