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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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2022

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Summary

Abstract

Hamugetu's paper discusses the relationships between tradition and modernity through an examination of the Seventh lCang-skya's activities in China and Inner Mongolia in the late Qing period. Articulating a modern ideology of the separation of church and state, he sought to protect the interests of Tibetan Buddhist society from both the Chinese government and Inner Mongolian nationalists through accommodating both forces, while simultaneously seeking to reform Tibetan Buddhism in Inner Mongolia along modernist lines. Striving to protect the interests of the Buddhist community, the struggle of the Seventh lCang-skya between the system of jasak lamas and the separation of religion and state is typical of the issues facing the Tibetan Buddhist world in the early 20th century.

Keywords: The Seventh lCang-skya, Qing, Tibetan Buddhism, Inner Mongolia, modernism

Introduction

During the modern period of national or regional state formation in Asia, the relationship between religion and politics was thoroughly reconstructed. To understand the transformation of this relationship it is necessary to consider region-specific factors, such as the impact of nationalist forces, various models of government, and individual activities. For example, it is well known that the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and the Eighth Jebtsundamba's activities were vital to the movements for the independence of Tibet and Mongolia.

The situation of Inner Mongolia was very complicated. By the end of World War II, the Communist Party of China had gained control over Manchukuo and the Mongol United Autonomous Government after the collapse of Japanese rule in Inner Mongolia. In 1947, China established the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region with decisive diplomatic and military support from the Soviet Union. For these reasons, the modern history of Inner Mongolia is generally understood in terms of the wider context of the history of the liberation of China. Recently the history of this period has also been reviewed from the perspective of the Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, a political party in Inner Mongolia active in the 1920s and resurrected after the surrender of Japan. But it is difficult to agree with their conclusion that the emergence of the current Inner Mongolia region was the result of the late 1940s autonomy movements led by the Communist Party of China or the Inner Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party.

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The Early 20th Century Resurgence of the Tibetan Buddhist World
Studies in Central Asian Buddhism
, pp. 229 - 248
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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