The Dualism of the Fifth Dalai Lama. A Religious Leader and Political Activist (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Orientalism / Sinology - Chinese / China, grade: 1,3, University of Heidelberg (Sinologie), course: Worship and Rule in East Asian History, language: English, abstract: The Fifth Dalai Lama was not only an influential spiritual figure in Buddhist history, but also an important political leader. For the purpose of this research, the author wants to show the link between the political activism and the religious leadership in form of the Fifth Dalai Lama. Moreover, the author concentrates on how he managed to legitimate his social position placed at the top of Tibetan society, by working out the most significant and relevant historical facts in that period, that had a strong impact on the beliefs of the Tibetans - politically and religiously.

The second chapter depicts the situation of Lhasa in the seventeenth century and the role the fifth Dalai Lama played in the unification of Tibet, in the rise of the Gelukpa order and consequently in the establishment of the Ganden Podrang government in the 1640s. The focus of the third chapter will lie on Lobzang Gyatso's social position as the supreme ruler of all Tibet, especially in form of the "Great Fifth" as a reincarnation of a bodhisattva. In this context, the question relies on how did the Fifth Dalai Lama achieved to enhance his political project and what was he capable of achieving by doing so? The fourth chapter describes one of his guiding goals: the propagation of Tibetan Buddhism in the non-Tibetan sphere, namely in the north-east of Tibet by enhancing relations with the Manchu emperor of China.