Where is dalai lama now
Dalai Lama
Tulku lineage of Gelug Tibetan Buddhism
For other uses, see Dalailama.
For the current 14th Dalai Lama, see 14th Dalai Lama.
Dalai Lama (, ;[1][2]Tibetan: ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ་, Wylie: Tā la'i bla ma[táːlɛːláma]) is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everying Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛)[3] given by Altan Khan, the first Shunyi King of Ming China.
He offered it in appreciation to the leader of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, Sonam Gyatso, who received it in at Yanghua Monastery.[4] At that time, Sonam Gyatso had just given teachings to the Khan, and so the title of Dalai Lama was also given to the entire tulku lineage. Sonam Gyatso became the 3rd Dalai Lama, while the first two tulkus in the lineage, the 1st Dalai Lama and the 2nd Dalai Lama, were posthumously awarded the title.
All tulkus in the lineage of the Dalai Lamas are considered manifestations of the Buddha Avalokiteshvara,[2][1] the bodhisattva of compassion.[5][6]
Since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century, the Dalai Lama has been a symbol of unification of the state of Tibet.[7] The Dalai Lama was an important figure of the Gelug tradition, which was dominant in Central Tibet, but his religious authority went beyond sectarian boundaries, representing Buddhist values and traditions not tied to a specific school.[8] The Dalai Lama's traditional function as an ecumenical figure has been taken up by the fourteenth Dalai Lama, who has worked to overcome sectarian and other divisions in the exile community and become a symbol of Tibetan nationhood for Tibetans in Tibet and in exile.[9] He is Tenzin Gyatso, who escaped from Lhasa in during the Tibetan diaspora and lives in exile in Dharamsala, India.
From and the 5th Dalai Lama until and the 14th Dalai Lama, the lineage was enjoined with the secular role of governing Tibet. During this period, the Dalai Lamas or their Kalons (or regents) led the Tibetan government in Lhasa, known as the Ganden Phodrang.
The Ganden Phodrang government officially functioned as a protectorate under Qing China rule and governed all of the Tibetan Plateau while respecting varying degrees of autonomy.[10][11] After the Qing dynasty collapsed in , the Republic of China (ROC) claimed succession over all former Qing territories, but struggled to establish authority in Tibet.
The 13th Dalai Lama declared that Tibet's relationship with China had ended with the Qing dynasty's fall and proclaimed independence, though this was not formally recognized under international law.[12] In , the 14th Dalai Lama revoked Tibet's Seventeen Point Agreement with China and initially supported the Tibetan independence movement, but since he has publicly agreed that Tibet is part of China and has not supported separatism.[13]
There is a concept in Tibetan history known as "mchod yon" (མཆོད་ཡོན), often translated as "priest and patron relationship".
It describes the historical alliance between Tibetan Buddhist leaders and secular rulers, such as the Mongols, Manchus, and Chinese authorities. In this relationship, the secular patron (yon bdag) provides political protection and support to the religious figure, who in turn offers spiritual guidance and legitimacy.
Dalai lama biography in english language In , the Central Tibetan Administration published guidelines for the constitution of a future, free Tibet. History of Tibet. By the end of the year, with Tibetan connivance they had captured Lhasa, killed Lhazang and all his family and deposed Yeshe Gyatso. Retrieved 29 JuneProponents of this theory argue that it allowed Tibet to maintain a degree of autonomy in religious and cultural matters while ensuring political stability and protection.[14]
But critics, including Sam van Schaik, contend that the theory oversimplifies the situation and often obscures the political dominance more powerful states exert over Tibet.
Historians such as Melvyn Goldstein have called Tibet a vassal state or tributary, subject to external control.[15] During the Yuan dynasty, Tibetan lamas held significant religious influence, but the Mongol Khans had ultimate political authority. Similarly, under the Qing Dynasty, which established control over Tibet in , the region enjoyed a degree of autonomy, but all diplomatic agreements recognized Qing China's sovereign right to negotiate and conclude treaties and trade agreements involving Tibet.
Since the 18th century, Chinese authorities have asserted the right to oversee the selection of Tibetan spiritual leaders, including the Dalai and Panchen Lamas.[16] This practice was formalized in through the "Article Ordinance for the More Effective Governing of Tibet".[17]
According to Tibetan Buddhist doctrine, the Dalai Lama chooses his reincarnation.
In recent times, the 14th Dalai Lama has opposed Chinese government involvement, emphasizing that his reincarnation should not be subject to external political influence. He has also said that he could reincarnate as a woman or choose not to reincarnate at all.[18][19]
Names
AD, Dalai Lama.
The title Dalai Lama is part of the full title "圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛" (Holiness Knowing Everying Vajradhara Dalai Lama) given by Altan Khan. "Dalai Lama" is a combination of the Mongolic word dalai ('ocean') and the Tibetan word བླ་མ་ (bla-ma) ('master, guru').[21][22] The word dalai corresponds to the Tibetan word gyatso[23] or rgya-mtsho,[24] and, according to Schwieger, was chosen by analogy with the Mongolian title Dalaiyin qan or Dalaiin khan.[citation needed] Others suggest it may have been chosen in reference to the breadth of the Dalai Lama's wisdom.[25] The Dalai Lama is also known in Tibetan as the Rgyal-ba Rin-po-che ('Precious Conqueror')[24] or simply as the Rgyal-ba.[26]:&#;23&#;
AD, Duǒ Er Zhǐ Chàng (朵儿只唱).
As requested by the third Shunyi King of Ming China, Chelike, Sonam Gyatso was given title Duǒ Er Zhǐ Chàng (朵儿只唱) by Wanli Emperor.[28][29]
History
Main article: History of Tibet
Origins in myth and legend
Since the 11th century, it has been widely believed in Central Asian Buddhist countries that Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, has a special relationship with the people of Tibet and intervenes in their fate by incarnating as benevolent rulers and teachers such as the Dalai Lamas.[30]The Book of Kadam,[31][32] the main text of the Kadampa school from which the 1st Dalai Lama hailed, is said to have laid the foundation for the Tibetans' later identification of the Dalai Lamas as incarnations of Avalokiteśvara.[33][34][35] It traces the legend of the bodhisattva's incarnations as early Tibetan kings and emperors such as Songtsen Gampo and later as Dromtönpa (–).[36] This lineage has been extrapolated by Tibetans up to and including the Dalai Lamas.[37]
Thus, according to such sources, an informal line of succession of the present Dalai Lamas as incarnations of Avalokiteśvara stretches back much further than the 1st Dalai Lama, Gendun Drub; as many as sixty persons are enumerated as earlier incarnations of Avalokiteśvara and predecessors in the same lineage leading up to Gendun Drub.
These earlier incarnations include a mythology of 36 Indian personalities, ten early Tibetan kings and emperors all said to be previous incarnations of Dromtönpa, and fourteen further Nepalese and Tibetan yogis and sages.[38] In fact, according to the "Birth to Exile" article on the 14th Dalai Lama's website, he is "the seventy-fourth in a lineage that can be traced back to a Brahmin boy who lived in the time of Buddha Shakyamuni."[39]
Avalokiteśvara's "Dalai Lama master plan"
According to the 14th Dalai Lama, long ago Avalokiteśvara had promised the Buddha to guide and defend the Tibetan people.
In the late Middle Ages, his master plan to fulfill this promise was the stage-by-stage establishment of the Dalai Lama institution in Tibet.[40]
First, Tsongkhapa established three great monasteries around Lhasa in the province of Ü before he died in [41] The 1st Dalai Lama soon became Abbot of the greatest one, Drepung, and developed a large popular power base in Ü.
He later extended this to cover Tsang,[42] where he constructed a fourth great monastery, Tashi Lhunpo, at Shigatse.[43] The 2nd studied there before returning to Lhasa,[40] where he became Abbot of Drepung.[44] Having reactivated the 1st's large popular followings in Tsang and Ü,[45] the 2nd then moved on to southern Tibet and gathered more followers there who helped him construct a new monastery, Chokorgyel.[46] He established the method by which later Dalai Lama incarnations would be discovered through visions at the "oracle lake", Lhamo Lhatso.[47]
The 3rd built on his predecessors' fame by becoming Abbot of the two great monasteries of Drepung and Sera.[47] The Mongol leader Altan Khan, first Ming Shunyi King, hearing of his reputation, invited the 3rd to Mongolia where the 3rd converted the King and his followers to Buddhism, covering a vast tract of central Asia.
This brought most of Mongolia into the Dalai Lama's sphere of influence, founding a spiritual empire which largely survives to the modern age.[48] After being given the Mongolian name 'Dalai',[49] he returned to Tibet to found the great monasteries of Lithang in Kham, eastern Tibet and Kumbum in Amdo, north-eastern Tibet.[50]
The 4th was then born in Mongolia as the great-grandson of Altan Khan, cementing strong ties between Central Asia, the Dalai Lamas, the Gelugpa and Tibet.[51] The 5th in the succession used the vast popular power base of devoted followers built up by his four predecessors.
By , with the strategy provided by his chagdzo (manager) Sonam Rapten and the military assistance of Khoshut chieftain Gushri Khan, the 'Great 5th' founded the Dalai Lamas' religious and political reign over Tibet that survived for over years.[52]
Establishment of the Dalai Lama lineage
Gendun Drup (–), a disciple of Je Tsongkapa,[53] would eventually be known as the 'First Dalai Lama', but he would not receive this title until years after he died.[54] There was resistance to naming him as such, since he was ordained a monk in the Kadampa tradition[46] and for various reasons,[further explanation needed] the Kadampa school had eschewed the adoption of the tulku system to which the older schools adhered.
Therefore, although Gendun Drup grew to be an important Gelugpa lama, there was no search to identify his incarnation after his death in [55]
Despite this, 55 years after Tsongkhapa, the Tashilhunpo monks heard accounts that an incarnation of Gendun Drup had appeared nearby and repeatedly announced himself from the age of two.[56] The monastic authorities saw compelling evidence that convinced them the child in question was indeed the incarnation of their founder and felt obliged to break with their own tradition, and in , the boy was renamed Gendun Gyatso and installed at Tashilhunpo as Gendun Drup's tulku, albeit informally.[57]
Gendun Gyatso died in , but the lineage of Dalai Lama tulkus became firmly established with the third incarnation, Sonam Gyatso (–), who was formally recognised and enthroned at Drepung in [58] Gendun Gyatso was given the title "Dalai Lama" by the Tümed Altan Khan in ,[59]:&#;&#; and his two predecessors were then accorded the title posthumously, making Gendun now the third in the lineage.[54]
1st Dalai Lama
Main article: 1st Dalai Lama
Pema Dorje (–), who would eventually be posthumously declared the 1st Dalai Lama, was born in a cattle pen in Shabtod, Tsang in [60][46] His family were goatherders, but when his father died in , his mother entrusted him to his uncle for education as a Buddhist monk.[61] Pema Dorje was sent to Narthang, a major Kadampa monastery near Shigatse, which ran the largest printing press in Tibet.[62] Its celebrated library attracted many scholars, so Pema Dorje received an education beyond the norm at the time as well as exposure to diverse spiritual schools and ideas.[63]
He studied Buddhist philosophy extensively.
In , ordained by Narthang's abbot, he took the name of Gendun Drup.[46] He was recognised as an exceptionally gifted pupil, so the abbot tutored him personally and took special interest in his progress.[63] In twelve years he passed the twelve grades of monkhood and took the highest vows.[60] After completing his intensive studies at Narthang he left to continue at specialist monasteries in Central Tibet.[64]
In , Gendun Drup met Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa school, and became his student.[65] After the death of Tsongkhapa's successor, the Panchen Lama Khedrup Je, Gendun Drup became the leader of the Gelugpa.[60] He rose to become Abbot of Drepung, the greatest Gelugpa monastery outside Lhasa.[44]
It was mainly due to Gendun Drup that Tsongkhapa's new school grew into an order capable of competing with others on an equal footing.[66] Taking advantage of good relations with the nobility and a lack of determined opposition from rival orders, he founded Tashilhunpo Monastery at Shigatse, on the very edge of Karma Kagyu-dominated territory,[66] and would serve as its Abbot until his death.[67] This monastery became the fourth great Gelugpa monastery in Tibet, after Ganden, Drepung, and Sera, all founded in Tsongkhapa's time,[41] and would later become the seat of the Panchen Lamas.[68] By establishing it at Shigatse in the middle of Tsang, Gendun Drup expanded the Gelugpa sphere of influence, and his own, from the Lhasa region of Ü to this province, which was the stronghold of the Karma Kagyu school and their patrons, the rising Tsangpa dynasty.[41][69] Tashilhunpo eventually become 'Southern Tibet's greatest monastic university'[70] with a complement of 3, monks.[46]
Gendun Drup was said to be the greatest scholar-saint ever produced by Narthang Monastery[70] and became 'the single most important lama in Tibet'.[71] Through hard work he became a leading lama, known as 'Perfecter of the Monkhood', 'with a host of disciples'.[68] Famed for his Buddhist scholarship, he was also referred to as Panchen Gendun Drup, 'Panchen' being an honorary title designating 'great scholar'.[46] By the great Jonangpa master Bodong Chokley Namgyal[72] he was accorded the honorary title Tamchey Khyenpa meaning "The Omniscient One", an appellation that was later assigned to all Dalai Lama incarnations.[73]
At the age of 50, he entered meditation retreat at Narthang.
As he grew older, Karma Kagyu adherents, finding their sect was losing too many recruits to the monkhood to burgeoning Gelugpa monasteries, tried to contain Gelug expansion by launching military expeditions against them.[74] This led to decades of military and political power struggles between Tsangpa dynasty forces and others across central Tibet.[75] In an attempt to ameliorate these clashes, Gendun Drup issued a poem of advice to his followers advising restraint from responding to violence with more violence and urged compassion and patience instead.
The poem, entitled Shar Gang Rima, "The Song of the Eastern Snow Mountains", became one of his most enduring popular literary works.[76]
Gendun Drup's spiritual accomplishments brought him substantial donations from devotees which he used to build and furnish new monasteries, as well as to print and distribute Buddhist texts and to maintain monks and meditators.[77] In , at the age of 84, he went on a final teaching tour by foot to visit Narthang Monastery.
Returning to Tashilhunpo[78] he died 'in a blaze of glory, recognised as having attained Buddhahood'.[68]
His remains were interred in a bejewelled silver stupa at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, which survived the Cultural Revolution and can still be seen.[55]
2nd Dalai Lama
Main article: 2nd Dalai Lama
After Gendun Drup died, a boy called Sangyey Pel, born to Nyngma adepts at Yolkar in Tsang,[46][79] declared himself at the age of three to be Gendun Drup and asked to be 'taken home' to Tashilhunpo.
Dalai lama biography in english for kids The new democratic constitution was named "The Charter of Tibetans in Exile". Due to his two periods of exile in — to escape the British invasion of , and from — to escape a Chinese invasion, he became well aware of the complexities of international politics and was the first Dalai Lama to become aware of the importance of foreign relations. Retrieved 17 May A Cambridge Alumni Database.He spoke in mystical verses, quoted classical texts spontaneously,[80] and claimed to be Dromtönpa, an earlier incarnation of the Dalai Lamas.[81] When he saw monks from Tashilhunpo, he greeted the disciples of the late Gendun Drup by name.[82] Convinced by the evidence, the Gelugpa elders broke with the traditions of their school and recognised him as Gendun Drup's tulku at the age of eight.[57]
His father took him on teachings and retreats, training him in all the family Nyingma lineages.[83] At twelve he was installed at Tashilhunpo as Gendun Drup's incarnation, ordained, enthroned, and renamed Gendun Gyatso Palzangpo (–).[57]
Tutored personally by the abbot, he made rapid progress, and in at the age of seventeen he was requested to teach all over Tsang, where thousands gathered to listen and give obeisance, including senior scholars and abbots.[84] Two years later, he met some opposition from the Tashilhunpo establishment when tensions arose over conflicts between advocates of the two types of succession: the traditional abbatial election through merit and incarnation.
He therefore moved to central Tibet, where he was invited to Drepung and where his reputation as a brilliant young teacher quickly grew.[85][86] This move had the effect of shifting central Gelug authority back to Lhasa.
He was afforded all the loyalty and devotion that Gendun Drup had earned and the Gelug school remained as united as ever.[41] Under his leadership, the sect continued growing in size and influence[87] and its lamas were asked to mediate in disputes between other rivals.[88] Gendun Gyatso's popularity in Ü-Tsang grew as he went on pilgrimage, teaching and studying from masters such as the adept Khedrup Norzang Gyatso in the Olklha mountains.[89] He also stayed in Kongpo and Dagpo[90] and became known all over Tibet.[47] He spent his winters in Lhasa, writing commentaries, and spent the rest of the year travelling and teaching many thousands of monks and laypeople.[91]
In , he moved to southern Tibet to build Chokorgyel Monastery near the 'Oracle Lake', Lhamo Latso,[47] completing it by [92] That year he saw visions in the lake and 'empowered' it to impart clues to help identify incarnate lamas.
All Dalai Lamas from the 3rd on were found with the help of such visions granted to regents.[47][93] He was invited back to Tashilhunpo and given the residence built for Gendun Drup, to be occupied later by the Panchen Lamas.[46] He was made abbot of Tashilhunpo[94] and stayed there teaching in Tsang for nine months.[95]
Gendun Gyatso continued to travel widely and teach while based at Tibet's largest monastery, Drepung and became known as 'Drepung Lama',[87] his fame and influence spreading all over Central Asia as the best students from hundreds of lesser monasteries in Asia were sent to Drepung for education.[92]
Throughout Gendun Gyatso's life, the Gelugpa were opposed and suppressed by older rivals, particularly the Karma Kagyu and their Ringpung clan patrons from Tsang, who felt threatened by their loss of influence.[96] In , the Ringpung army captured Lhasa and banned the Gelugpa annual New Year Monlam Prayer Festival.[96][97] Gendun Gyatso was promoted to abbot of Drepung in [92] and that year Ringpung forces were forced to withdraw from Lhasa.[96][98] Gendun Gyatso then went to the Gongma (King) Drakpa Jungne[99] to obtain permission for the festival to be held again.[97] The next New Year, the Gongma was so impressed by Gendun Gyatso's performance leading the festival that he sponsored construction of a large new residence for him at Drepung, 'a monastery within a monastery'.[97] It was called the Ganden Phodrang, a name later adopted by the Tibetan Government,[46] and it served as home for Dalai Lamas until the Fifth moved to the Potala Palace in
In , already abbot of Chokhorgyel, Drepung and Tashilhunpo, he was made abbot of Sera monastery as well, and worked to increase the number of monks there.
Based at Drepung in winter and Chokorgyel in summer, he spent his remaining years composing commentaries, making regional teaching tours, visiting Tashilhunpo, and acting as abbot of these four great monasteries.[] As abbot, he made Drepung the largest monastery in the whole of Tibet.[] He attracted many students and disciples 'from Kashmir to China' as well as major patrons and disciples such as Gongma Nangso Donyopa of Droda who built a monastery at Zhekar Dzong in his honour and invited him to name it and be its spiritual guide.[][]
Gongma Gyaltsen Palzangpo of Khyomorlungand and his Queen, Sangyey Paldzomma, became his favorite patrons and disciples and he visited their area to carry out rituals as 'he chose it for his next place of rebirth'.[] He died in meditation at Drepung in at the age of 67 and his reliquary stupa was constructed at Khyomorlung.[] It was said that, by the time he died, through his disciples and their students, his personal influence covered the whole of Buddhist Central Asia where 'there was nobody of any consequence who did not know of him.'[] The Dalai Lama title was posthumously granted to Gedun Gyatso after
3rd Dalai Lama
Main article: 3rd Dalai Lama
The Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso (–), was born in Tolung, near Lhasa,[] as predicted by his predecessor.[] Claiming he was Gendun Gyatso and readily recalling events from his previous life, he was recognised as the incarnation, named 'Sonam Gyatso' and installed at Drepung, where 'he quickly excelled his teachers in knowledge and wisdom and developed extraordinary powers'.[] Unlike his predecessors, he came from a noble family, connected with the Sakya and the Phagmo Drupa (Karma Kagyu affiliated) dynasties,[] and it is to him that the effective conversion of Mongolia to Buddhism is due.[68]
A brilliant scholar and teacher,[] he had the spiritual maturity to be made Abbot of Drepung,[] taking responsibility for the material and spiritual well-being of Tibet's largest monastery at the age of nine.
At 10 he led the Monlam Prayer Festival, giving daily discourses to the assembly of all Gelugpa monks.[] His influence grew so quickly that soon the monks at Sera Monastery also made him their Abbot[47] and his mediation was being sought to prevent fighting between political power factions.
At 16, in , he was invited to Nedong by King Ngawang Tashi Drakpa, a Karma Kagyu supporter, and became his personal teacher.[]
At 17, when fighting broke out in Lhasa between Gelug and Kagyu parties and efforts by local lamas to mediate failed, Sonam Gyatso negotiated a peaceful settlement. At 19, when the Kyichu River burst its banks and flooded Lhasa, he led his followers to rescue victims and repair the dykes.
He then instituted a custom whereby on the last day of Monlam, all the monks would work on strengthening the flood defences.[] Gradually, he was shaping himself into a national leader.[] His popularity and renown became such that in when the Nedong King died, it was Sonam Gyatso at the age of 21 who was requested to lead his funeral rites, rather than his own Kagyu lamas.[47]
Required to travel and teach without respite after taking full ordination in , he still maintained extensive meditation practices in the hours before dawn and again at the end of the day.[] In , at age 26, he went to Tashilhunpo to study the layout and administration of the monastery built by his predecessor Gendun Drup.
Invited to become the Abbot he declined, already being Abbot of Drepung and Sera, but left his deputy there in his stead.[] From there he visited Narthang, the first monastery of Gendun Drup and gave numerous discourses and offerings to the monks in gratitude.[]
Meanwhile, Altan Khan, chief of all the Mongol tribes near China's borders, had heard of Sonam Gyatso's spiritual prowess and repeatedly invited him to Mongolia.[] By , when Altan Khan received a title of Shunyi Wang (King) from the Ming dynasty of China[] and swore allegiance to Ming,[] Although he remained de facto quite independent,[59]:&#;&#; he had fulfilled his political destiny and a nephew advised him to seek spiritual salvation, saying that "in Tibet dwells Avalokiteshvara", referring to Sonam Gyatso, then 28 years old.[] China was also happy to help Altan Khan by providing necessary translations of holy scripture, and also lamas.[]
At the second invitation, in –78 Sonam Gyatso travelled 1, miles to Mongolia to see him.
They met in an atmosphere of intense reverence and devotion[] and their meeting resulted in the re-establishment of strong Tibet-Mongolia relations after a gap of years.[] To Altan Khan, Sonam Gyatso identified himself as the incarnation of Drogön Chögyal Phagpa, and Altan Khan as that of Kubilai Khan, thus placing the Khan as heir to the Chingizid lineage whilst securing his patronage.[] Altan Khan and his followers quickly adopted Buddhism as their state religion, replacing the prohibited traditional Shamanism.[]
Mongol law was reformed to accord with Tibetan Buddhist law.
From this time Buddhism spread rapidly across Mongolia[] and soon the Gelugpa had won the spiritual allegiance of most of the Mongolian tribes.[] As proposed by Sonam Gyatso, Altan Khan sponsored the building of Thegchen Chonkhor Monastery at the site of Sonam Gyatso's open-air teachings given to the whole Mongol population.
He also called Sonam Gyatso "Dalai", Mongolian for 'Gyatso' (Ocean).[] In October , as requested by the family of Altan Khan, Gyalwa Sonam Gyatso was promoted to Duǒ Er Zhǐ Chàng (Chinese:朵儿只唱) by the emperor of China, seal of authority and golden sheets were granted.[]
The name "Dalai Lama", by which the lineage later became known throughout the non-Tibetan world, was thus established and it was applied to the first two incarnations retrospectively.[54]
In , the Ming allowed the third Dalai Lama to pay regular tribute.[] Returning eventually to Tibet by a roundabout route and invited to stay and teach all along the way, in Sonam Gyatso was in Hohhot [or Ningxia], not far from Beijing, when the Chinese Emperor summoned him to his court.[][] By then he had established a religious empire of such proportions that it was unsurprising the Emperor wanted to summon him and grant him a diploma.[]
Through Altan Khan, the 3rd Dalai Lama requested to pay tribute to the Emperor of China in order to raise his State Tutor ranking, and the Ming imperial court of China agreed with the request.[] In , he heard Altan Khan had died and invited by his son Dhüring Khan he decided to return to Mongolia.
Passing through Amdo, he founded a second great monastery, Kumbum, at the birthplace of Tsongkhapa near Kokonor.[] Further on, he was asked to adjudicate on border disputes between Mongolia and China. It was the first time a Dalai Lama had exercised such political authority.[]
Arriving in Mongolia in , he stayed 2 years with Dhüring Khan, teaching Buddhism to his people[] and converting more Mongol princes and their tribes.
Dalai lama biography in english In , the Dalai Lama said he did not support Tibetan independence and hoped to visit China as a Nobel Prize winner. The curriculum, derived from the Nalanda tradition, consisted of five major and five minor subjects. XIV , 3, p His message is always one of peace and compassion for people all over the world.Receiving a second invitation from the Emperor in Beijing he accepted, but died en route in [] As he was dying, his Mongolian converts urged him not to leave them, as they needed his continuing religious leadership. He promised them he would be incarnated next in Mongolia, as a Mongolian.[]
4th Dalai Lama
Main article: 4th Dalai Lama
The Fourth Dalai Lama, Yonten Gyatso (–) was a Mongol, the great-grandson of Altan Khan[] who was a descendant of Kublai Khan and leader of the Tümed Mongols who had already been converted to Buddhism by the Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso (–).[44] This strong connection caused the Mongols to zealously support the Gelugpa sect in Tibet, strengthening their status and position but also arousing intensified opposition from the Gelugpa's rivals, particularly the Tsang Karma Kagyu in Shigatse and their Mongol patrons and the Bönpo in Kham and their allies.[44] Being the newest school, unlike the older schools the Gelugpa lacked an established network of Tibetan clan patronage and were thus more reliant on foreign patrons.[]
At the age of 10 with a large Mongol escort he travelled to Lhasa where he was enthroned.
He studied at Drepung and became its abbot but being a non-Tibetan he met with opposition from some Tibetans, especially the Karma Kagyu who felt their position was threatened by these emerging events; there were several attempts to remove him from power.[] Seal of authority was granted in by Wanli Emperor of Ming.[] Yonten Gyatso died at the age of 27 under suspicious circumstances and his chief attendant Sonam Rapten went on to discover the 5th Dalai Lama, became his chagdzo or manager and after he went on to be his regent, the Desi.[]
5th Dalai Lama
Main article: 5th Dalai Lama
Map showing the extent of the Khoshut Khanate, –, after the Unification of Tibet under the 5th Dalai Lama with Sonam Chöphel and Güshi Khan
'Greater Tibet' as claimed by exiled groups
The death of the Fourth Dalai Lama in led to open conflict breaking out between various parties.[] Firstly, the Tsangpa dynasty, rulers of Central Tibet from Shigatse, supporters of the Karmapa school and rivals to the Gelugpa, forbade the search for his incarnation.[] However, in Sonam Rabten, the former attendant of the 4th Dalai Lama who had become the Ganden Phodrang treasurer, secretly identified the child,[] who had been born to the noble Zahor family at Tagtse castle, south of Lhasa.
Then, the Panchen Lama, in Shigatse, negotiated the lifting of the ban, enabling the boy to be recognised as Lobsang Gyatso, the 5th Dalai Lama.[]
Also in , the Tsangpa King, Karma Puntsok Namgyal, whose Mongol patron was Choghtu Khong Tayiji of the Khalkha Mongols, attacked the Gelugpa in Lhasa to avenge an earlier snub and established two military bases there to control the monasteries and the city.
This caused Sonam Rabten who became the 5th Dalai Lama's changdzo or manager,[] to seek more active Mongol patronage and military assistance for the Gelugpa while the Fifth was still a boy.[] So, in , Mongol troops allied to the Gelugpa who had camped outside Lhasa suddenly attacked and destroyed the two Tsangpa camps and drove them out of Lhasa, enabling the Dalai Lama to be brought out of hiding and publicly enthroned there in []
In fact, throughout the 5th's minority, it was the influential and forceful Sonam Rabten who inspired the Dzungar Mongols to defend the Gelugpa by attacking their enemies.
These enemies included other Mongol tribes who supported the Tsangpas, the Tsangpa themselves and their Bönpo allies in Kham who had also opposed and persecuted Gelugpas. Ultimately, this strategy led to the destruction of the Tsangpa dynasty, the defeat of the Karmapas and their other allies and the Bönpos, by armed forces from the Lhasa valley aided by their Mongol allies, paving the way for Gelugpa political and religious hegemony in Central Tibet.[]
Apparently by general consensus, by virtue of his position as the Dalai Lama's changdzo (chief attendant, minister), after the Dalai Lama became absolute ruler of Tibet in Sonam Rabten became the "Desi" or "Viceroy", in fact, the de facto regent or day-to-day ruler of Tibet's governmental affairs.
During these years and for the rest of his life (he died in ), "there was little doubt that politically Sonam Chophel [Rabten] was more powerful than the Dalai Lama".[] As a young man, being 22 years his junior, the Dalai Lama addressed him reverentially as "Zhalngo", meaning "the Presence".[]
During the s Tibet was deeply entangled in rivalry, evolving power struggles and conflicts, not only between the Tibetan religious sects but also between the rising Manchus and the various rival Mongol and Oirat factions, who were also vying for supremacy amongst themselves and on behalf of the religious sects they patronised.[] For example, Ligdan Khan of the Chahars, a Mongol subgroup who supported the Tsang Karmapas, after retreating from advancing Manchu armies headed for Kokonor intending destroy the Gelug.
Dalai lama autobiography: His message is always one of peace and compassion for people all over the world. Since the 18th century, Chinese authorities have asserted the right to oversee the selection of Tibetan spiritual leaders, including the Dalai and Panchen Lamas. This entity would be in association with the People's Republic of China and the Chinese Government would continue to be responsible for Tibet's foreign policy and defence. A new Tibetan government was established consisting of a Kashag or cabinet of Tibetan ministers headed by Kangchenas.
He died on the way, in []
His vassal Choghtu Khong Tayiji, continued to advance against the Gelugpas, even having his own son Arslan killed after Arslan changed sides, submitted to the Dalai Lama and become a Gelugpa monk.[] By the mids, thanks again to the efforts of Sonam Rabten,[] the 5th Dalai Lama had found a powerful new patron in Güshi Khan of the Khoshut Mongols, a subgroup of the Dzungars, who had recently migrated to the Kokonor area from Dzungaria.[] He attacked Choghtu Khong Tayiji at Kokonor in and defeated and killed him, thus eliminating the Tsangpa and the Karmapa's main Mongol patron and protector.[]
Next, Donyo Dorje, the Bönpo king of Beri in Kham was found writing to the Tsangpa king in Shigatse to propose a co-ordinated 'pincer attack' on the Lhasa Gelugpa monasteries from east and west, seeking to utterly destroy them once and for all.[] The intercepted letter was sent to Güshi Khan who used it as a pretext to invade central Tibet in to attack them both, the Bönpo and the Tsangpa.
By he had defeated Donyo Dorje and his allies in Kham and then he marched on Shigatse where after laying siege to their strongholds he defeated Karma Tenkyong, broke the power of the Tsang Karma Kagyu in and ended the Tsangpa dynasty.[]
Güshi Khan's attack on the Tsangpa was made on the orders of Sonam Rapten while being publicly and robustly opposed by the Dalai Lama, who, as a matter of conscience, out of compassion and his vision of tolerance for other religious schools, refused to give permission for more warfare in his name after the defeat of the Beri king.[][] Sonam Rabten deviously went behind his master's back to encourage Güshi Khan, to facilitate his plans and to ensure the attacks took place;[] for this defiance of his master's wishes, Rabten was severely rebuked by the 5th Dalai Lama.[]
After Desi Sonam Rapten died in , the following year the 5th Dalai Lama appointed his younger brother Depa Norbu (aka Nangso Norbu) as his successor.[] However, after a few months, Norbu betrayed him and led a rebellion against the Ganden Phodrang Government.
With his accomplices he seized Samdruptse fort at Shigatse and tried to raise a rebel army from Tsang and Bhutan, but the Dalai Lama skilfully foiled his plans without any fighting taking place and Norbu had to flee.[] Four other Desis were appointed after Depa Norbu: Trinle Gyatso, Lozang Tutop, Lozang Jinpa and Sangye Gyatso.[]
Re-unification of Tibet
Having thus defeated all the Gelugpa's rivals and resolved all regional and sectarian conflicts Güshi Khan became the undisputed patron of a unified Tibet and acted as a "Protector of the Gelug",[] establishing the Khoshut Khanate which covered almost the entire Tibetan plateau, an area corresponding roughly to 'Greater Tibet' including Kham and Amdo, as claimed by exiled groups (see maps).
At an enthronement ceremony in Shigatse he conferred full sovereignty over Tibet on the Fifth Dalai Lama,[] unified for the first time since the collapse of the Tibetan Empire exactly eight centuries earlier.[][] Güshi Khan then retired to Kokonor with his armies[] and [according to Smith] ruled Amdo himself directly thus creating a precedent for the later separation of Amdo from the rest of Tibet.[]
In this way, Güshi Khan established the Fifth Dalai Lama as the highest spiritual and political authority in Tibet.
'The Great Fifth' became the temporal ruler of Tibet in and from then on the rule of the Dalai Lama lineage over some, all or most of Tibet lasted with few breaks for the next years, until , when the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India. In , the Great Fifth began the construction of the Potala Palace in Lhasa.[]
Güshi Khan died in and was succeeded by his descendants Dayan, Tenzin Dalai Khan and Tenzin Wangchuk Khan.
However, Güshi Khan's other eight sons had settled in Amdo but fought amongst themselves over territory so the Fifth Dalai Lama sent governors to rule them in and , thereby bringing Amdo and thus the whole of Greater Tibet under his personal rule and Gelugpa control. The Mongols in Amdo became absorbed and Tibetanised.[]
Visit to Beijing
In the Manchus proclaimed their dynasty as the Qing dynasty and by they had completed their conquest of China under the prince regentDorgon.[] The following year their forces approached Amdo on northern Tibet, causing the Oirat and Khoshut Mongols there to submit in and send tribute.
1st dalai lama biography In the summer they lived in the Norbulingka palace. New York, — He and his followers are exiled to India. Bell, Sir CharlesIn , after quelling a rebellion of Tibetans of Gansu-Xining, the Qing invited the Fifth Dalai Lama to visit their court at Beijing since they wished to engender Tibetan influence in their dealings with the Mongols. The Qing were aware the Dalai Lama had extraordinary influence with the Mongols and saw relations with the Dalai Lama as a means to facilitate submission of the Khalka Mongols, traditional patrons of the Karma Kagyu sect.[]
Similarly, since the Tibetan Gelugpa were keen to revive a priest-patron relationship with the dominant power in China and Inner Asia, the Qing invitation was accepted.
After five years of complex diplomatic negotiations about whether the emperor or his representatives should meet the Dalai Lama inside or outside the Great Wall, when the meeting would be astrologically favourable, how it would be conducted and so on, it eventually took place in Beijing in []
The Shunzhi Emperor was then 16 years old, having in the meantime ascended the throne in after the death of Dorgon.
For the Qing, although the Dalai Lama was not required to kowtow to the emperor, who rose from his throne and advanced 30 feet to meet him, the significance of the visit was that of nominal political submission by the Dalai Lama since Inner Asian heads of state did not travel to meet each other but sent envoys. For Tibetan Buddhist historians, however, it was interpreted as the start of an era of independent rule of the Dalai Lamas, and of Qing patronage alongside that of the Mongols.[]
When the 5th Dalai Lama returned, he was granted by the emperor of China a golden seal of authority and golden sheets with texts written in Manchu, Tibetan and Han Chinese languages.[][] The 5th Dalai Lama wanted to use the golden seal of authority right away.[] However, Lobzang Gyatsho noted that "The Tibetan version of the inscription of the seal was translated by a Mongol translator but was not a good translation".
After correction, it read: "The one who resides in the Western peaceful and virtuous paradise is unalterable Vajradhara, Ocean Lama, unifier of the doctrines of the Buddha for all beings under the sky". The words of the diploma ran: "Proclamation, to let all the people of the western hemisphere know".[] Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain points out that based on the texts written on golden sheets, Dalai Lama was only a subordinate of the Emperor of China.[]
However, despite such patronising attempts by Chinese officials and historians to symbolically show for the record that they held political influence over Tibet, the Tibetans themselves did not accept any such symbols imposed on them by the Chinese with this kind of motive.
For example, concerning the above-mentioned 'golden seal', the Fifth Dalai Lama comments in Dukula, his autobiography, on leaving China after this courtesy visit to the emperor in , that "the emperor made his men bring a golden seal for me that had three vertical lines in three parallel scripts: Chinese, Mongol and Tibetan".
He also criticised the words carved on this gift as being faultily translated into Tibetan, writing that "The Tibetan version of the inscription of the seal was translated by a Mongol translator but was not a good translation".[] Furthermore, when he arrived back in Tibet, he discarded the emperor's famous golden seal and made a new one for important state usage, writing in his autobiography: "Leaving out the Chinese characters that were on the seal given by the emperor, a new seal was carved for stamping documents that dealt with territorial issues.
The first imprint of the seal was offered with prayers to the image of Lokeshvara ".[]
Relations with the Qing dynasty
The 17th-century struggles for domination between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the various Mongol groups spilled over to involve Tibet because of the Fifth Dalai Lama's strong influence over the Mongols as a result of their general adoption of Tibetan Buddhism and their consequent deep loyalty to the Dalai Lama as their guru.
Until , the Fifth Dalai Lama had mediated in Dzungar Mongol affairs whenever they required him to do so, and the Kangxi Emperor, who had succeeded the Shunzhi Emperor in , would accept and confirm his decisions automatically.[]