Page 161 - Popular Deities of Chinese Buddhism (Illustrated) and Symbols

and demons which required sacrifices of animals and human

beings and other disgusting practices. History has it that when

Santaraksita, the famed Abbot of Nalanda Monastery, was

invited by King Trison-Detsun to teach the Doctrine to the

Tibetans, he met considerable opposition from the spirits and

priests of the local faith, the primitive Bon cult. In anger, the

Bon spirits caused great destructions through flood and famine

across the land so that Santaraksita had no choice but to ask the

king to send for Guru Padmasambhava, who was then residing

in Nepal, to take over the task of conversion of these very stub-

born and powerful opposing forces. us the great guru arrived

in Tibet in the year 747.

In Tibet Padmasambhava lived up to his fame as a demon-

tamer, subduing the defiant spirits and sparing only those who

accepted the Buddhist faith and agreed to become its defenders.

As a reward, he included them into the Mahayana Pantheon so

that they would be properly worshipped. Blending native beliefs

with certain elements of Tantrism, he developed a new kind of

Buddhism which is known to the world as Lamaism. Padmasam-

bhava thus became the Precious Guru of all the lamas and is

regarded as highly as the Buddha himself. e Nim-ma-pa or

‘Red-Hat’ sect regards him as their founder and worships him

in various forms, both gentle and fierce, expressive of his dif-

ferent moods at different times. rough his efforts the famous

Samye Monastery near Lhasa was built and it became the centre

of Buddhist studies in Tibet. Santaraksita was appointed as its

first abbot.

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