Some other points of interest in these legends may be noticed. Padma-Sambhava is not celibate but is accompanied by female companions. He visits many countries which worship various deities and for each he has a new teaching suited to its needs. Thus in Tibet, where the older religion consisted of defensive warfare against the attacks of evil spirits[916], he assumes the congenial character of a victorious exorcist, and in his triumphant progress subdues local demons as methodically as if he were suppressing the guerilla warfare of native tribes. He has new revelations called Terma which he hides in caves to be discovered by his successors. These revelations are said to have been in an unknown language[917]. Those at present existing are in Tibetan but differ from the canonical scriptures in certain orthographical peculiarities. The legend thus admits that Padma-Sambhava preached a non-celibate and magical form of Buddhism, ready to amalgamate with local superstitions and needing new revelations for its justification.
He built the monastery of Samye[918] about thirty miles from Lhasa on the model of Odantapuri in Bengal. Śântarakshita became abbot and from this period dates the foundation of the order of Lamas[919]. Mara (Thse Ma-ra) was worshipped as well as the Buddhas, but however corrupt the cultus may have been, Samye was a literary centre where many translations were made. Among the best known translators was a monk from Kashmir named Vairocana[920]. It would appear however that there was considerable opposition to the new school not only from the priests of the old native religion but from Chinese Buddhists[921].
Numerous Tibetan documents discovered in the Tarim basin[922] date from this period. The absence in them of Buddhist personal names and the rarity of direct references to Buddhism indicate that though known in Tibet it was not yet predominant. Buddhist priests (ban-de) are occasionally mentioned but the title Lama has not been found. The usages of the Bonpo religion seem familiar to the writers and there are allusions to religious struggles.
When Padma-Sambhava vanished from Tibet, the legend says that he left behind him twenty-five disciples, all of them magicians, who propagated his teaching. At any rate it flourished in the reign of Ralpachan (the grandson of Khri-sroṇ-lde-btsan). Monasteries multiplied and received land and the right to collect tithes. To each monk was assigned a small revenue derived from five tenants and the hierarchy was reorganized[923]. Many translators were at work in this period and a considerable part of the present canon was then rendered into Tibetan. The king's devotion to Buddhism was however unpopular and he was murdered[924] apparently at the instigation of his brother and successor Lang-dar-ma[925], who endeavoured to extirpate Lamaism. Monasteries were destroyed, books burnt, Indian monks were driven out of the country and many Lamas were compelled to become hunters or butchers. But the persecution only lasted three years[926], for the wicked king was assassinated by a Lama who has since been canonized by the Church and the incident of his murder or punishment is still acted in the mystery plays performed at Himis and other monasteries.
After the death of Lang-dar-ma Tibet ceased to exist as a united kingdom and was divided among clans and chieftains. This was doubtless connected with the collapse of Tibetan power in the Tarim basin, but whether as effect or cause it is hard to say. The persecution may have had a political motive: Lang-dar-ma may have thought that the rise of monastic corporations, and their right to own land and levy taxes were a menace to unity and military efficiency. But the political confusion which followed on his death was not due to the triumphant restoration of Lamaism. Its recovery was slow. The interval during which Buddhism almost disappeared is estimated by native authorities as from 73 to 108 years, and its subsequent revival is treated as a separate period called phyi-dar or later diffusion in contrast to the sṇa-dar or earlier diffusion. The silence of ecclesiastical history during the tenth century confirms the gravity of the catastrophe[927]. On the other hand the numerous translations made in the ninth century were not lost and this indicates that there were monasteries to preserve them, for instance Samye.
At the beginning of the eleventh century we hear of foreign monks arriving from various countries. The chronicles[928] say that the chief workers in the new diffusion were La-chen, Lo-chen, the royal Lama Yeśes Ḥod and Atîśa. The first appears to have been a Tibetan but the pupil of a teacher who had studied in Nepal. Lo-chen was a Kashmiri and several other Kashmiri Lamas are mentioned as working in Tibet. Yeśes Ḥod was a king or chieftain of mṄ̇̇̇̇̇̇̇̇̇a-ris in western Tibet who is said to have been disgusted with the debased Tantrism which passed as Buddhism. He therefore sent young Lamas to study in India and also invited thence learned monks. The eminent Dharmapâla, a monk of Magadha who was on a pilgrimage in Nepal, became his tutor. Yeśes Ḥod came to an unfortunate end. He was taken captive by the Raja of Garlog, an enemy of Buddhism, and died in prison. It is possible that this Raja was the ruler of Garhwal and a Mohammedan. The political history of the period is far from clear, but evidently there were numerous Buddhist schools in Bengal, Kashmir and Nepal and numerous learned monks ready to take up their residence in Tibet. This readiness has been explained as due to fear of the rising tide of Islam, but was more probably the result of the revival of Buddhism in Bengal during the eleventh century. The most illustrious of these pandits was Atîśa[929] (980-1053), a native of Bengal, who was ordained at Odontapuri and studied in Burma[930]. Subsequently he was appointed head of the monastery of Vikramaśîla and was induced to visit Tibet in 1038[931]. He remained there until his death fifteen years later; introduced a new calendar and inaugurated the second period of Tibetan Buddhism which is marked by the rise of successive sects described as reforms. It may seem a jest to call the teaching of Atîśa a reform, for he professed the Kâlacakra, the latest and most corrupt form of Indian Buddhism, but it was doubtless superior in discipline and coherency to the native superstitions mixed with debased tantrism, which it replaced.
As in Japan during the eleventh and twelfth centuries many monasteries were founded and grew in importance, and what might have happened in Japan but for the somewhat unscrupulous prescience of Japanese statesmen actually did happen in Tibet. Among the numerous contending chiefs none was pre-eminent: the people were pugnacious but superstitious. They were ready to build and respect when built the substantial structures required to house monastic communities during the rigorous winter. Hence the monasteries became the largest and safest buildings in the land, possessing the double strength of walls and inviolability. The most important was the Sakya monastery. Its abbots were of royal blood and not celibate, and this dynasty of ecclesiastical statesmen practically ruled Tibet at a critical period in the history of eastern Asia and indeed of the world, namely, the conquests of Chinggiz[932] and the rise of the Mongol Empire.
There is no evidence that Chinggiz was specially favourable to Buddhism. His principle was one King and one God[933] and like other princes of his race he thought of religions not as incompatible systems but as different methods of worship of no more importance than the different languages used in prayer. The destruction wrought by the Mongol conquerors has often been noticed, but they had also an ample, unifying temper which deserves recognition. China, Russia and Persia all achieved a unity after the Mongol conquest which they did not possess before, and though this unification may be described as a protest and reaction, yet but for the Mongols and their treatment of large areas as units it would not have been possible. The Mings could not have united China before the Yüan dynasty as they did after it.
In spite of some statements to the contrary there is no proof that the early Mongols invaded or conquered central Tibet, but Khubilai subdued the eastern provinces and through the Lamaist hierarchy established a special connection between Tibet and his dynasty. This connection began even in the time of his predecessor, for the head Lama of the Sakya monastery commonly known as Sakya Pandita (or Sa-skya-pan-cen) was summoned to the Mongol Court in 1246-8, and cured the Emperor of an illness[934]. This Lama was a man of great learning and influence. He had received a double education both secular and religious, and was acquainted with foreign languages. The favourable impression which he created no doubt facilitated the brilliant achievements of his nephew and successor, who is commonly known as Bashpa or Pagspa[935].