The Dalai Lama was the only one left in the small scripture hall, and his mind calmed down a little.

The words of the Kalun just now were still ringing in his ears. He knew that this time he was facing an unprecedented test, and his own fate, the rise and fall of Tibetan Buddhism, and the future of Tibet would all depend on his decision.

The pale yellow butter lamp was gently swaying, and the Dalai Lama's eyes unconsciously revealed scenes of his own gods and people......

His home is the small village of Langdun in the Dabu region of southeast Lhasa, which is a beautiful place surrounded by beautiful mountains and rivers. According to him, on May 5, the fifteenth year of the fire rat (the second year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty) of the fifteenth "Rao Hui" of the Tibetan calendar, when the morning sun had just risen from the mountain, his mother gave birth to him. Neither his parents nor the people in the village could have imagined that he, an ordinary peasant boy, would become a god revered by millions of people on the Tibetan Plateau in a few months.

More than a year before his birth, that is, on March 20, the year of the wooden pig (the first year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty) of the 14th "Rao Hui" of the Tibetan calendar, the 20-year-old 12th Dalai Lama Chenglie Gyatso returned to the Potala Palace after traveling abroad, and suddenly died violently in the palace. Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty ordered the search for the reincarnation of the 12th Dalai Lama, the 13th Dalai Lama. And so the Kashag got busy.

The search for the reincarnation of the 12th Dalai Lama, the 13th Dalai Lama, is a major event in the Tibetan monastic and lay worlds, and the Kashag and living Buddhas everywhere attach great importance to it. The Kashag specially invited the 8th Panchen Lama in Shigatse, Dan Bai Wangxiu, to ask for divination and find out about the reincarnation of the 12th Dalai Lama. After divination, Danbai Wangxiu concluded that the reincarnation of the 12 Dalai Lamas had been born, and the direction of his birth should be southeast of Lhasa, but the specific situation of the reincarnated spirit child was not known. The Kashag also invited the special séance of Naijun Qujun and the séance of the Sangkite Monastery in Shannan area to the two of them, and the Kashag held a grand séance ceremony in the main hall of the Potala Palace, and the living Buddha monks of the three major monasteries in Tibet, namely Sera, Drepung and Kadan Monastery, the regent Jilong Tongshan Hutuktu and all the Kalun of the Kashag participated in the séance. After the séance, Naijun Qujun said that the reincarnation of the 12th Dalai Lama, the 13th Dalai Lama's father, was named Gongga, and his mother should be called Dolma. Men should be sent to the west of the archery furnace to search. Since the Panchen Lama and the other three all said this, after the séance, the Kashag began to follow the old practice of further searching for the exact place of birth and characteristics of the reincarnated spirit child from two paths. On the one hand, the Kashag sent a number of eminent monks and officials to visit various places in Houzang and Xikang, and on the other hand, he sent a former khenpo to the Lake of Our Lady in the Qukegyal region of eastern Lhasa, and threw special items such as hata and treasure vases into the lake. After praying and chanting, look at the image of the birthplace of the 12th Dalai Lama on the lake in the direction of the reincarnation of the 12th Dalai Lama. Surprisingly, the khenpo saw a beautiful village in the reflection of the lake, and he thought that God had appeared and that the village was undoubtedly the birthplace of the spirit child. So, he summoned the local magistrate and asked him about the situation. The magistrate told him that he had heard that in the village of Lang Dun in Dab, a woman named Lobsang Dolma had given birth to a boy on 5 May in the year of the fire rat, and the father of the child appeared to be Gongga Rinchen. The khenpo was secretly overjoyed, and he took his entourage to the village of Langdun to secretly inquire about the family's situation. When he arrived at Langton, he found that the image of the village was the same as that he had seen in the Lake of Our Lady, and that the names of the child's parents happened to match what Najun had said in his hexagram, so he went to the house. When the group saw the extraordinary bearing of the child who was only more than a year old, they were amazed. They then returned to Lhasa and reported to the Kashag what they had seen on their trip. The Kashag then sent a Kalon, the Great Khenpo, to Langdun. Came to this house. They put together some of the things that the Twelfth Dalai Lama had used during his lifetime and other items, and then they put the child in front of the pile, and the child actually grabbed a vial from the pile in front of everyone. The crowd was shocked, because according to the rules of Tibetan Buddhism, if a baby takes something from a previous Dalai Lama, it proves that he is the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama in the previous life. They stayed in the village for several days, learned about the child, and told the child's parents to take care of the child before leaving Langdon.

After returning to Lhasa, they reported everything they had seen and heard during their trip to the Kashag. The Kashag and the regent summoned all the representatives of the Kalons and the three major monasteries and asked Nagjunqu to séance again and recognize the child as the reincarnation of the 12th Dalai Lama. Then, he told the Panchen Lama about the situation, and the Panchen replied that the child was the reincarnation of the 12th Dalai Lama. …,

After a detailed search, the Kashag finally determined that Lang Dun's child was the reincarnation of the 12th Dalai Lama.

According to the old system of the Qing Dynasty, after the death of the Dalai Lama in the previous life, three spirit children should be found, and the real reincarnated spirit children should be selected from the three spirit children through the golden vase given by Emperor Qianlong. However, because there were no similar spiritual children in other places, the 8th Panchen Lama, the regent, the three major monasteries, and all the monks and lay officials of the Tashilhunpo Monastery where the Panchen Lama was located jointly submitted a petition to the Qing minister in Tibet, asking for exemption from casting lots in the golden vase. The minister in Tibet did not dare to call the shots, so he asked the Guangxu Emperor. Emperor Guangxu issued an edict in March 1877 confirming that the child was the reincarnation of the 12th Dalai Lama.

On October 20, 1877, the local government of Tibet sent a large number of personnel to Langdun to welcome him to Lhasa. He, the veritable 13th Dalai Lama, knelt to the east, and the Qing minister in Tibet read in front of him the decree of the Guangxu Emperor approving his succession as the 13th Dalai Lama. On June 3, 1879, he held a grand enthronement ceremony at the Potala Palace in Lhasa. The Qing ministers stationed in Tibet, the regent, Kalun, the heads of various places, the heads of the 39 Tibetan tribes before and after, and the guests of Zhe Mengxiong were all present to congratulate the people, and the flow of people in Lhasa was unprecedented.

After the enthronement ceremony, he began to study the Buddhist scriptures. At this time, the situation in Tibet began to change, and he experienced two foreign invasions by British troops, and then faced civil strife. According to the old practice, successive Dalai Lamas began to govern every time they reached the age of 18, and until then, the regent or minister was in charge. But since the Ninth Dalai Lama, several Dalai Lamas have died before they were minors, and power in Tibet is effectively in the hands of the regent. After he entered the Potala Palace, power was in the hands of the regent Timuhutuktu. When he was nineteen years old, Emperor Guangxu ordered him to govern in person, but he was studying the scriptures at the time, so he politely excused himself.

After he was ordained as a bhikshu when he was twenty years old, the officials of the three major monasteries and the Kashag were dissatisfied with the regent Timukhuktu, and under the pretext of "divine will", they demanded that the regent Dimukhutuktu resign and let him take charge of the government. The regent Timuhutuktu had no choice but to agree. On the eighth day of August of that year, a grand pro-government ceremony was held in the main hall of Sisi Phuntsok in the Potala Palace.

After he came to power, he did not fully grasp the power. He understands the complexities of Tibetan politics better than anyone. He is well aware of the intensity of the power struggle in Tibet from the historical facts of the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth Dalai Lamas who were poisoned or mysteriously died at the age of 11, 22, 18, and 20 respectively. So, he remained silent. In the fourth year after he came to power, a "conspiracy against the 13th Dalai Lama" was exposed, and Dimuhutuktu's brother Aobu Cairen and others were dissatisfied with his pro-government, and tried to kill him and support his brother Dimutuktu as regent. The Kashag arrested Aobu Tsering and others, and Aobu Tsering and others confessed. The regent, who had stepped down, was shocked when he heard the news, and died of a "violent illness" at the temple where he was meditating that night. Since then, the 13th Dalai Lama has truly grasped the power of Tibet.

At this time, the land of China has also changed dramatically.

First the Qing Dynasty collapsed, then the Republic of China was established, and then after the "Battle of Ganning" and the Japanese invasion, the short-lived "Chinese Empire" was established, and after the "rebuilding of the republic", the Republic of China was restored, followed by the second invasion of Japan......

The ongoing political turmoil in China has made Tibet precarious.

The history of Britain's approach to Tibet has always stimulated the nerves of the 13th Dalai Lama from time to time.

As early as the year of the death of the 7th Dalai Lama, that is, in the thirteenth year of the Tibetan calendar, a British expeditionary force of the British East India Company defeated the Indian army led by the vice king of the Mughal kingdom of India, and finally took control of the Indian subcontinent. Tibet under the legendary Qing Empire, north of the Himalayas, became another coveted target of the British Empire. Initially, in the 39th year of Qianlong, the East India Company sent the 22-year-old Bogle into Tibet to meet the 6th Panchen Lama in Shigatse, but the then 8th Dalai Lama and the regent refused his request to go to Lhasa, and Bogel returned in vain. In the sixteenth year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, Yingyi Manning went to Lhasa, and the Ninth Dalai Lama received him, but did not give the British any chance. But it didn't take long for that to change quietly. In 1814, the British Empire took advantage of the dispute between the Gurkha and the Gurkha to send troops to help the Gurkha, and the Gurkha fought back and drove the British and Indian troops out of the country. The following year, the British and Indian troops attacked again, and the Gurkha asked the Qing Dynasty for help, but the Qing Dynasty minister in Tibet not only did not send troops to rescue, but rebuked the Gurkhas, and in the face of the invaders' army, the Gurkha authorities had no choice but to sue for peace with the British colonists. After the war, the British colonists opened the window to covet Tibet. …,

A year before he was born, the British took advantage of Margaret's murder in Yunnan to force the Qing Dynasty to sign the Treaty of Yantai, which stipulated that the British could enter Tibet from Sichuan and Qinghai. In the sixth year of Guangxu, that is, when he was five years old, the British tried to use the treaty to enter Tibet from Sichuan, and the Tibetan armed forces in Xikang Batang spontaneously blocked him. In the 11th year of Guangxu, the British sent Marcolan from Zhe Mengxiong into Tibet, but he was still prevented from returning.

One of the things that the Dalai Lama remembers most clearly is that when he was 12 years old, the British clashed with Tibet, and the Tibetan army entered the Qing Dynasty's vassal state Zhe Mengxiong, and the British and Indian authorities sent an army armed with modern guns to invade Zhe Mengxiong. The Qing Dynasty was weak and incompetent, and instead of rebuking the aggressive actions of the British and Indian authorities, it demanded that the Tibetan army withdraw from its own territory, Zhemengxiong. He and the Kashag, with the support of Wen Shuo, the Qing minister in Tibet, decided to fight against the Anglo-Indian army. The Qing government ordered Wen Shuo to be removed from his post. However, despite the opposition of the Qing government, he and the Kashag ordered the Tibetan army to engage in a fierce battle with the British and Indian troops, but the Tibetan army was defeated due to the backward weapons and equipment. When the Tibetan army passed through Lhasa, he was only 12 years old and personally touched the head of each soldier to bless him, and at the same time, he also convened the lamas in the Potala Palace to chant sutras, cursing the defeat of the British and Indian armies. In June of that year, 3,000 Tibetan troops counterattacked the British and Indian forces, but were again defeated. In October, more than 10,000 Tibetan troops counterattacked the British and Indian troops again, and the Tibetan troops armed with broadswords and spears were bombarded by the British and Indian cannons, suffered heavy casualties, and were forced to retreat to Tibet. The gates of Tibet were opened with bayonets and cannons, and the First War of Resistance against Britain was thus defeated.

Because the situation in Tibet had become precarious, and in the face of the aggressive and aggressive attitude of the British and Indian authorities and the weakness of the Qing Dynasty, the Dalai Lama felt that Tibet's peril was imminent.

In 1902, more than 200 British and Indian troops invaded Tibet in the name of checking the border, and Tsarist Russia made a "protest" to the British and Indian authorities.

The Dalai Lama clearly knew that the war took place to a large extent because Britain was afraid that Tibet would lean toward Tsarist Russia. Because the British had already included Tibet in their sphere of influence, he and the Kashag and the Qing court saw this very clearly. As the leader of Tibet's theocratic unity, the Dalai Lama is aware of his heavy responsibilities. Sometimes, he also secretly complained that he grew up in this eventful autumn and couldn't be a prosperous peace god king. For the invasion of the British and Indian forces, he especially complained about the Qing emperor. Tibet, as a corner of the Qing Dynasty, could not enjoy the blessings of the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty was weakening day by day, and it was no longer possible for Tibet to expect to be protected by the Qing Dynasty. As a god-king, he was deeply worried about the future of Tibet. He once had a flash of thought that one day he would lead Tibet out of the Qing Dynasty, but it was only a flash of thought. Separated from the Qing Dynasty, how can it cut off the thousand-year-old flesh-and-blood relationship, and who does Tibet rely on? Although he was close to Tsarist Russia, it was only to contain the British invasion. Once Tibet leaves China, Britain will inevitably tear Tibet to pieces. His own status, and the future of Tibetan Buddhism, will be wiped out.

Fortunately, after the end of the First World War, China's political situation finally stabilized, not only successfully defeated the second invasion of Japan, but also defeated the "red" Russia, recovered the homeland, expanded the territory, and the country reached its heyday since modern times.

In the years that followed, China was restored to a strong and stable country, and its economy recovered in an all-round way, bringing unprecedented prosperity to Tibet. As the central government has strengthened the construction of transportation in Tibet, goods from the interior have continued to pour into Tibet, and Tibetan production has also been exported to the surrounding provinces, and Tibet's economy has also developed at an unprecedented speed.

However, despite this, the Dalai Lama knows that his troubles are no less than before.

While promoting Tibet's economic development, the Chinese government has also strengthened its control over Tibet, not only by increasing the number of Han troops stationed in Tibet, but also by attempting to seize command of the Tibetan army under the pretext of helping to improve the Tibetan army's weaponry and training. …,

Although the "Qinghai-Tibet Railway," which broke ground last year, will further promote exchanges between Tibet, which is inaccessible, and Chinese mainland, in the eyes of the Dalai Lama and others, the military significance of this railway is far greater than its economic significance.

Although the Chinese Government has always been very good to itself, not only has it been rewarded with a large amount of money and goods every year, but it has also always supported the development of Tibetan Buddhist culture, and last year it sent people to help repair the Potala Palace and sort out Tibetan Buddhist documents and cultural relics, the close attitude of the central government still cannot make the Dalai Lama feel truly at ease.

What worries him most is a possible policy of the central government toward Tibet -- that is, the abolition of centuries-old serfdom in Tibet

Since the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the founding of the Republic of China, the Dalai Lama has always been worried about the arrival of this day; although at that time some people seemed to the Dalai Lama to be a little unfounded, later facts proved that Dalai's worries were not superfluous.

The concepts of "science," "democracy," and "freedom" advocated by Chinese mainland are all in conflict with the feudal regime of "theocracy" in Tibet

The mere spread of these ideas in Tibet has already constituted a threat to Tibetan theocracy

At this time, the rhythm of a familiar song suddenly came to the Dalai Lama's mind.

“…… O white clouds in the sky, where are you going to drift freely? The wind is with you, how I envy you. But I can only look at you from afar......"

“…… Although there is no temple on the mountain, it is so beautiful, but the beautiful scenery is no longer ......"

“…… The mirror-like West Sea, although there is no dragon in the sea, but the turquoise sea water is enough for me to like, and the sun in the east, although it is golden, but the warmth it gives me cannot be by my side forever......"

“…… O beast of the mountain, how free and easy, how enviable, O man of the mountain, but there is no ...... without a master"......,