Tibetan
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
“Only
when you are in the flow of your dreaming can you experience real power.”—Tibetan
Proverb
The root of the practice of shamanism by the people of Siberia, including
the Tuvans, is most likely Asian shamanism. Tibetan shamanism predates
Buddhism in Asia, and Buddhism has in fact absorbed, or lived side by
side with, much of this older spiritual system, especially in Tibet. At
one time, the Asian culture was continuous throughout Russia, China, India,
Nepal, Tibet, and the Middle East, and shamanism was the major spiritual
and healing practice throughout the entire region. Actually, to call shamanism
a spiritual practice is misleading, for it is actually part of a greater
worldview, or evolved way of life, for the people of this time and place,
and includes esoteric forms of healing and spirituality.
According to Tibetan mythology, the first kings of Tibet were the sons
of Gods. This is common in many indigenous mythologies all over the world.
The first King of Tibet was said to descend on a ladder of rope from the
sky. When a king died, he returned to source by the means of the “sky-cord,”
and the priests, or Mu (Masters of the Rope) were responsible for guiding
the dead back to the abode of the spirits. The Bon Shamans of Tibet understood
reality as consisting of a three tiered universe, connected by a ladder
of rope. This is similar to the mythology and beliefs in root cultures
all over the world, though quite often, it is a tree which connects the
worlds, the roots being in the lower world, the trunk being in the middle
world, and the branches, leaves and fruit being in the upper world. The
Guruhg Shamans of Nepal travel down 9 levels, or ladders, to arrive in
Kroh-nasa, or the underworld. They also traverse 9 ladders to reach the
sky-world, or Mu. The middle, or human world is connected to the upper
world by a tree located in a sacred grove, as well as by a rock dome called
Oble, in the Gurung land of the dead.
The universal tree growing at the center of the universe, connecting the
three levels of reality is common throughout Asian shamanism, and is seen
as well in European shamanism. It is impossible, in studying these root
spiritual systems, not to see the similarities, the commonalities consistent
throughout human consciousness creation. One has to wonder what the reason
for this is, whether we all come from common ancestors who developed these
complex spiritual systems, or whether we have a common teacher whose origins
are not of this earth, but who has visited all the cultures of the planet,
or is it that there are other levels of reality which people, such as
the shamans, have been visiting for thousands of years, and that, as stated
earlier in the course, all those who journey in these realms share this
knowledge, and have spread it over the earth? It is interesting to ponder
these questions. As for the people of the remote country of Tibet, they
developed a very complex spiritual system, based on an ancient worldview
at the center of which were many spirits, most notably, as with the Tuvans,’
spirits of the landscape, especially mountains (like the Q’ero Apus)
lakes, rivers, trees, and stones, as well as animals, plants, and insects.
In addition to these earth based spirits were the spirits of the dead,
many who still are attached to the earth plane.
A very important responsibility of the Bon shamans of Tibet is to escort
the dead through the astral worlds to return safely to the upper worlds.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead describes the journey in which the Tibetan
lama leads the dying soul through the bardo worlds to the clear light,
or higher world, the source of life. This Tibetan Buddhist practice strongly
parallels that of shamanic practices of escorting the dead on their final
journey. The bardo worlds, comparable to the astral worlds in European
traditions, are filled with lost souls, ones who had no one to show them
the way, and became lost in illusion, or who were carrying great pain
or other negative energies at the time of death, which kept them from
finding their way home. Common to all shamanic cultures is the work of
helping these lost souls to find their way, as they often attach to living
people, causing disease and other unwanted manifestations.
The Tibetan Buddhist tradition carries many of the active ritual responsibilities
of the Bon Shamans, and has absorbed many of the older symbols and traditions
as it’s own, such as the Buddhist Saint Padmasambhava, who flies
through the air on his tiger, and dances a mystic dance on the roof of
his house, clad in seven ornaments of bone. As well, the cloud spirit
language of the Dakinis of Tantric Buddhism is much like the secret spirit
language of shamanism. There is, as well, a Tibetan Mystery play which
involves the ritual destruction of a clay figure, looking much like the
Bon exorcism, in which an offensive entity is trapped in a dough effigy,
and ritually destroyed or buried. In Tantric Buddhism, perfected by the
Tibetans as the “Diamond Vehicle,” a direct route to ascension,
there are strong parallels, again, with the shamanistic worlview, as we
can see in looking at the chakra system. The central rope or tree is the
spine, with the chakras, the levels or worlds to be traveled, and the
kundalini awakening and movement upward representative of the shamanic
journey. Here we can see the connections with the Jewish Qabalah as well,
the tree of life with its spheres, or realms to be traversed by the initiate.