Langdarma

Langdarma
གླང་དར་མ
Tsenpo
King of Tibet
Reign841–842
PredecessorRalpalchen
SuccessorNone
Era of Fragmentation
BornDarma
after 790s?
Died842
Burial
Trülgyel Mausoleum, Valley of the Kings
SpouseManamza
Tsépongza Tsen Mopen
IssueTride Yumten
Namde Ösung
Names
Tri Darma U Dum Tsen (དར་མ་འུ་དུམ་བཙན་)
LönchenWe Gyaltore Taknye
HouseYarlung dynasty
FatherSadnalegs
MotherDroza Lhagyel Mangmojé
ReligionBön
Langdarma
Tibetan name
Tibetan གླང་དར་མ།
འུ་དུམ་བཙན་པོ
Transcriptions
Wylieglang dar ma
'u dum btsan po
Lhasa IPA[laŋtaːma] /
[udum tsɛ̃po]

Darma U Dum Tsen (Tibetan: དར་མ་འུ་དུམ་བཙན, Wylie: dar ma 'u dum btsan), better known as Langdarma (Tibetan: གླང་དར་མ།, Wylie: glang dar ma, THL: Lang Darma, lit. "Mature Bull" or "Darma the Bull"), was the 42nd and last king of the Tibetan Empire who in 838 killed his brother, King Ralpachen, then reigned from 841 to 842 CE before he himself was assassinated.[1] His reign led to the dissolution of the Tibetan Empire, which had extended beyond the Tibetan Plateau to include the Silk Roads with the Tibetan imperial manuscript center at Sachu (Dunhuang), and neighbouring regions in China, East Turkestan, Afghanistan, and India.[2][3]

Earlier in his life as a Tibetan prince, Langdarma was Buddhist, but under the influence of Wégyel Toré (Wylie: dbas rgyal to re), he became a follower of Bon, after which he assassinated his brother King Ralpachen,[4] in 838. Following this, he widely persecuted Tibetan monks, nuns, and destroyed their monasteries[4] which were those of the Nyingma school, the only school of Tibetan Buddhism at that time.

Langdarma only reigned for a year to a year and a half,[4][1] before his own death. Another source says the reign was either six or thirteen years.[5] A Buddhist hermit or monk named Lhalung Pelgyi Dorje is often credited with assassinating Langdarma in 842,[1] or in 846,[5][6] but other sources credit Nyingma master Nubchen Sangye Yeshe with frightening him to death[1] after Langdarma threatened the practitioners in Nubchen Sangye Yeshe's monastic institute.[7] His death was followed by civil war and the dissolution of the Tibetan empire, leading to the Era of Fragmentation.[3]

  1. ^ a b c d Arthur Mandelbaum, "Lhalung Pelgyi Dorje", Treasury of Lives, 2007.
  2. ^ Claude Arpi, "Glimpses on the History of Tibet", Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013.
  3. ^ a b Samten Karmay in McKay, Alex (2003). Tibet and her neighbours : a history. London: Edition Hansjörg Meyer. ISBN 3883757187., pg. 57
  4. ^ a b c "History of Meru Nyingpa Monastery", Places, Monasteries, The Himalayan Library
  5. ^ a b Stein, R. A. (1972). Tibetan civilization ([English ed.]. ed.). Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press. ISBN 0-8047-0901-7., pp. 70-71
  6. ^ Beckwith, Christopher I. (1993). The Tibetan empire in Central Asia : a history of the struggle for great power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese during the early Middle Ages (4. print., and 1st pbk. ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 0-691-02469-3., pp. 168-169
  7. ^ John Myrdhin Reynolds, "The Golden Letters", Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 1996