UC Santa Barbara

My dissertation is a study of the life of Ngawang Tsültrim (1721-1791), with a primary focus on his career as sikyong or regent of Tibet (reigning 1777-1786, 1790-1791), and a secondary focus on his religious positions and his service to the Qing emperor. By studying his life, I have sought to understand how and why regents came to serve as substitute rulers for the Dalai Lamas and dominated Tibet's Ganden Palace government for many years. As they were generally prominent Geluk monks with deep ties to the monastic system, I am especially concerned with how their rule was related to the doctrine and institutions of Geluk Tibetan Buddhism, and epitomized the “union of religion and politics” (chösi sungdrel) of Tibet. I have studied his life through two Tibetan-language biographies, a long biography focusing exclusively on his life and a short biography from an anthology of lives of the Ganden Tripa, and I have consulted secondary sources covering Tibetan (and sometimes Qing) history, religion, economics, political science and sociology to put his life and work in context.

As a political figure, I have found that he could be seen as a bodhisattva ruler, not only because of his supreme position in an ideal ritual cosmos (Tibet conceived of as a buddha-field), but also because of his practical actions, such as laws against corruption and abusive taxation, by which he promoted himself as a benefactor of the common people. I found that his religious background made him especially suited to leading the chösi sungdrel, as he had been enculturated in the scholastic system of the great Geluk monasteries and rose eventually to the position of Ganden Tripa at the top of the monastic hierarchy. His actions in office strengthened the ascendancy of the Geluk monks over Tibet. He also gained influence with the Qing by forming a patron and priest (chöyön) relationship with the Qianlong emperor, serving in his court as religious preceptor, both before his reign as regent (1762-1777) and afterwards (1786-1790). This relationship enabled him to negotiate to preserve Tibetan autonomy and Tibetan traditions as the Qing moved to consolidate power. In regards to the Dalai Lama, Ngawang Tsültrim's position as tutor symbolically affirmed that the Dalai Lama was being kept off the throne, but other actions of Ngawang Tsültrim affirmed that the Dalai Lama was the real, ultimate source of the Ganden Palace's chösi sungdrel. Although Ngawang Tsültrim's regency marked the beginning of an era when the high monks and lamas of the regency displaced the Dalai Lama as actual rulers of Tibet, he ensured that the Dalai Lama lineage would continue and maintain their spiritual supremacy.