570 david gray
Exegesis of the Graduated Mantric Path (Tuttle 2005, 204). There were
also a number of other works translated by other Tibetan masters and
their Chinese disciples during this period (Tuttle 2009). Their legacy
is ongoing; students of Fazun recently published Chinese translations
of the Cakrasaṃvara and Guhyasamāja tantras.^5
Collectively, these teachers successfully established the practice of
Tibetan Buddhism in China. However, much of this work was undone
by the Cultural Revolution, and some of the works written or translated
during this time have apparently been lost (Tuttle 2009, 241). While
the Cultural Revolution had disastrous consequences for Buddhist tra-
ditions throughout mainland China, including both the Tibetan and
Han Chinese traditions, one of its unintended consequences was the
diaspora of approximately one hundred thousand Tibetans, including
many lamas. Some of these lamas settled in Chinese communities out-
side of Communist control, such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singa-
pore (Zablocki 2005, 2009). Most settled in Nepal and India, but many
Tibetan lamas frequently travel to Chinese communities to teach. The
generosity of these Chinese Buddhist communities has seriously con-
tributed to the efforts of these lamas to rebuild their institutions in
exile (Kapstein 2009a, xv). Moreover, the relaxation of controls on reli-
gion in mainland China in the 1980s and 1990s has led to a revival of
Tibetan Buddhism there, which has involved not only Tibetan lamas,
but also their Han Chinese students (Germano 1998, 68). However,
Tibetan Buddhist institutions remain under serious government sur-
veillance and control, and continue to be subject to crackdowns, as the
events of 2008 demonstrated.
There have also been several contemporary Chinese Buddhists
masters who claim lineage descent through the Tibetan Buddhist tra-
ditions, but are not directly associated with any of the mainstream
Tibetan orders. One of the most successful self-proclaimed Chinese
masters is Lu Sheng-yen (1945–present), who refers to him-
self as the “Living Buddha Lotus-Born” (Liansheng huo Fo ),
most likely in reference to the great founder of the Nying-ma (rny-
ing ma) school of Tibetan Buddhism, Padmasambhava. He founded
in Taiwan a new religious movement called the True Buddha School
(^5) These translations, Jixiangji midaxu wang, shengle luexu ,
, were published in a two-volume set in Hong Kong and Taipei. See Bao and
Renqinquzha, trans., 1997.