Tibet

==== Buddhism ====
{{Main|Tibetan Buddhism}}
[[File:Monkhood in Tibet, Xigatse area, August 2005.jpg|thumb|Monkhood in Tibet, Xigatse area, August 2005]]
[[File:Phugtal col.jpg|thumb|upright|220px|The [[Phugtal Monastery]] in south-east [[Zanskar]]]]
[[File:Young monks of Drepung.jpg|right|thumb|Buddhist monks practicing debate in [[Drepung]] Monastery]]

Religion is extremely important to the Tibetans and has a strong influence over all aspects of their lives. [[Bön]] is the indigenous religion of Tibet, but has been almost eclipsed by Tibetan Buddhism, a distinctive form of [[Mahayana]] and [[Vajrayana]], which was introduced into Tibet from the Sanskrit Buddhist tradition of northern India.<ref>{{cite book |last= Conze |first= Edward |author-link= Edward Conze |title= A Short History of Buddhism |year=1993 |publisher=Oneworld |isbn=978-1-85168-066-5 }}</ref> Tibetan Buddhism is practiced not only in Tibet but also in [[Mongolia]], parts of northern India, the [[Buryat Republic]], the [[Tuva Republic]], and in the [[Republic of Kalmykia]] and some other parts of China. During China's [[Cultural Revolution]], nearly all Tibet's [[List of Tibetan monasteries|monasteries]] were ransacked and destroyed by the [[Red Guards (China)|Red Guards]].<ref name="Tibetan monks: A controlled life">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7307495.stm Tibetan monks: A controlled life] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218083955/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7307495.stm |date=February 18, 2009 }}. BBC News. March 20, 2008.</ref><ref>[http://voyage.typepad.com/china/2007/04/tibet_during_th.html Tibet During the Cultural Revolution] Pictures from a Tibetan People's Liberation Army's officer [http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20100505143725/http%3A//voyage%2Etypepad%2Ecom/china/2007/04/tibet_during_th%2Ehtml Archived copy] at the [[Library of Congress]] (May 5, 2010).</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20090724113809/http://articles.latimes.com/2008/mar/26/opinion/oe-buruma26 The last of the Tibetans] [[Los Angeles Times]]. March 26, 2008.</ref> A few monasteries have begun to rebuild since the 1980s (with limited support from the Chinese government) and greater religious freedom has been granted&nbsp;– although it is still limited. Monks returned to monasteries across Tibet and monastic education resumed even though the number of monks imposed is strictly limited.<ref name="Tibetan monks: A controlled life"/><ref>{{cite web |url-status=live |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE3DB123BF937A25755C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |title=Tibet's Buddhist Monks Endure to Rebuild a Part of the Past |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414142825/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/14/weekinreview/tibet-s-buddhist-monks-endure-to-rebuild-a-part-of-the-past.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |archive-date=April 14, 2023 |website=The New York Times |date=June 14, 1987 |last=Gargan |first=Edward A.}} </ref><ref>Laird 2006, pp. 351, 352</ref> Before the 1950s, between 10 and 20% of males in Tibet were monks.<ref>{{cite book|last=Goldstein|first=Melvyn C.|title=A History of Modern Tibet: Volume 2 The Calm before the Storm, 1951–1955|year=2007|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley, CA}}</ref>

Tibetan Buddhism has five main traditions (the suffix ''pa'' is comparable to "er" in English):

* '''[[Gelug|Gelug(pa)]]''', ''Way of Virtue'', also known casually as ''Yellow Hat'', whose spiritual head is the [[Ganden Tripa]] and whose temporal head is the [[Dalai Lama]]. Successive Dalai Lamas ruled Tibet from the mid-17th to mid-20th centuries. This order was founded in the 14th to 15th centuries by [[Je Tsongkhapa]], based on the foundations of the [[Kadampa]] tradition. Tsongkhapa was renowned for both his scholasticism and his virtue. The Dalai Lama belongs to the Gelugpa school, and is regarded as the embodiment of the Bodhisattva of Compassion.<ref>[[Avalokitesvara]], [[Chenrezig]]</ref>
* '''[[Kagyu|Kagyu(pa)]]''', ''Oral Lineage''. This contains one major subsect and one minor subsect. The first, the Dagpo Kagyu, encompasses those Kagyu schools that trace back to [[Gampopa]]. In turn, the Dagpo Kagyu consists of four major sub-sects: the [[Karma Kagyu]], headed by a [[Karmapa]], the Tsalpa Kagyu, the Barom Kagyu, and Pagtru Kagyu. The once-obscure [[Shangpa Kagyu]], which was famously represented by the 20th-century teacher [[Kalu Rinpoche]], traces its history back to the Indian master Niguma, sister of Kagyu lineage holder [[Naropa]]. This is an oral tradition which is very much concerned with the experiential dimension of meditation. Its most famous exponent was Milarepa, an 11th-century mystic.
* '''[[Nyingma|Nyingma(pa)]]''', ''The Ancient Ones''. This is the oldest, the original order founded by [[Padmasambhava]].
* '''[[Sakya (Tibetan Buddhist school)|Sakya(pa)]]''', ''Grey Earth'', headed by the [[Sakya Trizin]], founded by Khon Konchog Gyalpo, a disciple of the great translator Drokmi Lotsawa. [[Sakya Pandita]] 1182–1251 CE was the great-grandson of Khon Konchog Gyalpo. This school emphasizes scholarship.
* '''[[Jonang|Jonang(pa)]]''' Its origins in Tibet can be traced to early 12th century master [[Yumo Mikyo Dorje]], but became much wider known with the help of [[Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen]], a monk originally trained in the [[Sakya (Tibetan Buddhist school)|Sakya]] school. The Jonang school was widely thought to have become extinct in the late 17th century at the hands of the [[5th Dalai Lama]], who forcibly annexed the Jonang monasteries to his [[Gelug]] school, declaring them heretical. Thus, [[Tibetology|Tibetologists]] were astonished when fieldwork turned up several active Jonangpa monasteries, including the main monastery, Tsangwa, located in Zamtang County, Sichuan. Almost 40 monasteries, comprising about 5000 monks, have subsequently been found, including some in the [[Amdo Tibetan]] and [[Qiang people|rGyalgrong]] areas of [[Qinghai]], Sichuan and Tibet. One of the primary supporters of the Jonang lineage in exile has been the [[14th Dalai Lama]] of the Gelugpa lineage. The Jonang tradition has recently officially registered with the [[Central Tibetan Administration|Tibetan Government]] in exile to be recognized as the fifth living Buddhist tradition of [[Tibetan Buddhism]]. The 14th Dalai Lama assigned [[Jebtsundamba Khutuktu]] of Mongolia (who is considered to be an incarnation of Taranatha) as the leader of the Jonang tradition.

The Chinese government continued to pursue a strategy of forced assimilation and suppression of Tibetan Buddhism, as demonstrated by the laws designed to control the next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and those of other Tibetan eminent lamas. Monks and nuns who refused to denounce the Dalai Lama have been expelled from their monasteries, imprisoned, and tortured.<ref>{{cite web |date=April 2020 |title=USCIRF 2020 Annual Report on International Religious Freedoms |url=https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/USCIRF%202020%20Annual%20Report_Final_42920.pdf |access-date=28 August 2021 |publisher=[[United States Commission on International Religious Freedom]] |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803033034/https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/USCIRF%202020%20Annual%20Report_Final_42920.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

It was reported in June 2021 that amidst the [[2020–2022 China–India skirmishes]], the [[People's Liberation Army]] had been forming a new unit for Tibetans who would be taken to Buddhist monks for religious blessings after completing their training.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rezaul H Laskar |date=2021-06-22 |title=China raises new militias of Tibetan youth, deploys 1st batch in Chumbi Valley |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/china-raises-new-militias-of-tibetan-youth-deploys-1st-batch-in-chumbi-valley-101624371160233.html |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623100826/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/china-raises-new-militias-of-tibetan-youth-deploys-1st-batch-in-chumbi-valley-101624371160233.html |archive-date=June 23, 2022 |website=[[Hindustan Times]] |language=en |access-date=June 23, 2022 }}</ref>