Chapter 8. Tibetan Buddhism in the modern and contemporary periods¶

The preceding chapters established the historical framework of Tibetan Buddhism: from the Early Diffusion to the formation of the major schools, and from the philosophical debate over self-emptiness and other-emptiness to the height of the Gelug system of combined religious and political rule. This chapter turns to the history since the nineteenth century. Tibet was thrown from the isolation of a "peripheral civilization" into the upheavals of imperialism, nationalism, communism, and globalization.

This history is filled with political repression, cultural destruction, and the persistence of a spiritual tradition. It also witnessed that ancient tradition spreading throughout the world in unprecedented ways. What Tibetan Buddhism experienced in this period has no parallel in the rest of Buddhist history.

1. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama: final efforts amid crisis¶

Qing intervention in the Dalai Lama institution, viewed from the time of Kelzang Gyatso. From the mid-eighteenth century, Qing intervention reached deeply into the process of recognizing Dalai Lamas. The Qing court exerted influence over Tibet through its resident officials, the Ambāns. In 1793 it issued the Twenty-Nine-Article Imperial Ordinance for the Better Governance of Tibet, which included a provision for recognizing reincarnations by drawing lots from a golden urn. The court saw this as a measure to reduce political manipulation, but its implementation throughout history was complex. None of the Ninth through Twelfth Dalai Lamas ruled for long: the Ninth and Tenth died before assuming personal rule, the Eleventh died eleven months after assuming it, and the Twelfth a little over two years after. Manipulation by regents was a serious problem, and official Qing records and Tibetan tradition give differing accounts of this history.

The Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso (1876 to 1933), was the first Dalai Lama since the Ninth to hold political power in person for a sustained period. He is sometimes called the "Great Thirteenth." His rule coincided with the most intense period of competition over Tibet among several great powers:

The British invasion (1903 to 1904). To forestall possible Russian penetration of Tibet, Britain sent an invading force led by Francis Younghusband, which reached Lhasa. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama fled to Mongolia, where he made contact with Russian representatives. He subsequently returned to Tibet and began exploring how Tibet might maintain its independence amid Britain, Russia, and China.

The Qing garrison mutinied in 1911 and 1912, beginning in the third year of the Xuantong reign. Together with the collapse of the Qing court in the 1911 Revolution, this led to the withdrawal of Qing troops from Tibet. In 1913, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama issued a proclamation commonly called a "declaration of independence" on the Tibetan side. It declared Tibet's relationship with China's central government at an end and placed Tibet under its own government's administration. Successive Chinese governments have never recognized the declaration's legal validity. This was the historical starting point of the dispute over Tibet's status in the ensuing decades.

During the last decade of his life, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama pursued a series of modernizing reforms, including a modern army, telegraph and postal services, and secular educational institutions. These reforms met resistance from the monastic establishment. He died in 1933, leaving a fragile Tibetan polity whose political modernization remained incomplete and whose organization still depended heavily on the monastic system.¹

2. 1950 to 1959: incorporation, uprising, and exile¶

The military action of 1950 and the Seventeen-Point Agreement¶

In October 1950, the armed forces of the People's Republic of China entered eastern Tibet in the Battle of Chamdo, and the Tibetan army was quickly defeated. Negotiations followed. In May 1951, Tibetan representatives and the People's Republic of China signed the Agreement of the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, known as the "Seventeen-Point Agreement." It affirmed Tibet's incorporation into the territory of the People's Republic of China while promising to retain the existing political system and the Dalai Lama's position.

Chinese and Tibetan historical narratives differ sharply over both the negotiations and the content of the Seventeen-Point Agreement. The Chinese side regards it as a local settlement within its sovereign territory. The Tibetan side, especially the government in exile, regards it as a treaty signed against its will under military pressure. This book records that disagreement without adjudicating the agreement's legal nature.

Mounting tensions in the 1950s¶

During the 1950s, the political system in central Tibet, Ü-Tsang, was temporarily preserved, while political and religious changes proceeded more rapidly in eastern Tibet, in Kham and Amdo. These included land reform and the abolition of monastic privileges. The changes provoked large-scale resistance in the region, bringing substantial numbers of refugees and armed forces toward Lhasa.

The March 1959 uprising and the Dalai Lama's exile¶

On March 10, 1959, mass protests broke out in Lhasa. They were triggered by rumors that the People's Liberation Army planned to detain the Dalai Lama, a claim the Chinese side denies. The protests were subsequently suppressed. On March 17, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama secretly left Lhasa, crossed the Himalayas, and reached India. He then announced his repudiation of the Seventeen-Point Agreement.

This was the most decisive moment in the modern and contemporary history of Tibetan Buddhism. Thereafter, Tibetan religion, politics, and culture took two sharply different paths, inside Tibet and abroad.²

3. The Cultural Revolution: destruction and survival, 1966 to 1976¶

The Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976) inflicted the most severe damage to Tibet's religious culture in this period of its history.

The scale of destruction. The vast majority of monasteries throughout Tibet were closed, damaged, or destroyed. Estimates vary greatly, from hundreds to thousands; what can be accepted is that the scale was enormous. Large quantities of religious artifacts, thangkas, and scriptures were destroyed. Monastics were forced to return to lay life and participate in struggle sessions; many were imprisoned or sent to labor camps. Religious activity ceased completely for much of the period, and public practice became dangerous.

How the tradition survived. How could the tradition continue under these conditions? There were several principal channels. First came clandestine private practice at extreme risk: some monastics and laypeople continued to practice in secret. Second came memory: the capacity to transmit from memory when neither texts nor monasteries were available. This in some sense echoes the oral recitation traditions of the Early Diffusion. Third came exile communities in India and Nepal, which were not directly affected by this destruction and continued transmitting the tradition. Fourth came the small number of Tibetan Buddhist communities in Mongolia and the Chinese interior, whose circumstances varied.

The legacy after the Cultural Revolution. When the Cultural Revolution ended, many monastic lineages had been broken, and numerous religious texts and traditional practices could be sustained only by exile communities. Yet these communities were themselves separated from Tibet's indigenous culture and developed changes of their own. This created an ever-deepening gap between Tibetan Buddhism inside Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism in exile or overseas.

4. Since the 1980s: limited reconstruction and continuing pressure¶

After 1978, a degree of religious revival was permitted. Some Tibetan monasteries reopened or were rebuilt, religious activities resumed in part under restrictions, and some imprisoned monks were released.

In the 1980s, Hu Yaobang, then General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee, personally visited Tibet. He acknowledged that the destruction during the Cultural Revolution had been wrong and promoted comparatively relaxed policies. This period was brief, however. Mass protests around 1988 and 1989 led the Tibetan authorities to declare martial law in March 1989, followed by tighter security controls and campaigns of patriotic education.

In 1995, the recognition of the Panchen Lama's reincarnation became a new and highly sensitive political issue:

The dispute over the Panchen Lama's reincarnation. Following the death of the Tenth Panchen Lama, Chökyi Gyaltsen (1938 to 1989), recognition of his reincarnation proceeded separately through a nomination by the Dalai Lama and through the Chinese government:

• In May 1995, the Dalai Lama announced from exile that he recognized a boy from Nagchu in northern Tibet as the Eleventh Panchen Lama. The Chinese side immediately denounced the recognition as illegal.
• In early November that year, the Chinese government announced in Beijing that it would conduct a separate golden-urn drawing, explicitly excluding the boy whom the Dalai Lama had recognized six months earlier. A secret drawing at the Jokhang in Lhasa on November 29 selected another boy. He was enthroned at Tashilhunpo Monastery nine days later.
• The boy recognized by the Dalai Lama was taken away by the authorities shortly after the announcement, and his whereabouts remained unknown for many years afterward.

The dispute remains unresolved. Ostensibly a technical question about recognizing reincarnations, it actually concerns the fundamental dispute over who has the authority to recognize a religious succession. It also directly foreshadows the course of the future recognition of a Dalai Lama.²

5. The exile tradition and reconstruction abroad¶

Dharamsala and the government in exile¶

After going into exile in 1959, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama received support from the Indian government and established a government in exile at Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh. Dharamsala subsequently became the spiritual center of Tibetan Buddhism abroad. Tens of thousands of Tibetans gathered there, establishing monasteries, schools, medical facilities, and political institutions to form a highly organized exile community.

Rebuilding the great monasteries in South India¶

The three great Gelug monasteries historically located in Tibet (Drepung, Sera, and Ganden) were rebuilt on a smaller scale in exile in southern India. The new sites were in what is now Karnataka, principally around Mundgod and Bylakuppe. Kagyu, Sakya, and Nyingma also established important centers of transmission in India and Nepal. These monasteries rebuilt abroad are now the most important bases for the transmission of Tibetan Buddhist scholarship worldwide.

Preserving texts¶

The extensive destruction inside Tibet during the Cultural Revolution made the documentation and preservation of texts an urgent task. From the 1970s, the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala systematically collected, cataloged, and digitized texts brought out by exile communities. Scholars such as E. Gene Smith (1936 to 2010) made major contributions to comprehensive documentation of Tibetan Buddhist literature. In 1999, he cofounded the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center (TBRC) with Leonard van der Kuijp. Now called BDRC, it remains one of the most important digital libraries of Tibetan Buddhism.

6. Tibetan Buddhism goes global¶

The beginning of its spread¶

An unintended consequence of exile contributed substantially to the spread of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. When Tibetan teachers fled to India and then traveled from India to Europe and North America, they were not simply making individual journeys; they were bringing an entire system of transmission. From the 1960s, Western audiences developed a strong interest in Asian spiritual traditions, providing favorable cultural conditions for receiving these transmissions.

Several important early transmitters were:

Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939 to 1987), a teacher with a Kagyu and Nyingma background, established the Nalanda Foundation and the Shambhala system in the United States in 1970. He brought Tibetan Buddhism to Western audiences in distinctive ways, including secular presentations, and had an exceptionally wide influence. His personal conduct, including drinking and not observing monastic vows, also provoked controversy.

Sogyal Rinpoche (1947 to 2019), whose background was Nyingma, made Tibetan Buddhist bardo teachings concerning the process of death widely known through The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (1992). It became one of the world's best-selling books on Tibetan Buddhism. In his later years, he also faced investigation and criticism over allegations of misconduct toward students.

The Fourteenth Dalai Lama's own teaching activities around the world, together with his dialogues on neuroscience and cognitive science with scientists such as Richard Davidson, Francisco Varela, and Wolf Singer, constitute the most widely influential form of Tibetan Buddhism's global spread to date.

Western practice centers and academic study¶

Today, Tibetan Buddhist practice centers are found in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Latin America, East Asia, and elsewhere, with all the major schools represented. Academic study of Tibetan Buddhism (Tibetology) has also become an established field in European and North American universities.

The spread of Tibetan Buddhism in Han Chinese communities in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore has been another striking development over the past thirty years. The number of Han Chinese Buddhists studying Tibetan Buddhism has risen sharply, producing what is called a "Tibetan esoteric Buddhism craze," especially in mainland China. The scale and complexity of this direction of transmission exceed those of any earlier period, and it continues to develop.

7. Continuing controversies¶

The dispute over recognizing the Dalai Lama's reincarnation¶

Chapter 11.6 has already identified this anticipated conflict. The Chinese government claims ultimate authority to recognize the Dalai Lama on the basis of the golden-urn system. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama has stated that he may not reincarnate within Chinese-administered Tibet and may even choose to end the lineage.

The dispute centers on a fundamental conflict between religious and political authority. Historically, recognition of Tibetan Buddhist successions has been determined by eminent religious teachers, not by state power. The Chinese government's position is that the Qing dynasty historically established a system of state participation in recognition (the golden urn) and that this system should remain in force. Each position has its historical basis, and they cannot be reconciled without taking sides.

This book anticipates that the dispute will become an international focal point after the Fourteenth Dalai Lama's death. It may lead to two parallel Dalai Lama systems, resembling the current situation with the Panchen Lama. This would further complicate the question of who legitimately represents Tibetan Buddhism.

The two candidates in the Karmapa lineage¶

As Chapter 11.4, on Kagyu, has noted, there are currently two candidates for the Seventeenth Karmapa, recognized by different parties:

• Orgyen Trinley Dorje (born 1985): recognized by both the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government. He secretly left China in 2000 and has since lived in India, without returning to Tibet. He maintains close ties with the Dalai Lama's institutional system.
• Trinley Thaye Dorje (born 1983): recognized by some Karma Kagyu lineage holders, especially the late Shamar Rinpoche. He is active chiefly overseas.

This dispute has continued for decades without either legal or religious resolution. Both "Karmapas" have their own followers and practice centers, and the Karma Kagyu lineage remains divided over the issue.

The Dolgyal controversy¶

There is a distinctive controversy within Gelug. Dolgyal, also known as Dorje Shugden, is a dharmapāla, or Dharma protector, whom a considerable number of Gelug practitioners take as their principal protector. In the 1990s, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama began strongly opposing this practice, considering it incompatible with his own protector tradition. This led to fierce conflict between the Dalai Lama and Dolgyal practitioners, and even to divisions within Gelug. This book records the controversy without passing judgment on its religious significance.

8. The contemporary landscape¶

Over the past two centuries, Tibetan Buddhism has undergone the impact of imperialism, annexation by a state, the destruction of the Cultural Revolution, exile and reconstruction, and global dissemination. This is the history of a tradition's survival and transformation under extreme historical pressure.

The 1980s religious reconstruction and the 1995 Panchen Lama controversy belong to the inside-Tibet track in the Chinese diagram. Their placement on the exile-and-abroad line in this English layout is not a reassignment of those events to the exile tradition. The two contemporary tracks remain distinct.

Two tracks form the most basic structural feature of contemporary Tibetan Buddhism. The first is Tibetan Buddhism inside Tibet and the surrounding Tibetan regions, operating within the party and state's framework of administration. This tradition experienced the destruction of the Cultural Revolution and partial reconstruction, and today operates within the policy framework of "patriotic education." The second is Tibetan Buddhism in exile communities centered on Dharamsala, in overseas practice centers, and in worldwide transmission. Its ties with Tibet's indigenous culture grow increasingly tenuous.

The relationship between these tracks becomes more complex over time. Some lineages have preserved their full transmissions on only one side, while certain controversies turn relations between the two into an area of intense political pressure.

As for the future, this book records only several definite structural constraints. Recognition of the Dalai Lama will remain highly politically sensitive throughout the foreseeable future. Religious administration inside Tibet will remain state-led for the foreseeable future. Tibetan Buddhism's global spread will continue to develop freely in an environment without pressure, while also facing the challenges of becoming detached from its roots and of commercialization. Its dialogue with modern science, especially cognitive science, will continue within the framework established by the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. These structural constraints are the realities within which Tibetan Buddhism will operate in the coming decades.

Further reading¶

• Robert Barnett. Lhasa: Streets with Memories. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006; see also Robert Barnett (ed.), Resistance and Reform in Tibet. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1994. (Field research on Tibet's political culture; analysis of resistance movements.)
• Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso). Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama. New York: HarperCollins, 1990. (The Fourteenth Dalai Lama's autobiography; a first-person account of the 1959 exile and subsequent history.)
• John Powers. History as Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles versus the People's Republic of China. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. (Comparative analysis of the historical narratives of China and the Tibetan exile side. The author states that he seeks to present both sides' arguments in a balanced way, allowing each to speak in its own words, while intervening with judgments where he encounters obvious fabrications or absurdities. He also explicitly acknowledges that he cannot fully exclude his own attitudes, which readers will probably discern as they proceed. He argues that historical writing is an interpretive practice, not a neutral, objective science.)
• E. Gene Smith. Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001. (Background to the preservation and digitization of Tibetan Buddhist texts and the origins of BDRC. For the founding of TBRC, see the introduction, pp. 2–3: Smith retired from the Library of Congress in 1997 and cofounded TBRC in Cambridge with Harvard University's Leonard van der Kuijp in 1999. By 2001, its holdings formed the largest collection of Tibetan literature outside Tibet. For the practical mechanism of preservation, see Smith's preface, p. xi. In 1968, he became Tibetan and Indic consultant at the Library of Congress's New Delhi office, where he took over the PL-480 program. The program bought books with local currency earned from American sales of surplus agricultural products. That currency could not be remitted abroad. This made it possible to buy newly printed editions from printing establishments in India, Nepal, and Bhutan and to "encourage refugees to print the treasures they had been able to carry from their homeland." Since 1961, more than four thousand Tibetan titles had been acquired, some running to over two hundred volumes for a single title.)
• Matthew T. Kapstein (ed.). Buddhism Between Tibet and China. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2009. (Historical exchanges between Tibetan and Chinese Buddhism; analysis of their mutual influence in the modern period.)

References¶