Jainism
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Jainism was formed around the sage Mahavira, a contemporary of the Buddha in the 6th century BCE, but Jains view this founder as the twenty-fourth in a series of spiritual leaders that extends back in time. Jainism prohibits harming others or taking life, emphasizes strict self-denial, and promotes life in monasteries.
The Influence of India in Southeast Asia: Cambodia
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The first significant kingdom in this area is best known by its Chinese name, Funan, spanning approximately the 1st to 6th centuries CE. Contact with India is revealed through various Sanskrit inscriptions and historical references in India and China.
Kali
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Kali is perhaps the most terrifying of all the manifestations of the Great Goddess. Her name means “the Black (female) one.” In some myths she is actually the personified anger of Durga as the goddess attacks the buffalo demon. Kali haunts the cremation ground, which is usually situated on the outskirts of any settlement. This is also where non-caste populations, including tribal groups, live, indicating that her roots may be as a tribal deity.
Shiva
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Shiva, one of the most important gods of Hinduism, is a very complex deity. In the Vedic period (ancient times) he was seen as Rudra, the Aryan deity of storms and destruction. He is also an ancient god of fertility. As the god of death and rebirth, Shiva is sometimes imagined in his terrible aspect, as Lord of Destruction, who meditates among the ashes of corpses on a cremation ground.
Stupas
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
At the death of the Buddha Sakyamuni, the cremated relics of the Buddha were divided and placed inside large hemispherical mounds known as stupas. Monumental stupas, some several hundred feet tall, were the earliest Buddhist architecture preserved in India and served as memorials for deceased religious leaders and teachers.
Bodhisattvas
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
In Theravada ("Doctrine of the Elders") Buddhism, the historical Buddha is central; however, in traditions associated with Mahayana ("Great Vehicle") Buddhism and Vajrayana ("Thunderbolt vehicle") Buddhism, he is accompanied by other buddhas and bodhisattvas. These include buddhas who preceded Shakyamuni and, in theory, are infinite in number.
Mudras
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Mudras are specific hand gestures characteristic of buddhas and bodhisattvas that symbolize various meanings. They appear in Buddhist and Hindu images and are also practiced during meditation.
The historical Buddha’s various mudras can refer to specific times in his life, activities, or characteristics.
Tibetan Buddhism
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Buddhism came to the Himalayas in the 6th century from India and Kashmir. In Tibet, Buddhism was established as the official religion of the land during the reign of King Songtsen Gyampo (r. 618–650). Early Buddhist teachers such as the revered Padmasambhava were accepted in part because Buddhist ideas could be associated with Bon, the indigenous shamanic religion.
Dharmapalas
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Dharmapalas, or Great Protectors, were originally hostile or demonic deities of Tibet’s indigenous Bon religion. According to the Bon tradition, these deities were the primary cause of hardship and suffering in life. In the 9th century, Padmasambava, the “Lotus Born," a Buddhist sage and Tantric master, confronted and tamed the local Bon deities, convincing them to swear allegiance to the developing Buddhist religion.
Lhamo
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Lhamo is the city goddess of Lhasa and the principal protector of the Gelukpa sect of Varayhana Buddhism and the Dalai Lamas of Tibet. She is the Buddhist manifestation of the Hindu Death goddess Kali who embodies destruction. Like Kali, Lhamo brings death and destruction to opponents of the Buddhist law or Dharma.
Lhamo is the only female of the eight Dharmapalas and the most extreme in appearance.