Tibet 2

A major contribution to the cultural heritage of Tibet occurred when King Songtsen Gampo had a written script for the Tibetan language invented to unify the Tibetan people inhabiting the land between Bactria and Han China and between Nepal and East Turkestan. He also may have wanted to rule over Zhang Zhung, the ancient province with its capital near Mt. Kailash (Ti-se). King Songtsen Gampo welcomed Buddhism to Central Tibet through the influence of his Chinese and Nepali wives, who – it is recorded – persuaded him to wear silk instead of sheepskin. According to accounts, King Songtsen Gampo sent his trusted minister Thonmi Sambhota (the “Good Bhota” or “Tibetan” who was born approximately 610 in Yorwo Lunggu) to Khotan to find a script and grammar that would suit the language of Central Tibet.

Khotan was the flourishing Buddhist Kingdom on the Silk Road that ran along the southern edge of the Taklamakan Desert in the Tarim Basin. The Swedish geographer Sven Hedin discovered the buried city of Khotan in the 1890s. The Buddhist sites between Khotan and Dunhuang were excavated during four expeditions between 1900 and 1930 by the Hungarian archaeologist Sir Mark Aurel Stein, who noticed the early ties between the Kushan Dynasty (or Indo-Scythians), whose capital was near Bamian, and the inhabitants of Khotan. Stein also found evidence in both the 7^th century writings of Hsuan-tsang and old Tibetan texts that Khotan had been conquered and colonized about 200 B.C. by immigrants from Taxila in the Hindukush. Hsuan-tsang learned from early accounts that many chieftains from Taxila founded a kingdom in the Tarim Basin. They were the people, he reports, who introduced Buddhism to Khotan. He wrote, “What land there is, is suitable for regular cultivation and produces of fruits. The manufactures are carpets, haircloth of a fine quality, and fine-woven silken fabrics. Moreover, it produces white and green jade. (…) They have knowledge of politeness and justice. (…) They love to study literature and arts. (…) The country is renowned for its music.” [1] Khotan’s success was dependent upon China, trade along the Silk Road, and the proliferation of Buddhism. It suffered greatly when all three declined. In the 10^th century the Tang Dynasty in the east and invasions by Arabs in the west weakened the region. While the east-west trade continued, the once flourishing Buddhist shrines were destroyed by the Islamic culture.

East of Tibet, the oldest caves of Dunhuang date back to the 4^th century A.D. It is said that a Buddhist monk had a vision of 1000 Buddhas and began carving grottoes into the sandstone cliff and to fill them with Buddhist images at the edge of what are called the Dunes of Singing Sands, “Mingsha Shan” in Chinese. Over the next thousand years, hundreds of similar caves were cut into the same rock face. One cave contained a sealed library whose contents reflect contacts with early major Buddhist centres of both Central Asia and the Chinese empire. Dunhuang began to decline in the 12^th century. Jeanne Lasen formulated the remarkable discoveries in her book Silk Road: “In some of the caves rest the fruits of human effort to render in two dimensions a universe made up of four: (…) written words. Some are Sanskrit, some in Chinese, Tibetan or Uigur or Nepalese or Persian with Hebrew letters. This welter of words marks silk, leather, palm leaves from the very homeland of the Buddha , paper made of bamboo pulp and mulberry bark.”2

Another flourishing centre of Buddhism east of Tibet was the Tangut Kingdom, slightly west of Dunhuang. The people spoke a language similar to Tibetan but created their script based on Chinese. In the 13^th century the Mongolian ruler invaded the Tangut Province and encouraged the conversion to Islam, which brought the end of Buddhism and the northern Silk Road.

Latri Khenpo Nyima Dakpa wrote,3 “The Bon religion has existed in this world for 18,000 years. Yungdrung Bon originated as the teaching of Tonpa Shenrab in Olmo Lung Ring (an enlightened realm). From there the teachings spread to Zhang Zhung and from there throughout most Asian lands.” The assassination of Emperor Ligmincha of Zhang Zhung at the end of the 8^th century by King Trisong Detsen “(…) ended Zhang Zhung’s independence. Thereafter, Zhang Zhung’s land and culture were assimilated into Tibet, and they eventually disappeared.” Latri Khenpo continued, “The Zhang Zhung language had three different scripts. (The) Tibetan script was derived from the Zhang Zhung mar yig scripts. Many Tibetan and western scholars believe that there was no written language before the time of Songtsen Gampo (…). Bon scholars do not accept this view, holding that its proponents have not adequately researched the early origins or the Tibetan language and the history of Tibet.” Furthermore, “Bon practitioners were typically given the choice of converting from Bon to Buddhism, leaving Tibet, or being put to death.” Latri Khenpo also tells us, “Most of the Bon teachings have been translated from the Zhang Zhung language into Tibetan.” In early times, the Kingdom of “Zhang Zhung was the closest neighbouring land to Tibet, extending from what is known today as the upper part of north-western Tibet, through parts of Nepal and Northern India (Kashmir, Ladakh, Zamskar, Kinnaur, Spiti, etc.) to Pakistan (Kashmir) and China (the Karakoram area).”4 In the website about Dieter Schuh’s microfilm collection of Bonpo texts published by the Nepal German Project on High Mountain Archaeology in 2001, Karl-Heinz Everding points to the fact that Bon is a neglected field in Tibetan studies and writes that its “(…) doctrinal treatises, ritual texts, chronicles and biographies of important scholars, to mention only a few important branches of its vast literature, remain for the most part still unexplored. Since large parts of its literature are available only with great difficulty, the collection of Bon po texts, microfilmed by Dieter Schuh during his visit to the Bon po monastery of sMan ri, Doljani (India), in 1969 is of special importance. The unique scholarly significance of these films is that they maintain the manuscripts in exactly the state in which they arrived from Tibet.”5

It is said that in order to find a script and grammar that would suit the language of Central Tibet and unite the empire, Thonmi Sambhota (approx. 610-650 A.D.) travelled from Yarlung in Central Tibet through Kashmir in the west to reach Khotan. When he arrived, he learned that Master Li Byhin (Li the Tibetan term for “Khotan”) was in Kashmir, so he had to undertake the tedious journey back to meet him there. Orthographic analysis reveals that the Tibetan alphabet actually follows features distinctive to Kharosthi, which is derived from the Indian Upright Gupta script. Alexander Berzin points out that historical accounts mistake the place of composition by claiming that Tibetan is based on the Kashmiri alphabet.6

King Songtsen Gampo used the new script for the translation of a Sanskrit Buddhist text that the kings of Yarlung had received from India centuries earlier. The main translations were of astrology and medical texts. Furthermore, the king needed a written language to send military messages to his armies in the fields and to record own oral traditions. During the reign of the next emperor, Tibetans began to import and translate select Buddhist texts. Yet, it was only through the power of King Trisong Detsen, the spiritual presence of Padmasambhava, and the vast knowledge of Shantarakshita that Buddhism became the national religion.

In the introduction to the Tibetan-English Dictionary, Sarat Chandra Das quotes H.A. Jaeschke, who had also written a Tibetan-English dictionary in 1881: “His (Thonmi Sambhota’s) invention of the Tibetan alphabet gave two-fold impulses: for several centuries the wisdom of India and the ingenuity of Tibet laboured in unison and with the greatest industry and enthusiasm at the work of translation. The tribute due to real genius must be accorded to these early pioneers of Tibetan grammar. They had to grapple with infinite wealth and refinement of Sanskrit; they had to save the independence of their own tongue, while they strove to subject it to the rule of scientific principles, and it is most remarkable how they managed to produce translations at once literal and faithful to the spirit of the original.”7

In the 8^th century Vairocana Lotsawa, born in the sNye-Mo area and known as “one of the seven gifted monks of Samye” was sent to India by Padmasambhava to bring teachings to Tibet. Later he supervised translations of Buddhist texts on a large scale.8 David Snellgrove and Hugh Richardson note that the number of monks in the monasteries of Eastern Tibet were quite small and wrote, “(…) there is similar evidence from Central Tibet, where the traditional number of original ordinands was just seven, and where a stone pillar recording the foundation of a temple at lCang-bu (in sTod-lung) by the noble family of Tshes-pong mentions provision for only four monks.”9

The Tibetan script is sacred since it was created for the translation of Buddhist texts. Several alphabets developed; two principal types are the block letters known as U-chen (“with head”) and U-med (“without head”). The first is used in books and printed documents, the latter for more worldly matters. Gyud-yig is the cursive script and Bam-yig the script used for book titles. The Ranjana script for the Kalachakra monogram is a stylised version of the Indian Lantsa script. Lantsa is reserved for sacred texts that line both walls and pillars in temples.

The Tibetan alphabet consists of 30 basic consonants, with the vowel a inherent to each, and four vowels on the Sanskrit model for i, u, e, and o. Now a monosyllabic language, most words are spelled with a complexity of initial consonants as fixed in the times of the early kings and were presumably once pronounced, e.g. bsgrubs (“established”) is pronounced in the dialect of Central Tibet, simply trub. Remembering that a is inherent to every consonant in question, aggs (“refuted”) is pronounced gag. When an n, l, d, or s follow a letter that isn’t marked by an i, o, u, or e, then the other vowels become umlaut, e.g. rgyl is pronounced gyael (“victorious”), spun is pronounced puen (“brother”), skd is pronounced kae (“language”), sdug.bsnl is dug-nael (“suffering”), brgyd is gyae (“eight”), examples that illustrate the difference between the way words are spelled and pronounced. A Tibetan saying goes, “Half of the words are read by implication.” The advantage of maintaining the written form is that once sufficiently skilled in reading, it is easy to decipher texts on stone pillars and manuscripts that date back as far as the 8^th century.

The vast literature of Tibet was meticulously translated with immense accuracy and comprises all Buddhist religious works of India, including the great collections of the Kangyur, “The Translation of Lord Buddha’s Words,” and Tengyur, “The Translations of Teachings.” The Kangyur is a collection of Sanskrit classics that trace their origin to the spoken word of Buddha Shakyamuni and contains over 1000 books in about 100 volumes of woodblock prints. The Tengyur is a collection of approximately 3,500 books written mostly in Sanskrit during the period from about 200–1000 A.D., texts that explain the books of the Kangyur and other subjects such as literature, linguistics, science, architecture, painting, and medicine. The Tengyur also includes the entire section of the Madhayamaka and Cittamatrin, Prajnaparamita and Pramana philosophies, Vinaya as well as the Abhidharmakosha (which was written by Vasubhandu in the 4^th century A.D.), along with extensive explanations. Unlimited editions were translated from Tibetan into Mongolian, Manchurian, and Chinese, evidence that Tibetan was “the lingua franca of Higher Asia”10 and that Tibetan scholars generously took part and encouraged an enriching dialog with both neighbours and friends.

Tibetan is an ergative language that follows the subject-object-verb order.11 Spoken Tibetan - today an extremely endangered language - is divided into three registers: Phal-skad (the vernacular speech); Shes-sa (the respectful style spoken particularly in the area of Lhasa, in the meantime called “the high dialect or Lha-sa”); and Chos-skad (the literary style for scriptures and classical works). There are several dialects: dBus spoken in Central Tibet; gTsang in the area of Gyantse and Shigatse; Khams in Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan; Amdo in the area of Qinghai; rDzong-kha is the language of Bhutan; Shar-pa is spoken by the Sherpas who live in north-east Nepal; Lo-skad is the dialect spoken in Mustang.

King Srong-brtsan-sgam-po (born approx. 609 and died 650)1 succeeded the throne of his father gNam-ri-slong-mtshan around 627 A.D. as the 33^rd ruler of Yarlung and founder of the Tubo Dynasty.2 The Yarlung Empire stretched from the borders of Bactria to those of Han China and from Nepal to the borders of East Turkestan. He is credited for the first transmission of Buddhism to Tibet. His grandson, Myang-mang-po-rje, expanded the Tibetan territory through the plains of India to the frontiers of China and Zhang Zhung. Berzin wrote, “In order to stabilize political alliances and his own position of power, Songtsen-gampo married princesses first from Zhang-zhung and then, late in his reign, from Tang China and Nepal. After wedding the Zhang-zhung princess, he had her father, Lig-nyihya (Lig-myi-rhya), the last Zhang-zhung king, assassinated. This allowed the focus of native ritual support of the imperial cult to shift to himself and his rapidly expanding state.”3

Songtsen Gampo took Princess Bhrikuti Devi from Nepal as wife. Her father, Anshuvarrnan, was king of the Licchavi Kingdom, which existed in the Kathmandu Valley from about 400-750. She is said to have converted him to Buddhism, and the marriage helped establish Buddhism as the state religion. Songtsen Gampo built the Jokhang Temple, then called Rasa ‘phrul-snang in Tibetan, “magical apparition of Rasa (the old name for Lhasa),” to house the Akshobhya Buddha she brought as dowry, the reason why the main gate faces westward to Nepal. Queen Bhrikuti Devi is known as Pelsa, “Land of Wool (referring to Nepal),” in Tibetan.

Having been refused Princess Wengcheng Kongjo as bride in 634, he attacked and defeated the people who lived around Lake Koko Nor in Amdo and was therefore able to control major trade centres along the northeastern Silk Road into China. After a successful campaign against China in 635, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty agreed to the marriage and thus friendship with China was stable.4 Princess Wengchen left her homeland to marry King Songsten Gampo in 640 and arrived a year later. She is said to have converted him to Buddhism too, and the marriage firmly established Buddhism as state religion. The Ramoche Temple in Lhasa was constructed due to her efforts to house the Jobo Buddha she brought as dowry, the reason why the main gate faces eastward to China. Queen Wengchen is known as Gyasa, “Expansive Land (referring to China),” in Tibetan.

(King Songtsen Gampo and his wives,

Queen Bhrikuti Devi from Nepal to his left, Queen Wengcheng Kongjo from China to his right;

statues in the Jokhang in Lhasa)

Both queens were Buddhists and therefore changed the course of Tibetan history. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche wrote, “Songtsen Gampo’s two queens can be credited for a great part of his cultural awareness. Bhrikuti (…) brought the traditions of Himalayan Buddhism. Princess Wengchen (…) brought a treasure trove of ancient Chinese wisdom. She travelled across the steppes to her husband with a collection of Chinese classic literature and texts on sacred astrology, geomancy, and medicine.

“Many obstacles lay in Princess Wengchen’s path as she headed to Yarlung. She had a vision of a gargantuan demoness who lay sprawled across the Himalayas, so large that one limb lay in Paro, Bhutan and another lay in Western Tibet. When she arrived in Yarlung, she shared her vision with her new husband. Recognizing the value of the treasures that his bride brought to him, as well as the importance of her vision, King Songtsen Gampo commissioned thirteen demoness-subjugating temples across the land, built over the demoness’ vital organs, ankles, wrists, and torso, forever binding her from wreaking havoc. The Lhasa Jokhang was built over her heart centre, where it still resides. Other such temples are Trenduk Lhakhang in Tsetang and Paro Kyichu in Butan.”5 Berzin wrote, “(…) it is difficult to ascertain what level of Buddhist teachings and practice were introduced. It was undoubtedly very limited, as would have been the case with the Zhang-zhung rites.”6

One may not neglect the small temple that Princess Wengchen erected before she arrived at the Imperial Court in Yarlung. The small temple is situated approx. 10km away from the Thrangu Monastery in the Yushu County of Kham in East Tibet, home of the source of the three Asian rivers, the Yellow River (called Hwang-Ho in Chinese), the Yangtze Kiang, and the Mekong. The Thrangu Monastery has thrived over a thousand years; the Wengchen Temple is more than 1300 years old. Both have been the source for the spread of Buddhism in Kham and especially of the Karma Kagyu teachings. The very auspicious place is indeed situated in a pure land where emanations of Amitabha Buddha and Nagarjuna have manifested.

King Songtsen Gampo had Buddhist temples built around geomantic sites in Tibet and Bhutan but did not found monasteries. Berzin wrote that „(...) the major one was constructed eighty miles from the imperial capital, at the site that later became known as ‘Lhasa’ (Lha-sa, The Place of the Gods). At that time, it was called ‘Rasa’ (Ra-sa, The Place of the Goats). Western scholars speculate that the Emperor was persuaded not to build the temple near the capital so as not to offend the traditional gods.7 It is unclear who manned these Buddhist temples, but presumably they were foreign monks. The first Tibetan monastics did not ordain until nearly a century and a half later.”8 Berzin continued, “Further evidence of Songtsen-gampo’s policy of using foreign invention to boost his political power is his adoption of a written script for the Tibetan language. Taking advantage of Zang-zhung’s long history of cultural and economic relations with Khotan, Gilgit, and Kashmir, the Emperor sent a cultural mission, led by Tonmi Sambhota (…) to the region.”9 Khyentse Rinpoche, “No Tibetan translations of the Buddhist scriptures existed and it was Songsten Gampo who instructed his minister Thonmi Sambhota to travel to India, study Sanskrit, and develop a Tibetan script. He then commissioned the translation of several thousand texts.”10

Khyentse Rinpoche tells us, “As a reminder of the great empire that Songtsen Gampo ruled, a large pillar still stands before the Potala in Lhasa, erected during his reign, on which is inscribed the agreement between the Tibetan and Chinese rulers to respect each other’s borders. He studied Chinese, became skilled in the art of leadership, and most importantly, he adopted sacred codes of conduct from Buddhist scripture. Under his rule, sacred practices began to replace the shamanistic practices (…).” He continued, “Songtsen Gampo meditated for several years in a cave that is now at the core of Potala palace.”11

(Ramoche Lhakhang, now renovated, was built at the same time as the Jokhang)

Ramoche Lhakhang was erected by King Songtsen Gampo to house both the Akshobhya Buddha that Princess Bhrikuti Devi brought to Tibet when they married in 632 and the Jobo Buddha that Princess Wengchen brought when they married in 641. Legend says that the work completed on the temple each day was mysteriously undone each night, until the demoness who exerted negative influences was appeased. It is said that after her husband’s death Queen Wengchen took the sacred Jobo out of Ramoche Lhakhang and hid it from an impeding Chinese invasion in the Jokhang, where it is today and remains the most venerated and visited shrine in Tibet. She buried the Akshobhya Statue outside the city walls.

After the age of vacuity had elapsed at the end of the previous age,

Winds arose from the ten directions, creating a configuration in the shape of a cross;

Rain fell from a cloud, and amidst a mass of water,

A thousand lotuses were seen; thus the Fortunate Age was proclaimed.

-- Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye the Great

(Prayer wheel in the Jokhang in Lhasa)

The government of Tibet under the first auspices of Buddhism was established by the Yarlung Dynasty of kings, who ruled from approximately 600 until 835. The first kings of a united Tibet needed to clearly lay down laws to stabilize the country and promote mutual interests and shared concerns. It has been noted that the ancient Zhang Zhung Kingdom had a written script, but no national language existed before the time of King Songtsen Gampo. A written language was essential to unify the people who inhabited the land between Bactria and Han China and between Nepal and East Turkestan. Therefore Songtsen Gampo (the 32^nd or 33^rd king of the early period who lived approx. 609-650) sent his trusted minister Thonmi Sambhota (born approx. 610) to an expert on literary language to invent a Tibetan alphabet and grammar. As Sambhota became more learned in different scripts, he invented an alphabet that did justice to the many dialects spoken on the Tibetan plateau. He travelled abroad and worked with Li-byin and with lHa-rigs-seng-ge and became expert in all treatises on grammar and the five traditional fields of science that were an integral part of the greater cultures flourishing at that time - linguistics, logic, philosophy, medicine, and art. Sambhota returned to Tibet from India with a new alphabet and Mahayana Sutras and Tantras.1 He composed eight treatises on Tibetan grammar and writing, only two have survived, the rTags-kyi-‘jug-pa and the rTsa-ba-sum-cu-pa. Together with the king, “(…) Sambhota translated twenty-one texts on Avalokiteshvara, the Za-ma-tog-bkod-pa, the dPhang-skong-phyag-brgya-pa, the ‘Phags-pa-dkon-mchog-sprin, and the ‘Dus-pa-rin-po-che-rtogs-gzungs.”2 Within a century, large teams of Tibetan translators were working with Indian and Chinese scholars to translate hundreds of Buddhist texts dealing with complex philosophies, medicine, astrology, and profound meditation practices.

Both wives of Songtsen Gampo – Princess Wengchen from China and Princess Bhrikuti Devi from Nepal - were Buddhists and the marriage with the king encouraged Buddhism as the state religion. Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche wrote, “Songtsen Gampo’s two queens can be credited for a great part of his cultural awareness.”3 What was the political purpose of these marriages, though? It certainly helped Tibet establish friendship with its neighbours and unexpectedly opened doors to vast treasures of knowledge.

Princess Wengchen was the daughter of Emperor Taizong, “(…) the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty, who ruled China from 629-649. He encouraged his father (…) to start the uprising that established the Tang dynasty, and many now consider Taizong to have been the co-founder of the dynasty. In 630, Taizong’s general (…) conquered the once mighty Eastern Turkic Khanate and allowed Tang to become the major political and military power of the region. Accordingly, leaders of bordering tribes convened at Chang’an the same year and asked for Taizong to take on the title of Heavenly Khan. Under his reign, the famous rule of Zhenguan was established. At the time, it was said that there was no need for the people to lock doors at night and that items left on the road remained untouched by others. The prosperity of the era and the leadership of Taizong and his renowned officials epitomizes the peak of traditional rulership that future generations would strive to emulate.”4 Emperor Taizong agreed to the marriage of his daughter with the Tubo King in 635; the marriage took place in 641.

Princess Bhrikuti Devi was the daughter of King Anshuvarrnan of the Kingdom of the Licchavis. “The Licchavis were known from earliest Buddhist legends as a ruling family during the Buddha’s time in India, and the founder of the Gupta Dynasty claimed that he had married a Licchavi princess. Perhaps some members of this Licchavi family married members of a local royal family in the Kathmandu Valley, or perhaps the illustrious history of the name prompted early Nepalese notables to identify themselves with it. In any case, the Licchavis of Nepal were a strictly local dynasty based in the Kathmandu Valley and oversaw the growth of the first truly Nepalese state.

“The earliest known Licchavi record (…) dates from 464, and mentions three preceding rulers (…). The last Licchavi inscription was in 733. All of the Licchavi records are deeds reporting donations to religious foundations, predominantly Hindu temples. The language of the inscriptions is Sanskrit, the language of the court in north India (…). Politically, however, India was divided for most of the Licchavi period.

“To the north, Tibet grew into an expansive military power through the 7^th century, declining only by 843. Some early historians (…) thought that Nepal may have become subordinate to Tibet for some time, but more recent Nepalese historians (…) deny the interpretation. In any case, from the 7^th century onward a recurring pattern of foreign relations emerged for rulers in Nepal: more intensive cultural contacts with the south, potential political threats from both India and Tibet, and continuing trade contacts in both directions.”5

Princess Wengchen from China brought the Jobo Buddha as dowry; Princess Bhrikuti Devi from Nepal brought the Akshobhya Buddha as dowry to the new kingdom on the Tibetan Plateau. They encouraged Songtsen Gampo to build shrines to house their precious gifts.6 Berzin wrote, “One faction in the Tibetan imperial court was against Songtsen-gampo’s patronage and reliance on Buddhism. They were undoubtedly behind his decision for not having a main Buddhist temple built at the imperial capital or even in the Yarlung Valley.” Therefore the first Buddhist temples were inaugurated eighty miles from the imperial capital, at “(…) the site that later became known as ‘Lhasa’ (Lha-sa, The Place of the Gods). At that time, it was called ‘Rasa’ (Ra-sa, The Place of the Goats). Western scholars speculate that the Emperor was persuaded not to build the temple near the capital so as not to offend the traditional gods.”7

Three pilgrimage circuits guide the devoted pilgrim to the shrine of Jobo Rinpoche. The Lingkhor encircles the city’s older section, while the Barkhor encloses the Ramoche and Jokhang temples. Within the Jokhang temple is the Nangkhor, a ritual corridor around the inner chapels of the sacred site.

(The Barkhor in Lhasa is one of the holiest areas of Tibet, where pilgrims, monks, and nuns hasten to reach the temples and visitors buy souvenirs or beautiful goods at the local stands - robes and hats, religious musical instruments, jewellery, prayer wheels, or prayer flags.)

The Jokhang Temple

(A golden, eight-spoke Dharma Wheel, flanked by two deer adorns the roof to the entrance of the Jokhang. The spokes represent the Eightfold Path that Lord Buddha taught and the deer remind that he first spoke after his enlightenment in the Deer Park at Sarnath. The walls of the courtyard are lined with hundreds of votive lamps and are the flickering doorway leading to this holiest site in Tibet. The first floor has many chapels, each dedicated to a different Bodhisattva or king. The walls behind the sculptures are covered with murals which vividly depict the Jataka of Buddhism, the story of acquiring scriptures in the Western Heaven of Sukavati, as well as Princess Wengchen crossing the snow-capped mountains on horseback to marry the king.)

The seeds of Buddhism were introduced to Tibet through the influence of Songtsen Gampo’s two wives. Buddhism became fully established by King Khri-srong-lde-brtsan, who ruled throughout the second half of the 8^th century, and King Khri-gtsug-lde-brtsan (Ral-pa-chen), who ruled from approx. 815-836. Until the final eclipse of Buddhism in India at the end of the 12^th century, the Tibetans were visiting Nepal and India for texts, instructions, and initiations, committing themselves whole-heartedly by then. The holiest testimony is located in the centre of Lhasa and was built by King Songtsen Gampo approx. 647.8 David Snellgrove and Hugh Richardson wrote, “(…) the Jo-khang itself was certainly founded by Srong-brtsan-sgam-po, for it is specifically mentioned and ascribed to him under its old name ‘Phrul-snang or Ra-sa in several ancient inscriptions. Also ascribed to him are the Ra-mo-che and Khra-‘brug chapels, as well as twelve ‘boundary and limb-binding’ chapels, supposedly built to bind and subdue the anti-Buddhist demons of Tibet. The authenticity of these traditions has been questioned by some Western scholars, but if the Jo-Khang is accepted as a seventh century foundation, there is no good reason to reject the others out of hand.”9

Pure are your eyes, broad and beautiful,

like the petals of a blue lotus.

Pure is your thought, having discovered

the supreme transcendence of all trances.

Immeasurable is the ocean of your virtues,

the accumulation of your good deeds.

You affirm the path of peace.

O Great Ascetic, obeisance to you! -- Licchavi Ratnakara

The Jokhang contains the most sacred shrine of the “Precious Lord,” Jobo Rinpoche, Yeshe-Norbu in Tibetan, which is one of the most revered images in Tibet. Jobo Rinpoche represents Buddha Shakyamuni and is believed to have been crafted during his life, when he was twelve years old, by Vishvamkarma with the guidance of Indra.10 It originally belonged to the King of Magadha in India.11 He gave it to Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. His daughter, Princess Wengchen Kongjo, brought it to Tibet as a present when she married King Songtsen Gampo.

It is said that Princess Wengchen chose the site of the Jokhang through divination and astrological calculations. Legend also says that Songtsen Gampo threw his ring into the sky, promising to build a temple where it landed. The ring fell into a lake and struck a rock where a white stupa miraculously appeared. The king had the lake filled with stones and invitede craftsmen from Tibet, Nepal, India, Kashmir, and China to erect the Jokhang Temple over the pool. Even today, a pool exists under the main courtyard.

The Ramoche Lhakhang, situated near the Jokhang, was built to house Jobo Rinpoche; the Jokhang was built to house the Akshobhya Buddha brought to Tibet by Princess Bhrikuti Devi from Nepal.12 It is said that after her husband’s death, Queen Wengchen took the sacred Jobo Statue out of Ramoche Lhakhang and hid if from an impeding Chinese invasion in the walls of the temple that later became known as the Jokhang, the “Home of Jobo.” Two generations later, the Chinese bride of the 36^th Tibetan King, Me-‘gtsom, enquired about the whereabouts of the Buddha image. It was found and placed in the shrine of the Jokhang, where it is today and remains the most venerated and visited shrine in Tibet. The image of the Akshobhya Buddha originally placed in the Jokhang was buried on the outskirts of Lhasa, so the images were interchanged after they were found again.

(Inside the Jokhang, the Nangkhor is a ritual corridor around the inner chapels of the temple.)

The Jokhang has undergone many reconstructions and additions, especially during the reign of the Fifth Dalai Lama in the 17^th century, but it retains a basic lay-out similar to early chapels and contains very early woodwork, especially the lion beam ends and the carved capitals of some of its pillars. Snellgrove and Richardson wrote, “(…) business ventures added greatly to the wealth of the temples and provided a channel through which cultural and artistic influences might enrich daily life and thought. Pearls and other precious stones, brocades and richly worked robes, incense-burners and ritual vessels, gilded bronze and copper images found their way into the monasteries. (…) One remarkable survival from the period (of the 14^th century) was a great scroll, fifty feet long by two and a half feet wide, describing in five languages, beautifully written in gold, the miraculous events of a visit to the emperor by the fifth Karmapa hierarch. The events are illustrated by panels delicately painted by a Chinese artist.”13 Tibetan art and architecture was always inspired by native, Indian, Nepali, as well as Chinese cultures.

(Roof of the Jokhang, toward the west. The Potala Palace can be seen in the distance.)

Sarat Chandra Das, who wrote a Tibetan-English dictionary in 1902, described the first period of Tibetan history as “the Period of Translations, which may also be entitled the Classical Period, for the sanctity of the religious message conferred a corresponding reputation and tradition of excellence upon the form in which it was conveyed. This period begins in the second half of the seventh century A.D., when Thon-mi Sambhota (the good Bhota or Tibetan), the minister of King Srongtsen Gampo, returned to Tibet after studying the Sanskrit language under an eminent Brahman teacher of Magadha.” Chandra Das continued, “The Classical Period may be divided into three stages. The first or the earliest stage terminated with the downfall of the first historical monarchy when King Langdarma fell by the hand of an assassin.” Chandra Das quoted Jaschke, author of a first Tibetan-English dictionary, “The second period corresponds with this stage, when ‘Tibetan authors began to indulge in composition of their own’ and wrote on historical and legendary subjects.”1 Ken Holmes added, “The threefold power of Trisong Detsen’s royal patronage, Padmasambhava’s spiritual presence and Abbot Shantaraksita’s vast knowledge enabled Buddhism to take a firm hold in Tibet. It was declared to be the national religion, and most importantly, the great monastic complex of Samye was constructed and the first monks were ordained.”2

King Khri-srong-lde-brtsan (Trisong Detsen, 742-798 A.D.) contributed greatly to establishing Buddhism in Tibet. During his reign, the prosperous cities along the Silk Road came under Tibetan rule, although the repeated invasions along the Chinese frontiers were minor conquests. He invited the Indian Pandit and Bodhisattva Abbot Shantarakshita to Tibet to speak about dependent origination and the ten virtuous actions and to build the first monastery at Samye near Mt. Hepori. Shantarakshita was “(…) the founder of the philosophical school combining Madhyamika and Yogacara.”4 There was a smallpox epidemic at that time. The conservative faction in the court blamed Shantarakshita and deported him from the land. On the abbot’s advice, the king invited Padmasambhava, known as Guru Rinpoche, from Swat, which is situated in the north of Pakistan, to drive out the spirits who had caused the smallpox. The emperor later asked Shantarakshita to return, which he did.5 Snellgrove and Richardson noted that “These two teachers represent two rather different forms of Buddhist practice, the one conventionally academic and monastic, and the other mystical and ritual.”6

Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye wrote, “In this world of Jamudvipa, Guru Rinpoche is known as just one nirmanakaya who tames beings, but according to the different capacities and giftedness of people he is perceived in various ways. The history of the Oral Transmission of Kilaya and most Indian sources explain that he was born as the son of a king or a minister in Uddiyana; while the terma treasures for the most part narrate that he was miraculously born. In some texts he is said to have appeared from a bolt of lightning at the summit of Mount Malaya. Each of these wondrous stories differs in many ways. This is indeed a topic that lies far beyond the reach of an ordinary person’s intellect.”7

Sogyal Rinpoche tells us about Padmasambhava, “As Buddha himself was passing away, he prophesied that Padmasambhava would be born not long after his death in order to spread the teachings of the Tantras. It was Padmasambhava who established Buddhism in Tibet in the eighth century.” Furthermore, “For us Tibetans, Padmasambhava, Guru Rinpoche, embodies a cosmic, timeless principle; he is the universal master. He has appeared countless times to the masters of Tibet, and these meetings and visions have been precisely recorded: the date, the place, and the manner in which they occurred, along with the teachings and prophecies Padmasambhava gave. He also left thousands of visionary teachings for future times, which have been revealed again and again by the many great masters who have been his emanations; one of these visionary treasures, or termas, is the Tibetan Book of the Dead.”8

Padmasambhava9 was “incarnated as an 8 year-old child appearing in a lotus blossom on Lake Dhanakosha (…). The local king who married him to one of his daughters, Mandarava, recognized his special nature. Padmasambhava’s other main consort, Yeshe Tsogyal, developed into realized practitioner. Padmasambhava’s ability to memorize and comprehend esoteric texts in a single hearing established his reputation as a master above all others. Accused of mystical killing of an evil minister, he was banished from the court. (…) Trisong Detsen, whose kingdom was beset by evil mountain deities, knew his fame. The king invited Padmasambhava to Tibet where he used his tantric powers to subdue the evil deities he encountered along the way. (…) This was in accordance with the tantric principle of not eliminating negative forces but instead redirecting them to fuel the journey toward spiritual awakening. In Tibet he founded the first monastery in the country, Samye Gompa, and introduced the people to the practice of Tantric Buddhism.”10

Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye tells us, “King Trisong Detsen requested empowerment and instruction from Padmakara. At Chimbu, the hermitage above Samye, the great master disclosed the mandala (…) into which he initiated nine chief disciples including the king. Each of them was entrusted with a specific transmission and all nine attained siddhi through practicing the respective teaching. Padmakara gave numberless other profound and extraordinary teachings connected with the three inner tantras to many destined students headed by the king and his sons and the twenty-five disciples in Lhodrak, Tidro, and many other places.

“Knowing that a descendant of the king would later try to destroy Buddhism in Tibet, he gave many predictions for the future. Conferring with the king and the close disciples, Padmakara concealed countless terma teachings headed by the 8 personal treasures of the king, the 5 great mind treasures, and the 25 profound treasures. The reasons for hiding these termas were to prevent the teachings of Secret Mantra to be destroyed, to avoid that the Vajrayana be corrupted or modified by intellectuals, to preserve the blessings, and to benefit future disciples. For each of these hidden treasures Padmakara predicted the time of the disclosure, the person who would reveal them, and the destined recipients who would hold the teachings.”12 Bodhisattva Shantarakshita could continue his work and was able to initiate seven monks before he died in 783; they were Tibet’s first Buddhist monks who gradually established the Noble Sangha and have come to be known as “The Seven Examined Men.”

Repeated battles took place between Tibet and China. In 783 a peace treaty was signed which established the boundary between the two countries. Tibetan military forces were making headway in the west, though. The army advanced as far as the Pamirs, until the Arabian Caliph, Harun al-Rashid allied himself with the Chinese. The Tibetans were able to hold their own. Berzin added, “(…) in 784, a grand persecution and exile of the Bonpos took place. Most went to Gilgit or Yunnan. According to the traditional Bon account, Zhang-zhung Drenka-namka buried the Bon texts at this time for safekeeping.”13 Berzin continued, “Historical and political analysis reveals that the reason for the exile was suspicion that the xenophobic conservative Zhang-zhung political faction might assassinate the Emperor for being pro-Indian, as it had done to his father. Moreover, the state kept the Bon burial rituals and sacrifices. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that it was a persecution of the Zhang-zhung political faction, not a persecution of the Bon religion.”14 It has been noted that “the very fact that nothing less than the coalition of the two most powerful empires of the early Middle Ages was necessary for checking the expansion of the Tibetan state, is a magnificent witness of the political capacities and military valour of these sturdy mountaineers.”15

During this period, Tibet had become ground for differing schools of thought. King Trisong Detsen therefore followed Khenpo Shantarakshita’s advice and invited the Indian Pandit Kamalashila to present the Indian Buddhist school and the famous Chinese Monk Hvashang Mahayana to present the Chan school (Jap. Zen) in a debate at Samye. The debate lasted from 792-794. It is recorded that Kamalashila swirled his sleeve around in the air, inferring the question, “What is the source of samsara?” Hvashang covered his head, indicating that ignorance is the source of samsara. Kamalashila won what has become known as “The Great Debate at Samye” and Hvashang had to leave the country. Thrangu Rinpoche tells us that Kamalashila introduced the gradual Mahayana path, which is practiced to this day by all lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. The king asked Kamalashila to compose a text explaining the stages of meditation. One of the most important texts Kamalashila wrote is the Bhavana-krama, which delineates krama, “the sequence,” of meditation practice.

After signing a peace treaty with China in 821, Emperor Ralpachen “(a Buddhist fanatic) made the Samye abbot the head of the State Council. He decreed that seven families support each monk in Tibet. He also formed a council to authorize terms to be included in a large Sanskrit-Tibetan compendium of translation terms he commissioned. (…) No tantra terms were included. (…) Most likely due to the excesses of Emperor Ralpachen, his successor and older brother, Emperor Langdarma closed monasteries and persecuted monks from 836-842. The Buddhist libraries and the (…) lay tradition, however, were preserved. The first buried Bon treasure texts were recovered by accident at Samye in 913.”17 Langdarma was assassinated in 846, but members of the royal family had fled to West Tibet earlier and built their castles there. The period of the first recorded kings of Tibet had come to an end.

In Tibet, the Land of Snow, Buddhism has flourished for more than a thousand years. Over three successive centuries, three great Tibetan kings - Songtsen Gampo, Trisong Detsen, and Tri Ralpachen – each developed great faith in the teachings of the Buddha and the practice of meditation, and they established in Tibet the necessary conditions for the spread of the teachings. Through the succeeding centuries, Tibetans have sustained their great faith in the Three Jewels and have been able to incorporate the meaning of the Buddhist Dharma into their daily lives. -- Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche1

Samye Gompa, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet, was built by both the saint and precious master Padmasambhava as well as the abbot and scholar Shantarakshita during the rule of King Trisong Detsen (742-798 A.D.).2 At that time, Samye was called Nechen, which means “the great location.” One of the most accomplished of the “seven examined men” first ordained at Samye Gompa was Bodhisattva Vairocana, who saw the smaller site near the capital of Lhasa and called it Nechung, which means “the smaller location.” He prophesied, “A monastery will be built here because the small lake and tree nearby are possessed by Pehar.” Berzin wrote, “The rock mountain behind the monastery has a footprint of Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava and a naturally formed crossed vajra.”3

The Government of Tibet in Exile wrote of a legend that there was a monastery known as Tsal-gang-thang on the other side of the Kyichu River flowing east of Lhasa. A custodian in charge of a shrine in Tsal-gang-thang got into a feud with the leading spirit Pehar Gyalpo and packed him inside a box he planned to throw into the river. Lama Chang-chub Palden, caretaker at Tsal-gang-thang, saw what was happening and commissioned his attendant to get hold of the box and bring it back, forbidding him to open it. The next morning the attendant saw the box floating toward him in the river. He seized it and wanted to carry it back to his Lama, but the box became heavier and heavier as he neared the monastery. He put it down and, curious to see what was inside, lifted the lid. A pigeon flew out and disappeared in a nearby tree. The attendant remembered his master’s words and sighed, “May the Lama know!” These words were later inscribed on the rock where he placed the box and can still be seen. The attendant returned to his Lama, told him what happened, and Lama Chang-chub Palden exclaimed, “It shows that the location is too small to house this powerful spirit.” Lama built the first monastery there and a community of monks established Nechung Gompa.4

(With a steady gaze, Padmasambhava’s right hand holds an upright gold vajra to his heart. His left hand is placed in his lap and holds a white skull cup filled with nectar, jewels, and a long-life vase. The Katvanga staff of a Vajrayana master decorated with white streamers rests against his left shoulder. Adorned with gold earrings and a necklace, his head is covered with a lotus hat, a gift of the King of Zahor, of silk brocade topped with a half-vajra, and a single vulture feather. Dressed in various robes of different colours representing the Vinaya, Bodhisattva, and Mantra Vehicles, he is often depicted sitting on a sun and moon disc above a mu

History of Tibet – A Few Chapters (Part 2)

Written Tibetan – Spanning Time

King Songtsen Gampo & the Ramoche Lhakhang

Ramoche Lhakhang

Nechung Gompa