THE THIRTEENTH DALAI LAMA
TOKAN TADA
PREFACE
This book is an outgrowth of my personal reminiscence about the XIII Th Dalai Lama of Tibet. He was on the throne in both spiritual and secular spheres in Tibet from 1895 to 1933. He reigned during the most crucial period during which Tibet suffered pressures from British India, Russia and China. He was even obliged to exile himself to Mongolia and then to China to avoid the invasion of the British army and again to India, forced by the Ch`ing dynasty of China.
I have been in Tibet between 1913 and 1923, in studying Tibetan Buddhism, i.e., Lamaism. During my stay in Tibet, I enjoyed the patronage of the Dalai Lama with whom I was acquainted in India where he was in exile, and it was he who gave me Lamaist commandments. In Tibet, I acted as an informal foreign advisor to him and frequently attended in his court. Since I left Tibet, I made a correspondence with until he passed away in 1933.
As is well known to learned circles, there is a biography of the Dalai Lama titled “ Ngo mtshar rin po ch`s phreng ba” (A Race Rosary of Jewel), written by the Rev.Phurcoo Thubtan Campa who is the incarnation of the Phurcoo, chief preceptor of the dalai Lama. It is a matter of course that I referred to the biography in writing this book, but, on the other hand, I had to consult the memoranda which I had made during my stay in Tibet and other materials in order to give the reader the image of the Dalai Lama as a historical personality, because the description of the biography is of a theological nature.
In this book, I have given the date of the Tibetan calendar shown in the biography and its European equivalent by putting it in parentheses. I have enjoyed the help of Mr. Zuiho Yamaguchi, my colleague of the Toyo Bunko, in calculating the European equivalents
March 1965
Tokan Tada
CONTENTS
Preface
1. Birth
2. Entry into the Potala
3. Learning in the Potala
4. Accession to Power and the Regent
5. Flight to China through Mongolia
6. Flight to India
7. Spiritual and Temporal Ruler
8. Daily Life
9. Visitors from Japan
Appendix I. Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama
Appendix II. The Demo Incident
Comparative List of the Tibetan transcriptions and transliteration
List of plates
Plates
Map