Tag: Qing

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Xumifushou Temple

Xumifushou 须弥福寿庙 (Blessings and Longevity of Sumeru)

In 1780, the 6th Panchen Lama, Blo bzangs dpal ldan ye shes (1738–80) arrived at Chengde (承德), the summer retreat complex of the Manchus, to participate in the seventieth birthday celebrations of the Qianlong emperor (r. 1736–95). As part of the celebrations, the emperor had ordered the construction of the Xumifushou Temple, which replicated Bkra shis lhun po (Tashi Lhunpo), the seat of the Panchen Lama in Central Tibet. The birthday celebrations, and the elaborate preparations and ritualized activities that accompanied it, were based on historical precedents (as well as creative innovations) and served as displays of the emperor’s righteous rule over his Inner Asian subjects.

The practice of constructing Buddhist sites honoring political victories harked back to the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662–1723) who built the Huizong Monastery in Dolonnor for the Khalka Mongols after their surrender to the Manchus in 1691. The Qianlong emperor adopted this practice and built two more temples commemorating the conclusion of political victories: the Puning Temple (普宁寺), which was modeled after Bsam yas Monastery, in 1755 at Chengde to honor the Manchu defeat of the Dzungar Mongols, and the Putuozongchengmiao (普陀宗乘庙), modeled after the Potala Palace in Lhasa, in 1771 at Chengde for the combined occasions of the Empress Dowager’s eightieth birthday, Qianlong’s sixtieth birthday, and the return of the Kalmuk (or Torghut) Mongols to the Qing empire. Thus the construction of replicated Buddhist sites was instilled as an appropriate commemoration of political expansion. The act of replication, which was utilized in many different ways during the Qianlong reign, has been discussed as ritual acts where semiotic reinterpretation and alterations produced effects in experienced reality as well as permanent alterations of the significance of the original form.

The Shunzhi emperor (1644–61) established the precedent of constructing elaborate residences for visiting Tibetan prelates. In 1652, he ordered the construction of Xihuang Monastery (西黄寺) in Beijing for the visit of the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngag dbang blo bzangs rgya mtsho (1617–82).

Thus, since the Qianlong emperor viewed his seventieth birthday as an occasion to impress upon his Inner Asian subjects the legitimacy of his rule, he drew upon these precedents to create spectacular settings for such ritual enactments. In 1778, the Qianlong emperor was overjoyed at the news that the Sixth Panchen Lama wished to be present at his birthday celebrations (likely influenced by Rol pa’i rdo rje, the senior-most lama in the imperial court and guru to Qianlong), as he was then the highest ranking prelate in Tibet and his visit would mark the second most important state visit from Tibet since the visit of the Fifth Dalai Lama. The order to construct the Xumifushou was issued on 26 January 1779, just three days after the emperor issued the official invitation to the Panchen Lama. In another letter to the Panchen Lama, dated to 18 February 1779, the emperor mentions that the Xumifushou was being built following the precedent of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s visit to Beijing.
The emperor decreed that construction was to be completed before the fourth month in 1780 to allow time for accommodating the monks and massive amounts of luggage that would arrive ahead of the Panchen Lama’s entourage. Indeed, construction was finished in the spring of 1780. The Xumifushou was built, under the close supervision of Rol pa’i rdo rje, to the east of the Putuozongcheng (Potala replica) on a mountain slope. While the façade of the complex is in the Tibetan style, the actual layout was designed like a Chinese monastic complex, on a central north-south axis. The complex consists of a main hall, called the Miaogao zhuang yan (妙高庄严), Lofty and Solemn Hall, which was designed for the Panchen Lama to give teachings and use for meditation and devotions. The roof of the Panchen Lama’s residential building, the Jixiang Faxi (吉祥法喜), Auspicious Omen and Joy in the Law, as well as the roof of the main hall were gilded in copper twice by imperial command. Two smaller pavilions were located to the right and left of the main hall. The pavilion on the left was that of the Panchen Lama’s, while the pavilion on the right, the Yuzuo, or Royal Throne, was that of the Qianlong emperor, and where his throne was installed. To the rear of the complex is the Wanfa zongyuan (万法宗源), Source of Ten Thousand Dharmas, which was the dormitory of the Panchen Lama’s entourage.

Documents record that massive amounts of objects were tranferred to Xumifushou from the temples of the Forbidden City and imperial workshops of the Zaobanchu in Beijing. An inventory submitted in 1800 records that there were 21 thangkas of Buddhist images in the main hall, 84 thangkas in the Yuzuo (Qianlong’s pavilion), 5 thangkas of Amitayus and 5 thangkas of Shakyamuni on the north side of this same pavilion, 12 bronze images and two sets of glass wugong sets (an incense burner, two candlesticks, and two vases) on the alter of this pavilion, and embroidered thangkas of Lhamo and eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara that were hung in the Jixiang Faxi, where the Panchen Lama resided.

While the replica of Bkra shis lhun po at Chengde only superficially followed its original, the actual purpose of its construction was communicated by the emperor himself in the four-language stele located at the entrance to the complex. In Chinese, Manchu, Tibetan, and Mongolian, the emperor observed that the two greatest disciples of Tsong kha pa, the founder of the dGe lugs pa school, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama occupied separate monastic seats located at great distances from each other. Under the auspices of Qing imperial birthdays, these two seats of Tibetan Buddhism were brought together side by side, in replication, at Chengde. The construction of the Xumifushou folowed the precedent set by the building of Xihuang Monastery for the Fifth Dalai Lama’s visit. Qianlong goes on to declare that beyond following precedents, all the temples at Chengde served political functions by uniting China and its frontiers into “a single family.” By using visual similiarity, analogy, and proximity, Qianlong could extol his own “nonaction” as the key to his successful rule and to radiate his merit outward for the benefit of others. Thus the replication of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries at Chengde served as a means for the emperor to re-order his empire in panoptic form in a way that legitimized his rule as a benevolent and meritorious monarch and in the language of his Inner Asian subjects.

Sources:
Patricia Berger. 2003. Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China. U Hawaii Press
Terese Tse Bartholomew. 2001. Thangkas for the Qianlong Emperor’s seventieth birthday. In Cultural intersections in later Chinese Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i.

Entry by Eveline S. Yang 4/3/07

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Cining Palace and its Baoxiang Lou

Qing place Cining Palace and its Baoxianglou

Cining Palace 慈寧宮 (Kind {Mother} Tranquility Palace) was originally built in 1536 of the Jiajing 嘉靖reign. It was constructed on the site of the previous Renshou Palace 仁壽宮. It was reconstructed several times during the reign of Wanli 萬歷 in Ming and the reigns of Shunzhi 順治, Kangxi 康熙and Qianlong 乾隆in Qing.

In front of Cining Palace gate, there was a plaza, which was enclosed by the Yongkang left gate 永康左門, Yongkang right gate 永康右門and the Changxin Gate 長信門on the south.

Since the reign of Wanli of the Ming dynasty, many dowager empresses and concubines all resided there. Cining Palace was also the site for major celebrations, including the birthdays of dowager empresses. After dowager empresses passed away, they were also buried in this place.

Baoxianglou 寶相樓 (“Treasure/Precious-appearance Storied Structure”) was located on the north of Cining Palace Garden. During the Ming dynasty, it was originally the side hall on the east of the Xianruo Palace 咸若殿. It was rebuilt in the Qing and construction was completed in 1653. It was transformed into a lou 樓 structure during the Qianlong period. Inside Boaxianglou, there were seven Buddhist halls. Six of the Buddhist halls contained Great Buddhist Stupas大佛塔. There were 54 Temple Guardians painted on the walls surrounding the Great Buddhist Stupas. According to the record from the Qing dynasty, this kind of structure is called Liupin folou 六品佛樓.

Over 700 Tibetan Buddhist images from these buildings were photographically recorded and documented by Staël_Holstein in 1926 and 1927 and published in the fourth part of Walter Eugene Clark’s Two Lamaistic Pantheons, which noted that the Qianlong Emperor’s mother lived there. On her 60th, 70th and 80th birthdays (1751, 1761, 1771), her son gave her many sets of Buddhas, numbering over 10,000.

Sources:
Walter Eugene Clark’s Two Lamaistic Pantheons, xi-xii.
http://www.dpm.org.cn

Entry by Agnes Lin; updated by GWT

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Shenyang (Mukden) Mahakala Complex

Mahakala complex in Mukden (nowadays, Shenyang, Chin.: 沈阳)

The Mahakala complex is located in Mukden, nowadays Shenyang in northeast China. The Mahakala complex consists of one major temple and four branch temples and adjunct stupas. The Mahakala temple (Shisheng si 实胜寺) was completed in 1638, while the four branch temples and adjunct stupas, set at the compass points, were built from 1643-45 to house four other deities. The stupas are the Rnam par snang ba’i lha khang, the Thugs rje chen po’i lha khang, the Tshe dpag med mgon gyi lha khang, and the Dus kyi ‘kho lo’i lha khang. The construction of the Mahakala complex represents the Buddhist cosmological order celebrated at Abahai’s succession as cakravartin, legitimized the Manchu’s dynasty, which put Mukden, the then capital of Manchu’s state, under the protection of Mahakala.

Mahakala is a seven-armed warlike deity known as a Protector of the Law (in Buddhist sense). Mahakala was particularly important for Mongols at that time and signified the sovereignty. That Hungtaiji embraced the Mahakala cult was crucial in terms of incorporating Mongols into the realm of Manchu state. It is worth noting that by adopting the notion of sovereignty, which was originally created by Mongols, Hungtaiji successfully legitimated the Manchu state.

The Yuan image of Mahakala housed at the complex was later transported from Mukden to Peking by Emperor Kangxi in 1694, where it became part of a new temple complex in the southeast corner of the Imperial City (south of the present-day Donghuamen).

However, what is intriguing about the patronage granted by the rulers of Manchu to Tibetan Buddhism is that, prior to the Qianlong reign, the rulers of Manchu dynasty did not only maintain relations with the Sa skya pa cult, but also kept relations with other cults as well. What should be kept in mind is that a number of Manchu rulers patronized other cults of Tibetan Buddhism while this magnificent temple complex was constructed. The Mahakala cult was closely related to the Sa skya pa cult exclusively.

Sources:

Crossley, Pamela Kyle, A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology, U.C.P., 1999
Crupper, Samuel M, Manchu Patronage and Tibetan Buddhism during the First Half of the Ch’ing Dynasty, The Journal of the Tibet Society, Vol.4, 1984
Rawski, Evelyn S, The Last Emperors: A social history of Qing imperial institutions UC.P., 1998

Entry by Lan Wu 03/13/07

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Dolonor Huizong Si

Dolonor (Monglian: Doloonuur; “seven lakes”) and Huizong Monastery

Dolonor (present-day Duolun city, Inner Mongolia, Chin.: 多伦) is located in southern Inner Mongolia, on one of the major passageways to Beijing from areas north of the Great Wall. Its importance cannot be understood without mentioning the Dolonor Meeting (May, 1695, the 30th year of the Kangxi reign), which was the watershed moment in terms of the relation between the Qing court and the Mongols in the early Qing dynasty. During this meeting, the attending Khalkha Mongol elites appealed to the Kangxi emperor to build a monastery as a memento. The Kangxi emperor therefore chose Dolonor to be the site. In 1696, Dolonor Monastery was built by imperial order.

After numerous renovations in the following twenty years, by 1714, the 53rd year of the Kangxi regime, the monastery became one of the finest embellished monasteries north of Beijing. It was renamed Huizong monastery (汇宗寺) by the Kangxi emperor upon the request of the then abbot-lama. “Huizong” means gathering all sects together (like rivers flowing to the sea). The major hall of this monastery was destroyed by fire during the Xianfeng reign (1851-1861).

Most of the renovations were sponsored by the Imperial house. In 1702, Dorje Hutuktu was assigned as the abbot-lama. By 1732, Jebstun Choden (Zhebesang quedan哲布桑却丹, *rje bstun chos ldan), another Lama among the four lamas moved to Dolonor. Since then, the city of Dolonor became even more important in terms of Tibetan Buddhism being practiced in Mongolian communities in that region.

Dolonor’s importance can be mainly attributed to the imperial patronage and promotion. A twenty-year long renovation project was financially supported by the Kangxi emperor. The Kangxi emperor visited Dolonor once every two years and sent major business entities to Dolonor under the supervision of the Lifan Yuan. After the establishment of the monastery, the population in Dolonor increased tremendously, and many craft workshops emerged here. Moreover, the two massive temple fairs (Great Prayer Assemblies “祈愿大法会”) in each January and June attracted many pastoral residents from neighboring areas. Eventually Dolonor became known as a big city. The Kangxi emperor was so impressed when he visited Dolonor in 1714 that he commented that: “[The city of Dolonor] has become a metropolis.”

Sources:
Narchaoktu 那仁朝格图, “Prince Yunli and the Monglian Version of Fuzang Scriptures” 果亲王允礼以及蒙译伏藏经，Studies in Qing History 清史研究，Aug, 2002 No. 3, 99-105.
Gao, Yali and Liu, Qingbo 高亚利 刘清波, “The Establishment and Development of the Huizong Monastery, Dolonor” 多伦汇宗寺的兴建及演变，Antique Essays 文物春秋，2004, No.5, 14-19.
Guo, Meilan 郭美兰, “Emperor Kangxi and Huizong Monastery at Lake Dolonor” 康熙帝与多伦诺尔汇宗寺，Journal of Inner Mongolia University (Humanities and Social Sciences) 内蒙古大学学报（人文社会科学版), May, 2004, Vol. 36, No.3, 60-65.

Entry by 07/08/07

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Yonghe Gong

Yonghegong 雍和宮

The Yonghegong or “Palace of Harmony” is the largest Tibetan-style monastery in Beijing. Built as a palace for the Yongzheng emperor, the complex was rededicated in 1744 by his son the Qianlong emperor as a monastery for Mongolian, Tibetan, and Chinese practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism. Yonghegong significantly fused a site of personal importance to the Qianlong emperor, associated with his father and with his own past, to the architecture and iconography of the emperor’s grand present and intimated glorious future.

As a place of personal significance, not only did the Qianlong emperor associate Yonghegong with his father, it was also the site of his own birth in 1711 and childhood upbringing. The Qianlong emperor kept his father’s body housed at Yonghegong until the final burial place was completed, and even afterwards entrusted the Mongolian monks of Yonghegong with maintaining the imperial family’s shrine. Yonghegong was the site of the Yongzheng emperor’s ancestral tablet and the Qianlong emperor’s annual filial sacrifices. In his first Yonghegong edict of 1744, the Qianlong emperor cites earlier precedents in China for converting imperial palaces into monasteries after the resident emperor’s death. The Yongzheng emperor himself had converted his father Kangxi’s palaces into monasteries, and had converted half the grounds of Yonghegong – at that time the rest of the grounds served as the emperor’s traveling palace – into a Buddhist refuge in 1725, just two years after he ascended the throne. Although the Yongzheng emperor practiced diverse religious traditions, most notably Daoism, reference to this is elided, and instead the Qianlong emperor in his edict portrays his father as an enlightened being akin to Sakyamuni Buddha.

Yonghegong’s dedication as a home mostly for Mongolian monks in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition belies its significance at the time of the Qianlong emperor’s “present.” The “Jetavana garden,” as the Qianlong emperor called it in his edict, simultaneously honored the Mongols by giving them care over the Yongzheng emperor’s relics but also worked to assert control over the Mongolian Buddhist establishment through paternalistic kindness. Yonghegong was also a war temple during both the Yongzheng and Qianlong emperors’ reigns. There is a tower in the complex devoted to Yamantaka, the conqueror of death and protector deity of Beijing. The Qianlong emperor kept his own weapons here and sent high officials to offer sacrifice during times of war. Monks chanted in the temple every day. In the Yongzheng emperor’s time, a subsidiary temple called Qushengdian or Hall of the War God was built to house a deity associated with a Han Chinese war general from the third century, Guan Yu. Rol pa’i rdo rje also later had a strong connection with this deity, but this temple is no longer extant.

Responsibility for Yonghegong’s design was given to Qianlong’s childhood friend and Tibetan Buddhist guru, the Monguor lama Rol pa’i rdo rje, along with the Gandan Shiregetu Losang Tenpay Nyima, another great incarnate lama of Beijing. The iconography of Yonghegong reflects a primary concern with the future, as reflected by the central importance of images of Maitreya. The Tibetan name for the monastery is Gandenchincholing, meaning “Splendid Heaven of Joy” and referring both to Maitreya’s Tushita heaven and to the first monastery built in 1407 by Tsong kha pa – founder of the Dge lugs pa lineage to which Yonghegong belonged. Maitreya is a central deity in Mongolian Dge lugs pa Buddhism, being associated both with Zanzabar – who instituted a popular and annual public homage ritual to Maitreya on New Year’s Day – and to Taranatha, another popular Tibetan Buddhist missionary among the Mongols who was of the rival Jonangpa lineage but was nevertheless claimed as Zanzabar’s preincarnation. There are two Maitreya images in Yonghegong, a small “Laughing Buddha” Hwashang in the first hall of the monastery, and a colossal sandalwood Buddha in the second to last hall, the Wanfuge.

Another more Tibeto-Mongolian and specifically Dge lugs pa “millennial” practice associated with Yonghegong were the rites of the Kalachakra tantra, or the Wheel of Time. The Kalachakra tantra is said to have been revealed by Shakyamuni Buddha to the king of a mysterious northern land called Shambhala. The last king of Shambhala will wage a terrible war against evil and then preside over a new age of peace and harmony. This story could have been strongly resonant to the Manchu (northern) dynasty and to the Qianlong emperor in particular, who called himself a peaceful ruler. Yonghegong houses a Kalachakra mandala, paintings of Shambhala, and a Kalachakra deity with his consort Vishvamati. The tantra was also repeatedly and sometimes annually recited by separate groups of monks, who at one time reached a total of one hundred reciters. This practice often took place during the third month.

Several other elements of Yonghegong are of historical interest and show the Qianlong emperor’s changing relationship with Tibetan Buddhism over his reign. After its initial dedication, the complex was reconstituted in the model of the great monasteries of Tibet as a university with four colleges of exoteric and esoteric Buddhism, medicine, and mathematics and calendrical sciences. Yonghegong houses a famous thangkha painting of the Qianlong emperor as the Manjughosa emperor, which has been the subject of much speculation as to how far the emperor was willing to go to associate himself with (or as) this bodhisattva. Several steles in the courtyards of the Yonghegong complex are also famous for their multilingual inscriptions. Written in the four official languages of the empire, Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan, two steles display the Qianlong emperor’s dedication edict of 1744. The subtle differences in translation between the four languages have been interpreted as displaying the Qianlong emperor’s uncanny ability and even obsession with constituting his authority over each of his subject peoples in their own idiom. Another stele, often known as the “Lama Shuo” or “Speaking of Lamas,” can be found in a single pavilion of the fourth courtyard. This edict is an infamous criticism of the Tibetan Buddhist establishment written late in the Qianlong emperor’s life and after the death of his teacher Rol pa’i rdo rje. Although he distances himself from Buddhism in this edict – most strongly in the Chinese language – he also claims that it is his familiarity with Tibetan Buddhism that makes him uniquely appropriate to reform its practices.

Source:
Patricia Berger. 2003. Empire of emptiness: Buddhist art and political authority in Qing China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Entry by Stacey Van Vleet, 4/3/07

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Pu tuo zong cheng miao

Pu tuo zong cheng miao (普陀宗乘之廟; “Potala” Temple)

Pu tuo zong cheng miao is located in Jehol, the summer retreat for the Qing imperial family. It was decreed to be built in 1771 by the Emperor Qianlong to celebrate the eightieth birthday of his mother, the Empress Dowager Xiaosheng and the emperor’s sixtieth birthday, coincidentally, the Torghuts Mongols return after staying in Russia for a century. The Emperor Qianlong therefore held spectacular celebrations at Jehol.

Pu tuo zong cheng miao is one of the temples enclosing the summer retreat palace in Jehol. It replicates the Potala, the Dalai Lama’s palace-temple in Lhasa, Tibet. What is worth noting is that, according to Anne Chayet, it is the first one that even partially followed its chosen model in real architectural terms, translating its forms and spaces to fulfill very different needs. It enhanced the significance of the center chamber and its occupant and made it eminently suitable to the promotion of sovereignty of the Emperor Qianlong. Regardless of the fact that there are three Potalas, the Emperor Qianlong pointed out that Pu tuo zong cheng miao was modeled on the one in Lhasa, Tibet, because the Potala in India was beyond his powers of inspection.

The innermost sanctuary of this temple was the setting for the printing: Wanfaguiyi (Ten Thousand Dharmas Return as One). Bohemian Jesuit painter Ignatz Sichelpart and a group of Chinese, Tibetan and Mongolian artists captured the event of the home-coming of Torghuts Mongols in this painting. It explicitly expresses the Qianlong emperor’s Buddhist-inspired political strategy toward Inner Asia.

The Pu tuo zong cheng miao expresses a symbolic, geopolitical fact: China exists surrounded by the protective layer of Tibetanized Inner Asia.

Sources:
Berger, Patricia, Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China. U Hawaii .P, 2003

Entry by Lan Wu 03/23/07

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Qianlong’s Yuhuashi (Hall of Raining Flowers)

Hall of Raining Flowers (Yuhuashi; 雨花室)

“Hall of Raining Flowers ” (雨花室) is a poem written by the Emperor Qianlong in 1754, when he devoted considerable energy to Buddhist practice and patronage in his late thirties and forties. In this poem, he reiterated his desire to “manifest emptiness”, as Vimalakirti had done.

This poem indicates the Emperor Qianlong’s paradoxical religious practice: The construction of a path to enlightenment and the apprehension of emptiness must take place in a sensory world filled with desirable, fascinating things.

Hall of Raining Flowers

During the three months of spring I came to a peaceful, quiet lodging
Where, for five days, I practiced pure amusements.
Each time I chanted I took a turn and
Discrimination returned.
On the other side of the window, the vaporous shadow of a kingfisher-
I enter and sit in solitude in the cypress’s shade
To put Vimalakirti’s investigations to the test,
So that I might yet manifest emptiness.

The Qianlong emperor was famous for his enthusiastic engagement with the material world. He was obsessed with collecting works of art and craft in all the media of the day. The Qianlong emperor did not only collect all these art works, but also arranged to construct a number of temples; each conceptually replicated an earlier model.

Sources:
Berger, Patricia, Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China. U Hawaii .P, 2003

Entry by Lan Wu 03/23/07

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Ba Erdeni Lama

Ba Erdeni Lama

According to an early nineteenth century work by an anonymous Mongol author entitled How It Came About That the Mongol Royal Family Descended from the Indian Kings, the Ba Erdeni Lama was invited in 1623 by Boshughtu Khan (also known as Nurghaci or the first Qing emperor, Taizu), said to be the first “Manchu Khan,” to Niu Ching on the Mukden river, said to be the site of Manchu origin. The Ba Erdeni Lama requested from the Dalai Lama a title for the Khan, and he was known thereafter as “Manjusri Khan.” According to this text, the designation “Manchu” derives from the sound of this title. The Ba Erdeni Lama also was said to have created the Manchu script from the Mongol and Tangut scripts.

Elverskog argues that this story reveals a late-Qing worldview of “the Mongols” as one subjugate component of the (Manchu) Qing state, as opposed to earlier notions of the Manchu (or Jurchen) and other Mongol tribes as various ulus or communities that could make up a toro or state without one ulus necessarily predominating. The story also reveals an attempt to legitimize this late Qing state through claiming Tibetan Buddhist connections at its very origin.

Source:
Johan Elverskog. 2006. Our Great Qing: The Mongols, Buddhists and the State in Late Imperial China. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

Entry by Stacey Van Vleet, 3/6/07

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Bagha Ba Lama

Bagha Ba Lama

A stele from 1630 refers to Bagha Ba Lama as the junior to Uluk Darhan Nangsu Lama, an important figure in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the Manchus. Bagha Ba Lama was responsible for seeing through the construction of a stupa to house the relics of Uluk. The building of the stupa had been decreed by the Manchu ruler Nurghaci (who became the first Qing emperor, Taizu) after Uluk’s death in 1622. Uluk had converted Nurghaci to Tibetan Buddhism. Actual construction was delayed, however, due to frequent warfare during Nurghaci’s reign (which ended with his death in 1626), and Uluk’s relics were kept temporarily in a temple in Liao yang converted from the estates of Lieutenant Colonel (cang jiang) Han. In 1630 Bagha Ba Lama convinced Hong Taiji, the second Qing emperor and son of Nurghaci, to begin construction of the stupa in honor of his father’s commitment to the lama and to Tibetan Buddhism.

Tak-Sing Kam argues that because the stele inscription referring to Bagha Ba Lama is not in the Tibetan language, but only Manchu and Chinese that he was probably of Mongolian, not Tibetan, descent. His title appears as Bida, Bide, or Bi Lama in the Mongolian language version of the Qing Veritable Records. Kam notes that the title Bagha Ba, which appears in Manchu sources, should not be confused with the Tibetan title ‘Phags pa. The Mongolian term bagha means “small, young, or lower in rank,” and usually distinguishes a lama from his senior counterpart, as it distinguished Bagha Ba from his master the “Great” (Uluk) Darhan Nangsu Lama (Kam 168n.47, 169).

Source:
Kam, Tak-sing. The dGe-lugs-pa Breakthrough: The Uluk Darxan Nangsu Lama’s Mission to the Manchus. Central Asiatic Journal. 44:2 (2000) p. 161-176.

Entry by Stacey Van Vleet, 3/6/07

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The Kangxi Emperor

The Kangxi Emperor

The Kangxi Emperor (May 4, 1654-December 20, 1722) was the fourth emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty and the second emperor after the capital was moved to Beijing. He ascended the throne at the age of seven. Over a span of 61 years from 1661 to 1722, he became the emperor with the longest reign in Chinese history. During his early reign, the Four Regents, appointed by his father Emperor Shunzhi, were the ones with real power. In 1669 with the help of the Dowager Empress Xiao Zhuang, the Kangxi Emperor began to gain real power and control over the empire.

After the Kangxi Emperor started to rule the empire, he immediately faced three major challenges: the flood of the Yellow River, the repairing of the Grand Canal and the Revolt of the Three Feudatories led by Wu Sangui in 1973. The Kangxi Emperor, though wanting to crush the revolt himself, left the responsibility to his capable generals Zhou Pei Gong and Tu Hai. Later he led the campaign against the Mongol Dzungars.

As for the Ming loyalists in his empire, people that remained loyal to the Ming dynasty and refused to cooperate with and served the Qing dynasty, the Kangxi Emperor commissioned them to compile the Kangxi Dictionary. It could be seen as the Kangxi emperor’s way of involving Ming scholars in an imperial project. Kangxi was also interested in learning western technology and instruments. Hence, he established good relationships with Jesuit missionaries, who brought the western influences to China.

One of the great debates during the Kangxi emperor’s reign is the one regarding his successor. After he twice abolished the succession going to the then Crown Prince, Yinreng, whom Kangxi picked as his successor is still unclear. Yongzheng, the 4th Prince, succeeded. However, many believed that Kangxi actually chose Yinti, the 14th Prince, and that the Yongzheng emperor altered the will to ascend the throne. Who was Kangxi’s intended successor is still an on-going debate.

Entry by Agnes Lin. 03/26/ 2007

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