A Study On The Cultural Characteristics Of Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism is unique in the history of Buddhist sects, it has many special rituals and spiritual practice way, and prayer wheel is one of the special convenient way. In Tibetan Buddhist point of view, it will bring along good fortune and happiness, and to accumulate immense blessing. As one of the historic and widely used religious objects, prayer wheel always play an important intermediary role in the inheritance and development of Tibetan Buddhism. It carries profound cultural connotation of religion as well as significant impact on Tibetan people’s lives. Meanwhile, Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheel has a variety of types, distinctive ethnic artistic style and rich symbolic meanings, it reflects the long-standing Tibetan aesthetic idea and spiritual pursuit. It also represents the traditional and exquisite Tibetan handicraft technology. The prayer wheel culture flourishes in Tibetan and continues to expand to the outside world, there are innovations in succession and it appears in all aspects of Tibetans’ religious and secular life. It shows its basic religious function, and also exert multicultural functions like social and artistic roles. Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheels has rich cultural features, it’s the religious art that across the time.This article intends to explore the unique cultural charm of Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheels, religious connotation and great vitality; and supplement relevant research data. Meanwhile, the study of the prayer wheels has significant meanings on knowing Tibetan people’s ideological belief, values and Tibetan Buddhist culture. It’s also meaningful for reference to the inheritance and development of prayer wheel culture. The study was based on the Tibetology theory and guided by religious studies, anthropology, art, folklore and other discipline theories. Then, through literature analysis, culturology and fieldwork research, this paper studied Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheel from several aspects.The thesis consists four chapters, the main content of each chapter as follows:The first chapter is a general introduction. It mainly talked about the research purpose, significance, relevant research trends and research methods of Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheels.The second chapter is about the history of Tibetan Buddhism prayer wheel. Including its overview, argument about its origin, development, and related theoretical concepts for inquiry.The third chapter is about the types and production of Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheels. It introduced the shape, types, production method, the use and immense blessing of prayer wheels.The fourth chapter is the cultural characteristics of Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheels. This chapter is the key part of the paper, it analyzed and summarized the artistic features and cultural functions of the Tibetan Buddhist prayer wheels. The artistic features included decorative elements and artistic styles, cultural functions researched from three aspects which were religious, social and artistic functions.The last part is the conclusion. It was the summary of Tibetan prayer wheels’ development and features, some related research issues, development and inheritance were also mentioned.