THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
until 1909, when he was induced to start on his return.
The early faith of the people was the " bon " religion, a shamanistic animism, the deities of which were nature gods and spirits; ancestor worship was an element, witchcraft and magic were dominant, and the idea of transformation was widely diffused. Legends, probably untrustworthy, as- 3. Intro- cribe the introduction of Buddhism to duction of descendants of Asoka who after defeat Buddhism, took refuge in Tibet. The introduction of the faith was probably due to King Sron-tsan-gampo (b. 617 or 629), who married a Chinese and a Hindu princess, both devoted Buddhists, and at their request summoned teachers and obtained books from India. The progress of the new religion seems to have been slow and the opposition of the old faith strenuous, for about a century later a successor of Sron-tsan-gampo invited the noted Padmasambhava from India to complete the conversion of the land (747), and he is celebrated as the founder of Lamaism. His writings appear to have been the nucleus of a large literature, of which, however, nothing is known. The whole circle of Buddha legends was carried over and applied to him, with fantastic additions to the effect that he claimed to be a greater magician than Buddha, that he overcame the magic and vanquished the magicians of the bon religion, created a magic draft which bestowed immortality, and had a magic horse which carried him to distant isles where he preached his religion to the demons and magicians. The entire trend of the story shows that the practise of Buddhism in Tibet, as elsewhere, was to assimilate what it could not conquer. Buddhism had already developed a series of Buddhas prior to Gautama, and now, in accordance with the Hindu doctrine of avatars, it was announced that Padmasambhava, already regarded as an incarnation, would have successors until the new Buddha came, while the attainment of Buddhaship was to be assisted by the practise of Yoga. For a century and a half the progress was great, but the reputation of the founder became a menace to the king (c. 900), the religion was proscribed, and the monks were persecuted and driven into hiding. Eventually this course aroused the resentment of the people, who rallied around the monks, King Lang-darma lost his life and the kingdom, the power going to petty chiefs and the abbots, while shortly after the heads of the great monasteries came to exercise a power almost regal. In 1042 Attisa, one of these abbots, whose life marks an epoch in the development, invited the Indian monk Vikrasila to Tibet, a period of great literary activity ensued and of moral reformation of the Church. The new teacher united the communities of monks and paved the way for a reunited Tibetan Church. This was first realized after Genghis Khan had united China and Mongolia into one empire (1220-1340), when his grandson Kublai Khan chose as his spiritual adviser Ragspa, abbot of the Sa-skya monastery, became a convert to Buddhism, made Tibet an ecclesiastical state in the empire, and appointed the abbot ruler. This condition continued under eight reigning abbots till 1340. The results were two-
fold: the conversion to this form of Buddhism of great numbers of the Mongolians, and the subversion of Attisa's reforms and a rejuvenescence of magic. When this empire fell, the Ming dynasty of China gave precedence to the abbots of Digung Phag-dub and Tshal, broke the preeminence of the Sa-skya monastery and made it subordinate to Phagdub, while the political control was vested in the great monasteries.
At the beginning of the fifteenth century a new
reformer arose who is known only as Tsong-kapa
" the man of Tsong-ka." He was a noted scholar^
belonged to the same sect as Attisa, and aimed at
the purification and unification of the
4. Devel- Church. To the monks he forbade
opment marriage and the use of magic, made
into the yellow robe and the begging-bowl
Lamaism. the badge of his sect, took as his three guiding principles pure teaching, stern discipline, and the absolutism of the Church, while the individual's welfare was subjected to that of the organization. He made Lhasa the center of the new movement, and founded there three great monasteries in 1407, 1414, and 1417. The religion received as its governing characteristic the idea of the continued reincarnation of the Boddhisat in the chief abbot, and this incarnation was made subject not to descent, since marriage was prohibited to the monks, but to the choice of the Boddhisat himself, who became incarnate in a babe born after the abbot's death. Tsong-kapa is reported to have said that he would be continually reborn as Dalai Lama. Alongside this official was to be another, the Tasi Lama, the two theoretically equal, but in fact the Dalai Lama the greater both by reason of the larger territory ruled and because he incarnated Padmapani, who is to be the new Buddha and savior of the world. The succession of Dalai Lamas is traced to a successor of Tsong-kapa who in 1439 became the head of the Church and thus gave to the religion its decisive cast. The second of these officials developed further the organization of the Church, and founded a body of advisers corresponding closely to the Roman Catholic cardinalate. Missionary efforts continued among the Mongolians, and the fourth Dalai Lama came from the family of a Mongolian chief. In 200 years the yellow Church became supreme, the red monks sank to a mere faction, while a national consciousness was awakened and bound up with the ecclesiastical order. The Tatar dynasty of China confirmed the ecclesiastical privileges of the order, but since 1750 has kept a representative at Lhasa as a reminder of political dependence, and it is believed that Chinese influence is potent in determining the succession to the chief office and the emperor certainly has the right of confirmation. The Dalai Lama resides in the important monastery of Jit. Potala near Lhasa; the Tasi Lama (also called " Pan-chen ") lives at Kra-shis-lhim-po.
The religion centers in the " three jewels " of Buddhism, belief in the Buddha, the law, and the order. It is held that prior to the historical Gautama there were other Buddhas, three of whom are now withdrawn from the world except as guardians during the intervals when no Buddha is incarnated;