A brief history of the 14 Dalai Lamas so far
Author: Charles Carreon
The illustrious history of the Dalai Lamas just doesn’t exist. Their sad legacy is a testament to the byzantine manipulations of the Potala Junta.
The Tibetan people have been taught that they are led by a god-king, but that king is an invention of unscrupulous political strategists who sell
influence as their primary product. If the rascals who manipulated the lives of these 14 individuals as the figureheads of their corrupt theocracy
have indeed reincarnated into this age, we are all unfortunate that they haven’t fallen into the hells they so eagerly imagine for others. They had
a corrupting influence on the life of Tibet, and on the lives of the 14 Dalai Lamas they manipulated. We have enough corruption, and don’t need to
be importing it from past eras.
The First Dalai Lama didn’t apparently know anything about being a Dalai Lama. That is because, like the Second Dalai Lama, he was only recognized
"posthumously." Who did the recognizing? Well, the Third Dalai Lama! When did he do it? After he identified himself as the Third Dalai Lama! Wow,
that’s kind of like writing your resume with the qualifications of dead people, but what the heck. They’re not around to object.
This tradition continues with the current Dalai Lama (14DL), who voiced an intuition to a TIME reporter once while visiting Monticello, the home of
Thomas Jefferson, that he might have previously incarnated as this early President of the United States. Wow, author of the Declaration of
Independence, member of the First Constitutional Congress, and Third President of the United States! Well, let’s see, that would have been in 1776.
A little arithmetic will show us that, during that time period, the Eighth Dalai Lama (8DL) was on the throne in Tibet. Okay, assume that he did not
only reincarnate successively as a bunch of Tibetans, he generated a double and had him reborn in Virginia (where he developed a taste for having sex
with his slaves, but that’s another story). Assuming this, he was simultaneously T. Jefferson, Founding Father of the USA, and Jamphel Gyatso
(1758-1804), who according to this website
news.mpr.org... at Minnesota Public Radio ("MPR"),
"was uninterested in politics, and for a 150-year period starting with his reign, day-to-day power was exercised in Tibet neither by Dalai lamas nor
the Chinese ambans, but by a series of regents. During Jamphel Gyatso’s reign, Tibet fought wars with the Gurkhas of Nepal, and received a
delegation from England, which was interested in Tibet because of its strategic location in relation to British India, China, and Czarist Russia. The
Tibetans at this time began to severely restrict outside visitors."
So, what a guy! A real diplomat this 8DL/Third US President. He’s fighting a war with Britain on one side of the world, and having them to tea on
the other side. And the British none the wiser.
At any rate, you’d figure once he got back from this double incarnation, he’d drop the apolitical stance of the Eighth Dalai Lama and import some
democratic reforms into Tibet. Let’s check the Ninth DL’s record.
Whoops! He didn’t get much of a chance, since he was "likely murdered" at age 11 by his compassionate tutors. According to MPR, 9DL Lungtok Gyatso
(1806-1815) enjoyed a very brief reign. He "died at age 11 in the Potala palace. Some historians believe that, given the tumultuous state of Tibetan
politics, he was assassinated. The subsequent three Dalai Lamas also died young. Some theories suggest they, too, were murdered." Well, maybe he did
come back from America with some ideas for reform!
At any rate, back to the Dalai Lama and the Mongol thugs. What’s that about? The Third DL recognized himself as the incarnation of two men who had
apparently never prophesied that, in the future, they would be reborn as 3DL. IN-teresting, that. Because one of the bulwarks of "credibility" for
the serial-reincarnation hypothesis is that the births of the reincarnated ones are foreseen by the prior incarnation. This slim warrant of authority
is lacking for the Third Dalai Lama. But what did he care? He had Mongol muscle to back his claim.
How’d that happen? Well, kind of like with the TIME reporters. The Third DL was hanging out with Altan Khan in around 1578 when suddenly he had a
flash. In a past life, 3DL told the Khan, he had been a famous Tibetan warlord! And in that past life as a Tibetan warlord, the Khan’s spiritual
mentor had been — YES! Prior incarnations of 3DL! Happy reunion! Kill the fatted calf.
And who was 4DL? Squeeze your eyes shut really hard and think about how Tibetans work. Make your guess! YES! The Fourth Dalai Lama was Altan Khan’s
Grandson! YES!
So what happened in the reign of 5DL? Let’s just take a quote from the Shamarpa’s website
www.karmapa-controversy.org...
since they can be presumed to know their Tibetan history pretty well:
"The landscape of the old Tibet was dotted with wars, political intrigue, and bloody feuds. For centuries, two old, "red-hat" Buddhist schools, the
Sakya and the Kagyu, held, one after the other, undisputed sway over the country. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, a new power had emerged
and began to threaten the political status quo: the Gelugs, or Virtuous Ones, a "yellow-hat," reformed Buddhist order, founded around 1410 by a
disciple of the 4th Karmapa. Led by the mighty 5th Dalai Lama and his authoritative ministers, the Gelugs invited Gushri Khan, the Mongolian warlord,
into Tibet in 1638. Their design was to break the power of the Kagyus, take over the government, and secure a hold on Kham in the east and the
rebellious Tsang in the south of the country. Given free rein, the ferocious Mongol hordes razed to the ground or converted to the Gelugpa tradition a
large number of Nyingma monasteries. The 10th Karmapa had to flee into a thirty-year exile after his camp was attacked by an army operating on orders
from the Dalai Lama’s ministers. The school of the Virtuous Ones imposed their political hegemony with sword and fire."
5DL was such a powerful figure that his "regent" concealed his death for about fifteen years. MPR wrote:
"Lozang Gyatso’s death in 1682 was not announced until 1697, as the regent of Tibet attempted to monopolize power."
That’s cool.