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DALAI LAMA: THE TRADITION

AND THE CULT

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 DALAI LAMA: THE TRADITION AND THE CULT

Article of the Month – February 2010

Dalai Lama, an epithet used for the first time in 1578 by the Mongol ruler Altan Khan
for Sonam Gyatso, the Third Dalai Lama, or the third in the bodhisattva
reincarnation line later identified as the Dalai Lama lineage, is a combination of two
terms, ‘Lama’ meaning a Buddhist monk, and ‘Dalai’, ocean-like profound, wide and
deep, that is, the monk having ocean-like breadth and depth of knowledge. ‘Dalai’
was actually the Mongolian equivalent of ‘Gyatso’, a Tibetan term that emerged in
use as an epithet during the lifetime of the second Dalai Lama, Gendun Gyatso, as
the distinction of the Lamas in reincarnation lineage of the Bodhisattva
Avalokiteshvara. ‘Gyatso’ had the same meaning as ‘Dalai’.

King Altan Khan, a descendant of the known Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, a follower of
Tibetan Buddhism in early thirteenth century, was tired of bloodshed and warfare
and wished to have peace on his soil. He invited Sonam Gyatso, the best known
Buddhist monk of his time, to his court and wished that by his teachings he led his
blood-thirsty subjects to the path of peace, love and humanity. Influenced by Sonam
Gyatso’s profound knowledge and spiritual energy king Altan Khan honoured him
with ‘Dalai Lama’ as his epithet. Then onwards, though the term ‘Gyatso’ was
retained as before to comprise the later half of the name in the Dalai Lama lineage
but it was the epithet ‘Dalai Lama’ that gave the lineage its unique distinction ever
since. The epithet was used not only for Sonam Gyatso and his eleven subsequent
reincarnations but also for the two preceding ones – Gendun Drubpa and Gendun
Gyatso, posthumously.

CONTINUATION OF LIFE, BODHISATTVA, DALAI LAMA AND

TIBETAN PREFERENCES

Not merely that the Dalai Lama is the highest office of the present day Buddhism, it
is also one of its three most significant institutions, the other two being the Buddha
and the Bodhisattva, that emerged in Buddhism over centuries. Enlightenment is the
attribute of them all, even of the Dalai Lama who, possessed of oceanic breadth and
depth of knowledge, attains the same state of enlightenment as a bodhisattva.
However, while the Buddha defined the state of utter spiritual perfection leading to
‘nirvana’ – final extinction, a bodhisattva, in his role as a teacher seeking
accomplishment of his two-fold objective, the worldly and the transcendental, keeps
on postponing attainment of this state of utter spiritual perfection and his own
liberation in preference to a controlled or chosen birth or rebirth. In Tibetan
Buddhism, or rather in entire Tibetan tradition, irrespective of this or that branch or
school, rebirth and continuation of one’s deeds or perfection level that one attains in
one birth into the next is a universally accepted principle. Obviously with
humanitarian, social and political compulsions conditioning its life, Tibet developed a
natural preference for bodhisattva cult. Its reason was obvious. A bodhisattva by a
will to reincarnate as many times as required and by his ability to postpone his own
liberation at his will could better help Tibet in resolving its spiritual as well as social
and political problems – political instability, infighting, enmity among others.

This Tibetan preference for the bodhisattva cult had early, perhaps pre-historic,
roots. Apart that Tibet was till sixteenth century a land divided into innumerable

Page 2
ruling segments and as many tribes and stood in dire need of some power that
brought them under one umbrella, its mythical past too has identical connotations.
As popular Tibetan myths have it, Tibet was initially the habitation of unruly beasts.
Then Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara emanated in a thousand animal-reincarnations
and mixed with various extant animal groups. Through these emanated forms he
taught them peace and harmony and when external conditions were suitable, took
birth as a monkey. He encountered a horrible looking female ascetic, an emanation
of the Goddess Tara. They mated and gave birth to the ever first human beings, all
different from each other in body-colours, nature and everything. They were the
progenitors of original six tribes of Tibet. Soon their number multiplied and now
there were eighteen tribes, which number further expanded and Tibet finally had
hundreds of tribes inhabiting it. Soon, out of the will to govern there evolved as
numerous ruling seats fragmenting this terrace of the earth into small political
entities, each engaged in designs to expand, conquer and defeat.

Thus, while Tibet inherited from history a divided populace and fractured polity, it
also perceived in the same source such spiritual energy which would lead it to unity,
peace and redemption. Hence a divided and weak Tibet was not really weak but was
rather one that ever and instinctively had inherent in it the ability to recoup.
Consequently, Tibet always looked for a motivating power that reinvigorated it by
shifting the focus from conquests, infightings and enmity to the inner workings of
the mind and heart bringing peace and unity to the land. Obviously, instead of
placing its preference on one seeking his own liberation, Tibet had a preference for
him who chose its postponement in order to lead the land to peace, unity and
harmony.

The Tibetan mind was thus naturally inclined to the bodhisattva-cult. However, the
Indian vision of an abstract bodhisattva representing one of the Buddhist cardinals
could not long inspire Tibetan masses. In its strange political and social
circumstances and encroaching religious beliefs from outside Tibet required a
bodhisattva who like a national role model had lively interaction with its people and
united in peace warring kingdoms and divided tribes, besides leading to the path of
personal liberation. Obviously, such wider objectives could be accomplished only by
someone who synthesised in him with spiritualism some kind of political authority or
vision. It seems that it was such quest of Tibetan mind that concretised first as
tulkus – officially recognised reincarnate lamas, and finally in the fifteenth century,
when the very existence of the Buddhism was in peril, as the institution of Dalai
Lama who as Avalokiteshvara reincarnate inherited all his spiritual energy and being
in mortal frame inspired confidence of masses.

Page 3
AVALOKITESHVARA’S REINCARNATION DISCOVERED IN DALAI
LAMA

Not a pre-meditated quest, an

Avalokiteshvara-reincarnation, who became
the fountain head of the Dalai Lama
lineage, was intuitively discovered. In the
course of his interaction with his disciple
Gendun Drubpa, the First Dalai Lama,

The First Dalai Lama, Surrounded by

previous incarnations of the Dalai Lamas,
including King Songt-sen Gampo (lower
right), the mystical King Lha Thothori
(upper left).

his teacher Jey Tsongkhapa,

Tsongkhapa with his Chief Disciples

Gyaltsab Je and Khedrup Je

Page 4
an enlightened monk and a great Buddhist scholar, realised that Gendun Drubpa
was close to his liberation but instead of he remained in human birth and worked for
uplifting all beings. Hence, Tsongkhapa impulsively acclaimed that Gendun Drubpa
was a reincarnation of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara who out of compassion for
suffering mankind preferred staying in the human domain for redeeming it from its
miseries and kept on postponing his own ‘nirvana’.

Some subsequent scholars

believed that Gendun
Drubpa was Lama Drom’s
reincarnation, though Lama
Drom was a reincarnation
of Avalokiteshvara. Thus,
too, Gendun Drubpa was in
the line of Avalokiteshvara.
Gendun Gyatso, the Second
Dalai Lama, too, was
acclaimed almost identically
as another reincarnation of
Avalokiteshvara.

The Second Dalai Lama. Bronze, gilded, with inscription on

the reverse: “The valuable omniscient Victorious Lord”
Tibet, 16th century.

The Third Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso was identified as Gendun Gyatso’s
reincarnation, the Fourth, of the Third, and so on and so forth. Thus, the term Dalai
Lama defined the reincarnation-lineage of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara; however,
while the term bodhisattva, even Avalokiteshvara, stood broadly for any of the
abstract qualities or attributes leading to enlightenment enshrining any form, human
or otherwise, a Dalai Lama was essentially a reincarnation in human birth. Thus,
despite that a Dalai Lama is a bodhisattva reincarnate, he represents an institution
different from the bodhisattva.

Page 5
TRANSFORMATION OF THE DALAI LAMA INSTITUTION

However, for about two hundred years

after its emergence, that is, during the life-
tenure of the first four Dalai Lamas, this
reincarnate lama institution, widely known
as the Dalai Lama ‘labrang’, did not have
the same status as it has now. It enjoyed
great popularity and wielded immense
influence but was just one among such ten
entities of Tibetan Buddhism. Thus, the
first four Dalai Lamas represented only the
preparatory stage in the growth of the
institution which manifested fully in the
Fifth Dalai Lama Gyalwa Lobzang Gyatso
popularly called Ngawang Labzang Gyatso
or just the ‘Great Fifth’.

The Fifth Dalai lama and Important Scenes

from His Life.

In 1642, when the ‘Great Fifth’ was twenty-five years of age, a warring and disquiet
Tibet nominated him to the position of the supreme spiritual and temporal leader of
the Tibetan nation and with this the Dalai Lama institution underwent complete
transformation. Now Dalai Lama was not one among some influential lamas or the
spiritual patron of a state but was above them all, great monks and mighty
chieftains occupying seats in the assembly much lower than him.

Not a battle’s decision, or political consensus, a hundred years old prophesy was
perhaps more convincing a reason for this unanimous acceptance of the authority of
the ‘Great Fifth’ as the Tibetans’ supreme leader. As was widely believed, Gendun
Gyatso, the Second Dalai Lama, was unwilling to reincarnate. One day Padma
Sambhava, the great eighth century teacher who came to Tibet from India,
appeared in his vision. Besides that Padma Sambhava asked him to continue
reincarnating for world’s weal he also revealed that after a period of hundred years
he would emerge as Tibet’s spiritual and temporal head and in that position he shall
bring to the land such benefits that shall sustain for hundreds of years. Exactly after
one hundred years Ngawang Labzang Gyatso was awarded the position of Tibet’s
supreme spiritual and temporal leader. People recalled the prophesy of Guru Padma
Sambhava and linked to it the sudden and strange elevation of Ngawang Labzang
Gyatso.

Page 6
Tibet had not seen such unification of its territories after seventh century when it
had emerged as a strong land under the religious king Songtsen Gonpa. The Great
Fifth Ngawang Labzang Gyatso led Tibet to unprecedented heights both spiritually
and politically. He initiated a unique religious and secular form of the national
government on federal model known as the Ganden Pondrang Government, which
proved to be a major unifying factor in the life of Tibet. Under the doctrine of
reincarnation and continuation of one lifetime’s perfection-level into the next, the
responsibility to lead the nation, spiritually and temporally, became the continuous
responsibility of Dalai Lamas reincarnating ever after and this they ably
accomplished by their reincarnate spiritual strength irrespective of their age. The
Ninth Dalai Lama Gyalwa Lungtok Gyatso and his three reincarnate Dalai Lamas died
very early, the Ninth dying at the age of just nine, and all four within seventy-five
years’ time; however, their deeds, as reveal their biographical writings, were as vast
as ocean.

The Thirteenth Dalai Lama, a leader greater than the great,

faced the ever gravest challenges posed mainly by Russia,
China and Britain designing to grab Tibet.

The Thirteenth Dalai

Lama at age Fifty Six.
12 Sept. 1933.

So far there existed in between Tibet and China a

relationship described as the priest-patron relation
under which the priest, that is, Tibet represented by
Dalai Lama, was state’s nominal head while China
controlled its administration part. This diplomatic
position had recognition from both major powers,
Russia and Britain, present in the region. However,
China, under an agreement not to object to British
invasion of Burma, won British no objection to having
an upper hand in Tibet. Thus, when the Thirteenth
Dalai Lama Tubten Gyatso was born, the institution of
Dalai Lama was reduced to a subordinate status, and
the priest, to the status of an employee of China.
However, in about two decades’ time the Thirteenth
Dalai Lama organised the nation militarily and in 1913
proclaimed independence expelling the Chinese
representatives and troops from his land. This position
was not accepted by China, nor diplomatically Portrait of a Dalai Lama: The
Life and Times of the Great
approved by England and Russia. With this began an
Thirteenth
era of Tibetan conflict with China. This necessitated a

Page 7
shift in priorities of the Dalai Lama and Tibet. Now, not so much the spiritualism,
military and diplomatic infrastructure was a greater need of Dalai Lama and Tibetan
nation.

DALAI LAMA : A SPIRITUAL CONTINUUM

Summarily, Dalai Lama, though an individual born with a date and time, manifests
the spiritual continuum of the bodhisattvahood, or more so the Bodhisattva
Avalokiteshvara, across innumerable births, identified subsequently as Dalai Lama.
Not so much for one’s own enlightenment and ‘nirvana’ as for the world’s weal,
spiritual as well as temporal, a Dalai Lama is a universal teacher leading lay-
followers to worldly well-being on one hand and to Enlightenment and ‘nirvana’ on
the other. His own ‘nirvana’ is not the essence of, or consequential to, being a Dalai
Lama. Subjecting himself to the cycle of reincarnations he rather perpetuates his
being into a chain of births seeking in a mortal frame accomplishment of his efforts
to benefit the world – his goal as a Bodhisattva reincarnate. A will or determination,
a Dalai Lama seeks his rebirth for the world’s good and for uplifting the mankind and
all beings.

Dalai Lama is a cult of Tibetan

Buddhism, though not confining to
Tibet or Himalayan region alone
Dalai Lama is recognised and
venerated now as the highest
office of the Buddhist Order in the
entire Buddhist world, and
individually, Dalai Lama, as the
supreme teacher of the Buddhism.
Whatever in regard to his status
as the political head of the Tibetan
people, his status as the supreme
spiritual and temporal leader is
universally upheld; and, this
status he attains not by any
worldly means or even by
penance and other religious
practices but by reincarnation,
reincarnating in immediate past a
predeceased Dalai Lama, and
ultimately the Bodhisattva
Avalokiteshvara, the first master
in the line. Thus emanating
Avalokiteshvara a Dalai Lama is
essentially the compassion
Thousand Arms of Compassion manifest, the same as is
Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva
of Compassion.

Page 8
Thus, irrespective of when the term
‘Dalai Lama’ emerged in use for
denoting and formally acknowledging
this institution of Buddhism, Dalai
Lama represents the continuous flow
of the being that the Buddhist
tradition identifies as Bodhisattva
Avalokiteshvara. Conceding to
scholastic opposition to the word
‘rebirth’ the tradition defines such
incidence as a mind-stream – a
moment-to-moment flow or continuity
of consciousness emanating from
Avalokiteshvara. Tibetan people’s
popular belief in reincarnation and
life’s continuity across thousands of
births apart, this mind-stream
concept is based on the belief that
exemplary figures, such as a
bodhisattva, might remain at will
within the human world as
institutional teachers postponing their
‘nirvana’ for others’ good till whatever
period they found necessary and
across any number of lifetimes as
they chose to pass through. A The Dalai Lamas of Tibet
determination to redeem suffering
mankind and a world rent by violence require these wisdom holders to postpone
their own ‘nirvana’ and perhaps attainment of enlightenment.

DOCTRINAL BASIS OF SUCH SPIRITUAL CONTINUUM

Cult of reincarnation or continuous flow of life birth after birth is the nucleus of the
Buddhism, whatever its branch or school, Hinayana – Compact Vehicle, Mahayana –
Great Vehicle, or Vajrayana – Diamond Vehicle. Hinayana or Theravada, a relatively
linear and conventional branch of the Buddhism, sees reincarnation in context to
cause and effect, laying emphasis on self responsibility and on gaining control over
all actions of body, speech and mind in order to attain personal liberation.
Mahayana, a semi-linear and semi-esoteric branch, shifts the emphasis from self
liberation to universal responsibility aiming at all beings’ benefit. Mahayana imparts
to personal liberation due importance but only as something that helps universal
goodness which is the essence of a bodhisattva. Vajrayana, the exclusively esoteric
branch of Buddhism, came out with the idea of controlled rebirth, that is, at the time
of death one could direct one’s spirit to a rebirth that would be of the maximum
benefit to the world.

Obviously it is out of the Vajrayana’s idea of controlled rebirth that Tibet developed
its cult of reincarnation lineage leading finally to the evolution of Dalai Lama
doctrine. Mahayana, which mandated universal responsibility in preference to
personal liberation, provided to the reincarnation cult its broad aim. Mahayana’s
doctrine of the Buddha’s three ‘kayas’ – celestial bodies : ‘dharma-kaya’ – the truth
body, ‘sambhogakaya’ – the beatific body, and ‘nirvanakaya’ – the emanated body,
the last one in special, further strengthened the Tibetan doctrine of reincarnation or
continuation of life. In India ‘nirvanakaya’, the third celestial body of the Buddha,
was merely an abstract theological concept defining an enlightened being. The

Page 9
Tibetan Buddhism, in which ‘nirvanakaya’ stood for one who is in the process of
enlightenment, not the enlightened one, saw ‘nirvanakaya’ as Buddha’s
multiplication into innumerable emanated forms heading towards enlightenment. It
was out of this shift that the Tibetan tradition of ‘yangsi’ or officially recognised
reincarnate lamas, also known as tulkus, evolved. This cult of reincarnate lamas
helped Tibet to concentrate its energy on spiritual lines and pride more on the
increasing number of its saints rather than on expanding military forces or market
resources.

As a matter of fact, the Dalai Lama concept seems to have grown gradually and in
the basic body of the Buddhism. In Hinayana a Bodhisattva who subsequently
attains Buddhahood is born once in an auspicious eon. He is one among a thousand
universal teachers. Others are mere ‘arhats’ attaining ‘nirvana’. In Mahayana, all
beings attempt at acquiring by spiritual practice six perfections, generosity, self-
discipline, patience, joyous effort, meditation and wisdom, that lead to
enlightenment, and thus they one day become bodhisattvas and attain Buddhahood.
Thus, there are in simultaneity numerous Bodhisattvas striving to attain
Buddhahood. The Vajrayana moves farther. It acclaims that all can achieve
bodhisattvahood in one short lifetime and then use the death as a means of taking
this bodhisattvahood on a quantum leap forward.

OTHER INFLUENCES : TEACHERS’ SPIRITUAL LINEAGE, ARHATS

AND TULKUS

Tibet had inherited from India the idea of

The Dalai Lamas: The Institution and Its
History
teachers’ spiritual lineage. In India the
idea faded away but in Tibet it developed
exceptionally well. This spiritual lineage
was in the form of continuous
transmission of the teachings from one
generation to the next. As is popularly
believed, the eighth century teacher
Padma Sambhava had hid a part of what
he had written for the teachers of next
generations. The concept of such material
legacy left by a teacher of one generation
for the next underwent complete change
after the reincarnation cult grew stronger.
Now it was the transference of the
essence of their teachers – their
knowledge and all that they acquired in
any lifetime, from one birth to the other.
This doctrine of the transference of
teachers’ essence might have effectively
influenced the cult of Dalai Lama lineage
that not only defined emanation of a
previous birth into a new but also the
spiritual continuity from the past to the
present.

In early Buddhism ‘arhats’ – Buddha’s disciples, more often and more correctly
identified as Theravadins, had a long and strong tradition of the past. "Arhats’, the
living beings, were bardic couriers of Buddha’s message to lands far and wide. In

Page 10
India, the concept of ‘arhats’ had faded away long back. However, the charismatic
institution of Tibetan Lamas, of which Dalai Lama emerged as the head, seems to
have reflections of this ancient Buddhist cult of the legendary ‘arhats’. It might have
had some role in expansion and magnification of this subsequent Tibetan cult.

Tulku, a term borrowed from Mahayana Buddhism, or rinpoche, as tulku is

sometimes known, the earliest Tibetan institution of officially recognised reincarnate
lamas, is broadly the basis of the Dalai Lama cult. It is believed that a tulku is a
rebirth of a specific historical figure or a Buddhist master who has vowed to take
rebirth to help all living beings attain enlightenment. Among lamas a tulku, being a
reincarnate lama, had a somewhat special position, though at any given there were
hundreds of tulkus or tulku lineages. Around the twelfth century legal implications in
regard to the legacy of the deceased – his belongings etc. began erupting. It
pressed elders to determine each tulku’s lineage. In due course, around the
beginning of the fifteenth century, the lineage of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was
discovered in Gendun Drubpa and with this the institution of Dalai Lama came into
being.

MODUS OF IDENTIFYING A DALAI LAMA REINCARNATION AND

HIS ENTHRONEMENT

Though not from beginning, the process of searching the reincarnation of a Dalai
Lama is now well settled. It begins soon after a Dalai Lama passes away.
Simultaneous to the last rites of the dead a divination is conducted to determine
whether or not it would be useful to search for and formally recognise a
reincarnation. If yes, a committee of elders was formed to find the child. The
committee closely examines the body of the deceased Dalai Lama before it is
disposed of for any likely signs that would indicate or help in determining the
direction that the committee should take when searching the reincarnation of the
deceased. Such signs apart, the committee closely observes weather patterns,
natural phenomena and omens for finding their identical re-occurrences around the
person who might be his likely reincarnation. Celestial powers, especially the State
Oracle, were prayed to guide to the right course of action. Sometimes the committee
or the Regent appointed after the death of a Dalai Lama, as was appointed after the
death of the Thirteenth, would make a trip to Lhamo Latso, the acknowledged Oracle
Lake, and search the waters for indications as to where his reincarnation might be
found. The committee would consult high lamas and take stock of dreams of
prominent members of the mystical community and analyse them for their hidden
meanings. Firmly believing that the dead would reincarnate the committee shall pay
visits to all born around the time of the death of the former Dalai Lama and an on-
the-spot assessment shall be made as to who among them was a reincarnation of
the deceased Dalai Lama.

The process was followed in its exactness when in 1933 the Thirteenth Dalai Lama
passed away for discovering the present one, the Fourteenth. During his trip to the
Oracle Lake the Regent, appointed after the death of the Thirteenth, witnessed signs
that clearly indicated that one he was looking for was born many hundred miles
away to the east in the vicinity of Kumbum Monastery in Amdo slightly inside the
Chinese territory in a humble Tibetan farmers’ house. With a team of elders the
Regent visited the house. Not only that the child had a number of signs of the
deceased Dalai Lama, the four-year-old took hardly any time in recognizing one of
the members of the visiting team who had been his disciple in his Thirteenth
reincarnation. He was shown a number of objects assorted together but from
amongst them he picked only those that had belonged to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama.
Just four years of age, the child convinced all that he was the Thirteenth Dalai
Lama’s true reincarnation. With no hesitation in anyone’s mind the child was

Page 11
acclaimed the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. In 1939, when the world was heading towards
the second World War to involve unprecedented cruelties and loss of lives a vast
majority of Tibet’s spiritual elders had gathered at Reteng Monastery, to the
northeast of Lhasa, awaiting the four year old boy expected to reach there in
caravan from Amdo to be enthroned as the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

FOURTEENTH, NOT EXACTLY THE FOURTEENTH

The proper hierarchical order

acclaims to have so far fourteen
Dalai Lamas, the present one being
the Fourteenth. However, the
tradition acclaims a far larger
number. As acclaimed, even the First
was not really the first. The Tibetan
tradition relates a succession of sixty
re-births previous to the Fourteenth.
The First Dalai Lama Gendun Drubpa
had forty-six reincarnations before
him, thirty-six as those of Lama
Drom Tonpa, who he reincarnated,
and ten, his own as various kings,
though these reincarnations are not
recognised as those of the Dalai
Lama but of the being who became
the Dalai Lama. Thus, the First Dalai
Lama had forty-six prior
reincarnations, and the present Dalai
Lama being sixtieth.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama

DALAI LAMA AND SECTARIAN UNITY

The Buddhism reached Tibet in mid-seventh century during the reign of king
Songtsen Gonpa who built several Buddhist temples and shrines including the sacred
Jokhang temple of Lhasa, and with this Tibet transformed into a Buddhist region.
When during the period from mid-seventh to mid-eleventh centuries in India
Buddhism had begun shrinking, in Tibet it underwent a complete renaissance.
Though Tibet borrowed from India not only the basics of Buddhism, myths, literature
and doctrines, but also India’s renowned teachers like Asit and Padma Sambhava
among others, over the period of time it developed a body of its own doctrines,
myths, teachers and its own vision of Buddhism.

Page 12
 In the course of time there evolved four
major branches of Tibetan Buddhism, the
ancient one of these founded in eighth
century by Padma Sambhava, a great
teacher of Tantrika Buddhism from India,
being Nyingma or the Ancient Ones, while
the new ones founded in eleventh century
and after, being ‘Sakya’ or the ‘Grey Earth
lineage’, ‘Kagyu’ or ‘Instruction lineage’,
and the ‘Kadam’ or ‘Supreme Instruction
Lineage’. In late fourteenth century Jey
Tsongkhapa, the teacher of first Dalai
Lama, founded yet another branch of
Tibetan Buddhism named Geluk.

Gelugpa Refuge Tree

The First Dalai Lama was believed to be the

reincarnation of Lama Drom Tonpa, a
Kadampa or an early lama of Kadam
branch. Consequentially, in the course of
time Kadam branch merged with Geluk.

SECTS IN TIBETAN BUDDHISM

Comparison of Practices Between Gelugpa
and Nyingmapa Sects

Page 13
Despite that Jey Tsongkhapa propounded his own doctrine, in his life and literature
that he composed he held all sects in equal reverence and studied them with equal
devotion. In this regard his own life was the ecumenical model for the First Dalai
Lama and all his reincarnations. As he was a direct disciple of Jey Tsongkhapa the
First Dalai Lama Gendun Drubpa was a staunch follower of Geluk sect that his
teacher had propounded but like his master he held all other sects in equal
reverence and made them the theme of his studies. This was actually the model
religious code for all subsequent Dalai Lamas who were staunch Geluk followers but
held all doctrines in equal reverence; and this effectively worked in the unification of
Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan nation, and in the course of time Dalai Lama emerged
as the institution of Tibetan Buddhism, or rather the Buddhism world-over, not of
this or that doctrine or sect. This aptly reflects in the words of the Fifth Dalai Lama
when he said ‘to be the overall spiritual head of all schools of Tibetan Buddhism, I
regard it as my sacred duty to understand, uphold and propagate each of them on
an equal footing.’

NOTE :

In the scheme of this essay a brief account of the historic deeds and the life of His
Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, the One who benefits the world
today with his divine presence, had to be its part. However, even a brief survey of
only a few of the aspects of the Great Dalai Lama Tradition overwhelmed it in its
entirety and now the authors, with heads bowed in reverence, are left with no other
option than to look for another opportunity to do an independent essay on the life of
the Great Divine Master.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Glenn H. Mullin : The Fourteen Dalai Lamas – A Sacred Legacy of

Reincarnation
• Glenn H. Mullin : Mystical verses of a Dalai Lama
• Ardy Verhaegen : The Dalai Lamas – The Institution and its History
• Charles Bell : Portrait of a Dalai Lama – The life and Times of the Great
Fourteenth
• Charles Bell : The Religion of Tibet
• Charles Bell : Tibet : Past and Present
• Deborah Hart Strober & Gerald S. Strober : His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• R. P. Anuruddha : An Introduction into Lamaism
• Bina Roy Burman : Religion and Politics in Tibet
• Graham Coleman : A Handbook of Tibetan Culture
• Dalai Lama, the Fourteenth : My Land and My People
• Dalai Lama, the Fourteenth : The Buddhism of Tibet
• Sarat Chandra Das : Tibetan Studies
• David-Neel, Alexander : Magic and Mystery in Tibet

This article by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr Daljeet.

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