the history of buddhism among the mongols 415
enthronement of the sixth Dalai Lama Tshangs-dbyangs-rgya-mtsho
(1683–1706). This task was a very delicate one because the regent
Sangs-rgyas-rgya-mtsho (1653–1705) had concealed the death of the
fth Dalai Lama in 1682, and had informed the emperor only in 1697.
Kangxi was furious but thought it necessary to demonstrate imperial
presence at the occasion of the enthronement. He advised his envoy
to decisively refuse to “bow” to the regent, i.e., to perform the kowtow
(koutou ), as this would have implied approval of the scandalous
behaviour of the regent. For reasons that are not completely clear, the
Qututu did “bow” and, upon his return to Beijing, was condemned
to death. However, the emperor granted him amnesty. In any case, he
lost his title of Qututu and was degraded to the rank of an ordinary
monk. He was eventually pardoned in 1701.^158 The tasks that the
emperor assigned to his religious envoys could be very risky, especially
when, as can be surmised from the case described above, the interests
of the commissioner were not the same as those of the messenger.
- Manchu Politics and the Profits for Buddhism
It was not only the emperor who used the services of religion and its
representatives for his own aims. Buddhism also pro ted from Manchu
politics. The promotion the religion enjoyed under the rst Qing
emperor Shunzhi, but especially under his son Kangxi and his succes-
sors, was so great that it can hardly be explained by political motives
alone, but also permits one to surmise a genuine interest of the empe-
rors in Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhism. Everywhere in the country, and
particularly in Beijing, monasteries to which an of cial status and res-
pective rights were bestowed, were established with nancial support
of the court.
Yet, both the building of monasteries and the corresponding estab-
lishment of monastic communities were important for the spreading
of the dGe-lugs-pa among the Mongols. The language of education
and cult may have been Tibetan, but already from the Yuan period
onward, important texts were also translated into Mongolian. The
translation activity ourished anew with the dGe-lugs-pa mission.
The transmission of the holy scriptures in the language of the new
(^158) Sagaster 1967, pp. 118–121.