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Pagdu Dynasty - 1354-1618

Dalai Lama
I	Gedun Drupa	1391	1474
II	Gedum Gyatso	1476	1542
III	Sonam Gyatso	1543	1588
IV	Yonten Gyatso	1589	1616
V	Lobsang Gyatso	1617	1682
VI	Samyang Gyatso	1683	1706
VII	Keisang Gyatso	1708	1757
VIII	Jampei Gyatso	1758	1804
IX	Longto Gyatso	1805	1805
X	Tshutrim Gyatso	1816	1837
XI	Khedru Gyatso	1838	1855
XII	Chinlei Gyatso	1856	1875
XIII	Thutan Gyatso	1876	1933
XIV	Tenzin Gyatso	1935	..

The Sakya Dynasty tottered in the latter period of the Yuan Dynasty and was replaced by the Pagdu Dynasty in 1354. Mongol power in China was first broken by a Buddhist lama, who founded the Ming dynasty of China in 1355 AD. On the accession of the Ming dynasty in 1368 the Chinese Emperor deemed it politic, while conciliating the monks as a body, by gifts and titles, to strike at the Saskya power by raising the heads of two other monasteries to equal rank with it (Dikung of the Kar-gyn sect and Ts'al of the Ka-dam sect), and encouraged strife against it.

The rulers of the Ming dynasty, which succeeded the Mongol dynasty in China from 1367 to 1644, confirmed the successors of Phagmodu on the throne; they also recognised eight great monasteries which had by this time arisen.

Under the Ming dynasty, the Chinese ruled Tibet by a new mode, viz.: by spiritual leaders, who had honors and emoluments showered on them. The Tibetians displayed several inclinations to throw off the China yoke. Tibet did not lose the power of styling her rulers gialbo, until nearly a century after she had submitted wholly to China, in the reign of Kang-he. And it was not till the reign of Keen-lung, when the last ruler, who bore that title, revolted, that it was abolished. When this event took place, the tributary dominions of the country were given to the Dalai-lama, (spiritual chief,) who had previously possessed a larger share of authority.

Lamaism as a temporal power disappeared for a time when Phagmodu, after a protracted struggle, succeeded with the aid of the Peking Court in setting up a dynasty which ruled in Tibet for many years. It was in 1447, somewhere in this period, that the famous monastery of Toshi Lunpo was built.

Tsong-kapa, the Luther of Tibet, is reported, on almost worthless evidence, to have been born in 1357 and to have died in 1419. Under the patronage of the Pagdu Dynasty Tsong Khapa, much influenced by Atisha, established the Gelugpa Order, the order of Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. The regime of the re-incarnate hierarchy of Lhasa was established by Tsong-kapa ["He of the Orion Land"], a monk from the then populous region of Koko-nor, far to the northeast of Lhasa.

His reformations were sweeping in their scope, and though at this day the various sects of Lamaism are divided rather by tradition, ritual, and costume than by any vital dogmatic schism, the stricter moral code of the Gelukpas or Yellow Caps, Tsong-kapa's sect, were recognized. Its first Grand Lama was Tsong-Kha-pa's nephew, Geden-dub, with his succession based on the idea of his perpetual re-incarnation.

The first re-incarnation of Amitabha or Manjusri [the Tibetan name is Chenrezig] — the Indian synonyms are conveniently used for the chief personages of the Greater Vehicle of Buddhism — was Gedun-tubpa, Grand Lama of Tashi-lhunpo, in whom Tsong-kapa recognized the personality of Padma Sambhava. Gedun-tubpa thus founded a series of re-incarnations near Shigatse, of which the successive holders made such good use.

Initially given by Gushri Khan, chief of the Qosot Mongols, the title of 'Panchen Lama' started with Lobsang Choekyi Gyaltsen (1567-1662), the fourth Panchen Lama, with the former three being posthumously admitted.

In 1578, the title of 'Dalai Lama' was first conferred on Sonam Gyasto (1542-1588) by Altan Khan, a Mongol chief known for re-introducing Buddhism into Mongolia. In 1587, the title of 'Dalai Lama' was officially admitted by the Ming Dynasty, with Sonam Gyasto being known as the third and his two predecessors being posthumously admitted as the first and the second Dalai Lamas.

In 1640 the Yellow Hats leapt into temporal power under the fifth series of Grand Lamas, the crafty prelate. Lob-zang Gya-mts'o, also known as 'the fifth Jina' [a title of Buddha], Gyal-ba-Na-pa. At his request a Mongol prince, Gusri Khan, conquered Tibet and made a present of it to him, and in 1650 he was confirmed in the sovereignty by the Mancha Chinese Emperor, and also in the title of Ta-lai, usually written by Europeans Dalai, which is merely the Mongolian word for Gya-mts'o (or 'Ocean'), the surname of himself and his three predecessors.

This resourceful Dalai Lama consolidated and extended his rule by inventing divine legends about himself, and by forcibly appropriating many of the monasteries of the older sects. He also built for himself the famous palace-monastery on the red hill at Lhasa, the name of which he changed to ' Potala,' after the mythic Indian residence of the most popular of all Buddhist divinities, Avalokita, or Lord of Mercy, of whom he posed as the incarnation, and whose special spell was the famous Orh manipadme Hum formula.