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the monastery of Namgyal Ta-tshang on Potala, but the Shwamar (red-cap) Lamas whose power was again ascendant under the auspices of the ruler of Tsang, dispossessed him of this institution, converting it at the same time to a monastery of their own school. In 1574, the Tsang army under Rinchen Pûng-pa invaded Û and after subjugating it, withdrew to Tsang. About this time, the messenger of Altan Khan arrived and Sonam Gya-tsho was but too glad to accept the invitation for the purpose of converting the Mongolians to his creed. He set out on his journey to Mongolia in the company of the Khan's messenger, but owing to the numerous invitations he received on the way from the various chiefs and nobles of Tibet and who importuned him for his blessings, his journey was retarded. Tashi Rabdan, therefore, parted company with him at Radengs and proceeded to Mongolia, in advance of the Lama. Being informed that the incarnate Phagpa was coming, Altan Khan deputed three of his generals to welcome him. While passing through Arig-thang, Ñan-tsho and upper Mongolia, the Lama received the deputations which brought the tidings of the welcome that would be accorded him by the Khan. Altan himself advanced up to Tshab-cha, at the source of the Hoangho, a place situated to the South East of Lake Kokonor. At the first meeting the Khan addressed the Lama by the title-Talé Lama Vajradhara, Talé being the Mongolian equivalent of Gya-tsho 5 which signifies "Ocean." But the Lama's real name was Sonam Gya-ts ho which signified "The ocean of merit." Thus originated the name Dalai (from Talé) Lama by which the Buddhist hierarchs of the line of Gadûn-dûb came to be known in Mongolia, China and Tibet. From that time Gya-tsho became a necessary and inseparable part of the name of Gadûndûb's successors. The Mongolians readily embraced Buddhism and became devout followers of the Yellow-cap Church. With a view to commemorate his visit to Mongolia, Sonam Gya-tsho, under the auspices of the Khan, founded the monastery of Choikhorling 6 in the Mongol capital. About this time the monastery of Kumbum* was founded at the birth place of Tsongkhapa iu Amdo.

On his return journey Sonam Gya-tsho visited Khukukhukto 7

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Kumbum, it may be remembered, was visited by Abbe Huc and

Gabet and later on by Mr. W. W. Rockhill.

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Lithang, Chamdo, Kham, Lithang, Apo, Chakhyungtag, Ngan-tig Jomokhan, Chambabomling, &c., thus propagating the Buddhist faith in Mongolia and the border lands of Tibet. Having been worshipped by all classes of people-from the Khans of Mongolia down to the barbarians of Ulterior Tibet, he returned to Tibet, full of glory. He died in 1587. The spirit of Sonam Gya-tsho was discovered in Mongolia, the favourite place of his sojourn, in the family of Sumi Thaiji, a direct descendant of Jenghis Khan, the great Tartar conqueror. The child was named Yontan Gya-tsho' the 'ocean of good quality.' This happy incident made the Mongolians firmly attached to the Yellow Church. They kept him in their country till the 15th year of his age. The authorities of Dapûng, fearing lest the morals of their incarnate Lama might get stained by his continued residence in a country where chastity in the fair sex was unknown, brought him to Tibet at the budding of his youth. They gave him a good religious education before entrusting him with the duties of the high-priest of their monastery. About the time of Sonam Gya-tsho, the Kalmuk Tartars of Khalkha had set up a third hierarch of the Yellow-cap sect under the name of Je-tsun-Dampa at Urga-the city of tents. A question arose as to the relative position, in spiritual rank, of the high priest of the Mongolian monastery of Gahdan and the Khalka hierarch. The Tartars of the upper and lower Mongolia were about to go to war for its solution.

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In 1605, the young chief of the Eleuth Mongols effected reconciliation between the Kalmuks and his own tribe who had been quarrelling for some time on the question of precedence between Gahdan and Urga, For this service the Emperor of China conferred on him the Buddhist title of Tā Kau-sri, from which circumstance he became known by the name of Gushi Khan.

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In the year 1609, the armies of Tsang again invaded Û, but encountering much opposition they were forced to withdraw from there. In 1611, Phun-tshog Namgyal who patronized the Shwa-mar (red-cap) Lamas, became the supreme ruler of Tibet. In the beginning of the 17th century the province of Tsang came to prominence on account of the power of its Deba or chief. He belonged to the Karmapa hierarchy known by the name of Shwa-mar which had its headquarters at Tshorpu and Ralûng. With a view to put to shade Tashilhûnpo they erected a large monastery in its immediate vicinity.

In the year 1615, Yontan Gya-tsho died, an event which was followed by the seige of the monasteries of Sera and Dapûng by the armies

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ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ

༸ རྗེ་བཙུན་དམ་པ

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ཕུན་ཚོགས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ

of the Deba of Tsang in which several thousand yellow-cap Lamas were killed. The news of this disaster to the Yellow Church enraged the Eleuth Mongols, whose general marched with a large army to Tibet and fought a fierce battle with the Tsang army at Kyang-thang-gang, and killed several thousand Tibetans. In 1620, the Mongolians retired after restoring the lost territorial endowments of the Yellow Church to the monasteries of Sera, Dapûng and Gahdan. About this time Sera and Dapûng were presided over by the grand Lama of Tashilhûnpo. In 1621, the boy Lozang Gya-tsho,1 in whom the spirit of Yontan Gya-tsho had passed in 1616, was brought to Dapûng. In 1623, he was ordained and installed as the high priest of Dapûng. About this time the Shwamar Lamas had regained their lost position and were vigorously persecuting the Yellow Church.

They had, in the meantime, influenced the Kulmuk Mongols whose chief had become a convert to their creed. In the year 1636, Gushi Khan espoused the cause of the Yellow Church and entered Kokonor with a large army. At the outset of this invasion he had to encounter with the Kulmuk Mongols who had taken up the side of the Shwa-mar Lamas. He completely defeated them after several engagements. From Kokonor, while proceeding towards Tibet, he heard that king Beri of Kham, who was a follower of the Bon* religion, was preparing to invade Tibet. He, therefore, marched against him and reduced him to subjection. He again invaded Kham in 1639; this time, putting Beri to death, he annexed his territories to his Mongolian kingdom.

In the year 1641, at the invitation and earnest entreaty of the Dalai Lama Ngag-wang Lozang Gya-tsho, he entered Tibet with 30,000 Tartars and fought several battles with the Tsang army led by the powerful Deba of Tsang. After capturing Lhasa and other towns which had been in the occupation of the Deba, he put him to prison, annexed Upper Tsang† of which Gyan-tse was the chief town, and proclaimed himself the supreme king of Tibet, assuming the Tibetan name of Tanzing Choi-Gyal-the upholder of Religion or Dharmu Rājā.

* The pre-Buddhistic religion of Tibet, called Yun-drûîn Bon, a form of fetischism in which exorcism and incantations were the chief features. It now prevails in some parts of Tibet, particularly, Kham, but in a greatly modified and partly Bud dhicised form.

† He left lower Tsang, with Shiga-tse as its capital, to the possession of the Grand Lama of Tashilhûnpo which continues to belong to that hierarchy up to this day.

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He appointed Sonam Choiphel as Desrid (governor) to rule over the country in his absence. Henceforth Tibet became a dependency of the Mongolian kingdom founded by Gushi Khan, the Eleuth chief, who owed but nominal allegiance to China. In 1643, six great nobles of China conspired against the last Ta-ming emperor Khrungtin (Tûngtin), and their leader usurped the imperial authority for some time, Shortly after, Shun-ti (also called Shunchi), a Mantchu chief, seized the throne and displaced the Ta-Ming dynasty. So, owing to troubles in China and confusion during the period which preceded this dynastic change, no armed protest came from Peking against Gushi Khan's military operations in Tibet and Kham. In 1644, Gushi Khan built a castle on the famous bill of Potala for the accommodation of his court.

As soon as Shun-ti found himself secure and firmly seated on the imperial throne, he took up the foreign affairs in hand. With a view to bring Tibet again under his direct control he sent an invitation to the Dalai Lama to visit Peking. In 1651, Ngag-wang Lozang reached Peking where he was fêted and loaded with honours. The Emperor, who with his whole family embraced the Lamaism of the Yellow-Church in preference to that of the red-cap school to which the Ta-Mings were attached, decorated him with the exalted title of Ta-kausri. On this occasion, the Dalai Lama was greatly impressed with the power and splen dour of the Emperor's court as well as the vastness of his dominions. With a view to make the position of his church secure in Tibet he prayed to the Emperor that China might take over the protectorate of Tibet in the manner it was done by Khublai Khan, the founder of the Ta-Yen dynasty, when the Emperor himself had embraced the Lamaism of the Sakya-pa school. He also explained that the Ta-Mings from the time they had displaced the Tartar dynasty proved themselves very staunch supporters of Lamaism and became pledged to the tenets of the Redcap sect of the Karma-pa hierarchy. Shun-ti very gladly acceded to the prayer. From that time the Man-tchu dynasty became vouched, under solemn promises, to the protection of the authority of the Dalai Lama in Tibet.

Shortly after this, Shun-ti proceeded to Mukden, his Man-tchu capital, for offering prayers in the tombs of his ancestors. Lozang Gya-tsho accompanied him thither. At the end of the year 1652 the Lama returned to Tibet, visiting on the way the great monastery of Gonlung in Amdo, then a flourishing Yellow-Church institution with 10,000 monks.

In 1653, Gushi Khan was succeeded by his son Da-yen Khan who appointed Lama Tín-léh Gya-tsho as Desrid of Tibet. The government

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having passed from the hands of a Tartar General to those of a Lama, the power of the Dalai Lama, who had lately returned from China, full of glory, greatly increased. Lozang Gya-tsho, besides being a scholar, well read in the sacred literature, was a shrewd statesman of great ability. He made Tin-léh unconsciously subservient to his. wishes in the government of the country. In 1668, the Desrid died leaving the Government in the hands of a layman named Choipon Deba, an incident which afforded Lozang Gya-tsho a still better opportunity to exercise his influence more effectually in the affairs of the state.

In 1670, Da-yen Khan died leaving the throne to his son Ratna Talai Khan. On the retirement of Choipon Deba in 1674, Lama Lozang Jin-pa was appointed Desrid of Tibet. Since the conquest of Tibet by Gushi Khan, the internal administration of the country, which was vested in the Desrid, had been practically directed by Lozang Gya-tsho, who, since his return from China, was considered as the holiest man on the face of the earth on account of his having become the spiritual tutor of the Emperor of China. He was reverentially called Gongsa-ngapachenpo,1 the fifth supreme Lama, the four who preceded him being Gadûndûb the founder of the hierarchy, Gadûn Gya-tsho, Sonam Gyatsho and Yontan Gya-tsho.

Tālai Khan having become powerless in Mongolia itself, his Desrid became a non-entity in Tibet. In the year 1678, Lozang Gya-tsho assumed the supreme control of the country and appointed SangyeGya-tsho, a layman of great wisdom and learning, as Desrid in the place of Lozang Jin-pa. Thus the sovereignty over Tibet and Khạm practically passed from Tālai Ratna Khan, the great-grandson of Gushi Khan, to the Talé Lama Ñag-wang Lozang Gya-tsho, the supreme

hierarch.

The ancient castle of Sroûtsan-Gampo, the first Buddhist King of Tibet, which stood on the hill called Marpoi-ri (the red hill), was selected by Lozang Gya-tsho for his court. He transferred his residence and court called Chyog-lé Namgyal from Dapûng to there, and laid the foundation of the famous palace of Phodang Marpo, now called Gahdan Phodang Chyoglé Namgyal.

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The name of the hill at the same time became changed into Potala, because the residence of Bodhisattva Avalokiteçvara, the patron saint of Tibet, whose spirit was believed to have appeared both in King Srongtsan Gampo and himself, was mentioned in the sacred books to have

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