FOUNDED: Seventh–Eighth century C.E.
RELIGION AS A PERCENTAGE OF WORLD POPULATION: 0.003 percent

Overview

Tibetan Buddhism, which originated during the seventh and eighth centuries in Tibet, has approximately 20 million followers. Founded by the Indian masters Santaraksita and Padmasambhava, it is the major religion in Tibet; Bhutan; Mongolia; regions of China; the Russian republics of Tuva, Buryatia, and Kalmykia; and the Ladakh region of India. It is well represented in Nepal, the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim, India's northeastern border regions, and the Tibetan refugee settlements in northern India. Following the flight of the 14th Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers into exile in 1959, Tibetan Buddhism spread to many Western countries.

Drawing many of its ritual practices from Indian Tantric Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism stresses that the body, speech, and mind must be engaged in order for the individual to gain enlightenment and that...