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is tibeten buddhism vajrayana?

TheJourneyTheJourney
edited October 2010 in Buddhism Basics
I finally found a potential temple/sangha, 45 minutes away but w/e, but yea it's tibetan and I was wondering if tibetan was vajrayana as I kind of suspect. I ask because vajrayana greatly intrigues me.

Comments

  • mantra0mantra0
    edited October 2010
    Tibetan Buddhism is a subset of Vajrayana.

    Vajrayana also includes Japanese Tantric Buddhism (Shingon), Taiwanese, Tibetan etc.

    Tibetan buddhism generally have schools like : Nyingma (The oldest one), Sakya, Kagyu, Gelug. Some includes New Bon also.
    (It's said that there's some political rivalry amongst some schools)

    I wonder what schools do you choose to learn from?
    In the West Kagyu and Nyingma is quite common.

    What makes you drawn to Tibetan Buddhism?
    Some elements might challenge conventional Buddhist expectation, such as wraithful deities, dakini, etc.

    Anyways, if you are into the... *bell sounds* thingy. You might want to find out more about Dzogchen of Nyingma or Bon school.
  • TheJourneyTheJourney
    edited October 2010
    I'm not particularly drawn to tibetan buddhism I just want a sangha and it's the only one i've found that's reasonable driving distance, though still quite far. Now that I think about it there may be at least one more, it's just I wasn't planning on driving that far originally but I guess better a long drive than having no place to go.

    What do you mean by "Anyways, if you are into the... *bell sounds* thingy."?
  • cazcaz Veteran United Kingdom Veteran
    edited October 2010
    General Tibetans are mainly Vajrayana, But dont forget you shouldnt enter into Vajrayana without a good practise of Sutra first...Lamrim is excellent :)
  • dorjedorje
    edited October 2010
    Many Tibetan Buddhists practice Vajrayana, but it's only a part of the Tibetan Buddhist spectrum. Many others don't practice Vajrayana, maintaining to Mahayana instead. But all of them have their basis in the sutras. So I would say it's a good start :)
  • mantra0mantra0
    edited October 2010
    I would recommend you to read all the articles here.

    It's very good stuff

    http://www.sangye.org/english/teachings.htm

    Yes. The articles do mention that one should go through Mahayana sutras before beginning Vajrayana.
  • TheJourneyTheJourney
    edited October 2010
    Thanks for the link!

    And how do I know if/when i'm ready for the vajrayana?

    And I love the sutras. Certainly it is very important, and very interesting to me.
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited October 2010
    Can someone say if this is on track or not?

    In Zen, though practice, one comes to a self-luminous aloneness. Bodymind and world are one gesture. Words fail here, but the upshot is non-suffering, and spontaneous action. Practice is ongoing...an ongoing clarifying maybe. This is one meditators description, and it may be an idiosyncratic one.


    I have been told that Vajrayana begins with that, and proceed to work with the energy or intensity of that "suchness".

    Is that a fair sense of it?
  • DazzleDazzle
    edited October 2010
    TheJourney wrote: »
    I finally found a potential temple/sangha, 45 minutes away but w/e, but yea it's tibetan and I was wondering if tibetan was vajrayana as I kind of suspect. I ask because vajrayana greatly intrigues me.


    Hi The Journey,

    You might also find some helpful information about Tibetan Buddhism on this site and there's a search facility at the bottom of the page.

    http://www.kagyu.org/kagyulineage/buddhism/


    Kind regards,

    D.

    .
  • shenpennangwashenpennangwa
    edited October 2010
    Richard H wrote: »
    Can someone say if this is on track or not?

    In Zen, though practice, one comes to a self-luminous aloneness. Bodymind and world are one gesture. Words fail here, but the upshot is non-suffering, and spontaneous action. Practice is ongoing...an ongoing clarifying maybe. This is one meditators description, and it may be an idiosyncratic one.


    I have been told that Vajrayana begins with that, and proceed to work with the energy or intensity of that "suchness".

    Is that a fair sense of it?

    It varies.
    Certain lineages put a lot of emphasis on the so-called "pointing out instruction" which is usually associated with Dzogchen and Mahamudra.
    The idea being that one then works with the experience through their daily practice until they fully integrate with it.
    Other lineages take a different kind of approach that is more based on the idea of transformation rather than integration.
    Of course this a very general rundown.
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