Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, as well as in Nepal. Smaller groups of practitioners can be found in Central Asia, some regions of China like Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and some regions of Russia, such as Tuva, Buryatia, and Kalmykia.
The purpose of this timeline is to give a detailed account of Buddhism from the birth of Gautama Buddha to the present.
Cheng Yen or Shih Cheng Yen (Chinese: 證嚴法師, 釋證嚴; pinyin: Zhèngyán Fǎshī; Wade–Giles: Chêng4 Yen2 Fa3-shih1; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Chèng-giâm Hoat-su; born Chin-Yun Wong; the 24th of the third Lunar month, 4 May 1937) is a Taiwanese Buddhist nun (bhikkhuni), teacher, and philanthropist. She is the founder of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, ordinarily referred to as Tzu Chi, a Buddhist humanitarian organization based in Taiwan. In the West, she is sometimes referred to as the "Mother Teresa of Asia".
The Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje was the spiritual leader of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He is of the oldest line of reincarnate lamas in Vajrayana Buddhism known as the Karmapas, whose coming was predicted by the Buddha in the Samadhiraja Sutra. The 16th Karmapa was considered to be a "living Buddha" and was deeply involved in the transmission of the Vajrayana Buddhism to Europe and North America following the Chinese invasion of Tibet. He had many monikers, including "King of the Yogis", and is the subject of numerous books and films.
Kyabje Khenchen Jigme Phuntsok,, was a Nyingma lama and Terton from Sertha Region. His family were Tibetan nomads. At the age of five he was recognized "as a reincarnation of Lerab Lingpa. Known also as Nyala Sogyel and Terton Sogyel, Lerab Lingpa was an eclectic and highly influential tantric visionary from the eastern Tibetan area of Nyarong ." He studied Dzogchen at Nubzor Monastery, received novice ordination at 14, and full ordination at 22. In 1980, he founded Larung Gar, the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastic academy.
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, also known as Khyentse Norbu, is a Bhutanese lama, filmmaker, and writer. His five major films are The Cup (1999), Travellers and Magicians (2003), Vara: A Blessing (2013), Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait (2017), and Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache (2019). He is the author of several published books such as What Makes You Not a Buddhist (2007), Not For Happiness: A Guide to the So-Called Preliminary Practices (2012), The Guru Drinks Bourbon? (2016), Living is Dying (2020), and several non-fiction works on Tibetan Buddhism for free distribution such as Introduction to the Middle Way: Chandrakirti’s Madhyamaka with Commentary (2003) and Buddha Nature: Mahayana-Uttaratantra-Shastra with Commentary (2007). He has also written an autobiography in process entitled Mugwort Born. Many of his teachings are available on the Siddhartha’s Intent YouTube channel.
Matthieu Ricard is a Nepalese French writer, photographer, translator and Buddhist monk who resides at Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery in Nepal.
Machig Labdrön, or "Singular Mother Torch from Lab" (1055–1149), was a female Tibetan Buddhist monk believed to be a reincarnation of Yeshe Tsogyal, and the renowned 11th-century Tibetan tantric Buddhist master and yogini that originated several Tibetan lineages of the Vajrayana practice of Chöd.
Ani Tsankhung Nunnery is a nunnery of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism in the city of Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It was built in the 15th century on a site that had been used for meditation by the 7th century Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo. The nuns support themselves through alms and manufacturing items such as clothing and printed texts.
Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo is a bhikṣuṇī in the Drukpa lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. She is an author, teacher and founder of the Dongyu Gatsal Ling Nunnery in Himachal Pradesh, India. She is best known for being one of the very few Western yoginis trained in the East, having spent twelve years living in a remote cave in the Himalayas, three of those years in strict meditation retreat.
Thubten Chodron, born Cheryl Greene, is an American Tibetan Buddhist nun, author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Western nuns and monks in the United States. Chodron is a central figure in the reinstatement of the Bhikshuni ordination of women. She is a student of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, Lama Thubten Yeshe, Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, and other Tibetan masters. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, and is co-authoring with the Dalai Lama a multi-volume series of teachings on the Buddhist path, The Library of Wisdom and Compassion.
Women in Buddhism is a topic that can be approached from varied perspectives including those of theology, history, anthropology, and feminism. Topical interests include the theological status of women, the treatment of women in Buddhist societies at home and in public, the history of women in Buddhism, and a comparison of the experiences of women across different forms of Buddhism. As in other religions, the experiences of Buddhist women have varied considerably.
Buddhism in the United Kingdom is the fifth-largest religious group in the United Kingdom. The 2021 United Kingdom census recorded just under 290,000 Buddhists, or about 0.4% of the total population, with the largest number of Buddhists residing in Greater London and South East England. According to a Buddhist organisation, the growth of Buddhism in the United Kingdom is mainly a result of conversions.
Robina Courtin is a Buddhist nun in the Tibetan Buddhist Gelugpa tradition and lineage of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. In 1996 she founded the Liberation Prison Project, which she ran until 2009.
Karmamudrā is a Vajrayana Buddhist technique which makes use of sexual union with a physical or visualized consort as well as the practice of inner heat (tummo) to achieve a non-dual state of bliss and insight into emptiness. In Tibetan Buddhism, proficiency in inner heat yoga is generally seen as a prerequisite to the practice of karmamudrā.
Sakyadhītā International Association of Buddhist Women is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 1987 at the conclusion of its first conference and registered in California in the United States in 1988. Sakyadhītā holds an international conference every two years, bringing together laypeople, nuns, and monks from different countries and traditions around the world.
Davina Delor is a French dancer, choreographer, writer, and famous for her popular TV show Gym Tonic who adopted monkhood as a Buddhist nun in 2004 after meeting the Dalai Lama. After ordination, she changed her name to Gelek Drolkar. She converted her country home at Haims into a Buddhist monastery, and along with three other nuns, teaches Buddhism to students and lay persons. She has published a number of books on yoga and Buddhism, one of which is titled Le bonheur selon Bouddha which explains the precepts of Buddhism.
The Four Heavenly Kings or Four Great Mountains四大名山 of Taiwan refers to four Buddhist masters in Taiwanese Buddhism who each founded an influential Buddhist institution in the country. The term draws its name from the Four Heavenly Kings who each rule over one of the heavenly realms in Buddhist cosmology. Like the Four Heavenly Kings mythology, each Buddhist teacher corresponds to one cardinal direction, based on where their organization is located in Taiwan. The corresponding institutions of the masters are referred to as the "Four Great Mountains".
Lama Jigme Rinpoche is an author and teacher in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Born into the family of Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa, he is the brother of the late 14th Shamar Rinpoche, Mipham Chokyi Lodro. The 16th Karmapa appointed Lama Jigme Rinpoche as his European representative. He asked him to oversee the development of a shedra (university), library, retreat center, and monastery at Dhagpo Kagyu Ling in Dordogne, France, where Jigme Rinpoche is currently the main representative of Trinley Thaye Dorje and head of the monastery.
