Ü-Tsang Region
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Ü-Tsang Region
Ü-Tsang (དབུས་གཙང་། Wylie; dbus gtsang) is one of the three Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo to the northeast and Kham to the east. Geographically Ü-Tsang covers the Yarlung Tsanpo drainage basin, the western districts surrounding and extending past Mount Kailash, and much of the Changtang plateau to the north. The Himalayas define Ü-Tsang's southern border. Ü-Tsang is the cultural heartland of the Tibetan people. It was formed by the merging of two earlier power centers of Ü (), controlled by the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism under the early Dalai Lamas, and Tsang (), which extended from Gyantse to the west and was controlled by the rival Sakya lineage. Military victories by the Khoshut Güshi Khan who had backed the 5th Dalai Lama consolidated power over the combined region. The region of Ngari in the northwest was incorporated into Ü-Tsang after the Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War. The Yarlung dynasty had governed the Yarlung and Chongye ...
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Map Of Tibet Ü-Tsang Amdo And Kham
A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on a transitory medium such as a computer screen. Some maps change interactively. Although maps are commonly used to depict geography, geographic elements, they may represent any space, real or fictional. The subject being mapped may be two-dimensional such as Earth's surface, three-dimensional such as Earth's interior, or from an abstract space of any dimension. Maps of geographic territory have a very long tradition and have existed from ancient times. The word "map" comes from the , wherein ''mappa'' meant 'napkin' or 'cloth' and ''mundi'' 'of the world'. Thus, "map" became a shortened term referring to a flat representation of Earth's surface. History Maps have been one of the most important human inventions for millennia, allowin ...
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5th Dalai Lama
The 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was recognized as the 5th Dalai Lama, and he became the first Dalai Lama to hold both Tibet's political and spiritual leadership roles. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being the key religious and temporal leader of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet. He is credited with unifying all of Tibet under the Ganden Phodrang, after Gushri Khan's successful military interventions. As an independent head of state, he established priest and patron relations with both Mongolia and the Qing dynasty simultaneously, and had positive relations with other neighboring countries. He began the custom of meeting early European explorers. The 5th Dalai Lama built the Potala Palace, and also wrote 24 volumes' worth of scholarly and religious works on a wide range of subjects. Early life To understand the context within which the Dalai Lama institution came to hold temporal power in Tibet during the lifetime of the 5th, ...
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Lhasa
Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining and, at an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the List of highest large cities, highest cities in the world. The city has been the religious and administrative capital of Tibet since the mid-17th century. It contains many culturally significant Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhist sites such as the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka Palaces. Toponymy Lhasa literally translates to "place of gods" ( , god; , place) in the Lhasa Tibetan, Tibetan language. Chengguan literally translates to "urban gateway" ( zh, s=城关, p=Chéngguān) in the Chinese language. Ancient Tibetan documents and inscriptions demonstrate that the place was called Rasa (), which meant "goat's place", as it was a herding site. The name was changed to Lhasa, which ...
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Potala Palace
Potala Palace ( Tibetan: པོ་ཏ་ལ་ཕོ་བྲང​​ Chinese: 布达拉宫) is the name of a museum in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China, built in the ''dzong''-style. It was previously a palace of the Tibetan sovereign, the Dalai Lama, and was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649. In 1959 the Tibetan government ceased inhabitation when the buildings were seized by the People's Republic of China. The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, which within Buddhist thought is the mythical abode of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. The 5th Dalai Lama made decree for its construction in 1645Laird, Thomas. (2006). ''The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama'', pp. 175. Grove Press, New York. . with advice of Konchog Chophel the Thirty-Fifth Ganden Tripa of the monastical tradition of Tsongkhapa. The Potala is on ruins of the White or Red Palace, built by decree of Songtsen Gampo in 637. Built at an altitude o ...
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Ganden Phodrang
The Ganden Phodrang or Ganden Podrang (; ) was the Tibetan system of government established by the 5th Dalai Lama in 1642, when the Oirat lord Güshi Khan who founded the Khoshut Khanate conferred all spiritual and political power in Tibet to him in a ceremony in Shigatse. During the ceremony, the Dalai Lama "made a proclamation declaring that Lhasa would be the capital of Tibet and the government of would be known as Gaden Phodrang" which eventually became the seat of the Gelug school's leadership authority. The Dalai Lama chose the name of his monastic residence at Drepung Monastery for the new Tibetan government's name: ''Ganden'' (དགའ་ལྡན), the Tibetan name for Tushita heaven, which, according to Buddhist cosmology, is where the future Buddha Maitreya resides; and ''Phodrang'' (ཕོ་བྲང), a palace, hall, or dwelling. Lhasa's Red Fort again became the capitol building of Tibet, and the Ganden Phodrang operated there and adjacent to the Potala Palac ...
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Karmapa
The Karmapa Tulku lineage of the Gyalwa Karmapa is the oldest among the major incarnating lineages of Tibetan Buddhism,The Karmapa, "The Karmapas Lineage", Kagyu Office established in 1110 CE by the 1st Karmapa, Düsum Khyenpa. Karmapa means "the one who carries out buddha-activity", or "the embodiment of all the activities of the buddhas". A total of 17 Karmapa manifestations have incarnated after their predecessors predict their own rebirths in detailed letters. Their honorific titles include ''His Holiness the Gyalwa Karmapa'' (, and more formally as ''Gyalwang'' () The Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of the Kagyu school (), itself one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The main seat of the four Tibetan seats of the Karmapas is the Tsurphu Monastery in U-Tsang, along the Tolung valley of central Tibet. The Karmapa's seat built during the Tibetan diaspora is the Dharma Chakra Centre at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, India. The i ...
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Karma Tenkyong
Karma Tenkyong (1606 – Neu, Central Tibet, 1642), in full Karma Tenkyong Wangpo (), was a king of Tibet who ruled from 1620 to 1642. He belonged to the Tsangpa Dynasty which had been prominent in Tsang (West Central Tibet) since 1565. His reign was marked by the increasingly bitter struggle against the Gelugpa sect and its leader the Dalai Lama. The outcome was the crushing of the Tsangpa regime and the establishment of the Dharma-based Tibetan state that endured until 1950. Succession and Mongol incursion Karma Tenkyong was born in 1606 as the son of the Tsangpa ruler Karma Phuntsok Namgyal. He was considered an incarnation of Chakna Dorje ( Vajrapani, the protector and guide of Buddha). At that time the dynasty had entered a phase of military expansion from its bases in the Tsang region. It was strongly allied with the Buddhist hierarchs of the Karmapa (Black Hat) and Shamarpa (Red Hat) sects. In 1618, when Karma Tenkyong was twelve years old, his father successfully inva ...
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Tsangpa
Tsangpa () was a dynasty that dominated large parts of Tibet from 1565 to 1642. It was the last Tibetan royal dynasty to rule in their own name. The regime was founded by Karma Tseten, a low-born retainer of the prince of the Rinpungpa dynasty and governor of Samdrubtsé (also called Shigatse) in Tsang (West-Central Tibet) since 1548. Superseding the Rinpungpa During the 16th century Tibet was fragmented among rivaling factions along religious as well as dynastic lines. The Phagmodrupa dynasty lost any semblance of power after 1564 and its rival Rinpungpa was also unable to achieve unity. Among the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, the Karma Kagyu school competed against the Gelug, which was headed by the Dalai Lama. According to tradition, Karma Tseten obtained a troop of horsemen by altering a document issued by his master, the Rinpungpa lord. He then raised the standard of rebellion in 1557 and managed to supersede the Rinpungpa by a surprise attack in 1565. This was facil ...
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Rinpungpa
Rinpungpa () was a Tibetan dynastic regime that dominated much of Western Tibet between 1435 and 1565. During one period around 1500 the Rinpungpa lords came close to assembling the Tibetan lands around the Yarlung Tsangpo River under one authority, but their powers receded after 1512. Rise to power The Rinpungpa belonged to the Ger () clan, which is traced back to the days of the Tibetan Empire. One of their line, Namkha Gyaltsen, served as ''nanglon'' (minister of internal affairs) under the Phagmodrupa ruler Jamyang Shakya Gyaltsen, who held power over Ü-Tsang. He was appointed ''dzongpon'' (governor) of the fief Rinpung in Rong, a region in Tsang in an unknown year before 1373. His political position was strengthened by the marriage with the Phagmodrupa princess Sönam Palmö. Their daughter in turn was given in marriage to Sangye Gyaltsen, a Phagmodrupa prince, and gave birth to the later ruler Drakpa Jungne (r. 1432–1445). The son of Namkha Gyaltsen was Namkha Gy ...
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Tibetan Empire
The Tibetan Empire (,) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. It expanded further under the 38th king, Trisong Detsen, and reached its greatest extent under the 40th king, Ralpacan, Ralpachen, stretching east to Chang'an, west beyond modern Afghanistan, south into modern India and the Bay of Bengal. The Yarlung dynasty was founded in 127 BC in the Yarlung Valley along the Yarlung River, south of Lhasa. The Yarlung capital was moved in the 7th century from the palace Yumbulingka to Lhasa by the 33rd king Songtsen Gampo, and into the Red Fort during the imperial period which continued to the 9th century. The beginning of the imperial period is marked in the reign of the 33rd king of the Yarlung dynasty, Songtsen Gampo. The power of Tibet's military empire gradually increased over a diverse terrain. During the reign of Trisong Detsen, the empire became ...
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Valley Of The Kings (Tibet)
The Valley of the Kings () or Chongye Valley branches off the Yarlung Valley to the southwest and contains a series of graveyard tumuli, approximately south of Tsetang, Tibet, near the town of Qonggyai on Mure Mountain in Qonggyai County of the Shannan Prefecture. The site has eight large mounds of earth resembling natural hills that are believed to contain eight to ten buried Tibetan kings. "According to Tibetan tradition all the kings from Dri-gum onwards are buried at ‘Phyong-rgyas, but as the site now presents itself, there are just ten tumuli identifiable as the tombs of all the kings from '' Srong-brtsan-sgam-po'' to '' Khri-lde-srong-brtsan'', including two princes . . . ." Other sources, however, have indicated that there are actually nine mounds rather than eight or ten. The kings believed to be buried at the site include Songtsen Gampo (the founder of the Tibetan Empire), Mangsong Mangtsen, Tridu Songtsen, Gyangtsa Laban, Tride Tsuktsen, Trisong Detsen, Mune T ...
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Yarlung Valley
The Yarlung Valley is formed by Yarlung Chu, a tributary of the Tsangpo River in the Shannan Prefecture in the Tibet autonomous region of China. It refers especially to the district where Yarlung Chu joins with the Chongye River, and broadens out into a large plain about 2 km wide, before it flows into the Tsangpo River. It is situated in Nedong District of the Shannan Prefecture and includes the capital of the prefecture, Tsetang, one of Tibet's largest cities, 183 km southeast of Lhasa. It was originally well-forested and suitable for agriculture. The Tsetang district is famous for its apples and pears. The Yarlung and the adjoining Chongye Valley formed the original seat of the Yarlung dynasty of Tibetan kings and controlled important ancient trade routes into India and Bhutan. The first Tibetan Emperor, Songtsen Gampo (605 or 617? - 649), moved the capital to Lhasa after greatly expanding his territories and power. Description The valley, often referred to ...
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