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There
are numerous legends in Tibetan pre-Buddhist record of the early history
of the Tibetan peoples, but one seems to be most commonly known. This
legend holds that the first Tibetans were born from the mating of a monkey
emanation of Avalokiteshvara (a patron deity of Tibet representing compassion
and sensitivity) and an ogress of the rocks (symbolizing the harshness
of the Tibetan environment). This mating is said to have occurred at Zodang
Gongpori Cave in South Tibet. From this mating came six children who later
multiplied into 400, then divided into 4-6 main tribes. Over time, the
monkeys evolved into humans, maintaining both their paternal ancestor's
compassion and their maternal ancestor's aggression. This legend is generally
held to be historical fact by many Tibetans. Further legend claims that, in the beginning, there were non-humans in power in Tibet, but as their power declined, these "monkey-tribes" took control of the land. These 4-6 tribes eventually formed the twelve ancient kingdoms. Sources suggest that these tribes took control around the 700's (BC) and continued to hold sway until 247 BC. |
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| The Kings NYATRI TSAMPO |
|
In
247 BC, a young man walked down from the mountains. He was an odd young
man. Stories say that he had webbed fingers, and that he had eyes like
a serpent. When he closed his eyes, the lower lids came up instead of
the upper lids coming down. When some local farmers met him walking down
from the mountain, they asked him, "Where did you come from?"
He pointed up towards the top of the mountain from which he had come.
These people were now all followers of the Bon religion, and were strongly
connected to their Sky God. So, they naturally assumed this strange mutant-like
being was a sky god and they carried him into their village on a throne
carried at their necks. His name was Nyatri Tsampo, "neck-throne
king," and the local tribes made him the first king of Tibet. He
was believed by many to be of divine origin and to have been immortal.
Legend says that when he died, he rose into heaven on a sky-cord, with
no need for a tomb. Others claim that he was of Indian origin, the son
of an Indian King, who, because of his strange mutant qualities, was banished
from his home and crossed the mountains on foot looking for a new life.
Nyatri Tsampo was the first of the seven Heavenly Kings called Tri (247-100BC).
These were the first seven Tibetan kings, who were all believed to be
immortal, and thus had no need for burial or entombment, all rising to
heaven on their sky-cords at the end of their time on earth. Toward the
end of this period, the Silk Road opened in the north. |
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| THE ARRIVAL OF BUDDHISM |
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The
8th king, Drigum Tsenpo, "Sword Slain," was said to be under
the influence of an Iranian Shaman and is said to have accidentally cut
his own sky-cord while in a contest of swordsmanship. Thus he became the
first mortal king, and from then on the kings were interred in the Chongye
Tombs. He and his son were known as the 2 Celestial Kings called Teng(100-50
BC), followed by the 6 Earthly Kings called Lek (50 BC -100 AD), the 8
Middle Kings called De (100 -300 AD), and the 5 Linking Kings called Tsen
(300-493 AD). The "Tsen" kings are significant in that up until
this point, kings had restricted their marriages to other royalty, and
thus were thought to be of godlike quality. Now during the "Tsen"
kings' reigns, kings began to marry among the Tibetan subjects and be
thought of as more like mortal folk. During these times, many industries
were developed, including metalwork, bridge building, agriculture, animal
husbandry, and irrigation. The development of taxation and trade allowed
Tibet to prosper and the value of horses began to rise. A rich Tibetan
folkloric tradition was established and Bon priests, or bards, known as
"Shen" began to narrate epic tales and sing mysterious riddles
throughout the region. During the reign of the last Linking king of Tsen, Lhatotori, the 28th King of Tibet, Buddhism entered Tibet in the form of a list of sutras and other sacred objects falling from the heavens and landing on the palace roof. Since no one could understand their meaning, they were known as the "awesome secret." After this time, Buddhism began to trickle into the country, mingling with the primarily Bon local belief system. |
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| SONGTSEN GOMPO |
|
| For
the next 200 years, through military and political maneuverings, and the
establishment of diplomatic and trade relations, much of the territory
became reunified, with some kings controlling nearly half of the twelve
ancient kingdoms that were said to constitute Tibet. In 617 AD, Songtsen
Gompo, the 33rd King of Tibet, ascended the throne and succeeded in unifying
all of Tibet for the first time in recorded history. At this time Lhasa
became the capital of the Tibetan Empire and the Potala Palace was constructed
as Songtsen Gompo's primary residence. During the course of his unifying actions, and mutual attempts to strengthen relations between Tibet and her neighbors, Nepal and the Tang Dynasty of China, Songtsen Gonpo married two important brides. Princess Wencheng was daughter of the Tang Emperor of China and Princess Bhrikuti was daughter of the King of Nepal. Both the Tang and the Nepali peoples were deeply entrenched in Buddhist thought by this time, and as their dowries, the princesses each brought with them a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha. Songtsen Gompo built two important temples in Lhasa, one to house each statue. Jokhang Temple is the home of Princess Wencheng's statue and Ramoche Temple houses Bhrikuti's statue. Due to his exposure during his unification attempts and also due to the influence of his foreign queens, Songtsen Gompo also became immersed in Buddhist spiritual pursuits and the spread of Buddhism throughout Tibet became more rapid. The king built a series of temples at important power places throughout the country and these are known as the earliest Buddhist temples in Tibet. Another important task accomplished by Songtsen Gompo was the importation of a writing system to the then solely oral Tibetan tradition. His sent his minister, Tonmi Sambhota, to India to study Sanskrit. From his study, characters were developed to represent the Tibetan language and Tibetan writing was born. Following the unification of Tibet under Songtsen Gompo, a series of military campaigns were undertaken and the influence of the Tibetan Empire was far-flung. This can be evidenced by the preservation of Tibetan Buddhist manuscripts and paintings in the Dunhuang Caves in Gansu province of northern China. |
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| TRISONG DETSEN |
|
During the reign of Trisong Detsen, who is thought of as one of the greatest
of the Tibetan kings, Buddhism was formally established as the state religion.
As the king sought to promote Buddhism throughout his land, he invited
Buddhist representatives from India to help found Tibet's first monastery
at Samye. According to legend, during the building of this monastery,
there were many obstacles that occurred due to hostile non-Buddhist forces,
or demons. Every day they would work hard building this structure, and
every night the "demons" would tear it all down again, so that
in the morning there was only a pile of rubble. In an attempt to counteract
these obstacles, the king invited Padmasambhava, the foremost practitioner
of Tantric Buddhism and the meditative tradition in India, to come to
their aid. Padmasambhava performed a meditative ritual during which he
bound the hostile "demons" of Tibet under an oath of allegiance
to Buddhism. This binding allowed the construction of the monastery to
be completed without further difficulty, and the first Tibetan monks were
ordained. The memory of this binding can be seen in Tibetan artwork in
monasteries and temples everywhere in the form of the protector deities.
These deities take the shape of horrifying monsters ("demons")
in garish colors with many eyes & many mouths and long sharp teeth.
These were the demons who once sought to thwart Buddhism, but who are
now bound to forever protect it. The establishment of this first monastery
and Buddhism as the official state religion of Tibet was of enormous historical
significance. The demilitarization of Tibet can be traced back to this
event. |
|
| THE END OF THE EMPIRE |
|
In the early 800's (AD), the 41st king was assassinated by his disgruntled
brother. Langdarma, the brother, then became the 42nd king, and with his
ascension to the throne came a resurgence of the Bon religion which had
had strong factions waiting in the wings for a chance to regain control
from the now Buddhist majority. His reign ended in a dispute for the throne
that dissolved any central authority in Tibet, thus ending the great empire
and plunging the land into 300 years of chaos. During this period of anarchy, Buddhist tradition was maintained in certain isolated areas, and perhaps due to this isolation, a number of different branches of Buddhist thought began to emerge. |
|
| The Shift to a Spiritual Administration ENTER THE MONGOLS |
|
In the 1200's, as the Mongolian Army swept across Asia, the Tibetans decided
to offer their services to the Mongols as "spiritual advisors"
in an attempt to avoid the fate of annihilation suffered by so many other
kingdoms. In 1244 Genghis Khan established a "patron-priest"
relationship with the Sakyapa Administration (the Buddhist school that
happened to be in control at that time). Therefore began the tradition
of the Tibetan spiritual leaders administering the land as representatives
of an external militarized empire. Numerous administrations followed and
for the next 700 years, factions from the various Buddhist schools vied
with each other (and with other secular factions) for control of the land,
relying on the military backing of the Mongol princes who remained deeply
involved in Tibetan political life. |
|
| TSONGKHAPA & THE DALAI LAMAS |
|
Je
Tsongkhapa was born in Kubum, and at the age of 6 became a monk at Shachung
Monastery. He later moved to Lhasa, where he became the founder of the
Gelukpa School, the Yellow Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. He built Ganden Monastery
in Lhasa and two of his close disciples founded Sera and Drepung Monasteries.
One of these disciples later became the first Panchen Lama. Another disciple
of his was Gendun Drupa, who was found to be an emanation of Avalokiteshvara,
and who later became the first Dalai Lama (although at this point he was
not called the Dalai Lama). Tsongkhapa and the Gelukpa School continued
to be extremely influential, and the successive emanations of the Dalai
and Panchen Lamas lent much prestige to the Gelukpa School and helped
to cement their relationship with the Mongols. The third Dalai Lama traveled
to Mongolia to become Spiritual Advisor to Altan Khan and was given the
Mongolian title Dalai Lama, which means "Ocean of Wisdom." This
title was then retroactively conferred to his previous incarnations. His
fourth reincarnation (Dalai Lama IV) was reborn as the grandson of Altan
Khan thus securing the backing of the Mongol armies in the civil wars
then raging in Tibet between the Buddhist schools and the Zhigatse princes.
During the time of the 5th Dalai Lama (1600's AD), the Mongols (backing
the Gelukpa school) succeeded in defeating the opposing factions and left
the governance of the Tibetan Plateau in the hands of Dalai Lama V assisted
by powerful regents--a pattern which continued for the next 300 years.
In successive centuries, there were many political shifts with the Manchus
taking over administration of the empire from the Mongols, but the local
administration of the Tibetan Plateau remained in the hands of the Dalai
Lama & the regents until the 1950's when the current Dalai Lama left
China. |
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| RECENT HISTORY |
|
Central
Tibet is currently called the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) or Xizang,
a province of the People's Republic of China. Areas of the Tibetan Plateau
stretch out into four other Chinese provinces--Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan,
and Yunnan. The historical record of the last 400 years is extremely complicated
and requires much more detailed explanation than we have room to include
in this brief history of the Tibetan region. We also want to point out
that what details we have included are very brief and summarized accounts
of much more detailed events meant merely to give you, the traveler, a
vague idea of the historical background of the of the Tibetan people.
We would suggest that if you would like a true and perhaps more accurate
account of these events, it would be best to search out historical texts
dedicated to such designs. However, we hope that this little taste of
the past has whet your appetite and sent you in search of more information
on the subject--because the subject is deep and vast and worthy of much
further investigation than this medium allows. |
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