Identification and Criticism: Tibetan Religion from the Perspective of Christian Culture from the 16th to 18th Century

From the 16th to the 18th century, Western European missionaries continued to enter Tibet to preach, which was the beginning of direct contact between the West and Tibet in China. While missionaries brought Christianity to Tibet, they also planted seeds for the fierce collision between Christian culture and Tibetan Buddhist culture. While recognizing some similarities between Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity, the missionaries could not avoid the heterogeneity of Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity. Therefore, they inevitably had to conflict with the local traditional religious forces, and almost without exception showed their cultural superiority as "God electors". The works of the missionaries in this period provided rare historical materials for westerners to understand Tibet, but behind these narratives, there was an image of a writer who was close to and distant from Tibet.