The Buddhism of Tibet, or Lamaism, with mystic cults, symbolism and mythology, and its relation to Indian Buddhism / by L. Austine Waddell.

  • Laurence Waddell
Date:
[1934]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Buddhism of Tibet, or Lamaism, with mystic cults, symbolism and mythology, and its relation to Indian Buddhism / by L. Austine Waddell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    89/670 (page 33)
    And notwithstanding his grotesque charlatanism and uncelibate life, he is deified and worshipped as the “ second Buddha,” and his image under ‘‘The eight worshipful Forms’’^ is found in every Tibetan temple of the old sect, as figured at page 25. Thus established, and lavishly endowed, Lamaism made steady progress, and was actively patronized by Thi-Sron Detsan’s succes¬ sors for two generations.^ The eras of Lamaism may be divided into (1) primitive or “Augustine” (from King Thi-Sron Detsan’s reign to the per¬ secution), (2) mediaeval, including the reformation, (3) modern Lamaism, from the priest-kingship of the Dalai Lama in the seventeenth century. An interesting glimpse into the professed religion of the earlier period is given in the bilingual edict pillars “ do-ring,” erected at Lhasa in 822 a.d.,^ in treaty with the Chinese. In the text of these edicts, which has been translated by Dr. Bushell,^ occurs the following sentence : “ They [? the Fan (Tibetan) and the Han (Chinese)] have looked up to the three precious ones, to all the holy saints, to the sun, moon, stars, and planets, and begged them to be their witnesses.” In the latter half of the nihth century ^ under king Ealpachan, the grandson of Thi-Sron Detsan, the work of the translation of scriptures and the commentaries of Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Vasu- bandhu, etc., was actively prosecuted. Among the Indian trans¬ lators employed by him were Jina Mitra, Silendrabodhi,^ Suren- drabodhi, Prajna-varman, Dana-sila, and Bodhimitra, assisted by the Tibetans Pal-brtsegs, Ye-s’e-sde, Ch’os-kyi-G-yal-ts’an, and at least half of the two collections as we know them is the work 1 Guru ts’an gye. For description of these see p. 379. 2 Thi-Sroh Detsan died in 786 (Csoma, Gr., 183), and was succeeded by his son, Mu-thi tsan-po, who, on being poisoned by his mother soon after his accession, was succeeded by his brother (Sad-na-legs) under the same name (Rockhill, Life, 222), and he induced Kamalasila to return to Tibet and permanently reside in that country. This latter was succeeded by his son Ralpachan. 3 These monoliths are assigned by Tibetan tradition (as translated by Sarat., J.A 1881, p. 228) to Thi-Sroh Detsan’s grandson, Ralpachan. ^ Op. cit., 521. 5 According to Tibetan chronology ; but the Chinese make Ralpachan’s accession 816 A.D. (Rockhill’s B., 223). 6 These two were pupils of Sthiramati (Vasiliev, Tdrandtha, 320) C