SIKKIM

The Hinayana adhered to more primitive Buddhism, which was primarily a philosophy with rules and ethics and emphasized on realisation of Nirvana (freedom from the cycle of birth and rebirth) only for oneself by directly worshipping the Buddha.

The Mahayana schools believes in attaining Nirvana by worshipping the deities called Bodhisattvas who do not want to attain Nirvana until they have freed all the humanity from suffering. The Mahayana has a wider base as it believes in attaining Nirvana for oneself as well as all suffering humanity.

The native religion of Tibet was called Bon which is said to be founded by Shenrab Mibo. This religion was fused and refined by Buddhism by Guru Padmasambva and this gave birth to the Red Hat Sect of Buddhism. The Red Hat Sect was further reformed by Atisha and the Kadampa sect was established. Tsong-kha-pa modified the Kadampa and led to the formation of the Yellow Sect. Tibetan Buddhism is therefore divided into the Red and Yellow Sects.

The Red Sect comprises of the Nyingma, Kargya and Sakya lineages and the Yellow Sect consists of the Gelugpa lineaga. Whereas the Nyingma Sect is associated with Guru Padmasambva, the founders of Kargyu and Sakya are said to be Marpa and Sakya Muni respectively. The sects and the lineages are differentiated from each other by the rituals performed, monastic discipline and the founder. However the differences tend to blur with rituals of one lineage overlapping the other.

The Tibetan sacred books are called the Kanjur and the Tanjur. The Kanjur correspond to the teachings of the Buddha whereas the Tanjur are related to the teachings to the Bodhisattvas. Each year of the Buddhist calendar is named after an animal.