The exact nature of Sino-Tibetan relations during the
Ming DynastyThe Ming Dynasty , or Empire of the Great Ming , was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history," was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
(1368–1644) of
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
is unclear. Some modern scholars living and working in the
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
, such as Wang Jiawei & Nyima Gyaincain, assert that the Ming Dynasty had unquestioned
sovereigntySovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
over
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...
, pointing to the Ming court's issuing of various titles to Tibetan leaders, Tibetans' full acceptance of these titles, and a renewal process for successors of these titles that involved traveling to the Ming capital. Scholars within the PRC also argue that Tibet has been an integral part of China since the 13th century, thus a part of the Ming Empire. But most scholars outside the PRC, such as Turrell V. Wylie, Melvin C. Goldstein, and Helmut Hoffman, say that the relationship was one of
suzeraintySuzerainty is a situation in which a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary some limited domestic autonomy. The superior entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a suzerain...
, that Ming titles were only nominal, that Tibet remained an independent region outside Ming control, and that it
simply paid tribute until the
reign of JiajingThe Jiajing Emperor was Emperor of China from 1521 to 1567, the 11th emperor of the Ming dynasty. Born Zhu Houcong, he was the Zhengde Emperor's cousin. His era name means "Admirable tranquility".-Early years:As the nephew of the Hongzhi Emperor, Jiaqing was not brought up to succeed to the throne...
(1521–1566), who ceased relations with Tibet.
Some scholars note that Tibetan leaders during the Ming frequently engaged in
civil warA civil war is a war between organized groups within a single nation state, or, less commonly, between two nations created from a formerly-united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the nation or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies...
and conducted their own foreign diplomacy with neighboring states such as
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...
. Some scholars underscore the commercial aspect of the Ming-Tibetan relationship, noting the Ming Dynasty's shortage of
horses for warfareThe first use of horses in warfare occurred over 5000 years ago. The earliest evidence of horses ridden in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons...
and thus the importance of the horse trade with Tibet. Others argue that the significant religious nature of the relationship of the Ming court with Tibetan
lamaLama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru . The title can be used as an honorific title conferred on a monk, nun or advanced tantric practitioner to designate a level of spiritual attainment and authority to teach, or may be part of a...
s is underrepresented in modern scholarship. In hopes of reviving the unique relationship of the earlier
MongolThe name Mongol specifies one or several ethnic groups, now mainly located in Mongolia, China, and Russia.-Definition:...
leader
Kublai KhanKublai or Khubilai Khan , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty...
(r. 1260–1294) and his spiritual superior
Drogön Chögyal PhagpaDrogön Chögyal Phagpa was the fifth leader of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He became the first vice-king of Tibet and played an important political role...
(1235–1280) of the Tibetan
Sakya sectThe Sakya school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug...
, the Ming Chinese
Yongle EmperorThe Yongle Emperor , born Zhu Di , was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China from 1402 to 1424. His era name "Yongle" means "Perpetual Happiness"...
(r. 1402–1424) made a concerted effort to build a secular and religious alliance with
Deshin ShekpaDeshin Shekpa , also Deshin Shegpa, was the fifth Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism.Deshin Shekpa was born in Nyang Dam in the south of Tibet. According to the legend he said after being born: "I am the Karmapa. Om mani padme hum shri." Deshin Shekpa was taken to Tsawa...
(1384–1415), the
KarmapaThe Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of the Kagyupa , itself one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism....
of the Tibetan
Black Hat sectKarma Kagyu , or Kamtsang, is the largest lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu is the Gyalwa Karmapa. The Karma Kagyu are sometimes called the "Black Hat", in reference to the Black Crown worn by the...
. However, Yongle's attempts were unsuccessful.
The Ming initiated sporadic armed intervention in Tibet during the 14th century, but did not garrison permanent troops there. At times the Tibetans also used armed resistance against Ming forays. The
Wanli EmperorThe Wanli Emperor was emperor of China between 1572 and 1620. His era name means "Ten thousand calendars". Born Zhu Yijun, he was the Longqing Emperor's son. His rule of forty eight years would be the longest in the Ming dynasty and it witnessed the steady decline of the dynasty...
(r. 1572–1620) made attempts to reestablish Sino-Tibetan relations after the Mongol-Tibetan alliance initiated in 1578, which affected the foreign policy of the subsequent
Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
(1644–1912) of China in their support for the
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 the
Yellow Hat sectThe Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
. By the late 16th century, the Mongols were successful armed protectors of the Yellow Hat Dalai Lama, after increasing their presence in the
AmdoAmdo is one of the three traditional states of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river...
region. This culminated in
Güshi KhanGüshi Khan , a Khoshut prince and leader of the Khoshut Khanate, who had supplanted the Tumed descendants of Altan Khan. His military assistance to the Gelug school enabled the 5th Dalai Lama to establish political control over Tibet...
's (1582–1655) conquest of Tibet from 1637–1642.
Mongol Empire
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...
was once a strong power contemporaneous with the Chinese
Tang DynastyThe Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
(618–907). Until the Tibetan Empire's collapse in the 9th century, it was the Tang's major rival in dominating
Inner AsiaInner Asia has a range of meanings among different researchers and in different countries. Denis Sinor defined Inner Asia broadly as the homelands of the Altaic peoples and the Uralic peoples .Russian "Tsentral'naia Aziia" denotes Mongolia and Tibet...
. The
Yarlung rulers of Tibet also signed various peace treaties with the Tang, culminating in a treaty in 821 that fixed the borders between Tibet and China. During the
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms PeriodFive Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was an era of political upheaval in China, beginning in the Tang Dynasty and ending in the Song Dynasty. During this period, five dynasties quickly succeeded one another in the north, and more than 12 independent states were established, mainly in the south...
(907–960) in China, while the fractured political realm of China saw no threat in a Tibet which was in just as much political disarray, there was little in the way of Sino-Tibetan relations. Few documents involving Sino-Tibetan contacts survive from the
Song DynastyThe Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
(960–1279). The Song were far more concerned with
countering northern enemy statesThe Song Dynasty of China was a ruling dynasty that controlled China proper and southern China from the middle of the 10th century into the last quarter of the 13th century...
of the
Khitanthumb|250px|Khitans [[Eagle hunting|using eagles to hunt]], painted during the Chinese [[Song Dynasty]].The Khitan people , or Khitai, Kidan, were a nomadic people, originally located at Mongolia and Manchuria from the 4th century...
-ruled
Liao DynastyThe Liao Dynasty , 907-1125, also known as the Khitan Empire , was an empire in East Asia that ruled over the regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, and parts of northern China proper...
(907–1125) and Jurchen-ruled Jin Dynasty (1115–1234).
In 1207, the
MongolThe name Mongol specifies one or several ethnic groups, now mainly located in Mongolia, China, and Russia.-Definition:...
ruler
Genghis KhanGenghis Khan , ; 1162–1227), born , was the founder, Khan and Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire in history....
(r. 1206–1227) conquered and subjugated the ethnic
TangutThe Tangut identified with the state of Western Xia were traditionally thought of as a Qiangic-speaking people who moved to northwestern China sometime before the 10th century AD. Recent research indicated that the term “Tangut” most likely represented the “Donghu people;” “-t” in Mongolian...
state of the
Western XiaThe Western Xia Dynasty or the Tangut Empire was a state that existed from 1038 up to 1227 in what are now the northwestern Chinese provinces of Ningxia, Gansu, eastern Qinghai, northern Shaanxi, northeastern Xinjiang, southwest Inner Mongolia, and southernmost Outer Mongolia, measuring about...
(1038–1227). In the same year, he established diplomatic relations with Tibet by sending envoys there. The recent conquest of the Western Xia alarmed Tibetan rulers, who then decided to pay tribute to the Mongols. However, when they ceased to pay tribute after Genghis Khan's death, his successor
Ögedei KhanÖgedei Khan, , was the third son of Genghis Khan and second Great Khan of the Mongol Empire by succeeding his father...
(r. 1229–1241) launched an invasion into Tibet. The Mongol Prince Godan, a grandson of Genghis Khan, raided as far as
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....
. During his attack in 1240, Godan summoned
Sakya PanditaSakya Pandita Kunga Gyeltsen or Kunga Gylatshan Pal Zangpo was a Tibetan spiritual leader and Buddhist scholar and the fourth of the Five Venerable Supreme Sakya Masters of Tibet. Kunga Gyeltsen is generally known simply as Sakya Pandita, a title given to him in recognition of his scholarly...
(1182–1251), leader of the
SakyaThe Sakya school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug...
Tibetan Buddhist sect, to his court in what is now
Gansu' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It lies between Quinghai, Inner Mongolia, and the Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia to the north and Xinjiang to the west. The Yellow River passes the southern part of the province. It has a population of nearly 31...
province in
Western ChinaWestern China refers to the western part of China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers six provinces: Gansu, Guizhou, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Yunnan; one municipality: Chongqing; and three autonomous regions: Ningxia, Tibet, and Xinjiang.-Administrative...
. With Sakya Pandita's submission to Godan in 1247, Tibet was officially incorporated into the
Mongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire was an empire from the 13th and 14th century spanning from Eastern Europe across Asia. It is the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world...
during the regency of
Töregene KhatunTöregene Khatun was a Khatun and regent of the Mongol Empire from the death of her husband Ögedei Khan in 1241 until the election of her eldest son Güyük Khan in 1246. She was effectively the temporary Great Khatun of the Mongol Empire....
(1241–1246). Michael C. van Walt van Praag writes that Godan granted Sakya Pandita temporal authority over a still politically fragmented Tibet, stating that "this investiture had little real impact" but it was significant in that it established the unique "Priest-Patron" relationship between the Mongols and Tibetan Sakya lamas.
Since 1236, the Mongol prince
KublaiKublai or Khubilai Khan , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty...
(who later ruled as
KhaganKhagan or Great Khan Khagan or Great Khan Khagan or Great Khan ((Old Turkic ; ; ; alternatively spelled Chagan, Khaghan, Kagan, Kağan, Qagan, Qaghan), is a title of imperial rank in the Turkic and Mongolian languages equal to the status of emperor and someone who rules a Khaganate (empire, greater...
from 1260–1294) was granted a large appanage in
North ChinaNorthern China and Southern China ,also referred to in China as simply the North and the South, are two approximate regions within China. The exact boundary between these two regions has never been precisely defined...
by his superior Ögedei Khan.
Karma PakshiKarma Pakshi was the 2nd Gyalwa Karmapa. He was a child prodigy who had already acquired a broad understanding of Dharma philosophy and meditation by the age of ten. His teacher, Pomdrakpa, had received the full Kagyu transmission from Drogon Rechen, the first Karmapa's spiritual heir...
(1203–1283)—the head
lamaLama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru . The title can be used as an honorific title conferred on a monk, nun or advanced tantric practitioner to designate a level of spiritual attainment and authority to teach, or may be part of a...
and second
KarmapaThe Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of the Kagyupa , itself one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism....
of the Tibetan
Black HatKarma Kagyu , or Kamtsang, is the largest lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu is the Gyalwa Karmapa. The Karma Kagyu are sometimes called the "Black Hat", in reference to the Black Crown worn by the...
sect—rejected the invitation of Kublai to appear in his court, so instead Kublai invited
Drogön Chögyal PhagpaDrogön Chögyal Phagpa was the fifth leader of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He became the first vice-king of Tibet and played an important political role...
(1235–1280), successor and nephew of Sakya Pandita, who came to his court in 1253. Kublai instituted a unique relationship with the Phagpa lama, which recognized Kublai as a superior sovereign in political affairs and the Phagpa lama as the senior instructor to Kublai in religious affairs. Kublai also made Drogön Chögyal Phagpa the ruling priest-king of Tibet, which comprised thirteen different states ruled by myriarchies.
Kublai Khan did not conquer the Song Dynasty in South China until 1279, so Tibet was a component of the early Mongol Empire before it was combined into one of its descendant empires known as the
Yuan DynastyThe Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was both the continuation of the Mongol Empire and the Mongol founded historical state in Mongolia and China, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. Although the dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, he had his grandfather Genghis Khan placed on the...
(1271–1368) with the whole of China. Van Praag writes that this conquest "marked the end of independent China," which was then incorporated into the Yuan Dynasty that ruled China, Tibet,
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,...
, parts of
KoreaKorea is a civilization and formerly unified nation currently divided into two states. Located on the Korean Peninsula, it borders China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait....
,
SiberiaSiberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the...
, and Upper Burma. Morris Rossabi writes that "Khubilai wished to be perceived both as the legitimate Khan of Khans of the Mongols and as the Emperor of China. Though he had, by the early 1260s, become closely identified with China, he still, for a time, claimed universal rule", and yet "despite his successes in China and Korea, Khubilai was unable to have himself accepted as the Great Khan". Thus, with such limited acceptance of his position as Great Khan, Kublai Khan increasingly became identified with China and sought support as Emperor of China.
Overthrow of the Sakya and Yuan
In 1358, the Sakya viceregal regime installed by the Mongols in Tibet was overthrown in a rebellion by the Phagmodru myriarch
Janchub GyaltsänTai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen [1302–1364 ] - a key figure in Tibetan History. Founder of the Phagmodrupa dynasty and ruler of Tibet from 1354 to 1364 or 1371....
, or Byang chub rgyal mtshan (1302–1364). The Mongol Yuan court was forced to accept him as the new viceroy, and Janchub Gyaltsän and his successors, the
Phagmodrupa dynastyThe Phagmodrupa dynasty of Tibet was established by Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen at the end of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Tai Situ came from the monastic fief Phagmodru, founded in 1158. Becoming lord of the fief in 1321, he managed to defeat various local opponents at a time when the Yuan Dynasty,...
, gained
de facto rule over Tibet. In 1368, a
Han ChineseHan Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and, by most modern definitions, the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92 percent of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98 percent of the population of the Republic of China , 75 percent of the...
revolt known as the
Red Turban RebellionThe Red Turban Rebellion was an uprising much influenced by the White Lotus Society members that targeted the ruling Yuan Dynasty.- Causes :...
toppled the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China. Zhu Yuanzhang then established the Ming Dynasty, ruling as the
Hongwu EmperorThe Hongwu Emperor , known variably by his given name Zhu Yuanzhang and by the temple name Taizu of the Ming was the founder and first emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China...
(r. 1368–1398).
It is not clear how much the early Ming court understood the
civil warA civil war is a war between organized groups within a single nation state, or, less commonly, between two nations created from a formerly-united nation state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the nation or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies...
going on in Tibet between rival religious sects, but the first emperor was anxious to avoid the same trouble that Tibet had caused for the Tang Dynasty. Instead of recognizing the Phagmodru ruler, the Hongwu Emperor sided with the Karmapa of the nearer
KhamKham , is a region presently divided between the Chinese provinces of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and Sichuan where Khampas, a subgroup within the Tibetan ethnicity, live. It is also one of the three traditional provinces claimed by the Tibetan government-in-exile...
region and southeastern Tibet, sending envoys out in the winter of 1372–1373 to ask the Yuan officeholders to renew their titles for the new Ming court. As evident in his imperial edicts, Hongwu was well aware of the Buddhist link between Tibet and China, and wanted to foster it. The fourth Karmapa
Rolpe DorjeRolpe Dorje was the fourth Gyalwa Karmapa. According to legend the fourth Karmapa's mother, while pregnant, could hear the sound of the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum while the child was in her womb and the baby said the mantra as soon as he was born...
(1340–1383) rejected Hongwu's invitation, although he did send some disciples as envoys to the Ming court in
Nanjing' , abbreviated in Chinese as Ning , is the capital of China's Jiangsu Province, and a city with a prominent place in Chinese history and culture...
. Hongwu also entrusted his guru Zongluo, one of many Buddhist monks at court, to head a religious mission into Tibet in 1378–1382 in order to obtain
Buddhist scripturesBuddhist texts can be categorized in a number of ways. The Western terms "scripture" and "canonical" are applied to Buddhism in inconsistent ways by Western scholars: for example, one authority refers to "scriptures and other canonical texts", while another says that scriptures can be categorized...
. However, the early Ming government enacted a law, later rescinded, which forbade Han Chinese to learn the tenets of
Tibetan BuddhismTibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India...
. There is little detailed evidence of Chinese—especially lay Chinese—studying Tibetan Buddhism until the
Republican eraThe history of the Republic of China begins after the Qing Dynasty in 1912, when the formation of the Republic of China put an end to over two thousand years of Imperial rule. The Qing Dynasty, also known as the Manchu Dynasty, ruled from 1644 to 1912...
(1912–1949). Despite these missions on behalf of Hongwu, Morris Rossabi writes that the
Yongle EmperorThe Yongle Emperor , born Zhu Di , was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China from 1402 to 1424. His era name "Yongle" means "Perpetual Happiness"...
(r. 1402–1424) "was the first Ming ruler actively to seek an extension of relations with Tibet."
Assertions in the Mingshi
According to the official
historical work on the Ming DynastyThe Twenty-Four Histories is a collection of Chinese historical books covering a period of protohistory and history from 3000 BC to the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. The whole set contains 3213 volumes and about 40 million words...
, the
History of MingThe History of Ming is one of the official Chinese historical works known as the Twenty-Four Histories of China. It consists of 332 volumes and covers the history of Ming Dynasty from 1368 to 1644, which was written by a number of officials commissioned by the court of Qing Dynasty, with the lead...
(or
Mingshi in ChineseChinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of languages mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
), compiled in 1739 by the subsequent
Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
(1644–1912), the Ming Dynasty established the "E-Li-Si Army-Civilian Marshal Office" in western Tibet and installed the "
Dbus-GtsangÜ-Tsang , or Tsang-Ü, is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the other two being Amdo and Kham...
Itinerant High
CommanderyThe commandery was a historical administrative level of China. During the Zhou Dynasty , it was one level below a district . Qin Shi Huang , who unified the Warring States into one heavily-centralized empire, inverted the hierarchy and made commanderies higher than districts...
" and "
MdoAmdo is one of the three traditional states of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river...
-
khamKham , is a region presently divided between the Chinese provinces of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and Sichuan where Khampas, a subgroup within the Tibetan ethnicity, live. It is also one of the three traditional provinces claimed by the Tibetan government-in-exile...
s Itinerant High Commandery" to administer eastern Tibet. The Mingshi states that administrative offices were set up under these high commanderies, including one Itinerant Commandery, three Pacification Commissioner's Offices, six Expedition Commissioner's Offices, four Wanhu offices (myriarchies each in command of 10,000 households), and seventeen Qianhu offices (chiliarchies each in command of 1,000 households).
The Ming court appointed three Princes of Dharma (法王) and five Princes (王), and granted many other titles, such as Grand State Tutors (大國師) and State Tutors (國師), to the important schools of Tibetan Buddhism, including the
Karma Kagyu sectKarma Kagyu , or Kamtsang, is the largest lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu is the Gyalwa Karmapa. The Karma Kagyu are sometimes called the "Black Hat", in reference to the Black Crown worn by the...
,
Sakya sectThe Sakya school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug...
, and
Gelug sectThe Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
. According to Wang Jiawei and Nyima Gyaincain, leading officials of these organs were all appointed by the central government and were subject to the rule of law. Yet Van Praag describes the distinct and long-lasting Tibetan law code established by the Phagmodru ruler Janchub Gyaltsän as one of many reforms to revive old Imperial Tibetan traditions.
The late Turrell V. Wylie, a former professor of the
University of WashingtonUniversity of Washington, founded in 1861, is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. UW is the largest university in the northwestern United States and one of the oldest public universities on the west coast. The university has three campuses, with its flagship campus...
, and Li Tieh-tseng argue that the reliability of the heavily censored
Mingshi as a credible source on Sino-Tibetan relations is questionable, in the light of modern scholarship. Other historians also assert that these Ming titles were nominal and did not actually confer the authority that the earlier Yuan titles had. Van Praag writes that the "numerous economically motivated Tibetan missions to the Ming Court are referred to as 'tributary missions' in the
Ming Shih." Van Praag writes that these "tributary missions" were simply prompted by China's need for horses from Tibet, since a viable horse market in Mongol lands was closed due to incessant conflict.
Transition from Yuan to Ming
Historians disagree on what the relationship was between the Ming court and Tibet and whether or not Ming China had sovereignty over Tibet. Van Praag writes that Chinese court historians viewed Tibet as an independent foreign tributary and had little interest in Tibet besides a lama-patron relationship. The historian Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa (Xagabba Wangqug Dedain) supports van Praag's position. However, Wang Jiawei and Nyima Gyaincain state that these assertions by van Praag and Xagabba are "fallacies".
Wang and Nyima argue that the Ming emperor sent edicts to Tibet twice in the second year of the Ming Dynasty, and demonstrated that he viewed Tibet as a significant region to pacify by urging various Tibetan tribes to submit to the authority of the Ming court. They note that at the same time, the Mongol Prince Punala, who had inherited his position as ruler of areas of Tibet, went to Nanjing in 1371 to pay tribute and show his allegiance to the Ming court, bringing with him the seal of authority issued by the Yuan court. They also state that since successors of lamas granted the title of "prince" had to travel to the Ming court to renew this title, and since lamas called themselves princes, the Ming court therefore had "full sovereignty over Tibet." They state that the Ming Dynasty, by issuing imperial edicts to invite ex-Yuan officials to the court for official positions in the early years of its founding, won submission from ex-Yuan religious and administrative leaders in the Tibetan areas, and thereby incorporated Tibetan areas into the rule of the Ming court. Thus, they conclude, the Ming court won the power to rule Tibetan areas formerly under the rule of the Yuan Dynasty.
Journalist and author Thomas Laird, in his book
The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, writes that Wang and Nyima present the
government viewpoint of the People's Republic of ChinaPower within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the Communist Party of China, the state, and the People's Liberation Army. This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...
in their
Historical Status of China's Tibet, and fail to realize that China was "absorbed into a larger, non-Chinese political unit" during the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, which Wang and Nyima paint as a characteristic Chinese dynasty succeeded by the Ming. Laird asserts that the ruling Mongol khans never administered Tibet as part of China and instead ruled them as separate territories, comparing the Mongols with the British who colonized India and New Zealand, yet stating this does not make India part of New Zealand as a consequence. Of later Mongol and Tibetan accounts interpreting the Mongol conquest of Tibet, Laird asserts that "they, like all non-Chinese historical narratives, never portray the Mongol subjugation of Tibet as a Chinese one."
The
Columbia EncyclopediaThe Columbia Encyclopedia is a one-volume encyclopedia produced by Columbia University Press and sold by the Gale Group. First published in 1935, and continuing its important relationship with Columbia University, the encyclopedia underwent major revisions in 1950 and 1963; the current edition is...
distinguishes between the Yuan Dynasty and the other Mongol Empire khanates of
IlkhanateThe Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate or Il Khanate , was a Mongol khanate established in Persia in the 13th century, considered a part of the Mongol Empire...
,
Chagatai KhanateThe Chagatai Khanate was a Mongol, and later linguistically Turkicized, khanate that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan , second son of the Great Khan Genghis Khan, and his descendents and successors...
and the
Golden HordeThe Ulus of Jochi or the Golden Horde is an East Slavic designation for the Mongol—later Turkicized—Muslim khanate established in the western part of the Mongol Empire after the Mongol invasion of Rus' in the 1240s: present-day Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and the Caucasus...
. It describes the Yuan Dynasty as "A Mongol dynasty of China that ruled from 1271 to 1368, and a division of the great empire conquered by the Mongols. Founded by Kublai Khan, who adopted the Chinese dynastic name of Yüan in 1271." The
Encyclopedia AmericanaThe Encyclopædia Americana is one of the largest general encyclopedias in the English language. As the name suggests, it is produced in the United States and is aimed mainly at the North American market; it is, however, also sold in Asia and elsewhere...
described the Yuan Dynasty as "the line of Mongol rulers in China" and the Mongols "proclaimed a Chinese-style Yüan dynasty at
KhanbaliqKhanbaliq or Dadu refers to a city which is now Beijing, the current capital of the People's Republic of China. The city was called Dadu or Tatu , meaning "great capital" or "grand capital" in Chinese, the name for the capital of the Yuan Dynasty founded by Kublai Khan in China, and was called...
(
BeijingBeijing is a metropolis in northern China and the capital of the People's Republic of China...
)." The
Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, known colloquially as The Met, is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile in New York City, USA. It has a permanent collection containing more than two million works of art, divided into nineteen curatorial...
writes that the Mongol rulers of the Yuan Dynasty "adopted Chinese political and cultural models; ruling from their capitals in Dadu, they assumed the role of Chinese emperors," although Tibetologist Thomas Laird dismissed the Yuan Dynasty as a non-Chinese polity and plays down its Chinese characteristics. The Metropolitan Museum of Art also noted that in spite of the gradual assimilation of Yuan monarchs, the Mongol rulers imposed harsh policies discriminating against the literati and southern Chinese. Morris Rossabi, a professor of Asian history at
Queens College, City University of New YorkQueens College, located in Flushing, Queens, New York City, is one of the senior colleges of the City University of New York.-History and enrollment:...
, describes in his
Kublai Khan: His Life and Times Kublai "created government institutions that either resembled or were the same as the traditional Chinese ones", and he "wished to signal to the Chinese that he intended to adopt the trappings and style of a Chinese ruler". Nevertheless, the ethno-geographic caste hierarchy favoring the Mongols and other ethnicities were accorded higher status than the Han Chinese majority. Although Han Chinese who were recruited as advisers were often actually more influential than high officials, their status was not as well defined. Kublai also abolished the imperial examinations of China's
civil serviceThe term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....
legacy, which was not reinstated until Emperor Renzong's reign (1311-1320).. Rossabi writes that Kublai recognized that in order to rule China "he had to employ Chinese advisors and officials, yet he could not rely totally on Chinese advisers because he had to maintain a delicate balancing act between ruling the sedentary civilization of China and preserving the cultural identity and values of the Mongols." And "in governing China, he was concerned with the interests of his Chinese subjects, but also with exploiting the resources of the empire for his own aggrandizement. His motivations and objectives alternated from one to the other throughout his reign," according to Rossabi. Van Praag writes in
The Status of Tibet that the Tibetans and Mongols, on the other hand, upheld a dual system of rule and an interdependent relationship that legitimated the succession of Mongol khans as universal Buddhist rulers, or
chakravartinA Chakravartin A Chakravartin A Chakravartin ( , a Sanskrit bahuvrīhi, literally "whose wheels are moving", in the sense of "whose chariot is rolling everywhere without obstruction"...
. Van Praag writes that "Tibet remained a unique part of the Empire and was never fully integrated into it," citing examples such as a licensed border market that existed between China and Tibet during the Yuan.
Ming practices of giving titles to Tibetans
According to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of ChinaThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China is an executive agency responsible for foreign relations between the People's Republic of China and other countries in the world. The agency is led by the Foreign Minister. The current minister is Yang Jiechi.It is one of several...
, the Ming implemented a policy of managing Tibet according to conventions and customs, granting titles and setting up administrative organs over Tibet. The
Information Office of the State CouncilThe State Council Information Office is an administrative office under the State Council, the chief administrative body of the People's Republic of China. It appears to be the chief information office of the Chinese government....
of the
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
states that the Ming Dynasty's Ü-Tsang Commanding Office governed most areas of Tibet. It also states that while the Ming abolished the policy council set up by the Mongol Yuan to manage local affairs in Tibet and the Mongol system of Imperial Tutors to govern religious affairs, the Ming adopted a policy of bestowing titles upon religious leaders who had submitted to the Ming Dynasty. For example, an edict of the Hongwu Emperor in 1373 appointed the Tibetan leader Choskunskyabs as the General of the mNgav-ris Military and Civil
Wanhu Office, stating:
I, the sovereign of the Empire, courteously treat people from all corners of the Empire who love righteousness and pledge allegiance to the Court and assign them official posts. I have learned with great pleasure that you, Chos-kun-skyabs, who live in the Western Region, inspired by my power and reputation, are loyal to the Court and capable of safeguarding the territory in your charge. The mNgav-ris Military and Civil Wanhu Office has just been established. I, therefore, appoint you head of the office with the title of General Huaiyuan, believing that you are most qualified for the post. I expect you to be even more conscientious in your work than in the past, to comply with discipline and to care for your men so that security and peace in your region can be guaranteed.
Chen Qingying, Professor of History and Director of the History Studies Institute under the
China Tibetology Research CenterThe China Tibetology Research Center is an academic research organization located in Beijing in the People’s Republic of China devoted to Tibetological studies , of all aspects of Tibetan culture and also of subjects related to everyday life in Tibetan areas .-Subdivisions:Five research...
in Beijing, writes that the Ming court conferred new official positions on ex-Yuan Tibetan leaders of the Phachu Kargyu and granted them lower-ranking positions. Of the county (zong or dzong) leaders of Neiwo Zong and Renbam Zong, Chen states that when "the Emperor learned the actual situation of the Phachu Kargyu, the Ming court then appointed the main Zong leaders to be senior officers of the Senior Command of Dbus and Gtsang." The official posts that the Ming court established in Tibet, such as senior and junior commanders, offices of Qianhu (in charge of 1,000 households), and offices of Wanhu (in charge of 10,000 households), were all hereditary positions according to Chen, but he asserts that "the succession of some important posts still had to be approved by the emperor," while old imperial mandates had to be returned to the Ming court for renewal.
According to Tibetologist John Powers, Tibetan sources counter this narrative of titles granted by the Chinese to Tibetans, with various titles which the Tibetans gave to the Chinese emperors and their officials. Tribute missions from Tibetan monasteries to the Chinese court brought back not only titles, but large, commercially valuable gifts which could subsequently be sold. The Ming emperors sent invitations to ruling lamas, but the lamas sent subordinates rather than coming themselves, and no Tibetan ruler ever explicitly accepted the role of being a vassal of the Ming. Also, Hans Bielenstein writes that as far back as the
Han DynastyThe Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the peasant rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
(202 BC – 220 AD), the Han Chinese government "maintained the fiction" that the foreign officials administering the various "Dependent States" and
oasisIn geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source...
city-states of the
Western RegionsThe Western Regions or Xiyu was a historical name specified in the Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to 8th century that referred to the regions west of Jade Gate, most often Central Asia The Western Regions or Xiyu was a historical name specified in the Chinese chronicles between...
(composed of the
Tarim BasinThe Tarim Basin is a large endorheic basin occupying an area of more than . It is located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China's far west. Its northern boundary is the Tian Shan mountain range and its southern is the Kunlun Mountains on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The...
and oasis of Turpan) were true Han representatives due to the Han government's conferral of Chinese seals and seal cords to them.
Janchub Gyaltsän
Wang and Nyima state that after the official title "Education Minister" was granted to Janchub Gyaltsän (Byang chub rgyal mtshan, 1302–1364) by the Yuan court, this title appeared frequently with his name in various Tibetan texts, while his Tibetan title "Degsi" is seldom mentioned. Wang and Nyima take this to mean that "even in the later period of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan imperial court and the Pagmo Drupa regime maintained a Central-local government relation." Janchub Gyaltsän is even supposed to have written in his will: "In the past I received loving care from the emperor in the east. If the emperor continues to care for us, please follow his edicts and the imperial envoy should be well received."
However, Lok-Ham Chan, a professor of history at the
University of WashingtonUniversity of Washington, founded in 1861, is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. UW is the largest university in the northwestern United States and one of the oldest public universities on the west coast. The university has three campuses, with its flagship campus...
, writes that Janchub Gyaltsän's aims were to recreate the old Tibetan Kingdom that existed during the Chinese Tang Dynasty, to build "nationalist sentiment" amongst Tibetans, and to "remove all traces of Mongol suzerainty." Georges Dreyfus, a professor of religion at
Williams CollegeWilliams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts.Williams was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams as a men's college, located in the Berkshires in northwestern Massachusetts, at the foot of Mount Greylock. In 1834, the first...
, writes that it was Janchub Gyaltsän who adopted the old administrative system of Songtsän Gampo (c. 605–649)—the first Yarlung king to establish Tibet as a strong power—by reinstating its legal code of punishments and administrative units. For example, instead of the 13 governorships established by the Mongol Sakya viceroy, Janchub Gyaltsän divided Central Tibet into districts (dzong) with district heads (dzong dpon) who had to conform to old rituals and wear clothing styles of old Imperial Tibet. Van Praag asserts that Janchub Gyaltsän's ambitions were to "restore to Tibet the glories of its Imperial Age" by reinstating secular administration, promoting "national culture and traditions," and installing a law code that survived into the 20th century.
According to Chen, the Ming officer of Hezhou (modern day
LinxiaLinxia, once known as Hezhou , is a county-level city in the province of Gansu of the People's Republic of China. Population 285,000. It is located in the valley of the Daxia River southwest of Lanzhou...
) informed the Hongwu Emperor that the general situation in Dbus and Gtsang "was under control," and so he suggested to the emperor that he offer the second
PhagmodruThe Phagmodrupa dynasty of Tibet was established by Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen at the end of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Tai Situ came from the monastic fief Phagmodru, founded in 1158. Becoming lord of the fief in 1321, he managed to defeat various local opponents at a time when the Yuan Dynasty,...
ruler Shakya Gyaltsen an official title. According to the Records of the Founding Emperor, Hongwu issued an edict granting the title "Initiation State Master" to Sagya Gyaincain, while the latter sent envoys to the Ming court to hand over his jade seal of authority along with tribute of colored silk and satin, statues of the Buddha, Buddhist scriptures, and sarira.
Dreyfus writes that after the Phagmodru myriarchy lost its centralizing power over Tibet in 1434, several attempts by other families to establish hegemonies failed over the next two centuries until 1642 with
Lozang Gyatso, the Fifth Dalai Lama'sNgawang Lobsang Gyatso, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama , was a political and religious leader in seventeenth-century Tibet. Ngawang Lozang Gyatso was the ordination name he had received from Panchen Lozang Chökyi Gyeltsen who was responsible for his ordination...
effective hegemony over Tibet.
Je Tsongkhapa
The Ming Dynasty granted titles to sects such as the Black Hat Karmapa lamas, but the latter had previously declined Mongol invitations to receive titles. When the Ming Yongle Emperor invited
Je TsongkhapaTsongkhapa , whose name means “The Man from Onion Valley”, was a famous teacher of Tibetan Buddhism whose activities led to the formation of the Geluk school...
(1357–1419), founder of the
Yellow HatThe Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
sect, to come to the Ming court and pay tribute, the latter declined. Wang and Nyima write that this was due to old age and physical weakness, and also because of efforts being made to build three major monasteries. Chen Qingying states that Tsongkhapa wrote a letter to decline the Emperor's invitation, and in this reply, Tsongkhapa wrote:
It is not that I don't know it is the edict of the Great dominator of the world for the sake of Buddhist doctrine, or that I do not obey the edict of Your Majesty. I am seriously ill whenever I meet the public, so I cannot embark on a journey in compliance with the imperial edict. I wish that Your Majesty might be merciful, and not be displeased; it will really be a great mercy.
Tom Grunfeld, Professor of History at
Empire State CollegeEmpire State College, one of the thirteen arts and science colleges of the State University of New York, is a multi-site institution offering associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees.
It is primarily oriented towards the adult learner.
The College is accredited by the...
of the
State University of New YorkThe State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the world, with a total enrollment of 438,361 students, plus 1.1 million...
, says that Tsongkhapa claimed ill health in his refusal to appear at the Ming court, while Rossabi adds that Tsongkhapa cited the "length and arduousness of the journey" to China as another reason not to make an appearance. This first request by the Ming was made in 1407, but the Ming court sent another embassy in 1413, this one led by the eunuch Hou Xian (候顯; fl. 1403–1427), which was again refused by Tsongkhapa. Rossabi writes that Tsongkhapa did not want to entirely alienate the Ming court, so he sent his disciple Chosrje Shākya Yeshes (Jamchen Choje, 釋迦也失) to Nanjing in 1414 on his behalf, and upon his arrival in 1415 the Yongle Emperor bestowed upon him the title of "State Teacher"—the same title earlier awarded the Phagmodru ruler of Tibet. The
Xuande EmperorThe Xuande Emperor was Emperor of China between 1425–1435. His era name means "Proclamation of virtue".-Biography:...
(r. 1425–1435) even granted this disciple Chosrje Shākya Yeshes the title of a "King" (王). This title does not appear to have held any practical meaning, or to have given its holder any power, at Tsongkhapa's
Ganden monasteryGanden Monastery or Ganden Namgyeling is one of the 'great three' Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet, located at the top of Wangbur Mountain, Tagtse County, 36 kilometers ENE from the Potala Palace in Lhasa, at an altitude of 4,750m...
. Wylie notes that this—like the Black Hat sect—cannot be seen as a reappointment of Mongol Yuan offices, since the Yellow Hat sect was created after the fall of the Yuan Dynasty.
Implications on the question of rule
Dawa Norbu, a leading author of the Tibetan diaspora, argues that modern
Chinese CommunistThe Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and the ruling political party of the People's Republic of China and the world's largest political party...
historians tend to be in favor of the view that the Ming simply reappointed old Yuan Dynasty officials in Tibet and perpetuated their rule of Tibet in this manner. Norbu writes that, although this would have been true for the eastern Tibetan regions of
AmdoAmdo is one of the three traditional states of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river...
and
KhamKham , is a region presently divided between the Chinese provinces of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and Sichuan where Khampas, a subgroup within the Tibetan ethnicity, live. It is also one of the three traditional provinces claimed by the Tibetan government-in-exile...
's "tribute-cum-trade" relations with the Ming, it was untrue if applied to the western Tibetan regions of
Ü-TsangÜ-Tsang , or Tsang-Ü, is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the other two being Amdo and Kham...
and Ngari. After the Phagmodru myriarch Janchub Gyaltsän, these were ruled by "three successive nationalistic regimes," which Norbu writes "Communist historians prefer to ignore." Laird writes that the Ming appointed titles to eastern Tibetan princes, and that "these alliances with eastern Tibetan principalities are the evidence China now produces for its assertion that the Ming ruled Tibet," despite the fact that the Ming did not send an army to replace the Mongols after they left Tibet. Yiu Yung-chin states that the furthest western extent of the Ming Dynasty's territory was
Gansu' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It lies between Quinghai, Inner Mongolia, and the Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia to the north and Xinjiang to the west. The Yellow River passes the southern part of the province. It has a population of nearly 31...
,
Sichuan' is a province in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, 四川 , is an abbreviation of 四川路 , or "Four circuits of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from 川峡四路 , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the...
, and
YunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers . The capital of the province is Kunming...
, while "the Ming did not possess Tibet." Shih-Shan Henry Tsai, a professor of History and Director of Asian Studies at the
University of ArkansasThe University of Arkansas, often shortened to U of A or just UA, is a public co-educational land-grant research university. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Founded as Arkansas Industrial University in 1871, its present name...
, writes that the Yongle Emperor sent his eunuch Yang Sanbao into Tibet in 1413 to gain the allegiance of various Tibetan princes, while Yongle paid a small fortune in return gifts for tributes in order to maintain the loyalty of neighboring vassal states such as
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 Tibet. However, Van Praag states that Tibetan rulers upheld their own separate relations with the kingdoms of Nepal and
KashmirKashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent...
, and at times "engaged in armed confrontation with them."
Even though the Yellow Hat sect exchanged gifts with and sent missions to the Ming court up until the 1430s, the Yellow Hat sect was not mentioned in the
Mingshi or the
Mingshi Lu. On this, historian Li Tieh-tseng says of Tsongkhapa's refusal of Ming invitations to visit Yongle's court:
In China not only the emperor could do no wrong, but also his prestige and dignity had to be upheld at any cost. Had the fact been made known to the public that Ch'eng-tsu's repeated invitations extended to Tsong-ka-pa were declined, the Emperor's prestige and dignity would have been considered as lowered to a contemptible degree, especially at a time when his policy to show high favours toward lamas was by no means popular and had already caused resentment among the people. This explains why no mention of Tsong-k'a-pa and the Yellow Sect was made in the Ming Shih and Ming Shih lu.
Wylie asserts that this type of
censorshipCensorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media organizations as determined by a censor.-Rationale:...
of the
Mingshi distorts the true picture of the history of Sino-Tibetan relations, while the Ming court granted titles to various lamas regardless of their sectarian affiliations in an ongoing civil war in Tibet between competing lamaist factions. Wylie argues that Ming titles of "King" granted indiscriminately to various Tibetan lamas or even their disciples should not be viewed as reappointments to earlier Yuan Dynasty offices, since the viceregal Sakya regime established by the Mongols in Tibet was overthrown by the Phagmodru myriarchy before the Ming existed. Helmut Hoffman states that the Ming upheld the facade of rule over Tibet through periodic missions of "tribute emissaries" to the Ming court and by granting nominal titles to ruling lamas, but did not actually interfere in Tibetan governance. Melvyn C. Goldstein writes that the Ming had no real administrative authority over Tibet, as the various titles given to Tibetan leaders did not confer authority as the earlier Mongol Yuan titles had. He asserts that "by conferring titles on Tibetans already in power, the Ming emperors merely recognized political reality."
Hugh E. RichardsonHugh E. Richardson was a British diplomat and Tibetologist. His academic work focused on the history of the Tibetan empire, and in particular on epigraphy. Born in St. Andrews, he studied classics at Keble College, Oxford...
writes that the Ming Dynasty exercised no authority over the succession of Tibetan ruling families, the Phagmodru (1354–1436),
RinpungpaRinpungpa was a Tibetan dynasty that dominated much of Central Tibet between 1435 and 1565. Originally lords of the fief Rinpung in Tsang , the family took advantage of a family feud within the Phagmodrupa dynasty in 1434-35 and seized the important place Shigatse...
(1436–1565), and
TsangpaTsangpa was a dynasty that dominated large parts of Tibet from 1565 to 1642. It was founded by Karma Tseten, a retainer of the prince of the Rinpungpa Dynasty and governor of Shigatse in Tsang since 1548. During the 16th century Tibet was fragmented among rivalling factions, along religious as...
(1565–1642).
Religious significance
In his usurpation of the throne from the
Jianwen EmperorThe Jianwen Emperor , with the personal name Zhu Yunwen, reigned as the second Emperor of the Ming dynasty. His reign Jianwen name meant "Establishment of the civil virtue"....
(r. 1398–1402), the Yongle Emperor was aided by the Buddhist monk Yao Guangxiao, and like his father Hongwu, Yongle was "well-disposed towards Buddhism", claims Rossabi. On March 10, 1403, the Yongle Emperor invited
Deshin ShekpaDeshin Shekpa , also Deshin Shegpa, was the fifth Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism.Deshin Shekpa was born in Nyang Dam in the south of Tibet. According to the legend he said after being born: "I am the Karmapa. Om mani padme hum shri." Deshin Shekpa was taken to Tsawa...
(1384–1415), the fifth Karmapa, to his court, even though the fourth Karmapa had rejected the invitation of the Hongwu Emperor of China. A Tibetan translation in the 16th century preserves the letter of Yongle, which the
Association for Asian StudiesThe Association for Asian Studies is a U.S. society focused on facilitating contact and information exchange among scholars of Asian fields. It is the self-proclaimed largest society of its kind. The Association consists of eminent Asianists, and is a non-profit organization...
notes is polite and complimentary towards the Karmapa. The letter of invitation read, "My father and both parents of the queen are now dead. You are my only hope, essence of buddhahood. Please come quickly. I am sending as offering a large ingot of silver, one hundred fifty silver coins, twenty rolls of silk, a block of sandalwood, one hundred fifty bricks of tea and ten pounds of incense." In order to seek out the Karmapa, Yongle dispatched his eunuch Hou Xian and the Buddhist monk Zhi Guang (d. 1435) to Tibet. Traveling to Lhasa either through
Qinghai' is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake. It borders Gansu on the northeast, the Xinjiang Autonomous Region on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast, and Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest.- History :Qinghai was only relatively recently made a province...
or via the
Silk RoadThe Silk Road is an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, as well as North and Northeast Africa and Europe...
to
KhotanThe oasis town of Hotan or Hetian is the capital of Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. It was previously known in Chinese as 于窴 pinyin: Yutian....
, Hou Xian and Zhi Guang did not return to Nanjing until 1407.
During his travels beginning in 1403, Deshin Shekpa was induced by further exhortations by the Ming court to visit Nanjing by April 10, 1407. Norbu writes that Yongle, following the tradition of Mongol emperors and their reverence for Tibetan Sakya lamas, showed an enormous amount of deference towards Deshin Shekpa. Yongle came out of the palace in Nanjing to greet the Karmapa and did not require him to
kowtowKowtow is the act of deep respect shown by kneeling and bowing so low as to have one's head touching the ground...
like a tributary vassal. According to Karma Thinley, the emperor gave the Karmapa the place of honor at his left, and on a higher throne than his own. Rossabi and others describe a similar arrangement made by Kublai Khan and the Sakya Phagpa lama, writing that Kublai would "sit on a lower platform than the Tibetan cleric" when receiving religious instructions from him. Throughout the following month, the Yongle Emperor and his court showered Deshin Shekpa with presents. At
Linggu TempleLinggu Temple is an Buddhist temple in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China. The temple's surrounding is today a large park.The temple was first built in 515 under the reign of the Liang Dynasty . It used to lie at the northeast foot of Mount Zhongshan, i.e...
in Nanjing, he presided over the religious ceremonies for Yongle's deceased parents, while twenty-two days of his stay were marked by religious
miracleA miracle is a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can be attempted to be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle worker. Many folktales, religious texts, and people claim various events they refer to as "miraculous". People in different...
s that were recorded in five languages on a gigantic scroll that bore the Emperor's seal. During his stay in Nanjing, Deshin Shekpa was bestowed the title "Great Treasure Prince of Dharma" by Yongle. Elliot Sperling asserts that Yongle, in bestowing Deshin Shekpa with the title of "King" and praising his
mystical abilitiesMagic, sometimes known as sorcery, is the practice of consciousness manipulation and/or autosuggestion to achieve a desired result, usually by techniques described in various conceptual systems...
and miracles, was trying to build an alliance with the Karmapa as the Mongols had with the Sakya lamas, but Deshin Shekpa rejected Yongle's offer. In fact, this was the same title that Kublai Khan had offered the Sakya Phagpa lama, but Deshin Shekpa persuaded Yongle to grant the title to religious leaders of other Tibetan Buddhist sects.
Tibetan sources say Deshin Shekpa also persuaded Yongle not to impose his military might on Tibet as the Mongols had previously done. Thinley writes, before Deshin Shekpa returned to Tibet, the emperor began planning to send a military force into Tibet to forcibly give the Karmapa authority over all the Tibetan Buddhist sects, but Deshin Shekpa dissuaded him. But Hok-Lam Chan states that "there is little evidence that this was ever the emperor's intention" and that evidence indicates that Deshin Skekpa was invited strictly for religious purposes.
Marsha Weidner states that Deshin Shekpa's miracles "testified to the power of both the emperor and his guru and served as a legitimizing tool for the emperor's problematic succession to the throne," referring to Yongle's conflict with the previous Jianwen Emperor. Tsai writes that Deshin Shekpa aided the legitimacy of Yongle's rule by providing him with portents and omens which demonstrated
Heaven's favorThe Mandate of Heaven is a traditional Chinese philosophical concept. Tian would bless the authority of a just ruler, but would be displeased with a despotic ruler and would withdraw its mandate...
of Yongle on the Ming throne.
With the example of the Ming court's relationship with the fifth Karmapa and other Tibetan leaders, Norbu states that Chinese Communist historians have failed to realize the significance of the religious aspect of the Ming-Tibetan relationship. He writes that the meetings of lamas with the
emperorThe Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning since the founding of China, united by Fu Xi in 2852 BCE until the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title created no later than Shang Dynasty, the Emperor was recognized...
were exchanges of tribute between "the patron and the priest" and were not merely instances of a political subordinate paying tribute to a superior. He also notes that the items of tribute were Buddhist artifacts which symbolized "the religious nature of the relationship." Josef Kolmaš writes that the Ming Dynasty did not exercise any direct political control over Tibet, content with their tribute relations that were "almost entirely of a religious character." Patricia Ann Berger writes that Yongle's courting and granting of titles to lamas was his attempt to "resurrect the relationship between China and Tibet established earlier by the Yuan dynastic founder Khubilai Khan and his guru Phagpa." She also writes that the later Qing emperors and their Mongol associates viewed Yongle's relationship with Tibet as "part of a chain of
reincarnationRebirth in Buddhism is the doctrine that the evolving consciousness or stream of consciousness of a person, upon the death or dissolution of the aggregates , becomes one of the contributing causes for the arising of a new group of skandhas...
that saw this Han Chinese emperor as yet another emanation of
ManjusriManjusri is a bodhisattva in the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions of Buddhism....
."
The Information Office of the State Council of the PRC preserves an edict of the
Zhengtong EmperorZhu Qizhen was an emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He ruled as the Zhengtong Emperor from 1435 to 1449, and as the Tianshun Emperor from 1457 to 1464....
(r. 1435–1449) addressed to the Karmapa in 1445, written after the latter's agent had brought holy relics to the Ming court. Zhengtong had the following message delivered to the Great Treasure Prince of Dharma, the Karmapa:
Out of compassion, Buddha taught people to be good and persuaded them to embrace his doctrines. You, who live in the remote Western Region, have inherited the true Buddhist doctrines. I am deeply impressed not only by the compassion with which you preach among the people in your region for their enlightenment, but also by your respect for the wishes of Heaven and your devotion to the Court. I am very pleased that you have sent bSod-nams-nyi-ma and other Tibetan monks here bringing with them statues of Buddha, horses and other specialties as tributes to the court.
Despite this glowing message by Zhengtong, Chan writes that in 1446 the Ming court cut off all relations with the Karmapa hierarchs. Until that year, the Ming court was unaware that Deshin Shekpa had died in 1415. Before discovering this, the Ming court believed that the representatives of his sect who continued to visit the Ming capital were sent by him.
Tribute and exchanging tea for horses
Tsai writes that shortly after the visit by Deshin Shekpa, Yongle ordered the construction of a road and trading posts at the upper reaches of the Yangzi River and Mekong River in order to facilitate trade with Tibet in tea, horses, and salt. The trade route passed through Sichuan and crossed
Shangri-La County{Infobox Settlement|official_name = Shangri La County|other_name =|native_name = {Infobox Settlement|official_name = Shangri La County|other_name =|native_name = {Infobox Settlement...
in
YunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers . The capital of the province is Kunming...
. Wang and Nyima assert that this "tribute-related trade" of the Ming exchanging
Chinese teaThe practice of drinking tea has had a long history in China, having originated from there. The Chinese drink tea during many parts of the day such as at meals for good health or simply for pleasure...
for Tibetan horses—while granting Tibetan envoys and Tibetan merchants explicit permission to trade with Han Chinese merchants—"furthered the rule of the Ming Dynasty court over Tibet". Rossabi and Sperling note that this trade in Tibetan horses for Chinese tea existed long before the Ming was established. Peter C. Perdue says that obtaining horses from Inner Asia in exchange for Chinese tea was also the goal of the earlier
Wang AnshiWang Anshi was a Chinese economist, statesman, chancellor and poet of the Song Dynasty who attempted controversial, major socioeconomic reforms...
(1021–1086), who realized that China could not produce enough militarily capable steeds. Horses were needed not only for cavalry but also as draft animals for the army's supply wagons. The Tibetans required Chinese tea not only as a common beverage but also as a religious ceremonial supplement. The Ming government imposed a monopoly on tea production and attempted to regulate this trade with state-supervised markets, but these collapsed in 1449 due to military failures and internal ecological and commercial pressures on the tea producing regions.
Van Praag states that the Ming's establishment of diplomatic delegations with Tibet was merely an effort by the Ming court to secure urgently needed horses. Wang and Nyima argue that these were not diplomatic delegations at all, that Tibetan areas were ruled by the Ming since Tibetan leaders were granted positions as Ming officials, that horses were collected from Tibet as a mandatory "
corvéeCorvée is labor, often but not always unpaid, that people in power have authority to compel their subjects to perform, unless commuted in some way, such as by a cash payment; sometimes this was an option of the payer, sometimes of the payee, and sometimes not an option...
" tax, and therefore Tibetans were "undertaking domestic affairs, not foreign diplomacy". Sperling writes that the Ming simultaneously bought horses in the Kham region while fighting Tibetan tribes in Amdo and receiving Tibetan embassies in Nanjing. He also argues that the embassies of Tibetan lamas visiting the Ming court were for the most part efforts to promote commercial transactions between the lamas' large, wealthy entourage and Ming Chinese merchants and officials. Kolmaš writes that while the Ming maintained a
laissez-faireThe general meaning of Laissez-faire is to allow events to take their own course, or to let people do what they choose. The term is a French phrase literally meaning "let it be" or "leave it alone"....
policy towards Tibet and limited the numbers of the Tibetan retinues, the Tibetans sought to maintain a tributary relationship with the Ming because imperial patronage provided them with wealth and power. Laird writes that Tibetans eagerly sought Ming court invitations since the gifts the Tibetans received for bringing tribute were much greater in value than the latter. As for Yongle's gifts to his Tibetan and
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...
ese vassals such as silver wares, Buddha relics, utensils for Buddhist temples and religious ceremonies, and gowns and robes for monks, Tsai writes "in his effort to draw neighboring states to the Ming orbit so that he could bask in glory, Yongle was quite willing to pay a small price." The Information Office of the State Council of the PRC lists the Tibetan tribute items as oxen, horses, camels, sheep, fur products, medical herbs, Tibetan incenses,
thangkaA "Thangka," also known as "Tangka", "Thanka" or "Tanka" is a painted or embroidered Buddhist banner which was hung in a monastery or a family altar and occasionally carried by monks in ceremonial processions...
s (painted scrolls), and handicrafts while the Ming awarded Tibetan tribute-bearers with an equal value of gold, silver, satin and brocade, bolts of cloth, grains, and tea leaves.
SilkSilk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
workshops during the Ming also catered specifically to the Tibetan market with silk clothes and furnishings featuring Tibetan Buddhist iconography.
While the Ming Dynasty traded horses with Tibet, it upheld a policy of outlawing border markets in the north, which Laird says was an effort to punish the Mongols for their raids and to "drive them from the frontiers of China." However, when
Altan KhanAltan Khan , whose given name was Anda , was the ruler of the Tümet Mongols and de facto ruler of the Right Wing, or western tribes, of the Mongols...
(1507–1582)—leader of the Tümed Mongols who overthrew the
Oirat MongolOirat is the common name of several pastoral nomadic tribes of Mongolian origin whose ancestral home is in the Dzungaria and Amdo regions of western Mongolia and also western China...
confederation's hegemony over the steppes—made peace with the Ming Dynasty in 1571, he persuaded the Ming to reopen their border markets in 1573. This provided the Chinese with a new supply of horses that the Mongols had in excess; it was also a relief to the Ming, since they were unable to stop the Mongols from periodic raiding. Laird says that despite the fact that later Mongols believed Altan forced the Ming to view him as an equal, Chinese historians argue that he was simply a loyal Chinese citizen. By 1578, Altan Khan formed a formidable Mongol-Tibetan alliance with the Yellow Hat sect that the Ming viewed from afar without intervention.
Armed intervention and border stability
Patricia Ebrey writes that Tibet, like
Joseon KoreaJoseon , was a Korean sovereign state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo Kingdom at what is today the city of Kaesong...
and other neighboring states to the Ming, settled for its tributary status while there were no troops or governors of Ming China stationed in its territory. Laird writes that "after the Mongol troops left Tibet, no Ming troops replaced them." Wang and Nyima state that, despite the fact that the Ming refrained from sending troops to subdue Tibet and refrained from garrisoning Ming troops there, these measures were unnecessary so long as the Ming court upheld close ties with Tibetan vassals and their forces. However, there were instances in the 14th century when Emperor Hongwu did use military force to quell unrest in Tibet. John D. Langlois writes that there was unrest in Tibet and western
Sichuan' is a province in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, 四川 , is an abbreviation of 四川路 , or "Four circuits of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from 川峡四路 , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the...
, which the Marquis Mu Ying (沐英) was commissioned to quell in November 1378 after he established a Taozhou garrison in
Gansu' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It lies between Quinghai, Inner Mongolia, and the Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia to the north and Xinjiang to the west. The Yellow River passes the southern part of the province. It has a population of nearly 31...
. Langlois notes that by October 1379, Mu Ying had allegedly captured 30,000 Tibetan prisoners and 200,000 domesticated animals. Yet invasion went both ways; the Ming general Qu Neng, under the command of Lan Yu, was ordered to repel a Tibetan assault into Sichuan in 1390.
Discussions of strategy in the mid Ming Dynasty focused primarily on recovery of the
Ordos regionThe Ordos Desert is a desert and steppe region lying on a plateau in the south of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China . The soil of the Ordos is a mixture of clay and sand and, as a result, is poorly suited for agriculture. It extends over an area of...
, which the Mongols used as a rallying base to stage raids into Ming China. Norbu states that the Ming Dynasty, preoccupied with the Mongol threat to the north, could not spare additional armed forces to enforce or back up their claim of sovereignty over Tibet; instead, they relied on "Confucian instruments of tribute relations" of heaping unlimited number of titles and gifts on Tibetan lamas through acts of diplomacy. Sperling states that the delicate relationship between the Ming and Tibet was "the last time a united China had to deal with an independent Tibet," that there was a potential for armed conflict at their borders, and that the ultimate goal of Ming foreign policy with Tibet was not subjugation but "avoidance of any kind of Tibetan threat." P. Christiaan Klieger argues that the Ming court's patronage of high Tibetan lamas "was designed to help stabilize border regions and protect trade routes."
Historians Luciano Petech and Sato Hisashi argue that the Ming upheld a "divide-and-rule" policy towards a weak and politically fragmented Tibet after the Sakya regime had fallen. Chan writes that this was perhaps the calculated strategy of Yongle, as exclusive patronage to one Tibetan sect would have given it too much regional power. Sperling finds no textual evidence in either Chinese or Tibetan sources to support this thesis of Petech and Hisashi. Norbu asserts that their thesis is largely based on the list of Ming titles conferred on Tibetan lamas rather than "comparative analysis of developments in China and Tibet." Rossabi states that this theory "attributes too much influence to the Chinese," pointing out that Tibet was already politically divided when the Ming Dynasty began. Rossabi also discounts the "divide-and-rule" theory on the grounds of Yongle's failed attempt to build a strong relationship with the fifth Karmapa—one which he hoped would parallel Kublai Khan's earlier relationship with the Sakya Phagpa lama. Instead, Yongle followed the Karmapa's advice of giving patronage to many different Tibetan lamas.
The Association for Asian Studies states that there is no known written evidence to suggest that later leaders of the Yellow Hat sect—
First Dalai Lama Gendun DrupGendun Drup also Gendun Drub and Kundun Drup is retrospectively considered to be the first of the Dalai Lamas of Tibet, who are believed to be reincarnations of Chenresig , the Bodhisattva of Compassion....
(1391–1474) and
Second Dalai Lama Gendun GyatsoGendun Gyatso Palzangpo , also Gendun Gyatso was the second Dalai Lama....
(1475–1571)—had any contacts with Ming China. These two religious leaders were preoccupied with an overriding concern for dealing with the powerful secular princes of
RinbungRinbung County is a county at the northeastern boundary of the Xigazê Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region....
, who were patrons and protectors of the Black Hat Karmapa lamas. The Rinbung (
RinpungpaRinpungpa was a Tibetan dynasty that dominated much of Central Tibet between 1435 and 1565. Originally lords of the fief Rinpung in Tsang , the family took advantage of a family feud within the Phagmodrupa dynasty in 1434-35 and seized the important place Shigatse...
)leaders were relatives of the Phagmodru, yet their authority shifted over time from simple governors to rulers in their own right over large areas of Ü-Tsang. The prince of Rinbung occupied Lhasa in 1498 and excluded the Yellow Hat sect from attending New Years ceremonies and prayers, the most important event in the Yellow Hat sect. While the task of New Years prayers in Lhasa was granted to the Karmapa and others, Gendun Gyatso traveled in exile looking for allies. However, it was not until 1518 that the secular Phagmodru ruler captured Lhasa from the Rinbung, and thereafter the Yellow Hat sect was given rights to conduct the New Years prayer. When the
Red HatIn Tibetan Buddhism, the "Red Hat" sects or schools include the three oldest of the four main schools, to wit:*Nyingma*Sakya*KagyuSome others consider only Nyingma school to be "Red Hat sect"....
abbot of the
Drigung MonasteryDrigung Monastery is a notable monastery in the Lhasa Prefecture, Tibet, known for performing sky burials.The monastery ) is named after its location in a valley about 150 km east from Lhasa, in Drigung district, and is the mother monastery of...
threatened Lhasa in 1537, Gendun Gyatso was forced to abandon the
Drepung MonasteryDrepung Monastery ,, located at the foot of Mount Gephel, is one of the "great three" Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet...
, although he eventually returned.
The
Zhengde EmperorThe Zhengde Emperor was emperor of China between 1505-1521. Born Zhu Houzhao, he was the Hongzhi Emperor's eldest son...
(r. 1505–1521), who enjoyed the company of lamas at court despite protests from the
censorateThe Censorate was a top-level surveillance agency in ancient China, first instituted in Qin Dynasty ....
, had heard tales of a "living Buddha" which he desired to host at the Ming capital; this was none other than the
Rinbung-supported Karmapa then occupying LhasaMikyö Dorje , also Mikyo Dorje, was the eighth Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism.Mikyö Dorje was born in Satam, Kham. According to the legend, he said after being born: "I am Karmapa." and was recognized by Tai Situpa. In this case there was another child from Amdo who...
. Zhengde's top advisors made every attempt to dissuade him from inviting this lama to court, arguing that Tibetan Buddhism was wildly heterodox and unorthodox. Despite protests by the
Grand SecretaryThe Grand Secretariat was nominally a coordinating agency but de facto the highest institution in the Ming imperial government. It first took shape after Emperor Hongwu abolished the office of Chancellor in 1380 and gradually evolved into an effective coordinating organ superimposed on the Six...
Liang Chu, in 1515 the Zhengde Emperor sent his eunuch official Liu Yun of the
palace chancelleryThe Chancellor , variously translated as Prime Minister, Premier or Chief Councillor, was a generic name given to the highest-ranking official in the imperial government in ancient China...
on a mission to invite this Karmapa to Beijing. Liu commanded a fleet of hundreds of ships requisitioned along the Yangzi River, consuming 2,835 g (100 oz) of silver a day in food expenses while stationed for a year in
ChengduChengdu , located in southwest People's Republic of China, is the capital of Sichuan province and a sub-provincial city. Chengdu is also one of the most important economic centers, transportation and communication hubs in Southwestern China...
of
Sichuan' is a province in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, 四川 , is an abbreviation of 四川路 , or "Four circuits of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from 川峡四路 , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the...
. After procurring necessary gifts for the mission, he departed with a cavalry force of about 1,000 troops. When the request was delivered, the Karmapa lama refused to leave Tibet despite the Ming force brought to coerce him. The Karmapa launched a surprise ambush on Liu Yun's camp, seizing all the goods and valuables while killing or wounding half of Liu Yun's entire escort. After this fiasco, Liu fled for his life, but only returned to Chengdu several years later to find that the Zhengde Emperor had died.
Tibetans as a "national minority"
Elliot Sperling, a specialist of Indian studies and the director of the Tibetan Studies program at
Indiana UniversityIndiana University, founded in 1820 as the Indiana State Seminary and renamed the Indiana College in 1846, is a nine-campus university system in the state of Indiana...
’s Department of Central Eurasia Studies, writes that "the idea that Tibet became part of China in the 13th century is a very recent construction." He writes that Chinese writers of the early 20th century were of the view that Tibet was not annexed by China until the Manchu Qing Dynasty invasion during the 18th century. He also states that Chinese writers of the early 20th century described Tibet as a feudal dependent of China, not an integral part of it. Sperling states that this is because "Tibet was ruled as such, within the empires of the Mongols and the Manchus" and also that "China's intervening Ming Dynasty ... had no control over Tibet." He writes that the Ming relationship with Tibet is problematic for China’s insistence of its unbroken sovereignty over Tibet since the 13th century. As for the Tibetan view that Tibet was never subject to the rule of the Yuan or Qing emperors of China, Sperling also discounts this by stating that Tibet was "subject to rules, laws and decisions made by the Yuan and Qing rulers" and that even Tibetans described themselves as subjects of these emperors.
Josef Kolmaš, a sinologist, Tibetologist, and Professor of Oriental Studies at the
Academy of Sciences of the Czech RepublicThe Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic was established in 1992 by the Czech National Council as a Czech successor of the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. The Academy is the leading non-university public research institution in the Czech Republic...
, writes that it was during the Qing Dynasty "that developments took place on the basis of which Tibet came to be considered an organic part of China, both practically and theoretically subject to the Chinese central government." Yet he states that this was a radical change in regards to all previous eras of Sino-Tibetan relations.
P. Christiaan Klieger, an anthropologist and scholar of the
California Academy of SciencesThe California Academy of Sciences is one of the ten largest museums of natural history in the World . Remodeled in 2008, it is also one of the newest in the United States. It is located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California...
in San Francisco, writes that the vice royalty of the Sakya regime installed by the Mongols established a patron-priest relationship between Tibetans and Mongol converts to Tibetan Buddhism. According to him, the Tibetan lamas and Mongol khans upheld a "mutual role of religious prelate and secular patron," respectively. He adds that "Although agreements were made between Tibetan leaders and Mongol khans, Ming and Qing emperors, it was the Republic of China and its Communist successors that assumed the former imperial tributaries and subject states as integral parts of the Chinese nation-state."
Marina Illich, a scholar of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, while discussing the life of the Yellow Hat lama Chankya Rolpe Dorje (1717–1786), mentions the limitations of both Western and Chinese modern scholarship in their interpretation of Tibetan sources. As for the limitations imposed on scholars by the central government of the People's Republic of China on issues regarding the history of Tibet, Illich writes:
PRC scholars ... work under the strict supervision of censor bureaus and must adhere to historiographic guidelines issued by the state [and] have little choice but to frame their discussion of eighteenth-century Tibetan history in the anachronistic terms of contemporary People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) state discourse ... Bound by Party directives, these scholars have little choice but to portray Tibet as a trans-historically inalienable part of China in a way that profoundly obscures questions of Tibetan agency.
China DailyThe China Daily is an English-language daily newspaper published in the People's Republic of China.- Overview :The state-run publication was established in June 1981 and has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in the country...
, a CCP-controlled news organization since 1981, states that although there were dynastic changes after Tibet was incorporated into the territory of China's Yuan Dynasty in the 13th century, "Tibet has remained under the jurisdiction of the central government of China." It also states that the Ming Dynasty "inherited the right to rule Tibet" from the Yuan Dynasty, and repeats the claims in the
Mingshi about the Ming establishing two itinerant high commands over Tibet.
China Daily states that the Ming handled Tibet's civil administration, appointed all leading officials of these administrative organs, and punished Tibetans who broke the law. The party-controlled
People's DailyThe People's Daily , a daily newspaper, is the organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China , published worldwide with a circulation of 3 to 4 million. In addition to its main Chinese-language edition, it has editions in English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Russian, and Arabic...
, the state-controlled
Xinhua News AgencyThe Xinhua News Agency is the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and press conferences in the PRC. It is one of the two news agencies in the PRC, the other being the China News Service. Xinhua is an...
, and the
state-controlledThe State Council , which is largely synonymous with the Central People's Government after 1954, is the chief administrative authority of the People's Republic of China. It is chaired by the Premier and includes the heads of each governmental department and agency. There are about 50 members in...
national television network
China Central TelevisionChina Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV is the major state television broadcaster in mainland China. CCTV has a network of 19 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers...
post the same article that
China Daily has, the only difference being their headlines and some additional text.
Altan Khan and the Dalai Lama
During the reign of the
Jiajing EmperorThe Jiajing Emperor was Emperor of China from 1521 to 1567, the 11th emperor of the Ming dynasty. Born Zhu Houcong, he was the Zhengde Emperor's cousin. His era name means "Admirable tranquility".-Early years:As the nephew of the Hongzhi Emperor, Jiaqing was not brought up to succeed to the throne...
(r. 1521–1567), the native Chinese ideology of
DaoismDaoism refers to a variety of related philosophical and religious traditions and concepts that have influenced East Asia for over two millennia and the West for over two centuries. The word 道, Tao , means "path" or "way", although in Chinese folk religion and philosophy it has taken on more...
was fully sponsored at the Ming court, while the
Tibetan BuddhismTibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India...
of Tibet's lamas and even other types of Buddhism were ignored or suppressed. Even the
Mingshi states that the Tibetan lamas discontinued their trips to Ming China and its court at this point. The Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe under Jiajing was determined to break the
eunuchA eunuch is a political rank often found in ancient courts. Over the millennia since, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures such as: courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and...
influence at court which typified the Zhengde era, an example being the costly escort of the eunuch Liu Yun as described above in his failed mission to Tibet. The court eunuchs were in favor of expanding and building new commercial ties with foreign countries such as
PortugalThe Portuguese Empire was the first global empire in history, with territories in South America, Africa, India and South East Asia...
, which Zhengde deemed permissible since he had an affinity for foreign and exotic people. With the death of Zhengde and ascension of Jiajing, the politics at court shifted in favor of the
Confucian establishmentNeo-Confucianism / is a form of Confucianism that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty. It formed the basis of Confucian orthodoxy in the Qing Dynasty of China. It was a philosophy that attempted to merge certain...
which not only rejected the Portuguese embassy of
Fernão Pires de AndradeCaptain Fernão Pires de Andrade was a Portuguese merchant, pharmacist, and official diplomat under the explorer and Malacca governor Afonso de Albuquerque...
(d. 1523), but had a predisposed animosity towards Tibetan Buddhism and lamas. Evelyn S. Rawski, a professor in the Department of History of the
University of PittsburghThe University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
, writes that the Ming's unique relationship with Tibetan prelates essentially ended with Jiajing's reign while Ming influence in the Amdo region was supplanted by the Mongols.
Meanwhile, the Tümed Mongols began moving into the Kokonor region (modern
Qinghai' is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake. It borders Gansu on the northeast, the Xinjiang Autonomous Region on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast, and Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest.- History :Qinghai was only relatively recently made a province...
province), raiding the Ming Chinese frontier and even as far as the suburbs of Beijing under
Altan KhanAltan Khan , whose given name was Anda , was the ruler of the Tümet Mongols and de facto ruler of the Right Wing, or western tribes, of the Mongols...
(1507–1582). Klieger writes that Altan Khan's presence in the west effectively reduced Ming influence and contact with Tibet. After Altan Khan made peace with the Ming Dynasty in 1571, he invited the third hierarch of the Yellow Hat sect—
Sonam GyatsoSonam Gyatso was the first officially recognized Dalai Lama, although the title was retrospectively given to his two predecessors....
(1543–1588)—to meet him in Amdo (modern Qinghai) in 1578, where he accidentally bestowed him and his two predecessors with the title of
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...
—literally "Ocean Teacher". The full title was "Dalai Lama Vajradhara",
vajradharaVajradhara is the ultimate primordial Buddha, or Adi Buddha, according to the Gelug and Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism....
meaning "Holder of the Thunderbolt" in
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
. Victoria Huckenpahler notes that the vajradhara is considered by Buddhists to be the primordial Buddha of limitless and all-pervasive beneficial qualities, a being that "represents the ultimate aspect of enlightenment." Goldstein writes that Sonam Gyatso also enhanced Altan Khan's standing by granting him the title "king of religion, majestic purity". Rawski writes that the Dalai Lama officially recognized Altan Khan as the "Protector of the Faith".
Laird writes that Altan Khan abolished the native Mongol practices of
shamanismShamanism comprises a range of traditional beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spirit world. It is a prominent term in anthropological research. A practitioner of shamanism is known as a shaman, , noun...
and blood sacrifice, while the Mongol princes and subjects were coerced by Altan to convert to Tibetan Gelug Buddhism—or face execution if they persisted in their shamanistic ways. Committed to their religious leader, Mongol princes began requesting the Dalai Lama to bestow titles on them, which demonstrated "the unique fusion of religious and political power" wielded by the Dalai Lama, as Laird writes. Kolmaš states that the spiritual and secular Mongol-Tibetan alliance of the 13th century was renewed by this alliance constructed by Altan Khan and Sonam Gyatso. Van Praag writes that this restored the original Mongol patronage of a Tibetan lama and "to this day, Mongolians are among the most devout followers of the Gelugpa and the Dalai Lama." Angela F. Howard writes that this unique relationship not only provided the 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...
with religious and political authority in Tibet, but that Altan Khan gained "enormous power among the entire Mongol population." Rawski writes that Altan Khan's conversion to the Yellow Hat sect "can be interpreted as an attempt to expand his authority in his conflict with his nominal superior,
Tümen KhanTumen Jasagtu Khan was a 16th century khan of Mongolia who reigned from 1557 to 1592. He was the successor of Darayisung Gödeng Khan and had direct rule over the Chahar. It was during his rule that Mongols conquered Daur and Evenks....
." To further cement the Mongol-Tibetan alliance, the great-grandson of Altan Khan—
Yonten GyatsoYonten Gyatso or Yon-tan-rgya-mtsho was the 4th Dalai Lama, born in Mongolia on the 30th day of the 12th month of the Earth-Ox year of the Tibetan calendar...
(1589–1616)—was made the fourth Dalai Lama. In 1642,
the fifth Dalai Lama Lozang GyatsoNgawang Lobsang Gyatso, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama , was a political and religious leader in seventeenth-century Tibet. Ngawang Lozang Gyatso was the ordination name he had received from Panchen Lozang Chökyi Gyeltsen who was responsible for his ordination...
(1617–1682) became the first to wield effective political control over Tibet.
Contact with the Ming Dynasty
Sonam Gyatso, after being granted the grandiose title by Altan Khan, departed for Tibet. Before he left, he sent a letter and gifts to the Ming Chinese official
Zhang JuzhengZhang Juzheng or Chang Chü-cheng was a powerful Grand Secretary in the Ming Dynasty under the Longqing and Wanli emperors. Zhang was born in Jiangling, Hubei province, China and died in Beijing....
(1525–1582), which arrived on March 12, 1579. Sometime in August or September of that year, Sonam Gyatso's representative stationed with Altan Khan received a return letter and gift from the
Wanli EmperorThe Wanli Emperor was emperor of China between 1572 and 1620. His era name means "Ten thousand calendars". Born Zhu Yijun, he was the Longqing Emperor's son. His rule of forty eight years would be the longest in the Ming dynasty and it witnessed the steady decline of the dynasty...
(r. 1572–1620), who also conferred upon Sonam Gyatso a title; this was the first official contact between a Dalai Lama and a government of China. However, Laird states that when Wanli invited him to Beijing, the Dalai Lama declined the offer due to a prior commitment, even though he was only 400 km (250 miles) from Beijing. Laird adds that "the power of the Ming emperor did not reach very far at the time." Although not recorded in any official Chinese records, Sonam Gyatso's biography states that Wanli again conferred titles on Sonam Gyatso in 1588, and invited him to Beijing for a second time, but Sonam Gyatso was unable to visit China as he died 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,...
while en route to Tibet, after working since 1585 with Altan Khan's son in Mongolia to further the spread of Buddhism.
Of the third Dalai Lama,
China Daily states that the "Ming Dynasty showed him special favor by allowing him to pay tribute."
China Daily then says that Sonam Gyatso was granted the title Dorjichang or Vajradhara Dalai Lama in 1587 [sic!], but
China Daily does not mention who granted him the title. Without mentioning the role of the Mongols,
China Daily states that it was the successive Qing Dynasty which established the title of
Dalai Lama and his power in Tibet: "In 1653, the Qing emperor granted an honorific title to the fifth Dalai Lama and then did the same for the fifth Bainqen Lama in 1713, officially establishing the titles of the Dalai Lama and the Bainqen Erdeni, and their political and religious status in Tibet."
Chen states that the fourth Dalai Lama Yonten Gyatso was granted the title "Master of Vajradhara" and an official seal by the Wanli Emperor in 1616. This was noted in the
Biography of the Fourth Dalai Lama, which stated that one Soinam Lozui delivered the seal of the Emperor to the Dalai Lama. The Wanli Emperor had invited Yonten Gyatso to Beijing in 1616, but just like his predecessor he died before being able to make the journey.
Kolmaš writes that, as the Mongol presence in Tibet increased, culminating in the conquest of Tibet by a Mongol leader in 1642, the Ming emperors "viewed with apparent unconcern these developments in Tibet." He adds that the Ming court's lack of concern for Tibet was one of the reasons why the Mongols pounced on the chance to reclaim their old vassal of Tibet and "fill once more the political vacuum in that country." On the mass Mongol conversion to Tibetan Buddhism under Altan Khan, Laird writes that "the Chinese watched these developments with interest, though few Chinese ever became devout Tibetan Buddhists."
Civil war and Güshi Khan's conquest
In 1565, the powerful Rinbung princes were overthrown by one of their own ministers, who styled himself as the
TsangpaTsangpa was a dynasty that dominated large parts of Tibet from 1565 to 1642. It was founded by Karma Tseten, a retainer of the prince of the Rinpungpa Dynasty and governor of Shigatse in Tsang since 1548. During the 16th century Tibet was fragmented among rivalling factions, along religious as...
or Ü-Tsang king and established his base of power at
ShigatseShigatse or Rikaze , , is a county-level city and the second largest city in Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, with a population of 80,000, about southwest of Lhasa and northwest of Gyantse...
. The second successor of this first Ü-Tsang king took control of the whole of Central Tibet, reigning from 1611–1621. Despite this, the leaders of Lhasa still claimed their allegiance to the Phagmodru as well as the Yellow Hat sect, while the Ü-Tsang king allied with the Karmapa. Tensions rose between the nationalistic Ü-Tsang ruler and the Mongols who safeguarded their Mongol Dalai Lama in Lhasa. The fourth Dalai Lama refused to give an audience to the Ü-Tsang king, which sparked a conflict as the latter began assaulting Yellow Hat monasteries. Chen writes of the speculation over the fourth Dalai Lama's mysterious death and the plot of the Ü-Tsang king to have him murdered for "cursing" him with illness, although Chen writes that the murder was most likely the result of a feudal power struggle. In 1618, only two years after Yonten Gyatso died, the Yellow Hat sect and the Red Hat sect went to war, the Red Hats supported by the secular Ü-Tsang king. The Ü-Tsang ruler had a large number of Yellow Hat lamas killed, occupied their monasteries at Drepung and
SeraSera Monastery is one of the 'great three' Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet. The other two are Ganden Monastery and Drepung Monastery. The origin of the name 'Sera' is not certain, but it may derive from the fact that the original site was surrounded by 'Wild Roses'...
, and outlawed any attempts to find another Dalai Lama. In 1621, the Ü-Tsang king died and was succeeded by his young son, an event which stymied the war effort as the latter accepted the six-year-old Lozang Gyatso as the new Dalai Lama. Despite the new Dalai Lama's diplomatic efforts to maintain friendly relations with the new Ü-Tsang ruler, Sonam Chöpel (1595–1657), the Dalai Lama's chief steward and treasurer at Drepung, made efforts to overthrow the Ü-Tsang king, which led to another conflict. In 1633, the Yellow Hats and several thousand Mongol adherents defeated the Ü-Tsang king's troops near Lhasa before a peaceful negotiation was settled. Goldstein writes that in this the "Mongols were again playing a significant role in Tibetan affairs, this time as the military arm of the Dalai Lama."
When an ally of the Ü-Tsang ruler threatened destruction of the Yellow Hats again, the fifth Dalai Lama Lozang Gyatso pleaded for help from the Mongol prince
Güshi KhanGüshi Khan , a Khoshut prince and leader of the Khoshut Khanate, who had supplanted the Tumed descendants of Altan Khan. His military assistance to the Gelug school enabled the 5th Dalai Lama to establish political control over Tibet...
(1582–1655), leader of the Khoshut (Qoshot) tribe of the
Oirat MongolsOirat is the common name of several pastoral nomadic tribes of Mongolian origin whose ancestral home is in the Dzungaria and Amdo regions of western Mongolia and also western China...
, who was then on a pilgrimage to Lhasa. Güshi Khan accepted his role as protector, and from 1637–1640 he not only defeated the Yellow Hats' enemies in the Amdo and Kham regions, but also resettled his entire tribe into Amdo. Sonam Chöpel urged Güshi Khan to assault the Ü-Tsang king's homebase of Shigatse, which Güshi Khan agreed upon, enlisting the aid of Yellow Hat monks and supporters. In 1642, after a year's siege of Shigatse, the Ü-Tsang forces surrendered. Güshi Khan then captured and summarily executed the ruler of Ü-Tsang, King of Tibet.
Soon after the victory in Ü-Tsang, Güshi Khan organized a welcoming ceremony for Lozang Gyatso once he arrived a day's ride from Shigatse, presenting his conquest of Tibet as a gift to the Dalai Lama. In a second ceremony held within the main hall of the Shigatse fortress, Güshi Khan enthroned the Dalai Lama as the ruler of Tibet, but conferred the actual governing authority to the regent Sonam Chöpel. Although Güshi Khan had granted the Dalai Lama "supreme authority" as Goldstein writes, the title of 'King of Tibet' was conferred upon Güshi Khan, spending his summers in pastures north of Lhasa and occupying Lhasa each winter. Van Praag writes that at this point Güshi Khan maintained control over the armed forces, but accepted his inferior status towards the Dalai Lama. Rawski writes that the Dalai Lama shared power with his regent and Güshi Khan during his early secular and religious reign. However, Rawski states that he eventually "expanded his own authority by presenting himself as
AvalokitesvaraAvalokiteśvara is a bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. He is one of the more widely revered bodhisattvas in mainstream Mahayana Buddhism. In China and its sphere of cultural influence, Avalokiteśvara is often depicted in a female form known as Guan Yin...
through the performance of rituals," by building 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...
and other structures on traditional religious sites, and by emphasizing lineage reincarnation through written biographies. Goldstein states that the government of Güshi Khan and the Dalai Lama persecuted the Black Hat Karma Kagyu sect, confiscated their wealth and property, and even converted their monasteries into Yellow Hat Gelug monasteries. Rawski writes that this Mongol patronage allowed the Yellow Hats to dominate the rival religious sects in Tibet.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Ming Dynasty fell to the rebellion of
Li ZichengLi Zicheng , born Lĭ Hóngjī , was one of the major figures in the rebellion that brought down the Ming Dynasty China. He proclaimed himself Chuǎng Wáng , or "The Roaming King".-Biography:...
(1606–1645) in 1644, yet his short-lived
Shun DynastyThe Shun Dynasty was an imperial dynasty created in the brief lapse from Ming to Qing rule in China. The dynasty was founded in Xi'an on 8 February 1644, the first day of the lunar year, by Li Zicheng, the leader of a large peasant rebellion. Li, however, only went by the title of King, not Emperor...
was crushed by the
ManchuThe Manchu people are a Tungusic people who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the seventeenth century, with the help of Ming rebels , they conquered the Ming Dynasty and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which established a...
invasion and the Han Chinese general
Wu SanguiWu Sangui was a Ming Chinese general who was instrumental in the succession of rule to the Qing Dynasty in 1644...
(1612–1678).
China Daily states that when the following Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty, it merely "strengthened administration of Tibet." However, Kolmaš states that the Dalai Lama was very observant of what was going on in China and accepted a Manchu invitation in 1640 to send envoys to their capital at Mukden in 1642, before the Ming collapsed. Dawa Norbu, William Rockhill, and George N. Patterson write that when the
Shunzhi EmperorThe Shunzhi Emperor was the second emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the first Qing emperor to rule over China proper from 1644 to 1661...
(r. 1644–1661) of the subsequent Qing Dynasty invited the fifth Dalai Lama Lozang Gyatso to Beijing in 1652, Shunzhi treated the Dalai Lama as an independent sovereign of Tibet. Patterson writes that this was an effort of Shunzhi to secure an alliance with Tibet that would ultimately lead to the establishment of Manchu rule over Mongolia. In this meeting with the Qing emperor, Goldstein asserts that the Dalai Lama was not someone to be trifled with due to his alliance with Mongol tribes, some of which were declared enemies of the Qing. Van Praag states that Tibet and the Dalai Lama's power was recognized by the "Manchu Emperor, the Mongolian Khans and Princes, and the rulers of
LadakhLadakh is a region situated in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir between the Kunlun mountain range in the north and the main Great Himalayas to the south...
, Nepal,
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
,
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...
, and
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...
."
When the Dzungar Mongols attempted to spread their territory from what is now
XinjiangXinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China and also claimed by the territory of the Republic of China.-Names:Older English-language reference works often refer to the area as Chinese Turkestan, Sinkiang, East...
into Tibet, the
Kangxi EmperorThe Kangxi Emperor was the third Emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from 1661 to 1722...
(r. 1661–1722) responded to Tibetan pleas for aid with his own invasion of Tibet in 1717, occupying Lhasa in 1720. By 1751, during the reign of the
Qianlong EmperorThe Qianlong Emperor was the fifth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China...
(r. 1735–1796), a protectorate and permanent Qing Dynasty garrison was established in Tibet. As of 1751, Albert Kolb writes that "Chinese claims to suzerainty over Tibet date from this time."
Administrative offices and officials' titles
| Ming administrative divisions established in Tibet according to the Mingshi |
| Itinerant High Commandery (都指揮使司) |
Dbus-Gtsang (烏思藏), Mdo-khams (朵甘) |
| Itinerant Commandery (指揮使司) |
Longda (隴答) |
| Pacification Commissioner's Office (宣尉使司) |
Duogan (朵甘), Dongbuhanhu (董卜韓胡), Changhexiyutongningyuan (長河西魚通寧遠) |
| Expedition Commissioner's Office (招討司) |
Duogansi (朵甘思), Duoganlongda (朵甘隴答), Duogandan (朵甘丹), Duogancangtang (朵甘倉溏), Duoganchuan (朵甘川), Moerkan (磨兒勘) |
| Wanhu offices (萬戶府) |
Shaerke (沙兒可), Naizhu (乃竹), Luosiduan (羅思端), Biesima (別思麻) |
| Qianhu offices (千戶所) |
Duogansi (朵甘思), Suolazong (所剌宗), Suobolijia (所孛里加), Suochanghexi (所長河西), Suoduobasansun (所多八三孫), Suojiaba (所加八), Suozhaori (所兆日), Nazhu (納竹), Lunda (倫答), Guoyou (果由), Shalikehahudi (沙里可哈忽的), Bolijiasi (孛里加思), Shalituer (撒裏土兒), Canbulang (參卜郎), Lacuoya (剌錯牙), Xieliba (泄里壩), Runzelusun (潤則魯孫) |
| Ming titles granted to Tibetan leaders |
|
Title |
Name |
Sect |
Year |
| Princes of Dharma (法王) |
Great Treasure Prince of Dharma (大寶法王) |
Tulku A tulku is an enlightened Tibetan Buddhist lama who has, through phowa and siddhi, consciously determined to take birth, often many times, in order to continue his or her Bodhisattva vow...
TsurphuTsurphu Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery which served as the traditional seat of the Karmapa. It is located in Gurum town of Doilungdêqên County in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, 70 km from Lhasa. The monastery is about 4,267 metres above sea level...
KarmapaThe Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of the Kagyupa , itself one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism....
|
Karma Kagyu Sect Karma Kagyu , or Kamtsang, is the largest lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu is the Gyalwa Karmapa. The Karma Kagyu are sometimes called the "Black Hat", in reference to the Black Crown worn by the...
(Black Hat sectKarma Kagyu , or Kamtsang, is the largest lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu is the Gyalwa Karmapa. The Karma Kagyu are sometimes called the "Black Hat", in reference to the Black Crown worn by the...
) |
1407 |
| Great Vehicle Prince of Dharma (大乘法王) |
Prince of Dharma of the Sagya Sect (represented by Gunga Zhaxi) |
Sagya Sect (Red Hat sect In Tibetan Buddhism, the "Red Hat" sects or schools include the three oldest of the four main schools, to wit:*Nyingma*Sakya*KagyuSome others consider only Nyingma school to be "Red Hat sect"....
) |
1413 |
| Great Mercy Prince of Dharma (大慈法王) |
Shākya Yeshes (representative of Je Tsongkhapa Tsongkhapa , whose name means “The Man from Onion Valley”, was a famous teacher of Tibetan Buddhism whose activities led to the formation of the Geluk school...
) |
Gelug SectThe Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
(Yellow Hat Sect) |
1434 |
|
| Princes (王) |
Prince of Persuasion (闡化王) |
Zhaba Gyaincain |
Phagmo Drupa Sect |
1406 |
| Promotion Prince of Virtue (贊善王) |
Zhusibar Gyaincain |
Lingzang |
1407 |
| Guardian Prince of Doctrine (護教王) |
Namge Bazangpo |
Guanjor |
1407 |
| Propagation Prince of Doctrine (闡教王) |
Linzenbal Gyangyanzang |
Zhigung Gagyu Sect |
1413 |
| Assistant Prince of Doctrine (輔教王) |
Namkelisiba (Namkelebei Lobzhui Gyaincain Sangpo) |
Sagya Sect |
1415 |
See also
- Tibetan sovereignty debate
In the history of Tibet, it has been an independent country, divided into different kingdoms and states, and a part of China each for a certain amount of time. Today it is mostly controlled by People's Republic of China , while a small part is controlled by India...
- Foreign relations of Imperial China
Imperial China had a long tradition of foreign relations. From the Qin Dynasty until the Qing Dynasty, Chinese civilization had an impact upon neighboring countries and distant ones, while China's culture was transformed gradually by outside influences as well.-Background:In pre-modern times, the...
- Foreign relations of Tibet
The Foreign relations of Tibet proceed in the first instance from the agreements which China, Russia, India and the United Kingdom entered into regarding Tibet's status. Later the United States and the United Nations were to play a role as they reacted to the assertion of sovereignty by the...
- History of China
Chinese civilization originated in various city-states along the Yellow River valley in the Neolithic era. The written history of China begins with the Shang Dynasty . Turtle shells with ancient Chinese writing from the Shang Dynasty have been carbon dated to as early as 1500 BCE...
- History of Tibet
Tibetan history, as it has been recorded, is particularly focused on the history of Buddhism in Tibet. This is partly due to the pivotal role this religion has played in the development of Tibetan, Mongol, and Manchu cultures, and partly because almost all native historians of the country were...