Thubten Choekyi Nyima, 9th Panchen Lama

Thubten Choekyi Nyima (Tibetan: ཐུབ་བསྟན་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ཉི་མ་, Wylie: Thub-bstan Chos-kyi Nyi-ma, ZYPY: Tubdain Qoigyi Nyima) (1883 – 1937), often referred to as Choekyi Nyima, was the 9th Panchen Lama of Tibet.

In 1901, Choekyi Nyima was visited by the Mongolian Lama, Agvan Dorzhiev. Although he only stayed for two days at Tashilhunpo, Dorzhiev received some secret teachings from the Panchen Lama, as well as readings of the Prayer of Shambhala, written by Lobsang Palden Yeshe, the sixth (or third) Panchen Lama, concerning the Buddhist kingdom of Shambhala, which were of great importance to Dorzhiev's developing understanding of the Kalachakra ('Wheel of Time') tantric teachings. Choekyi Nyima also gave Dorzhiev gifts including some golden statues.[1]

In 1906, Sir Charles Alfred Bell, was invited to visit the 9th Panchen Lama at Tashilhunpo, where they had friendly discussions on the political situation.[2]

He fled to Inner Mongolia, China in 1924 after a dispute with the thirteenth Dalai Lama when he sensed that he might face threat after his own monastery’s monks were prohibited from holding any office in the Central Tibetan government and his officials were locked up in Lhasa.[3] The Dalai Lama was attempting to collect revenue from the Panchen Lama's estate to cover a fourth of Tibet's military expenses, and to reduce the power of the Panchen Lama, who at the time enjoyed rule over an effectively autonomous region around Shigatse.[4]

In China, the ninth Panchen Lama worked on plans to develop Tibet along modern lines.[5] He also held a position in the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.

The Panchen Lama was considered extremely "pro Chinese".[6][7][8]

Choekyi adopted the ideas of Sun Yatsen like the Kham revolutionary Pandatsang Rapga.[9] It has been suggested he read the works of Sun Yatsen which were translated by Rapga.[10]

In 1937, he died in Gyêgu (Tibetan: Jyekundo; Chinese: Yushu) in Qinghai Province.

The tombs of the fifth through the ninth Panchen Lamas were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and have been rebuilt by the tenth Panchen Lama with a huge tomb at Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse, known as the Tashi Langyar.[11]

Notes

  1. ^ Snelling 1993, pg. 77
  2. ^ Chapman 1940, pg. 141
  3. ^ Tuttle 2006
  4. ^ Powers 2004, pg. 99
  5. ^ Jagou, pp. 156-159, 206-208
  6. ^ Chinese Materials Center (1982). Who's who in China, 1918-1950: 1931-1950. Volume 3 of Who's who in China, 1918-1950: With an Index, Jerome Cavanaugh. Chinese Materials Center. p. 194. http://books.google.com/books?ei=SuDuTbW5Coiv0AGkz6D2DA&ct=result&id=8YFCAAAAYAAJ&dq=he+is+the+most+pronounced+pro-Chinese+leader+in+Tibet+and+has+rendered+great+assistance+to+the+Chinese+residing+there&q=panchen+he+is+the+most+pronounced+pro-Chinese+leader+in+Tibet+and+has+rendered+great+assistance+to+the+Chinese+residing+there. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  7. ^ The China weekly review, Volume 54. Millard Publishing House. 1930. p. 406. http://books.google.com/books?id=bCAWAQAAMAAJ&q=he+is+the+most+pronounced+pro-Chinese+leader+in+Tibet+and+has+rendered+great+assistance+to+the+Chinese+residing+there&dq=he+is+the+most+pronounced+pro-Chinese+leader+in+Tibet+and+has+rendered+great+assistance+to+the+Chinese+residing+there&hl=en&ei=ceDuTdvDEOXb0QG_wMz0DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAQ. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  8. ^ China monthly review, Volume 56. Millard Publishing Co., inc.. 1931. p. 306. http://books.google.com/books?id=WvaLxatYUiIC&q=he+is+the+most+pronounced+pro-Chinese+leader+in+Tibet+and+has+rendered+great+assistance+to+the+Chinese+residing+there&dq=he+is+the+most+pronounced+pro-Chinese+leader+in+Tibet+and+has+rendered+great+assistance+to+the+Chinese+residing+there&hl=en&ei=ceDuTdvDEOXb0QG_wMz0DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA. Retrieved 2011-06-05. 
  9. ^ Gray Tuttle (2007). Tibetan Buddhists in the Making of Modern China (illustrated ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 153. ISBN 0231134479. "have had more success? We will never know the answer to this question. However, the very fact that so many of the bilingual Tibetans who understood modern Chinese political ideology saw it as a way to liberate all or parts of Tibet suggests that this was the message the Panchen Lama would have received through his interpreters. As will be clear in the next chapter, once the Panchen Lama had negotiated a relationship with the Chinese government on mutually agreeable terms (from 1931 on), he too embraced aspects of Sun Yat-sen's ideology." 
  10. ^ Gray Tuttle (2007). Tibetan Buddhists in the Making of Modern China (illustrated ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 152. ISBN 0231134479. http://books.google.com/books?id=KlOEi9C4T3QC&pg=PA152&dq=rapga+chinese&hl=en&ei=WI_FTdqrJoiugQeJxvnKBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=rapga%20chinese&f=false. Retrieved 12-27-2011. "Panchen Lama's death, so he may have shared his enthusiasm for Sun's work with his friend, Wangdii Norbu, and his uncle, ...Even if he did not, Rapga's experiences make an interesting comparison with other Tibetans in exile. The first notice of Rapga coincides with yet another attempt by the Khampas to attain autonomy, this time from Central Tibetan forces in Markham, just west of Batang. Although no Chinese influence has been linked to what Goldstein, Dawei Sherap, and Sieberschuh called this "abortive nationalist revolt," some members of the defeated Pomdatsang family fled to China to be sheltered by the Chinese. Moreover, although Goldstein, Dawei Sherap, and Sieberschuh were not specific about the date, it may be that, as early as the 1934 revolt, Rapga "was a devout believer in the political ideology of Sun Yat-sen and had translated some of Sun's more important writings into Tibetan."97 If so, the Panchen Lama may have even read Rapga's translation; at present, no such translation appears to be in circulation. Until other sources become available, it remains unclear how and just when Rapga developed a thorough knowledge of the "Three Principles of the People." In 1936 Rapga met the Chinese official Huang Musong in India and was persuaded to go to China. That same year Rapga was made a member of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.98 For the next decade Rapga would be involved with the Chinese, eventually securing their assistance in establishing a new political party to transform Tibet. Although their efforts were eventually blocked by the effective cooperation of British and Tibetan policing, Goldstein concluded that, by 1946, this new party had "a hundred or so sympathizers among Khamba traders."99" 
  11. ^ Mayhew 2005, pg. 175.

See also

References

Preceded by
Tenpe Wangchuk		 Reincarnation of the Panchen Lama Succeeded by
Choekyi Gyaltsen