The Posterior Propagating Period of Buddhism
is another important period in the history of the Tibetan Buddhism.
From the beginning of the 10th
century, Buddhism was revived in Tibet because of continuous efforts of the
remaining monks' and the popularization of Buddhism by the Guge Dynasty. Guge
Kingdom was located in Ngari region in the western part of Tibet in the
10th century. The King Kho-re (Ye shes vod), the second king of the
Guge Dynasty, handed his throne to his brother and became a monk (Dharma Name:
Yeshes'od).
Yeshes'od revived Buddhism with the support
of the royalty. He dispatched many monks to India to get Buddhist canons and
study Buddhism, organized people to establish and repair monasteries and
translate Buddhist canons. When he heard that there was a great master named
Atisha in India, he decided to
invite him to propagandize Buddhism in Tibet. In order to raise the fund needed to invite Atisha, he disregarded
his seniority and led troops to attack the neighboring nationality that believed
in Islam. But he failed and was captured by his enemy. The victorious ruler said
that it would take gold equivalent to his body weight to trade back his freedom.
Therefore, Yeshes'od's grandnephew Byang Chub 'od tried his best to collect the
gold needed. However, when his grandnephew brought enough gold to trade him
back, Yeshes'od declined the offer. Instead, he asked Byang Chub 'od to take the
gold to India to invite the
great master Atisha to propagate Buddhism in Tibet, and before long he himself
died of illness in jail.
The Buddhist master Atisha was moved by the
piety of Yeshes'od and accepted the invitation regardless of his own seniority.
He arrived at Guge in 1042.
Atisha's propagation of Buddhism in Tibet
was very successful. At that time, people did not have clear understanding of
Buddhism that was newly revived and the Open School and Secret School
continuously disputed and insisted on their own opinions on the issues of
cultivation and practice. In view of the situation, Atisha wrote a sutra to
clear away the confusion among people. This sutra has become one of the famous
books in the Posterior Propagating Period of the Tibetan Buddhism. Because of
the continuous efforts of Atisha and the Tibetan monks who still lived in the
Snowy Region, the Tibetan Buddhism finally realized the systematization of
dogmata and the standardization of practice, and ushered in a prosperous period
of the Posterior Propagating Period till the reign of the Dalai
Lama.