Both Santa Rakshita and Padma Sambhava were unable, on account of the open hostility of the Bonbo, to remain long in Tibet. It is said by some that the latter sage remained there six years, others make his sojourn there eighteen years, after which he returned to India; but, however long he stayed, he firmly implanted mysticism in Tibet.
King Tisrong gathered together at Samye sacred images and treasures from India and the borderlands of China; but of all the collections made here the most valuable was the great library of Indian works, of which Atisha, who visited Samye in the eleventh century, said that there were more Indian books here than in the great Indian convents of Buddhagaya, Vikramashila, and Odantapura united.
Samye has experienced, since the days of its foundation, manv vicissitudes: it was partly destroyed by King Langdharma,[1] and again later on by other followers of the old religion. Then it was partially destroyed by an earthquake, in 1749 (?), and in 1808 (?) the Wu-tse itself was destroyed by fire.[2] To rebuild it the people of Tibet gave a hundred thousand ounces of silver, and the Shape Shada Dondub dorje, who had charge of the works, occupied five hundred workmen for seven years in reconstructing the temple. Again, in 1850, an earthquake caused great damage to the temple, the dome fell in and the frescoes, floors, etc., were irreparably injured. But the damage was again repaired by means of public subscriptions and grants from the State, amounting together to about 175,000 ounces of silver in value.[3]
- ↑ This iconoclast, who appears to have been born in A.D. 861, interdicted the Buddhist religion in Tibet in 899, and was murdered in 900. See Csoma, 'Tib. Grammar,' p. 183. Cf. Emil Schlaginweit. op. cit., p. 59, and I. J. Schmidt, 'Geschichte der Ost Mongolen,' pp. 49, 362, et sqq. In the last work is the history of the murder of the king by the hermit, Lha-lung palgyi dorje. It agrees with what our author has told us supra, p. 153, when describing the origin of the "black hat" dance.—(W. R.)
- ↑ Our author says, only "in the year fire-tiger of the thirteenth cycle," and "again, after a period of ten years, in the month of May (fire-tiger of the fourteenth cycle)." This is impossible, as fire tiger is the third year in the cycle of sixty years. Assuming the first date to be correct, the second must be A.D. 1808. Waddell, op. cit., 267, says the library was destroyed about 1816.—(W. R.)
- ↑ Nain Singh speaks of a town called Sawe, where the Tibetan treasury is kept. See Markham's 'Tibet,' p. cxiii. This is Samye. Explorer A. K. passed here in October,
of this wall the Pundit counted 1030 chharfans {cliorten) made of burnt bricks… The interiors of the (stone) walls of these temples are covered with very beautiful writing in enormous Hindi (Sanscrit) characters…" Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc., xlvii. p. 114. Sarat Chandra says that a work, entitled 'Pama Kahthang' ('Peme Katang?'). contains a full description of this famous lamasery. See also Waddell, op. cit., 266–268.
