Blog :Posterior Propagating Period of Tibetan Buddhism
The Posterior Propagating Period of Buddhism is another important period in the history of the Tibetan Buddhism.
From the beginning of the 10thcentury, 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 10thcentury. 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 inIndia, he decided to invite him to propagandize Buddhism inTibet. 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 toIndiato invite the great master Atisha to propagate Buddhism in Tibet, and before long he himself died of illness in jail.
