Tibetan Buddhism was born on this mysterious land, and therefore it was covered with a veil of mystery. What is the relationship between the "Dalai" and the "Panchen Lama" as special existences in Tibetan Buddhism?

Tibet, as a major province in the western border of my country, has always been full of mystery.

Tibetan Buddhism was born on this mysterious land, and therefore it was shrouded in a veil of mystery. What is the relationship between the "Dalai" and the "Panchen Lama" as special existences in Tibetan Buddhism?

Birth and Development

To understand the relationship between the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, we must first start with the origin of Tibetan Buddhism. Before Buddhism was introduced to Tibet, its own religion, Bon religion, was born in Tibet. is a primitive shamanism that was born in the Neolithic Age. They believe that all things have spirits and blindly worship nature.

From the birth of Bon religion to the introduction of Buddhism, for more than a thousand years, Bon religion has always dominated Tibet, and all the vassal kings in Tibet believe in Bon religion. Following the Tang Dynasty Princess Wencheng went to Tibet and married the Tubo king Songtsen Gampo . Buddhism also introduced to Tibet with the Princess Wencheng .

As an alien religion, the power of Buddhism is naturally not as good as the Bon religion, which has been rooted in Tibet for thousands of years.

In 755 AD, Tubo Zamp Chide Zuzan, the fourth-generation grandson of Tubo King Songtsen Gampo, was poisoned to death by the prime minister. The unsuccessful Tubo dynasty could only choose to choose 13 years old Zamp Chisong Dezan to succeed Tubo king.

Because Zamp Chisong Dezan was too young, the power of the Korean Central Government was soon separated by his ministers.

Without exception, these ministers are all believers of Bon religion.

In order to stabilize the dominance of Bon religion in Tibet, they began to issue laws prohibiting their belief in Buddhism. The status of Buddhism in Tibet plummeted and no one cares about it.

At this time, Bon religion had an absolute dominance in Tibet. The whole people in Tibet believe in Bon religion, and even the theocracy of Bon religion was higher than that of Tubo Zamp . Most of the nobles who believed in Bon religion also used it. The rights in hand expand the influence of Bon religion.

In order to crack down on the Bon religion and maintain the rule of royal power, Zamp Chisong Dezan immediately abolished the law prohibiting Buddhist beliefs after he took over the power of Tubo in adulthood, and arrived in India in person, inviting Indian Buddhist monks to enter Tibet to spread the Dharma. wants Using Buddhism to combat the Bon power, Indian Mahayana Buddhism was introduced to Tibet .

As a master of Indian Tantra, Padmasambhava came to Tibet after being invited by Chisong Dezan .

His profound Buddhist practice impressed the Bon believers, and soon established the first orthodox Buddhist temple in history in Tibet - Samye Monastery .

Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama

As the Buddhist power continues to grow in India, Bon religion in history began to integrate into Buddhism, forming Tibetan Buddhism unique to Tibet.

But they are also divided into many factions, such as Gelug sect , Nyingma sect , Kagyu sect and other different factions.

Among them, the Gelug Sect has the most believers and the greatest influence. The founder of the Gelug Sect, Tsongkhaba , has an influence in the entire Tibet, and has reached a point where it can influence the royal power.

After Tsongkhapa's death, as the second disciple who understood Tsongkhapa's philosophy the most, and the most intelligent eighth disciple Gentun Juba, he took office one after another and became the leader of the Gelug sect.

However, after Gentun Juba's death, no successor to the Gelug sect, so he could only use the method of "reincarnation of living Buddhas" to find the reincarnation of Gentun Juba in an ordinary family, named Gentun Jyatso .

1542, the first life "reincarnation of Living Buddha" Gentun Gyatso passed away in Drepung Monastery . Sonam Gyatso was considered by the Gelug Sect as the second life "reincarnation of Living Buddha" and was respected as the "spiritual boy".

By 1559, the Mongolian people, Altan Khan successfully forced the Ming Dynasty to open up border trade. At the same time, he was also enthroned by Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty as King of Shunyi and led his army to Qinghai.

In order to consolidate its political status on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau , under the auspices of Altan Khan, Mongolia officially accepted the Gelug school Tibetan Buddhism.

He sent people to Tibet to invite the second "living Buddha" of the Gelug Sect at that time to preach, and named him "Sainting of All Wazir Dalai Lama", "Hikka" and praises him with praise. Sonam Gyatso's profound knowledge.

Since then, the name of the Dalai Lama has begun to be spread by the world. Sonam Gyatso is also considered the third Dalai Lama. The first and second Dalai Lama are Gyatso and Gyatso respectively. .

By 1587, the influence of Tibetan Buddhism had been able to influence the Central Plains, so the Ming government formally enthroned Sonam Gyatso as the Dalai Lama, officially recognized the status of Tibetan Buddhism.

Panchen Lama is the same as the Dalai Lama, both of which are the titles of living Buddhas, and the appearance of the Panchen Lama is closely related to the Dalai Lama. Due to the passing of the fourth Dalai Lama Yundan Gyatso, Awang Losang Gyatso, as the fifth reincarnated spiritual child, began to preside over the specific matters of the Gelug Sect.

Awang Lossan Gyatso was still young and the Kagyu sect, which coveted the status of the Gelug sect, launched an offensive against the Gelug sect. They used public opinion power to put pressure on the Gelug sect in an attempt to weaken the influence of the Gelug sect.

However, the Gelug sect's Luosang Quejijianzan supported the fifth Dalai Lama while fighting against the Kagyu sect. Finally, in 1641, Luosang Quejijianzan and the Mongolians defeated the Gag in one fell swoop. The power of the You Sect has stabilized the status of the Gelug Sect.

Mongolian leader Gushikhan admired Luosangkejijianzhan's merits and respected him as Panchen Lama Bokdo, was the fourth Panchen Lama, and Panchen Lama was Tsongkhapa's second disciple Ke Zhujie. The second senior brother of the first life lama.

After that, the Panchen Lama also passed on the inheritance of the reincarnated spirit child, just like the Dalai Lama. In order to avoid the Kagyu sect attacking the Gelug sect again, the Panchen Lama separated from the Dalai Lama. The Panchen Lama was in the temple of Shigatse , and the Dalai Lama was in the Potala Palace in Lhasa.

At this time, the status of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama was relatively equal. Because the fourth Dalai Lama and the fourth Panchen Lama were master-disciple relationship, the Panchen Lama still had to show respect to the Dalai Lama.

Fourth Dalai Lama and Fourth Panchen Lama set rules together that no matter how many lifetimes they reincarnate, the elderly should be the teacher between the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama.

However, as the power of Tibetan Buddhism continued to expand, in , the rulers began to provoke the relationship between the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama in order to consolidate their rule.

This strategy directly destroyed the friendly master-disciple relationship between the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama for several generations, and rifts began to appear between the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. With the long-term political struggle and disagreement of ideas, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama completely broke.

Conclusion

The status of the living Buddha is actually not necessarily related to his true Buddhist practice. It is just a battle for power between factions. The breakup between Tibetan Buddhism between the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama is closely related to politics.