Page:EB1911 - Volume 26.djvu/967

 birth in 730 to Khri srong lde tsan, in the Buddhist annals the most illustrious monarch of his country, because of the strenuous efforts he made in favour of that religion during his reign of forty-six years (743-789). His son and successor Muni tsan-po, being determined to raise all his subjects to the same level, enacted that there should be no distinction between poor and rich, humble and great. He compelled the wealthy to share their riches with the indigent and helpless and to make them their equals in respect of all the comforts and conditions of life. He repeated this experiment three times; but each time he found that they all returned to their former condition, the rich becoming still richer and the poor still poorer. The sages attributed this curious phenomenon to the good and evil acts of their former lives. Nothing of importance occurred during the following reigns, until that of Ralpachen, who won glory by his care for the translations of the Buddhist scriptures which he caused to be completed, or rewritten more accurately when required. In this reign a severe struggle took place with China, peace being concluded in 821 at Ch'ang-ngan and ratified at Lhasa the following year by the erection of bilingual tablets, which still exist. Ralpachen was assassinated by the artisans of Lang-dharma and the country fell into disorder. Lang-dharma instituted a violent persecution of Buddhism; but he was soon assassinated in his turn and the kingdom divided into a western and an eastern part by his two sons. The partition did not, however, prevent internecine wars. The history for some time now becomes rather intricate and requires some attention. Pal K'or tsan, the second western king, after a reign of thirteen years, died leaving two sons, Thi Tashi Tsegpa-pal and Thi Kyida Nyimagon. The latter went to Nari (Mngari) and founded the capital Purang; he left three sons, of whom the eldest declared himself king of Mang-yul, the second seized Purang, and the youngest, Detsud-gan, became king of the province of Shang-shung (the modern Gughè). The revival of Buddhism began with the two sons of the last-named, the elder of whom became a monk. The younger, Khorré, inherited his father's throne, and was followed in his authority by twenty successors. Tashi Tsegpa also had three sons—Palde, Hodde and Kyide. The descendants of the first made themselves masters of Gung-t'ang, Lugyalwa, Chyipa, Lhatse, Langlung and Tsakor, where they severally ruled as petty chiefs. The descendants of Kyide spread themselves over the Mu, Jang, Tanag, Yarulag and Gyaltse districts, where they also ruled as petty princes. Hodde left four sons—Phabdese, Thide, Thichung and Gnagpa. The first and fourth became masters of Tsangrong, the second took possession of Amdo and Tsongkha, the third became king of Ü (or the central Lhassan province), and removed the capital to Yarlung, south of Lhasa. He was followed on his throne from son to son by eleven successors. History is silent as to the fate of the eastern king, the other son of Lang-dharma, and his successors, but the geographical names of the chieftainships enumerated above make it clear that the western kingdom had extended its power to the east. Chronology is deficient for all that period. While the dynasty of Khorré in Shang-shung and that of Thich'ung in Ü were running, another authority, destined to become the superior of both, had arisen in Tibet. Khorré left his throne to his son Lhade, who was himself succeeded by his three sons, the youngest of whom invited the celebrated Indian Buddhist, Atisha, to leave his monastery Vikramashila for Tibet. where he settled in the great lamaserai of Thoding in Nari. Besides religious books and teachings, he introduced in 1026 the method of computing time by cycles of sixty years, “obtained from the Indian province of Shambala.” He was the first of the several chief priests whose authority became paramount in the country. The kings of Ü greatly patronized them, as for instance in the case of the celebrated Sakya Pandita by the seventh of these kings. Pandita, at the special request of Kuyuk, the successor of Ogdai, paid a visit to his court in 1246-1248. Five years afterwards Kublai Khan conquered all the east of Tibet; and, after he had ascended the throne of China, the Mongol emperor invited to his court Phagspa Lodoi Gyaltshan, the nephew of the same Pandita. He remained twelve years with the emperor, and at his request framed for the Mongol language an alphabet imitated from the Tibetan, which, however, did not prove satisfactory, and disappeared after eighty-five years without having been very largely used. In return for his services, Kublai invested Phagspa with sovereign power over (1) Tibet proper, comprising the thirteen districts of Ü and Tsang, (2) Khám and (3) Amdo. From this time the Sakya-pa lamas became the universal rulers of Tibet, and remained so, at least nominally, under twenty-one successive lamas during seventy years (1270-1340). Their name was derived from the Sakya monastery, which was their cradle and abode, and their authority for temporal matters was exercised by specially appointed regents. When the power of the Sakya began to wane, that of the rival monasteries of Digung, Phagdub and Tshal increased largely, and their respective influence and authority overbalanced that of the successors of Phagspa. It was at this troubled epoch that Chyang Chub Gyaltshan, better known as Phagmodu from the name of his native town, appeared on the scene. He subdued Tibet proper and Khám, for the continued possession of which he was, however, compelled to fight for several years; but he succeeded in the long run, and with

the approval of the court of Peking established a dynasty which furnished twelve rulers in succession. When the Mongol dynasty of China passed away, the Mings confirmed and enlarged the dominion of the Tibetan rulers, recognizing at the same time the chief lamas of the eight principal monasteries of the country. Peace and prosperity gradually weakened the benign rule of the kings of this dynasty, and during the reign of the last but one internecine war was rife between the chiefs and nobles of Ü and Tsang. This state of things, occurring just as the last rulers of the Ming dynasty of China were struggling against the encroachments of the Manchus, their future successors, favoured the interference of a Khoshot Mongol prince, Tengir To, called in the Tibetan sources king of Koko Nor. The Mongols were interested in the religion of the lamas, especially since 1576, when Altan, khakan of the Tumeds, and his cousin summoned the chief lama of the most important monastery to visit him. This lama was Sodnam rGyamtso, the third successor of Gedundub, the founder of the Tashilhunpo monastery in 1447, who had been elected to the more important abbotship of Galdan near Lhasa, and was thus the first of the great, afterwards Dalai, lamas. The immediate successor of Gedundub, who ruled from 1475 to 1541, had appointed a special officer styled depa to control the civil administration of the country. To Sodnȧm rGyamtso the Mongol khans gave the title of Vajra Dalai Lama in 1576, and this is the first use of the widely known title of Dalai Lama. During the minority of the fifth (really the third) Dalai Lama, when the Mongol king Tengir To, under the pretext of supporting the religion, intervened in the affairs of the country, the Pan-ch'en Lo-sang Ch'o-kyi Gyal-ts'ang lama obtained the withdrawal of the invaders by the payment of a heavy war indemnity, and then applied for help to the first Manchu emperor of China, who had just ascended the throne. This step enraged the Mongols, and caused the advance of Gushri Khan, son and successor of Tengir To, who invaded Tibet, dethroned all the petty princes, including the king of Tsang, and, after having subjugated the whole of the country, made the fifth Dalai lama supreme monarch of all Tibet, in 1645. The Chinese government in 1653 confirmed the Dalai Lama in his authority, and he paid a visit to the emperor at Peking. The Mongol Khoshotes in 1706 and the Sungars in 1717 interfered again in the succession of the Dalai lama, but the Chinese army finally conquered the country in 1720, and the present system of government was established. It is probable that the isolation of Tibet was inspired originally by the Chinese, with the idea of creating a buffer state against European aggression from this direction.

In 1872-1873 some attempt was made by Indian officials to open up trade with Tibet; further attempts followed in 1884, and in 1886 a mission was organized to proceed to Lhasa. The Chinese, however, although they had at first granted a passport to this mission, later objected to its advance, and it was abandoned. The Tibetans assumed this to show England's weakness; they invaded Sikkim, and in 1888 it was necessary to send a force under General Graham to expel them. In 1890 a treaty was concluded, and trade regulations under this treaty in 1893; but the negotiations were carried on with the Chinese authorities, and the lamas, considering themselves to have received insufficient recognition, repudiated them and offered further insults. A new development presently appeared in the situation. A lama, a Mongolian Buriat by birth and a Russian subject, whose Russianized name was Dorjiev, had come to Lhasa about 1880. When subsequently visiting Russia, he appears to have drawn the attention of the authorities towards Tibet as a field for their statecraft, and he established himself as the unofficial representative of Russia in Lhasa. He obtained a commanding influence over the Dalai Lama, impressed upon him the dangers which threatened Tibet from England, and suggested the desirability of securing Russian protection and even the possibility of converting the tsar and his empire to Buddhism. The Dalai Lama assented, and was even prepared to visit St Petersburg, but was checked by the Tsong-du (assembly). He therefore sent a representative of high rank, who had audience of the tsar, and returned with proposals for a treaty and for the residence of a Russian royal prince in Lhasa in order to promote friendly relations. But both the Chinese authorities in Lhasa and the Tsong-du were averse from any such proceedings. The Dalai Lama, inspired by Dorjiev, now took steps to bring on a crisis by provoking England. He felt sure of Russian support. Russian arms had been imported into Lhasa. It was suspected, although denied, that a treaty was in draft under which Russia should assume the suzerainty of Tibet. A further encroachment on