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112-573: The Tibetan Empire ( Tibetan : བོད་ཆེན་པོ , Wylie : bod chen po , lit.   ' Great Tibet ' ; Chinese : 吐蕃 ; pinyin : Tǔbō / Tǔfān ) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau , formed as a result of imperial expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo , in the 7th century. The empire further expanded under the 38th king, Trisong Detsen , and expanded to its greatest extent under

224-462: A brief rebellion. Songtsen Gampo proved adept at diplomacy as well as combat. The emperor's minister, Myang Mangpoje ( Myang Mang-po-rje Zhang-shang ), defeated the Sumpa people ca. 627. Six years later (c. 632–33) Myang Mangpoje was accused of treason and executed. He was succeeded by minister Gar Tongtsen ( mgar-stong-btsan ). The Chinese records mention an envoy to Tibet in 634. On that occasion,

336-469: A critical set of techniques for dealing with everyday life. Tibetans came to see these techniques as vital for their survival and prosperity in this life." This includes dealing with the local gods and spirits ( sadak and shipdak), which became a specialty of some Tibetan Buddhist lamas and ngagpas ( mantrikas , mantra specialists). The late 10th and 11th centuries saw a revival of Buddhism in Tibet with

448-521: A debate ensued between Moheyan and the Indian master Kamalaśīla , without consensus on the victor, and some scholars consider the event to be fictitious. A reversal in Buddhist influence began under King Langdarma (r. 836–842), and his death was followed by the so-called Era of Fragmentation , a period of disunity during the 9th and 10th centuries. During this era, the political centralization of

560-653: A diverse terrain. During the reign of Trisong Detsen, the empire became more powerful and increased in size. At this time, a 783 treaty between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty defined the borders, as commemorated by the Shol Potala Pillar in Lhasa. Borders were again confirmed during the later reign of the 41st king Ralpachen through his 821–823 treaty between the Tibetan Empire and Tang dynasty, which

672-564: A form of Mahāyāna Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Buddhism (which included many Vajrayāna elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist tantric practices of the post-Gupta early medieval period (500–1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments. In the pre-modern era, Tibetan Buddhism spread outside of Tibet primarily due to the influence of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), founded by Kublai Khan , who ruled China, Mongolia, and parts of Siberia. In

784-608: A period when the Hephthalites had extensive links with the Tibetans. A strong presence existed by the eighth century when Patriarch Timothy I (727–823) in 782 calls the Tibetans one of the more significant communities of the eastern church and wrote of the need to appoint another bishop in ca. 794. There is a stone pillar (now blocked off from the public), the Lhasa Shöl rdo-rings , Doring Chima or Lhasa Zhol Pillar , in

896-511: A senior minister. The youngest brother, Tride Songtsen, was definitely ruling by AD 804. Under Tride Songtsen ( Khri lde srong brtsan – generally known as Sadnalegs ), there was a protracted war with the Abbasid Caliphate . It appears that Tibetans captured a number of Caliphate troops and pressed them into service on the eastern frontier in 801. Tibetans were active as far west as Samarkand and Kabul . Abbasid forces began to gain

1008-458: A space. Spaces are not used to divide words. The Tibetan alphabet has thirty basic letters, sometimes known as "radicals", for consonants. As in other Indic scripts , each consonant letter assumes an inherent vowel ; in the Tibetan script it is /a/. The letter ཨ is also the base for dependent vowel marks. Although some Tibetan dialects are tonal , the language had no tone at the time of

1120-415: A third penetrated his breast. He survived the ordeal with some discomfort in one arm. Tibetan script The Tibetan script has also been used for some non-Tibetic languages in close cultural contact with Tibet, such as Thakali , Nepali and Old Turkic . The printed form is called uchen script while the hand-written cursive form used in everyday writing is called umê script . This writing system

1232-496: A written tradition. Amdo Tibetan was one of a few examples where Buddhist practitioners initiated a spelling reform. A spelling reform of the Ladakhi language was controversial in part because it was first initiated by Christian missionaries. In the Tibetan script, the syllables are written from left to right. Syllables are separated by a tsek (་); since many Tibetan words are monosyllabic, this mark often functions almost as

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1344-452: A year later. This is traditionally credited with being the first time that Buddhism came to Tibet, but it is very unlikely Buddhism extended beyond foreigners at the court. Songtsen Gampo’s sister Sämakar ( Sad-mar-kar ) was sent to marry Lig-myi-rhya, the king of Zhangzhung in what is now Western Tibet. However, when the king refused to consummate the marriage, she then helped her brother to defeat Lig myi-rhya and incorporate Zhangzhung into

1456-505: Is "The Dharma of the insiders" ( nang chos ) or "The Buddha Dharma of the insiders" ( nang pa sangs rgyas pa'i chos ). "Insider" means someone who seeks the truth not outside but within the nature of mind. This is contrasted with other forms of organized religion, which are termed chos lugs (dharma system) . For example, Christianity is termed Yi shu'i chos lugs (Jesus dharma system) . Westerners unfamiliar with Tibetan Buddhism initially turned to China for understanding. In Chinese,

1568-796: Is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet , Bhutan and Mongolia . It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas , including the Indian regions of Ladakh , Darjeeling , Sikkim , and Zangnan ( Arunachal Pradesh) , as well as in Nepal . Smaller groups of practitioners can be found in Central Asia , some regions of China such as Northeast China , Xinjiang , Inner Mongolia and some regions of Russia, such as Tuva , Buryatia , and Kalmykia . Tibetan Buddhism evolved as

1680-410: Is above most other consonants, thus རྐ rka. However, an exception to this is the cluster རྙ /ɲa/. Similarly, the consonants ར /ra/, and ཡ /ja/ change form when they are beneath other consonants, thus ཀྲ /ʈ ~ ʈʂa/; ཀྱ /ca/. Besides being written as subscripts and superscripts, some consonants can also be placed in prescript, postscript, or post-postscript positions. For instance,

1792-473: Is considered by the Tibetans as Guru Rinpoche ("Precious Master"), is also credited with building the first monastery building named "Samye" around the late 8th century. According to some legend, it is noted that he pacified the Bon demons and made them the core protectors of Dharma. Modern historians also argue that Trisong Detsen and his followers adopted Buddhism as an act of international diplomacy, especially with

1904-666: Is designed as a simple means for inputting Dzongkha text on computers. This keyboard layout was standardized by the Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) and the Department of Information Technology (DIT) of the Royal Government of Bhutan in 2000. It was updated in 2009 to accommodate additional characters added to the Unicode & ISO 10646 standards since the initial version. Since

2016-737: Is important to Tibetan Buddhists as one of the three Dharma Kings who brought Buddhism to Tibet. He was a generous supporter of Buddhism and invited many craftsmen, scholars and translators from neighbouring countries. He also promoted the development of written Tibetan and translations, which were greatly aided by the development of a detailed Sanskrit-Tibetan lexicon called the Mahavyutpatti which included standard Tibetan equivalents for thousands of Sanskrit terms. Tibetans attacked Uyghur territory in 816 and were in turn attacked in 821. After successful Tibetan raids into Chinese territory, Buddhists in both countries sought mediation. Ralpacan

2128-529: Is occasionally misused for Tibetan Buddhism. More accurately, Vajrayāna signifies a certain subset of practices and traditions that are not only part of Tibetan Buddhism but also prominent in other Buddhist traditions such as Chinese Esoteric Buddhism and Shingon in Japan . In the west, the term "Indo-Tibetan Buddhism" has become current in acknowledgement of its derivation from the latest stages of Buddhist development in northern India. " Northern Buddhism "

2240-528: Is simply read as it usually is and has no effect on the pronunciation of the consonant to which it is subjoined, for example ཀ་ཝ་ཟུར་ཀྭ (IPA: /ka.wa.suː.ka/). The vowels used in the alphabet are ཨ /a/, ཨི /i/, ཨུ /u/, ཨེ /e/, and ཨོ /o/. While the vowel /a/ is included in each consonant, the other vowels are indicated by marks; thus ཀ /ka/, ཀི /ki/, ཀུ /ku/, ཀེ /ke/, ཀོ /ko/. The vowels ཨི /i/, ཨེ /e/, and ཨོ /o/ are placed above consonants as diacritics, while

2352-560: Is solely for the consonants ད /tʰa/ and ས /sa/. The head ( མགོ in Tibetan, Wylie: mgo ) letter, or superscript, position above a radical is reserved for the consonants ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ས /sa/. The subscript position under a radical can only be occupied by the consonants ཡ /ja/, ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ཝ /wa/. In this position they are described as བཏགས (Wylie: btags , IPA: /taʔ/), in Tibetan meaning "hung on/affixed/appended", for example བ་ཡ་བཏགས་བྱ (IPA: /pʰa.ja.taʔ.t͡ʃʰa/), except for ཝ , which

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2464-593: Is sometimes used to refer to Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, for example, in the Brill Dictionary of Religion. Another term, "Himalayan" (or "Trans-Himalayan") Buddhism is sometimes used to indicate how this form of Buddhism is practiced not just in Tibet but throughout the Himalayan Regions . The Provisional Government of Russia, by a decree of 7 July 1917, prohibited the appellation of Buryat and Kalmyk Buddhists as "Lamaists" in official papers. After

2576-467: Is somewhat unclear whether she married the seven-year-old Gyeltsugru or the deposed Lha Balpo. Gyeltsugru also married a lady from Jang (Nanzhao) and another born in Nanam. Gyältsugru was officially enthroned with the royal name Tride Tsuktsän in 712, the year that dowager empress Thrimalö died. The Umayyad Caliphate and Turgesh became increasingly prominent during 710–720. The Tibetans were allied with

2688-522: Is used across the Himalayas and Tibet . The script is closely linked to a broad ethnic Tibetan identity, spanning across areas in India , Nepal , Bhutan and Tibet. The Tibetan script is of Brahmic origin from the Gupta script and is ancestral to scripts such as Lepcha , Marchen and the multilingual ʼPhags-pa script , and is also closely related to Meitei . According to Tibetan historiography,

2800-605: The Tang Annals do, however, seem to clearly place these events in the reign of Songtsen Gampo for they say that in 634, Zhangzhung and various Qiang tribes "altogether submitted to him." Following this, he united with the country of Zhangzhung to defeat the Tuyuhun, then conquered two more Qiang tribes before threatening the Chinese region of Songzhou with a very large army (according to Tibetan sources 100,000; according to

2912-473: The Tongdian , the Tibetans were less proficient in archery and fought in the following manner: The men and horses all wear chain mail armor. Its workmanship is extremely fine. It envelops them completely, leaving openings only for the two eyes. Thus, strong bows and sharp swords cannot injure them. When they do battle, they must dismount and array themselves in ranks. When one dies, another takes his place. To

3024-821: The Battle of Chamdo , Tibet was annexed by China in 1950. In 1959 the 14th Dalai Lama and a great number of clergy and citizenry fled the country, to settle in India and other neighbouring countries. The events of the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) saw religion as one of the main political targets of the Chinese Communist Party, and most of the several thousand temples and monasteries in Tibet were destroyed, with many monks and lamas imprisoned. During this time, private religious expression, as well as Tibetan cultural traditions, were suppressed. Much of

3136-730: The Church of the East . The Mongols invaded Tibet in 1240 and 1244. They eventually annexed Amdo and Kham and appointed the great scholar and abbot Sakya Pandita (1182–1251) as Viceroy of Central Tibet in 1249. In this way, Tibet was incorporated into the Mongol Empire , with the Sakya hierarchy retaining nominal power over religious and regional political affairs, while the Mongols retained structural and administrative rule over

3248-642: The Güshi Khan of the Khoshut Mongols . The Ganden Phodrang and the successive Gelug tulku lineages of the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas maintained regional control of Tibet from the mid-17th to mid-20th centuries. The Qing dynasty (1644–1912) established a Chinese rule over Tibet after a Qing expeditionary force defeated the Dzungars (who controlled Tibet) in 1720, and lasted until

3360-577: The Kadampa school of Tibetan Buddhism, one of the first Sarma schools. The Sakya ( Grey Earth ) school, was founded by Khön Könchok Gyelpo (1034–1102), a disciple of the great scholar , Drogmi Shākya. It is headed by the Sakya Trizin , and traces its lineage to the mahasiddha Virūpa . Other influential Indian teachers include Tilopa (988–1069) and his student Nāropā (probably died ca. 1040). Their teachings, via their student Marpa , are

3472-599: The Kingdom of Zhangzhung . While some stories depict Buddhism in Tibet before this period, the religion was formally introduced during the Tibetan Empire (7th–9th century CE). Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures from India were first translated into Tibetan under the reign of the Tibetan king Songtsän Gampo (618–649 CE). This period also saw the development of the Tibetan writing system and classical Tibetan . In

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3584-898: The Latin script . Multiple Romanization and transliteration systems have been created in recent years, but do not fully represent the true phonetic sound. While the Wylie transliteration system is widely used to Romanize Standard Tibetan , others include the Library of Congress system and the IPA-based transliteration (Jacques 2012). Below is a table with Tibetan letters and different Romanization and transliteration system for each letter, listed below systems are: Wylie transliteration (W), Tibetan pinyin (TP), Dzongkha phonetic (DP), ALA-LC Romanization (A) and THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription (THL). The first version of Microsoft Windows to support

3696-632: The Phagmodrupa dynasty , and the strong localism of the various fiefs and political-religious factions, led to a long series of internal conflicts. The minister family Rinpungpa , based in Tsang (West Central Tibet), dominated politics after 1435. In 1565, the Rinpungpa family was overthrown by the Tsangpa Dynasty of Shigatse , which expanded its power in different directions of Tibet in

3808-715: The Puning Temple and Putuo Zongcheng Temple (modeled after the potala palace). This period also saw the rise of the Rimé movement , a 19th-century nonsectarian movement involving the Sakya , Kagyu and Nyingma schools of Tibetan Buddhism, along with some Bon scholars. Having seen how the Gelug institutions pushed the other traditions into the corners of Tibet's cultural life, scholars such as Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820–1892) and Jamgön Kongtrül (1813–1899) compiled together

3920-622: The Rimé movement (19th century), meaning "no sides", is a more recent non-sectarian movement that attempts to preserve and understand all the different traditions. The predominant spiritual tradition in Tibet before the introduction of Buddhism was Bon , which has been strongly influenced by Tibetan Buddhism (particularly the Nyingma school). While each of the four major schools is independent and has its own monastic institutions and leaders, they are closely related and intersect with common contact and dialogue. The native Tibetan term for Buddhism

4032-462: The Six Dharmas of Naropa , as well as methods that are seen as transcending tantra, like Dzogchen . Its main goal is Buddhahood . The primary language of scriptural study in this tradition is classical Tibetan . Tibetan Buddhism has four major schools, namely Nyingma (8th century), Kagyu (11th century), Sakya (1073), and Gelug (1409). The Jonang is a smaller school that exists, and

4144-552: The Tibetan Autonomous Region . During the Republic of China (1912–1949) , the "Chinese Tantric Buddhist Revival Movement" ( Chinese : 密教復興運動 ) took place, and important figures such as Nenghai ( 能海喇嘛 , 1886–1967) and Master Fazun ( 法尊 , 1902–1980) promoted Tibetan Buddhism and translated Tibetan works into Chinese. This movement was severely damaged during the Cultural Revolution , however. After

4256-685: The Yarlung Valley along the Yarlung River, south of Lhasa . The Yarlung capital was moved in the 7th century from the palace Yumbulingka to Lhasa by the 33rd king Songsten Gampo, and into the Red Fort during the imperial period which continued to the 9th century. The beginning of the imperial period is marked in the reign of the 33rd king of the Yarlung dynasty, Songtsen Gampo. The power of Tibet's military empire gradually increased over

4368-460: The Yellow River . He then invaded Mywa, which was at least in part Nanzhao (the Tibetan term mywa likely referring to the same people or peoples referred to by the Chinese as Man or Miao ) but died during the prosecution of that campaign. Gyeltsugru (Rgyal-gtsug-ru), later to become King Tride Tsuktsen ( Khri-lde-gtsug-brtsan ), generally known now by his nickname Me Agtsom ("Old Hairy"),

4480-586: The Zhangzhung empire under the Lig myi dynasty. The group prevailed against Zingpoje. At this point Namri Songtsen (also known as Namri Löntsän ) was the leader of a clan which one by one prevailed over all his neighbouring clans. He besieged the Kingdom of Sumpa in the early 7th century and eventually conquered it. He gained control of all the area around what is now Lhasa, before his assassination around 618. This new-born regional state would later become known as

4592-571: The "Tibetan Empire". The government of Namri Songtsen sent two embassies to the Chinese Sui dynasty in 608 and 609, marking the appearance of Tibet on the international scene. Songtsen Gampo ( Srong-brtsan Sgam-po ) (c. 604 – 650) was the first great emperor who expanded Tibet's power beyond Lhasa and the Yarlung Valley , and is traditionally credited with introducing Buddhism to Tibet. When his father Namri Songtsen died by poisoning (circa 618), Songtsen Gampo took control after putting down

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4704-592: The "recently" introduced Tibetan Buddhism . The power that became the Tibetan state originated at the Taktsé Castle ( Wylie : Stag-rtse ) in the Chingba ( Phying-ba ) district of Chonggyä ( Phyongs-rgyas ). There, according to the Old Tibetan Chronicle , a group convinced Tagbu Nyazig ( Stag-bu snya-gzigs ) to rebel against Gudri Zingpoje ( Dgu-gri Zing-po-rje ), who was, in turn, a vassal of

4816-633: The 41st king, Rapalchen , whose 821–823 treaty was concluded between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty . This treaty, carved into the Jokhang Pillar , delineated Tibet as being in possession of an area larger than the Tibetan Plateau, stretching east to Chang'an , west beyond modern Afghanistan , south into modern India and the Bay of Bengal . The Yarlung dynasty was founded in 127 BC in

4928-426: The 8th century, King Trisong Detsen (755–797 CE) established it as the official religion of the state and commanded his army to wear robes and study Buddhism. Trisong Detsen invited Indian Buddhist scholars to his court, including Padmasambhāva (8th century CE) and Śāntarakṣita (725–788), who are considered the founders of Nyingma ( The Ancient Ones) , the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Padmasambhava, who

5040-518: The 9th-century spoken Tibetan, and current pronunciation. This divergence is the basis of an argument in favour of spelling reform , to write Tibetan as it is pronounced ; for example, writing Kagyu instead of Bka'-rgyud . The nomadic Amdo Tibetan and the western dialects of the Ladakhi language , as well as the Balti language , come very close to the Old Tibetan spellings. Despite that,

5152-489: The Caliphate and Karluks at the Battle of Talas (751), Chinese influence decreased rapidly and Tibetan influence began to increase again. Tibet conquered large sections of northern India during this time. In 755, Tride Tsuktsen was killed by the ministers Lang and ‘Bal. Then Takdra Lukong ( Stag-sgra Klu-khong ) presented evidence to prince Song Detsen ( Srong-lde-brtsan ) that they were disloyal and causing dissension in

5264-422: The Chinese finally managed to regain these territories. Emperor Mangsong Mangtsen ( Trimang Löntsen' or Khri-mang-slon-rtsan ) married Thrimalö ( Khri-ma-lod ), a woman who would be of great importance in Tibetan history. The emperor died in the winter of 676–677, and Zhangzhung revolts occurred thereafter. In the same year the emperor's son Tridu Songtsen ( Khri 'dus-srong btsan or Khri-'dus-srong-rtsan )

5376-587: The Chinese inflict a serious defeat on the Tibetans. In 785, Wei Kao, a Chinese serving as an official in Shuh, repulsed Tibetan invasions of the area. In the meantime, the Kyrgyz negotiated an agreement of friendship with Tibet and other powers to allow free trade in the region. An attempt at a peace treaty between Tibet and China was made in 787, but hostilities were to last until the Sino-Tibetan treaty of 821

5488-527: The Chinese more than 200,000 men). He then sent an envoy with gifts of gold and silk to the Chinese emperor to ask for a Chinese princess in marriage and, when refused, attacked Songzhou . According to the Tang Annals , he finally retreated and apologised, after which the emperor granted his request. After the death of Songtsen Gampo in 650 AD, the Chinese Tang dynasty attacked and took control of

5600-868: The Drikung Kagyu, the Drukpa Kagyu and the Karma Kagyu, are branches of the Dagpo Kagyu. The Karma Kagyu school is the largest of the Kagyu sub-schools and is headed by the Karmapa . Tibetan Buddhism exerted a strong influence from the 11th century CE among the peoples of Inner Asia , especially the Mongols , and Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism influenced each other. This was done with the help of Kublai Khan and Mongolian theologians influenced by

5712-431: The King which were afterward translated. In the first half of the 7th century, the Tibetan script was used for the codification of these sacred Buddhist texts, for written civil laws, and for a Tibetan Constitution. A contemporary academic suggests that the script was instead developed in the second half of the 11th century. New research and writings also suggest that there were one or more Tibetan scripts in use prior to

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5824-426: The Kyrgyz in 840, and many displaced people fled to Tibet. Langdarma himself was assassinated, apparently by a Buddhist hermit, in 842. A civil war that arose over Langdarma's successor led to the collapse of the Tibetan Empire. The period that followed, known traditionally as the Era of Fragmentation, was dominated by rebellions against the remnants of imperial Tibet and the rise of regional warlords. The soldiers of

5936-489: The Modern era, Tibetan Buddhism has spread outside of Asia because of the efforts of the Tibetan diaspora (1959 onwards). As the Dalai Lama escaped to India, the Indian subcontinent is also known for its renaissance of Tibetan Buddhism monasteries, including the rebuilding of the three major monasteries of the Gelug tradition. Apart from classical Mahāyāna Buddhist practices like the ten perfections , Tibetan Buddhism also includes tantric practices, such as deity yoga and

6048-406: The October revolution the term "Buddho-Lamaism" was used for some time by the Bolsheviks with reference to Tibetan Buddhism, before they finally reverted, in the early 1920s, to a more familiar term "Lamaism", which remains in official and scholarly usage in Russia to this day. During the 3rd century CE, Buddhism began to spread into the Tibetan region, and its teachings affected the Bon religion in

6160-409: The Tang emperors, reaching the Chinese capital Chang'an (modern Xi'an ) in late 763. Tibetan troops under the command of Nganlam Takdra Lukhong occupied Chang'an for fifteen days and installed a puppet emperor while Emperor Daizong was in Luoyang . Nanzhao (in Yunnan and neighbouring regions) remained under Tibetan control from 750 to 794, when they turned on their Tibetan overlords and helped

6272-447: The Tibetan Emperor requested (demanded according to Tibetan sources) marriage to a Chinese princess but was refused. In 635-36 the Emperor attacked and defeated the Tuyuhun ( Tibetan : ‘A zha ), who lived around Lake Koko Nur and controlled important trade routes into China. After a series of military campaigns between Tibet and the Tang dynasty in 635-8,（see also Tibetan attack on Songzhou ）the Chinese emperor agreed (only because of

6384-498: The Tibetan Empire wore armour such as lamellar and chainmail, and were proficient in the use of swords and lances. According to the Tibetan author Tashi Namgyal, writing in 1524, the history of lamellar armour in Tibet was divided into three distinct periods. The oldest armour dated from the time of the "Righteous Kings, Uncle, and Nephew" which would place it sometime during the Yarlung dynasty, early seventh to mid ninth century. According to Du You (735–812) in his encyclopaedic text,

6496-431: The Tibetan Empire. In 645, Songtsen Gampo overran the kingdom of Zhangzhung. Songtsen Gampo died in 650. He was succeeded by his infant grandson Trimang Lön ( Khri-mang-slon ). Real power was left in the hands of the minister Gar Tongtsen. There is some confusion as to whether Central Tibet conquered Zhangzhung during the reign of Songtsen Gampo or in the reign of Trisong Detsen , (r. 755 until 797 or 804). The records of

6608-420: The Tibetan capital Lhasa . Soldiers of the Tang dynasty could not sustain their presence in the hostile environment of the Tibetan Plateau and soon returned to China proper." After having incorporated Tuyuhun into Tibetan territory, the powerful minister Gar Tongtsen died in 667. Between 665 and 670, Khotan was defeated by the Tibetans, and a long string of conflicts ensued with the Chinese Tang dynasty. In

6720-613: The Tibetan keyboard layout is MS Windows Vista . The layout has been available in Linux since September 2007. In Ubuntu 12.04, one can install Tibetan language support through Dash / Language Support / Install/Remove Languages, the input method can be turned on from Dash / Keyboard Layout, adding Tibetan keyboard layout. The layout applies the similar layout as in Microsoft Windows. Mac OS -X introduced Tibetan Unicode support with OS-X version 10.5 and later, now with three different keyboard layouts available: Tibetan-Wylie, Tibetan QWERTY and Tibetan-Otani. The Dzongkha keyboard layout scheme

6832-506: The Tibetan language. Under King Trisong Detsen, the empire again expanded as the founding of Tibetan Buddhism and the revealing of the Vajrayana by Guru Padmasambhava was occurring. The empire period then corresponded to the reigns of Tibet's three 'Religious Kings', which includes King Rapalchen's reign. After Rapalchen's murder, King Lang darma nearly destroyed Tibetan Buddhism through his widespread targeting of Nyingma monasteries and monastic practitioners. His undertakings correspond to

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6944-423: The Tibetan script was developed during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo by his minister Thonmi Sambhota , who was sent to India with 16 other students to study Buddhism along with Sanskrit and written languages. They developed the Tibetan script from the Gupta script while at the Pabonka Hermitage . This occurred c.  620 , towards the beginning of the king's reign. There were 21 Sutra texts held by

7056-462: The Tibetan textual heritage and institutions were destroyed, and monks and nuns were forced to disrobe. Outside of Tibet, however, there has been a renewed interest in Tibetan Buddhism in places such as Nepal and Bhutan. Meanwhile, the spread of Tibetan Buddhism in the Western world was accomplished by many of the refugee Tibetan Lamas who escaped Tibet, such as Akong Rinpoche and Chögyam Trungpa who in 1967 were founders of Kagyu Samye Ling

7168-404: The Türgesh Qaghan. The Chinese allied with the Caliphate to attack the Türgesh. After victory and peace with the Türgesh, the Chinese attacked the Tibetan army. The Tibetans suffered several defeats in the east, despite strength in the west. The Türgesh empire collapsed from internal strife. In 737, the Tibetans launched an attack against the king of Bru-za ( Gilgit ), who asked for Chinese help, but

7280-463: The Türgesh. Tibet and China fought on and off in the late 720s. At first Tibet (with Türgesh allies) had the upper hand, but then they started losing battles. After a rebellion in southern China and a major Tibetan victory in 730, the Tibetans and Türgesh sued for peace. The Tibetans aided the Turgesh in fighting against the Muslim Arabs during the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana . In 734, the Tibetans married their princess Dronmalön ( ‘Dron ma lon ) to

7392-467: The ancient village of Shöl in front of the Potala in Lhasa, dating to c. 764 CE during Trisong Detsen's reign. It also contains an account of the conquest of large swathes of northwestern China including the capture of Chang'an , the Chinese capital, for a short period in 763 CE, during the reign of Emperor Daizong . Trisong Detsen is said to have had four sons. The eldest, Mutri Tsenpo, apparently died young. When Trisong Detsen retired he handed power to

7504-401: The arrangement of keys essentially follows the usual order of the Dzongkha and Tibetan alphabet, the layout can be quickly learned by anyone familiar with this alphabet. Subjoined (combining) consonants are entered using the Shift key. The Dzongkha (dz) keyboard layout is included in Microsoft Windows, Android, and most distributions of Linux as part of XFree86 . Tibetan was originally one of

7616-407: The basic Tibetan alphabet to represent different sounds. In addition to the use of supplementary graphemes, the rules for constructing consonant clusters are amended, allowing any character to occupy the superscript or subscript position, negating the need for the prescript and postscript positions. Romanization and transliteration of the Tibetan script is the representation of the Tibetan script in

7728-418: The consonants ག /kʰa/, ད /tʰa/, བ /pʰa/, མ /ma/ and འ /a/ can be used in the prescript position to the left of other radicals, while the position after a radical (the postscript position), can be held by the ten consonants ག /kʰa/, ན /na/, བ /pʰa/, ད /tʰa/, མ /ma/, འ /a/, ར /ra/, ང /ŋa/, ས /sa/, and ལ /la/. The third position, the post-postscript position

7840-417: The country, and were about to attack him also. Lang and ‘Bal subsequently did revolt; they were killed by the army and their property was confiscated. In 756, prince Song Detsän was crowned Emperor with the name Trisong Detsen ( Khri srong lde brtsan ) and took control of the government when he attained his majority at 13 years of age (12 by Western reckoning) after a one-year interregnum during which there

7952-416: The earlier Tibetan Empire collapsed and civil wars ensued. In spite of this loss of state power and patronage however, Buddhism survived and thrived in Tibet. According to Geoffrey Samuel this was because "Tantric (Vajrayana) Buddhism came to provide the principal set of techniques by which Tibetans dealt with the dangerous powers of the spirit world [...] Buddhism, in the form of Vajrayana ritual, provided

8064-462: The eldest surviving son, Muné Tsenpo ( Mu-ne btsan-po ). Most sources say that Muné's reign lasted only about a year and a half. After a short reign, Muné Tsenpo was supposedly poisoned on the orders of his mother. After his death, Mutik Tsenpo was next in line to the throne. However, he had been apparently banished to Lhodak Kharchu (lHo-brag or Lhodrag) near the Bhutanese border for murdering

8176-499: The empire period include: The varied terrain of the empire and the difficulty of transportation, coupled with the new ideas that came into the empire as a result of its expansion, helped to create stresses and power blocs that were often in competition with the ruler at the center of the empire. Thus, for example, adherents of the Bön religion and the supporters of the ancient noble families gradually came to find themselves in competition with

8288-618: The end, they are not willing to retreat. Their lances are longer and thinner than those in China. Their archery is weak but their armor is strong. The men always use swords; when they are not at war they still go about carrying swords. The Tibetans might have exported their armour to the neighbouring steppe nomads. When the Turgesh attacked the Arabs , their khagan Suluk was reported to have worn Tibetan armour, which saved him from two arrows before

8400-622: The fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912. The Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty supported Tibetan Buddhism, especially the Gelug sect, during most of their rule. The reign of the Qianlong Emperor (respected as the Emperor Manjushri ) was the high mark for this promotion of Tibetan Buddhism in China, with the visit of the 6th Panchen Lama to Beijing, and the building of temples in the Tibetan style, such as Xumi Fushou Temple ,

8512-571: The first Tibetan Buddhist Centre to be established in the West. After the liberalization policies in China during the 1980s, the religion began to recover with some temples and monasteries being reconstructed. Tibetan Buddhism is now an influential religion among Chinese people, and also in Taiwan. However, the Chinese government retains strict control over Tibetan Buddhist Institutions in the PRC . Quotas on

8624-469: The first copies of these texts were kept at Narthang monastery . Tibetan Buddhism in China was also syncretized with Chinese Buddhism and Chinese folk religion . With the decline and end of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, Tibet regained independence and was ruled by successive local families from the 14th to the 17th century. Jangchub Gyaltsän (1302–1364) became the strongest political family in

8736-586: The following decades and favoured the Karma Kagyu sect. They would play a pivotal role in the events which led to the rise of power of the Dalai Lama's in the 1640s. In China, Tibetan Buddhism continued to be patronized by the elites of the Ming Dynasty. According to David M. Robinson , during this era, Tibetan Buddhist monks "conducted court rituals, enjoyed privileged status and gained access to

8848-495: The foundations of the Kagyu ( Oral lineage ) tradition , which focuses on the practices of Mahāmudrā and the Six Dharmas of Nāropā . One of the most famous Kagyu figures was the hermit Milarepa , an 11th-century mystic. The Dagpo Kagyu was founded by the monk Gampopa who merged Marpa's lineage teachings with the monastic Kadam tradition. All the sub-schools of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism surviving today, including

8960-515: The founding of "New Translation" ( Sarma ) lineages as well as the appearance of " hidden treasures " ( terma ) literature which reshaped the Nyingma tradition. In 1042 the Bengali saint, Atiśa (982–1054) arrived in Tibet at the invitation of a west Tibetan king and further aided dissemination of Buddhist values in Tibetan culture and in consequential affairs of state. His erudition supported

9072-539: The grammar of these dialectical varieties has considerably changed. To write the modern varieties according to the orthography and grammar of Classical Tibetan would be similar to writing Italian according to Latin orthography, or to writing Hindi according to Sanskrit orthogrophy. However, modern Buddhist practitioners in the Indian subcontinent state that the classical orthography should not be altered even when used for lay purposes. This became an obstacle for many modern Tibetic languages wishing to modernize or to introduce

9184-464: The influence of the Gar. From 700 until his death the emperor remained on campaign in the northeast, absent from Central Tibet, while his mother Thrimalö administrated in his name. In 702, Zhou China under Empress Wu Zetien and the Tibetan Empire concluded peace. At the end of that year, the Tibetan imperial government turned to consolidating the administrative organisation khö chenpo ( mkhos chen-po ) of

9296-452: The introduction of the script by Songtsen Gampo and Thonmi Sambhota . The incomplete Dunhuang manuscripts are their key evidence for their hypothesis, while the few discovered and recorded Old Tibetan Annals manuscripts date from 650 and therefore post-date the c. 620 date of development of the original Tibetan script. Three orthographic standardisations were developed. The most important, an official orthography aimed to facilitate

9408-595: The jealously guarded, private world of the emperors". The Ming Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424) promoted the carving of printing blocks for the Kangyur , now known as "the Yongle Kanjur", and seen as an important edition of the collection. The Ming Dynasty also supported the propagation of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia during this period. Tibetan Buddhist missionaries also helped spread the religion in Mongolia. It

9520-674: The major power of those times such as China, India, and states in Central Asia that had strong Buddhist influence in their culture. Yeshe Tsogyal , the most important female in the Nyingma Vajrayana lineage, was a member of Trisong Detsen's court and became Padmasambhava's student before gaining enlightenment. Trisong Detsen also invited the Chan master Moheyan to transmit the Dharma at Samye Monastery . Some sources state that

9632-706: The major religion of the Mongols under Qing rule (1635–1912), as well as the state religion of the Kalmyk Khanate (1630–1771), the Dzungar Khanate (1634–1758) and the Khoshut Khanate (1642–1717). In 1912, following the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Tibet became de facto independent under the 13th Dalai Lama government based in Lhasa , maintaining the current territory of what is now called

9744-556: The mid 14th century. During this period the reformist scholar Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) founded the Gelug school which would have a decisive influence on Tibet's history. The Ganden Tripa is the nominal head of the Gelug school, though its most influential figure is the Dalai Lama. The Ganden Tripa is an appointed office and not a reincarnation lineage. The position can be held by an individual for seven years and this has led to more Ganden Tripas than Dalai Lamas Internal strife within

9856-754: The northeastern Sumru area, which had been the Sumpa country conquered 75 years earlier. Sumru was organised as a new "horn" of the empire. During the summer of 703, Tridu Songtsen resided at Öljak ( ‘Ol-byag ) in Ling ( Gling ), which was on the upper reaches of the Yangtze , before proceeding with an invasion of Jang ( ‘Jang ), which may have been either the Mosuo or the kingdom of Nanzhao . In 704, he stayed briefly at Yoti Chuzang ( Yo-ti Chu-bzangs ) in Madrom ( Rma-sgrom ) on

9968-404: The radical ཀ /ka/ and see what happens when it becomes ཀྲ /kra/ or རྐ /rka/ (pronounced /ka/). In both cases, the symbol for ཀ /ka/ is used, but when the ར /ra/ is in the middle of the consonant and vowel, it is added as a subscript. On the other hand, when the ར /ra/ comes before the consonant and vowel, it is added as a superscript. ར /ra/ actually changes form when it

10080-560: The region, reinforced by the rare military intervention. Tibetan Buddhism was adopted as the de facto state religion by the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) of Kublai Khan . It was also during this period that the Tibetan Buddhist canon was compiled, primarily led by the efforts of the scholar Butön Rinchen Drup (1290–1364). A part of this project included the carving of the canon into wood blocks for printing , and

10192-453: The script's invention, and there are no dedicated symbols for tone. However, since tones developed from segmental features, they can usually be correctly predicted by the archaic spelling of Tibetan words. One aspect of the Tibetan script is that the consonants can be written either as radicals or they can be written in other forms, such as subscript and superscript forming consonant clusters . To understand how this works, one can look at

10304-932: The scripts in the first version of the Unicode Standard in 1991, in the Unicode block U+1000–U+104F. However, in 1993, in version 1.1, it was removed (the code points it took up would later be used for the Burmese script in version 3.0). The Tibetan script was re-added in July, 1996 with the release of version 2.0. The Unicode block for Tibetan is U+0F00–U+0FFF. It includes letters, digits and various punctuation marks and special symbols used in religious texts: Tibetan Buddhism Samding Dorje Phagmo New branches: Tantric techniques : Fourfold division: Twofold division: Thought forms and visualisation: Yoga : Tibetan Buddhism

10416-463: The simultaneous beginning of the dissolution of the empire period. Before the empire period, sacred Buddhist relics were discovered by the Yarlung dynasty's 28th king, Iha-tho-tho-ri (Thori Nyatsen), and then safeguarded. Later, Tibet marked the advent of its empire period under King Songsten Gampo, while Buddhism initially spread into Tibet after the king's conversion to Buddhism, and during his pursuits in translating Buddhist texts while also developing

10528-561: The spring of 670, Tibet attacked the remaining Chinese territories in the western Tarim Basin after winning the Battle of Dafeichuan against the Tang dynasty . With troops from Khotan they conquered Aksu , upon which the Chinese abandoned the region, ending two decades of Chinese control. They thus gained control over all of the Chinese Four Garrisons of Anxi in the Tarim Basin in 670 and held them until 692, when

10640-408: The subsequent dissolution of the unified empire period, after which semi-autonomous polities of chieftains, minor kings and queens, and those surviving Tibetan Buddhist polities evolved once again into autonomous independent polities, similar to those polities also documented in the Tibetan Empire's nearer frontier region of Do Kham ( Amdo and Kham ). Other unreferenced ideas about the dissolution of

10752-599: The teachings of the Sakya , Kagyu and Nyingma , including many near-extinct teachings. Without Khyentse and Kongtrul's collecting and printing of rare works, the suppression of Buddhism by the Communists would have been much more final. The Rimé movement is responsible for a number of scriptural compilations, such as the Rinchen Terdzod and the Sheja Dzö . During the Qing, Tibetan Buddhism also remained

10864-407: The term used is Lamaism (literally, "doctrine of the lamas": 喇嘛教 lama jiao ) to distinguish it from a then-traditional Chinese Buddhism ( 佛教 fo jiao ). The term was taken up by western scholars, including Hegel , as early as 1822. Insofar as it implies a discontinuity between Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, the term has been discredited. Another term, " Vajrayāna " (Tibetan: dorje tegpa )

10976-478: The threat of force, according to Tibetan sources) to provide a Chinese princess to Songtsen Gampo. Circa 639, after Songtsen Gampo had a dispute with his younger brother Tsänsong ( Brtsan-srong ), the younger brother was burned to death by his own minister Khäsreg ( Mkha’s sregs ) (presumably at the behest of his older brother the emperor). The Chinese Princess Wencheng (Tibetan: Mung-chang Kung-co ) departed China in 640 to marry Songtsen Gampo's son. She arrived

11088-467: The translation of Buddhist scriptures emerged during the early 9th century. Standard orthography has not been altered since then, while the spoken language has changed by, for example, losing complex consonant clusters . As a result, in all modern Tibetan dialects and in particular in the Standard Tibetan of Lhasa , there is a great divergence between current spelling, which still reflects

11200-557: The translation of major Buddhist texts, which evolved into the canons of Bka'-'gyur (Translation of the Buddha Word) and Bstan-'gyur (Translation of Teachings). The Bka'-'gyur has six main categories: (1) Tantra , (2) Prajñāpāramitā , (3) Ratnakūṭa Sūtra , (4) Avataṃsaka Sūtra , (5) Other sutras, and (6) Vinaya . The Bstan-'gyur comprises 3,626 texts and 224 volumes on such things as hymns, commentaries and suppplementary tantric material. Atiśa's chief disciple, Dromtön founded

11312-651: The upper hand, and the Tibetan governor of Kabul submitted to the Caliphate and became a Muslim about 812 or 815. The Caliphate then struck east from Kashmir but were held off by the Tibetans . In the meantime, the Uyghur Khaganate attacked Tibet from the northeast. Strife between the Uyghurs and Tibetans continued for some time. Tritsu Detsen ( Khri gtsug lde brtsan ), best known as Ralpacan ,

11424-512: The vowel ཨུ /u/ is placed underneath consonants. Old Tibetan included a reversed form of the mark for /i/, the gigu 'verso', of uncertain meaning. There is no distinction between long and short vowels in written Tibetan, except in loanwords , especially transcribed from the Sanskrit . The Tibetan alphabet, when used to write other languages such as Balti , Chinese and Sanskrit , often has additional and/or modified graphemes taken from

11536-457: Was agreed on in 821/822 under Ralpacan, which established peace for more than two decades. A bilingual account of this treaty is inscribed on a stone pillar which stands outside the Jokhang temple in Lhasa. The reign of Langdarma ( Glang dar ma ), regal title Tri Uidumtsaen ( Khri 'U'i dum brtsan ), was plagued by external troubles. The Uyghur state to the north collapsed under pressure from

11648-551: Was also commemorated by three inscribed stelae. In the opening years of the 9th century, the Tibetan Empire controlled territories extending from the Tarim Basin to the Himalayas and Bengal , and from the Pamirs into what are now the Chinese provinces of Sichuan , Gansu and Yunnan . The murder of King Rapalchen in 838 by his brother Langdarma, and Langdarma's subsequent enthronement followed by his assassination in 842 marks

11760-421: Was apparently murdered by two pro- Bön ministers who then placed his anti-Buddhist brother, Langdarma , on the throne. Tibet continued to be a major Central Asian empire until the mid-9th century. It was under the reign of Ralpacan that the political power of Tibet was at its greatest extent, stretching as far as Mongolia and Bengal, and entering into treaties with China on a mutual basis. A Sino-Tibetan treaty

11872-427: Was appointed to replace him. In 692, the Tibetans lost the Tarim Basin to the Chinese. Gar Tridring Tsendrö defeated the Chinese in battle in 696 and sued for peace. Two years later in 698 emperor Tridu Songtsen reportedly invited the Gar clan (who numbered more than 2000 people) to a hunting party and had them massacred. Gar Tridring Tsendrö then committed suicide, and his troops joined the Chinese. This brought to an end

11984-453: Was born in 704. Upon the death of Tridu Songtsen, his mother Thrimalö ruled as regent for the infant Gyältsugru. The following year the elder son of Tridu Songtsen, Lha Balpo ( Lha Bal-pho ) apparently contested the succession of his one-year-old brother, but was "deposed from the throne" at Pong Lag-rang. Thrimalö had arranged for a royal marriage to a Chinese princess. The Princess Jincheng (Tibetan: Kyimshang Kongjo) arrived in 710, but it

12096-681: Was born. The power of Emperor Tridu Songtsen was offset, to an extent, by that of his mother, Thrimalö and the influence of the Gar clan. ( Wylie mgar ; also sgar and ′gar ). (There is evidence that the Gar were descended from members of the Lesser Yuezhi , a people who had originally spoken an Indo-European language and migrated, sometime after the 3rd century BC, from Gansu or the Tarim into Kokonur .) In 685, minister Gar Tsenye Dompu ( mgar btsan-snya-ldom-bu ) died and his brother, Gar Tridring Tsendrö ( mgar Khri-‘bring-btsan brod )

12208-535: Was during this era that Altan Khan the leader of the Tümed Mongols, converted to Buddhism, and allied with the Gelug school, conferring the title of Dalai Lama to Sonam Gyatso in 1578. During a Tibetan civil war in the 17th century, Sonam Choephel (1595–1657 CE), the chief regent of the 5th Dalai Lama , conquered and unified Tibet to establish the Ganden Phodrang government with the help of

12320-538: Was inscribed in Lhasa in 823 (see below). At the same time, the Uyghurs , nominal allies of the Tang emperors, continued to make difficulties along Tibet's Northern border. Toward the end of this king's reign Uyghur victories in the North caused the Tibetans to lose a number of their allies in the Southeast. Recent historical research indicates the presence of Christianity in as early as the sixth and seventh centuries,

12432-481: Was no emperor. In 755, China had already begun to be weakened because of the An Shi Rebellion started by An Lushan in 751, which would last until 763. In contrast, Trisong Detsän's reign was characterised by the reassertion of Tibetan influence in Central Asia. Early in his reign regions to the West of Tibet paid homage to the Tibetan court. From that time onward the Tibetans pressed into the territory of

12544-428: Was ultimately forced to pay homage to Tibet. In 747, the hold of Tibet was loosened by the campaign of general Gao Xianzhi , who tried to re-open the direct communications between Central Asia and Kashmir. By 750, the Tibetans had lost almost all of their central Asian possessions to the Chinese. In 753, even the kingdom of "Little Balur" (modern Gilgit) was captured by the Chinese. However, after Gao Xianzhi's defeat by

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