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Chapter 1 - Life and Works of the Golden Paṇḍita
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Chapter 1 Life and Works of the Golden Paˆ∂ita 1. Political and Religious Landscape of Fifteenth-Century Tibet This chapter provides an historical and biographical background for the analysis of Shakya Chokden’s philosophical views. Exploring this background is as crucial as exploring Shakya Chokden’s interpretive writings themselves. As soon will become clear, although his thought tends to transcend the boundaries of fifteenth-century Tibet and is not confined to some narrow trend in Buddhist philosophical discourse, it is thoroughly embedded in the social, political, and intellectual milieu of his time and Tibetan Buddhist culture in general. In order to contextualize the style and character of Shakya Chokden’s intellectual output, I start with a brief sketch of the political and religious climate of fifteenth-century Tibet. Shakya Chokden’s life and activities fall within the broader period of “Post-Sakya Tibet” (1337–1565),1 a relatively little documented historical period. They are also subsumed under the wider period described as “classical” (mid-13th to 16th century),2 characterized by the process of systematizing and organizing the materials received from India. This period is also marked by a progressive solidification of teaching lineages and academic establishments into religious sects in the absence of a strong central authority, and related political rivalries. Sakya rulers lost their political power over Tibet in 1350,3 when Tai Situ Jangchup Gyeltsen (tå’i si tu byang chub rgyal mtshan, 1302– 1364) seized power in the entire Ü (dbus, “Central Tibet”) and Tsang 17 18 Visions of Unity (gtsang). Jangchup Gyeltsen and his descendants ruled those regions for more than eighty years under the dynastic name of Pakmo Drupa (phag mo gru pa). The Pakmodru (phag mo gru)4 capital was Neudong (sne’u gdong)/Neudzong (sne’u rdzong) located in Yarlung (yar klungs), south of the Tsangpo (gtsang po) river in Ü. Having abolished the administrative system used by the Sakya government supported by the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368),5 Jangchup Gyeltsen and his successors reinstituted an older Tibetan administrative system of “fortresses ” (rdzong) that was used before the Sakya period, and invested a number of families from their domains with the title and office of “prefect” (rdzong dpon). That office became hereditary, and was passed down from father to son. In this way, a new hereditary aristocracy was created.6 The system posed a serious danger to centralized authority, because the newly emerging aristocratic families started fighting for independence from the central government, while engaging in conflict and intrigue with each other. Pakmo Drupa rulers started gradually losing power, while the chiefs of Rinpung (rin spungs)—former vassals and allies of Pakmo Drupa—grew in power. The growing conflict between Pakmo Drupa and Rinpungpa (rin spungs pa) escalated, and in 1435 the prefect of Rinpung Norzang (nor bzang, d. 1466) was able to seize control over the whole of Tsang, making Samdruptsé (bsam grub rtse) near Zhikatsé (gzhis ka rtse) his residence. This marked the end of Pakmo Drupa centralized rule, and the beginning of more than 100 years of constant struggle between Ü and Tsang. Pakmo Drupa leaders in Ü were patrons of Geluk at the time, while Rinpungpa in Tsang were supporting Karma Kagyü (karma bka’ brgyud).7 In this way, political rivalry between Tsang and Ü eventually led to clashes between Karma Kagyü monasteries and rapidly growing Geluk monasteries. The following passage by Guru Trashi (guru bkra shis) in Dan Martin’s translation illustrates well the shift of political power in that period: For eighty-seven years, from the Earth Ox (1349) to the Wood Hare (1435), most of the interior parts of Central Tibet and Gtsang were governed by the Phag-mo-gru-pa Heads (Sde-pa). Some parts (khol-bu) such as Byang and Rgya-mkhar-rtse were governed by their own chiefs. In the Wood Hare year (1435), Rin-spungs Nor-bzang seized Bsam-’grub-rtse. Starting from that time, the governing of Gtsang was mostly done by the Rin-spung-pa. The Head Ring-spung-pa, Field Commander (Sgar-pa) Don-yod-rdorje , took the government of Ü as well.8 [54.165.248.212] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 19:09 GMT) 19 Life and Works of the Golden Paˆ∂ita By the end of the fifteenth century, Pakmo Drupa were sharing political power with Rinpungpa, and by the beginning of the sixteenth century Rinpungpa became the dominant party.9 Political struggle was intricately linked with the religious lives and events of...