A Note On Pronunciation	xv
A Brief Chronology of Tibean Buddhism	xvii
1. Introduction: Death, Literacy, and Tibet's Buddhist Elite
The Uncertain Fate of the Dead	3
Literacy and Learning ia Dark Age	10
Part I: CONVERSION AND NARRATIVE
2.  The Chinese Mother of Tibet's Dharma-King: The Testament of Ba and the Beginnings of Tibetan Buddhist Historiography	23
History's Mirrorwork	23
China's Nephew	26
Solomon on the Silk Road	28
The Religious Transformation of History	30
History and Identity	32
3. The Mark of Vermillion: Rebirth and Resurecction in an Early Medieval Tale	38
The Mark of Vermillion	38
Cosmology, Karma, and Conversion	42
From Rebirth to Resurrection	46
4. Plague, Power, And Reason: The Royal Conversion to Buddhism Reconsidered	51
The Puzzle of Tibetan Conversion	51
The Power of Plague	53
The Charisma of Reason	54
Buddhism and Legislation	56
Imperial Cosmopolitanism	58
Converting the Conversion	65
Part II: SOURCES OF CONTESTATION
5. From Korea to Tibet; Action at a Distance in the Early Medieval World System	69
An Island in the Eastern Sea	70
The Tamer of Tigers	71
Chan Traces in Later Traditions	75
The Vicissitudes of the Great Chinese Commentary	78
Korea, Tibet, and the Early Medieval World System	82
6. What Is "Tibetan Scholasticism"? Three Ways of Thought	85
Sakya Pandita's Reasons	89
Karma Pakshi's Doubts	97
Dolpopa on the Age of Perfection	106
Contestation and Self-representation	119
7. The Purificatory Gem and Its Cleansing: A Late Polemical Discussion of Apocryphal Texts	121
Our Notions of Buddhist Canon and Apocrypha	121
Realism, Idealism, and Scriptual Authenticity	123
The Purificatory Gem and Itrs Cleansing: Historical Background	126
The Texts and Why They Were Written	128
The Question of Spiritual Treasures	131
PART III: MYTH, MEMORY, REVELATION
8.  The Imaginal Persistence of the Empire	141
The Truth of Myth	141
The Most Compassionate King	144
The Advent of The Lotus Guru	155
Hierarchy and Universality	160