from Tibet, the legend says that he left
behind him twenty-five disciples, all of them magicians, who
propagated his teaching. At any rate it flourished in the reign of
Ralpachan (the grandson of Khri-sron-lde-btsan). Monasteries
multiplied and received land and the right to collect tithes. To each
monk was assigned a small revenue derived from five tenants and the
hierarchy was reorganized.[923] Many translators were at work in this
period and a considerable part of the present canon was then rendered
into Tibetan. The king's devotion to Buddhism was however unpopular
and he was murdered[924] apparently at the instigation of his brother
and successor Lang-dar-ma,[925] who endeavoured to extirpate Lamaism.
Monasteries were destroyed, books burnt, Indian monks were driven out
of the country and many Lamas were compelled to become hunters or
butchers. But the persecution only lasted three years,[926] for the
wicked king was assassinated by a Lama who has since been canonized by
the Church and the incident of his murder or punishment is still acted
in the mystery plays performed at Himis and other monasteries.

After the death of Lang-dar-ma Tibet ceased to exist as a united
kingdom and was divided among clans and chieftains. This was
doubtless connected with the collapse of Tibetan power in the Tarim
basin, but whether as effect or cause it is hard to say. The
persecution may have had a political motive: Lang-dar-ma may have
thought that the rise of monastic corporations, and their right to own
land and levy taxes were a menace to unity and military efficiency.
But the political confusion which followed on his death was not due to
the triumphant restoration of Lamaism. Its recovery was slow. The
interval during which Buddhism almost disappeared is estimated by
native authorities as from 73 to 108 years, and its subsequent revival
is treated as a separate period called phyi-dar or later diffusion in
contrast to the sna-dar or earlier diffusion. The silence of
ecclesiastical history during the tenth century confirms the gravity
of the catastrophe.[927] On the other hand the numerous translations
made in the ninth century were not lost and this indicates that there
were monasteries to preserve them, for instance Samye.

At the beginning of the eleventh century we hear of foreign monks
arriving from various countries. The chronicles[928] say that the chief
workers in the new diffusion were La-chen, Lo-chen, the royal Lama Y