Pilgrimages constitute an important religious activity:
above all to the holy city of Lhasa—sanctified by its ancient
temples and (since the seventeenth century) the presence of
the Dalai Lama—but also to innumerable monasteries,
shrines, and caves in which relics of holy men and women
may be seen, honored, and worshiped. Sacred mountains,
such as Mount Kailash in western Tibet, attract a stream of
pilgrims who circumambulate, perhaps for weeks or months,
the holy abode of the chosen deity. The supreme pilgrimage
is the long journey to the sacred sites of Buddhism in India
and Nepal (Bodh Gaya ̄, Ra ̄jagr:ha, Lumbin ̄ı, Sa ̄rna ̄th); al-
though the flow of pilgrims to India virtually ceased after the
thirteenth century, it again became possible in the twentieth
century.
Ritual practices, while generally having an overall Bud-
dhist conceptual framework, often contain elements that
point back to the pre-Buddhist religion. One such element,
frequently met with, is the “ransom” (glud) in the form of
a small human figurine that is offered as a gesture of propitia-
tion to demons. In the New Year rituals as traditionally prac-
ticed in Lhasa, the glud was in fact a human scapegoat who
was driven out of the city and who, in earlier times, was sym-
bolically killed.
As in other Buddhist countries, regional and local dei-
ties have remained objects of worship, generally performed
by laypeople. In particular, the deities connected with (or
even identified with) sacred mountains, powerful gods of the
land (yul lha), are worshiped during seasonal festivals with
the burning of juniper branches that emit clouds of fragrant
smoke; horse races; archery contests; drinking bouts; and
songs extolling the might of the deity, the beauty of the land,
the fleetness of its horses, and the valor of its heroes. These
gods have a martial nature and are accordingly known as
enemy gods (dgra bla); they are also known as kings (rgyal
po), Usually they are depicted as mounted warriors, dressed
in archaic mail and armor and wearing plumed helmets.
The house ideally reproduces the outside world, and it
has its own guardian deities, such as the god of the fireplace
(thab lha). Care must be taken to avoid polluting the fire-
place in any way, as this angers the god. On the flat rooftops
are altars dedicated to the “male god” (pho lha) and the “fe-
male god” (mo lha) and a banner representing the enemy
god. The “male” and “female” gods are tutelary deities of the
household, supervising the activities of its male and female
members, respectively. The “enemy god” is —in spite of its
name—a deity who protects the entire household or, as a
member of the retinue of the local “god of the land,” the dis-
trict. The worship of these gods on the rooftops corresponds
to that performed in their honor on mountaintops and in
passes: spears and arrows dedicated to them are stacked by
the altar and juniper twigs are burned amid fierce cries of vic-
tory and good luck.
The person, too, possesses a number of tutelary deities
residing in different parts of the body. Every person is also
accompanied, from the moment of birth, by a “white” god
and a “black” demon whose task it is, after death, to place
the white and the black pebbles—representing the good and
evil deeds one has done in this life—on the scales of the judge
of the dead. The basic opposition between “white” and
“black,” good and evil, is a fundamental concept in Tibetan
popular religion and figures prominently in pre-Buddhist
traditions as well. Iranian influences have been suggested,
but it seems likely that the Chinese conceptual dichotomy
of yin and yang lies closer at hand.The ancient cosmological scheme of sky, earth, and un-
derworld remains fundamental in popular religion. In partic-
ular, the cult of the klu—subterranean or aquatic beings easi-
ly irritated by activities such as house building or plowing,
which provoke them to afflict people as well as animals with
various diseases—remains widespread and provides a direct
link to the pre-Buddhist religion.An important aspect of popular religion (and, indeed,
of the pre-Buddhist religion) is the emphasis on knowing the
origins not only of the world but of all features of the land-
scape, as well as of elements of culture and society that are
important to man. Tibetans have a vast number of myths
centering on this theme of origins; while some of them have
a purely narrative function, others serve to legitimate a par-
ticular ritual and must be recited in order that the ritual may
become effective.Rites of divination and of healing in which deities “de-
scend” into a male or female medium (lha pa, “god-
possessed,” or dpaD bo, “hero”) and speak through it are an
important part of religious life, and such mediums are fre-
quently consulted. Other, simpler means of divination are
also extremely widespread.A special kind of medium is the sgrun pa, the bard who
in a state of trance can recite for days on end the exploits of
the great hero Gesar. Regarded as an emanation of the bodhi-
sattva Avalokite ́svara, Gesar has been approved by the Bud-
dhist hierarchy; but essentially he is a popular, epic hero, a
mighty king and warrior. His epic is a storehouse of myths,
folklore, and pan-Eurasian narrative motifs, and is wide-
spread outside Tibet in the Hindu Kush and, above all,
among the Mongolians. Other visionaries (Ddas log) travel in
trance to the Buddhist purgatories, their bodies lying as if
dead; on awakening, they give detailed accounts of the pun-
ishment awaiting sinners beyond the grave. Still others find
hidden “treasures” (gter ma) consisting of texts or sacred ob-
jects; indeed, this has remained until today an important way
of adding to the body of authoritative texts translated from
Sanskrit (and, to a lesser extent, from Chinese), for the “trea-
sure-discoverers” (gter ston) claim to bring to light texts that
have been hidden away (especially by the eighth-century
Tantric master Padmasambhava) during times of persecution
of Buddhism, to be rediscovered, usually with the assistance
of supernatural beings, for the benefit of humanity when the
time is ripe. Finally, ecstatics and visionaries point the way
to earthly paradises such as the mythical kingdom of Shamb-TIBETAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW 9185