Buddhists, predominantly from India, first actively disseminated their practices in Tibet from the 6th to the 9th centuries CE. During the Era of Fragmentation (9th–10th centuries), Buddhism waned in Tibet, only to rise again in the 11th century. With the Mongol invasion of Tibet (1240 onwards) and the establishment of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) in China, Tibetan Buddhism spread beyond Tibet to Mongolia and China. From the 14th to the 20th centuries, Tibetan Buddhism was patronized by the Chinese Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and the Manchurian Qing dynasty (1644–1912) which ruled China.
The Gelugpa school, founded by Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), rose to (political) prominence under Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (1617–1682), the 5th Dalai Lama (in office 1642–1682), who invited the Mongols to intervene in the Tibetan civil war of 1639–1642. The Mongols invested him with the political power of Tibet, leading to the dominance of the Gelugpa until the 20th century. In the 19th century the Rimé movement provided a counter-weight against this dominance, trying to preserve the teachings of the Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya schools.
In the early 20th century Tibet acquired de facto independence from the Manchurian Qing Empire. Tibetan independence ended with the Chinese invasion of 1950, which resulted in an exodus of Tibetans. In the 21st century, Tibetan Buddhism continues to have adherents on the Tibetan Plateau and in surrounding regions, while it has also attracted a considerable interest in the Western world.
Pre 6th century Centuries after Buddhism originated in India, the Mahayana Buddhism arrived in China through the Silk Route in 1st century CE via Tibet.Lee Injae, Owen Miller, Park Jinhoon, Yi Hyun-Hae, 2014, Korean History in Maps, Cambridge University Press, pp. 44–49, 52–60. During the 3rd century, Buddhism began to spread into the Tibetan region, and its teachings began to affect the Bon religion in the Kingdom of Zhangzhung.
Buddhist origins According to verbal history, during the reign of King Thothori Nyantsen in the 6th century, buddhist relics including a golden stupa, a tsa tsa mold, and Buddhist Sutras first arrived in Tibet, falling from the sky onto the palace roof of Yumbulakhang where the king was walking.
Songtsen Gampo (7th century)
Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures from Nepal & India were first translated into Tibetan under the reign of the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo (618–649),Berzin, Alexander, A Survey of Tibetan History who established the Tibetan Empire. Songtsen Gampo is traditionally credited with the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, influenced by his Nepali consort Bhrikuti, of Nepal's Licchavi dynasty, as well as with the unification of what had previously been several Tibetan kingdoms. It is known that he married a Chinese Tang dynasty Buddhist princess, Wencheng, who came to Tibet with a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha. It is clear from Tibetan sources that some of his successors became ardent Buddhists. The records show that Chinese Buddhists were actively involved in missionary activity in Tibet, but they did not have the same level of imperial support as Indian Buddhists, with tantric lineages from Bihar and Bengal.
By the second half of the 8th century he was already regarded as an embodiment of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.Macdonald, Alexander: Religion in Tibet at the time of Srong-btsan sgam-po: myth as history, in: The History of Tibet, ed. Alex McKay, Vol. 1, London 2003, p. 354-363 (for the queens see p. 355); Dargyay, Eva: Srong-btsan sgam-po of Tibet: Bodhisattva and king, in: The History of Tibet, ed. Alex McKay, Vol. 1, London 2003, p. 364-378 (for the queens see p. 373).
According to Tibetan traditions, Queen Bhrikuti was a devout Licchavi kingdom Buddhist and brought many sacred images and expert Newari craftsmen with her as part of her dowry. The Red Palace (Mar-po-ri Pho-drang) on Marpo Ri (Red Mountain) in Lhasa, which was later rebuilt into the thirteen storey Potala by the Fifth Dalai Lama, was constructed by Nepali craftsmen. The famous Nepali artist Thro-wo carved the revered statue of Chenresig, Thungji Chen-po rang-jung nga-ldan. A statue of Akshobya Buddha from India, named the Mikyo Jowo or Jowo Chungpa was housed in the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa.
Songtsen Gampo and Bhrikuti built a great temple, the Tsulag Khang (or 'House of Wisdom') to house the images, which is now known as the Jokhang ('House of the Lord') in the heart of Lhasa, and is considered to be the most sacred temple in Tibet.
Bhrikuti is usually represented as Green Tara in Tibetan iconography. Bhrikuti and Wencheng are said to have worked together to establish temples and Buddhism in Tibet.
Trisong Detsen (8th century)
In the 8th century Buddhism really took hold in Tibet. The successors of Songtsän Gampo were less enthusiastic about the propagation of Buddhism, but in the 8th century King Trisong Detsen (755–797) established it as the official religion of the state.Beckwith, C.I.: The revolt of 755 in Tibet, in: The History of Tibet, ed. Alex McKay, Vol. 1, London 2003, p. 273-285 (discusses the political background and the motives of the ruler).
Trisong Detsen invited Indian Buddhist scholars to his court, and Tibetan Buddhists today trace their oldest spiritual roots to the Indian masters Padmasambhāva (8th century) and Śāntarakṣita (725–788), who founded the Nyingma school, The Ancient Ones, the oldest school of Tibetan Buddhism.Berzin. Alexander (2000). How Did Tibetan Buddhism Develop?: StudyBuddhism.com According to Tibetan tradition, Padmasambhāva wrote a number of important scriptures, some of which he hid for future tertons to find; these Terma "treasures" (revealed texts) are of particular significance to the Nyingma school.
At this early time also, from the south came the influence of scholars under the Pāla dynasty in the Indian state of Magadha. They had achieved a blend of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna that has come to characterize all forms of Tibetan Buddhism. Their teaching in sutra centered on the Abhisamayālankāra, a 4th-century Yogācārin text, but prominent among them were the Mādhyamika scholars Śāntarakṣita and Kamalaśīla.
A third influence was that of the Sarvāstivādins from Kashmir to the southwest and Khotan to the northwest.Berzin, Alexander (2000). How Did Tibetan Buddhism Develop?; Berzin, Alexander (1996). The Spread of Buddhism in Asia Although they did not succeed in maintaining a presence in Tibet, their texts found their way into the Tibetan Buddhist canon, providing the Tibetans with almost all of their primary sources about what they regarded to be the Hinayana. A subsect of this school, Mūlasarvāstivāda was the source of the Tibetan vinaya.
Chinese influences (8th century) The Chinese princess Jincheng Gongzhu (:zh:金城公主) (?–739), known in Tibet as Kim-sheng, and a devout Buddhist, was sent to Tibet in 710 where she married Mes-ag-tshoms. Buddhist monks from Khotan (Li), fleeing the persecutions of an anti-Buddhist king, were given refuge by Kim-sheng about 737. Kim-sheng died during an outbreak of smallpox sometime between 739 and 741, and anti-Buddhist factions in Tibet began to blame the epidemic on the support of Buddhism by the king and queen. This forced the monks to flee once again; first to Gandhara, and then to Kosambi in central India where the monks apparently ended up quarrelling and slaughtering each other.
Tibetan king Trisong Detsen (742–797) invited the Chan master Moheyan to transmit the Dharma at Samye Monastery. According to Tibetan sources, Moheyan lost the so-called council of Lhasa (793), a debate sponsored by Trisong Detsen on the nature of emptiness with the Indian master Kamalaśīla, and the king declared Kamalaśīlas philosophy should form the basis for Tibetan Buddhism.Yamaguchi, Zuihō (undated). The Core Elements of Indian Buddhism Introduced into Tibet: A Contrast with Japanese Buddhism. Source: Thezensite.com (accessed: October 20, 2007) However, a Chinese source found in Dunhuang written by Mo-ho-yen says their side won, and some scholars conclude that the entire episode is fictitious.Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (Volume One), page 70
Pioneering Buddhologist Giuseppe Tucci speculated that Mohayen's ideas were preserved by the Nyingmapas in the form of dzogchen teachings.Masao Ichishima, "Sources of Tibetan Buddhist Meditation." Buddhist-Christian Studies, Vol. 2, (1982), pp. 121–122, published by University of Hawai'i Press. John Myrdhin Reynolds and Sam van Schaik reject this possibility. According to Reynolds, "Except for a brief flirtation with Ch'an in the early days of Buddhism in Tibet in the eighth century, the Tibetans exhibited almost no interest at all in Chinese Buddhism, except for translating a few Sutras from Chinese for which they did not possess Indian originals."Reynolds, John. http://vajranatha.com/teaching/DzogchenChinese.htm (accessed: November 18, 2010)
Growth in Tibet (9th century) From the outset Buddhism was opposed by the native shamanistic Bön religion, which had the support of the aristocracy, but it thrived under royal patronage, reaching a peak under King Rälpachän (r. 817–836). Terminology in translation was standardised around 825, enabling a highly literal translation methodology.
Ralpachen (9th century) Ralpachen is considered a very important king in the history of Tibet and of Tibetan Buddhism. He was the third of the three Dharma Kings (chos gyal) of the Yarlung Dynasty, following Songtsen Gampo the 33rd king, nd Trisong Detsen the 38th king. Least renown of the three, Ralpachen's contributions to Tibetan Buddhism were profound.
All three kings respectively contributed in bringing Mahayana Buddhism to Tibet and evolving the yana into the Vajrayana, through their imperial sponsoring and patronizing of the Vajrayana by way of Guru Padmasambhava. In supporting the growth of Tibetan Buddhism, they built monasteries with Khenpo Santaraksita, grew ordained sanghas of monks and nuns, compiled and printed the Tibetan canon and printed dharma books at Sanchu and spread the Buddhadharma through imperial patronage into their empire.
The Tibetan Empire during the reign of Ralpachen grew to its largest extent, and the successful military battles against the Tang China Empire led to the 821-823 Tibet-China treaty. Three stone stelae (pillars) are inscribed with the treaty terms, and one of each was built in Lhasa at the Jokhang Monastery, in Chang'an, and at the agreed border.
The death of Ralpachen in 838, after being murdered by his brother Ü Dumtsen, ended the imperial patronage of Tibetan Buddhism, which had begun about eighty years earlier around 755 with Padmasambhava, Shantirakshita and Trisong Detsen, following the preliminary patronage of Songsten Gampo in the 7th century.
Afterwards, Langdarma was not to take the throne until 841, when he proceeded to nearly destroy Buddhism in Tibet, together with the 13 Buddhist monasteries, and their ordained monastics, which were built during the reign of Trisong Detsen and Ralpachen.
Era of fragmentation (mid-9th–10th centuries) A reversal in imperial patronage of Tibetan Buddhism began under King Ü Dumtsen (Langdarma, r. 841–842), who persecuted ordained monks and nuns and destroyed their monasteries. After his own assassination, his two sons were unable to stabilize the Tibetan Empire. The Era of Fragmentation of the Tibetan Empire followed.
During this time, the political centralization of the Tibetan Empire collapsed. The period was dominated by rebellions against the remnants of imperial Tibet and the rise of regional kings and queens. The pre-empire system of semi-autonomous political entities was renewed.