For centuries, the mysterious land of Bod has exercised a fascination over people. The Chinese call it Hsi-tsang, to the Indians it's Bhot, and the Mongols know it as Tobet. Westerners know is as Tibet. Hidden away on a high plateau 10,000 feet above sea level, the country is best known as the home of Mount Everest, the highest peak on the planet. There are only three cities of a size large enough to be considered important: Gyantse, Shigatse, and Lhasa the capital. Before the Chinese annexed it in 1951, it has a population of approximately 1.5 million living in its nearly 500,000 square miles.

According to Tibetan legend, the people were the descendants of a Monkey and a Rock-demon. It is presumed that this story was fabricated by visitors who misunderstood the Tibetan peoples custom of painting their faces (or covering them) to protect them from the harsh weather conditions in the high mountains. In his writings, the 5th Dalai Lama changed the story so that the Monkey was reputedly a disciple of Buddha named Avalokitesvara, and the rock-demon was the goddess Tara (or Mother Savior). More than that, he proclaimed King Srong-tsan-gam-po (Songtsen Gampo) a reincarnation of Avalokitesvara and his Han wife, Princess Wen-Cheng, the reincarnation of the goddess Tara.

At the beginning the Tibetan people were nomadic, moving their herds and families from place to place in response to weather, grazing land, and other requirements. However, as they turned warlike and began to expand, conquering the territory of neighboring tribes, they slowly turned to agriculture. Learning from their conquered neighbors, they began to till the soil and raise rice and millet. Villages began to appear in the valleys where raising horses became a thriving business. In fact, in the ancient world, Tibet came to be known for its excellent horses. Tibet was becoming a power.

Kings of Tibet were believed to be connected to Heaven by ropes. When a king died, a servant of Heaven would pull his body back to Heaven via the ropes, leaving no body on earth for burial. Thus, there are no tombs to be found for the first seven kings of Tibet. However, the eighth King accidentally cut the ropes that bound him to Heaven during a battle with a rebel. And afterward his body and that of his descendant couldn't be pulled up to heaven and were, instead, buried in the south of Tibet.

The first references to the Tibetan people come from the Chinese, which record attacks by nomadic tribes along its border between 700-200 BCE. These tribes eventually combined to form the first Tibetan Kingdom around 500 CE. By the seventh century, Srong-tsan Gampo had ascended the throne. He married a princess of Nepal, and petitioned the Tang Court for a Chinese princess, as well. When the emperor refused, Tibet invaded Western China and took the requested princess by force. Between them, the two princesses converted Gampo to Buddhism. Contact between Nepal and Tibet brought with it many priceless and sacred objects and by the 8th century, an Indian form of Buddhism had won out over Chinese Buddhism.

The political history of the seventh to ninth centuries was one of constant warfare with China being their principal opponent. At times Tibet controlled vast portions of what are now the Chinese provinces of Kansu, Szechwan, Yunnan and Shansi. Once, pressing so far into the interior of China that they took Chang'an, which was at the time the capital of China.

More to come....


The Adventures of Ohmiomyo and Karma
Dharma the Cat