Tricycle is an independent Buddhist quarterly magazine. Click here for a special offer. Click here for our free newsletter. Coaxed north by a hefty sum of gold, legendary Indian guru Atisha trekked to the rugged Tibetan highlands in 1042. The Buddhism that had been introduced to Tibet centuries earlier was corrupt, rife with misinterpretations, and mixed with the popular, shamanistic Bon religion.
Later writings describe a land in chaos.
An empire that had rivaled China's just two centuries earlier was now broken and divided. Worse, some people had taken sacred metaphors far too literally. Atisha to the rescue. Other Buddhist teachers followed in his wake, many fleeing Muslim persecution in India. The religious orders founded by Atisha and those who followed him were sponsored by noble families, who gained credibility through the association.