Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Second Diffusion of Buddhism
Overwhelmed initially by local power struggles, Buddhism gradually began to exert its in-
fluence again. As the tide of Buddhist faith receded in India, Nepal and China, Tibet
slowly emerged as the most devoutly Buddhist nation in the world. Never again was Tibet
to rise to arms.
The so-called second diffusion of Buddhism corresponded with two developments.
First, Tibetan teachers who had taken refuge in Kham, to the east, returned to central Tibet
in the late 10th century and established new monasteries. The second great catalyst was the
arrival of two figures in far western Tibet: the Bengali Buddhist scholar Atisha (Jowo-je in
Tibetan; 982-1054), whom the kings of Guge in far western Tibet invited to Tibet in the
mid-11th century; and the great translator Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055), who after travel-
ling to India brought back Buddhist texts and founded dozens of monasteries in the far
West. Travellers can still get a sense of the glory years of the kingdom of Guge at the spec-
tacular site of
Tsaparang
and at
Thöling Monastery
.
Back in central Tibet disciples of Atisha, chiefly Dromtönpa, were instrumental in es-
tablishing the Kadampa order and such early monasteries as Reting.
The Tibetan Lama Phagpa, nephew of Kunga Gyaltsen, enjoyed a close relationship with
the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, likely met Marco Polo in Běijīng and even helped create a
new Mongol script.
The Sakyas & the Mongols
With the assassination of Tritsug Detsen Ralpachen and the collapse of a central Tibetan
state, Tibet's contacts with China withered. By the time the Tang dynasty collapsed in 907,
China had already recovered almost all the territory it had previously lost to the Tibetans.
Throughout the Song dynasty (960-1276) the two nations had virtually no contact with
each other, and Tibet's sole foreign contacts were with its southern Buddhist neighbours.
This was all to change when Genghis (Chinggis) Khan launched a series of conquests in
1206 that led to a vast Mongol empire that straddled Central Asia and China. By 1239 the
Mongols started to send raiding parties onto the Tibetan plateau. Numerous monasteries
were razed and the Mongols almost reached Lhasa, before turning back.
