5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang | |||||||
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 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lozang Gyatso | |||||||
| Title | His Holiness the 5th Dalai Lama | ||||||
| Personal life | |||||||
| Born | 1617 | ||||||
| Died | 1682 (aged 64–65) | ||||||
| Parents |
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| Religious life | |||||||
| Religion | Tibetan Buddhism | ||||||
| Senior posting | |||||||
| Period in office | 1642–1682 | ||||||
| Predecessor | 4th Dalai Lama, Yonten Gyatso | ||||||
| Successor | 6th Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso | ||||||
| Tibetan name | |||||||
| Tibetan | ངག་དབང་བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ | ||||||
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The5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (Tibetan:ངག་དབང་བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་,Wylie:Ngag-dbang blo-bzang rgya-mtsho;Tibetan pronunciation:[ŋɑ̀wɑ̀ŋlɔ́psɑ̀ŋcɑ̀t͡só]; 1617–1682) was recognized as the 5thDalai Lama, and he became the first Dalai Lama to hold bothTibet's political and spiritual leadership roles.
He is often referred to simply asthe Great Fifth, being the key religious and temporal leader ofTibetan Buddhism and Tibet. He is credited with unifying all of Tibet under theGanden Phodrang, afterGushri Khan's successful military interventions.
As an independent head of state, he established priest and patron relations with bothMongolia and theQing dynasty simultaneously,[1] and had positive relations with other neighboring countries.
He began the custom of meeting earlyEuropean explorers.
The 5th Dalai Lama built thePotala Palace, and also wrote 24 volumes' worth of scholarly and religious works on a wide range of subjects.
To understand the context within which the Dalai Lama institution came to hold temporal power in Tibet during the lifetime of the 5th, it may be helpful to review not just the early life of Lobsang Gyatso but also the world into which he was born, as Künga Migyur.
The child who would become His Holiness the 5th Dalai Lama was born in the Chonggye Valley inÜ, south of theYarlung Tsangpo River[2] and about two days' journey south-east of Lhasa,[3] to a prominent family ofnobles with traditional ties to bothNyingma andKagyu lineages.[4]
The aristocratic Zahor family into which he was born had held their seat since the 14th century atTaktsé Castle, south of Lhasa[5] – a legendary stronghold of Tibetan kings in the days of the early empire, beforeSongtsen Gampo (604–650 CE) had moved his capital from there toLhasa.[6]
His Holiness the 5th Dalai Lama's father was called Dudul Rabten, the local ruler of the Chonggye valley,[7] also known as Hor Dudül Dorjé.[8] His mother was called Tricham,[9] Kunga Lhadze[10] or Kunga Lhanzi.[5]
His father had friendly relations with the Drugpa Kagyu and his mother had connections with the Jonangpa Kagyu through her family at Nakartse Dzong.[10]
Thus, after his birth on the 22nd day of the 9th month of the Fire-snake year (late 1617),[11]Taranatha, the most remarkable scholar and exponent of theJonang school (a.k.a. Tagten Tulku, a.k.a. Kunga Nyingpo),[12] named the child "Kün-ga Migyur Tobgyal Wanggi Gyalpo."[13] His family called him "Künga Migyur."
The child's father, Dudul Rabten, was arrested in 1618 for his involvement in a plot to overthrowKarma Phuntsok Namgyal, leader of theTsang hegemony. Karma Phuntsok's grandfatherZhingshak Tseten Dorje (also known as Karma Tseten) had originally been appointed Governor ofTsang by theRinpung[14]Prime MinisterNgawang Namgyel in 1548.
Tseten Dorje had rebelled against the heirs ofNgawang Namgyel starting in 1557, eventually overthrowing the Rinpung and establishing theTsang hegemony in 1565 by declaring himselfKing of Tsang.[15] Tseten Dorje established his residence atSamdruptse castle, also calledShigatse, near theGelug monastery ofTashilhunpo, and together with his nine sons, eventually extended the reach of his power over both of Tibet's central provinces of Ü and Tsang.[16]
The secular government of King Tseten Dorje and his descendants enjoyed general support from theSakya,Jonang, andKagyu schools, while maintaining somewhat tense but cordial relations with hisGelug neighbours atTashilhunpo.
ThenAltan Khan, King of the Tumed Mongols, invitedDrepung Monastery's abbotSonam Gyatso to Mongolia. In 1577–78 Sonam Gyatso accepted, went there and converted him and his subjects to Buddhism, receiving the Mongolian name "Dalai" in the process by which action his lineage became known as the "Dalai Lamas" and he became the3rd Dalai Lama.
His two predecessors became known as the 1st and 2nd Dalai Lamas posthumously.
The Samdruptse government saw this development as a politico-religious alliance between theGelugpa and a foreign power.
WhenSonam Gyatso died, the Gelugpa recognised a Mongolian prince as his incarnation and so a Mongolian4th Dalai Lama, Yonten Gyatso (1589–1617), was installed as the abbot of Drepung. This increased Mongolian involvement with the Gelugpa even further and enabled more Mongolian intervention in Tibetan affairs.
As a result, King Tseten Dorje's suspicions about Gelugpa ambitions rose and when in 1616 the4th Dalai Lama died young, at the age of 28, in an attempt to defeat the identification process, the King prohibited the Gelugpa monks from searching for his incarnation.[16]
Dudul Rabten's arrest occurred at roughly the same time that his infant son had been recognized, in secret, bylamas of theGelug order as the reincarnation of the4th Dalai Lama, whileTashilhunpo's abbotLobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen used diplomacy to persuade King Karma Phuntsok Namgyal to lift the ban he'd put in place on seeking out the 5th Dalai Lama. Dudul Rabten escaped his captors and tried to reach eastern Tibet, but was rearrested. Dudul Rabten died in captivity in 1626 atSamdruptse – Karma Phuntsok Namgyal's castle also known asShigatse – and thus, he never lived to see his son again.
The young 5th Dalai Lama's family were ordered by Karma Phuntsok Namgyal to live at court inSamdruptse, but his mother,Kunga Lhanzi,[5] fearing retribution from the king, returned with her son to her family's home,Narkatse castle, inYardrog.[16]
The infant Künga Migyur's name had been drawn, by lot, from among the names of three children considered likely candidates in a series ofdivination rituals including a doughball divination[17][18] which was held in secret (on account of King Dorje's prohibition against seeking the 4th Dalai Lama's reincarnation) atRadeng monastery.[16] The former4th Dalai Lama's chief attendant,Sonam Choephel (1595–1658),[19] is credited with having discovered the incarnation.[5]
While the Karma, Drugpa and Jonangpa Kagyu orders, (beside theGelug group fromDrepung monastery) had all independently sought to claim Künga Migyur as a reincarnation of one or another of their ownlamas who'd also died in 1616,[10] young Künga Migyur's parents reportedly resisted their demands.[16]
Lobsang Gyatso was the name which Künga Migyur received fromLobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen upon taking novice monastic ordination from him atDrepung.[20]
In 1638, when he took full ordination at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Ngawang was added to his name, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso.[21][22] At this time, his interest in the Nyingmapa teachings began to deepen and his devotion to the Nyingma master Zur Choying Rangdrol became somewhat conspicuous.[21]
Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen (1570–1662),the Panchen Lama and the first to be accorded this title during his lifetime, was the tutor and a close ally of the 5th Dalai Lama,[23] who, according toThubten Jigme Norbu andHugh E. Richardson, declared or pronounced the Panchen to be 'an incarnation ofDhayani Buddha Amitābha'[24][25] – although other sources all appear to indicate that he was considered as such from the start.
After the 5th Dalai Lama returned from China, on a teaching tour ofTsang, he visited his senior tutor and close friend the elderly Panchen Lama atTashilhunpo to receive lineage transmissions which he still lacked and at this point, he requested the Panchen to acceptTashilhunpo Monastery, built by the1st Dalai Lama, as his multi-lifetime seat for future incarnations.[26] Since then, every incarnation of the Panchen Lama has been the master of Tashilhunpo Monastery[24] and it is there that they have all received their education and their mummified bodies were enshrined.[26]
WhenPanchen Gyaltsen died in 1662 at 93, the 5th Dalai Lama immediately commenced the tradition of searching for his next incarnation. He composed a special prayer asking his master "to return" and directed the monks of Tibet's great monasteries to recite it.[16] He also reserved the traditional title ofPanchen (short forPandita chen po "Great Scholar") – which had previously been a courtesy title for all exceptionally learned lamas – exclusively for the Panchen Lama and his successors (and, for those who consider him the 4th Panchen, for his three predecessors, as well).[27] He had also predicted that Gyaltsen would continue to be reincarnated in the future as the "Panchen Lama."[28]
The two had a teacher/disciple relationship going back to the1st Dalai Lama Gendun Drup and his teacherKhedrup Je, considered by some in retrospect as the1st Panchen Lama. From the time of His Holiness the 5th Dalai Lama, the two offices were known asYab Sey Gonpo or "Father/Son Protectors" characterising their spiritual provenance as emanations ofAmitābha andAvalokitesvara, as well as their interchangeable guru/disciple relationship. This continued, lifetime after lifetime well into the 20th century with whichever was elder becoming the teacher of the younger, giving both monastic ordination and passing on tantric lineage transmissions.[23]
Although the 5th Dalai Lama, Lobsang Gyatso, completed all his formal monastic training as aGelugpa, proving to be an exceptional scholar, he also studiedNyingmapa doctrines, and took Nyingmatantric empowerments.[29] The great Geluk scholar Sumpa Khenpo acknowledged that Lobsang Gyatso took a special interest in Nyingma tantric doctrines.[30]
In fact, His Holiness the Fifth Dalai Lama stated in his autobiography that rather than the Panchen Lama or any other Geluk masters, the great Nyingma lama Zur Choying Rangdrol ‘the omniscient’ (kun mkhyen zur chos dbyings rang grol, 1604–1657) was his 'root guru', 'spiritual master' and his 'root master'.[31]
His Holiness the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso's rule over central Tibet may be characterized, in very broad terms:
Although the Fifth Dalai Lama would ultimately come to be known for unifying Tibet, it was his first regentSonam Choephel (1595-1657 CE, also known as Sonam Rabten, treasurer ofGanden) who was, in fact, "the prime architect of theGelug's rise to power".[16] The 5th Dalai Lama would eventually assume complete power – including that of appointing his regents.[34]
Sonam Choephel, the regent during the 5th Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso's youth, requested the aid ofGüshi Khan, a powerfulDzungar military leader in carrying out a military strategy in the Dalai Lama's name, though apparently with neither Lobsang Gyatso's prior knowledge nor consent.[16]
Güshi Khan (who was head of theKhoshut tribe[5]) conqueredKham in 1640 bringing theSakyas and the lords of Kham andAmdo under their control. His victory overKarma Tenkyong, the prince ofTsang inShigatse, in 1642, completed the military conquest of the country and the establishment of theKhoshut Khanate. By this feat thePhagmodrupa dynasty, which was associated with a variant of theKagyu school, was technically replaced; in fact it had been powerless for many years. By subsequently formally recognizing the Fifth Dalai Lama's authority in 1642,Güshi Khan effectively made Gyatso the temporal ruler of all Tibet.[16][35][36]
Güshi Khan maintained friendly and respectful relations with Lobsang Gyatso, but died in 1655, leaving ten sons. Eight of them (along with their tribes) settled in the strategically importantKoko Nur region ofAmdo, where they frequently fought over territory. The 5th Dalai Lama sent several governors to the region between 1656 and 1659 to restore order. AlthoughGüshi Khan's descendants (who would come to be known as theUpper Mongols) showed little interest in the administration ofTibet, they did appoint a regent for a while to act on their behalf inLhasa, and gradually assimilated certain aspects of Tibetan culture into their own. They would also come to play a crucial rôle in extending the influence of theGelug school withinAmdo.[16]
The 5th Dalai Lama tutoredGaldan Boshugtu Khan who later became leader of theDzungar Khanate and granted him the titles ofHongtaiji and Boshoghtu (or Boshughtu) Khan. The Dalai Lama also sanctioned Galdan Boshugtu Khan's invasion of the last remaining remnants of theChagatai Khanate in theDzungar conquest of Altishahr afterAfaq Khoja requested help from the Dalai Lama over the power struggle between the Afaqi and IshaqiKhojas.
In 1679, the 5th Dalai Lama overruled the advice of his Prime Minister and launched an expedition resulting in theTibet–Ladakh–Mughal War that did not conclude until two years after his death with the 1684Treaty of Tingmosgang.[37]: 349 : 351
In a move distinctly evocative ofSongtsen Gampo,[6] Lobsang Gyatso once again proclaimedLhasa to be the capital of Tibet. Assembling his government there, he "appointed governors to the districts, chose ministers for his government, and promulgated a set of laws". The young Dalai Lama also transformed his regent into a prime minister – or, as the Tibetans call him, theDesi.[16] Administrative authority was vested in the person of theDesi, while military power remained the special domain ofGüshi Khan,[38] whom the 5th Dalai Lama acknowledged as king of theDzungarUpper Mongols inKokonor.[16]
The Fifth Dalai Lama began construction of thePotala Palace in 1645[39] after one of his spiritual advisors,Konchog Chophel (d. 1646), pointed out that the site would be an ideal seat of government, situated as it is betweenDrepung andSera monasteries, and overlookingSongtsen Gampo's old capital city of Lhasa.[16] The 5th Dalai Lama and his government moved into thePotrang Karpo – the White Palace – in 1649.[16]
The initial phase of construction continued until 1694,[40] some twelve years after the 5th Dalai Lama's death, which was kept secret from the general public for that length of time.[41] ThePotrang Marpo – or Red Palace – was added between 1690 and 1694.[40]
The Fifth Dalai Lama formally institutionalized the Tibetan state oracle ofNechung.[42] Lobsang Gyatso establishedNechung Monastery as the seat ofTibet's state oracle by institutingGyalpo Pehar as the protector of Tibet's newly consolidatedGanden Phodrang government.Nechung – which, translated literally, means "small place" – was a shrine dedicated toPehar, located about ten minutes east on foot fromDrepung monastery near Tibet's newly declared capital city ofLhasa.
The rôle of the three-headed, six-armedPehar asprotector ofTibet can be traced back to at least the 8th century, when Pehar was oath-bound byPadmasambhava to act as chief among Tibet's protector's, withDorje Drakden named his chief emissary. The 5th Dalai Lama also composed ageneration stage practice and invocation of the protector entitled simplyDra-Yang-Ma (Melodic Chant), which was incorporated into the ritual cycles ofNechung Monastery, where it continues to be practiced, up to the present day.[43]
Nechung's role in warding off one interfering spirit in particular is quite extensively detailed in the 5th Dalai Lama's autobiography.[citation needed] Some contemporary scholars and the current14th Dalai Lama would appear to agree: Lobsang Gyatso specifically states that agyalpo (Tibetan:རྒྱལ་པོ་,Wylie:rgyal-po: a particular type of "very powerful, perfidious spirit") in the area ofDol Chumig Karmo[44] had "...been harming the teaching of the Buddha and sentient beings in general and in particular" since at least the fire-bird year of 1657 (CE).[45] The version of events which the 5th Dalai Lama relates is substantially corroborated by the account laid out in 1749 (CE) byGelug historianSumpa Khenpo (Tibetan:སུམ་པ་མཁན་པོ་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔལ་འབྱོར་,Wylie:sum-pa mKhan-po ye-shes dpal-‘byor 1702–1788 CE).[46] At any rate: confronted with the death of both people and cattle combined with harsh, unpredictable weather in an atmosphere of political intrigue and diplomatic insecurity, Gyatso undertook a specific course of action which might be considered somewhat unconventional, even for a religiously affiliated head of state.
At the end of the earth-bird year of 1669 (CE), a special crypt was constructed, and offerings placed within it in hopes that it might serve as a home in which the disturbed spirit ofDrakpa Gyaltsen – an iconoclastictulku and rival scholar who had died under mysterious circumstances at a time of considerable political turmoil – might finally settle.[44][46] Reportedly, though, the evil spirit's harmful activities only intensified, manifesting (in part) as atmospheric disturbances including hailstorms, but also causing both people and cattle to fall prey to disease.[44] The deaths of some monks were attributed to the spirit as well – which was named "Dolgyal" by combininggyalpo with theghost's place of residence.[45] It was only later that Dolgyal would come to be identified withDorje Shugden (Tibetan:རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས་ལྡན་,Wylie:rDo-rje Shugs-ldan) through conflation with a much olderSakyaprotector of the same name[47] associated with the remoteNepali village ofTsap.[44][48]
Modest but extensive offerings to monks of wheat and tea along with small amounts of gold reportedly resulted insutra recitations numbering in the tens of thousands. Combined with the performance of many far more complex tantric rituals, the coordinated efforts reached eleven separate district capitals, and spread through no fewer than seventy monasteries includingDorje Drag,Sera, andDrepung. The entire cycle was concluded with an elaboratefire puja offering in which the "perfidious spirit" was ritually burnt by seven different groups of practitioners, led by
theDalai Lamas' personal monastery (already known asNamgyal by that time). Thus invoking all ofTibet'sdharma protectors – includingNechung – the 5th Dalai Lama charged them to "not support, protect, or give ... shelter" toDrakpa Gyaltsen in a formalpromulgation[50] which the current14th Dalai Lama characterizes as "quite strongly worded".[51]
Recalling the events of that time later, the 5th Dalai Lama wrote that "...indirectly these creatures..." –Tibetan:འབྱུང་པོ་,Wylie:‘byung-po means, roughly, "creature" or "evil spirit" – "...were delivered to the peaceful state of being, released from having to experience the intolerable suffering of bad states of rebirth due to their increasingly negative actions."[44] But the unification of Tibet having occurred at least in part on account ofscapegoating the departed spirit of a controversial but popular rivallama was not to be without eventual historic consequence.
The growth of the 19th-century nonsectarianRime movement served in part to expose and exacerbate political tensions within theGelug hierarchy as it had come to organize itself in the centuries following the 5th Dalai Lama's death.[52] Some of his acts were subsequently misconstrued by certain conservative factions within theGelug order as an "elevation" by Lobsang Gyatso of the dangerously volatile Dolgyal (by now, quite thoroughly conflated with the originalSakyaprotector named Shugden)[53] to the status ofDharmapala – in other words: a particularly forcefulemanation of a blissfully awakenedBuddha'senlightened activity and therefore basically an enlightened being, himself.[52]
The13th Dalai Lama therefore sought to clarify his view about Dorje Shugden's status in his letter toPabongkhapa Déchen Nyingpo, in which he identified Dorje Shugden as a "wrathful worldly spirit", the propitiation of which "contradicts the precepts of taking refuge". In reply, Phabongka (who is better remembered for his teachings onthe graded stages of the path and reputation of conferringKalachakra empowerments to large crowds of laypeople regardless of his having enthusiastically propitiated Shugden) acknowledged his "error". In the same letter, Phabongka said "...I have propitiated Shugden until now because my old mother told me that Shugden is the deity of my maternal lineage", thereby acknowledging Shugden practice's provincial and even familial (as well asSakya) origins.[54]
The current14th Dalai Lama, for his part, continues to maintain it was the Fifth's intent to appease the interfering spirit of theGyalpo class fromDol Chumig Karmo – hence his insistence on using the name "Dolgyal" to disambiguate a practice he disrecommends from one of a protector of theSakya school to which he's tied through prior incarnations.[56]
Due largely to the determined cunning of his first regentSonam Chöphel and the military support of his Mongolian disciple Güsri Khan, in 1642 the 25-year-old 5th Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso inherited military and political control of a nation that had been torn by over a century of power struggles and civil war characterized by factionalism and sectarian allegiances.[16] The general form of government he instituted would remain largely in place until Tibet's military occupation by thePeople's Republic of China in the 1950s. Nevertheless, Lobsang Gyatso's rule over Tibet included various incidents which, 350 years later, certain keen observers – namely, the heirs of those Kagyupa followers whose patrons lost power during unification or during the quelling of their subsequent rebellions – still consider to have been the abuse of government power.
In 1648, Tibetans loyal to theGelug school reportedly joined Mongol forces in coercing monks of certainKagyu andBön institutions to embrace specifically Gelug doctrines.[34][57] Modern Tibetans still differentiate betweenBön andBuddhism in common parlance, calling members of theNyingma,Sakya,Kagyu andGelug schoolsnangpa[58] (meaning "insider"), while referring to practitioners of Bön asbönpo.[59]
TheJonangpa order belongs to theKagyupa group of schools, the 7th one to emerge.[60] According toSnellgrove andRichardson, it was a difference in philosophy that caused a bitter schism to arise with the Gelugpa,[61] howeverSamten Karmay maintains that the 5th Dalai Lama's negative attitude towards the Jonangpa was determined by political rather than philosophical or religious considerations.[16] He records elsewhere that the Fifth Dalai Lama's personal biographer and Sanskrit teacher the renowned Jonang scholar Jamyang Wangyal Dorje Mondrowa was a master of the Jonang tradition and belonged to a well-known Jonang family from Lato in Tsang with whom the Dalai Lama had good relations.[62] In any case, it was during Lobsang Gyatso's rule after the civil wars and rebellions of 1640-1643 thatJonangpa institutions, teachings and followers were banished and moved out of central Tibet to be re-established inAmdo for allying with the Tsangpa and fighting against the Ganden Phodrang.[16] In 1650 the Jonangpa printing presses were officially sealed and teaching of theirzhentong philosophical views was forbidden within central Tibet, indicating that the basis of the schism was more philosophical in nature. Then in 1658 the mainJonang monastery Takten Damchö Ling inLhatse – which had been the monastic seat of the great Jonangpa exponentTaranatha (1575–1634) – was converted to aGelug institution and renamed Phuntsok Choling.[63]
The Fifth Dalai Lama's Regent orDesi,Sonam Rapten was, in fact, a fanatical Gelugpa supremacist as well as a shrewd and canny political operator with an eye for the main chance. Being 22 years the Dalai Lama's senior he dominated him as he raised him from the age of 5.[64] In his autobiographyThe Dukula the lama repeatedly remarks how he had to defer to the Desi, or had to do as he said, and even as an adult he rarely got his way if he disagreed with Sonam Rapten's wishes.[65]
That the infamous sectarian policies implemented in the decade after the 1642 civil war were the work of the Desi can be inferred from the decree that the Fifth Dalai Lama issued to him and his administration just as he departed to Beijing in the summer of 1652 to see the Emperor, leaving the Desi behind in Tibet. The issuance of such a decree, at the age of 35, indicates his growing maturity and his firm intention to start imposing his will over that of his Regent concerning such important policies which the Dalai Lama disapproved of. He presents this decree as his instructions to his regent in the form of a testament to be implemented while he was absent in China, and, perhaps, in case he did not return from the long and perilous journey for any reason. InThe Dukula, he explains how, before departing, he handed to Sonam Rapten "for his memory, with explanations, a scroll of the following list concerning what was to be done (in my absence)".[66] He then specifies what (amongst other things) this decree placed a ban on, and he thus ordered the reversal of specified sectarian policies being implemented, evidently without his approval, by the Desi's government:
"Around this time, the adepts of the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma schools were not allowed to wear hats in their own way, and it was intended that their religious affinities would gradually be converted to the Gelug. Many of our major and minor figures had given their approval for this and even made pleas (for this policy). If this was going to serve the interests of our [Gelugpa] school, it would most likely be good to have a unified school. However, to have a unified school would be beneficial neither to our own school nor to the others. In the long run it would come to: 'Whatever one does, the results of that action will ripen'. Therefore this was a gross policy that needed to be renounced, because there was little purpose in it: no conversion of the schools should be undertaken and no hat style to be changed; the bad example of the big schools preventing the small ones from recruiting new monks was to be discouraged."[67]
In 1674, the 5th Dalai Lama met with 10thKarmapa (i.e., the specifictulku, or incarnatelama who heads theKarma Kagyu school)Chöying Dorje (1604–1674) at thePotala. This mutual gesture of "reconciliation" was reportedly "welcomed by both parties after the many conflicts and misunderstandings between 1612 and 1642".[16]
When the 5th Dalai Lama issued the edict to appointSangye Gyatso as his Desi in 1679, in the same edict he also recognised the Yungdrung Bön as Tibet's native religion and describes it as being the "holder of secret mantras ".[68]
There are some fairly subtle philosophical differences between theJonang andGelug schools' respectivezhentong andrangtong views on voidness.[69] After moving toAmdo the school's distinct transmission lineages of bothzhentong philosophy and DroKalachakracompletion stage practices could be preserved and survived intact to this day.[70] In late 2001, the current14th Dalai Lama reportedly composed an "Aspiration Prayer for the Flourishing of the Jonang Teachings" entitled inTibetan:ཇོ་ནང་པའི་བསྟན་རྒྱས་སྨོན་ལམ་,Wylie:Jo-nang pa'i bStan rGyas sMon-lam (which might be called quite strongly worded).[71]
The 5th Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso established a centralizeddual system of government under the Gyalwa Rinpoche (i.e., the institution of theDalai Lama) which was divided equally between laymen and monks (bothGelugpa andNyingmapa). This form of government, with few changes, survived up to modern times. He also revitalized theLhasaMönlam, the capital city's New Year Festival,[29] which had originally been created by the reformerJe Tsongkhapa in 1409 (CE).[72]
It was under Gyatso's rule that the "rule of religion" was finally firmly established "even to the layman, to the nomad, or to the farmer in his fields". This was not the supremacy of theGelug school overBön, or over the other Buddhist schools, but "the dedication of an entire nation to a religious principle".[73]
The 5th Dalai Lama's official visit, as an independent head of state, to Beijing in 1653 should be understood in the context of the prior relationship which existed between China and Tibet.
Earlier invitations to visit theManchu court inBeijing had been turned down by both3rd Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso and4th Dalai Lama Yonten Gyatso.[74] Analyzing the Ming emperors' repeated invitations of Tibetanlamas from various schools, contemporary Buddhist scholarAlexander Berzin says that "requests by the Ming emperors for Tibetan lamas to visit China and the freedom the lamas exercised in responding to these requests, characterize the Sino Tibetan relationship at this time as one of mutual independence."[75]
Fifth Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso established diplomatic relations with the second emperor of theQing dynasty, accepting theShunzhi Emperor's 1649 invitation. The Shunzhi Emperor invited him to Beijing instead of Mongolia, following the advice of his Han advisors over the suggestion by his Manchu advisors.[76] The 5th Dalai Lama set out fromLhasa in 1652 accompanied by 3,000 men. The journey toBeijing took nine months. Lobsang Gyatso and his entourage spent two months in the yellow palace which had been especially constructed by the emperor in order to house him.
The Shunzhi Emperor, who was only 14 years old (13 by Western reckoning) at the time, first met the Dalai Lama in January 1653, honouring him with two grand imperial receptions.[16] Some historians claim that the emperor treated the Dalai Lama as an equal[77] while others dispute this claim.[78] The emperor gave Gyatso a parting gift of an elaborate goldseal reading "Dalai Lama, Overseer of the Buddhist Faith on Earth Under the Great Benevolent Self-subsisting Buddha of the Western Paradise".[75] However the Fifth Dalai Lama did not accept it. He wrote that after he left Beijing on his way back to Tibet, "the emperor made his men bring a golden seal for me" but "The Tibetan version of the inscription of the seal was translated by a Mongolian 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 Tibetan 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 ...".[79]
The event is described inSamten Karmay's account as follows:
"Just a few days before his departure for Tibet, a gold seal with a gold plaque engraved with a decree were hastily sent to him from Peking. The imperial functionaries had not dared present the seal in front of the Emperor to the Dalai Lama while he was officially visiting Peking as head of state of a foreign country. Since the seal was offered to the Dalai Lama with no particular form of protocol, he attached little importance to it. He simply remarks in his autobiography that the Tibetan translation of the title engraved on the seal was very poor. The seal, however, is currently exploited by the Chinese authorities for propaganda purposes to justify their policy towards Tibet."[80]
The White Dagoba atBeihai Park was constructed to honour his visit.
The first documented Europeans to arrive in Tibet may have been the PortugueseJesuit missionaries,António de Andrade andManuel Marques who did so in either July or August 1624, when the 5th Dalai Lama would have been about seven or eight years old.
While the first twoJesuit mission churches to be established in Tibet followed in direct result of Andrade and Marques' 1624 visit, neither would remain to see the 1642 enthronement of 5th Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso atSamdruptse castle inShigatse[16] as the temporal ruler of Tibet.
Andrade and Marques were reportedly welcomed warmly by the King and Queen ofGuge, becoming the first documented Europeans to enter Tibet. Staying in Tibet for only a month, Andrade and Marques would return toAgra,India by November 1624 to organize a mission trip for the following year. In 1625, with the full support of the King and Queen of Guge, Andrade and Marques established a permanent mission atTsaparang, in theGaruda Valley of western Tibet'sNgari region.[81]
On Andrade's advice, a second Jesuit mission was dispatched to southern Tibet from India in 1627. The Portuguese missionariesJoão Cabral andEstêvão Cacella were reportedly welcomed atShigatse by the King ofÜ-Tsang, and Cabral and Cacella established their mission there in 1628.[82] Cabral and Cacella provided the first information to reach the West about the mystical country ofShambhala (which they transcribed as "Xembala") in their reports back to India.[83]
Both of the Portuguese missions were evacuated in 1635 after becoming embroiled in the power struggles for control of Tibet at that time.[84] It would be twenty-five years before the next documented Europeans visited Tibet.
The first Europeans to meet a Dalai Lama were probably the two Jesuits,Johannes Grueber of Austria andAlbert Dorville (D’Orville). In 1661, Grueber and D'Orville travelled throughLhasa on their way fromBeijing toAgra,India on an Imperial Passport.[85] It is this expedition from which another jesuit priestAthanasius Kircher's 1667 engraving inChina Illustrata (purported to depict 5th Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso) is derived, based on expedition journals and charts left to him by Grueber.[86][87]
The death of the Fifth Dalai Lama in 1682 at the age of 65 was kept hidden until 1696 byDesi Sangye Gyatso, his Prime Minister, and, according to persistent rumours, his son, whom he had appointed in 1679.[29] This was done so that the Potala Palace could be finished and to prevent Tibet's neighbors taking advantage of an interregnum in the succession of the Dalai Lamas.[88] Desi Sangay Gyatso also served as regent until the assumption of power by theSixth Dalai Lama.
In 17th-century Tibet, after centuries of bitter rivalry the Gelug superseded the older sects as the country's pre-eminent religious-political power.[89] Bitterness and controversial accusations from heirs of older sects, who lost power and prestige, still persist today.[90][91]
Elliot Sperling notes that the "standard image" of the Dalai Lamas as "Nobel Peace Prize laureate[s]" is a contemporary perception, referring to the 5th Dalai Lama's involvement in military action to establish and maintain the worldly power of the Dalai Lamas.[92][note 1]
Lobsang Gyatso was a prolific writer and respected scholar, who wrote in a free style which allowed him to frankly – and sometimes, ironically – express his own deepest feelings and independent interpretations.[16] His canonical works total 24 volumes, in all.[45]
Lobsang Gyatso left an autobiography – entitled inTibetan:ཟ་ཧོར་གྱི་བན་དེ་ངག་དབང་བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོའི་འདི་སྣང་འཁྲུལ་བའི་རོལ་རྩེད་རྟོགས་བརྗོད་ཀྱི་ཚུལ་དུ་བཀོད་པ་དུ་ཀུ་ལའི་གོས་བཟང་,Wylie:Za hor gyi ban de ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho'i 'di snang 'khrul ba'i rol rtsed rtogs brjod kyi tshul du bkod pa du ku la'i gos bzang[49] – but far more commonly referred to simply asDukulai Gosang – in which, according toSamten Gyaltsen Karmay, he wrote:
The official Tsawa Kachu of the Ganden Palace showed me statues and rosaries (that belonged to the Fourth Dalai Lama and other lamas), but I was unable to distinguish between them! When he left the room I heard him tell the people outside that I had successfully passed the tests. Later, when he became my tutor, he would often admonish me and say: "You must work hard, since you were unable to recognize the objects!"[16][95]
Despite what he wrote above himself later in life, three different English-language histories attest that he was subjected to an earlier object-recognition test, in 1619, whenSonam Rapten, the Chandzeu, went to his family home at Chonggye in great secrecy (since the king had banned the search for the Trulku) to confirm information he had received about the boy. He took with him a number of the late Yonten Gyatsho's personal belongings (specifically, the Fourth Dalai Lama's personal samta boards, vajra, bell and porcelain bowls all mixed with identical items belonging to others) to submit the less-than two year old candidate to a private recognition test, presumably in front of his family, which the boy passed without any difficulty. It is supposed that everyone present was sworn to secrecy, and that the Dalai Lama did not refer to this test in his autobiography because it occurred when he was not more than two years old and he would have forgotten about it.[96][97][98]
This autobiography has been a rich source of information for research on this period of Tibetan history by scholars and writers. ‘Dukula’ affords a detailed and objective account of daily events in the author's life which permits the reader to envision a panoramic view of Lhasan and Tibetan society through most of the 17th century. By 1681 Lobsang Gyatso personally wrote three volumes and his last Regent DesiSangye Gyatso added another two after his master's death in 1682. These 5 volumes "represent the most important – in both size and content – document of Tibetan autobiographical literature in existence, since they include the memories of two of the greatest statesmen of Tibet".[99]
He also wrote in his autobiography that "When I finished theOral teachings of Manjushri [in 1658], I had to leave the ranks of the Gelug. Today [in 1674], having completed theOral teachings of the Knowledge-holders, I will probably have to withdraw from the Nyingma ranks as well!"[16][100]
TheThukdrup Yang Nying Kundü[101] or "Union of All Innermost Essences" (Tibetan:ཐུགས་སྒྲུབ་ཡང་སྙིང་ཀུན་འདུས་,Wylie:thugs sgrub yang snying kun 'dus)sadhana ofPadmasambhava's Eight Manifestations[102] comes from a "pure vision"[103] (Tibetan:དག་སྣང་,Wylie:dag snang)terma of the 5th Dalai Lama. It is contained in hisSangwa Gyachen[104] (Tibetan:གསང་བ་རྒྱ་ཅན་,Wylie:gsang ba rgya can). (Both thesadhana and its related empowerment texts were arranged byJamyang Khyentse Wangpo.)
The 5th Dalai Lama "enthusiastically" wrotea detailed history of Tibet at the request ofGüshi Khan in 1643.[16]
With Tibet conceived as a demoness lying on her back and locations for the temples carefully selected according to the rules of Chinese acupuncture applied to the body of the demoness, Songtsen-gampo hoped to neutralize any opposition to his rule from local malevolent spirits. Of the thirteen Buddhist temples, the major one was constructed eighty miles from the imperial capital, at the site that later became known as "Lhasa" (Lha-sa, The Place of the Gods). At the time, it was called "Rasa" (Ra-sa, The Place of the Goats). Western scholars speculate that the Emperor was persuaded to avoid building the temple at the capital so as not to offend the traditional gods.
Dragpa-gyeltsen died in 1432, and the ensuing conflict between his nephews for control of Sakya signaled, in 1434, the beginning of the collapse of the Pagmodru hegemony. This year marked the end of the peaceful period in Central Tibet that had started during the reign ofJangchub-gyeltsen. It was followed by a century-long power struggle between thePagmodru faction, backed by the Gelugpas, in U Province and theRinpung faction, backed by the Karma Kagyupas, in Tsang Province. Under the Pagmodru Prime Minister Dragpa-gyeltsen, Namka-gyeltsen (Nam-mkha' rgyal-mtshan) had administered the Rinpung and Sakya districts in the Tsang Province of Central Tibet. As was customary, he took the family name Rinpung (Rin-spungs). In 1435, the Rinpung family conquered Shigatse (gZhis-ka-rtse), also in Tsang Province, under the leadership of Dondrub-dorjey (Don-grub rdo-rje). Eventually, much of Tsang allied with the Rinpung family.
The Tumed Mongols ruled in the Ordos region of what later became 'Inner Mongolia.' They gradually extended their domain into northeastern Amdo, since the local Tibetan overlords were involved in squabbles among themselves. Meanwhile, in Central Tibet, the Rinpung rulers continued in power in Tsang. In 1548, the Rinpung Prime MinisterNgawang Namgyel appointed Tseten Dorje as Governor of Tsang at Shigatse. Starting in 1557, Tseten Dorje rebelled against the Rinpung authorities, overthrowing them and declaring himself King of Tsang in 1565. Gradually, he took over most of Tsang and eventually U as well. Thus began theTsang hegemony.
Doughball Divination: This method is practised mainly in the monasteries or by individual lamas when an important decisions needs to be made, such as in the search for the reincarnation of very high lamas. A number of possible answers to the enquiry, such as the names of likely candidates for a reincarnation, are written on slips of paper. These are then encased in equal sized balls of dough. Great care is taken to weigh the dough balls to ensure that they are exactly the same size. The doughballs are then placed in a bowl, which is carefully sealed and placed in front of a sacred object, such as the Jowo statue in the main temple in Lhasa, images of Dharma protectors or the funerary monuments of great lamas, requesting their inspiration in deciding the outcome. For a period of three days monks remain in the temple reciting prayers day and night. During that time no one is allowed to touch the bowl. On the fourth day, before all those present the cover of the bowl is removed. A prominent lama rolls the doughballs round in the bowl before the sacred object until one of them falls out. That is the ball containing the answer.
Protect the Dharma in general, and in particular the Sakyapas. I praise you, who have agreed to be the Srungma of the Sakyapas.
The regional connection with Southern Tibet and the sectarian link with the Sa‐gya tradition are further confirmed by Stanley Mumford's anthropological description of the propitiation of Shuk‐den in the Himalayan region. In his study of the religious life in the remote village of Tsap in Nepal, Mumford describes the practice of Shuk‐den as a Sa‐gya practice well established among the Tibetans of the region. In a small text used for this practice Shuk‐den is presented as a worldly protector in charge of bestowing wealth, food, life and good fortune, of protecting the dharma, preventing its destruction, and of repelling the external and internal enemies of the ten regions. Finally, Shuk‐den is invoked as a special protector of the Sa‐gya tradition: 'Protect the dharma in general, and in particular the Sakyapas. I praise you, who have agreed to be the Srungma of the Sakyapas'.
The so-called Drakpa Gyaltsen pretends to be a sublime being, even though he is not, \ And since this interfering spirit and creature of distorted prayers Is harming everything – both the dharma and sentient beings – \ Do not support, protect or give him shelter, but grind him to dust. \ Having agreed before the root and lineage lama Vajra Dharas \ To increase what is good and beneficial to sentient beings and the dharma, \ If you protect this perfidious spirit, \ Will you not cause your own past pledges to degenerate? \ There are groups of interfering spirits who display inopportune miracles In the form of human sickness, cattle disease, hailstorms, famine and drought. May their power and ability \ Their body, speech and mind be smashed into tiny particles.
In the year 1650, the 5th Dalai Lama sealed and banned the study of zhentong, prohibiting the printing of Jonang zhentong texts throughout Tibet although Samten Karmay says the Dalai lama did not issue any edict formally banning the Jonang school from Central Tibet. Then in 1658, the 5th Dalai Lama forcibly converted Jonang Takten Damcho Ling (Phuntsok Choling) Monastery into a Geluk Monastery — officially initiating the demise of the Jonangpa in U-Tsang. Although the sphere of Geluk political and military influence reached to the borders of Central Tibet, it did not penetrate the far northeastern domain of Amdo, Tibet. Here, in the remote valleys and vast countrysides of the Dzamthang, Golok and Ngawa regions, the Jonangpa took refuge and made their home.
I've been asked today to speak a little bit about the two views of voidness, rangtong (rang-stong) and zhentong (gzhan-stong) in Tibetan – that's self-voidness and other-voidness. Self-voidness is short for voidness of a self-establishing nature. Whereas other-voidness is short for voidness of other tainted factors, let's call them, which is referring primarily to other levels of mind.
Since the Tibetan yogi Kunpang Thukje Tsondru (1243–1313) synthesized 17 transmission lines of the Kalachakra in the mid-13th century, the Jonang tradition has specialized in this unique tantra, its philosophical and cosmological thought, and the ritual life associated with the tantra. According to tradition, in a simultaneous and parallel continuum from the historical Buddha and then on through Maitreyanatha and his disciples is the Great Madhyamaka (dbu ma chen po) meditative tradition and system of sutra zhentong ("shentong," gzhan stong). Synthesizing sutra and tantra, the Jonang luminary Kunkhyen Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292–1361) brought these seemingly disparate systems of Indian Buddhist thought together, intersecting the Kalachakra transmission lineages with the Zhentong Great Madhyamaka. Interpreting sutras by means of tantras and vice versa, Dolpopa's interfusion of the technical tantric vocabulary found within the Kalachakra Tantra with the philosophical language and thinking of Great Madhyamaka consequently redefined the contemplative, intellectual, and literary heritage of the Jonang.
The timelessly ultimate residing, stable, enduring \ Enlightened essence is the indivisible ground and fruition. \ This is the way elucidated in the Essence Sutras and the meaning beheld by Nagarjuna. \ May the teachings of the Jonang flourish! \\ Your Middle Way zhentong view of the sutras \ And your practice of the Six Yogas which unfolds the meaning of the tantras \ Are great traditions of explanation that activate the actual dimension of reality. \ May the teachings of the Jonang flourish! \\ Through the great blessings of the sources of refuge, the victor and the victor's children, \ Through the power of the unalterable ultimate nature of reality, \ Through the force of divine virtue, and through our devotion, \ May this aspiration prayer be fulfilled accordingly!
Then in the year 1409, at the age of 52, he started the Monlam Great Prayer Festival (sMon-lam chen-mo) in Lhasa at the Jokang. All the monks from all the different monasteries and traditions come together for a great session of prayers, and practice, and—bringing everybody together. Very important.
The Ming policy that evolved was to grant titles and lavish gifts to any leading lamas who would accept an invitation to China, regardless of their school affiliation. According to Turrell Wylie ('Lama Tribute in the Ming Dynasty' in Tibetan Studies in Honour of Hugh Richardson), this policy was intended to fragment the Tibetan lamas by rewarding all of them and discouraging any special lama-patron relationship. The aim was to woo the Tibetans away from forming any further alliance with the Mongols.
Tukdrup Yang Nying Kundü (Wyl. thugs sgrub yang snying kun 'dus) 'The Union of All the Innermost Essences' – Sadhana of Guru Rinpoche and his eight manifestations from the Sangwa Gyachen cycle of pure visions of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama. The sadhana and empowerment texts were arranged by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.
The Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche .... are the eight principal forms assumed by Guru Rinpoche at different points in his life .... The Eight Manifestations of Padmasambhava do not depict different Padmasambhavas, but reflect his ability to appear according to different needs and demands. In fact, they are called in TibetanGuru Tsen Gyé, the eight 'names' of the Guru; each manifestation demonstrates a different principle that unveils the innermost nature of mind. As Guru Rinpoche said: "Mind itself is Padmasambhava; there is no practice or meditation apart from that."
Pure vision or visionary revelations .... are teachings received by masters directly from deities or gurus, in experiences or in dreams. More specifically, in the Nyingma tradition, pure vision teachings are one of the three main transmissions (Wyl. babs so), as well as one of the seven authoritative transmissions (Tib. བཀའ་བབས་བདུན་, Wyl. bka' babs bdun) received by Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and Chokgyur Dechen Lingpa.
Sangwa Gyachen .... 'Bearing the Seal of Secrecy' – visionary teachings of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, composed of twenty-five sections dealing with distinct visions, including theTukdrup Yang Nying Kundü.
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