Khri Srong lde brtsan the Buddhist King

Over the generations, Tibetan historians gradually forgot the imperial image of Khri Srong lde btsan. They replaced it with a more idealised, Buddhist image of the btsan po, akin to that of the legendary Buddhist king, Asoka. In fact, IOL 466/3 (above) makes a direct and positive comparison between the two. Later histories omit to mention Khri Srong lde brtsan's successful conquests in China. They report that the Chinese praised the btsan po as a bodhisattva rather than as a worthy opponent. I shall demonstrate in this chapter that IOL Tib J 370/6 contains the same positive image of Khri Srong lde brtsan, and his ancestor Srong btsan sgam po (c.605-649). The dBa’ bzhed compares these two Tibetan kings as divine legislators, employing an old narrative borrowed from Indian Buddhist literature. Nyang ral's Zangs gling ma states that Khri Srong lde brtsan was an emanation of Bodhisattva Manjusri, created to spread Buddhism in Tibet. It then narrates that in this respect, Manjusri looked to Avalokitesvara’s emanation as Srong btsan sgam po for inspiration. The growth of the cult of bodhisattvas in Tibet thus transforms the notion of royal precedent to include this pantheon.

The influence of Indian Buddhist literature also allows for the concept of predestination to enter into historiography. Brag lha mo inscription A and IOL Tib J 466/3 (above) attribute the eighth-century spread of Buddhism to the efforts of Khri Srong lde brtsan. The histories covered in this chapter however, for example Pelliot tibetain 149, emphasise the role of his spiritual friends. The dBa’ bzhed portrays these religious figures as predestined to spread the Dharma in Tibet, propelled by past karmic links forged in India. The sBa bzhed strengthens these bonds by incorporating into its narrative the well-known tale of three brothers who make aspirational prayers after constructing a stupa for the Buddha in Magadha. The Zangs gling ma replaces one spiritual friend in this triad, the Tibetan dBa' gSal snang, with the Indian tantric master, Padmasambhava. This substitution leads Nyang ral to privilege India, the land of the Buddha, over its barbaric borderland. Gradually, Indian religious figures eclipse the indigenous king as the primary agents who establish Buddhism in Tibet.

Royal Precedent

Khri Srong lde brtsan claimed inspiration from his ancestor, Srong btsan sgam po. The bKa' mchid states:

From the time when the religion of the Buddha was first practiced with the building of the vihara (monastery) of Ra sa in the reign of the fourth ancestor Khri Srong brtsan (i.e. Srong btsan sgam po) down to the practice of the religion of the Buddha with the building of the temple at Kwa chu in Brag dmar in the reign of the father, Khri Lde gtsug brtsan, five generations passed.297

Here Khri Srong lde brtsan establishes continuity between himself and his ancestors, beginning with Srong btsan sgam po. Later authors build on this theme, depicting both btsan pos in similarly glowing terms. Stein notes this tendency in the Old Tibetan Chronicle, with reference to the positive quality, gtsug lag.298 Stein argues that gtsug lag connotes the practice of justice, since the Chronicle

297 KGT: vol. 1 373.15-19 (with divergences in Richardson 1998 [1980]: 96.38-41 in square brackets): @ / btsan po bzhi mes khri srong lde [omits lde] btsan gyi ring la / ra sa’i pe har [bi har] brtsigs te sangs rgyas kyi chos thog ma mdzad tshun chad / btsan po yab khri lde gtsug brtsan gyi ring la / brag dmar gyi kwa chur gtsug lag khang brtsigs te sangs rgyas kyi chos mdzad phand chad gdung rabs lnga lon no // 298 Stein suggests that the Chronicle describes both Srong btsan sgam po and Khri Srong lde brtsan as possessing the same gtsug lag (good political conduct). He glosses Pelliot tibetain 1287, lines 452-53:

“[Srong btsan sgam po’s] great code (and? namely?) the gtsug lag (tradition, morality, good custom, etc.) of Tibet”... namely the hierarchy of ministers, the (respective) powers of the great and the small, the recompense for good and the punishment for offences, etc. (Stein (A. P. McKeown trnsl.) 2010 [1985]: 132)

dbang thang dang / legs pa zin pa 'I bya dga' dang / nye yo ba 'i chad pa dang...

He glosses lines 365-7:

“[In the time of btsan po Khri Srong lde brtsan] religion (custom) was good and the reign great”... “the king stands (is held?) in the land between heaven and earth, and his great gtsug lag (wisdom, art of follows the term with a description of the rewards and punishments that Srong btsan sgam po or Khri Srong lde brtsan meted out to their subjects. The dBa' bzhed, too, compares both btsan pos according to this criteria, as legislators (see below).

The Chronicle omits any reference to Srong btsan sgam po's Buddhist achievements. Later histories, in contrast, portray him and Khri Srong lde brtsan in almost strictly Buddhist terms. Pelliot tibetain 849 states:

The divine Tibetan king/s (bod 'phrul gyi rgyal po) [endowed with] the third eye, Srong brtsan sgam po and bTsan po Khri Srom ldem brtsan and bTsan po Khri gTsug lde brtsan [i.e.] bTsan po Ral pa can, were all practitioners of the mahayana.

This reference to the three great Buddhist kings reflects a tendency for Tibetan histories to focus on this triad when depicting the imperial period. The history entitled Mes dbon gsum gyi rnam thar (“The biography of the three ancestors”) is a classic example of how the emphasis on only three btsan pos affects the narrative frame of later sources. Earlier histories focus on Srong btsan sgam po and Khri Srong lde brtsan. For example IOL Tib J 370/6, now generally known, following Richardson, as The Dharma that Came Down from Heaven, describes how the two kings established the teachings in Tibet. It begins: The single volume of the Dharma that fell from heaven: The protectors of men, lha sras, supreme kings, The divine king/s ('phrul gyi rgyal po), Srong brtsan [[[sgam po]]] And bTsan po Khri Srong lde brtsan Both learned the teaching of Gautama Sakya, That greatest of extremely good and rare medicines, Like the flower of the Udumbara, Which brought benefit to all beings In Jambudvipa, the world of men, Tibet... In accord with it, they took up the commitments And spread them far and wide among beings. As a record to maintain this, on a stone pillar It was written as an edict of the lord and his people. Such learning (gtsug lag) is the Ocean in which The deeds of the ruler and his people are Mount Meru. This practice being established for a long time, The country's borders expanded and the land of Tibet was happy. Harvests were good, diseases of men and cattle rare... Although [the kings] had the bodies of men, Their ways were those of gods. In other kingdoms and among other people, That has not happened before, nor will it happen in the future; Even among the gods such things are rare.

IOL Tib J 370/6 focuses exclusively on the Dharma. It contains references to “historical” details of Khri Srong lde brtsan’s reign like his support of Buddhism in a pillar edict, which perhaps signifies the bSam yas inscription. However, it places this proclamation within a Buddhist rather than imperial context that includes the Buddha’s teachings and Mount Meru. Narratives of conquest, which play a large part in the Old Tibetan Annals and Old Tibetan Chronicle, are absent. The text approves of imperial expansion; but it claims that the empire grew as a result of the kings’ Buddhist practices.

This text portrays Tibet as the country where the Dharma flourished most, unlike any other place on earth. It claims that Tibet received its Buddhism directly from India, rather than China, say. It represents the two kings, Srong btsan sgam po and Khri Srong lde brtsan, as turning straight to the source of Buddhism, India. These are god-like kings: ‘Although [they] had the bodies of men / Their ways were those of gods.' They are not deified in body, from birth or with distinguishing marks (as in later histories), but in their actions. Their studies of Indian Buddhism appear to have led to their divine actions, later in life.

IOL Tib J 370/6 then applies a standard Vinaya depiction of Buddhist countries to Tibet, in order to describe the benefits that Buddhism brought to Tibet. The Vinaya often records the happiness, good harvests and increased empire that Buddhism brings about in a country. Our text incorporates into this description a phrase asserting the rarity of disease among men and cattle in Buddhist Tibet. This phrase (mi nad phyugs nad) is only found in the imperial-period bKa' mchid, and thus does not appear to be of Indian provenance. By claiming that Tibet excels all other kingdoms, IOL Tib J 370/6 raises Tibetan kings above the great Indian kings Harsa, Kaniska, or even Asoka. This text appropriates Indian Buddhist geographical metaphors for its new Tibetan Buddhist enterprise. Its inclusion of “historical” details of Khri Srong lde brtsan's reign, such as the bSam yas inscription can be better understood in this context. Perhaps IOL Tib J 370/6 includes these details in order eulogise the Tibetan kings as unique in their patronage of Buddhism.

Divine Legislation

IOL Tib J 370/6 does not describe the content of Khri Srong lde brtsan's inscription. Instead, it mentions his proclamations as symbolic of his attempt to transmit the Dharma from India to Tibet. The dBa' bzhed continues this trend. It describes one of Khri Srong lde brtsan's edicts in a way that bears no relation to the actual eighth-century inscription. Instead, the edict symbolises the “civilising” effect of Indian Buddhism in Tibet. Unlike IOL Tib J 370/6, though, this episode marks Khri Srong lde brtsan out as more humane toward his subjects than his ancestor Srong btsan sgam po.

The dBa' bzhed depicts both btsan pos as bodhisattvas. In one episode, a Chinese patriarch prophesies that Khri Srong lde brtsan is ‘“the bodhisattva who will give the holy doctrine to Tibet.”' In another, Srong btsan sgam po meets the two monks from Khotan (Li yul) and shows them that he is an emanation of Avalokitesvara. The dBa’ bzhed makes an important connection between the btsan po as bodhisattva and as legislator in that episode: [The two monks] came down to the palace of the btsan po in Tibet. It was the time in which the first law of the btsan po was being enforced. [They] saw that some people were executed, some were condemned to exile, some were held prisoner within an enclosure of thorns. Some had their noses cut off or their eyes removed. The two monks lost their faith and said: “This cannot be 'Phags pa sPyan ras gzigs! Let us go back.” They were about to set out for their country when the btsan po came to know this. He took the two monks to a wide lonely plain and he showed them the body of 'Phags pa sPyan ras gzigs. Those two monks were delighted and prostrated.

This vignette is a Tibetan adaptation of an episode from the Gandavyuhasutra. It is worth noting, though, that the dBa’ bzhed at no point explains away the evidence of corporal punishment the monks saw, unlike the Gandavyuhasutra or later Tibetan versions of the narrative. The punishments that the monks see inflicted in the dBa’ bzhed are apparently in line with the btsan po's legislation. This treatment of the religious meaning of royal punishment is of great interest for the

dBa' bzhed's indirect comparison of Srong btsan sgam po and Khri Srong lde brtsan as Buddhist kings. According to the dBa' bzhed (17b3-5), in the same year that bSam yas monastery is consecrated Khri Srong lde brtsan outlaws the corporal punishments that Srong btsan sgam po instigated:

A great edict (bka' shog) was promulgated: henceforth, among the subjects under the rule [of the btsan po] men might not have their eyes put out, women might not have their noses cut off, and the subjects should be devoted to the doctrine. All subjects, starting from the ministers adhering to the leading [persons], {interlinear note: took the oath. The edict of the sacred law (chos gtsigs)314 was recorded and a pillar was Dotson (2007b: 4-5) comments:

While it would be hasty to dismiss this Chinese account altogether, it may be said that this statement is either an uninformed and chauvinistic account of a barbarian people or describes a very early stage in legal culture.

The later bLon po bka' thang, which includes ancient materials, states that the removal of eyes and noses as part of the law that Srong btsan sgam po set down in the 7th century. It states (following the translation in Dotson 2007a: 331): The three praises and three scorns, three deeds and three non-deeds.

[The three praises:] one: the praising with [preferential] seating of the learned; two: the praising with tigers of the heroes who defeat the enemies; three: the praising with texts of the wise and mindful. The three scorns: [1] kill thieves and [2] banish gtam-po; [3] [cut] the noses and [put out] the eyes of rapists and imprison dissolute women.

The bLon po bka' thang (442-43; Chandra 1982: 553; ca, 11a5-11b1) reads: stod gsum smad gsum mdzad gsum mi mdzad gsum / mkhas btsun bzang po gral gyi stod dang gcig / dgra 'dul dpa' bo stag gi stod dang

byi chal sna mig 'chol ma bcing dang gsum /

This is, of course, only a literary reference; but one that ties in with the dBa' bzhed's account of Srong btsan sgam po's laws. It seems that the Khotanese monks are depicted as seeing executions, exiles and disfigurements because according to the dBa' bzhed the punishments were actually meted out according to the btsan po's laws.

314 Only the term bka' shog is included in the main text of the dBa' bzhed, whereas the term chos gtsigs is interpolated below the line. It is either a later gloss, in which case the bka' shog is the only securely eleventh¬century reference to Khri Srong lde brtsan's edict, or the line was mistakenly omitted in the eleventh century and then replaced later. Willis (forthcoming) argues that these interlinear notes date to a later period the main, eleventh-century text. See also Chapter One for a discussion of the dBa' bzhed's creation. erected. From then on, the khab so chen po [provided] the offerings for the Three Jewels and the food for the samgha} were provided.315

The references in both dBa' bzhed episodes to severe corporal punishments, including eyes being scooped out or noses cut off, appear to reflect the earlier associations of btsan pos with rewards and punishments. They may even describe these kings’ gtsug lag in a time when gtsug lag no longer had those connotations. The episode concerning the Khotanese monks draws on an Indian narrative, but because Srong btsan sgam po is seen as the great legislator, the dBa' bzhed does not need to explain away his corporal punishments as illusion. This discipline is merely part of his law. Khri Srong lde brtsan promulgates a bka' shog after building bSam yas, which apparently marks a new phase in the spread of Buddhism in Tibet. Perhaps his injunction against corporal punishment is an expression of a new Buddhist law adhering in Tibet.

In the dBa' bzhed, Srong btsan sgam po is a self-aware emanation that punishes; Khri Srong lde brtsan is also a bodhisattva, perhaps not yet apotheosised but depicted as a more humane ruler. The dBa’ bzhed uses the Gandavyuha narrative and the memory of Khri Srong lde brtsan’s edicts in Interestingly, the sBa bzhed (60.2-13) includes an extended version of the dBa' bzhed that also records his erection of a chos gtsigs. This suggests that its redactor was aware of either the interlinear note to the dBa’ bzhed or another tradition that linked the repeal of corporal punishment to Khri Srong lde brtsan’s spread of the Dharma. The sBa bzhed does not mention Srong btsan sgam po’s harsh laws, so it is making no overt comparison between the two btsan pos when it narrates these events.

315 Translation based on Pasang and Diemberger 2000: 73. dBa’ bzhed 17b4-5 reads: bka' shog chen po btang /

gtsigs mdzad de rdo ring btsugs de man chad dkon mchog gsum dang dge 'dun gyi bshos ni khab so chen pos } sbyor te / order to highlight the differences in their characters and in how they embody the values of Tibetan bodhisattva-kingship.

ManjusrT's Inspiration

In twelfth-century histories, Srong btsan sgam po prophesies Khri Srong lde brtsan’s achievements and Khri Srong lde brtsan finds inspiration in Srong btsan sgam po’s life. sBa bzhed G precedes its life-story of Khri Srong lde brtsan with a precis of Srong btsan sgam po’s achievements as an emanation of Avalokitesvara. Reciprocally, narratives of Srong btsan sgam po’s life include prophecies that anticipate Khri Srong lde brtsan’s continued spread of the Dharma. The last chapter showed that Khri Srong lde brtsan emphasised dynastic continuity in his inscriptions, stating that past generations constructed Buddhist temples and future generations would continue to patronise them. The inclusion of prophecy as a literary trope in later Tibetan histories strengthens this sense of continuity, since these sources claim that previous btsan pos foretold the Buddhist achievements of Khri Srong lde brtsan.

Srong btsan sgam po thus continues to play an important role in Khri Srong lde brtsan’s life-story. Nyang ral quotes the same source as the dBa' bzhed in order to identify Srong btsan sgam po with Avalokitesvara. His Zangs gling ma also emphasises the connection between Khri Srong lde brtsan and Srong btsan sgam po by identifying both as well-known bodhisattvas and by recording that the former looked to the latter for inspiration. In this sense it is a direct descendant of the imperial documents of the last chapter. The bKa' mchid explanatory edict, for instance, identifies Srong btsan sgam po as Khri Srong lde brtsan's precedent for patronising Buddhism. However, in ZL it is possible to see the effect of several centuries of

maturing literary tradition. The literary device of an “omniscient narrator,” which had become standard in Tibetan histories after the ninth century, here enables the audience to hear the thoughts of Manjusri. He aspires to build bSam yas before Khri Srong lde brtsan is even born:

The emanation (sprul pa) of noble Manjusri, King Khri Srong lde btsan, invited [[[Padmasambhava]]] in order to tame the site for building glorious bSam yas. That [happened thus:] the lord of knowledge, noble Manjusri, while dwelling at the Five- peaked Mountain in China, turned his face towards Tibet and thought, “I must convert the people of the snowy land of Tibet.” In the past, the Great Compassionate One incarnated as King Srong btsan sgam po, built one hundred and eight border¬taming and supplementary-taming temples such as Lha sa 'Phrul snang and Lha sa Ra mo che, and then instigated the tradition of the sacred Dharma. Manjusri aspired to cause the Dharma to spread and flourish in the snowy land of Tibet, so he thought to [first] incarnate as a strong king and gather the Tibetan people under his power.321

In order to spread the Dharma, it is first necessary to unite Tibet under a powerful king—just as traditional biographies of Srong btsan sgam po describe his unification of Tibet under a series of laws.322 ZL implies that the Buddhist rulers of Tibet share a common tradition of religious and mundane authority. Yet it transforms this concept by identifying the rulers as incarnations of popular bodhisattvas.

Thus, from the eighth to the twelfth century, Khri Srong lde brtsan is given greater status within the Buddhist cosmology. Some imperial documents depict Srong btsan sgam po and Khri Srong lde brtsan as bodhisattvas, though perhaps this only indicates that they are on the path to enlightenment. Srong lde brtsan. Pelliot tibetain 149 describes Khri Srong lde brtsan's dream from the perspective of an omniscient narrator (see van Schaik and Doney 2007 (2009): 205). The dBa' bzhed differs from the fragment of the same narrative at Dunhuang in rephrasing Khri Srong lde brtsan's doubts as his own quoted thoughts (see van Schaik and Iwao 2008). However, the dBa' bzhed only records the speech of deities.

321 ZLh 19b4-20a5 reads: 'phags pa 'jam dpal gyi sprul pa / rgyal po khri srong lde btsan gyis / dpal gyi bsam yas bzhengs pa'i sa bzhi (=gzhi) 'dul ba'I don du spyan drangs te / de yang mkhyen rabs kyi bdag po 'phags pa 'jam dpal de bzhugs pa rgya nag ri bo rtse lnga la bzhugs kyang / zhal bod du bstan nas (20a) thugs rje bod kha ba can gyi mi 'dul bar dgongs te / de yang gong du thugs rje chen po'i sprul pa / rgyal po srong btsan sgam por sprul nas / lha sa 'phrul snang dang / lha sa ra mo che la sogs pa / mtha' 'dul dang yang 'dul la sogs pa / gtsug [lag] khang brgya rtsa brgyad bzhengs / dam pa'i chos kyi srol btod nas yod pa la / 'phags pa 'jam dpal gyis /

che gcig tu sprul nas / bod kyi mi rnams mnga' 'og tu bsdu bar dgongs te / 322 See Dotson 2007a on these early depictions of Srong btsan sgam po the legislator.

IOL Tib J 466/3 states that Khri Srong lde brtsan has gone to nirvana, thus he is a human who has completed the path to enlightenment. The dBa’ bzhed apotheosises Srong btsan sgam po from birth, as an incarnation of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. Yet it only describes Khri Srong lde brtsan vaguely, as a ‘bodhisattva.' ZL depicts both kings as emanations of well-known bodhisattvas. Thus, over the centuries, Khri Srong lde brtsan gains religious status in Tibetan histories.

However, running concurrent with this increase in status is the gradual eclipse of Khri Srong lde brtsan from the post-imperial sources onwards. ZL claims parity between Khri Srong lde brtsan and Srong btsan sgam po as fellow incarnations of bodhisattvas. However, I shall show that it portrays Khri Srong lde brtsan as an emantion cloaked in delusion and doubt. The notion of incarnation may entail a diminution of a bodhisattva's powers to mortal capacities and fallibility. Nevertheless, the literary tradition on Srong btsan sgam po generally does not depict him as possessing any human frailties. Srong btsan sgam po is also consistently the main protagonist in his own vita tradition, whereas spiritual friends freqently eclipse Khri Srong lde brtsan in narratives depicting his eighth-century reign.

The Spiritual Friends

In narratives from the post-imperial period onwards, Khri Srong lde brtsan often needs to rely on his spiritual superiors to spread the Dharma. Over time, religious figures that he invited to translate and spread the Dharma in Tibet begin to draw the focus away from the king. Tibetan histories also increasingly glorify India as the source of Buddhism, and therefore portray this eighth-century Tibetan borderland as inferior to the land where the Buddha became enlightened and taught.

Pelliot tibetain 149 reserves the central roles in its history for religious masters rather than the king. This narrative, concerning the transmission of the Aryabhadracarya-pranidhana prayer into Tibet, focuses less on Khri Srong lde brtsan than on the spiritual friends mentioned in the bKa' mchid, above. Another Dunhuang text records their abbatial succession as heads of the bSam yas and Ra sa 'phrul snang monasteries. It shows that the earliest Tibetan abbot, Ye shes dbang po from the dBa' clan, inherited the role from Santaraksita and passed it on to another dBa' clan member, named dPal dbyangs. These spiritual friends must have wielded significant power. The fact that an abbot from the dBa' family handed down control of bSam yas to another member of his clan suggests that the role acquired powerful and prestigious status among Tibetans too.

Pelliot tibetain 149 allows Khri Srong lde brtsan privileged access to Santaraksita. The latter is the btsan po's spiritual superior, though, whom he approaches with humility. It also reports the king as saying dBa' dPal dbyangs 'is a student (slob ma) of mine, a monk.' Thus the text suggests that Khri Srong lde brtsan is a teacher, as the Old Tibetan Chronicle and prayer in IOL Tib J 466/3 do. However, that prayer calls the btsan po a spiritual friend. In Pelliot tibetain 149, he leaves the task of teaching and transmission to the “historical” spiritual friends, Santaraksita and dBa' dPal dbyangs. Khri Srong lde brtsan certainly knows the Aryabhadracarya-pranidhana prayer, since he recites it when bidding farewell to his student, but he does not attain siddhis from it. The narrative focuses more on Santaraksita and dBa' dPal dbyangs than on the king. For the first time, a history that includes Khri Srong lde brtsan does not centre entirely on him, but goes on to focus on the socially inferior but spiritually superior religious figures in the narrative.

The Dharma's Predestination

In the dBa’ bzhed and sBa bzhed, Buddhist transmission again largely bypasses Khri Srong lde brtsan. Following the abbatial succession evidenced in the Dunhuang texts, Santaraksita transmits the Dharma to a Tibetan religious figure, dBa’ gSal snang, who then bestows the title of abbot on dBa’ dPal dbyangs. Like Pelliot tibetain 149, the dBa’/sBa bzhed represents Khri Srong lde brtsan primarily as a patron rather than a practitioner of Buddhism. Both narratives apparently originated in the ninth or tenth century, as their presence in Dunhuang suggests. The story in Pelliot tibetain 149 seems to have been lost to later authors, but the dBa’ bzhed narrative, from at least the thirteenth century onwards, became one of the dominant paradigms of historiographical writing about the imperial period.

The dBa’ bzhed claims that Khri Srong lde brtsan was predestined to spread Buddhism in Tibet. It records that Santaraksita, dBa’ gSal snang and he were born previously in India, instigating a karmic connection between them. Other evidence suggests that the idea of a predestined triad meeting in Tibet had by then gained some currency in oral or literary histories. However, the dBa’ bzhed is the first extant history to identify these three as predestined to spread the Dharma. As I shall show below, the sBa bzhed tightens the bonds between them as a group, reincarnated in a single previous life. Later histories repeat and adapt this theme in order to pay tribute to India as the land of the Buddha. Whereas this tale was perhaps first intended to glorify Khri Srong lde brtsan by providing him with an auspicious previous life, eventually these histories praise India and its religious masters even to the detriment of Tibet and Khri Srong lde brtsan’s imperial incarnation.

The dBa’ bzhed tells the narrative of predestination in two stages. Santaraksita first reveals that dBa’ gSal snang was his disciple in a previous life:

‘Innumerable lives previously, you were my main disciple generating the Thought of enlightenment and you were named Ye shes dbang po.’ Santaraksita then tells Khri Srong lde brtsan that, in a former life, they prayed together for the sake of Buddhism in Tibet. He asks: ‘Did you forget that while adorning and guarding our temple at the time of the doctrine of Buddha ’Od srung, we prayed together that the holy doctrine might be established in Tibet?’

The dBa' bzhed emphasises that this bond is due to their past karmic link. Unlike the btsan po, dBa’ gSal snang was never the equal of the abbot in a past life. However, he was a practitioner, and received the teachings and lineage transmission from Santaraksita. The rest of the dBa’ bzhed cements this teacher-disciple relationship; the lineage transmission from India bypasses the btsan po and flows instead to dBa’ gSal snang. The sBa bzhed (here I quote sBa bzhed G) combines the two speeches of Santaraksita. As a result, the btsan po’s earlier life with Santaraksita and the abbot’s previous life with dBa’ gSal snang refer to the same past life. It thus expands this “predestination” episode further, while reemphasising the importance of India over Tibet. Santaraksita asks Khri Srong lde brtsan:

‘Did you forget that while [we were] three children/simpletons guarding the adornments [of] the temple at [the time of] the doctrine of Buddha ’Od srung, [we] made a sand stupa and prayed together that I would become a pandita, that you would become the king [of one of India’s] border-lands, that gSal snang would become an emissary [between us] and that [we] would spread the holy doctrine in [that] border-land kingdom?’

Unlike the dBa’ bzhed, all sBa bzhed versions agree that dBa’ gSal snang shared a previous life with Khri Srong lde brtsan. The sBa bzhed thus creates a new karmic link between gSal snang and the btsan po. This brings the minister and the king closer together in the sBa bzhed than in the dBa' bzhed. In the majority of later histories, this triad of important eighth-century figures includes Padmasambhava rather than gSal snang. Yet no sBa bzhed version of this episode mentions him, or Boudnath Stupa, which is also central to this narrative in later histories.