History of Buddhism in Tibet

Although Buddhist scriptures may have made their way into Tibet centuries earlier, the history of Buddhism in Tibet effectively begins in 7 century. In that period, 33rd tibet King Songtsen Gampo took two Buddhist wives, Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal and Princess Wen Cheng of China.

The princesses are credited with introducing Buddhism to their husband.
He also put Tibetan translators to work on the Sanskrit scriptures.

In 8 century,
During the time of King Trisong Detsen,  Buddhism became the official religion of the Tibetan people. The King also invited famous Buddhist teachers such as Shantarakshita and Padmasambhava to Tibet.  Padmasambhava, remembered by Tibetans as Guru Rinpoche  was an Indian master of tantra whose influence on the development of Tibetan Buddhism is spread wide in tibet. He is credited with building Samye, the first monastery in Tibet, in the late 8th century. According to legend, when Guru Rinpoche arrived in Tibet he pacified the Bon demons and made them protectors of the Dharma.

Between the 11th and 14th centuries, the Tibetans translated every available Buddhist text into Tibetan. Buddhism became well established in Tibet since that time. Today, many Buddhist works that have been lost in their original Sanskrit survive only in Tibetan translation.
Tibetan Buddhism can be divided into many “schools.” These schools are doctrinally very similar, but are distinguished by the different teachers and texts considered influence in each school. Living Buddhist traditions are transmitted through these teachers and texts and institutions. In tibetan Buddhism, this transmission is known as “lineage.”

tibetan Buddhist lineage is the teacher-student relationship. A particular teacher teaches his student(s) through oral instructions, and by selecting and explaining the meaning of certain authoritative Buddhist texts. Such oral teachings, as well as any accompanying textual material, is passed by that student to his own student(s). Ideally, this outward process of exchange between teacher and student carries with it an inner process whereby the spiritual realization of the teacher is also passed from teacher to student. It is the transmission of this living wisdom which is the essential quality of Tibetan Buddhism today.

Traditionally within Tibet there are many different schools. However, the most well-known achool in modern times is that of the four major schools, or lineages: Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelugpa.

In the 1950′s, the Communist Chinese army entered Tibet and enforced widespread institutional change. The cultural revolution subsequently caused widespread cultural havoc in Tibet. Many Tibetan spiritual leaders and lineage heads found the atmosphere in Tibet no longer conducive to lineage practice, and in that way they were forced to leave Tibet. Tibetan Buddhism is still widely practiced in Tibet, but now is also found in countries throughout the world.