Golok people
Encyclopedia
The Golok or Ngolok peoples are groups from Amdo
in eastern Tibet, where their territory is referred in Tibetan as sMar-kog. They are located around the upper reaches of the Yellow River
(dMar-čhu) and the sacred mountain Amnye Machen (rMa-rgyal). They are not an homogeneous group but are composed of peoples of very different ethnic backgrounds. The Golok was a haven for malcontents, refugees and miscreants from all over the Ambdo and Kham region, and thus the people are an amalgamation of peoples of diverse origin.
They were renowned in both Tibet and China as ferocious bandits. The name Golok (mgo/’go log) actually means "rebellious". Neither Tibet or China was able to subdue them for long
Legends say they were ruled by a queen, a reincarnated goddess whose power was handed down from mother to daughter.
In 1828 when the great mystic and poet of early 19th century Amdo, Shakbar Tsodruk Rangdröl, was returning to Amdo from Central Tibet, his caravan, carrying letters of passage from both the Dalai and Panchen Lamas was brutally attacked and pillaged by Golok tribesmen who had no respect for the letters from the Dalai and Panchen Lamas.
Some months later Shakbar told the Qinghai
amban
, who was the senior Manchu
administrator in Xining
what had happened. The amban, admitting that the Golok tribes were beyond Imperial control asked Shakbar to try preaching to them in hopes that this might tame them to some extent.
The Chinese had never been able to control the Goloks before, who owed allegiance to Labrang, Occasional ambushes killed Muslim Hui soldiers
, causing loss of dispatches and livestock like yaks. The Hui army, with its modern weaponry, retaliated in draconian fashion and exterminated a group of Goloks, and then convoked the Golok tribes for negotiations, only to slaughter them. A Christian missionary, in praising the Muslim army's extermination of the Goloks as an act of God, wrote of the events of 1921 in the following way:
After Tibetans attacked the Ninghai muslim army in 1922 and 1923, the Ninghai army returned in 1924 and crushed the Tibetans, killing numerous Tibetans.
The Muslim warlord Ma Qi
launched a genocidal war against the Ngolok, in 1928, inflicting a defeat upon them and seizing the Labrang Buddhist monastery.
Amdo
Amdo is one of the three traditional regions of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river . While culturally and ethnically a Tibetan area, Amdo has been administered by a...
in eastern Tibet, where their territory is referred in Tibetan as sMar-kog. They are located around the upper reaches of the Yellow River
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...
(dMar-čhu) and the sacred mountain Amnye Machen (rMa-rgyal). They are not an homogeneous group but are composed of peoples of very different ethnic backgrounds. The Golok was a haven for malcontents, refugees and miscreants from all over the Ambdo and Kham region, and thus the people are an amalgamation of peoples of diverse origin.
They were renowned in both Tibet and China as ferocious bandits. The name Golok (mgo/’go log) actually means "rebellious". Neither Tibet or China was able to subdue them for long
Legends say they were ruled by a queen, a reincarnated goddess whose power was handed down from mother to daughter.
In 1828 when the great mystic and poet of early 19th century Amdo, Shakbar Tsodruk Rangdröl, was returning to Amdo from Central Tibet, his caravan, carrying letters of passage from both the Dalai and Panchen Lamas was brutally attacked and pillaged by Golok tribesmen who had no respect for the letters from the Dalai and Panchen Lamas.
Some months later Shakbar told the Qinghai
Qinghai
Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake...
amban
Amban
Amban is a Manchu word meaning "high official," which corresponds to a number of different official titles in the Qing imperial government...
, who was the senior Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
administrator in Xining
Xining
Xining is the capital of Qinghai province, People's Republic of China, and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. It has 2,208,708 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 1,198,304 live in the built up area made of 4 urban districts.-History:...
what had happened. The amban, admitting that the Golok tribes were beyond Imperial control asked Shakbar to try preaching to them in hopes that this might tame them to some extent.
- "This was the theory of the relationship between religion and society that Trungpa RinpocheRinpocheRinpoche or Rinboqê is an honorific used in Tibetan Buddhism. It literally means "precious one," and is used to address or describe Tibetan lamas and other high-ranking or respected teachers. This honor is generally bestowed on reincarnated lamas, or Tulkus, by default...
elaborated in the West. Its metaphysics was based on the philosophical syncretism of the Eclectic [Rime] movement, which evolved an almost Neoplatonic emanational version of Buddhist mysticism. The mythological machinery, the cosmology of his system, was based on the most complex of all of the Buddhist tantraTantraTantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
s, the KalachakraKalachakraKalachakra 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) Tantra. But textually it was based on the Tibetan oral epic of King Gesar of Ling, which deployed a non-Buddhist divine machinery based on native Inner Asian shamanistic and animistic religion. The back text" of Trungpa’s socioreligious system was the Gesar epic. This meant that his model for the relationship between religion and society was what he saw in his region of Tibet, the Sino-Tibetan marches of Kham (Eastern Tibet) and Amdo/Qinghai. In particular, he pointed to the Goloks, nomadic pastoralist warriors, who made the mystery religion of DzogchenDzogchenAccording to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...
, the great perfection, their public religion through, among other things, the propagation of the oral epic." Kornman, p. 355.
The Chinese had never been able to control the Goloks before, who owed allegiance to Labrang, Occasional ambushes killed Muslim Hui soldiers
Ninghai Army
The Ninghai Army was a Muslim Hui army in the Republic of China commanded by General Ma Qi, who controlled the Xining area of Qinghai, then a special region of Gansu province. It was founded by Ma Qi in 1915.-Composition and History:...
, causing loss of dispatches and livestock like yaks. The Hui army, with its modern weaponry, retaliated in draconian fashion and exterminated a group of Goloks, and then convoked the Golok tribes for negotiations, only to slaughter them. A Christian missionary, in praising the Muslim army's extermination of the Goloks as an act of God, wrote of the events of 1921 in the following way:
During the summer months God again used the Mohammedans of Western Kansu Province to answer more fully the prayers of His people for the last half century for the dark land of Tibet. In the month of April an expedition was launched by them against the wild Goloks, occupying a large territory five or six days to the west and south-west of the field we are at present endeavoring to occupy. One of the chief natural reasons for the incursion was the killing, by the Goloks, of several soldiers carrying official dispatches and seizing four or five thousand yaks belonging to the High Commissioner. The Goloks consisted of three groups and were a most haughty people, considering themselves impregnable, since they had neever been subdued by the Chinese in all their history. But the Mohammedans with their up-to-date firearms practically annihilated one group, and the other two hastened to capitulate. It is reported, though that the first and most crushing blow was struck through treachery. The three groups were called together to tender their submission. The Goloks were suddenly attacked and a large number of them were killed. The remainder fled without makinmg any attempt in their weakened condition to avenge their fallen friends. Then followed a chapter of awful bloodshed and cruelty. Men, women, and children were n ruthlessly put to the sword and thousands were driven into the Yellow River to perish in its muddy water. A heavy indemnity was exacted, thousands of sheep, yaks, and horses driven away, and tons of wool confiscated. Thus is made safe for travel and missionary work a vast piece of ncountry inhabited by thousands of nomads. We are praising God for the advance step He has enabled us to take.'
After Tibetans attacked the Ninghai muslim army in 1922 and 1923, the Ninghai army returned in 1924 and crushed the Tibetans, killing numerous Tibetans.
The Muslim warlord Ma Qi
Ma Qi
Ma Qi was a Chinese Muslim warlord in early 20th century China.-Early life:His grandfather Sa-la Ma , is a Salar. He was born in 1869 in Daohe, now part of Linxia, Gansu, China. His father was Ma Haiyan...
launched a genocidal war against the Ngolok, in 1928, inflicting a defeat upon them and seizing the Labrang Buddhist monastery.
External links
- Photos of Golok people. http://www.fotosearch.com/STK020/mlp1298/
- Thupten Chokor Ling Monastery - The Great Stupa for World Peace. http://www.buddhistdharma.net/Thupten%20Chokor%20Ling.aspx