10 ann heirman and stephan peter bumbacher
and certainly the exegetic studies of tantric texts were limited compared
to the Tang period. In addition, Chan Buddhism proved to be more
successful in its claim to offer a better alternative for a symbiosis of
Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian values. The Indic background of tantric
Buddhism became a burden hard to get rid of, and the economic costs
of translations and sumptuous rituals gradually became inappropriate.
The state ritual that was essential in tantric practices was taken over
by the Confucian cult, and civil service examinations were aimed at
the recruitment of competent Confucian scholars able to preserve the
social and imperial order. The truth claim of the secret teachings lost
its value, at least for the state. In private life, however, tantric rituals,
intermingled with Daoist praxis, survived.
* * *As is well known, Buddhism did not remain limited to the Chinese
empire. From China, it found its way to the Korean peninsula at a time
when Korea was divided into three kingdoms (4th–7th centuries AD),
Koguryö, Paekche and Silla. At the same time, many Korean monks
travelled to China in order to study Buddhism, and some of them
even played an active role in the history of Chinese Buddhism. A few
monks travelled as far as India. As discussed by Pol Vanden Broucke in
his contribution on the rst steps of Korean Buddhism, a leading fac-
tor during the period of the Three Kingdoms was the successful form
of esoteric Buddhism, expressed in the biographies of three eminent
monks: Milbon, Hyet’ong and Myöngnang. Still today, these monks are
honoured for their magic skills to protect the nation and cure diseases.
They successfully subdued the native spirits and exceeded the power
of the local shamans.
* * *Buddhism became an integral part of the society, not only in China
and Korea. It also found its way to Tibet and Mongolia, as discussed by
Karénina Kollmar-Paulenz, Sven Bretfeld and Klaus Sagaster respec-
tively. In her contribution on the Buddhist way into Tibet, Karénina
Kollmar-Paulenz lays bare the complex puzzle of intermingling fac-
tors that led to the rise of Buddhism during the Yar-lung dynasty at
the height of its power in the seventh to the ninth centuries. Although
Tibetans might have come into contact with Buddhism as early as the
fth century AD, it was not until the reign of the famous king of the
Yar-lung dynasty, Srong-btsan-sgan-po, who succeeded his father in