ABSTRACT
The deliberate, cool and aristocratic simplicity of the older Buddhism gave way to a more emotional epoch in which an increasing number of Buddha and Bodhisattva figures developed, offering a more tangible object to the faithful devotion and the desire for salvation of the Indian Buddhist. Tibet already had an important word to say in the affairs of West China, East Turkestan, and also Ferghana, Gilgit and other more western countries. From the beginning the young king showed definite leanings towards Buddhism, but for a long time he was not in a position to further its development. The spiritual conditions for the development of the third stage of Buddhism, the Vajrayana, or Diamond Vehicle, must have been present several centuries before Dharmakirti’s time. The foundation of bSam-yas and the ordination of the first seven native monks must be regarded as an event of far-reaching importance for the religious history of Tibet.
