Ed. 1699, II.
290.) A Successor Of This Hermit Was Found On The Same Spot By P. Desideri
In 1713, And Another By Vigne In 1837.
NOTE 3.
- Though the earliest entrance of Buddhism into Tibet was from
India Proper, yet Kashmir twice in the history of Tibetan Buddhism played
a most important part. It was in Kashmir that was gathered, under the
patronage of the great King Kanishka, soon after our era, the Fourth
Buddhistic Council, which marks the point of separation between Northern
and Southern Buddhism. Numerous missionaries went forth from Kashmir to
spread the doctrine in Tibet and in Central Asia. Many of the Pandits who
laboured at the translation of the sacred books into Tibetan were
Kashmiris, and it was even in Kashmir that several of the translations
were made. But these were not the only circumstances that made Kashmir a
holy land to the Northern Buddhists. In the end of the 9th century the
religion was extirpated in Tibet by the Julian of the Lamas, the great
persecutor Langdarma, and when it was restored, a century later, it was
from Kashmir in particular that fresh missionaries were procured to
reinstruct the people in the forgotten Law. (See Koeppen, II. 12-13, 78;
J. As. ser. VI. tom. vi. 540.)
"The spread of Buddhism to Kashmir is an event of extraordinary importance
in the history of that religion. Thenceforward that country became a
mistress in the Buddhist Doctrine and the headquarters of a particular
school.... The influence of Kashmir was very marked, especially in the
spread of Buddhism beyond India.
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