Indo-Tibetan Buddhism : Indian Buddhists and their Tibetan successors

This volume provides a comprehensive survey of Indian Buddhism and its subsequent establishment in Tibet. It concentrates on the tantric period of Buddhist theory and practice, from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries, when the Tibetans were actively engaged in absorbing all they could find of Buddhist culture and religion into their own country. Snellgrove emphasizes the significant role played by the Central Asian kingdoms along the ancient Silk Route in the gradual process of Tibetan conversion. He draws convincingly upon documents of the time to illustrate the cultural changes that swept Tibet as a result of its rule over an extensive empire from the seventh to the ninth centuries—a period of history largely forgotten by the Tibetans themselves when they later embarked upon the wholesale importation of Buddhism directly from Northern India. Throughout, the author quotes extensively from numerous original sources, many of which have never before been translated into English. The illustrations include iconographic art as well as photographs of historical interest. Anyone who writes nowadays about the history of Buddhism takes for granted its promulgation by Sakyamuni Buddha in the central Ganges Valley as the starting point of this religion, and it is all too easily forgotten that this great event which probably occurred about 500 B.C. was scarcely known of in the western scholarly world until the early nineteenth century and that it was only since then that several decades of laborious research, mainly in Sanskrit, Pali and Tibetan Buddhist literature supported by extraordinary archeological discoveries all over the Indian subcontinent, have given substance to the belated discovery. This authoritative and highly illustrated study concentrates on Buddhist philosophy and practice from the eighth to the thirteenth century, when the Tibetans were actively engaged in absorbing and importing Buddhist culture and religion from India. Snellgrove, a renowned Tibetan Buddhist scholar, emphasizes the significant role played by the Central Asian kingdoms along the ancient Silk Route in the gradual process of Tibetan conversion. Throughout, the author quotes extensively from original sources many of which have never before been translated into English David Snellgrove. Originally Published: London : Serindia Publications, C1987. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [617]-632) And Index.