History of Tibet (1)

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HISTORY - tibet

The Mongols began to take an interest in Tibet's new and increasingly powerful order by the time of the third reincarnated head of the Gelugpa, Sonam Gyatso (1543-88). In a move that mirrored the 13th-century Sakyapa entrance into the political arena, Sonam Gyatso accepted an invitation to meet with Altyn Khan in 1578. At the meeting, Sonam Gyatso received the title of 'Dalai', meaning 'Ocean,' and implying 'Ocean of Wisdom.' The title was retrospectively bestowed on his previous two reincarnations, and Sonam Gyatso became the third Dalai Lama.

The Gelugpa-Mongol relationship marked the Gelugpa's entry into turbulent waters of worldly affairs. Ties with the Mongols deepened when, at the third Dalai Lama's death in 1588, his next reincarnation was found in a great-grandson of the Mongolian Altyn Khan. It is no surprise that the Tsang kings and the Karmapa of Tsurphu Monastery saw this Gelugpa-Mongol alliance as a direct threat to their power. In 1611 the Tsang king attacked Drepung and Sera monasteries. The fourth Dalai Lama fled Tibet and died at the age of 25 (he was probably poisoned) in 1616.

A successor to the fourth Dalai Lama was soon discovered, and the boy was brought to Lhasa under Mongol escort. Proponents of Gelugpa domination had the upper hand, and in 1640 Mongol forces intervened on their behalf, defeating the Tsang forces. The Tsang king was taken captive and later executed, probably at the instigation of Tashilhunpo monks. The fifth Dalai Lama was able to carry out his rule from within Tibet. With Mongol backing, all of Tibet was pacified by 1656, and the Dalai Lama's control ranged from Kailash in the west to Kham in the east. The fifth Dalai Lama had become both the spiritual and temporal sovereign of a unified Tibet.

When he died in 1682, the Tibetan government was confronted with the prospect of finding his reincarnation and then waiting 18 years until the boy came of age. The Dalai Lama's regent shrouded the death in secrecy, announcing that the Dalai Lama had entered a long period of meditation (over 10 years!). In 1695 the secret leaked and the regent was forced to hastily enthrone the sixth Dalai Lama, a boy of his own choosing. The choice was an unfortunate one, and a resident Jesuit monk who met him noted that 'no good-looking person of either sex was safe from his unbridled licentiousness.'

In China the Ming Dynasty had fallen in 1644 and the Manchus from the north swiftly moved in to fill the power vacuum, establishing the Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). Tibet's dealings with the new Qing government went awry from the start. In 1705, Mongol forces descended on Lhasa, killed the Tibetan regent and captured the sixth Dalai Lama with the intention of delivering him to Emperor Kang Xi in Beijing. The sixth died en route at Litang (probably murdered) and Prince Lhabzang Khan installed a new Dalai Lama in Lhasa. His machinations aroused intense hostility in Tibet and created enemies among other Mongol tribes, who saw the Dalai Lama as their spiritual leader.

Dzungar Mongols attacked Lhasa in 1717, killed Lhabzang Khan and deposed the new Dalai Lama. The seventh, chosen by the Tibetans themselves, was languishing in Kumbum Monastery under Chinese 'protection.' Emperor Kang Xi sent Chinese troops to Lhasa in 1720. They drove out the Dzungar Mongols and were received as liberators by the Tibetans, having brought the seventh Dalai Lama with them. Emperor Kang Xi declared Tibet a protectorate of China -- a historical precedent for the Communist takeover nearly 250 years later.

The Manchu overlordship appointed a king at one stage, but temporal rule reverted in 1750 to the seventh Dalai Lama, who ruled successfully until his death in 1757. The last Chinese military intervention took place in reaction to a Gurkha invasion from Nepal in 1788. From this time Manchu influence in Tibet receded. One significant outcome of that intervention was a ban on foreign contact, imposed because of fears of British collusion in the Gurkha invasion.

As Britain lost all official contact with Tibet, and Russia aroused fears by pushing the borders of its empire through Central Asia and into India, Lord Curzon, viceroy of India, decided to nip Russian designs in the bud. A 1903 expedition discovered that the Dalai Lama had fled to Mongolia with a Russian 'adviser,' Agvan Dorjieff. However, an Anglo-Tibetan convention was signed via negotiations with Tri Rinpoche, a Lama whom the Dalai Lama had appointed as regent in his absence. The missing link in the Anglo-Tibetan accord was a Manchu signature. In effect the accord implied that Tibet was a sovereign power with the right to make treaties of its own. The Manchus objected and in 1906 the British signed a second accord that recognized China's suzerainty over Tibet.

In 1910, with the Manchu Qing Dynasty teetering on the verge of collapse, the Manchus made good on the accord and invaded Tibet, driving the Dalai Lama once again into flight -- this time into the arms of the British in India. It was during this period of flight that the Dalai Lama became friends with Sir Charles Bell, a Tibetan scholar and political officer. The relationship was to initiate a warming in Anglo-Tibetan affairs and to see the British playing an increasingly important role as mediators in problems between Tibet and China.

In 1911 a revolution finally toppled the decadent Qing Dynasty in China. The spirit of revolt spread to Tibet, where troops mutinied against their officers and fighting broke out between Tibetans and Manchu troops. By the end of 1912, the last of the occupying forces were escorted out of Tibet via India and sent back to China. In 1913 the 13th Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa. For the next 30 years, Tibet enjoyed freedom from interference from China. Sadly, it was a short-lived affair.

Sir Charles Bell was dispatched on a mission to Lhasa in 1920. It was then that the Dalai Lama agreed to accept a supply of modern arms and ammunition from the British for the purpose of self-defense. Lines of communication and a small hydroelectric station were set up, and British experts surveyed parts of Tibet for mining potential. The Tibetan social system, however, was the biggest obstacle on the path to modernization. For the monks, the principal focus of government was the maintenance of the religious state. Attempts to modernize were seen as inimical to this aim, and before too long they began to meet with intense opposition. The monks' worst fears proved to be well founded when the Dalai Lama brought the newly established army into action to quell a threatened uprising at Drepung Monastery. Before too long, a conservative backlash quashed all ongoing innovations. Tibet's brief period of independence was also troubled by conflict between the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama over the autonomy of Tashilhunpo Monastery and its estates.