The Thirteenth Dalai Ngawang Lozang Thubten Gyatso

The thirteenth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lozang Thubten Gyatso was a very spectacular and complex character on the political stage of Tibet in modern times. His experience of a lifetime of frustrations reflected the then tempestuous and changeable situation. Any evaluation of a Tibetan political and religious leader has always been a contentious problem in academic circles, because it involves the explanation and exposition of relations between the Tibetan local government and the Central Government after the Revolution in 1911. For a long time I have had a keen interest in the "the Great Thirteenth," as he has been called. After a long period of study I have formed my viewpoint on this historical figure, and I present it here to solicit reader's opinions.

The source of the materials in this paper was mainly from my personal interviews with some aristocrats, officials and scholars in the 1950s, including Lhalu Tsewang Dorje, Chapel Tseten Phuntsok, Langdun Kunga Wangchuk, Thubten Kunphel, Pangda Dorje, and Shatra Paljor Dorje. Some materials came from official archives of the former Tibetan local government, which I read when I worked in Tibet. So, as I will not acknowledge individual sources of the materials of this paper I express acknowledgment to them all here.

The original name of the thirteenth Dalai Lama's is Lozang Thubten Gyatso (blo-bzang rgya-mtsho). He was born in the village of Langdun in the district of Dagpo on the twenty-seventh day of the June in 1876. He was confirmed the reincarnation of the twelfth Dalai Lama. A joint request was then made by the entire lay and clerical staff of the great monasteries, asking the Emperor Guangxu through Qing's Grand Minister Resident of Tibet (Amban) for permission to omit the lot-drawing process. Their request was permitted.

The thirteenth Dalai Lama was born at a time when China was in an important transformation period of its history. The Opium War in 1840 marked the decline of China from an independent feudal society into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society under the penetration and invasion of Western powers. Located in the southwestern corner of China, Tibet also became the theatre for the struggle between the then two strong imperialist countries-Britain and Tsarist Russia. Many of the unequal treaties signed by the Qing government with Britain involved trade, missionary activities, travel and investigations in Tibet.

The British aggression into Tibet ran into conflict with Tsarist Russia's interests. Before the conclusion of the "Convention between Great Britain and Russia" in 1907, Tsarist Russia had attempted to take Tibet as a trophy of its influence over South Asia and thus Tibet became an important battlefield for Britain and Russia for hegemony over Central Asia and the Southern sub-continent. As Tibet is close to India, the British incited the pro-British rulers of Nepal to launch an aggressive war against Tibet and force China to sign an unequal treaty that infringed the rights and privileges of Tibetans. Afterwards, all of Tibet's near neighbors and places strongly influenced by Tibetan culture, from Ladakh in the west to Sikkim and Bhutan in the east, all fell under the control of Britain and Tibet lost the buffers that might block the invasion of foreign powers. Under such circumstances, it was a matter of course for the British imperialists to wage a series of aggressive wars in 1888 and 1904. Tibet, like the hinterland of China, also suffered from serious foreign aggression.

At the same time, inside the Tibetan polity, the merging of religious and secular rule under the feudal serfdom made Tibetan social and economic development fall into stagnation for a long time. Moreover, under the regency, Tibetan clerical and secular officials ganged up and formed cliques to pursue selfish interests. They jostled against each other for political power. Their internal rivalry never ceased. All this hindered the development of Tibetan society and polluted the Buddhist doctrine of doing well and benefiting others.

Influenced by these external and internal factors, the weakness and disadvantages of the closed and conservative ideology of Tibetan society were revealed. The feudal rulers could not find a way to overcome the crisis. They could only take a position of resistance and opposition to change and could do nothing significant in the face of external invasion. In respect of the relations between the Tibetan local government and the Central government, starting from 1719 when the Dzungar troops were driven out of Tibet, the Qing court took a series of measures to strengthen its direct rule over Tibet. The establishment of the Amban system at a later time marked the peak of this rule. However, with the decline of the Qing court, it could no longer devote much attention to the affairs of Tibet. The high-ranking officials sent to Tibet were no longer men of insight and with breadth of vision but were muddleheaded and incompetent people, some of them were sent to Tibet as a punishment and an opportunity for them to redeem themselves by good service. That Tibetan affairs would deteriorate was unavoidable. The combination of the evil practices of the Qing officialdom and the corruption of Ganden Photrang (dgav-ldan pho-brang) meant that Tibetan political circles permeated with outmoded conventions and bad customs. Even if some officials wanted to stop the decline, they could do nothing. Under such circumstances, Tibetan clerical and secular rulers began to use duplicitous tactics towards the Central government. Therefore, we can say that the overall deterioration of the Tibetan political situation was inevitable. Around 1870 a rascal lama named Palden Dondrup (dpal-ldan don-grub) appeared in the Tibetan political arena and he became the Chikyap Khenpo (spyi-khyab mkhan-po), who monopolized political power in Tibet and held sway over the region for some time. The reason for this phenomenon and a reasonable explanation for it could only be found in the corruption and evil practices of the Central government of the Qing court and Tibetan society. In fact, in order to obtain a complete and reasonable explanation, we often need to make a cultural analysis of historical events. It seems to me that this is particularly true in the study of Tibetan history.

The process of searching for the re-embodiment of the Dalai Lama began with the third Dalai Lama. The records of the process of searching for the thirteenth Dalai Lama were highly detailed and the process was equally complex. All these precious Tibetan archives have been preserved intact at Lhasa. After consulting a great amount of Tibetan materials collected at the Tibetan Archives, Kelsang Drolkar (skal-bzang sgrol-dkar), research fellow with the China Tibetology Research Center, wrote a thesis entitled "How the thirteenth Dalai Lama Thubten Gyatso was selected," which gave a detailed account of the search for and the enthronement of the thirteenth Dalai Lama:1

Ajade seal given to the 13th Dalai Lama by the Nationalist Government to confer posthumously the title of honor to the Dalai Lama

Ajade seal given to the 13th Dalai Lama by the Nationalist Government to confer posthumously the title of honor to the Dalai Lama

(1) After the twelfth Dalai Lama passed away, many Buddhist prayer meetings were held for the early coming of his re-embodiment.

(2) The infant candidate of the deceased Dalai Lama should be searched for in the direction in accordance with the direction of the body-inclination of the twelfth Dalai Lama.

(3) The Tibetan local government twice issued a proclamation to the whole region regarding the search for the re-embodiment of the Dalai Lama.

(4) The Tibetan local government, seeking information on the direction in which the incarnate Dalai could be found, consulted the Panchen Lama for an oracle.

(5) The Tibetan local government three times consulted the Necbung (gnas-chung), the medium with the main protector of the Tibetan local government, for oracles on the direction in which the incarnate Dalai could be found and on the characteristics of the place.

(6) In the Potala, the Nechung Oracle replied that the re-embodiment has been born in a village east of Lhasa, that his parents, names are so-and-so, and that highly revered priests should be sent to look for him.

(7) The Gyu-to Khensur (rgyud-stod mkhan-zur) (retired Khenpo of the Upper Tantric college) was sent by the Tibetan local government to examine the reflections in the Lhamoi Lhatso.

(8) Local officials reported that they have discovered a very wise baby boy. The local officials' information took the Gyu-to Khensur to the village of Langdun (glang-mdun) where he conducted a secret investigation.

(9) The Gyu-to Khensur paid his first visit to the baby boy.

(10) When he returned to Lhasa, the Khensur submitted a detailed report of his investigation to the authorities, and the regent and others expressed their satisfaction with the Langdun boy.

(11) The process of the search for the re-embodiment of the deceased Dalai was reported to the Qing court through the Grand Minister Resident of Tibet, Emperor Guangxu ordered a check on the report.

(12) The Gyu-to Khensur was sent to Langdun again to make an investigation of the baby boy. He placed in front of the boy some of the objects that the twelfth Dalai Lama had used. The Yellow Sect believes that the boy who picks up articles used by the deceased Dalai is his reincarnation.

(13) All other candidates from other places were denied.

(14) In order that the baby-boy might be exempted from the lot-drawing process, the Regent requested the Panchen Lama to intervene into the matter.

(15) The Regent asked the emperor for the permission to omit the lot-drawing process.

(16) High-ranking lay and clerical officials were sent in groups along the road to welcome the child candidate for the Dalai Lama.2

(17) The child candidate for the Dalai Lama listened to Emperor Guangxu's imperial edict about the permission to omit the lot-drawing process at Tsel Gungtang monastery.

As in the preceding case of the ninth Dalai Lama, the two Grand Ministers Resident of Tibet were requested to read out the imperial edict. In the Nyi-od Khang Hall the re-embodi-ment of the Dalai Lama sat facing the east, behind him were the Regent Kundeling (Kun-bde gling), sutra teachers, and high-ranking lay and clerical officials. The Grand Minister Resident of Tibet read out Emperor Guangxu's imperial edict: "Lozang Thubten Gyatso, the son of Kunga Rinchen, may be proclaimed the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama without resorting to the drawing of lots from the gold urn." After the announcement, the Dalai Lama offered a katag to the east to show his gratitude to the Emperor, and then he requested the Amban to present the katag to the Emperor for him. This ceremony was followed by a celebration ceremony.