the buddhist way into tibet 333
(dha rmma <’u chen ’tshal ba’i rgvar)”^55 having its seat at the imperial palace.
The period of the second dharma-king Khri-srong-lde-btsan thus saw a
rigorous enforcement of the ecclesiastical administration not only with
respect to the monastic communities but also the scholarly endeavours
to promote Buddhism.
- Ral-pa-can and the End of the “Early Propagation”
of the DHARMA
The state-promotion of Buddhism during the reign of Khri-srong-lde-
btsan led to an ever increasing proximity between the state and the
sagha, an issue of some importance in nearly every Buddhist country.
During the reign of Ral-pa-can, who came to power around 815, major
modi cations concerning the role of the sagha took place, which led
to unrest and dissatisfaction among the nobility who feared for their
privileges, culminating in the assassination of the king.
The appointment of monk-ministers already under Ral-pa-can’s pre-
decessors brought about a shift of power from the secular to the clerical.
The monk-ministers, mainly coming from the leading clans of sBa’/dBa’
and Myang, exercised a considerable amount of power in the affairs
of state. Ral-pa-can enforced this power-shift by putting the sagha in
charge of the Lower Assembly of the royal government. Unfortunately
we do not know the exact function of this administrative unit, but it is
clear from the sources that Ral-pa-can strengthened the power of the
sagha at the expense of the Tibetan nobility. According to later sources
Ral-pa-can was so extremely pious that he allotted seven households
for the maintainance of one monk, which led to unrest among the
noble families. But this is probably a later exaggeration, because in the
Chinese sources we do not nd hints at excessive religious piety with
this king. The sources, however, attest to his general weakness and that
he left the administration of state affairs in the hands of his ministers,
their chief being a monk-of cial, Bran-ka dPal-gyi-yon-tan.
The reign of this last of the three dharma-kings also saw the settlement
of the peace treaty with the Chinese emperor of the Tang dynasty.
Since the time of Srong-btsan-sgam-po the Tibetan relations with
China were determined by military clashes, but also often by diplomatic
(^55) Scherrer-Schaub 2002, p. 315.