Editing Tibetan Buddhism (section)

==Nomenclature==
The native Tibetan term for Buddhism is "The [[Dharma]] of the insiders" (''nang chos'') or "The Buddha Dharma of the insiders" (''nang pa sangs rgyas pa'i chos'').<ref>{{cite book |author=Dzogchen Ponlop |title=Wild Awakening: The Heart of Mahamudra and Dzogchen |chapter=Glossary}}{{full citation needed|date=March 2024}}</ref><ref name="Powers-2012">{{cite book |last1=Powers |first1=John |last2=Templeman |first2=David |year=2012 |title=Historical Dictionary of Tibet |publisher=Scarecrow Press |page=566}}</ref> "Insider" means someone who seeks the truth not outside but within the nature of mind. This is contrasted with other forms of organized religion, which are termed ''chos lugs'' (dharma system)''.'' For example, [[Christianity]] is termed ''Yi shu'i chos lugs'' (Jesus dharma system)''.<ref name="Powers-2012" />''

Westerners unfamiliar with Tibetan Buddhism initially turned to China for understanding. In Chinese, the term used is ''Lamaism'' (literally, "doctrine of the lamas": {{lang|zh|喇嘛教}} ''lama jiao'') to distinguish it from a then-traditional [[Chinese Buddhism]] ({{lang|zh|佛教}} ''fo jiao''). The term was taken up by western scholars, including [[Hegel]], as early as 1822.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lopez |first=Donald S. Jr. |author-link=Donald S. Lopez, Jr. |title=Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West |year=1999 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=0-226-49311-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/prisonersofshang00dona/page/6 6, 19f] |url=https://archive.org/details/prisonersofshang00dona/page/6 }}</ref><ref>Damien Keown, ed., "Lamaism", ''A Dictionary of Buddhism'' (Oxford, 2004): "an obsolete term formerly used by Western scholars to denote the specifically Tibetan form of Buddhism due to the prominence of the lamas in the religious culture. . . should be avoided as it is misleading as well as disliked by Tibetans." Robert E. Buswell Jr. and David S. Lopez Jr., eds., "Lamaism", ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'' (Princeton, 2017): "an obsolete English term that has no correlate in Tibetan. . . Probably derived from the Chinese term ''lama jiao'', or "teachings of the lamas", the term is considered pejorative by Tibetans, as it carries the negative connotation that the Tibetan tradition is something distinct from the mainstream of Buddhism." John Bowker, ed., "Lamaism", ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions'' (Oxford, 2000): "a now antiquated term used by early W[estern] commentators (as L. A. Waddell, ''The Buddhism of Tibet, or Lamaism'', 1895) to describe Tibetan Buddhism. Although the term is not accurate [it] does at least convey the great emphasis placed on the role of the spiritual teacher by this religion."</ref> Insofar as it implies a discontinuity between Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, the term has been discredited.{{sfnp|Conze|1993}}

Another term, "[[Vajrayāna]]" (Tibetan: ''dorje tegpa'') is occasionally misused for Tibetan Buddhism. More accurately, [[Vajrayāna]] signifies a certain subset of practices and traditions that are not only part of Tibetan Buddhism but also prominent in other Buddhist traditions such as [[Chinese Esoteric Buddhism]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=T'ang Dynasty Esoteric School, Buddha, China |url=http://www.tangmi.com/asd/English_TDES.htm |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=www.tangmi.com}}</ref> and [[Shingon Buddhism|Shingon]] in [[Buddhism in Japan|Japan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shingon Buddhist Intl. Institute: History |url=http://www.shingon.org/history/history.html |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=www.shingon.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=What is the Koyasan Shingon Sect? {{!}} Koyasan Shingon Sect Main Temple Kongobu-ji |url=https://www.koyasan.or.jp/en/ |access-date=2023-09-07 |website=www.koyasan.or.jp |language=en}}</ref>

In the west, the term "Indo-Tibetan Buddhism" has become current in acknowledgement of its derivation from the latest stages of Buddhist development in northern India.{{sfnp|Snellgrove|1987|p={{page needed|date=March 2024}}}} "[[Southern, Eastern and Northern Buddhism|Northern Buddhism]]" is sometimes used to refer to Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, for example, in the Brill ''Dictionary of Religion.''

Another term, "Himalayan" (or "Trans-Himalayan") Buddhism is sometimes used to indicate how this form of Buddhism is practiced not just in Tibet but throughout the [[Himalayas|Himalayan Regions]].<ref>see for example the title of Suchandana Chatterjee's ''Trans-Himalayan Buddhism: Reconnecting Spaces, Sharing Concerns'' (2019), Routledge.</ref>{{sfnp|Ehrhard|2005}}

The Provisional Government of Russia, by a decree of 7 July 1917, prohibited the appellation of Buryat and Kalmyk Buddhists as "Lamaists" in official papers. After the October revolution the term "Buddho-Lamaism" was used for some time by the Bolsheviks with reference to Tibetan Buddhism, before they finally reverted, in the early 1920s, to a more familiar term "Lamaism", which remains in official and scholarly usage in Russia to this day.<ref>{{cite book |title=Soviet Russia and Tibet The Debacle of Secret Diplomacy, 1918-1930s |last=Andreyev |first=Alexandr E. |date=January 1, 2003 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004487871 |edition=Brill's Tibetan Studies Library, Volume: 4 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004487871/B9789004487871_s005.xml |access-date=11 April 2024}}</ref>