Creator's Description: Si tu chos kyi 'byung gnas's (1699/1700-1774) history of the Karma bka' brgyud pa is a vital source for the history of his subsect and for Tibetan history from the beginnings of the subsect up through the late eighteenth century. His historical writing is particularly significant, for in delineating the place of the Karma bka' brgyud pa in the Inner Asian world, he described a significant aspect of the relations that powerful rulers beyond Tibet's borders entertained with important Tibetan Buddhist teachers and leaders. These relations were rooted in perceptions of power, political and esoteric. However, with the triumph of the Dge lugs pa sect its scholars created an historical tradition that let that story pass unmentioned. Si tu, writing in a time of turbulence and Dge lugs pa ascendancy, stood against this politically inspired historical amnesia and helped preserve a crucial element of our understanding of Tibet's past. (2013-07-01)