the buddhist way into tibet 323
’dzin, who was minister of state during Khri-lde-srong-btsan’s reign.
Myang-ting-nge-’dzin is called by his title bande (“monk”) in the inscrip-
tion. The ecclesiastic title bande apparently was already in use during
the reign of Khri-srong-lde-btsan, but in public it appears for the rst
time in the Zhwa’i-lha-khang-inscription. According to Richardson^34
this inscription provides the rst contemporary evidence that a monk
acted as minister of state. The privileges granted to him were extended
to the family of his grand-uncle, as the celibate Myang-ting-nge-’dzin
had no children of his own.
6.6. The Debate of bSam-yasDuring the reign of Khri-srong-lde-btsan a Chinese Buddhist scholar
by the name of Mahyna arrived in Tibet. According to a Chinese
document from Dunhuang (PT 4646) he had been summoned by the
emperor himself, soon after the Tibetan conquest of the region in
787.^35 He taught the doctrine of dhyna at the royal court and soon
gained many followers, nearly 5,000 in number.^36 The Indian teachers
obviously viewed his success with resentment and wanted the teachings
to be stopped. The Chinese sources from Dunhuang, which mirror a
pro-Chinese viewpoint of the issue, maintain that Khri-srong-lde-btsan
approved of the Chinese teachings, thus implying that the Indians
were fearing the loss of their privileges. The dBa’-bzhed tells us about
self violations of some of the disciples of Mahyna and even suicide
attempts that were apparently triggered by the plots the Indians schemed
in order to get the Chinese monks expelled from Tibet. These incidents
are also reported by the Chinese sources from Dunhuang. According to
the dBa’-bzhed the king, after having consulted with Ye-shes-dbang-po,
invited the scholar Kamalala from India in order to set up a philo-
sophical debate about the different doctrinal opinions.
The religious debate taking place at bSam-yas is seen by later Tibetan
historians as a turning-point in the history of Buddhism during the
snga-dar, the early spread of the doctrine. On the outside the debate
of bSam-yas solely concentrated on philosophical issues: The Indian
monks missionising in Tibet propagated a gradualist approach towards
buddhahood, as laid down in the Prajñpramit scriptures, whereas
(^34) Richardson 1985, pp. 44–5.
(^35) See Demiéville 1952, pp. 25, 154.
(^36) Demiéville 1952, pp. 33, 162.