..续本文上一页t Master. Later, Kublai appointed Chögyal Phagpa of Sakyapa as his Imperial Preceptor. Another royal tie was Prince Godan”s Dharma teacher Sakya Pandita, who at the age of 70 entered paranirvana in the city of Gansu.
Fifteen emperors presided over the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. Although they were Mongolians, they all took Tibetan Buddhism as their religion and observed Buddhist rituals in the palace regularly. Yuan Emperor Wuzong invited Master Yungdun Dorje, a Great Perfection adept of the Nyingma School, to the palace to watch vajra dance performances. The master also conferred empowerment and pith instructions of the Great Perfection to the emperor, the empress, and other fortunate ones upon the emperor”s request.
In the Manchu Qing Dynasty, eminent masters such as the Panchen Lama and the D_Lama of the Gelupa School all had close contact with the Han area and were highly revered by the emperors. For instance, Emperor Shun Zhi sent envoys to invite His Holiness the 5th D_Lama to visit the capital. In a procession accompanied by Qing dignitaries and an entourage of 3,000, His Holiness left Lhasa for Han land.
More remarkably, Gelupa”s Master Zhang Jia always maintained deep ties with emperors of the Qing Dynasty: The 2nd Zhang Jia was the Court Master of Emperor Qianlong; the 3rd Zhang Jia was the Court Master of Emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong; the 4th Zhang Jia, the Court Master of Emperor Daoguang; the 5th Zhang Jia, the Court Masterof Emperor Tongzhi; and the 7th Zhang Jia, the Court Master of Emperor Guangxu. (For the 6th Zhang Jia there is no historical record.)
With the all-out patronage of these Qing emperors, traditional Tibetan Buddhist teachings, especially those on Kalachakra, Hayagriva, and Great Perfection of the Mantrayana, received the highest esteem throughout the country. The emperors also bestowed dignified titles to the leaders of schools such as “Karmapa,” “Dalai”, “Panchen” and “Baxie.” Ming Wuzong, the 11th emperor of Ming Dynasty, even went as far as to grant eight “His Holiness” titles to lineage holders.
Hence, it is only fair to understand Tibet Mantrayana from historical perspectives; otherwise, one”s view may become severely distorted from the truth. As we all know, Buddhism has suffered epic destruction and demolition since the Cultural Revolution; many originally commendable events became twisted by political motives or propaganda and no longer can be appreciated by the public in their true colors. Even in today”s movies or TV shows, the Tibetan tantra is being portrayed in a deliberately distorted way, misguiding the public.
It is important that whoever we may be, we should recount history in accord to what really happened, without bias. Those in search of personal gains may have other agendas, but hopefully this is rare in academic circles. Therefore it is only sensible for you intellectuals to examine Tibetan Buddhism”s past and current situation objectively from various angles. In fact, this approach applies to eva luating the history of Han China as well, since some of that history may not be as grotesque as depicted by later generations. For instance, the emperors of the Mongols Yuan Dynasty were usually portrayed as utterly ruthless and tyrannical. [5] But this is not quite true, because some of them did possess worthy qualities to be promoted which, unfortunately remain unknown to many.
In the same vein, the contemporary opinions held by many people about Tibetan Buddhism are not necessarily valid. They incriminate Tibetan Buddhism for its practices of sexual union, killing animals, and eating meat. And they keep berating Tibetan Buddhism like this everywhere; it is just terrible. Of course, Han Buddhists” pledge to a vegetarian diet, which Tibetan Buddhists do fall short of due to…
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