… does the garuda alight from the sky on the treetop with his wings grown instantaneously to maturity, or once he has been born in a crag or elsewhere, must his wings mature gradually?

An early account of the legendary debate that forever oriented Tibetan Buddhism South towards India—and away from China.

Important Note! Please also read pages 17–22 of David Jackson’s summary of the controversy this article stirred up, published eight years later in the same journal. Did you notice the original paper’s key methodological flaw?