The Dalai Lama

by Alexander Norman

  The Ninth Dalai Lama: Lungtok Gyatso (1805–1815) The first Dalai Lama known to have contact with a European, he was visited by the eccentric British traveler Thomas Manning. He showed signs of great promise as a spiritual practitioner. There is some suspicion that he was murdered.

  The Tenth Dalai Lama: Tsultrim Gyatso (1816–1837) Plagued with ill health, he seems not to have assumed temporal power and in any case died before having any impact. Some believe that he was slowly poisoned at the behest of the Chinese amban.

  The Eleventh Dalai Lama: Khedrup Gyatso (1838–1856) A promising scholar, he was invested with temporal power at the age of seventeen. His death just three years later is believed by many to have been orchestrated by his ex-regent.

  The Twelfth Dalai Lama: Trinley Gyatso (1857–1875) Invested with temporal power as an infant following a coup against the regent, he ruled for only a short time and showed little promise as a scholar before his demise—many believe at the hands of two of his attendants, who in any case were arrested, tortured, and exiled.

  The Great Thirteenth: Thubten Gyatso (1876–1933) The Great Thirteenth was the first Dalai Lama since the Eighth to dodge the machinations of his regent and of the Qing ambans and attain both spiritual and temporal power. He was forced to flee Lhasa for exile, first in Mongolia and then in China, by a British military expedition under Colonel Younghusband (see Glossary). Almost no sooner had he returned than he was pushed out by Qing military forces. This time he fled south to British-controlled India. On the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, he returned and set about restoring his authority. Opposition from the Three Seats thwarted his plans to establish an independent military.

  The Fourteenth Dalai Lama: Tenzin Gyatso (b. 1935) The subject of this book.

  Glossary of Names and Key Terms

  Here I give brief definitions of some key terms alongside thumbnails of leading figures in the story. While I give Tibetan both phonetically and in Wylie, the Sanskrit terms are given only phonetically. Note that in the text itself, I have also used phonetics for most Tibetan words.

  Amdo (A mDo) The eastern province of historical Tibet. Since 1950 absorbed variously into Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces of the People’s Republic of China.

  Amdowa (A mdo ba) One who hails from Amdo (such as the present Dalai Lama).

  bodhichitta The spontaneous wish, rising out of Great Compassion, to attain Enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.

  bodhisattva A being with the wish to facilitate the liberation of all other sentient beings before taking Enlightenment; more generally, anyone who has generated bodhichitta.

  Buddha Literally, one who is awakened; one who knows the Truth (of the way things really are).

  Buddhadharma The path to liberation taught by the Buddha.

  CCP Chinese Communist Party.

  Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) Leader of the Chinese Nationalists (Guomindang), president of the Republic of China 1928–1975, from 1928 to 1949 within China proper, latterly on the island of Taiwan. Raised a Buddhist, he converted to Christianity on marrying his fourth wife, Soong Mei-ling (Madame Chiang, ca. 1898–2003). Inheriting the ideology of Sun Yat-sen, he saw Tibetans as a minority Chinese ethnic group.

  Chenresig (sPyan ras gzigs) (in Sanskrit, Avalokitesvara) Bodhisattva of Compassion.

  Chushi Gangdruk (Chu bzhi sgang drug) The Kham Four Rivers, Six Ranges Tibetan Defenders of the Faith Volunteer Army.

  Cultural Revolution (1966–1969) Motivated by Mao’s desire to restore his own power following the Great Leap Forward, and to secure his legacy, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution was a period of violent class struggle during which the “bourgeoisie,” allegedly intent on restoring capitalism, were to be eliminated. In Tibet, not only was all private property confiscated, but also it was impermissible even to cook at home. Arguably its chief achievement was the destruction of many monuments and artifacts held to symbolize the “four olds”: old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas.

  dharma A Sanskrit term meaning, literally, “the way”: Buddhism in particular; religion more generally.

  dob dob (rDob rdob) Fraternities of monks from whose ranks were drawn the monastery “police,” noted also for their sporting, fighting, and homosexual activities.

  Dorje Drakden (rDo rje grags ldan) A deity who is a minister in the retinue of the dharma protector Pehar, and who communicates with the Dalai Lama and members of the Ganden Phodrang via the medium of the Nechung oracle.

  Dorje Shugden (rDo rje shugs ldan) His proponents hold him to be a wrathful emanation of Manjushri, Bodhisattva of Wisdom, and as such a dharma protector; his opponents maintain that he is merely a worldly spirit.

  Enlightenment The state attained by one who has achieved liberation from samsara and is thus fully awakened as to the way things really are.

  emptiness (sTong pa nyid) The ultimate nature of reality.

  Four Noble Truths

  The truth of suffering

  The truth of the cause of suffering

  The truth of the cessation of suffering

  The truth of the Path to the cessation of suffering

  Gadong (dGa’ gdong) One of the oracles consulted by the Dalai Lama and members of the Ganden Phodrang for auguries of the future. A recent medium was mute when in trance. He could only simper.

  Ganden (dGa’ ldan) Monastery founded by Tsongkhapa in 1409; mother house of the Gelug school.

  Ganden Phodrang (dGa’ ldan pho brang) Name used to refer to the government of the Dalai Lamas.

  Ganden Throne Holder The senior-most position within the Gelug school.

  Gelug (dGe lugs) Literally, the Way of Virtue. Sometimes known as the New Kadam tradition, also as the Yellow Hat sect; the Gelug tradition, to which all Dalai Lamas have belonged, was founded by Tsongkhapa in the fifteenth century.

  Gelugpa One who follows the Gelug tradition.

  geshe (dGe bshes) An academic degree awarded to monks.

  geshema (dGe bshes ma) An academic degree awarded to nuns (an innovation of the current Dalai Lama).

  Geshe Wangyal (dGe bshes Ngag dbang dbang rgyal) (1901–1983) The Kalmykian monk student of the Great Thirteenth’s favorite, Agvan Dorjieff, Geseh Wangyal founded the first Tibetan Buddhist center in America while working as a CIA agent.

  Glorious Goddess (dPal ldan lha mo) Palden Lhamo, one of the most powerful protector deities, closely associated both with Tibet in general and the Dalai Lama lineage in particular.

  Gonpo Tashi Andrugtsang (A ‘brugs mgon po bkra shis) (1905–1964) Freedom fighter and founder of Chushi Gangdruk.

  Gould, Sir Basil (1883–1956) British political officer of Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet. Attended the enthronement of the present Dalai Lama as representative of the viceroy of India and of the British Crown.

  Great Compassion (sNying rje chen po) The wish or aspiration to facilitate the liberation of all sentient beings from samsara (see samsara).

  guru A spiritual guide or teacher (see lama).

  Gyalo Thondup (rGya lo don ‘grub) (b. 1928) Second-eldest brother of the present Dalai Lama, protégé of Chiang Kai-shek, and a CIA agent.

  gyalyum chenmo (rgyal yum chen mo) Title of the Dalai Lama’s mother.

  Harrer, Heinrich (1912–2006) Austrian-born mountaineer, student ski champion, and adventurer. His BA was in geography, and he qualified as a teacher before becoming a member of the SS and subsequently joining the Nazi Party. He saw the Dalai Lama regularly during the first half of 1950 and wrote about his experiences in the classic travelogue Seven Years in Tibet.

  Hinayana Literally “Lesser Vehicle” in contrast to Mahayana “Great Vehicle” Buddhism; arguably a derogatory term for non-Mahayana Buddhism.

  hungry ghost or yidag (Yi dwags) A being belonging to the realm below that of animals and insects but above that of hell beings.

  Jetsun Pema (rJe btsun pad ma) (b. 1940) Younger sister of the Dalai Lama. For over four decades she served as president of the Tibetan Children�
��s Villages, the school system founded by the Dalai Lama for the education of Tibetan refugee children.

  Jokhang (Jo khang) The most important temple in Tibet, it stands at the eastern end of Lhasa and is sacred to each of the different Buddhist traditions indigenous to Tibet.

  Kalachakra tantra Literally the “Wheel of Time” tantra, known since the eleventh century, this is a complex system of practices claimed by the Dalai Lama to be beneficial to the cause of world peace. It features explicit sexual imagery and an apocalyptic “theology” in which barbarian hordes are put to the sword by an invincible army emanating from Shambala, a hidden kingdom located within the Himalayas.

  Kargyu (bKa’ brgyud) Founded in the eleventh century, the tradition is particularly associated with Marpa and his famous disciple Milarepa. It split subsequently into several different schools centered on different incarnation lineages.

  karma (Kar ma) Its literal meaning is “action,” and it refers to the positive, negative, or neutral imprint of a given action on the actor’s mental continuum. It is the sentient being’s negative karma that keeps it within samsara.

  Kashag (bKa’ shag) The four-member council of ministers, or cabinet, of the Dalai Lamas and their regents. Traditionally, two members were monks. In recent times there have also been women Kashag members.

  kathag (kha dags) A length of (generally) white silk offered to a person or object (such as an image) to whom respect is due. These are of varying lengths and quality. The method of offering is to drape the kathag, which resembles a scarf, over the wrists with the arms outstretched, the hands open, and the palms turned upward.

  khabse (Kham zas) Traditional New Year cookies.

  Kham (Khams) Eastern province of historical Tibet, presently absorbed variously into the PRC’s Tibet Autonomous Region and its Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, and Yunnan provinces.

  Khampa (Khams pa) One who hails from Kham, such as Gonpo Tashi Andrugtsang (see Gonpo Tashi Andrugtsang).

  kuten (sku rten) Literally, the basis. A medium through whom one or more deities may speak.

  lama (bLa ma) A teacher or spiritual guide (the word translates the Sanskrit term guru).

  liberation

  From samsara, the necessary condition of Enlightenment

  From the “living hell” of serfdom by the Chinese Communist Party

  Ling Rinpoché (Gling rin po che) (1903–1983) Ninety-seventh Ganden Throne holder and senior tutor to the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

  Lobsang Samten (bLo bsang bsam gtan) (1933–1985) Immediate elder brother of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. Educated with the Dalai Lama, 1940–1945; Lord Chamberlain; school janitor in Scotch Plains, New Jersey; leader of first delegation to Tibet.

  Losar (Lo sar) Tibetan New Year (calculated according to the lunar calendar).

  Lotus-Born, The (Sanskrit: Padmasambhava) Eighth-century Kashmiri-born sage and thaumaturge. He was present at the founding of Samye, Tibet’s first monastery, but was subsequently banished from the kingdom. Surviving an assassination attempt, he is said to have spent the next fifty-six years in Tibet subduing its indigenous deities and binding them over to serve the Buddhadharma.

  Mahakala (Ma ha ka la) Protector deity, considered a wrathful emanation of Chenresig. He is closely associated with the Dalai Lamas, having protected the infant First Dalai Lama in the form of a raven.

  Mahayana Literally “Great Vehicle” (in contrast to “Lesser Vehicle” Buddhism); the earliest Mahayana teachings, which propound the way of the bodhisattvas, have been dated to around the first century CE.

  Maitreya The Buddha to come.

  Manchu The “barbarian” race of Manchuria, now subsumed as part of the People’s Republic of China, from which originated the Qing dynasty.

  mandala A two- or sometimes three-dimensional symbolic representation of the cosmos, or some part of it.

  Manjushri The Bodhisattva of Wisdom.

  Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Popularly known as the Great Helmsman, he was a Communist revolutionary and guerrilla leader who became the founding father of the People’s Republic of China. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama once composed a prayer in his honor.

  mo (Mo) Common form of divination that may use, for example, dough balls, inside of which paper with different possible answers are concealed, or dice.

  Monlam Chenmo (sMon lam chen mo) The Great Prayer Festival that celebrates the Month of Miracles of the Buddha, held at the beginning of the Tibetan New Year.

  National Assembly Traditionally comprising the aristocratic families of Tibet.

  Nechung (gNas chung) A monastery situated outside Lhasa and close to Drepung where resides the medium who channels Dorje Drakden. Also an alternative name for the deity himself.

  Nehru, Jawaharlal (1889–1964) According to the sometime US ambassador to India Loy Henderson, he was the “vain, sensitive, emotional, and complicated” ex-British public schoolboy and Cambridge-educated lawyer who became prime minister of India from independence in 1947 until his death in 1964.

  Ngabo, Nawang Jigme (Nga phod gnag dbang ‘jigs med) (1910–2009) Tibetan aristocrat and former governor of Chamdo, he was a member of the delegation that signed the Seventeen Point Agreement. According to Gyalo Thondup, he was the “biggest traitor of all time,” but Ngabo was nonetheless trusted by the Dalai Lama, who often sought his opinion and advice.

  nirvana The state beyond suffering in which all those who have attained final liberation subsist.

  Norbulingka (Nor bu ling kha) Literally the Jewel Park, founded by the Seventh Dalai Lama in the mid-eighteenth century, it became the summer retreat of subsequent Dalai Lamas, although both the Great Thirteenth and the Fourteenth both based themselves there permanently.

  Nyingma (rNying ma) Literally the “old” or “ancient” tradition, associated with the Lotus-Born during the first diffusion of Buddhism to Tibet.

  Nyingmapa (rNying ma) A follower of the Nyingma tradition.

  oracle There were many oracles in Tibet, those of Nechung Monastery and Panglung Hermitage being only the most famous. Most monasteries and most villages had their own medium who would channel one or more deities.

  PadmasambhavaSee Lotus-Born.

  Palden Lhamo (dPal ldan lha mo) See Glorious Goddess.

  Panchen Lama (Pan chen la ma) The second-most important reincarnation lineage within the Gelug tradition, centered on Tashilhunpo Monastery in southern Tibet.

  Pehar (Pe har) More correctly Gyalpo Pehar, the protector deity of the Tibetan government who communicates with Dorje Drakden (see Dorje Drakden).

  Phabongka Rinpoché (Pha bong rin po che) (1878–1941) Guru to Taktra Rinpoché, Ling Rinpoché, and Trijang Rinpoché, among others, Phabongka Rinpoché was a charismatic teacher and is credited with popularizing the cult of Dorje Shugden as protector of the Gelug tradition.

  Phuntsog Wangyal (Phun tsogs dbang rgyal) (1922–2014) An early member of the CCP, Phunwang, as he was known, interpreted for the Dalai Lama during his visit to China. He was subsequently purged following the One Hundred Flowers campaign, spending nineteen years in prison.

  PLA The People’s Liberation Army, the standing army of the People’s Republic of China.

  Potala (Po ta la) Palace built during the seventeenth century to house the Dalai Lama and the government of Tibet.

  Preparatory Committee for the Autonomous Region of Tibet This was the precursor to the modern-day Tibet Autonomous Region. Its nominal head was the Dalai Lama, who was succeeded in 1959 by the Tenth Panchen Lama.

  protector deity (Srung ma) Of these there are two classes: the worldly protectors and the dharma protectors.

  Qing dynasty (1644–1912) Established by the Manchu Aisin Gioru clan, it revived the empire of the earlier T’ang dynasty.

  rebirth The doctrine of transmigration. When a sentient being dies, it is reborn in one of the Six Realms unless it has succeeded in attaining Enlightenment. When first encountered by the Jesuit missionaries in Tibet, it was castigated for justifying infanticide: if a child was unwanted (usua
lly because it was female), it might be exposed and left to die in the pious hope that it would obtain a more favorable rebirth.

  reincarnation The means by which the most highly evolved spiritual masters are able to choose the manner and timing of their rebirth.

  Religious Kings (Chos rgyal) Of these there were three. First, Songtsen Gampo (Srong btsan sgam po) (604–649/50). Though he was a warrior chieftain, it is he who is credited with bringing Buddhism to Tibet. Famously, he married both Chinese and Nepalese princesses. Second, Trisong Detsen (Khri srong lde’u btsan) (742–797), who oversaw expansion of the Tibetan empire to its greatest extent and was on the throne when Tibetan forces briefly toppled the T’ang emperor. Third, Rapalchen (Ral pa can) (802–836), whose piety was such that he is said to wear woven hair extensions which his monastic advisers would sit on when in his presence. It is related that he was murdered by having his head twisted until his neck broke.

  Reting (Rwa sgreng) Monastery founded by Drom Thonpa, an earlier incarnation of Chenresig, in the eleventh century, as headquarters of the Kadam tradition.

  Reting Rinpoché (Rwa sgreng rin po che) (1912–1947) The Dalai Lama’s root guru and first regent, regarded as a great mystic and seer, he was almost certainly murdered.

  Richardson, Hugh (1905–2000) The last British political officer to serve in Tibet, he was both an outstanding scholar and an accomplished linguist, said to have spoken impeccable Lhasa Tibetan with the slight trace of an Oxford accent.

  Rinpoché (Rin po che) An honorific title meaning, literally, “Precious One,” generally reserved for reincarnate lamas.

  samaya May either refer to the commitment of an initiate or to the sacred bond established between master and pupil wherein the master is seen as an embodiment of the Buddha himself.