Climate, environment and the fortunes of Buddhism during the Tibetan Empire 618-842 CE

Abstract The official adoption of Buddhism by the Tibetan state in the mid-8th Century (761-762 CE) was relatively late compared to its permeation from northern India to elsewhere in south and east Asia, due to the country’s geographical isolation. Whilst reasons for its adoption remain uncertain, it is thought that the religion provided a strong unifying influence permitting both the consolidation and subsequent expansion of the Tibetan Empire. Early historical records suggest that the religion was prohibited in 739-741 CE and 841-842 CE, the latter coinciding with the fall of the Tibetan Empire. This research presents an examination of Tibetan and Chinese historical records and fine-resolution palaeoclimatic reconstructions to demonstrate that the ‘oscillating fate’ of Buddhism during the Tibetan Empire (618-842 CE), was inextricably linked to regional climate change and to a series of natural disasters. Extreme meteorological events have significant present-day impacts on the geographically vulnerable Tibetan Plateau, and we propose that long-term climatic deterioration between mid-770s to the late 830s CE was likely to have been the most significant factor underpinning environmental deterioration and the eventual collapse of the rural economy, which undermined the Buddhist state in the 9th century CE and lead to the prohibition of the religion in both Tibet, and by the neighbouring Tang Dynasty.