Editing Tibetan Buddhism (section)

== Institutions and clergy ==
[[File:Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Karmapa with Gelongma Karma Kechog Palmo (Freda Bedi) at Rumtek Monastery, Sikkim in 1971.jpg|thumb|[[Rangjung Rigpe Dorje]], the 16th [[Karmapa]], with [[Freda Bedi]] (the first Western nun in Tibetan Buddhism), at [[Rumtek Monastery]], [[Sikkim]]]]
[[File:India - Ladakh - Leh - 012 - lonely gompa south of Leh (3841440587).jpg|thumb|A small ''gompa'' (religious building) in [[Ladakh]]]]
[[File:Chagdud.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche]], a tulku and a ngagpa (note the white and red robes)]]

[[Buddhist monasticism]] is an important part of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, all the major and minor schools maintain large monastic institutions based on the [[Mulasarvastivada]] [[Vinaya]] (monastic rule) and many religious leaders come from the monastic community. That being said, there are also many religious leaders or teachers (called ''[[Lama]]s'' and ''[[Guru]]s'') which are not [[Celibacy|celibate]] [[Monasticism|monastics]]. According to Geoffrey Samuel this is where "religious leadership in Tibetan Buddhism contrasts most strongly with much of the rest of the Buddhist world."{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=130}}

According to Namkhai Norbu, in Tibet, Tibetan lamas had four main types of lifestyles:

<blockquote>those who were monks, living in monasteries; those who lived a lay life, with their homes in villages; lay masters who lived as tent-dwelling nomads, travelling with their disciples, in some cases following their herds; and those who were yogis, often living in caves.<ref>{{cite book |last=Norbu |first=Namkhai |year=2000 |title=The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen |page=63 |publisher=Snow Lion Publications}}</ref></blockquote>

Lamas are generally skilled and experienced tantric practitioners and ritual specialists in a specific initiation lineage and may be laypersons or monastics. They act not just as teachers, but as spiritual guides and guardians of the lineage teachings that they have received through a long and intimate process of apprenticeship with their Lamas.{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|pp=131–134}}

Tibetan Buddhism also includes a number of [[lay clergy]] and lay tantric specialists, such as [[Ngagpa|''Ngagpas'']] (Skt. ''mantrī''), ''Gomchens'', ''Serkyims'', and ''Chödpas'' (practitioners of [[Chöd]]). According to Samuel, in the more remote parts of the Himalayas, communities were often led by lay religious specialists.{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=141}} Thus, while the large monastic institutions were present in the regions of the [[Tibetan Plateau|Tibetan plateau]] which were more centralized politically, in other regions they were absent and instead smaller [[Gompa|''gompas'']] and more lay oriented communities prevailed.{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=158}}

Samuel outlines four main types of religious communities in Tibet:{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|pp=159–162}}

* Small communities of lay practitioners attached to a temple and a lama. Lay practitioners might stay in the ''gompa'' for periodic retreats.
* Small communities of celibate monastics attached to a temple and a lama, often part of a village.
* Medium to large communities of celibate monastics. These could maintain several hundred monks and might have extensive land holdings, be financially independent, and sometimes also act as trading centers.
* Large teaching monasteries with thousands of monks, such as the big Gelug establishments of [[Sera Monastery|Sera]] (with over 6000 monks in the first half of the 20th century) and [[Drepung Monastery|Drepung]] (over 7000).<ref>{{cite book |first=Chapman F. |last=Spencer |title=Lhasa the Holy City |page=195 |publisher=Readers Union Ltd. |place=London}}</ref>

In some cases a lama is the leader of a spiritual community. Some lamas gain their title through being part of particular family which maintains a lineage of hereditary lamas (and are thus often laypersons). One example is the Sakya family of Kon, who founded the [[Sakya (Tibetan Buddhist school)|Sakya]] school and another is the hereditary lamas of [[Mindrolling Monastery|Mindrolling monastery]].{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|pp=140–141}}

In other cases, lamas may be seen as ''[[Tulku|tülkus]]'' ("incarnations"). Tülkus are figures which are recognized as reincarnations of a particular bodhisattva or a previous religious figure. They are often recognized from a young age through the use of [[divination]] and the use of the possessions of the deceased lama, and therefore are able to receive extensive training. They are sometimes groomed to become leaders of monastic institutions.{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=146}} Examples include the [[Dalai Lamas]] and the [[Karmapa]]s, each of which are seen as key leaders in their respective traditions.

The system of [[Tulku|incarnate lamas]] is popularly held to be a Tibetan alteration to Indian Buddhism.

Another title unique to Tibetan Buddhism is that of [[Tertön]] (treasure discoverer), who are considered capable of revealing or discovering special revelations or texts called [[Terma (religion)|Termas]] ({{lit|hidden treasure}}). They are also associated with the idea of ''[[beyul]]'' ("hidden valleys"), which are power places associated with deities and hidden religious treasures.{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=144}}

Tibetan teachers, including the [[Dalai Lamas]], occasionally consult [[Oracle#Tibet|oracles]] for advice.

===Women in Tibetan Buddhism===
{{further|Women in Buddhism|Ordination of women in Buddhism}}
[[File:Machik Labdron.jpg|thumb|[[Machig Labdrön]], a famous female tantrika, teacher and founder of the [[Chöd]] lineage]]
[[File:Ayu-khandro.jpg|upright|thumb|Painting of Ayu Khandro at Merigar West. The seat of Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and The Dzogchen Community in Italy]]
Women in Tibetan society, though still unequal, tended to have a relatively greater autonomy and power than in surrounding societies. This might be because of the smaller household sizes and low population density in Tibet.{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=206}} Women traditionally took many roles in Tibetan Buddhism, from lay supporters, to monastics, lamas and tantric practitioners.

There is evidence for the importance of female practitioners in Indian Tantric Buddhism and pre-modern Tibetan Buddhism. At least one major lineage of tantric teachings, the [[Shangpa Kagyu]], traces itself to Indian female teachers and there have been a series of important female Tibetan teachers, such as [[Yeshe Tsogyal]] and [[Machig Labdrön]].{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=214}} It seems that even though it might have been more difficult for women to become serious tantric yoginis, it was still possible for them to find lamas that would teach them high tantric practices.

Some Tibetan women become lamas by being born in one of the hereditary lama families such as [[Khandro Rinpoche|Mindrolling Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche]] and Sakya Jetsün Kushok Chimey Luding.{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=216}} There have also been cases of influential female lamas who were also tertöns, such as [[Kunzang Dekyong Wangmo|Sera Khandro]], [[Tare Lhamo]] and [[Ayu Khandro]].

Some of these figures were also tantric consorts (''sangyum, kandroma'') with male lamas, and thus took part in the sexual practices associated with the highest levels of tantric practice.{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=215}}

==== Eastern nuns ====
While monasticism is practiced there by women, it is much less common (2 percent of the population in the 20th century compared to 12 percent of men). Nuns were also much less respected by Tibetan society than monks and may receive less lay support than male monastics.{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=211}}

Traditionally, Tibetan Buddhist nuns were also not "fully ordained" as [[bhikkhuni|bhikṣuṇīs]] (who take the full set of monastic vows in the [[Vinaya]]). When Buddhism traveled from India to Tibet, apparently the quorum of bhikṣuṇīs required for bestowing full ordination never reached Tibet.{{sfnp|Tsomo|1999|p=22}}{{efn|Under the Mulasarvastivadin Vinaya, as with the two other extant Vinaya lineages today ([[Theravada]] and [[Dharmaguptaka]]), in order to ordain bhikṣuṇīs, there must be quorums of both bhikṣuṇīs ''and'' bhikṣus; without both, a woman cannot be ordained as a nun ({{bo|t=དགེ་སློང་མ་|s=gélongma}}).}} Despite an absence of ordination there, bhikṣuṇīs did travel to Tibet. A notable example was the Sri Lankan nun [[Candramālī]], whose work with Śrījñāna ({{bo|w=dpal ye shes}}) resulted in the tantric text ''Śrīcandramāla Tantrarāja''.{{efn|{{bo|t=དཔལ་ཟླ་བའི་ཕྲེང་བའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་པོ}}, {{zh|c=吉祥月鬘本續王}}}}{{sfnp|Tsomo|1999|p=76}}

There are accounts of fully ordained Tibetan women, such as the [[Samding Dorje Phagmo]] (1422–1455), who was once ranked the highest female master and [[tulku]] in Tibet, but very little is known about the exact circumstances of their ordination.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haas |first=Michaela |title=Dakini Power: Twelve Extraordinary Women Shaping the Transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in the West |publisher=Shambhala Publications |year=2013 |isbn=978-1559394079 |page=6}}</ref>

In the modern era, Tibetan Buddhist nuns have taken full ordinations through East Asian Vinaya lineages.{{sfnp|Samuel|2012|p=213}} The Dalai Lama has authorized followers of the Tibetan tradition to be ordained as nuns in traditions that have such ordination.{{efn|According to [[Thubten Chodron]], the current [[Dalai Lama]] has said on this issue:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.congress-on-buddhist-women.org/index.php?id=30|title=A New Possibility: Introducing Full Ordination for Women into the Tibetan Buddhist Tradition|access-date=28 June 2015|archive-date=28 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928185818/http://www.congress-on-buddhist-women.org/index.php?id=30|url-status=dead}}</ref>
#In 2005, the Dalai Lama repeatedly spoke about the bhikṣuṇī ordination in public gatherings. In Dharamsala, he encouraged, "We need to bring this to a conclusion. We Tibetans alone can't decide this. Rather, it should be decided in collaboration with Buddhists from all over the world. Speaking in general terms, were the Buddha to come to this 21st century world, I feel that most likely, seeing the actual situation in the world now, he might change the rules somewhat...."
#Later, in [[Zürich]] during a 2005 conference of Tibetan Buddhist Centers, he said, "Now I think the time has come; we should start a working group or committee" to meet with monks from other Buddhist traditions. Looking at the German bhikṣuṇī [[Jampa Tsedroen]], he instructed, "I prefer that Western Buddhist nuns carry out this work… Go to different places for further research and discuss with senior monks (from various Buddhist countries). I think, first, senior bhikshunis need to correct the monks' way of thinking.
#"This is the 21st century. Everywhere we are talking about equality….Basically Buddhism needs equality. There are some really minor things to remember as a Buddhist—a bhikshu always goes first, then a bhikshuni….The key thing is the restoration of the bhikshuni vow."

[[Alexander Berzin (scholar)|Alexander Berzin]] referred to the Dalai Lama having said on occasion of the 2007 Hamburg congress:
{{blockquote|Sometimes in religion there has been an emphasis on male importance. In Buddhism, however, the highest vows, namely the bhikshu and bhikshuni ones, are equal and entail the same rights. This is the case despite the fact that in some ritual areas, due to social custom, bhikshus go first. But Buddha gave the basic rights equally to both sangha groups. There is no point in discussing whether or not to revive the bhikshuni ordination; the question is merely how to do so properly within the context of the Vinaya.<ref name="StudyBuddhism.com 2">{{Cite web|url=https://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/prayers-rituals/vows/conference-report-on-bhikshuni-ordination-lineages/summary-of-speeches-at-the-bhikshuni-congress-day-3|title=Summary of Speeches at the Bhikshuni Congress: Day 3|website=studybuddhism.com}}</ref>}}}} The official lineage of Tibetan Buddhist bhikṣuṇīs recommenced on 23 June 2022 in Bhutan when 144 nuns, most of them Butanese, were fully ordained.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/tenzin-palmo-womens-ordination/|title=Making the Sangha Whole|first=Vicki|last=Mackenzie|date=22 July 2024|website=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review}}</ref><ref>DAMCHÖ DIANA FINNEGAN and CAROLA ROLOFF (BHIKṢUṆĪ JAMPA TSEDROEN). "Women Receive Full Ordination in Bhutan For First Time in Modern History", ''Lion's Roar'', JUNE 27, 2022.</ref>

====Western nuns and lamas====
Buddhist author Michaela Haas notes that Tibetan Buddhism is undergoing a sea change in the West, with women playing a much more central role.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michaela-haas/female-dalai-lama-why-it-matters_b_2982005.html|title=A Female Dalai Lama? Why It Matters|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|access-date=May 4, 2013|quote=Of all these changes that we are watching Buddhism undergo in the West, the most momentous may be that women are playing an equal role.}}</ref>

[[Freda Bedi]]{{efn|Sometimes spelled Frida Bedi, also named Sister Palmo, or Gelongma Karma Kechog Palmo}} was a British woman who was the first Western woman to take ordination in Tibetan Buddhism, which occurred in 1966.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-61180-425-6|title=Nonfiction Book Review: The Revolutionary Life of Freda Bedi: British Feminist, Indian Nationalist, Buddhist Nun by Vicki Mackenzie. Shambhala, $16.95 trade paper (208p) {{Text|ISBN}} 978-1-61180-425-6|date=28 March 2017 |publisher=Publishersweekly.com|access-date=2017-06-10}}</ref> [[Pema Chödrön]] was the first American woman to be ordained as a Buddhist nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.<ref name="DharmaHaven">{{cite web|url=http://dharma-haven.org/tibetan/teachings-ctr-students.html#Pema|title=Works by Chögyam Trungpa and His Students|date=June 23, 1999|work=Dharma Haven|access-date=2013-10-14}}</ref><ref name="Ani Pema Chödrön">{{cite web|url=http://www.gampoabbey.org/ane_pema/|title=Ani Pema Chödrön|publisher=Gampoabbey.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117193624/http://www.gampoabbey.org/ane_pema/|archive-date=2010-11-17|url-status=dead|access-date=2010-11-19}}</ref>

In 2010 the first Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in America, Vajra Dakini Nunnery in Vermont, was officially consecrated. It offers novice ordination and follows the [[Drikung Kagyu]] lineage of Buddhism. The abbot of the Vajra Dakini nunnery is [[Khenmo Drolma]], an American woman, who is the first bhikṣuṇī in the Drikung lineage of Buddhism, having been ordained in Taiwan in 2002.<ref name="vajradakininunnery.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.vajradakininunnery.org/firstsforwomen.html|title=Women Making History|publisher=Vajradakininunnery.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601092702/http://www.vajradakininunnery.org/firstsforwomen.html|archive-date=2010-06-01|url-status=dead|access-date=2010-11-19}}</ref><ref name="drolma">{{cite web|url=http://www.vajradakininunnery.org/nyima.html|title=Khenmo Drolma|publisher=Vajradakininunnery.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601092727/http://www.vajradakininunnery.org/nyima.html|archive-date=2010-06-01|url-status=dead|access-date=2010-11-19}}</ref> She is also the first westerner, male or female, to be installed as an abbot in the [[Drikung Kagyu]] lineage of Buddhism, having been installed as the abbot of the Vajra Dakini Nunnery in 2004.<ref name="vajradakininunnery.org" /> The Vajra Dakini Nunnery does not follow [[The Eight Garudhammas]].<ref name="vajradakini">{{cite web|url=http://www.vajradakininunnery.org/|title=Vajra Dakini Nunnery|publisher=Vajra Dakini Nunnery|access-date=2010-11-19}}</ref>

In April 2011, the [[Institute for Buddhist Dialectical Studies]] (IBD) in Dharamsala, India, conferred the degree of [[geshe]], a Tibetan Buddhist academic degree for monastics, on [[Kelsang Wangmo]], a German nun, thus making her the world's first female geshe.<ref name="huffingtonpost.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michaela-haas/buddhism-women_b_862798.html|title=2,500 Years After The Buddha, Tibetan Buddhists Acknowledge Women|last=Haas|first=Michaela|date=2011-05-18|work=Huffington Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mandalamagazine.org/2012/geshe-kelsang-wangmo-an-interview-with-the-worlds-first-female-geshe/|title=Geshe Kelsang Wangmo, An Interview with the World's First Female Geshe « Mandala Publications|publisher=Mandalamagazine.org|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415120506/http://www.mandalamagazine.org/2012/geshe-kelsang-wangmo-an-interview-with-the-worlds-first-female-geshe/|archive-date=2013-04-15|url-status=dead|access-date=2014-08-25}}</ref> In 2013 Tibetan women were able to take the geshe exams for the first time.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/06/07/buddhist-nun-professors-or-none//|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607162349/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/06/07/buddhist-nun-professors-or-none/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-06-07|title=Buddhist nun professors or none? – OnFaith|last=Haas|first=Michaela|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> In 2016 twenty Tibetan Buddhist nuns became the first Tibetan women to earn [[geshe]] degrees.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tnp.org/geshema/|title=Tibetan Buddhist Nuns Make History: Congratulations Geshema Nuns! – The Tibetan Nuns Project|last=Nuns|first=Tibetan|date=2016-07-14|publisher=Tnp.org|access-date=2016-10-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lionsroar.com/twenty-tibetan-buddhist-nuns-are-first-to-earn-geshema-degrees/|title=Twenty Tibetan Buddhist nuns are first ever to earn Geshema degrees – Lion's Roar|date=2016-07-15|publisher=Lionsroar.com|access-date=2016-10-04|archive-date=5 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005144113/http://www.lionsroar.com/twenty-tibetan-buddhist-nuns-are-first-to-earn-geshema-degrees/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Jetsunma Ahkon Lhamo]] gained international attention in the late 1980s as the first Western woman to be a [[Penor Rinpoche]] enthroned [[tulku]] within the [[Nyingma]] [[Palyul]].<ref name="Reborn">{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE5DC1E3FF935A15753C1A96E948260|title=U.S. Woman Is Named Reborn Buddhist Saint|last=Stevens|first=William K.|date=1988-10-26|access-date=2008-07-26|newspaper=[[New York Times]]}}</ref>