Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

Description: In this article Grupper argues that the monarchs of the nascent Manchu Ch'ing dynasty, particularly Nurhaci and Abahai, involved themselves with Tibetan Buddhist lamas not only as a means for winning favor of local rulers in Manchu efforts to consolidate authority in Mongol areas, but also as a deliberate act of political development which sought to utilize the Mongol-Sakyapa (sa skya pa) model of patron-lama government established by the Yüan dynasty. Moreover, it represented a sincere acceptance of Tibetan Buddhist ideals at the highest levels of the Manchu court. Grupper ties his argument in with a review of Hans-Rainer Kämpfe's study of a biography of Rölpé dorjé (rol pa'i rdo rje), the second Changkya (lcang skya) Qutuġtu at the Ch'ing court. In the life of Rölpé dorjé, Grupper notes, we see how the early predilection of Manchu rulers toward Tibetan Buddhism was continued and even developed in the middle Ch'ing dynasty period of the Ch'ien-lung Emperor. (Ben Deitle 2006-01-27)

Means of availability: Articles are available online within the Tibetan & Himalayan Library's bibliographic database.