Buddhist Kingship in Early Tibet: The Legal Edicts of Lha Lama Yeshe Ö (Prof. Jacob Dalton, UC Berkeley)

The government of the Dalai Lamas was widely understood to have followed the Tibetan ideal of “the union of religion and state” (chos srid zung ’brel). This talk looks at the roots of this Buddhist political concept in the writings of the late-tenth-century Tibetan king, Yeshe Ö. Following Tibet’s “dark age,” a century-long period of religious and political fragmentation, Yeshe Ö worked to reestablish monastic Buddhism and the rule of law. A recently discovered biography now offers new insights into this ancient ruler’s activities and Tibet’s religious and political rebirth at this crucial moment in history.