The Culture of Time in Tibetan Buddhism: The Introduction to the Historiography of Kalachakra

The article is devoted to the issue of the culture of time in Tibetan Buddhism. To study the subject, the author of the article chooses the doctrine of time, named Kalachakra Tantra, and its tradition of texts. In addition, the author pays attention to the importance of the open teachings of the HH Dalai Lama XIV in the 20th century beyond Tibet for the development of Kalachakra’s scientific research. In fact, this essay is only the preparation for the historiographic research of Kalachakra. Therefore, first of all, the author decided to establish the cultural and information reason for this research in the field of Ukrainian Tibetology. The list of the main traditional texts dealing with The Wheel of Time, as well as its history, has become exactly that case. The author spotlights the chronology of Kalachakra texts and comments. She notes the common core of the Buddhist and Bon versions of the origin of the doctrine. The researcher proposes to conduct the cultural review of the impact of Kalachakra on all spheres of the Buddhist cultural life: its manifestations in art, religious practice, and, particularly, in scientific reasoning. Thus, we get an opportunity to consider the basic stages оf the propagation of the doctrine and to notice the correlation between Kalachakra and calendar culture, embodied in the “black” and “white” calculations of the minor Buddhist astro-science. By the way, the basic texts of traditional Tibetan calculations considered in the essay confidently confirm this fact. The author presents the idea of the structure of the Phenomenal World, described in Kalachakra, and marks the logical correlation between three levels of the Wheel of Time and three main branches of traditional Tibetan astrology. In addition, the author lightly touches the Kalachakra iconography to introduce its basic concepts. The article prepares the backgroundfor further study of the comprehension of time in Tibetan Buddhism and emphasizes the relevance and prospects of the research of Kalachakra’s doctrine and its practical use in terms of culture and philosophy.