Karma Tenkyong

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Karma Tenkyong (1606 – Neu,

Gelugpa sect and its leader the Dalai Lama. The outcome was the crushing of the Tsangpa regime and the establishment of the Dharma
-based Tibetan state that endured until 1950.

Succession and Mongol incursion

Karma Tenkyong was born in 1606 as the son of the Tsangpa ruler

Sakya and Taklung. Furthermore, the new ruler issued a law code.[5]

Character

Being the last of his dynasty and an enemy of the Gelugpa hierarchs, the memory of Karma Tenkyong suffered from the damnation of later Gelugpa historians. He, and the previous Tsangpa rulers, were regarded as inherently evil and opposed to Buddhism in spite of their well-attested patronage of the Karma Kagyu and Jonang sects.[6] Contemporary clerical observers, such as Yolmo Tenzin Norbu, reacted angrily on his transgressions of the elaborate social hierarchy of Tibet, as he tried to forge a pretentious genealogy for his upstart family, going back to a disciple of Padmasambhava: "He expects all to perform prostrations to him and raise up stacks of tea offerings. He even acts like that to our lama! He rejoices in his great qualities such as the power of his blessings and magical abilities. Yet, he was unable to humble himself regarding the height of the seat [compared to the seats of the Karmapa and Shamarpa hierarchs], and so forth".[7] Karma Tenkyong was known to his contemporaries for his hasty temper, strength, and audacious rashness, that incidentally were reminiscent of early Indian legends of Vajrapani, the deity he was believed to incarnate.[8]

Impressions of foreign visitors

In the time of Karma Tenkyong a number of

Jesuit missionaries visited Tibet. In 1628, the priests Estêvão Cacella and João Cabral arrived to the royal residence Shigatse and were received by the king. The Jesuits describe him as an intelligent and handsome man of 22, pious and generous to the poor. His palace was built on the top of a mountain, with a construction similar to a Portuguese fortress but without artillery. His court was kept with great luxury and the various rooms were gilded and painted. The personal apartment of the king contained a section where he collected curiosities. The palace had curtains of Chinese damask and other substances, the quality of which could compete with the silks of the Portuguese.[9] While the hostile Gelugpa sources are reluctant to accord the Tsangpa ruler royal titles, European accounts point him out as the king of Ü-Tsang ('Ucangue') or Tibet. The account of the Jesuit Father Gerbillon from the late 17th century says of him: 'It was not more than 60 years ago that Tibet, that is variously called Toubet, Thibet and Tangout, was governed by a king native to that land, called Tsanpa han [Tsangpa Khan], whom the Chinese call Tsan pou in their histories. This prince was once very powerful [...]; although the grand lama who is called Dalai Lama stayed in Poutala, that our travellers called variously Botala, Lassa and Barantola, he was still not the temporal sovereign of the land; it was Tsan pa who then ruled and lost the crown in the way that I will recount.'[10]

Struggles with the Chogthu Mongols

The new Dalai Lama, born in 1617, was eventually received in the Repung monastery in 1622. Pilgrims, notables and soldiers arrived in increasing numbers from Mongolia to Central Tibet and worried Karma Tenkyong. The Tsangpa ruler gathered around him members of the old nobility and old religious communities who looked on the expansion of the Gelugpa with suspicion. In 1631, he was able to push back the Gelugpa positions so that Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso was forced to seek refuge in

Gyangtse but were then dispersed by another Mongol chief. Karma Tenkyong and the Shamarpa hierarch sent message to Arslan's father and denounced the conduct of his son. Chogthu sent emissaries who murdered Arslan and a few of his followers.[13]

Relations with Bhutan and Ladakh

Meanwhile, there were a few disputes with areas to the west and south. Karma Tenkyong inherited from his father a latent conflict with

Chahar tribe of the Mongols performed a raid from Tibet into Ladakh but were repulsed by king Sengge Namgyal. Due to this there arose some tension between the Tsangpa and Ladakh, although it did not come to open warfare. The Tsang elite sent envoys to pay their respects to Sengge Namgyal. While he marched back with his army, the Ladakhi king subjugated a number of monastic fiefs and herdsmen communities in western Tibet.[15]

The rise of Güshi Khan

The disappearance of Arslan gave room for the chief of the

Bön religion and was in particular hostile to the Gelugpa, which suffered persecution. A conspiratory letter from Donyo Dorje to Karma Tenkyong was intercepted by a Gelugpa representative. That served as a pretext for Güshi Khan to invade Kham in concert with Parik tribesmen from Amdo. Donyo Dorje was captured and executed in 1640, and in the next year the entire Kham fell under the pro-Gelugpa forces.[16]

Invasion of Tsang

The time had now come for Güshi Khan and Dalai Lama's Tibetan supporters to deal with Karma Tenkyong once and for all. Ngawang Losang Gyatso supposedly wished to avoid bloodshed but was overruled by his chief attendant Sonam Chospel. Still, the Gelugpa leadership initially held a formally neutral stance when the Mongol forces turned against Karma Tenkyong. The Panchen Lama, who resided in the Tashilhunpo monastery in Tsang, was invited to travel to Ü so that he would not be harmed by the forthcoming invasion. As it was, Karma Tenkyong was informed that Güshi Khan's army was heading towards Tsang, and proceeded to arrest the lama who was kept in detention.[17] The Tsangpa ruler sent troops to guard the borders and erected a stockade around the capital Shigatse. However, Güshi Khan had obtained the reputation of being an invincible warlord and met with relatively weak resistance. Thirteen districts were rapidly overrun, and the Mongol forces laid siege to Shigatse. The skilful Tsangpa archers kept the attackers at bay for several months. In the meantime, Sonam Chospel secured the various Tsangpa districts in Ü through persuasion or force. Eventually, he openly showed his support for Güshi Khan's enterprise and joined the siege with a large body of soldiers.[18]

Defeat and death

While the conflict was going on, a large Tibetan delegation was dispatched to the

Tsangpo river near Neu.[20]

References

  1. ^ Giuseppe Tucci, Tibetan Painted Scrolls, Rome 1949, Vol. II, p. 697.
  2. Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa
    , One Hundred Thousand Moons, Leiden 2010, p. 284.
  3. ^ Giuseppe Tucci, 1949, Vol. I, p. 58.
  4. ^ Giuseppe Tucci, 1949, Vol. I, pp. 58–59. Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, 1967, p. 101, says that the incursion took place in 1620.
  5. ^ Giuseppe Tucci, 1949, Vol. II, p. 697.
  6. ^ David Templeman, 'The 17th cent. Tsang rulers and their strategies of legitimation', 2013, p. 72. [1]
  7. ^ Benjamin Bogin, The illuminated life of the great Yolmowa. Chicago 2013, p. 204.
  8. ^ David Templeman, 2013, p. 74.
  9. ^ Giuseppe Tucci, 1949, Vol. I, p. 63.
  10. ^ Giuseppe Tucci, 1949, Vol. I, p. 64.
  11. ^ Giuseppe Tucci, 1949, Vol. I, p. 59.
  12. ^ Ya Hanzhang, Biographies of the Tibetan Spiritual Leaders Panchen Erdenis, Beijing 1994, p. 34.
  13. ^ Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, 1967, pp. 103–04; Giuseppe Tucci, 1949, Vol. I, pp. 60–61.
  14. ^ Michael Aris, Bhutan. The early History of a Himalayan Kingdom, Warminster 1979, p. 219.
  15. ^ Luciano Petech, The Kingdom of Ladakh, C. 950-1842 A.D., Rome 1977, pp. 46–47.
  16. ^ Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, 1967, pp. 104–07; Giuseppe Tucci, 1949, Vol. I, pp. 61–63.
  17. ^ Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, 1967, pp. 107–08.
  18. ^ Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, 1967, pp. 110.
  19. ^ Giuseppe Tucci, 1949, Vol. I, pp. 64–65.
  20. ^ Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, 1967, pp. 111–12; Ya Hanzhang 1994, p. 41; Sarat Chandra Das, 'Tibet, a Dependency of Mongolia', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal I:5 1905, pp. 153–54.

Further reading

Preceded by Ruler of Tibet
1620–1642 		Succeeded by
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