Dorjiev, Memoirs of a Tibetan Diplomat
Thubten J. Norbu and Dan Martin, trs., “Dorjiev: Memoirs of a Tibetan Diplomat.” Hokke-Bunka Kenkyû (=Journal of the Institute for the Comprehensive Study of the Lotus Sûtra), Hokekyô Bunka Kenkyûjo [Rissho University, Tokyo], no. 17 (March 1991), pp. 1-105.
DORJIEV:
MEMOIRS OF A TIBETAN DIPLOMAT
Thubten J. Norbu
Dan Martin
March 14, 1990
INTRODUCTION
The story of my own acquaintance with the history of Dorjiev is perhaps not irrelevant for assessing the impact he has had, and continues to have, on Tibetan society in general. While I was studying in Gomang College (Sgo-mang Grwa-tshang) in Depung Monastery ('Bras-spungs Dgon-pa), between 1941 and 1946, I often heard Dorjiev's name in connection with the many endowments he made while studying there. To the assembly hall ('du-khang) of Gomang College, he donated many temple hangings and decorations (mchod-pa'i rdzas), mostly made of Russian silk brocade, the grade of silk most valued by Tibetans. These temple hangings and decorations were frequently changed on holy days, and in honor of special visitors. They included pillar coverings usually made of silk or brocade in Central Tibet, and of carpets in other parts of the country, temple banners (rgyal-mtshan), umbrella-like canopies (gdugs), brocades hanging at the tops of pillars (called 'phen), and networks of cloth hanging from the roof at the edge of the central sky-light and elsewhere (called dra-ba dra-phyed). It was common knowledge that one set of especially fine temple decorations had been a gift of Dorjiev, and these hangings were much admired and only used on the most special occasions.
When Dorjiev stayed at Depung, he lived in the Khalkha Residence (Khal-kha Mi-tshan) which, like the Kumbum Residence (Sku-'bum Mi-tshan) where I stayed, belonged to the Samlo Section (Bsam-blo Khang-tshan).1 Next to the particular building called Chuba'o (Chu-ba-'og) where I stayed, was the residence of the Zungchu Tritrul (Zung-ju Khri-sprul) incarnation. The latter building was called Jungchu Dormitory (Zung-ju Spyi-khang), and formed a part of the Zungchu Section (Zung-ju Khang-tshan).2 Because we both attended Gomang College, had common interests, were close in age, and just because we were neighbors, the Zungchu Tritrul and I became good friends. Every day we talked together and soon I found out that his previous incarnation had lived together with Dorjiev at Depung and, for a time, they had shared all their expenses and belongings. Therefore, several objects which Dorjiev had brought from abroad had found their way into his possession, since they formed a part of the property of the Zungchu Lama-Residence (Bla-brang) left by his predecessor. Among those objects which he kept in his room, I recall some clocks, snuff bottles, a flower vase and a colorful Russian brocade monk's shirt (called stod-'gag).
Later on, I studied with a famous scholar from Buriatia, the Geshe Ngawang Nyima (Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma), who had formerly been a student of Dorjiev. The Geshe had stayed with Dondrup Lharampa (Don-grub Lha-rams-pa), the same as the Thubten Dondrup (Thub-bstan-don-grub) who would later ask Dorjiev to write his memoirs, at Sholotai (Sho-lo-tha'i) Monastery while attending a Russian school. Ngawang Nyima was ordained as a monk by Dorjiev, a frequent visitor to Sholotai Monastery. He was also one of nine young Buriat monks selected by Dorjiev to go for advanced studies in the large monastic universities of Lhasa. Often, before and after the study periods I had with him, the Geshe expressed his gratefulness to the Sogpo Tshanzhab, as he referred to Dorjiev, and told stories about him.
Still later, in my dealings with Tibetan officials, Dorjiev's name was often brought up, especially as a model of devoted service to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, in connection with events surrounding the Younghusband Expedition, and for his role during the period of the Dalai Lama's subsequent wanderings in Mongolia and China. For example, it was said that in the debates held between local Mongolian monk-scholars and Tibetan monks in the entourage accompanying the Dalai Lama in Urga, the Tibetan monks were clearly in danger of losing to the Mongolian team. When it came to Dorjiev's turn to place the questions to be debated, the Tibetan side quickly recovered its lead and ultimately came out victorious. This was considered such an important point of Tibetan prestige that, upon his return to Tibet, the Dalai Lama stiffened the academic requirements for advanced degrees.
When I came out of Tibet, like other Tibetans I was surprised to find that the rest of the world perceived Dorjiev as a Russian agent. To Tibetans there has never been any question that he had worked entirely in the interests of the Dalai Lama and of Tibet in general. Even in his later years in Russia he was still working for the interests of the Dalai Lama and of Tibetan-style Buddhist Kalmucks and Buriats, keeping himself as dissociated as was possible from the internal politics, both revolutionary and counter-revolutionary, then prevailing in Russia. In the first decades of this century, he was simply searching for pragmatic solutions to British and Manchu political pressures on Tibet. His main idea was to use Czarist Russian connections to counterbalance the immediate threats of Manchu and British imperialistic designs. I would argue that the following quotes more closely reflect British and Chinese fears about Dorjiev than the real Dorjiev.
...the Russian Lama Dorjiev is said to have urged the present Grand Dalai Lama to accept the Tsar as suzerain on the pretext that the Russian emperor was a reflex from the fabled paradise in the West. (Waddell, Lhasa 31)
On his escape from Chinese influence the unlucky young Dalai soon fell deeply into Russian clutches, through the influence of his favorite tutor, the Lama Dorjieff. This Lama is a Mongolian Buriat... Latterly he has been in charge of the arsenal at Lhasa. On getting the ear of the young Dalai Lama he poisoned his mind against the English, and induced him to believe that the White Tsar is his friend, and not England. (Ibid., p. 38)
Aguan Dorji is well known to the Foreign Department of the Government of India as Dorjiev, an active agent of Russian policy in Asia. (Filchner, 'A Story of Struggle' p. 359)
A sinister character called Dorjieff, said to be a Russian-Mongolian in the Lama's employ, was reported to be toing and froing between Lhasa and Moscow... (Brereton, 'Mission to Tibet' p. 433)
Agvan Dorjiev (1849-1938), a Buryat lama who was a confidant and adviser of Dalai Lama XIII, played an important part in this regard. He appears to have impressed the Dalai Lama with the Tsar's earnest interest in the promotion of Buddhism in Siberia, and especially with the idea of the Tsar as the Protector of Buddhism. He gave currency to the beliefs that the Tsar was the Kalki avatar and that the legendary country of Shambhala described in the folklore and literature of Tibet was no other than Russia, and, what is more, he was able to sell these ideas to the credulous Tibetans. (Rahul, Government and Politics p. 111)
Among them was a Mongol, Dorjieff, who had been naturalized as a Russian subject. He lived in Tibet for more than two decades and learned to speak the Lhasa dialect fluently by going among the monks of the major monasteries on the excuse of studying Buddhistscriptures. He managed to acquire the high rank of a Reader to the 13th Dalai Lama. He often tried to influence the Dalai Lama by sowing discord between Tibet and the Qing central government as well as by pro-Russian remarks. He tried to convince the Dalai that Russia was the sole patron of Lamaism and that the Qing court was unreliable... (Wang, Highlights p. 135)
A close and critical reading of such statements, when compared to the memoirs and other sources available to us, will prove that much that has been said about Dorjiev, particularly about his imputed motives, is untrue or only half-truth. Dorjiev, whatever else he might have been, was a sincere believer in Buddhism. If British and Manchu or Chinese writers have implied otherwise, it should be remembered that the British and Manchus themselves were trying to send (and had actually sent) spies and informants into Tibet under the guise of religious pilgrims and students. By the process of psychological projection, they assumed that Dorjiev was the same sort of 'pretend Buddhist' puppet of Czarist imperialism -- one who had through flattery and intrigue managed to wiggle his way into a position of influence -- that they themselves wished they could have had working for their own respective imperialist interests. Indeed, it was because of the strength of his religious commitments that Dorjiev turned to politics; not as a means to his own aggrandizement or for the greater glory of Russia, but because he perceived perhaps more clearly than many of his
native-born Tibetan compatriots how strong were the external political pressures that threatened Tibetan Buddhism and even the Tibetan way of life; which was, it must be remembered, his own way of life.
Having heard so many different stories and conflicting opinions about Dorjiev, I was always looking for more information. While in Mongolia in l979, I heard that an autobiography by Dorjiev existed. I looked through libraries of Tibetan books in Ulan Bator and still later in Leningrad and Ulan Ude. I always inquired about this and other works by Dorjiev. Everyone I asked knew the memoirs existed and some had even seen it in its Mongolian version. I eventually met a Mongolian in Buriatia who had read it a few years previously and could describe its contents. Finally, in the summer of 1984, I visited a monastery in Buriatia and, upon asking about Dorjiev's autobiography, was told that a copy could be procured. Two days later, I was presented with two copies, one a Tibetan manuscript and the other an old Mongolian script lithograph. On a second trip to the Soviet Union, I received three further versions, one in Cyrillic script Mongolian, one typescript version in Russian (a translation from the Mongolian), and also an old manuscript in Mongolian script.
During my first trip to Leningrad in 1979, I visited Dorjiev's three-storied Tibetan temple there. This astonishingly authentic Tibetan temple is now surrounded by ordinary apartment buildings. I was deeply impressed to find a bit of Tibet in surroundings otherwise so alien to it, but I was impressed still more by the character of the man who had had the courage to put it there. Sadly, the doors of the temple were locked.
T. J. Norbu
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION
1. The order of divisions of Depung from largest to smallest units goes like this: Monastery (Dgon-pa), College (Grwa-tshang), Section (Khang-tshan), Residence (Mi-tshan).
2. The Zungchu Tritrul was named after the area of the southeastern-most part of Amdo province called Zungchu, in Chinese--Sung-chou.
DORJIEV: Memoirs of a Tibetan Diplomat
A statement composed by a beggar
in monk guise, deprived of the wealth
of the Holy Dharma who,
possessed by the spirits of the eight
worldly dharmas,1
wandered aimlessly2 in the countries of
the world.
OM SVASTI!
With endless love and kindness
toward endless sentient beings as toward an only child,
with one end in view, you look on with compassion.
Lord of all ends! Whom other than you?
With whom has this one had the good fortune of meeting
from whom there was on me some small effect?
No matter where I may find rebirth,
may we meet again with no separation!
The biographies3 which are properly called biographies
always through knowledge and compassion
do great benefit in many ways
to the teachings and to animate beings.
Just seeing them, faith and respect are drawn out.
Just seeing this mixed up record of my foolish actions...
besides making your mind wander, What?
When you look off to a far distance from the southeastern direction there is, as if floating in the sky like an eagle, the mountain called Dabhor Tshagan.4 On a stream flowing from the left underarm of that mountain is the area called Hara Zhiper.5 There I took birth in the Wood Male Tiger year of the fifteenth sixty-year cycle6 to a father named Dorje or Yeshe and a mother named Drolkar,7 a couple both generous and faithful, respecting the Three Precious as supreme. Due to bad latent karmic formations developed in previous lives, I was bound to the householder's life.
From age seven, I studied the different types of scripts. Up to age eighteen, I took a wife and kept a household, wasting my time with all sorts of undisciplined actions. When I reached the age of thirteen, I met one whose name I find it hard to make my lips pronounce,8 a learned and spiritually accomplished Pundit, the abbot named Chogyal.9 From him I received the Long-life Empowerment according to the tradition of Machik Drubpe Gyelmo.10 Starting then, I began reciting the 'essence mantra'.11
At age fourteen, I went to Urga.12 I took layman's vows13 from the truly sacred second abbot of Urga14 whose name was Sonam,15 whose virtues of authority and realization were vast as an ocean. On that occasion, he ordered me, "Since beer is the root of all faults, do not ever drink it!" So, because of the powerful blessing of his persistent order, I never drank such a bad liquid poison.
My kind old father put me to reading many things such as biographies and The Wise Man and the Fool.16 With his help, I understood passages like, "The benefits of renouncing the world are unimaginable." and "A household in this life and the next, both are like sinking in a quagmire of sharp pains." So I conceived the irreversible intention to renounce the household life. My father was delighted and gave his permission. Still, many attempted to dissuade me, saying things like, "Well, now! There are many degrees of high and low among monk and laity. Here you are mixed up in bad activities and later you will fall back into the household life. Meanwhile, the family capital will decrease and you will definitely be poor. It would be better if you stayed at home and patronized the Buddhadharma. That way you will accumulate merit." But even they could not change my mind. I went to the Tutor and Great Abbot Vajra Holder17 Penden Chomphel,18 took the vows of the celibate layman19 and kept them.20 And, in the winter of my nineteenth year, I set out alone from my fatherland.
The Great Abbot Vajra Holder21 with kindness took me in his charge. He would have taken me along with him to Tibet and have me admitted as a member at the Gomang Datsang22 in Depung Monastery.23 However, in those days they had made a prohibition to the effect that foreign Europeans were not to be allowed to come to the Cold Country.24 If someone came in the company of one or cooperated with one, etc., whoever did so would immediately have his possessions confiscated, be stitched in hide, and thrown into the water, or so it was said. The final legal proclamation was made severe. In those times, we Buriats25 were Russian subjects, but Tibetan officials and others who knew how to decide who to admit or exclude were very few. Still, the Great Abbot26 had doubts when someone told him there was a danger of punishment. So we turned back.
When I reached my twenty-first year, I took full monk vows27 from the Great Abbot Vajra Holder.28 From the 'ritual purifier' of the Jebtsun Dampa,29 Lobzang Jimpa,30 I received the complete four initiations of Vajrabhairava without consort.31 Likewise, in the presence of the Jebtsun Dampa's Tutor,32 the Ngari Rinpoche,33 I received oral textual transmissions34 for sutras and treatises, entered the mandala of the thirteen-deity Bhairava, and so on. I took as much nectar of the Dharma as I was able.
Then I went in the direction of my fatherland. Without spending a great deal of time, I visited the supreme Pure Land of Wu-tai Mountain35 While there, I met the Lord Master of Spiritual Accomplishment, Jangchub Tshultrim;36 the Lord Master of Learning and Spiritual Accomplishment, the Dzasak Rinpoche of Wu-tai;37 the Lharampa Geshe38 Master of Learning, Yeshe Lhundrup;39 and other holy persons. I also obtained initiations, teachings, oral textual transmissions and practical guidances. I had hoped to do a long retreat of Vajrabhairava. So, while I played the part of a retreatant, beginning the "400,000 practice," the refuge formula and the Guru Yoga,40 the Master of Spiritual Accomplishment by the name of Jangchub,41 otherwise known as Namnang Bakshi,42 said I needed to go on a donation collection tour so that the Dzasak Rinpoche43 could go to the Dharmafield of Tibet. He told me at great length how there was more merit in worshipping one hair of the Lama's body than in worshipping all the Buddhas. Since that was difficult to deny, I went with the Chadral Rinpoche44 even though the coldness of the wintertime was great. Tens of thousands of people asked for precepts including the wealthy of Buriat land, those who had faith in the Rinpoche, great lamas, officials and ordinary people. Although the articles offered were not few, at that time money was scarce while the cost of livestock was low. Still, there were a great many faithful ones and, so, I returned to Wu-tai Mountain and offered a great quantity of articles to the Refuge Lord Dzasak Rinpoche.45
He was very pleased, "In this world has occurred a kindness equal to that of a father and mother!" I received word that my service had been welcome, and the orders well carried out. "You must be my attendant on the way to Tibet," he said. Then, when I went to work day and night, honestly and responsibly helping to exchange the offerings for various types of brocades from Peking necessary for achieving the purpose of going to Tibet, he was extremely pleased and took me on as his attendant.
In response to the persistent order of the Dzasak Rinpoche that he had to go to Tibet by sedan chair, the Refuge Lord Chadral Rinpoche46 replied, "To make pilgrimage in Tibet sitting in a sedan chair held up by men would be meaningless." He went walking to Tibet. The way he went courageously, unafraid of difficulties even with his aged body, is an amazing story, As for myself, I was appointed the deputy manager47 on the way to Tibet in addition to serving as the Dzasak Rinpoche's attendant.
I was in my twenty-sixth year when I arrived in Tibet.48 I met the Refuge Lord Chadral Rinpoche49 and worked to exchange and sell the merchandise belonging to the Ritse Labrang50 and to the Refuge Lord.51 The pure, virtuous deeds were extensive, and I heard religious discourses, scriptural and initiatory, from many true Buddhas and holy personages including the Refuge Lord and his disciples. I established endowment funds for the principal seats of religion including Sera, Depung and Tashilhumpo.52 During Lhasa's Chanting Sessions,53 I served in the distribution of offerings and 'general teas',54 serving with pure thoughts. These things made me happy, as if part of the family.55 At Gomang Datsang,56 a great feast with many distributed offerings was held in connection with my naming as Chodze.57 The Gomang Datsang gave me great assistance in my studies.
Then, while I was studying at the College of Buddhist Dialectics,58 I heard that the noble lord Chamgon Phurbuchok Rinpoche59 had returned. I met the Great Chair Vajra Holder60 and other holy ones who were true Buddhas and heard scriptural and initiatic Dharma discourses. A few times, during my study vacations at isolated places such as Gonsar,61 I invited a virtuous friend of incomparable kindness whose life story is one of scholarship, pure discipline and goodness, for which reason his name should be pronounced: the well-known Rabjampa Geshe of Lhasa, Peldrub.62 Though I was always busy fulfilling his teachings with no omission, my dialectic studies, because of my extreme restlessness and cloudy mind, failed to produce a good ranking. But in things of small benefit, such as the sciences, I made great efforts. When I was to receive the title 'Special Lharampa',63 many scholars of the three great monasteries--Sera, Depung and Ganden--gathered together at the Lhasa Chanting Sessions and I took an examination on the Five Volumes.64 Then the Allknowing Victorious Power65 appointed me as an 'Assistant in Dialectical Studies'.66 For ten years long, without break, I served Him.
The Tutor to the Dalai Lama,67 Phurbuchok Rinpoche,68 truly a Lord Maitreya, gave scriptural, initiatory and empowerment Dharma discourses to the Supreme Victorious Power. Whatever was given, I received together with Him as His attendant. I had the good fortune to receive together with Him teachings which included Kalacakra, the Vajravali collection, the Mitra Jatsa collection, Guhyasamaja, Cakrasamvara, Bhairava,69 and many other tutelaries and special deities, their four empowerments and initiations,70 as well as quite a few scriptural instructions.
Each year, the Supreme Allknowing Victorious Power, starting from the first day of the tenth month up until the New Year, did retreats devoted to the tutelaries, special deities and so on. While He was in retreat, I also went to an isolated hermitage, propitiated the tutelaries and did long-life rites for the continuing presence of the Supreme Victorious Power. Every second day of the New Year, I offered to Him the long-life substance.71
Following the words of the Supreme Victorious Power, I worked hard to fulfil His order to be proofreader at the time of the woodblock carving of the scriptures, the sutras and tantras.72 As I was doing so, because there were some untruths inspired by envy and competitiveness, a few government people became upset and a little angry. But, due to the compassionate kindness of the Snowy Land's Unique Divine (H.H. the Dalai Lama) and the Phurbuchok Rinpoche73 and due to the reliability of the karmic system, nothing bad happened and things quieted down. The few persons who did rough things, even though no one harmed them, were each brought down by various circumstances. Then I definitely found from what happened that truth is truth and lies are lies.
The British74 or 'outlanders'75 had encircled the world76 and were very much putting the weaker ones under their hands. Likewise, they thought they would devour Tibet. Sent from afar, they put Sikkim77 and other countries under their hands; and then, while they displayed military and diplomatic78 gestures toward Tibet, many were the preparations they made for devouring it.
In those days there was no sure way to distinguish Russians from British. Russians were also not permitted into Tibet. The Buriats,79 Kalmucks,80 Torguts,81 and others, being Russian subjects, were said to be definitely forbidden to enter.82 We Buriats, concealing our names, said we were Khalkhas83 and there were various disagreements on account of our acceptance into monastic orders.84
But especially to my way of thinking, I thought, "Because the Russians and British do not get along with each other, the Russians may be able to help Tibetans and keep Tibet from being swallowed by the British. If that is uncertain, still, it may be necessary to explain the Tibetan situation to the Russians."85
Then I went to the influential lamas and secular officials,86 gradually telling them how the Russians and British were enemies and how, under Russian rule, the stainless teachings of the Buddha were flourishing among the Torgut87 and Buriats.88 At the same time, someone from France89 named Prince d'Orleans90 arrived in the Hor country91 north of Lhasa. Even though various things were discussed, such as the possibilities and ways how Russia and France could keep Tibet from becoming food for the British, he was turned away and not allowed into Central Tibet. In my thoughts and conversations during that time I doubted if (what was said) was true or not, although some people had that idea. Meanwhile, statements came from the Nechung Oracle, "It is said that a 'prince', emanation of a Bodhisattva, is in the north and east." and "There is a proverb that even dog fat can be good for a wound."92
While I was considering returning to my fatherland,93 the Supreme Victorious was a little disturbed by gossipers. I was not able to meet with him personally, but when I conveyed my wishes by way of others, the reply came, "At the end of a three years' leave, you must return again to Tibet."
While I paid my farewell visit to Phurbuchok Rinpoche,94 he conferred the empowerment of the six-armed Mahakala seated in the heart.95 While doing so, he placed me under the protectors' care so that I might accomplish activities for the aid of animate beings and Buddhist teachings. He performed other very deep kindnesses. As a parting gift, he gave me the three receptacles. For the Buddhabody receptacle, he gave an image of the reverend Tara, the divinity who combines in one the activities of all Buddhas; as Buddhaspeech receptacle, the monastic ordination texts; as Buddhamind receptacle, a stupa in the Kadampa style.96
When I paid my farewell visit to the Nechung Oracle, he took off from his hand a golden thumb-ring and gave it to me with a knotted Nyalshel Ashe97 the color of power (red), took me into the temple of the wrathful deities,98 and talked a lot about the stages of what I should do.
Then, in my forty-fifth year, together with Peljor99 and Chöjor,100 I set out from Lhasa. On our way travelling toward India, we were not allowed to proceed when the army officer101 Mikyelingpa102 who stayed at the Nyadong103 checkpoint gave us problems. After we prostrated three times and gave a lot of money, he was happy to let us go. And when we looked down on India from the top of the mountain pass of the great Himalayan104 glacier mountains, the rivers, plains and jungles, etc., made me think, "Isn't it a divine country?" But then when we reached Rinag105 it was hard to breathe from the great heat. While there were some small difficulties travelling, being unable to sleep at night, etc., when we later became accustomed to things, we had no problems. Travelling gradually, near Darjeeling we took the Jola Bhangar106 railway to Calcutta.107
Then we went to Bodhgaya,108 the supreme Pure Land where our Teacher Shakyamuni showed the way to obtain supreme Enlightenment, and visited the Mahabodhi Temple, the Bodhi Tree and other sacred objects. We prostrated, worshipped, and made offerings of gold for gold leaf, etc. We had the good fortune to receive all that our faith could conceive. That finished, we travelled by a great ship from the Bengali city of Calcutta. While on the sea, a strong wind arose with huge waves and I thought, "Now the time has come to see the after-world!"
But we did arrive at the great city of Peking.109 Then we travelled toward Urga.110 We had audience with the Refuge Lord Jebtsun Dampa111 and the Owner Pervading All Buddhafamilies,112 the Vajra Holder Great Abbot Pelchö.113 And, while we asked them for several profound teachings, scriptural, initiatory, and empowerments, the monks and lay people of my fatherland sent two people, a monk and a layman, to welcome us. Then we arrived in Buriatia. We made a petition, "At the five monastic institutions, Ana114 and the rest, the monks should gather together in an annual program of Dharma sessions according to the system of the Lower Tantra College of Lhasa115 and very correct rules of behavior and especially teaching procedures and so on should be instituted."
All the lamas and nobles agreed to this and said, "But, in particular, the Kanjur Lama Rinpoche of Trebo116 should be invited to come." I assured them that this could be done. Then there were preparations on the part of a confidant of the Russian Czar named Ukhtomskii117 for making Russian connections in the districts of China and Mongolia. He was one who could influence the Czar's thoughts toward that. I got news by way of a Buriat chief that I must go to St. Petersburg and I also thought, "The aims which I had previously pondered may now possibly be fulfilled."
Travelling together with Taisha Tshetan,118 I arrived at the capital St. Petersburg.119 I met with Ukhtomskii and then, through his mediation, paid a visit to the Czar.120 When I talked with him about Tibet, he told me how Russia would help Tibet not to be lost to enemy hands. Then I was told through Ukhtomskii that he had said that a Russian would need to be sent.
My reply was, "Definitely do not send a European. The nobles, ministers, ordinary monks and lay people have made an oath not to allow them. For the moment, there is no way to send anyone. Even so, gradually and after asking a few times, an agreement may later come. I do not know. It will be difficult for it to happen immediately." This made him a little displeased.
At the same time, the monk and lay, the lamas and officials of Buriat sent one Opashi121 of the Great Dorbet122 and he asked me how things had gone. At the same time, I arrived at Kalmuck, the land of the Torgut123 and of the Lesser and Great Dorbet.124 While they had followed after the successive reincarnations of the Supreme Victorious Power up until Kelsang Gyatso,125 after that time, they were unable to go to Tibet. About one hundred and forty years had gone by when I, the Victorious Power's servant, arrived and all the people, both monk and lay, were delighted. One by one, all kinds of articles arrived which they wished to offer to the Victorious Power. I accepted them and put them in safekeeping.
Later on I was in Da Fa-gue,126 otherwise known as Paris,127 the great city of France;128 very lovely to look at, but also very crowded. There was a group of about four hundred there who had great respect for Buddhist teachings such as Clemenceau129 and a lady130 named Alexandra131 who, though she took birth as a woman, had learned scholarship. It was meaningful to behold, hear and know how they made their respects132 to the sacred Three Precious, and what they called "doing recitations." I offered worship before the Buddha image and preached a little on the greatness of the Three Precious. While doing only this much, it might have brought into being for a few some aspirations which implanted good karmic seeds.133
The one named d'Orleans,134 who had previously arrived to the north of Lhasa, I did not find. They did not want him to possibly continue the royal line, and so he was exiled to another country.
I again returned to my fatherland by way of St. Petersburg. Opashi135 came from Tibet and I got the actual reply of the Supreme Victorious.136 Making special preparations for travel, I arrived by the sea route via China and Peking.137 At the Great Lhasa Chanting Sessions,138 the Supreme Leader of Gods and Men, the Allknowing Victorious Power Himself, was escorted to the head of a crowd of tens of thousands of the masters of learning and spiritual accomplishment and I made offerings of precious stones, diamonds and so forth, and various silks, together with one hundred and eight horse hooves of silver.139 To the congregation of saints, I gave five 'sho'140 each. I gave a butterlamp made of forty ounces of pure gold which was equal to the pair of golden butterlamps offered by the Longdol Lama141 in front of Lhasa's Great Jowo,142 renewed the golden butterlamps, provided an endowment fund, put gold wash on the main images, especially the two Jowo images, and made a thousand of the five kinds of offerings.143 Also, at the three main monasteries Sera, Depung and Ganden,144 I lavishly provided distributed offerings and 'general teas'.145 It was wonderful that there was the good fortune that things were accomplished according to their wishes, without letting the offerings of the many patrons go to waste.
In those times, the influential people of Tibet had these things to say about politics.146 Some thought, "Since the kindness of the Manchu Emperor147 has been so great, he will not forget about us even now. Therefore, we should not divorce ourselves from China." Others said, "The Chinese government will collapse before long. Therefore, so long as we have no agreements with the enemies nearby, we will certainly be conquered. So it would be good if we had close relations with them." Still others said, "The Russians, being very rich and powerful, we would not fall into the enemy hands. Also, since they are far away, they could not devour us.148 But for just that same reason, it is difficult to work149 with them." There were these three groups of people. A few from the influential sector, without being public about it, went with small gifts for the Czar and had talks with the ministers. They needed to go looking for support and then came back.
By order of the Allknowing Victorious Power, who saw a dirt clod as gold,150 I was given the senior abbot rank,151 a greeting scarf together with both a round and a square seal as well as an official document152 naming me "Religion Representative"153 and benedictions for being of assistance to the Buddha's teachings were made. I was given a book of monastic ordination rites authored by the Phurbuchok Rinpoche,154 and He said, "You must bring about many monastic ordinations!"
Again I travelled by way of India. When the begging bowl carrier Opashi155 arrived at Darjeeling from France,156 he was seized and thrown in prison. On a petition of the Mongolian Lama Sherab Gyatsho,157 he was kept in a monastery. I met with him, advised him what to do, and then left. When I arrived at Calcutta,158 I heard that the British administrators had put up posters saying, "There is a bad omen named Dorjiev159 who is about to make Tibeto-Russian connections. When this one who travels through India is killed, the man who will come carrying his head will get ten thousand rupees."160 After that, I made my departure quickly.
While I was going to make my way through Peking, the soldiers of the Boxer Rebellion161 were killing Europeans162 there with the quote that it was "the will of the gods."163 Since the ignorant Chinese soldiers were so crude, the time came when the European164 nations conquered the Chinese empire. So I arrived at a city of Ribeng165 or Yiphong166 called Nagasaki.167 There were many Buddhist temples there, but the people worshipping in them were few. The crowds of people were many while the plots of land were few. Japanese people only like their own clans. Even when they travel abroad, they do not care for anything besides thoughts of Japan. But they seem to be very harmonious among themselves. That is why they have become a great country. The great fame they have achieved on the surface of the earth seems to have come only from their internal harmony.
Then, going by way of Vladivostok,168 I was on the ferry of the great Amur River169 when we came to the large Chinese city named Aigun.170 Those who killed everyone and burned the city down without leaving a trace may have been men, but their brutality was greater than that of tigers and leopards.171
Then I arrived in Buriatia.172 Finally, travelling together with Namdak,173 I met the Czar at a city on the Black Sea,174 or Chornomor,175 named Yalta.176 I presented him with the Tibetan gifts. As return gifts, he gave objects of great value.177 As he said, "You must present them quickly," I departed by way of Urga178 meeting the Dalai Lama179 after seventy-two days.180
At the Lhasa Chanting Sessions181 I distributed offerings of one Tamka182 each. As the chief object of devotion, I made offerings to the jewelled Kanjur made in ancient times which was kept as an 'inner sacred object'183 at the great temple Rasa Trulnang.184
At the moment of departure, the Supreme Victorious Power Himself gave word that I was to go with him to the Phurbuchok Rinpoche.185 I went along as his servant and, one day while I was staying there, I made the gift of a horse hoof of silver186 by way of his chief personal attendant saying that he should "pray for the successful activities of this Geshe."187 His reply included the words, "Because of your great merit, your thoughts will be realized."
"You must leave by way of Nepal,"188 came the Dalai Lama's order. So, on the way, while visiting Tashilhumpo, the Refuge Lord Panchen Rinpoche189 gave oral textual transmissions for Shambhala Aspiration Prayer 190 and other texts. He called me before him and, after asking many questions, kindly gave me lavish gifts including a golden Buddhaimage.
Then, following the orders of the Supreme Victorious Power, I visited the stupas of Nepal. At the great stupa of Bodhnath191 I respectfully made an offering of plenty of paint made with quite a few sang192 of gold dust, sapphron and so forth. As I was doing this, suddenly a shower of rain fell and washed off the stupa. This was said to be a sign that my purpose would be fulfilled.
We went by foot from there. At the Nepalese-Indian border where they search your body and possessions, we were afraid they might see the gifts we were carrying. But since I appeared to be a beggar pilgrim, they did not search me thoroughly. I stayed one day at Rangpur193 in order to catch a train. There I saw something posted together with my picture which said, "If you bring in the head of the bad man Dorjiev,194 you will get ten thousand rupees." While this made me afraid, I travelled without any trouble. At the great city of western India called Bombay195 my ship was not yet ready to depart.196 So, I travelled in southern India. At the railway junction of Khyutikhor,197 the train was stopped for several days for fear of contagion. Meanwhile, I was afraid that I would come down with the illness.
Then we left peacefully and arrived at a city of Ceylon198 which is also called Singala.l99 I visited the holy places and saw many things including Buddha Shakyamuni's tooth. Then I boarded the Russian ocean liner named Tambov.200 When I arrived at the Russian port Odessa,201 we were welcomed with 'red carpet treatment' by order of the Czar and his ministers and, when I arrived at St. Petersburg,202 I was honored like the chief minister of any great foreign power would be. The personnel sent by the Tibetan government were two, Lobsang Khechok203 and Gyeltsan Phuntsok.204 There were also my travelling companions Jigje,205 Opashi,206 and Tshultrim.207 Together we went to meet the great Czar. We offered the Tibetan gifts and lavish gifts came in return. There also came documents written in solid gold letters stating the relations between Russia and Tibet.208 Then Lobsang Khechok and Gyeltsan Phuntsok were sent back to offer the gifts and documents.
The Shachin Lama209 did not give permission to start new educational monasteries210 in the Kalmuck areas211 of Torgut212 and Dorbet.213 Most of the old monks said, "A new religion that did not spread before will not suit people with felt tents."214 Assisted by the Kalmuck chief215 Tshering Dawo,216 I told them how Shakyamuni, the Second Victor (Tsongkhapa)217 and others had demonstrated the need to practice learning, pondering and contemplation on the Holy Dharma's Prajnaparamita; how it is necessary to cultivate the stages of the spiritual Path; how this is clearly contained in all the scriptures and their commentaries; and even how from the lips of the Supreme Victorious Power it was said that the time had come to institute monastic teaching institutions. While I spoke these good words, I also said, "If the Kalmuck Shachin Lama218 is right, all my lamas and teachers speak lies. That is impossible!"
I made petitions about this to the Czar and ministers in St. Petersburg, asking them to determine who was right and who was wrong. Then the Shachin Lama219 was powerless. While I performed the foundation rites for teaching institutions of both the Dorbet220 and Torgut,221 the Dorampa Geshe222 Gelekjamtsho,223 the Dorampa Geshe Chojorchonyingpo224 and Sonam225 were of great assistance. But especially the Virtuous Friend from Tibet, Shakyajentsan,226 came without worrying about his precious life and, with great efforts, established the educational programs as well as the monastic recitations of the precious Gomang Datsang227 exactly according to rule.
Both before and after this, some ten thousand people came to take lay vows and twenty-four hour monastic vows228 and received authorizations for the Om Mani Padme Hum229 and Compassion Concentrated230 and I proclaimed the benefits of reciting them daily.
While giving several long-life empowerments to the people of that country, I certainly came close to committing the 'seventh root downfall'.231 As with the holy persons who had previously come to them, it made no difference to them if I had or had not obtained empowerment. I just gave them whether I had the authority to do so or not. Especially, I conferred the four empowerments. For the sake of honor and gain, I unhesitatingly performed deeds which impel the consciousness to Vajra Hell.232 For about ten years, I served the tradition of that 'crown jewel' of all the hundred thousand learned and realized masters of the Snowy Country, the Phurbuchok Rinpoche,233 the Compassion Lord Vajra Bearer234 himself.
As the Supreme Victorious Power had urged me to do monastic ordination rites saying, "The tradition of accomplishing full ordinations must be carried out in an impeccable manner," I accomplished a few thousand novice ordinations and full ordinations which were performed as contemplative worship services according to His orders.
Among the monks and lay people of the Torgut235 and Dorbet,236 tobacco and intoxicants were very widespread. Even though I taught their detrimental effects, the listeners were few. Also, the physicians in the area generally did not hesitate to take life, using as they did various cures with meat broth. Meanwhile, the physician237 Jangchubdorje238 was invited to found a medical college.
Then there was the first Lharampa Geshe of the Torgut239 area named Padma240 or Thubtentshultrim241 whose good qualities benefitted the Buddha's teachings. When he came to me to tell me how there was a need to introduce the great empowerments of the Kalacakra at Baga Chonuru,242 one Tashidondup243 of Sarthol244 came and founded a Kalacakra college there. Staying for several years, he had the great kindness of founding it well.
My grandfather was Ukhin.245 His ancestors were Nagatai246 Buriats living north of Lake Baikal.247 He moved south and settled in the land of the Khori Buriats.248 So my family had relatives north of Baikal. The Buriats who stay there are not all Buddhists, but many keep the very widespread tradition of shamanism.249 Not only outsiders who were sent to them, but also their own people, came and began to urge them to follow the precious teachings of the Buddha. The need to build temples and monasteries was discussed, and some agreed. The longhairs called Pop250 who adhere to the Russian religious tradition made many plans to induct all those Buriats into their own religious school.251 To me, whom they did not at all like, they did harm and spread various lies and exaggerations. On my part, I three times petitioned the Czar. The longhairs made obstructions, but nevertheless quite a few of the country people became Buddhists and by various means I was able, both before and after those events, to found about four monasteries.252 Likewise, I even asked the Czar for permission to build a temple in St. Petersburg,253 and he agreed. But the longhairs and their followers made trouble and it was postponed for a long time.
The traditional Buriat laws which had previously existed were exchanged for new laws.254 When the decision was made by the Czar and ministers to institute the new laws, including the Bolosu,255 the Buriats were worried. Actually, it was hard to decide if these new laws were good or bad. But for the time being I offered their petitions to the Czar and ministers for the sake of the peace of mind of many people. As it happened, it was like guiding a river course up a mountain slope.
At the four monasteries,256 I instituted the customary rites of the Lower Tantra College257 of the two, the glorious Upper and Lower, Tantra Colleges, which are as famous in this world as the sun and moon.
I arrived again in Tibet, travelling as servant to a truly great scholar258 learned in all the sutras, tantras and sciences, the Trewopa Kanjurwa.259 On the way, I paid a visit to Urga.260 While there, I called on the Lord Jebtsun Dampa261 again and again. During those visits, he gave me reading authorizations for his own Collected Works. One day, the 'chant leader'262 for his court named Tsogai Chime263 entered and was told, "The Dalai Lama264 is coming here. We must have a residence265 constructed, among other things." While these words were coming from the mouth of the Refuge Lord,266 I thought, "That the Victorious Power would come to Mongolia! Such a thing will never happen, not even in a dream. What is this man saying?" and I gave it no further thought.
Then, on the occasion of my farewell visit, the Jebtsun Dampa presented me with a riding whip, several horse hooves of silver and other lavish gifts saying, "Before long you will arrive in comfort." I also asked his blessing for comfortable travelling while on the road.
In Tibet, I made offerings of cloth to the Jo and Shak,267 the two main images in the Jokhang, and to the holy personages including the Sole Victorious Power of the Snowy Country268 and the Panchen Lama. I made an offering of a tent with yellow lining as a canopy for that potent 'king of jewels', the reliquary of the Gentle Lord, the Second Buddha, Tsongkhapa.269 I also presented the Gomang Datsang270 with temple hangings.271
I considered returning to my fatherland, but when I asked permission from the Supreme Presence Rinpoche,272 He did not grant it. At this same time, the Russian and Japanese273 armies were engaged in combat. When the British entered Tibet with an army,274 I went to the influential people and said, "The English are a great power and the Tibetan army is powerless. If we fight, it will do no good at all. Would it not be better if we made an agreement?" Although I told them again and again, they were not listening.275 In particular, some pretended to consult the oracles to fool people, proclaiming over and over, "There is nothing to worry about." It seemed to me that these people had the problem, since they had never travelled abroad in the great countries, that while their knowledge was great, their vision was of a limited scope.
At that time I thought, "When the foreigners come, whatever happens to me will not be good. When they arrive, I will escape by way of Drikung."276 So I prepared mules and so forth. By way of government supplies, we had Chinese silver beaten into planks. I had this cut into round coins with shears, but it went very slowly.277 I had the idea to construct a waterwheel278 and I was in the process of making a long-term proposal for the construction of an industrial waterwheel when the British army was nearing the Iron Bridge (Chaksam)279 and a letter arrived from the Dalai Lama. In it, He said He would go to Mongolia and asked what would be the best way to go about it. This is the substance of my reply: "How may I tell you that it would be good to leave the capital and flee? But still it would be no good if you fell into enemy hands. As for myself, I have absolutely no authority to tell you to do this or do that. Whatever you decide, I will be of service. Do whatever you think best. If it should happen that you would travel to Mongolia, I will serve you as much as I know how."
Late in the middle of the following day the message came, "You must come to the Norbu Lingka."280 When I arrived in His presence, He said, "We must leave for Mongolia. Make the travel arrangements right away."281
He went to the Potala Palace, arriving at two hours past midnight. Starting from the Great Palace with about eight people in his retinue including the Dalai Lama's personal servants and priests, the Dalai Lama travelled over the Gola Pass.282 The Dalai Lama cherished the kind thought of going to Mongolia thinking that the time had arrived when the Buddha's teachings would be made to shine like the sun, when millions of the fortunate ones capable of spiritual development in the kingdom of Mongolia would follow after Him. Toward this end, I had even obtained the good fortune of serving with pure thoughts.
The foreigners arrived at Lhasa.283 Their means of action exhausted, they made negotiations with the Chief Monk Official284 Yuthokpa.285 They said to the Dalai Lama, "Come back! When you return to Lhasa you will not be harmed; rather, you will be served and supported." Not trusting their words, we travelled directly across the northern plateau.286 Gradually we neared Mongolian areas and the Qorluq Chief287 and others generously served and supported us. At the boundary to Khalkha country,288 we received an invitation from the Tulku Clarifier of the Buddha's Teachings289 and other lamas and officials of the monastery of Yungrung Pei-se.290 His Holiness stayed there a few days. He accepted an invitation to Urga291 and we gradually went by way of Khanchen Nomonhan Monastery292 and San Noyon.293
Even as we were very joyously meeting with the Jebtsun Dampa294 with lavish welcoming ceremonials and the like, those who had mistaken, wishful ideas for the service of Tibet and Mongolia made disturbances. So there was a slight misunderstanding between them.295
The best among the good scholarly students of the two Dharma Colleges296 of Ganden297 came to the presence of the Dalai Lama and questioned Him on the five volumes of scripture and the sutras and tantras. To these questions He made reply without hesitation and everyone said He was an Allknowing One. They had immeasurable respect.298
Because of my previous connections with the Russians, I was sent to the capital St. Petersburg299 to convey the personal greetings of the Dalai Lama.300 Again, I met with the Czar and ministers. I explained to them the background of what had happened. The Czar and ministers said, "It is necessary to help Tibet. But for the moment it is a little bit difficult on account of our defeats fighting the Japanese army.301 But still, it will gradually be done."
The Russians, Chinese and English held talks and agreed to do whatever would benefit Tibet. During that time, the British invited the Panchen Lama302 to India. When newspaper reports were released saying that, in an agreement with China, the Supreme Presence was not the Dalai Lama, that He had been impeached,303 all the European governments, as well as the Czar and ministers, thought it was true. Those days I told the Czar and ministers how Buddhists identified tulkus and that, at the time of birth, He was born as the Dalai Lama. So there was no way anyone could be appointed as Dalai Lama and therefore, except at the time of His death, there was no procedure for His impeachment. I used whatever means were at my disposal to make the other countries understand. Then, even in the European countries, the newspaper reports came out saying, "TULKU NOT TO BE IMPEACHED--BUDDHA'S TRADITION." Hence, they believed in the truth of what I said. It became an occasion of my greatest happiness to serve His Holiness, even if only that He should be allowed His name which is, according to established tradition, Supreme Victorious Power.304
Just at that time, China, the British and Russians305 were having talks.306 They agreed that the government of Tibet, because of some agreements with China, would, in some external affairs, be under the suzerainty of China, while sovereign307 in domestic rule. European people would not be permitted in Tibet.
Simultaneously, after the Supreme Victorious had gone to Kando Wang308 and Dzaya309 monasteries, he stayed a few months at Kumbum.310 He wanted to go to Peking. When he applied to the Chinese government, some agreed and some did not. Just because they wanted bribes, it took a long time.
I made arrangements through a great minister from Russia who was staying in China311 and we travelled the China Road312 by way of Sian313 and stayed a few months leisurely at Wu-tai Mountain.314 I spent the time visiting with people there. Meanwhile, the Chinese officials were planning how they would shamelessly consume our bribes. So I went to St. Petersburg and made arrangements through the Czar and ministers. At the same time He was departing for Peking,315 I came from St. Petersburg for the Dalai Lama's reception. I sent the message by way of others, "It is necessary to have audience with the emperor according to the precedent set by the Great Fifth Supreme Victorious when He visited Peking and had audience with the emperor Dekye.316
In that time, I was placed in the ranks of the Four Abbots.317 I went two times to audiences as an attendant of the Supreme Victorious.318 The many respectful praises offered to the Supreme Victorious on those occasions were not made with good thoughts and there was plenty of shame and fear on account of others.319 Then, suddenly, the life spans of both the emperor and empress dowager were not kept.320 So, as a replacement, Shong T'ung 321 was installed.
When the Dalai Lama again turned His face toward the Supreme Dharmafield of the Glacier Country, He sent me to bear greetings and offer gifts to the Russian Czar and ministers. I arrived at St. Petersburg and, as I was offering the gifts, I said I needed to build a Buddhist temple at St. Petersburg.322 The permission came and, as I was beginning construction, the longhairs could not stand it. From everywhere, near and far, people wrote to the Czar, "Don't permit them to build that dirty Buddha temple in our pure land Petersburg! Destroy it from the foundation!" They asked him to make such an order.
In reply, the Czar said, "I have given an order for the temple to be built."
The longhairs held conferences in three places: Kiev,323 Kazan,324 and Irkutsk.325 "This hex Dorjiev has spread the teachings of the Buddha among the Kalmucks326 and the Buriat327 shamanists328 just when they were close to entering our religion.329 Especially this building a Buddhist temple in the great capital is really improper. We will ask the Czar to order that he not remain in this country, be sentenced to exile or something similar."330
When they made this petition, the Czar's reply was nothing at all, and he let things stand as they were.
To myself as well, the longhairs sent letters every day, "We'll kill you and tear down the temple!"
"By such and such a date, you had better run far enough away that we won't see you!"
"Smoke with the smoke stuff and you must die!"331
"We have an association of many people called Blue Birdies Society."332
I received many such letters. Nevertheless, I stayed in peace, untouched by mishaps, relying on the power of the truth of the Three Precious. While I was building a monastery on a tract of land in the area of the shamanist Buriats333 called Tüküm,334 some of the longhairs, including one named Makashikiev (?)335 made trouble, trying to prevent the temple. Even when they tried to seal off the building for confiscation, they could not, and we even made progress.
At the same moment, a cruel person named Yuan Shih-k'ai336 was president of China. He sent many soldiers with orders to capture the Allknowing Dalai Lama, destroy the monastic residences and suppress religion. When the soldiers arrived in Tibet, their conduct was worse than dogs and wild beasts. They broke the conventions of all kingdoms on earth. They acted with extreme cruelty worse than bandits. The Supreme Victorious Power even travelled toward India.337 He crossed the Brahmaputra River and the cruel armies arrived nearby. Because Tsarong, also known as Namgang,338 was able to prevent their crossing for just one day, the danger to the Supreme Presence was averted.339 When He reached Darjeeling,340 the British Viceroy341 welcomed Him with great honor. They not only drove back the Chinese soldiers who had arrived there, but they protected the Dalai Lama, who stayed there in peace for several months acting extensively on behalf of sentient beings.
When they fought the Chinese soldiers in the Lhasa area, the Tibetans had no weapons. It was a fact that the Tibetan army had no training but, just on the verge of defeat, through the power of the truth of the Three Precious alone, it happened that they at least did not lose. The administration342 was controlled by the Chinese, and all the people, both monk and lay, were indescribably oppressed. Even though the great monasteries were used to quarter Chinese soldiers, they were not quite entirely lost. In particular, the very famous temple Rasa Trulnang343 could be saved because the lay and monastic council ministers344 acted in an intelligent manner.
In those times when the Supreme Victorious lived in Darjeeling, letters with envelopes were not sent back and forth. The British prevented them. During that period we exchanged open letters without envelopes, but employing code words. His replies also reached me. Then I understood the Supreme Victorious Rinpoche intended to return to Tibet. I also prepared to return to Tibet. Jentsen Phuntshok345 together with Namkha346 were sent to the North Route347 to receive me. The wicked Chinese soldiers were retreating. They took wrong routes and were wandering aimlessly in the empty north country. They pursued wrong route after wrong route, dying from starvation. When they came for something to eat, it was provided. But the bad Chinese were not satisfied with that. When they had made plans to kill Tibetans, fighting broke out. When they killed Namkha348 and his assistant, the others managed to escape. They even peeled the flesh off the two men they had killed and ate it, or so it was told by a Tibetan child.
I heard these stories when I reached Tsaidam,349 but I travelled comfortably to Nagchukha350 by way of the empty north country. At Nagchukha, I heard that fighting was still going on at Lhasa; so I went by the northern way to Tsang province. I arrived at Phari351 and sent a telegram letter to the Refuge Lord352 telling Him that I had arrived in Tibet, that the monastic seats353 had been secured, that there were no freshly arriving Chinese troops and that the old ones were worn out. I waited several days in Phari. Because there was no lessening in the strength and merit of beings in the cold valleys of Tibet, the Snowy Country's Unique Divine Rinpoche travelled and came to Phari354 where I beheld His golden countenance and paid Him a visit with great rejoicing. I was fortunate to obtain a long conversation with Him.
Then I served him as far as Samding,355 the convent of the Dorje Phagmo,356 and then I left to go to Lhasa.357 The wicked Chinese were exhausted. They surrendered their weapons and decided to depart by way of Phari. Nepalese Gurkhas358 acted as mediators. As for me, I returned to Samding and served there several days.
Calculating the time necessary to make a return appointment date in Mongolia, I asked permission to go.359 The Dalai Lama gave me fifty thousand in currency360 as a donation for the St. Petersburg temple. I gave a departing gift and left from Lhasa bringing gifts for the lamas and leaders of the lowlands, especially for the Jebtsun Dampa Rinpoche and for the Russian Czar and ministers and so forth. I travelled comfortably by the north route. After arriving in Mongolia, I offered the gifts and greetings to the lamas and officials as well as to the Refuge Lord Jebtsun Dampa. After making a treaty so that henceforth Tibet and Mongolia would be in harmony,361 I travelled north.
Arriving at the capital, I presented the gifts.362 After completing the remaining work on the temple, I did the short-form consecration ceremony and instituted bi-weekly confessionals,363 regular religious services for the Arhats,364 the special summer monks' precepts365 and the ceremony for release from those precepts.366 I did not allow the contributions for religious services to go to waste, but put them into the temple. Some people had things to say about that.
Many of them said, "Besides wasting the contributions of the patrons to build a temple, besides making an outward show, nothing will come of it." Those wrong ideas could be put to rest. I performed the propitiations of the tutelaries Manjuvajra,367 Guhyasamaja, Kalacakra and the Medicine Buddha.368
Because they wanted to move the Thungkhen Khering Monastery369 to another place, the monks and lay people met three times, but could not agree on the site. So they called upon me. I told them, "Of the three places, especially the pleasant and isolated spot in front of Mundarga370 is a place where in bygone times Chinggis Khan performed rites to the mountain spirits371 and later was blessed by the presence of holy personages. It is the best place. The local mountain spirits are very much preferring the 'white side'372 and have clearly shown several good signs of their presence. I think it would be good if you moved there."
Still, several people, especially those attached to their positions, stirred things up by telling various stories, since they were afraid of losing their patrons and their monk supply.373 Even as they were doing this, the Khoimor374 sector and others founded new monasteries there. While there was actually nothing to criticize in the monastic regulations as they were, still, the old and new monasteries split into factions and, with various bad words, the hostilities began. I acted as mediator, but they did not listen to me. So I have no way of knowing how things will turn out in the long run. The difficulties meanwhile experienced by the Thungkhen Khering375 Monastery are clearly to be blamed on their own doings.
Starting from the Mangkur Gyelbo376 up until the present, the inhabitants of the world known as 'kings and subjects'377 felt respect for those above them and solicitude378 for those below, living in accordance with the social conventions. But, as time went one, the kings and ministers stopped caring for their subjects with solicitude. With their tyranny, oppression and plain greed, they came to be criticized. This intolerable situation was widespread all over the world. The subjects no longer held the lords in esteem. This especially encouraged wrong action and most particularly when later the kings and ministers increased their hungry thoughts toward each other, they came to be preoccupied with their envy and competitiveness. They led their innocent subjects into enemy hands, sending them to be slaughtered, an ocean of blood swirling around them. Such wicked, uncompassionate kings and ministers were on the increase. When honest, intelligent people started to make plans without regard for their own lives, because of their pity for the helpless subjects, they were executed, imprisoned, and so on, until it was impossible to survive.
As a case in point, here in the country of Russia, the followers of the religious tradition of Jesus,379 the longhairs, became very powerful and so they oppressed all adherents of the other innumerable religious traditions. Not satisfied with their actual position, they lied to make themselves look big. They acted on their evil designs, fooling the Czar and ministers. Later on, it was because of Rasputin380 and many others like him that the Czar lost his rule. Then the intellectual Kerenski381 and other honest and intelligent people controlled the government.
During those times, we Buriats engaged in various activities which were at variance with the precious teachings of the Buddha. What is more, even among the monks, due to attachments to wealth and leisure, there had been a frightfully great accumulation of living quarters and possessions to which they became enslaved. Without engaging in learning, reflection and contemplation, they wasted this life in worldly happiness. They did not apply themselves to their studies. Except in name only, their studies were lax and practically nonexistent. Even among important teachers, there were those who just wanted greeting scarves and food. Measures for revitalizing the training and study were for the most part not enforced but, on the contrary, relaxed. For these reasons, the monks became everywhere, both inside and outside Buriatia, a subject for nothing but shame.
With the idea of remedying this situation, a great assembly of monks and laymen convened at Khulungtsho Monastery,382 headed by that 'broad eye of knowledge', Bogdanov and Elbek Dorje383 in conjunction with the master of Buddha's teachings, the Bandido Hambo Lama whose name was Dashidorje.384 Some were against it and made trouble, which was a shameful thing.
An order came for delegates of each of the religious groups, both officials and intellectuals, to meet in the great capital St. Petersburg in order to institute a liberal new policy concerning all followers of religious teachings. Since Dashi Sampilon385 and I were both appointed, we attended. A new policy was instituted in which there were to be no restrictions placed on practicing and propagating each religious tradition in an orderly manner, with no limits on their teaching.
Starting at this same time, out of pity for the worn out, impoverished people, the officials, chiefs, rich people and merchants, the great exploiters who oppressed the poor people, were destroyed without a trace. Lenin,386 the head of the Bolsheviks,387 who intended to better take care of the poor people, and the many people under him, controlled the government. Those insiders and outsiders who did not like the Bolsheviks made a great disturbance. Fighting erupted in each district of the country and foreign governments helped them, providing them with all kinds of weapons and wealth. For five or six years, the fighting went on without interruption. Then various persons with evil thoughts robbed and destroyed the impoverished people, giving Bolsheviks a bad name, and they were disliked throughout the world. While communism388 was a good system, those who gave power to it acted badly, tyrannizing everyone when various bad and immoral people entered the party.389 Because of them, communism got a bad name. Since there were few who practiced communism correctly, they became disliked.
One time I went to the Kalmuck district in order to have a look at the physicians in the teaching monastery I had established. On my way back, I arrived at a juncture called Rubakha,390 close to the Ural Kalmucks.391 Since a group of Ural Kalmucks, Kazakhs and Russians were fighting there, they thought we were together with them. We were seized and placed in the railway prison. We were sent to Moscow392 and, without a careful investigation, put in the great prison Butyrskaia.393 I knew no one in Moscow and there was no way to get in touch with the Russia outside. There was no way anyone could send a message.
The prison guards were very much like the Deathlords394 who guard hell. The doors and windows, etc., were made of iron. Just the sight of them made for depression in the highest degree. Though there was food and drink every day, what they gave us was practically just water. On top of the suffering, as if ready to die, from hunger, the eating of the natural lice was difficult to endure. These things give rise to depressing thoughts... but, if closely investigated, it seems better if one were to escape the prison of the vicious circle of existence. It is possible to get out of this kind of prison, but difficult to get out of sangsara's prison. When prison guards got a little baksheesh, things got easier. But definitely if you give baksheesh to the hell guards, things will get still worse. If you were starving from insufficient food, at least you got a little every day. If you are born as a hungry ghost,395 there is no way to hear even the word 'food' for many thousands of years. Fellow prisoners were taken out and killed. I thought, "When will they take me out to be killed?" When a door opened, it made me look real hard. But even then there was no way to be sure whether you might not be released rather than killed. The Deathlords will certainly not release you, but kill you as is the nature of things. In the prison there was relaxation and control over oneself. In the vicious circle you wander without any self-determination. When I thought about it in this way, I understood how very stupid I was to be afraid of this prison rather than the prison of the vicious circle. I thought how important it was to exert myself in the method of liberation from the vicious circle. It would have been the height of stupidity to escape this prison and then forget these thoughts. Besides myself, who was there?
I bribed the prison guard to send a letter to the great scholar Kotvich.396 When he received it, several scholars made impassioned pleas, saying, "He was only involved in Tibetan affairs, not in domestic politics," and so on. It will be difficult to ever repay the kindness of the scholars Oldenburg,397 Kotvich,398 Stcherbatsky399 and Vladimirtsov.400 I knew a minister401 of the foreign office. I met with him and relied on his help. Since the eastern route to Buriatia was cut off by fighting, I again made my way to the Kalmuck lands. Because they had several times involved themselves in the battles between the white and red armies, the monastic groups were broken up. The monks let their hair grow long, wandered into houses, and dressed in lay clothing. Several times I saw this and each time it made me sad.
Once more I went to Astrakhan.402 The people there were not extremely happy when I told them what had happened. To each of the monasteries I delivered a strongly worded document that no one was to loot and destroy. "Do not worry. Things will be able to go on as in the past," I told them. I went and spread the word together with the official and author Kelsang403 to each of the seventy monastic groups telling them about the system of the new government. Those days it was believed that the Buddhist tradition was declining, so monks and lay people thought that now the monasteries were finished. Some were not very pleased with me. Those who liked the White Russians said, "This guy is a little bit of a chicken." But there were those who said, "However that may be, he is useful for the moment as a figurehead."
At the time they were established, the few teaching monasteries in Kalmuck land had flourished. But, since fighting made the area impoverished, it was difficult to maintain several teaching monasteries, so they were combined under one roof at Ketsa Bulag.404 Everyone agreed that whoever was made the Shachin Lama405 would stay in this teaching monastery. All the monks and lay people selected the well-studied Dorampa Geshe406 named Gawa,407 who had stayed a long time in Tibet, as the new Shachin Lama. I paid visits before and after these events, and each time I told the lamas and students how to make the young monks study and how they needed to get sharp people to study in the monastery school. The older generation, including the ex-lama official Chimependen,408 were quite displeased and against it, saying, "We did just fine in the past up until now, and we don't need all these new and different rules."
We Buddhist monks have few desires and are content, even when we need assistance. But, especially in later times in Mongolia, as the groups of monks keeping Buddhist disciplines grew larger and larger, small numbers did as they pleased and became extremely attached to wealth and leisure. Some accumulated homes, furnishings and clothing with an even greater sense of attachment than ordinary worldly people. Some monks, acting shamelessly and without conscience, did not even consider the rules set down by the Buddha in the corner of their thoughts. When outsiders saw them, they found it easy to confuse their actions with the Buddha's teachings. The patrons were especially misled by the teachings of lamas who mixed in shamanism.409 Many criticized the monks saying, "All they think about is how happy they will be when the donations for the religious services are collected."
With these things in mind, the Bandido Hambo Lama of the Buriats, the Dorampa Geshe and Guru, Dharmapelzangpo,410 convened a great congress for the reorganization of Buddhism. When he let it be known that monks would not be allowed to accumulate wealth and that all donations would have to be kept in a shared account, some of the wealthy monks left to become householders. There was a lot of moaning. They put the happiness and comfort of this short life above all improvement in the future life and in the Buddhist religion. So sad. What is best to do with these monks who disgrace their profession like this?
I sent this report along with some offerings made by other people to the Dalai Lama: "These days while China is involved in internal fighting, India has become very strong and internally harmonious, becoming capable of expelling the British. The Moslems411 of India are very many, and since they don't like Buddhism, Tibet has become the center of Buddhist teachings. So, likewise, it is hard to know what the Chinese Moslems412 will do. As a preventative measure, if we made close relations with the great powers in order to impress them, it may or may not work. Moreover, the British, while they may be very lenient for the moment, will over the long range spill out their guts, leaving only a hollow shell. Like India, there is a very great danger of being taken in by their tricks. The new government people are in the habit of saying that they will help keep weaker peoples from oppression by outsiders, and they do help some of them. They are not greedy for land, capital and labour, they say, and such a system actually does exist. For my part, I have clouded thoughts about what is going to happen in the future, so I do not know if things will turn out for the better or for the worse. You must search your thoughts whether or not to make an agreement."413
During the time of the thirteenth incarnation of the Victorious Power, the Dalai Lama, lots of good things happened to animate beings and the Buddhist teachings. As was prophecized, He performed unimaginable actions beyond human comprehension for the benefit of animate beings and Buddhist teachings in the countries of Holy India in the south, Great China414 in the east, and Mongolia and Tibet in the north. He especially performed miracles in keeping control over the general deportment, monastic rules, and teaching programs of the monastic residences, 'gathering places of the saints', chiefly, the three great monastic residences Depung, Sera and Ganden. The laws of the snow mountain's inhabitants' government were disseminated as they had never been before.415 Such activities were extremely, unimaginably many. But whether or not He will agree with what I have said about Him, I do not know. I am afraid I have become quite forgetful... so, besides this much, I haven't the confidence to write in detail.
When the Jesus416 longhairs carried the Czar and government on their backs, they oppressed the other religions. Since the longhairs caused various severe damages to the inhabitants of the new capital and the royal throne, acting lawlessly even before then, it was necessary to suppress them. Based on their hatred for the Jesus religion, there were those who hated the teachings of us Buddhists. We told them, "The teachings of us Buddhists are generally in harmony with this recently introduced communist system. We must protect and not oppress the weaker ones; we consider everyone to be like a relative. We do not practice stealing and the other ten nonvirtuous actions. We are not permitted to play any confidence games. We have to make our livings honestly. So there are no reasons at all for hatred." This is what I told everyone, even taking out advertisements in the newspaper. After setting up the new system where the monks were not allowed to keep property, the Jesus416 longhairs made trouble, being very unpopular with the new government personnel. We Buddhists are not going to bring trouble to those who do not like us. The humbly living monks do not extort their necessities out of the people. Therefore, I lovingly looked after the teachings and the monasteries, saying, "Let things go on as they have until now!" These words reached the officials of the surrounding areas and I asked for their benevolence; but still things came to a conclusion. The reason this beggar that I am wandered around was, it could be said, to help the Dharma a little. What small virtue might have come of it was vanquished by my proud thoughts. That was my downfall.
Among our physicians were those who dispensed medicines to the sick without medical training of any great sort. They were to help those in misery according to the words of the Buddha. But then some carried around a few 'great medicines' as a livelihood, both helping and harming people. Because of this, some European doctors417 with envious and competitive ideas, were about to prevent their practice, saying, "They are harmful to others." What is so strange is that they could use the word "harmful" even after they had witnessed many helped for diseases that the doctors were unable to treat. If these medical instructions granted to the followers of our supreme Teacher for the sake of helping other people were stopped, it would be like stopping Buddhism. The teachings of the Buddha are greatly distinguished by their compassion. The necessity of acting without regard for our own lives in ways that help all sentient beings is our tax for being Buddhists. With this in view, I say that it is correct to contradict people who think that the monks take care of ordinary people only because of their selfish desires. This I say from the depths of my heart.
A master of literary and philosophical discourse, perfected in his learning, meditation, and contemplation on the ocean of sacred texts, Thubtendondrup,418 who received his Geshe degree in Lhasa, urged me with the gift of a long greeting scarf and silver coins419 saying, "You must write the story of your life in Tibetan," and it was difficult to turn him down. I thought I should conceal all my bad and foolish actions and pick out the good parts, but I could not find any good parts. Requesting that this mixed up writing, which is a subject for shame, not be shown to others, the venerable beggar called Vagindra420 wrote this as he was entering into his seventieth year.
NOTES
1. These are the ordinary hopes and fears of worldly people, according to a traditional Buddhist enumeration. The four hopes are for gain, fame, praise and comfort. The four fears are for their opposites--loss, obscurity, criticism and discomfort.
2. The phrase rgyal-khams don-med nyul-ba, 'wandered aimlessly in the countries' could be translated as 'tourist'. It is the sort of humble expression a pilgrim would use if asked what he or she was doing: "Oh, just wandering aimlessly." (N) To speak boastfully of an act of faith would mean to sacrifice any merit that might have resulted from it.
3. Rnam-thar. These 'biographies' are almost exclusively biographies of Buddhist saints. Note that each of the three introductory verses is composed of four lines, each beginning with the same syllable. This kind of 'poetic adornment' (rgyan) was not possible to reproduce precisely in the translation.
4. Dab-hor Tsha-gan. Buriat, Dabqar Cagan, name of a glaciated mountain in the range Ulaan Burgasa, about 50 to 60 kms. from Ulan Ude. (BD) Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Works (I 13.2) gives a similar description of a mountain Ldab-khar Sa-kan (probably a different Tibetan spelling of the name for the same mountain) near Sho-lo-tha'i Monastery.
5. Ha-ra Zhi-sper. Buriat, Qara Siber, name of place now in the territory of the Zayigrayeskogo raiyona Buriat ASSR, about 50 to 60 kilometers from Ulan Ude to the northeast. (BD) Xara Íiber in Poppe, 'A Buriat Literary Source' (111).
6. The year would be, according to the Tibetan calendrical system, equivalent to l913-14. This is, of course, impossible. Assuming that Dorjiev (or the copyist) intended to say the fourteenth, rather than the fifteenth sixty-year cycle, the date of his birth should be 1853-4, which we assume to be the correct date (see the following note). Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text I (2) makes this emendment as well.
7. Dorje (=Rdo-rje). Yeshe (=Ye-shes). Drolkar (=Sgrol-dkar). Dorjiev was born in the Aga Steppe according to Rupen, 'Mongolian Nationalism' (160). Mehra, 'Tibet and Russian' (31) says he was born in Chorinskaia (=Khorinskoye) in Verchnyudinsk. Born in Verkholensk (northwest side of Lake Baikal) according to Poppe, 'Buddhists' (174). Unkrig, 'Aus den letzten Jahrzehnten' (138) says he was born in 1849 as does Tada, Thirteenth (38). Another source, Institute for the Study of the USSR, Who Was Who (139) has him born in 1853 in Verkholensk, Irkutsk Province. Filchner, Wetterleuchten (21) says he was 57 at the turn of the century (therefore born in 1843). Kolmaß, 'Ch'ing Shi Kao' (83), says he was born in 1853 at Kurbi in Transbaikalia. This agrees with Berlin, 'Khambo' (140). (AS)
8. This expression is practically a cliche employed when speaking about someone for whom one has great respect, especially for someone no longer living. (N,Gelek)
9. Chos-rgyal. Waddell, Lhasa (38), says that Dorjiev received his education at the Transbaikal monastery of Azochozki. He does not cite his source. Landon, Opening (20), says he was born in Azochozki.
10. Ma-gcig grub-pa'i Rgyal-mo. An eleventh century Nepalese
woman, teacher of Rechungpa, remembered mainly as the founder of the tradition of Amitâyus rites that bears her name. Her biography may be found in Shâkya-rin-chen, Collected Works (I 179-188).
11. Gzungs snying. Means a shorter version of a longer mantra. See Mkhas-grub-rje, Rgyud-sde (117). The text for this sentence literally reads, "Starting then, I made a pretense of reciting the 'essence mantra'." This sounds quite natural in Tibetan; it is just a humble way of speaking. But in English, the literal rendering carries inaccurate connotations; so here and in a dozen later instances (ex., note 20, below) the "pretense" has been dropped.
12. Tâ Khu-ral. =Khu-ril, Khu-re, etc.
13. Dge-bsnyen. Sanskrit Upasaka.
14. Khu-ral Chen-mo.
15. Bsod-nams.
16. Mdzangs Blun. See Frye, 'Mdo-mdzangs-blun'. This sûtra work has been translated by Stanley Frye (see the bibliography).
17. Yongs-'dzin Mkhan-chen Rdo-rje-'chang.
18. Dpal-ldan Chos-'phel.
19. Tshangs-spyod. =Brahmacarya.
20. Here Dorjiev employs a characteristic Tibetan phrase of humility--literally, "and made a pretense of keeping them." This does not actually mean that he 'pretended' anything, simply that he did it (note 11, above).
21. Mkhan-chen Rdo-rje-'chang. Here, refers to Dpal-ldan Chos-'phel (note 18, above).
22. Bkra-shis Sgo-mang.
23. Dpal-ldan 'Bras-spungs.
24. Sil-ldan. =Bsil-ldan, 'Cool Country', an epithet for Tibet.
25. Spo-rad-thu.
26. Mkhan-chen. I.e., Dpal-ldan Chos-'phel (note 18, above).
27. I.e., Bhik≈su vows.
28. I.e., Dpal-ldan Chos-'phel.
29. Byabs-khrus. =Byabs-khrus Mkhan-po.
30. Blo-bzang-sbyin-pa. It is doubtful if this person can be identified with the Lobzang Jimpa who wrote the biography of H.H. the 4th Panchen Lama in 1883: Vostrikov, Tibetan Historical (197). Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (76) says that he must have come from the Tibetan monastery Rtag-brtan-phun-tshogs-gling, a monastery founded in the 17th century by Târanâtha.
31. Dpa'-gcig, =Dpa'-bo. Often translated 'solitary hero', this refers to the 13-deity mandala of Vajrabhairava. (N,Gelek)
32. Yongs-'dzin. 'Tutor' may be too exalted a term for the chief religious instructor of a high incarnate lama. The word literally means 'in complete charge'.
33. Mnga'-ris. This Ngari Rinpoche was born at Gzhol, near the Potala at Lhasa, at the residence of the noble family Bkras-khang.
34. Lung. Lung means a formal, public reading of a Buddhist scripture or spiritually authoritative work (another meaning of lung is 'scriptural authority' when that authority is cited in defence of a philosophical idea). These public readings are often given for long collections of works and read very quickly. For Buddhists, the point of having these readings is not so much to understand the contents of the work as to establish an at least minimal connection with the spiritual teachings embodied in it and to receive a blessing through the mere fact of hearing it.
35. Ri-bo Rtse-lnga. See note 314, below.
36. Byang-chub-tshul-khrims-dpal-bzang-po.
37. Ri-rtse Dza-sag Rin-po-che. A representative of the Dalai Lama at Wu-tai Mountain. (N)
38. Lha-rams-pa.
39. Ye-shes-lhun-grub-dpal-bzang-po.
40. A technique for spiritual practice common to Tibetan schools which involves devotion to the guru and the guru's predecessors in the lineage, identifying them with the visualized deities of Vajrayana meditation as well as with oneself. This, as well as the refuge formula, forms a part of the "four thousand practice" for which, see Kong-sprul, Torch of Certainty (9, ff.).
41. Byang-chub.
42. Rnam-snang Pakshi. Dorjiev's main tutor; Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (77). A Buriat by birth, he completed the Great Retreat of Vajrabhairava, lasting twenty-two years. For this, he was nicknamed 'Buriat Milarepa'. (N)
43. Dza-sag.
44. Bya-bral Rin-po-che. I.e., the Namnang Bakshi.
45. Skyabs-rje Dza-sag Rin-po-che. Skyabs-rje is nowadays usually translated simply as 'His Holiness'. (Gelek)
46. Skyabs-rje Bya-bral Rin-po-che (note 44, above). This sentence was placed at the end of our manuscript with a symbol that it should be inserted here. Four other inserts, including one lengthy one, occur later in the text, evidently to fill in omissions made by the original copyist.
47. Phyag-mdzod gnyis-pa. (Gelek)
48. Kolmaß, 'Ch'ing Shih Kao' (83), says he first entered Tibet in 1873, as does Berlin, 'Khambo' (140). (AS) Fleming, Bayonets (42) says he settled in Lhasa when he was 35 years of age. Richardson, Short History (81), says he went to Lhasa in 1880, as does Dilks, Curzon (I 190) and Williams, Tibet (112). Deniker, 'A Leader' (73), says he first visited Lhasa at age 18. He "had gone to Tibet in 1880": Boorman, Biographical Dictionary (II 1). If Dorjiev was born in 1853-4, then his arrival in Tibet must have taken place in 1878-9. He could not, therefore, have accompanied Prjevalski on his fourth expedition (in 1883-5) to Tibet as claimed by MacGregor, Tibet (282-3) and by Lamb, Britain (314), on 'photographic evidence'. Chirol, Middle Eastern (369), implies that Dorjiev entered Tibet only "a few years" before l899 with recommendations from the Jebtsun Dampa.
49. Skyabs-rje Bya-bral Rin-po-che. =Namnang Bakshi.
50. Ri-rtse Bla-brang. The residence of the Dzasak Rinpoche.
51. Skyabs-rje.
52. Se 'Bras Bkra-shis-lhun-po.
53. Smon-lam Chen-po (Monlam Chemmo).
54. Mang. =Mang-ja. An assembly of monks which includes communal drinking of tea provided for by the donor. When this includes, as it often does, a distribution ('gyed-pa) of monetary contributions for each monk, it is called 'gyed-mang. Note 145, below.
55. Skyid sdug gcig mdzad. Literally, 'made (our) happiness and sorrow one'. It means 'to throw in one's lot with someone', 'keep a shared account', etc. (N)
56. Sgo-mang Grwa-tshang. At Depung. According to Filchner, Wetterleuchten (21), he attended the college at Sera Monastery and was later "khan-po" (abbot) of Ganden. This seems not to have been the case.
57. Chos-mdzad. An honorary seat in the monastic assembly with no special duties attendant to it. Dorjiev appears under this title in the biography of the 13th Dalai Lama (Works, VI 332-3) in the entry for the year 1888. At this audience Dorjiev made some symbolic offerings and asked His Holiness for some basic Buddhist teachings (Refuge and the reading permission for Atißa's Bodhipathapradîpa). Here his name is given as Ngag-dbang-blo-bzang-dge-legs, Mongolian Monk (Sog-btsun), Chodze (Chos-mdzad) of the Great Assembly of Depung ('Bras-spungs).
58. Mtshan-nyid Chos-grwa.
59. Byams-mgon Phur-lcog. See note 68, below.
60. Khri-chen Rdo-rje-'chang. Refers to the Dga'-ldan Khri-pa, the head of the Gelukpa (Dge-lugs-pa) order, and the most highly esteemed scholar in the monastic educational system.
61. Dgon-gsar. Place name. See Roerich, Blue Annals (593).
62. Dpal-grub. Not identified.
63. 'Phar-ma Lha-rams-pa. A Geshe degree given before completing the entire course of studies. (N) A Geshe degree given in addition to the set quota for each monastic group. These were rather rarely given. (Gelek)
64. Pod lnga. This refers to the five subjects of monastic study: logic, Prajñâpâramitâ, Madhyamaka philosophy, monastic discipline (Vinaya), and the Buddhist sciences of the Abhidharmako≈sa. See Tada, Thirteenth (21-2).
65. Rgyal-dbang Thams-cad Mkhyen-pa. This is a name of the Dalai Lama, here the thirteenth Dalai Lama Thubtengyamtsho (Thub-bstan-rgya-mtsho), 1876-1933 A.D. He would have been about 12 years old at this time. He received the name Thubtengyamtsho from the fifth Panchen Lama Blo-bzang-bstan-pa'i-dbang-phyug (1855-1882 A.D.).
66. Mtshan-zhabs. =Mtshan-nyid-kyi Zhabs-zhu-ba. 'Philosophical Consultant'. The main duty of a Mtshan-zhabs was to give His Holiness practice in philosophical debate. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama had ten Mtshan-zhabs, according to Tada, Thirteenth (21). Dorjiev obtained this position in 1888 according to Fleming, Bayonets (42). Mehra, 'Tibet and Russian' (31), has him appointed as "Work-Washing Abbot" as does Bell, Portrait (61-2). "Tsa Nyi Khenpo" in Mehra, 'Tibet and Russian' (39, n. 33), should be Mtshan-nyid Mkhan-po, a variant of the same title. See also Tucci, To Lhasa (86).
67. Yongs-'dzin.
68. Phur-lcog. =Phur-bu-lcog. Phur-bu-lcog Blo-bzang-tshul-khrims-byams-pa-rgya-mtsho (1824-1901 A.D.). The Dalai Lama's other Tutor, the Regent (Srid-skyong) Rta-tshag Rin-po-che, died in 1886: Khangkar, Tibetan History (I 598). The story of Phur-bu-lcog Rin-po-che's fatal sickness and death, as extracted from the biography of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, is reproduced in Sangpo, Biographical Dictionary (VI 82-86). We have not been able to learn of the existence of a separate biography.
69. Kalacakra, Guhyasamâja, Cakrasamvara and Bhairava (=Vajrabhairava or Yamântaka) are well-known Buddhist deities of the Anuttarayoga Tantra class of scriptures. The Vajrâvalî is a collection of deity rituals by Abhayâkaragupta. The Mitra Jatsa (Mi-tra Brgya-rtsa) is likewise a large collection of deity rituals. The series of initiations for these two collections was given in 1894; Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VI 476-7).
70. Rjes-gnang.
71. Tshe rdzas.
72. The Lhasa edition of the Kanjur was meant to replace the old and worn woodblocks of the Narthang edition. Work on the Lhasa edition began in 1890 (Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works VI 411.4) and was not completed until more than 40 years later. The Lhasa silver mint was also founded in 1890 (Khangkar, Tibetan History I 599).
73. Byams-mgon Rdo-rje-'chang.
74. Dbyin-ji-pa. Pronounced, 'Yinjeepa'.
75. Phyi-gling-pa.
76. 'Dzam-gling. ='Dzam-bu-gling, in Sanskrit, Jambudvîpa.
77. British incursions into territories on the Sikkim frontier, which Tibet considered to be historically under Tibetan rule, were largely responsible for the bad relations then prevailing between the two parties. The Tibetan argument was based on historical claims, while the British based themselves on arguments about the geography of 'natural' boundaries. See Shakabpa, Tibet (198-203); Richardson, Short History (76-7); Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VI 379.5, ff.); Lamb, Britain (especially pp. 223-4).
78. Drag 'jam. Literally, 'fierce and peaceful'.
79. Spo-rad-thu-pa.
80. Khal-mig.
81. Thor-god. In fact, in l889, a Torgut King arrived at Lhasa with a group of other Torguts for an audience with the Dalai Lama XIII (Collected Works VI 358.1 ff.). On the departure of the Torgut King (365.1), the Dalai Lama gave him charters (bca'-yig) for some newly founded monasteries in the Torgut area. Many times before and after this, Torgut groups were received (351.3, 355.2, 658.6, 710.2, 715.6, 757.1) by the Dalai Lama.
82. Note variant readings! Our text reads here: "It was said that it was not certain that they were not allowed to enter Tibet" (Bod-du mi 'jug nges med ces), but we have followed the inserted correction (Bod-du nges-par mi 'jug ces).
83. Khal-kha-pa.
84. Kawaguchi estimated that there were about 200 Buriats studying in the large monasteries of Central Tibet: Kawaguchi, 'Russia's Tibetan Policy' (372). The disagreements existed because there were no special facilities for Buriats in the Tibetan monasteries as there were for Khalkha Mongols. So the Buriats either stayed in the Khalkha facilities, in which case the Khalkhas might have objected that they had no right to be there, or they stayed in other facilities, in which case it might be argued that they, being Mongols, should stay in the Khalkha facilities (such as existed at the Gomang Datsang in Depung). Tsybikoff, 'Lhasa and Central Tibet' (731), says that, in l900, there were 47 Russian subjects residing in Tibet, all of them Buriats with the exception of one Kalmuck. "Up to a very recent period there were no relations between Tibet and Russia, although Buriats, who are Russian subjects, have for a long time made secret pilgrimages to Tibet, fearing oppression from the Russian administration, and entered Tibet under the assumed name of 'Khalkhas' Mongols, fearing exclusion as foreigners. About fifteen years ago, 'Khalkhas' and Buriats belonging to one community in Brebung [=Depung] quarreled for some reason, and the former called the latter 'Oros', or Russians. The matter reached the highest authorities, and, thanks to the able management of the affair by the Buriat lamas, it was established that, although the Buriats are Russian subjects, they are followers of the yellow-hat religion. The Khalkhas who raised the matter, having lost the trial, was obliged to leave the monastery, and the others received warning that they would be fined 5 lans (about $4) every time they called the Buriats 'Oros'." (746)
85. This passage clearly contradicts the British belief that Dorjiev was from the beginning a Russian agent with a specific mission in Tibet. See, for example, Kawaguchi, 'Russia's Tibetan Policy' (372): "it is conceivable that he (Dorjiev) may have been entrusted by it (the Russian Government) with some important business during his stay at Lhasa."
86. Bla dpon che khag.
87. Thor-god.
88. Spo-rad-thu-pa.
89. Pha-ran-tshe.
90. Rgyal-sras Ar-lin-sa-kho. Prince Henry of Orleans travelled with Gabriel Bonvalot in the winter of 1889 across the Jangthang (Byang-thang). By the end of February l890, they reached Tengri Noor north of Lhasa where they were met by a party of Tibetan officials with an armed escort. See Hopkirk, Trespassors (78-83). See also Petech, Aristocracy (181-2) where it is said that an official named Dpal-'byor-rdo-rje volunteered to go and deal with the foreigners. It is suggested that he had some connection with Dorjiev. He temporarily fell out of favor for recommending negotiations with the British in l903, and died in l9l9. According to Berlin, 'Khambo' (141), Prince Henry warned the Tibetans against British designs and urged them to look for French and Russian support. (AS) Bonvalot, Across Tibet, gives no information on any political content of conversations with Tibetan officials.
91. Hor-yul here means a place in the Jangthang (Byang-thang), the northern plateau of Tibet.
92. The Tibetan word rgyal-sras, translated as 'prince', has also the possible meaning 'Buddha's Son' (in Sanskrit, Jinaputra), a usual epithet for Bodhisattvas. In popular usage, 'Bodhisattva' may refer to any strange and marvelous being. (N) The Nechung (Gnas-chung) oracle priest was consulted on all important affairs of state and his pronouncements often amounted to policy statements. The oracular statements cited here could refer to either Prince Henry or Czarist Russia, or both.
93. This must have been after the year 1895 when the Dalai Lama assumed power. Bell, Portrait (61), says that, when the Dalai Lama came of age, Dorjiev was appointed as "Work Washing Abbot" (Jabtru Khempo, =Byabs-khrus Mkhan-po, 'Ritual Purifier', see note 29, above).
94. Byams-mgon Rdo-rje-'chang mchog.
95. Dug-re-nag-po. 'Black Poison Protection'. A particular form of Mahâkâla. This empowerment has been described as a 'heart transplant empowerment.' (Gelek)
96. Sacred objects (rten) are generally classified under the 'three receptacles' (rten gsum): 1) Buddhabody (Sku), sacred images; 2) Buddhaspeech (Gsung), sacred scriptures; 3) Buddhamind (Thugs), reliquaries or stûpas (mchod-rten). The Kadampa (Bka'-gdams-pa) were the early followers of the eleventh century Indian master Atißa, precursors of the Gelukpa School.
97. Snyan-shal A-she. A quality of Katag (greeting scarf) generally offered to deities. A thumb-ring of the oracle priest was believed to have strong amuletic powers, especially for undertaking perilous journeys, according to Nebesky-Wojkowitz, Oracles (412).
98. Sbug-btsan. =Btsan-khang. This word is substituted in a 'footnote' correction for sbung-du (?).
99. Dpal-'byor. This may be the Peljordorje (d. 1919) mentioned in note 90, above. His activities in the years 1895 to 1900 are not accounted for in Petech, Aristocracy (182). According to Ular, 'Policy' (43), Dorjiev was "sent" to Transbaikalia in 1896. The date would actually seem to have been 1897-8.
100. Chos-'byor.
101. Mda'-dpon. This means, according to Petech, Aristocracy (236-7), a provincial military commander of whom there were, in the twentieth century, more than six.
102. Mi-skye-gling-pa. Unidentified. According to Berlin, 'Khambo' (142), Dorjiev was detained and questioned by the British at the Indian border. (AS)
103. Nya-gdong. In the Chumbi (Chu-'bi) valley.
104. Hi-ma-la.
105. Ri-nag. Name of a place in Sikkim? (Gelek) See Roerich, Blue Annals (732).
106. Dzo-la Bhang-gar. Name of the railroad line from Darjeeling to Siliguri. (Gelek)
107. Ka-li-ka-ta.
108. Rdo-rje-gdan. Corresponding to the Indian name Vajrasana (Diamond Seat), this is the usual Tibetan name for Bodhgaya, in Bihar, where the Buddha achieved Enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree. This passage on the visit to Bodhgaya was placed in 'parentheses' in our manuscript by a proofreader. The reason is not apparent.
109. Pe'i-cing.
110. Khu-ral.
111. Rje-btsun Dam-pa.
112. Rigs Kun Khyab Bdag.
113. Dpal-chos-dpal-bzang-po.
114. A-na. Monastery founded in l795. The other four of the five mentioned should be Tugnui, Khudun, Aga and Tsugul. These five were all founded before 1821. By l846, there were 34 monasteries in Buriatia; Poppe, 'Buddhists' (169). Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (77) lists four in Tibetan orthography as follows: A-na, Cho-lo-thas, I-gi-the, and Sha-sa-na.
115. Smad Rgyud. =Smad Rgyud Grwa-tshang.
116. Tre-bo-pa Bka'-'gyur Bla-ma. A Tibetan educated at Depung. (Gelek) See note 259, below.
117. Ug-thom-sa-kho. Ukhtomskii, head of the Russo-Chinese Bank: Mehra, 'Tibet and Russian' (39, n. 27). See Anon., 'Prince Ukhtomsky, A Russian of the Russians' and, also, Oukhtomsky, 'The English in Tibet', written during the Younghusband expedition. According to Berlin, 'Khambo' (142), Dorjiev first contacted Ukhtomskii through the Russian consul at Tientsin. (AS)
118. Tha'i-zha Tshe-brtan. A Buriat official.
119. Phi-ther. This first visit to the Russian capital occurred in l898 according to Fleming, Bayonets (42). It was not made public. Richardson, Short History (81) says that the journey was for the purpose of collecting "subscriptions for his monastic college." See also Rayfield Dream (207). The following is from Landon, Opening (21): "His first journey from Lhasa to Russia was innocent enough; he was sent in 1898 to collect contributions from the faithful, of whom there are many communities in the Southeastern provinces of Russia in Europe. He traveled in the country from town to town, and at last the Russian ministers seemed to have awakened to the opportunity which lay before them." According to Berlin, 'Khambo' (142), the Czar insisted that the Tibetan request for Russian help be made in writing. Dorjiev sent Opashi (note 121, below) back to Tibet, but when Opashi returned he brought orders from the Dalai Lama that he was to return to Tibet himself. (AS)
120. Czar Nicholas II, 1894-1917 A.D.
121. O-pa-shi. Opashi. Under the name Ushé Narzunof, his life is briefly told by J. Deniker in 'New Light on Lhasa' (especially pp. 48 ff.). He was a Kalmuck native to the province of Stavropol and studied in a Russian School, while remaining a Buddhist. He first arrived in Lhasa in March 1899 and had audience with the Dalai Lama, staying in Lhasa for one and one half months, departing by way of Darjeeling-Calcutta-Peking-Urga-etc., arriving home by August l899. For his second, aborted trip to Lhasa, see note 155, below. For more detailed information, see Deniker, 'Trois voyages a Lhassa (1898-1901)'. The name Opashi comes from the Mongolian form of the Sanskrit word Upâsaka, which means a man who has taken Buddhist lay vows (note 13, above).
122. I-khi Dur-bed.
123. Thor-god.
124. Dur-bed.
125. Bskal-bzang-rgya-mtsho. The Seventh Dalai Lama, lived 1708-1757 A.D.
126. Rdâ Ha-sgos. (ES)
127. Pha-ri-ji. Dorjiev "visited Paris, Berlin, Rome and Vienna": Rupen, 'Mongolian Nationalism' (252); Unkrig, 'Aus den letzten Jahrzehnten' (140). It seems doubtful, but possible, that he "even spent a few days in London." "Uszdzang," 'Dalai Lama Imbroglio' (672).
128. Pha-ran-tshe.
129. Khe-li-min-tsho. Clemenceau. Georges Eugene Benjamin Clemenceau (1841-1929), later (1906-1909, 1917-1920) to be the French Premier.
130. Rgan-mo. Here, it does not necessarily mean 'old lady', but simply 'lady'. (N)
131. A-lig-san-da-ra. Alexandra David-Neel, born in l868, died in l969 at the age of 102. She is famous for her travel books and writings on Tibetan Buddhism including Initiations and Initiates in Tibet, Magic and Mystery in Tibet, My Journey to Lhasa and Secret Oral Teachings in Tibetan Buddhist Sects. Sometime near the beginning of 1911 she had audience with the Thirteenth Dalai Lama while in India. See Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VII 217.5 ff.), where her name is given the spelling I-lig-san-sgrar Brab-pi-da Ni-i-la.
132. Phyag mchod. Literally, 'bow and make offerings'. This is idiomatic for 'paying respects' or 'worship' in general. (Gelek)
133. This Buddhist service is evidently the one held at the library of the Musée Guimet on June 27, l898, "in the presence of a numerous company, including some actual Buddhists." See Deniker, 'A Leader' (73).
134. Ar-ling. See note 90, above.
135. O-pa-shi. Dorjiev and Opashi had travelled together as far as Urga. Dorjiev sent Opashi to deliver a letter and gifts to the Dalai Lama. Opashi left Urga on October 5, l898, arriving in March of the following year. He departed Lhasa by way of Darjeeling (May, l899), Calcutta, Peking (June 17, l899), Kalgan and Urga (July 25, l899), arriving back in Russia in August. Deniker, 'Trois voyages'.
136. Rgyal-mchog. Here, as elsewhere, an epithet of the Dalai Lama.
137. Pe'i-cing. According to Berlin,'Khambo' (142), Dorjiev arrived at Lhasa in December, l899. (AS)
138. These were the Lhasa Chanting Sessions of 1900. The offerings by Dorjiev are recorded in the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's biography (Collected Works, VI 656.4 ff.) where his name is Gomang Tshanzhab Lobzang Ngawang (Sgo-mang Mtshan-zhabs Blo-bzang Ngag-dbang). Deniker, 'A Leader' (74) is the only one who suggests that some Tibetans at this time "were scandalized by a photograph in which he was shown in company with a Russian lady." He brought photographic equipment with him to Tibet, but was forced to destroy it. Photography in Tibet during those times had to be done surreptitiously. Cameras were considered to be 'espionage' tools.
138. Rta-mig-pa. =Rta-rmig-ma. Silver ingots cast in the shape of horse hooves and of somewhat varying size and value, at the time valued at about one hundred and fifty rupees or less.
140. Sho. Equivalent to one half 'sang' (srang), or approximately one half ounce.
141. Klong-rdol Ngag-dbang-blo-bzang. A famous Gelukpa scholar of the eighteenth century. Note that Dorjiev's name may also appear in the form Ngag-dbang-blo-bzang (as in Shakabpa, Tibet, 205).
142. Jo-bo Chen-po. The most famous Buddhaimage of Tibet.
143. Mchod-pa sna lnga. These are water, light, flowers, incense, and cakes. (N, Gelek)
144. Se 'Bras Dge gsum. Abbreviated forms of the names of the three largest monasteries in central Tibet.
145. 'Gyed mang. 'Gyed-pa means 'distributed offerings' and mang-ja means an offering of tea to the entire monastic assemblage of a particular monastery. See also note 54, above.
146. Rgyal-srid.
147. Manydzu-yi Gong-ma Chen-po.
148. The wisdom of alliance with the 'far power' is admitted by Landon, Opening (215).
149. Lag-'brel. Literally, 'join hands'.
150. Bong-ba gser gzigs. (Gelek) We have emended the text here, which actually reads Bod-pa gser gzigs.
151. Mkhan-che. An honorary government office filled by monks.
152. Cho-lo. A Mongolian loan word. This document defines the responsibilities attendant to the title.
153. Sha-cing Tho-sa-lag-che. Mongolian in Tibetan transcription.
154. Byams-mgon Rdo-rje-'chang mchog.
155. O-pa-shi. Opashi. See Lamb, Britain (256-70) where the same story is told from the British sources. The names given there are M. Hopityant, Obishak and Norzunoff. He was held at Ghoom Monastery for several months and then deported to Odessa, at British expense, via Calcutta in August, l900. Dorjiev stayed with him some time on his way to Russia. (While in Calcutta, Dorjiev received notification from Tibet that Opashi had been arrested in Darjeeling--Berlin, 'Khambo' 143--AS.) The British agent Sarat Chandra Das appears to have met both Dorjiev and Opashi at Ghoom, although he seems never to have recorded the fact--Lamb, Britain (257), and see also Fleming, Bayonets (82). In fact, on November 17, l900, it was reported that Das had no knowledge of Dorjiev! See Lamb, 'Some Notes' (56-7). Deniker, 'New Light' (552), says he landed at Odessa on October 3, 1900. See Deniker, 'Trois voyages a Lhassa' (230-3), where Opashi tells his own side of the story. He is called "begging bowl carrier" because, according to Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (78), the Dzungar leader Tsering Dondup (Tshe-ring-don-grub, leader of the Dzungar Invasion of 1717; Shakabpa, Tibet 135) had donated five hundred begging bowls to the Lower Tantra College at Lhasa. Once when some monks were travelling to the sessions at La-mo, a coracle boat capsized and a few monks drowned; their begging bowls were lost. To make up the full number of begging bowls, Dorjiev sent Opashi (Narzunoff) to France to have new ones made. He was bringing them with him when the British detained him at Darjeeling.
156. Pha-ran-tshe.
157. Sher-rgyal. =Shes-rab-rgyal-mtshan. The name should, according to Lamb, Britain (257), be rather Lama Sherap Gyatsho (=Shes-rab-rgya-mtsho), then abbot of Goom (=Ghoom) Monastery near Darjeeling. He had been secretary (gsol-dpon) to the Seng-chen Bla-ma of Tashilhumpo. He also played a very large part in the compilation of Das, Tibetan-English Dictionary (first published in 1902) as is clear from the Tibetan, but not the English, title page. See Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (78-9).
158. Ka-li-ka-ta.
159. Rdo-rje-yib. In Rnam-rgyal-dbang-'dud, Bod-ljongs Rgyal-khab (122), his name is given in Tibetan as Rdo-rje'i-dbyibs, which has approximately the same phonetic value.
160. Ru-phi.
161. Ye-he-thung. Tibetan transcription of the Chinese name for the Boxer Rebellion.
162. Yib-phro-phi-pa.
163. Lha-yi dgongs-pa. In other words, the will of the Manchu emperor. (N)
164. Yib-ro-phi.
165. Ri-sbeng.
166. Yi-phong. Both this and the preceding are names for Japan.
167. Sna-ga-sag.
168. Spa-la-di-wo-so-thog.
169. A-mor.
170. A'i-skong.
171. Stag gzig. Sometimes this is a name for Iranian areas (Tajik), but not in the present instance. (N)
172. Spo-rad-thu.
173. Rnam-dag. A Buriat named Rnam-dag appears at Wu-tai Mountain during the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's visit there in l908. Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VII 83.2). There he is given the Mongolian title Noyon (No-yon).
174. Rgya-mtsho Nag-po. A literal Tibetan translation of 'Black Sea'.
175. Chor-no-mor.
176. Yâl-tha. On September 30, l900, he had audience with the Czar at Livadia Palace in Yalta: Waddell, Lhasa (52); Fleming, Bayonets (39). He is said to have been sent by the Dalai Lama to negotiate formal arrangements for the pilgrimages by Buriats and Kalmucks to Lhasa--Deniker, 'A Leader' (72)--and to commission the manufacture of religious articles in Russia. Berlin, 'Khambo' (143) informs us that, in his audience with the Czar, the importance of setting up an information service between the two countries was stressed and support for Tibet was pledged in vague terms. (AS) Earlier in the month, he had visited Paris for the second time to order metal vases for religious use. See Deniker, 'The Dalai-Lama's New Tse-boum from Paris', for a photograph of a Tse-boum (=Tshe-'bum), or ritual flask, which Dorjiev commissioned in Paris.
177. These gifts included, according to Fleming, Bayonets (43), a gold watch studded with diamonds for the Dalai Lama and, according to Richardson, Short History (82), "a gorgeous set of clerical vestments." This statement apparently based on a story heard by Kawaguchi, 'Russia's Tibetan Policy' (357), who makes quite an issue out of it. See also Chapman, Lhasa (131), "Russian Episcopal robes." Landon, Opening (24) puts the presentation of the clerical robes at the end of Dorjiev's 1900 trip to Russia. See also Landon, Lhasa (356-7); MacGregor, Tibet (300).
178. Tâ Khu-ral.
179. Gong-sa Mchog.
180. Landon, Opening (24), notes that Dorjiev made the journey from Urga to Lhasa in record time, arriving after ninety days! Deniker, 'New Light' (552) says it took 84 days between December 6, 1900, and February 28, 1901 accompanied by Opashi. See also Deniker, 'Trois voyages' (232).
181. Smon-lam. It is not entirely clear if this Chanting Session really refers to the Lhasa Chanting Session which begins at the Tibetan New year, or the Tshogs-mchod Smon-lam which occurs in Lhasa about a month later. There are other 'Chanting Sessions' (Smon-lam), the necessary component being an assembly of monks for chanting. It is a kind of special sessions period for monks which also includes oral examinations in the afternoons and evenings. (N, Gelek)
182. Tam. =Tam-ka. A currency unit equivalent to one and one half sho, approximately three quarters ounce of silver.
183. Nang rten. See note 96, above.
184. Ra-sa 'Phrul-snang. Famous ancient temple at Lhasa.
185. The Phurbuchok Rinpoche died at an old age in August of l901: Vostrikov, 'Some Corrections' (67). By this point, he was already severely ill. See also note 68, above.
186. Rta-rmig-pa. See note 139, above.
187. 'Geshe' (Dge-bshes) here refers to Dorjiev himself.
188. This journey occurred in March or April of 1901 according to Lamb, Britain (257). He was accompanied by Norzunoff (=Opashi) "and two or three other Mongolians." Lamb, 'Some Notes' (57). Landon, Opening (24), has him accompanied by a high ranking abbot named Tsan-nyid (=Mtshan-nyid, i.e., not a proper name at all, but most likely a mistake for Dorjiev's own title, making two persons out of one name!).
189. Skyabs-mgon Pa≈n-chen Rin-po-che. The Sixth Panchen Lama Lobzangchokinyima (Blo-bzang-chos-kyi-nyi-ma) lived 1883 to 1937 A.D.
190. Sham-bha-la'i Smon-lam. A short prayer to be reborn in the semi-earthly paradise of Shambhala, composed by the Third Panchen Lama (1738-1780 A.D.).
191. Bya-rung-kha-shor. In the town of Boudha, near Kathmandu, Nepal.
192. Srang. Roughly an ounce. It is still a tradition to throw buckets of water mixed with fragrances and precious substances on the sides of the stûpa at Bodhnath. (N)
193. Ra-ga-pur. Landon, 'Remnant' (238), says they probably travelled "through Bhamo and Rangoon to Colombo. Evidently this was only guessing on his part. Rangpur is about 100 miles SE of Darjeeling.
194. Rdo-rje-yib. Berlin, 'Khambo' (143) also affirms that the British had put a price on his head. (AS)
195. Spom-spe.
196. According to Lamb, Britain (257), he boarded a ship at Bombay bound for China. From the information given here by Dorjiev, it would seem that his first intention was to board the ship at Bombay, but decided, since it was not ready to leave, to travel by rail to its next port and catch it there. He was then met in Peking at the end of April 1901 by the British Colonel Browne and was back in Russia in June 1901--Fleming, Bayonets (40); Waddell, Lhasa (52-3).
197. Khyu-thi-khor. Not positively identified. This could be Tuticorin, then the end of a rail line with a direct ferry to Colombo, but the context makes this identification questionable. The contagious disease would most likely have been cholera.
198. Tshes-lon.
199. Sing-ga-li.
200. Thang-spob. (Br) Landon, Opening (24), says that Dorjiev boarded a Russian ship at Colombo. MacDonald, Tibet (298), says he embarked at Bombay and went to Peking by way of Singapore, then by rail to Odessa. Landon,'Remnant' (238), says that the Tibetan delegation was "picked up by the Tamboff, a ship of the Russian Volunteer Squadron, which put in for a day on her way to Odessa."
201. O-di-sa. He arrived at Odessa on June 12, 1901. Schulemann, Geschichte (378).
202. He had audience at the Great Palace of Peterhof on June 23 and on September 30 at Livadia Palace on the Crimea--Schulemann, Geschichte (378). The Foreign Minister Lamsdorff told the British that the Tibetan mission was of no political importance--Lamb, Britain (255-6). See also the account of one who was present at Dorjiev's interview with Lamsdorff in Nabokoff, 'Russia and India' (480). Landon, 'Remnants' (238): "It is, however, clear that the formality of their reception, not by the ministry only, but also by the Czar himself, disposes finally of any assertion of the unofficial character of the mission." See also Webb, Harmonious (p. 68 and photograph following p. 288).
203. Blo-mkhas. Chombo Donid (=Hambo Donir) Lubson (=Loubsan) Kaintchok, "Secretary of the Dalai Lama"--Waddell, Lhasa (52-3). The title should be Khempo Donyer (Mkhan-po Mgron-gnyer), steward under the Chief Chamberlain. His entire title and name is therefore, Mkhan-po Mgron-gnyer Blo-bzang-mkhas-mchog. In Rnam-rgyal-dbang-'dud, Bod-ljongs Rgyal-khab (111), he is called Thub-bstan-mkhas-mchog with the title Rtse-mgron, which is apparently a variation on the former title. See also Shakabpa, Bod-kyi Srid-don (II 98).
204. Rgyan-phun. Sombou Tsiduron Pundzok (=Djantsan Zombon Tsitong Puntsok), "Captain of a district of Tibet"--Waddell, Lhasa (52-3). Probably the Khenchung Gyaltsen Phuntsok of Shakabpa, Tibet (223, 233), later promoted from the Foreign Bureau to Council Minister (Kalon, =Bka'-blon). In l900, his position was Rtse-drung (cf. Tsiduron, Tsitong), a kind of monk official--Petech, Aristocracy (225). The Sombou (Zombon) should be read as Rdzong-dpon, 'District Chief'. In Rnam-rgyal-dbang-'dud, Bod-ljongs Rgyal-khab (111) he is given the title Las-tshan Par-khang.
205. 'Jigs-byed. Shigshit Gaszonof, "the chief"--Waddell, Lhasa (53). He is without doubt the Buriat Jasak (Sbo-rad-thu'i Dza-sag) Jigje ('Jigs-byed) who had audience with the Dalai Lama XIII at Lhasa's Great Chanting Sessions of 1901. See Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VI 719.2-.3).
206. O-pa-shi. Owshche Norsunof, "Dorshieff's secretary and translator"--Waddell, Lhasa (53).
207. Tshul-khrims. Not positively identified.
208. Gangs-can Rgyab-(=Rgyal-)khab Phyag-'brel. 'Agreements with the Kingdom of Tibet'. This treaty, according to Professor Norbu, was said to be actually inscribed on a slab(s) of gold (or with heavy gold inlays). In April 1902, a Chinese merchant in Darjeeling reported that a secret treaty had been made between Russia and the Dalai Lama's government, but that discussion of its existence was strictly prohibited in Lhasa--Lamb, Britain (268). In the next month, a secret Russo-Chinese treaty pertaining to Tibet was reported (268-9), for which see also Fleming, Bayonets (45-7). Landon, Opening (24-5), says that a proposal was sent to station a Russian prince in Lhasa (NOTE: Could this mean Ukhtomskii?). He denies that there was a treaty, but nevertheless goes on to describe its contents, which he claims included concessions for railway construction.
Evidently, Landon erred in assuming, in Opening (24, 214), that Dorjiev returned to Lhasa in December 1901. He could not have completed all the activities detailed below with only a few months in Russia. In October, 1902, he was for the third time in Paris--Deniker, 'A Leader', (74). Note the statement in Anon., 'Meeting' (30): "In December, 1901, a Thibetan who had been sent to Russia to try and arrange a secret compact, returned and reported that 'Russia would help Thibet at any time, in spite of any interference on the part of England'. This gave the (Dalai) Lama great peace of mind." The Tibetan referred to must be the Danieru Cheumo (Mgron-gnyer Chen-mo) of ibid. (32).
209. Sha-cin Bla. A great abbot among the Kalmucks.
210. Chos-grwa.
211. Khal-mig.
212. Thor-god.
213. Dur-bed.
214. Phying gur. 'Felt tents', or 'Yurts'.
215. No-yon. A Mongolian word for a 'chief'.
216. Tshe-ring Zla-'od.
217. Rgyal-ba Gnyis-pa. 'Second Buddha', an epithet for Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelukpa monastic order.
218. Sha-cin Bla-ma.
219. Bla-ma. Here =Sha-cin Bla-ma.
220. Dur-bed.
221. Thor-god. For Dorjiev's founding of religious schools among the Kalmucks, see Rupen, 'Buriat Intelligentsia' (391) and Guries, 'Der Lamaismus'.
222. Rdo-rams-pa.
223. Dge-legs-rgya-mtsho. See following note.
224. Chos-'byor-chos-snying-po. Both this and the preceding lama were Buriats who received their Geshe degrees at Gomang College at Depung; Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (79). See also Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Works (I 26).
225. Bsod-nams. =Bsod-nams-rgya-mtsho, a Buriat who studied at Pad-dkar-chos-gling Monastery in Inner Mongolia; Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (79).
226. Shâkya-rgyal-mtshan.
227. Sgo-mang Grwa-tshang.
228. Bsnyen-gnas.
229. Yig drug. Literally, 'six letters', for the six syllables of the mantra.
230. Dmigs-brtse-ma. A special guru yoga (note 40, above) teaching of the Gelukpa order.
231. This seventh 'root downfall' is an infraction of the tantric vows which is incurred when one attempts to explain the secrets of tantra to the non-initiate without having the proper qualifications and authorizations to do so.
232. Rdor-dmyal. =Rdo-rje-dmyal-ba. Of the variety of hell-worlds in the Buddhist universe, this one is considered the least desirable.
233. Phur-lcog-pa.
234. Byams-mgon Rdo-rje-'chang.
235. Thor-god.
236. Dur-bed.
237. Em-che. =Em-chi. A Tibetan borrowing from Mongolian.
238. Byang-chub-rdo-rje.
239. Thor-god.
240. Padma.
241. Thub-tshul-khrims. =Thub-bstan-tshul-khrims.
242. Spa-ga-cho-nu-ru. Place name, not identified.
243. Bkra-shis-don-grub.
244. Sar-thol. Sartaul?
245. U-khin. A girl's proper name? (BD)
246. Na-sga-tha'i. Or, Negutai--Phillips, Dawn (64). Nagadai
in Buriat Mongol, name of the third wife of the Goridoi.
247. Spas-sgal.
248. Ho-ri. Khori Buriats of east Baikal, or the area east of present-day Ulan Ude--Phillips, Dawn (117).
249. Bon-lugs. 'Shamanism' in keeping with the context. Generally speaking, this would refer to the Tibetan Bon religion.
250. Phôb. Russian, Pop, 'priest'.
251. See Rupen, 'Mongolian Nationalism' (172); Phillips, Dawn (104 ff.). Phillips (105) says that in 1897, 41.7% of the western Buriats were baptized (either voluntarily or forcefully), 47.7% were Shamanists, and 10.6% were Buddhists.
252. Poppe, 'Buddhists' (174), lists three monasteries including Kerminsk and Khoimor, both in the Irkutsk area. The third, for which he gives no name, was in the Barguzin district. See also Institute for the Study of the USSR, Who Was Who (140).
253. For this temple, see Rupen, 'Outer Mongolia since 1955' (357); Rupen, 'Buriat Intelligentsia' (390-1).
254. These were evidently laws which altered the traditional system of land tenure. The Christian Buriat Peter Badmaev (1851-1919) managed to delay their implementation in the years 1902-3. See Rupen, 'Buriat Intelligentsia' (393). The famous Buriat intellectual Zhamtsarano wrote a short essay entitled, "Concerning the Legal Thinking of the Buriats (to the Imminent Reforms)" published in l906. See Rupen, 'Cyben Zamcaranovic Zamcarano' (139, item 5); Rupen, 'Buriat Intelligentsia' (385-7, 393).
255. Spo-lo-su. Volost' ('district')? (Br) "The basis of communist (dmar-shog) rule," according to Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (79).
256. See note 252, above.
257. Rgyud Smad. =Rgyud Smad Grwa-tshang, in Lhasa, where there is an Upper Tantra College as well.
258. Pa≈n-chen.
259. Tre-bo-pa Bka'-'gyur-ba. See note 116, above. A Buriat (Sbo-rad-thu) 'Kanjur Lama' (Bka'-'gyur Bla-ma) met the Dalai Lama in 1908 at Wu-tai Mountain--Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VII 87.1, 87.4, 226.1). See Schulemann, Geschichte (374-5), for the "Gandschorwa Chutuktu" who resided at the monastery of Tsugolsk on the Onan River. Our particular 'Kanjur Lama' should, however, be a Tibetan from Kham province, the area of Tre-bo. A Kanjur Lama is one known to have read the entire Kanjur collection of scriptures in over one hundred volumes.
260. Tâ Khu-re. Elsewhere, Tâ Khu-ral.
261. Rje-btsun Dam-pa.
262. Dbu-mdzad. The leader of monastic chanting, he sometimes sings alone while the remainder of the monks sing the response.
263. Tso-ga'i 'Chi-med. Cogai Chimed. (BD)
264. Tâ-la'i Bla-ma.
265. Or-ton. Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (79) gives the Tibetan language equivalent gzim-chung, 'living quarters' for this Mongolian word.
266. Skyabs-mgon. Here, the Jebtsun Dampa.
267. Jo. Shâk. Famous images at the Central Cathedral, the Jokhang, at Lhasa.
268. Gangs-can Lha-gcig Rgyal-dbang. The Dalai Lama.
269. This reliquary containing the remains of Tsongkhapa was in Ganden, now destroyed along with the monastery. (A few buildings are now being rebuilt.)
270. Bkra-shis Sgo-mang Grwa-tshang. At Depung.
271. Dra-ba dra-phyed. See the Introduction, above.
272. Gong-sa Rin-po-che. The Dalai Lama.
273. Ri-speng. The consequences of Russian preoccupation with the Russo-Japanese war are discussed in Lamb, Britain (307-8).
274. The British advance from Khambajong began in December 1903. They arrived at Lhasa on August 3, 1904, and departed again on September 23 of the same year. Berlin, 'Khambo' (144) also affirms that Dorjiev advised the Dalai Lama to start peaceful negotiations with the British to avoid bloodshed. (AS)
275. The British military accounts make it seem that Dorjiev was busily agitating behind the 'enemy line' at every stage of their advance. See, for example, Landon, Lhasa (I 187). "Dorje then set about to provoke a crisis in Tibetan-British relations in order to create closer contacts with Russia." Boorman, Biographical Dictionary (II 2).
276. 'Bri-gung. Name of a district one hundred miles to the northeast of Lhasa and of a famous monastery situated there. Also, a name of one of the branches of the Kargyudpa order.
277. There is no mention here of rifle making. See Fleming, Bayonets (266-7) for an "unfounded report to King Edward VII" that "This man Dorjieff is now said to be devoting the whole of his attention to the minting of silver coins at the Lhasa arsenal instead of the casting of cannons and jingals, and it may be inferred from this circumstance that he meditates flight from Lhasa before the arrival of the Mission." There was an arsenal in Lhasa (described in ibid., p. 267; also, Waddell, Lhasa, p. 427), but there is no real reason, other than British suspicions or desire for a negative symbol to keep their own troops stirred up, to believe that Dorjiev had anything to do with it. That Dorjiev was so concerned with coin making while the British were coming must have been based on the necessity of transporting part of the government treasury. It would have been difficult to take "planks" of silver on mule back. Waddell's, Lhasa (56) allegation that in September l903, "Dorjieff was combining with his professional Buddhist labours the business of supervising the war preparations in the Lhasa Arsenal" seems to be baseless. See also Mehra, 'Tibet and Russian' (35). The story that Dorjiev headed one of two caravans of Russian-supplied arms and munition in l902 (Dilks, Curzon, II 74) is certainly a misreading of Filchner, 'A Story of Struggle' (364) and Mehra, 'Tibet and Russian' (34-5), where the two caravans are headed by Colonel Orlov and Tserempil. The memoirs give no indication that Dorjiev ever "took over as War Minister" as Filchner suggests, or was directly involved in firearm transportation or manufacture, although these things would have no doubt taken place even without his assistance. See Filchner, Wetterleuchten (73, 79). Berlin, 'Khambo' (144), says that Dorjiev was entrusted with finances and also worked to repair old Chinese armaments. (AS) Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Works (I 31-3), tells the story of how he personally crossed the border from Buriatia into Mongolia at the time of the death, in l924, of the Jebtsun Dampa. He was detained at Urga because he had no passport. Dorjiev not only negotiated his release, but secured papers allowing him and 20 other Buriats to travel to Tibet. They travelled with two Tibetan monks and a Lhasa layman, taking with them some gifts for the Dalai Lama (including a jade lion) as well as "seven boxes of Russian silk, 100 Russian rifles with 500 bullets for each, about 30 pistols, about 30 grenades (lag 'bom) and two long boxes of unknown content." This does appear to implicate Dorjiev in arms transport, although over 20 years too late for the present context.
278. Landon, Opening (26), mentions a "new water wheel" which would make it appear that it had already been completed to some extent when the British arrived.
279. Lcags-zam. Literal meaning, 'Iron Bridge'. While at Chaksam, Younghusband received a letter stating that he (the Dalai Lama) "was--in the religious sense of the phrase--in retreat." Fleming, Bayonets (235). We follow the proofreader's correction, "nearing the Iron Bridge" rather than "crossed the Iron Bridge" of the original scribe.
280. Nor-gling. =Nor-bu Gling-ka.
281. Until mid-August, it was believed that the Dalai Lama was "in retreat" at some monastery to the northeast of Lhasa--Fleming, Bayonets (235-6). Rayfield, Dream (208), says the Dalai Lama fled with Dorjiev, a doctor, two ministers and eight guards. Filchner, 'Story of Struggle' (367) says he was accompanied by Dorjiev and Zerempil. The departure from Lhasa, in any case, occurred at dawn on July 30, l904--Shakabpa, Tibet (215); Bell, Portrait (65 ff.). According to Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VI 775.1), the Dalai Lama disguised himself as a Mongol lord (Mon-gol-gyi rje-bo).
282. Go-la. Sgo-la in Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VI 774.5). Professor Norbu understands the name of this pass to mean 'Vulture Pass', in which case it should be spelled Rgod-la.
283. On August 3, l904. Kolmaß, Tibet and Imperial (58).
284. Spyi-khyab Mkhan. =Spyi-khyab Mkhan-po. Sometimes translated in the literature as 'Lord Chamberlain'.
285. G.yu-thog. =G.yu-thog-pa. Shakabpa, Tibet (215). Yuthokpa Phuntsokpenden (=Phun-tshogs-dpal-ldan, 1860-circa 1910). See Petech, Aristocracy (29-30). As his chief representative, the Dalai Lama left behind Blo-bzang-rgyal-mtshan, who later served as Dga'-ldan Khri-pa from l927 to 1933. Waddell, Lhasa (400-411) records an audience with this Dga'-ldan Khri-pa.
286. Byang-stong. 'The Empty North'.
287. 'Khor-lugs Pe'i-sa. 'Khor-lugs is the first Mongolian area when approaching from Tibet--Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (79)--also called "Upper Mongolia" (Stod Sog). Pe'i-sa (=Pe'i-se) is a Mongolian title of rank.
288. Khal-kha.
289. Bstan-pa'i Gsal-byed Sprul-sku. In other words, the Head Incarnate Lama of Pe'i-sa. See Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VI 808.2), where the Jebtsun Dampa is called Mon-gol Bstan-pa'i Gsal-byed Rje-btsun Dam-pa.
290. G.yung-drung Pe'i-se'i Dgon-pa. Called G.yung-drung Pa'i-si'i in Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VI 795.6). Shakabpa, Bod-kyi Srid-don (II 133). On the border of the Khalkha Mongolian area; Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (80).
291. Tâ Khu-ral. Filchner, 'Story of Intrigue' (89), says that the Dalai Lama "hastened to Urga to consult his old adviser, Aguan Dorji," which seems strange if they were travelling to Urga together. See also page 90: "Aguan Dorji was the first to welcome his former pupil" (in Urga). According to Filchner, Wetterleuchten (94), Dorjiev reached Urga a month before the Dalai Lama. Dorjiev then met Him near Urga on November 25, l904 (p. 99).
292. Mkhan-chen No-mon-han.
293. San No-yon. Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VI 799.2).
294. Rockhill, 'Dalai Lamas' (75), says the Dalai Lama arrived in Urga on November 27 and remained there until the late spring of 1907. In Boorman, Biographical Dictionary (II 2), it says that he arrived in Urga with a party of some 700 persons. See also Waddell, Lhasa (428-9).
295. According to Shakabpa, Bod-kyi Srid-don (II 135), the Jebtsun Dampa did not show the Dalai Lama the proper respect, smoking tobacco in His presence, etc. Also, the noise of the dogs and young servants bothered Him. Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (80) notes that at the Dalai Lama's welcome to Urga, one of His bodyguards accidentally hit the Mongolian Ganden Abbot on the head with a horse whip, whereupon a Mongol named Sherab gave the Tibetan minister Tsarong a fist in the eye. The Ganden Abbot was the highest ranking scholastic of the Mongolian Buddhist world.
296. Chos-grwa.
297. Dga'-ldan.
298. These debates took place in the last half of the first month following the Tibetan New Year of l905. Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VI 822-3).
299. "While at Urga, the Dalai communicated through Dorje with the Russian Tsar in an attempt to enlist Russian support for the Tibetan independence movement."--Boorman, Biographical Dictionary (II 2). "An especially large number of Buriat Buddhists made pilgrimages to Urga in l905, when the Dalai Lama was there."--Rupen, 'City of Urga' (169). See also Shakabpa, Tibet (221). According to Shakabpa, Bod-kyi Srid-don (II 139), the Dalai Lama toured Buriat lands during the seventh (Tibetan) month of 1905.
300. In February l906, according to Mehra, 'Tibet and Russian' (36); Lamb, McMahon (I 66, 83). On April 5, l906, the Czar sent a telegram to the Dalai Lama at Urga. For the text, see Lamb, McMahon (I 83).
301. News of Russian defeats had reached Lhasa by May l904--Landon, Lhasa (I 188). Berlin, 'Khambo' (147) says that Dorjiev was invested with full powers and, accompanied by the Dalai Lama's secretary, arrived shortly after the loss of Port Arthur to the Japanese (January 2, l905). The Czar then advised the Dalai Lama to stay in Mongolia. (AS)
302. Pa≈n-chen. Dge-legs-rnam-rgyal, or, Thub-bstan-chos-kyi-nyi-ma (1883-1937), the Sixth (sometimes called the Ninth) Panchen Lama. His Collected Works are available although, unfortunately, the biography seems to be lost (or, perhaps, suppressed?). See Lamb, Britain (311-2). His visit to Calcutta occurred in December l905. This trip by the Panchen Lama marked an important turning point in relations between Shigatse and Lhasa. See Shakabpa, Tibet (220); Chapman, Lhasa (140); Lamb, McMahon (I 24 ff.); Anon., 'With Tashi Lama'.
303. "The Dalai Lama had been formally deposed by the Chinese." Filchner, 'Story of Struggle' (90); Bell, 'Portrait' (63). This was the first of two theoretical deposings of the Dalai Lama, the second by Chinese Imperial decree on February 25, 1910--Lamb, McMahon (I 199).
304. 7Rgyal-dbang Mchog. The '7' is often put before the name of the Dalai Lama as a sign of respect. Further Papers Relating to Tibet (1910), no.74 (Despatch from Mr. Spring-Rice to Sir Edward Grey dated March 14, 1906--St. Petersburg): "I have the honor to state that M. Hartwig, Director of the Asiatic Department, informed me to-day that Mr. Dorjieff, who had on previous occasions come to Russia on behalf of the Dalai Lama, had recently arrived at St. Petersburgh, and had requested an audience with the Emperor in order to present a message and gifts with which the Lama had charged him. His Majesty had granted him an audience, and had accepted the gifts, which consisted of an image of Buddha, a very interesting copy of Buddhistical liturgy, and a piece of stuff. The message was to the effect that the Lama had the utmost respect and devotion to the "Great White Tsar," and that he looked to His Majesty for protection from the dangers which threatened his life if he returned to Lhasa, as was his intention and duty. The answer returned to him was of a friendly character, consisting of an expression of His Majesty's thanks for his message and of his interest in his welfare.
"M. Hartwig said that he wished His Majesty's Government should hear exactly what had occurred, as the press would probably make out that the audience had a political character...
"In reply to the inquiry as to where the Dalai Lama now was, M. Hartwig told me that he had had a disagreement with the Incarnation of Urga owing to a difference as to the division of fees, and that he was now staying with one of the Mongolian princes. He added that his emissary had also brought presents for Count Lamsdorff and himself, which had been duly deposited in the Foreign Office."
305. Rgya Dbyin Ru gsum.
306. For the 1906 treaty, see text in Richardson, A Short History (256-8). It seems the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention (pp. 258-60) is also alluded to here, a treaty of mutual noninterference in Tibetan internal affairs.
307. Read srung, 'protection', 'guardianship' for the grung of the text, which we have interpreted as 'suzerainty'. 'Sovereign' translates rang-btsan, the usual word for 'self-rule' or 'independence', a word Tibetans today are forbidden to pronounce in their own country.
308. Khandu Wang in Ramstedt, Seven Journeys (78). Mkha'-'gro Dbang.
309. Dza-ya.
310. Sku-'bum. He arrived at Kumbum in November 1907--Rockhill, 'Dalai Lamas' (76).
311. Probably the Russian Minister at Peking Pokotilov--Lamb, McMahon (I 80); Shakabpa, Bod-kyi Srid-don (II 137). Pokotilov had met the Dalai Lama at Urga in the first half of 1905. See Korostovets, Pre-War Diplomacy (48).
312. Rgya-lam.
313. Si-'an.
314. Ri-rtse. =Ri-bo Rtse-lnga. In Shensi Province.
315. The Dalai Lama travelled by train, starting on September 22, 1908, arriving on September 28--Rockhill, 'Dalai Lamas' (77). Boorman, Biographical Dictionary (II 2), says he arrived at Peking on September 20, 1908. See Shakabpa, Bod-kyi Srid-don (II 147).
316. Bde-skyid. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama resided at the same temple where the Great Fifth Dalai Lama had stayed on his visit to Peking in the beginning of 1653--Lamb, McMahon (I 174). See Rockhill, 'Dalai Lamas' (17 ff.), for the Fifth Dalai Lama's audience.
317. Mkhan-po bzhi'i ya-gyal-du tshud. These four abbots were, at the time, 1) Gzhung-pa Lha-btsun. 2) Tsha-ba Khri-sprul. 3) Bra-sde. 4) Dorjiev. (Gelek)
318. Dorjiev also paid visits to the Russian Minister Korostovetz, the American Minister Rockhill (Lamb, McMahon I 174), and the British agent O'Connor (176). The conversation with the Empress Dowager at the first audience is recorded in Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VII 108). Shakabpa, Bod-kyi Srid-don (II 149) records Dorjiev's attendance at this first imperial audience.
319. In other words, 'fear of losing face'.
320. See Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VII 122.3 ff.). The Emperor died on November 14, 1908, and the Empress Dowager on the following day--Rockhill, 'Dalai Lamas' (87). Shakabpa, Bod-kyi Srid-don (II 153), dates their deaths at Nov. 12 and Nov. 19, respectively. The Dalai Lama left Peking on December 21 and arrived back in Lhasa in December 1909--Shakabpa, Tibet (227). For the festivities and formalities attending the Dalai Lama's reentry into Lhasa (on the 9th day of the 11th month of the Tibetan calendar), see Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VII 169.5 ff.).
321. Shong Thung. Shon Thong in Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VII 180.1, 596.6), where the excesses committed by the army of Chao Erh-Feng (Sgra'o Er-phung) in Eastern Tibet are described. See also Sperling, 'The Chinese Venture in K'am'.
322. For a description of this temple, see Unkrig, 'Aus den letzten Jahrzehnten' (144 ff.). As the centerpiece of the altar there was a tall silver image of Gautama Buddha especially donated for the purpose by the King of Siam. The St. Petersburg academics Stcherbatsky, Oldenburg, Kotvich and Radlov (see notes 396-399, below) actively supported the building of this temple--Poppe, 'Buddhists' (174). "In March, 1909, Dorjieff went to Russia via Peking and once more had an audience with the Tzar. When the British Ambassador, Sir Arthur Nicolson, mentioned this to Russian Foreign Minister Isvolsky, the latter at once explained that the visit was for the purpose of soliciting His Majesty's sanction to the erection of a Buddhist temple in St. Petersburg, as there were a considerable number of Buddhist residents in the capital, and that nothing political was involved. The British Ambassador replied that he had no suspicions of any kind and that he only mentioned the audience of Dorjieff as an interesting incident."--Li, Tibet Today and Yesterday (125).
323. Khe'i-yib.
324. Kha-dzang.
325. Er-khu. The Buriat name of Irkutsk is Erküü. (BD)
326. Khal-mig.
327. Spo-rad.
328. Bon-lugs-pa.
329. Chos-lugs.
330. Unkrig, 'Aus den letzten Jahrzehnten' (149), quotes the Bishop Andrej of Ufa, "Man solle erst einmal die 'Heidentempel' auf dem Nevskij Prospekt schliessen!"
331. "Smoke stuff" we understand to mean 'incense'.
332. Byi'u Sngon-po'i Tshogs. We have no information on the identity of this group. It may refer to the 'Black Hundreds'.
333. Bon-lugs Spo-rad-thu-pa.
334. Thu-khum. =Bargajin. In Buriat, Tüküm. (BD)
335. Ma-kha-shi-khi-yib. Makashkiev?
336. Yon She-ha'i. Yüan Shih-k'ai, 1859-1916, president of China 1912-1916.
337. The Dalai Lama had returned to Lhasa from China in December 1909. On February 12, 1910, as the first Chinese soldiers entered Lhasa, he made his escape, arriving on British territory February 20, 1910--Lamb, McMahon (I 194). According to Boorman, Biographical Dictionary (II 3), "He left Lhasa on 12 February 1910, accompanied by Dorje." Here, of course, Dorje means Dorjiev. Dorjiev, however, was certainly still in Russia at that time.
338. Tsa-rong. Nam-gang. Tsensar Namgyal, later known as Tsarong--Lamb, McMahon (I 194). He is also known as Dazong Dadul (Zla-bzang-dgra-'dul). See Shakabpa, Tibet (228-9). For Namgang, see Filchner, Wetterleuchten (107, 229, 235, 347, 348). For the incident at Chaksam, see Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VII 183.6 ff.).
339. Gong-sa Mchog.
340. Rdor-gling. =Rdo-rje-gling. 'Vajra Island' or 'Vajra Park'. On February 27, 1910, the Dalai Lama reached Darjeeling--Filchner, Wetterleuchten (234).
341. "In March 1910 he went to Calcutta, where he talked with Lord Minto, the Viceroy of India..."--Boorman, Biographical Dictionary (II 3). This meeting occurred on March 14, 1910--Shakabpa, Bod-kyi Srid-don (II 179). This is when the Dalai Lama told Lord Minto that Dorjiev was now in his fatherland, and that his position, as one of the seven Mtshan-zhabs, only pertained to religious matters (II 181).
342. Kha-dbang. Literally, 'power of order'. (N)
343. Ra-sa 'Phrul-snang. This ancient temple did not completely escape damage. See Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VII 268.6 ff.).
344. Bka'-blon. Kalon.
345. Rgyal-phun. =Rgyal-mtshan-phun-tshogs. Khenchung (Mkhan-chung) Gyaltsen Phuntsok, a head of the Foreign Bureau in Lhasa. Shakabpa, Tibet (223). See note 204, above.
346. Nam-mkha'.
347. Byang-lam.
348. Nam-mkha'.
349. Mtshal-'dam. The Tibetan name literally translates as 'Vermillion Swamp'.
350. Nag-chu. =Nag-chu-kha.
351. Phag-ri. Phari is at the north end of the Chumbi Valley on the main route to the trading centre of Gyantse on the way to Lhasa.
352. Skyabs-mgon. Here, the Dalai Lama.
353. Gdan-sa.
354. The Dalai Lama left Kalimpong on June 24, 1912--Lamb, McMahon (II 377)--reaching Phari in early July--Mehra, 'Mongol-Tibetan Treaty' (4). He entered Lhasa on the 17th of January, 1913--Khankar, Tibetan History (I 606); Mehra, 'Mongol-Tibetan Treaty' (5). The Dalai Lama, when entering Lhasa, had communicated to Yüan Shih-k'ai his intention of resuming his spiritual and temporal rule of Tibet--Richardson, Short History (105); Shakabpa, Bod-kyi Srid-don (II 217). Shakabpa (II 219-223) quotes an entire document dated the 8th day of the first Tibetan month of 1913 with the Dalai Lama's seal attached announcing Tibet's independence from China. The National Assembly of Tibet had, in November 1912, written to the Indian Governor-General a declaration of their intention to act independently of Peking. Mongolia had previously, with Russian support, declared their independence in 1911. "The Chinese revolution that began in October 1911 caused the newly asserted Chinese control over Tibet to collapse. The Chinese military garrison at Lhasa revolted, killed its officers, and turned to looting the city. After the overthrow of the Ch'ing dynasty, the Dalai left Kalimpong in June 1912 to return to Tibet."--Boorman, Biographical Dictionary (II 3). In mid-July 1912, the Dalai Lama met with the Panchen Lama at Ralung--Mehra, Tibetan Polity (24). The meeting between the Dalai Lama and Dorjiev (here called Mtshan-zhabs Dge-bshes Ngag-dbang) at Phari is recorded in the Dalai Lama's biography (Collected Works VII 222.6) where it says Dorjiev arrived from Torgut (Sog-yul Thor-rgod). Shakabpa, Bod-kyi Srid-don (II 209), also mentions the meeting at Phari. According to the official Chinese history, the Dalai Lama "expelled Chung Ying and proclaimed independence"--Kolmaß, 'Ch'ing Shih Kao' (99). See also Williams, Tibet (125).
355. Bsam-ldings.
356. Rdo-rje Phag-mo.
357. Lha-ldan.
358. Bal Gor-sha.
359. "In the event, Dorjiev did not remain long in Tibet, leaving for an unknown destination." Lamb, McMahon (II 378).
360. Dngul. This word means 'silver' as well as 'money'.
361. Dorjiev makes only passing mention of what was perhaps his greatest diplomatic achievement, the Tibeto-Mongol Treaty of January 11, 1913--Lamb, McMahon (II 449 ff.). For the text of the treaty, see Lamb, McMahon (II 612-4). The Tibetan signatories were: 1) Gujir Tsanshib Kanchen (=Sku-bcar Mtshan-zhabs Mkhan-chen) Lubsan Agwan (Blo-bzang Ngag-dbang, i.e., Dorjiev). 2) Donir Agwan Choinzin Tschichamtso (=Mgron-gnyer Ngag-dbang-chos-'dzin-rgya-mtsho), "manager of the bank." Shakabpa, Bod-kyi Srid-don (II 633), gives the name Dngul-khang Do-dam ('bank manager') Mgron-gnyer Ngag-dbang-chos-'dzin. 3) Gendun Galsan (=Dge-'dun Rgyal-mtshan), "secretary" (Drung-yig).
Parshotam Mehra has devoted an article to this treaty--Mehra, 'Mongol-Tibetan Treaty'. "The Dalai Lama was determined to eliminate Chinese authority from Tibet. In July 1912 he had sent Dorje back to Urga to negotiate a treaty with Outer Mongolia. In January 1913 he concluded a treaty with the Living Buddha at Urga which recognized the independence of their respective states."-- Boorman, Biographical Dictionary (II 3). See also Filchner, Wetterleuchten (245-6). There has been much argument about this treaty and whether Dorjiev was properly authorized to act on behalf of the Dalai Lama, but note that where Richardson's English version (Short History 265) reads "on the part of the Dalai Lama," the Tibetan language version given by Shakabpa clearly says "representative of the Dalai Lama" (Ta-la'i Bla-ma'i sku-tshab).
362. It was reported in a Foreign Office correspondence of Feb. 13, 1913, that Dorjiev brought with him from Tibet fifteen boys to be educated in Russian schools as well as letters and gifts from the Dalai Lama to the Czar. Lamb, McMahon (II 601).
363. Gso-sbyong.
364. Dgra-bcom-pa.
365. Dbyar-gnas. The rainy season retreat involves special vows and communal confessions for the Buddhist monks.
366. Dgag-dbye.
367. 'Jam-pa'i-rdo-rje.
368. Sman-bla.
369. Thung-khen Khe-ring. Buriat, Tüngken Kereng. (BD)
370. Mon-dar-dga'. For Mundarga, a mountain said to be inhabited by 33 heavenly maidens, see Poppe, 'A Buriat Literary Source' (110).
371. Gnas-bdag.
372. Dkar-phyogs. In other words, Buddhism.
373. Gra rgyun. Literally, 'monk flow'.
374. Ho'i-mor. Khoimor, see Poppe, 'Buddhists' (174).
375. Khe-ring.
376. Mang-bskur Rgyal-po. =Mang-pos Bskur-ba'i Rgyal-po. 'King by Common Consent'. Mahâsammata, the original monarch according to the Buddhist sociogenesis.
377. Rgyal dbangs. =Rgyal 'bangs.
378. Byams. Sometimes translated as 'kindness' or 'love'.
379. I-su-sa.
380. Ra-sa-phu-thing. 1853-1916 A.D.
381. Khe-rin-sa-kho. Aleksandr Feodorovich Kerenski, b. 1881, Premier in 1917.
382. Khu-lung-mtsho-yi Dgon-pa.
383. Sbog-da-nob. =Mikhail Bogdanov (1878-1919), author of a book on the agrarian question in Buriatia and on the history of the Buriat Mongolian people. El-speg Rdo-rje. =Elbek Dorje. See Rupen, 'Buriat Intelligentsia'.
384. Pandi-ta Mkhan-po Bkra-shis-rdo-rje. In Buriat, Dashi-dorje. (BD)
385. Bkra-shis-bsam-'phel-'ong. Dashi Sampilon (d. 1937). Rupen, 'Buriat Intelligentsia' (389, 397).
386. Li-nyin. Lenin, 1870-1924.
387. Sbol-zhe-sbeg.
388. Khom-mong.
389. Skyid-sdug. Literally, 'happiness-sorrow'. See note 55, above.
390. Ur-spa-ha. Rubakha. (BD)
391. O-ral Khal-mig.
392. Mo-so-kho-ba. Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (80-81), reports that Dorjiev had two attendants at the time of his arrest. The one named Thogs-med was set free and the other named Phyag-rdor was imprisoned together with Dorjiev. Both of them were monks of Cho-lo-tha'i Monastery (Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma's home monastery).
393. Spu-ther-sa-kho.
394. Gshin-rje.
395. Yi-dwags.
396. Kho-tho-spe-che. V. L. Kotvich (b. March 20, 1872), professor of Manchurian and Mongolian philology, Tungusian dialects--Kotvich, 'Oriental Studies' (654).
397. Ol-ting-spur-ga. S. F. Oldenburg (b. Sept. 14, 1863), professor of Sanskrit philology, Indian and Far Eastern art--Kotvich, 'Oriental Studies' (654).
398. Kho-tha-sbi-che. Note 396, above.
399. Shar-spad-sa-kho. F. I. Stcherbatsky (b. Sept. 19, 1866), professor of Sanskrit, Indian philology and Tibetan.
400. Wal-rti-mir-tshas. B. Y. Vladimirtsov (b. July 20, 1884; d. 1934), professor of Mongolian philology, Tibetan and Altaic linguistics. Kotvich, 'Oriental Studies' (653).
401. Blon-po. The particular official not identified.
402. A'i-rdar-khan. Buriat, Aidarqan. (BD)
403. Skal-bzang. Buriat, Galsan.
404. Khe-tshe-sbo-lag. Kalmuck, Kece Bulag. (BD)
405. Sha-cin Bla-ma. Kalmuck, Shashin Lama. (BD)
406. Rdo-rams-pa.
407. Dga'-ba.
408. 'Chi-med-dpal-ldan.
409. Bon-lugs. See note 249, above.
410. Rdo-rams-pa Gu-ru Dharma-dpal-bzang-po. This would seem to refer to the Buddhist Congress of October 1922 which included the communalization of monastic property as part of its agenda.
411. Kla-klo. This word does not always refer to Moslems, but it certainly does in this context.
412. Hu'i-hu'i. Chinese, Hui-hui.
413. Perhaps this message was sent along with a secret Soviet delegation of 1922, for which we have the report of Poppe, 'Buddhists' (176): "In 1921, the Dalai Lama sent an envoy to Moscow. Dorzhiev was appointed plenipotentiary representative of the government of the Dalai Lama in Moscow, and Galan Nindakov, a Buryat, who had attended a middle school in St. Petersburg, was appointed secretary of the legation. With the assistance of Dorzhiev, the Soviets hoped to influence the Dalai Lama, and in 1922 sent a secret delegation to Lhasa, disguised as Buddhist pilgrims. The delegation consisted of Borisov, a Turk from the Altai region who had an important post in the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, and a Buriat lawyer named Vampilon. The delegation had no success, because the Soviet proposals (with the exception of one item--assistance against Great Britain) contained nothing acceptable. The delegation returned empty-handed. There is no information regarding it in Soviet materials, because it was a secret mission." Shakabpa, Tibet (266), mentions two later Soviet-Mongol delegations to Lhasa in 1927-8, as does Richardson, Short History (131). Now the contents of some of the classified Soviet materials have been studied in Andreyev, 'Bolshevik'.
414. Ma-hâ-tsi-na. From Sanskrit, Mahâcîna. The prophecy alluded to is recorded for the year 1888 in the Dalai Lama's biography. See Dalai Lama XIII, Collected Works (VI 344.1).
415. See Chhodak, 'The 1901 Proclamation of H. H. Dalai Lama XIII' for laws promulgated by the Dalai Lama XIII. See also Shakabpa, Tibet (271-2). The Dalai Lama's administrative reforms are discussed in Boorman, Biographical Dictionary (II 4).
416. I-su-sa.
417. Rdog-thor.
418. Thub-bstan-don-grub. He was the number one Lharampa Geshe in the time of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma, Text 2 (81), studied with both Dorjiev and Thub-bstan-don-grub. The latter was his first philosophy teacher. While Ngag-dbang-nyi-ma was in Buriatia, he knew of the existence of Dorjiev's biography and, while later at Lhasa, he saw it briefly in the possession of one of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama's Philosophical Consultants (Mtshan-zhabs) named Dngos-grub-tshogs-gnyis.
419. Rin-chen gnyis-pa'i 'khor-lo. 'Wheel of the second (most) precious (metal)', therefore, 'silver coin'. A polite and poetic circumlocution.
420. Wa-gindra. Wa-gindra is Tibetan script for the Sanskrit Vagindra, 'Power of Speech', which in Tibetan would be Ngawang (Ngag-dbang), the 'Agwan' of Russian sources. His seventieth year, which is according to our usual way of reckoning age sixty-nine years of age, puts the writing of the memoirs in the year beginning early in 1922 and ending in the first months of 1923. 1923 was a year of many important events for the future of Tibet and Mongolian Buddhism. The Sixth Panchen Lama fled to China. The Buriat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was founded as a constituent part of the RSFSR. In the following year, the Eighth Jebtsun Dampa died and the Mongolian People's Republic was formed. The years 1923 to 1929 brought an end to the previous relatively liberal policies of the Soviets toward Buddhism. Most Buriat monasteries were closed or destroyed.
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(NOTE: Many works are included here even though they are not cited in the footnotes because they contain important or interesting information or opinions about Dorjiev.)
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