Tibet, Tibet by French Patrick

Author:French, Patrick [French, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780307548061
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2009-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

You could see the history of Tibet through a family, by looking at the way its influence unfolded and retracted over two hundred years. Reincarnation has long been intertwined with heredity in the exercise of power in Tibet. Take the house of Lhalu, which first found its way into the records in the mid-eighteenth century, with the rise of three brothers—the forebears, although not the blood ancestors, of Lhalu Tsewang Dorje.

The first brother had three sons: Sonam Tashi, Lobsang Dorje and the Eighth Dalai Lama. Sonam Tashi was influential enough to be noticed visiting the Panchen Rinpoche in 1771, and a decade later was made a kung or duke by the emperor of China. His elder son was selected as the Fourth Jebtsun Damba, the Mongolian reincarnation, and his younger son succeeded to his title, being granted the rank of the peacock feather by the emperor. Lobsang Dorje was a leading monk official who represented the Dalai Lama at the installation of the new Seventh Panchen Rinpoche in Tashilhunpo in 1783. The Eighth Dalai Lama, Jampal Gyatso, was a mild, spiritual man who was happy to leave power in the hands of a regent, and made only a brief and unsuccessful attempt to rule. He built the Norbulingka, the summer palace of the Dalai Lamas, and died at the age of forty-five.

The second of the three prominent brothers, whose name is not known, had a son named Palden Dhondup. This boy became a political envoy, and was sent on two missions to the Sixth Panchen Rinpoche in Tashilhunpo. When the Panchen died from smallpox in Beijing in 1780, Palden Dhondup’s son Palden Tempa Nyima was recognised as his reincarnation, the Seventh Panchen Rinpoche. As a result, the emperor of China made Palden Dhondup a kung, and awarded him the coral button and the peacock feather.

The third prominent brother was Lobsang Phuntsog, who was a close associate of the Sixth Panchen Rinpoche, visiting him on four recorded occasions. He sent an envoy to retrieve his smallpox-ridden corpse when he died, and was granted an official seal by the emperor. He attended the enthronement of the new Panchen, his nephew’s son. His own son, Lobsang Gendun Drakpa, was made an abbot by his first cousin the Eighth Dalai Lama. In 1790, Lobsang Gendun Drakpa and another cousin, the monk official Lobsang Dorje, were sent under arrest to Beijing, having fallen out with Chinese officials in Tibet. They were accused of “unlawful extortion of money, unruly behaviour and strong Nyingmapa leanings.” After questioning, they were pardoned and awarded high ecclesiastical titles. On his return to Lhasa, Lobsang Gendun Drakpa was sent to negotiate with the Nepalese, who had recently invaded southern Tibet, but he died before taking up the post.

Members of the Lhalu family continue to be mentioned occasionally in official records until 1832, when they disappear from view. They were probably sent into abeyance by a failure to produce male heirs, but their decline may have stemmed from political machinations. The Lhalu

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.