The Ganden Podrang: Sovereignty and Succession Under the Dalai Lamas

Mills, M. (Speaker)

Anthropology

Activity: Disseminating Research › Public Lecture/debate/seminar

Activity

Research Paper

Description

Paper presentation at the Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism and the Institution of the Dalai Lama Conference at the Harvard University Asia Centre, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

ABSTRACT
The Ganden Podrang, founded during the lifetime of the Second Dalai Lama, Gendun Gyatso (1475–1542) as the enduring patrimonial estate of the Dalai Lama reincarnation lineage, has transformed several times several times during its long history. Originally the personal estate of the First to the Fourth Dalai Lamas, it became the foundation and seat of government from Lhasa under the Fifth Dalai Lama until 1959, whereupon it continued as the centre of the exiled administration in Dharamsala. In 2011, the resignation of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama from political activities meant that the Ganden Podrang returned to a smaller, trust-holding estate closer in nature to its original form under the Second Dalai Lama. The transformational history of the Ganden Podrang estate gives us insight into the Dalai Lama lineage as a legal and constitutional form. In particular, the historical continuity of the Ganden Podrang as an object of inheritance is centred on the Dalai Lama as a distinct and individual person rather than as an office (as applies to the American President or the British Prime Minister), but. In this regard, the Ganden Podrang estate is (and remained throughout its history) a personal possession, whose inheritance is overseen by those personally close to the Dalai Lama. In the Tibetan context, such relations are primarily understood in karmic terms spanning multiple lifetimes, including relations with other incarnate lineages such as the Panchen Lamas and deities such as Pehar and Palden Lhamo. In each of these cases, the relationship is not a formal constitutional one bound by laws, doctrinal regulations or cosmology, but by personal relations of friendship, tutelage, protection and care. Historically, it is these personal relations with the Dalai Lamas that are drawn upon to secure the reincarnation recognition process, rather than principles of state authority, bureaucratic administration or ecclesiastical authority.

Period	15 Nov 2024
Event title	Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism and the Institution of the Dalai Lama
Event type	Conference
Location	Cambridge, MA, UNITED STATESShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International

Keywords

Tibet
Tibetan Buddhism
Dalai Lama
constitutionalism

Documents & Links

Reincarnation recognition began in the 13th century as a distinctive practice in Tibetan Buddhism to ensure continuity in spiritual authority across successive lives of religious masters. Over time such recognized reincarnations took on significant temporal power as well, particularly the line of the Dalai Lamas who were instrumental in the formation of the Tibetan Ganden Phodrang government in the 17th century. This conference will look at the history across the region, the esoteric practices of rebirth and divination, and the modern-day geopolitical implications of the continuation of this practice in Tibetan, Himalayan, Mongolian, and Central Asian communities -- and indeed across the Buddhist world in Asia and beyond.