Table Of ContentTHE BIOGRAPHIES
of the
DALAI LAMAS
Ya Hanzhang
About the Author
Ya Hanzhang, a social scientist, was
born in a family of Han origin in Linxia,
Gansu Province, in 1916. At the age of
twenty, on the recommendation of his
friends, he was accepted as an unor
dained lamaist monk by the famed La-
brang Monastery, where he studied
spoken Tibetan and the Tibetan script.
In May 1937 he went to the Drepung in
Lhasa with Grand Living Buddha Ja
myang as a secretary. His stay there
made him an expert on this major la
masery with 8,800 monks. In April 1938,
after the outbreak of the War of Resist
ance Against Japan, Ya went to Yan’an
via India, Singapore and Hong Kong. In
Yan’an he began his research into the
history of China’s ethnic minorities.
Shortly after he became an assistant
representative of the Panchen Head
quarters in 1950, he returned to Tibet
first as a member of the Tibet Work
Committee and later as the committee's
secretary-general and then director of
its research department. He left Tibet in
1958 because of poor health to become
the vice-chairman of the Institute of Na
tional Minorities in Beijing. Since 1983
he has been an advisor to this institute.
He was also at different times the pro
vost of the University of Inner Mongolia
and director of the Institute of Religion
of the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences.
Mr. Ya's other works include The
Prob/em of the Hui Nationality, pub
lished in 1941, and A New Chapter in
Tibetan History, published in 1979. He
was also involved in the editing of the
outline histories of China’s more than
fifty national minorities. Another impor
tant work that Ya authored after The
Biographies of the Dalai Lamas
(Chinese edition published in 1985) is
The Biographies of the Panchen Erden-
is, which will soon be off the press. At
present Mr. Ya is collaborating with his
colleagues on the eight-volume The
History of Atheism in China.
The Biographies of the
Dalai Lamas
By
Ya Hanzhang
Translated by
Wang Wenjiong
FOREIGN LANGUAGES PRESS BEIJING
First Edition 1991
ISBN 0-8351-2266-2 ISBN 7-119-01267-3
Copyright 1991 by Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, China
Published by Foreign Languages Press
24 Baiwanzhuang Road, Beijing 100037, China
Printed by Foreign Languages Printing House
19 Chegongzhuang Xilu, Beijing 100044, China
Distributed by China International Book Trading Corporation
■ 21 Chegongzhuang Xilu, Beijing 100044, China
P.O. Box 399, Beijing, China
Printed in the People's Republic of China
Contents
Preface v
Part One
From the First to the Twelfth Dalai Lamas 1
Gedun Truppa, the First Dalai Lama 1
Gedun Gyatso, the Second Dalai Lama 18
Sonam Gyatso, the Third Dalai Lama 22
Yonten Gyatso, the Fourth Dalai Lama 26
Lozang Gyatso, the Fifth Dalai Lama 31
Tsangyang Gyatso, the Sixth Dalai Lama 44
Kelzang Gyatso, the Seventh Dalai Lama 50
Jampal Gyatso, the Eighth Dalai Lama 65
Lungtok Gyatso, the Ninth Dalai Lama 87
Tsutrim Gyatso, the Tenth Dalai Lama 90
Khedrup Gyatso, the Eleventh Dalai Lama 92
Trinley Gyatso, the Twelfth Dalai Lama 98
Part Two
Tupden Gyatso, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama 103
Searching for the Soul Boy 103
The Hair-Shaving and Name-Giving Ceremony 106
The Enthronement 108
Taking the Getsul Vows 111
The Routine of the Dalai Lama 113
Tibet During the Minority of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama 119
Tibet’s Resistance to Westerners’ “Exploration” Attempts 120
The Murder of the Couriers 124
The Robbing of a Nepalese Merchant in Lhasa by
Lamaist Monks 126
Britain Frustrated in Its Second Attempt to Enter Tibet 129
u . CONTENTS
The Demo Hutuktu Succeeds as Regent 131
The Ninth Panchen Is Established by the Drawing of Lots 131
Tibet’s First War Against British Invaders 133
The First Treaty Between China and Britain on Tibet 149
The Gelong Ordination 161
Assuming Temporal Power 162
The Dispute over Nyagrong 166
The Murder of the Demo Hutuktu 172
How the Dalai and the Panchen Come to Dislike Each Other 174
Britain Becomes Insatiable in Its Demands 177
Imperial Russia Steps In 184
Tibetans Rise Again in Arms Against British Invaders 189
Peace Terms Dictated by the Aggressors 209
The Panchen in India: A British Conspiracy 219
The Second Sino-British Treaty on Tibet 223
Qing’s New Tibet Policy 226
Reforming the Tusi System in Kham 239
British Aggression against Ladakh and Bhutan 244
The Dalai Lama in Exile 250
Journey to the Nation’s Capital 256
Returning to Tibet 267
Flight to India 275
British Imperialist Plots to Sever Tibet from China 288
Tibet After the 1911 Revolution 292
The Sichuan Army’s Attempt to Return to Tibet 303
The Simla Conference 309
New Measures to Strengthen Serfdom 316
Invasion of Kham by the Tibetan Army 322
Bell Goes to Lhasa on Shady Business 330
The Panchen’s Flight to the Interior 334
Contact Between Tibet and the Central Government 338
The Tibetan Army Renews Its Attack on Kham 348
The Rivalry Between the Dalai and the Panchen 358
Tightening Monastic Discipline 377
The Dalai Lama Passes Away 382
Huang Musong’s Mission of Homage to Tibet 386
The Panchen’s Return to Tibet is Obstructed 392
CONTENTS ui
Part Three
Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama 404
The Search and the Enthronement 404
“The Radreng Incident” 409
The “Hans, Go Home!” Incident 413
Agreement Signed for Peaceful Liberation 420
The Dalai Lama Welcomes the Return of the Panchen 434
Bibliography 439
Preface to the English Edition
The Biographies of the Dalai Lamas writes of the history of Tibet
with emphasis on its modern and contemporary periods. It is
framed in the life stories of the successive Dalai Lamas and the
main part of it is based on the biography of the thirteenth Dalai
Lama, because the Tibetan people like to hear history told in this
way. It begins with the first Dalai Lama, Gedun Truppa, and ends
with the fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, with the major
portion of it, which accounts for two-thirds of the book, devoted
to the life of the thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tupden Gyatso.
The modern and contemporary history of Tibet is an integral
part of the modern and contemporary history of China. It is at once
similar and dissimilar to the history of the other nationalities and
regions in China. Like the people of the other nationalities, the
Tibetan people waged in different times heroic struggles against
imperialist aggression and oppression, but these struggles were not
exactly the same as those waged by other nationalities in China.
Twice in recent history, the Tibetan people, ecclesiastical and
secular, rose in arms against Great Britain. The first anti-British war
they fought broke out in 1888. The British army seized Lengtu and
annexed Drenjong. The second war came in 1904. The British army
broke into Lhasa and imposed an unequal treaty on the Tibetan
local government. Both wars were fought under the direct or
indirect leadership of the thirteenth Dalai Lama. The historical role
he played during these wars merits the attention of historians of
Tibetan modern and contemporary history, thus this book devotes
most of its space to detailed and systematic accounts of the wars
and of the heroism the Tibetan people displayed in them. This is
altogether fitting because the wars are part of the heroic history of
Tibet and make up an integral part of the heroic history of the
Chinese nation as a whole.
vi PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION
There existed something special in the modern and contempo
rary history of Tibet: the subordinate status of the Tibetan local
government under the central governments of the motherland.
The fact that such a relationship should have become a problem
was due to the erroneous attitudes of a handful of Tibetans.
Influenced by the imperialists who fomented national discord and
by the separatist faction they fostered over a long period of time,
these people, with no sense of righteousness, stood for Tibet’s
separation from the motherland. Their attitude was not only
utterly incompatible with the interests of the Chinese nation as a
whole, but also was unacceptable to the Tibetan people themselves.
Among those who frowned upon this attitude was the thirteenth
Dalai Lama, who, during his temporal office, never challenged the
fact that Tibet is Chinese territory. In his later years, he moved
closer to the Kuomintang government, trying to improve relations
with it, communicating with Chiang Kai-shek through his repre
sentatives and setting up a Tibetan affairs office in Nanjing, the seat
of the Kuomintang government. All this showed that the Thir
teenth Dalai Lama acted largely as a patriot should.
As a man, the thirteenth Dalai Lama was not above criticism. He
made many mistakes of one kind or another; but as many factors
contributed to the making of these mistakes he was not the only
person to be blamed for them. In evaluating historical figures, it is
important to examine them as they were. The thirteenth Dalai
Lama, therefore, should be regarded primarily as a patriotic and
anti-imperialist leader. All the materials testifying to his patriotism
are included in this book. I shall be very glad to hear the opinions
of my readers at home and abroad, especially those of Chinese and
foreign experts and scholars of Tibetan history regarding my
evaluation of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama.
What I would like to point out here is that when recalling the
events in the recent history of Tibet, one cannot overlook the
crimes the British imperialist aggressors committed in that part of
China. But those who should be held responsible for them were
those then in government in Britain; the British people had no
thing to do with them, nor do those in government in present-day
Britain. The revelations this book contains of British aggression
against Tibet will not in any way harm the friendly relations
