Buddhist Masters of India. It Took Successive Tibetan Buddhist

Buddhist masters of India. It took successive Tibetan Buddhist scholars from the 7th to the 12th century to translate and absorb the whole body of Buddhist canon. The challenge for the new generation of scholars was what to do with this vast body of translated work. Although other scholars were involved in this Herculean task, the Tibetan primarily associated in this endeavour of cataloguing, systematizing and inally compiling the Tibetan Buddhist canon of Kagyur (the teachings of the Buddha) and the Tengyur (commentaries on the teachings) was Buton (1290- 1364). Snellgrove and Richardson consider this achievement as the ‘apotheosis’ of Tibetan scholarship and an enduring legacy of the collective and tireless efforts of Tibetan scholars down the ages. This absorption of Buddhism into the spiritual and cultural life of Tibet enabled the Tibetan people to consistently produce a large number of Buddhist masters and scholars whose teachings and writings have enriched Tibetan civilization. This enabled the Tibetans to establish monasteries that became centres of learning, and which dominated the spiritual and intellectual life of Tibet and beyond. Out of the Tibetans’ complete devotion to Buddhism and their single-minded pursuit of the Buddhist teachings emerged two important features that were to shape the character of Tibetan civilization. One was the emergence of the monasteries and the monastic education system. These monasteries not only dominated Tibetan intellectual and spiritual life but they were soon to become a political force to be reckoned with, either collectively or individually. The monastic system served as magnets for the best minds of Tibet, who consistently produced a vast amount of scholarly and spiritual work that built upon the Buddhist spiritual heritage. The other was putting into practice the Buddhist concept of reincarnation, when the Karma Kagyu School started the tradition of reincarnating lamas. Soon the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism adopted this practice and reincarnated lamas proliferated in Tibet and spread beyond. This had two important effects. Installing a 7.

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A Hackathon for Classical Tibetan
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