Tulku

In accordance with the teaching of the Three bodies of the Buddha ( tricaya ), the nirmankaya is the physical, human body of the Buddha. Here "Buddha" is not a historical character , but a qualitative characteristic of every enlightened being, "awakened." Thus, nirmanakaya is not a consecutive “rebirth” of a certain Buddha, but manifestations of the extra-personal absolutely developed perfect potential of the mind in the form of physical form.

Tibet

The Tibetan tracing of the Sanskrit term nirmanakaya - tulku .

The tulku institute has no analogues in other cultures. In the political aspect, it is an alternative to the institution of hereditary inheritance and elections in the nomination of political and religious leaders. The tulku system was developed in the 13th century and became an important feature of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition , and from the 16th century , when one of the Gelug school tulkus, Dalai Lama V , was elevated to the Tibetan throne, began to play a dominant role in Tibetan politics. In the medieval Tibetan society, this system ensured stability, a decrease in tensions in the struggle for power and the continuity of increasing knowledge within the framework of the Buddhist tradition without direct dependence on tribal ties and the short-term political situation.

Tibetans call tulkus also Rinpoche (jewel). In the Tibetan tradition, it is an authoritative spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, according to traditional views, constantly reborn to continue its spiritual work. Tulku can be considered the embodiment of one of the characters of the Buddhist pantheon; Thus, the most famous example is the Dalai Lama - the embodiment of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara , whose line under this title has fourteen reincarnations, ranging from Gedun Oak ( 1391 - 1474 ). The oldest tulku lineage is the Karmapa , which was started by Karmapa I Dusum Khyenpa ( 1110-1193 ).

There are currently more than six hundred tulku lines in Tibet and surrounding regions.

Mongolia

In Mongolia, tulkus (the old Mongol qubilγan ( hubilgan ) - “reincarnate”, “reincarnating”) were primarily proclaimed secular faces, first of all - the most influential princes. Depending on the field in which a person was able to achieve the greatest success, public or spiritual, it complained about the titles “ hutuhta ” or “ gegen ”.

According to the historian and Hambo Lama of the Gandantegchenlin Erdenipel monastery, the Tibetan religious authorities initially began to use this institution in Mongolia for frankly pragmatic purposes:

Starting from the 18th century, the Mongolian tulku institute continued to form already on the basis of the Mongolian Buddhist sangha itself , at the head of which is the Jebdzun-Damba-Khutuhta ( Bogd-Gegen ). The first and second Bogd Gegens belonged to the Mongol khan family, however, from the third to the last , all Kubilgans were Tibetans and came from all social strata. Currently, in the Mongolian environment more than a dozen Kubilgans have been found who are passing or have already completed religious training in the monasteries of Mongolia and India.

Buryatia

Mongolian tulkus were venerated, as were Tibetan, in all regions of Tibetan Buddhism, including Russia , in Buryatia , where in 1887 its own hubilgan appeared, Danzan Norboev , recognized by the Dalai Lama as the sixth incarnation of the Khalkha Ganzhurva-gegen . At the beginning of the 20th century, B.D. Dandaron was identified as a Hubilgan who visited the Tibetan Hambo Lama Giaag Rinpoche in Buryatia. In later times, lamas and believers in the Tunkinsky district of Buryatia considered their countryman, Lama D.-H. Samayev is the embodiment of the most famous figure of Buddhism in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, Agvan Dorzhiev .

List of the most famous tulku lines

• Bogd gegen
• Dalai Lama
• Jamyang Shapa
• Jetsun Dampa
• Karmapa
• Panchen lama
• Tai Situa
• Trungpa
• Shabdrung
• Shamarpa

in Russian

• Mongush M. V. Tibetan tulkus: who are they? (On the phenomenon of reincarnation in Buddhism) // Ethnographic review . - M .: Science , 2008. - № 3 . - p . 161-168 . - ISSN 0869-5415 .
• Shokhin V. K. Trikaya // New Philosophical Encyclopedia / Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences ; Nat Society-nauch. fund; Preds. scientific ed. Council V.S. Stepin , deputy representatives .: A. A. Guseinov , G. Yu. Semigin , uch. sec A.P. Ogurtsov . - 2nd ed., Corr. and add. - M .: Thought , 2010. - ISBN 978-5-244-01115-9 .

in other languages

• Logan, Pamela (2004). Tulkus in Tibet (inaccessible link) . // Harvard Asia Quarterly 8 (1) 15-23.

• Reincarnation
• Tertones