Home Dharma Dew Tibetan Buddhism: How it all began The Star,
April 23, 2007 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- TIBETAN Buddhism began
in the mid-7th century AD, when the powerful Tibetan king
Songtsen Gampo (617-650AD) became a devout Buddhist under the
influence of his two queens, Nepal’s Princess Birkurti and
Princess Wencheng of China. To propagate Buddhist teachings, the
king sent his ministers to India to learn Sanskrit and Buddhism.
Upon their return, they began translating sacred Buddhist texts
from Sanskrit into Tibetan. A century later, king Trisong
Deutsan (742-797AD) invited a great Indian Buddhist master, Guru
Padmasambhava (or the Lotus Born), to visit Tibet. The latter
subdued the influences of the shamanistic Bonpo belief and,
since then, Buddhism started to prosper. The Drukpa (or Sky
Dragons) lineage in Tibetan Buddhism has an 800-year legacy. It
originated from the great enlightened Indian masters, Tilopa and
Naropa. The lineage continued with Marpa, the Tibetan translator
who travelled to India to r