Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Famous Early Monasteries
Trandruk (7th-8th century)
Keru (8th century)
Samye (765)
Thöling (996)
Introduction of Buddhism
By the time Buddhism arrived in Tibet during the reign of Songtsen Gampo, it had already
flourished for around 1100 years and had become the principal faith of all Tibet's neigh-
bouring countries. But it was slow to take hold in Tibet.
Early Indian missionaries, such as the famous Shantarakshita, faced great hostility from
the Bön-dominated court. The influence of Songtsen Gampo's Buddhist Chinese and Ne-
pali wives was almost certainly limited to the royal court, and priests of the time were
probably Indian and Chinese, not Tibetan.
It was not until King Trisong Detsen's reign that Buddhism began to take root. Trisong
Detsen was responsible for founding Samye Monastery, the first institution to carry out the
crucial systematic translation of Buddhist scriptures and the training of Tibetan monks.
Contention over the path that Buddhism was to take in Tibet culminated in the Great
Debate of Samye, in which King Trisong Detsen is said to have adjudicated in favour of
Indian teachers over the Chan (Zen) approach of Chinese advocates. There was, however,
considerable opposition to this institutionalised, clerical form of Buddhism, largely from
supporters of the Bön faith. The next Tibetan king, Tritsug Detsen Ralpachen, was assas-
sinated by his brother, Langdharma, who launched an attack on Buddhism. In 842 Lang-
dharma was himself assassinated - by a Buddhist monk - and the Tibetan state soon col-
lapsed into a number of warring principalities. In the confusion that followed, support for
Buddhism dwindled and clerical monastic Buddhism experienced a 150-year hiatus.
Songtsen Gampo went as far as passing a law making it illegal
not
to be a Buddhist.
