Agvan Dorzhiev
Encyclopedia
Gelug
The Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Je Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
school of Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
, sometimes referred by his scholarly title as Tsenyi Khempo. He was popularly known as the Sokpo Tsеnshab Ngawang Lobsang (literally Mongolian Tsenshab Ngavang Lobsang) to the Tibetans.
He was a Khory Buryat
Buryats
The Buryats or Buriyads , numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia...
born in the village of Khara-Shibir, not far from Ulan-Ude
Ulan-Ude
Ulan-Ude is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located about southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence with the Selenga...
, east of Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
.
He was a study partner and close associate of the 13th Dalai Lama, a minister of his government, and his diplomatic link with the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
. Among Tibetans he earned a legendary status, while raising the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
's significant anxiety of Russian presence in Tibet at the final stage of the Great Game
The Great Game
The Great Game or Tournament of Shadows in Russia, were terms for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia. The classic Great Game period is generally regarded as running approximately from the Russo-Persian Treaty of 1813...
. He is also remembered for building the Buddhist temple of St. Petersburg and signing the Tibet-Mongolia Treaty in 1913.
Buddhist studies in Tibet
He left home in 1873 at nineteen to study at the Gomang College of the Gelugpa Drepung monastic university, near LhasaLhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
, the largest monastery in Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
. Having successfully completed the traditional course of religious studies, he began the academic Buddhist degree of Geshey Lharampa (the highest level of 'Doctorate of Buddhist Philosophy'). He continued his studies and, in the mid-1880s, after 15 years of study, he attained the title of a Tsanit Khenpo ("Tsanid-Hambo"), which roughly translates as, "Master of Buddhist Philosophy" or "Professor of Buddhist Metaphysics".
He became one of the 13th Dalai Lama's teachers, a 'debating partner', and a spiritual adviser, and retained this role until at least the late 1910s. He was probably also instrumental in saving the young Dalai Lama's life from the intrigues at the court in Lhasa, and over the years they developed a very close and lasting relationship.
- "One man in particular was to play an important role in building communications between Lhasa and the Russian Czar. This was Tsanzhab Ngawang Lobzang, a Mongolian monk who had graduated with high honors from the Gomang Departments of Drepung Monastery, and who was one of the seven dialectical instructors or Tsanzhabs to the Dalai Lama. Popularly known to the Tibetans as Tsennyi Khenpo, or "Master of Dialectics," he became famed to both the British and the Russians by the simpler name of Dorjieff (from the Tibetan Dorjey). Born in the Buriyat region of the Mongolian territories that had in recent times been acquired by the Czar, Dorjieff was therefore a Russian citizen."
Envoy for the Dalai Lama
In 1896, the Tsar, Nikolai II, gave Agvan Dorzhiev a monogrammed watch for the services he had rendered to Badmayev's Russian agents in Lhasa.In early 1898 Dorzhiev went to Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
"to collect subscriptions for his monastic college" and became friendly with Prince Esper Ukhtomsky
Esper Ukhtomsky
Prince Esper Esperovich Ukhtomsky, Эспер Эсперович Ухтомский was a poet, publisher and Oriental enthusiast in late Tsarist Russia. He was a close confidant of Tsar Nicholas II and accompanied him whilst he was Tsesarevich on his Grand tour to the East....
, Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the Tsar and orientalist. Dorzhiev was presented to the Tsar. Dorzhiev then went on to Paris and possibly London before returning to Lhasa.
By the 1890s Dorjiev had begun to spread the story that Russia was the mythical land of Shambhala
Shambhala
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala or Shangri-la is a mythical kingdom hidden somewhere in Inner Asia...
to the north; that its Czar might be the one to save Buddhism and that the White Tsar was an emanation of White Tara, raising hopes that he would support Tibet and its religion.
Dorzhiev had suggested to the Tibetans that Russia seemed to be embracing Buddhist ideas since their recent advances into Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
and might prove a useful balance to British intrigues. In the spring of 1900 Dorzhiev returned to Russia with six other representatives from Thubten Gyatso (born February 12, 1876; died December 17, 1933), the 13th Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
of Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
. They travelled through India and met the Tsar at the Livadia Palace
Livadia Palace
Livadia Palace was a summer retreat of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, and his family in Livadiya, Crimea in southern Ukraine. The Yalta Conference was held there in 1945, when the palace housed the apartments of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other members of the American delegation...
in Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
. "When they returned they brought to Lhasa a supply of Russian arms and ammunition as well—paradoxically enough—as a magnificent set of Russian Episcopal robes as a personal present for the Dalai Lama."
In 1901, Thubten Chökyi Nyima, the Ninth Panchen Lama (1883–1937), was visited by Agvan Dorzhiev. Although Dorzhiev only stayed for two days at Tashilhunpo
Tashilhunpo
Tashilhunpo Monastery , founded in 1447 by Gendun Drup, the First Dalai Lama, is a historic and culturally important monastery next to Shigatse, the second-largest city in Tibet....
, he received some secret teachings from the Panchen Lama, as well as readings of the Prayer of Shambhala, written by Lobsang Palden Yeshe
Lobsang Palden Yeshe
Lobsang Palden Yeshe was the Sixth Panchen Lama of Tashilhunpo Monastery in Tibet. Lobsang Palden Yeshe was the elder stepbrother of the 10th Shamarpa, Mipam Chödrup Gyamtso ....
, the Sixth (or Third) Panchen Lama, concerning the Buddhist kingdom of Shambhala
Shambhala
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala or Shangri-la is a mythical kingdom hidden somewhere in Inner Asia...
, which were of great importance to Dorzhiev's developing understanding of the Kalachakra
Kalachakra
Kalachakra is a Sanskrit term used in Tantric Buddhism that literally means "time-wheel" or "time-cycles".The spelling Kalacakra is also correct....
('Wheel of Time') tantric
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
teachings. Choekyi Nyima also gave Dorzhiev gifts including some golden statues.
British suspicions
By 1903, both Lord Curzon, the ViceroyViceroy
A viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
of India, and Francis Younghusband
Francis Younghusband
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband, KCSI, KCIE was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritual writer...
, became wrongly convinced that Russia and Tibet had signed secret treaties threatening the security of British interests
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
in India and they suspected that Dorzhiev was working for the Russian government Compounded by the closed nature of Tibet at the time, the fear of Russia drawing Tibet into the Great Game to control the routes across Asia was a reason for the British invasion of Tibet during 1903-4.
"Obviously," the [Fourteenth] Dalai Lama said, "the Thirteenth Dalai Lama had a keen desire to establish relations with Russia, and I also think he was a little skeptical toward England at first. Then there was Dorjiev. To the English he was a spy, but in reality he was a good scholar and a sincere Buddhist monk who had great devotion to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama."
In early 1904 Dorzhiev convinced the Dalai Lama to flee to Urga
Urga
Urga may refer to:* Ulan Bator, the capital of the republic of Mongolia* Ürgə, a municipality in Azerbaijan* Urga aka Close to Eden, a film by Nikita Mikhalkov, 1992...
in Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, some 2,500 km north of Lhasa, where the Dalai Lama spent over a year giving teachings to the Mongolians.
During the invasion there were rumors that Dorzhiev was in charge of the arsenal at Lhasa and directing military operations from the Gyantse
Gyantse
Gyantse is a town located in Gyangzê County, Shigatse Prefecture. It was historically considered the third largest and most prominent town in the Tibet region , but there are now at least ten larger Tibetan cities.-Location:The town is strategically located in the Nyang River Valley on the ancient...
Dzong (fort).
British troops captured several Russian-made Berdan rifle
Berdan rifle
The Berdan rifle is a Russian rifle created by famous American firearms expert and inventor Hiram Berdan in 1868. Standard issue in the Russian army from 1869-1891, the Berdan was replaced by the Mosin-Nagant rifle...
s at Nagartse Dzong and breechloaders at Chumik Shenko which heightened their suspicions of Russian involvement. These were never substantiated and there is no evidence that Dorzhiev was ever a Tsarist spy, although he had previously acted as a roving ambassador for H.H. the Dalai Lama in Russia, trying to gain support in the upper levels of Russian society.
During the summer of 1912, he met the 13th Dalai Lama at Phari Dzong and then accompanied him to the Samding Monastery
Samding Monastery
Samding Monastery, Samten Ling, or Samding Goinba Samding, a Geluk Ani gompa - which also housed some monks - was built on a hill on a peninsula jutting into the sacred lake, Yar-'brog or Yamdrok Tso, about east of Nangkatse, and some southwest of Lhasa, at an altitude of 4,423 m or...
, before returning to Lhasa after his exile in India.
The 'White Tsars' as incarnations of White Tara.
Since the days of Catherine II - the 'Great' (1729–1796) the Romanov rulers had been considered by Russian lamaists as the incarnation of White Tara, a female bodhisattvaBodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
typically associated with Buddhist tantric
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
practice and considered an emanation of Chenresig (the bodhisattva who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas), and the protectress of the Tibetan people. 1913 saw the great celebrations for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov
Romanov
The House of Romanov was the second and last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, reigning from 1613 until the February Revolution abolished the crown in 1917...
's House. Dorzhiev made speeches thanking the Tsar for his essential support for the Buddhist community in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. A lama named Ulyanov, published a book that same year attempting to prove that the Romanovs were directly descended from Sucandra a legendary king of Shambhala
Shambhala
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala or Shangri-la is a mythical kingdom hidden somewhere in Inner Asia...
.
Ekai Kawaguchi
Ekai Kawaguchi
was a Japanese Buddhist monk, famed for his four journeys to Nepal , and two to Tibet , being the first recorded Japanese citizen to travel in either country.Until March, 1891, he had been the Rector of the Zen in Tokyo (February 26, 1866 – February 24, 1945) was a Japanese Buddhist monk,...
, the Japanese monk travelled in Tibet from July 4, 1900 to June 15, 1902. He reported in his Three Years in Tibet that Dorzhiev, "circulated a pamphlet in which he argued that the Russian Tsar was about to fulfil the old Buddhist messianic myth of Shambhala by founding a great Buddhist empire." Alas, no second source for this story is known.
Saint Petersburg Tibetan Temple
However, the Orthodox Church campaigned strongly against construction of this "pagan" temple across the country, which considerably delayed its construction. However, the first service was held on 21 February 1913, and construction was completed by 1915, when Tsar Nicholas II confirmed the arrival of a staff of nine lamas: three from Transbaikal
Transbaikal
Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia , or Dauria is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" Lake Baikal in Russia. The alternative name, Dauria, is derived from the ethnonym of the Daur people. It stretches for almost 1000 km from north to south from the Patomskoye Plateau and North...
ia, four from Astrakhan
Astrakhan
Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...
Province, and two from Stavropol Province
Stavropol Krai
Stavropol Krai is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Stavropol. Population: -Geography:Stavropol Krai encompasses the central part of the Fore-Caucasus and most of the northern slopes of Caucasus Major...
.
A second large service was held on 9 June 1914 to consecrate a large gilded copper statue of the sitting Buddha Shakyamuni, which was a gift from King Rama VI of Siam (Thailand), and a standing Buddha Maitreya
Maitreya
Maitreya , Metteyya , or Jampa , is foretold as a future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. In some Buddhist literature, such as the Amitabha Sutra and the Lotus Sutra, he or she is referred to as Ajita Bodhisattva.Maitreya is a bodhisattva who in the Buddhist tradition is to appear on...
, a gift from G. A. Planson of the Russian Council in Bangkok.
The consecration of the datsan was held on 10 August 1915, when it was given the name of Gunzechoinei, or 'The source of the Buddha's Religious Teaching that has Deep Compassion for All Beings.'
After 1917 the building was ransacked and used for many purposes. It was briefly taken over and damaged by a Red Army detachment in 1919. Some repairs were carried out in 1922, major restoration was undertaken about 1926 but soon after there was a general persecution of Buddhism throughout the Buryat-Mongol Republic
Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
The Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the former Soviet Union....
and the Calmuch Antonymous Region
Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast
Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast was an autonomy of the Kalmyk people within the Russian SFSR that existed at two separate periods.It was first established in November 1920. Its administrative center was Astrakhan. In June 1928, it was included into Lower Volga Krai...
, and monasteries were closed and their property including sacred books, altar ornaments, etc., seized, and lamas heavily repressed.
The Leningrad temple, because of its foreign connection remained relatively immune for a while. In late 1933 the last Buddhist service was held at the temple in honour of the recently deceased Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet, who had died 17 December 1933.
By 1935 a large group of lamas was arrested by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
and sentenced to 3 to 5 years hard labour. In 1937 the remaining Buddhists in the city were arrested and shot the same day.
In 1989 the Buddhist community in Saint Petersburg was officially recognised. That year a service was held by the Most Reverend Lama Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
Kushok Bakula Rinpoche
19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche was a reincarnation of the Kushok Bakula Rinpoche. He was one of the best known lamas of Ladakh, a statesman and international diplomat of the Republic of India...
. That was the first service in 50 years.
On 14 July 2004, the 150th birthday of Agvan Dorjiev was celebrated at the Buddhist temple in Saint Petersburg, a memory plate was unveiled, and a talk given by the renowned American Buddhist scholar, Robert Thurman
Robert Thurman
Robert Alexander Farrar Thurman is an influential and prolific American Buddhist writer and academic who has authored, edited or translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism. He is the Je Tsongkhapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, holding the first endowed chair...
.
The Tibet-Mongolia Treaty of 1913
In early 1913, Agvan Dorzhiev and two other Tibetan representatives signed a treaty in UrgaUlaanbaatar
Ulan Bator or Ulaanbaatar is the capital and largest city of Mongolia. An independent municipality, the city is not part of any province, and its population as of 2008 is over one million....
, proclaiming mutual recognition and their independence from China. However, Agvan Dorzhiev's authority to sign such a treaty has always been - and still is - disputed by some authorities. According Charles Bell, a British diplomat who had maintained a close relationship with the Dalai Lama, the Dalai Lama had told him that he did not authorize Dorzhiev to sign such a treaty with Mongolia.
John Snelling, however, says: "Though sometimes doubted, this Tibet-Mongolia Treaty certainly existed. It was signed on 29 December 1912 (OS) [that is, by the Julian Calendar
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar began in 45 BC as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year .The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months...
- thus making it 8th January 1913 by the Gregorian Calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
that we use] by Dorzhiev and two Tibetans on behalf of the Dalai Lama, and by two Mongolians for the Jebtsundamba Khutukhtu." He then quotes the full wording of the treaty (in English) from the British Public Records Office: FO [Foreign Office] 371 1609 7144: Sir George Buchanan to Sir Edward Grey, Saint Petersburg, dated 11 February 1913.
Some British authors have, based on remarks of a Tibetan diplomat some years later, even disputed the mere existence of the treaty, but scholars of Mongolia generally are very positive it exists. The Mongolian text of the treaty has, for example, been published by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in 1982.
Also in 1913, Dorzhiev founded a manba datsan, a medical college, at the monastery of Atsagat. It quickly became an important centre of Tibetan medicine in Buryatia.
After the Russian revolution
After the Russian revolution Dorzhiev was arrested and sentenced to death, only to be reprieved due to the intervention of friends in Saint Petersburg. The temple in the city was plundered and his papers destroyed.As means of making peace with the dramatically changed politics, Dorzhiev was quick to propose the converting of monasteries into collective farms. In 1926 the Buddhist monasteries in the Buryatia were 'nationalized' in which "responsibility for the management of the monasteries" was transferred to collectives of laypeople and the clergy was deprived of its power. This led to much hostility, but the monasteries remained active, and the position of the reformist forces was again strengthened.
In August, 1927 he led and managed a conference of Tibetan doctors in Atsagat. Proposals were made for a central institute to supervise production and standardisation of Tibetan herbal remedies.
Dorzhiev managed to co-exist with the Communists during the 1920s but was again arrested by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
during Stalin's Great Purge
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
on 13 November 1937 and charged with treason, preparation for an armed uprising, and spying for the Mongolians and Japanese. He died in police custody, though apparently of cardiac arrest, after being transferred from his cell to the prison hospital on 29 January 1938, aged 85.
He was buried at in "a secret traditional burial place in the forest near Chelutai." The location of the cemetery has only been made known in recent years and some estimates say at least 40,000 people were buried there.
Dorzhiev was not officially fully rehabilitated, though, until 14 May 1990, when the case was dismissed, 'on grounds of lack of evidence and absence of criminal activity.'