A Tibetan man in the Dzado region on pilgrimage to the capital of Lhasa. He will prostrate to the ground every 3rd step, causing the 1000 mile journey to take 6 or 7 months to complete. He will encounter with temperatures reaching below -30°F.
The Buddhism that Tibetan’s follow is not true Buddhism. Buddhism came to Tibet in the 7th century. By the time that Buddhism reached Tibet, it has existed in other parts of Asia for well over 1000 years. When Buddhism did come to Tibet, it was mixed with the Tibetan indigenous belief system known as Bön. Bön, which is still practiced in Tibet, has no central doctrine and has no central deity figure. Tibetans believe that there are a plethora of gods, demons and spirits. Some are good, but most are bad and want to cause harm, sickness and destruction. Tibetans constantly live in fear of these evil beings. Tibetans spend a large portion of their life trying to appease these evil beings by chanting mantras (magical words believed to bring them good luck and to protect them from evil), spinning prayer wheels and hanging up prayer flags (there are trillions of prayer flags across Tibet). Going on large pilgrimages (strenuous walks that are over long distances over high, snow-covered mountains) will earn merit and protection, according to Tibetan worldview.
Prayer flags covering a mountain side
When Buddhism came to Tibet, it mixed with the indigenous belief system called Bön. In addition to working to appease demons and other evil beings, a system of reincarnated Buddhist teachers, known in Tibetan as “lama” were introduced. The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader as well as political-leader-in-exile, is just one of many “lama” in Tibet, Nepal, India and Bhutan. Lama’s in Tibet are often extremely powerful and rich and have the control of tens of thousands of Tibetans who often look at them as reincarnated deities. These lama’s have influence over much of a Tibetan’s day-to-day life.
Lama’s will be consulted for just about everything, including the names of newborn babies, when to begin a pilgrimage, whom to marry, when a new home should be built, if a new business should be started, which grasslands to herd the yaks and for blessings when taking an exam or climbing a mountain (for mountain guides across the Himalaya). Lama’s are also consulted when their is a sickness. Rather than see a doctor when someone is sick, most Tibetans will consult with a lama…even for very serious illness and accidents. Lama’s are consulted for just about any major decision in life.
Sakya Monastery is located near Mt. Everest in southern Tibet. It is one of Tibet’s most famous and oldest monasteries.
Monks at Lhasa’s Sera Monastery during a Buddhist philosophy debate. Monks are highly respected across Tibet and the Himalaya. Before Tibet became part of China in 1950, it was estimated that 15% of men in Tibet were monks.
Over the years, we have had countless friends with major illnesses consult with lama’s, some of whom work at hospitals where Tibetan medicine is practiced. In addition to lama’s, other types of monks will work at these hospitals in addition to nurses. All of the staff are Tibetans and the only medicine practiced is Tibetan. Tibetan medicine is a controversial practice that has existed in Tibet and other Tibetan-inhabited regions of India, Nepal and Bhutan for well over 1000 years. Illnesses are diagnosed through the taking of one’s pulse in different areas of the body. The pulse rate in certain areas, as well as physical symptoms, will determine what herbal medicines one should take. Things like x-rays, CT scans and blood tests are not a part of normal Tibetan medicine practices. In addition to herbal medicine, lama’s and other Buddhist monk doctors in Tibetan hospitals will tell their patients they need to do other religious practices in order to be healed. These practices include reciting certain mantra’s up to 1 million times, making a long pilgrimage to a far away monastery or holy mountain, donating large sums of money to a certain lama or paying to have a group of monks come and recite mantra’s in your house. It’s easy to see why so many Tibetans die of very treatable illnesses.
There are hundreds of millions of idols like this across the Himalaya
We have these very good friends of ours who have a 4 year old daughter. About 1 1/2 years ago, the daughter began having multiple daily seizures, stopped walking on her own, stopped talking and stopped eating on her own. Instead of seeing an actual medical doctor, they consulted with the Buddhist monks and lamas. These monks told them that it was nothing serious and that they should go to a certain monastery in Lhasa (where they live) and pray and give an offering. They did these things, but the condition of their daughter did not improve. In fact, it worsened.
They then consulted other higher level monks who continued to tell them to see specific monasteries, chant certain mantra’s and give donations to well-known monks and lamas. They continued to do these things while their daughter’s condition did not improve. They never thought to see an actual medical doctor as this would be outside the worldview of most Tibetans.
This past Losar (Tibetan New Year), Jamin visited this family as they were in the husbands hometown region of Labrang, located just a short 5 hour drive from the city where we live. He noticed that their daughter was extremely lethargic and couldn’t do anything on her own, despite being over 4 years old. Jamin spent 1 night with this family and told them, very strongly, that they needed to stop listening to the advice of monks and take their daughter to an actual medical doctor. The city we live in is extremely fortunate in that we have 4 excellent foreign doctors. Even large cities in China can’t say that they have 4 foreign doctors. We offered to have these foreign doctors meet with them. The advice fell on deaf ears as it would be against their beliefs to see a medical doctor. To see a medical doctor would imply that the advice from the lama’s and monks was wrong.
Stones with hand-carved prayer stones on them. There many billions of prayers stones like this across Tibet.
About 2 weeks ago, the wife of this family contacted us to tell us that she is very worried about her daughters condition. We kindly told her again that she needed to take her daughter to an actual doctor….and not just a shaman or witch doctor (which is what the lamas are similar to). The wife told us that she actually wanted to take her daughter to see one of the foreign doctors in our city, but her husband’s family would be extremely upset with her. She even said that her husband was also willing to see a foreign doctor, but was scared of the consequences if his family and his local monastery found out (the monastery in his hometown is one of the largest and most respected in all of Tibet).
Finally, after several days of convincing them, they decided to come to the city and see a real doctor. Tamara made an appointment for them and met them at the hospital to see a foreign doctor. The doctor was amazed that they had not taken their daughter to see a doctor even though she had been showing symptoms of epilepsy for nearly 2 years. They ran several tests on the little girl. Unfortunately, most of China is ill-equipped at treating epilepsy. Only the major cities have the medical knowledge to help these patients….almost 3500 miles away from their home in the Himalaya’s of Tibet.
The mother of the daughter stayed with us for 2 nights. We were able to share more about the Truth with her….something she had never heard of before meeting us. The husband took the daughter back to his hometown with him as the local lama there had instructed him that he needs to recite a certain mantra 1 MILLION TIMES and walk around the monastery a certain number of times each day for the next few weeks.
This story is just the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to difficulties faced when working among Tibetans. Their culture is so deceived by Tibetan Buddhism, which permeates all aspects of life. When you understand how powerful the grip of the lama’s is on Tibetan people, it makes sense why there are so, so few believers among them.
We wish we could say this is an isolated story. Unfortunately, we have been in this same situation (with various illness) with at least 8 to 10 of our close friends over the years. Some of them have literally been within hours of death before they have finally agreed to see an actual medical doctor. The hospitals in our city are FULL of Tibetans, nearly all of whom from the ultra-remote nomadic regions that lie 2 to 4 days drive from the city, who are dying of curable illnesses. Unfortunately, they have been sick with things like Tuberculosis, meningitis, cancer and pneumonia for so long that they are beyond being cured. They listened to the lama’s advice for months or even years so that by the time they see a real doctor, it is too late to help them. You can literally see nomad Tibetans (and not just a few) in the hospital hallways here dying everyday….an extremely sad sight. The enemy’s goal is to destroy and kill…..
May the Truth of God be made known to them and others across our world who do not know Him.