the later spread of buddhism in tibet 351
west of Central Tibet, bordering Nepal in the south and present-day
Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh in the west.^22 Nyi-ma-mgon’s grandson
Ye-shes-’od resided in Pu-hrangs in the southern corner of mNga’-ris
close to the Nepalese border. He probably shared rule with his son or
nephew lHa-lde, and together they reigned over Phu-hrangs and the
north-western area Gu-ge with its royal city Tsaparang. Ye-shes-’od’s
dating is uncertain, Karmay infers from indirect evidence that he died
towards the end of the tenth century.^23 He is said to have taken up
the vows of a Buddhist monk while still staying in of ce as king of
Phu-hrangs. A eulogy composed by his son (or nephew) Zhi-ba-’od
(11th century) calls him bla-ma byang-chub sems-dpa’ Ye-shes-’od, thus
equating him to the great bodhisattva-kings of the imperial period.^24 His
main impact on the “revival” of Tibetan Buddhism was the invitation
of Buddhist scholars from India and Kashmir to Western Tibet and,
still more important, his initiative to send 21 young Tibetans to study
Buddhist traditions in Kashmir. The foremost of them was Rin-chen
bzang-po, who returned to Tibet in 985 after a 10-year stay in Kashmir
and became famous as a translator (lo-ts-ba) and a Buddhist scholar
of high reputation.
According to later sources, with the decision to send Rin-chen-bzang-
po and his fellows to Kashmir, Ye-shes-’od’s reacted against certain
misunderstandings or even misuses of Buddhist tantric texts that were
spread in the Tibet of his time. The above-mentioned eulogy by Zhi-
ba-’od states:
Furthermore, the hidden meaning of the secret mantra was vitiated, and
it was further corrupted by the practices of the rites of ‘sexual union’,
‘deliverance’^25 and the ‘tshogs offering’.^26 To find out whether these
practices were correct at all, the lo-ts-ba Rin-chen bzang-po was sent
to Kashmir.^27Though some doubts have been raised by Western scholarship whether
Ye-shes-’od considered tantrism to be a genuine Buddhist teaching at
(^22) Cf. Jackson 1976, Petech 1977.
(^23) Karmay 1998a, p. 6, n. 26. Due to contradictions in the sources, there are many
uncertainties concerning the identi cation and genealogical connections of the rulers
of this Western Tibetan kingdom. Cf. Karmay 1998a and 1998b, Snellgrove 1987,
pp. 471f. 24
I.e., Ye-shes-’od, the Lama-bodhisattva, cf. Karmay 1998a, p. 4.
(^25) “Deliverance” (grol) means ritual killing in this context.
(^26) tshogs-offering (Skt. gaacakra), a tantric ritual involving collective sexual rites.
(^27) Cited in Karmay 1998a, p. 6.