Lamaism (from the Tibetan bLama, 'spiritual teacher or lord') is the name of the religion prevailing in Tibet and Mongolia. It is Buddhism corrupted by Sivaism, and by Shamanism or spirit-worship. As ancient Buddhism knows no worship of God, but merely of an adoration of saints, the latter is also the main feature of Lamaism. The essence of all that is sacred is comprised by this religion under the 'three most precious jewels' —viz. the 'Buddha-jewel,' the 'doctrine-jewel,' and the 'priesthood-jewel.' The first person of this trinity is the Buddha; but he is not the creator, or the origin of the universe; as in Buddhism, he is merely the founder of the doctrine, the highest saint, though endowed with all the qualities of supreme wisdom, power, virtue, and beauty, which raise him beyond the pale of ordinary existence. The second jewel, or the doctrine, is the law or religion—that which is, as it were, the incarnation of the Buddha, his actual existence after he had disappeared in the Nirvāna. The third jewel, or the priesthood, is the congregation of the saints, comprising the whole clergy, the incarnate as well as the non-incarnate representatives of the various Buddhistic saints. The latter comprise the five Dhyāni-Buddhas, or the Buddhas of contemplation, and, besides, all those myriads of Bodhisatvas, Pratyeka-Buddhas, and pious men, who became canonised after their death. Inferior in rank to these saints are the gods and spirits, the former chiefly taken from the Pantheon of the Sivaïtes. The highest position amongst these is occupied by the four spirit-kings—Indra, the god of the firmament; Yama, the god of death and the infernal regions; Yamāntaka, or Siva, as the avenger in his most formidable shape; and Vaisravana, or the god of wealth. The worship of these saints and gods consists chiefly in the reciting of prayers and sacred texts, and the intonation of hymns, accompanied by a kind of music which is a chaos of the most unharmonious and deafening sounds of horns, trumpets, and drums of various descriptions. During this worship, which takes place three times a day, the clergy, summoned by the tolling of a little bell, are seated in two or more rows, according to their rank; and on special holidays the temples and altars are decorated with symbolical figures, while offerings of tea, flour, milk, butter, and others of a similar nature, are made by the worshippers; animal sacrifices or offerings entailing injury to life being forbidden, as in the Buddhistic faith. Lamaism has three great annual festivals. According to Huc, there are rites corresponding to baptism and confirmation; and the principal religious ceremony closely resembles high mass. Lamaism does not allow the interment of the dead. Persons distinguished by rank, learning, or piety, are burned after their death; but the general mode of disposing of dead bodies in Tibet, as in Mongolia, is that of exposing them in the open air, to be devoured by birds and beasts of prey. The Lama must be present at the moment of death, in order to superintend the proper separation of body and soul, to calm the departed spirit, and to enable him to be reborn in a happy existence.
One of the most interesting features of Lamaism is the organisation of its hierarchy. Its summit is occupied by two Lama popes, the one called Dalai-lama, i.e. Ocean-priest, or priest as wide as the ocean—the 'Grand Lama,' residing at Potala, near Lhassa—and the other bearing the titles of Tesho-lama, Bogdo-lama, or Pan-chhen. In theory, both popes have the same rank and authority, in spiritual as well as in temporal matters; but, as the Dalai-lama possesses a much larger territory than the other, he is in reality much more powerful. Next in rank are the Khutuktus, who may be compared to the Roman Catholic cardinals and archbishops. The third degree is that of the Khubilghans or Hobilghans. Their number is very great. These three degrees represent the clergy that claims to be the incarnation of the Buddhistic saints. The Dalai-lama and the Pan-chhen were in their former lives the two chief disciples of the great Lamaist reformer, bTsong kha pa, who is reputed to have founded in the 14th century of the Christian era the present system of the Lama hierarchy. The Khutuktus were in their prior existences other Buddhistic saints of very great renown; and the Khubilghans are those reborn hosts of saintly patrons whom the temples and convents of Lamaism possess in boundless numbers.
In order to ascertain the re-incarnation of a departed Lama, various means are relied upon. Sometimes the deceased had, before his death, confidentially mentioned to his friends where and in which family he would reappear, or his will contained intimations to this effect. In most instances, however, the sacred books and the official astrologers are consulted on the subject; and if the Dalai-lama dies it is the duty of the Panchhen to interpret the traditions and oracles. It is understood that the imperial court at Peking has more to do with the selection than is admitted by the priests. Down to 1880 there had been no fewer than 103 Dalai-lamas.
Besides these three classes of the higher clergy Lamaism possesses a lower clergy, which, having no claim to incarnate holiness, recruits its ranks on the principle of merit and theological proficiency. It has four orders: the pupil or novice, who enters the order generally in his seventh or ninth year; the assistant priest; the religious mendicant; and the teacher or abbot. All the members of these orders must make the vow of celibacy, and by far the greatest number of them live in convents, the number of monks, in proportion to the population, being enormous. A Lamaist convent consists of a temple, which forms its centre, and of a number of buildings connected with the temple, and appropriated to the meeting-rooms, the library, refectory, dwellings, and other spiritual and worldly wants of the monks. At the head of the convent is a Khubilghan, or an abbot, the latter being elected by the chapter and appointed by the Dalai-lama, or the provincial Khubilghan. In addition to these orders of monks and convents, Lamaism has likewise its nuns and nunneries. The Lamaist bible bears the name of bKa'gjur (or Kandjur), 'translation of the words,' namely of the Buddha. It contains not less than 1083 works, which in some editions fill 102 to 108 volumes in folio.
See BUDDHISM, LHASA, TIBET; Köppen, Die Lamaistische Hierarchie (1859); Huc, Souvenirs (1852); Ritter's Erdkunde (1881); Rhys-Davids, Buddhism (1880); E. F. Knight, Where Three Empires Meet (1893); L. Austin Waddell, The Buddhism of Tibet, or Lamaism (1895); A. H. Savage Landon, In the Forbidden Land (1898).