Testament of Ba

The so-called Testament of Ba (Tib. dba ' bzhed or sba bzhed ) is Salnang Ba ( sba ' gSal snang / dba ' gSal snang ), a Buddhist monk from the middle and late 8th century, attributed.

It is one of the oldest chronicles of Tibet from the time of the Tibetan kings, about events in Tibet in the 8th century in the time of King Thrisong Detsen, founder of the 779 consecrated Samye Monastery ( bSam yas ) - the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet - and the famous debate of Samye reported. It reports on the relationship between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty and the relations between the Tibetan and Indian Buddhism.

From an original version is Pasang Wangdu and Hildegard Diem Berger, believed that they had been written in the 9th century; which exist today often revised versions went back to the 12th and 14th centuries. The style of the text am suggesting that it belongs to a transitional phase between the archaic dynastic Tibetan as meet in the Dunhuang materials, and the early classical / canonical Tibetan.