Page 69 - Sothebys Sutra Auction Hong Kong

Palden Tashi from Minzhou, Gansu Deshin Shekpa from Nyang Dam, Tibet
1377 - after 1452 1384-1415

1377 the Abbot of the Huayan School, born into a powerful
Tibetan family, experiences as a young monk miraculous
visions of Manjushri (Bodhisattva of Wisdom) at Mount
Wutai in Shanxi province

Huijin and Palden Tashi, sharing the same school of thought, were friends

Palden Tashi investigates search for tulkus, the reincarnation of Deshin Shekpa

1408 the Yongle Emperor appoints him Abbot 1403 the Yongle Emperor sends imperial delegation to Deshin Shekpa, the Fifth Karmapa
of the imperially-sponsored Qutansi in modern 1406 arrives in Nanjing following a second request, conducts at Dalinggusi the requested mass
Qinghai province of universal salvation, a ritual releasing the souls of the parents of the Yongle Emperor, when
miraculous sights and wondrous illumination and ‰ve-colour clouds appear, all depicted on a
49-metre long scroll (now in the collection of the Tibet Museum, illustrated in Ming: Fifty Years
That Changed China, op.cit., ‰g. 208)
1407 leaves for Mount Wutai to conduct mass for the deceased Empress Xu (1362-1407)
1415 dies in Lhasa
1416 the Yongle Emperor sends Palden Tashi to Tibet partly to inspect the search for the rein-
carnated tulkus after the passing away of Deshin Shekpa. The Karma Kagyu Sect con‰rms the
tulkus Tongwa Donden (1416-1453) as the Sixth Karmapa. Palden Tashi returns to central China
after the death of the Yongle and Hongxi emperors and reports to the Xuande Emperor

1429 builds the imperially-sponsored
Dachongjiaosi, which was richly furnished with
gifts from the Xuande Emperor and court eunuchs,
especially the powerful eunuch Wang Jin
1435 honoured with life-size zitan longevity portrait
(now in the collection of the Buddhist Library of
Fayuansi, Beijing, illustrated in Ming: Fifty Years
That Changed China, op. cit., ‰g. 211; see above for
drawing); throughout his life served a succession of
emperors as translator, envoy and priest and was
involved in running or building several key monas-
teries

Palden Tashi’s biography mentions the golden For his biography in Tibetan, see De-bzhin-gshegs-pa thams-cad kyi bgrod-pa gcig-pa’i lam-chen
script Avatamsaka Sutra kept in the Medicine gsung-ngag rin-po-che’i bla-ma brgyud-pa rnam-thar.
Buddha Hall in his Dachongjiaosi