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- Tibet: A Brief Historical Background
People often think of Tibet as a romantic, mysterious and remote outpost far removed from the troubles of the world. The world�s highest and most difficult geography was sufficient to keep Tibet sealed off from the outside world for hundreds of years. It is isolated by the monumental Himalayan mountains to the south and east; the Karakorum mountains to the northwest; and the massive desert wastes to the north. Since much of Tibet lies well over 3,000 metres above sea level, it has received the nickname �Roof of the World.�
According to ancient legends, the Tibetan race originated from the descendants of the six children begot by the union of a monkey and an ogress. The monkey was identified with Avalokitesvara and the ogress with Tara (these deities are discussed in the label section).
Little is known of Tibet�s early history, for prior to the seventh century A.D., the Tibet region was made up of illiterate, loosely-organized confederations of nomadic and agricultural tribes. It is a mystery as to who the original inhabitants of Tibet were and from whence they came. It is known from archaeological evidence that Tibet has been inhabited by human beings since remote antiquity and microliths have been excavated which may date back to the Mesolithic age. By the Neolithic age (or about 5,000 year ago), the inhabitants of the Tibetan region appear to have been engaged in agriculture, hunting and livestock breeding of the yak and the dzo (a breed of cattle similar to the yak). It is also known that the early Tibetans had their own indigenous folk religion called Bon, which was a form of shamanism based on nature worship involving divination, magic, animal sacrifice, and the worship of spirits.
The recorded history of Tibet begins in the seventh century with the reign of the first of the great kings of the Yarlung dynasty, Songsten Gampo (c. 627-650), who is credited with bringing about the creation of a Tibetan script. His reign marked the emergence of a unified Tibet as a major political and military force in Asia. In addition to his three Tibetan wives married for alliance reasons, King Songsten Gampo also married two princesses, one from Nepal and one from China, both of whom were devout followers of Buddhism. The king was greatly intrigued by this new religion and enthusiastically supported it. However, it was not until the latter part of the eighth century under the patronage of King Trison Detsen, with the guidance of the great Indian Tantric master, Padmasambhava, that Buddhism gained a firm footing in Tibet. Padmasambhava (known to Tibetans as Guru Rinpoche or Precious Teacher) is credited with enabling Buddhism totriumph over the primitive Bon religion, and as a result, he is revered as a saint and is frequently depicted in Tibetan art [frontispiece].
As it spread throughout Asia, Buddhism interacted with local religions by accept�ing their deities as reincarnations of Buddhist deities. The same is true of Buddhism in Tibet. At first it came into conflict with the indigenous Bon religion, but after making compromises and adapting some local beliefs, Buddhism largely absorbed Bon and prevailed as the more popular religion. Buddhism came to exert a tremendous civilizing influence on Tibet.
Although the Tibetan form of Buddhism, the so-called Third Vehicle or Vajrayana, drew some aspects from the nearby Buddhist cultures of China and Nepal, it was India which proved to be Tibet�s principal source of the faith, and as a result Indian
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