Each of the first seven incarnations in the Dalai Lama lineage made a tremendous impact on the course of Tibetan history. The importance of the Dalai Lama office as a socially and politically relevant force seemed to make a quantum leap forward with each successive incarnation.
This success story took a temporary pause with the death of the Seventh in 1757. Not until the Thirteenth incarnation appeared in 1876 would the Dalai Lamas again play any significant role. Indeed, most of the incarnations that followed the Seventh died young—five incarnations came and went between 1758 and 1875, a period of only 117 years—and thus were not around long enough to manifest many visible accomplishments.
The Eighth Dalai Lama was an exception in this regard.1 He lived almost as long as the Seventh. However, whereas the Seventh had overshadowed all other lamas of his generation, the Eighth was overshadowed by many others. Any of a dozen Gelukpa lamas of his period rose above him in both spiritual prestige and political accomplishments. The Panchen Lama, the Demo Tulku and Kachen Yeshey Gyaltsen are but three of these. The list could be greatly extended.
The ambiguity that surrounded his persona crystallized in two sayings that became prevalent at the time. These played on two Tibetan terms: gyalwa, which is a Tibetan translation for the Sanskrit term vira, a synonym for a buddha; and gyalpo, which is the Tibetan word for “king.”
The first of these, gyalwa, literally means “victor.” It conveys the sense that a buddha is victorious over the obscurations that are the afflictive emotions, as well as over the negative karmic instincts stemming from them. He is also victorious in the sense of having succeeded in totally eliminating the obscurations to omniscience.
The popular name for all the early Dalai Lamas was Jey Tamchey Khyenpa, or “Omniscient Master.” Someone going to an audience with any of the early
Dalai Lamas would say “I am going for an audience with Jey Tamchey Khyenpa.” However, the epithet Gyalwa Rinpochey, or “Precious Victor,” had gradually come into use and was prevalent by the time of the birth of the Eighth Dalai Lama. I suspect that this occurred during the lifetime of the Fifth Dalai Lama, although I cannot establish the exact time. Conditions would suggest that it happened after the Fifth became supreme chieftain in 1642.
To make a long story short, during the life of the Eighth Dalai Lama two sayings emerged that served to undermine the authority and prestige of the Dalai Lama office. The first of these claimed, “He is a gyalwa, not a gyalpo” (i.e., “He is a buddha, not a king”). The second stated the converse, “He is a gyalpo, not a gyalwa” (i.e., “He is a king, not a buddha”). The first saying undermined the Eighth’s credibility in the role of temporal chieftain; the second undermined his credibility as spiritual chieftain. His problem was that forty percent of Tibet said the former, and forty said the latter. Only twenty percent gave him kudos in both spiritual and secular spheres. Very few people considered him competent to fulfill both roles.
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1 once asked the present Dalai Lama for his thoughts on the matter. His Holiness replied that there were, in his personal opinion, a number of reasons for this.
The first was historical. The people at the time held a belief that there would only be seven Dalai Lama incarnations. Several prophecies seemed to point to this conclusion, including two that were made by the Second Dalai Lama. None of these prophecies was explicit in this regard, but the interpreters of prophecies held that this was their conclusive meaning.
The main prophecy from the Second Dalai Lama that His Holiness was referring to was spoken when the Second was in his sixth year. At that time, the Second Dalai Lama had spontaneously sung a rather long mystical song. This concluded with the following verse,
Although Jey Tamchey Khyenpa (i.e., the First Dalai Lama) had completely flooded
This world with the sublime nectars of Dharma,
He did not complete all his plans.
Therefore for seven incarnations he will come
To work for the beings of this world
Before melting into the stainless infinity sphere.
People linked this verse to several prophecies in the Book of the Kadampa Masters that mention incarnations of Avalokiteshvara and their works. One in particular states,
An incarnation of Avalokiteshvara will work for seven lifetimes To benefit the black-haired peoples of Tibet.
Neither of these two passages conclusively means that there would be only seven Dalai Lamas. The first passage, for example, could refer to seven incarnations dedicating themselves to a particular sphere of activity, such as establishing Tibet as a nation. The reality of the matter was that Tibet had become firmly established as a nation only during the lifetime of the Seventh Dalai Lama; the Tibet that the Seventh left behind when he died in 1757 is very much the same as the Tibet that endured until the twentieth century.
There is no doubt that a conference was held after the death of the Seventh with the purpose of deciding whether or not to look for and enthrone an Eighth Dalai Lama. The possibility that the tradition had run its course and should be discontinued was certainly discussed.
In the end, the decision was made to continue the legacy, and a search committee was formed with the objective of identifying a reincarnation.
Nonetheless the Eighth was never accorded the same spiritual respect as had been given to the early incarnations, and many people regarded him as a mere stand-in of convenience.
In my interview with His Holiness the present Dalai Lama on this issue, he continued by elucidating a second obstacle that he felt limited the apparent success of the Eighth Dalai Lama. This one was spiritual in nature.
His Holiness pointed out that all the early Dalai Lamas had combined Gelukpa contemplative training with the shamanic traditions of the Nyingmapa School. This had worked well for them not only on a personal spiritual level but also in terms of the respect that they received from other sects. Moreover, the Lhasa aristocracy mostly belonged to the Nyingma sect, so it also gave the early Dalai Lamas a warm place in the hearts of most aristocratic families.
His Holiness then stated that Kachen Yeshey Gyaltsen, the senior guru of the Eighth Dalai Lama, had strongly discouraged this “blending of lineages.” The Eighth Dalai Lama was thus prevented from receiving the Nyingmapa lineages that earlier Dalai Lamas had held. This limited him both spiritually and in terms of his popular appeal to the masses.
His Holiness concluded by saying that late in life the Eighth had tried to re-establish this Gelukpa-Nyingmapa blend of lineages that had characterized the approach of his predecessors. However, by then it was too late, and he passed away before he succeeded.
* * * *
In 1984 I was in Middlebury, Vermont, to attend a series of teachings being given by the present Dalai Lama at the university there.
One morning a group of young children from a local primary school was given an audience with His Holiness. It took place outside on the grass, with His Holiness seated in a chair and the children in front of him. A microphone was passed around, and the kids were invited to ask His Holiness any questions that they wished.
The children were very excited, and there was a lot of wrestling over the microphone. Everyone seemed to have a dozen questions. Then one child who had managed to claim the microphone asked, “Your Holiness, are you really the same person reincarnated for fourteen lifetimes?”
His Holiness looked very thoughtful and then replied, “Actually, I often think that from the First to the Seventh incarnations was one line, and from the Eighth to myself is another.”
The kids seemed to be more comfortable with this idea that his line of reincarnations was only half as long as they had been told in their prep class for the event. Seven is a more manageable number than fourteen.
Some years later I asked His Holiness about this extraordinary interview with the children of Vermont and his rather astonishing reply.
He laughed and replied that he was drawing on a myth that surrounded the Eighth’s life. According to the myth, the Seventh’s reincarnation could not be found, but the Tibetans wanted to continue the Dalai Lama office. They therefore picked up the reincarnation of another child who was considered to be an emanation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. This child was the reincarnation of Jamyang Chojey Tashi Palden, who was the founder of Drepung Monastery, a monastery with which all Dalai Lamas held a strong connection. This lama, as well as being an emanation of Avalokiteshvara, was regarded as a reincarnation of Lama Buton Rinchen Drubpa, the founder of the Zhalu School of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as of the Indian tantrika Krishnacharya.
His Holiness chuckled and then concluded by saying, “I have always felt very close to Buton and Krishnacharya, so perhaps there is some truth to the rumor.
Thus it is clear that the Eighth Dalai Lama is something of an enigmatic figure in Tibetan history.
This being said, I would like to add that I nonetheless consider him to be one of the greats in the line. Rather than buck the tide of his times and situation, he utilized it as an opportunity to enjoy the quiet and simple life of an almost ordinary Buddhist monk. Headline dramas had not been thrust into his hands as they had with earlier Dalai Lamas, and he made no attempt to create them. Instead, he left the dramas and their glory to other lamas of his day, all of whom he knew well, and concentrated on the little things.
X- * X- X-
Shortly after the Seventh Dalai Lama passed away, various Tibetan spiritual and secular leaders held conference, as described above. Once the question of whether or not to search for another Dalai Lama was resolved, there were other issues to address. These included the question of who should lead the country in his absence, and speak for him in his minority years.
The Fifth Dalai Lama had been the first to assume both spiritual and secular leadership of Tibet when he was appointed to this central position in 1642. This had largely been accomplished due to the wise efforts of his chief manager, Sonam Chopel. Sonam Chopel had in fact handled all secular affairs for the Great Fifth, and was given the title “Desi,” or “viceroy.” Throughout the Great Fifth’s life he always relied upon a viceroy. As we saw in earlier chapters, when he passed away in 1682 his viceroy Desi Sangyey Gyatso ruled in his place, and then oversaw the search for and enthronement of the Sixth Dalai Lama. Desi Sangyey Gyatso concealed the death of the Great Fifth for almost fifteen years, an act that resulted in the invasion of the Mongolian warlord Lhazang Khan in 1703 and a fifteen-year loss of Tibetan independence. The Sixth Dalai Lama was deposed by Lhazang Khan, and possibly put to death by him. Meanwhile, Lhazang Khan installed a puppet Dalai Lama in the Sixth’s place in Lhasa. The Khan ruled through his puppet until the former was put to death by the Dzungar Mongols in 1717. A few years later, aided by the Manchu emperor, the Dzungars were evicted and Tibet once again achieved self-rule.
Thus when the Fifth and Sixth Dalai Lamas passed away, there was no debate over who should rule immediately after their deaths and during the minorities of their successors. Desi Sangyey Gyatso took charge after the death of the Great Fifth, and Lhazang Khan ruled after deposing the Sixth.
The death of the Seventh, however, presented no clear direction. As we saw in an earlier chapter, during much of the Seventh’s life Tibet was ruled by various aristocratic factions. Unlike the Great Fifth, the Seventh did not leave behind a strong and trusted manager or viceroy, nor was his death kept secret. And unlike the Sixth, he had not been torn from office, but died from ostensibly natural causes.
The group of spiritual and secular leaders who met after the death of the Seventh decided that a high monk should be appointed to rule as regent in the Dalai’s Lama’s absence. The lama who was chosen was the Demo Tulku Delek Gyatso, who resided at the Tengyeling Monastery. This Demo Tulku, who had been an important disciple of the Seventh Dalai Lama, became the first official “Dalai Lama Regent.” The office of Desi, or viceroy, was officially dissolved. From then until today the office of Gyaltsab, or “Regent,” has been the method used to represent the Dalai Lama after an incumbent passes away.
The regent is usually appointed within days of the death of a Dalai Lama, and heads the Dalai Lama office during the time of the latter’s rebirth, usually overseeing the search for the reincarnation and enthronement of the new incumbent. He also represents the Dalai Lama’s duties in overseeing spiritual and political concerns for the twenty or so years of the new incarnation’s training.
Should a regent die during a Dalai Lama’s minority, another is immediately appointed, chosen from among the high reincarnate lamas of the time.
Demo Tulku served as regent until he passed away twenty years later in 1777. By that time he had managed to successfully identify and enthrone the Eighth Dalai Lama, as well as oversee much of the boy’s education and training. The official biography of the Eighth Dalai Lama was composed by Demo Tubten Jigmey Gyatso, who was the reincarnation of the regent, Demo Tulku Delek Gyatso.
The Eighth Dalai Lama was born in Tobgyal Lhari Gang, in Upper Tsang. Sonam Dargyey was his father’s name and Puntsok Wangmo his mother s. He entered the womb in the Fire Bull Year of the thirteenth sexantry, i.e., 1757» not long after the Seventh’s passing.
For several days after his conception, his mother’s body and also the inside and outside of the family’s house were clothed in rainbows and permeated by the fragrance of sandalwood. These and many other such auspicious signs occurred, indicating that the child was a bodhisattva consciously taking a special birth in order to benefit living beings.
In particular, one day while his mother was having tea with a ritualist lady friend, a five-colored rainbow spontaneously appeared and gradually dissolved into the mother’s body.
Both parents experienced many auspicious dreams. For example, just after the child was conceived, the father dreamed that a monk came to him and offered him a golden vajra. On another occasion he dreamed that a white person appeared, holding a vase filled with water, and poured it over him as though cleansing him in a shower of nectars. Also, the mother dreamed that an enormous sun appeared in the cloudless sky, surrounded by smaller suns. The large sun dissolved into her body.
One evening when the youths of the village were drinking and dancing, they spontaneously composed a song:
On the peak of the sacred mountain In the high mountain ranges A lotus flower is born, and illuminates The darkness of the world.
This song achieved local popularity and became known to all. Later div-inators proclaimed that it was inspired by the birth of the Eighth Dalai Lama.
On another occasion the youths spontaneously composed another song that achieved local popularity. Again, it referred to the Eighth Dalai Lama’s birth in Tsang:
A holy being has come to Tsang,
And with that has come abundance and vitality.
The sun rises in the east;
This sun has arisen in Tsang,
But its light shines toward central Tibet.
These are not the rays of the sun,
But the radiant countenance of the Holy One.
This great radiance of the Master Emanates to the Potala.
The actual birth occurred on the twenty-fifth day of the sixth month of the Earth Tiger Year, or 1758. This is one of the auspicious days of the lunar cycle, a day on which the angels and angelettes fill the world with mystic song. The sky was filled with rainbows, and a sweet fragrance filled the air.
The protective deities watched over the boy from the very time of his birth and his parents and others near to him guarded his life well. In particular, on the day of his birth several crows appeared on the house, and remained there as guardians for several days to follow. These were later said to be emanations of Mahakala, the Protector deity who had guarded all previous Dalai Lamas.
Within a few days of the child’s birth he sat up in meditation, crossed his legs and gazed into space as though deep in contemplation. Soon afterward, he began to exhibit other such extraordinary traits.
From the age of two onward, the boy frequently spoke of his previous life in the Potala and expressed the wish to be taken there. He also insisted on sleeping separately from his parents, a sign of his previous renunciation of worldly life. In addition, he often spoke of going to Tashi Lhunpo Monastery.
* * * *
Meanwhile, back in Lhasa, efforts to find the Dalai Lama reincarnation were underway. One day the Nechung medium went into a spontaneous trance and pronounced, “I am the Nechung Dharma Protector. The celestial jewel, the master Tongwa Donden, has arrived in Lhari Gang. I, Dorjey Drakden, pay homage to him and request him to reveal the four enlightenment activities.” Thus the Nechung Oracle spontaneously proclaimed the birthplace of the Eighth Dalai Lama.
Soon a team of monks was sent to the Lhari Gang area to gather the names of children born with auspicious signs. The boy born in Tobgyal Lhari Gang was included on this list. The preliminary divinations indicated that he was a strong candidate, so he became part of the shortlist. Consequently, a delegation arrived from Lhasa to examine him.
The boy responded to the presence of the delegates from Lhasa with complete familiarity and ease. This delegation included a representative of the regent who had been appointed after the Seventh’s death, as well as a representative of the Panchen Lama, who had been a disciple of the Seventh Dalai Lama. Also present were the lord chamberlain and chief attendants of the previous Dalai Lama, as well as monk delegates from Ganden, Drepung and Sera monasteries. The results of these tests were again very positive.
When the boy was in his third year, the Panchen Lama traveled from Tashi Lhunpo to central Tibet, where he had been requested to consecrate the golden reliquary that had been built to house the Seventh Dalai Lama’s mummified body. The boy’s parents were requested to bring their child to Ganden Rabgyeling Monastery, where the Panchen would be stopping over on his travels.
The group carrying the special child arrived at the monastery just as the monks in the temple were blowing conch shells to announce a prayer gathering. Simultaneously a rainbow suddenly appeared in the sky, seeming to begin at the monastery and stretch in the direction of the child’s birthplace. Demo Tulku’s biography of the Eighth states, “Although many important people had gathered to receive the Panchen Lama, the boy seemed to stand out among them all like a moon among stars.”
The time came for the audience, and the mother stepped before the Panchen Lama for a blessing. At the time, the child was strapped on her back in a shawl. He looked directly into the Panchen’s eyes and grabbed a rosary of mantra beads that the Panchen was wearing around his neck. This rosary had been given to the Panchen Lama by the previous Dalai Lama. The Panchen watched quietly as the child lifted it off his neck, took it in his tiny hands and began to spontaneously use it to recite mantras. He then rolled the beads in his hands, just as the previous Dalai Lama used to do.
That same day, the Seventh’s chamberlain offered the boy a scarf. He received it with a dignified smile, as though long familiar with the elderly chamberlain.
The next day, representatives of the three great monasteries—Ganden, Drepung and Sera—paid a visit to the child. The boy sat with great dignity when receiving them. When the chamberlain of the Seventh Dalai Lama sat down, the boy suddenly jumped into his lap with complete familiarity and began stroking his moustache and beard.
During this stay at the monastery, the boy visited the Panchen Lama every day, and on those occasions expressed immeasurable affection for the elderly lama. On an auspicious day, the Panchen offered him a set of robes, a lama hat, a vajra and bell set, and other objects, thereby creating a beneficial omen for his spiritual life.
The boy had never been in Ganden Rabgyeling Monastery before. At the time he was in his third year. Nevertheless, when he was taken through the main temple he correctly named the buddhas, bodhisattvas, tantric deities
and lineage masters depicted in all the statues and paintings, even though he had not seen these figures in the present lifetime. He also joined the monks in the prayers that they chanted during gatherings, participated in the tea ceremony, and chanted the appropriate liturgies without mistakes, although he had not heard them before.
In these and other ways he revealed that he was the true reincarnation of the Seventh Dalai Lama.
On the eleventh day of the sixth month, the Panchen Lama introduced the boy to the Buddhadharma by cutting his hair and offering him a set of monk’s robes. At that time the boy received the upasika ordination vows and the name Jetsun Lobzang Tenpai Wangchuk Jampel Gyatso Palzangpo, or Jampel Gyatso for short. This ordination and naming ceremony was performed for auspicious purposes, because the boy was not yet old enough to receive vows. At the same time the Panchen also gave him many teachings and tantric initiations. Again, this was for auspicious purposes, and was done in order to generate positive instincts within the young child’s mindstream.
On the tenth day of the seventh month of the Water Horse Year, or 1762, the Eighth Dalai Lama was officially enthroned. He was five years old at the time. The ceremony took place in the Potala, and was attended by all the high lamas and officials of the land. Shortly after this event, he received pre-novice ordination from the Panchen Lama, the omniscient Palden Yeshey. His life as a Buddhist monk had begun.
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Although the Panchen Lama was to give monastic ordination and many tantric initiations to the young Eighth Dalai Lama, the job of actually tutoring him would fall to others. Regent Demo Tulku and the Panchen Lama held a conference in order to discuss who would be best for the task. The Panchen recommended one of his own disciples, an unknown monk named Kachen Yeshey Gyaltsen. This lama, better known to history as the First Tsechokling, had made a twelve-year meditation retreat in the caves near the Everest region, and achieved high realization. After his retreats he had retired to the Kyirong Valley to the west of Mt. Everest, where he ran a meditation center and served the local people.2
Divinations were performed, and it was agreed to request Kachen Yeshey Gyaltsen to come to Lhasa. Kachen Yeshey Gyaltsen agreed, and became the principal tutor to the Eighth Dalai Lama.
Kachen Yeshey Gyaltsen was an intense monk steeped in the early Kadampa legacies of humility, simplicity and spiritual purity. He also had a mischievous streak in him. During his long years of retreat he had received very little patronage from his relatives and family, and had largely survived on what he could forage in the mountains. On several occasions he had almost starved to death, but rather than break his retreat and go begging he had persevered. Even after returning from retreat to the valley of his birth, he received little attention or support from his clansmen.
Now, as guru to the Eighth Dalai Lama, he had become a lama of great prestige, and consequently received not only a stipend from the Tibetan government but also offerings from the thousands of pilgrims who came to Lhasa every month, most of whom would request an audience with and blessings from him in his role as the Eighth’s guru.
One day a large group of pilgrims arrived from his homeland, declaring themselves to be his relatives and asking for a meeting with him. He arranged to host a banquet for them, but when his dish was served it was noticed that on it, instead of food, were piles of gold, silver and jewels. He stood up, prostrated to the dish, and said, “I bow to material wealth. Previously when I was an obscure monk meditating in the mountains I had neither friends nor loving relatives. Now that wealth and fame have come to me, I seem to have an abundance of both. I pay homage to wealth, creator of friends and relatives.” Kachen Yeshey Gyaltsen eventually became perhaps the greatest lama of his time. A prolific writer, he composed treatises on almost every major Buddhist topic. These were published by wood-block print shortly after his death, ensuring him a place of immortality in the annals of Tibetan literature.
* * * *
Regent Demo Tulku Delek Gyatso passed away on the twenty-second day of the first month of the Iron Bird Year, or 1777. The Eighth Dalai Lama was requested to assume the throne, but he declined on the grounds that his studies were not yet complete. Therefore, a new regent was appointed.
The lama chosen for the job was Tsemonling Ngawang Tsultrim, a former Ganden Tripa, or “Holder of the Ganden Throne.” This lama served as regent for a period of seven years, until the Wood Dragon Year, or 1784. He was well liked and fulfilled his duties effectively.
When the Eighth Dalai Lama was pressed to take the throne in 1781, he did so only on the grounds that Regent Tsemonling remain by his side and assist him. Therefore, Tsemonling Tulku assisted in the administration of Tibet for a further three years, after which time he was sent to Beijing to serve as the Dalai Lama’s envoy to the Manchu emperor.
The Eighth Dalai Lama therefore ruled Tibet jointly with the regent for three years, and then ruled solo for a further four years. However, he was not very happy with the worldly atmosphere that the job entailed, and after this time requested permission to retire from public office in order to make meditation retreat.
The lama chosen to rule in his stead was one Tatsak Tenpai Gonpo. He assumed office on the eighth day of the eighth month of the Iron Boar Year, or 1791. The Dalai Lama retired to a simple life of meditation, teaching and other spiritual activities.
* * * *
During the Eighth Dalai Lama’s early life, the Panchen Lama was invited by the Manchu emperor to come and teach in Beijing. Although the young Eighth Dalai Lama counseled against the idea on the grounds that his guru the Panchen was too old, and also that there was a high incidence of smallpox in China, the Tibetan elders were intimidated by the prestige of the invitation and pressed for permission for the Panchen to travel to China.
The Panchen therefore went to Beijing in 1779, where he was housed in the Yellow Palace that had been built for the Fifth Dalai Lama several generations earlier. The Panchen’s visit was very successful in that the Manchu leaders greatly loved and respected him, and this improved relations between Tibet and China. However, he contracted smallpox and died in Beijing in 1780.
The Eighth oversaw the search for his reincarnation, and also performed the monastic ordination and name-giving ceremonies for the child that was eventually recognized and enthroned. In this way, during the lifetime of the Eighth, the tradition of Yab Sey, or “Spiritual Father-Son” that existed between the Panchen and Dalai Lamas continued.
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Perhaps the most eccentric event that occurred in Tibet during the Eighth’s rule was the elimination of the reincarnation lama status of the Ninth Shamar Tulku. At the time the Shamarpa was one of the two senior incarnate lamas m the Karma Kargyupa School. Several of his earlier incarnations had been held in even greater esteem than the Karmapa, the official head of the sect.
The Shamar Lama was historically a somewhat controversial figure. The intrigues of the incarnation that lived during the time of the Second Dalai Lama almost caused the Karma Kargyu Sect to split in two, with one part led by him and the other by the Karmapa. The Ninth Shamarpa once more brought controversy to his office, only this time it got his reincarnation status officially banned.
The Ninth Shamarpa had been born as the younger brother of the Panchen Lama. The Panchen was one of the highest lamas in the Gelukpa School, while the Shamarpa was one of the highest in the Karma Kargyu. After the Panchen passed away in Beijing in 1780, a conflict developed over the handling of his estate.
In Tibet all responsibility in such matters usually falls to the eldest living brother, and the Panchen Lama left several brothers. With a high lama, most of his property would remain intact for the next reincarnation, but a portion of it could be distributed among living relatives. In this case, the eldest brother decided to cut his younger brother the Shamarpa out of any inheritance, probably on the grounds that the latter had become the head of his own monastery and estate, and thus was already wealthy in his own right. Moreover, the Shamarpa belonged to a different sect from that of the Panchen Lama.
Tensions built over the years to follow. Then the Shamarpa suddenly left on a teaching tour of Nepal. Shortly thereafter a letter arrived in Lhasa from the Gurkha king of Nepal claiming that the Shamarpa was being held hostage by him, and would only be released after a large ransom was paid. The Shamarpa sent a letter directly to the Eighth Dalai Lama requesting him to intervene and see that the ransom was paid.
Lhasa decided that the seeming kidnapping (lama-napping?) was a hoax, and that the Shamarpa and Gurkha king were acting in collusion. Consequently they refused to pay the ransom. No doubt they were also concerned over the issue of setting a precedent with the situation; if they paid this ransom, it would mean that any lama in remote Himalayan kingdoms would be fair game for kidnapping and ransom.
As expected, the Gurkhas did not harm the Shamarpa. Instead, they invaded Tibet with a large military force, sacking Dzongkha and Shekhar, two towns on the route to Shigatsey, and also capturing the Nyanang and Kyirong valleys.
The Tibetan government then dispatched a military force that engaged the Gurkhas, and within a year the Tibetans had pushed them back to the Nepali border. This army was reinforced a few months later by a small army sent by the Manchu emperor. A peace treaty was drawn up between the two parties in the summer of 1789, with Tibet paying a tribute to Nepal in exchange for Nepal withdrawing its soldiers from Tibetan territory. The Shamarpa Lama sat as mediator at negotiations.
Needless to say, the Shamarpa’s role in the affair left a bad aftertaste in the mouths of the Tibetans. His strange relationship with the Gurkhas became even stranger in 1790 and 1791, when officials were sent to the border area to hammer out details of the treaty. Again, the Shamarpa was involved in arranging the meetings. This time the Tibetan officials were seized by the Gurkhas and carried off in chains. In early 1791, the young Panchen Lama was summoned to Lhasa for reasons of safety. A few months later, Shigatsey itself was captured by the Gurkhas, and Tashi Lhunpo, the monastery of the Panchen Lama, was seized and looted.
Probably all of Tibet would have fallen to the Gurkhas that summer, had it not been for the Eighth Dalai Lama’s presence. The Gurkhas had built a reputation for being fierce and bloodthirsty soldiers, and the small Tibetan army felt that it was no match for them. Lhasa was in a panic, and most of its population was preparing to flee the city.
It was on this occasion that the Eighth Dalai Lama showed his true qualities of leadership. During the chaos and frenzy of this crucial time he announced that he would be holding a prayer ceremony in the Jokhang Temple, and that everyone should join him. During the tea break at the ceremony he addressed the large crowd, declaring that he had no intentions whatsoever of leaving Lhasa himself, come what may. Everyone else could do as they felt best, but he himself was staying.
The calmness and strength of the Eighth Dalai Lama on this occasion undoubtedly saved Tibet from catastrophe. Had he not stood up at this time, Lhasa would have been sacked, and the country lost to the Gurkhas.
Instead, the Tibetan aristocracy were shamed into action. They quickly amassed an army and dispatched it to Shigatsey to counter the Gurkha offensive. By the late summer of 1792 the Gurkhas had again been expelled from Tibet.
Inspired by their victories, the Tibetan army continued into Nepali territory and considered sacking the Kathmandu Valley. This probably would have happened had not the uncle of the young Gurkha king pressed for peace negotiations, sidestepping the issue of Gurkha accountability by placing the blame for the misadventures on the intrigues of the Shamarpa Lama.
Shamarpa means “The Red Hat One,” referring to the red monastic hat that all members of the incarnation lineage wore as a symbol of their position. As a punishment for his role in instigating the two wars the Shamarpa’s famous red hat was confiscated from him and sent to Lhasa, where rumor states that it was buried under the front steps of the Jokhang Temple, so that all visitors to Tibet’s most sacred power site would have to step on it while entering the temple. To a Tibetan, who loves his hat more than a Texan loves his dog, this was a supreme insult. Whether the hat actually was buried there or not, and whether or not it still remains there, is a moot point. The mere rumor struck the Tibetans as a fate worse than capital punishment. Had the Shamarpa been given a choice of being beheaded for treason or of having his hat buried in a public place, he probably would have chosen the former.
In addition, the Shamarpa’s monastic properties at Yangpachen were confiscated, and official recognition of his future reincarnations was banned.
This ban remained in effect for almost two hundred years. In the 1960s the previous Karmapa, or official head of the Karma Kargyupa School, requested the present Dalai Lama to allow him to enthrone a young boy as the Shamarpa. The Dalai Lama consented, and the lineage was resurrected.
However, as modern day followers of Tibetan affairs will know, the legacy of controversy continues to shadow the Shamarpa office. After the Karmapa who had enthroned him passed away, the present Shamarpa attempted to take over his throne, thus coming into conflict with almost all other high lamas in the Karma Kargyu School.
In particular, it brought him into direct conflict with the Tai Situ Rinpochey, whose incarnation lineage has been second only to that of the Karmapa in the Karma Kargyupa since the banning of the Shamarpa incarnation back in the 1790s. Tai Situpa’s efforts led to the discovery and enthronement of the Karmapa’s reincarnation, which he effected in 1991 with the endorsement of the present Dalai Lama.
However, the Shamarpa then proceeded to recognize and enthrone an alternate candidate to the Karmapa throne, thus creating a major schism in the school. The candidate recognized by the present Dalai Lama and the Tai Situpa remained in Tibet until January of 2000, when he escaped into India, with the Shamarpa’s chosen candidate being in India. Because they were removed by such distance and political environments, the schism had been kept somewhat on a back burner. The escape of the Tibetan candidate has brought the confrontation to a head, with the Shamarpa’s role being placed under intense scrutiny.
Which Karmapa candidate incarnation will eventually assume the throne of the previous Karmapa is still unknown, although official recognition by the Dalai Lama certainly gives Tai Situpa’s candidate the upper hand.
The events surrounding the banning of the Shamarpa incarnation during the 1780s and 1790s during the lifetime of the Eighth Dalai Lama had the unfortunate side-effect of further alienating the Gelukpa and Karma Kargyu Schools. These two schools had developed ill feelings toward one another during the life of the Second Dalai Lama, largely due to the failed intrigues of the Fourth Shamarpa. The difficulties had worsened during the lives of the Fourth and Fifth Dalai Lamas, with the Karma Kargyu School resenting the success that the Gelukpa achieved during this period, and with the main patron of the Karma Kargyu—the king of Tsang—becoming an active oppressor of the Gelukpa, to the extent that his armies slaughtered hundreds of Gelukpa monks.
After the Fifth Dalai Lama became official head of Tibet in 1642, relations between the two schools became civil but decidedly cool, and remained as such until the Shamarpa incident with the Gurkhas during the lifetime of the Eighth Dalai Lama, when they once more took a downturn.
It had seemed that relations between the Gelukpa and Karma Kargyu had become fairly well repaired in recent years due to the hard work and excellent reputation of the present Dalai Lama, but the present squabble over the Karmapa’s reincarnation threatens to once more create unwanted complications.
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Although the young Eighth Dalai Lama was a good student and completed his studies in grand form, he does not jump out from the pages of Tibetan history as did his seven predecessors. His greatness was more subdued. His was a quiet strength.
Among his many accomplishments, he is most remembered for several building projects that he undertook. The most famous of these is the Norbu Lingka, better known to pilgrims to Lhasa as “The Summer Palace.” This complex of buildings served him and his future incarnations as a summer residence, with the Potala serving as a winter residence. The Norbu Lingka is a beautiful complex of temples, designed by the Eighth Dalai Lama to fit his vision of a more human Dalai Lama, as opposed to the monumental effect created by the enormous Potala. The gardens around the Norbu Lingka were designed to accommodate large gatherings, and the Eighth as well as future Dalai Lamas used them for public teaching events and for receiving groups of pilgrims.
The Eighth Dalai Lama also designed and built a beautiful little monastery in Lhasa for his beloved guru Kachen Yeshey Gyaltsen. Known as Tsechokling, it became the home residence of Kachen Yeshey Gyaltsen’s future reincarnations. The reincarnate line of this great guru gets its name from this monastery, becoming known as the “Tsechokling Tulkus.”
The Eighth did not write as prolifically as his predecessors had. His most remembered work is the very long biography that he composed of his guru Tsechokling Kachen Yeshey Gyaltsen. This had the effect of greatly elevating the status of Kachen Yeshey Gyaltsen in the annals of Tibetan history.
Tibetan accounts of the Eighth give him special credit for increasing the trend to monasticism in Tibetan Buddhism. He personally gave full ordination to some ten thousand monks, and gave novice ordination to tens of thousands more. He paid great attention to detail during these ordination ceremonies, often giving those he ordained extensive teachings on the paths leading to freedom and higher being.
Finally, on the eighteenth day of the tenth month of the Wood Mouse Year, or 1804, he passed away at the age of forty-seven.
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Only a dozen or so texts were produced by the Eighth Dalai Lama’s pen. Most of these are of an esoteric nature. In particular, he wrote extensively on the Highest Yoga Tantra system known as Mahamaya, or “The Great Illusion.” He is the only Dalai Lama to elucidate this rare tantric cycle, and his efforts in this direction contributed to its survival as a tradition.
The most popular of his writings, however, is a collection of prayers and spiritual songs written at the request of various disciples.
One in particular attracted my attention. The colophon to it reads, Written at the request of Chojey Lobzang Tenzin, Ngarampa Tenpa Rabgyal, Rabjampa Tsultrim Rabten and their community at the Ralai Meditation Hermitage.” It is typical of the kind of pithy advice given by meditation teachers to their students, usually to be used for recitation at the beginning or end of a meditation session. The simplicity of the style and clarity of the message is typical of the understated mood of the Eighth Dalai Lama.
Namo guru.
Homage to the spiritual master,
Male and female energies in harmony,
Manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the compassion of all buddhas, Emanating in accord with the needs of trainees.
Driven by karma and delusion since time immemorial,
I have wandered the three worlds and known great pain.
And even now I am caught in attachment to the world.
Show compassion to me, who is a sinker Falling to rebirth in the lowest of hells.
May I firmly establish the root of accomplishment By relying upon a supreme spiritual master who reveals The key points of the paths leading to enlightenment—
The complete and unmistaken ways of the sutras and tantras— And make the offering of practicing just as instructed.
This precious human body is an ornament with every beauty. May I live in awareness of its precious nature—
How it is hard to obtain and is easily lost—
And, never distracted by the superficial things of this life,
Always strive to extract its inner essence.
Body, possessions and even cherished friends and dear ones Are illusory, like the objects of a dream.
May I maintain awareness of how they are impermanent and illusory,
And always live as though at the threshold of death.
May I arouse the mind that is apprehensive of the sufferings Of the three lower realms of rebirth most difficult to bear,
And be inspired to train in the ways of karmic law,
And thus gain freedom from lower rebirth forever.
No matter where one wanders in the three worlds—
From the highest heaven to the lowest of hells—
One finds only all-pervading dissatisfaction.
May I transcend it all and find
That firm ground of liberation and spiritual joy.
All the living beings that one encounters Have been kind fathers and mothers to me in some past life. Therefore may I cultivate the ways of the great bodhisattva And place them on the path of liberation and enlightenment.
The spiritual master qualified by great compassion Has placed me in the doorway of the peerless path.
May I therefore cherish more than even my life The commitments and precepts of the training,
The very root of every spiritual growth.
The dawn of the tantric yogas of bringing
The three enlightenment qualities into one’s experience
Eradicates the darkness of birth, death and the bardo.
May I accomplish this mandala adorned with the marks and signs of perfection,
Which is free from the stains of the conventional mind.
Vajra recitation at the chakra at the heart Arrests the fluctuations caused by sun and moon,
Intensifying the four descending and four ascending joys.
May I accomplish this sublime tantric yoga in this very lifetime And bring the experience of integration to final fruition.
In brief, in this and in all my future lives
May I be constantly cared for by gurus and the gods,
And may I single-pointedly cultivate the essence
Of the sublime path praised by all enlightenment masters.
In all my lives may I never be parted
From the guiding presence of qualified masters.
May I always have access to the glory of the Dharma,
That I may complete the realizations of the stages and paths, And quickly gain the state of a Buddha Vajradhara.
Isultrim Gyatso, the Tenth Dalai Lama. Courtesy of The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey.