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ALL ABOUT ORACLES!
There are many people who are curious about oracles in Tibetan Buddhism. I'm particularly interested so I'll like to start the thread about oracles and welcome everybody to come post here.
The emphasis on oracles in Tibetan Buddhism is often confused with shamanism, but oracles and shamans are quite different.
An oracle is a spirit who speaks through a medium. It is channeling. Shamans, found in Siberia, Turkey, Africa, etc., are people who enter a trance in which they go to different realms and speak to various spirits, usually the spirits of ancestors. The spirits give them answers to various questions. When the shamans come out of trance, they deliver the message from the ancestors.
In contrast, a medium usually has no memory whatsoever of what the oracle said through him or her. Oracles became associated with protectors. The Nechung oracle is also the protector called Nechung.
A trace of shamanism, however, is reflected in a division of things as being on, above and below the earth, which is prevalent in Bon material and then came into Buddhism.
Buddha taught a tremendous amount on many topics. Wherever Buddhism went in Asia, people emphasized elements that resonated with their culture. There is mention of pure lands in Indian Buddhism but it was not emphasized.
The Chinese, who had the Daoist (Taoist) idea of going to the Western land of the immortals, put tremendous emphasis on the pure lands and expanded it tremendously. Thus, we get pure land Buddhism. It is one of the most significant Chinese Buddhist schools.
Likewise, within Indian Buddhism, we do find discussion of protectors, of various spirits, offering pujas and so on, but the Tibetans expanded these elements tremendously because it was in their culture.
Taken from: Bon and Tibetan Buddhism, Dr. Alexander Berzin
Amsterdam, Holland, December 23, 2001
http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/study/comparison_buddhist_traditions/tibetan_traditions/bon_tibetan_buddhism.html
The emphasis on oracles in Tibetan Buddhism is often confused with shamanism, but oracles and shamans are quite different.
An oracle is a spirit who speaks through a medium. It is channeling. Shamans, found in Siberia, Turkey, Africa, etc., are people who enter a trance in which they go to different realms and speak to various spirits, usually the spirits of ancestors. The spirits give them answers to various questions. When the shamans come out of trance, they deliver the message from the ancestors.
In contrast, a medium usually has no memory whatsoever of what the oracle said through him or her. Oracles became associated with protectors. The Nechung oracle is also the protector called Nechung.
A trace of shamanism, however, is reflected in a division of things as being on, above and below the earth, which is prevalent in Bon material and then came into Buddhism.
Buddha taught a tremendous amount on many topics. Wherever Buddhism went in Asia, people emphasized elements that resonated with their culture. There is mention of pure lands in Indian Buddhism but it was not emphasized.
The Chinese, who had the Daoist (Taoist) idea of going to the Western land of the immortals, put tremendous emphasis on the pure lands and expanded it tremendously. Thus, we get pure land Buddhism. It is one of the most significant Chinese Buddhist schools.
Likewise, within Indian Buddhism, we do find discussion of protectors, of various spirits, offering pujas and so on, but the Tibetans expanded these elements tremendously because it was in their culture.
Taken from: Bon and Tibetan Buddhism, Dr. Alexander Berzin
Amsterdam, Holland, December 23, 2001
http://www.berzinarchives.com/web/en/archives/study/comparison_buddhist_traditions/tibetan_traditions/bon_tibetan_buddhism.html
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The Bhata Hor refer to the Uighur Turks of the Orkhon Uighur Empire (745 – 840). That empire included Mongolia and the Lake Baikal region of southern Siberia, north of Mongolia.
Pehar (Pe-har) refers to a group of five protector spirits, known as the Five Bodily Manifest Kings (rGyal-po sKu-lnga), or to just one of them, the King of Enlightening Influence (‘Phrin-las rgyal-po).
With his special powers, Padmasambhava foresaw that Pehar would be the appropriate spiritual protector for Tibet. The Bhata Hor were the keepers of a raksha demon skin mask, a turquoise statue of the female Buddha-figure Tara, and a mother-of-pearl statue of the male Buddha-figure Avalokiteshvara. These three were the physical basis and locus for summoning Pehar.
According to other Tibetan sources, it was Tri Songdetsen’s son and successor, Emperor Muney-tsenpo (Mu-ne btsan-po) (r. 797 – 800), who deputed the expedition to the Bhata Hor.
The Tibetans appropriated these three objects, brought them to Tibet, and installed them in Samyay.
Padmasambhava tamed Pehar and bound him by oath to protect Tibet. Samyay later became known as Nechen (gNas-chen), the Great Place.
At the time of the Third Dalai Lama, Sonam-gyatso (rGyal-ba bSod-nams rgya-mtsho) (1543-1588), Pehar began manifesting as an oracle, speaking through a medium.
The Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang-lozang-gyatso (rGyal-dbang lnga-pa chen-po Ngag-dbang blo-bzang rgya-mtsho) (1617-1682), appointed Pehar as the State Oracle for the newly established Tibetan government and commissioned a new monastery, Nechung (gNas-chung), the Small Place, as the oracle’s seat. The monastery was completed for Pehar in 1683 and Pehar subsequently became popularly known as the “Nechung Oracle.”