The Dalai Lama is like the Buddhist version of the pope. Just some pagan bullshit that got tacked on by a once great empire. Just replace the Latins with the Himalayans.
>>17439143>The Dalai Lama is like the Buddhist version of the pope.absolutely not. imagine if a splinter Mormon sect, too deranged even for mainstream Mormons, incorporated as a corporation, and its managing director made proclamations in the name of the entire Christianity. now that's the Dalai Lama. head of the tibetan theocratic state in exile (he isn't even some sort of archpriest of tibetan buddhism), monk in the tibetan tradition, which itself is a highly devolved form of vajrayana, which is a highly devolved form of mahayana, which is a somewhat devolved form of buddhism.there are about 560 million buddhists in the world, and now try to find the number of tibetan buddhists. as all tibetans number in 6 million and all mongols about 2 million, and minor vajrayana-affiliated sects in Japan are pretty much invisibly small, I bet you end up under 10 million by means of unbridled overestimation.
isnt he that guy that sucks kids tongues? fucking weirdo
>>17439195yeah that's catholicschristianity didn't come from the central or western mediterranean. it came together from the near east and greece.orthodox christians are theravada.protestant christians are mahayana.catholics are vajrayana.they just didn't arise in the same order.the only reason catholics are relevant is because of new worlders. buddhism is less muddied.
>>17439143The Dalai Lama is only revered by a very specific sect of Buddhism. The mormonism comparison is true.
>>17439238same with the pope
>>17439214>orthodox christians are theravada.>protestant christians are mahayana.>catholics are vajrayana.probably one of the most retarded things ive ever read on this board and thats really saying something. religions are not interchangeable for one another. these comparisons make zero sense, even forgetting about the order they arose in. >>17439272not really. the catholic church is massive and defines most of christendom, even protestantism was formed in response against it. the dalai lama is considered the reincarnate founder of a very, very specific sect of tibetan buddhism. hes not even the representative or head of tibetan or vajrayana buddhism, just the gelugs, who again are a very specific sect of tibetan buddhism. the dalai lamas role in the gelug sect is also quite different from the popes; he both has more and less power than the pope
>>17439351You're spot on here but as an aside...I wish those buddha statues didnt have ugly bloated faces. Not saying he needs to be a male model but still. Yes yes there's probably some symbolism or significance to it or whatever. Still ugly.
>>17439359that's the style in east asiathere are many variations throughout history in many different placeshere's one from 14th century what is now thailand
>>17439359I wish statues of the Lord Buddha would be bald as prescribed in the Vinaya which He surely followed himself.
>>17439238He is revered by all the sects of Tibetan Buddhsim but he has no control or power over them. Some of this is because of side effects of the Tibetan diaspora unifying around him. People mistake the Dalai Lama as a leader of the Gelugpa tradition but that is inaccurate that is the Ganden Tripa. Pic is of the 104th. If you want to be really precise most Buddhist traditions break into practice lineages connected to various institutions. For example, you can hear about the Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah , that is the practice part, but then an identification of a lineage like the vinaya practice, that is to say Mahanikai vinaya. You could also hear of something like practicing in the Pure Land tradition of Donglin as taught by Huiyuan.
>>17439143for me it's the child reincarnations of lamas in random children from fucking nowhere
>>17440042That is a Himalayan Buddhist practice, it pops up mainly in Tibeten Buddhism as practiced in Nepal, Buryatia, Mongolia and Tibet. that process itself is only used for very specific figures though, those held to be extremely advanced rather than those with simply a lot of social prestige. Here is a documentary with an example of it.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLsPArAKGzc
>>17440070fuck that, just post me the reincarnation lamas or budhas from wiskonsin and the like
>>17440024am I crazy or are his eyes blue?
Yes hello
>>17439195Vajrayana is the superior branch of Buddhism you ignoramus. Google the rainbow body. Only happens in the Nyingma school of Vajrayana Buddhism, as well as in Tibet's native religion of Bon. Doesn't happen in the Gelugpa school (the Dalai Lama's school). Nyingma's head (Dzogchen Rinpoche Jigme Losel Wangpo) isn't as well known for some stupid reason but it should be because Nyingma is Padmasambhava'a school (the current Buddha) and is superior
>>17440204they might be but it looks like the kind of blue that you get from aging, not from genetics
>>17440561Actually it does pop out in other traditions of Buddhism, some Vajrayana and some not. An example is described in the Mahāparinibbāna, Sutta, with the Buddha. In Far East Asian Buddhism, including esoteric Shingon and Tendai but also Pure Land and Chan you also have it. It is connected to the the concept of Shijie (尸解). Sometimes it is certain lights based upon practice.
>>17440586you can get blue eyes from aging????
>>17440684no
Any good books on the chuddier aspects of Buddhism?
>>17441313I look like this and have thoughts like this.
