Contemporary vajrayAna

For practical purposes, from the H perspective, vajrayAna followers (even dominated by non-Arya populations) are devatA-adoring, with confusions such as

  • slight echoes of the anti-vaidika bauddha counter-religion
  • placing the devatA-s in service of the bauddha mata
  • addition of shAkyamuni to their pantheon.

Deities

  • Locals venerate many devatAs, with a buddhist veneer. They thank and pray to them.
  • Some are ferocious, some gentle. Some are in coitus.
  • Representations -
    • Little roadside houses (could be empty), with fragrant burnt grasses.
    • consecrated paintings (thangka-s) and sculptures.
  • A notable deity is the horse-riding shrIdevI; whom the driver loudly thanked on returning via chang-lA pass.
  • Curiously, mirroring paurANika religion, Indra is reduced in stature, and made to receive instruction from maitreya bodhi-sattva post-defeat.
  • Animal sacrifices to fierce guardian deities were common until the refugee dalai lAmA mostly stopped it all.

Covering and revealing

In the thiksey monastery, the fierce deities like yamAntaka are covered (so as to not disturb the monks’ meditations) except before the annual festival. My theory is that they are covered so that they don’t chuck buddha and just focus on the devas.

Some special thangka paintings are revealed only annually.

Prayers and Offerings

  • One can observe people chanting, praying and prostrating.
  • Lay people put down money and write their names in public shrine rooms so that they may be specially included among the beneficiaries of the next pUjA.
  • “7 cups of water” offering is supposedly popular.
  • One observes offerings of money, chocolates, cans of beer and cola …

Mantras and japa

  • Many mantras seem widely used without initiation (eg. maNi padme hum of avalokiteshvara, tuttAre of tArA, mune mune of shAkyamuni). Flags and engraved cylinders help japas; and quite a few old folks may be seen muttering them on walks.

Household ritual

  • Daily household ritual includes burning some special grass and spreading smoke everywhere in the building.
  • Devotees specially visit monasteries on special deays like aShTamI and parva-s. For festivals (eg. thiksey gustor) they wear traditional dress.
  • Rituals are said to gain merit for the performer; who is then encouraged to benevolently give it up and pass it on for the welfare of other beings.

Transmissions

  • Social media (and earlier radio) is a culture carrier. Older folks listen to discourses by those like dalai lAma translated to ladakhi.
  • The ladAkh driver recalled seeing rAmAyaNa on TV, and hearing para-tibeto-turko-mongol epic “gling gesar” or radio as a kid.

Death rituals

Some texts (Tibetan book of the dead?) is read when someone dies.
Those who could afford built commemorative stUpas (lot of them around).

Clergy

lAma

  • bauddha vajrayAna lAma-s function as ritualists. They are frequently compared to Hindu “paNDits” (ie. archakas and purohitas).
  • They are highly regarded. They’re engaged and patronized by villagers even for village festivals.
  • Mostly (as in case of hindu v1s), their knowledge is low; with the questioning clear-headed scholarly type being rare.
  • Some are trained in tibetan Ayurveda medicine.
  • Occassional special rituals include homas, mask dances …
  • There is some baba-ism. One sees photos of prominent rimpoches (=gems) everywhere.
  • The monks generally don’t eat dinner.

Monasteries / Gonpas

  • Structures include - shrines / chanting halls, kitchen/ dining hall, many lAmA houses, occassionally “lecture/ debate” halls, sometimes - traditional clincs + herb gardens.
  • Central shrines features buddhas and lAmas (the high ones have hierarchically heightened seats). Lay visitors sit towards the back.
  • Daily chanting includes occassional bells, gongs, drums, pipes.
  • The shrine rooms often have good libraries with birch manuscripts (and some paper books).
  • Gonpas often have devatAs and their symbols on the roof points - eg. trishUla over a skull and drum.
  • Big Gonpa kitchens also serve lay visitors in the back of the monk dining hall.
  • Some monasteries have Tibetan Ayurveda apothecaries; with blue medicine buddha paintings.

Upkeep

  • Gompas depend mostly on donations and ritual fees for upkeep.
  • Some have land holdings, receiving a fraction of cultivated material as rent. Bakula Rimpoche of lA-dakh supposedly drastically reduced this.
  • People often contributed physical labor.

AtmA

Overall, for most people, there is no emphaisis on anAtmA / pratItya-samudbhava of 5 skandha-s.

shUnyatA

While the word shUnya is thought to indicate some important concept represented by some symbology / imagery, people are almost always ignorant about it, and what it means. svabhAva-shUnyatA and nirvikalpakatA are generally unheard of.