[Buddha-l] Lamas and such

[Dan Lusthaus]

Steve covers the bases fairly well. Of course,

> "Lamaism was a combination of the esoteric Buddhism of India, China
> and Japan with native cults of the Himalayas.  National Gallery of
> Art brochure, 1991.

is totally erroneous. The objectionability of the term -- comparable to the 
objectionability of "Mohammedism" for Islam -- is that it suggests the main 
object of veneration and worship is Lamas (or Mohammed). Arguably Tibetan 
and Mongolian Buddhists *do* venerate and even worship certain lamas (Hello, 
Dalai), but that is not the "main" object of worship.

A devil's advocate might argue that Lamaism simply indicates something 
*distinctive* about Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism that distinguishes them 
from other forms of Buddhism, namely lamas. Thus it would be, the argument 
goes, no different than Theravada (or the Skt version, Sthaviravada), since 
the distinctive institutional feature in that case would be the authority of 
the "elders" (thera, sthavira).

Further issues:

(1) from Wikipedia:

 An alternative term, "lamaism", apparently derives from Chinese lama jiao 
and was used to distinguish Tibetan Buddhism from Han Chinese Buddhism, fo 
jiao. The term was taken up by western scholars including Hegel, as early as 
1822. (Lopez, Donald S. Jr. (1999). Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan 
Buddhism and the West. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 6, 19f. 
ISBN 0226493113. ) Insofar as it implies a discontinuity between Indian and 
Tibetan Buddhism, the term has been discredited (Conze, 1993).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Buddhism

[Comment: If the only reason to avoid the term is that it suggests some 
discontinuity between Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, then I would advocate it 
be adopted universally, immediately. As for the Chinese etymology, jiao 
means "teaching", and can be comparable to -ism when naming religions or 
philosophies.]

(2) On the other hand, another site that defends Mongolian shamanism and has 
only nasty things to say about "Lamaism" due to Buddhist persecution of 
shamans over the centuries, writes:

Tibetan Buddhism is often called "Lamaism". To avoid confusing Tibetan 
Buddhism with other forms of Buddhism, Lamaism is a term that will be used 
here.
http://www.tengerism.org/lamaism.html

(3) The Chinese origin of the name "lama-ism" obviously has provocative 
political overtones today. So that the write-up at about.com, by Lisa Chiu, 
should not be surprising:

Lamaism, also known as Tibetan Buddhism, is a form of Mahayana Buddhism that 
is practiced mainly in Tibet, Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai, and parts of Yunnan 
and Sichuan provinces. The practice is named after the 'lama', the Tibetan 
word for teacher.
http://chineseculture.about.com/od/religioninchina/a/Lamaism.htm

(4) Waddell himself has a book (back in print) titled _Buddhism of Tibet or 
Lamaism [ILLUSTRATED]_.
http://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-Tibet-Lamaism-Austine-Waddell/dp/0766135055

save 24% at Amazon!

So if you decide to use the word, do so knowingly.

Dan