This selection is drawn from Guiseppe Tucci’s massive Tibetan Painted Scrolls (1948), probably the first Western effort at constructing a survey of the age of monastic hegemony (thirteenth to eighteenth centuries) in Central Tibetan history based on an extensive reading of a broad range of sources. His overarching narrative of Central Tibetan political history has essentially gone unchallenged since the publication of Tibetan Painted Scrolls; all subsequent scholarship has worked within this framework without upsetting it. Besides creating a coherent list of regimes—the monastic hegemons—that dominated Central Tibet in this period, what is probably most important about Tucci’s account is that it presents a picture of Central Tibet as divided, even if dominated by one ruling family (in Tsang during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries). Rather than a strong centralized state, we see a Central Tibet composed of many different states, something like the Holy Roman Empire in the same period. Central Tibet was plagued by guerrilla warfare and civil war, and many different alliances and strongholds vied for domination or simply tried to survive. The aggression of the Tsang governors and their Rinpung allies was turned against the old ruling family (the Pakmogru) and the newest religious order (the Gelukpa). Given the weakness of the Pakmogru and the lack of strong leadership, the Gelukpa order served as a focal point for resistance to Tsangpa rule. The successful military campaigns of the Tsang governors drove the leader of the Gelukpa, Sönam Gyatso, east from Trashilhünpo to Lhasa to Amdo, Mongolia, and the frontiers of China. He was soon honored with the title “Dalai Lama” and gained strong support for his cause among the Mongols. Whether or not it was his original intention, Sönam Gyatso’s long missionary trip (lasting from 1578 until his death in 1588) through Amdo, Kham, and Inner Mongolia laid the foundations for a powerful Gelukpa influence on all these regions for centuries. Among the principal tools of this missionizing was the establishment of Gelukpa monasteries, as well as the incarnation lineages (Mong. Khutugtu) that sprang up wherever the monasteries were founded. Tucci’s occasional use of terms such as “Lamaism,” “the Lamaistic pantheon’s supreme deities,” “demonology,” and “exorcisms” to describe Tibetan Buddhism and related practices are signs of his times, before the end of colonialism in Europe and its attendant demeaning of non-Christian religions.
In the year 1565 Karma Tseten, waging war with his son Pema Karpo as his associate, conquered Samdruptsé, a feud of Neudong[tsé], once assigned to Chonggyé, and later to the princes of Rinpung, who held it by force. Samdruptsé, corresponding to present-day Zhigatsé, was a very important place, lying in a fertile valley and commanding the highroads which met there between Northern Tsang and Ü and the regions north and south of the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra); thus not only did it have a great strategic value, but it was enriched by a prosperous market.
The possession of Samdruptsé meant not only that the Pakmodru had been finally excluded from Tsang, but also that Ü was more than ever exposed to invasion by the lords of Tsang. In 1575 they actually attacked Tsangrong, camped in Gel and then having occupied Gel, Jang and Mön, marched on Kyishö [near Lhasa], where they were stopped, the fifth Dalai Lama says, by the magic formulas of the kuzhang of Künzangtsé of Tsetang.1 In that same year 1575 we find [the soon-to-be Third Dalai Lama] Sönam Gyatso as a peacemaker between the Zhamar and Yarlung.
As we have seen, no event is recorded which does not show, against the background of military events echoed in the biography and in pious narratives, the watchful and suspicious action of the two sects, now pitted one against the other in the fight for supremacy: the Yellow and the Reds.
If the Yellow Sect’s prestige grew in Tibet from year to year, their fortune, as we have seen, awakened new suspicion on the Reds’ part; they watched the course of events and were fatally led to strengthen their ties with the greatest military and political force then existing in the Land of Snows, the successors of the chiefs of Rinpung now settled in Samdruptsé.
On the other hand the Gelukpa, playing for safety, relied on the Mongols, thus encouraging their desire for expansion; at the same time, they flattered their vanity by naming them paladins of the faith and patrons of a culture much superior to their own, for which they felt a recent convert’s boundless devotion. The Gelukpa at the same ti3/7/2013 2:43:52 PMme claimed to be the apostles of the Buddha’s word and believed they were renewing with Mongolia the daring of those Indian missionaries who, several centuries earlier, had brought the Buddha’s word into Tibet’s desert highlands.
Indeed Mongols and Tibetans have celebrated Sönam Gyatso as an apostle; historians speak of him as a brave propagator of the faith, who introduced a spirit of love and charity into hardened Mongol hearts and by his preaching inspired those restless tribes with mildness.
There is no doubt that his work was a result of evangelizing zeal; the golden times of Tibetan Buddhism were still a living example in men’s memories and a monk educated on those glories would naturally be proud to vie with them, but the third Dalai Lama’s mission was also inspired by considerations of a more worldly character. We must remember the conditions of Tibet at the time, torn by strife between sects and parties, broken up into a large number of principalities mutually jealous and always ready to take up arms.
Hence Sönam Gyatso’s journey to Mongolia could not be simply an apostolic tour, but must be explained mainly by the Tibetan situation and the interests of the Gelukpa who had resolved to obtain help from the new converts, as soon as the threat against them should be about to break out violently.
When the Mongol prince Altan Khan and Sönam Gyatso met, they believed they were living over again Qubilai’s and Pakpa’s experiences. Both the Mongol chief and the abbot of Drepung were flattered by this return of the past: the former believed himself predestined to his ancestor’s glory, while the latter anticipated he would obtain, in that troubled period, the support of a new power appearing on Tibet’s frontiers. In whatever direction internal events and their relation with the Reds and with Tsang might develop, it was meanwhile to the Yellows’ advantage to secure in Mongolia faithful devotees, who should descend upon Tibetan monasteries no longer as invaders but as pilgrims, not to prey but to offer gifts. Thus Sönam Gyatso’s apostolic task was not an exclusively religious mission: it determined Tibet’s future political and historical destinies, and we must therefore briefly follow its events, which we already know in their main lines; the subject is amply treated both by the Mongol historian Saghang Sechen and by Jikmé Rikpé Dorjé. The former was a great-grandson of one of the most eminent cooperators in the spread of the Gelukpa among the Mongols, namely Sechen Khung-Taiji.
The third Dalai Lama’s biographer relates the same events sometimes alluding to details the other historians ignore; hence, by comparing the different versions, it will be possible to appraise more accurately Sönam Gyatso’s religious and political action. Owing to him and to his counselors, the Yellow Sect finally gained the Mongols’ support for its cause. We do not mean to say that the Mongols had not already come in contact with Lamaism, which on the contrary had reached several tribes and made converts among them; but conversions were sparse and wavering, divided between the Red Sect, which had a larger number of followers, and the Yellow Sect, which had appeared later and had not been so fortunate in its spread. A case, then, of limited infiltrations, incapable of influencing the Mongol way of life and of overcoming Shamanism, which reigned supreme: at the best, Buddhist islands, which would not prosper, abandoned to themselves in alien and often hostile surroundings, until they should be protected and fostered by the power of the strongest.
The first contact between Tibet and the Ordos had not been peaceful: already in 1573 Altan Khan had led an expedition against North-Eastern Tibet; this conflict however had led to spiritual contacts, for Altan Khan had brought back to his country some lamas, who had planted the first seeds of faith in the Mongol chief’s heart. Even earlier, in 1566, Khutugtai Sechen Khung-Taiji of the Ordos had led another expedition, or rather a raid, against Tibet; according to Saghang Sechen its spiritual fruit was that some lamas were taken by him to his camp.2 These are the meager facts chroniclers tell us: we can only guess what exchanges may then have come about between Tibet and the Ordos, what network of interests may have been established, what prospects of future gains, not merely spiritual but political, were opened up before both Mongols and Tibetans. It is certain anyhow that Khutugtai Sechen Khung-Taiji was influenced by Lamaism to the extent of convincing Altan Khan himself that its doctrines deserved to be received with greater favor. We know only the bare facts, but it is beyond doubt that at a moment when a new situation was being established in Mongolia strong political reasons must have backed the religious conversion. In 1573 the first mission to Drepung took place; beside the monks already mentioned, Dzogé Aseng Lama had arrived in 1571 (chak luk) in Altan Khan’s headquarters and had spoken to him of the Yellow Sect’s newly incarnated chief.3 Acting on this monk’s advice, Altan Khan now sent a mission with gifts and letters containing a formal invitation. Sönam Gyatso, after seriously taking counsel, answered by sending to the Mongol chief’s court the master of monastic rules Tsöndrü Zangpo.
In 1577 new envoys arrived from Altan Gyelpo [Tibetan for “king”]4 and announced that the King, who was then in Tsokha (Kokonor) was again insisting that Sönam Gyatso should come to him and preach the Buddha’s word; thus repeatedly invited, Sönam Gyatso set out.5
His meeting with the King took place on the fifteenth day of the fifth month of the year earth tiger (1578). On this occasion Altan Gyelpo was prodigal in his gifts to the lama: a mandala made of 500 ounces (sang) of silver; a golden bowl full of precious stones; white, yellow, red, green and blue silk, twenty bolts of each kind; a hundred horses, ten of which were white, their saddles ornamented with precious stones.
On this occasion the famous proclamation was made of the ethical laws laid down for the Mongols, modifying their cruel customs, forbidding the worship of “öngön” or images of the deceased and bloody sacrifices, particularly of horses and camels buried with the corpses of chiefs. Then, in the same spot where the king and the lama had met, a temple was built, which took the name of Tekchen Chökor Ling: the Chöjé of Tongkor, Yönten Gyatso, was regularly ordained on this occasion.6
Next an exchange of titles took place: Sönam Gyatso received from the King the title of Dalai Lama vajradhara, and the King from the Lama that of Chökyi Gyelpo Lhetsangpa.7
The Dalai Lama had been covered with gifts, but Altan Khan did not forget the temples of Tibet and the great dignitaries faithful to the new school: he sent Aseng Lama at the head of a mission charged with the distribution of gifts to the Jowokhang in Lhasa, to the monasteries of Sera, Drepung and Ganden, and finally to the princes who had become the Yellow Sect’s greatest patrons, namely to those of Tsetang, Gongkar, Gyari, Gamen, while invitations and honors were multiplied.8
Then Aseng Lama returned from Tibet, bringing letters from lamas and dignitaries, insisting that Sönam Gyatso should come home. The Dalai Lama did not consent, he wished to carry out his mission to the end. Altan Gyelpo went back to the Sokpo [Mongol] country and Sönam Gyatso went on as far as Litang with the object of founding a monastery there, and named as his representative in the Mongols’ country the Tongkor Chöjé, Yönten Gyatso. In the eighth month of that same year embassies came from the Emperor Wanli,9 bringing him a diploma duly sealed: he conferred upon Sönam Gyatso the title of protector of all lands, and invited him to his court.
This is the Tibetan version of the event; the Chinese version is less detailed: as a preceding attempt to get in touch with the Dalai Lama’s predecessor had miserably failed, the court became careful and waited, according to the dynastic histories, until Sönam Gyatso, induced by Altan Khan, should himself seek the Emperor’s favor and send him the prescribed gifts. But the prime minister was cautious and hesitated to accept them before the Emperor’s consent had reached him. The memory was still fresh of Liu Yun’s adventurous expedition: he had left Tibet to do homage to the other “living Buddha” Gendün Gyatso, and in consequence of the Tibetans’ suspicions his mission came to grief: many officials of his retinue were killed, the survivors fled. Permission was now given to receive gifts, but nothing is said of titles conferred upon Sönam Gyatso, although it is recognized that the effective power of the Dalai Lama’s office began with him and that the authority of other Tibetan chiefs, lay or ecclesiastical, declined and vanished before the Dalai Lama’s prestige.10
Truly this is the very beginning, almost the premise, of the Yellow Sect’s future power. Once having established the principle of incarnation, on which the theological domination exalting the chief of the new sect was founded, Sönam Gyatso remained nevertheless the abbot of Drepung; his prestige as a lama was far superior to his political authority, still scanty and questioned. Rivalry between sects had not been pacified nor the turbulent nobility’s restlessness silenced. The function of Dalai Lama practically began only with [the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang] Lozang Gyatso when, in a certain sense, Gushri Khan renewed in his favor the endowment conferred by Qubilai on the Sakya. Tibetan tradition is therefore mistaken when it carries the institution of the Dalai Lamas back to Gendün Drup’s times, even before the title itself had been officially conferred, as we have seen, on Sönam Gyatso.
Let us go back to the latter and to his journeys. We see him now continuing to travel to Litang, Garchen in Dokham country, honored on the way by Epel Noyön, and then install the Chöjé Tsöndrü Zangpo as lopön of the Püntsok Namgyel Ling monastery. Passing through Janaktang he consecrated the temple of Litang, which had been built by the King of Jamsa Tamché,11 on whom he conferred the name of Tupten Jamsem Chok Tamchelé Nampar Gyelwa.12 The same King, in the year 1580, sent two envoys, Kapakshi13 and Jaka, to invite him to his country. Then he went to Markham where he converted some Bönpo; next to Chamdo Jamling, Denchö Khorling and to the temple of Longtang Drönmé where he was in 1582.14
In the meantime, according to the last desire of the King, who had died a short time before, Mongol messengers came to the Dalai Lama to take him to Tsokha; Sönam Gyatso set out again for the North. Passing through Kumbum where he founded a school for the explanation of sacred texts, Jakhyung Drak, Riwo Dentik,15 Dzomo khar where Jamchen Chöjé had dwelt, in 1584 he arrived in Gelgönpa; he then crossed Pakshingkün [in Gansu],16 where he concluded a peace between warring Chinese and Hor, and Bakré, and got to Tsokha. There he was met by a delegation of about a thousand horsemen, headed by Dayan Noyan. Having traveled on the territory ruled by the Pön of the Ordos Sechen Khung-Taiji,17 in the year 1585 he led Dayan Noyan to a deeper understanding of the Law.
The lord of Gurkar “the white tents” of the 40 great clans of the Sokpo [Mongols], invited him into his domains together with Jokhor Noyön;18 on this occasion, beside preaching the Law he conferred baptism upon these neophytes. In 1586 he received messengers from Altan Khan’s son During (Dügüräng) anxious to meet him; he took up his journey again towards the Machu [Yellow River] and arriving in Kökö-hoto (Kharngön, now Hohhot), inhabited by Tibetans and drokpa [nomads] together, he consecrated the images that Altan Gyelpo had built, putting the sacred formulas (dhāraṇī, zung) into them. The biography then tells how Namotai Khung-Taiji of Chakar (Chahar Mongols) came to meet him,19 how he then continued towards the right wing (yeru) of the Tümed (Tumé Mongols) where he consecrated many temples. Having accomplished the funeral ceremonies in honor of Dügüräng who had died that year, he was loaded with gifts by Dorjé Gyelpo of the Halha20 (Khalkha Mongols) and received envoys from Jokhor Noyön of the Urat (Oirat Mongols) and the chief of the Kharcheng (Qarachin Mongols) for whom he consecrated a temple.
In 1588 messengers from the Emperor of China finally arrived inviting him to his court and conferring upon him titles and the patent of Guanding Tai gushri [Chin. guoshi]. He was ready to accept the invitation, when in that same year death struck him down far from his country.
Thus the task Sönam Gyatso had undertaken with such enthusiasm abruptly came to an end. He had established personal relations with many chiefs, consecrated statues and temples, spread the Buddha’s word. In the course of a few years the princes of the most important Mongol tribes had officially embraced Buddhism. At the moment of taking leave of Altan Khan, he had named a representative in the person of the Khutugtu of Tongkor, considered as an incarnation of Mañjuśrī; the King of Tümed’s example had been followed by the Chahar chiefs and then by the Halha, with whom he installed the “Maidari” Khutugtu. Thus the Yellow Sect had spread among the Mongols with a speed which shows how easily permeable they were to new ideas and how slight was the opposition of Shamanism, which partly crumbled and partly became associated with the demonology and the exorcisms of Lamaism. But however great Sönam Gyatso’s success may have been, it cannot be said that his task was completed. The foundations had been laid, but they had to be made fast, lest the fruits of his apostolic labors should be lost.
At that moment recourse was made to the theory of incarnation, so that the supreme ruler of the Gelukpa might carry out his task. No sooner had he died than he was said to have been born again in 1589 as the great grandson of Altan Khan.21 We are certainly not in a condition to reconstruct the intrigues, which led to this birth of the Yellow Sect’s supreme authority in the heart of the Mongol tribes, but the persons guaranteeing the incarnation to be authentic, the presence of the Tibetan court which had accompanied the deceased Sönam Gyatso to that same country during his journey, the official recognition by the envoys of the Tri Rinpoché of Ganden and by other dignitaries of Tibet proper, are facts from which we may assume that the Gelukpa sect had come up with well-laid plan.
The task begun by the third Dalai Lama had not yet yielded its fruits. The abbot of Drepung’s rebirth in a princely family of Mongolia served above all to weld still more firmly together the relations between the Yellow Sect and its patrons and to lead towards new developments: the alliance between the young but already triumphant school and the power of Mongol arms. It was certainly not an unimportant event that the head of Tibetan Lamaism should now for the first time see the light in a Mongol tribe; thus the barriers existing between the Country of Snows and the new converts’ homeland were broken down at one blow; neophytes became the equals of their masters in the identity of religion; differences of race, language and tradition were annulled and the numerous disasters which the Mongol hordes had repeatedly inflicted on Tibet with their sudden raids were forgotten. The Yellow Church received into its oikoumene even those frontier tribes which Tibet, up to that time, had feared or despised, and the tribes took pride in the official recognition of their religious maturity, on which the Dalai Lama’s incarnation placed an unchallengeable seal. The new Dalai Lama’s kinship guaranteed to the Gelukpa a powerful support in case of need: the Mongols had by now enthusiastically accepted the Buddhist preachings, reaching them through a double channel: the Reds and the Yellows. The prestige conferred upon Altan Khan’s descendants by the birth in their midst of the supreme pontiff of a powerful and constantly ascending sect guaranteed the support of their arms, in case that Church were attacked, to which they were now bound by a link more direct than simple devotion.
The newly incarnated Dalai Lama’s education was entirely Tibetan, as his guardians were Tibetans; but that the Mongols were flattered by the fact that one of the greatest Lamaist prelates should be of their race, is shown by the honor they did him; first of all, in 1591, by the King of the Tümed.22
In the eighth month of that same year the kuzhang rinpoché of Künzangtsé, many Tibetan bhandé [monks] and Sokpo [Mongols] headed by Mañju Chöjé,23 kings, queens and Khung-Taiji arrived, each of them to invite him to his own country; finally messengers came from the king of Chahar, and later, when the child had reached Chörten Karpo,24 Könchok Taiji. In his first years, his principal tutor was the Rinpoché Künzang Tsepa, who in his turn was a fast friend of the Chakdzö Gushri Penden Gyatso,25 namely the Chakdzö of the third Dalai Lama, to whom the King of China, in 1579, when Sönam Gyatso had received his various titles, had given a Gushri’s diploma.26
To bear out the miraculous rebirth, according to the prescribed rites, a conclave of the Yellow Sect, on the advice of Tri Rinpoché of Ganden, i.e., Penjor Gyatso of Gyelkhangtsé27 sent this same Chakdzö as the most qualified person to verify if the child were really an incarnation of the deceased Lama, with whom he had lived in a continued familiarity, as no one else had. The Chakdzö then left Ü, with many delegates of the main Gelukpa monasteries and of the nobility, now supporters of the new sect. Among others there were envoys of the prince of Neudong[tsé], Gongma Miwangchuk Mipam Wanggyur Gyelpo Ngawang Sönam Drakpa Gyeltsen of the clan of Gongri Karpo, lord of all Tibet (Gangchen namkyi gön chik) and of the zhapdrung of Shün, the sakyong of Gyari, the sakyong of Ganden, etc. and many other depön, who all arrived in Kharngön (Kökö-hota) to meet the incarnated Lama and officially ratify his identity.28 This took place in the year chak lang, 1601. It is obvious that, once the recognition had taken place, the child must be taken to Tibet; not only to receive there an education suited to his dignity, but also because he was the abbot of Drepung and as such it was incumbent upon him to take possession of his monastery. There he would lose all traces of his Mongol origin in the impersonal discipline of monastic life; but the Church would always be ready to use his kinship, if political circumstances required it. The Mongol alliance was now concluded and Tibet’s future was marked.
The young Lama, following the road which runs outside the Great Wall of China, arrived in Tsokha (Kokonor) where he stayed for three months as a guest of the King Kholoché; next, although our sources do not give his itinerary, he was in Radreng and Taklung.29 As he got nearer and nearer to his see, acts of homage became more frequent: the sakyong of Ganden Yülgyel Norbu came to meet him, with his son, then the Pönnyer Kudün Rinpoché Chözang Trinlepa of Ganden palace,30 the Zhelngané Gendün Gyeltsen. When he arrived in Ganden Namgyel Ling and Rasa Trülnanggi Tsuklak Khang, the sakyong Trashi Rapten invited him in the feud of Ganden Khangsar, while the prince of Neudong Ngawang Sönam Drakpa and Gyelzangpa did him great honor.31
Having taken possession of the Ganden throne in the temple called Chok Tamchelé Nampar Gyelwé Ling, with a great concourse of monks from Sera, Drepung, Ganden, Kyormolung, he then went to Lhasa where he was solemnly initiated before Jowo’s image by Ganden Tri Rinpoché Zurpa Zhelngané Sanggyé Rinchen, who acted as abbot (khenpo), by the Tri Rinpoché of Ganden as master (loppön) and as officiating priest (letokpa) the Zhelngané Gendün Gyeltsen.32 He then took the name of Yönten Gyatso.
The fifth Dalai Lama and the biographers from whom he draws his narrative relate only the young Lama’s triumphs and solemn receptions; but it is not certain that every one applauded this incarnation of the Gelukpas’ supreme chief among the Mongols, which had suddenly called a foreigner to occupy the abbatial throne of the sect’s greatest monastery. It is, perhaps, not improbable that the Tri Rinpoché of Ganden, when he used his great age as an excuse to avoid traveling to Mongolia with the object of confirming the new Dalai Lama’s incarnation, did not entirely approve of what had been prepared. Probably it was for this reason that he sent the Chakdzö Gushri in his stead. But as soon as the Dalai Lama came to Tibet, even if such doubts were felt, nothing transpired.
It is natural that the Red Caps and the rulers of Tsang should be surprised and uneasy when they saw how the Yellow Sect was spreading among the Mongols, how the most powerful Mongol chiefs went over to them and what favor the new school enjoyed among them. The situation had completely changed; while the Mongol supporters of the Reds were steadily decreasing and the sect’s former penetration among them had given no fruit, we see in the course of a few years, since Altan Khan’s invitation, Tümed, Chahar and Ordos under the Gelukpa’s influence. Their religious dependence implied the possibility of political developments whose consequences could not but preoccupy Tsang. Up to what point could the Yellows turn their converts’ devotion to their own advantage, to get rid of their rivals once for all? It was no longer a case of friction between internal forces, which might have balanced each other; new possibilities were coming to the fore. Might not the Mongols invade Tibet on their new patrons’ invitation, and become their temporal arm? This being the case, Tsang went warily, for by this time it could only count on Tibetan forces and on noble families and convents hostile to the Gelukpa. The object was to gain time. No wonder then that the supreme representatives of the Red Sect did not abstain from congratulating the new Dalai Lama. The fifth Dalai Lama relates that the Garchenné Zhamar Garwang Chökyi Wangchuk33 wrote him a letter of congratulations (lekjé zhushok)34 which, as we shall see, gave occasion to the conflict which violently broke out a little later between the two sects. The letter was written according to the subtlest rules of rhetoric, in which the Zhamar was past master, but it contained certain passages covertly urging the Dalai Lama to study deeply; these aroused the Yellow Sect’s resentment. The Dalai Lama, they said, will take complete vows at the age of twenty, and he will certainly study under the masters chosen to instruct him, but as an incarnation of his predecessor, his knowledge is complete and needs no offers of guidance. Thus the letter, whether it had been written with a disparaging intention or not, hurt the Gelukpa’s feelings; although well versed in logic and religion, they had no one capable of rivaling the Zhamar in rhetoric, hence, after long debates, Tsekhapa Depa Gyelchenpa and the Zhukhen Rapjampa Gelek Lhündrup were called upon to compose an answer.35
Meanwhile Yönten Gyatso, according to the example of his predecessors and accepting invitations from princes and monasteries, began to travel throughout the whole of Tibet.36 The object of these journeys was propaganda: to establish direct relations and surround the head of the Yellow Sect with sympathies and support, which might be counted upon when the crisis, which was felt by all to be impending, should break out. That the above-mentioned families had invited him does not mean they all definitely sided with the Gelukpa; in Tibet the heads of monasteries, reincarnated personages and famous lamas enjoy such prestige, and their miraculous powers excite such awe, that any clan able to do so is anxious to receive them as guests and to load them with gifts, no matter to which sect they belong. No wonder, then, that the young Dalai Lama should also tour in Tsang, which was ruled as a feud by its chiefs, now completely independent from Ü, which had become increasingly powerful and menacing. The invitation naturally came both from the ecclesiastical authorities of Trashilhünpo and from the lay authorities living under the new monastery’s influence. The latter sent as its official envoy Dradül of Shartsé. Yönten Gyatso naturally had many good reasons not to ignore this invitation: Trashilhünpo was the Yellow Sect’s outpost in Tsang, the symbol and the bulwark of the much-opposed school, in a country where the old convents were gaining new vigor, supported by the prudent generosity of the new kings ruling from Samdruptsé; Trashilhünpo’s fortunes would naturally have a great interest for the chiefs of the Gelukpa; this journey furnished them with a pretext and an occasion to watch closely the desi of Tsang’s ventures, to get an idea of his intentions, to see if it was possible to reach an agreement or whether open war was unavoidable.37
Let us omit the religious events, ceremonies and sermons recorded on this occasion: the fifth Dalai Lama dwells on them at length and Jikmé Rikpé Dorjé accurately summarizes them. But it is worth recalling that during this visit Yönten Gyatso is said to have converted to his doctrine the wife of the desi of Tsang Püntsok Namgyel; she belonged to the Yargyap family.38
From these times on, Trashilhünpo’s position in the general plan of the Yellow Sect appears clearly: the Paṇchen Rinpoché, as its abbots were called later on, held aloof from any effective political activity, which he left to the monasteries of Ü, particularly to the one in Drepung, which up to the foundation of the Potala by the fifth Dalai Lama, remained the Gelukpa’s active capital. The Paṇchen claimed for himself supreme spiritual authority, he became the Dalai Lama’s guide and master, but he left the management of political affairs to the latter and to his monasteries in Ü. This policy, which later became traditional for the abbots of Trashilhünpo, is certainly due, in part, to the fact that it was in a territory far removed from the school’s center, in the country most hostile to the Yellows, a short distance from Samdruptsé, the capital of Tsang.39
When Yönten Gyatso got back to Drepung, he met there the Tri Rinpoché Könchok Chöpel,40 who was to have such a share in future events, as the fifth Dalai Lama’s assistant, while from Kokonor new visitors arrived, like Lhatsün Chewa, the son of Kholoché, and Sechen Taiji.
Meanwhile friction with the Karmapa became more acute; as it is always the case when suspicion and ill-will stand between opposite parties and groups, on both sides every pretext was taken to excite men’s spirits. Since 1605 the Pakmodrupa, together with the Zhokarnak and others, had raided the camp of the depa of Kyishö. The latter then had recourse to arms making the situation more tense, and furnishing new motives for spite between the adverse parties, who took this occasion to vent their accumulated ill-will. We have already seen how, when Yönten Gyatso had come to Tibet from Mongolia, the Zhamar had written him a gratulatory letter in verse which, rightly or wrongly, had been taken in bad part by Zhukhen Rapjampa Gelek Lhündrup; the Zhamar and his secretary Jamyang retaliated, when they got to Lhasa, by writing on silken scrolls hung in front of the Jowo’s statue some obscure hints, in an enigmatic form, which were interpreted, when the news was brought to Drepung, as an insult to the Yellow Sect.41
Everyone understood that any chance of an agreement had vanished, for the rivals were far too embittered; an open conflict might break out at any moment, any pretext would have sufficed. So the quarrel was renewed concerning certain land in Neu, which Dönyö Dorjé, many years before, had annexed at the instigation of the Zhamar Chödrak Gyatso, founding upon it the gönpa [monastery] of Sanakmar. Hence the Gelukpa had suffered great anxiety: they considered the Tsang garrison, in the very heart of their country, a serious menace against their stronghold. Strife was again breaking out on account of that monastery: the prince of Ganden Yülgyel Norbu tried to get back the land and to take possession of the convent; peace was broken: the fifth Dalai Lama lays the initiative at the door of the desi of Yar Tsang, but it is natural that, ruling over those lands, the latter should take up arms when confronted by an attempt to wrest them from him. Indeed elsewhere Lopzang Gyatso openly says that in the year 161242 an armed coalition was formed by Neudongtsé against the ruler of Tsang, Püntsok Namgyel; Lhagyari, Ja, Yargyap and Chonggyé took part in it. But sources belonging to a different faction, like that of the Sakyapa, protected and favored by the chief of Tsang, say that in 1607 they had recourse to arms in order to beat back an army of Sokpo [Mongols] who had been invited to invade Tibet by Kyishö, and that, although he conquered in 1612–13 a large part of Tibet, from Jang and Nyangtö to Latö and Ü, he could not lay down his arms because his rivals continually broke the peace; this was to be secured only in 1622–23.43
The Pakmodrupa had the worst; they lost their old capital Neudong[tsé] and were obliged to give up their feud of Sacha Dzong. But the appearance of the Mongols on the frontier put an end to the military operations which the old nobility was carrying on with the idea of supporting its own interests, while it was actually playing into the hands of the great religious sects.
Meanwhile, as these events were developing in rapid succession, Yönten Gyatso had gone back to Sera44 and then in 1611 to Drepung, where he performed, together with other lamas particularly versed in the rites of exorcism, great magical ceremonies to ward off incumbent perils.
In Tibet the frontiers between the real and the imaginary are so vague, that an admixture ensues: the invisible forces of prayer and magic ritual are considered more powerful and efficient than material weapons. In moments of extreme danger, men invoke the protection of the Lamaistic pantheon’s supreme deities, particularly the terrific deities which obey the manifestations of Jikché represented in a warlike aspect as a defender of Tibet’s menaced faith. Hence we must not wonder that the Yellow Sect, in such a moment of extreme peril, when the ruler of Tsang seemed extremely powerful, had recourse to magic in order to obtain the help of the secret forces regulating the world’s destinies. And the incumbent danger was truly serious. In 1611 the chief of Tsang, Püntsok Namgyel, attacked and defeated the prince of Yargyap45 and came to Lhasa, threatening many monasteries, which were barely saved by Könchok Chöpel’s intervention.46 He came to Lhasa not as a conqueror but rather as a visitor to his own domains; the city had passed under Tsang rule a long time before and did not definitely come into the Yellows’ hands until the fifth Dalai Lama’s times. It must not be forgotten that the Red Caps excluded the Gelukpa from the celebration of the new year Mönlam; this sentence must have been confirmed by some measure on the part of temporal authority, which can have been no other than the kings of Tsang, zealous patrons of the Karmapa. Should we stand in need of further proofs, they are to be found in another passage by the same fifth Dalai Lama who says that (perhaps with the intention of improving relations between the Karmapa and the Gelukpa) Tsang, in 161247 gave Lhasa to the Ganden Podrang. He had the power to do so, because Lhasa was his territory, ruled by one of his nyerpa; one of them was Rapjampa Chömpel.
Having thus come to Lhasa, the desi of Tsang wished to be initiated into the 108 rules of Tsepakmé. By thus propitiating the heads of the Yellow Sect, he wished to consign to oblivion the ill-will that war was arousing, and to obtain the good graces of the Gelukpa, who were already preparing to bind an alarming alliance with the Mongols. The ruler of Tsang’s request caused a great sensation among the Geluks’ followers, who had gathered in Lhasa on this occasion; Yönten Gyatso’s court was wavering, but finally decided to refuse, because the Rapjam Sönam Drakpa stated that the desi’s request could not be granted, since he was an enemy of the Gelukpa doctrines. Though the biography does not say it so plainly, the consequence was that Yönten Gyatso had to seek a safer abode; we accordingly find him in Samyé, seeking refuge in the reliable protection of his tutelary deities, the Tensung and Pekar.48 Confronted by an armed foe, the lamas had no allies except the almighty divinities on whom, since Padmasambhava’s times, the defense of the Law had been conferred, according to legend.
Meanwhile Könchok Chöpel lost no time in gathering round the Gelukpa other monasteries having a noble history in Tibet’s religious tradition. Due to this policy, in 1614, the depa of Ganden invited and got in touch with the zhapdrung of Taklung, Ngawang Namgyel.49 Taklung was one of Tibet’s most ancient convents, it had a glorious history and unlike other Tibetan holy places had remained untouched by the invasions which at various times had laid the country waste. What is more, it was a Kagyüpa convent, which had kept faith with old traditions, but without going to extremes and still preserving many contacts with the Kadampa; this made an understanding with the Gelukpa easier, and their relations had become very close ever since the times of Sönam Gyatso.50
While these events were taking place, some great religious dignitaries from Mongolia, on the Chinese frontier (Gya Sok), Dotö and Domé, arrived in Lhasa.51 Among them was Gyelwa Gyatso, zhapdrung of Tongkor, Pakpa Chökyi Gyelpo, Pakpa Lhünchok, the incarnated of Baso and others.
Their visit was a matter of politeness and homage; they brought gifts and asked for religious initiations, but the bare lists of visitors preserved by chronicles hide more important events; we can easily imagine, even if information is so scanty, how many relations were thus established, how many messages were exchanged through visitors and how many agreements were entered upon, while the ruler of Tsang and his troops penetrated the Ü region, an impending menace for the Yellow Sect and an obstacle to the fulfillment of its ambitions.
Meanwhile Yönten Gyatso had grown in years, but kept aloof from these rapidly occurring events: studious and addicted to a life of devotion he seems to have left all negotiations and intrigues in the hands of the court dignitaries, who acted on his behalf and perhaps apart from him.
In 1614 he received the supreme ordination and finished his religious education under the Paṇchen Rinpoché, the Tri Rinpoché Sanggyé Rinchen, the Tri Rinpoché Gendün Gyeltsen, the Zhelngané Chönyer Drakpa, the Zimkhang Gong Trülku and many other famous scholars and masters.52 A little later the Tongkhor Trülku Jamyang Gyatso arrived with many pilgrims.53 But internal strife showed no sign of subsiding; in those years Dechen Drakkar and other places were incorporated by the desi of Tsang, who was then at the height of his power. The menace of its rivals was closing round the Yellow Sect; a large part of the Ü nobility, fearing for its own fortunes, hesitated.54
In 1616 according to the biographer, an embassy arrived, headed by Sönam Lodrö, whom the emperor of China55 is said to have sent to Yönten Gyatso to confer upon him the title of Khyapdak Dorjé Sanggyé with its diploma. The envoys, who naturally brought precious gifts, were received in the assembly hall of Drepung.56 We find these things in the Tibetan chronicles, but the History of the Ming (Mingshi) has no record of the embassy.
Tibet’s internal situation was growing worse: the desi of Tsang was carrying out his hegemonic plans with tireless energy; the Yellow Sect saw many of its patrons conquered and trampled on by the armed forces of Tsang. In 1616 the whole territory of Kyishö had been brought into subjection and Neudong had submitted, so that a large part of Ü and most of Tsang were under the desi’s unchallenged sway.
The Yellows were in a difficult position: it was due to their insistence that a Mongol army commanded by two of Kholoché’s sons entered Tibet and induced the desi of Tsang to behave less aggressively; it does not seem that any fighting occurred.
During these happenings, while many misgivings and fears were abroad, Yönten Gyatso died, still young in the twelfth month of 1616, during a very dangerous crisis for the Yellow Sect’s career.
The events we have related all center around the vicissitudes of a few eminent families or of the greater convents, but we must not let them delude us into a belief that the small states whose names do not appear in these pages lived peacefully. Even if they did not side with one or the other warring sect or faction, these lesser states were moved to take up arms by long-standing enmities. We can learn many things of this kind from the biography of Künga Rinchen, the Sakyapa lama, who is remembered in history as the reconstructor of the Sakyapa temples and monasteries damaged by warfare or crumbling with age. Reading the story of his life we can see that Tsang, in the middle of the fifteenth century was torn by continual guerrilla warfare.
The Sakyapa, remembering their former greatness, had claims to support; among their obstinate rivals we see the depa of Lhakhang Chenmo and the depa of Lhasa Dzong. The former was the governor of the Great Monastery which had been turned into a fortress, in the plain to the south of the Drumchu, which crosses the city of Sakya. Was this governor an official of the Pakmodru, as in the times of Jangchup Gyeltsen and of his immediate successors? We have no reason to deny it, but no way of ascertaining it. Neither can we reach any certainty regarding Lhasa Dzong, unless we are to identify this place with Lhatsé on the Tsangpo, not far from Sakya, to the west of Zhigatsé. But whoever these enemies of Sakya may have been, we see them so much more powerful, that they could force the Sakyapa abbot Künga Rinchen to flee from his see and repair to Ü, accepting the abbatial see of another monastery in Nalendra (north of Lhasa); we also find the ancient sympathies for the Sakya stubbornly surviving the vicissitudes of those times, and the princes of Jang and Gyantsé levying troops and rushing to defend the head of the sect, vanquish his enemies, overthrow Lhasa Dzong, restore his former possessions to Künga Rinchen and then Panam, Norbü Khyungtsé, and Drongtsé join in the fight. We then see that friendship waning on the death of the princes of Jang and Gyantsé, the latter passing for a short time to other alliances, and while the might of Gyantsé was crumbling, become the patron of the Sakyapa lamas Zhingshak [Tseten] Dorjé, lord of Samdruptsé, the ancestor of the future Tsang dynasty. In these pages we also find interesting information concerning other wars in which a large part of the Nyang region was implicated, for the succession to the throne of Panam;57 several princes tried to seize it by armed force, while the abbot of Ngor Könchok Lhündrup protected it. We also find in these records proof of the progressive disappearance of the smaller states absorbed by the larger ones. In the restricted horizon within which these historians and hagiographers moved, every petty incident disturbing their lives acquired a particular relief, and they were inclined to consider it a great event, but in reality these wars were simple encounters between a few armed bands, and the occasion of these warlike exploits was very often quite insignificant: quarrels over grazing rights or limits between different estates, usurpations of pasture grounds (drok). In the biographies such small episodes troubling the life of feuds and petty states, reflect the illusion that some aftermath of their ancient greatness was still left to them, and thus arouse a certain interest. Anyhow, whatever way one looks, in Ü and Tsang, peace was nowhere to be found. Nor were internal struggles lacking, like those which had shaken the Pakmodrupa and substantially contributed to their rapid decay. Even in lesser states, like Jang, north of the Brahmaputra, at the end of the sixteenth century internal strife broke out, through the enmity of two factions: Dar and Dong, related by marriage to the Pön of Jang’s family; they ended with the defeat of the Dar who, having been vanquished in battle, had the city and their estates sacked by the Dong; the latter, according to the pious biographer who is my source for these events, were protected by the magic arts and defensive ceremonies of the Sakyapa lama, Sönam Wangpo.58 Not even Gyantsé, now reduced to a small principality in the shadow of its great monastery, was spared internal quarrels, like that recorded by Tāranātha in his autobiography,59 which furnished the powerful lords of Samdruptsé a pretext to set things right by a military expedition; as they had already done with Norbü Khyungtsé, a citadel ruled by descendants of the celebrated chögyel of Gyantsé, whose possession had strategic value.60
Thus on one side we see Ü more and more attached to the Yellow Church, the old local nobility, weakened and without a chief, gathered round the sect, and the latter spreading among the Mongols and finding there new patrons and defenders. On the other hand Tsang was cutting loose from the Pakmodrupa, becoming independent, associating with the Reds and taking up its position against the Yellows, lending a religious color to conflicting interests and political rivalries. At the same time the aristocracy did not disarm or give in, indeed it clung almost stubbornly to its old enmities so that, when the moment came to unite for the defense of its very existence against invasion, it was found to be weakened, exhausted and failing.
NOTES
1. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682), Rje btsun thams cad mkhyen pa bsod nams rgya mtsho’i rnam thar dngos grub rgya mtsho’i shing rta [Life of the Third Dalai Lama, Sönam Gyatso (1544–1588)], in The Collected Works (Gsung-’bum) of the Vth Dalai Lama, Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, vol. 8 (Nya) (Gangtok: Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology, 1992), 89a.
2. Saghang Sechen [Ssanang Ssetsen], Geschichte der Ost-Mongolen und ihres Fürstenhauses, verfasst von Ssanang Ssetsen Chungtaidschi der Ordus [History of the Eastern Mongols], ed. and trans. Isaak Jakob Schmidt (St. Petersburg, 1829), 212.
3. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, Life of the Third Dalai Lama, 88a.
4. Whose head was A to sa dar kan (see Georg Huth, ed. and trans., Geschichte des Buddhismus in der Mongolei: Aus dem Tibetischen des Jigs-med nam-mk’a [sic: ’Jigs med rig pa’i rdo rje] herausgegeben [History of Buddhism in Mongolia] [Strassburg: K. J. Trübner, 1892, 1896], 2:214; Saghang Sechen, History of the Eastern Mongols, 225). The mission also comprised representatives of Sechen Khung-Taiji (Huth, History of Buddhism in Mongolia, 2:214; Saghang Sechen, History of the Eastern Mongols, 225). Saghang Sechen, intent on increasing the family’s merits, says that the invitation to Altan Khan was made precisely on his great-grandfather’s advice.
5. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Third Dalai Lama, 90. The biography has preserved a schematic but interesting itinerary, whose chief points it will be well to summarize; Tshal zur khang, Dga’ ldan rnam par rgyal ba’i gling, ’Phan yul, Rwa sgrengs. In this place to the northeast of Lhasa, he sent back many of the lamas and dignitaries who had accompanied him, namely the Dga’ ldan khri rin po che, the slob dpons of Se ra and ’Bras spungs, the rin po che of Bod mkhar, the Paṇ chen Rig pa seng ge of Gtsang, Sangs rgyas ye shes of Dben sa, Bkra shis rin chen, Nam mkha’ byams pa, a master of Yar lungs, the sde pa of Gong dkar and Bkra shis rab brtan, who was sa skyong of Brag dkar. Next, after a stop in Rwa sgrengs, the journey continued towards Smab thang, where some more of those who accompanied him went back, like Lha btsun Bsod nams dpal bzang po, the Rin po che of Kun bzang rtse, invested with the office of Ma chen. Then, passing through camps of ’brog pa, Bsod nams rgya mtsho reached the ’Bri chu (i.e., the upper branch of the Yangzi Jiang) at Ngam tsho stod, i.e., Nga ring tsho, Rma chu, the branch of the Huang He born out of that lake. On the bank of the Dmar nag river, the Dpon Dger rgyas met him to do him honor; then he arrived in Ag chen thang, where many Mongols offered him rich gifts (Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Third Dalai Lama, 93a) and then to Rma chen spom ra, viz., to the main course of the Rma chu, where Sangs rgyas skyab, dpon of that place, welcomed him with great celebrations. After this Altan Khan’s first envoys came to meet him with about 800 horsemen: to this group belonged: Yong sha bui [sic] Bar ku tai ji, Kha than pā thur, Ma zin pakshi the Mthu med (Saghang Sechen, History of the Eastern Mongols, 227: chatan Bagbatur, Mahācin baksi) followed by a great crowd which had gathered there. Bsod nams rgya mtsho went on to A rig dkar po thang, where they offered him 1,000 horses and 1,000 heads of sheep, up to Hang nge, where he consecrated the temple of Phun tshogs rnam rgyal gling, recently built (Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Third Dalai Lama, 94a). Then great Mongol dignitaries arrived to meet him: about 3,000 persons, headed by Sechen Khung-Taiji and Dayan Noyan, both of royal lineage. He continued his journey through the territory of As dpal no yon, then, as he got nearer and nearer to the place where Altan rgyal po was waiting for him, meetings and rich homages succeeded one another more frequently. Finally the Chos rje Brtson grus bzang po came to receive him with all honors, whom he had previously sent to Altan’s court, and the Lo tsā ba Gu shri pak shi who acted as interpreter.
6. Viz., the so-called Tongkor Khutugtu.
7. On the occasion of the temple’s consecration there was a fresh exchange of gifts: a diadem (dbu rgyan) of gold, a vase, the tiara with the symbols of the five supreme Buddhas, implements for the liturgy of baptism, like the vase for blessed water, etc., a seal made out of a srang of gold having engraved upon it the figure of a five-clawed dragon and the inscription, in Mongol characters Rdo rje ’chang ta la’i bla ma tham ka, “seal of the Ta la’i bla ma Vajradhara” … its container of silver, a cape ornamented with pearls, yellow silk mantles, ornamented with five-taloned dragons’ claws, internally lined with leather (’bol rgan: bol gong, bol gar, see Sarat Chandra Das, A Tibetan-English Dictionary [Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1973], s.v. and Berthold Laufer, “Loan Words in Tibetan,” T’oung Pao, second series, 17, no. 4/5 [1916]: 49, 166), a waistcoat of yellow silk tābun, lined internally with leather, pillows and such things.
8. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Third Dalai Lama, 97a.
10. This is how Zhang Tingyu, et al., Mingshi [History of the Ming] (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1930–37), chap. 231, 4a, relates these events. “Then (first Zhengde year, 1506) the Emperor was deceived by recent rumors, according to which in Dbus and Gtsang there was a monk who was able to know the three times: the men of that country called him a living Buddha. The Emperor was glad and wished to know him and he examined the ancient events when, in the times of Yongle and Xuande, Chen Cheng and Hou Xian entered the barbarians’ country (Tibet). (The Emperor) ordered the eunuch Liu Yun to go and meet him. The Minister Liangchu (on whom see Zhang Tingyu, History of the Ming, chap. 190) and others said, “The teachings prevailing in Tibet (Xifan) are bad and do not correspond to those of the Classics. The Court of our ancestors sent envoys (in those countries) and this took place because, as in those times the world began to be well-ordered, it intended, through those (envoys), to educate fools and check barbarians. (Our ancestors) did not believe in the doctrines of those (peoples) and did not respect them.
“Later, there was peace and many emperors succeeded one another for many generations; only, as (the barbarians) sent envoys to the court, they offered gifts (in exchange), but they never lightly sent their envoys to travel in those lands. Now, if this eunuch is suddenly sent as an official envoy to honor those monks, the court and people, seeing this, will be astonished and (the eunuch) Yun will ask up to several tens of thousands of measures of salt and will begin to ask that hundreds of horses and boats be given him. He will naturally smuggle salt, harassing the stations, and he will wrong officers and private persons. Now in (Sichuan) brigandage seems to have subsided; epidemics do not yet arise, the officers have no reserves, but he will certainly wish to extort money wrongfully from military men and from the people. The latter will bravely give themselves up to adventures. Once more brigands will appear. Moreover, when from Tianchuan (now Tianchuan Xian, in Sichuan) and from Liufan one crosses the frontier, it is necessary to travel for several tens of thousands of li, for the space of several years. But on the high roads there are absolutely no mail stations. Where then will they rest? If in the middle of the roads they meet with brigands, how can they defend themselves? This is tantamount to insulting China’s prestige, and receiving insults from barbarous foreigners. Such a thing is not possible. We cannot write the letters the emperor has ordered us to write …
“The emperor paid no attention (to these representation[s]. When Liu Yun arrived) … the living Buddha (Dge ’dun rgya mtsho) fearing that China should wish to harm him, went into hiding and did not show himself. The officials became angry and wanted to take him by force. By night the barbarians attacked them. Two officers fled and about a hundred men died. The wounded were half as many. Yun, riding a fast horse, rapidly fled, thus avoiding death. When he got to Chengdu, he forbade them to speak (of what had happened) and reported to the emperor in an untruthful letter. When the letter arrived, the Emperor Wuzong [d. 1521] had died. Shizong called Yun back and handed him to the judges for punishment.
“In the Jiajing period (1522–1567) the Fawang sent several times offerings of tributes, which came uninterruptedly to Shizong’s court. At that time there was (in Tibet) the monk Suonan Jianzuo (Bsod nams rgya mtsho) who knew the past and the future. They called him the living Buddha. The Shunyi wang Anda (Altan Qaghan) held him in great consideration and had much faith in him. In the seventh year of the Wanli period (1579) with the pretext of going to meet the living Buddha, (marching) westward he invaded Wala (Kalmuks, see Zhang Tingyu, History of the Ming, chap. 328) but he was defeated. This monk turned him from his inclination to slay and advised him to return to the East. Anda also induced this monk to establish relations with China; from Ganzhou (today Zhangye in Gansu), he sent a letter to Zhang Zhuzheng (the Chief Minister of the Emperor Wanli; Zhang Tingyu, History of the Ming, chap. 213, 14–22) giving himself the name of Shijia Muni Biqui (Śākyamuni Bhikṣu) and, trying to establish with China the relations of a tributary, he sent ceremonial gifts. Zhuzheng dared not accept them and informed the emperor. The latter ordered the gifts to be accepted and allowed that tribute. From that time China knew that there was a living Buddha. This monk possessed extraordinary capacities, by which he was able to subdue men. All the barbarians followed his teaching. Then the Dabao fawang and the Shanhua wang and the other princes revered him and called themselves his disciples. From this time the Western countries acknowledged themselves obedient to this monk. The barbarian princes had then a nominal authority and were no longer able to issue orders. …”
11. King Sa tham is a descendant of one of Ge sar’s rivals (see Alexandra David-Neel, La vie surhumaine de Gésar de Ling [The Superhuman Life of Gesar of Ling] [Paris: Adyar, 1935], 264). The scene upon which these events are said to have taken place is, according to Mme. David-Neel, the Lijiang region, north of Yunnan, Zhongdian and Adunze. According to Blo bzang rgya mtsho, the country of ’Jam should be placed a little more to the north, towards Batang/Litang (on the relations between Sa tham of ’Jam and the third Dalai Lama see Saghang Sechen, History of the Eastern Mongols, 241). The Bum nag thang is in the environs of the Bum la, west of the Yangzi Jiang.
12. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Third Dalai Lama, 100a.
13. But in the text: bha si.
14. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Third Dalai Lama, 102b.
15. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Third Dalai Lama, 102b.
16. ’Phags pa shing kun has nothing to do with the one of Nepal.
17. The latter is the great-grandfather of the Mongol historian Saghang Sechen; he died in 1581, a year after this visit of Bsod nams rgya mtsho. Antoine Mostaert, Ordosica, Bulletin of the Catholic University of Peking, no. 9 (Peking: Catholic University of Peking, 1934), 56. On this visit see Saghang Sechen, History of the Eastern Mongols, 249. Dayan Noyan was a Tümed chief.
18. The same as ’Ombu C’uhur-Noyon, in Huth, History of Buddhism in Mongolia, 1:143, 2:228.
19. Saghang Sechen, History of the Eastern Mongols, 255, Amutai Chungtaidschi.
20. Saghang Sechen, History of the Eastern Mongols, 225, Nomun Jeke wadschra Chagan.
21. Cfr. Huth, History of Buddhism in Mongolia, 1:59, 233; Saghang Sechen, History of the Eastern Mongols, 257; Henry Serruys, “Pei-lou Fong-sou: Les coutumes des esclaves septentrionaux de Siao Ta-Heng” [The Customs of the Northern Slaves], Monumenta Serica 10 (1945): 139.
22. Blo bzang rgya mtsho’s spelling is always uncertain: now Thu med, now Mthu med.
23. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, ’Jig rten dbang phyug thams cad mkhyen pa yon tan rgya mtsho dpal bzang po’i rnam par thar pa nor bu’i ’phreng ba [Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama Yönten Gyatso (1589–1616)], in The Collected Works (Gsung-’bum) of the Vth Dalai Lama, Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, vol. 8 (Nya) (Gangtok: Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology, 1992), 14a.
24. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 14b.
25. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 16a.
26. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Third Dalai Lama, 99. [Editor’s note: Gushri represents Chinese guoshi, meaning “dynastic preceptor,” though by this time it had become merely another high religious title, rather than indicating a direct relationship of teacher and student between a lama and an emperor.]
27. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 16a.
28. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 16b.
29. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 21a.
30. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 22b.
31. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 23–24.
32. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 27a.
33. He was the religious patron of princes of Sam ’grub rtse; he was invited, together with his son, by the three sons of Zhing bshag Tshe brtan rdo rje, the founder of the princes of Gtsang’s dynasty.
34. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 29b.
35. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 31.
36. In 1604 came the invitation of the chief of Gong ri dkar po (who was called Lha gzigs mi’i dbang po, like the king of Sne’u gdong) Bka’ brgyud rnam par rgyal ba (Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 31b); followed by that of Dgye re lha btsun (Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 33a) and that of Skyid shod, extended to him by the Sa skyong g.yul rgyal nor bu, uncle and nephew (Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 33b).
Yon tan rgya mtsho accepted and then continued his tour towards Mal gro, Rin chen gling chos sde, ’Ol kha; the lay and religious communities of Rdzing phyi, that of Lcang ra, Grum mda’, Bang rim, then came to do him homage. Having returned to Skyid shod (Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 34) and then again to ’Bras spungs, we find him in 1606 in Yar lungs, in ’Phyong rgyas, in Stag rtse, invited there by the prince Bsod nams grags pa, and next in Ri bo sde chen, ’Phyong gyas, Phag sde, Dpal ri sgrub sde, Bkra shis bde chen, Chos lam ring pa and other monasteries which had no prejudices as to system.
He went on to Mkhar thog, Sne’u gdong and other convents, large and small, like Rtse tshogs, Dkon gnyer, Ras chung phug, Ri bo chos gling, Bkra shis chos sde (Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 35). He then conferred baptism to Rtse zhabs drung rin po che Lha gzigs Mi pham Dbang sgyur rgyal po, and was then invited by Thogs mkhan chen pa Rin chen rgya mtsho, visited Rtse thang, went to the sde pa of Rgya ri rdzong and thence continued through Rong chad dkar, E ri sgo chos rdzong, Yar rgyab, where Thu mi sam bhota’s descendants ruled; received there with great honor by Srid gsum rnam rgyal, he next passed to Rgyal chen gling, Dol lhun grub (Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 36b), Lhun po rtse in Gtsang; finally he returned to ’Bras spungs.
37. The Dalai Lama’s itinerary went through U yug lung, Shangs Ri bo dge ’phel, Rtse gdong, Sa skya, where he was invited by ’Jam dbyangs kun dga’ bsod nams lhun grub bkra shis grags pa rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po, up to Bkra shis lhun po, where he was received with great honors by the Paṇ chen Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan.
38. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 38b.
39. On his way back Yon tan rgya mtsho passed through Lhun po rtse, accepted invitations from the sde pa of Rin chen rtse, the prince or Rgyal mkhar rtse, the zhabs drung of Gnas rnying Ngag dbang gi dbang po; the Lord of Rgyal Khang chen po and Gong ri dkar po (Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 40–41).
40. The fifth Dalai Lama wrote a brief biography of Dkon mchog chos phel, his lama and guardian until he came of age. He belonged to the Yar rgyab clan (Fifth Dalai Lama, ’Jam dpal dbyangs chos kyi rje dkon mchog chos ’phel gyi rtogs brjod mkhas pa’i rnga rgyan [Biography of Könchok Chöpel (1573–1646)], in The Collected Works (Gsung-’bum) of the Vth Dalai Lama, Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, vol. 8 [Nya] [Gangtok: Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology, 1992], 3) and was born from Bkra shis rnam rgyal and Lha mo in the year chu bya, 1575; he died at seventy-two in the year shing spre’u, 1644. At the age of eight he took the first vows in the Sa skya pa monastery Bkra shis chos gling, with the Rin po che Bsod nams rgyal mchog, and he was then baptized by the name of Yon tan rnam rgyal. Having completed his religious education with Grum mda’ pa Chos rje Blo bzang chos ’phel, at the age of twelve he took monastic vows and was called Dkon mchog chos phel. Among the monasteries where he studied are mentioned: Rtse thang-Skyid shod, Dpal gsang phu, Sne’u thog, the latter in the territory of Skyid shod. He had as his masters, among others, the Chos rje rin po che Dpal ’byor rgya mtsho, who in the year me spre’u, 1596, when he was twenty-four, imparted perfect initiation to him, the Chos rje of Stag lung brag, whom he met when he went for the second time to Rtse thang, Ngag dbang chos kyi rgyal mtshan, Khri chen of Ri bo dga’ ldan, the ācārya of Ra ba stod Rab byams pa Blo gros rgyal mtshan, Don grub rin chen of Skyor mo lung, Byams pa chos mchog of Dwags po, Dge ’dun rnam rgyal of Rdzing phyi, etc.
Having become famous for his great learning, he was invited by the gong ma of Sne’u gdong rtse and by the prince of ’Phyong rgyas. His meeting with Yon tan rgya mtsho took place in ’Bras spungs, when this Dalai Lama was coming back from his tour in the Gtsang region.
He had a preeminent part in concluding peace between Mongols and Tibetans when the latter invaded Tibet in 1621. See Sangs rgyas rgya mtsho, Dpal mnyam med ri bo Dga’ ldan pa’i bstan pa zhwa ser cod pan ’chang ba’i ring lugs chos thams cad kyi rtsa ba gsal bar byed pa bai dur ser po’i me long [A History of the Gelukpa Tradition, the Yellow Beryl] (Zhol Edition), 74.
41. See the translation of Ye shes dpal ’byor Sum pa mkhan po’s Dpag bsam ljon bzang in Giuseppe Tucci, Tibetan Painted Scrolls (Rome: Libreria dello Stato, 1949), 2:654.
42. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Rgyal kun ’dus pa’i ngo bo khyab bdag he ru ka ngur smrig gar gyis rnam par rol pa gdan gsum tshang ba’i sde dpon rje btsun bla ma dbang phyug rab brtan bstan pa’i rgyal mtshan dpal bzang po’i rtogs pa brjod pa bdud rtsis za ma tog [Biography of Wangchuk Rapten Tenpé (1558–1636)], in The Collected Works (Gsung-’bum) of the Vth Dalai Lama, Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, vol. 9 (Ta) (Gangtok: Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology, 1992), 34.
43. Ngag dbang kun dga’ bsod nams, Khams gsum gyi ’dren pa dam pa grub mchog gi ded dpon ’jam pa’i dbyangs bsod nams dbang po’i rnam par thar pa bcud kyi thigs phreng rab tu ’phel ba’i dgos ’dod ’byung ba’i chu gter [Life of Sönam Wangpo], in The Biographies of Sa skya Lo tshā ba ’jam dpa’i rdo rje (1485–1533), Sṅags ’chaṅ grags pa blo gros (1563–1617), and ’Jam dbyangs bsod nams dbagn po (1559–1621) (Dehradun, U.P.: Sakya Centre, 1984), 28.
44. Ngag dbang kun dga’ bsod nams, Life of Sönam Wangpo, 42a.
45. Ngag dbang kun dga’ bsod nams, Life of Sönam Wangpo, 55a.
46. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Biography of Könchok Chömpel, 11a.
47. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Zur thams cad mkhyen pa chos dbyings rang grol gyi rnam thar theg mchog bstan pa’i shing rta [Life of Chöying Rangdröl (1604–1669)], in The Collected Works (Gsung-’bum) of the Vth Dalai Lama, Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, vol. 9 (Ta) (Gangtok: Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology, 1992), 46b.
48. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of Chöying Rangdröl, 43a.
49. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Biography of Könchok Chömpel, 12b.
50. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Za hor gyi ban de ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho’i ’di snang ’khrul pa’i rol rtsed rtogs brjod kyi tshul du bkod pa du ku’u la’i gos bzang las glegs bam dang po [Autobiography of the Fifth Dalai Lama], in The Collected Works (Gsung ’bum) of the Vth Dalai Lama, Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, vol. 5 (Nga) (Gangtok: Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology, 1992), 70a.
51. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 45b.
52. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 46b.
53. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 48b.
54. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 48b.
55. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 49a: ’U shu wang. Huth, History of Buddhism in Mongolia, 2:321: Zhun shu wang. On this transcription see Laufer, “Loan Words in Tibetan,” 432.
56. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Life of the Fourth Dalai Lama, 49a.
57. These events are also mentioned by Padma dkar po in his autobiography: Padma dkar po (1527–1592), Sems dpa’ chen po padma dkar po’i rnam thar thugs rje chen po’i zlos gar [Biography of Pema Karpo], in Collected Works (gsung ’bum) of Kun mkhyen Padma dkar po, vol. 3 (Darjeeling: Kargyud Sungrab Nyamso Khang, 1973–1974), 45, 96.
58. On the wars of Byang see Ngag dbang kun dga’ bsod nams, Life of Sönam Wangpo, 28ff.
59. Tāranātha, Rgyal khams pa tā ra nā thas bdag nyid kyi rnam thar nges par brjod pa’i deb gter shin tu zhib mo ma bcos lhug pa’i rtogs brjod [Autobiography of Tāranātha], in Rje btsun Tā ra nā tha’i gsung ’bum, vol. 1 (Ka) (Phun tshogs gling edition), 46.
60. Tāranātha, Autobiography of Tāranātha, 27.