Tibet+-+Rise+of+the+Empire+Essay

  The ultimate purpose of government is to provide a society with a point of control through which they may ultimately progress. However, the techniques through which this is to be achieved have, to this point in time, all been questionable in their effectiveness. Many protest that unity in government translates to unity in the people, and in course, a more direct and efficient approach at societal progression. This is no more so refuted than in the example of the Tibetan Empire. In the case of this ancient, Central Asian civilization, religion provided the unifying grounds for the people. However, as time progressed, suppression of the unifying religion came to expose the weaknesses of which the government was ultimately composed. And later, upon the empire’s entry into it’s “Golden Age”, this instability in government ultimately translated to deficient military progression, which then contested the collective security of the empire. In turn, the Tibetan Dynastic Empire proves that __in government, unity through religion invokes both social and political instability.__

In the uprising of the Tibetan Empire, religion provided the unifying grounds for cultural progression. Leading up to the 7th Century, Bon was the dominant religion in Tibet ( Tibet, Britannica Online, 2009). However, although indigenous to Tibet, it varied in practices in each sect of land. Customs and Philosophies, despite being centralized, were almost always a direct influence of the local priesthood. In turn, the culture was divided, and was unable to progress in any regard. It was in the 7th Century, under the rule of Srong-brtsan Sgam-po, that Buddhism was first introduced (Beckwith, 1987). Upon assuming the throne as a minor in 618, Sgam-po was offered two princesses by the Tang Dynasty of China for his taking. They brought with them, to Tibet, Chinese Buddhist practices, with which Sgam-po eventually became synonymous. Sgam-po began to restructure his Kingdom under Buddhist practices, and this religion began to spread throughout Tibet. Upon his death in 650, Sgam-po had successfully united almost all regions of Central, Northern, and Eastern Tibet under one Kingdom of Rule (Tibet, Britannica Online, 2009). This in turn allowed for the culture to progress not only domestically, but also to advance politically and economically to the point where they became an increasingly dominant force in Central Asia.

After the Tibetan Empire had begun to develop under Buddhist rule, the suppression of Buddhism sparked several occurrences which ultimately revealed the weaknesses of the government. It was in the mid 8th century, under the reign of Khri Ide Gtsug-brtsan, that Buddhist practices were first forcefully repressed (Britannica, 2005). Gtsug-brtsan believed that religion in state distracted from the society’s ability to progress. In turn, after joining forces successfully with the Arabs and Turgis forces, he invoked a complete repression of Buddhism, as well as Bon (Buddhism, Britannica Online, 2009). Immediately, northern stability of the kingdom began to waiver. Sron-btsan Sgam-po had united these regions under Buddhist teachings in the early to mid 7th Century, and in turn, upon this unifying aspect of culture being removed, social structure was compromised, and soon sects began to form absent the rule of Gtsug-brtsan. However, due to the nature of Tibet’s military expansion at that point, China was feeling increasingly threatened, and joined forces with the Arabs (Beckwith, 1987). Under a mighty alliance, they advanced quickly in the Northern Plains, capturing trade routes, and large masses of land. Gtsug-brtsan’s defensive efforts were arrested by his inability to enact them in the North (Tibet, Britannica Online, 2009). These were sects which he had alienated by suppressing Buddhism. As territories and resources were picked from the North, Gtsug-brtsan made efforts to re-invoke religion, but lost the trust of his ministers, who are speculated to have deserted him in 750-752 (Dharma, 1986). Without support within his own kingdom, and his control in the South useless, Gtsug-brtsan witnessed large losses for Northern Tibet before committing suicide in 755 (Tibet, Britannica Online, 2009). Regardless, Tibet’s political structure was so shaken, that a one year interregnum was induced, and the society was effectively frozen in its recovery efforts (Dharma, 1986). Even so, this would not spell the end of the political ramifications for the religion-unified society of Dynastic Tibet.

Ultimately, this instability in government translated into deficient military progression, which then contested the collective security of the empire. During the later years of Gtsug-brtsan’s rule, Tibet’s losses soon began to spread throughout other regions. The reasons for this may seem questionable at first, as the primary Buddhist community is in the North, which would suggest that only these regions would weaken. However, this phenomenon is informed by the very same logic which suggests the point mentioned as the former. In 738, Tibet began losing trading routes to Chinese advancements, and eventually lost all access to India (Tibet, Britannica Online, 2009). Consequently, the Chinese soon after reclaimed control of the Himalayas, and large forested areas of the South (Beckwith, 1987). This was caused not only due to the faltering size of the Tibetan forces, as many deserted, but also the domestic conflicts which had arisen as a result of Buddhist suppression, and revealed their implications in the military, as civil volatility. Commanders were being overthrown in massive quantities, and the ensuing surrenders spelling fantastic losses for the Tibetan empire. Gratuitous amounts of armor, soldiers, and resources were forfeited, as well as land, trading routes, and infrastructure (Beckwith, 1987). The Tibetan military essentially began a collapse from which they scarcely recovered. All of which was a direct ramification of social and civil instability, as induced by the repression of a religion which served as the unifying grounds for the collective culture, blind to regions of specific practice. In further observing the reign of the “Golden Age” leader, Khri-sron Ide-brtsan, we see that Tibet later lifts the forced repression on Buddhism (Buddhism, Britannica Online, 2009). But it is essentially a matter of too little, too late. Upon Ide-brtsan eventually embracing Buddhism, the foundation of Tibet’s government was so shaken, that military progression was only permitted by the faltering rule of the T’ang emperor (Britannica, 2005). Even so, this progression was limited to the point that Tibet’s ultimate rule in Central Asia would never be recovered to its full extent, as the empire began to crumble under a mountain of civil impermanence. This proves that despite the re-invocation of Buddhism as a unifying aspect of government, the kinks in the governmental armor it had caused already were too great to overcome.

If we are to progress as a society, we must first realize our past, and what we can learn from it. In the case of the Tibetan Empire, we observed that religion unified the collective culture, while its repression served as grounds of exposing government structural weaknesses, and that finally, its absence relayed itself in civil structure as instability and volatility. All of which proves, irrefutably, that __in government, unity through religion invokes both social and political instability.__    



__Citations:__

 Ancient Tibet research materials from the Yeshe de Project. Berkeley, CA, USA: Dharma, 1986.

 Beckwith, Christopher I. Tibetan Empire in central Asia a history of the struggle for great power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese during the early Middle Ages. Princeton, N.J: Princeton UP, 1987.

 "Buddhism." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 02 May. 2009 .

 New Encyclopaedia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2005.

 "Tibet (autonomous region, China) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia. 22 Apr. 2009 .