[Buddha-l] Lamas and such

[Dan Lusthaus]

Steve,

>I also think it also may be a
> negative term used by the Chinese, intending to offend: an "-ism" of
> Lamas, not of Buddh-, a religion, not of awakening, but of corrupt,
> wealthy, non-working, non-productive lamas who steal from
> impoverished, feudal underlings.

It's fun to imagine devils under the bed, I guess. The term lama jiao does 
not have that connotation (unless one is already predisposed to think poorly 
of Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhism).

The Foguangshan Buddhist Dictionary (published in Taiwan -- a leading 
Chinese Buddhist Dictionary) has a long entry on 喇嘛教 (lama jiao). I won't 
reproduce it here (too long), but give the Googletranslator rendition of the 
first paragraph, slightly corrected, which is close enough to convey the 
tone of the original:

Lama jiao (Lamaism)

Tibetan name Bla-mahi bstan-pa. Means supreme teaching. Refers to Tibet as a 
center of Buddhist sect prevailed. Main mode of transmission in our country 
Tibetans, Mongolians and other areas, and Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal and other 
places. Leader the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama. "Lama" is Tibetan bla-ma of 
the transliteration of the phrase, bla (top) and ma (person) of the compound 
words, literally translated as Exalted. "Exalted" The disciples of the 
Buddha monk there monks of the honorific, that is, internally these people 
have the highest morality and wisdom, while externally they engage in the 
superior practice; and so they are called Exalted. This with the Sanskrit 
guru (transliteration Gulu) is the appropriate phrase. However, at a later 
stage, "Lama" became the generic name for all male and female Tibetan 
monastics. Again, owing to the special respect given Lamas in Tibet, 
foreigners took the term "Lamaism" (Lamaism) to call them. Not every monk or 
nun in Tibet is a Lama nor claim to Lamaism. Tibetans call it Sa ga ye ji 
que se (Tib: Savs-rgyas-kyi chos), which means the Buddha's enlightenment, 
or the Buddha's religion; they call themselves Nan que se (Tibet Nav-chos), 
meaning orthodox religion or Road within the religion, as distinct from the 
teachings heretics teach. Buddhism spread to Tibet from India, after the 
result of Tibet's unique geographical environment, and teaching combined 
with the original teachings, gradually form a unique style of the "Lamaism" 
and the transmission of Buddhism in Sino-Turkish have very different 
interests.... [it then goes on to give a detailed history and description of 
Tibetan, etc., Buddhism starting in 641 CE]


Sound derogatory? Sounds like they acknowledge the etic-emic issue? This 
might suggest that there is some stigma that they are trying to delicately 
address. As a side note, Tibetan Buddhism is incredibly popular these days 
in Taiwan and Mainland among Chinese Buddhists.

Dan