Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The Impact of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s Sojourn in Mongolia Arousing the National Consciousness of Tibetan Buddhists from 1904 to 1908
- 2 The Modern and Traditional Diplomacy of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama During His Sojourn in Khalkha and Qinghai (1904–1907)
- 3 Friendship and Antagonism: Tibetans and Money in Early Twentieth-Century Mongolia
- 4 The Tibet-Mongolia Political Interface in the First Half of the Twentieth Century: Data from Russian Archives
- 5 A Study of three Tibetan letters attributed to Dorzhiev held by the St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian: Academy of Sciences
- 6 Russian Archival Documents on the Revitalization of Buddhism Among the Kalmyks in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
- 7 Buddhist Devotion to the Russian Tsar: The Bicultural Environment of the Don Kalmyk Sangha and Russian Orthodox Church in the 1830s
- 8 Russian Tsar as Cakravartin: A Buryat Lama’s View of the Coronation of Nicholas II
- 9 The Struggle between Tradition and Modernity in the Early Twentieth Century of the Tibetan Buddhist World: A case study of the Seventh lCang-skya’s activities from 1912–1957
- Index
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
5 - A Study of three Tibetan letters attributed to Dorzhiev held by the St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian: Academy of Sciences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 April 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 The Impact of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s Sojourn in Mongolia Arousing the National Consciousness of Tibetan Buddhists from 1904 to 1908
- 2 The Modern and Traditional Diplomacy of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama During His Sojourn in Khalkha and Qinghai (1904–1907)
- 3 Friendship and Antagonism: Tibetans and Money in Early Twentieth-Century Mongolia
- 4 The Tibet-Mongolia Political Interface in the First Half of the Twentieth Century: Data from Russian Archives
- 5 A Study of three Tibetan letters attributed to Dorzhiev held by the St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian: Academy of Sciences
- 6 Russian Archival Documents on the Revitalization of Buddhism Among the Kalmyks in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries
- 7 Buddhist Devotion to the Russian Tsar: The Bicultural Environment of the Don Kalmyk Sangha and Russian Orthodox Church in the 1830s
- 8 Russian Tsar as Cakravartin: A Buryat Lama’s View of the Coronation of Nicholas II
- 9 The Struggle between Tradition and Modernity in the Early Twentieth Century of the Tibetan Buddhist World: A case study of the Seventh lCang-skya’s activities from 1912–1957
- Index
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
Summary
Abstract
This article discusses three Tibetan letters held by the St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences and originally collected by the Russian Orientalist Fyodor Shcherbatskoy. The three letters are attributed to the well-known figure of Agvaan Dorzhiev, the Buryat who became an aide of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, but the authors determine that only the third letter is actually by Dorzhiev, while the other two were composed by a Kalmyk leader. The article discusses the historical significance of each of the letters and provides an annotated translation of them.
Keywords: Tibetan letters, Agvaan Dorzhiev, Tshe ring zla ’od, Tibetan schoolboys at Rugby
Introduction
This article deals with three Tibetan letters (two of which form a set), that are held by the St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and are attributed to Dorzhiev (1854–1938), an aide of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama (1876–1933). We discuss their historical significance and provide annotated translations of each of the letters.
In 1904, as British troops were closing in on Lhasa, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama headed north in hopes of winning the support of Russia. Thereafter he spent time in Khalkha, at Kumbum (sku ’bum) monastery in Kökenuur (Qinghai 青海), and at Mount Wutai (五台山). Wherever he stayed, large numbers of pilgrims gathered, crossing national borders and the boundaries of bannerlands to do so. The act of paying homage to the Dalai Lama created a sense of unity that transcended all borders.
Behind this historical event of the Dalai Lama's travels to the north is the presence of his Buryat aide, Dorzhiev. His real name was Nawang Lobsang (ngag dbang blo bzang), and he had been born on the eastern shores of Lake Baikal. After studying and practising Buddhism in Ikhe Khuree (present-day Ulaanbaatar), Mount Wutai, and elsewhere, at the age of 26, he clandestinely entered the Tibetan capital of Lhasa because of his Russian nationality. He obtained the degree of Geshe Lharampa (dge bshes lha rams pa) at Drepung (bras spungs) monastery around 1888, and was selected as the Dalai Lama's debate partner (mtshan zhabs) for debates concerning exoteric Buddhism.
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- Information
- The Early 20th Century Resurgence of the Tibetan Buddhist WorldStudies in Central Asian Buddhism, pp. 135 - 166Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2022