No other religion apart from Buddhism has been able to take root in tbiet. Only a small population of about 2,000 throughout Tibet have faith in Islam, while there is no trace of Christiantit at all. The Bon, the aborigine religion of tibet, a sect of Shamanism which chiefly worshipped idols and the Nature and practiced driving off of evil spirits, had at one time prevailed in tbiet but lost round with the penetration of Buddhism.
Thus, Buddhism can as well be said to be the sole reliion of tibet, and the faith has taken so deep in root that it means almost everything to the Tibetans as already metioned. Well-to-do families even built in their compound their private chapels of prayer-rooms. to begin with, the first Buddhist scripture printed in Sanskrit was said to have een descended from Heaven in the 5th century during the reign of 28th Tsanpo Tho-Tho-Ri Nyantsan. It was translated into tibet, and later in the 8th century after the visit the Indian
Master Padmasambhava, the spread of Buddhism got acelerated and religious sect started taking shape. In the 11th century the visit of the Bengali Master, Atisha, to Tibet greatly encouraged the study of Buddhism into Tibet and sowed the seed for Gelugpa, the greatest sect that was to come.
Finally, in the 15th century, Tsongkapa, the great reformer of tibetan Buddhism, came to tibet from Qinghai and founded the Gelugopa sect, the Order of Exvellence, and hereafter Buddhism went all-out spreading like a wild fire into Tibet and the absolute ruler both of the clurch and thestate is another decisive victory for Buddhism to rise to its paramountcy as the religion of the entire Tibetan nationality.
