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Samding Dorje Phagmo

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51-726: Samding Dorje Phagmo Losoong marks the end of harvest season, of the Bhutia tribe, celebrated every year in December. Based on the Tibetan Lunar Calendar Losoong is celebrated not only in India but also in Nepal and Bhutan. The dance forms performed in the festival depict narrativized tales from the life of Padmasambhava (or Guru Ugyen). Celebration begins after the priest offers 'Chi-Fut', special alcohol, to

102-564: A "deliberate use of massacre" and has described it as an "ethnic genocide". The Qing "final solution" of genocide to solve the problem of the Dzungars made the Qing sponsored settlement of millions of Han Chinese, Hui, Turkestani Oasis people (Uyghurs) and Manchu Bannermen in Dzungaria possible, since the land was now devoid of Dzungars. The Dzungaria , which used to be inhabited by Dzungars

153-665: A classical Tibetan threefold model: as a royal princess she was called Queen of the Jewel (Konchog Gyalmo), her 'outer' name; when she took her vows she became known as Lamp of the Doctrine (Chokyi Dronma), her 'inner' name; as a divine incarnation she was called Thunderbolt Female Pig (Dorje Phagmo), her 'secret' name. The Wylie transliteration of her name is given by Diemberger as Chos kyi sgron me . The princess's three main names seem to refer to three distinct modes of manifesting herself in different contexts: Konchog Gyalmo (Queen of

204-528: A smallpox epidemic and the direct slaughter of Dzungars by Qing forces made out of Manchu Bannermen and (Khalkha) Mongols. Anti-Dzungar Uyghur rebels from the Turfan and Hami oases had submitted to Qing rule as vassals and requested Qing help for overthrowing Dzungar rule. Uyghur leaders like Emin Khoja were granted titles within the Qing nobility, and these Uyghurs helped supply the Qing military forces during

255-608: A true incarnation and served as a vice president of the Buddhist Association of China in 1956 while he was president, and Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Lama also as vice president. She went to Lhasa in 1958 and received the empowerment of Yamantaka from the Dalai Lama and the empowerment of Vajrayogini from the Dalai Lama's tutor, Trijang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso . Dechen Chökyi Drönma has been trained in

306-464: Is Dechen Chökyi Drönma, who was born in 1938 or 1942 (?). The twelfth Samding Dorje Phagmo was very young at the time of the Chinese occupation , and her exact date of birth is contested. Some sources claim she was born a year before the death of the previous incarnation (and therefore cannot be the true reincarnation). However, Dechen Chökyi Drönma was recognised by the present 14th Dalai Lama as

357-480: Is a lady who stems from the royal lineage of the Gods of Clear Light ('Od gsal lha) who is devoted to spiritual liberation and to the benefit of all living beings. Her outer name is Lady Queen of the Jewel (bDag mo dKon mchog rgyal mo); her inner name is Female Teacher Lamp of the Doctrine (sLob dpon ma Chos kyi sgron ma); her secret name is Vajravarahi (rDo rje phag mo). Her residence is undefined. According to Diemberger

408-723: Is currently a member of the monastic community of the Thangthong Dewachen Nunnery at Zilingkha in Thimphu , which follows the Nyingma and the Shangpa Kagyu tradition." One of the distinctive features of the Samding Dorje Phagmo's iconography is a black hat. This hat can be seen in both ancient and modern mural paintings as well as in photographs of the later reincarnations. This black hat

459-597: Is currently inhabited by Kazakhs. In northern Xinjiang, the Qing brought in Han, Hui , Uyghur, Xibe , and Kazakh colonists after they exterminated the Dzungar Oirat Mongols in the region, with one third of Xinjiang's total population consisting of Hui and Han in the northern area, while around two thirds were Uyghurs in southern Xinjiang's Tarim Basin. In Dzungaria, the Qing established new cities like Ürümqi (former Dihua of Qing, 迪化) and Yining . The Qing were

510-477: Is known as Female Living Buddha Dorje Palma by China . The present incarnation [i.e. in 1882] of the divine Dorje Phagmo is a lady of twenty-six, Nag-wang rinchen kunzag wangmo by name. She wears her hair long; her face is agreeable, her manner dignified, and somewhat resembling those of the Lhacham, though she is much less prepossessing than she. It is required of her that she never take her rest lying down; in

561-691: Is located in present-day Xinjiang ), were the last nomadic empire to threaten China, which they did from the early 17th century through the middle of the 18th century. During this time, the Dzungar pioneered the local manifestation of a ‘Military Revolution’ in Central Eurasia after perfecting a process of manufacturing indigenously created gunpowder weapons. They created a mixed agro-pastoral economy, as well as complementary mining and manufacturing industries on their lands. The Dzungar managed to enact an empire-wide system of laws and policies to boost

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612-568: Is now Bayankhongor Province , Mongolia . In 1731, five hundred households fled back to Dzungar territory while the remaining Olots were deported to Hulunbuir . After 1761, some of them were resettled in Arkhangai Province . The Dzungars who lived in an area that stretched from the west end of the Great Wall of China to present-day eastern Kazakhstan and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia (most of which

663-579: Is very similar to that of the Karmapa and is linked to the dakinis and Yeshe Tsogyal in particular. Dzungar people The Dzungar people (also written as Zunghar or Junggar ; from the Mongolian words züün gar , meaning 'left hand') are the many Mongol Oirat tribes who formed and maintained the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries. Historically, they were one of

714-402: The dakinis heaven ( khecara ), her true home. She left her skull with special features as the wish-fulfilling gem of the great meditation center of Tsagong . The great siddha [Thang Tong Gyalpo] had said earlier, 'A skull with special features will come to this sacred place, together with a mountain dweller from Ngari', and thus the prophecy had come true, greatly enhancing the devotion of

765-913: The Altan Khan of the Khalkha (not to be confused with the better-known Altan Khan of the Tümed ), Tümen Zasagt Khan , and later the Manchu for dominion and control over the Mongolian people and territories. This confederation rose to power in what became known as the Junggar Basin in Dzungaria between the Altai Mountains and the Ili Valley . Initially, the confederation consisted of

816-658: The Kongpo people." As part of her relationship with Thang Tong Gyalpo , Chökyi Drönma received the complete teachings of the Heart Practice ( thugs sgrub ) of treasure teachings from Trasang ( bkra bzang gter kha ), as well as Chöd (teachings of Machig Labdrön and Mahāmudrā instructions from him. Chökyi Drönma was known by a variety of names during her lifetime. Diemberger writes: Three names in particular frame her [the Dorje Phagmo's] identity according to

867-472: The "outer" non-Han Chinese like the Inner Mongols, Eastern Mongols, Oirat Mongols, and Tibetans together with the "inner" Han Chinese, into "one family" united in the Qing state, showing that the diverse subjects of the Qing were all part of one family, the Qing used the phrase "Zhong Wai Yi Jia" 中外一家 or "Nei Wai Yi Jia" 內外一家 ("interior and exterior as one family"), to convey this idea of "unification" of

918-546: The 80 novice nuns under her care into furious wild sows—they left the goods and valuables they had plundered as offerings at the monastery and fled the region. Charles Alfred Bell met the tulku in 1920 and took photographs of her, calling her by the Tibetan name for Vajravarahi, Dorje Pamo (which he translated as "Thunderbolt Sow"), in his book. The current incarnation, the 12th of this line, resides in Lhasa . where she

969-792: The Bodongpa tradition and remains the head of the Samding Monastery . She simultaneously holds the post of a high government cadre in the Tibet Autonomous Region . She has, as a result, been accused by many of "collaborating" with the Chinese. According to Diemberger there also is a Dorje Phagmo line in Bhutan : [She] was recognized by the Sakya Lama Rikey Jatrel, considered an incarnation of Thangtong Gyalpo (1385–1464 or 1361–1485). The Dorje Phagmo

1020-553: The Buddhist Öölöd (Dzungars) by the Qing which led to promotion of Islam and the empowerment of the Muslim Begs in southern Xinjiang, and migration of Muslim Taranchis to northern Xinjiang, it was proposed by Henry Schwarz that "the Qing victory was, in a certain sense, a victory for Islam". Xinjiang as a unified defined geographic identity was created and developed by the Qing. It was the Qing who led to Turkic Muslim power in

1071-469: The Chinese Ambans) were permitted to travel by palanquin or sedan chair . Unlike most other nuns, Dorje Pakmo was allowed to wear her hair long, but was never to sleep lying down – in the day she could sleep sitting up in a chair, but was expected at night to remain in a meditative position. The first Dorje Phagmo, Chökyi Drönma (1422–1455), was the daughter of Tri Lhawang Gyaltsen (1404-1464),

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1122-653: The Dzungar Oirat (Western) Mongols in 1755, he originally was going to split the Dzungar Khanate into four tribes headed by four Khans. The Khoit tribe was to have the Dzungar leader Amursana as its Khan. Amursana rejected the Qing arrangement and rebelled since he wanted to be leader of a united Dzungar nation. Qianlong then issued his orders for the genocide and eradication of the entire Dzungar nation and name. Qing Manchu Bannermen and Khalkha (Eastern) Mongols enslaved Dzungar women and children while slaying

1173-667: The Imin and Shinekhen Rivers. During the Qing dynasty, a body of them resettled in Yakeshi city. In 1764 many Oolods migrated to Khovd Province in Mongolia and supplied corvee services for the Khovd garrison of the Qing. Their number reached 9,100 in 1989. A united administrative unit was demanded by them. The Dzungars remaining in Xinjiang were also renamed Oolods. They dominated 30 of

1224-532: The Jewel), her birth name; Chokyi Dronma (Lamp of the Dharma), the name she was given when she was ordained as a novice; and Dorje Phagmo ( Vajravārāhī ), the name attributed to her when she was revealed as an emanation of this deity. In an introductory letter written by Thang Tong Gyalpo before Chökyi Drönma departed from Northern Lato in 1454, he presented her with the following letter describing her names: Now there

1275-716: The Oöled, Dörbet Oirat (also written Derbet) and the Khoid . Later on, elements of the Khoshut and Torghut were forcibly incorporated into the Dzungar military, thus completing the reunification of the West Mongolian tribes. According to oral history, the Oöled and Dörbet tribes are the successor tribes to the Naimans , a group of Mongols who roamed the steppes of Central Asia during the era of Genghis Khan . The Oöled shared

1326-412: The Qing, both Han and non-Han peoples were part of "China", which included Xinjiang which the Qing conquered from the Dzungars. After the Qing were done conquering Dzungaria in 1759, they proclaimed that the new land which formerly belonged to the Dzungars, was now absorbed into "China" (Dulimbai Gurun) in a Manchu language memorial. The Qing expounded on their ideology that they were bringing together

1377-558: The anti-Dzungar campaign. The Qing employed Khoja Emin in its campaign against the Dzungars and used him as an intermediary with Muslims from the Tarim Basin to inform them that the Qing were only aiming to kill Dzungars and that they would leave the Muslims alone, and also to convince them to kill the Dzungars themselves and side with the Qing since the Qing noted the Muslims' resentment of their former experience under Dzungar rule at

1428-662: The clan name Choros with the Dörbet. Zuun gar "left hand" and Baruun gar "right hand" formed the Oirat's military and administrative organization. The Dzungar Olot people and the Choros became the ruling clans in the 17th century. In 1697, two relatives of Galdan Boshugtu Khan , Danjila and Rabdan, surrendered to the Qing Kangxi Emperor . Their people were then organized into two Oolod banners and resettled in what

1479-536: The consort of Bodong Panchen. The seat of the Samding Dorje Phagmo is at Samding Monastery , in Tibet. The seat of the Samding Dorje Phagmo is at the Samding Monastery "Temple of Soaring Meditation." The Samding Monastery is associated with the Bodong school of Tibetan Buddhism . It was unique because half of the inhabitants were monks and the other half were nuns and its head was a woman. The female tulku who

1530-548: The daytime she may recline on cushions or in a chair, but during the night she sits in the position prescribed for meditation. [...] In 1716, when the Jungar invaders of Tibet came to Nangartse, their chief sent word to Samding to the Dorjo Phagmo to appear before him, that he might see if she really had, as reported, a pig's head. A mild answer was returned to him; but, incensed at her refusing to obey his summons, he tore down

1581-409: The devastation of the Dzungars to an explicit policy of extermination launched by Qianlong, but he also observed signs of a more lenient policy after mid-1757. Mark Levene, a historian whose recent research interests focus on genocide, has stated that the extermination of the Dzungars was "arguably the eighteenth century genocide par excellence." The Dzungar genocide was completed by a combination of

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1632-402: The development of printing. Furthermore, she expressed a particular commitment toward women, promoting their education, establishing nunneries, and even creating religious dances that included roles for them. Chökyi Drönma died at the age of thirty-three, leaving a tangible mark on history not only through her own deeds but even more through what happened after her death: her disciples searched for

1683-836: The different peoples. In the Manchu official Tulišen 's Manchu language account of his meeting with the Torghut leader Ayuka Khan , it was mentioned that while the Torghuts were unlike the Russians, the "people of the Central Kingdom" (dulimba-i gurun 中國, Zhongguo) were like the Torghut Mongols, and the "people of the Central Kingdom" referred to the Manchus. The Hulun Buir Oolods formed an administrative banner along

1734-471: The fall at 600,000 people, or 200,000 households. Oirat officer Saaral betrayed and battled against the Oirats. In a widely cited account of the war, Wei Yuan wrote that about 40% of the Dzungar households were killed by smallpox , 20% fled to Russia or Kazakh tribes, and 30% were killed by the Qing army of Manchu Bannermen and Khalkhas, leaving no yurts in an area of several thousands li except those of

1785-704: The girl in whom she had reincarnated and thus initiated a line of female incarnations that became the first and most famous in Tibet." Chökyi Drönma was a leading figure in the Tibetan Bodongpa tradition which gradually waned under Gelugpa rule, but is being gradually restored today. She died at the Manmogang Monastery in Tsari to the southeast of Dakpo, near the Indian border, in 1455. Diemberger also says: [T]he Venerable Lady passed away into

1836-443: The gods. After the offering to gods the effigy of the demon King is burnt. Burning the demon represents destroying the evil. Certain competitions are organized and merrymaking lasts for several days. The festival is also called Sonam Losoong . Losoong festival is very famous in eastern India. Samding Dorje Phagmo The Samding Dorje Phagmo ( Wylie : བསམ་སྡིང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕག་མོ ) is the highest female incarnation in Tibet and

1887-412: The hands of Tsewang Rabtan . It was not until generations later that Dzungaria rebounded from the destruction and near liquidation of the Dzungars after the mass slayings of nearly a million Dzungars. Historian Peter C. Perdue has shown that the annihilation of the Dzungars was the result of an explicit policy of extermination launched by Qianlong, Perdue attributed the elimination of the Dzungars to

1938-438: The king of Mangyül Gungthang and a descendant of the ancient kings of Tibet. Gungthang was an independent kingdom in southwestern Tibet in the 15th century. As a princess, she was married to the prince of southern Lato ( La stod lho ) who was described as a supporter of Bon practices. After the death of her only child, a daughter, she renounced her family and royal status to become a Buddhist nun in about 1442CE. Chökyi Drönma

1989-694: The major tribes of the Four Oirat confederation. They were also known as the Eleuths or Ööled , from the Qing dynasty euphemism for the hated word "Dzungar", and as the " Kalmyks ". In 2010, 15,520 people claimed "Ööled" ancestry in Mongolia . An unknown number also live in China, Russia and Kazakhstan. The Dzungars were a confederation of several Oirat tribes that emerged in the early 17th century to fight

2040-484: The ones who unified Xinjiang and changed its demographic situation. The depopulation of northern Xinjiang after the Vajrayana Buddhist Oirats were slaughtered, led to the Qing settling Manchu, Sibo (Xibe), Daurs , Solons , Han Chinese, Hui Muslims, and Turkic Muslim Taranchis in the north, with Han Chinese and Hui migrants making up the greatest number of settlers. Since it was the crushing of

2091-531: The other Dzungars. In 1755, the Qianlong Emperor ordered the genocide of the Dzungars , moving the remaining Dzungar people to the mainland and ordering the generals to kill all the men in Barkol or Suzhou , and divided their wives and children to Qing forces, which were made out of Manchu Bannermen and Khalkha Mongols . Qing scholar Wei Yuan estimated the total population of Dzungars before

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2142-522: The region increasing since the Mongol power was crushed by the Qing while Turkic Muslim culture and identity was tolerated or even promoted by the Qing. Qianlong explicitly commemorated the Qing conquest of the Dzungars as having added new territory in Xinjiang to "China", defining China as a multi ethnic state, rejecting the idea that China only meant Han areas in "China proper", meaning that according to

2193-434: The saintly Dorje Phagmo at their head. Filled with astonishment and veneration for the sacred character of the lady abbess, the chief made immense presents to her lamasery. Samding Monastery was destroyed after 1959 but is in the process of being restored. In premodern Tibet, the successive incarnations of Dorje Pakmo were treated with royal privilege and, along with the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, (and when they were in Tibet,

2244-466: The second Dorje Phagmo was Kunga Sangmo (wylie: Kun dga' bzang mo) (1459–1502). The ninth Dorje Phagmo -Choying Dechen Tshomo-, for example, became a renowned spiritual master not only for Samding but also for the Nyingma tradition, discovered some terma and died at Samye . Her skull is still preserved and worshipped as a holy relic in the Nyingmapa monastery on the island of Yumbudo in Yamdrok Tso Lake. The current (12th) Samding Dorje Pakmo Trülku

2295-425: The surrendered. During this war, Kazakhs attacked dispersed Oirats and Altays . Based on this account, Wen-Djang Chu wrote that 80% of the 600,000 or more Dzungars, especially Choros, Olots, Khoid, Baatud and Zakhchin , were destroyed by disease and attack which Michael Clarke described as "the complete destruction of not only the Dzungar state but of the Zungars as a people." Historian Peter Perdue attributed

2346-487: The third highest-ranking person in the hierarchy after the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama . She was listed among the highest-ranking reincarnations at the time of the 5th Dalai Lama , recognized by the Tibetan government and acknowledged by the emperors of Qing China . In her first incarnation, as Chökyi Drönma (1422 CE –1455 CE ), she was the student and consort of the famous polymath Thang Tong Gyalpo , who first identified her as an emanation of Vajravārāhī , and

2397-432: The use of the Oirat language in the region. After a series of inconclusive military conflicts that started in the 1680s, the Dzungars were subjugated by the Manchu -led Qing dynasty (1644–1911) in the late 1750s. Clarke argued that the Qing campaign in 1757–58 "amounted to the complete destruction of not only the Dzungar state but of the Dzungars as a people." After the Qianlong Emperor led Qing forces to victory over

2448-399: The walls of the monastery of Samding, and broke into the sanctuary. He found it deserted, not a human being in it, only eighty pigs and as many sows grunting in the congregation hall under the lead of a big sow, and he dared not sack a place belonging to pigs. When the Jungars had given up all idea of sacking Samding, suddenly the pigs disappeared to become venerable-looking lamas and nuns, with

2499-399: Was one of his teachers. She manifested at Samding Monastery in order to tame Yamdrok Lake , a sacred lake as well as a dangerous flashpoint for massive flooding events in Tibet . However, her effects were more practical: as abbess of Samding, she stopped the invasion of the Dzungars , who were reportedly terrified of her great siddhi powers. When faced with her anger—reputedly by turning

2550-472: Was the abbess of Samding was traditionally a nirmāṇakāya emanation of Vajravārāhī . The lineage started in the fifteenth century with the princess of Gungthang, Chökyi Drönma ( Wylie : chos kyi sgron me , 1422–1455). She became known as Samding Dorje Pagmo ( Wylie : bsam lding rdo rje phag mo ) and began a line of female tulkus, reincarnate lamas . She was a contemporary of the 1st Dalai Lama (1391–1474) and her teacher Bodong Panchen Chogley Namgyal also

2601-481: Was understood to be an incarnation of Machig Labdrön . She rapidly became famous as a dynamic and inspirational follower, possibly a tantric consort ( Wylie : phyag rgya ma ) of three of the outstanding religious tantric masters of the era. She was also recognised as a master in her own right and as the spiritual heir of her main teacher. She contributed to some of the most significant works of art, architecture, and engineering of her time and had seminal influence in

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