Great Perfection.pdf

8 introduction
Right from the time of dBa’ Ye-shes dbang-po, ecclesiastical interference
in the affairs of the state would seem to be inevitable, for, on the
one hand, the “Religious Council” seems to have been in a position from
which it could influence political decisions; on the other, absolute monastic
authority over an already large section of the population could have
been a counter-check to the lay government. Khri Srong-lde-btsan’s religious
policy therefore created a contradiction which ultimately led to the
destruction of his own line by a member of the ecclesiastical body which
he himself instituted and so of the empire within the space of only sixtyfive
years from the date of the foundation of bSam-yas.
Persecution of the monastic establishment
At the time lHa-sras Dar-ma, later popularly known by the nick-name
Glang Dar-ma, ascended the throne in 838, Tibetans were still largely in
control of Central Asia and certain north-western regions of China, particularly
of Tun-huang. They were also maintaining large garrisons on the
Sino-Tibetan borders.
On the religious scene, the monastic establishments continued to thrive,
but events took a sudden turn. The Tibetan Buddhist historians consider
this king as the enemy of their faith because he is believed to have persecuted
Buddhism which according to them became as a result almost nonexistent
after the king’s death. However, a closer look at the early documents
show that Buddhism, on the contrary, was a flourishing religion, at least
in its tantric aspect, after the disappearance of the king. 26 It was, therefore,
not a question of persecution of the faith as a religion, but its monastic
establishments, for by the time of Glang Dar-ma’s reign, they already
constituted a wealthy and powerful body totally independent of the state.
The motive of the persecution was therefore political as well as economic
and it took place around 841. There is no good evidence that the Bon
religion was involved in this conflict as certain authors have stated. 27
In the narration of BZh, Glang Dar-ma would seem to be anti-Chinese.
His suspicion of the intentions of Srong-btsan sgam-po’s Chinese wife and
his disrespect of the image, Jo-bo, which she brought to Tibet 28 and the
Chinese description of him as having a wicked character 29 seem to suggest
that in his time Sino-Tibetan relations were again hostile as they had
been most of the time in the royal period in spite of the peace treaty
26 PT 840 (Karmay 1981, pp. 207–210).
27 H. Hoffmann, The Religions of Tibet, London 1961, p. 81.
28 BZh pp. 78–79.
29 BA p. 53.