Tibetan cosmography
The Tibetan cosmography is in Tibet popular description of the structure of our world and the universe. It belongs to the foundations of Tibetan astronomy and is based on the explanations in the Kālacakratantra .
In the various Buddhist traditions of Tibet, further descriptions of the world that differ in detail from the tradition of Tibetan astronomy ( Tib . : skar rtsis ) are passed down. Systematic research into these descriptions is not yet available.
Earth structure
Our world, which according to Buddhist ideas is only one of many, rests in emptiness ( Shunyata ).
The earth is presented as a hemisphere with a radius of 200,000 dpag tshad (approx. 2,900,000 km). It consists of four spherical shells, each 50,000 dpag tshad (approx. 725,000 km) thick and made up of one of the elements air, fire, water and earth. Here the air forms the outer hemisphere, followed by fire, water and the core consisting of earth.
The 100,000 dpag tshad (approx. 1,450,000 km) high, round world mountain (Tib .: ri rab , lhun po ) rises out of the flat cut surface of this hemisphere in the middle of the earth core . The takeover of the Indian world mountain Meru has a diameter of 16,000 dpag tshad (approx. 232,000 km) at the base and widens towards the summit, where it has a diameter of 50,000 dpag tshad (725,000 km).
The outer shape of the Weltberg resembles five brass bowls set one inside the other (Tib .: rag sder ), so that five edges emerge, which are called "horns" or "spikes" and which are like the 1000 dpag tshad (approx. 14,500 km) draw wide pedestals around the mountain.
Above the Weltberg, which is inhabited by gods, there is another god region that is 100,000 dpag tshad (approx. 1,450,000 km) high. It is compared in shape with a head and divided accordingly into neck (25,000 dpag tshad ), face (50,000 dpag tshad ) and topknot (25,000 dpag tshad ). Including this area, the vertical extension is 400,000 dpag tshad and is therefore equal to the horizontal extension. In any case, this area of the world structure is a full sphere.
The sun path
To an observer in the northern hemisphere, it is obvious that the daily highs of the sun decrease from summer to winter and increase from winter to summer.
Tibetan astronomy takes this into account by distinguishing between a north movement (tib .: byang 'gros ) and a south movement (tib .: lho' gros ) of the sun. The times at which these two types of movement change are known as solstices ( nyi ldog ). The north and south movement of the sun corresponds to a change in the lengths of day and night. During the northward movement of the sun, the length of the clear days increases until it reaches its maximum at the time of the summer solstice. The southerly movement is accompanied by an increase in the length of the nights, which reaches its maximum at the time of the winter solstice. Of particular interest to the Tibetan astronomy the time were the day and night are equally long (Tib .: nyin mtshan mnyam pa ) in spring and autumn.
The Kālacakratantra takes this phenomenon into account by giving concrete numerical values for the maximum and minimum levels of the sun in the context of the description of the world structure. At the time of the summer solstice, the sun is close to the Weltberg and has an altitude of 86,000 dpag tshad (approx. 1,247,000 km) above the earth's surface. In winter, the sun is directly above the boundary line between water and fire and has an altitude of 75,000 dpag tshad (approx. 1,087,500 km). The height at the time of the equinox is given as 80,500 dpag tshad (approx. 1,167,250 km).
The question of how the daily orbit of the sun around the world mountain runs in this world model preoccupied the Tibetan astronomers intensively. The basis for this description of the sun's path was again the Kālacakratantra, which describes a geodetic division of the earth's surface, according to which the earth's surface is divided into twelve equally sized sectors (Tib .: dum bu ).
In fact, these sectors correspond to the projection of great circles running perpendicular to the celestial equator onto the earth's surface and thus, together with six concentric circular rings that run around the world mountain, form a coordinate system for describing the true position of the sun at any point in time.
The Kālacakratantra counts the sector in which the southern continent is located with the number 1 and continues the numbering of the other sectors in a clockwise direction. In addition, the Kālacakratantra expressly points out that the length of the day in the sector with the number n is equal to the length of the night in sector n + 6.
The Tibetan astronomers consequently concluded that different seasons must result for the various sectors. In other words, this means that if z. B. in the 1st sector the summer solstice takes place, in the 7th sector there is a winter solstice. As a result, this results in a variation of the seasons according to geographical longitude , i.e. in the east-west extension.
This does not correspond to the realities, but this has never been verified by the Tibetan astronomers. The Tibetan astronomers developed various methods to construct the course of the daily solar path. One of these constructions is explained in the Vaiḍūrya dkar po . The focus is on the description of the daily cycle of the zodiac signs. When the sun reaches one of the twelve signs of the zodiac through its counterclockwise movement and its north-south movement, it follows its daily cycle.
Traditional depictions of the various diurnal arcs of the sun on Tibetan murals are particularly impressive .
Fixed stars and planets
While the fixed stars are distributed over the entire celestial hemisphere, which rotates clockwise around the world mountain once a day driven by a driving wind, the sun, moon and planets also have their own movement (Tib .: rang 'gros ), which causes them to move In addition, celestial bodies move counterclockwise around the world mountain at different speeds.
The path on which all these celestial bodies move in comparison to the fixed star sky is the ecliptic , that is the projection of the apparent path of the sun over the course of a year onto the celestial sphere. The ecliptic is divided into the twelve Tibetan zodiac signs (tib .: khyim ) and the 27 Tibetan moon houses (tib .: rgyu skar ), which in this respect mean angular dimensions for computational astronomy.
In addition, the signs of the zodiac have an astrological relevance with regard to the times of their rise on the eastern horizon (tib .: dus sbyor ) and are represented with symbols . The astrological meaning of the moon houses results from the fact that they are identified as determinable star constellations with certain gods. The latter also applies to the moving celestial bodies, i.e. the sun, moon, the five planets, the lunar orbit nodes and Encke's comet .
The sun, moon, the five planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the lunar orbit nodes Rahu and Ketu as well as the Encke's comet are celestial bodies in Tibet (Tib .: gza 'bcu , "ten planets") whose movement compared to the Fixed star skies were captured by mathematical calculations. These heavenly phenomena also belonged to the divine beings and were therefore partly depicted accordingly.
nyi ma sun
zla ba moon
lhag pa Mercury
pa sangs Venus
mig dmar Mars
phur bu Jupiter
spen pa Saturn
sgra gcan lunar orbit node Rahu
mjug ma lunar orbit knot Ketu (not shown)
du ba mjug ring Encke's comet (not pictured )
Geography of the earth's surface
In Tibet, the surface of the earth is understood as the area of the cut surface of the hemisphere described above, which extends from the base of the world mountain bin to the end of the area of fire. Seven continents are grouped around the Weltberg (Tib .: gling bdun ), that is, seven countries, seven oceans and seven ring mountains arranged as concentric rings. The first six of these "continents" lie under the world mountain and are, because the sixth ring mountain range up to the 5th ring-shaped, pointed bulge of the world mountain, so closed off from the rest of the outside world that in them neither the stars, nor the sun or the other planets are visible. There is eternal darkness there.
List of six countries, oceans and mountains (from the inside out):
| country | translation | ocean | translation | Mountain range | translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| zla ba gling | Lunar continent | sbrang rtsi'i rgya mtsho | Honey ocean | mandara ri | Massive mountain |
| 'od dkar gling | White gloss continent | mar gyi rgya mtsho | Butter ocean | 'od sngon ri | Blue Luster Mountain |
| kusha gling | Grass continent | zho'i rgya mtsho | Yogurt Ocean | nishaṭṭa ri | Nishaṭṭa Mountain |
| mi 'am ci gling | Kinnara continent (creature with horse head and human body) | 'o ma'i rgya mtsho | Milk ocean | nor bu 'od ri | Mount of Luster of Gems |
| khrung khrung gling | Crane continent | chu'i rgya mtsho | Freshwater ocean | droṇa ri | Trough mountain |
| drag po gling | Continent of the angry | chang gi rgya mtsho | Drunk Ocean | bsil ri | Cold mountain |
The seventh continent begins with a 25,000 dpag tshad (approx. 362,500 km) wide ring, which is known as the Great Rose Apple Continent (Tib .: 'dzam bu gling chen po ) or the region of karma and denotes the part of the world in where humans and animals live.
In this area, south of the world mountain, there is a so-called small continent, which has the shape of a triangle and which is called the small rose apple continent (Tib .: 'dzam bu gling chung ba ). One side of this triangular continent borders the Kälte-Berg while the top protrudes to the south and is 12,500 dpag tshad (approx. 181,250 km) away from the Kälte-Berg.
In this small rose apple continent there are six countries from north to south, namely Snow Country (tib .: gangs ldan ), Shambhala, China (tib .: rgya nag ), Khotan (tib .: li yul), Tibet (tib .: bod ) and India (Tib .: 'phags yul ).
The seventh ocean (tib .: rgya mtsho bdun pa ), also known as the salt ocean (tib .: lan tshva'i mtsho ), is equated with the cut surface of the hemispherical shell consisting of water. The seventh mountain range, Vajra Mountain (Tib .: rdo rje'i ri ) is located in the area of the earth's shell made of fire.
In the area of the large rose apple continent there are further so-called small continents in the west, north and east of the world mountain, of which the western continent is square, the northern one is circular and the eastern one is a semicircle.
The world as the habitat of gods, humans, animals, ghosts and hell inhabitants
At the beginning it was described that according to the Tibetan worldview the moon houses and planets as gods orbit the animate world.
Above the Weltberg there is a region that has the shape of a person's head and that is inhabited by gods.
In general, the living beings of this world are divided into 31 types of beings, which are divided into three classes according to forms of existence (Tib .: srid pa ).
The first class includes the gods who are characterized by shapelessness (Tib .: gzug med ). It is again divided into four groups. The second class comprises gods who live in the realm of the gestalt (Tib .: gzug khams ). It includes 16 types of gods. These twenty groups of gods live in twenty vertically arranged spheres of existence , ranging from the head of hair to the neck of the head above the world mountain.
The third class of living beings is characterized as having desires (Tib .: 'dod pa ) and comprising 11 groups. This class initially includes six groups of desires have gods (Tib .: 'dod pa'i lha ). Four of these types of gods are assigned to four areas located vertically in the neck. The fifth of these types of gods lives on the Weltberg, while the sixth is at home in the Weltberg.
The remaining desires have beings in particular include people, animals, snake spirits (tib .: klu ), titans (tib .: lha ma yin ). The upper half of the earth's core is divided into two parts, which are populated by the titans and serpent spirits. 7 areas of hell extend beneath it.
More Tibetan concepts of world construction
The structure of the world structure described here is characteristic of the teachings of Kālacakratantra and the Tibetan astronomy that is part of this tradition. Nevertheless, in the mass of traditional Tibetan Buddhist literature, there are further descriptions of the structure of the world that deviate in detail from the tradition of Kālacakratantra. Systematic studies on this are not available. As an example, a scroll painting from Bhutan is presented, in which the world mountain is represented in the form of a hexagram and the ring continents as squares.
literature
- Winfried Petri: Indo-Tibetan Astronomy. Habilitation thesis to obtain the venia legendi for the subject history of natural sciences at the high natural sciences faculty of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . Munich 1966.
- Dieter Schuh: Studies on the history of the Tibetan calendar calculation . Wiesbaden 1973.
- sde-srid Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho: Phug-lugs rtsis kyi legs-bshad mkhas-pa'i mgul-rgyan vaidur dkar-po'i do-shal dpyod-ldan snying-nor (block print)
Web links
- Publications on scientific films , Buddhism, Tibet - a Tibetan astronomer speaks about the Buddhist worldview , Institute for Scientific Film, Section Ethnology, Series 11, Number 31, 1981.