the buddhist way into tibet 307
to the transformation of Tibet into a Buddhist country. Closely con-
nected to this work is the sBa-bzhed, of whose various versions I rely
on the one published in Beijing in 1980. This version probably dates
back to the twelfth century.^7 Another important source which in itself
is not an historical text but rather a collection of myths and legends
concentrating on the rst historical Tibetan king, Srong-btsan-sgam-
po, and his kingship, provides us with the mythical foundations of the
Tibetan empire and tells about the origin of the Tibetan people, albeit
already in a Buddhist guise. The Mai-bka’-’bum, as this text is called,
in its present form is probably a work of the fourteenth century, but
contains much older material.
A third text needs to be mentioned, the “Mirror Illuminating the
Royal Genealogies” (rGyal-rabs-gsal-ba’i-me-long), written in 1368 by the
famous Sa-skya-pa scholar bSod-nams-rgyal-mtshan.
Apart from these sources I draw upon a variety of religious histo-
ries such as the famous Tibetan-Buddhist scholar and writer Bu-ston’s
(1290–1364) “History of Buddhism” (Chos ’byung), the already cited “Blue
Annals” and the mKhas-pa’i-dga’-ston, the “Joyous Feast for the Learned”,
written in 1565 by the Kar-ma bKa’-brgyud-pa author dPa’-bo-gtsug-
lag-’phreng-ba. In his chronicle dPa’-bo-gtsug-lag cites almost verbatim
some of the edicts and inscriptions from the royal period, thus verifying
the earlier documents from the snga-dar period.
All the historical accounts of this second group of sources have one
aspect in common: they describe the advent of Buddhism in Tibet
from a biased point of view. History, in the eyes of these later Buddhist
historians, denotes the unfolding of the dharma in Tibet and pursues a
purely teleological aim. Tibet is to be proven as the Buddhist country
par excellence, where the dharma, persecuted and ultimately destroyed in
its motherland, is to be preserved and cherished. Thus historical events
do not have an intrinsic value in themselves, but are only worthy to
be memorised and told because of their relevance to the spread and
propagation of the dharma. History therefore has to be rewritten and
transformed into a Buddhist foundation myth of the Tibetan people,
whose cultural and religious identity is solely established through its
conversion to Buddhism. The accounts given by later historians about
the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet have therefore to be read and
interpreted in this special light.
(^7) See Sørensen 1994, p. 634, for a discussion of its date.