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Trisong
Detsen (A.D. 755-797) continued the work of his
predecessor, expanding Tibet's borders to incorporate
major portions of Central Asia and made Tibet nearly
twice as large as it is today. During his reign,
interest in Buddhism revived.
Two famed
Indian Buddhists teachers, Padmasambhava (also revered
as Guru Ringpoche) and Santarakshita, were invited to
establish Tibet's first Buddhist monastery. A handsome
edifice rose from the sands of Samye in the Yarlung
Valley and the first Tibetan Buddhist monks were trained
and ordained.
To promote
the religion, Trisong Detsen ordered noble families to
support the monasteries, a decree repellent to
Bon-worshippers which ultimately sowed the seeds for
Buddhism's demise.
Buddhism
prospered during subsequent reigns with great tomes of
Buddhist scriptures translated into Tibetan during the
rule of Repachen (815-838). The strength of the
religion's opponents had been growing, however, and
culminate in a backlash of fury that led to the murder
of Repachen. His successor, Langdarma banned the
religion, persecuting its adherents until he was
assassinates six years later by a recalcitrant monk.
Internecine
fighting reduced not only Buddhism but the empire to
anarchy and chaos as Tibet entered a Dark age that would
last 200 years. By A.D. 889, the empire had fragmented
into warring feudal states. Buddhism was preserved only
because a few monks fled to West Tibet and to the
eastern state of Kham and continued to propagate it
there. Central Tibet was once again the domain of Bon
worshippers. |
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Atisha Arrives
In 1042, a famed Mahayana teacher, Atisha, journeyed
from India to lecture in western Tibet at the invitation of
one of its kings. Under his tutelage, Buddhism began a slow
climb back to its former prominence.
Like the
scattered kingdoms, Buddhism functioned as a patch work of
diverse doctrines with nearly 20 distinct sects, each
isolated from the other. Eventually, four principal orders
emerged and vied for pre-eminence; the Nyingmapa, Kagyudpa,
Sakyapa and Kadampa (which later evolved into the Gelugpa).
in 1247, the
Mongols appointed a Sakya Monastery scholar, Sakya Pundit,
as the ruler of Tibet thereby establishing the monastery as
a centre of Tibetan power. Sakya continued to provide the
nation's leaders until 1354 when they were overthrown. In
the melee that followed, no single sect was able to assert
control and once again the country disintegrated into
warring factions.
Eventually, one
order prevailed over the rest. The Gelugpa were founded in
the 14th century by the great religious reformer, Tsongkhapa
and grew steadily in power. Its leaders established
important monasteries at Chamdo, Drepung, Ganden, Sera, and
art. The Gelugpa are sometimes referred to as the Yellow Hat
sect by outsiders for their headgear, distinguishing them
from the other Red Hat sects. Both terms are misleading and
simplistic.
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