Tibetan Buddhism is a continuation of the form of Buddhism that gradually developed over fifteen hundred years in India. The Indian masters who came to Tibet as missionaries encountered folk traditions and beliefs and either suppressed them or incorporated them, in modified form, into the Buddhist universe. Tibetan Buddhism is therefore a complex and layered set of philosophical concepts, rituals, and local beliefs symbolically represented by a pantheon of deities who are either considered Buddhist or have been integrated into Buddhism. The faith of the people is rooted in the historical presence of the Buddha Śākyamuni, his teachings, and the monastic community (i.e., "the three refuges"). Their faith focuses on the celestial Tantric emanations of Śākyamuni, especially on the "wrathful tutelary deities" and the bodhisattvas, in particular Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī, Vajrapāṇi, and Tārā in all...