11
Buddhism in the Tibetan
Cultural Area
11.1 A Tantric Orthodoxy
T
he Tib"etan cultural area covers the lands in which the Tibetan form of
the Buddhist Unexcelled Yoga traditions became established as the
dominant religion. This includes not only Tibet, but also the Himalayan
valleys immediately bordering Tibet-such as Ladakh, Spiti, Bhutan, Sikkim,
and Mustang in northwestern Nepal-as well as areas further afield that the
Tibetans converted to their form of Buddhism, such as Mongolia, the Buryats
in Siberia, and the Kalmyks in the steppes north of the Caspian Sea. All of
these lands had strong shamanic traditions prior to their adoption ofBud-
dhism, traditions that played a major role not only in determining which form
of Buddhism was to become dominant in this area but also in reshaping Bud-
dhist practice as it became established.
The question of the relationship between Buddhism and the preexisting
shamanic practices provided a recurring point of disagreement and creative
compromise throughout the history ofBuddhism in these lands. On the pop-
ular level, the issues were similar to those surrounding Theravada syncretism
in Southeast Asia: how the beliefs and rituals dealing with the spirit world
were to be rationalized in terms of the Buddhist doctrine of karma. The pri-
mary difference here was that the dominant orthodoxy-Tantra, with its
mantras, rituals, visualizations, and assumption of divine identities-acted as a
primary source of techniques for the shaman's arsenal. On the level of medita-
tion practice, the tension between shamanism and Buddhism revolved around
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