Origins in myth and legend Since the 11th century, it has been widely believed in Central Asian Buddhist countries that
Avalokiteśvara, the
bodhisattva of compassion, has a special relationship with the people of Tibet and intervenes in their fate by incarnating as benevolent rulers and teachers such as the Dalai Lamas.
The Book of Kadam, the main text of the
Kadampa school from which the
1st Dalai Lama hailed, is said to have laid the foundation for the Tibetans' later identification of the Dalai Lamas as incarnations of Avalokiteśvara. It traces the legend of the bodhisattva's incarnations as
early Tibetan kings and emperors such as
Songtsen Gampo and later as
Dromtönpa (1004–1064). This lineage has been extrapolated by Tibetans up to and including the Dalai Lamas. Thus, according to such sources, an informal line of succession of the present Dalai Lamas as incarnations of
Avalokiteśvara stretches back much further than the 1st Dalai Lama,
Gendun Drub; as many as sixty persons are enumerated as earlier incarnations of Avalokiteśvara and predecessors in the same lineage leading up to Gendun Drub. These earlier incarnations include a mythology of 36 Indian personalities, ten
early Tibetan kings and emperors all said to be previous incarnations of Dromtönpa, and fourteen further Nepalese and Tibetan yogis and sages. In fact, according to the "Birth to Exile" article on the 14th Dalai Lama's website, he is "the seventy-fourth in a lineage that can be traced back to a Brahmin boy who lived in the time of Buddha Shakyamuni."
Avalokiteśvara's "Dalai Lama master plan" According to the
14th Dalai Lama, long ago Avalokiteśvara had promised the
Buddha to guide and defend the
Tibetan people. In the late Middle Ages, his master plan to fulfill this promise was the stage-by-stage establishment of the Dalai Lama institution in Tibet. First, Tsongkhapa established three great monasteries around Lhasa in the province of
Ü before he died in 1419. The 1st Dalai Lama soon became Abbot of the greatest one,
Drepung, and developed a large popular power base in Ü. He later extended this to cover Tsang, where he constructed a fourth great monastery,
Tashi Lhunpo, at
Shigatse. The
2nd studied there before returning to Lhasa, Having reactivated the 1st's large popular followings in Tsang and Ü, the 2nd then moved on to southern Tibet and gathered more followers there who helped him construct a new monastery,
Chokorgyel. He established the method by which later Dalai Lama incarnations would be discovered through visions at the "oracle lake",
Lhamo Lhatso. The
3rd built on his predecessors' fame by becoming Abbot of the two great monasteries of Drepung and
Sera. After being given the Mongolian name 'Dalai', he returned to Tibet to found the great monasteries of
Lithang in Kham, eastern Tibet and
Kumbum in Amdo, north-eastern Tibet. The
4th was then born in Mongolia as the great-grandson of
Altan Khan, cementing strong ties between Central Asia, the Dalai Lamas, the
Gelugpa and
Tibet. The
5th in the succession used the vast popular power base of devoted followers built up by his four predecessors. By 1642, with the strategy provided by his
chagdzo (manager)
Sonam Rapten and the military assistance of
Khoshut chieftain
Gushri Khan, the 'Great 5th' founded the Dalai Lamas' religious and political reign over Tibet that survived for over 300 years.
Establishment of the Dalai Lama lineage Gendun Drup (1391–1474), a disciple of
Je Tsongkapa, would eventually be known as the '
First Dalai Lama', but he would not receive this title until 104 years after he died. There was resistance to naming him as such, since he was ordained a monk in the Kadampa tradition Despite this, 55 years after Tsongkhapa, the Tashilhunpo monks heard accounts that an incarnation of Gendun Drup had appeared nearby and repeatedly announced himself from the age of two. The monastic authorities saw compelling evidence that convinced them the child in question was indeed the incarnation of their founder and felt obliged to break with their own tradition, and in 1487, the boy was renamed
Gendun Gyatso and installed at Tashilhunpo as Gendun Drup's tulku, albeit informally. Gendun Gyatso died in 1542, but the lineage of Dalai Lama tulkus became firmly established with the third incarnation,
Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588), who was formally recognised and enthroned at Drepung in 1546. Gendun Gyatso was given the title "Dalai Lama" by the Tümed
Altan Khan in 1578, and his two predecessors were then accorded the title posthumously, making Gendun now the third in the lineage. Pema Dorje was sent to
Narthang, a major Kadampa monastery near Shigatse, which ran the largest printing press in Tibet. Its celebrated library attracted many scholars, so Pema Dorje received an education beyond the norm at the time as well as exposure to diverse spiritual schools and ideas. He studied Buddhist philosophy extensively. In 1405, ordained by Narthang's abbot, he took the name of Gendun Drup. In 1415, Gendun Drup met
Tsongkhapa, founder of the
Gelugpa school, and became his student. After the death of Tsongkhapa's successor, the
Panchen Lama Khedrup Je, Gendun Drup became the leader of the Gelugpa. Taking advantage of good relations with the nobility and a lack of determined opposition from rival orders, he founded Tashilhunpo Monastery at Shigatse, on the very edge of Karma Kagyu-dominated territory, This monastery became the fourth great Gelugpa monastery in Tibet, after
Ganden, Drepung, and Sera, all founded in Tsongkhapa's time, By establishing it at Shigatse in the middle of Tsang, Gendun Drup expanded the Gelugpa sphere of influence, and his own, from the Lhasa region of Ü to this province, which was the stronghold of the
Karma Kagyu school and their patrons, the rising
Tsangpa dynasty. Tashilhunpo eventually became 'Southern Tibet's greatest monastic university' with a complement of 3,000 monks. Through hard work he became a leading lama, known as 'Perfecter of the Monkhood', 'with a host of disciples'. he was accorded the honorary title
Tamchey Khyenpa meaning "The Omniscient One", an appellation that was later assigned to all Dalai Lama incarnations. At the age of 50, he entered meditation retreat at
Narthang. As he grew older,
Karma Kagyu adherents, finding their sect was losing too many recruits to the monkhood to burgeoning
Gelugpa monasteries, tried to contain Gelug expansion by launching military expeditions against them. This led to decades of military and political power struggles between
Tsangpa dynasty forces and others across central Tibet. In an attempt to ameliorate these clashes, Gendun Drup issued a poem of advice to his followers advising restraint from responding to violence with more violence and urged compassion and patience instead. The poem, entitled
Shar Gang Rima, "The Song of the Eastern Snow Mountains", became one of his most enduring popular literary works. Gendun Drup's spiritual accomplishments brought him substantial donations from devotees which he used to build and furnish new monasteries, as well as to print and distribute Buddhist texts and to maintain monks and meditators. In 1474, at the age of 84, he went on a final teaching tour by foot to visit
Narthang Monastery. Returning to Tashilhunpo he died 'in a blaze of glory, recognised as having attained Buddhahood'. declared himself at the age of three to be Gendun Drup and asked to be 'taken home' to Tashilhunpo. He spoke in mystical verses, quoted classical texts spontaneously, and claimed to be
Dromtönpa, an earlier incarnation of the Dalai Lamas. When he saw monks from Tashilhunpo, he greeted the disciples of the late Gendun Drup by name. Convinced by the evidence, the Gelugpa elders broke with the traditions of their school and recognised him as Gendun Drup's
tulku at the age of eight. At twelve he was installed at Tashilhunpo as Gendun Drup's incarnation, ordained, enthroned, and renamed
Gendun Gyatso Palzangpo (1475–1542). Two years later, he met some opposition from the Tashilhunpo establishment when tensions arose over conflicts between advocates of the two types of succession: the traditional abbatial election through merit and incarnation. He therefore moved to central Tibet, where he was invited to Drepung and where his reputation as a brilliant young teacher quickly grew. This move had the effect of shifting central Gelug authority back to Lhasa. He was afforded all the loyalty and devotion that Gendun Drup had earned and the Gelug school remained as united as ever. Gendun Gyatso's popularity in Ü-Tsang grew as he went on pilgrimage, teaching and studying from masters such as the adept Khedrup Norzang Gyatso in the Olklha mountains. He also stayed in
Kongpo and Dagpo and became known all over Tibet. In 1509, he moved to southern Tibet to build Chokorgyel Monastery near the 'Oracle Lake',
Lhamo Latso, That year he saw visions in the lake and 'empowered' it to impart clues to help identify incarnate lamas. All Dalai Lamas from the 3rd on were found with the help of such visions granted to regents. He was invited back to Tashilhunpo and given the residence built for Gendun Drup, to be occupied later by the
Panchen Lamas. and stayed there teaching in Tsang for nine months. Gendun Gyatso continued to travel widely and teach while based at Tibet's largest monastery, Drepung and became known as 'Drepung Lama', his fame and influence spreading all over Central Asia as the best students from hundreds of lesser monasteries in Asia were sent to Drepung for education. In 1498, the Ringpung army captured Lhasa and banned the Gelugpa annual New Year
Monlam Prayer Festival. Gendun Gyatso was promoted to abbot of Drepung in 1517 Gendun Gyatso then went to the
Gongma (King)
Drakpa Jungne to obtain permission for the festival to be held again. As abbot, he made Drepung the largest monastery in the whole of Tibet. He attracted many students and disciples 'from Kashmir to China' as well as major patrons and disciples such as
Gongma Nangso Donyopa of Droda who built a monastery at Zhekar Dzong in his honour and invited him to name it and be its spiritual guide. He died in meditation at Drepung in 1542 at the age of 67 and his reliquary stupa was constructed at Khyomorlung. It was said that, by the time he died, through his disciples and their students, his personal influence covered the whole of Buddhist Central Asia where 'there was nobody of any consequence who did not know of him.' as predicted by his predecessor. Unlike his predecessors, he came from a noble family, connected with the
Sakya and the
Phagmo Drupa (Karma Kagyu affiliated) dynasties, he had the spiritual maturity to be made Abbot of Drepung, taking responsibility for the material and spiritual well-being of Tibet's largest monastery at the age of nine. At 10 he led the
Monlam Prayer Festival, giving daily discourses to the assembly of all Gelugpa monks. His influence grew so quickly that soon the monks at Sera Monastery also made him their Abbot His popularity and renown became such that in 1564 when the Nedong King died, it was Sonam Gyatso at the age of 21 who was requested to lead his funeral rites, rather than his own Kagyu lamas. In 1569, at age 26, he went to Tashilhunpo to study the layout and administration of the monastery built by his predecessor Gendun Drup. Invited to become the Abbot he declined, already being Abbot of Drepung and Sera, but left his deputy there in his stead. From there he visited
Narthang, the first monastery of Gendun Drup and gave numerous discourses and offerings to the monks in gratitude. and swore allegiance to Ming, Although he remained de facto quite independent, China was also happy to help Altan Khan by providing necessary translations of holy scripture, and also lamas. At the second invitation, in 1577–78 Sonam Gyatso travelled 1,500 miles to Mongolia to see him. They met in an atmosphere of intense reverence and devotion and their meeting resulted in the re-establishment of strong Tibet-Mongolia relations after a gap of 200 years. Altan Khan and his followers quickly adopted Buddhism as their state religion, replacing the prohibited traditional
Shamanism. The name "Dalai Lama", by which the lineage later became known throughout the non-Tibetan world, was thus established and it was applied to the first two incarnations retrospectively. Returning eventually to Tibet by a roundabout route and invited to stay and teach all along the way, in 1580 Sonam Gyatso was in
Hohhot [or
Ningxia], not far from Beijing, when the Chinese Emperor summoned him to his court. By then he had established a religious empire of such proportions that it was unsurprising the Emperor wanted to summon him and grant him a diploma. In 1582, he heard Altan Khan had died and invited by his son Dhüring Khan he decided to return to Mongolia. Passing through
Amdo, he founded a second great monastery,
Kumbum, at the birthplace of
Tsongkhapa near
Kokonor. Arriving in Mongolia in 1585, he stayed 2 years with Dhüring Khan, teaching Buddhism to his people As he was dying, his Mongolian converts urged him not to leave them, as they needed his continuing religious leadership. He promised them he would be incarnated next in Mongolia, as a Mongolian. who was a descendant of
Kublai Khan and leader of the
Tümed Mongols who had already been converted to Buddhism by the Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588). At the age of 10 with a large Mongol escort he travelled to Lhasa where he was enthroned. He studied at Drepung and became its abbot but being a non-Tibetan he met with opposition from some Tibetans, especially the Karma Kagyu who felt their position was threatened by these emerging events; there were several attempts to remove him from power. Seal of authority was granted in 1616 by
Wanli Emperor of Ming. Yonten Gyatso died at the age of 27 under suspicious circumstances and his chief attendant
Sonam Rapten went on to discover the 5th Dalai Lama, became his
chagdzo or manager and after 1642 he went on to be his regent, the Desi.
5th Dalai Lama The death of the Fourth Dalai Lama in 1617 led to open conflict breaking out between various parties. But in 1618,
Sonam Rapten, the former attendant of the 4th Dalai Lama who had become the
Ganden Phodrang treasurer, secretly identified the child, who had been born to the noble Zahor family at Tagtse castle, south of Lhasa. Then, the
Panchen Lama, in Shigatse, negotiated the lifting of the ban, enabling the boy to be recognised as
Lobsang Gyatso, the 5th Dalai Lama. to seek more active Mongol patronage and military assistance for the Gelugpa while the Fifth was still a boy. As a young man, being 22 years his junior, the Dalai Lama addressed him reverentially as "
Zhalngo", meaning "the Presence". During the 1630s Tibet was deeply entangled in rivalry, evolving power struggles and conflicts, not only between the Tibetan religious sects but also between the rising
Manchus and the various rival
Mongol and
Oirat factions, who were also vying for supremacy amongst themselves and on behalf of the religious sects they patronised. His vassal
Choghtu Khong Tayiji, continued to advance against the Gelugpas, even having his own son Arslan killed after Arslan changed sides, submitted to the Dalai Lama and become a Gelugpa monk. By the mid-1630s, thanks again to the efforts of Sonam Rabten, The intercepted letter was sent to Güshi Khan who used it as a pretext to invade central Tibet in 1639 to attack them both, the Bönpo and the Tsangpa. By 1641 he had defeated Donyo Dorje and his allies in Kham and then he marched on Shigatse where after laying siege to their strongholds he defeated
Karma Tenkyong, broke the power of the Tsang Karma Kagyu in 1642 and ended the Tsangpa dynasty. Güshi Khan's attack on the Tsangpa was made on the orders of
Sonam Rapten while being publicly and robustly opposed by the Dalai Lama, who, as a matter of conscience, out of compassion and his vision of tolerance for other religious schools, refused to give permission for more warfare in his name after the defeat of the Beri king. Sonam Rabten deviously went behind his master's back to encourage Güshi Khan, to facilitate his plans and to ensure the attacks took place; But after a few months, Norbu betrayed him and led a rebellion against the Ganden Phodrang Government. With his accomplices he seized Samdruptse fort at Shigatse and tried to raise a rebel army from Tsang and Bhutan, but the Dalai Lama foiled his plans without any fighting taking place and Norbu fled. Four other Desis were appointed after Depa Norbu: Trinle Gyatso, Lozang Tutop, Lozang Jinpa and
Sangye Gyatso.
Reunification of Tibet Having thus defeated all the Gelugpa's rivals and resolved all regional and sectarian conflicts Güshi Khan became the undisputed patron of a unified Tibet and acted as a "Protector of the Gelug", establishing the
Khoshut Khanate which covered almost the entire Tibetan plateau, an area corresponding roughly to '
Greater Tibet' including
Kham and
Amdo, as claimed by exiled groups (see maps). At an enthronement ceremony in
Shigatse he conferred full sovereignty over Tibet on the Fifth Dalai Lama, unified for the first time since the collapse of the Tibetan Empire exactly eight centuries earlier. Güshi Khan then retired to
Kokonor with his armies Güshi Khan died in 1655 and was succeeded by his descendants
Dayan,
Tenzin Dalai Khan and Tenzin Wangchuk Khan. Güshi Khan's other eight sons settled in Amdo and fought among themselves over territory, so the Fifth Dalai Lama sent governors to rule them in 1656 and 1659, thereby bringing
Amdo and thus the whole of Greater Tibet under his personal rule and Gelugpa control. The Mongols in Amdo became absorbed and Tibetanised.
Visit to Beijing In 1636 the
Manchus proclaimed their dynasty the
Qing dynasty, and by 1644 they had completed
their conquest of China under the
prince regent Dorgon. In 1645, their forces approached
Amdo in northern Tibet, causing the Oirat and Khoshut Mongols there to submit in 1647 and send tribute. In 1648, after quelling a rebellion of Tibetans in Gansu-Xining, the Qing invited the Fifth Dalai Lama to visit its court in Beijing since it wished to engender Tibetan influence in its dealings with the Mongols. The Qing was aware the Dalai Lama had extraordinary influence with the Mongols and saw relations with the Dalai Lama as a means to facilitate submission of the
Khalka Mongols, traditional patrons of the
Karma Kagyu sect. Similarly, since the Tibetan Gelugpa were keen to revive a
priest-patron relationship with the dominant power in China and Inner Asia, the Qing invitation was accepted. After five years of complex diplomatic negotiations about whether the emperor or his representatives should meet the Dalai Lama inside or outside the Great Wall, when the meeting would be astrologically favourable, how it would be conducted, and so on, it took place in Beijing in 1653. The 5th Dalai Lama wanted to use the golden seal of authority right away, Despite such patronising attempts by Chinese officials and historians to symbolically show for the record that they held political influence over Tibet, the Tibetans did not accept any such symbols imposed on them by the Chinese with this kind of motive. For example, of the golden seal, the Fifth Dalai Lama wrote in
Dukula, his autobiography, that after his 1653 visit to the emperor, "the emperor made his men bring a golden seal for me that had three vertical lines in three parallel scripts: Chinese, Mongol and Tibetan". He also criticised the words carved on this gift as incorrectly translated into Tibetan, writing, "The Tibetan version of the inscription of the seal was translated by a Mongol translator but was not a good translation".
Relations with the Qing dynasty The 17th-century struggles for domination between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the various Mongol groups spilled over to involve Tibet because of the Fifth Dalai Lama's strong influence over the Mongols as a result of their general adoption of Tibetan Buddhism and their consequent deep loyalty to the Dalai Lama as their guru. Until 1674, the Fifth Dalai Lama had mediated in
Dzungar Mongol affairs whenever they required him to do so, and the
Kangxi Emperor, who had succeeded the Shunzhi Emperor in 1661, would accept and confirm his decisions automatically. For the Kangxi Emperor, the alliance between the Dzungar Mongols and the Tibetans was unsettling because he feared it had the potential to unite all the other Mongol tribes together against the Qing Empire, including those tribes who had already submitted. Therefore, in 1674, the Kangxi Emperor, annoyed by the Fifth's less than full cooperation in quelling a rebellion against the Qing in
Yunnan, ceased deferring to him as regards Mongol affairs and started dealing with them directly. His reign and that of
Desi Sangye Gyatso are noteworthy for the upsurge in literary activity and of cultural and economic life that occurred. The same goes for the great increase in the number of foreign visitors thronging Lhasa during the period as well as for the number of inventions and institutions that are attributed to the 'Great Fifth', as the Tibetans refer to him. The most dynamic and prolific of the early Dalai Lamas, he composed more literary works than all the other Dalai Lamas combined. Writing on a wide variety of subjects he is specially noted for his works on history, classical Indian poetry in Sanskrit and his biographies of notable personalities of his epoch, as well as his own two autobiographies, one spiritual in nature and the other political (see
Further Reading). He also taught and travelled extensively, reshaped the politics of Central Asia, unified Tibet, conceived and constructed the Potala Palace and is remembered for establishing systems of national medical care and education. In 1703
Güshi Khan's ruling grandson Tenzin Wangchuk Khan was murdered by his brother
Lhazang Khan who usurped the
Khoshut Khanate's Tibetan throne, but unlike his four predecessors he started interfering directly in Tibetan affairs in Lhasa; he opposed the Fifth Dalai Lama's regent,
Desi Sangye Gyatso for his deceptions and in the same year, with the support of the
Kangxi Emperor, he forced him out of office. When Lhazang was requested by the Tibetans to leave Lhasa politics to them and to retire to Kokonor like his predecessors, he quit the city. Desi Sangye Gyatso decided to kill Lhazang, he secretly sent someone to poison the food of Lhazang, but was discovered. Lhazang was furious and immediately mobilized a large army to defeat the Tibetan army and killed Desi Sangye Gyatso. In 1705, he wrote a letter to the Qing government, reporting Desi Sangye Gyatso's rebellion and that the sixth Dalai Lama, appointed by Desi Sangye Gyatso, was addicted to wine and sex and ignored religious affairs. He reported the Dalai Lama was not a real Dalai Lama and requested emperor to demote and revoke him. He used the Sixth's escapades as an excuse to seize full control of Tibet. Most Tibetans, though, still supported their Dalai Lama despite his behaviour and deeply resented Lhazang Khan's interference. But Emperor Kangxi then issued an edict: "Because Lhazang Khan reported to depose the sixth Dalai Lama appointed by Desi Sangye Gyatso, the sixth Dalai Lama is ordered to be sent to capital Beijing." Having discredited and deposed the Sixth Dalai Lama, whom he considered an impostor, and having removed the regent, Lhazang Khan pressed the Lhasa Gelugpa lamas to endorse a new Dalai Lama in
Tsangyang Gyatso's place as the true incarnation of the Fifth. They eventually nominated one Pekar Dzinpa, a monk but also rumored to be Lhazang's son, and Lhazang had him installed as the 'real' Sixth Dalai Lama, endorsed by the
Panchen Lama and named
Yeshe Gyatso in 1707. This choice was in no way accepted by the Tibetan people, however, nor by Lhazang's princely Mongol rivals in Kokonor who resented his usurpation of the
Khoshut Tibetan throne as well as his meddling in Tibetan affairs.
7th Dalai Lama In 1708, in accordance with an indication given by the
6th Dalai Lama when quitting Lhasa, a child called Kelzang Gyatso had been born at
Lithang in eastern Tibet who was soon claimed by local Tibetans to be his incarnation. After going into hiding out of fear of Lhazang Khan, he was installed in Lithang monastery. Along with some of the Kokonor Mongol princes, rivals of Lhazang, in defiance of the situation in Lhasa the Tibetans of
Kham duly recognised him as the
Seventh Dalai Lama in 1712, retaining his birth-name of
Kelzang Gyatso. For security reasons he was moved to
Derge monastery and eventually, in 1716, now also backed and sponsored by the Kangxi Emperor of China. The Tibetans asked Dzungars to bring a true Dalai Lama to Lhasa, but the Manchu Chinese did not want to release Kelsan Gyatso to the Mongol Dzungars. The Regent Taktse Shabdrung and Tibetan officials then wrote a letter to the Manchu Chinese Emperor that they recognized Kelsang Gyatso as the Dalai Lama. The Emperor then granted Kelsang Gyatso a golden seal of authority. The Sixth Dalai Lama was taken to Amdo at the age of 8 to be installed in
Kumbum Monastery with great pomp and ceremony. But according to Mullin, the emperor's support came from genuine spiritual recognition and respect rather than being politically motivated.
Dzungar invasion In any case, the Kangxi Emperor took full advantage of having Kelzang Gyatso under Qing control at
Kumbum after other Mongols from the
Dzungar tribes led by
Tsewang Rabtan who was related to his supposed ally
Lhazang Khan, deceived and betrayed the latter by invading Tibet and capturing Lhasa in 1717. These Dzungars, who were Buddhist, had supported the Fifth Dalai Lama and his regent. They were secretly petitioned by the Lhasa
Gelugpa lamas to invade with their help in order to rid them of their foreign ruler Lhazang Khan and to replace the unpopular
Sixth Dalai Lama pretender with the young Kelzang Gyatso. This plot suited the devious Dzungar leaders' ambitions and they were only too happy to oblige. Early in 1717, after conspiring to undermine Lhazang Khan through treachery they entered Tibet from the northwest with a large army, sending a smaller force to
Kumbum to collect Kelzang Gyatso and escort him to Lhasa. By the end of the year, with Tibetan connivance they had captured Lhasa, killed Lhazang and all his family and deposed
Yeshe Gyatso. But their force sent to fetch Kelzang Gyatso was intercepted and destroyed by Qing armies alerted by Lhazang. In Lhasa, the unruly Dzungar not only failed to produce the boy but also went on a rampage, looting and destroying holy places, abusing the populace, killing hundreds of Nyingma monks, causing chaos and bloodshed, and turning their Tibetan allies against them. The Tibetans soon appealed to the Kangxi Emperor to rid them of the Dzungars.
Enthronement in Lhasa This humiliation only determined the Kangxi Emperor to expel the
Dzungars from Tibet once and for all and he set about assembling and dispatching a much larger force to march on Lhasa, bringing the emperor's
trump card the young Kelzang Gyatso with it. On the imperial army's stately passage from
Kumbum to Lhasa with the boy being welcomed adoringly at every stage,
Khoshut Mongols and Tibetans were happy (and well paid) to join and swell its ranks. By the autumn of 1720, the marauding
Dzungar Mongols had been vanquished from Tibet. Qing imperial forces had entered Lhasa triumphantly with the 12-year-old, acting as patrons of the Dalai Lama, liberators of Tibet, allies of the Tibetan anti-Dzungar forces led by
Kangchenas and
Polhanas, and allies of the
Khoshut Mongol princes. The delighted Tibetans enthroned him as the
Seventh Dalai Lama at the
Potala Palace. A new Tibetan government was established consisting of a
Kashag or cabinet of Tibetan ministers headed by
Kangchenas. Kelzang Gyatso, too young to participate in politics, studied Buddhism. He played a symbolic role in government, and, being profoundly revered by the Mongols, he exercised much influence with the Qing who now had now taken over Tibet's
patronage and protection from them.
Exile to Kham Having vanquished the Dzungars, the Qing army withdrew leaving the
Seventh Dalai Lama as a political figurehead and only a
Khalkha Mongol as the Qing
amban or representative and a garrison in Lhasa. After the Kangxi Emperor died in 1722 and was succeeded by his son, the
Yongzheng Emperor, these were also withdrawn, leaving the Tibetans
to rule autonomously and showing the Qing were interested in an alliance, not conquest. Continuing Qing interference in
Central Tibetan politics and religion incited an anti-Qing faction to quarrel with the Qing-sympathising Tibetan nobles in power in Lhasa, led by
Kanchenas who was supported by
Polhanas. This led eventually to the murder of Kanchenas in 1727 and a civil war that was resolved in 1728 with the canny Polhanas, who had sent for Qing assistance, the victor. When the Qing forces did arrive they punished the losers and exiled the
Seventh Dalai Lama to Kham, under the pretence of sending him to Beijing, because his father had assisted the defeated, anti-Qing faction. He studied and taught Buddhism there for the next seven years.
Return to Lhasa In 1735 he was allowed back to Lhasa to study and teach, but still under strict control, being mistrusted by the Qing, while
Polhanas ruled
Central Tibet under nominal Qing supervision. Meanwhile, the Qing had promoted the
Fifth Panchen Lama to be a rival leader and reinstated the
ambans and the Lhasa garrison. Polhanas died in 1747. He was succeeded by his son
Gyurme Namgyal, the last dynastic ruler of Tibet, who was far less cooperative with the Qing. He built a Tibetan army and started conspiring with the Dzungars to rid Tibet of Qing influence. In 1750, when the
ambans realised this, they invited him and personally assassinated him. Despite the Dalai Lama's attempts to calm the angered populace, a vengeful Tibetan mob assassinated the
ambans, along with most of their escort.
Restoration as Tibet's political leader The Qing sent yet another force 'to restore order' but when it arrived the situation had already been stabilised under the leadership of the
7th Dalai Lama who was now seen to have demonstrated loyalty to the Qing. Just as Güshi Khan had done with the Fifth Dalai Lama, they therefore helped reconstitute the government with the Dalai Lama presiding over a
Kashag of four Tibetans, reinvesting him with temporal power in addition to his already established spiritual leadership. This arrangement, with a Kashag under the Dalai Lama or his regent, outlasted the Qing dynasty which collapsed in 1912. The
ambans and their garrison were reinstated to observe and to some extent supervise affairs. Their influence generally waned with the power of their empire, which gradually declined after 1792 along with its influence over Tibet, a decline aided by a succession of corrupt or incompetent
ambans. Moreover, there was soon no reason for the Qing to fear the
Dzungar; by the time the
Seventh Dalai Lama died in 1757 at the age of 49, the entire
Dzungar people had been practically exterminated through years of genocidal campaigns by Qing armies, and deadly smallpox epidemics, with the survivors being forcibly transported into China. Their emptied lands were then awarded to other peoples. According to Mullin, despite living through such violent times Kelzang Gyatso was perhaps 'the most spiritually learned and accomplished of any Dalai Lama', his written works comprising several hundred titles including 'some of Tibet's finest spiritual literary achievements'. Despite his apparent lack of zeal in politics, Kelzang Gyatso is credited with establishing in 1751 the reformed government of Tibet headed by the Dalai Lama, which continued over 200 years until the 1950s, and then in exile. Construction of the
Norbulingka, the 'Summer Palace' of the Dalai Lamas in Lhasa was started during Kelzang Gyatso's reign.
8th Dalai Lama The
Eighth Dalai Lama,
Jamphel Gyatso, was born in
Tsang in 1758 and died aged 46 having taken little part in Tibetan politics, mostly leaving temporal matters to his
regents and the
ambans. The Emperor of China exempted him from the lot-drawing ceremony of the
Golden Urn.
Qianlong Emperor officially accepted Gyiangbai as the 8th Dalai Lama when the 6th Panchen Erdeni came to congratulate the emperor on his 70th birthday in 1780. The emperor granted the 8th Dalai Lama a jade seal of authority and jade sheets of confirmation of authority. The confirmation of authority says: The Dalai Lama, his later generations and the local government cherished both the seal of authority and the sheets of authority. They were preserved as the root of their power. Nevertheless, Jamphel Gyatso was said to possess all the signs of being the true incarnation of the Seventh. This was claimed to have been confirmed by many portents clear to the Tibetans and so, in 1762, at age five, he was enthroned as the
Eighth Dalai Lama at the
Potala Palace. At age 23 he was persuaded to assume the throne as ruler of Tibet with a regent to assist him and after three years of this, when the regent went to Beijing as ambassador in 1784, he ruled alone for four more years. But feeling unsuited to worldly affairs and unhappy in this role, he then retired from public office to concentrate on religious activities until his death in 1804. He is also credited with the construction of the
Norbulingka "Summer Palace" started by his predecessor and with ordaining 10,000 monks in his efforts to foster monasticism.
9th to 12th Dalai Lamas Hugh Richardson's summary of the period covering the four short-lived, 19th-century Dalai Lamas:
Thubten Jigme Norbu, the elder brother of the 14th Dalai Lama, described these unfortunate events as follows, although there are few, if any, indications that any of the four were said to be 'Chinese-appointed imposters': According to Mullin, on the other hand, it is improbable that the
Manchus would have murdered any of these four for being 'unmanageable' since it would have been in their best interests to have strong Dalai Lamas ruling in Lhasa, he argues, agreeing with
Richardson that it was rather "the ambition and greed for power of Tibetans" that might have caused the Lamas' early deaths. Further, if Tibetan nobles murdered any of them, it would more likely have been in order to protect or enhance their family interests rather than out of suspicion that the Dalai Lamas were seen as Chinese-appointed imposters as suggested by Norbu. They could also have died from illnesses, possibly contracted from diseases to which they had no immunity, carried to Lhasa by the multitudes of pilgrims visiting from nearby countries for blessings. Finally, from the Buddhist point of view, Mullin says, "Simply stated, these four Dalai Lamas died young because the world did not have enough good karma to deserve their presence". In his history
The Water-Bird and Other Years, based on the Tibetan minister Surkhang Sawang Chenmo's historical manuscripts, Tibetan historian K. Dhondup disagrees with Mullin's opinion that having strong Dalai Lamas in power in Tibet would have been in China's best interests. He notes that many historians are compelled to suspect Manchu foul play in these serial early deaths because the Ambans had such latitude to interfere; the Manchu, he says, "to perpetuate their domination over Tibetan affairs, did not desire a Dalai Lama who will ascend the throne and become a strong and capable ruler over his own country and people". By upholding
de facto Tibetan independence from China from 1912 to 1950, the 13th Dalai Lama is the living proof of this, Dhondup argues. This account also corresponds with TJ Norbu's observations above. Finally, while acknowledging the possibility, the
14th Dalai Lama himself doubts they were poisoned. He ascribes the probable cause of these early deaths to negligence, foolishness and lack of proper medical knowledge and attention. "Even today", he has said, "when people get sick, some [Tibetans] will say: 'Just do your prayers, you don't need medical treatment.'"
9th Dalai Lama Born in Kham in 1805–6 amidst the usual miraculous signs the
Ninth Dalai Lama, Lungtok Gyatso was appointed by the
7th Panchen Lama's search team at the age of two and enthroned in the Potala in 1808 at an impressive ceremony attended by representatives from China, Mongolia, Nepal and Bhutan. Exemption from using
Golden Urn was approved by the Emperor. Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain and Wang Jiawei point out that the 9th Dalai Lama was allowed to use the seal of authority given to the late 8th Dalai Lama by the Emperor of China His second Regent Demo Tulku was the biographer of the 8th and 9th Dalai Lamas and though the 9th died at the age of 9, his biography is as lengthy as those of many of the early Dalai Lamas. In 1793 under Manchu pressure, Tibet had closed its borders to foreigners. In 1811, a British Sinologist,
Thomas Manning became the first Englishman to visit Lhasa. Considered to be 'the first Chinese scholar in Europe' he stayed five months and gave enthusiastic accounts in his journal of his regular meetings with the Ninth Dalai Lama whom he found fascinating: "beautiful, elegant, refined, intelligent, and entirely self-possessed, even at the age of six". Three years later in March 1815 the young Lungtok Gyatso caught a severe cold and, leaving the
Potala Palace to preside over the
Monlam Prayer Festival, he contracted pneumonia from which he soon died.
10th Dalai Lama Like the
Seventh Dalai Lama, the
Tenth, Tsultrim Gyatso, was born in
Lithang, Kham, where the Third Dalai Lama had built a monastery. It was 1816 and Regent Demo Tulku and the
Seventh Panchen Lama followed indications from
Nechung, the 'state oracle' which led them to appoint him at the age of two. He passed all the tests and was brought to Lhasa but official recognition was delayed until 1822 when he was enthroned and ordained by the Seventh Panchen Lama. There are conflicting reports about whether the Chinese '
Golden Urn' was utilised by drawing lots to choose him, but lot-drawing result was reported and approved by emperor. The 10th Dalai Lama mentioned in his biography that he was allowed to use the golden seal of authority based on the convention set up by the late Dalai Lama. At the investiture, decree of the Emperor of China was issued and read out. After 15 years of intensive studies and failing health he died, in 1837, at the age of 20 or 21. He identified with ordinary people rather than the court officials and often sat on his verandah in the sunshine with the office clerks. Intending to empower the common people he planned to institute political and economic reforms to share the nation's wealth more equitably. Over this period his health had deteriorated, the implication being that he may have suffered from slow poisoning by Tibetan aristocrats whose interests these reforms were threatening. He was also dissatisfied with his Regent and the
Kashag and scolded them for not alleviating the condition of the common people, who had suffered much in small ongoing regional civil wars waged in
Kokonor between Mongols, local Tibetans and the government over territory, and in
Kham to extract unpaid taxes from rebellious Tibetan communities.
11th Dalai Lama Born in Gathar,
Kham in 1838 and soon discovered by the official search committee with the help of the
Nechung Oracle, the
Eleventh Dalai Lama was brought to Lhasa in 1841 and recognised, enthroned and named
Khedrup Gyatso by the
Panchen Lama on April 16, 1842, seal of authority and golden sheets were granted on the same date.
Sitting-in-the-bed ceremony was held in July 1844. After that he was immersed in religious studies under the Panchen Lama, amongst other great masters. Meanwhile, there were court intrigues and ongoing power struggles taking place between the various Lhasa factions, the Regent, the
Kashag, the powerful nobles and the abbots and monks of the three great monasteries. The Tsemonling Regent became mistrusted and was forcibly deposed, there were machinations, plots, beatings and kidnappings of ministers and so forth, resulting at last in the Panchen Lama being appointed as interim Regent to keep the peace. Eventually the Third Reting Rinpoche was made Regent, and in 1855, Khedrup Gyatso, appearing to be an extremely promising prospect, was requested to take the reins of power at the age of 17. He was enthroned as ruler of Tibet in 1855, on orders of the
Xianfeng Emperor. He died after just 11 months, no reason for his sudden and premature death being given in these accounts, Shakabpa and Mullin's histories both being based on untranslated Tibetan chronicles. The respected Reting Rinpoche was recalled once again to act as Regent and requested to lead the search for the next incarnation, the twelfth. He underwent 13 years of intensive tutelage and training before becoming Tibet's ruler at age 17. His minority seems to have been a time of even deeper Lhasan political intrigue and power struggles than his predecessor's. In 1862 Wangchuk Shetra, a minister the regent had banished for conspiring against him, led a coup. Shetra contrived to return, deposed the regent, who fled to China, and seized power, appointing himself "Desi", or Prime Minister. quelling a major rebellion in northern Kham in 1863 and reestablishing Tibetan control over significant
Qing-held territory there. Shetra died in 1864 and the
Kashag reassumed power. The retired 76th
Ganden Tripa, Khyenrab Wangchuk, was appointed regent but his role was limited to supervising and mentoring Trinley Gyatso. On the other hand, without citing sources, Shakabpa notes that Trinley Gyatso was influenced and manipulated by two close acquaintances who were subsequently accused of having a hand in his fatal illness and imprisoned, tortured, and exiled as a result.
13th Dalai Lama , Tibet. In 1877, request to exempt Lobu Zangtab Kaijia Mucuo () from using lot-drawing process
Golden Urn to become the
13th Dalai Lama was approved by the Central Government. The 13th Dalai Lama assumed ruling power from the monasteries, which previously had great influence on the Regent, in 1895. Due to his two periods of exile in 1904–1909 to escape the British invasion of 1904, and from 1910–1912 to escape a Chinese invasion, he became well aware of the complexities of international politics and was the first Dalai Lama to become aware of the importance of foreign relations. After his return from exile in India and
Sikkim during January 1913, he assumed control of foreign relations and dealt directly with the
Maharaja, with the British Political officer in Sikkim and with the king of
Nepal – rather than letting the Kashag or parliament do it. The Great Thirteenth Thubten Gyatso then published the Tibetan Declaration of Independence for the entirety of Tibet in 1913. Tibet's independence was never recognized by the Chinese (who claimed all land ever administered by the Manchus) but was recognized by the Kingdom of Nepal, who would use Tibet as one of its first references regarding its independent status when submitting an application to join the UN in 1949. According to a Tibetan website, Nepal listed Tibet as a country just as independent and sovereign, with no mention of Chinese 'suzerainty'. Its relations with Tibet were apparently second in significance only to its relations with Britain, and even more significant than its relations with the USA or even India. Nepal established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1955 and recognized Tibet as a part of China. Furthermore, Tibet and Mongolia both signed the
Treaty of friendship and alliance between the Government of Mongolia and Tibet. Neither countries' independence statuses were ever recognized by the KMT government in China, who would continue to completely claim both as Chinese territory. He expelled the
ambans and all Chinese civilians in the country and instituted many measures to modernize Tibet. These included provisions to curb excessive demands on peasants for provisions by the monasteries and tax evasion by the nobles, setting up an independent police force, the abolition of the death penalty, extension of secular education, and the provision of electricity throughout the city of Lhasa in the 1920s. He died in 1933.
14th Dalai Lama , Lahaul The 14th Dalai Lama was born on 6 July 1935 on a straw mat in a cowshed to a farmer's family in a remote part of Tibet. According to most Western journalistic sources he was born into a humble family of farmers as one of 16 children, and one of the three reincarnated rinpoches in the same family. On 5 February 1940, the Central Government approved the request to exempt Lhamo Thondup () from the lot-drawing process to become the 14th Dalai Lama. The 14th Dalai Lama was not formally enthroned until 17 November 1950, during the
Battle of Chamdo with the People's Republic of China. On 18 April 1959, he issued a statement that in 1951, the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government were pressured into accepting the
Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet by which it became formally incorporated into the People's Republic of China. The United States informed the Dalai Lama in 1951 that in order to receive its assistance and support he must leave Tibet and publicly disavow "agreements concluded under duress" between Tibetan and Chinese representatives. Fearing for his life in the wake of a
revolt in Tibet in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India, where he led a
government in exile. With the aim of launching
guerrilla operations against the Chinese, the
Central Intelligence Agency funded the Dalai Lama's administration with US$1.7 million a year in the 1960s. In 2001, the 14th Dalai Lama ceded his partial power over the government to an elected parliament of Tibetan exiles. His original goal was
full independence for Tibet, but by the late 1980s he sought high-level autonomy instead. He continued to seek greater autonomy from China, but Dolma Gyari, deputy speaker of the parliament-in-exile, said: "If the middle path fails in the short term, we will be forced to opt for complete independence or self-determination as per the UN charter". The 14th Dalai Lama became one of the two most popular world leaders by 2013 (tied with
Barack Obama), according to a poll by
Harris Interactive of New York, which sampled public opinion in the U.S. and six major European countries. In 2014 and 2016, he said that Tibet wants to be part of China but China should let Tibet preserve its culture and script. In 2018, he said that "Europe belongs to the Europeans" and that Europe has a moral obligation to aid refugees whose lives are in peril. He added that Europe should receive, help, and educate refugees but that they should ultimately return to develop their home countries. He made similar comments in an interview the next year. He also said that a female Dalai Lama "should be more attractive" because if she looked a certain way people would "prefer not see … that face". In 2019, the Dalai Lama spoke out about his successor, saying that after his death he is likely to be reincarnated in India. He also warned that any Chinese interference in succession should be considered invalid. The Dalai Lama's succession also involves Mongolia, given its strong Tibetan Buddhist ties. The Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, the latest one chosen from Mongolia, is the third most important figure in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy, and plays a significant role in the recognition of the next Dalai Lama. In 2020, the Dalai Lama said he did not support Tibetan independence and hoped to visit China as a Nobel Prize winner. He said "I prefer the concept of a 'republic' in the People's Republic of China. In the concept of a republic, ethnic minorities are like Tibetans, Mongols, Manchus, and Xinjiang Uyghurs. We can live in harmony". In 2021, he praised India as a role model for religious harmony in the world. In 2023, a video showed the Dalai Lama in the city of
Dharamshala, India, asking a boy for a kiss on the lips, and then to suck his tongue. He later apologized and expressed regret through a statement that claimed he "often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras" and "regrets the incident". The Dalai Lama celebrated his 90th birthday on 6 July 2025. Before the celebration, he confirmed that the Gaden Phodrang Trust will supervise the
process of appointing a successor after his death, in accordance with tradition. The Chinese government has disputed this practice and argues it has sole authority to select a future Dalai Lama. == Residences ==