Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.s3.t1.43

v2.c13.s3.t1.43

In 629 CE, Srongtsen Gampo was crowned as Tsenpo (King) and founded a capital in Luoxie (present-day Lhasa, Tibet). He began to communicate with the Tang empire, India and Nepal and brought about much cultural progress. Buddhism was brought to Tu-bo at this time. Princess Bhrikuti from Nepal and Princess Wencheng from the Tang, who married Srongtsen Gampo, brought Buddhist canon, statues, talismans and monks to Tibet and built the Jokhang Temple and Ramoche Temple in Lhasa. In the middle of the 8^th century, Trisong Detsen exterminated the ministers who opposed Buddhism. He sent people to Chang’an to study the Buddhist scriptures, and invited the famous Buddhist monks Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita to Tibet to develop and expand Buddhism. They carried out the initiation of monks, formed monastic orders and built the Samye Temple. Buddhism thus began to flourish. Trisong Detsen (?~816/817) formulated a system whereby seven families provided one monk and asked a monk Banshi Diqinbu to take charge of military and political powers. He also presided over the translation of 700 works of Buddhist scriptures. During his reign, Tibetan Buddhism reached its peak.