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Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism and Literature in South Asia Week 7: Modern Buddhist Biographies: the 14th Dalai Lama’s Autobiography Overview of Syllabus Week 1: Introduction to Buddhist Literature, Jātaka Tales Week 2: Indian Buddhist Sūtra Literature Week 3: Life story of the Buddha in Indian poetry Week 4: Indian Buddhist Poetry and Drama Week 5: Tibetan Buddhist Inspirational poetry Week 6: Buddhist Biography and Hagiography in Tibet Week 7: Modern Buddhist Biographies: the 14th Dalai Lama’s Autobiography Week 8: Buddhist-inspired fiction in the 20th century History of Reincarnation lineages in Tibet • The concept of ‘incarnation’ (Sanskrit: nirmanakaya, Tibetan: tulku) dates to early Mahayana Buddhism • The concept of a particular person being the ‘reincarnation’ of another in the sense particular to Buddhism is uniquely Tibetan and relatively late, emerging in the 14th century • Over time, this doctrine of reincarnation of lamas became pervasive in Tibetan Buddhism and has become one of its distinctive features The first reincarnation lineages in Tibet • According to Tibetan tradition, the first recognized reincarnation lineage is that of the Karma-pa hierarchs. Dusum Khyenpa (12th century) is known as the first in this lineage. The first ‘incarnation’ in this lineage was the second hierarch: Karma Pakshi (13th century) • However the first time someone is described in documents as a reincarnation of another is the 3rd Karmapa hierarch, Rangjung Dorje (1284-1338). The biography of this hierarch contains a direct reference to “rebirth” and includes a prediction identifying where it would occur! • As we will see, the Dalai lama reincarnation lineage came later….. Tibetan tulku-s and reincarnation • The tulku system is an extension of the logic of the Buddhist understanding of karma and rebirth and the Mahayana system of spiritual development. • According to Buddhist doctrine, every sentient being is reborn over and over again in a beginningless cycle, and so from this point of view every creature is a reincarnation. • Most, however, are unaware of this, and few people remember their past lives. The reason for this can be found in the process of death, in which the coarser levels of consciousness drop away, resulting in the eradication of the personality of one’s past life. Tibetan tulku-s and reincarnation • Sometimes, however, the process of forgetting past lives is incomplete, particularly if one’s past life contained particularly powerful events that left deep imprints. • According to Tibetan Buddhism, however, through meditative training it is possible to gain access to deeply buried memories of past lives and become consciously aware of them. • This ability is considered to be common among advanced meditators, people who have learned to access subtle levels of mind. Such people are said to be able to perceive the events of their past lives. • At higher levels of realization, it is thought that people can even develop the ability consciously to choose a rebirth, rather than simply being helplessly drawn into it. Tibetan tulku-s and reincarnation • The logic of the tulku system is based on these ideas: all sentient beings are constantly reincarnating, and some exceptional beings are pursuing the path to awakening, motivated by compassion and working for the benefit of others. • Since it is possible in principle to determine one’s past births, it stands to reason that some beings will continually reincarnate themselves in a distinguishable lineage in a particular place for a particular group of people. • Among Tibetans, such people are called tulkus, and they are greatly revered because Tibetans believe that their rebirths are motivated by compassion. Testing for Tibetan tulku-s • Tibetan Buddhism has developed elaborate systems for detecting and testing candidates in order to ensure that the person recognized as a tulku is actually the reincarnation of a previous teacher. • The most rigorous of these tests are those used to find a new Dalai Lama. Since he is regarded as the greatest of all Tibetan incarnate lamas and is the temporal and spiritual leader of Tibet, it is extremely important that the right person be found, and a number of fail-safe devices have been developed in order to ensure this. But this begs the question of what is a Dalai Lama and how did this specific reincarnation system develop… There are four main lineages of Tibetan Buddhism • Nyingma • Sakya (11th century) • Kagyu (11th-12th cetury) – Associated with Tilopa, Naropa, and Milarepa • Geluk (15th century) – Associated with Tsongkhapa and became the lineage in which the ‘Dalai Lama’ system took hold Gelukpa ascent to power in Tibet • During the 15th century, Tsong Khapa (1357–1419), founded a new school, which came to be known as Gelukpa, or “System of Virtue.” • Tsong Khapa himself had little interest in politics, and his early successors followed his example. • As time went on, however, their influence grew, with the result that they eventually came out on top of the power hierarchy. Gelukpa ascent to power in Tibet • This new order won the respect of the older schools, mostly because of its strict observance of monastic discipline, its strong emphasis on study and meditation, and its disinterest in political involvements. • This began to change half a century later during the lifetime of Gendun Gyatso, reincarnation of Tsongkhapa’s main disciple who became known as the 2nd Dalai Lama! Gelukpa ascent to power in Tibet • With its high standards of discipline and scholarship, The Gelukpa began to attract the active resentment of some of the older orders, which often suffered in comparison. • Gendun Gyatso’s growing prestige and the high regard in which his school was held caused the Karmapa (Kagyu) hierarchs and their lay patrons to move against him, with the result that for most of his life he was not able to live in the Gelukpa monasteries around Lhasa. So he traveled, earning disciples and admirers along the way. Contacts with the Mongols: the next incarnation • The next incarnation of the Dalai Lama (who became the 3rd) was Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588), who was born into a prominent family with ties to the Sakyapas and the Pakmodrupas • In 1578 he accepted an invitation to visit Altan Khan, chief of the Tumed Mongols. • This event was to have wide-ranging repercussions, and it marked a transition of Geluk from an order that avoided politics to a ruling Theocracy. Contacts with the Mongols: the next incarnation • Although they no longer controlled China, the Mongols were still a powerful military force, despite their continual tribal conflicts. • There had been no supreme leader to match the power of Chinggis or Qubilai, but Altan was the most influential of the Mongol chieftains of his day. The First ‘Dalai Lama-s’ • When the lama Sonam Gyatso and the Altan khan met, the latter conferred the title of Ta le, or “Ocean,” on Sonam Gyatso, implying that he was an “Ocean of Wisdom.” • Thus he and his successors (and, retrospectively, his predecessors Gendun Druba and Gendun Gyatso) came to be known as the “Dalai Lamas.” Gelukpa ties with the Mongols Strengthened • Sonam Gyatso had great success in converting the Mongols to Buddhism. He influenced Altan to ban blood sacrifices and the worship of ancestral images. • Because of his missionary activity, many Mongols became adherents of the Gelukpa order. • The relationship between the Gelukpas and the Mongols was further strengthened after his death in 1588, when his reincarnation was discovered in the person of a great-grandson of Altan Khan, who received the ordination name Yonden Gyatso (1589– 1617). • This in turn solidified the political ties between the powerful khans and the Gelukpa lamas. “The Great Fifth” Dalai lama • The fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Losang Gyatso (1617–1682), popularly referred to as “The Great Fifth,” was the most dynamic and influential of the early Dalai Lamas. • He was a great teacher, an accomplished tantric yogi, and a prodigious writer. His literary output surpasses the combined total of all the other Dalai Lamas. • In addition to his scholastic achievements, he proved to be an able statesman, and he united the three provinces of Tibet (the Central, South, and West) for the first time since the assassination of King Lang Darma in the mid-ninth century. “The Great Fifth” Dalai lama • In 1642, with the help of his Mongol benefactors, the Fifth Dalai Lama consolidated power and became the first Dalai Lama to rule Tibet. • Conflict between the king of Tsang (Central Southern Tibet) and the Mongols began early on, and it reached a crisis point in 1621 when a large Mongol army entered Tibet with the stated intention of protecting the Gelukpas. • A battle was avoided through the intervention of the Panchen Lama and some other prominent religious figures, but the seeds of conflict had been sown. • A series of battles followed, and by 1640 the Gelukpas, with the help of the Mongols, proved victorious, thus establishing the rulership of the Dalai Lamas over Tibet Fast-forward to the 20th century: Death of 13th Dalai Lama • With the death of the thirteenth Dalai Lama in 1933, Tibet entered an interregnum period. • This occurred at an inopportune time, because a • combination of Chinese manipulation of foreign powers and Tibetan insularity had isolated the country from the outside world. • In his attempts to enlist foreign allies, the thirteenth Dalai Lama discovered that Tibet had no friends in the international community and lacked the military resources to repel a determined foreign invasion. Fast-forward to the 20th century: Death of 13th Dalai Lama • In a famous statement shortly before his death, he warned his people of imminent danger from foreign invasion and predicted that unless Tibet adopted his modernization policies the country would be overrun, its people killed or enslaved, and its religion destroyed.
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