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Ngawang Namgyal (later granted the honorific
Zhabdrung Rinpoche Zhabdrung (also Shabdrung; ; "before the feet of ones submit") was a title used when referring to or addressing great lamas in Tibet, particularly those who held a hereditary lineage. In Bhutan the title almost always refers to Ngawang Namgyal (159 ...
, approximately "at whose feet one submits") (; alternate spellings include ''Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel''; 1594–1651) and known colloquially as The Bearded Lama, was a
Tibetan Buddhist Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
''
lama Lama (; "chief") is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term ''guru'', meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. The Tibetan word "lama" means "hi ...
'' and the unifier of
Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
as a nation-state. In addition to unifying the various warring fiefdoms for the first time in the 1630s, he also sought to create a distinct Bhutanese cultural identity separate from the
Tibetan culture Tibet developed a distinct culture due to its geographic and climatic conditions. While influenced by neighboring cultures from China, India, and Nepal, the Himalayan region's remoteness and inaccessibility have preserved distinct local i ...
from which it was derived.


Birth and enthronement at Ralung

''Zhabdrung'' Ngawang Namgyal was born at
Ralung Ralung Monastery (), located in the Ü-Tsang, Tsang region of western Tibet south of Karo Pass, is the traditional seat of the Drukpa Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded in 1180 by Tsangpa Gyare, 1st Gyalwang Drukpa, a disciple of Lingj ...
() Monastery,
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
as the son of the Drukpa lineage-holder Mipham Tenpa'i Nyima (, 1567–1619), and Sönam Pelgyi Butri (), daughter of the ruler of Kyishö () in Tibet. On his father's side, Ngawang Namgyal descended from the family line of
Tsangpa Gyare The great ascetic Drogon Tsangpa Gyare (1161–1211) was the main disciple of Lingchen Repa Pema Dorje and the founder of the Drukpa Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism the main or central branch of which was, until the 17th Century, transmitted by his ...
(1161–1211), the founder of the Drukpa Lineage. In his youth, Ngawang Namgyal was enthroned as the eighteenth Drukpa or throne-holder and "hereditary prince" of the traditional Drukpa seat and estate of Ralung, and recognized there as the immediate reincarnation of the fourth Drukchen,Depending on whether or not Tsangpa Gyare is enumerated in the list of Gyalwang Drukpa incarnations, Kunkhyen Pema Karpo is either the fourth or the fifth Drukchen, and Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal or Pagsam Wangpo counted as the fifth or sixth. Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal's biography and some other Bhutanese & Ralung sources do not enumerate Tsangpa Gyare as the first Drukchen incarnation but instead count Gyalwang Je Kunga Paljor (1428–1476) as the first. the "Omniscient"
Kunkhyen Pema Karpo Kunkhyen Pema Karpo () (1527–1592 CE) was the fourth Gyalwang Drukpa, head of the Drukpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was the most famous and learned of all the Gyalwang Drukpas. During his lifetime, he was known as the grand lama among ...
(, 1527–1592). His recognition and enthronement at Ralung as the Drukpa incarnation was, however, opposed by Lhatsewa Ngawang Zangpo, an influential follower of Drukpa Pema Karpo who promoted the recognition of a rival candidate—
Gyalwang Pagsam Wangpo Pagsam Wangpo (''dpag bsam dbang po'') (1593-1653 CE), a key figure in the history of the Drukpa Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, was born at Chonggye (phyong rgyas''), in the Tsang province of Tibet a natural son of the prince of Chonggye, Ngawang So ...
, an illegitimate son of the Chongje Depa, Ngawang Sönam Dragpa—as the Gyalwang Drukpa incarnation. Lhatsewa and supporters of the Chongje Depa conducted an enthronement ceremony of Pagsam Wangpo as the incarnation of Künkhyen Pema Karpo and Gyalwang Drukpa at Tashi Thongmen monastery. The Chongje Depa then persuaded the Tsang Desi (or Depa
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 ...
), the most powerful ruler in Tibet and patron of the rival
Karma Kagyu Karma Kagyu (), or Kamtsang Kagyu (), is a widely practiced and probably the second-largest lineage within the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The lineage has long-standing monasteries in Tibet, China, Russia, Mon ...
sect, to support the recognition of Pagsam Wangpo as Gyalwang Drukpa and incarnation of Künkhyen Pema Karpo. By 1612, the Tsang Desi, Karma Phuntsok Namgyal (), had gained control over all of
Ü-Tsang Ü-Tsang is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the others being Amdo in the north-east, and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Geographically Ü-Tsang covere ...
. For a time, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal continued to live at the main Drukpa seat of Ralung, as—irrespective of who was entitled to be considered as the true incarnation of Kunkhyen Pema Karpo—Ngawang Namgyal was the main Drukpa hereditary lineage–holder and legitimate throne-holder at Ralung Monastery, the traditional seat of the Drukpa Lineage.


From Tibet to Bhutan

However, following a misunderstanding Zhabdrung Rinpoche and his party had with an important Karma Kagyu ''lama'', Pawo Tsugla Gyatsho (1568–1630), the Tsang Desi demanded that compensation be paid, and that the sacred religious relics of Ralung—such as the Rangjung Kharsapani—should be surrendered to him so they could be given to the rival Gyalwang Drukpa incarnate, Gyalwa Pagsam Wangpo. The Tsang Desi prepared to send covert armed guards to arrest Zhabdrung Rinpoche and enforce his demands. In 1616, facing arrest and following visions (in which it is said that the chief guardian deities of Bhutan offered him a home), Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal left Tibet to establish a new base in western Bhutan, founding Cheri Monastery at the head of
Thimphu valley Thimphu (; dz, ཐིམ་ཕུག ) is the capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's '' dzongkhags'', the Thimphu District. The ancient capital cit ...
. In 1629, he built Simtokha Dzong at the entrance to Thimphu valley; from this ''
dzong Dzong architecture is used for dzongs, a distinctive type of fortified monastery ( dz, རྫོང, , ) architecture found mainly in Bhutan and Tibet. The architecture is massive in style with towering exterior walls surrounding a complex of cou ...
'', he could exert control over traffic between the powerful
Paro valley Paro District (Dzongkha: སྤ་རོ་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: ''Spa-ro rdzong-khag'') is a district (''dzongkhag''), valley, river and town (population 20,000) in Bhutan. It is one of the most historic valleys in Bhutan. Both tra ...
to the west and
Trongsa valley Trongsa, previously Tongsa (, ), is a Thromde or town, and the capital of Trongsa District in central Bhutan. The name means "new village" in Dzongkha. The first temple was built in 1543 by the Drukpa lama Ngagi Wangchuck, who was the great-gran ...
to the east.


Unification of Bhutan

Zhabdrung Rinpoche consolidated control over western Bhutan, subduing rivals belonging to the Lhapa, a branch of the
Drikung Kagyu Drikung Kagyü or Drigung Kagyü ( Wylie: 'bri-gung bka'-brgyud) is one of the eight "minor" lineages of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. "Major" here refers to those Kagyü lineages founded by the immediate disciples of Gampopa (1079-1153) ...
sect, which had built some of the original ''dzong''s in Bhutan, including
Punakha Dzong The Punakha Dzong, also known as Pungthang Dewa chhenbi Phodrang (meaning "the palace of great happiness or bliss"), is the administrative centre of Punakha District in Punakha, Bhutan. Constructed by Ngawang Namgyal, 1st Zhabdrung Rinpoche, in 16 ...
in 1637–1638. The Drukpa Kagyu, the Lhapa Kagyu, and the Nenyingpa had all controlled parts of western Bhutan since the twelfth century. Later, Zhabdrung Rinpoche would conquer and unify all of Bhutan, but would allow the ancient,
Nyingma Nyingma (literally 'old school') is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also often referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), "order of the ancient translations". The Nyingma school is founded on the first lineages and transl ...
sect to continue in central and eastern Bhutan (today the Nyingmapa comprise approximately thirty percent of Bhutan's monks, even though they are privately funded while the Southern
Drukpa Kagyu The Drukpa Kagyu (), or simply Drukpa, sometimes called either Dugpa or "Red Hat sect" in older sources,
is supported as the established
state religion A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular state, secular, is not n ...
of Bhutan). In 1627, the first European visitors to Bhutan—the
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
s Estevao Cacella and
João Cabral João Cabral was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary, who, along with Estêvão Cacella, were the first Europeans to enter Bhutan in 1627. The following year he became the first European to visit neighboring Nepal and the Sikkim region of India. Cabr ...
—found the Zhabdrung to be a compassionate and intelligent host, of high energy and fond of art and writing. In keeping with his position as a high ''lama'', he was also meditative, and had just completed a three-year, silent retreat. The Zhabdrung was proud to have the Jesuits as guests of his court, and was reluctant to grant them permission to leave—offering to support their proselytizing efforts with manpower and church-building funds—but they pressed on to Tibet in search of the apostate church said to be isolated in the heart of
central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
(see
Nestorian Stele The Xi'an Stele or the Jingjiao Stele ( zh, c=景教碑, p= Jǐngjiào bēi), sometimes translated as the "Nestorian Stele," is a Tang Chinese stele erected in 781 that documents 150 years of early Christianity in China. It is a limestone block ...
).


Dual system of government

The Zhabdrung also established Bhutan's distinctive
dual system of government The Dual System of Government is the traditional diarchal political system of Tibetan peoples whereby the Desi (temporal ruler) coexists with the spiritual authority of the realm, usually unified under a third single ruler. The actual distribut ...
under the
Tsa Yig The Cha Yig () is any monastic constitution or code of moral discipline based on codified Tibetan Buddhist precepts. Every Tibetan monastery and convent had its own Cha Yig, and the variation in Cha Yig content shows a degree of autonomy and inter ...
legal code, by which control of the country was shared between a spiritual leader (the
Je Khenpo The Je Khenpo (; "The Chief Abbot of the Central Monastic Body of Bhutan"), formerly called the ''Dharma Raja'' by orientalists, is the title given to the senior religious hierarch of Bhutan. His primary duty is to lead the Dratshang Lhentsho ...
) to preside over the religious institutions, and an administrative leader (the
Druk Desi The Druk Desi ( Dzongkha: འབྲུག་སྡེ་སྲིད་; Wylie:'' 'brug sde-srid''; also called " Deb Raja")The original title is Dzongkha: སྡེ་སྲིད་ཕྱག་མཛོད་; Wylie: ''sde-srid phyag-mdzod''. ...
) as head of secular affairs, a policy which exists, in modified form, to this day.


Relations with Ladakh

Sengge Namgyal Sengge Namgyal (''Sen-ge-rnam-rgyal'', c. 1570–1642) was a 17th-century Namgyal dynasty King of Ladakh, India from 1616 to his death in 1642. A Buddhist, he was noted for his immense work in building monasteries, palaces and shrines in Ladakh ...
, who ruled
Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...
from 1616 to 1623 and 1624 to 1642, was a devotee of the Ralung lineage of the Drukpa school. Like Bhutan, Ladakh then had differences with the new Gaden Photrang government of Tibet established by the
fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader ...
, which attempted to annex Ladakh. An invitation was sent to Bhutan requesting that Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal become the state priest; as the Zhabdrung was occupied confronting an invasion from Tibet and consolidating the new Bhutanese state, he sent Choje Mukzinpa as his representative to the court of Ladakh. Several religious estates were offered to the Bhutanese in present-day Ladakh, Zangskar, and western Tibet (Ngari Korsum 'mga' ris bskor gsum'', which was then part of Ladakh. One of them,
Stakna Monastery Stakna Monastery or Stakna Gompa is a Buddhist monastery of the Drugpa sect in Stakna, Leh district, Ladakh, northern India, 21 or 25 kilometres from Leh on the left bank of the Indus River. It was founded in the late 16th century by a Bhut ...
or "Tiger's Nose," established by Choje Mukzinpa, became the main seat of the Southern Drukpa Kagyu tradition in Ladakh; this monastery still preserves artifacts and documents related to Bhutan, some of them said to have been gifted by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal.


Death

Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal died in 1651, and power effectively passed to the
penlop Penlop ( Dzongkha: དཔོན་སློབ་; Wylie: ''dpon-slob''; also spelled Ponlop, Pönlop) is a Dzongkha term roughly translated as governor. Bhutanese penlops, prior to unification, controlled certain districts of the country, but n ...
s (local governors), instead of to a successor Zhabdrung. In order to forestall a dynastic struggle and a return to
warlord A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...
ism, the governors conspired to keep the death of the Zhabdrung secret for fifty-four years; during this time, they issued orders in his name, explaining that he was on an extended, silent retreat.Imaeda 2013 The anniversary of the death of the Zhabdrung is modernly celebrated as a Bhutanese national holiday, falling on the third month, tenth day of the Bhutanese calendar.


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * *


External links

*Article
Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal
at the Dharma Dictionary. *Images
Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal
at HimalayanArt.org. *Image
18 C painting of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal from Tango Monastery, Bhutan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngawang Namgyal 1594 births 1651 deaths Drukpa Kagyu lamas Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet Bhutanese Buddhist monks 17th century in Bhutan 16th-century Tibetan people 17th-century Tibetan people Zhabdrung Rinpoches