Tibetan Culture
Tibetan culture
Tibetan culture developed under the influence of a number of factors. Contact with neighboring countries and cultures- including Nepal, India and China–have influenced the development of Tibetan culture, but the Himalayan region's remoteness and inaccessibility have preserved distinct local influences. Buddhism has exerted a particularly strong influence on Tibetan culture since its introduction in the 7th century. Art, literature, and music all contain elements of the prevailing Buddhist beliefs, and Buddhism itself has adopted a unique form in Tibet, influenced by the Bön tradition and other local beliefs. Tibet's specific geographic and climatic conditions–its altitude, short growing season, and cold weather–have encouraged reliance on pastoralism, as well as the development of a different cuisine from surrounding regions.
General Influences
Buddhist missionaries who came mainly from Nepal and China introduced arts and customs from India and China. Several works on astronomy, astrology and medicine were translated from Sanskrit and Chinese. The general appliances of civilization have come from China, among many things and skill imported were the making of butter, cheese, barley-beer, pottery, water mills and the national beverage tea. A Tibetologist noted: “we may in fact say that the present civilization of Tibet was taken mainly from China, and only in a lesser degree from India."
Tibetan art
Yama, Dharmapala, the Lord of Death, is revered in Tibet as a guardian of spiritual practice, and was likely revered even before the conversion of Tibet from Bön to Buddhism in the 4th century Field Museum, Chicago.
Tibetan art is deeply religious in nature, a form of sacred art. Thangka paintings, a syncrestism of Chinese scroll painting with Nepalese and Kashmiri painting, appeared around the 11th century. Rectangular and painted on cotton or linen, they are usually traditional motifs depicting religious, astrological, and theological subjects,
Tibetan culture developed under the influence of a number of factors. Contact with neighboring countries and cultures- including Nepal, India and China–have influenced the development of Tibetan culture, but the Himalayan region's remoteness and inaccessibility have preserved distinct local influences. Buddhism has exerted a particularly strong influence on Tibetan culture since its introduction in the 7th century. Art, literature, and music all contain elements of the prevailing Buddhist beliefs, and Buddhism itself has adopted a unique form in Tibet, influenced by the Bön tradition and other local beliefs. Tibet's specific geographic and climatic conditions–its altitude, short growing season, and cold weather–have encouraged reliance on pastoralism, as well as the development of a different cuisine from surrounding regions.
General Influences
Buddhist missionaries who came mainly from Nepal and China introduced arts and customs from India and China. Several works on astronomy, astrology and medicine were translated from Sanskrit and Chinese. The general appliances of civilization have come from China, among many things and skill imported were the making of butter, cheese, barley-beer, pottery, water mills and the national beverage tea. A Tibetologist noted: “we may in fact say that the present civilization of Tibet was taken mainly from China, and only in a lesser degree from India."
Tibetan art
Yama, Dharmapala, the Lord of Death, is revered in Tibet as a guardian of spiritual practice, and was likely revered even before the conversion of Tibet from Bön to Buddhism in the 4th century Field Museum, Chicago.
Tibetan art is deeply religious in nature, a form of sacred art. Thangka paintings, a syncrestism of Chinese scroll painting with Nepalese and Kashmiri painting, appeared around the 11th century. Rectangular and painted on cotton or linen, they are usually traditional motifs depicting religious, astrological, and theological subjects,