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Religion of Ladakh

Tibetan Buddhism
Ladakh is one of the few places where you can see this branch of Mahayana Buddhism, sometimes also called Lamaism, being practised as it would have been in Tibet before the brutal Chinese suppression. Buddhism has penneated Ladakhi and Tibetan culture since the 7th century AD.

Tibetan Buddhism is a mystical religion which absorbed many of the magical and superstitious features of Tibet's previous shamanistic Bon religion, along with elements of Hindu Tantrism. With an array of deities, beliefs, rituals and symbols it's incredibly complex, but to most Ladakhis, who don't concern themselves too much with these difficulties, it becomes a practical and down-to-earth philosophy which emphasises one thing - compassion. Lamas It is usual for most families to have at least one son who is a lama (monk). At an early age he will be sent to the gompa (monastery) to which his village is attached where he will be educated in the religious teachings. Monks are highly respected in the community and spend a lot of their time away from the gompa performing religious ceremonies in the villages. The heads of gompas are called kushoks and are reincarnations of previous venerated lamas. The head of Tibetan Buddhism and traditional political ruler of Tibet is the Dalai Lama, an incarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th in a succession that originated in the 14th century and lives in exile in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh.

The lamas of Tibetan Buddhism are divided into four main sects. The oldest is the Nyingmapa (the Ancient Order or Red Hat sect) and was founded by the great sage Padmasarnbhava in the 8th century. Next carne the Sakyapa sect, followed by the last of the Red Hat schools, the Kagyupa. The most recent order is the Gelukpa, more commonly known as the Yellow Hat sect, who came from a reform movement in the 1400s and which is led by the Dalai Lama. All these sects are represented in Ladakh, but the most common are the Kagyupa and Gelukpa.

Islam
Although Ladakh is usually described as a Buddhist region, there is a large minority of Muslims (about 45%). Constant invasion by Islamic forces in the west of Ladakh gradually led to the conversion of the previously Buddhist people. Most Ladakhi Muslims still live in Kargil District where they account for 85% of the population. Here they are puritanical Shiites. Leh also supports a small population of Muslims, mainly Sunnis, who are descended from immigrant Kashmiri and central Asian traders.

Christianity
There is a small community of Christians in Leh. Most belong to the top rungs of Ladakhi society and were converted by Moravian missionaries who first came to Ladakh in 1885. They built two churches, one in Leh and one in Shey.

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