Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The Impact of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s Sojourn in Mongolia Arousing the National Consciousness of Tibetan Buddhists from 1904 to 1908
- 2 The Modern and Traditional Diplomacy of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama During His Sojourn in Khalkha and Qinghai (1904–1907)
- 3 Friendship and Antagonism: Tibetans and Money in Early Twentieth-Century Mongolia
- 4 The Tibet-Mongolia Political Interface in the First Half of the Twentieth Century: Data from Russian Archives
- 5 A Study of three Tibetan letters attributed to Dorzhiev held by the St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian: Academy of Sciences
- 6 Russian Archival Documents on the Revitalization of Buddhism Among the Kalmyks in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
- 7 Buddhist Devotion to the Russian Tsar: The Bicultural Environment of the Don Kalmyk Sangha and Russian Orthodox Church in the 1830s
- 8 Russian Tsar as Cakravartin: A Buryat Lama’s View of the Coronation of Nicholas II
- 9 The Struggle between Tradition and Modernity in the Early Twentieth Century of the Tibetan Buddhist World: A case study of the Seventh lCang-skya’s activities from 1912–1957
- Index
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
2 - The Modern and Traditional Diplomacy of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama During His Sojourn in Khalkha and Qinghai (1904–1907)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 April 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The Impact of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s Sojourn in Mongolia Arousing the National Consciousness of Tibetan Buddhists from 1904 to 1908
- 2 The Modern and Traditional Diplomacy of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama During His Sojourn in Khalkha and Qinghai (1904–1907)
- 3 Friendship and Antagonism: Tibetans and Money in Early Twentieth-Century Mongolia
- 4 The Tibet-Mongolia Political Interface in the First Half of the Twentieth Century: Data from Russian Archives
- 5 A Study of three Tibetan letters attributed to Dorzhiev held by the St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian: Academy of Sciences
- 6 Russian Archival Documents on the Revitalization of Buddhism Among the Kalmyks in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
- 7 Buddhist Devotion to the Russian Tsar: The Bicultural Environment of the Don Kalmyk Sangha and Russian Orthodox Church in the 1830s
- 8 Russian Tsar as Cakravartin: A Buryat Lama’s View of the Coronation of Nicholas II
- 9 The Struggle between Tradition and Modernity in the Early Twentieth Century of the Tibetan Buddhist World: A case study of the Seventh lCang-skya’s activities from 1912–1957
- Index
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
Summary
Abstract
Daichi Wada draws on Russian, Chinese, and Japanese sources to analyse the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's diplomatic activities during his sojourn in Khalkha, Qinghai, and Mount Wutai (1904–1909). Daichi demonstrates how the Dalai Lama's diplomatic efforts manifested both traditional and modern aspects that were deployed as appropriate, and how his worldview was enhanced by his travels. The author particularly focuses on the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's relationship with the Buryat Buddhist community, which in some aspects represented Russian interests but also held traditional ties with the Tibetan Buddhist centre. The support he gained among the Buryats helped him survive in a dangerous situation as not only a ruler of Tibet but also as the highest authority over Tibetan Buddhists.
Keywords: Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Buryats, Diplomacy, Tradition, Modernity, Russia
Introduction
In 1904, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama (thub bstan rgya mtsho, 1876–1933) left Lhasa for Khalkha because of the invasion of the British Indian forces, known as the “Younghusband Expedition” or “Mission.” This began his multi-stop foreign travel around continental Asia, via Qinghai, Shanxi, Beijing, and Darjeeling. He only returned home to Lhasa at the end of 1912, after the confusion of the Xinhai Revolution had settled down. Immediately after his return, he faced the need to adapt Tibet to the system of modern international relations, at least at some level. The conclusion of the Tibet-Mongolia Treaty of 1913 and the proceedings of the Simla Conference represent his struggle for the establishment of Tibet and/or his attempt to secure the Dalai Lama's government as a “modern” state.
In 1909, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama changed his title. He declared that his status should be based only on Buddhism itself, not on the authority of the emperor of the Qing dynasty—thus bringing an end to the “chaplain-donor relationship” between the Dalai Lama and the Qing emperor, which had been maintained since its beginning, the reign of Emperor Shunzhi (1644–1661). It appears that his experience of traveling abroad for almost nine years had given the Thirteenth Dalai Lama the opportunity to cultivate his knowledge of the “modern” and reformed his views of the world.
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- The Early 20th Century Resurgence of the Tibetan Buddhist WorldStudies in Central Asian Buddhism, pp. 65 - 84Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2022