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.

A detailed survey of the history of Tibet from the 2nd century BCE to the mid-16th century CE.

Chinggis Khan In 1207 CE, news reached Tibet that Chinggis Khan (Sog-po Ching-ge-se Kh’ang) (1162 – 1227) had conquered the Tangut Empire in Gansu and Amdo. The Tibetans had a close relation with the Tanguts at this time. They had already been engaged in translating Buddhist...

Tibetan medicine is based on the principle that overcoming disease requires balancing not only the humors and elements in the body and one’s diet and behavior, but also gaining balance on the emotional/mental level.

Chengde 成德 (formerly Rehe 热河, also known as Jehol) was the summer capital of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, starting from the early eighteenth cen­tury. It is located in northeastern Hebei 河北, formerly southern Rehe Province, Manchuria. It contained eleven monasteries, eight of...

Tibetan Relations with China Tibet and China had first established diplomatic relations in 608 when Emperor Songtsen-gampo’s father, Namri-lontsen (gNam-ri slon-mtshan), had sent the first Tibetan mission to the Chinese court at the time of the Sui Dynasty. Songtsen-gampo, in...

[Clarification of His Holiness' answers by Dr. Berzin are included within square brackets.] Kalachakra in the Four Tibetan Traditions Dr. Berzin: As Kalachakra is found in all four Tibetan traditions and, in the West, Kalu Rinpoche has given the Kalachakra initiation several...

An extensive glossary of Tibetan-English astro terms not found in most dictionaries.

Mahamudra texts contain special Tibetan terminology not found in many dictionaries. Dr. Berzin offers English translations of many of them, based on explanations by Beru Khyentse Rinpoche.

Wutaishan 五台山 (Ri-bo rtse-lnga), the five-peaked sacred mountain of Manjushri in Shanxi 山西, China, has 57 Buddhist monasteries. The first of these, Xiantong Si 显通寺, was founded in the seventh-cen­tury when a stupa was brought there from Baima Si 白马寺, according to tradition,...