Tibet People, Culture & Religion

The Tibetan people are indigenous to Tibet and surrounding areas stretching from Central Asia in the North and West to Myanmar and China Proper in the East and Nepal to the south.

Tibet boasts a rich culture. Tibetan festivals such as Losar, Shoton, Linka (festival), and the Bathing Festival are deeply rooted in indigenous religion and also contain foreign influences. Each person takes part in the Bathing Festival three times: at birth, at marriage, and at death. It is traditionally believed that people should not bathe casually, but only on the most important occasions.

The land on the roof of the world is a fascinating land with rich cultural heritage which can be termed as a living museum. Present day China is combined with past legend and mystique of Tibet. Trip to Tibet is a fantastic and special experience. It is adventurous. It is ancient Tibet and modern China in the process of blending together.
You travel for days on this remote plateau with chance encounters of nomads herding their sheep or yaks. You may see and become part of a devout pilgrimage as shown by pilgrims around Lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailas.. You should do some background reading about the holy mountain and Tibet in general before you travel. Lhasa is the cultural center of Tibet.

No other religion apart from Buddhism has been able to take root in Tibet. Only a small population of about 2,000 throughout Tibet has faith in Islam, while there is no trace of Christianity at all. The Bon, the aborigine religion of Tibet, a sect of Shamanism which chiefly worshipped idols and the Nature and practiced driving off of evil spirits, had at one time prevailed in Tibet but lost round with the penetration of Buddhism.

Thus, Buddhism can as well be said to the sole religion of Tibet, and the faith has taken so deep in root that it means almost everything to the Tibetans as already mentioned. Well-to-do families even built in their compound their private chapels of prayer-rooms. to begin with, the first Buddhist scripture printed in Sanskrit was said to have been descended from Heaven in the 5th century during the reign of 28th Tsanpo Tho-Tho-Ri Nyantsan. It was translated into Tibet, and later in the 8th century after the visit the Indian Master Padmasambhava, the spread of Buddhism got accelerated and religious sect started taking shape. In the 11th century the visit of the Bengali Master, Atisha, to Tibet greatly encouraged the study of Buddhism into Tibet and sowed the seed for Gelugpa, the greatest sect that was to come. Finally, in the 15th century, Tsongkapa, the great reformer of Tibetan Buddhism, came to Tibet from Qinghai and founded the Gelugopa sect, the Order of Excellence, and here after Buddhism went all-out spreading like a wild fire into Tibet and the absolute ruler both of the claret and the state is another decisive victory for Buddhism to rise to its paramount as the religion of the entire Tibetan nationality.