648-877 - Tubo Kingdom
| Yarlung Kingdom | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nyatri Tsenpo | 127 BC * | ?? |
| 2 | Mutri Tsenpo | ?? | ?? |
| 3 | Dingtri Tsenpo | ?? | ?? |
| 4 | Sotri Tsenpo | ?? | ?? |
| 5 | Mertri Tsenpo | ?? | ?? |
| 6 | Dakrri Tsenpo | ?? | ?? |
| 7 | Siptri Tsenpo | ?? | ?? |
| 8 | Drigum Tsenpo | ?? | ?? |
| 9 | Chatri Tsenpo | ?? | ?? |
| 10 | Esho Lek | ?? | ?? |
| 11 | Desho Lek | ?? | ?? |
| 12 | Tisho Lek | ?? | ?? |
| 13 | Guru Lek | ?? | ?? |
| 14 | Trongzhi Lek | ?? | ?? |
| 15 | Isho Lek | ?? | ?? |
| 16 | Zanam Zindé | ?? | ?? |
| 17 | Detrul Namshungtsen | ?? | ?? |
| 18 | Senöl Namdé | ?? | ?? |
| 19 | Senöl Podé | ?? | ?? |
| 20 | Senöl Nam | ?? | ?? |
| 21 | Senöl Po | ?? | ?? |
| 22 | Degyel Po | ?? | ?? |
| 23 | Detrin Tsen | ?? | ?? |
| 24 | Tori Longtsen | ?? | ?? |
| 25 | Tritsen Nam | ?? | ?? |
| 26 | Tridra Pungtsen | ?? | ?? |
| 27 | Tritog Jetsen | ?? | ?? |
| 28 | Lha Thothori Nyantsen | ?? | ?? |
| 29 | Trinyen Zungtsen | ?? | ?? |
| 30 | Drongnyen Deu | ?? | ?? |
| 31 | Tagbu Nyasig | ?? | ?? |
| 32 | Namri Songtsen | 570 | 617 |
| Tubo Kingdom | |||
| 33 | Songtsen Gampo | 617 | 649 |
| 34 | Gungsrong Gungtsen | 638 | 655 |
| 35 | Mangsong Mangtsen | 653 | 676 |
| 36 | Düsong Mangpojé | 676 | 704 |
| 37 | Mes-ag-tshoms | 680 | 743 |
| 38 | Trisong Detsen | 755 | 797 |
| 39 | Muné Tsenpo | 797 | 799? |
| 40 | Sadnalegsc | 800 | 815 |
| 41 | Ralpacan | 815 | 836 |
| 42 | Langdarma | 837 | 842 |
| * Some date Nyatri Tsenpo to 300 BC | |||
According to one account, an Indian prince flying from his enemies made his way into the country, Bodh-land, as the people themselves call Tibet to this day. But this is probably an invention ; it is better to believe that a local chieftain in some way or other, by warlike means or diplomacy, gained an ascendancy over the rest of the petty rulers. A great number of the tribes acknowledged him as their king, and the foundation of a monarchy was laid, which continued to exist till the 10th century.
Buddhism having entered from India and China in the first half of the seventh century, the language was reduced to writing, the translation of the sacred books was begun, and about 650 the first temple — the Labrang, at Lhasa — was erected. From this time forth the internal history of Tibet is the history of the struggle of Buddhism (already corrupt) with the indigenous Shamanism, the rise and development of Lamaism and the Lamaistic hierarchy, the abolition of the kingly dignity and the establishment of the supremacy of the Grand Lama at Lhasa as the head of both church and state.
The earliest historical relic of the Tibetans — like that of many, perhaps of most, others — is a weather-beaten stone, the Do-ring. It stands in the center of Lhasa, across the courtyard in front of the western doors of the Cathedral or Jokang, beneath the famous willow-tree. Like Asoka's pillars on the one hand or the Black Stone of Mukden on the other, it both records a treaty and is the outward symbol of the prosperity of Tibet. One might also add that, like the Omphalos at Delphi or London Stone, it is to the Tibetans not only the center of their strange shoulder-blade-shaped earth, but, more practical, the goal from which their journeys and stages are reckoned. But the Doring is even more than this. The terms of the treaty of 783 AD, now barely decipherable upon its cup-marked surface, corroborate, in some degree, the legendary history of Tibet so far as it can be found in Chinese chronicles.
The original religion of the Tibetans was a kind of naturalistic spirit worship and of an Animistic, devil-dancing Shamanism, known as the Bonpa religion, resembling more or less Taoism in China. But about 640 AD Sron Tsan Gampo, or canonized under the Tibetan name Bodhisat Avalokita, introduced Buddhism into Tibet from Northern India in the form of the theistic Mahayana doctrine (The Great Vehicle), which extends salvation to the whole universe in contradistinction to the Hinayana doctrine (Little Vehicle), which confines salvation to a chosen few.
This lineage of Tibetan monarchy continued for well over a thousand years till King Tri Wudum Tsen, more commonly known as Lang Darma, was assassinated in 842 AD. Most illustrious of theses kings were Songtsen Gampo, Trisong Detsen and Ralpachen. They are called the Three Great Kings.
There is some confusion as to whether Central Tibet conquered Zhangzhung during the reign of Songtsän Gampo (618-650) or in the reign of Trisong Detsän, (r. 755 until 797 or 804 CE). During 703, Tridu Songtsän undertook the invasion of Jang (‘Jang), which may have been either the Mosuo or the kingdom of Nanzhao. The early Tibeto-Burmans moved from Upper Burma; one tribe, the Tibetans, going directly west into Tibet, while the rest reached the Irrawaddy valley where in 167 AD they formed a confederation named Pyu. From the 6th century onwards the Burmese became the most powerful of the Pyu tribes, until 832 AD, when Nan Zhao, the first Thai kingdom, destroyed the Pyu capital. Maps depicting Tibetan control of the Pyu City States or Arakan Kingdom areas of modern Myanmar seem without foundation.
Under the reign of Tritsu Detsen (815-838) (Khri gtsug lde brtsan, best known as Ralpacan), the political power of Tibet reached its greatest extent, running from Mongolia to Bengal by some accounts. The later claim seems spurious. The Pala Dynasty was the ruling Dynasty in Bihar and Bengal India from the 8th to the 12th century, so-called because all their names ended in Pala, "protector". Tibetan Buddhists came in large numbers to India during the Pala Period and there was a lively exchange between Tibet and Pala kingdom. During the second spread of Buddhism to Tibet, they faithfully reproduced the sacred art of the Pala kingdom in northeastern India, but in the lively history of this kingdom there is no mention of Tibetan conquest or domination.
Three kings stand out among the Tubo Kings: Songtsen Gampo (33rd), Trisong Detsen (38th) and Tri Ralpachen (41st). Tibet was at the peak of its power under the thirty third King, Songtsen Gampo, who united whole of Tibet. Lesser neighbouring kings offered their daughters for marriages. Nepal's king offered Bhrikuti Devi and Wen Cheng from China. Thumi Sambhota, after returning from India, created Tibetan script and became minister. King Trisong Detsen, the thirty eighth king, invited ShantaRakshita and Guru Padmasambhawa from India to teach Buddhism in Tibet. Samye, the first Buddhist monastery of Tibet, was a replica of Odantapuri Monastery in Bihar Sharif, Bihar, India. Buddhist scriptures were translated from Sanskrit to Tibetan script. King Ralpachen, the 4st King, built many temples and carried out the works of translations for posterities.
The story of Srong-tsan-gambo is incrusted with inconsistent legend. Songtsen Gampo is said to have ascended the throne as Tsenpo of the Pugyel dynasty followingr the assassination of his father Namri Löntsen. During this period the formal designation for the ruler was ‘Tsenpo’. He appears to have been a devout Buddhist, to have married also a Nepalese princess, to have led an army into India, where, about the year 648, he inflicted a defeat upon the King of Magadha, from which place he carried off the famous image which is to this day the chief and central treasure of the Jokang. Another story says that it was presented as a free gift from the Buddhists of Magadha by the hand of the returning Tonmi-Sambhota, a minister whom Srong-tsan-gambo had despatched to India to inquire more perfectly about the Buddhist religion.
Songtsan Gambo had good relations with the Tang court and benefitted from the importation of Tang technologies (advanced for the day), and was influenced by Tang culture and politics. He twice sent ministers to the Tang Dynasty court requesting a member of the imperial family be given him in marriage and in 641 he married Princess Wencheng, a member of Emperor Taizong's family. The legend that this man introduced writing, and his Chinese wife several of the best-known arts of her own country, merely reflects the impetus given to foreign influences in Lhasa by the origin and travels of the two.
Srongtsan Ganpo, a clearly historical personage, was at once a conqueror, a religious reformer, and a pioneer of civilization. He removed the seat of his kingdom from the Yarlung river to Lhassa, where he built a palace [at the location where the Potala now stands], from the famous city of Sindh, the metropolis of the Sakya race, ancestors both of himself and of the great teacher. He subdued the barbarians who dwelt between Tibet and the Chinese frontier, and harassed the kingdom of the Thang by raids into the heart of China itself ; a treaty was concluded, aud he married a Chinese princess, and sent the sons of his nobility into China for their education. But it was from India, not China, that he sought for religious instruction. His prime minister, Thurni Sambhota, with sixteen companions, was sent there on a mission, and returning with much lore and many books, framed the Tibetan alphabet on the model of the divine alphabet of India, and immediately applied it to the translation of Buddhistic manuals. His two wives, the Chinese princess and a daughter of the Raja of Nepal, were devoted to the Buddhist faith.
It is needless to say that this king, though no doubt the main features of his story are historical, assumes the place of a representative man, and embraces in his-single person the history of an epoch. Neither culture nor religion can have bloomed into full flower at once, and probably the history of Srong Tsau Gampo's religions as well as his social reforms are the results of long familiarity on the part of the Tibetans with both Indian and Chinese culture. In one respect, the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet differed from its introduction into other countries, which received it earlier. Buddhism, like other religions, grew and developed itself; unlike others, it grew entirely by addition, not by transformation.
Of the five kings who followed Sron-tsan Gampo, the monkish historians have given no particulars. They founded no monasteries and introduced neither books, idols, uor missionaries. They gave the monarchy of Tibet its greatest extension, and Chinese annals tell that they conquered Kashgar and Khoten, and plundered Si-ngan-fu ; but these things concern not priests.
Sron-tsan-gambo's grandson, Ti-srong-de-tsan, resumed hostilities with China, and in 763 actually sacked the capital, Changan, or Hsia-Fu. Before that he also had given proof of his Buddhist zeal by inviting the famous Buddhist saint Padma Sambhava to visit his country (about 747 AD). This was a more important matter than it then appeared, and was destined to mold indefinitely the future of Tibet. The Gumpo was a professor of Magic and an exorcist coming from a famous school of philosophy in India. He did not introduce Indian Buddhism as he himself was acquainted with it, but in the system which he gave to Tibet he included a great number of the indigenous doctrines of devil worship which he found there. By admitting these beliefs to a place in his creed the spread of this type of Buddhism was rendered easy. It was he who instituted the order of Lamas and founded the first monastery of Tibet, giving to Tibetan Buddhism a form which it has retained ever since. This man, known also as Padma Pani or the Guru Rinpoche or Padma Lombhara Gumpo, founded the Samye monasteries and the Red Cap school in 749, and eventually reappears as the central figure of Lamaism — actually more important than the Buddha himself in its tradition and ritual. And it is his soul, itself a re-incarnation of that of Amitabha, the Bodisat, which is born again both in the person of the Grand Lama of Tashi-lhunpo, and, vicariously, as Avalokiteswara, in the body of the Dalai Lama or Grand Lama of Lhasa also.
To this king Ti-srong-de-tsan must be credited more than military skill or religious fervor. It is clear that the position of Tibet as a sacrosanct center of religion is due to his recognition of the vast importance of Tibet as offering a permanent home to the faith which was being slowly but completely expelled from India at this time. War after war followed his death, and in or about 783 his successor, King Ralpachan, made with the Emperor Tai-tsang the Second the treaty which is engraved upon the Do-ring at Lhasa. It is to be noted that the high-sounding epithets which the contracting parties apply to themselves already reflect the semi-sacred and mystic importance of Tibet. Muni-tsanpo came to the throne in 789. In order to better the condition of the poor he compelled the rich to share their wealth with the indigent. This leveling process was unsuccessful.
In the time of the Tang dynasty, about AD 750, the intercourse between the two countries became more frequent. This was caused by the introduction of Budhism into China, from Tibet. From that period, each successive Gialbo, or king of the country, claimed an alliance with China, by marriages with the imperial family. This history is not one of great interest, and may be chiefly dismissed as one of continued hostility with China, but of hostility on equal terms. That the result of these border skirmishings was by no means as uniformly satisfactory to China as one might imagine from her version of the events, is clear, for about the year 640 AD the King of Tibet, Srong-tsan-gambo, succeeded in obtaining the hand of a princess of the imperial house of Tang against the will of the emperor and after some years' fighting. A treaty between China and Tibet, AD 821, indicates that Tibet was then an independent country.
The spiritual government, or hierarchy, was first known about the ninth century, and was not much practised out of their own country. The lamas or high priests were venerated as incarnations of Budha (himself an incarnate Deity). The grand lama at Lassa, was supposed to be the first-rate incarnation of Budha, in human form; and at the dissolution of the latter, he enters into a new shape to reveal himself to the world. When the grand lama dies, there is a general mourning for three years, and prayers for the restoration of the lost Budha. There were three gradations, viz : the grand lama; the Panchin Erdeni lama, who resided at Teshoo Loomboo ; and the Taranath lama. The priests were divided into two sects, each being distinguished by the colour of their caps, yellow and red. The grand lama of Lassa, and the Bantchin Erdeni lama, who resided at Teshoo Loomboo, belong to the yellow caps. The Taranath lama resided in the north, but was taken little notice of. Both pontiffs had an endless host of monks, who obeyed their commands. The red caps were allowed to marry, and were the spiritual advisers to the Chinese.
The last Tubo king was Lang-dharma (r. as early as 836–842 or as late as 899-902 AD), who had murdered his brother to clear the way for his own rule. Beginning in 899 under Lang-dharma, there was widespread persecution of Buddhists, which some attribute to concern over a decline in political authority. Lang-dharma left only minor sons; the kingdom was broken up into two, later into a number of petty principalities, and it was easy for Genghis Khan to incorporate Tibet into his empire in 1206.
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