His Holiness the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso's rule over central Tibet may be characterized, in very broad terms: •
politically – • by the Mongol military intervention which ended decades of clan-wars in Dbus and Gtsang provinces, c.q. the Tibetan civil war of 1639–1642, whereafter he was invested with temporal power over Tibet; •
domestically – • Reestablishing Lhasa as capital; • Establishing Nechung as state oracle, and disposing of "perfidious spirit" Dolgyal, which later came to be identified with
Dorje Shugden; • Resolving sectarian divides; • Establishing a pluralist theocracy. •
In terms of foreign policy – • by the formal establishment of friendly diplomatic relations with
China's imperial court during the formative years of the
Qing dynasty, and • by his meeting with European missionaries, early
European explorers of Tibet, and • his military expeditions against
Bhutan and the
war against Ladakh. The Moghuls withdrew after being paid off by the 5th Dalai Lama.
Rise to power Dzungar military intervention Although the Fifth Dalai Lama would ultimately come to be known for unifying Tibet, it 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.
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 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 a crucial rôle in extending the influence of the
Gelug school within
Amdo.
Domestic activities Reestablishing Lhasa as capital In a move distinctly evocative of
Songtsen Gampo, Lobsang Gyatso once again proclaimed
Lhasa to be 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. whom the 5th Dalai Lama acknowledged as king of the
Dzungar Upper Mongols in
Kokonor. 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. some twelve years after the 5th Dalai Lama's death, which was kept secret from the general public for that length of time. 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 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 the ritual cycles of
Nechung Monastery, where it continues to be practiced, up to the present day. , 2009.
Disposing of "perfidious spirit" Dolgyal 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 (: 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 ( 1702–1788 CE). At any rate: confronted with 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 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. 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 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 •
Pema Trinley of
Dorje Drag, •
Choegyal Terdag Lingpa (1646–1714, of
Mindroling which the current
14th Dalai Lama characterizes as "quite strongly worded". Recalling the events of that time later, the 5th Dalai Lama wrote that "...indirectly these creatures..." – 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." Some of his acts were subsequently misconstrued by certain conservative factions within 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. ,
Chinese, and
Tibetan) great seal of 5th Dalai Lama. Inscription (
zhal-ris) translates to
English as "
Seal of the omniscient
vajra holder ''la'i Ta-bla-ma'', the excellent, fully-come-to-rest
buddha of the West, lord of
buddhist teachings in the world." 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 a protector of the
Sakya school to which he's tied through prior incarnations.
Resolving sectarian divides 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. 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.
Of the Jonang tradition The
Jonangpa order belongs to 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. 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 the Tsangpa and fighting against the Ganden Phodrang.
Redress and reconciliation 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 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 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 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 the reversal of specified sectarian policies being implemented, evidently without his approval, by the Desi's government:
With the Kagyü and Bön 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" was reportedly "welcomed by both parties after the many conflicts and misunderstandings between 1612 and 1642".
With the Jonang at
Jomonang (
U-Tsang,
Lhatse,
Tibet) completed in 1333 by
Jonang founder
Dolpopa (1292–1361). Courtesy Jonang Foundation © 2007. There are some fairly subtle philosophical differences between 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 the Jonang Teachings" entitled in (which might be called quite strongly worded).
Establishing pluralist theocracy 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 the
Lhasa Mönlam, the capital city's New Year Festival, 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 a religious principle".
Foreign relations • Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso was the first
Dalai Lama to accept an invitation from an
emperor of China to visit the Chinese capital city of
Beijing. • Three separate
expeditions known from European sources to have visited Tibet did so during the 5th Dalai Lama's lifetime; and he met with members of the third of these.
Establishing relations with China painting of the 5th Dalai Lama meeting the
Shunzhi Emperor in
Beijing, 1653.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.
History of mutual independence 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 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."
Diplomatic envoy to Beijing 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 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 the time, first met the Dalai Lama in January 1653, honouring him with two grand imperial receptions. 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". The event is described in
Samten Karmay's account as follows: The White Dagoba at
Beihai Park was constructed to honour his visit.
European missionaries in Tibet of 5th Dalai Lama, figure XIX,
Latin caption translates "The figure of the great Lama, or the Eternal Father". Bust caption for figure XX translates "The late king Han of Tanguth is worshipped with divine honors"; thus more likely depicts
Altan Khan of
Tümed than
Güshi Khan. Based on reports by
Johannes Grueber of his 1661 visit to
Lhasa.
A. Kircher,
China Illustrata, 1667. The first documented Europeans to arrive in Tibet may have been the Portuguese
Jesuit missionaries,
António de Andrade and
Manuel Marques who did so in either July or August 1624, when the 5th Dalai Lama would have been about seven or eight years old.
Jesuit missions in Tibet While the first two
Jesuit mission churches to be established in Tibet followed in direct result of Andrade and Marques' 1624 visit, neither would remain to see the 1642 enthronement of 5th Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso at
Samdruptse castle in
Shigatse Second Jesuit mission at Shigatse On Andrade's advice, a second Jesuit mission was dispatched to southern Tibet from India in 1627. The Portuguese missionaries
João Cabral and
Estêvão Cacella were reportedly welcomed at
Shigatse by the King of
Ü-Tsang, and Cabral and Cacella established their mission there in 1628. Cabral and Cacella provided the first information to reach the West about the mystical country of
Shambhala (which they transcribed as "Xembala") in their reports back to India.
Evacuation of Jesuit missions Both of the Portuguese missions were evacuated in 1635 after becoming embroiled in the power struggles for control of Tibet at that time. It would be twenty-five years before the next documented Europeans visited Tibet.
Third Jesuit expedition The first Europeans to meet a Dalai Lama were probably the two Jesuits,
Johannes Grueber of Austria and
Albert Dorville (D’Orville). In 1661, Grueber and D'Orville travelled through
Lhasa on their way from
Beijing to
Agra,
India on an Imperial Passport. It is this expedition from which another jesuit priest
Athanasius Kircher's 1667 engraving in
China Illustrata (purported to depict 5th Dalai Lama Lobsang Gyatso) is derived, based on expedition journals and charts left to him by Grueber. ==Death and succession==