Transcription of Text

Front (Bottom Margin):

Back:

(Translation of back text: Artistic Photography Studio Borel, St. Petersburg, 54 Nevsky [Prospect]. Opposite the public library. Elevator available for public use.)

Historical Significance & Biography

The 13th Dalai Lama (Thubten Gyatso, 1876–1933): The 13th Dalai Lama was a monumental figure in Tibetan history, known as the "Great Thirteenth." He was the first Dalai Lama to travel extensively and engage in global diplomacy. This photograph likely dates to the period surrounding the 1904 British invasion of Tibet, which forced the Dalai Lama into exile. During his exile, he spent significant time in Mongolia and sought an alliance with the Russian Empire to counter British influence.

The Borel Studio & The Russian Connection: The Borel Studio, located at the prestigious address of 54 Nevsky Prospect, was one of the premier photography ateliers in Imperial Russia. The presence of this portrait in a St. Petersburg studio highlights the intense "Great Game" diplomacy between Tibet and Russia. The 13th Dalai Lama’s close associate, Agvan Dorzhiev (a Buryat Russian monk), acted as a liaison to Tsar Nicholas II, which explains why such high-quality portraits were produced and distributed in the Russian capital.

Condition Note for Buyers

This authentic antique CDV shows signs of age consistent with its 100+ year history. There is minor foxing and surface wear, and the sepia tones remain clear. The reverse features the elaborate, ornate lithographed advertisement for the Borel studio, which is a collector's item in its own right.


Tibetan Buddhism, Lhasa, Qing Dynasty, Imperial Russia, Agvan Dorzhiev, Great Game, Antique Photography, Ephemera, Buddhist Art, Tsar Nicholas II.

















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The 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso (full given name: Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal;[1] Tibetan: ཐུབ་བསྟན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: Thub Bstan Rgya Mtsho; Chinese: 罗布藏塔布开甲木措; pinyin: Luóbùzàng Tǎbùkāi Jiǎmùcuò[2]); 12 February 1876 – 17 December 1933) was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet,[3] enthroned during a turbulent modern era. He presided during the collapse of the Qing dynasty, and is referred to as "the Great Thirteenth", responsible for redeclaring Tibet's national independence, and for his national reform and modernization initiatives.

In 1878, he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. He was escorted to Lhasa and given his pre-novice vows by the Panchen Lama, Tenpai Wangchuk, and given the name "Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal".[1] In 1879, he was enthroned at the Potala Palace, but did not assume political power until 1895,[4] after he had reached his maturity.

Thubten Gyatso was an intellectual reformer and skillful politician. He was responsible for rebuilding Tibet's geopolitical position after the British expedition to Tibet, restoring discipline in monastic life, and increasing the number of lay officials to avoid excessive power being placed in the hands of the monks.
Early life

The 13th Dalai Lama was born in the village of Thakpo Langdun, one day by car, south-east from Lhasa,[5] and near Samye Monastery, Takpo province, in June 1876[6] to parents Kunga Rinchen and Lobsang Dolma, a peasant couple.[1] Laird gives his birthdate as 27 May 1876,[5] and Mullin gives it as dawn on the 5th month of the Fire Mouse Year (1876).[7]
Contact with Agvan Dorzhiev
Retreat of the 13th Dalai Lama, Nechung, Tibet

Agvan Dorzhiev (1854–1938), a Khori-Buryat Mongol, and a Russian subject, was born in the village of Khara-Shibir, not far from Udinsk, to the east of Lake Baikal.[8] He left home in 1873 at age 19 to study at the Gelugpa monastery, Drepung, near Lhasa, the largest monastery in Tibet. Having successfully completed the traditional course of religious studies, he began the academic Buddhist degree of Geshey Lharampa (the highest level of 'Doctorate of Buddhist Philosophy').[9] He continued his studies to become Tsanid-Hambo, or "Master of Buddhist Philosophy".[10] He became a tutor and "debating partner" of the teenage Dalai Lama, who became very friendly with him and later used him as an envoy to Russia and other countries.[11]
Military expeditions in Tibet
The 13th Dalai Lama in 1910 in Darjeeling, India

After the British expedition to Tibet by Sir Francis Younghusband in early 1904, Dorzhiev convinced the Dalai Lama to flee to Urga in Mongolia, almost 2,400 km (1,500 mi) to the northeast of Lhasa, a journey which took four months. The Dalai Lama spent over a year in Urga and the Wang Khuree Monastery (to the west from the capital) giving teachings to the Mongolians. In Urga he met the 8th Bogd Gegeen Jebtsundamba Khutuktu several times (the spiritual leader of Outer Mongolia). The content of these meetings is unknown. According to report from A.D. Khitrovo, the Russian Border Commissioner in Kyakhta, the Dalai Lama and the influential Mongol Khutuktus, high lamas and princes "irrevocably decided to secede from China as an independent federal state, carrying out this operation under the patronage and support from Russia, taking care to avoid the bloodshed".[12] The Dalai Lama insisted that if Russia would not help, he would even ask Britain, his former foe, for assistance.[citation needed]

After the Dalai Lama fled, the Qing dynasty immediately proclaimed him deposed and again asserted sovereignty over Tibet, making claims over Nepal and Bhutan as well.[13] The Treaty of Lhasa was signed at the Potala between Great Britain and Tibet in the presence of the Amban and Nepalese and Bhutanese representatives on 7 September 1904.[14] The provisions of the 1904 treaty were confirmed in a 1906 treaty[15] signed between Britain and China. The British, for a fee from the Qing court, also agreed not to annex Tibetan territory or to interfere in the administration of Tibet, while China agreed not to permit any other foreign state to interfere with the territory or internal administration of Tibet.[15][16]
    
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The Dalai Lama is thought to have been involved with the anti-foreign 1905 Tibetan Rebellion. The British expedition to Tibet had profound repercussions in the Tibetan Buddhist world,[17][unreliable source?] leading to heavy anti-Western and anti-Christian sentiment among Tibetan Buddhists. The expedition also led to a sudden and heavy-handed Chinese intervention in Tibetan areas, to develop, assimilate, and bring the regions under strong Qing central control.[18] The Tibetan Lamas in Batang proceeded to revolt in 1905, massacring Chinese officials, French missionaries, and Christian Catholic converts. The Tibetan monks opposed the Catholics, razing the Catholic mission's Church, and slaughtering all Catholic missionaries and Qing officials.[19][20][failed verification] The Manchu Qing official Fengquan was assassinated by the Tibetan Batang Lamas, along with other Manchu and Han Chinese Qing officials and the French Catholic priests, who were all massacred when the rebellion started in March 1905. Tibetan Gelugpa monks in Nyarong, Chamdo, and Litang also revolted and attacked missions and churches and slaughtered westerners.[21] Christian missionaries and Qing officials were linked in the eyes of the Tibetans as hostile foreigners to be attacked.[22] Zhongtian (Chungtien) was the location of Batang monastery.[23] The Tibetans slaughtered the converts, torched the building of the missionaries in Batang due to their xenophobia.[24][non-primary source needed] Sir Francis Edward Younghusband wrote that At the same time, on the opposite side of Tibet they were still more actively aggressive, expelling the Roman Catholic missionaries from their long-established homes at Batang, massacring many of their converts, and burning the mission-house.[25][non-primary source needed] There was anti-Christian sentiment and xenophobia running rampant in Tibet.[26]

    No. 10. Despatch from Consul-General Wilkinson to Sir E. Satow, dated Yünnan-fu, 28th April, 1905. (Received in London 14th June, 1905.) Pere Maire, the Provicaire of the Roman Catholic Mission here, called this morning to show me a telegram which he had just received from a native priest of his Mission at Tali. The telegram, which is in Latin, is dated Tali, the 24th April, and is to the effect that the lamas of Batang have killed PP. Musset and Soulie, together with, it is believed, 200 converts. The chapel at Atentse has been burnt down, and the lamas hold the road to Tachien-lu. Pere Bourdonnec (another member of the French Tibet Mission) begs that Pere Maire will take action. Pere Maire has accordingly written to M. Leduc, my French colleague, who will doubtless communicate with the Governor-General. The Provicaire is of opinion that the missionaries were attacked by orders of the ex-Dalai Lama, as the nearest Europeans on whom he could avenge his disgrace. He is good enough to say that he will give me any further information which he may receive. I am telegraphing to you the news of the massacre.

— I have, &c., (Signed) W. H. WILKINSON. East India (Tibet): Papers Relating to Tibet [and Further Papers ...], Issues 2–4, Great Britain. Foreign Office, p. 12., [27][28]

In October 1906, John Weston Brooke was the first Englishman to gain an audience with the Dalai Lama, and subsequently he was granted permission to lead two expeditions into Tibet.[29] Also in 1906, Sir Charles Alfred Bell, was invited to visit Thubten Chökyi Nyima, the 9th Panchen Lama at Tashilhunpo, where they had friendly discussions on the political situation.[30]

The Dalai Lama later stayed at the great Kumbum Monastery near Xining and then travelled east to the most sacred of four Buddhist mountains in China, Wutai Shan located 300 km from Beijing. From here, the Dalai Lama received a parade of envoys: William Woodville Rockhill, the American Minister in Peking; Gustaf Mannerheim, an Imperial Russian army colonel, who later became the Marshal of Finland and the 6th President of Finland; a German doctor from the Peking Legation; an English explorer named Christopher Irving; R.F. Johnson, a British diplomat from the Colonial Service; and Henri D'Ollone, the French army major and viscount.[31] The Dalai Lama was mounting a campaign to strengthen his international ties and free his kingdom from Chinese rule.

In June 1908, C.G.E. Mannerheim met Thubten Gyatso in Wutai Shan during the course of his expedition from Turkestan to Peking. Mannerheim wrote his diary and notes in Swedish to conceal the fact that his ethnographic and scientific party was also an elaborate intelligence gathering mission for the Imperial Russian army. The 13th Dalai Lama gave a blessing of white silk for the Russian Czar. Worried about his safety, Mannerheim gave Tibet's spiritual pontiff a Browning revolver and showed him how to reload the weapon.[32][33]

    "Obviously," the 14th Dalai Lama said, "The 13th Dalai Lama had a keen desire to establish relations with Russia, and I also think he was a little skeptical toward England at first. Then there was Dorjiev. To the English he was a spy, but in reality he was a good scholar and a sincere Buddhist monk who had great devotion to the 13th Dalai Lama."[34]

In September 1908, the Dalai Lama was granted an audience with the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi. The emperor tried to stress Tibet's subservient role, although the Dalai Lama refused to kowtow to him.[35] He stayed in Beijing until the end of 1908; during such time, both the Guangxu Emperor and the Empress Dowager died and were succeeded by the Xuantong Emperor, with Prince Chun as regent.[13]

When he returned to Tibet in December 1908, he began reorganising the government, but the Qing sent a military expedition of its own to Tibet in 1910 and he had to flee to India.[36][37]
Assumption of political power
The 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet, British Political Officer Charles Bell (both seated), and Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal of Sikkim in 1910.

In 1895, Thubten Gyatso assumed ruling power from the monasteries which had previously wielded great influence through the Regent. Due to his two periods of exile in 1904–1909, first during the British expedition, and from 1910 to 1913 fleeing 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. The Dalai Lama, "accompanied by six ministers and a small escort" which included his close aide, diplomat and military figure Tsarong Dzasa, fled via Jelep La[38] to Sikkim and Darjeeling, where they stayed almost two years. During this period he was invited to Calcutta by the Viceroy, Lord Minto, which helped restore relations with the British.[39][page needed]

In 1911, revolution arose against imperial authorities, first in Wuchang and then in all of China, culminating in the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor, the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912. As chaos unfolded in the mainland, Chinese forces were expelled by Tibet by local nationalists, who proclaimed Tibet to be an independent country on 4 April 1912, paving the way for the return of the Dalai Lama.

Thubten Gyatso returned to Lhasa in January 1913 with Tsarong Dzasa from Darjeeling, where he had been living in exile. The new Chinese government apologised for the actions of the previous Qing dynasty and offered to restore the Dalai Lama to his former position. He replied that he was not interested in Chinese ranks and was assuming spiritual and political leadership of Tibet.[40]

After his return from exile in India in 1913, Thubten Gyatso assumed control of foreign relations and dealt directly with the Maharaja and the British Political officer in Sikkim and the king of Nepal rather than letting the Kashag or parliament do it.[41]

Documents from Russian Foreign Ministry archives contain detailed argumentation of the 13th Dalai Lama that Tibet was never a part of China.[42] Thubten Gyatso declared independence from China in early 1913 (13 February), after returning from India following three years of exile. He then standardized the Tibetan flag in its present form.[43] At the end of 1912 the first postage stamps of Tibet and the first bank notes were issued.[citation needed]

Thubten Gyatso built a new medical college (Mentsikang) in 1913 on the site of the post-revolutionary traditional hospital near the Jokhang.[44]

Legislation was introduced to counter corruption among officials, a national taxation system was established and enforced, and a police force was created. The penal system was revised and made uniform throughout the country. "Capital punishment was completely abolished and corporal punishment was reduced. Living conditions in jails were also improved, and officials were designated to see that these conditions and rules were maintained."[45][46]

A secular education system was introduced in addition to the religious education system. Thubten Gyatso sent four promising students to England to study, and welcomed foreigners, including Japanese, British and American visitors.[45]

As a result of his travels and contacts with foreign powers and their representatives (e.g., Pyotr Kozlov, Charles Alfred Bell and Gustaf Mannerheim), the Dalai Lama showed an interest in world affairs and introduced electricity, the telephone and the first motor cars [citation needed] to Tibet. Nonetheless, at the end of his life in 1933, he saw that Tibet was about to retreat from outside influences.

In the last decade of his life, the Dalai Lama's personal attendant, Thubten Kunphela rose to power and led several important projects for the modernization in Tibet. In 1931, a new factory complex consisting of currency mints and munition factories was established in Trapchi, with its machines driven by power from the first hydroelectric plant in Tibet. A modern army regiment was created in the same year, after the conflict broke out in Eastern Tibet.[47]
13th Dalai Lama in 1932, the year prior to his death

In 1930, Tibetan army invaded the Xikang and the Qinghai in the Sino-Tibetan War. In 1932, the Muslim Qinghai and Han-Chinese Sichuan armies of the National Revolutionary Army led by Chinese Muslim General Ma Bufang and Han General Liu Wenhui defeated the Tibetan army during the subsequent Qinghai–Tibet War. Ma Bufang overran the Tibetan armies and recaptured several counties in Xikang province. Shiqu, Dengke, and other counties were seized from the Tibetans.[48][49][50] The Tibetans were pushed back to the other side of the Jinsha river.[51][52] Ma and Liu warned Tibetan officials not to dare cross the Jinsha river again.[53] Ma Bufang defeated the Tibetans at Dan Chokorgon. Several Tibetan generals surrendered, and were demoted by the Dalai Lama.[54] By August, the Tibetans lost so much land to Liu Wenhui and Ma Bufang's forces that the Dalai Lama telegraphed the British authorities in India for assistance. British diplomatic pressure led to Nanjing declaring a ceasefire.[55] Separate truces were signed by Ma and Liu with the Tibetans in 1933, ending the fighting.[56][57][58]
Prophecies and death

The 13th Dalai Lama predicted before dying:

    "Very soon in this land (with a harmonious blend of religion and politics) deceptive acts may occur from without and within. At that time, if we do not dare to protect our territory, our spiritual personalities including the Victorious Father and Son (Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama) may be exterminated without trace, the property and authority of our Lhakhang's (residences of reincarnated lamas) and monks may be taken away. Moreover, our political system, developed by the Three Great Dharma Kings (Tri Songtsen Gampo, Tri Songdetsen and Tri Ralpachen) will vanish without anything remaining. The property of all people, high and low, will be seized and the people forced to become slaves. All living beings will have to endure endless days of suffering and will be stricken with fear. Such a time will come."[59]

The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system, or abugida, forming a part of the Brahmic scripts, and used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. Its exact origins are a subject of research but is traditionally considered to be developed by Thonmi Sambhota for King Songtsen Gampo.

The Tibetan script has also been used for some non-Tibetic languages in close cultural contact with Tibet, such as Thakali[5] and Nepali.[6] The printed form is called uchen script while the hand-written form used in everyday writing is called umê script. This writing system is especially used across the Himalayan Region.
History

Little is known about the exact origins of Tibetan script.[7] According to Tibetan historiography, it was developed during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo by his minister Thonmi Sambhota, who was sent to India along with other scholars to study Buddhism along with Sanskrit and other brahmi languages.[8][9] They developed the Tibetan script from the Gupta script[10] while at the Pabonka Hermitage.

This occurred c. 620, towards the beginning of Songtsen Gampo's reign. There were 21 Sutra texts held by the King which were translated afterwards. In the first half of the 7th century, the Tibetan script was used for the codification of these sacred Buddhist texts,[11][12] for written civil laws, and for a Tibetan Constitution.

Earliest sources on Tibet, such as the Old Tibetan Chronicle, do not mention any Thonmi Sambhota.[13] Scripts predating Songtsen Gampo might have existed but in any case do not appear to be widely used.[13] Researchers postulate that Tibetan kings sought to develop a system of writing as their territory expanded. The script resembling the version today was likely developed in the second half of the 11th century.[13][14] New research and writings also suggest that there were one or more Tibetan scripts in use prior to the introduction of the script by Songtsen Gampo and Thonmi Sambhota. The incomplete Dunhuang manuscripts are their key evidence for their hypothesis,[15] while the few discovered and recorded Old Tibetan Annals manuscripts date from 650 and therefore post-date the c. 620 date of development of the original Tibetan script.

Three orthographic standardisations were developed. The most important, an official orthography aimed to facilitate the translation of Buddhist scriptures emerged during the early 9th century. Standard orthography has not been altered since then, while the spoken language has changed by, for example, losing complex consonant clusters. As a result, in all modern Tibetan dialects and in particular in the Standard Tibetan of Lhasa, there is a great divergence between current spelling, which still reflects the 9th-century spoken Tibetan, and current pronunciation. This divergence is the basis of an argument in favour of spelling reform, to write Tibetan as it is pronounced; for example, writing Kagyu instead of Bka'-rgyud.[16]

The nomadic Amdo Tibetan and the western dialects of the Ladakhi language, as well as the Balti language, come close to the Old Tibetan spellings.[14] Despite that, the grammar of these dialectical varieties has considerably changed. To write the modern varieties according to the orthography and grammar of Classical Tibetan would be similar to writing Sanskrit orthography.[14] However, modern Buddhist practitioners in the Indian subcontinent state that the classical orthography should not be altered even when used for lay purposes. This became an obstacle for many modern Tibetic languages wishing to modernize or introduce a new spelling reform of Tibetan.[14]
Description
Basic alphabet

In the Tibetan script, the syllables are written from left to right. Syllables are separated by a tsek (་); since many Tibetan words are monosyllabic, this mark often functions almost as a space. Spaces are not used to divide words.[17]

The Tibetan alphabet has thirty letters, sometimes known as "radicals", for consonants.[18] As in other Indic scripts, each consonant letter assumes an inherent vowel; in the Tibetan script it is /a/. The letter ཨ is also the base for dependent vowel marks.

Although some Tibetan dialects are tonal, the language had no tone at the time of the script's invention, and there are no dedicated symbols for tone. However, since tones developed from segmental features, they can usually be correctly predicted by the archaic spelling of Tibetan words.
    Unaspirated
high     Aspirated
medium     Voiced
low     Nasal
low
    Letter     IPA     Letter     IPA     Letter     IPA     Letter     IPA
Guttural     ཀ     /ka/     ཁ     /kʰa/     ག[i]     /ɡa/     ང     /ŋa/
Palatal     ཅ     /tʃa/     ཆ     /tʃʰa/     ཇ[i]     /dʒa/     ཉ     /ɲa/
Dental     ཏ     /ta/     ཐ     /tʰa/     ད[i]     /da/     ན     /na/
Labial     པ     /pa/     ཕ     /pʰa/     བ[i]     /ba/     མ     /ma/
Dental     ཙ     /tsa/     ཚ     /tsʰa/     ཛ[i]     /dza/     ཝ     /wa/
low     ཞ[i]     /ʒa/     ཟ[i]     /za/     འ     /ɦa/[19] ⟨ʼa⟩     ཡ     /ja/
medium     ར     /ra/     ལ     /la/     ཤ     /ʃa/     ས     /sa/
high     ཧ     /ha/     ཨ     /a/ ⟨ꞏa⟩

    These voiced values are historical. They have been devoiced in modern Standard Tibetan.

Consonant clusters
Components of a Tibetan syllable
Tibetan map of the Kizil Caves, Tarim Basin. 13th century CE

One aspect of the Tibetan script is that the consonants can be written either as radicals or they can be written in other forms, such as subscript and superscript forming consonant clusters.

To understand how this works, one can look at the radical ཀ /ka/ and see what happens when it becomes ཀྲ /kra/ or རྐ /rka/ (pronounced /ka/). In both cases, the symbol for ཀ /ka/ is used, but when the ར /ra/ is in the middle of the consonant and vowel, it is added as a subscript. On the other hand, when the ར /ra/ comes before the consonant and vowel, it is added as a superscript.[18] ར /ra/ actually changes form when it is above most other consonants, thus རྐ rka. However, an exception to this is the cluster རྙ /rɲa/. Similarly, the consonants ར /ra/, and ཡ /ja/ change form when they are beneath other consonants, thus ཀྲ /ʈ ~ ʈʂa/; ཀྱ /ca/.

Besides being written as subscripts and superscripts, some consonants can also be placed in prescript, postscript, or post-postscript positions. For instance, the consonants ག /kʰa/, ད /tʰa/, བ /pʰa/, མ /ma/ and འ /a/ can be used in the prescript position to the left of other radicals, while the position after a radical (the postscript position), can be held by the ten consonants ག /kʰa/, ན /na/, བ /pʰa/, ད /tʰa/, མ /ma/, འ /a/, ར /ra/, ང /ŋa/, ས /sa/, and ལ /la/. The third position, the post-postscript position is solely for the consonants ད /tʰa/ and ས /sa/.[18]
Head letters

The head (མགོ in Tibetan, Wylie: mgo) letter, or superscript, position above a radical is reserved for the consonants ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ས /sa/.

    When ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ས /sa/ are in superscript position with ཀ /ka/, ཅ /t͡ʃa/, ཏ /ta/, པ /pa/ and ཙ /t͡sa/, there are no changes to their sounds in Lhasa Tibetan, for example:
        རྐ /ka/, རྟ /ta/, རྤ /pa/, རྩ /t͡sa/
        ལྐ /ka/, ལྕ /t͡ʃa/, ལྟ /ta/, ལྤ /pa/,
        སྐ /ka/, སྟ /ta/, སྤ /pa/, སྩ /t͡sa/
    When ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ས /sa/ are in superscript position with ག /kʰa/, ཇ /t͡ʃʰa/, ད /tʰa/, བ /pʰa/ and ཛ /t͡sʰa/, they lose their aspiration and become voiced in Lhasa Tibetan, for example:
        རྒ /ga/, རྗ /d͡ʒa/, རྡ /da/, རྦ /ba/, རྫ /dza/
        ལྒ /ga/, ལྗ /d͡ʒa/, ལྡ /da/, ལྦ /ba/,
        སྒ /ga/, སྡ /da/, སྦ /ba/
    When ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ས /sa/ are in superscript position with the nasal consonants ང /ŋa/, ཉ /ɲya/, ན /na/ and མ /ma/, they receive a high tone in Lhasa Tibetan, for example:
        རྔ /ŋa/, རྙ /ɲa/, རྣ /na/, རྨ /ma/
        ལྔ /ŋa/
        སྔ /ŋa/, སྙ /ɲa/, སྣ /na/, སྨ /ma/
    When ལ /la/ is in superscript position with ཧ /ha/, it becomes a voiceless alveolar lateral approximant in Lhasa Tibetan:
        ལྷ /l̥a/,

Sub-joined letters

The subscript position under a radical can only be occupied by the consonants ཡ /ja/, ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ཝ /wa/. In this position they are described as བཏགས (Wylie: btags, IPA: /taʔ/), in Tibetan meaning "hung on/affixed/appended", for example བ་ཡ་བཏགས་བྱ (IPA: /pʰa.ja.taʔ.t͡ʃʰa/), except for ཝ, which is simply read as it usually is and has no effect on the pronunciation of the consonant to which it is subjoined, for example ཀ་ཝ་ཟུར་ཀྭ (IPA: /ka.wa.suː.ka/).
Vowel marks

The vowels used in the alphabet are ཨ /a/, ཨི /i/, ཨུ /u/, ཨེ /e/, and ཨོ /o/. While the vowel /a/ is included in each consonant, the other vowels are indicated by marks; thus ཀ /ka/, ཀི /ki/, ཀུ /ku/, ཀེ /ke/, ཀོ /ko/. The vowels ཨི /i/, ཨེ /e/, and ཨོ /o/ are placed above consonants as diacritics, while the vowel ཨུ /u/ is placed underneath consonants.[18] Old Tibetan included a reversed form of the mark for /i/, the gigu 'verso', of uncertain meaning. There is no distinction between long and short vowels in written Tibetan, except in loanwords, especially transcribed from the Sanskrit.
Vowel mark     IPA     Vowel mark     IPA     Vowel mark     IPA     Vowel mark     IPA
ི     /i/     ུ     /u/     ེ     /e/     ོ     /o/
Numerical digits
Main article: Tibetan numerals
Tibetan numerals     ༠     ༡     ༢     ༣     ༤     ༥     ༦     ༧     ༨     ༩
Devanagari numerals     ०     १     २     ३     ४     ५     ६     ७     ८     ९
Arabic numerals     0     1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9
Tibetan fractions     ༳     ༪     ༫     ༬     ༭     ༮     ༯     ༰     ༱     ༲
Arabic fractions     -0.5     0.5     1.5     2.5     3.5     4.5     5.5     6.5     7.5     8.5
Punctuation marks
Symbol/
Graphemes     Name     Function
༄༅། །     ཡིག་མགོ
yig mgo     marks beginning of a text, before a headline, front page of a pecha
༃     གཏེར་ཡིག་མགོ
gter yig mgo     used in place of the yig mgo in terma texts
༁     ཡིག་མགོ་ཨ་ཕྱེད
yig mgo a phyed     used in place of the yig mgo in terma texts
༆     དཔེ་རྙིང་ཡིག་མགོ
dpe rnying yig mgo     a variant of the yig mgo found in very old Tibetan texts
༉     བསྐུར་ཡིག་མགོ
bskur yig mgo     list enumerator (Dzongka)
་     ཚེག
tseg     syllable delimiter, also used as a spacer to justify text in pechas
།     ཤད
shad     full stop, comma, or semicolon (marks end of a sentence or clause, and originates from the danda of Indic scripts)
། །     ཉིས་ཤད
nyis shad     marks end of a paragraph or topic (cp. pilcrow)
༎ །།     བཞི་ཤད
bzhi shad     marks end of a chapter or entire section
། །།     གསུམ་ཤད
gsum shad     same as bzhi shad, but used when the preceding character is ཀ or ག
༑     རིན་ཆེན་སྤུངས་ཤད
rin chen spungs shad     replaces shad after single, orphaned syllables, indicating to the reader that the preceding syllable continues from text on the previous line
༏     ཚེག་ཤད
tsheg shad     variant of rin chen spungs shad
༐     ཉིསཚེག་ཤད
nyis tsheg shad     variant of rin chen spungs shad
༈     སྦྲུལ་ཤད
sbrul shad     marks the start of a new text, often in a collection of texts, separates chapters, and surrounds inserted text
༔     གཏེར་ཤད
gter shad     replaces shad and variants thereof in terma texts
༒     རྒྱ་གྲམ་ཤད
rgya gram shad     sometimes used in place of the yig mgo in terma texts
༸     ཆེ་མགོ
che mgo     literally, "big head"—used preceding a reference to the Dalai Lama or the name of another important lama or tulku that demands great respect
༴     བསྡུས་རྟགས
bsdus rtags     repetition
༓     འཛུད་རྟགས་མེ་ལོང་ཅན
'dzud rtags me long can     caret (indicates text insertion)
༼     ཨང་ཁང་གཡོན་འཁོར
ang khang g.yon 'khor     left roof bracket
༽     ཨང་ཁང་གཡས་འཁོར
ang khang g.yas 'khor     right roof bracket
༺     གུག་རྟགས་གཡོན
gug rtags g.yon     left bracket
༻     གུག་རྟགས་གཡས
gug rtags g.yas     right bracket
Extended use
A text in Tibetan script suspected to be Sanskrit in content. From the personal artifact collection of Donald Weir.

The Tibetan alphabet, when used to write other languages such as Balti, Chinese and Sanskrit, often has additional and/or modified graphemes taken from the basic Tibetan alphabet to represent different sounds.
Extended alphabet
Letter     Used in     Romanization & IPA
ཫ     Balti     qa /qa/ (/q/)
ཬ     Balti     ɽa /ɽa/ (/ɽ/)
ཁ༹     Balti     xa /χa/ (/χ/)
ག༹     Balti     ɣa /ʁa/ (/ʁ/)
ཕ༹     Chinese     fa /fa/ (/f/)
བ༹     Chinese     va /va/ (/v/)
གྷ     Sanskrit     gha /ɡʱa/
ཛྷ     Sanskrit     jha /ɟʱa, d͡ʒʱa/
ཊ     Sanskrit     ṭa /ʈa/
ཋ     Sanskrit     ṭha /ʈʰa/
ཌ     Sanskrit     ḍa /ɖa/
ཌྷ     Sanskrit     ḍha /ɖʱa/
ཎ     Sanskrit     ṇa /ɳa/
དྷ     Sanskrit     dha /d̪ʱa/
བྷ     Sanskrit     bha /bʱa/
ཥ     Sanskrit     ṣa /ʂa/
ཀྵ     Sanskrit     kṣa /kʂa/

    In Balti, consonants ka, ra are represented by reversing the letters ཀ ར (ka, ra) to give ཫ ཬ (qa, ɽa).
    The Sanskrit retroflex consonants ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ṇa, ṣa are represented in Tibetan by the letters ཏ ཐ ད ན ཤ (ta, tha, da, na, sha)
    It is a classical rule to transliterate Sanskrit ca, cha, ja, jha, to Tibetan ཙ ཚ ཛ ཛྷ (tsa, tsha, dza, dzha), respectively. Nowadays, ཅ ཆ ཇ ཇྷ (ca, cha, ja, jha) can also be used.

Extended vowel marks and modifiers
Vowel Mark     Used in     Romanization & IPA
ཱ     Sanskrit     ā /aː/
ཱི     Sanskrit     ī /iː/
ཱུ     Sanskrit     ū /uː/
ཻ     Sanskrit     ai /ɐi̯/
ཽ     Sanskrit     au /ɐu̯/
ྲྀ     Sanskrit     ṛ /r̩/
ཷ     Sanskrit     ṝ /r̩ː/
ླྀ     Sanskrit     ḷ /l̩/
ཹ     Sanskrit     ḹ /l̩ː/
ཾ     Sanskrit     aṃ /◌̃/
ྃ     Sanskrit     aṃ /◌̃/
ཿ     Sanskrit     aḥ /h/
Symbol/
Graphemes     Name     Used in     Function
྄     srog med     Sanskrit     suppresses the inherent vowel sound
྅     paluta     Sanskrit     used for prolonging vowel sounds
Consonant clusters

In addition to the use of supplementary graphemes, the rules for constructing consonant clusters are amended, allowing any character to occupy the superscript or subscript position, negating the need for the prescript and postscript positions.
Romanization and transliteration

Romanization and transliteration of the Tibetan script is the representation of the Tibetan script in the Latin script. Multiple Romanization and transliteration systems have been created in recent years, but do not fully represent the true phonetic sound.[note 1] While the Wylie transliteration system is widely used to Romanize Standard Tibetan, others include the Library of Congress system and the IPA-based transliteration (Jacques 2012).

Below is a table with Tibetan letters and different Romanization and transliteration system for each letter, listed below systems are: Wylie transliteration (W), Tibetan pinyin (TP), Dzongkha phonetic (DP), ALA-LC Romanization (A)[20] and THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription (THL).
Letter     W     TP     DP     A     THL     Letter     W     TP     DP     A     THL     Letter     W     TP     DP     A     THL     Letter     W     TP     DP     A     THL
ཀ     ka     g     ka     ka     ka     ཁ     kha     k     kha     kha     kha     ག     ga*     k*     kha*     ga*     ga*     ང     nga     ng     nga     nga     nga
ཅ     ca     j     ca     ca     cha     ཆ     cha     q     cha     cha     cha     ཇ     ja*     q*     cha*     ja*     ja*     ཉ     nya     ny     nya     nya     nya
ཏ     ta     d     ta     ta     ta     ཐ     tha     t     tha     tha     ta     ད     da*     t*     tha*     da*     da*     ན     na     n     na     na     na
པ     pa     b     pa     pa     pa     ཕ     pha     p     pha     pha     pa     བ     ba*     p*     pha*     ba*     ba*     མ     ma     m     ma     ma     ma
ཙ     tsa     z     tsa     tsa     tsa     ཚ     tsha     c     tsha     tsha     tsa     ཛ     dza*     c*     tsha*     dza*     dza*     ཝ     wa     w     wa     wa     wa
ཞ     zha*     x*     sha*     zha*     zha*     ཟ     za*     s*     sa*     za*     za*     འ     'a     -     a     'a     a     ཡ     ya     y     ya     ya     ya
ར     ra     r     ra     ra     ra     ལ     la     l     la     la     la     ཤ     sha     x     sha     sha     sha     ས     sa     s     sa     sa     sa
ཧ     ha     h     ha     ha     ha     ཨ     a     a     a     a     a      
* – Only in loanwords
Input method and keyboard layout
Tibetan
Tibetan keyboard layout

The first version of Microsoft Windows to support the Tibetan keyboard layout is MS Windows Vista. The layout has been available in Linux since September 2007. In Ubuntu 12.04, one can install Tibetan language support through Dash / Language Support / Install/Remove Languages, the input method can be turned on from Dash / Keyboard Layout, adding Tibetan keyboard layout. The layout applies the similar layout as in Microsoft Windows.

Mac OS X introduced Tibetan Unicode support in version 10.5, now with three different keyboard layouts available: Tibetan-Wylie, Tibetan QWERTY and Tibetan-Otani.
Dzongkha
Dzongkha keyboard layout
Main article: Dzongkha keyboard layout

The Dzongkha keyboard layout scheme is designed as a simple means for inputting Dzongkha text on computers. This keyboard layout was standardized by the Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) and the Department of Information Technology (DIT) of the Royal Government of Bhutan in 2000.

It was updated in 2009 to accommodate additional characters added to the Unicode and ISO 10646 standards since the initial version. Since the arrangement of keys essentially follows the usual order of the Dzongka and Tibetan alphabet, the layout can be quickly learned by anyone familiar with this alphabet. Subjoined (combining) consonants are entered using the Shift key.

The Dzongka keyboard layout is included in Microsoft Windows, Android, and most distributions of Linux as part of XFree86.
Unicode
Main article: Tibetan (Unicode block)

Tibetan was originally one of the scripts in the first version of the Unicode Standard in 1991, in the Unicode block U+1000–U+104F. However, in 1993, in version 1.1, it was removed (the code points it took up would later be used for the Burmese script in version 3.0). The Tibetan script was re-added in July, 1996 with the release of version 2.0.

The Unicode block for Tibetan is U+0F00–U+0FFF. It includes letters, digits and various punctuation marks and special symbols used in religious texts:
Tibetan[1][2][3]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
      0     1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     A     B     C     D     E     F
U+0F0x     ༀ     ༁     ༂     ༃     ༄     ༅     ༆     ༇     ༈     ༉     ༊     ་     ༌
 NB      །     ༎     ༏
U+0F1x     ༐     ༑     ༒     ༓     ༔     ༕     ༖     ༗     ༘     ༙     ༚     ༛     ༜     ༝     ༞     ༟
U+0F2x     ༠     ༡     ༢     ༣     ༤     ༥     ༦     ༧     ༨     ༩     ༪     ༫     ༬     ༭     ༮     ༯
U+0F3x     ༰     ༱     ༲     ༳     ༴     ༵     ༶     ༷     ༸     ༹     ༺     ༻     ༼     ༽     ༾     ༿
U+0F4x     ཀ     ཁ     ག     གྷ     ང     ཅ     ཆ     ཇ         ཉ     ཊ     ཋ     ཌ     ཌྷ     ཎ     ཏ
U+0F5x     ཐ     ད     དྷ     ན     པ     ཕ     བ     བྷ     མ     ཙ     ཚ     ཛ     ཛྷ     ཝ     ཞ     ཟ
U+0F6x     འ     ཡ     ར     ལ     ཤ     ཥ     ས     ཧ     ཨ     ཀྵ     ཪ     ཫ     ཬ             
U+0F7x         ཱ     ི     ཱི     ུ     ཱུ     ྲྀ     ཷ     ླྀ     ཹ     ེ     ཻ     ོ     ཽ     ཾ     ཿ
U+0F8x     ྀ     ཱྀ     ྂ     ྃ     ྄     ྅     ྆     ྇     ྈ     ྉ     ྊ     ྋ     ྌ     ྍ     ྎ     ྏ
U+0F9x     ྐ     ྑ     ྒ     ྒྷ     ྔ     ྕ     ྖ     ྗ         ྙ     ྚ     ྛ     ྜ     ྜྷ     ྞ     ྟ
U+0FAx     ྠ     ྡ     ྡྷ     ྣ     ྤ     ྥ     ྦ     ྦྷ     ྨ     ྩ     ྪ     ྫ     ྫྷ     ྭ     ྮ     ྯ
U+0FBx     ྰ     ྱ     ྲ     ླ     ྴ     ྵ     ྶ     ྷ     ྸ     ྐྵ     ྺ     ྻ     ྼ         ྾     ྿
U+0FCx     ࿀     ࿁     ࿂     ࿃     ࿄     ࿅     ࿆     ࿇     ࿈     ࿉     ࿊     ࿋     ࿌         ࿎     ࿏
U+0FDx     ࿐     ࿑     ࿒     ࿓     ࿔     ࿕     ࿖     ࿗     ࿘     ࿙     ࿚                     
U+0FEx                                                                 
U+0FFx                                                                 
Notes

    1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
    2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
    3.^ Unicode code points U+0F77 and U+0F79 are deprecated in Unicode 5.2 and later

See also
Tibetan calligraphy
Tibetan Braille
Dzongkha Braille
Tibetan typefaces
Wylie transliteration
Tibetan pinyin
Roman Dzongkha

The Dalai Lama (UK: /ˈdælaɪ ˈlɑːmə/, US: /ˈdɑːlaɪ/;[1][2] Tibetan: ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ་, Wylie: Tā la'i bla ma [táːlɛː láma]) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama"[3] given by Altan Khan. He offered it in appreciation to the Gelug school's then-leader, Sonam Gyatso, who received it in 1578 at Yanghua Monastery.[4] At that time, Sonam Gyatso had just given teachings to the Khan, and so the title of Dalai Lama was also given to the entire tulku lineage.[citation needed] Sonam Gyatso became the 3rd Dalai Lama, while the first two tulkus in the lineage, the 1st Dalai Lama and the 2nd Dalai Lama, were posthumously awarded the title.[citation needed]

Since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century, the Dalai Lama has been a symbol of unification of the state of Tibet.[5] The Dalai Lama was an important figure of the Gelug tradition, which was dominant in Central Tibet, but his religious authority went beyond sectarian boundaries, representing Buddhist values and traditions not tied to a specific school.[6] The Dalai Lama's traditional function as an ecumenical figure has been taken up by the fourteenth Dalai Lama, who has worked to overcome sectarian and other divisions in the exile community and become a symbol of Tibetan nationhood for Tibetans in Tibet and in exile.[7] He is Tenzin Gyatso, who escaped from Lhasa in 1959 during the Tibetan uprising and lives in exile in Dharamshala, India.

From 1642 to 1951, the Dalai Lama led the secular government of Tibet. During this period, the Dalai Lamas or their Kalons (regents) led the Tibetan government in Lhasa, known as the Ganden Phodrang. The Ganden Phodrang government officially functioned as a protectorate under Qing China rule and governed all of the Tibetan Plateau while respecting varying degrees of autonomy.[8][9] After the Qing dynasty collapsed in 1912, the Republic of China (ROC) claimed succession over all former Qing territories, but struggled to establish authority in Tibet. The 13th Dalai Lama declared that Tibet's relationship with China had ended with the Qing dynasty's fall and proclaimed independence, though this was not formally recognized under international law.[10] In 1951, the 14th Dalai Lama ratified the Seventeen Point Agreement with China. In 1959, he revoked the agreement. He initially supported the Tibetan independence movement, but in 1974, he rejected calls for Tibetan independence.[11] Since 2005, he has publicly agreed that Tibet is part of China and not supported separatism.[12]

The extent and nature of the Dalai's secular and religious power remains contested. One common interpretation is the mchod yon (མཆོད་ཡོན), often translated as "priest and patron relationship". It describes the historical alliance between Tibetan Buddhist leaders and secular rulers, such as the Mongols, Manchus, and Chinese authorities. In this relationship, the secular patron (yon bdag) provides political protection and support to the religious figure, who in turn offers spiritual guidance and legitimacy. Proponents of this theory argue that it allowed Tibet to maintain a degree of autonomy in religious and cultural matters while ensuring political stability and protection.[13]

Critics, including Sam van Schaik, contend that the theory oversimplifies the situation and often obscures the political dominance more powerful states exert over Tibet. Historians such as Melvyn Goldstein have called Tibet a vassal state or tributary, subject to external control.[14] During the Yuan dynasty, Tibetan lamas held significant religious influence, but the Mongol Khans had ultimate political authority. Similarly, under the Qing Dynasty, which established control over Tibet in 1720, the region enjoyed a degree of autonomy, but all diplomatic agreements recognized Qing China's sovereign right to negotiate and conclude treaties and trade agreements involving Tibet. Since the 18th century, Chinese authorities have asserted the right to oversee the selection of Tibetan spiritual leaders, including the Dalai and Panchen Lamas.[15] This practice was formalized in 1793 through the "29-Article Ordinance for the More Effective Governing of Tibet".[16]

According to Tibetan Buddhist doctrine, the Dalai Lama chooses his reincarnation. In recent years, the 14th Dalai Lama has opposed Chinese government involvement, emphasizing that his reincarnation should not be subject to external political influence.[17][18]
Names

"Dalai Lama" is part of the full title "圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛" ("Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama") given by Altan Khan. "Dalai Lama" combines the Mongolic word dalai ('ocean')[19] and the Tibetan word བླ་མ་ (bla-ma) ('master, guru').[20][21] The word dalai corresponds to the Tibetan word gyatso[22] or rgya-mtsho,[23] and, according to Schwieger, was chosen by analogy with the Mongolian title Dalaiyin qan[19] or Dalaiin khan.[citation needed] Others suggest it may have been chosen in reference to the breadth of the Dalai Lama's wisdom.[24] The Dalai Lama is also known in Tibetan as the Rgyal-ba Rin-po-che ('Precious Conqueror')[23] or simply the Rgyal-ba.[25]: 23 
History
Main article: History of Tibet
Part of a series on
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Dharma Wheel
Schools

Key personalities








Teachings

Practices and attainment

Major monasteries

Institutional roles

Festivals

Texts

Art

History and overview

    vte

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.[26] The Book of Kadam,[27][28] 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.[29][30][31] 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).[32] This lineage has been extrapolated by Tibetans up to and including the Dalai Lamas.[33]

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.[34] 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."[35]
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.[36]

First, Tsongkhapa established three great monasteries around Lhasa in the province of Ü before he died in 1419.[37] 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,[38] where he constructed a fourth great monastery, Tashi Lhunpo, at Shigatse.[39] The 2nd studied there before returning to Lhasa,[36] where he became Abbot of Drepung.[40] Having reactivated the 1st's large popular followings in Tsang and Ü,[41] the 2nd then moved on to southern Tibet and gathered more followers there who helped him construct a new monastery, Chokorgyel.[42] He established the method by which later Dalai Lama incarnations would be discovered through visions at the "oracle lake", Lhamo Lhatso.[43]

The 3rd built on his predecessors' fame by becoming Abbot of the two great monasteries of Drepung and Sera.[43] The Mongol leader Altan Khan, first Ming Shunyi King, hearing of his reputation, invited the 3rd to Mongolia, where he converted the King and his followers to Buddhism, covering a vast tract of central Asia. This brought most of Mongolia into the Dalai Lama's sphere of influence, founding a spiritual empire which largely survives to the modern age.[44] After being given the Mongolian name 'Dalai',[45] he returned to Tibet to found the great monasteries of Lithang in Kham, eastern Tibet and Kumbum in Amdo, north-eastern Tibet.[46]

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.[47] 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.[48]
Establishment of the Dalai Lama lineage

Gendun Drup (1391–1474), a disciple of Je Tsongkapa,[49] would eventually be known as the 'First Dalai Lama', but he would not receive this title until 104 years after he died.[50] There was resistance to naming him as such, since he was ordained a monk in the Kadampa tradition[42] and for various reasons,[further explanation needed] the Kadampa school had eschewed the adoption of the tulku system to which the older schools adhered. Therefore, although Gendun Drup grew to be an important Gelugpa lama, there was no search to identify his incarnation after his death in 1474.[51]

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.[52] 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.[53]

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.[54] Gendun Gyatso was given the title "Dalai Lama" by the Tümed Altan Khan in 1578,[55]: 153  and his two predecessors were then accorded the title posthumously, making Gendun now the third in the lineage.[50]
1st Dalai Lama
Main article: 1st Dalai Lama

Pema Dorje (1391–1474), who would eventually be posthumously declared the 1st Dalai Lama, was born in a cattle pen in Shabtod, Tsang in 1391.[56][42] His family were goatherders, but when his father died in 1398, his mother entrusted him to his uncle for education as a Buddhist monk.[57] Pema Dorje was sent to Narthang, a major Kadampa monastery near Shigatse, which ran the largest printing press in Tibet.[58] 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.[59]

He studied Buddhist philosophy extensively. In 1405, ordained by Narthang's abbot, he took the name of Gendun Drup.[42] He was recognised as an exceptionally gifted pupil, so the abbot tutored him personally and took special interest in his progress.[59] In twelve years he passed the twelve grades of monkhood and took the highest vows.[56] After completing his intensive studies at Narthang he left to continue at specialist monasteries in Central Tibet.[60]

In 1415, Gendun Drup met Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa school, and became his student.[61] After the death of Tsongkhapa's successor, the Panchen Lama Khedrup Je, Gendun Drup became the leader of the Gelugpa.[56] He rose to become Abbot of Drepung, the greatest Gelugpa monastery outside Lhasa.[40]

It was mainly due to Gendun Drup that Tsongkhapa's new school grew into an order capable of competing with others on an equal footing.[62] 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,[62] and would serve as its Abbot until his death.[63] This monastery became the fourth great Gelugpa monastery in Tibet, after Ganden, Drepung, and Sera, all founded in Tsongkhapa's time,[37] and would later become the seat of the Panchen Lamas.[64] 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.[37][65] Tashilhunpo eventually became 'Southern Tibet's greatest monastic university'[66] with a complement of 3,000 monks.[42]

Gendun Drup was said to be the greatest scholar-saint ever produced by Narthang Monastery[66] and became 'the single most important lama in Tibet'.[67] Through hard work he became a leading lama, known as 'Perfecter of the Monkhood', 'with a host of disciples'.[64] Famed for his Buddhist scholarship, he was also referred to as Panchen Gendun Drup, 'Panchen' being an honorary title designating 'great scholar'.[42] By the great Jonangpa master Bodong Chokley Namgyal[68] he was accorded the honorary title Tamchey Khyenpa meaning "The Omniscient One", an appellation that was later assigned to all Dalai Lama incarnations.[69]

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.[70] This led to decades of military and political power struggles between Tsangpa dynasty forces and others across central Tibet.[71] 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.[72]

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.[73] In 1474, at the age of 84, he went on a final teaching tour by foot to visit Narthang Monastery. Returning to Tashilhunpo[74] he died 'in a blaze of glory, recognised as having attained Buddhahood'.[64]

His remains were interred in a bejewelled silver stupa at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, which survived the Cultural Revolution and can still be seen.[51]
2nd Dalai Lama
Main article: 2nd Dalai Lama

After Gendun Drup died, a boy called Sangyey Pel, born to Nyngma adepts at Yolkar in Tsang,[42][75] 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,[76] and claimed to be Dromtönpa, an earlier incarnation of the Dalai Lamas.[77] When he saw monks from Tashilhunpo, he greeted the disciples of the late Gendun Drup by name.[78] 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.[53]

His father took him on teachings and retreats, training him in all the family Nyingma lineages.[79] At twelve he was installed at Tashilhunpo as Gendun Drup's incarnation, ordained, enthroned, and renamed Gendun Gyatso Palzangpo (1475–1542).[53]

Tutored personally by the abbot, he made rapid progress, and in 1492 at the age of seventeen he was requested to teach all over Tsang, where thousands gathered to listen and give obeisance, including senior scholars and abbots.[80] 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.[81][82] This move had the effect of shifting central Gelug authority back to Lhasa.[citation needed]

He was afforded all the loyalty and devotion that Gendun Drup had earned and the Gelug school remained as united as ever.[37] Under his leadership, the sect continued growing in size and influence[83] and its lamas were asked to mediate in disputes between other rivals.[84] 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.[85] He also stayed in Kongpo and Dagpo[86] and became known all over Tibet.[43] He spent his winters in Lhasa, writing commentaries, and spent the rest of the year travelling and teaching many thousands of monks and laypeople.[87]

In 1509, he moved to southern Tibet to build Chokorgyel Monastery near the 'Oracle Lake', Lhamo Latso,[43] completing it by 1511.[88] 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.[43][89] He was invited back to Tashilhunpo and given the residence built for Gendun Drup, to be occupied later by the Panchen Lamas.[42] He was made abbot of Tashilhunpo[90] and stayed there teaching in Tsang for nine months.[91]

Gendun Gyatso continued to travel widely and teach while based at Tibet's largest monastery, Drepung and became known as 'Drepung Lama',[83] 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.[88]

Throughout Gendun Gyatso's life, the Gelugpa were opposed and suppressed by older rivals, particularly the Karma Kagyu and their Ringpung clan patrons from Tsang, who felt threatened by their loss of influence.[92] In 1498, the Ringpung army captured Lhasa and banned the Gelugpa annual New Year Monlam Prayer Festival.[92][93] Gendun Gyatso was promoted to abbot of Drepung in 1517[88] and that year Ringpung forces were forced to withdraw from Lhasa.[92][94] Gendun Gyatso then went to the Gongma (King) Drakpa Jungne[95] to obtain permission for the festival to be held again.[93] The next New Year, the Gongma was so impressed by Gendun Gyatso's performance leading the festival that he sponsored construction of a large new residence for him at Drepung, 'a monastery within a monastery'.[93] It was called the Ganden Phodrang, a name later adopted by the Tibetan Government,[42] and it served as home for Dalai Lamas until the Fifth moved to the Potala Palace in 1645.[citation needed]

In 1525, already abbot of Chokhorgyel, Drepung and Tashilhunpo, he was made abbot of Sera monastery as well, and worked to increase the number of monks there. Based at Drepung in winter and Chokorgyel in summer, he spent his remaining years composing commentaries, making regional teaching tours, visiting Tashilhunpo, and acting as abbot of these four great monasteries.[96] As abbot, he made Drepung the largest monastery in the whole of Tibet.[97] 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.[98][96]

Gongma Gyaltsen Palzangpo of Khyomorlungand and his Queen, Sangyey Paldzomma, became his favorite patrons and disciples and he visited their area to carry out rituals as 'he chose it for his next place of rebirth'.[99] He died in meditation at Drepung in 1542 at the age of 67 and his reliquary stupa was constructed at Khyomorlung.[100] 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.'[100] The Dalai Lama title was posthumously granted to Gedun Gyatso after 1578.[citation needed]
3rd Dalai Lama
Main article: 3rd Dalai Lama

The Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588), was born in Tolung, near Lhasa,[101] as predicted by his predecessor.[99] Claiming he was Gendun Gyatso and readily recalling events from his previous life, he was recognised as the incarnation, named 'Sonam Gyatso' and installed at Drepung, where 'he quickly excelled his teachers in knowledge and wisdom and developed extraordinary powers'.[102] Unlike his predecessors, he came from a noble family, connected with the Sakya and the Phagmo Drupa (Karma Kagyu affiliated) dynasties,[97] and it is to him that the effective conversion of Mongolia to Buddhism is due.[64]

A brilliant scholar and teacher,[103] he had the spiritual maturity to be made Abbot of Drepung,[104] 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.[105] His influence grew so quickly that soon the monks at Sera Monastery also made him their Abbot[43] and his mediation was being sought to prevent fighting between political power factions. At 16, in 1559, he was invited to Nedong by King Ngawang Tashi Drakpa, a Karma Kagyu supporter, and became his personal teacher.[101]

At 17, when fighting broke out in Lhasa between Gelug and Kagyu parties and efforts by local lamas to mediate failed, Sonam Gyatso negotiated a peaceful settlement. At 19, when the Kyichu River burst its banks and flooded Lhasa, he led his followers to rescue victims and repair the dykes. He then instituted a custom whereby on the last day of Monlam, all the monks would work on strengthening the flood defences.[101] Gradually, he was shaping himself into a national leader.[106] 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.[43]

Required to travel and teach without respite after taking full ordination in 1565, he still maintained extensive meditation practices in the hours before dawn and again at the end of the day.[107] 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.[108] From there he visited Narthang, the first monastery of Gendun Drup and gave numerous discourses and offerings to the monks in gratitude.[107]

Meanwhile, Altan Khan, chief of all the Mongol tribes near China's borders, had heard of Sonam Gyatso's spiritual prowess and repeatedly invited him to Mongolia.[97] By 1571, when Altan Khan received a title of Shunyi Wang (King) from the Ming dynasty of China[109] and swore allegiance to Ming,[110] Although he remained de facto quite independent,[55]: 106  he had fulfilled his political destiny and a nephew advised him to seek spiritual salvation, saying that "in Tibet dwells Avalokiteshvara", referring to Sonam Gyatso, then 28 years old.[111] China was also happy to help Altan Khan by providing necessary translations of holy scripture, and also lamas.[112]

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[113] and their meeting resulted in the re-establishment of strong Tibet-Mongolia relations after a gap of 200 years.[97] To Altan Khan, Sonam Gyatso identified himself as the incarnation of Drogön Chögyal Phagpa, and Altan Khan as that of Kubilai Khan, thus placing the Khan as heir to the Chingizid lineage whilst securing his patronage.[114] Altan Khan and his followers quickly adopted Buddhism as their state religion, replacing the prohibited traditional Shamanism.[103]

Mongol law was reformed to accord with Tibetan Buddhist law. From this time Buddhism spread rapidly across Mongolia[114] and soon the Gelugpa had won the spiritual allegiance of most of the Mongolian tribes.[103] As proposed by Sonam Gyatso, Altan Khan sponsored the building of Thegchen Chonkhor Monastery at the site of Sonam Gyatso's open-air teachings given to the whole Mongol population. He also called Sonam Gyatso "Dalai", Mongolian for 'Gyatso' (Ocean).[115]

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.[50]

In 1579, the Ming allowed the third Dalai Lama to pay regular tribute.[116] 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.[117][118] 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.[113]

Through Altan Khan, the 3rd Dalai Lama requested to pay tribute to the Emperor of China in order to raise his State Tutor ranking, and the Ming imperial court of China agreed with the request.[119] 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.[118] Further on, he was asked to adjudicate on border disputes between Mongolia and China. It was the first time a Dalai Lama had exercised such political authority.[120]

Arriving in Mongolia in 1585, he stayed 2 years with Dhüring Khan, teaching Buddhism to his people[118] and converting more Mongol princes and their tribes. Receiving a second invitation from the Emperor in Beijing he accepted, but died en route in 1588.[121] 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.[120]
4th Dalai Lama
Main article: 4th Dalai Lama

The Fourth Dalai Lama, Yonten Gyatso (1589–1617) was a Mongol, the great-grandson of Altan Khan[122] 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).[40] This strong connection caused the Mongols to zealously support the Gelugpa sect in Tibet, strengthening their status and position but also arousing intensified opposition from the Gelugpa's rivals, particularly the Tsang Karma Kagyu in Shigatse and their Mongol patrons and the Bönpo in Kham and their allies.[40] Being the newest school, unlike the older schools the Gelugpa lacked an established network of Tibetan clan patronage and were thus more reliant on foreign patrons.[123]

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.[124] Seal of authority was granted in 1616 by Wanli Emperor of Ming.[125] 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.[126]
5th Dalai Lama
Main article: 5th Dalai Lama
Güshi Khan
Map showing the extent of the Khoshut Khanate, 1642–1717, after the Unification of Tibet under the 5th Dalai Lama with Sonam Chöphel and Güshi Khan
'Greater Tibet' as claimed by exiled groups

The death of the Fourth Dalai Lama in 1617 led to open conflict breaking out between various parties.[123] First, the Tsangpa dynasty, rulers of Central Tibet from Shigatse, supporters of the Karmapa school and rivals to the Gelugpa, forbade the search for his incarnation.[127] But in 1618, Sonam Rapten, the former attendant of the 4th Dalai Lama who had become the Ganden Phodrang treasurer, secretly identified the child,[128] 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.[127]

Also in 1618, the Tsangpa King, Karma Puntsok Namgyal, whose Mongol patron was Choghtu Khong Tayiji of the Khalkha Mongols, attacked the Gelugpa in Lhasa to avenge an earlier snub and established two military bases there to control the monasteries and the city. This caused Sonam Rabten who became the 5th Dalai Lama's changdzo or manager,[129] to seek more active Mongol patronage and military assistance for the Gelugpa while the Fifth was still a boy.[123] So, in 1620, Mongol troops allied to the Gelugpa who had camped outside Lhasa suddenly attacked and destroyed the two Tsangpa camps and drove them out of Lhasa, enabling the Dalai Lama to be brought out of hiding and publicly enthroned there in 1622.[128]

In fact, throughout the 5th's minority, it was the influential and forceful Sonam Rabten who inspired the Dzungar Mongols to defend the Gelugpa by attacking their enemies. These enemies included other Mongol tribes who supported the Tsangpas, the Tsangpa themselves and their Bönpo allies in Kham who had also opposed and persecuted Gelugpas. Ultimately, this strategy led to the destruction of the Tsangpa dynasty, the defeat of the Karmapas and their other allies and the Bönpos, by armed forces from the Lhasa valley aided by their Mongol allies, paving the way for Gelugpa political and religious hegemony in Central Tibet.[127]

Apparently by general consensus, by virtue of his position as the Dalai Lama's changdzo (chief attendant, minister), after the Dalai Lama became absolute ruler of Tibet in 1642 Sonam Rabten became the "Desi" or "Viceroy", in fact, the de facto regent or day-to-day ruler of Tibet's governmental affairs. During these years and for the rest of his life (he died in 1658), "there was little doubt that politically Sonam Chophel [Rabten] was more powerful than the Dalai Lama".[130] As a young man, being 22 years his junior, the Dalai Lama addressed him reverentially as "Zhalngo", meaning "the Presence".[131]

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.[123] For example, Ligdan Khan of the Chahars, a Mongol subgroup who supported the Tsang Karmapas, after retreating from advancing Manchu armies headed for Kokonor intending destroy the Gelug. He died on the way, in 1634.[132]

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.[133] By the mid-1630s, thanks again to the efforts of Sonam Rabten,[127] the 5th Dalai Lama had found a powerful new patron in Güshi Khan of the Khoshut Mongols, a subgroup of the Dzungars, who had recently migrated to the Kokonor area from Dzungaria.[123] He attacked Choghtu Khong Tayiji at Kokonor in 1637 and defeated and killed him, thus eliminating the Tsangpa and the Karmapa's main Mongol patron and protector.[123]

Next, Donyo Dorje, the Bönpo king of Beri in Kham was found writing to the Tsangpa king in Shigatse to propose a co-ordinated 'pincer attack' on the Lhasa Gelugpa monasteries from east and west, seeking to utterly destroy them once and for all.[134] 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.[135]

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.[130][136] Sonam Rabten deviously went behind his master's back to encourage Güshi Khan, to facilitate his plans and to ensure the attacks took place;[127] for this defiance of his master's wishes, Rabten was severely rebuked by the 5th Dalai Lama.[136]

After Desi Sonam Rapten died in 1658, the 5th Dalai Lama appointed his younger brother Depa Norbu (aka Nangso Norbu) as his successor the next year.[137] 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.[138] Four other Desis were appointed after Depa Norbu: Trinle Gyatso, Lozang Tutop, Lozang Jinpa and Sangye Gyatso.[139]
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",[140] 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,[141] unified for the first time since the collapse of the Tibetan Empire exactly eight centuries earlier.[123][142] Güshi Khan then retired to Kokonor with his armies[123] and [according to Smith] ruled Amdo himself directly thus creating a precedent for the later separation of Amdo from the rest of Tibet.[142]

In this way, Güshi Khan established the Fifth Dalai Lama as the highest spiritual and political authority in Tibet. 'The Great Fifth' became the temporal ruler of Tibet in 1642 and from then on the rule of the Dalai Lama lineage over some, all or most of Tibet lasted with few breaks for the next 317 years, until 1959, when the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India.[143] In 1645, the Great Fifth began the construction of the Potala Palace in Lhasa.[144]

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.[145]
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.[146] 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.[147]

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.[147]

The Shunzhi Emperor was then 16 years old, having ascended the throne in 1650 upon Dorgon's death. For the Qing, although the Dalai Lama was not required to kowtow to the emperor, who rose from his throne and advanced 30 feet to greet him, the visit's significance was that of nominal political submission by the Dalai Lama since Inner Asian heads of state did not travel to meet each other but sent envoys. But for Tibetan Buddhist historians it was interpreted as the start of an era of independent rule by the Dalai Lamas, and of Qing patronage alongside that of the Mongols.[147]

When the 5th Dalai Lama returned, the emperor had granted him a golden seal of authority and golden sheets with texts in Manchu, Tibetan, and Han Chinese.[148][149] The 5th Dalai Lama wanted to use the golden seal of authority right away,[148] but, Lobzang Gyatsho noted, "The Tibetan version of the inscription of the seal was translated by a Mongol translator but was not a good translation". After correction, it read: "The one who resides in the Western peaceful and virtuous paradise is unalterable Vajradhara, Ocean Lama, unifier of the doctrines of the Buddha for all beings under the sky". The words of the diploma ran: "Proclamation, to let all the people of the western hemisphere know".[149] Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain points out that based on these texts, the Dalai Lama was only a subordinate of the emperor.[150]

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".[149] When he returned to Tibet, he discarded the emperor's golden seal and made a new one for state usage, writing in his autobiography: "Leaving out the Chinese characters that were on the seal given by the emperor, a new seal was carved for stamping documents that dealt with territorial issues. The first imprint of the seal was offered with prayers to the image of Lokeshvara".[151]
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.[152]

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.[152]

In the same year, 1674, the Dalai Lama, then at the height of his powers and conducting a foreign policy independent of the Qing, caused Mongol troops to occupy the border post of Dartsedo between Kham and Sichuan, further annoying the Kangxi Emperor who (according to Smith) already considered Tibet as part of the Qing Empire. It also increased Qing suspicion about Tibetan relations with the Mongol groups and led him to seek strategic opportunities to oppose and undermine Mongol influence in Tibet and eventually, within 50 years, to defeat the Mongols militarily and to establish the Qing as sole 'patrons and protectors' of Tibet in their place.[152]
Cultural development

The time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, who reigned from 1642 to 1682 and founded the government known as the Ganden Phodrang, was a period of rich cultural development.[153] 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.[154] 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).[155] 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.[155]
Death of the fifth Dalai Lama

The Fifth Dalai Lama died in 1682. Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain points out that the written wills from the fifth Dalai Lama before he died explicitly said his title and authority were from the Emperor of China, and he was subordinate of the Emperor of China.[150]

The Fifth Dalai Lama's death in 1682 was kept secret for fifteen years by his regent Desi Sangye Gyatso. He pretended the Dalai Lama was in retreat and ruled on his behalf, secretly selecting the 6th Dalai Lama and presenting him as someone else. Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain points out that Desi Sangye Gyatso wanted to consolidate his personal status and power by not reporting the death of the fifth Dalai Lama to the Emperor of China, and also collude with the rebellion group of the Qing dynasty, Mongol Dzungar tribe in order to counter influence from another Mongol Khoshut tribe in Tibet. Being afraid of prosecution by the Kangxi Emperor of China, Desi Sangye Gyatso explained with fear and trepidation the reason behind his action to the Emperor.[150]

In 1705, Desi Sangye Gyatso was killed by Lha-bzang Khan of the Mongol Khoshut tribe because of his actions including his illegal action of selecting the 6th Dalai Lama. Since the Kangxi Emperor was not happy about Desi Sangye Gyatso's action of not reporting, the Emperor gave Lha-bzang Khan additional title and golden seal. The Kangxi Emperor also ordered Lha-bzang Khan to arrest the 6th Dalai Lama and send him to Beijing, the 6th Dalai Lama died when he was en route to Beijing.[150] Journalist Thomas Laird argues that it was apparently done so that construction of the Potala Palace could be finished, and it was to prevent Tibet's neighbors, the Mongols and the Qing, from taking advantage of an interregnum in the succession of the Dalai Lamas.[156]
6th Dalai Lama
Main article: 6th Dalai Lama

The Sixth Dalai Lama (1683–1706) was born near Tawang, now in India. After death of the 5th Dalai Lama, the regent Desi Sangye Gyatso kept death of the 5th Dalai Lama a secret, this allowed him to continue to use the authority of the Fifth Dalai Lama to manage the affairs of the Gelug. Tsangyang Gyatso was picked out in 1685, but his parents were not informed. In 1696, while suppressing the Dzungar rebellion, Kangxi Emperor accidentally learned from the captives that the 5th Dalai Lama had died many years ago. Kangxi severely rebuked the regent for his mistake, the regent admitted his mistake and sent people to Monpa to welcome the reincarnated soul boy in 1697. After 16 years of study as a novice monk, in 1702 in his 20th year he rejected full ordination and gave up his monk's robes and monastic life, preferring the lifestyle of a layman.[157][158]

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.[159] 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."[159] In 1706 with the compliance of the Kangxi Emperor, the Sixth Dalai Lama was deposed and arrested by Lhazang who considered him to be an impostor set up by the regent. Lhazang Khan, now acting as the only outright foreign ruler that Tibet had ever had, then sent him to Beijing under escort to appear before the emperor but he died mysteriously on the way near Lake Qinghai, ostensibly from illness, he was 24 years' old.[160][161]

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,[162] and Lhazang had him installed as the 'real' Sixth Dalai Lama, endorsed by the Panchen Lama and named Yeshe Gyatso in 1707.[163] 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.[161]

The Kangxi Emperor concurred with them, after sending investigators, initially declining to recognize Yeshe Gyatso. He recognized him in 1710, after sending a Qing official party to assist Lhazang in 'restoring order'. These were the first Chinese representatives of any sort to officiate in Tibet.[161] At the same time, while this puppet 'Dalai Lama' had no political power, the Kangxi Emperor secured from Lhazang Khan in return for this support the promise of regular payments of tribute; this was the first time tribute had been paid to the Manchu by the Mongols in Tibet and the first overt acknowledgment of Qing supremacy over Mongol rule in Tibet.[164]
7th Dalai Lama
Main article: 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.[165]

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.[166] The Sixth Dalai Lama was taken to Amdo at the age of 8 to be installed in Kumbum Monastery with great pomp and ceremony.[165]

According to Smith, the Kangxi Emperor now arranged to protect the child and keep him at Kumbum monastery in Amdo in reserve just in case his ally Lhasang Khan and his 'real' Sixth Dalai Lama, were overthrown.[167] But according to Mullin, the emperor's support came from genuine spiritual recognition and respect rather than being politically motivated.[168]
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.[169][170]

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.[171][172] 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.[173][174]

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.[173][174]

When the Dzungars had first attacked, the weakened Lhazang sent word to the Qing for support and they quickly dispatched two armies to assist, the first Chinese armies ever to enter Tibet, but they arrived too late. In 1718 they were halted not far from Lhasa to be defeated and then annihilated by the Dzungars in the Battle of the Salween River.[175][176]
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.[177]

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.[178][179]

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.[180]
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.[181][182] 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.[181][182] In 1723, after brutally quelling a major rebellion by zealous Tibetan patriots and disgruntled Khoshut Mongols from Amdo who attacked Xining, the Qing intervened again, splitting Tibet by putting Amdo and Kham under their own more direct control.[183]

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.[184]
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.[185] 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.[186]
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.[187]

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.[188] 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.[189]

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'.[190] 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.[191] Construction of the Norbulingka, the 'Summer Palace' of the Dalai Lamas in Lhasa was started during Kelzang Gyatso's reign.[192][193]
8th Dalai Lama
Main article: 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.[194] The Emperor of China exempted him from the lot-drawing ceremony of the Golden Urn.[195][196] 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.[197][198] The confirmation of authority says:

    You, the Dalai Lama, are the legal incarnation of Zhongkapa. You are granted the jade certificate of confirmation of authority and jade seal of authority, which you enshrine in the Potala monastery to guard the gate of Buddhism forever. All documents sent for the country's important ceremonies must be stamped with this seal, and all the other reports can be stamped with the original seal. Since you enjoy such honor, you have to make efforts to promote self-cultivation, study and propagate Buddhism, and help me promote Buddhism and goodness of the previous generation of the Dalai Lama for the people, and for the long life of our country.[199][198]

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.[198]

The 8th Dalai Lama lived almost as long as the Seventh, but was overshadowed by many contemporary lamas in terms of both religious and political accomplishment. According to Mullin, the 14th Dalai Lama has pointed to certain indications that Jamphel Gyatso might have been the incarnation not of the 7th Dalai Lama but of Jamyang Chojey, a disciple of Tsongkhapa and founder of Drepung monastery who was also reputed to be an incarnation of Avalokiteshvara. In any case, he lived a quiet and unassuming life as a devoted and studious monk, uninvolved in the kind of dramas that had surrounded his predecessors.[200]

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.[201] 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.[202] 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.[203]
9th to 12th Dalai Lamas

Hugh Richardson's summary of the period covering the four short-lived, 19th-century Dalai Lamas:

    After him [the 8th Dalai Lama, Jamphel Gyatso], the 9th and 10th Dalai Lamas died before attaining their majority: one of them is credibly stated to have been murdered and strong suspicion attaches to the other. The 11th and 12th were each enthroned but died soon after being invested with power. For 113 years, therefore, supreme authority in Tibet was in the hands of a Lama Regent, except for about two years when a lay noble held office and for short periods of nominal rule by the 11th and 12th Dalai Lamas.[note 1]
    It has sometimes been suggested that this state of affairs was brought about by the Ambans—the Imperial Residents in Tibet—because it would be easier to control the Tibet through a Regent than when a Dalai Lama, with his absolute power, was at the head of the government. That is not true. The regular ebb and flow of events followed its set course. The Imperial Residents in Tibet, after the first flush of zeal in 1750, grew less and less interested and efficient. Tibet was, to them, exile from the urbanity and culture of Peking; and so far from dominating the Regents, the Ambans allowed themselves to be dominated. It was the ambition and greed for power of Tibetans that led to five successive Dalai Lamas being subjected to continuous tutelage.[204]

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':

    It is perhaps more than a coincidence that between the seventh and the thirteenth holders of that office, only one reached his majority. The eighth, Gyampal Gyatso, died when he was in his thirties, Lungtog Gyatso when he was eleven, Tsultrim Gyatso at eighteen, Khadrup Gyatso when he was eighteen also, and Krinla Gyatso at about the same age. The circumstances are such that it is very likely that some, if not all, were poisoned, either by loyal Tibetans for being Chinese-appointed impostors, or by the Chinese for not being properly manageable. Many Tibetans think that this was done at the time when the young [Dalai Lama] made his ritual visit to the Lake Lhamtso. ... Each of the four [Dalai Lamas] to die young expired shortly after his visit to the lake. Many said it was because they were not the true reincarnations, but imposters imposed by the Chinese. Others tell stories of how the cooks of the retinue, which in those days included many Chinese, were bribed to put poison in the [Dalai Lama's] food. The 13th [Dalai Lama] did not visit Lhamtso until he was 25 years old. He was adequately prepared by spiritual exercise and he also had faithful cooks. The Chinese were disappointed when he did not die like his predecessors, and he was to live long enough to give them much more cause for regret.[205][note 2]

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.[note 3] 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".[206]

In his history The Water-Bird and Other Years, based on the Tibetan minister Surkhang Sawang Chenmo's historical manuscripts,[207] 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.[208] 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.'"[209]
9th Dalai Lama
Main article: 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.[210][211] 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[212]

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.[213] In 1793 under Manchu pressure, Tibet had closed its borders to foreigners.[214][215] In 1811, a British Sinologist, Thomas Manning became the first Englishman to visit Lhasa. Considered to be 'the first Chinese scholar in Europe'[216] 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".[217] 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.[218][219]
10th Dalai Lama
Main article: 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.[220] 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.[221]

After 15 years of intensive studies and failing health he died, in 1837, at the age of 20 or 21.[222][223] 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.[224] 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.[220][225]
11th Dalai Lama
Main article: 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.[226][unreliable source?][independent source needed] Sitting-in-the-bed ceremony was held in July 1844.[227] 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[228] 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,[229][230] on orders of the Xianfeng Emperor.[231] 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.[229][230]
12th Dalai Lama
Main article: 12th Dalai Lama

In 1856, a child was born in south central Tibet with all the usual extraordinary signs. He came to the notice of the search team, was investigated, passed the traditional tests and was recognised as the 12th Dalai Lama in 1858. The use of the Chinese Golden Urn at the insistence of the regent, who was later accused of being a Chinese lackey, confirmed this choice to everyone's satisfaction. He was renamed Trinley Gyatso and enthroned on July 3, 1860, after the emperor's edict from Amban was announced.[232][unreliable source?][independent source needed] He underwent 13 years of intensive tutelage and training before becoming Tibet's ruler at age 17.[233]

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.[233] He then ruled with "absolute power" for three years,[234] quelling a major rebellion in northern Kham in 1863 and reestablishing Tibetan control over significant Qing-held territory there.[235] 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.[233][234]

In 1868 Shetra's coup organiser, a semi-literate Ganden monk named Palden Dondrup, seized power in another coup and ruled as a cruel despot for three years, putting opponents to death by having them "sewn into fresh animal skins and thrown in the river".[234] In 1871, at the request of officials outraged after Dondrup had done that to one minister and imprisoned several others, he was ousted and committed suicide after a counter-coup coordinated by the supposedly powerless regent Khyenrab Wangchuk.[234] As a result, Tibetans fondly remember Khyenrab Wangchuk, who died the next year, as saviour of the Dalai Lama and the nation. The Kashag and the Tsongdu or National Assembly were reinstated, and, presided over by a Dalai Lama or his regent, ruled without further interruption until 1959.[233]

But according to Smith, during Trinley Gyatso's minority, an alliance of monks and officials called Gandre Drungche (Ganden and Drepung Monks Assembly) deposed the regent in 1862 for abuse of authority and closeness with China; this body then ruled Tibet for ten years until it dissolved when a National Assembly of monks and officials called the Tsongdu was created and took over. Smith makes no mention of Shetra or Dondrup acting as usurpers and despots in this period.[235]

In any case, Trinley Gyatso died within three years of assuming power. In 1873, at age 20, "he suddenly became ill and passed away".[233] Accounts of his cause of death diverge. Mullin relates an interesting theory, based on Tibetan sources: out of concern for the monastic tradition, Trinley Gyatso chose to die and reincarnate as the 13th Dalai Lama rather than marry a woman called Rigma Tsomo from Kokonor and leaving an heir to "oversee Tibet's future".[236] 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.[237]
13th Dalai Lama
Main article: 13th Dalai Lama
Throne awaiting Dalai Lama's return. Summer residence of 14th Dalai Lama, Nechung, Tibet.

In 1877, request to exempt Lobu Zangtab Kaijia Mucuo (Chinese: 罗布藏塔布开甲木措) from using lot-drawing process Golden Urn to become the 13th Dalai Lama was approved by the Central Government.[238] 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.[239]

The Great Thirteenth Thubten Gyatso then published the Tibetan Declaration of Independence for the entirety of Tibet in 1913.[240] 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.[241][failed verification] 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.[242][independent source needed] Nepal established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China in 1955 and recognized Tibet as a part of China.[243]

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.[244] He died in 1933.
14th Dalai Lama
Main article: 14th Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama giving teachings at Sissu, 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.[245] According to most Western journalistic sources[246][247] 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.[248][249][250] On 5 February 1940, the Central Government approved the request to exempt Lhamo Thondup (Chinese: 拉木登珠) from the lot-drawing process to become the 14th Dalai Lama.[251][252]

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[253] 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.[254] 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.[255] 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.[256][257]

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.[258] 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.[259] 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".[260]

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.[261]

In 2014 and 2016, he said that Tibet wants to be part of China but China should let Tibet preserve its culture and script.[262][263]

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.[264][265] 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".[266]

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.[267][268] The Dalai Lama's succession also involves Mongolia, given its strong Tibetan Buddhist ties.[269] 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.[270]

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".[271]

In 2021, he praised India as a role model for religious harmony in the world.[272][273]

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.[274][275] 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".[276]

The Dalai Lama celebrated his 90th birthday on 6 July 2025.[277] 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.[278]
Residences

The first Dalai Lama was based at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, which he founded. The Second to the Fifth Dalai Lamas were mainly based at Drepung Monastery outside Lhasa. In 1645, after the unification of Tibet, the Fifth moved to the ruins of a royal fortress or residence on top of Marpori ('Red Mountain') in Lhasa and decided to build a palace on the same site. This ruined palace, called Tritse Marpo, was originally built around A.D. 636 by the founder of the Tibetan Empire, Songtsen Gampo, for his Nepalese wife.[279] Amongst the ruins there was just a small temple left where Tsongkhapa had given a teaching when he arrived in Lhasa in the 1380s.[280]

The Fifth Dalai Lama began construction of the Potala Palace on this site in 1645,[280] carefully incorporating what was left of his predecessor's palace into its structure.[144] From then on and until today, unless on tour or in exile the Dalai Lamas have always spent their winters at the Potala Palace and their summers at the Norbulingka palace and park. Both palaces are in Lhasa and approximately 3 km apart.

Following the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama sought refuge in India. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru allowed in the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government officials. The Dalai Lama has since lived in exile in McLeod Ganj, in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh in northern India, where the Central Tibetan Administration is established. His residence on the Temple Road in McLeod Ganj is called the Dalai Lama Temple and is visited by people from across the globe. Tibetan refugees have constructed and opened many schools and Buddhist temples in Dharamshala.[281]

    Potala Palace
    Potala Palace
    Norbulingka
    Norbulingka

Searching for the reincarnation
Main article: Panchen Lama
The search for the 14th Dalai Lama took the High Lamas to Taktser in Amdo.
Palden Lhamo, the female guardian spirit of the sacred lake, Lhamo La-tso, who promised Gendun Drup the 1st Dalai Lama in one of his visions that "she would protect the 'reincarnation' lineage of the Dalai Lamas"

By the Himalayan tradition, phowa is the discipline that is believed to transfer the mindstream to the intended body. Upon the death of the Dalai Lama and consultation with the Nechung Oracle, a search for the Lama's yangsi, or reincarnation, is conducted.[282] The government of the People's Republic of China has stated its intention to be the ultimate authority on the selection of the next Dalai Lama.[283]

High Lamas may also claim to have a vision by a dream or if the Dalai Lama was cremated, they will often monitor the direction of the smoke as an 'indication' of the direction of the expected rebirth.[282]

If there is only one boy found, the High Lamas will invite Living Buddhas of the three great monasteries, together with secular clergy and monk officials, to 'confirm their findings' and then report to the Central Government through the Minister of Tibet. Later, a group consisting of the three major servants of Dalai Lama, eminent officials,[who?] and troops[which?] will collect the boy and his family and travel to Lhasa, where the boy would be taken, usually to Drepung Monastery, to study the Buddhist sutra in preparation for assuming the role of spiritual leader of Tibet.[282]

If there are several possible claimed reincarnations, regents, eminent officials, monks at the Jokhang in Lhasa, and the Minister to Tibet have historically made the choice by putting the boys' names inside an urn and drawing one in public.[284]

In his autobiography, Freedom in Exile, the 14th Dalai Lama wrote that after he dies, it is possible that his people will no longer want a Dalai Lama, in which case there would be no search for the Lama's reincarnation. "So, I might take rebirth as an insect, or an animal—whatever would be of most value to the largest number of sentient beings". But shortly before his 90th birthday, he released a statement saying, "I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue." He added that members of the Gaden Phodrang Trust would have exclusive responsibility for recognizing the next Dalai Lama and that "no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter."[285][286]


The Dalai Lama is thought to be a type of "living [Buddhist] god".[287]
List of Dalai Lamas
Main article: List of Dalai Lamas
This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

There have been 14 recognised incarnations of the Dalai Lama:
    Name     Picture     Lifespan     Recognised     Enthronement     Seal of Authority from Central Government     Approval from Central Government     Tibetan/Wylie     Tibetan pinyin/Chinese     Alternative spellings
1     Gendun Drup         1391–1474     –     N/A[288]     N/A     N/A     དགེ་འདུན་འགྲུབ་
dge 'dun 'grub     Gêdün Chub
根敦朱巴     Gedun Drub
Gedün Drup
2     Gendun Gyatso         1475–1542     1483     N/A[288]     N/A     N/A     དགེ་འདུན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
dge 'dun rgya mtsho     Gêdün Gyaco
根敦嘉措     Gedün Gyatso
Gendün Gyatso
3     Sonam Gyatso         1543–1588     1546     1578     Yes[289]         བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
bsod nams rgya mtsho     Soinam Gyaco
索南嘉措     Sönam Gyatso
4     Yonten Gyatso         1589–1617     1601     1603     Yes[125]         ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
yon tan rgya mtsho     Yoindain Gyaco
雲丹嘉措     Yontan Gyatso, Yönden Gyatso
5     Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso         1617–1682     1618     1622     Yes[149]         བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
blo bzang rgya mtsho     Lobsang Gyaco
羅桑嘉措     Lobzang Gyatso
Lopsang Gyatso
6     Tsangyang Gyatso         1683–1706     1688     1697     No     Yes, in 1721 after death     ཚངས་དབྱངས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
tshang dbyangs rgya mtsho     Cangyang Gyaco
倉央嘉措     Tsañyang Gyatso
7     Kelzang Gyatso         1707–1757     1712     1720     Yes         བསྐལ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
bskal bzang rgya mtsho     Gaisang Gyaco
格桑嘉措     Kelsang Gyatso
Kalsang Gyatso
8     Jamphel Gyatso         1758–1804     1760     1762     Yes[290]         བྱམས་སྤེལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
byams spel rgya mtsho     Qambê Gyaco
強白嘉措     Jampel Gyatso
Jampal Gyatso
9     Lungtok Gyatso         1805–1815     1807     1808     Yes[291]     Yes[292]     ལུང་རྟོགས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
lung rtogs rgya mtsho     Lungdog Gyaco
隆朵嘉措     Lungtog Gyatso
10     Tsultrim Gyatso         1816–1837     1822     1822         Yes     ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
tshul khrim rgya mtsho     Cüchim Gyaco
楚臣嘉措     Tshültrim Gyatso
11     Khendrup Gyatso         1838–1856     1841     1842     Yes[293]     Yes     མཁས་གྲུབ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
mkhas grub rgya mtsho     Kaichub Gyaco
凱珠嘉措     Kedrub Gyatso
12     Trinley Gyatso         1857–1875     1858     1860         Yes[294]     འཕྲིན་ལས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
'phrin las rgya mtsho     Chinlai Gyaco
成烈嘉措     Trinle Gyatso
13     Thubten Gyatso         1876–1933     1878     1879         Yes[238]     ཐུབ་བསྟན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
thub bstan rgya mtsho     Tubdain Gyaco
土登嘉措     Thubtan Gyatso
Thupten Gyatso
14     Tenzin Gyatso         born 1935     1939[295]     1940[295]
(in exile since 1959)         No, as Goldstein writes that Tibet did everything to keep the Central Government out of this process. They were asked to show respect and "not permission"[296]     བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho     Dainzin Gyaco
丹增嘉措     Tenzin Gyatso

There was also a non-recognised Dalai Lama, Ngawang Yeshe Gyatso, declared 28 June 1707, when he was 25 years old, by Lha-bzang Khan as the "true" 6th Dalai Lama. He was never accepted as such by the majority of the population.[176][297][298]
Future of the position
Main article: Succession of the 14th Dalai Lama
The main teaching room of the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala, India
14th Dalai Lama

    In the mid-1970s, Tenzin Gyatso told a Polish newspaper that he thought he would be the last Dalai Lama. In a later interview published in the English language press he stated, "The Dalai Lama office was an institution created to benefit others. It is possible that it will soon have outlived its usefulness."[299] These statements caused a furore amongst Tibetans in India. Many could not believe that such an option could even be considered. It was further felt that it was not the Dalai Lama's decision to reincarnate. Rather, they felt that since the Dalai Lama is a national institution it was up to the people of Tibet to decide whether the Dalai Lama should reincarnate.[300]

The government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has claimed the power to approve the naming of "high" reincarnations in Tibet, based on a precedent set by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty.[301] The Qianlong Emperor instituted a system of selecting the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama by a lottery that used a Golden Urn with names wrapped in clumps of barley. This method was used a few times for both positions during the 19th century, but eventually fell into disuse.[302][303]

In 1995, the Dalai Lama chose to proceed with the selection of the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama without the use of the Golden Urn, while the Chinese government insisted that it must be used.[304] This has led to two rival Panchen Lamas: Gyaincain Norbu as chosen by the Chinese government's process, and Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as chosen by the Dalai Lama. However, Nyima was abducted by the Chinese government shortly after being chosen as the Panchen Lama and has not been seen in public since 1995.[305]

In September 2007, the Chinese government said all high monks must be approved by the government, which would include the selection of the 15th Dalai Lama after the death of Tenzin Gyatso.[306] Since by tradition, the Panchen Lama must approve the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, that is another possible method of control. Consequently, the Dalai Lama has alluded to the possibility of a referendum to determine the 15th Dalai Lama.[306]

In response to this scenario, Tashi Wangdi, the representative of the 14th Dalai Lama, replied that the Chinese government's selection would be meaningless. "You can't impose an Imam, an Archbishop, saints, any religion...you can't politically impose these things on people", said Wangdi. "It has to be a decision of the followers of that tradition. The Chinese can use their political power: force. Again, it's meaningless. Like their Panchen Lama. And they can't keep their Panchen Lama in Tibet. They tried to bring him to his monastery many times but people would not see him. How can you have a religious leader like that?"[307]

The 14th Dalai Lama said as early as 1969 that it was for the Tibetans to decide whether the institution of the Dalai Lama "should continue or not".[308] He has given reference to a possible vote occurring in the future for all Tibetan Buddhists to decide whether they wish to recognize his rebirth.[309] In response to the possibility that the PRC might attempt to choose his successor, the Dalai Lama said he would not be reborn in a country controlled by the People's Republic of China or any other country which is not free.[282][310] According to Robert D. Kaplan, this could mean that "the next Dalai Lama might come from the Tibetan cultural belt that stretches across Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, presumably making him even more pro-Indian and hence anti-Chinese".[311]

The 14th Dalai Lama supported the possibility that his next incarnation could be a woman.[312] As an "engaged Buddhist" the Dalai Lama has an appeal straddling cultures and political systems making him one of the most recognized and respected moral voices today.[313] "Despite the complex historical, religious and political factors surrounding the selection of incarnate masters in the exiled Tibetan tradition, the Dalai Lama is open to change", author Michaela Haas writes.[314]

Despite the tradition of selecting young children, the 14th Dalai Lama can also name an adult as his next incarnation. Doing so would have the advantage that the successor would not need to spend decades studying Buddhism and could immediately be taken seriously as a leader by the Tibetan diaspora.[315] The Dalai Lama has said that he will reveal a plan for deciding on his successor on his 90th birthday, July 6, 2025.[316]

On July 2, 2025, the Dalai Lama released a statement saying, "I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue." He also wrote that members of the Gaden Phodrang Trust have exclusive responsibility for recognizing his successor.[317][318] 

Lhasa[a] is a prefecture-level city,[b] one of the main administrative divisions of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It covers an area of 29,274 square kilometres (11,303 sq mi) of rugged and sparsely populated terrain. Its urban center is Lhasa, with around 300,000 residents, which mostly corresponds with the administrative Chengguan District, while its suburbs extend into Doilungdêqên District and Dagzê District. The consolidated prefecture-level city contains an additional five, mostly rural, counties.

The city boundaries roughly correspond to the basin of the Lhasa River, a major tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. It lies on the Lhasa terrane, the last unit of crust to accrete to the Eurasian plate before the continent of India collided with Asia about 50 million years ago and pushed up the Himalayas. The terrain is high, contains a complex pattern of faults and is tectonically active. The temperature is generally warm in summer and rises above freezing on sunny days in winter. Most of the rain falls in summer. The upland areas and northern grasslands are used for grazing yaks, sheep and goats, while the river valleys support agriculture with crops such as barley, wheat and vegetables. Wildlife is not abundant, but includes the rare snow leopard and black-necked crane. Mining has caused some environmental problems.

The 2000 census gave a total population of 474,490, of whom 387,124 were ethnic Tibetans. The Han Chinese population at the time was mainly concentrated in urban areas. The prefecture-level city is traversed by two major highways and by the Qinghai–Tibet railway, which terminates in the city of Lhasa. In the future, the Sichuan–Tibet railway currently under construction will expect to start operations in 2030.[5] Two large dams on the Lhasa River deliver hydroelectric power, as do many smaller dams and the Yangbajain Geothermal Field [zh]. The population is well-served by primary schools and basic medical facilities, although more advanced facilities are lacking. Tibetan Buddhism and monastic life have been dominant aspects of the local culture since the 7th century. Most of the monasteries were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but since then many have been restored and serve as tourist attractions.
History
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Lhasa is the capital and largest city in Tibet. Founded in the 5th century AD and largely closed to foreigners until the early 1980s, its name means "God's Home" or "City of the Gods" and is still very much a pilgrimage destination among Tibetans. After several conflicts of the Mongol invasions and the Qing rule of Tibet, the British led by Francis Younghusband led the expeditions of Tibet. In 1912, the Qing collapse led to Tibet becoming independent on 4 April 1912 with Thubten Gyatso as "the Great Thirteenth" for Tibet's national independence from Qing rule.

The annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China took place as Tenzin Gyatso fled to McLeod Ganj, India in 1959 at the end of the Tibetan uprising.
Geography
Location

Lhasa lies in south-central Tibet, to the north of the Himalayas. The prefecture-level city is 277 kilometres (172 mi) from east to west and 202 kilometres (126 mi) from north to south. It covers an area of 29,518 square kilometres (11,397 sq mi).[citation needed] It is bordered by Nagqu City to the north, Nyingchi City to the east, Shannan/Lhoka City to the south and Xigazê City to the west.[6] The prefecture-level city roughly corresponds to the basin of the Lhasa River, which is the center of Tibet politically, economically and culturally.[7] Chengguan District is also the center of Tibet in terms of transport, communications, education and religion, as well as being the most developed part of Tibet and a major tourist destination with sights such as the Potala Palace, Jokhang and Ramoche Temple.[citation needed]
Lhasa River basin
Lhasa River to the south of Lhasa

Lhasa prefecture-level city roughly corresponds to the basin of the Lhasa River, a major tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo. Exceptions are the north of Damxung County, which crosses the watershed of the Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains and includes part of the Namtso lake,[c] and Nyêmo County, which covers the basin of the Nimu Maqu River, a direct tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo.[citation needed] The river basin is separated from the Yarlung Tsangpo valley to the south by the Goikarla Rigyu range.[9] The largest tributary of the Lhasa River, the Reting Tsangpo, originates in the Chenthangula Mountains in Nagqu Prefecture at an elevation of about 5,500 metres (18,000 ft), and flows southwest into Lhasa past Reting Monastery.[10]

The Lhasa River drains an area of 32,471 square kilometres (12,537 sq mi), and is the largest tributary of the middle section of the Yarlung Tsangpo. The average altitude of the basin is around 4,500 metres (14,800 ft). The basin has complex geology and is tectonically active. Earthquakes are common.[7] Annual runoff is 10,550,000,000 cubic metres (3.73×1011 cu ft). Water quality is good, with little discharge of sewage and minimal chemical pesticides and fertilizers.[11]

The Lhasa River forms where three smaller rivers converge. These are the Phak Chu, the Phongdolha Chu which flows from Damxung County and the Reting Tsangpo, which rises beyond the Reting Monastery.[12] The highest tributary rises at around 5,290 metres (17,360 ft) on the southern slope of the Nyenchen Tanglha Mountains.[13] In its upper reaches, the river flows southeast through a deep valley.[14] Lower down the river valley is flatter and changes its direction to the southwest, The river expands to a width of 150 to 200 metres (490 to 660 ft).[14] Major tributaries in the lower reaches include the Pengbo River and the Duilong River.[15] At its mouth, the Lhasa Valley is about 3 miles (4.8 km) wide.[16]

The bulk of the water is supplied by the summer monsoon rains, which fall from July to September. There are floods in the summer from July to September, with about 17% of the annual runoff flowing in September. In winter the river has low water, and sometimes freezes. Total flow is about 4 cubic kilometres (0.96 cu mi), with average flow about 125 cubic metres per second (4,400 cu ft/s).[14] The total hydropower potential of the river basin is 2,560,000 kW.[11] Zhikong Hydro Power Station in Maizhokunggar County delivers 100 MW.[17] The Pangduo Hydro Power Station in Lhünzhub County has total installed capacity of 160 MW.[18]
Geology

The former Lhasa prefecture lies in the Lhasa terrane, to which it gives its name. This is thought to be the last crustal block to accrete to the Eurasian plate before the collision with the Indian plate in the Cenozoic.[19] The terrane is separated from the Himalayas to the south by the Yarlung-Tsangpo suture, and from the Qiangtang terrane to the north by the Bangong-Nujiang suture.[20] The Lhasa terrane consisted of two blocks before the Mesozoic, the North Lhasa Block and the South Lhasa Block.[21] These blocks were joined in the Late Paleozoic.[19]
Lhasa terrane approach to Qiangtang terrane

The Lhasa terrane moved northward and collided with the Qiangtang terrane along the Bangong suture.[22][23] The collision began towards the end of the late Jurassic (c. 163–145 Ma[d]), and collision activity continued until the early Late Cretaceous (c. 100–66 Ma). During this period the terrane may have been shortened by at least 180 kilometres (110 mi).[20] The collision caused a peripheral foreland basin to form in the north part of the Lhasa terrane. In some parts of the foreland basin the north-dipping subduction of the Neotethyan oceanic crust below the Lhasa terrane caused volcanism. The Gangdese batholith was formed as this subduction continued along the southern margin of the Lhasa terrane.[24] The Gangdese intrudes the southern half of the Lhasa terrain.[25]

Contact with India began along the Yarlung-Zangbo suture around 50 Ma during the Eocene, and the two continents continue to converge. Magmatism continued in the Gangdese arc until as late as 40 Ma.[25] There was significant crustal shortening as the collision progressed.[26] The South Lhasa terrane experienced metamorphism and magmatism in the Early Cenozoic (55–45 Ma) and metamorphism in the Late Eocene (40–30 Ma), presumably due to the collision between the continents of India and Eurasia.[19]

Rocks in this region include sedimentary rocks from the Paleozoic and Mesozoic into which granite has intruded during the Cretaceous. The rocks have metamorphosed and are deeply eroded and faulted.[10] The rocks exposed in the Reting Tsangpo canyon range in age from 400 Ma to 50 Ma. The result of faulting has been to often juxtapose relatively recent rocks with much older rocks. Some parts of the ocean floor were pushed up onto the Tibetan Plateau and formed marble or slate. Sea fossils from 400 Ma are found in the river's canyons, and houses are roofed with slate.[10]

The Yangbajing Basin lies between the Nyainquentanglha Range to the northwest and the Yarlu-Zangbo suture to the south.[27] The Yangbajain Geothermal Field is in the central part of a half-graben fault-depression basin caused by the foremontane fault zone of the Nyainqentanglha Mountains.[28] The SE-dipping detachment fault began to form about 8 Ma.[29] The geothermal reservoir is basically a Quaternary basin underlaid by a large granite batholith. The basin has been filled with glacial deposits from the north and alluvial-pluvial sediments from the south. Fluid flows horizontally into the reservoir through the faults around the basin.[28] Chemical analysis of the thermal fluid indicate that there is shallow-seated magmatic activity not far below the geothermal field.[30]

During the ice ages of the last two million years, the Tibetan plateau and the Himalayas have been covered by the expanded polar ice cap several times. As the ice moved it eroded the rock, filling the river canyons with gravel. In some sections the rivers have cut through the gravel and flow swiftly over bedrock, and in some areas large boulders have fallen into the rivers and formed rapids.[10]
Climate
Pasturage in Doilungdêqên District

The Lhasa valley is roughly the same latitude as the southern United States, but at an altitude of 3,610 metres (11,840 ft) or more it is cooler.[31] The central river valleys of Tibet are warm in summer, and even in the coldest months of winter the temperature is above freezing on sunny days.[32] The climate is semi-arid monsoon, with a low average temperature of 1.2 to 7.5 °C (34.2 to 45.5 °F). Average annual precipitation is 466.3 millimetres (18.36 in), with 85% falling in the June–September period.[7] Typically, there are 3,000 hours of sunshine each year.[citation needed] It is cooler in the northern regions, warmer in the south. Annual figures:
District     Region     Average temperature     Frost-free
days     Precipitation
°C     °F     mm     in
Chengguan District[citation needed]     Central     8°     46°     110     500     20
Doilungdêqên District[33][34]     Central     7°     45°     120     310     12
Dagzê District[35]     Central     7.5°     45.5°     130     500     20
Damxung County[36]     North     1.3°     34.3°     62     481     18.9
Lhünzhub County[37]     Central     2.9–5.8°     37.2–42.4°     120     310     12
Maizhokunggar County[38]     Central     5.1–9.1°     41.2–48.4°     90     515.9     20.31
Nyêmo County[39][citation needed]     South     6.7°     44.1°     100     324.2     12.76
Qüxü County[40]     South             150     441.9     17.40

Studies of temperature and precipitation data from 1979 to 2005 indicate that higher temperatures are leading to longer snow-free periods at the lower elevations. However, at higher levels the amount of precipitation has increased, so despite warming the snow-free period is shorter.[41]
Environment
Black-necked cranes

Most of the population of Tibet lives in the southern valleys, including those around Lhasa.[42] The higher regions are used by nomadic drokpa who tend herds of yaks, sheep and goats on the steppe grasslands of the hills and high valleys.[42][31] In the lower parts it is possible to cultivate products that include barley, wheat, black peas, beans, mustard, hemp, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, onions, garlic, celery and tomatoes. The traditional staple food is barley flour called tsampa, often combined with buttered tea and made into a paste.[42]

A visitor described the valley around Lhasa in 1889 as follows,

    The plain over which we are riding is a wonderfully fruitful one. It is skirted on the south by the Kyi[e] river, and is watered, moreover, by another smaller stream from the north, which flows into the Kyi ... some five miles west of Lhasa. All this land is carefully irrigated by means of dikes and cross-channels from both rivers. Fields of buckwheat, barley, pea, rape, and lindseed lie in orderly series everywhere. The meadows near the water display the richest emerald-green pasturage. Groves of poplar and willow, in shapely clumps, combine with the grassy stretches to give in places a parklike appearance to the scene. Several hamlets and villages, such as Cheri, Daru, and Shing Dongkhar, are dotted over these lands. A fertile plain truly for a besieging army![43] 

Bharal. Snow leopards are one of the main predators of this sheep.[44]

The Lhasa region does not have abundant wildlife or great numbers of species, but the Lhasa valley does support wintering populations of hundreds of black-necked cranes.[45] Hutoushan Reservoir lies in Qangka Township, Lhünzhub County. The reservoir is bordered by large swamps and wet meadows, and has abundant plants and shellfish.[46] The reservoir, which lies in the Pengbo valley, is the largest in Tibet, with total storage of 12,000,000 cubic metres (420,000,000 cu ft).[15] Endangered black-necked cranes migrate to the middle and southern part of Tibet every winter, and may be seen on the reservoir and elsewhere in the Lhasa region.[47] Other wildlife includes bharal, pheasants, roe deer, Thorold's deer, Mongolian gazelle, Siberian ibex, otter, brown bear, snow leopard and duck.[33][48][49][39] Medicinal plants include fritillaries (fritillaria), stonecrop (rhodiola), Indian barberry (berberis aristata), Chinese caterpillar fungus (ophiocordyceps sinensis), codonopsis and Lingzhi mushroom (ganoderma).[33][48][49][39]

The dams on the Lhasa river built as part of the Three Rivers Development Project are unlikely to affect the flow of the Brahmaputra in India.[50] However, the climate and soil are unsuitable for large-scale irrigation. Where grasslands have been converted into irrigated farms fed by dams the result may damage the environment.[51] Jama wetland in Maizhokunggar County is vulnerable to grazing and climate change.[52] Extensive mining in some mountainous regions have turned areas of what was green pasturage into a grey wasteland. The authorities are reported to have suppressed protests by the local people.[53] Military personnel have been involved in efforts to protect and improve the environment, including replanting programs.[54]

A 2015 study reported that during the non-monsoon season the levels of arsenic in the Duilong River, at 205.6 μg/L were higher than the WHO guideline of 10 μg/L for drinking water.[55] The source of the pollution seems to be untreated water from the Yangbajain Geothermal Field power station. It can be detected 90 kilometres (56 mi) downstream from this site.[56]
Administrative divisions

Lhasa prefecture-level city consists of three districts and five counties. Chengguan District, Doilungdêqên District, and Dagzê District contains most of the urban area of Lhasa, which lies in the Lhasa River valley floor.
Map
Chengguan
Doilungdêqên
Dagzê
Damxung
County
Qüxü
County
Nyêmo
County
Lhünzhub
County
Maizhokunggar
County
Liuwu
Lake
Nam
Name     Chinese     Hanyu Pinyin     Tibetan     Wylie
Tibetan pinyin     Population (2010)     Area (km2)     Density (/km2)
City Proper
Chengguan District     城关区     Chéngguān Qū     ཁྲིན་ཀོན་ཆུས།     khrin kon chus
Chingoin Qü     279,074     525     531.56
Suburban
Doilungdêqên District     堆龙德庆区     Duīlóngdéqìng Qū     སྟོད་ལུང་བདེ་ཆེན་ཆུས།     stod lung bde chen chus
Dölungdêqên Qü     52,249     2,672     19.55
Dagzê District     达孜区     Dázī Qū     སྟག་རྩེ་ཆུས།     stag rtse chus
Dagzê Qü     26,708     1,361     19.62
Rural
Damxung County     当雄县     Dāngxióng Xiàn     འདམ་གཞུང་རྫོང་     dam gzhung rdzong
Damxung Zong     46,463     10,234     4.54
Lhünzhub County     林周县     Línzhōu Xiàn     ལྷུན་གྲུབ་རྫོང་     lhun grub rdzong
Lhünzhub Zong     50,246     4,100     12.25
Maizhokunggar County     墨竹工卡县     Mòzhúgōngkǎ Xiàn     མལ་གྲོ་གུང་དཀར་རྫོང་     mal gro gung dkar rdzong
Maizhokunggar Zong     44,674     5,492     8.13
Nyêmo County     尼木县     Nímù Xiàn     སྙེ་མོ་རྫོང་     snye mo rdzong
Nyêmo Zong     28,149     3,266     8.61
Qüxü County     曲水县     Qūshuǐ Xiàn     ཆུ་ཤུར་རྫོང་     chu shur rdzong
Qüxü Zong     31,860     1,624     19.61
Chengguan District
The Potala Palace to the west of the old city, now surrounded by recent buildings
View of metropolitan Chengguan District from the Potala Palace

Chengguan District is located on the middle reaches of the Lhasa River, with land that rises to the north and south of the river. It is 28 kilometres (17 mi) from east to west and 31 kilometres (19 mi) from north to south. Chengguan District is bordered by Doilungdêqên District to the west, Dagzê District to the east and Lhünzhub County to the north. Gonggar County of Lhoka (Shannan) City lies to the south.[citation needed] Chengguan District has an elevation of 3,650 metres (11,980 ft) and covers 525 square kilometres (203 sq mi). The urban built-up area covers 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi). The average annual temperature is 8 °C (46 °F). Annual precipitation is about 500 millimetres (20 in), mostly falling between July and September.[citation needed]

Before the PRC takeover the city of Lhasa had a population of 25,000–30,000, or 45,000–50,000 if the large monasteries around the city are included.[57] The old city formed a quadrangle about 3 square kilometres (1.2 sq mi) around the Jokhang temple, about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the east of the Potala Palace.[58] During the period before the reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping the old city of Lhasa was left largely intact, while bleakly functional compounds containing symmetrical dormitory-type buildings for both living and working were built apart from the city along the main roads.[59]

By 1990 the city had expanded to cover 40 square kilometres (15 sq mi), with an official population of 160,000.[60] The 2000 official census gave a total population of 223,001, of which 171,719 lived in the areas administered by sub-districts and residential committees. 133,603 had urban registrations and 86,395 had rural registrations, based on their place of origin.[61] By 2013 the urban area filled most of the natural Lhasa River valley in Chengguan District.[62] A 2011 book estimated that up to two-thirds of the city's residents are non-Tibetan, although the government states that Chengguan District as a whole is still 63% ethnic Tibetan.[63]
Doilungdêqên District
Tsurphu Monastery

Doilungdêqên District contains the western urban areas of Lhasa, developed in recent years with the new Lhasa railway station, which begin about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from the city center. It covers an area of 2,704 square kilometers, with 94,969 acres of farmland.[33] The district borders on the north Tibet grasslands in the northwest. The valley of the Duilong River leads south to the Lhasa River. The Duilong is 95 kilometres (59 mi) in length. In the south the district occupies part of the south bank of the Lhasa River.[34] The district has an average elevation of 4,000 metres (13,000 ft), with a highest elevation of 5,500 metres (18,000 ft) and a lowest point at 3,640 metres (11,940 ft).[33]

There are about 120 frost-free days annually.[33] Annual mean temperature is 7 °C (45 °F), with temperatures in January falling below −10 °C (14 °F) Annual precipitation is about 440 millimetres (17 in), with autumn rainfall of 310 millimetres (12 in). The district is agriculturally rich and was used by the Tibetan kings as a source of food for Lhasa.[34]

The seat of government is in the town of Donggar.[33] This is just 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) from downtown Lhasa.[34] In 1992 there were 33,581 people in 6,500 households, with 94.28% of the people engaged in farming. About 90% of the people were ethnic Tibetan, with most people of other ethnicity living in Donggar.[34] The main mineral resources are coal, iron, clay, lead and zinc.[33] Tsurphu Monastery, built in 1189, is treated as a regional cultural relic reserve.[64] The Nechung Monastery, former home of the Nechung Oracle, is located in Naiquong township.[65] Nechung was built by the 5th Dalai Lama (1617–82).[66]
Dagzê District

Dagzê District has a total area of 1,373 square kilometres (530 sq mi) and it contains the eastern urban areas of Lhasa. It has an average elevation of 4,100 metres (13,500 ft) above sea level, and descends from higher ground in the north and south to 3,730 metres (12,240 ft) in the lowest part of the Lhasa River valley.[67] The average temperature is 7.5 °C (45.5 °F), with about 130 days free of frost. Average rainfall is 450 millimetres (18 in).[35] About 80%–90% of precipitation falls in the summer.[citation needed]

As of 2013 the total population was 29,152.[67] The main occupation is agriculture. As of 2012 per capita income of farmers and herdsmen was 6,740 yuan.[67] In 2010 there were 28 schools in the district, including one junior high school and one kindergarten, with 276 full-time teachers. There is a district hospital and five township hospitals. The Sichuan-Tibet Highway (China National Highway 318) runs through the district.[35] The main monasteries in Dagzê are Ganden Monastery and Yerpa.[citation needed]
Damxung County
Dorje Ling Nunnery in Damxung County, with adobe blocks curing in the foreground
Nyainqentanglha rising above Namtso

Damxung County has an area of 10,036 square kilometres (3,875 sq mi), with rugged topography.[68] As of 2013 the population was 40,000, up from 35,000 in 1997.[citation needed] It is tectonically active. On 6 October 2008 an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter magnitude scale was reported.[36] In November 2010 a moderate quake in Damxung at 5.2 on the Richter scale shook office windows in Lhasa. There were no casualties, but houses were damaged.[69]

In the extreme northeast of the county, Namtso lake has an area of 1,920 square kilometres (740 sq mi), of which 45% lies in Damxung county. Namtso is one of the great lakes of the Tibetan plateau. The Nyenchen Tanglha (or Nyainqentanglha) mountains extend along the northwest of the county. Mount Nyenchen Tanglha is the highest peak in the region, at 7,111 metres (23,330 ft). The Nyainqêntanglha mountains define the watershed between northern and southern Tibet.[citation needed] A valley with elevation of about 4,200 metres (13,800 ft) runs parallel to the mountains to their southeast, sloping from northwest to southeast. 30% of the county's total area is in the prairie of this valley.[36]

Damxung is cold and dry in the winter, cool and wet in summer, with very variable weather. The average annual temperature is 1.3 °C (34.3 °F), with only 62 frost-free days. The land is frozen from the start of November to the following March. Pasture has 90–120 days for growth. Average annual precipitation is 481 millimetres (18.9 in).[36] Natural grasslands cover 693,171 hectares (1,712,860 acres), of which 68% is considered excellent.[68] Almost all the people are engaged in rearing livestock, including yaks, sheep, goats and horses.[36]

The Qinghai-Tibet Highway (China National Highway 109) runs from east to west across the county. Damxung railway station links the county to the city of Lhasa to the south.[citation needed] There is a large geothermal field at Yangbajain harnessed by generating units that deliver 25,181 kilowatts to the city of Lhasa to the south.[70] The transmission line follows the Duilong River south through Doilungdêqên District.[71] Kangma Monastery is 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from the county seat. The meditation room has 1,213 carved stone reliefs of Buddha that are about three hundred years old.[72] Yangpachen Monastery in Yangbajain is historically the seat of the Shamarpas of Karma Kagyu.[73] The monastery was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but later was rebuilt.[74]
Lhünzhub County
Countryside near Reting Monastery in the east of Lhünzhub County

Lhünzhub County is located around 65 km (40 mi) northeast of metropolitan Lhasa. It includes the Pengbo River Valley and the upper reaches of the Lhasa River. It covers an area of 4,512 km2 (1,742 sq mi).[49] The county is geologically complex, with an average elevation of 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).[49] The administrative center is the town of Lhünzhub.[citation needed]

As of 2000 the county had a total population of 50,895, of which 8,111 lived in a community designated as urban. 2,254 had non-agricultural registration and 48,362 had agricultural registration.[61] In the south the Pengbo valley has an average elevation of 3,680 metres (12,070 ft) with a mild climate. The average temperature is 5.8 °C (42.4 °F).[49] The northern "three rivers" section, crossed by the Lhasa River and its tributary the Razheng River, is mountainous and has an average elevation of 4,200 metres (13,800 ft). It has average annual temperature of 2.9 °C (37.2 °F) and is mostly pastoral, with yak, sheep and goats.[49]

The Pengbo valley is the main grain-producing region of Lhasa prefecture-level city and Tibet, with a total of 11,931 hectares (29,480 acres) of arable land.[37] Crops include barley, winter wheat, spring wheat, canola and vegetables such as potato.[75] Livestock includes yak, sheep, goats and horses.[49] In 2010 the per capita income of farmers and herdsmen was 4,587 yuan.[f] The Pengbo valley has a long history of pottery-making. Products include braziers, flower pots, vases and jugs.[37] Mining is an important source of income. In 2011 the government has plans to more actively promote tourism.[77] The Pangduo Hydro Power Station became operational in 2014.[18] It has been called the "Tibetan Three Gorges".[78]

The county is a center of Tibetan Buddhism. There were thirty-seven gompas including twenty-five lamaseries with 919 monks and twelve nunneries with 844 nuns as of 2011.[37] Reting Monastery was built in 1056 by Dromtön (1005–1064), a student of Atiśa. It was the earliest monastery of the Gedain sect, and the patriarchal seat of that sect.[79]
Maizhokunggar County
View of the valley from Drigung Monastery
Drigung Monastery

Maizhokunggar County is located on the middle and upper sections of the Lhasa River and the west of Mila Mountain.[80] Mila (or Mira) Mountain, at 5,018 metres (16,463 ft), forms the watershed between the Lhasa River and the Nyang River. The Gyama Zhungchu, which runs through Gyama Township, is a tributary of the Lhasa River.[81] Maizhokunggar County is about 68 kilometres (42 mi) east of Lhasa, has an area of 5,492 square kilometres (2,120 sq mi) with an average elevation of more than 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).[82] The annual average temperature is 5.1 to 9.1 °C (41.2 to 48.4 °F). There are about 90 frost-free days each year. Annual rainfall is 515.9 millimetres (20.31 in).[38] China National Highway 318 runs through the county from east to west.[82] The 100 MW Zhikong Hydro Power Station on the Lhasa River came into operation in September 2007.[17]

The total population as of 2010 was 48,561 people in 9,719 households, the great majority engaged in farming and herding.[82] 98% of the population are ethnic Tibetan.[83] The seat of government is in Kunggar in the west of the county.[38] Many of the people depend on farming or herding. Development efforts include increased farm animal husbandry, feedstock production, greenhouses for vegetables, and breeding programs.[84] Crops include barley, winter wheat, spring wheat, canola, peas, cabbage, carrots, eggplant, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, green peppers, pumpkins, potatoes and other greenhouse crops.[83] The economy is driven by mineral extraction, which was expected to account for 73.85% of total tax revenue in 2007 while employing 419 people.[84]

Traditional folk handicrafts include pottery, willow basketwork, wooden objects, mats and gold and silver items.[83] The county is especially noted for its pottery, which does not corrode, retains heat and has an ethnic style. It has a more-than-1000-year-old history.[85] The Drikhung Thil Monastery of the Kagyu Sect was founded in 1179 by Lingchen Repa, a disciple of Phagmo Drupa. The monastery is the home of the Drikhung Kagyu School of the Kagyu sect.[86] The ruined Gyama Palace, in the Gyama Gully in the south of the county, was built by Namri Songtsen in the 6th century after he had gained control of the area from Supi.[87]
Nyêmo County

Nyêmo County is located in the middle section of the Brahmaputra, 140 kilometres (87 mi) from Lhasa. It is mainly agricultural and pastoral, with an area of 3,276 square kilometres (1,265 sq mi) and an average elevation of 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).[39] The Nimu Maqu River flows through the county from north to south. The Yarlung Tsangpo River forms its southern boundary.[citation needed] The highest point is a peak at 7,048.8 metres (23,126 ft) above sea level, and the lowest point is where the Maqu River empties into the Brahmaputra at an elevation of 3,701 metres (12,142 ft).[88] The county has a temperate semi-arid plateau monsoon climate, with about 100 frost-free days. Annual rainfall is 324.2 millimetres (12.76 in).[39]

Nyêmo County has its headquarters in Nyêmo Town.[39] The county seat is 3,809 metres (12,497 ft) above sea level.[39] As of 2011 the total population was 30,844 people, of whom 28,474 were engaged in agriculture or herding.[39] By 2012 the per capita income of farmers and herdsmen had reached 6,881 yuan.[89] In the 7th century Nyêmo was producing printing materials, clay-based incense and wooden-sole shoes.[90] Nyêmo's long tradition of making paper and printing texts using woodblocks dates back to this period. Nyêmo County has China's first museum of Tibetan text.[91] There are 22 temples. As of 2011 there were 118 monks and 99 nuns.[39] The Nyêmo Chekar monastery is known for its 16th-century murals depicting reincarnations of the Samding Dorje Phagmo.[92]
Qüxü County
Yarlung Tsangpo ferry near Qüxü 1939

Qüxü County has a total area of 1,680 square kilometres (650 sq mi), with an average elevation of 3,650 metres (11,980 ft).[93] The county is in the Yarlung Tsangpo valley, and is mostly relatively flat, but rises to the Nyainqêntanglha Mountains in the north. The Lhasa River runs south through the eastern part of the county to its confluence with the Yarlung Tsangpo River, which forms the southern boundary of the county. The lowest elevation is 3,500 metres (11,500 ft), and the highest summit elevation is 5,894 metres (19,337 ft).[40] Qüxü County has about 150 days a year without frost. Annual precipitation is 441.9 millimeters (17.40 in).[40]

Qüxü County has its headquarters in Qüxü Town.[40] The fifth census in 2000 recorded a population of 29,690.[40] The county seat has been growing fast, and had 5,000 people by 2002.[93] China National Highway 318 runs through Qüxü County from Lhasa towards the west. Bridges span the Lhasa River and the Yarlung Tsangpo River.[48]

Qüxü County is semi-agricultural and crops grown are mainly highland barley, winter wheat, spring wheat, peas and rapeseed. Apples and walnuts are also produced. Animal husbandry is also strong, with the main animals farmed including yak, cattle, goats, sheep, horses, donkeys, pigs, and chickens.[48] As of 2002 the per capita net income of farmers and herdsmen was 1,960 yuan.[93] The Nyethang Drolma Lhakhang Temple is located in Qüxü County, said to have been founded in 1055 by Dromtön, a pupil of Atiśa.[94]
Demographics

The demographics of Lhasa prefecture-level city are difficult to define precisely due to the way in which administrative boundaries have been drawn, and the way in which statistics are collected. According to the 2020 census, population of Lhasa prefectural-level city is about 867,891, of whom about 16.9% are ethnic Han and most of the others are ethnic Tibetans.[95] A large part live in the city and in towns, most of them in or near Chengguan District, and the remainder live in rural areas.
Ethnicity
Tibetan woman with prayer wheel in Lhasa street

The 2000 census give the following breakdown for the population of the prefecture-level city as a whole:[96]
    Total Population      Han Population      Tibetan Population
Subdistricts (jiedao)     171,719     62,226     104,203
Towns (zhen)     60,117     3,083     56,614
Townships (xiang)     242,663     15,275     226,307
Total     474,499     80,584     387,124

The 2000 census counts more than 105,000 people in Chengguan District who are registered elsewhere. Most of them are Han, with agricultural registrations.[61] Outside Chengguan District, in 2000 the rural townships almost all had Han populations below 2.85%, other than one in Duilongdeqing County and one in Qushui County, both near the metropolitan district of Lhasa. Urban towns other than Yangbajain had Han populations of between 2.86% and 11.25%. Within the metropolitan district Han population ranged from 11.26% to 11.25% in the southern rural township to 46.56% to 47.46% in the city street offices.[97] Han migrants accounted for 20% of the population, but held a much higher percentage of the higher-status office and service-sector jobs. Hans also dominated construction, mining and trade.[98]
Butter Market, Lhasa
Sweet Market, Lhasa
Nomad camp above Tsurphu Gompa in 1993

According to the November 2000 census, the ethnic distribution in Lhasa Prefecture-level City was as follows:[99]
Major ethnic groups in Lhasa Prefecture-level City by district or county, 2000 census
    Total     Tibetans     Han Chinese     others
Chengguan District     223,001     140,387     63.0%     76,581     34.3%     6,033     2.7%
Doilungdêqên District     40,543     38,455     94.8%     1,868     4.6%     220     0.5%
Dagzê District     24,906     24,662     99.0%     212     0.9%     32     0.1%
Damxung County     39,169     38,689     98.8%     347     0.9%     133     0.3%
Lhünzhub County     50,895     50,335     98.9%     419     0.8%     141     0.3%
Maizhokunggar County     38,920     38,567     99.1%     220     0.6%     133     0.3%
Nyêmo County     27,375     27,138     99.1%     191     0.7%     46     0.2%
Qüxü County     29,690     28,891     97.3%     746     2.5%     53     0.2%
Total     474,499     387,124     81.6%     80,584     17.0%     6,791     1.4%
Administrative divisions
Young monk in meditation cell, Yerpa, Dagzê County, 1993

Lhasa metropolitan district includes most of the built-up area, which counts as urban, and four rural townships. The counties also contain urban towns, of which there are nine in the prefectural municipality.[61]

Official census figures for 2000 are:[61]
    Total
Population      City/Town
Population      Non-Agricultural
Registration      Agricultural
Registration
Chengguan District     223,001     171,719     133,603     86,395
Doilungdêqên District     40,543     17,197     3,836     36,608
Dagzê District     24,906     7,382     1,464     23,431
Damxung County     39,169     8,530     2,023     36,975
Lhünzhub County     50,895     8,111     2,254     48,362
Maizhokunggar County     38,920     5,409     1,526     37,384
Nyêmo County     27,375     6,082     1,190     25,981
Qüxü County     29,690     7,406     1,564     28,057
Municipality total     474,499     231,836     147,460     323,193

The census figures differ considerably from the Tibet Statistical Yearbooks for the same period, since the yearbook only includes the registered population and counts them based on place of origin rather than place of residence. The 1990 census used an approach similar to the yearbook, so the numbers are misleading, but the 2000 census tried to count people who had actually been present in Lhasa for over six months. The census distinguishes between "agricultural" and "non-agricultural" registration, but this does not reflect the actual occupations of the people. Many with an "agricultural" registration may in fact work in the city or in a town. Also, the census was taken in November, when many of the ethnic Han workers in seasonal industries such as construction would have been away from Tibet. Finally, the census does not count the military.[61]
Education

Lhasa has two universities, Tibet University and Tibet Tibetan Medical University. Additionally, there are three special colleges: Lhasa Teachers College, Tibet Police College and Tibet Vocational and Technical College.[100]

Tibet University (Tibetan: བོད་ལྗོངས་སློབ་གྲྭ་ཆེན་མོ་) is the main university of Tibet Autonomous Region. Its campus is located in Chengguan District, Lhasa, east of the city-centre. A forerunner was created in 1952 and the university was officially established in 1985, funded by the Chinese government. About 8000 students are enrolled at the university. Tibet University is a comprehensive university with the highest academic level in Tibet Autonomous Region. It is a member of the prestigious Project 211, and is sponsored under the Double First Class Disciplines initiative.[101]
Infrastructure
Highways
China National Highway 318 at Mila Mountain pass

China National Highway 318 enters the prefecture-level city from the east at Mila Mountain, where it reaches an elevation of 5,000 metres (16,404 ft).[102] The highway runs through Maizhokunggar County from east to west.[82] It continues along the south bank of the Lhasa River through Dagzê County, then crosses to the north of the river in Chengguan District and runs through the center of the urban district. It turns south to cross Doilungdêqên District, where it is joined by 109, and continues down the west side of the Lhasa River through Qüxü County, and then along the north shore of the Yarlung Tsangpo through Nyêmo County, and onward to the west.[103]
Galashan Tunnel of Lhasa Airport Expressway

China National Highway 109 (the Qinghai–Tibet Highway) runs through Damxung County from the northeast to southwest, then turns to the southeast at Yangbajain.[103] It then runs through Doilungdêqên District along the Duilong River valley, to join China National Highway 318 just west of Lhasa.[104] The Lhasa Airport Expressway from Lhasa to Lhasa Gonggar Airport in Lhoka (Shannan) Prefecture is the first expressway in the Tibet Autonomous Region.[105] Construction began in April, 2009. The expressway is 37.8 kilometres (23.5 mi) long and has four lanes.[106]
Railway
Railway in Damxung about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Yangbajain

The Qinghai–Tibet Railway runs through the Lhasa prefecture-level city beside the Qinghai–Tibet Highway through Damxung County and Doilungdêqên District.[104] It terminates at Lhasa railway station in Niu New Area (Liuwu Township).[107] The terminus of the Qinghai–Tibet line, this station is over 3,600 metres (11,800 ft) above sea level, and is its largest passenger transport station. It includes a clinic with oxygen treatment facilities. The station uses solar energy for heating.[108] The Liuwu Bridge links central Lhasa to Lhasa railway station and the newly developed Niu New Area of Doilungdêqên District on the south bank of the Lhasa River. Residents in the area were resettled to make way for the new development.[109]

In 2030, the Sichuan–Tibet Railway currently under construction that will connect Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, and Lhasa.[110] The line will be 1,629 km (1,012 mi) long,[111][112] and cut travel time from Chengdu to Lhasa from 48 to 13 hours.[113]
Power
Yangbajain Geothermal Field

The Yangbajain Geothermal Station was established in 1977 to exploit the Yangbajain Geothermal Field in Damxung.[114] It is the first geothermal power station to be built in Tibet and is the largest geothermal steam power plant in China.[115] 4,000 kW of electricity from Yangbajain began to be delivered to Lhasa in 1981 along a transmission line that followed the Doilung Qu River.[71] It was the main power supply for Lhasa until the Yamdrok Hydropower Station came into operation.[115] By the end of 2000 eight steam turbo generators had been installed at the Yangbajain Geothermal Station, each with capacity of 3,000 kW, giving a total of 25,000 kW.[115] The geothermal field delivers 25,181 kilowatts, or 100 million kilowatt hours annually, to the city of Lhasa to the south.[70]

The Pangduo Hydro Power Station has been called "Tibet's Three Gorges Dam". It impounds the Lhasa River in Pondo Township of Lhünzhub County, about 63 kilometres (39 mi) from Lhasa.[116] It is at an elevation of 13,390 feet (4,080 m) above sea level, upstream from the 100 MW Zhikong Dam at 12,660 feet (3,860 m).[117] The rock-fill dam impounds 1,170,000,000 cubic metres (4.1×1010 cu ft) of water.[118] The power station has total installed capacity of 160 MW.[18]

The Zhikong Hydro Power Station lies between the middle and lower reaches of the Lhasa River, also called the Kyi River.[17] It is about 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of Lhasa, in Maizhokunggar County.[119][120] It is at an elevation of 12,660 feet (3,860 m) above sea level, downstream from the Pangduo Hydro Power Station.[117] The Zhikong Dam, a rock-fill dam, is 50 metres (160 ft) tall.[121] It impounds 225,000,000 cubic metres (7.9×109 cu ft) of water.[17] Installed capacity is 100 MW.[120]
Other facilities
Damxung railway station

The rural counties generally have numerous primary schools at the village level, with high levels of attendance, and at least one secondary school. In 2010 there were 28 schools in Dagzê County, including one junior high school and one kindergarten.[35] As of 2009 there were 37 primary and secondary school buildings in Damxung County.[citation needed] Maizhokunggar County has one high school, 14 full primary schools and 74 village schools.[83] Nyêmo County has 24 primary and secondary schools, including one junior high school.[39] As of 2002 Qüxü County had one County Middle School, and 18 primary schools.[93] Outside Lhasa most of the Tibetans do not understand the Chinese language, so Tibetan is the natural language for basic instruction. However, this may be affected by the availability of teachers and the preference of the local administration.[122] As of 2003 the former bilingual mode of instruction had been changed to giving instruction in Chinese in some of the counties near Lhasa. Examination results were already poor in subjects such as mathematics and physics. Marks dropped further after the change.[123]

Some of the township seats have a small clinic. Most have only a health station.

There were seven hospitals in Damxung in 2009, including a county hospital, with a total of 40 beds.[citation needed] The first drug rehabilitation center in Tibet was being constructed in Duilongdeqing County in 2009. It was planned to provide physiological rehabilitation, psychological therapy and job training for up to 150 drug addicts.[124] Lhünzhub County has 23 health care establishments, including a County People's Hospital with 30 beds.[37] Maizhokunggar has been selected as a Cooperative Medical System experimental site, which has resulted in a very high percentage of people with health care coverage.[125] Nyêmo County has a county hospital with 42 medical staff, eight rural health centers and 26 village clinics.[39]

The local television stations are Xizang TV (XZTV) and Lhasa Broadcasting and Television Center.[126] Lhünzhub County has a local radio and television station. TV coverage is received by 72.1% of the population, and radio by 83.4% of the population.[37] In Maizhokunggar County television is available to 36% of the population and radio to 48%.[83] There is a county television station in Nyêmo County.[39] As of 2002 in Qüxü County 98% of the population received radio coverage and 94% received television.[93] In 2015 there were 359,000 fixed line telephone subscribers in the whole of Tibet. The rugged high-altitude terrain makes it expensive to provide telecommunications services. The first mobile phone service was launched in 1993 with just one base station in Lhasa, and as late as 2005 mobile phones were expensive status symbols. Since then both mobile phones and internet usage have grown fast.[127]

As of 1996 the sole prison (jianyu) for judicially-sentenced political prisoners in Tibet was TAR Prison No. 1, also called Drapchi Prison after the neighborhood in Lhasa where it stands. It is for men serving sentences of five or more years. There is a labor camp (laogai) in Lhasa for men serving shorter sentences.[4] There are various other institutions where prisoners from Lhasa shi are held while they are being investigated, or where they undergo reform-through-labor.[128]
Temples and monasteries
Monks at Ganden Monastery in Dagzê County

Buddhism was adopted as the official religion of Tibet by king Songtsän Gampo (died 649) at a time when the rise of Hinduism was sweeping away Buddhism in India, the land of its birth. Over the next two centuries Buddhism became established in Tibet, now the center of the religion.[129] Tibetan Buddhism would become a pervasive influence on the lives of the people.[57] The first monastery, Samyé, was founded by Trisong Detsen (c. 740–798). Its buildings were arranged in a mandala pattern after the Odantapuri monastery in Bihar. The three-story monastery was completed in 766 and consecrated in 767. Seven Tibetans took monastic vows in a ceremony that marked the start of the long Tibetan tradition of monastic Buddhism.[130][g]
Early foundations

Yerpa, on a hillside in Dagze County, is known for its meditation cave connected with Songtsän Gampo.[132] The cliffs contain some of the earliest known meditation sites in Tibet, some dating back to pre-Buddhist times. There are a number of small temples, shrines and hermitages. Songtsän Gampo's queen, Monza Triucham, founded the Dra Yerpa temple here.[133] Jokhang in Chengguan District is the most sacred temple in Tibet, built in the 7th century when Songtsän Gampo transferred his capital to Lhasa. It was designed to house an image of Buddha that the Nepalese queen Tritsun had brought. Later rulers and Dalai Lamas enlarged and elaborated the temple.[134]

Ramoche Temple to the north of Jokhang is considered the most important temple in Lhasa after Jokhang, and was completed about the same time.[135] Muru Nyingba Monastery is a small monastery located between the larger Jokhang temple and Barkhor in the city of Lhasa. It was the Lhasa seat of the former State Oracle who had his main residence at Nechung Monastery.[136] It was destroyed during the persecution of Buddhism under Langdarma (c. 838–841) but rebuilt by Atiśa (980–1054). The monastery was part of the Sakya sect at one time. but became Gelug under Sonam Gyatso, the 3rd Dalai Lama (1543–89).[137]
Middle period
Mural in Nyêmo Chekar monastery of an incarnation of Samding Dorje Phagmo

The Nyethang Drolma Temple is southwest of Lhasa, 36 kilometres (22 mi) from the county seat and 33 kilometres (21 mi) from Lhasa.[138] It is in Nyétang, Qüxü County.[139] Some sources say that Atiśa (980–1054) built the monastery, which was expanded after his death by his pupil Dromtön (1004–64).[139] Another version says that Dromtön raised funds to build the temple to commemorate his old friend.[138] Dromtön built Reting Monastery in Lhünzhub County in 1056. It was the earliest monastery of the Gedain sect, and the patriarchal seat of that sect.[79] In 1240 a Mongol force sacked Reting monastery and killed 500 people. The gompa was rebuilt.[31] When the Gedain sect joined the Gelug sect in the 16th century the monastery adopted the reincarnation system.[79]

Tsurphu Monastery in Doilungdêqên District was built in 1189 and is treated as a regional cultural relic reserve.[64] The monastery was founded by Düsum Khyenpa, 1st Karmapa Lama, founder of Karma Kagyu school. It is the main Kagyu temple.[140] The Drigung Monastery of the Kagyu Sect was founded in 1179 in Maizhokunggar County. It is the home of the Drikhung Kagyu School of the Kagyu sect.[86] At one time Drigung was highly influential in both the political and religious spheres. It was destroyed in 1290 by Mongols led by a general from the rival Sakya sect, and although rebuilt was never able to regain its power.[141]

Yangpachen Monastery in Yangbajain, Damxung County was historically the seat of the Shamarpas of Karma Kagyu.[73] It is the main monastery of the Red Hat school of the Karma Kagyu sect. It was built in 1490, and through extensive repairs and additions grew into a major architectural complex that contained a large collection of cultural relics. The Red Hat school of Karma Kagyu died out in 1791.[74] Other monasteries founded outside the Gelug tradition include Taklung Monastery of the Kagyu school, founded in 1180 in Lhünzhub County,[142] and Nyêmo Chekar monastery of the Bodongpa school, founded in the 16th century in Nyêmo County.[143]
Gelug foundations
Ganden Monastery in Dagze County, the first Gelug foundation

Ganden Monastery was built after 1409 at the initiative of Je Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelug sect, and is the most important of this sect. It is 57 kilometres (35 mi) from Lhasa on the slopes of Wangbori Mountain at an elevation of 3,800 metres (12,500 ft), on the south bank of the Lhasa River in Dagze County. The mountain is said to have the shape of a reclining elephant. The monastery includes Buddha halls, palace residences, Buddhist colleges and other buildings.[144]

Drepung Monastery in Chengguan District was founded in 1416 by Jamyang Choge Tashi Palden (1397–1449), one of Tsongkhapa's main disciples. It was named after the sacred abode in South India of Shridhanyakataka.[145] At one time Drepung Monastery, with up to 10,000 resident monks, was the largest in the world. Sera Monastery was not much smaller.[146] Sera Monastery, about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Lhasa, was founded in 1419 by Jamchen Chöjé Shakya Yeshé (1354–1435), a close disciple of Tsongkhapa.[147] Ganden, Drepung and Sera are called the great "Three Seats of Learning" of the Gulugpa school.[148]

The Nechung Monastery, former home of the Nechung Oracle, is located in Naiquong township, also in Duilongdeqing County.[65] Nechung was built by the 5th Dalai Lama (1617–82).[66] Other Gelug foundations include Sanga Monastery (1419, Dagzê County), Ani Tsankhung Nunnery (15th century, Chengguan District), Kundeling Monastery (1663, Chengguan District), and Tsomon Ling (17th century, Chengguan District).
Revolution and reconstruction
Yerpa ruins in 1993
Jokhang, now a World Heritage Site

Most of the monasteries in the prefecture-level city suffered damage, and many were destroyed, before and during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76). Jokhang was used as a military barracks and a slaughterhouse during the Cultural Revolution, and then as a hotel for Chinese officials.[134] Many of the statues were taken, or were damaged or destroyed, so most of the present statues are recent copies. Jokhang was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.[149] Ramoche Temple was badly damaged during the Cultural Revolution but has been restored with assistance from the Swiss.[150] The Nyethang Drolma Temple survived the Cultural Revolution without much damage, and was able to preserve most of its valuable artifacts, due to the intervention of Premier Zhou Enlai at the request of the government of what is now Bangladesh.[151]

Reting Monastery was devastated by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution, and has only been partially restored.[152] Tsurphu monastery was reduced to rubble, but the huge temples and chanting halls have been rebuilt.[153] Before and during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) Drigung Monastery was looted of almost all its collection of statues, stupas, thangkas, manuscripts and other objects apart from a few small statues that the monks managed to hide. The buildings were severely damaged. Reconstruction began in 1983 and seven of the fifteen temples were rebuilt.[154] Yangpachen Monastery was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, but later was rebuilt.[74]

Ganden Monastery was completely destroyed during the rebellion of 1959. In 1966 it was severely shelled by Red Guard artillery, and monks had to dismantle the remains.[155] The buildings were reduced to rubble using dynamite during the Cultural Revolution.[156] Re-building has continued since the 1980s.[157] Nechung was almost completely destroyed but has been largely restored. There is a huge new statue of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) on the second floor.[158]

Nine sites in the Lhasa valley were listed in 1985 by the TAR Cultural Relics Authority as "regionally protected buildings". These were Tsangkung Nunnery, Meru Monastery and Great Kashmiri Mosque in the old city, and the Karmashar Temple, Meru Nyingba Monastery and Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Rigsum Temples elsewhere in the former prefecture.[159]