Tibetan Buddhism is a religion of faith. However, the place of faith is different from the monotheistic religions as Judaism, Islam or Christianity. Although it remains central point of the religion to some extent, it is valued in connection with other tools of spiritual progress. Its pragmatic point of view is specific as well. The traditional Buddhist "science of mind" /tib. blo rigs/ with its origin in Indian Mahayana tradition Yogacara treats faith as one of fifty one mental factors /tib. sems byung/. The article further provides translation of a refuge text used in Nyingmapa /tib. rnying ma/ tradition. Next text, used mostly among Gelugpas /tib. dge lugs pa/, is probably the most ossified textual version of the refuge text. It is a compilation from parts of various texts originated in India. Its origin is traced back in the commentary of the text by the author. The tradition of commentaries of the refuge practice begins with two condensed texts by Vimalakirti and Atisha, included in Tibetan canon Tengyur /tib. bstan 'gyur/. It is a hypotheses of the author, that present standard versions of commentaries of the refuge practice, connected with visualization of the deities and masters of the tradition /tib. tshogs shing/lappear at the time of Manchu dynasty in China (1644 C.E.). The article further brings the translation of a commentary to the practice by Ngawang Lozang Chöden (1642-1714), known also as Changkya II, who spent part of his lifetime in Bejing and Mongolia.
The article deals with the ritual "One Thousand Offerings to Bhaishajyagurubuddha, (Buddha of Healing)", which is every other year performed by Buryat Buddhist monks and believers around the Dashigomon stūpa (Tib. Tashi Gomang Chorten /bkra shis sgo mang mchod rten/), close to Urdo-Aga village in Aginskoe Autonomous Region of the Russian Federation. Following a short description of the proceedings of the ritual in the summer of 2000, is a description of the main godness, to whom the ritual is dedicated, Bhaishajyagurubuddha, and his relationship to Buddha Shakyamuni and other Buddhas of healing. The description of Bhaishajyagurubuddha is based on original Tibetan translations of Sanskrit texts. -- The ritual takes place around the Dashigomon stūpa (Bur. suburgan, Tib. chorten /mchod rten/), a Tibetan Buddhist sacral building with extraordinarily complex spiritual semantics. Besides that, the stūpa has its own history reflecting the history of Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism in Buryatia in the 20th century; the predecessor of this building was constructed by the outstanding Buryat researcher, Tibetanist and traveller Gonbozhab Tsebekovich Tsybikov (1873-1930). An important part of the ritual consists of reciting sacred texts. Their classification, order, description and placing into the historical and religious context is dealt with in the next part of the article. The central text of the ritual, called "One thousand offerings of arura, garanteeing immortality, to seven kindred masters of healing" (Bur. Donshod, Tongchö /Tib. stong mchod/) has been translated from Tibetan into Czech for the first time as well as provided with a commentary. In its conclusion the study points out that by describing this ritual it is well possible to illustrate the contemporary situation of religion in Buryatia, its historical events and, above all, its present restoration.
This paper presents a translation of the description of hells from the Tibetan classical compilation on Abhidharma, known as the Exposition of Abhidharma Arranged Into the Chapters And Called Ornament of the Evident (chos mngon pa mdzod kyi tshig le 'ur byas pa'i 'grel pa mngon pa'i rgyan zhes bya ba bzhugs). The author is a 13th century Tibetan scholar known as Mchims 'jam pa'i dbyangs who resided in the Narthang monastery. His compilation is used to this day by various schools of Tibetan Buddhism. This treatise of the hells is not substantially different from the "root text" on Abhidharma by Indian scholar Vasubandhu which has been already translated into French, English and Russian, but still adds some interesting details. The text is introduced by a brief presentation of the descriptions of hells in India in general, Indian Buddhism and the genres of literature which later appeared in Tibet. The elaborated pictures of hells served various purposes for Buddhists in Tibet. It is firstly part of a cosmological discourse, where "number-codes" of the measurements of hells are related to the idea of the Buddhist Dharma present in the space of the world. Secondly it served as an important means of motivation for Buddhist studies and practice. In Tibet and Mongolia descriptions of hells were often fixed part of the genre of the so called 'das log literature which was also used for missionary purposes. Vivid descriptions of the hells by those who returned back to the life supposed to motivate people with indifferent attitude towards the Buddhist Teaching. In Mongolia, such function of hells is confirmed by the number of editions of the picture-book of large number of hells compiled in 19th century and supplemented by short descriptions of the particular hells in Mongolian and Tibetan.