Tibet Introduction(3)

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(4) The story of Tibet (641--877)
(b) The rising of Buddhism and the religious conflicts

The two wives, Nepal Princess Bhrikuti and Princess Wen-Cheng, of Srong-tsan-gam-po (Songtsen Gampo(1)) were both Buddhists. Each brought a group of Buddhist monks into Tibet. Those were the beginning of the propagation of Buddhism in Tibet which met a strong resistance from the native religion `Bon'. The King was very supportive. After him, Buddhism was in disfavor by the court. Princess Jin-Cheng was a Buddhist and revived Buddhism. She sent for monks from Tang and Xinkiang, and built some temples, organized the translations of Buddhism scriptures into Tibetan.

The fifth King, Khri-srong-de-tsan (TseSonDeZan(5)), who was possibly a son of Princess Jin-Cheng, was an important figure in promoting Buddhism. When he was 20 years old, he changed side from `Bon' to Buddhism. Under the King there was a debate between `Bon' priests and Buddhists. He declared that Buddhists won the debate, and `Bon' was prohibited (in fact Bon was not eliminated at all). There was a prosperity of Buddhism in Tibet. He invited a great India Tantric master, Padmasambhava, to spread Buddhism in Tibet.

Then there were internal disputes of Buddhism. As we know, Zen Buddhism (Ch'an) appeared in Tang Dynasty. The two branches of Zen were the newer `Dun Mon' (sudden enlightenment) and the traditional `Jien Mon' (gradual enlightenment), the first one believed in the sudden enlightenment, the second one believed in the gradual enlightenment. Who was right? That became a hot dispute. The King organized a second debate which lasted 3 years. Tang monks supported the newer Dun Mon, and India monks as led by Padmasambhava (Lien-hua sen, Lotus-Birth, ) supported the traditional Jien Mon. The King finally declared India monks the winners. The content of the debate was largely lost. According to the 5th Dalai Lama, some of the arguments were centered on the meaning of Tang monks phrases `Dun Mon' and `Jien Mon'; `Mon' in Tibetan sounded as `no' or `not', therefore, `Dun Mon' meant `un-law', and `Jian Mon' meant `un-kind' (Jien meant `kind' in Tibetan), hence Tang monks were trying to argue for an un-lawful and un-kind religion. I do not know the truth of the story.

The same King designated the first 7 Tibetan monks, and declared a law that every 7 families should support 1 Buddhist monk.

His son, Mu-ne-tsan-po (MuNiZanBoo(6)), succeeded him. Mu-ne-tsan-po (MuNiZanBoo(6)) and his mother were believers of Buddhism. His mother had him murdered, and the throne passed to his brother Khri-de-srong-tsan (TseDeSonZan(7)).

The King consolidated Buddhism in Tibet. He started using monks as prime ministers, and systematically translated Buddhist scriptures into Tibetan.

The King passed away in 815, and his son Khri-tsug-de-tsan (TseTsuDeZan(8)) succeeded. He was a true believer of Buddhism. Sometimes, he would lay down his long hairs on the ground for monks to sit on them to preach. He declared that anyone who stared or pointed to a monk would be punished.

For Buddhism, the three Kings, Srong-tsan-gam-po (Songtsen Gampo(1)), TseSonDeZan(5) and Khri-tsug-de-tsan (TseTsuDeZan(8)), were important, and were declared as Guardian-Kings (Fa-Wang) of Buddhism.

For all those years, Bon believers were trying to resist. Some Bon prime minister murdered the King, Khri-tsug-de-tsan (TseTsuDeZan(8)). The throne was passed to his brother Dar-ma(9) who was convinced to destroy Buddhism and to revive the native religion `Bon'. The timing might be a strange coincidence, note that in Tang, the Emperor (Wu-Chung) prohibited Buddhism in favor of Taoism at the same time. Dar-ma(9) ordered that all Buddhist scriptures burned, all Buddhist sculptures tossed away, and all temples used as butcher's mills. The destructions were total. It was a victory of Bon. Thus the first period of Buddhism (Chien-Hon Chee ) was closed in Tibet.

(c) The developments of Tibet

In the beginning Tibetans were nomad. After the conquering of the neighboring tribes, Tibet adopted more and more the way of agricultures, and became a country with sizable farmers, as presented in a Tang poem `Tibetans never tilled the land in the old days, they learned to grow rice and millet now'. Tibetans also learned irrigations from the farmers. Gradually there were villages in the valleys. After the conquering of Tu-Yu Huen, their land was put to the good use for horses and Tibet was famous for producing excellent horses.

The two wives, Nepal Princess Bhrikuti and Princess Wen-Cheng, of Srong-tsan-gam-po (Songtsen Gampo(1)) brought with them engineers, doctors etc. Tang sent experts of wine-making, water-mill, paper-making, bronze-making etc, and silkworm eggs. I can not reserve my doubt about the use of silkworm eggs in the highland of Tibet. They initiated the handicraft industries of Tibet. Furthermore, Tibetans got the techniques of food-process and jewel-making from Persian. Very soon the products were appreciated by the Emperor of Tang when they were delivered as tributes.

Tibet adopted a spelling written language using Sanskrit (old Indian alphabet).
The science of medicine was studied in Tibet. Tibetan was probably the first people with a good idea of fetus-development; a fetus will pass through a period of fish, and then a period of reptiles etc. Tibetan medicine was most likely influenced by Tang medicine as Indian medicine used the theory of 4 elements (as in Greece and elsewhere) as the foundation, while Han medicine relied on the theory of 5 elements. Tibetan medicine followed the theory of 5 elements.

Tibetans used the 12 animal symbols for years as in Tang, furthermore they used Yin-Yan times the 5 elements, i.e., 10 symbols which corresponded to the Han 10 numeral symbols Chia, Yee,.....etc, plus 12 animal symbols to form a 60 valued system (sexagenary) as in Tang.

Tibetan architecture was famous. The styles of building were essentially original. The greatest contribution of Tibetan engeneering was probably the invention of the iron suspending bridge. The suspending bridge was an old idea developed in the Han Dynasties. First they suspended a rope over a valley to transmit human and material. Later on, it was modified to have three ropes with two higher ones for human beings to hold. Then it was modified to four ropes with the lower two covered by wood boards. In Tibet, it was perfected to the present form. The Tang monks marveled while traveling through Tibet to India.

(C) The feudal period (10th century -- 17th century)
(1) The first period (the downfall of Tibet Dynasty to the end of Song Dynasty 1240)

(a) The emerging of Tibetan Buddhism

During the era of Dar-ma(9), several Buddhists ran away with Buddhist scriptures. They first escaped westward to the western part of Tibet, and then to Xinkiang. After the downfall of Dynasty, they came back to Qinghai (Amdo) and set up a temple to propagate the religion. In the meantime, Tibetans went to India to study Buddhism and came back to preach. Moreover, some famous Indian monks, as Dipamkarashrijinana (Atisa), were invited to Tibet to give lectures. Buddhism gradually revived. The time after 978 would be named the second period of Buddhism (Hou-Hon Chee).

The Tibetan Buddhism thus propagated became an independent branch of Buddhism. First it absorbed `Bon' and was modified by `Bon'. `Bon' became a branch of Tibetan Buddhism, the Black branch. The major differences in appearance were (1) Buddhism used the ancient Aryan symbol, a reverse swastika (as in Nazi Germany), as its symbol, while Black branch used the swastika (this was a mistake of Mr Hitler, he thought that swastika were the ancient Aryan symbol, however, it turned out to be the symbol of `Bon'!), (2) in praying or turning the praying wheel, Buddhists would turn clockwise, while the Black branch would turn counter-clockwise.

The above phenomena were not unique. Note that Han people had a native religion, Taoism, and a native philosophy, Tao-Chia. After the introduction of Buddhism to Han people, Taoism started imitating Buddhism, although maintained its character of nature-research (it produced many important scientists), while Buddhism combined with Tao-Chia to form Zen Buddhism.

The second character of Tibetan Buddhism is its relying on the `Tantric method' (`Mi' method or Esoteric method), i.e., Tibetan Buddhism believed the secretive and magic power of `Tantric Deities', and of reciting certain words (Lieng-Zo) passed down from generations. They believed the results of continuously praying to a particular deity which would bestow the magic power of the deity to the payer. At the final stage of Tibetan Tantric method, female companions for meditation will be required, and sex will provide the way to enlightening. Note that in Buddhism there were two main factors: Sutrus (Xien i.e., open or Exoteric method) and Tantrus (Mi i.e, closed or secretive or Esoteric method). Only in the Tibetan Tantric method, sex will be used. There was nothing foundamentally wrong about Tibetan Buddhism from the point of view of Buddhism.

The third character of Tibetan Buddhism is the meat-eating habit. Although vegetarianism was preached by Buddha, the peculiar restriction of Tibet made the meat-eating habit necessary.

Later on, Moslem extended its influence to India, Xinkiang, Silk-road (Gansu) and the south part of Qinghai, and Brahmanism revived in India, Tibetan Buddhism being different from Han Buddhism became isolated. Tibetan Buddhism advanced along its own direction, and became unique. It was not possible for Tibetan Buddhism to go east, south and west, therefore it spread to north to Mongolia. Later on, Tibetan Buddhism spread to Mongolia including Tuvu (part of Russian nowaday, i.e., Tannuwulianghai in Han words, Tibetan Buddhism is revived in Tuvu after the collapse of Soviet Union).

The first generation of Tibetan Buddhism was called the Red Hat branch (Nying-ma-pa). Since then, different branches of Tibetan Buddhism, Old-Yellow Hat branch (Ka-dams-pa), Flower Hat branch (Sa-skya-pa), White Hat branch (Ka-gyud-pa ) flourished in the different parts of Tibet. Red and Old Yellow Hat branches were not concerned with the civic world matters, and concentrated only on religion. Up to now we had the 5 branches, Red, (Old) Yellow, White, Flower, and Black, of Tibetan Buddhism. The only late comer was (New) Yellow Hat branch (Gelug-pa), that was the branch of Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. We will come to them later. I should mention that each branch was further differentiated into many subbranches, sometimes 10 or more. At the end of this era, Flower Hat branch (Sa-skya-pa) assumed a dominating position in Tibet, and gradually became corrupted, some Tibetan monks became indulging in sex.
There were two things worth reporting. In 1076, the year of `fire-dragon', there was a big convention of Tibetan Buddhists, the so-called fire-dragon year convention which pointed to a widely acceptance of Buddhism in Tibet. Secondly,a subbranch of White Hat (Ka-gyud-pa ) branch invented the system of `Tulku/Living Buddha', i.e., the reincarnation of the past sages. According to the `reincarnation story of Buddha', Buddha were animals as deer in his past reincarnations. Reincarnations were never intended from human to human, let alone from monk to monk, by Buddha. The system of Tulku/Living Buddha was unique, only in Tibetan Buddism. It is a common misunderstanding that there are only two Tulkus/Living Buddhas in Tibet. In fact, there are many. There is at least one Tulku/Living Buddha in a big temple as observed by me personally.

(b) The social structures

Corresponding to the diversification of Buddhism, the place was ruled by many lords. Usually, a family would be in control of the local lordship and the temple. Some temples became effective governing organizations, full equipped with soldier-monks. It was very similar to the medieval Europe and Japan before Meiji reformation.

(c) The areas surrounding Tibet

After the downfall of Tibetan Dynasty, a native, Gen Chang Yee-Chao , of Silk-road (Gansu), decided to chase the Tibetan army away. He organized many people of Sa-Chou (Sand-county, today's Dunhuan) to rebel. One day, many people gathered together, armed themselves and yelled at the Tibetan guards. The guards were scared away. Gen Chang organized a small army for fighting and farming simultaneously. Gradually, the army grew and conquered city after city along Silk-road while pushing eastward towards Tang. Finally they connected with Tang, and were recognized by Tang as part of Tang army. They advanced westward and reached Xinkiang (848--861). Apparently, this was an important local event since there were paintings and stories preserved to present day.

Song Dynasty was established in the land of Han in 960. Song Dynasty was a matured kingdom with advancements in the arts of governing, arts, sciences etc. This society was very humane. The punishments of scholars were very limited. Disfavored scholars were usually sent away to be governors in remote counties, almost no scholar was ever killed by Emperors. The inspirations of Tang people was to conquer far away lands, build empire etc, and thus lost the civil feelings of love and family. There were great results in mathematics and sciences, military and civil. Gun powders, printing, chemical warfares etc were invented in this era. The population reached 100 millions in a world of possible 250 millions.

A Tibetan subrace, Danxan, built a kingdom, Xixia, on Silk-road (Gansu) in 1002. The people of Xixia were Buddhists and used a written language different from the Tibetan alphabet. Another Tibetan tribe, Jiaoslo, occupied the fertile corner of Qinghai, and became a tributary of Song Dynasty. After Xixia blocking the trade along the silk road, the territory of Jiaoslo became the second silk road for the East-West trade of that time. Later on, Song sent an army to conquer Jiaoslo and Qinghai (1104).

The trade between Han people of Song Dynasty and the tribes around Tibet was mainly the exchange of tea-horse, Tibetan and tribes wanted tea and Han wanted horse.

(2) The second period (Yuan and Ming Dynasties 1240--1640)

(a) The conquering of Tibet by Mongol

In 1218, Genghis Khan swept through southern Xinkiang. In 1223, Genghis Khan led an army reaching Hindi river in India. In 1227, he conquered Xixia of Silk-road (Gansu). His son, the next Emperor, sent an army close to Lhasa, and suddenly withdrawed back to Qinghai and Silk-road (Gansu). Then the commanding general of Mongolia troop demanded a completely surrender. Tibetan lords and masters gathered together and decided to sent Saban and his nephew Phags-pa (Flower Hat (Sa-skya-pa) branch) as representatives to Mongolia army.

They decided the only way was to surrender, and negotiated a treaty which included items as the properties would be respected, Tibetan officials would not lose their positions etc.

According to the 5th Dalai Lama, it were Tang army who suddenly showed up, and Tibet had surrendered to Tang. It was an example of confusing non-Tibetan with Han people which is prevailing today.

(b) The rule of Yuan Dynasty

Since then Yuan Dynasty sent garrison troops to Tibet and set up post stations to open up transportation and communications between Dadu (Beijing) and Tibet. The Mongolia system of post stations, Zanze , was a modification of the ancient post system, E , of Han people. Eventually, Han people adopted Zan as the character for station.

Yuan Dynasty divided Qinghai into four parts; the fertile corner became part of Silk-road (Gansu), Mongol land at the north-west, land around Lake Qinghai (Tu-Yu Huen's land), and southern plateau became part of Tibet. Tibet was divided into three military zones (marshal area) , and Kang area (the part bordered Szechuan) was an individual state.

On the other hand, Tibetans were assigned with high positions in Yuan central governments, for instance, Sankou , a Tibetan, became a financial minister. Moreover, the Flower Hat (Sa-skya-pa) branch of Tibetan Buddhism became the state religion, Phags-pa assumed the title of the Emperor-teacher of Yuan Dynasty and became the `pope' of Buddhism all over Yuan territory. Tibetan were classified as `colored eye' people second only to Mongol and above Han. There were many horrible stories about Tibetan monks in Han history books. One of Tibetan monks dug up the skull of a past Song Emperor (Li-Chung) to make a cup for the Emperor-teacher. Some Tibetan monks demanded the rights of the first nights of brides. The term Flower-monk meant promiscuous monk in Han language since that time.

For political reasons, some one created an image of `teacher-patronage' between Tibetan monks and Mongolian Khans to replace the political reality of `ruled-ruler'. They would believe that a bunch of Mongolia rulers, from Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan on, sat in their tents with golden roofs, enjoyed Tibetan monks' `religious blessings and teachings in exchange for patronage and protection.' But this was very far from truth. Only a person who was ignorant about Mongolia history dares to tell this story. Mongols were Shamanists during that time! Even the title of Saban was `the high priest of Shamanism'! Mongolian Khans sent missions to visit Pope at Rome and King of England. There were persistent rumors in the West that Mongolian Khans were Christians. If you look at the first names of Mongols at that time, then you would realize that Christianity was more popular than Buddhism: you could find more Mongols used the names as Marcus, Cyriacus than all Buddhism first names. In fact, Mongols turned into true Buddhists in Ming Dynasty, after the creation of (New) Yellow Branch. The Mongolia Khans cared less about `religious blessing and teachings' than anything else. If you read Taoist book, `the western travel of Taoist Chang-Chuan zhen-ren', you would believe that Genghis Khan were a Taoist. It was clear that those Mongolia Khans used religions for their own political purposes.

How about Qing (Ching) Dynasty? Was there an imaginative `teacher-patronage' relation between Tibetan monks and Qing Emperors as some propagandists wanted us to believe nowaday? It was well known that Manchu believed in their own Shamanism to the very end! Read `A Dream of Red Chamber'. The Manchu Shamanism was described there. Did they need Dalai Lama to be their `the spiritual guide'? Of course not! All religious people exaggerated their own religions. I had no quarrel with them. But faking fictitious stories as historical facts made people laugh.

Towards the end of Yuan Dynasty, a famous Tibetan hero, Gyan-Ch'u Gye-Tsen who was a White Hat (Ka-gyud-pa ) branch Buddhist monk, unified the area around Lhasa, and was recognized by Yuan Dynasty as the local ruler, became the most powerful figure in Tibet. Under the influence of him, White Hat (Ka-gyud-pa ) branch Buddhism emphasized more on the `open' or Xien method. He passed away in 1364 when 63 years old. In 1368, an army of Ming Dynasty entered Dadu (Beijing) and ended Yuan Dynasty.

(c) Ming Dynasty (1348--1640)

In Ming era, Tibet became largely a tributary of Ming Dynasty, as Tibet was a part of Yuan Dynasty. Ming court re-confirmed the post station system, and kept the divisions of Tibet in Yuan Dynasty. Ming court sent several military expeditionary forces to pacify Tibet. Ming court further bestowed many titles to Tibetans, including 5 Kings and 3 Guardian-Kings (White Hat branch, Flower Hat branch, and New Yellow Hat branch, see below), which largely indicated the real situations of Tibet. The most important Kingship was Enlightening-King (San Hua Wang) which was given to the successors of Gyan-Ch'u Gye-Tshen who governed a large part of Tibet. In 1565, a new power, Tsanba Khan, who belonged to a different White Hat (Ka-gyud-pa ) branch, took away most land of Enlightening-King without the awareness of it by the Ming court.

I would take the opportunity to clarify the term of `Kingship' in Han records. There are two kinds of `Kingships': King or King of a Kingdom. When the King of Japan was referred to, the King was called King of Japan Kingdom, which indicated that Japan was an independent country. When King was mentioned without the term Kingdom, it means domestic title. At the beginning period of Song dynasty, the King of Wu-Yue wanted Song Dynasty to recognize him as King of Wu-Yue Kingdom, which was a very very serious matter. In the case of Tibet, all Kingships were domestic titles.
The development of Han people was interrupted by Yuan (Mongolia). The tradition of the humane face of Song Dynasty was lost to some extend. There were tremendous improvement on the technique front in Europe. The leading edges of science and technology of Han people were lost. However, there were some improvements in the absolute terms for Han people in this era, as the population of Ming increased to 200 millions.

After Tibet became a tributary of Ming, Tibetans realized that it was a very profitable business to pay tribute to the court, because the rewards were huge, and there were no tax for the trades carried by the tribute trains. After several years, Tibet wanted to pay tribute to the court every year with special Tibetan missionaries of several thousand strong. The court had to send royal decrees to restrict the frequences of the tributes.

To pacify the area and to please Tibetans, Ming court printed several Buddhism scriptures to be distributed in Tibet and manufactured some goods for Tibetan. In general there were prosperities in Tibet. Most temples were built in this era.

The most important event was the rising of Yellow Hat (Gelug-pa) branch (as against Old-Yellow Hat branch (Ka-dams-pa)). A great Tibetan monk, Tsong-kha-pa, organized a great convention in 1409. Thus he started the (New) Yellow branch of Tibetan Buddhism (`good behavior' branch). His rules were (1) very strictive on the regulations, monks and nuns should be celibate, marriage and sex were prohibited. (2) monks and nuns should depend on donations. (3) monks and nuns should not seek worldly powers. (4) to maintained `the system of Tulku/Living Buddha'. (5) to construct more temples . (6) to have annual conventions (`great prayer's festival', smon-lam)(7) to have a degree system, `Geshi' as a Ph D of theology, of Buddhism.

Monks of other Tibetan Buddhism disliked his new branch. Gradually, Yellow Hat (Gelug-pa) branch was squeezed out. The third re-incarnation of his youngest disciple (who was supposed to be a reincarnation of Buddha Chen-re-zi) went to Mongolia. There he achieved great success. The Mongolia Khan, Altan (Anda) Khan, was converted and bestowed him the title `Dalai'. He traced back, and called the first one 1st Dalai Lama, the second one the 2nd Dalai Lama, and called himself 3rd Dalai Lama. The title Panchen Lama(who was supposed to be a reincarnation of Buddha O-pa-me, or Buddha of Eternal Light) came much later, and would be reported at the proper time. He passed away in Mongolia in 1588, and designated a prince of Mongol as his re-incarnation, the 4th Dalai Lama.
When the 4th Dalai Lama grew up, Mongolia Khan sent Mongolia troop to help him back to Tibet. Note that the influence of Mongol was always very strong in Tibet. The 4th Dalai Lama restored to Yellow Hat (Gelug-pa) branch the control of the three big temples of Lhasa. Some Mongolia troop stayed on as the guard of Yellow Hat (Gelug-pa) branch.

The 5th Dalai Lama was an important figure. At that time, a Mongolia kinglet Chog-thu (Juetu) Khan who belonged to the White Hat (Ka-gyud-pa ) branch occupied the western part of Qinghai, sent an army of 10,000 strong with the intention of destroying the influence of Yellow Hat (Gelug-pa) branch in collaboration with Tsanba Khan, and Beri-Tusi, the ruler of Kang area (near Szechuan) who believed in Bon, intended to conquer Tibet for Bon. In the mean time, another Mongolia kinglet, Gu-shri (Kusi) Khan after conquering the western part of Qinghai (Mongol area) answered the call of Dalai Lama, led his troop entering Tibet. First he crushed Beri-Tusi and eliminated both Tsangpa Khan and Chog-thu (Juetu) Khan (1642). Form then on, Yellow Hat (Gelug-pa) branch became the most influential branch of Buddhism in Tibet.

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