Discover Tibet and Buddhism


Tibet overview

Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan:holiest centre
??; Wylie: Bod; Lhasa dialect IPA:The Potala Palace in Lhasa is Tibet's
[p?o`?]; Simplified and Traditionalholiest centre
Chinese: ??, Hanyu Pinyin: Xizang; alsoName
referred to as ?? (Simplified Chinese),In Tibetan
?? (Traditional Chinese), Zangqu (HanyuTibetans call their homeland Bod ( ??),
Pinyin), see Name section below) is apronounced pö in Lhasa dialect. It is
plateau region in Central Asia and thefirst attested in the geography of
indigeneous home to the Tibetan people.Ptolemy as ß???? (batai) (Beckwith, C.
With an average elevation of 4,900 mU. of Indiana Diss. 1977). Tibetans
(16,000 ft), it is the highest region onrefer to Tibet as a "fatherland"
Earth and is commonly referred to as the(Tibetan: ??????; Wylie: pha-yul),
"Roof of the World".whereas "motherland" (Tibetan: ??????;
Existing as a seperate nation forWylie: ma-yul) is a neologism introduced
centuries, Tibet is today administeredin the 1960s to refer to China.
mostly under the People's Republic ofIn Chinese
China. Tibet is also officially claimedThe modern Chinese name for Tibet, ??
by the Republic of China (Taiwan).(Xizang), is a phonetic transliteration
However in the Tibetan sovereigntyderived from the region called Tsang
debate, the Chinese government and the(western Ü-Tsang). The name originated
Government of Tibet in Exile haveduring the Qing Dynasty of China, ca.
disagreed over the legitimacy of Tibet1700. It can be broken down into "xi" ?
becoming a part of China since 1959, and(literally "west"), and "zang" ?
whether this incorporation into the(literally "Buddhist scripture" or
Chinese homelands was legitimate."storage"). The term can be interpreted
The Tibetan Empire came into existenceas either "Buddhist scripture of the
in the seventh century when Emperorwest" or "western storage." The
Songtsän Gampo united many areas andpre-1700s historic Chinese term for
tribes of the region. Since the earlyTibet was ?? (Tufan, Medieval Chinese
1600s a lineage of allegedly rebornpronuncation: /t'obw?n/), which comes
(tulku) magistrates, known as the Dalaifrom the Turkish word for "heights" and
Lamas have administrated Tibet, and theis also the origin of the English term
fourteen Dali Lama's are beleived to be"Tibet."
the incarnations of AvalokiteśvaraThe government of the People's Republic
("Chenrezig" [spyan ras gzigs] inof China equates Tibet with the Tibet
Tibetan), the bodhisattva of compassion.Autonomous Region (TAR). As such, the
Between the 17th century and 1959, thename "Xizang" is equated with the TAR.
Dalai Lama was the head of the TibetanIn order to refer non-TAR Tibetan areas,
government, administering religious andor to all of cultural Tibet, the term ??
adminstrative authourity over a largeZangqu (literally, "ethnic Tibetan
portion of the country from theareas") is used. However,
traditional capital Lhasa, regarded asChinese-language versions of pro-Tibetan
Tibet's holiest city.independence websites, such as the Free
When the Government of Tibet in ExileTibet Campaign, the Voice of Tibet, and
and the Tibetan refugee communityTibet Net use ?? ("Xizang"), not ??
worldwide refer to Tibet, they mean a("Zangqu"), to mean historic Tibet.
large area that formed the culturalSome English-speakers reserve "Xizang",
entity of Tibet for many centuries,the Chinese word transliterated into
consisting of the traditional provincesEnglish, for the TAR, to keep the
of Amdo, Kham (Khams), and Ü-Tsangconcept distinct from that of historic
(Dbus-gtsang), but excluding areasTibet. Some pro-independence advocates
outside the People's Republic of China'sduplicate the situation into the Chinese
administration like the disputedlanguage, and use ?? (Tufan) or ???
territory Arunachal Pradesh (or South(Tubote), which are both phonetic
Tibet), Sikkim, Bhutan, and Ladakh thattranscriptions of the word "Tibet", to
have also formed part of the Tibetanrefer to historic Tibet, this is still
cultural sphere.used for research area and is known and
When the People's Republic of Chinaaccepted by most of the Chinese.
(PRC) refers to Tibet, it means theTibetan monks from Ganden Monastery
Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR): aTibetan monks from Ganden Monastery
province-level entity which, accordingThe character ? (zang) has been used in
to the territorial claims of the PRC,transcriptions referring to Tsang as
includes Arunachal Pradesh or Southearly as the Yuan Dynasty, if not
Tibet (presently under theearlier, though the modern term "Xizang"
administration of India). Indiawas devised in the 18th century. The
considers Arunachal Pradesh as itsChinese character ? (Zang) has also been
integral part. Sikkim, Bhutan, andgeneralized to refer to all of Tibet,
Ladakh may also be considered to beincluding other concepts related to
parts of cultural Greater Tibet inTibet such as the Tibetan language (??,
addition to Amdo, Kham, and Ü-Tsang.Zangwén) and the Tibetan people (??,
The TAR covers the Dalai Lama's formerZangzú). The two characters of Xizang
domain consisting of Ü-Tsang andcan literally mean "western treasure".
western Kham, while Amdo and eastern(The second character can also mean
Kham are now found within the provinces"storage", though it is pronounced
of Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan, and Sichuan.differently (cáng) when used for that
The difference in definition is a majormeaning.)
source of dispute. The distribution ofIn English
Amdo and eastern Kham into surroundingThe English word Tibet, like the word
provinces was initiated by the Yongzhengfor Tibet in most European languages, is
Emperor during the eighteenth centuryderived from the Arabic word Tubbat.[1]
and has been continuously maintained byThis word is derived via Persian from
successive Chinese governments. Tibetanthe Turkic word Töbäd (plural of
exiles, in turn, consider theTöbän), meaning "the heights". The
maintenance of this arrangement sinceword for Tibet in Medieval Chinese, ??
the eighteenth century as part of a(Pinyin Tufan, often given as Tubo), is
divide-and-rule policy.derived from the same Turkic word. Tufan
Tibet has scenic mountainous terrain.was pronounced /t'o-bw?n/ in Medieval
Tibet has scenic mountainous terrain.times. PRC scholars favor the theory
The Potala Palace in Lhasa is Tibet'sthat "Tibet" is derived from Tufan.



1 A B C 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94