A Trülku as the Head of Society
A Trülku as the Head of Society
This chapter discusses the rise of the Tibetan trülku as head of society in the seventeenth century. Drawing on the concept of the “union of religion and politics,” the clerical elite further developed the idea of the “two systems” (luknyi), and the distinction between the religious and the secular spheres became more and more blurred. Charismatic Buddhist hierarchs and their followers used historical precedent to legitimize the political rule of Buddhist clerics. Because the lamas who exercised secular power were now also trülku, emanations of transcendent bodhisattvas or buddhas, the “ union of religion and politics” from the seventeenth to the twentieth century can be classified as a kind of sacred kingship.
Keywords: Tibetan history, Tibet, trülku position, head of society, reincarnation, religion, politics, Buddhist clerics, lamas, kingship
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