Introduction and differences between the five sects of Tantric Buddhism

1. Nyingma Sect

The Nyingma Sect is one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism, also known as the Red Sect because the monks of this sect wear red hats. It has the longest history among all the sects and was formed in the 11th century A.D. "Nyingma" means "ancient" and "old" in Tibetan. The so-called ancient, that is to say its doctrine from the eighth century A.D. passed down, a long history; the so-called old, that is to say some of its teachings are based on the ancient Tubo's old mantra.

The Nyingmapa sect has a close relationship with the Yonchung tradition inherent in Tibet itself. In the 8th and 9th centuries AD, Tantric Buddhism was introduced to Tibet from India and was passed down from father to son. The influence of Yonchung Buddhism in Tibetan folklore was very strong, and it so happened that the mystical nature of Tantric Buddhism was very similar to it, as a result of which the two were gradually combined.

This sect had no monasteries, was disorganized, and had no systematic teachings, much less a complete monastic system. They took the Indian school of Buddhism as their teacher, applied the classics of that school, established monasteries, carried out some collective activities, and eventually formed a sect. This sect started without a name until some other sects arose later and it became known as the Nyingma sect because of its characteristics.

The Nyingmapa lineage is divided into two parts: the classical lineage, which disappeared after the 14th century, and the fudang lineage, which was replaced by the fudang lineage. The Vajrayogini is the classic Tantric teachings buried by Lotus Sang and other Tantric monks in the pre-history period, and then unearthed in the post-history period for propagation to the world.

The Tibetan Buddhist sects all have vasanas, but the Nyingma sect attaches the greatest importance to them, and there is a division between the southern and northern Tibet, and the Great Perfection Dharma is a special vasanas unique to this sect.

The teachings of the Nyingma school are mainly nine multiplied by three parts. Nine times, namely, the sound hearing, the solitary consciousness, the bodhisattva and other manifestations of the three times, the matter of the continuation of the continuation of the continuation of the yoga and the continuation of the three times of the external secret, the Maha Yoga (Great Yoga), Aru Yoga (with the class of Yoga), Adi Yoga (the most extreme Yoga) and other internal supreme three times.

The Adi Yoga is the "Great Perfection". The Nyingma School pays most attention to the practice of the Great Perfection of the Heart, which advocates that the human heart is pure, the three bodies are perfect, and that the key to practice is only to eliminate karma and purify the habit, so as to be able to realize the true nature of the Buddha, and to complete the Buddha's work.

2, Sakya school

Sakya, Tibetan means gray and white earth, because the main temple of the school - Sakya Temple, where the temple was built gray and white and named. Founded in 1073, the sect is also known as the Flower Sect due to the fact that the walls of the sect's monasteries are coated with strips of red, white, and black flowers symbolizing Manjushri, Guanyin, and Vajrapani.

The Sakya Sect's Patriarch has been passed down from generation to generation by the money family. There are two branches of lineage and dharma flow inheritance. The Sakya School does not prohibit the marriage of wives, but stipulates that after the birth of a child no longer close to a woman. The monks wear red, lotus-shaped monastic crowns and red robes.

In the 13th century, the Sakya Sect developed into a sect with strong political power, and there were the famous "Sakya Five Ancestors". Among them, the fourth ancestor of the Sakya, Saban Yankar Khyentse, led the feudal forces of Tibet to submit to Mongolia in 1247. After the death of Saban, the fifth ancestor of Sakya, Basta, was greatly favored by the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, and was named "State Master", "Imperial Master", "Dabao Dharma King", and was instructed to create the "Basta Text". "Bashi Ba Wen".

This new Mongolian script, which circulated throughout Mongolia, contributed to the social and cultural progress of Mongolia. The teachings of the Sakya Sect belong to the systematic transmission of the Wheel of Time Vajra Dharma and the Vajrayogini Dharma. The Wheel of Time Vajra Dharma is still one of the most important disciplines of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Sakya Sect established the Dege Sutra Printing Institute in 1550 at Dege Gonchen Monastery in Sichuan, the most famous Sutra Printing Institute in Tibet. It specializes in engraving and printing more than 1,000 kinds of Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, calendars and medical books, and plays an important role in protecting and promoting Buddhism.

3, Kagyu faction

Kagyu faction developed in the 11th century, the emphasis on tantric learning, the founders of the successive dome Brown Jokpa and Mabaro Zanwa (Mabar translator), they have traveled to India to learn a lot of tantric, mainly to learn the "four major language purpose of the Professor".

"Language purpose" is the purpose of the Buddha's language, by the master of the oral transmission, the continuation of the generation is called language transmission, Tibetan name "Kagyu". Because the monks of this school according to the tradition of Hinduism to wear white monks, so it is called the White Church.

The Kagyu school was originally founded in the Ma Ba translator and Milarepa two, but they both did not build temples, recruiting monks, so the development of the cause of the transmission of the law is not great, to their third generation of Dabulaji, only in the Dabu region to establish the Gonpo monastery, recruiting disciples, the promotion of the Ma, Mi two people transmitted Kagyu Professor.

Mira Riba (1040-1123), the founder of the Kagyu school, studied under the Maba translator ((He practiced the most mysterious "secret method of taking away the body". He practiced the most mysterious "secret method of seizing the body", that is, transferring the consciousness of one body to another body, or transferring it from one place to another, and entering into a state of reincarnation determined by the practitioner's sole choice, that is, as we say, returning the body to the soul).

Marpa Translator was the second guru of the Kagyu school and the most famous yoga mahasiddha in all of Tibet.

When he lost his father at the age of seven, he was bullied by his uncle, and after being told by his mother to learn mantra to kill many of his family members, he repented of his sins and learned the Dharma from Marpa. At first, he was tortured and tested with various austerities without being taught the Dharma, and then he was taught the Dharma in the form of words.

After that, he was in the mountains for many years in seclusion and austerity, lack of food and clothing, life is extremely difficult, there was a year to nettle for food, limbs out of the green hair, skin color is like nettles, like a ghost. It is rumored to have practiced the art of flying in the air, and only in his later years did he begin to accept disciples to pass on his teachings, and at the age of 84, he passed away in Nyalamu.

4. Kadam Sect

The Kadam Sect was founded in 1056. The Tibetan word "Karma" refers to the Buddha's word, "Dang" refers to the professor. In common parlance, it is to use the teachings of the Buddha to guide mortals to accept the Buddhist truth.

The founder of the Kadam School was the famous Buddhist master Atisha, who was welcomed from India during the Gugu period, and Razin Monastery is the main temple of the Kadam School. The sect mainly practiced the Hinayana sect and advocated the predominance of the Hinayana before the Tantric sect. In the Kadam lineage, three main branches have been formed: the Teaching School, the Canonical School, and the Preceptual School, each of which has its own canonical texts and teachings.

Late in the 13th century, a Kadampa canonist monk named Yimdan Jazhi compiled a large number of Tibetan Buddhist scriptures collected and preserved at the Nathanael Monastery of the Kadampa sect into the Gandhurya and Dandhurya. This is in the history of Buddhism has an important position in the Tibetan language, the earliest compilation of the Great Tibetan Sutra.

The Kadam school had a significant influence on all other schools of Tibetan Buddhism because of the systematization of its teachings and the standardization of its practices. Some important monks of the Kagyu and Sakya schools learned from the Kadam school. The Gelug Sect was established directly on the basis of the Kadam Sect, and is therefore known as the "New Kadam Sect".

In addition, the Tibetan Buddhist teachings of all the great doctrines, but also from the Kadam school. 15 century after the rise of the Gelugpa school, because the Gelugpa school is in the Kadam school teachings on the basis of the development of the original Kadam school, so the original Kadam school of the monastery, have gradually become the Gelugpa school of the monastery, the Kadam school in the Tibetan region since then hidden from the extinction of the Kadam school.

5, Gelu faction

Gelu, Tibetan meaning good law (also means "good return"), is the formation of Tibetan Buddhism in the latest a sect, founded in 1409, is the famous religious reformer ZongKaBa in the implementation of the religious reform process of the formation of the sect. It is also known as the Yellow Sect because it wears yellow hats.

Tsongkhapa's legacy of disciples to the Fifth Dalai and Panchen masters are the most famous, 35-year-old Fifth Dalai in 1652 in the Qing Shunzhi Emperor after four successive invitations to the Qing officials, 3,000 people accompanied by the line to Beijing to promote the Dharma, and returned to Tibet before the Shunzhi Emperor was enthroned.

In 1647, the fourth Panchen was honored by Shunzhi as the "Vajra Master"; in 1713, Emperor Kangxi named the fifth Panchen "Panchen Erdeni". Gelugpa adopts the practice of "stopping and observing", emphasizing both stopping and observing, and emphasizing the practice sequence of manifestation followed by secret practice and the method of both manifestation and secret practice.

The Gelug Sect has three main characteristics:

Advocating that monks must strictly abide by the precepts, should not interfere in secular affairs, and should not marry or engage in productive labor;

Vigorously restoring monasteries and recruiting monks, and all the monasteries of Kadampa have been incorporated into the Gelug Sect;

Performing regular Dharma meetings every year, preaching on the scriptures and giving talks on the Dharma at the meetings and advocating that the monks should practice firstly manifestation then secret, stipulating that five sutras must be studied, and that they must practice both manifestation and secrets, and emphasizing the method of both manifestation and secret. Provide for the mandatory study of the five sutras, the creation of the Chuanzhao period of debate and examination, the examination of the Geshe and other degree system.

Expanded information:

Tibetan Tantra, known as the Tibetan Tantra, is a system of monastic practice that is based on the teachings of the Tibetan Buddhist monks. p>Tibetan Tantra, the full name of Tibetan Buddhist Tantric Buddhism. In the middle of the eighth century, the Indian Tantric master Lotus Sang was invited by the Tibetan King Chisong Detsen to Tibet to spread Buddhism. Its practice belongs to Tantra, a mixture originating from Buddhism, Brahmanism, Hinduism Sexual Power Sect and Benjaminism.

It is the two teachings of the Golden Fetus preached by Dainichi Rulai as stated in the self-created classics of Tantra, which are mainly based on the teachings of the realm of internal truth as stated by Dainichi Rulai, and are called Tantra because of their appalling textual meanings, profound mysteries, and secretive and difficult to understand.

Since the introduction of Venerable Atisha and Master Lotus Sheng, Tibetan Tantra has been continuously, secretly, widely and strictly propagated in the Tibetan area, Mongolia and other areas, and it is subdivided into species sects such as the Red Sect, the White Sect, the Flower Sect, the Black Sect and the Yellow Sect.

Baidu Encyclopedia - The Five Teachings of Tibetan Tantra