Pa Drengen Changchop Simpa
Encyclopedia
Avalokitesvara
Avalokiteśvara is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism....
, one of the most important figures of the Tibetan culture. He is considered as the incarnation of the bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
of compassion. Pha means “father”, Trelgen “old monkey”, Changchup Sempa “bodhisattva” (Changchub “compassion” and Sempa “heart”).
Birth of the first Tibetans
In a very popular myth of creation in TibetTibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, the world in the beginning was covered by water. This one evaporated little by little, leaving room to the animal life. On the immersed grounds of Tibet, a monkey arrived which had withdrawn to this country to plunge in the meditation and to follow a life of asceticism and chastity. He installed himself on the Gongori mount, which should be Tsetang
Tsetang
Zêtang is one of the largest cities in Tibet and is located in the Yarlung Valley, 183 km southeast of Lhasa in Nedong County of Lhoka Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China...
city today in the prefecture of Lhoka in the South of Tibet. One day, whereas he had sat in meditation, a female demon came to seduce him. According to the traditions this one would be the manifestation of the bodhisattva Tara (Buddhism)
Tara (Buddhism)
Tara or Ārya Tārā, also known as Jetsun Dolma in Tibetan Buddhism, is a female Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who appears as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism. She is known as the "mother of liberation", and represents the virtues of success in work and achievements...
, "Jetsun Dolma" in Tibetan, also symbol of the energy of the compassion and protector of the merchants and travelers. She threatened him, if he did not want to bind with her, to go to see a demon and to conceive a multitude of small monsters which would destroy the beings. The wise monkey yielded up and requested the authorization of Avalokiteśvara to marry her. This last blessed the monkey and the female demon and, a few months later, six small monkeys were born from their union. The monkey let his six children grow in forest, but after three years, he discovered that they had become five hundreds. The fruits of the forest were not consequently sufficient any more to feed them and the five hundreds monkeys beseeched their father to help them to find food. This one didn’t know what to do and went again to find the god of the compassion to require his assistance. Then, Avalokiteśvara went on the mount Meru, or Sumeru
Sumeru
Sumeru or Sineru is the name of the central world-mountain in Buddhist cosmology. Etymologically, the proper name of the mountain is Meru , to which is added the approbatory prefix su-, resulting in the meaning "excellent Meru" or "wonderful Meru".The concept of Sumeru is closely related to the...
, which should correspond today to Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash is a peak in the Gangdisê Mountains, which are part of the Himalayas in Tibet...
; sacred place for the Buddhists as well as the Hindouists, also for the Jains
Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...
and the Bönpo. According to some people, he gathered at the top of the mountain a handful of barley, for others, he would have extracted directly from his own body five cereals before offering them to the monkey father. This last learned the cultivation and after a good harvest, could finally nourish all his children. As they nourished themselves with cereals, the monkeys lost little by little their hairs and their tail. They also started to use implements in bone and stone, then made clothes and build houses until forming a civilization from which the people Tibetan would be descended.
Another version
It is also said that, seeing the world peopled of demons, Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, took pity for the Earth. Then, he incarnated himself in a monkey and mated with an ogress of the rock. From this union were born six monkeys which represent the six principal clans constituting the Tibetan people.External links
- http://www.xzta.gov.cn/yxxz/jdgk/726.shtml (in Chinese)
- http://www.tibettrip.com/cityguide/shannan/gongpori.htm (in English)
See also
- AvalokiteśvaraAvalokitesvaraAvalokiteśvara is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism....
- History of TibetHistory of TibetTibetan history, as it has been recorded, is particularly focused on the history of Buddhism in Tibet. This is partly due to the pivotal role this religion has played in the development of Tibetan, Mongol, and Manchu cultures, and partly because almost all native historians of the country were...
- HanumanHanumanHanuman , is a Hindu deity, who is an ardent devotee of Rama, a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana and one of the dearest devotees of lord Rama. A general among the vanaras, an ape-like race of forest-dwellers, Hanuman is an incarnation of the divine and a disciple of Lord Rama in the...
- Sun WukongSun WukongSun Wukong , also known as the Monkey King is a main character in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West . In the novel, he is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices...