Spiritual and Cultural Relationships During the Reign of the Great Dharma Rajas of Tibet

The year 233 AD was recognised as the inaugural year of Buddhism in Tibet. It is said in that year a few number of Buddhist scriptures and objects of worship were received by the then 27th King of Tibet, Lha Tho Tho-ri Nyentsen. In recognition of this, according to Shakabpa in his “An Advanced Political

History of Tibet”, the Government in Tibet imprinted on its paper money the year 233 AD marking the inaugural year of Tibet’s Political System. But this inaugural year should not be interpreted as the year which commenced the translation of Buddhist texts and learning of Buddhism in Tibet. Tibetans believed this as an augury for the development of Buddhism in later times. The first movement of propagation of Buddhism, in the form of translation and teaching of Buddhist scriptures commenced in Tibet during the reign of Songtsen Gampo, the 33rd King of Tibet, and also the first Dharma Raja of Tibet in 7th century AD. “Dharma Raja”, this distinguishing epithet was bestowed upon only three kings of Tibet, i.e. Songtsen Gampo, Trisong Detsan, and Tri-Ralpachen. As major adherents of Buddhism, they became also its main promoters. We shall see below on their efforts in spreading the dictates of the Buddha. It is said that on the King Songtsen Gampo’s insistence the need for Tibet to have its own refined script had sent Thonmi Sambhota (Inventor of Tibetan Orthography) to learn Indian languages. During his seven years in India, he furnished himself with expertise in Indian languages, also in Buddhist philosophy. Equipped with such knowledge, he returned to Tibet and invented the present day Tibetan script on the model of the then Indian Gupta-Brahmi Script. He also composed

the first Tibetan grammatical treatises based on the Indian grammatical system. This episode of Thonmi’s scholastic activities was recognised as the beginning of IndoTibetan linguistic relationship. Then as instructed by his king, Thon-mi in collaboration with Buddhist scholars from India, Nepal, and China, translated the Buddhist scriptures which he had brought from India and also those texts which were received at the

time of Lha Tho Tho-ri Nyentsen. These texts, therefore, formed the first Indian Buddhist text rendered into Tibetan under the patronage of Dharma Raja Songtsen Gampo. From then on, the translation of Indian Buddhist texts and other literature continued for over a thousand years. King Songtsen Gampo had

not immured himself on the seat of patronage but he also, under the tutelage of Thonmi Sambhota, learnt the newly invented Tibetan written language and Buddhist philosophy for about four years. His acquaintance of four years with one of India’s most sophisticated philosophical cultures, is patently visible in the “Ten Divine Principles” and “Sixteen Human Principles”, which he had later inserted as a moral directory in the-then newly implemented Law of Tibet.

Also, the King had inserted the Four Cardinal Precepts (i.e. abandoning the act of killing, abandoning the act of stealing, abandoning the act of indulging in sexual misconduct, and abandoning the act of telling a lie) of Buddhism under the category titled “Seven Great Laws”. Breach of first three precepts were punishable under the law. In short the compassionate culture which nowadays the 14th Dalai Lama unequivocally reiterates as the most precious asset of

Tibetans, that deserves admiration and praise of the world, were first inherited from India during the reign of Dharma-Raja Songtsen Gampo. During the reign of Songtsen Gampo - however - the Indo-Tibetan relationship flourished not just within the field of religion and language, but also in the fields of architecture and trade. Many of the earlier historians have assessed Tibet’s well-known Jokhang Temple, was built by Songtsen Gampo in the line of Indian

conventional architecture of the time. The veracity of such claims was discovered by the 20th Century Tibetan scholar Gedun Choephel, when he took his famous intellectual trip around India and Sri Lanka. This incident of his discovery was recorded in his White Annal. He writes about being strongly reminiscent of the similarities between ancient Indian temples that had been plundered - with its decoration of the Swastika at four corners - like those of old Tibetan temples. Even the size of those pillars

tallied symmetrically with that of Jokhang’s if one replaced a pillar of one of either temples with the other it seems, he said, no irregularities would be detected. In the field of trade, Dhew’s History of Dharma recorded that during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo, in order to import rice, wheat and fruits

that were not produced in Tibet, trading opportunities with India were acknowledged. In the field of medical knowledge, it was recorded that during olden times the king had invited medical experts from India, China, and Persia, and they collectively composed a medical treatise called Fearless Weapon. Thus can be said that Tibetans had made their first acquaintance with the Indian medical knowledge of the time. Although Tibetans had seen the diffusion of

Buddhism under the patronage of the First Dharma Raja, Tibet’s native ‘Bon’ religion never gave easy passage to what they perceived as an unwelcome intrusion of foreign faith. So about a hundred years later during the reign of the Second Dharma Raja Trisong Detsen established a deeper relationship between India and Tibet mainly in the field of religion, and helped propagate the practice of Buddhism to such an extent that Indian scholar Atisha,

exclaimed admiration that the achievement of the Buddha’s teaching during Trisong Detsan time had not been achieved even in India. During the reign of this second Dharma Raja, Indian guru Shantarakshita and Guru Padmasambhava were invited and they implemented Sutra and Tantra teachings of the Buddha in Tibet. Later Indian scholar Kamalashila, as invited by the King, helped to eradicate the impurities that crept into the meditation practice among Tibetans, and

also composed books on meditation practice in Tibet. During his time under the instruction of Indian Guru Shantarakshita and Guru Padmasambhava, the second Dharma-Raja had built Tibet’s first monastery on the model of the Odantapuri temple in India. This monastery is considered as the confluence of three cultures: Tibetan, Indian and Chinese. Inside this monastery the first Tibetan translation centre was established. To achieve a flawless translation of Indian Buddhist texts, Sanskrit was also taught in this translation centre. Thus the centre became

the first Sanskrit learning centre in Tibet. Under the gratitude of Indian guru Shantarakshita, Tibet also saw its first Tibetan Sangha Community during the reign of the Second Dharma Raja. During the time a huge number of Buddhist scriptures were translated by Tibetan translators, also in collaboration

with Indian scholars like Abbot Bhimalamitra, Sangya Sangwa, Shanti Garba. Tibetan translators had catalogued all titles of every Buddhist scripture translated into Tibetan, beginning from the first translator Thonmi Sambhota. For thousands of years, Tibetan history and culture had infused with Indian

religion and philosophy. Tibet also inherited the Indian argumentative tradition. In Tibet the practice of this argumentative tradition started during the reign of the Second Dharma Raja Trisong Detsen. It is said that during his time, the diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet met opposition from the followers of the native Bon religion. And it was Shantarakshita who proposed to organize a dialogical council and also suggested that whoever emerged triumphant in

providing undeniable logics and reasons that should be given the right to propagation. Buddhist’s triumph over Bon had expedited the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet. Then again during his time there broke out a dispute on the practice of meditation between Chinese and Tibetan Buddhists. To settle the disputation the King Trisong Detsen, invited Indian scholar Kamalashila, a disciple of Shantarakshita from Nepal. In the field of medicine, it is said that

in order to enhance the existing Tibetan medical knowledge, King Trisong Detsen invited nine scholars of great erudition from India, China, Nepal, Persia, and Kashmir, India to hold a conference on medicine with his personal physician Yuthok Yonten Gonpo. It was through that conference that Yuthok was able to know more about Ayurveda. Later due to his irresistible urge to learn more Ayurvedic knowledge he was compelled to venture to India three times. He stayed

a total of nine years and eight months and learnt the Ayurvedic system from more than a hundred different masters. The Third Dharma Raja Tritsuk Detsen Ralpachen was - as instructed by his father the King Tride Songtsen - trained by Buddhist masters in reading, writing and Buddhism from his childhood. An

implicit faith in the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) developed in him at a precocious age, and after he ascended the throne he bestowed exceeding honour and privileges to the Buddhist community. During his time King Ralpachen invited Indian scholars such as Abbot Zinamitra, Surendra Bodhi, Shailendra Bodhi, Bodhimitra, among others, to Tibet and with them Tibetans translated a huge number of Buddhist texts that had not been available before.

They also jointly revived all the earlier translations to produce authenticated versions of the texts. During the reign of Third and last Dharma Raja, measurement systems in conformity with that of Magadha were made to create convenience in commercial transaction between India and Tibet. This fact

evidently reveals to us that the Indo-Tibetan trade gate - opened by the first Dharma Raja - was not just continued during the reign of last Dharma Raja but also the frequency of commercial traffic between India and Tibet had reached a higher level. IndoTibetan religion and cultural relations were not just established for the first time during the reign of these three Dharma Rajas but were also promoted throughout Tibet and its neighbouring regions.