Thubten Gyatso (12 February 1876 – 17 December 1933) was the 13th
Dalai LamaThe Dalai Lama is a lineage of religious officials of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. "Lama" is a general term referring to Tibetan Buddhist teachers...
of
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
.
During 1878 he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. He was escorted to Lhasa and given his pre-novice vows by the
Panchen LamaThe Panchen Lama is the second highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism . The successive Panchen lamas form a tulku reincarnation lineage which are said to be the incarnations of Amitabha Buddha...
,
Tenpai WangchukTenpai Wangchuk , was the 8th Panchen Lama of Tibet.In 1822 the 10th Dalai Lama, was placed upon the Golden Throne and soon after his enthronement received his pre-novice ordination from Palden Tenpai Nyima, who gave him the name of Tsultrim Gyatso...
, and named "Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal". During 1879 he was enthroned at the
Potala PalaceThe Potala Palace is located in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region. It was named after Mount Potala, the abode of Chenresig or Avalokitesvara. The Potala Palace was the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala, India, after an invasion and failed uprising in 1959...
, but did not assume political power until 1895, after he had reached his majority.
Thubten Gyatso was an intelligent reformer who proved himself a skilful politician when Tibet became a pawn in
The Great GameThe Great Game is a term used for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia. The classic Great Game period is generally regarded as running approximately from the Russo-Persian Treaty of 1813 to the Anglo-Russian Convention of...
between
Russian EmpireThe Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
,
ChinaThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
, and the
British EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom, that had originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was...
. He was responsible for countering the
British expedition to TibetThe British expedition to Tibet during 1903 and 1904 was an invasion of Tibet by British Indian forces, seeking to prevent the Russian Empire from interfering in Tibetan affairs and thus gaining a base in one of the buffer states surrounding British India, by reasoning similar to that which had led...
, restoring discipline in monastic life, and increasing the number of
lay officialsIn religious organizations, the laity comprises all persons who are not clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the term lay priest...
to avoid excessive power being placed in the hands of the
monksA Bhikku , Bhikṣu is a fully ordained male Buddhist monastic. Female monastic is called Bhikkhuni . Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis keep many precepts: they live by the vinaya's framework of monastic discipline, the basic rules of which are called the patimokkha...
.
Agvan Dorzhiev
Agvan DorzhievAgvan Lobsan Dorzhiev, also Agvan Dorjiev or Dorjieff , was a Russian-born monk of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, sometimes referred by his scholarly title as Tsenyi Khempo...
, (1854–1938), a Khory
BuryatThe Buryats or Buriyads, numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia. They are the northernmost major Mongol group....
MongolianThe name Mongol specifies one or several ethnic groups, now mainly located in Mongolia, China, and Russia.-Definition:...
, and a Russian subject, was born in the village of Khara-Shibir, not far from Ulan Ude, to the east of
Lake BaikalLake Baikal is the world's second most voluminous lake, after the Caspian Sea. It is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the world with an average depth of 744.4 m and contains a total of roughly 20 percent of the world's surface fresh water...
. He left home during 1873 at nineteen to study at the Gelugpa monastery, Drepung, near
LhasaLhasa, and sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. It is located at the foot of Mount Gephel....
, the largest monastery in
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
. Having successfully completed the traditional course of religious studies, he began the academic Buddhist degree of Geshey Lharampa (the highest level of 'Doctorate of Buddhist Philosophy'). He continued his studies to become Tsanid-Hambo, or "Master of Buddhist Philosophy." He became a tutor and "debating partner" of the teenage Dalai Lama, who became very friendly with him and later used him as an envoy to Russia and other countries.
- "Obviously," the [Fourteenth] Dalai Lama said, "The Thirteenth Dalai Lama had a keen desire to establish relations with Russia, and I also think he was a little sceptical toward England at first. Then there was Dorjiev. To the English he was a spy, but in reality he was a good scholar and a sincere Buddhist monk who had great devotion to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama."
Military expeditions of Tibet by Britain (1904) and Qing (1910)
After the
British expedition of TibetThe British expedition to Tibet during 1903 and 1904 was an invasion of Tibet by British Indian forces, seeking to prevent the Russian Empire from interfering in Tibetan affairs and thus gaining a base in one of the buffer states surrounding British India, by reasoning similar to that which had led...
by
Sir Francis YounghusbandLieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, KCSI, KCIE was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer...
in early 1904, Dorzhiev convinced the Dalai Lama to flee to Urga in
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
, almost 2,400 km (1500 miles) to the northeast of Lhasa, a journey which took four months. The Dalai Lama spent over a year in Urga giving teachings to the
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
ns.
After the Dalai Lama fled, the
Qing dynastyThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
immediately proclaimed him deposed and again asserted sovereignty over Tibet and made claims over
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
and
BhutanThe Kingdom of Bhutan is a landlocked nation in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalaya Mountains and is bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by People's Republic of China. Bhutan is separated from the nearby state of Nepal to the west by...
as well. A peace treaty was signed at the Potala between Britain, the Qing
AmbanAmban is a Manchu word meaning "high official," which corresponds to a number of different official titles in the Qing imperial government...
, Nepalese and Bhutanese representatives and the Tibetan government on 7 September 1904. The provisions of the 1904 treaty were confirmed in a 1906 treaty signed between
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name and the state form of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927...
and China. The British, for a fee from the Qing court, also agreed "not to annex Tibetan territory or to interfere in the administration of Tibet", while China engaged "not to
permit any other foreign state to interfere with the territory or internal administration of Tibet".
During October 1906,
John Weston BrookeJohn Weston Brooke FRGS was a British military officer and explorer born at Fenay Hall, near Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England. He went to school at Repton. In 1898, he joined the Yorkshire Dragoons, a Yeomanry unit, and served with the Imperial Yeomanry in the Second Boer War. He was promoted to...
was the first Englishman to gain an audience with the Dalai Lama, and subsequently he was granted permission to lead two expeditions into Tibet. Also in 1906, Sir
Charles Alfred BellSir Charles Alfred Bell , born in Calcutta, was a British-Indian tibetologist. He was educated at Winchester College. After joining the Indian Civil Service, he was appointed Political Officer in Sikkim in 1908. He soon became very influential in Sikkimese and Bhutanese politics, and in 1910 he met...
, was invited to visit Thubten Chökyi Nyima, the 9th Panchen Lama at
TashilhunpoTashilhunpo Monastery , founded in 1447 by Gendun Drup, the First Dalai Lama, is a historic and culturally important monastery next to Shigatse, the second-largest city in Tibet....
, where they had friendly discussions on the political situation.
The Dalai Lama later stayed at the great
Kumbum MonasteryKumbum Monastery located in a narrow valley about seventeen miles southwest of Xining is a Buddhist monastery part of the historical Tibetan province of Amdo, now in Qinghai province of China...
near
XiningXining in Chinese or Silung in Tibetan is the capital of Qinghai Province, People's Republic of China.-Geography:...
and then travelled on to Beijing, where he was granted an audience with Emperor Guangxu and
Empress Dowager CixiEmpress Dowager Cixi
1 , popularly known in China as the West Dowager Empress , was from the Manchu Yehe Nara Clan...
. The emperor tried to stress Tibet's subservient role, although the Dalai Lama refused to
kowtowKowtow is the act of deep respect shown by kneeling and bowing so low as to have one's head touching the ground...
to him. He stayed in Beijing until the end of 1908.
When he returned to Tibet during December of 1908, he began reorganising the government, but the Qing sent a military expedition of its own to Tibet during 1910 and he had to flee to India.
During 1911 the Qing dynasty was overthrown in the
Xinhai RevolutionThe Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution , also known as the 1911 Revolution or the Chinese Revolution, began with the Wuchang Uprising on October 10, 1911 and ended with the abdication of Emperor Puyi on February 12, 1912...
and by the end of 1912 the last Qing troops were escorted out of Tibet.
Assumption of political power and independence of Tibet
During 1895, Thubten Gyatso assumed ruling power from the monasteries which had previously wielded great influence through the Regent. Due to his two periods of exile in 1904–1909, to escape the British invasion of 1904, and from 1910–1913 to escape a Chinese invasion, he became well aware of the complexities of international politics and was the first Dalai Lama to become aware of the importance of foreign relations. The Dalai Lama, "accompanied by six ministers and a small escort" which included his close aide, diplomat and military figure
Tsarong DzasaTsarong Dazang Dramdul commonly known simply as Tsarong or by his title Tsarong Dzasa, born Namgang was a Tibetan diplomat, military figure, economist, civil engineer and close aide of the 13th Dalai Lama...
, fled via
SikkimSikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayas. It is the least populous state in India and the second-smallest in area after Goa. The thumb-shaped state borders Nepal in the west, the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north and the east and Bhutan in the southeast...
to Darjeeling, where they stayed almost two years. During this period he was invited to Calcutta by the
ViceroyA viceroy is a royal official who runs a country or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. His province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty. The relative...
, Lord Minto, which helped restore relations with the British.
Thubten Gyatso returned to Tibet during January 1913 with Tsarong Dzasa from
DarjeelingDarjeeling is a town in the Indian state of West Bengal.It was part of Nepal. When India was ruled by British a treaty was signed to keep all three countries involved safe Sugauli Treaty was signed, in which many parts of Nepal were made Indian...
, where he had been living in exile. The new Chinese government apologised for the actions of the previous Qing dynasty and offered to restore the Dalai Lama to his former position. He replied that he was not interested in Chinese ranks and was assuming spiritual and political leadership of Tibet.
After his return from exile in India during 1913, Thubten Gyatso assumed control of foreign relations and dealt directly with the
MaharajaThe word Mahārāja is Sanskrit for "great king" or "high king" . Due to Sanskrit's major influence on the vocabulary of most languages in India and Asia, the term 'maharaja' is common to many modern languages, such as Oriya, Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi, Gujrati, etc...
and the British Political officer in Sikkim and the king of
NepalNepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia and the world's youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
rather than letting the
KashagThe Kashag was the governing council of Tibet. The civil administration was represented by Council . The Council administrated matters of private and national interests. It was constituted of three temporal officials and one monk. Each of them held the title of kalön...
or parliament do it.
Thubten Gyatso declared
independenceIndependence is the self-government of a nation, country, or state by its residents and population, or some portion thereof, generally exercising sovereignty....
from China during early 1913, after returning from India following three years of exile. He then standardized the
Tibetan flagThe flag of Tibet, also known as the snow lion flag, was introduced by the 13th Dalai Lama using the design motif of Japanese military flags - a rising sun surrounded by sun-rays - as the background....
in its present form. At the end of 1912 the first
postage stamps of TibetTibet began issuing postage stamps in the beginning of the 20th century. The first stamps were issued in Lhasa in 1912, other series of stamps were issued in 1914, 1933, and through the end of the 1950s....
were edited.
Thubten Gyatso built a new medical college (Mentsikang) during 1913 on the site of the post-revolutionary traditional hospital near the
JokhangThe Jokhang, , also called the Jokang, Jokhang Temple, Jokhang Monastery or Tsuklakang , was the first Buddhist temple in Tibet, located on Barkhor Square in Lhasa...
.
Legislation was introduced to counter
corruption among officialsPolitical corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
, a national taxation system was established and enforced, and a police force was created. The penal system was revised and made uniform throughout the country. "Capital punishment was completely abolished and corporal punishment was reduced. Living conditions in jails were also improved, and officials were designated to see that these conditions and rules were maintained."
A secular education system was introduced in addition to the religious education system. Thubten Gyatso sent promising students to foreign lands to study, and welcomed foreigners, including Japanese, British and Americans.
As a result of his travels and contacts with foreign powers and their representatives (e.g.,
Pyotr KozlovPyotr Kuzmich Kozlov was a Russian explorer who continued the studies of Nikolai Przhevalsky in Mongolia and Tibet....
and
Gustaf MannerheimBaron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was the Commander-in-Chief of Finland's Defence Forces, Marshal of Finland, a politician, and a military commander...
), the Dalai Lama showed an interest in world affairs and introduced
electricityElectricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge...
, the
telephoneThe telephone is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sound, most commonly the human voice. It is one of the most common household appliances in the developed world, and has long been considered indispensable to business, industry and government...
and the first motor cars to Tibet. None the less, at the end of his life in 1933, he saw that Tibet was about to enter a dark age.
Prophecies
The 13th Dalai Lama predicted before dying:
"Very soon in this land (with a harmonious blend of religion and politics) deceptive acts may occur from without and within. At that time, if we do not dare to protect our territory, our spiritual personalities including the Victorious Father and Son (Dalai Lama and Panchen LamaThe Panchen Lama is the second highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism . The successive Panchen lamas form a tulku reincarnation lineage which are said to be the incarnations of Amitabha Buddha...
) may be exterminated without trace, the property and authority of our Lakangs (residences of reincarnated lamas) and monks may be taken away. Moreover, our political system, developed by the Three Great Dharma Kings (Tri Songtsen Gampo, Tri Songdetsen and Tri Ralpachen) will vanish without anything remaining. The property of all people, high and low, will be seized and the people forced to become slaves. All living beings will have to endure endless days of suffering and will be stricken with fear. Such a time will come."
Furthermore, the 13th Dalai Lama went on to predict the invasion of Tibet and announced that he would die early, in order that his successor would be old enough to act as a leader for the Tibetan people at the time of this invasion. He died a few months later.
Footnotes
- Some text used with permission from www.simhas.org. The author of this text has requested that there appear a direct link to the website on which the information is taken. The original text can be found here: http://www.simhas.org/dalai13.html.
Further reading
- Goldstein, Melvyn C. A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989) ISBN 978-0-520-07590-0
- Gelek, Surkhang Wangchen. 1982. "Tibet: The Critical Years (Part 1) "The Thirteenth Dalai Lama." The Tibet Journal. Vol. VII, No. 4. Winter 1982, pp. 11–19.
- Mullin, Glenn H. (2001). The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation, pp. 376–451. Clear Light Publishers. Santa Fe, New Mexico. ISBN 1-57416-092-3.