Tibetan Astrology

The Complexity of Karma Karma is a topic that concerns what happens to us and why. It is something that is very relevant to all of us on a personal level, not something outside of the sphere of our lives. If we can start to understand karma and how it works, we can begin to...

The Relevance of the Topic of Time Time (dus, Skt. kala) and such topics within the category of time like the past, the present, and the future are very important topics to study when we are on the Buddhist path. They’re not just metaphysically interesting, but they are...

History of Tibetan Astrology Chinese astro materials came to Tibet earlier than the Indian-derived material. This occurred in the mid-7th century, at the time of Emperor Songtsen Gampo (Srong-btsan sgam-po), the founder of the great Tibetan Empire. Among his wives were Chinese...

Twenty-Seven Lunar Constellations Let us go on with some further general features. For most calculations, the belt of the zodiac is divided into 27 lunar constellations (rgyu-skar, Skt. nakshatra) or lunar mansions, each divided into 60 degrees. Just as 12 prominent...

Introduction The Buddhist abhidharma (special topics of knowledge) and Kalachakra (cycles of time) literatures provide two distinct presentations of cosmology, each for a different purpose. Study of the abhidharma one is undertaken primarily for developing discriminating...

The Scope of the Tibetan Astro Sciences The astro sciences of calendar-making, astronomy, astrology, and mathematics touch many aspects of Tibetan life. Their tradition spread from Tibet to so-called Outer and Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, East Turkistan, the Russian republics of...

Overview of the Chinese-Derived Material Let us now turn to the Chinese-derived, or black calculations, which are also called element calculations (‘byung-rtsis). It adds a few more features to the Tibetan calendar, such as correlations with animal and element cycles, like the...

Historical Development of Astrology in China Let us now discuss a little about the history of astrology, first in China and how they came to and developed in Tibet. The system of 10 heavenly stems and 12 earthly branches combined into a cycle of 60 for counting days is found...

We have now seen roughly how the positions of the planets are calculated for the ephemeris and a little about their astrological usages. Let us next explore the making of the calendar, which entails the five inclusive calendar features. Lunar Weekday and Date  The first and...

Magic-Squares Magic-squares (sme-ba) are also employed, specifically the one in which there is a grid of three by three, with the numbers one through nine arranged, one in each box, such that whether one adds horizontally, vertically or diagonally, the sum of any line is 15....