ABSTRACT
Introduction Some years ago, I wrote a book on Tibetan religion, Civilized Shamans, which contained three chapters on the Indian background to Tibetan Buddhism. These chapters were a preliminary attempt to make sense of the social and religious context within which the varieties of Buddhism imported by the Tibetans had originaBy developed. I have been working further on trying to understand this Indian background in recent years. Here I look at some of the implications of what I have been finding out. In particular, I have some suggestions to make about why Buddhism was so appealing to the kings of Tibet in the seventh and eighth centuries.
