Tibetan Culture

Cultures play a large role in shaping the form of the personal interactions of their members. Just as the child-parent relation differs from one society and time to another, so does the relationship between spiritual seeker and spiritual teacher. It is only natural, then, that...

The Rectification of Terms Titles, particularly those in foreign languages, often mystify Western people. They frequently conjure romantic images that are inappropriate. This especially happens with the various titles for spiritual teachers, such as – in the Tibetan...

Translating Trust and Respect for a Mentor into Actions The more convinced we are of our mentors' good qualities, the more confidently we trust them and their ability to guide us correctly. Similarly, the more deeply we appreciate our mentors' kindness, the more respect we...

We gain a more balanced perspective of Bon by understanding Tibetan history and culture and how Bon’s approach to spiritual development relates to Tibetan Buddhism.

A Tibetan-Mongolian horoscope reveals possible courses one’s life can take due to karma and thus indicates that no course is inevitable. Everything that happens arises dependently on innumerable causes and circumstances and what one does contributes to the course of one’s life.

The cultural context in which Buddhism originated and spread plays an important role in its practice, however, there are indispensable points that characterize Buddhism, regardless of culture.

Tibetan language and culture spread and interacted with many other civilizations. The Tibetan traditions have evolved over the centuries, and this process of evolution and growth must continue.

The first and second of the five inclusive features of a Tibetan calendar are the lunar weekday and the date of the lunar month. These are involved in the mech­anism through which the lunar and solar calendars are brought into harmony.

The Tibetan calendar and almanac play a large role in Tibetan life. One of their most important usages is setting the dates for various Buddhist offering ceremonies, tsog.

Kalmykia faces a very special challenge because Buddhist culture was repressed for many years and now is experiencing the pressures of globalization.