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106-563: Densely forested with grass plains, its convergence of six valleys and four rivers supported independent Kham polities of Tibetan warrior kingdoms together with Tibetan Buddhist monastic centers. The early trading route between Central Tibet and China traveled through Kham, and Kham is said to be the inspiration for Shangri-La in James Hilton's novel. Settled as Tibet's eastern frontier in the 7th century, King Songtsen Gampo built temples along its eastern border. In 1939, an eastern area of Kham

212-504: A New York Times gossip column in which he reveals that his cultural inspiration for Shangri-La, if it is anywhere, is more than 250 km north of Muli on the route travelled by Huc and Gabet. Between 2002 and 2004 a series of expeditions were led by author and film maker Laurence Brahm in western China which determined that the Shangri-La mythical location in Hilton's book Lost Horizon

318-492: A "wrathful worldly spirit", the propitiation of which "contradicts the precepts of taking refuge". In reply, Phabongka (who is better remembered for his teachings on the graded stages of the path and reputation of conferring Kalachakra empowerments to large crowds of laypeople regardless of his having enthusiastically propitiated Shugden) acknowledged his "error". In the same letter, Phabongka said "...I have propitiated Shugden until now because my old mother told me that Shugden

424-712: A crucial rôle in extending the influence of the Gelug school within Amdo . The 5th Dalai Lama tutored Galdan Boshugtu Khan who later became leader of the Dzungar Khanate and granted him the titles of Hongtaiji and Boshoghtu (or Boshughtu) Khan. The Dalai Lama also sanctioned Galdan Boshugtu Khan's invasion of the last remaining remnants of the Chagatai Khanate in the Dzungar conquest of Altishahr after Afaq Khoja requested help from

530-494: A home in which the disturbed spirit of Drakpa Gyaltsen  – an iconoclastic tulku and rival scholar who had died under mysterious circumstances at a time of considerable political turmoil – might finally settle. Reportedly, though, the evil spirit's harmful activities only intensified, manifesting (in part) as atmospheric disturbances including hailstorms, but also causing both people and cattle to fall prey to disease. The deaths of some monks were attributed to

636-611: A military strategy in the Dalai Lama's name, though apparently with neither Lobsang Gyatso's prior knowledge nor consent. Güshi Khan (who was head of the Khoshut tribe ) conquered Kham in 1640 bringing the Sakyas and the lords of Kham and Amdo under their control. His victory over Karma Tenkyong , the prince of Tsang in Shigatse , in 1642, completed the military conquest of the country and

742-536: A mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery , enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise , particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia – an enduringly happy land, isolated from the world. In the novel, the people who live in Shangri-La are almost immortal, living hundreds of years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance. Ancient Tibetan scriptures mention

848-588: A particular type of "very powerful, perfidious spirit") in the area of Dol Chumig Karmo had "...been harming the teaching of the Buddha and sentient beings in general and in particular" since at least the fire-bird year of 1657 (CE). The version of events which the 5th Dalai Lama relates is substantially corroborated by the account laid out in 1749 (CE) by Gelug historian Sumpa Khenpo ( Tibetan : སུམ་པ་མཁན་པོ་ཡེ་ཤེས་དཔལ་འབྱོར་ , Wylie : sum-pa mKhan-po ye-shes dpal-‘byor 1702–1788 CE). At any rate: confronted with

954-615: A protector of the Sakya school to which he's tied through prior incarnations. Due largely to the determined cunning of his first regent Sonam Chöphel and the military support of his Mongolian disciple Güsri Khan, in 1642 the 25-year-old 5th Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso inherited military and political control of a nation that had been torn by over a century of power struggles and civil war characterized by factionalism and sectarian allegiances. The general form of government he instituted would remain largely in place until Tibet's military occupation by

1060-683: A religious principle". The 5th Dalai Lama's official visit, as an independent head of state, to Beijing in 1653 should be understood in the context of the prior relationship which existed between China and Tibet. Earlier invitations to visit the Manchu court in Beijing had been turned down by both 3rd Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso and 4th Dalai Lama Yonten Gyatso. Analyzing the Ming emperors' repeated invitations of Tibetan lamas from various schools, contemporary Buddhist scholar Alexander Berzin says that "requests by

1166-605: Is credited with having discovered the incarnation. While the Karma, Drugpa and Jonangpa Kagyu orders, (beside the Gelug group from Drepung monastery ) had all independently sought to claim Künga Migyur as a reincarnation of one or another of their own lamas who'd also died in 1616, young Künga Migyur's parents reportedly resisted their demands. Lobsang Gyatso was the name which Künga Migyur received from Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen upon taking novice monastic ordination from him at Drepung . In 1638 when he took full ordination, also in

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1272-620: Is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth , being the key religious and temporal leader of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet . He is credited with unifying all of Tibet under the Ganden Phodrang , after Gushri Khan 's successful military interventions. As an independent head of state, he established priest and patron relations with both Mongolia and the Qing dynasty simultaneously, and had positive relations with other neighboring countries. He began

1378-519: Is the deity of my maternal lineage", thereby acknowledging Shugden practice's provincial and even familial (as well as Sakya ) origins. The current 14th Dalai Lama , for his part, continues to maintain it was the Fifth's intent to appease the interfering spirit of the Gyalpo class from Dol Chumig Karmo – hence his insistence on using the name "Dolgyal" to disambiguate a practice he disrecommends from one of

1484-514: The Potrang Karpo  – the White Palace ;– in 1649. The initial phase of construction continued until 1694, some twelve years after the 5th Dalai Lama's death, which was kept secret from the general public for that length of time. The Potrang Marpo  – or Red Palace – was added between 1690 and 1694. The Fifth Dalai Lama formally institutionalized

1590-638: The British Museum , particularly the travelogue of two French priests, Évariste Régis Huc and Joseph Gabet , to provide the Tibetan cultural and Buddhist spiritual inspiration for Shangri-La. Huc and Gabet travelled a round trip between Beijing and Lhasa in 1844–1846 on a route more than 250 kilometres (160 mi) north of Yunnan. Their famous travelogue, first published in French in 1850, went through many editions in many languages. A popular "condensed translation"

1696-802: The Chinese Civil War . The Kuomintang formulated a plan where three Khampa divisions would be assisted by the Panchen Lama to oppose the Communists. Kuomintang intelligence reported that some Tibetan tusi chiefs and the Khampa Su Yonghe controlled 80,000 troops in Sichuan, Qinghai, and Tibet. They hoped to use them against the Communist army. The Chinese Kuomintang (Nationalists) also enlisted Khampas to join their military. The Chinese Kuomintang also sought

1802-469: The Dalai Lamas ' personal monastery (already known as Namgyal by that time). Thus invoking all of Tibet 's dharma protectors – including Nechung – the 5th Dalai Lama charged them to "not support, protect, or give ... shelter" to Drakpa Gyaltsen in a formal promulgation which the current 14th Dalai Lama characterizes as "quite strongly worded". Recalling the events of that time later,

1908-555: The Gelug order as an "elevation" by Lobsang Gyatso of the dangerously volatile Dolgyal (by now, quite thoroughly conflated with the original Sakya protector named Shugden) to the status of Dharmapala – in other words: a particularly forceful emanation of a blissfully awakened Buddha 's enlightened activity and therefore basically an enlightened being, himself. The 13th Dalai Lama therefore sought to clarify his view about Dorje Shugden's status in his letter to Pabongkhapa Déchen Nyingpo , in which he identified Dorje Shugden as

2014-524: The Gelug school reportedly joined Mongol forces in coercing monks of certain Kagyu and Bön institutions to embrace specifically Gelug doctrines. Modern Tibetans still differentiate between Bön and Buddhism in common parlance, calling members of the Nyingma , Sakya , Kagyu and Gelug schools nangpa (meaning "insider"), while referring to practitioners of Bön as bönpo . The Jonangpa order belongs to

2120-568: The Hor States , Litang , Degé , the Chakla and Batang , becoming the paramount power in the region. China sent troops in against Namgyal which were defeated in 1849, and additional troops were not dispatched. Chinese military posts were present along the trading route, but "did not have any authority over the native chiefs". By 1862, Namgyal blocked trade routes from China to Central Tibet, and sent troops into China. Local chieftains had appealed to both

2226-509: The Jonang and Gelug schools' respective zhentong and rangtong views on voidness. After moving to Amdo the school's distinct transmission lineages of both zhentong philosophy and Dro Kalachakra completion stage practices could be preserved and survived intact to this day. In late 2001, the current 14th Dalai Lama reportedly composed an "Aspiration Prayer for the Flourishing of

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2332-671: The Kagyupa group of schools, the 7th one to emerge. According to Snellgrove and Richardson , it was a difference in philosophy that caused a bitter schism to arise with the Gelugpa, however Samten Karmay maintains that the 5th Dalai Lama's negative attitude towards the Jonangpa was determined by political rather than philosophical or religious considerations. He records elsewhere that the Fifth Dalai Lama's personal biographer and Sanskrit teacher

2438-492: The Lhasa Mönlam , the capital city's New Year Festival, which had originally been created by the reformer Je Tsongkhapa in 1409 (CE). It was under Gyatso's rule that the "rule of religion" was finally firmly established "even to the layman, to the nomad, or to the farmer in his fields". This was not the supremacy of the Gelug school over Bön , or over the other Buddhist schools, but "the dedication of an entire nation to

2544-450: The People's Republic of China in the 1950s. Nevertheless, Lobsang Gyatso's rule over Tibet included various incidents which, 350 years later, certain keen observers – namely, the heirs of those Kagyupa followers whose patrons lost power during unification or during the quelling of their subsequent rebellions – still consider to have been the abuse of government power. In 1648, Tibetans loyal to

2650-551: The Sakya , Jonang , and Kagyu schools, while maintaining somewhat tense but cordial relations with his Gelug neighbours at Tashilhunpo . Then Altan Khan , King of the Tumed Mongols, invited Drepung Monastery's abbot Sonam Gyatso to Mongolia. In 1577–78 Sonam Gyatso accepted, went there and converted him and his subjects to Buddhism, receiving the Mongolian name "Dalai" in the process by which action his lineage became known as

2756-485: The sky caves found there, in search of Shangri-La. His findings offer no proof that Shangri-La is or was real. 5th Dalai Lama The 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso ( Tibetan : ངག་དབང་བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ , Wylie : Ngag-dbang blo-bzang rgya-mtsho ; Tibetan pronunciation: [ŋɑ̀wɑ̀ŋ lɔ́psɑ̀ŋ cɑ̀t͡só] ; 1617–1682) was recognized as the 5th Dalai Lama, and he became the first Dalai Lama to hold both Tibet's political and spiritual leadership roles. He

2862-456: The "Dalai Lamas" and he became the 3rd Dalai Lama . His two predecessors became known as the 1st and 2nd Dalai Lamas posthumously. The Samdruptse government saw this development as a politico-religious alliance between the Gelugpa and a foreign power. When Sonam Gyatso died, the Gelugpa recognised a Mongolian prince as his incarnation and so a Mongolian 4th Dalai Lama , Yonten Gyatso (1589–1617),

2968-503: The 14th century at Taktsé Castle , south of Lhasa  –  a legendary stronghold of Tibetan kings in the days of the early empire, before Songtsen Gampo (604–650 CE) had moved his capital from there to Lhasa . The 5th Dalai Lama's father was called Dudul Rabten, the local ruler of the Chonggye valley, also known as Hor Dudül Dorjé; his mother was called Tricham, Kunga Lhadze or Kunga Lhanzi. His father had friendly relations with

3074-630: The 5th Dalai Lama acknowledged as king of the Dzungar Upper Mongols in Kokonor . The Fifth Dalai Lama began construction of the Potala Palace in 1645 after one of his spiritual advisors, Konchog Chophel (d. 1646), pointed out that the site would be an ideal seat of government, situated as it is between Drepung and Sera monasteries, and overlooking Songtsen Gampo 's old capital city of Lhasa. The 5th Dalai Lama and his government moved into

3180-417: The 5th Dalai Lama immediately commenced the tradition of searching for his next incarnation. He composed a special prayer asking his master "to return" and directed the monks of Tibet's great monasteries to recite it. He also reserved the traditional title of Panchen (short for Pandita chen po "Great Scholar") – which had previously been a courtesy title for all exceptionally learned lamas – exclusively for

3286-433: The 5th Dalai Lama wrote that "...indirectly these creatures..." – Tibetan : འབྱུང་པོ་ , Wylie : ‘byung-po means, roughly, "creature" or "evil spirit" – "...were delivered to the peaceful state of being, released from having to experience the intolerable suffering of bad states of rebirth due to their increasingly negative actions." But the unification of Tibet having occurred at least in part on account of scapegoating

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3392-464: The 5th Dalai Lama, Lobsang Gyatso, completed all his formal monastic training as a Gelugpa , proving to be an exceptional scholar, he also studied Nyingmapa doctrines, and took Nyingma tantric empowerments. The great Geluk scholar Sumpa Khenpo acknowledged that Lobsang Gyatso took a special interest in Nyingma tantric doctrines. In fact, the Fifth Dalai Lama states in his autobiography that rather than

3498-531: The British Military Expedition to Lhasa and subsequent retreat [and consequent power vacuum within Tibet] were primarily responsible". In 1932, an agreement signed between Chinese warlord Liu Wenhui and Tibetan forces formalized the partition of Kham into two regions: Eastern Kham, which was administered by Chinese forces, and Western Kham, which was administered by Tibet. Eastern Kham subsequently became

3604-691: The Chinese provinces of Sichuan (16 counties), Yunnan (three counties), and Qinghai (6 counties) as well as the eastern portion of the Tibet Autonomous Region (25 counties). The people of Kham, the Khampas, are reputed warriors renowned for their marksmanship and horsemanship. References state many Khampas in the Hor States include mention of their Mongolian heritage. There are significant differences in traditions and beliefs—even physical appearance—between

3710-535: The Dalai Lama over the power struggle between the Afaqi and Ishaqi Khojas . In 1679, the 5th Dalai Lama overruled the advice of his Prime Minister and launched an expedition resulting in the Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War that did not conclude until two years after his death with the 1684 Treaty of Tingmosgang . In a move distinctly evocative of Songtsen Gampo , Lobsang Gyatso once again proclaimed Lhasa to be

3816-620: The Drugpa Kagyu and his mother had connections with the Jonangpa Kagyu through her family at Nakartse Dzong. Thus, after his birth on the 22nd day of the 9th month of the Fire-snake year (late 1617), Taranatha , the most remarkable scholar and exponent of the Jonang school (a.k.a. Tagten Tulku, a.k.a. Kunga Nyingpo), named the child 'Kün-ga Migyur Tobgyal Wanggi Gyalpo'. His family called him 'Künga Migyur'. The child's father, Dudul Rabten,

3922-520: The Fifth Dalai Lama did not accept it. He wrote that after he left Beijing on his way back to Tibet, "the emperor made his men bring a golden seal for me" but "The Tibetan version of the inscription of the seal was translated by a Mongolian translator but was not a good translation." Furthermore, when he arrived back in Tibet, he discarded the emperor's famous golden seal and made a new one for important Tibetan state usage, writing in his autobiography: "Leaving out

4028-621: The Governor of Xining , where he earned the nickname of "the Butcher of Kham". In 1905 or 1908 Zhao began executing monks and destroying many monasteries in Kham and Amdo , implementing an early "sinicization" of the region: He abolished the powers of the Tibetan local leaders and appointed Chinese magistrates in their places. He introduced new laws that limited the number of lamas and deprived monasteries of their temporal power and inaugurated schemes for having

4134-689: The Hor States. In 1717, the Mongol Dzungar Khanate invaded Tibet and other Asian regions. The Qing Chinese army likewise invaded and defeated the Dzungars. This led to the redrawing of the Sino-Tibetan boundary of 1677, which had followed the edge of the Tibetan Plateau. The frontier line changed in either 1725 or 1726 to follow the Dri River (Jinsha River, Upper Yangtze ), while the Kham region on

4240-517: The Imperial era, both Nyingma school and Bon monasteries were located, especially in Nyarong Valley , among pastoral and agricultural-based polities ruled by local chieftains, polities which included merchant as well as Mongol and Chinese populations. Notable Tibetan Buddhist art from this era, dating from 804 or 816, includes carved stone statues of Buddha Vairocana . Following a power struggle in

4346-738: The Jonang Teachings" entitled in Tibetan : ཇོ་ནང་པའི་བསྟན་རྒྱས་སྨོན་ལམ་ , Wylie : Jo-nang pa'i bStan rGyas sMon-lam (which might be called quite strongly worded). The 5th Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso established a centralized dual system of government under the Gyalwa Rinpoche ( i.e. , the institution of the Dalai Lama ) which was divided equally between laymen and monks (both Gelugpa and Nyingmapa ). This form of government, with few changes, survived up to modern times. He also revitalized

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4452-653: The Khampas help in defending Sichuan from Japan during World War 2, since the temporary capital was located there. A Khampa member of the Mongolian Tibetan Academy was Han Jiaxiang. 300 "Khampa bandits" were enlisted into the Kuomintang Consolatory Commission military in Sichuan, where they were part of the effort of the central government of China to penetrated and destabilize the local Han warlords such as Liu Wenhui. The Chinese government sought to exercise full control over frontier areas against

4558-702: The Khampas, whose relationship with the Dalai Lama's government in Lhasa were deteriorating badly. The Khampa revolutionary leader Pandatsang Rapga founded the Tibet Improvement Party to overthrow the Tibetan government and establish a Tibetan Republic as part of China. In addition to using the Khampa's against the Tibetan Government in Lhasa, the Chinese Kuomintang also used them against the Communists during

4664-630: The Lhasa and the Qing Manchu governments for help against Namgyal. The Tibetan authorities sent an army in 1863, and defeated Namgyal then killed him at his Nyarong fort by 1865. Central Tibet reasserted its authority over the northern parts of Kham and established the Office of the Tibetan High Commissioner to govern. Tibet also reclaimed Nyarong, Degé and the Hor States north of Nyarong. China recalled their forces. It appears to have been accepted by

4770-574: The Manchu Tongzhi Emperor . Then in 1896, the Qing Governor of Sichuan attempted to gain control of Nyarong valley during a military attack. After his defeat, the Qing agreed to the withdrawal of Chinese forces and the "territory was returned to the direct rule of Lhasa". From 1904 to 1911, China decided to reassert its control over the previously re-ceded section of Kham, and to push further into

4876-559: The Ming emperors for Tibetan lamas to visit China and the freedom the lamas exercised in responding to these requests, characterize the Sino Tibetan relationship at this time as one of mutual independence." Fifth Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso established diplomatic relations with the second emperor of the Qing dynasty , accepting the Shunzhi Emperor 's 1649 invitation. The Shunzhi Emperor invited him to Beijing instead of Mongolia, following

4982-590: The Muli monastery in this remote region was the model for James Hilton's Shangri-La, which they thought Hilton learned about from articles on this area in several National Geographic magazines in the late 1920s and early 1930s written by Austrian-American explorer Joseph Rock . Vaill completed a film based on their research, "Finding Shangri-La", which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007. However, Michael McRae unearthed an obscure James Hilton interview from

5088-470: The Panchen Lama and his successors (and, for those who consider him the 4th Panchen, for his three predecessors as well). He had also predicted that Gyaltsen would continue to be reincarnated in future as the 'Panchen Lama'. The two had a teacher/disciple relationship going back to the 1st Dalai Lama Gendun Drup and his teacher Khedrup Je , considered by some in retrospect as the 1st Panchen Lama . From

5194-420: The Panchen Lama or any other Geluk masters, the great Nyingma lama Zur Choying Rangdrol ‘the omniscient’ (kun mkhyen zur chos dbyings rang grol, 1604–1657) was his 'root guru', 'spiritual master' and his 'root master'. Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso's rule over central Tibet may be characterized, in very broad terms, Although the Fifth Dalai Lama would ultimately come to be known for unifying Tibet, it

5300-421: The Qing, the Beijing-appointed amban Zhong Ying invaded Lhasa with the Chinese army in February 1910 in order to gain control of Tibet and establish direct Chinese rule. The 13th Dalai Lama escaped to British India , and returned before China surrendered via a letter from the amban to the Dalai Lama in the summer of 1912. On 13 February 1913, the Dalai Lama declared Tibet an independent nation, and announced

5406-455: The Rinpung and establishing the Tsang hegemony in 1565 by declaring himself King of Tsang . Tseten Dorje established his residence at Samdruptse castle, also called Shigatse , near the Gelug monastery of Tashilhunpo , and together with his nine sons, eventually extended the reach of his power over both of Tibet's central provinces of Ü and Tsang. The secular government of King Tseten Dorje and his descendants enjoyed general support from

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5512-462: The Tibetan state oracle of Nechung . Lobsang Gyatso established Nechung Monastery as the seat of Tibet 's state oracle by instituting Gyalpo Pehar as the protector of Tibet's newly consolidated Ganden Phodrang government. Nechung – which, translated literally, means "small place" – was a shrine dedicated to Pehar , located about ten minutes east on foot from Drepung monastery near Tibet's newly declared capital city of Lhasa . The rôle of

5618-400: The Tsangpa and fighting against the Ganden Phodrang. In 1650 the Jonangpa printing presses were officially sealed and teaching of their zhentong philosophical views was forbidden within central Tibet, indicating that the basis of the schism was more philosophical in nature. Then in 1658 the main Jonang monastery Takten Damchö Ling in Lhatse  – which had been the monastic seat of

5724-423: The actual area of control of China's Xikang province. The border between eastern and western Kham is the Upper Yangtze – Dri Chu in Tibetan and Jinsha Jiang respectively, in Chinese. Tenpay Gyaltsan, a Khampa who was 5 years old, was selected as the fifth Jamyang Hutuktu in 1921. The Kham Pandatsang family led the 1934 Khamba rebellion against the Tibetan government in Lhasa. The Kuomintang reached out to

5830-420: The advice of his Han advisors over the suggestion by his Manchu advisors. The 5th Dalai Lama set out from Lhasa in 1652 accompanied by 3,000 men. The journey to Beijing took nine months. Lobsang Gyatso and his entourage spent two months in the yellow palace which had been especially constructed by the emperor in order to house him. The Shunzhi Emperor, who was only 14 years old (13 by Western reckoning) at

5936-430: The capital of Tibet. Assembling his government there, he "appointed governors to the districts, chose ministers for his government, and promulgated a set of laws". The young Dalai Lama also transformed his regent into a prime minister – or, as the Tibetans call him, the Desi . Administrative authority was vested in the person of the Desi , while military power remained the special domain of Güshi Khan , whom

6042-408: The custom of meeting early European explorers . The 5th Dalai Lama built the Potala Palace, and also wrote 24 volumes' worth of scholarly and religious works on a wide range of subjects. To understand the context within which the Dalai Lama institution came to hold temporal power in Tibet during the lifetime of the 5th, it may be helpful to review not just the early life of Lobsang Gyatso but also

6148-435: The death of both people and cattle combined with harsh, unpredictable weather in an atmosphere of political intrigue and diplomatic insecurity, Gyatso undertook a specific course of action which might be considered somewhat unconventional, even for a religiously affiliated head of state. At the end of the earth-bird year of 1669 (CE), a special crypt was constructed, and offerings placed within it in hopes that it might serve as

6254-445: The departed spirit of a controversial but popular rival lama was not to be without eventual historic consequence. The growth of the 19th-century nonsectarian Rime movement served in part to expose and exacerbate political tensions within the Gelug hierarchy as it had come to organize itself in the centuries following the 5th Dalai Lama's death. Some of his acts were subsequently misconstrued by certain conservative factions within

6360-513: The eastern bank became Qing domain. There, hereditary chieftains were bestowed honorific titles of tusi , and obligated to fight alongside the Qing army in other Kham battles between chieftains. Earlier in 1724, an area of Qinghai (Kokonor) was established within Do Kham. The eastern Kham Qing domain was later incorporated into neighboring Chinese provinces. In 1837, a minor chieftain Gompo Namgyal , of Nyarong in eastern Kham, began expanding his control regionally and launched offensives against

6466-504: The elderly Panchen Lama at Tashilhunpo to receive lineage transmissions which he still lacked and at this point he requested the Panchen to accept Tashilhunpo Monastery , built by the 1st Dalai Lama , as his multi-lifetime seat for future incarnations. Since then, every incarnation of the Panchen Lama has been the master of Tashilhunpo Monastery and it is there that they have all received their education and their mummified bodies were enshrined. When Panchen Gyaltsen died in 1662 at 93,

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6572-440: The end of the historic "priest-patron" relationship between Tibet and China. The amban and Chinese army were expelled, while other Chinese populations were given three years to depart. By late 1913, Kham and Amdo remained largely occupied by China. Tibet proposed re-establishing the border between Tibet and China at the Dri River during the Simla Conference with Britain and China, while Britain countered with another proposal which

6678-534: The establishment of the Khoshut Khanate . By this feat the Phagmodrupa dynasty , which was associated with a variant of the Kagyu school, was technically replaced; in fact it had been powerless for many years. By subsequently formally recognizing the Fifth Dalai Lama's authority in 1642, Güshi Khan effectively made Gyatso the temporal ruler of all Tibet. Güshi Khan maintained friendly and respectful relations with Lobsang Gyatso, but died in 1655, leaving ten sons. Eight of them (along with their tribes) settled in

6784-417: The existence of seven such places as Nghe-Beyul Khembalung . Khembalung is one of several Utopia beyuls (hidden lands similar to Shangri-La) which Tibetan Buddhists believe that Padmasambhava established in the 9th century CE as idyllic, sacred places of refuge for Buddhists during times of strife. In a 1936 interview for The New York Times , Hilton states that he used "Tibetan material" from

6890-445: The great Jonangpa exponent Taranatha (1575–1634) – was converted to a Gelug institution and renamed Phuntsok Choling. The Fifth Dalai Lama's Regent or Desi , Sonam Rapten was, in fact, a fanatical Gelugpa supremacist as well as a shrewd and canny political operator with an eye for the main chance. Being 22 years the Dalai Lama's senior he dominated him as he raised him from the age of 5. In his autobiography The Dukula

6996-501: The king, returned with her son to her family's home, Narkatse castle, in Yardrog . The infant Künga Migyur's name had been drawn, by lot, from among the names of three children considered likely candidates in a series of divination rituals including a doughball divination which was held in secret (on account of King Dorje's prohibition against seeking the 4th Dalai Lama's reincarnation) at Radeng monastery . The former 4th Dalai Lama 's chief attendant, Sonam Choephel (1595–1658),

7102-418: The lama repeatedly remarks how he had to defer to the Desi, or had to do as he said, and even as an adult he rarely got his way if he disagreed with Sonam Rapten's wishes. That the infamous sectarian policies implemented in the decade after the 1642 civil war were the work of the Desi can be inferred from the decree that the Fifth Dalai Lama issued to him and his administration just as he departed to Beijing in

7208-468: The land cultivated by Chinese immigrants. Zhao's methods in eastern Tibet uncannily prefigured the Communist policies nearly half a century later. They were aimed at the extermination of the Tibetan clergy, the assimilation of territory and repopulation of the Tibetan plateaus with poor peasants from Sichuan. Like the later Chinese conquerors, Zhao's men looted and destroyed Tibetan monasteries, melted down religious images and tore up sacred texts to use to line

7314-438: The mid-9th century, Tibet separated into independent kingdoms. Kham was not controlled by a single king and remained a patchwork of kingdoms, tribes, and chiefdoms whose bases of authority were constantly shifting. A dual system of secular and Buddhist polities continued. In 1270, the Sakya school's lama Tonstul, a student of Sakya Pandita , established a monastery in Kham while both Kagyu and Sakya monasteries were located in

7420-401: The northern plains, including Gonjo and Lingtsang, which accompanied the earlier Nyingma and Bon monasteries of Kham. In 1639, Güshri Khan , a supporter of the Dalai Lama, invaded with Mongolian troops and defeated the powerful King of Beri in Kham. In 1655, Ngawang Phuntsok, a student of the Dalai Lama, founded Gonsar Monastery, the first of the 13 Gelug monasteries in the Hor States , with

7526-458: The peoples of Kham and Lhasa. Most of Kham's residents speak Khams Tibetan while at least one-third of the residents are speakers of Qiangic languages , a family of twelve distinct but interrelated languages that are not closely related to Khams Tibetan. As a frontier region, Kham integrated and "Tibetanized" early Mongolian and Chinese populations. After Güshri Khan's invasion of Kham in 1639, Mongolian people and Amdo's tribal people resettled to

7632-519: The presence of Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Ngawang was added to his name, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso. At this time his interest in the Nyingmapa teachings began to deepen and his devotion to the Nyingma master Zur Choying Rangdrol became somewhat conspicuous. Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen (1570–1662), the Panchen Lama and the first to be accorded this title during his lifetime,

7738-613: The region soon after the invasion of Tibet by the British army under Francis Younghusband in 1904. The British invasion alarmed the Qing rulers in China, and they sent Fengquan (鳳全) to Kham to initiate land reforms and reduce the numbers of monks. An anti-foreigner and anti-Qing uprising in Batang led to Fengquan's death, while Chinese fields were burned. The Qing then undertook punitive campaigns in Kham under Manchu army commander Zhao Erfeng , also

7844-529: The region. The Khampas are known for their great height. Khampa males are on average 180 cm (5 ft 11 in). The Pugyal Dynasty (or Yarlung) of the Tibetan Empire sent troops east from Lhasa to the reaches of the Tibetan Plateau , where they interacted with local cultures and languages to establish eastern Tibet, or Do Kham ('Do', the convergence of rivers and valleys; 'Kham', frontier). Kham

7950-545: The renowned Jonang scholar Jamyang Wangyal Dorje Mondrowa was a master of the Jonang tradition and belonged to a well-known Jonang family from Lato in Tsang with whom the Dalai Lama had good relations. In any case, it was during Lobsang Gyatso's rule after the civil wars and rebellions of 1640-1643 that Jonangpa institutions, teachings and followers were banished and moved out of central Tibet to be re-established in Amdo for allying with

8056-596: The reversal of specified sectarian policies being implemented, evidently without his approval, by the Desi's government: "Around this time, the adepts of the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma schools were not allowed to wear hats in their own way, and it was intended that their religious affinities would gradually be converted to the Gelug. Many of our major and minor figures had given their approval for this and even made pleas (for this policy). If this

8162-424: The ritual cycles of Nechung Monastery , where it continues to be practiced, up to the present day. Nechung 's role in warding off one interfering spirit in particular is quite extensively detailed in the 5th Dalai Lama's autobiography. Some contemporary scholars and the current 14th Dalai Lama would appear to agree: Lobsang Gyatso specifically states that a gyalpo ( Tibetan : རྒྱལ་པོ་ , Wylie : rgyal-po :

8268-789: The same time that his infant son had been recognized, in secret, by lamas of the Gelug order as the reincarnation of the 4th Dalai Lama , while Tashilhunpo 's abbot Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen used diplomacy to persuade King Karma Phuntsok Namgyal to lift the ban he'd put in place on seeking out the 5th Dalai Lama. Dudul Rabten escaped his captors and tried to reach eastern Tibet, but was rearrested. Dudul Rabten died in captivity in 1626 at Samdruptse – Karma Phuntsok Namgyal's castle also known as Shigatse – and thus, he never lived to see his son again. The young 5th Dalai Lama's family were ordered by Karma Phuntsok Namgyal to live at court in Samdruptse , but his mother, Kunga Lhanzi , fearing retribution from

8374-503: The schools should be undertaken and no hat style to be changed; the bad example of the big schools preventing the small ones from recruiting new monks was to be discouraged." In 1674, the 5th Dalai Lama met with 10th Karmapa ( i.e. , the specific tulku , or incarnate lama who heads the Karma Kagyu school) Chöying Dorje (1604–1674) at the Potala . This mutual gesture of "reconciliation"

8480-508: The soles of their boots and, as the Communists were also to do later, Zhao Erfeng worked out a comprehensive scheme for the redevelopment of Tibet that covered military training reclamation work, secular education, trade and administration. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Zhao was stripped of his post and executed by the revolutionary commander Yin Changheng . A year before the collapse of

8586-537: The spirit as well – which was named "Dolgyal" by combining gyalpo with the ghost 's place of residence. It was only later that Dolgyal would come to be identified with Dorje Shugden ( Tibetan : རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས་ལྡན་ , Wylie : rDo-rje Shugs-ldan ) through conflation with a much older Sakya protector of the same name associated with the remote Nepali village of Tsap . Modest but extensive offerings to monks of wheat and tea along with small amounts of gold reportedly resulted in sutra recitations numbering in

8692-626: The strategically important Koko Nur region of Amdo , where they frequently fought over territory. The 5th Dalai Lama sent several governors to the region between 1656 and 1659 to restore order. Although Güshi Khan 's descendants (who would come to be known as the Upper Mongols ) showed little interest in the administration of Tibet , they did appoint a regent for a while to act on their behalf in Lhasa , and gradually assimilated certain aspects of Tibetan culture into their own. They would also come to play

8798-460: The summer of 1652 to see the Emperor, leaving the Desi behind in Tibet. The issuance of such a decree, at the age of 35, indicates his growing maturity and his firm intention to start imposing his will over that of his Regent concerning such important policies which the Dalai Lama disapproved of. He presents this decree as his instructions to his regent in the form of a testament to be implemented while he

8904-610: The support of the kingdom of Degé . By 1677, many Gelug monasteries had been built when the 5th Dalai Lama finalized Kham's Sino-Tibetan border location between China and a Tibet then reunified in the Khoshut Khanate , resulting in Kham being ascribed to Tibet's authority. The major independent polities included the Chakla , Degé , the Lingtsang , Nangchen and the Lhatok . Other important polities included Chamdo , Batang , Mili , and

9010-436: The tens of thousands. Combined with the performance of many far more complex tantric rituals, the coordinated efforts reached eleven separate district capitals, and spread through no fewer than seventy monasteries including Dorje Drag , Sera , and Drepung . The entire cycle was concluded with an elaborate fire puja offering in which the "perfidious spirit" was ritually burnt by seven different groups of practitioners, led by

9116-415: The three-headed, six-armed Pehar as protector of Tibet can be traced back to at least the 8th century, when Pehar was oath-bound by Padmasambhava to act as chief among Tibet's protector's, with Dorje Drakden named his chief emissary. The 5th Dalai Lama also composed a generation stage practice and invocation of the protector entitled simply Dra-Yang-Ma (Melodic Chant), which was incorporated into

9222-463: The time of the 5th the two offices were known as Yab Sey Gonpo or "Father/Son Protectors" characterising their spiritual provenance as emanations of Amitābha and Avalokitesvara as well as their interchangeable guru/disciple relationship. This continued, lifetime after lifetime well into the 20th century with whichever was elder becoming the teacher of the younger, giving both monastic ordination and passing on tantric lineage transmissions. Although

9328-672: The time, first met the Dalai Lama in January 1653, honouring him with two grand imperial receptions. Some historians claim that the emperor treated the Dalai Lama as an equal while others dispute this claim. The emperor gave Gyatso a parting gift of an elaborate gold seal reading "Dalai Lama, Overseer of the Buddhist Faith on Earth Under the Great Benevolent Self-subsisting Buddha of the Western Paradise". However

9434-618: The tourist destinations of Zhongdian County, claim the title. In 2001, Zhongdian County in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture , northwestern Yunnan province, officially renamed to Shangri-la . It is known as "香格里拉" (Xiānggélǐlā) in Chinese, "སེམས་ཀྱི་ཉི་ཟླ།" in Tibetan and "ज्ञानगंज" [gyanganj] in India. American explorers Ted Vaill and Peter Klika visited the Muli area of southern Sichuan Province in 1999, and claimed that

9540-464: The warlords. The Consoltary Commission forces were used to battle the Communist Red Army but were defeated when their religious leader was captured by Communist forces. The Republic of China government also used Khampa traders to operate secret transports between different places. Kesang Tsering was sent by the Chinese to Batang to take control of Xikang , where he formed a local government. He

9646-526: The world into which he was born, as Künga Migyur. The child who would become the 5th Dalai Lama was born in the Chonggye Valley in Ü , south of the Yarlung Tsangpo River and about two days' journey south-east of Lhasa, to a prominent family of nobles with traditional ties to both Nyingma and Kagyu lineages. The aristocratic Zahor family into which he was born had held their seat since

9752-401: Was absent in China, and, perhaps, in case he did not return from the long and perilous journey for any reason. In The Dukula , he explains how, before departing, he handed to Sonam Rapten "for his memory, with explanations, a scroll of the following list concerning what was to be done (in my absence)". He then specifies what (amongst other things) this decree placed a ban on, and he thus ordered

9858-552: Was arrested in 1618 for his involvement in a plot to overthrow Karma Phuntsok Namgyal , leader of the Tsang hegemony . Karma Phuntsok's grandfather Zhingshak Tseten Dorje (also known as Karma Tseten) had originally been appointed Governor of Tsang by the Rinpung Prime Minister Ngawang Namgyel in 1548. Tseten Dorje had rebelled against the heirs of Ngawang Namgyel starting in 1557, eventually overthrowing

9964-623: Was based on references to the southern Yunnan Province from articles published by National Geographic's first resident explorer Joseph Rock . On 2 December 2010, OPB televised one of Martin Yan 's Hidden China episodes, "Life in Shangri-La", in which Yan said that "Shangri-La" is the actual name of a real town in the hilly and mountainous region in southwestern Yunnan Province, frequented by both Han and Tibetan locals. Martin Yan visited arts and craft shops and local farmers as they harvested crops, and sampled their cuisine. However, this town

10070-425: Was going to serve the interests of our [Gelugpa] school, it would most likely be good to have a unified school. However, to have a unified school would be beneficial neither to our own school nor to the others. In the long run it would come to: 'Whatever one does, the results of that action will ripen'. Therefore this was a gross policy that needed to be renounced, because there was little purpose in it: no conversion of

10176-448: Was his first regent Sonam Choephel (1595-1657 CE, also known as Sonam Rabten, treasurer of Ganden ) who was, in fact, "the prime architect of the Gelug 's rise to power". The 5th Dalai Lama would eventually assume complete power – including that of appointing his regents. Sonam Choephel , the regent during the 5th Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso's youth, requested the aid of Güshi Khan , a powerful Dzungar military leader in carrying out

10282-667: Was initialed but not ratified. In 1917, the Tibetan army defeated China in battles at Chamdo , west of the Dri River, which were halted after Britain refused to sell Tibet additional armements. The official position of the British Government was it would not intervene between China and Tibet and would only recognize the de facto government of China within Tibet at this time. In his history of Tibet, Bell wrote that "the Tibetans were abandoned to Chinese aggression, an aggression for which

10388-508: Was installed as the abbot of Drepung. This increased Mongolian involvement with the Gelugpa even further and enabled more Mongolian intervention in Tibetan affairs. As a result, King Tseten Dorje's suspicions about Gelugpa ambitions rose and when in 1616 the 4th Dalai Lama died young, at the age of 28, in an attempt to defeat the process the King prohibited the Gelugpa monks from searching for his incarnation. Dudul Rabten's arrest occurred at roughly

10494-504: Was merged into Sichuan in 1955. The border between Sichuan and Tibet Autonomous Region has remained at the Yangtze River. 30°36′6.01″N 96°50′29.59″E  /  30.6016694°N 96.8415528°E  / 30.6016694; 96.8415528 Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Tibet's Kunlun Mountains , described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by English author James Hilton . Hilton portrays Shangri-La as

10600-606: Was not originally named Shangri-La, but was renamed so in 2001 to increase tourism. In the "Shangri-La" episode of the BBC documentary series In Search of Myths and Heroes , television presenter and historian Michael Wood suggested that the legendary Shangri-La might be the abandoned city of Tsaparang , and that its two great temples were once home to the kings of Guge in modern Tibet. The Travel Channel in 2016 aired two episodes of Expedition Unknown that followed host Josh Gates to Lo Manthang , Nepal and its surrounding areas, including

10706-633: Was officially established as Xikang Province of China. Kham has a rugged terrain characterized by mountain ridges and gorges running from northwest to southeast, and collectively known as the Hengduan Mountains . Numerous rivers, including the Mekong , Yangtze , Yalong River , and the Salween River flow through Kham. Under the modern administrative division of China, Kham includes a total of 50 contemporary counties , which have been incorporated into

10812-809: Was published in the United Kingdom in 1928. Hilton visited the Hunza Valley , located in Gilgit−Baltistan , close to the China–Pakistan border , a few years before Lost Horizon was published. Being an isolated green valley surrounded by mountains, enclosed on the western end of the Himalayas, it closely matches the description in the novel, and is believed to have inspired Hilton's physical description of Shangri-La. Today various places, such as parts of southern Kham in northwestern Yunnan province, including

10918-466: Was reportedly "welcomed by both parties after the many conflicts and misunderstandings between 1612 and 1642". When the 5th Dalai Lama issued the edict to appoint Sangye Gyatso as his Desi in 1679, in the same edict he also recognised the Yungdrung Bön as Tibet's native religion and describes it as being the "holder of secret mantras ". There are some fairly subtle philosophical differences between

11024-525: Was spread there for the purpose of propagating the Three People's Principle to the Khampa. In 1950, following the defeat of the Kuomintang rulers of China by communist forces in the Chinese Civil War , the People's Liberation Army invaded western Kham. Western Kham was then set up as a separate Qamdo Territory, then merged into Tibet Autonomous Region in 1965. Meanwhile, Xikang , comprising eastern Kham,

11130-475: Was the tutor and a close ally of the 5th Dalai Lama, who, according to Thubten Jigme Norbu and Hugh E. Richardson , declared or pronounced the Panchen to be 'an incarnation of Dhayani Buddha Amitābha ' – although other sources all appear to indicate that he was considered as such from the start. After the 5th Dalai Lama returned from China, on a teaching tour of Tsang he visited his senior tutor and close friend

11236-428: Was traditionally referred to as Chushi Gangdruk , i.e. 'The Four Rivers and Six Ranges' and 'The Four Great Valleys'. Responsible for introducing Buddhism to Tibet, King Songtsen Gampo (reign 629–649) built twelve 'border-taming' temples in Kham, and his 4th wife Wencheng Gongzhu is credited with commissioning Buddhist structures while traveling through Kham in 640–641, from her home in China to Central Tibet. During

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