November 2024

Canadá es un país mejor conocido por su cara naturaleza salvaje y animales como el oso pardo, el oso polar, el castor, el puerco espín, el alce y el bisonte peludo, entre otros. Sin embargo, Canadá es también el hogar de una amplia gama de especies de insectos, incluyendo las mariposas. Principales Mariposas de Canada

Las mariposas caen bajo la clasificación de Lepidópteros. Sus rasgos definitorios incluyen cuatro (4) alas cubiertas con escamas planas que les dan su color e incluso sus patrones. Las alas también juegan un papel importante en el proceso de identificación de mariposas. Mariposas de Canada. Según los lepidópteros (observadores de mariposas), las mariposas son identificadas usando características tales como;

• La forma de las alas
• El color
• El tamaño de la mariposa
• Los patrones en las alas de la mariposa.

En algunos casos, sin embargo, incluso los observadores de mariposas establecidos pueden encontrar difícil distinguir entre las diferentes especies de mariposas. En tales casos, la ubicación e incluso la época del año pueden ayudar a determinar la especie de una mariposa.

La observación de mariposas es una actividad cuya popularidad está aumentando rápidamente. Mientras algunos los observan para experimentar sus colores vibrantes, otros los observan maravillados ante la metamorfosis por la que atraviesan estos insectos antes de convertirse en los majestuosos insectos alados que son.

De hecho, el proceso de metamorfosis por el que atraviesan las mariposas sirve para recordar constantemente a la gente que siempre hay esperanza y que el cambio positivo es posible. Esta guía de observación de mariposas es ideal para aquellos que están interesados en la observación de mariposas en Canadá.

La guía incluye algunas de las especies de mariposas más comunes, su descripción e incluso dónde encontrarlas. Las mariposas se clasifican en sus respectivas familias:

1. Familia Nymphalidae

Esta es la familia más grande de mariposas e incluye aproximadamente 5000 especies diferentes de mariposas en todo el mundo. Las mariposas de esta familia también se conocen como mariposas de patas cepilladas. Esto se debe a que sus patas delanteras están cubiertas de pelos largos que las hacen parecerse a un cepillo.

Monarca (Danaus Plexippus)

La monarca está clasificada en la subfamilia Danainae de la familia Nymphalidae. Son probablemente una de las especies de mariposas más conocidas del mundo. También son las mariposas migratorias más conocidas del mundo y se han ganado una notable reputación de volar hasta 3,200 km desde Toronto a la Reserva de la Biosfera Mariposa Monarca en el centro de México donde pasan el invierno.

Con una envergadura de entre 9 cm y 11 cm, las monarcas adultas están definitivamente entre las mariposas más grandes de Canadá. La parte superior de las alas es de color naranja intenso con gruesas venas negras. Además de eso, las alas también tienen un ancho borde negro que está salpicado de una doble fila de manchas blancas.

Las promontorios de los monarcas también contienen varias manchas de color naranja pálido, así como algunas manchas blancas. La parte inferior de las alas es bastante similar a la parte superior, excepto que el tono anaranjado es mucho más pálido (amarillo-marrón). Los machos tienen una glándula olfativa negra (parche sexual) en cada ala trasera, lo que los diferencia de las hembras. Las glándulas de olor aparecen como dos puntos negros en las alas traseras. Sin embargo, en comparación con otros miembros de la subfamilia Danainae, las glándulas olfativas de la monarca están modestamente desarrolladas.

Las monarcas ponen sus huevos en la parte inferior de las hojas de algodoncillo. Según los expertos, una sola hembra puede poner entre 300 y 400 huevos a lo largo de su vida.

Las mariposas monarca comienzan a llegar a Canadá a partir de finales de mayo y la mayoría de ellas llegan en el mes de junio. La mayoría de ellos se van en septiembre, aunque algunos todavía se ven en octubre y a veces incluso en noviembre. Probablemente el mejor momento para observar monarcas es a principios del otoño, cuando comienzan su migración hacia el sur.

Los observadores de mariposas pueden ver cientos y a veces miles de estas majestuosas mariposas en lugares como el Parque Nacional Point Pelee en el suroeste de Ontario, así como en el Parque Provincial Presqu’ile que se encuentra en la orilla norte del Lago Ontario. En Toronto, los observadores han reportado haber visto miles de Monarchs en las Islas de Toronto y el Leslie Street Spit.

2. Familia Hesperiidae

Conocida también como patrones, se trata de una gran familia compuesta por aproximadamente 3.700 especies diferentes en todo el mundo. De éstos, aproximadamente 72 se encuentran en Canadá. Quizás la característica más distintiva de los patrones es su tórax grueso y muy musculoso. Los patrones tienen seis patas, todas ellas totalmente funcionales. Estas mariposas tienden a saltar de un lugar a otro con movimientos alares rápidos y potentes de ahí el nombre de «skippers».

Patrón manchado de plata (Epargyreus Calrus)

Este es el capitán canadiense residente más grande. Estas mariposas tienen una envergadura de entre 37 mm y 45 mm. Este volante rápido y potente tiene delanteros puntiagudos y un color marrón oscuro tanto en la parte superior como en la inferior.

La proa del Silver-spotted Skipper también tiene una banda de color amarillo dorado en ambas superficies del ala, mientras que la parte inferior del ala posterior tiene una inconfundible mancha blanquecina plateada en el centro. Es casi similar al Hoary Edge (otra mariposa skipper) excepto que el Hoary Edge tiene el parche blanco plateado a lo largo del tercio exterior de las alas traseras por debajo en lugar de en el centro.

Normalmente, el patrón manchado de plata se ve en áreas abiertas y particularmente en aquellas que bordean bosques o matorrales, así como a lo largo de senderos abiertos y en jardines de flores. Se sabe que las mariposas con manchas plateadas se alimentan de flores de néctar como el cardo canadiense, la arveja, el cáñamo indio, la verbena brasileña e incluso el aster de Nueva Inglaterra, entre otros.

Se sabe que los machos individuales de mariposas con manchas plateadas se posan en la rama de un árbol o en algunos casos una brizna de hierba alta esperando a una hembra. Los machos protegen sus territorios vigorosamente, y a menudo persiguen a intrusos percibidos (incluyendo otros machos e incluso insectos al azar) antes de volver al mismo lugar en el que estaban posados.

En Canadá el Silver-spotted Skipper se encuentra en British Columbia, Quebec, Quebec City, Langton Lake, Manitoba y cerca de Taber en el sur de Alberta. También se encuentra en Ontario y es reconocida como una mariposa residente en Toronto.

3. Familia Papilionidae

Esta es una familia que incluye mariposas parnasianas y de cola de golondrina. Es la familia de mariposas más pequeña, pero también se encuentra entre las familias de mariposas más conocidas debido a la belleza y el gran tamaño de las mariposas de esta familia. Comprende aproximadamente 570 especies en todo el mundo, de las cuales aproximadamente 18 se encuentran en Canadá. La mayoría de las mariposas de esta familia tienen colas en sus alas traseras, de ahí el nombre de «cola de golondrina».

Cola de golondrina tigre oriental (Papilio Glaucus)

Esta mariposa grande y hermosa es nativa del este de Norteamérica. Su envergadura oscila entre 75 mm y 100 mm. Cabe señalar que las hembras son más grandes que los machos.

Los machos de cola de golondrina de tigre oriental son de color amarillo y tienen cuatro rayas negras parecidas a las del tigre en cada proa. El borde exterior de las cubiertas es de color negro y está salpicado de manchas amarillas a lo largo del borde exterior. La parte postmediana del ala posterior superior es una franja negra con manchas amarillas a lo largo del margen.

Por otra parte, el margen interno de los tigres orientales machos está salpicado de manchas rojas y azules.

Las hembras vienen en dos formas; la primera es la forma amarilla que tiene un área postcentral azul en la parte superior del ala trasera. La segunda es la forma femenina negra que tiene rayas que son más oscuras (a veces aparecen como un gris oscuro). Sin embargo, la forma oscura de la cola de golondrina del tigre oriental es bastante rara y a menudo se ve en Point Pelee en el sur de Ontario.

Esta mariposa es comúnmente vista en campos, bosques, bordes de caminos e incluso jardines. Tiene dos crías, la primera en mayo y la segunda hasta finales de agosto, aunque algunas se ven ocasionalmente en septiembre. Las colas de golondrina de los tigres orientales se alimentan principalmente de néctar de lilas, algas marinas comunes e incluso del arbusto de mariposas. Como orugas, la especie se encuentra en árboles como el fresno blanco, el cerezo negro y el tulipán.

La cola de golondrina del tigre oriental es común en el sur de Ontario, particularmente en áreas como la península de Bruce, el este de Ontario, particularmente en los lagos de Rideau y el condado de Grenville. Esta mariposa también es comúnmente vista dentro de la región de Toronto.

4. Familia Pieridae

Esta familia se compone principalmente de Blancos y Azufre. Existen aproximadamente 1.200 especies de esta familia, y alrededor de 40 de ellas se encuentran en Canadá. Además de tener seis patas completamente funcionales, las mariposas de esta familia también tienen garras fuertemente bifurcadas en los pies. Además, la mayoría de las mariposas de esta familia son predominantemente de color blanco, amarillo o naranja.

Mostaza Blanca (Pieris Oleracea)

Estas mariposas son característicamente de color blanco tiza en la parte superior. También tienen un polvo de escamas negras a lo largo de las bases de las alas, junto con la Costa (vena central a lo largo del borde de las alas) y a lo largo del ápice de la proa. La mostaza blanca se presenta en 2 formas dependiendo de la estación del año.

La forma de resorte de las mariposas en la parte inferior del ala posterior y cerca del ápice de la proa es de color amarillo pálido. Además, las venas en estas dos áreas tienen un tono verde oscuro que aparece como una sombra en la parte superior de las alas.

La forma estival del blanco mostaza tiene menos sombra oscura en la parte superior, mientras que la parte inferior es blanca con poca o ninguna sombra oscura en las venas. La envergadura de la mostaza blanca es relativamente pequeña; mide entre 32 mm y 50 mm.

Esta mariposa se encuentra principalmente en bosques y áreas abiertas que están cerca de los bosques. Se sabe que los estados larvarios de la mostaza blanca se alimentan de plantas de la familia de la mostaza (de ahí el nombre de mostaza blanca).

El berro y la mostaza son plantas alimenticias particularmente populares para la forma larval de la mostaza blanca. La especie tiene dos crías; la primera vuela de finales de abril a principios de junio, mientras que la segunda vuela de julio a principios de agosto.

En Canadá, el Mustard White es bastante común. Se encuentra en áreas como la parte occidental de Terranova, las estribaciones de las Montañas Rocosas en Alberta, a través de las partes norte y central de Columbia Británica. También se encuentran tan al norte como la costa de Nunavut en Coppermine y Arviat.

5. Familia Lycaenidae

Se trata de una gran familia de mariposas compuesta por aproximadamente 4.000 especies diferentes en todo el mundo. En Canadá, se encuentran 63 de estas especies. Pizcadores, Cobre, Hairstreaks, y Blues son todos englobados bajo esta familia.

La mayoría de las mariposas en esta familia son pequeñas y de color característicamente brillante con algunas que tienen un brillo metálico. La mayoría de ellos también tienen colas parecidas a pelos en las alas traseras. Los machos adultos tienen patas delanteras pequeñas y no tienen garras. Esto los diferencia de las hembras cuyas patas delanteras son de tamaño normal y también de estructura normal.

Azul plateado (Glaucopsyche Lygdamus)

Se trata de pequeñas mariposas con una envergadura de entre 18 mm y 28 mm. El adulto hace un lado superior que es de color azul claro brillante y brillante. También tienen un borde gris a lo largo de ambas alas. Entre las mujeres adultas, el borde gris oscuro es mucho más ancho, y a veces el tono gris se ve en toda el ala. La parte inferior de estas mariposas es gris y está salpicada de una fila de manchas negras redondas con bordes blancos alrededor de las manchas en ambas alas.

Se sabe que las hembras ponen huevos en las cabezas de las flores emergentes de la planta de arveja. El momento es tal que cuando las larvas emergen, pueden alimentarse de las flores recién abiertas. Otras plantas alimenticias para el estado larval de la Mariposa Azul Plateada incluyen el trébol de olor blanco, la alfalfa, el guisante silvestre y el guisante de playa entre otras plantas. Estas mariposas se reproducen una sola vez. Esta única generación vuela entre principios de mayo y principios de julio en el sur y de mediados de junio a agosto en zonas como Terranova y el norte.

Las mariposas azules plateadas se encuentran en bosques abiertos, praderas floridas, bordes de caminos y a veces incluso en pequeñas áreas de desechos en centros urbanos. Es abundante en áreas cercanas a las plantas larvarias ya que los adultos también se alimentan del néctar de estas plantas.

En Canadá, la Silvery Blue es una de las mariposas más abundantes y se encuentra en todas las provincias y territorios, excepto en el suroeste de Ontario, donde es relativamente rara. En Toronto, los buenos lugares para ver la Mariposa Azul Plateada incluyen Leslie Street Spit, Rouge Park, Don Valley Brick Works y Eglinton Flats.

Las mariposas son criaturas mágicas y exóticas que generan misterio pero a la vez armonía. Además, son motivo de inspiración para muchos. Estas exóticas criaturas son conocidas por el juego de colores de sus alas, que engalanan los bosques y ciudades de todo el mundo con diversidad de especies para todos los gustos. Podríamos decir que cuando vemos a las mariposas, sentimos aires de libertad, conocemos lo grande y perfecta que puede ser la naturaleza a demás de transportarnos a niveles de armonía inimaginables. Solo debemos tomarnos el tiempo para conocerlas y admirarlas. Entonces ven y conoce las 14 mariposas mas bellas del mundo con nosotros.

1.     Mariposa Papilo Crino:

Esta especie es de hábitat natural del sur de Asia. Se distingue entre las otras por su maravilloso color verde brillante, combinado con un lima intenso con coloraciones negras en los extremos de sus alas, que tienen ondulaciones que la hacen mas exótica aun. Es una pincelada más de color a los matices de la naturaleza.

2.     Mariposa Emperador Purpura:

Esta especie esta cercana a nosotros si nos encontramos en Eurasia. Porque allí se encuentra su hábitat. El macho de la mariposa emperador tiene una longitud cuando esta adulta entre unos 70 y 80 milímetros y pueden identificarse por su color marrón oscuro en sus alas acompañado bandas  en blanco y anillos naranja en los extremos, los machos tienen su atractivo en el brilloso color purpura que solo ellos pueden lucir ya que las hembras no lo poseen.

3.     Mariposa Morfo Azul:

Esta maravillosa obra de la naturaleza puede reconocerse fácilmente por sus grandes alas de  color azul brillante que impacta aun mas en la mirada cuando notamos su envergadura de hasta 15 centímetros de longitud cuando despliega sus hermosas alas, además de contar con un intercalado de colores que hacen de su vuelo algo casi invisible.

4.     Mariposa Ornithoptera  Richmondia:

El nombre de esa mariposa se inspira en las alas de el pájaro Richmond, lamentablemente esta especie ya se encuentra en la lista de los animales en peligro de extinción motivado a la cruel y voraz deforestación de los bosques y su hábitat natural que se encuentra en Australia, en donde ya se hacen campañas para la protección de este hermoso ejemplar.

5.     Mariposa Teinopalpus Paureus:

Otra de las exóticas especies que se encuentran en Asia. Sus tonalidades en color verde lima y una combinación con dorados mas el patrón de sus alas que la diferencian de muchas otras mariposas la hacen un atractivo para los amantes de estas criaturas siendo esto una de las características que la identifican, es perteneciente a la familia de los papilionidos.

6.     Mariposa palos verde azul:

Esta pequeña mariposa es una de las especies más exóticas de la naturaleza en el mundo. Lo que la hace bastante difícil de ver, teniendo en cuenta también que quedan muy pocas de ellas en el ambiente y está en la lista de los animales en extinción.

7.     Mariposa Isla de mármol:

Un espécimen que generó mucha sorpresa, ya que hizo su reaparición después que se dio por extinta hace más de cien años, atrás en 1998 en la isla San Juan. El revuelo que causó su reaparición ha motivado a los grupos ambientalistas y protectores del medio ambiente, a hacer esfuerzos para mantener esta especie con vida. Sus colores son un mosaico entre verdes olivos y blancos que generan la semejanza a la piedra de mármol.

8.     Mariposa Alas Doradas de Pájaro Wallace:

Es una especie que solo se puede conseguir en una sola parte del mundo, y es en la región de Maluku en Indonesia. Las hembras suelen ser las de mayor tamaño y sus alas cuentan con el color marrón combinado con amarillo, mientras que el macho tiene mayor belleza gracias a la combinación de las bandas negras a los extremos de las alas y un amarillo casi naranja en el centro que no los hacen pasar desapercibidos al lente de un fotógrafo naturalista.

9.     Mariposa Papilio Homerus:

Esta especie es típica del continente americano. Los ejemplares se encuentran en los bosques de Jamaica, estas mariposas pueden alcanzar un diámetro de 6 centímetros con unas alas decoradas de color amarillo intenso con bordes de negro y pequeños detalles en blanco que le permiten cuidarse de los posibles depredadores.

10. Mariposa Papilio Aristodemus:

Nativa del continente americano, en el año 1978  este espécimen fue la primera en recibir protección federal, ya que en esa época comenzó a extinguirse. Gracias a esta protección, todavía se puede conseguir esta maravillosa criatura en la isla de Cuba o en las Bahamas, en donde quedan una cantidad considerable de ejemplares de la especie. Su textura aterciopelada más los colores amarillos en degrade junto con el negro y la figura de sus alas inspira a seguir protegiéndolas del mal de la extinción.

11. Mariposa Ornithoptera Chimaera:

Otra descendiente de los papilionidos y familia de los alas de pájaro resalta su belleza en su verde intenso, acompañado de un amarillo cálido, más un negro en los bordes que generan en la vista un sube y baja de emociones por la paleta de colores, su hábitat natural es en las montañas altas de Nueva Guinea a mas de 1000 metros de altura sobre el nivel del mar, así que será posible verla si somos montañistas y estamos de paso por este lugar.

12. Mariposa Safo Alas Largas:

Una pequeña mariposa hermosa con un color azul y blanco que asemeja un cielo con nubes, es proveniente de Belice y Costa Rica, en donde comúnmente se le ve. Tiene la particularidad de ser muy celosa con sus huevos y por ello tiene una planta específica en donde colocarlos.

13. Mariposa Papilio Chikae:

Una mariposa de color negro con trazos azules brillantes y una figura distinta en sus alas y con un diámetro de 10 centímetros de largo que la hace diferente a las demás y posee una especie de cola al final de ella. Esta mariposa fue descubierta en el año 1965, pero 20 años más tarde ya entraba en la nefasta lista de animales en extinción.

14. Mariposa Monarca:

Una de las especies más comunes y conocidas en el mundo ya que según estudios existen mas de 33 millones de ellas. Son nativas de Norteamérica pero hacen una migración a México en época de invierno y recorren entre 2000 a 4000 kilómetros de distancia para llegar a su destino. Se conoce fácilmente por su tradicional color negro y naranja.

Este es solo una pequeña lista de mariposas hermosas, todavía queda mucho por conocer y explorar sobre ellas.

Dalai Lama (, ;^[1][2] Tibetan: ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ་, Wylie: Tā la’i bla ma [táːlɛː láma]) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or “Yellow Hat” school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.^[3] The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, who lives as a refugee in India. The Dalai Lama is also considered to be the successor in a line of tulkus who are believed^[2] to be incarnations of Avalokiteśvara,^[1] the Bodhisattva of Compassion.^[4][5]

Since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century, his personage has always been a symbol of unification of the state of Tibet, where he has represented Buddhist values and traditions.^[6] The Dalai Lama was an important figure of the Geluk tradition, which was politically and numerically dominant in Central Tibet, but his religious authority went beyond sectarian boundaries. While he had no formal or institutional role in any of the religious traditions, which were headed by their own high lamas, he was a unifying symbol of the Tibetan state, representing Buddhist values and traditions above any specific school.^[7] The traditional function of the Dalai Lama as an ecumenical figure, holding together disparate religious and regional groups, has been taken up by the fourteenth Dalai Lama. He has worked to overcome sectarian and other divisions in the exiled community and has become a symbol of Tibetan nationhood for Tibetans both in Tibet and in exile.^[8]

From 1642 until 1705 and from 1750 to the 1950s, the Dalai Lamas or their regents headed the Tibetan government (or Ganden Phodrang) in Lhasa which governed all or most of the Tibetan Plateau with varying degrees of autonomy.^[9] This Tibetan government enjoyed the patronage and protection of firstly Mongol kings of the Khoshut and Dzungar Khanates (1642–1720) and then of the emperors of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty (1720–1912).^[9] In 1913, several Tibetan representatives including Agvan Dorzhiev signed a treaty between Tibet and Mongolia, proclaiming mutual recognition and their independence from China, however the legitimacy of the treaty and declared independence of Tibet was rejected by both the Republic of China and the current People’s Republic of China.^[10][11] The Dalai Lamas headed the Tibetan government afterwards despite that, until 1951.

Names[edit]

The name “Dalai Lama” is a combination of the Mongolic word dalai meaning “ocean” or “big” (coming from Mongolian title Dalaiyin qan or Dalaiin khan, translated as Gyatso or rgya-mtsho in Tibetan)^[13][14] and the Tibetan word བླ་མ་ (bla-ma) meaning “master, guru”.^[15]

The Dalai Lama is also known in Tibetan as the Rgyal-ba Rin-po-che (“Precious Conqueror”)^[14] or simply as the Rgyal-ba.^[16]: 23

History[edit]

In Central Asian Buddhist countries, it has been widely believed for the last millennium that Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, has a special relationship with the people of Tibet and intervenes in their fate by incarnating as benevolent rulers and teachers such as the Dalai Lamas. This is according to The Book of Kadam, the main text of the Kadampa school, to which the 1st Dalai Lama, Gendun Drup, first belonged.^[17] In fact, this text is said to have laid the foundation for the Tibetans’ later identification of the Dalai Lamas as incarnations of Avalokiteśvara.^{[18][better source needed]}

It traces the legend of the bodhisattva’s incarnations as early Tibetan kings and emperors such as Songtsen Gampo and later as Dromtönpa (1004–1064).^[19]

This lineage has been extrapolated by Tibetans up to and including the Dalai Lamas.^[20]

Origins in myth and legend[edit]

Thus, according to such sources, an informal line of succession of the present Dalai Lamas as incarnations of Avalokiteśvara stretches back much further than Gendun Drub. The Book of Kadam,^[21] the compilation of Kadampa teachings largely composed around discussions between the Indian sage Atiśa (980–1054) and his Tibetan host and chief disciple Dromtönpa^[22][23] and Tales of the Previous Incarnations of Arya Avalokiteśvara,^[24] nominate as many as sixty persons prior to Gendun Drub who are enumerated as earlier incarnations of Avalokiteśvara and predecessors in the same lineage leading up to him. In brief, these include a mythology of 36 Indian personalities plus 10 early Tibetan kings and emperors, all said to be previous incarnations of Dromtönpa, and fourteen further Nepalese and Tibetan yogis and sages in between him and the 1st Dalai Lama.^[25] In fact, according to the “Birth to Exile” article on the 14th Dalai Lama’s website, he is “the seventy-fourth in a lineage that can be traced back to a Brahmin boy who lived in the time of Buddha Shakyamuni.”^[26]

Avalokiteśvara’s “Dalai Lama master plan”[edit]

According to the 14th Dalai Lama, long ago Avalokiteśvara had promised the Buddha to guide and defend the Tibetan people and in the late Middle Ages, his master plan to fulfill this promise was the stage-by-stage establishment of the Dalai Lama theocracy in Tibet.^[27]

First, Tsongkhapa established three great monasteries around Lhasa in the province of Ü before he died in 1419.^[28] The 1st Dalai Lama soon became Abbot of the greatest one, Drepung, and developed a large popular power base in Ü. He later extended this to cover Tsang,^[29] where he constructed a fourth great monastery, Tashi Lhunpo, at Shigatse.^[30] The 2nd studied there before returning to Lhasa,^[27] where he became Abbot of Drepung.^[31] Having reactivated the 1st’s large popular followings in Tsang and Ü,^[32] the 2nd then moved on to southern Tibet and gathered more followers there who helped him construct a new monastery, Chokorgyel.^[33] He also established the method by which later Dalai Lama incarnations would be discovered through visions at the “oracle lake”, Lhamo Lhatso.^[34] The 3rd built on his predecessors’ fame by becoming Abbot of the two great monasteries of Drepung and Sera.^[34] The stage was set for the great Mongol King Altan Khan, hearing of his reputation, to invite the 3rd to Mongolia where he converted the King and his followers to Buddhism, as well as other Mongol princes and their followers covering a vast tract of central Asia. Thus most of Mongolia was added to the Dalai Lama’s sphere of influence, founding a spiritual empire which largely survives to the modern age.^[35] After being given the Mongolian name ‘Dalai’,^[36] he returned to Tibet to found the great monasteries of Lithang in Kham, eastern Tibet and Kumbum in Amdo, north-eastern Tibet.^[37] The 4th was then born in Mongolia as the great grandson of Altan Khan, thus cementing strong ties between Central Asia, the Dalai Lamas, the Gelugpa and Tibet.^[38] Finally, in fulfilment of Avalokiteśvara’s master plan, the 5th in the succession used the vast popular power base of devoted followers built up by his four predecessors. By 1642, a strategy that was planned and carried out by his resourceful chagdzo or manager Sonam Rapten with the military assistance of his devoted disciple Gushri Khan, Chieftain of the Khoshut Mongols, enabled the ‘Great 5th’ to found the Dalai Lamas’ religious and political reign over more or less the whole of Tibet that survived for over 300 years.^[39]

Thus the Dalai Lamas became pre-eminent spiritual leaders in Tibet and 25 Himalayan and Central Asian kingdoms and countries bordering Tibet and their prolific literary works have “for centuries acted as major sources of spiritual and philosophical inspiration to more than fifty million people of these lands”.^[40] Overall, they have played “a monumental role in Asian literary, philosophical and religious history”.^[41]

Establishment of the Dalai Lama lineage[edit]

Gendun Drup (1391–1474), a disciple of the founder Je Tsongkapa,^[42] was the ordination name of the monk who came to be known as the ‘First Dalai Lama’, but only from 104 years after he died.^[43] There had been resistance, since first he was ordained a monk in the Kadampa tradition^[33] and for various reasons, for hundreds of years the Kadampa school had eschewed the adoption of the tulku system to which the older schools adhered.^[44] Tsongkhapa largely modelled his new, reformed Gelugpa school on the Kadampa tradition and refrained from starting a tulku system.^[45] Therefore, although Gendun Drup grew to be a very important Gelugpa lama, after he died in 1474 there was no question of any search being made to identify his incarnation.^[44]

Despite this, when the Tashilhunpo monks started hearing what seemed credible accounts that an incarnation of Gendun Drup had appeared nearby and repeatedly announced himself from the age of two, their curiosity was aroused.^[46] It was some 55 years after Tsongkhapa’s death when eventually, the monastic authorities saw compelling evidence that convinced them the child in question was indeed the incarnation of their founder. They felt obliged to break with their own tradition and in 1487, the boy was renamed Gendun Gyatso and installed at Tashilhunpo as Gendun Drup’s tulku, albeit informally.^[47]

Gendun Gyatso died in 1542 and the lineage of Dalai Lama tulkus finally became firmly established when the third incarnation, Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588), came forth. He made himself known as the tulku of Gendun Gyatso and was formally recognised and enthroned at Drepung in 1546.^[48] When Gendun Gyatso was given the titular name “Dalai Lama” by the Tümed Altan Khan in 1578,^[49]: 153 his two predecessors were accorded the title posthumously and he became known as the third in the lineage.^[43]

1st Dalai Lama[edit]

The Dalai Lama lineage started from humble beginnings.^[50] ‘Pema Dorje’ (1391–1474), the boy who was to become the first in the line, was born in a cattle pen^[51] in Shabtod, Tsang in 1391.^[33] His nomad parents kept sheep and goats and lived in tents. When his father died in 1398 his mother was unable to support the young goatherd so she entrusted him to his uncle, a monk at Narthang, a major Kadampa monastery near Shigatse, for education as a Buddhist monk.^[52] Narthang ran the largest printing press in Tibet^[53] and its celebrated library attracted scholars and adepts from far and wide, so Pema Dorje received an education beyond the norm at the time as well as exposure to diverse spiritual schools and ideas.^[54] He studied Buddhist philosophy extensively and in 1405, ordained by Narthang’s abbot, he took the name of Gendun Drup.^[33] Soon recognised as an exceptionally gifted pupil, the abbot tutored him personally and took special interest in his progress.^[54] In 12 years he passed the 12 grades of monkhood and took the highest vows.^[51] After completing his intensive studies at Narthang he left to continue at specialist monasteries in Central Tibet, his grounding at Narthang was revered among many he encountered.^[55]

In 1415 Gendun Drup met Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa school, and became his student; their meeting was of decisive historical and political significance as he was later to be known as the 1st Dalai Lama.^[56] When eventually Tsongkhapa’s successor the Panchen Lama Khedrup Je died, Gendun Drup became the leader of the Gelugpa.^[51] He rose to become Abbot of Drepung, the greatest Gelugpa monastery, outside Lhasa.^[31]

It was mainly due to Gendun Drup’s energy and ability that Tsongkhapa’s new school grew into an expanding order capable of competing with others on an equal footing.^[57] Taking advantage of good relations with the nobility and a lack of determined opposition from rival orders, on the very edge of Karma Kagyu-dominated territory he founded Tashilhunpo Monastery at Shigatse.^[57] He was based there, as its Abbot, from its founding in 1447 until his death.^[58] Tashilhunpo, ‘Mountain of Blessings’, became the fourth great Gelugpa monastery in Tibet, after Ganden, Drepung and Sera had all been founded in Tsongkhapa’s time.^[28] It later became the seat of the Panchen Lamas.^[59] By establishing it at Shigatse in the middle of Tsang, he expanded the Gelugpa sphere of influence, and his own, from the Lhasa region of Ü to this province, which was the stronghold of the Karma Kagyu school and their patrons, the rising Tsangpa dynasty.^[28][60] Tashilhunpo was destined to become ‘Southern Tibet’s greatest monastic university’^[61] with a complement of 3,000 monks.^[33]

Gendun Drup was said to be the greatest scholar-saint ever produced by Narthang Monastery^[61] and became ‘the single most important lama in Tibet’.^[62] Through hard work he became a leading lama, known as ‘Perfecter of the Monkhood’, ‘with a host of disciples’.^[59] Famed for his Buddhist scholarship he was also referred to as Panchen Gendun Drup, ‘Panchen’ being an honorary title designating ‘great scholar’.^[33] By the great Jonangpa master Bodong Chokley Namgyal^[63] he was accorded the honorary title Tamchey Khyenpa meaning “The Omniscient One”, an appellation that was later assigned to all Dalai Lama incarnations.^[64]

At the age of 50, he entered meditation retreat at Narthang. As he grew older, Karma Kagyu adherents, finding their sect was losing too many recruits to the monkhood to burgeoning Gelugpa monasteries, tried to contain Gelug expansion by launching military expeditions against them in the region.^[65] This led to decades of military and political power struggles between Tsangpa dynasty forces and others across central Tibet.^[66] In an attempt to ameliorate these clashes, from his retreat Gendun Drup issued a poem of advice to his followers advising restraint from responding to violence with more violence and to practice compassion and patience instead. The poem, entitled Shar Gang Rima, “The Song of the Eastern Snow Mountains”, became one of his most enduring popular literary works.^[67]

Although he was born in a cattle pen to be a simple goatherd, Gendun Drup rose to become one of the most celebrated and respected teachers in Tibet and Central Asia. His spiritual accomplishments brought him substantial donations from devotees which he used to build and furnish new monasteries, to print and distribute Buddhist texts and to maintain monks and meditators.^[68] At last, at the age of 84, older than any of his 13 successors, in 1474 he went on foot to visit Narthang Monastery on a final teaching tour. Returning to Tashilhunpo^[69] he died ‘in a blaze of glory, recognised as having attained Buddhahood’.^[59]

His mortal remains were interred in a bejewelled silver stupa at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, which survived the Cultural Revolution and can still be seen.^[44]

2nd Dalai Lama[edit]

Like the Kadampa, the Gelugpa eschewed the tulku system.^[70] After Gendun Drup died, however, a boy called Sangyey Pel born to Nyngma adepts at Yolkar in Tsang,^[33][71] declared himself at 3 to be “Gendun Drup” and asked to be ‘taken home’ to Tashilhunpo. He spoke in mystical verses, quoted classical texts out of the blue^[72] and said he was Dromtönpa, an earlier incarnation of the Dalai Lamas.^[73] When he saw monks from Tashilhunpo he greeted the disciples of the late Gendun Drup by name.^[74] The Gelugpa elders had to break with tradition and recognised him as Gendun Drup’s tulku.^[47]

He was then 8, but until his 12th year his father took him on his teachings and retreats, training him in all the family Nyingma lineages.^[75] At 12 he was installed at Tashilhunpo as Gendun Drup’s incarnation, ordained, enthroned and renamed Gendun Gyatso Palzangpo (1475–1542).^[47]

Tutored personally by the abbot he made rapid progress and from 1492 at 17 he was requested to teach all over Tsang, where thousands gathered to listen and give obeisance, including senior scholars and abbots.^[76] In 1494, at 19, he met some opposition from the Tashilhunpo establishment when tensions arose over conflicts between advocates of the two types of succession, the traditional abbatial election through merit, and incarnation. Although he had served for some years as Tashilhunpo’s abbot, he therefore moved to central Tibet, where he was invited to Drepung and where his reputation as a brilliant young teacher quickly grew.^[77][78] He was accorded all the loyalty and devotion that Gendun Drup had earned and the Gelug school remained as united as ever.^[28] This move had the effect of shifting central Gelug authority back to Lhasa. Under his leadership, the sect went on growing in size and influence^[79] and with its appeal of simplicity, devotion and austerity its lamas were asked to mediate in disputes between other rivals.^[80]

Gendun Gyatso’s popularity in Ü-Tsang grew as he went on pilgrimage, travelling, teaching and studying from masters such as the adept Khedrup Norzang Gyatso in the Olklha mountains.^[81] He also stayed in Kongpo and Dagpo^[82] and became known all over Tibet.^[34] He spent his winters in Lhasa, writing commentaries and the rest of the year travelling and teaching many thousands of monks and lay people.^[83]

In 1509 he moved to southern Tibet to build Chokorgyel Monastery near the ‘Oracle Lake’, Lhamo Latso,^[34] completing it by 1511.^[84] That year he saw visions in the lake and ’empowered’ it to impart clues to help identify incarnate lamas. All Dalai Lamas from the 3rd on were found with the help of such visions granted to regents.^[34][85] By now widely regarded as one of Tibet’s greatest saints and scholars^[86] he was invited back to Tashilhunpo. On his return in 1512, he was given the residence built for Gendun Drup, to be occupied later by the Panchen Lamas.^[33] He was made abbot of Tashilhunpo^[87] and stayed there teaching in Tsang for 9 months.^[88]

Gendun Gyatso continued to travel widely and teach while based at Tibet’s largest monastery, Drepung and became known as ‘Drepung Lama’,^[79] his fame and influence spreading all over Central Asia as the best students from hundreds of lesser monasteries in Asia were sent to Drepung for education.^[84]

Throughout Gendun Gyatso’s life, the Gelugpa were opposed and suppressed by older rivals, particularly the Karma Kagyu and their Ringpung clan patrons from Tsang, who felt threatened by their loss of influence.^[89] In 1498 the Ringpung army captured Lhasa and banned the Gelugpa annual New Year Monlam Prayer Festival^[89] started by Tsongkhapa for world peace and prosperity.^[90] Gendun Gyatso was promoted to abbot of Drepung in 1517^[84] and that year Ringpung forces were forced to withdraw from Lhasa.^[89][91] Gendun Gyatso then went to the Gongma (King) Drakpa Jungne^[92] to obtain permission for the festival to be held again.^[90] The next New Year, the Gongma was so impressed by Gendun Gyatso’s performance leading the Festival that he sponsored construction of a large new residence for him at Drepung, ‘a monastery within a monastery’.^[90] It was called the Ganden Phodrang, a name later adopted by the Tibetan Government,^[33] and it served as home for Dalai Lamas until the Fifth moved to the Potala Palace in 1645.

In 1525, already abbot of Chokhorgyel, Drepung and Tashilhunpo, he was made abbot of Sera monastery as well, and seeing the number of monks was low he worked to increase it.^[93] Based at Drepung in winter and Chokorgyel in summer, he spent his remaining years in composing commentaries, regional teaching tours, visiting Tashilhunpo from time to time and acting as abbot of these four great monasteries.^[93] As abbot, he made Drepung the largest monastery in the whole of Tibet.^[94] He attracted many students and disciples ‘from Kashmir to China’^[93] as well as major patrons and disciples such as Gongma Nangso Donyopa of Droda who built a monastery at Zhekar Dzong in his honour and invited him to name it and be its spiritual guide.^[95]

Gongma Gyaltsen Palzangpo of Khyomorlung at Tolung and his Queen Sangyey Paldzomma also became his favourite devoted lay patrons and disciples in the 1530s and he visited their area to carry out rituals as ‘he chose it for his next place of rebirth’.^[96] He died in meditation at Drepung in 1542 at 67 and his reliquary stupa was constructed at Khyomorlung.^[97] It was said that, by the time he died, through his disciples and their students, his personal influence covered the whole of Buddhist Central Asia where ‘there was nobody of any consequence who did not know of him’.^[97]

3rd Dalai Lama[edit]

The Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588) was born in Tolung, near Lhasa,^[98] as predicted by his predecessor.^[96] Claiming he was Gendun Gyatso and readily recalling events from his previous life, he was recognised as the incarnation, named ‘Sonam Gyatso’ and installed at Drepung, where ‘he quickly excelled his teachers in knowledge and wisdom and developed extraordinary powers’.^[99] Unlike his predecessors, he came from a noble family, connected with the Sakya and the Phagmo Drupa (Karma Kagyu affiliated) dynasties,^[94] and it is to him that the effective conversion of Mongolia to Buddhism is due.^[59]

A brilliant scholar and teacher,^[100] he had the spiritual maturity to be made Abbot of Drepung,^[101] taking responsibility for the material and spiritual well-being of Tibet’s largest monastery at the age of nine. At 10 he led the Monlam Prayer Festival, giving daily discourses to the assembly of all Gelugpa monks.^[102] His influence grew so quickly that soon the monks at Sera Monastery also made him their Abbot^[34] and his mediation was being sought to prevent fighting between political power factions. At 16, in 1559, he was invited to Nedong by King Ngawang Tashi Drakpa, a Karma Kagyu supporter, and became his personal teacher. At 17, when fighting broke out in Lhasa between Gelug and Kagyu parties and efforts by local lamas to mediate failed, Sonam Gyatso negotiated a peaceful settlement. At 19, when the Kyichu River burst its banks and flooded Lhasa, he led his followers to rescue victims and repair the dykes. He then instituted a custom whereby on the last day of Monlam, all the monks would work on strengthening the flood defences.^[98] Gradually, he was shaping himself into a national leader.^[103] His popularity and renown became such that in 1564 when the Nedong King died, it was Sonam Gyatso at the age of 21 who was requested to lead his funeral rites, rather than his own Kagyu lamas.^[34]

Required to travel and teach without respite after taking full ordination in 1565, he still maintained extensive meditation practices in the hours before dawn and again at the end of the day.^[104] In 1569, at age 26, he went to Tashilhunpo to study the layout and administration of the monastery built by his predecessor Gendun Drup. Invited to become the Abbot he declined, already being Abbot of Drepung and Sera, but left his deputy there in his stead.^[105] From there he visited Narthang, the first monastery of Gendun Drup and gave numerous discourses and offerings to the monks in gratitude.^[104]

Meanwhile, Altan Khan, chief of all the Mongol tribes near China’s borders, had heard of Sonam Gyatso’s spiritual prowess and repeatedly invited him to Mongolia.^[94] By 1571, when Altan Khan received a title of Shunyi Wang (King) from the Ming dynasty of China^[106] and swore allegiance to Ming,^[107] although he remained de facto quite independent,^[49]: 106 he had fulfilled his political destiny and a nephew advised him to seek spiritual salvation, saying that “in Tibet dwells Avalokiteshvara”, referring to Sonam Gyatso, then 28 years old.^[108] China was also happy to help Altan Khan by providing necessary translations of holy scripture, and also lamas.^[109] At the second invitation, in 1577–78 Sonam Gyatso travelled 1,500 miles to Mongolia to see him. They met in an atmosphere of intense reverence and devotion^[110] and their meeting resulted in the re-establishment of strong Tibet-Mongolia relations after a gap of 200 years.^[94] To Altan Khan, Sonam Gyatso identified himself as the incarnation of Drogön Chögyal Phagpa, and Altan Khan as that of Kubilai Khan, thus placing the Khan as heir to the Chingizid lineage whilst securing his patronage.^[111] Altan Khan and his followers quickly adopted Buddhism as their state religion, replacing the prohibited traditional Shamanism.^[100] Mongol law was reformed to accord with Tibetan Buddhist law. From this time Buddhism spread rapidly across Mongolia^[111] and soon the Gelugpa had won the spiritual allegiance of most of the Mongolian tribes.^[100] As proposed by Sonam Gyatso, Altan Khan sponsored the building of Thegchen Chonkhor Monastery at the site of Sonam Gyatso’s open-air teachings given to the whole Mongol population. He also called Sonam Gyatso “Dalai”, Mongolian for ‘Gyatso’ (Ocean).^[112] In October 1587, as requested by the family of Altan Khan, Gyalwa Sonam Gyatso was promoted to Duǒ Er Zhǐ Chàng (Chinese:朵儿只唱) by the emperor of China, seal of authority and golden sheets were granted. ^[113]

The name “Dalai Lama”, by which the lineage later became known throughout the non-Tibetan world, was thus established and it was applied to the first two incarnations retrospectively.^[43]

Returning eventually to Tibet by a roundabout route and invited to stay and teach all along the way, in 1580 Sonam Gyatso was in Hohhot [or Ningxia], not far from Beijing, when the Chinese Emperor invited him to his court.^[114][115] By then he had established a religious empire of such proportions that it was unsurprising the Emperor wanted to invite him and grant him a diploma.^[110] At the request of the Ningxia Governor he had been teaching large gatherings of people from East Turkestan, Mongolia and nearby areas of China, with interpreters provided by the governor for each language. While there, a Ming court envoy came with gifts and a request to visit the Wanli Emperor but he declined having already agreed to visit Eastern Tibet next. Once there, in Kham, he founded two more great Gelugpa monasteries, the first in 1580 at Lithang where he left his representative before going on to Chamdo Monastery where he resided and was made Abbot. Through Altan Khan, the 3rd Dalai Lama requested to pay tribute to the Emperor of China in order to raise his State Tutor ranking, the Ming imperial court of China agreed with the request.^[116] In 1582, he heard Altan Khan had died and invited by his son Dhüring Khan he decided to return to Mongolia. Passing through Amdo, he founded a second great monastery, Kumbum, at the birthplace of Tsongkhapa near Kokonor.^[115] Further on, he was asked to adjudicate on border disputes between Mongolia and China. It was the first time a Dalai Lama had exercised such political authority.^[117] Arriving in Mongolia in 1585, he stayed 2 years with Dhüring Khan, teaching Buddhism to his people^[115] and converting more Mongol princes and their tribes. Receiving a second invitation from the Emperor in Beijing he accepted, but died en route in 1588.^[118]

For a lifetime of only 45 years, his accomplishments were impressive and some of the most important ones were due to his relationship with Altan Khan.^[118] As he was dying, his Mongolian converts urged him not to leave them, as they needed his continuing religious leadership. He promised them he would be incarnated next in Mongolia, as a Mongolian.^[117]

4th Dalai Lama[edit]

The Fourth Dalai Lama, Yonten Gyatso (1589–1617) was a Mongolian, the great-grandson of Altan Khan^[119] who was a descendant of Kublai Khan and King of the Tümed Mongols who had already been converted to Buddhism by the Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588).^[31] This strong connection caused the Mongols to zealously support the Gelugpa sect in Tibet, strengthening their status and position but also arousing intensified opposition from the Gelugpa’s rivals, particularly the Tsang Karma Kagyu in Shigatse and their Mongolian patrons and the Bönpo in Kham and their allies.^[31] Being the newest school, unlike the older schools the Gelugpa lacked an established network of Tibetan clan patronage and were thus more reliant on foreign patrons.^[120] At the age of 10 with a large Mongol escort he travelled to Lhasa where he was enthroned. He studied at Drepung and became its abbot but being a non-Tibetan he met with opposition from some Tibetans, especially the Karma Kagyu who felt their position was threatened by these emerging events; there were several attempts to remove him from power.^[121] Yonten Gyatso died at the age of 27 under suspicious circumstances and his chief attendant Sonam Rapten went on to discover the 5th Dalai Lama, became his chagdzo or manager and after 1642 he went on to be his regent, the Desi.^[122]

5th Dalai Lama[edit]

Map showing the extent of the Khoshut Khanate, 1642–1717, after the Unification of Tibet under the 5th Dalai Lama with Sonam Chöphel and Güshi Khan

‘Greater Tibet’ as claimed by exiled groups

The death of the Fourth Dalai Lama in 1617 led to open conflict breaking out between various parties.^[120] Firstly, the Tsangpa dynasty, rulers of Central Tibet from Shigatse, supporters of the Karmapa school and rivals to the Gelugpa, forbade the search for his incarnation.^[123] However, in 1618 Sonam Rabten, the former attendant of the 4th Dalai Lama who had become the Ganden Phodrang treasurer, secretly identified the child,^[124] who had been born to the noble Zahor family at Tagtse castle, south of Lhasa. Then, the Panchen Lama, in Shigatse, negotiated the lifting of the ban, enabling the boy to be recognised as Lobsang Gyatso, the 5th Dalai Lama.^[123]

Also in 1618, the Tsangpa King, Karma Puntsok Namgyal, whose Mongol patron was Choghtu Khong Tayiji of the Khalkha Mongols, attacked the Gelugpa in Lhasa to avenge an earlier snub and established two military bases there to control the monasteries and the city. This caused Sonam Rabten who became the 5th Dalai Lama’s changdzo or manager,^[125] to seek more active Mongol patronage and military assistance for the Gelugpa while the Fifth was still a boy.^[120] So, in 1620, Mongol troops allied to the Gelugpa who had camped outside Lhasa suddenly attacked and destroyed the two Tsangpa camps and drove them out of Lhasa, enabling the Dalai Lama to be brought out of hiding and publicly enthroned there in 1622.^[124]

In fact, throughout the 5th’s minority, it was the influential and forceful Sonam Rabten who inspired the Dzungar Mongols to defend the Gelugpa by attacking their enemies. These enemies included other Mongol tribes who supported the Tsangpas, the Tsangpa themselves and their Bönpo allies in Kham who had also opposed and persecuted Gelugpas. Ultimately, this strategy led to the destruction of the Tsangpa dynasty, the defeat of the Karmapas and their other allies and the Bönpos, by armed forces from the Lhasa valley aided by their Mongol allies, paving the way for Gelugpa political and religious hegemony in Central Tibet.^[123] Apparently by general consensus, by virtue of his position as the Dalai Lama’s changdzo (chief attendant, minister), after the Dalai Lama became absolute ruler of Tibet in 1642 Sonam Rabten became the “Desi” or “Viceroy”, in fact, the de facto regent or day-to-day ruler of Tibet’s governmental affairs. During these years and for the rest of his life (he died in 1658), “there was little doubt that politically Sonam Chophel [Rabten] was more powerful than the Dalai Lama”.^[126] As a young man, being 22 years his junior, the Dalai Lama addressed him reverentially as “Zhalngo“, meaning “the Presence”.^[127]

During the 1630s Tibet was deeply entangled in rivalry, evolving power struggles and conflicts, not only between the Tibetan religious sects but also between the rising Manchus and the various rival Mongol and Oirat factions, who were also vying for supremacy amongst themselves and on behalf of the religious sects they patronised.^[120] For example, Ligdan Khan of the Chahars, a Mongol subgroup who supported the Tsang Karmapas, after retreating from advancing Manchu armies headed for Kokonor intending destroy the Gelug. He died on the way, in 1634^[128] but his vassal Choghtu Khong Tayiji, continued to advance against the Gelugpas, even having his own son Arslan killed after Arslan changed sides, submitted to the Dalai Lama and become a Gelugpa monk.^[129] By the mid-1630s, thanks again to the efforts of Sonam Rabten,^[123] the 5th Dalai Lama had found a powerful new patron in Güshi Khan of the Khoshut Mongols, a subgroup of the Dzungars, who had recently migrated to the Kokonor area from Dzungaria.^[120] He attacked Choghtu Khong Tayiji at Kokonor in 1637 and defeated and killed him, thus eliminating the Tsangpa and the Karmapa’s main Mongol patron and protector.^[120]

Next, Donyo Dorje, the Bönpo king of Beri in Kham was found writing to the Tsangpa king in Shigatse to propose a co-ordinated ‘pincer attack’ on the Lhasa Gelugpa monasteries from east and west, seeking to utterly destroy them once and for all.^[130] The intercepted letter was sent to Güshi Khan who used it as a pretext to invade central Tibet in 1639 to attack them both, the Bönpo and the Tsangpa. By 1641 he had defeated Donyo Dorje and his allies in Kham and then he marched on Shigatse where after laying siege to their strongholds he defeated Karma Tenkyong, broke the power of the Tsang Karma Kagyu in 1642 and ended the Tsangpa dynasty.^[131]

Güshi Khan’s attack on the Tsangpa was made on the orders of Sonam Rapten while being publicly and robustly opposed by the Dalai Lama, who, as a matter of conscience, out of compassion and his vision of tolerance for other religious schools, refused to give permission for more warfare in his name after the defeat of the Beri king.^[126][132] Sonam Rabten deviously went behind his master’s back to encourage Güshi Khan, to facilitate his plans and to ensure the attacks took place;^[123] for this defiance of his master’s wishes, Rabten was severely rebuked by the 5th Dalai Lama.^[132]

After Desi Sonam Rapten died in 1658, the following year the 5th Dalai Lama appointed his younger brother Depa Norbu (aka Nangso Norbu) as his successor.^[133] However, after a few months, Norbu betrayed him and led a rebellion against the Ganden Phodrang Government. With his accomplices he seized Samdruptse fort at Shigatse and tried to raise a rebel army from Tsang and Bhutan, but the Dalai Lama skilfully foiled his plans without any fighting taking place and Norbu had to flee.^[134] Four other Desis were appointed after Depa Norbu: Trinle Gyatso, Lozang Tutop, Lozang Jinpa and Sangye Gyatso.^[135]

Re-unification of Tibet[edit]

Having thus defeated all the Gelugpa’s rivals and resolved all regional and sectarian conflicts Güshi Khan became the undisputed patron of a unified Tibet and acted as a “Protector of the Gelug”,^[136] establishing the Khoshut Khanate which covered almost the entire Tibetan plateau, an area corresponding roughly to ‘Greater Tibet’ including Kham and Amdo, as claimed by exiled groups (see maps). At an enthronement ceremony in Shigatse he conferred full sovereignty over Tibet on the Fifth Dalai Lama,^[137] unified for the first time since the collapse of the Tibetan Empire exactly eight centuries earlier.^[120][138] Güshi Khan then retired to Kokonor with his armies^[120] and [according to Smith] ruled Amdo himself directly thus creating a precedent for the later separation of Amdo from the rest of Tibet.^[138]

In this way, Güshi Khan established the Fifth Dalai Lama as the highest spiritual and political authority in Tibet. ‘The Great Fifth’ became the temporal ruler of Tibet in 1642 and from then on the rule of the Dalai Lama lineage over some, all or most of Tibet lasted with few breaks for the next 317 years, until 1959, when the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India.^[139] In 1645, the Great Fifth began the construction of the Potala Palace in Lhasa.^[140]

Güshi Khan died in 1655 and was succeeded by his descendants Dayan, Tenzin Dalai Khan and Tenzin Wangchuk Khan. However, Güshi Khan’s other eight sons had settled in Amdo but fought amongst themselves over territory so the Fifth Dalai Lama sent governors to rule them in 1656 and 1659, thereby bringing Amdo and thus the whole of Greater Tibet under his personal rule and Gelugpa control. The Mongols in Amdo became absorbed and Tibetanised.^[141]

Visit to Beijing[edit]

In 1636 the Manchus proclaimed their dynasty as the Qing dynasty and by 1644 they had completed their conquest of China under the prince regent Dorgon.^[142] The following year their forces approached Amdo on northern Tibet, causing the Oirat and Khoshut Mongols there to submit in 1647 and send tribute. In 1648, after quelling a rebellion of Tibetans of Kansu-Xining, the Qing invited the Fifth Dalai Lama to visit their court at Beijing since they wished to engender Tibetan influence in their dealings with the Mongols. The Qing were aware the Dalai Lama had extraordinary influence with the Mongols and saw relations with the Dalai Lama as a means to facilitate submission of the Khalka Mongols, traditional patrons of the Karma Kagyu sect. Similarly, since the Tibetan Gelugpa were keen to revive a priest-patron relationship with the dominant power in China and Inner Asia, the Qing invitation was accepted. After five years of complex diplomatic negotiations about whether the emperor or his representatives should meet the Dalai Lama inside or outside the Great Wall, when the meeting would be astrologically favourable, how it would be conducted and so on, it eventually took place in Beijing in 1653. The Shunzhi Emperor was then 16 years old, having in the meantime ascended the throne in 1650 after the death of Dorgon. For the Qing, although the Dalai Lama was not required to kowtow to the emperor, who rose from his throne and advanced 30 feet to meet him, the significance of the visit was that of nominal political submission by the Dalai Lama since Inner Asian heads of state did not travel to meet each other but sent envoys. For Tibetan Buddhist historians however it was interpreted as the start of an era of independent rule of the Dalai Lamas, and of Qing patronage alongside that of the Mongols.^[143]

When the 5th Dalai Lama returned, he was granted by the emperor of China a golden seal of authority and golden sheets with texts written in Manchu, Tibetan and Chinese languages.^[144][145] The 5th Dalai Lama wanted to use the golden seal of authority right away.^[144] However, Lobzang Gyatsho noted that “The Tibetan version of the inscription of the seal was translated by a Mongolian translator but was not a good translation”. After correction, it read: “The one who resides in the Western peaceful and virtuous paradise is unalterable Vajradhara, Ocen Lama, unifier of the doctrines of the Buddha for all beings under the sky”. The words of the diploma ran: “Proclamation, to let all the people of the western hemisphere know”.^[145] Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain points out that based on the texts written on golden sheets, Dalai Lama was only a subordinate of the Emperor of China.^[146]

However, despite such patronising attempts by Chinese officials and historians to symbolically show for the record that they held political influence over Tibet, the Tibetans themselves did not accept any such symbols imposed on them by the Chinese with this kind of motive. For example, concerning the above-mentioned ‘golden seal’, the Fifth Dalai Lama comments in Dukula, his autobiography, on leaving China after this courtesy visit to the emperor in 1653, that “the emperor made his men bring a golden seal for me that had three vertical lines in three parallel scripts: Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan”. He also criticised the words carved on this gift as being faultily translated into Tibetan, writing that “The Tibetan version of the inscription of the seal was translated by a Mongol translator but was not a good translation”.^[145] Furthermore, when he arrived back in Tibet, he discarded the emperor’s famous golden seal and made a new one for important state usage, writing in his autobiography: “Leaving out the Chinese characters that were on the seal given by the emperor, a new seal was carved for stamping documents that dealt with territorial issues. The first imprint of the seal was offered with prayers to the image of Lokeshvara …”.^[147]

Relations with the Qing dynasty[edit]

The 17th-century struggles for domination between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the various Mongol groups spilled over to involve Tibet because of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s strong influence over the Mongols as a result of their general adoption of Tibetan Buddhism and their consequent deep loyalty to the Dalai Lama as their guru. Until 1674, the Fifth Dalai Lama had mediated in Dzungar Mongol affairs whenever they required him to do so, and the Kangxi Emperor, who had succeeded the Shunzhi Emperor in 1661, would accept and confirm his decisions automatically. For the Kangxi Emperor however, the alliance between the Dzungar Mongols and the Tibetans was unsettling because he feared it had the potential to unite all the other Mongol tribes together against the Qing Empire, including those tribes who had already submitted. Therefore, in 1674, the Kangxi Emperor, annoyed by the Fifth’s less than full cooperation in quelling a rebellion against the Qing in Yunnan, ceased deferring to him as regards Mongol affairs and started dealing with them directly.^[148]

In the same year, 1674, the Dalai Lama, then at the height of his powers and conducting a foreign policy independent of the Qing, caused Mongol troops to occupy the border post of Dartsedo between Kham and Sichuan, further annoying the Kangxi Emperor who (according to Smith) already considered Tibet as part of the Qing Empire. It also increased Qing suspicion about Tibetan relations with the Mongol groups and led him to seek strategic opportunities to oppose and undermine Mongol influence in Tibet and eventually, within 50 years, to defeat the Mongols militarily and to establish the Qing as sole ‘patrons and protectors’ of Tibet in their place.^[148]

Cultural development[edit]

The time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, who reigned from 1642 to 1682 and founded the government known as the Ganden Phodrang, was a period of rich cultural development.^[149] His reign and that of Desi Sangye Gyatso are noteworthy for the upsurge in literary activity and of cultural and economic life that occurred. The same goes for the great increase in the number of foreign visitors thronging Lhasa during the period as well as for the number of inventions and institutions that are attributed to the ‘Great Fifth’, as the Tibetans refer to him.^[150] The most dynamic and prolific of the early Dalai Lamas, he composed more literary works than all the other Dalai Lamas combined. Writing on a wide variety of subjects he is specially noted for his works on history, classical Indian poetry in Sanskrit and his biographies of notable personalities of his epoch, as well as his own two autobiographies, one spiritual in nature and the other political (see Further Reading).^[151] He also taught and travelled extensively, reshaped the politics of Central Asia, unified Tibet, conceived and constructed the Potala Palace and is remembered for establishing systems of national medical care and education.^[151]

Death of the fifth Dalai Lama[edit]

The Fifth Dalai Lama died in 1682. Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain points out that the written wills from the fifth Dalai Lama before he died explicitly said his title and authority were from the Emperor of China, and he was subordinate of the Emperor of China .^[146]

The Fifth Dalai Lama’s death in 1682 was kept secret for fifteen years by his regent Desi Sangye Gyatso. He pretended the Dalai Lama was in retreat and ruled on his behalf, secretly selecting the 6th Dalai Lama and presenting him as someone else. Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain points out that Desi Sangye Gyatso wanted to consolidate his personal status and power by not reporting the death of the fifth Dalai Lama to the Emperor of China, and also collude with the rebellion group of the Qing dynasty, Mongol Dzungar tribe in order to counter influence from another Mongol Khoshut tribe in Tibet. Being afraid of prosecution by the Kangxi Emperor of China, Desi Sangye Gyatso explained with fear and trepidation the reason behind his action to the Emperor. In 1705, Desi Sangye Gyatso was killed by Lha-bzang Khan of the Mongol Khoshut tribe because of his actions including his illegal action of selecting the 6th Dalai Lama. Since the Kangxi Emperor was not happy about Desi Sangye Gyatso’s action of not reporting, the Emperor gave Lha-bzang Khan additional title and golden seal. The Kangxi Emperor also ordered Lha-bzang Khan to arrest the 6th Dalai Lama and send him to Beijing, the 6th Dalai Lama died when he was en route to Beijing.^[146] Journalist Thomas Laird argues that it was apparently done so that construction of the Potala Palace could be finished, and it was to prevent Tibet’s neighbors, the Mongols and the Qing, from taking advantage of an interregnum in the succession of the Dalai Lamas.(Laird 2006, pp. 181–182)

6th Dalai Lama[edit]

The Sixth Dalai Lama (1683–1706) was born near Tawang, now in India, and picked out in 1685 but not enthroned until 1697 when the death of the Fifth was announced. After 16 years of study as a novice monk, in 1702 in his 20th year he rejected full ordination and gave up his monk’s robes and monastic life, preferring the lifestyle of a layman.^[152][153]

In 1703 Güshi Khan’s ruling grandson Tenzin Wangchuk Khan was murdered by his brother Lhazang Khan who usurped the Khoshut’s Tibetan throne, but unlike his four predecessors he started interfering directly in Tibetan affairs in Lhasa; he opposed the Fifth Dalai Lama’s regent, Desi Sangye Gyatso for his deceptions and in the same year, with the support of the Kangxi Emperor, he forced him out of office. Then in 1705, he used the Sixth’s escapades as an excuse to seize full control of Tibet. Most Tibetans, though, still supported their Dalai Lama despite his behaviour and deeply resented Lhazang Khan’s interference. When Lhazang was requested by the Tibetans to leave Lhasa politics to them and to retire to Kokonor like his predecessors, he quit the city, but only to gather his armies in order to return, capture Lhasa militarily and assume full political control of Tibet.^[154] The regent was then murdered by Lhazang or his wife, and, in 1706 with the compliance of the Kangxi Emperor the Sixth Dalai Lama was deposed and arrested by Lhazang who considered him to be an impostor set up by the regent. Lhazang Khan, now acting as the only outright foreign ruler that Tibet had ever had, then sent him to Beijing under escort to appear before the emperor but he died mysteriously on the way near Lake Qinghai, ostensibly from illness.^[155][156]

Having discredited and deposed the Sixth Dalai Lama, whom he considered an impostor, and having removed the regent, Lhazang Khan pressed the Lhasa Gelugpa lamas to endorse a new Dalai Lama in Tsangyang Gyatso’s place as the true incarnation of the Fifth. They eventually nominated one Pekar Dzinpa, a monk but also rumored to be Lhazang’s son,^[157] and Lhazang had him installed as the ‘real’ Sixth Dalai Lama, endorsed by the Panchen Lama and named Yeshe Gyatso in 1707.^[158] This choice was in no way accepted by the Tibetan people, however, nor by Lhazang’s princely Mongol rivals in Kokonor who resented his usurpation of the Khoshut Tibetan throne as well as his meddling in Tibetan affairs. The Kangxi Emperor concurred with them, after sending investigators, initially declining to recognize Yeshe Gyatso. He did recognize him in 1710, however, after sending a Qing official party to assist Lhazang in ‘restoring order’; these were the first Chinese representatives of any sort to officiate in Tibet.^[156] At the same time, while this puppet ‘Dalai Lama’ had no political power, the Kangxi Emperor secured from Lhazang Khan in return for this support the promise of regular payments of tribute; this was the first time tribute had been paid to the Manchu by the Mongols in Tibet and the first overt acknowledgment of Qing supremacy over Mongol rule in Tibet.^[159]

7th Dalai Lama[edit]

In 1708, in accordance with an indication given by the 6th Dalai Lama when quitting Lhasa a child called Kelzang Gyatso had been born at Lithang in eastern Tibet who was soon claimed by local Tibetans to be his incarnation. After going into hiding out of fear of Lhazang Khan, he was installed in Lithang monastery. Along with some of the Kokonor Mongol princes, rivals of Lhazang, in defiance of the situation in Lhasa the Tibetans of Kham duly recognised him as the Seventh Dalai Lama in 1712, retaining his birth-name of Kelzang Gyatso. For security reasons he was moved to Derge monastery and eventually, in 1716, now also backed and sponsored by the Kangxi Emperor of China.^[160] The Tibetans asked Dzungars to bring a true Dalai Lama to Lhasa, but the Manchu Chinese did not want to release Kelsan Gyatso to the Mongol Dzungars. The Regent Taktse Shabdrung and Tibetan officials then wrote a letter to the Manchu Chinese Emperor that they recognized Kelsang Gyatso as the Dalai Lama. The Emperor then granted Kelsang Gyatso a golden seal of authority.^[161] The Sixth Dalai Lama was taken to Amdo at the age of 8 to be installed in Kumbum Monastery with great pomp and ceremony.^[160]

According to Smith, the Kangxi Emperor now arranged to protect the child and keep him at Kumbum monastery in Amdo in reserve just in case his ally Lhasang Khan and his ‘real’ Sixth Dalai Lama, were overthrown.^[162] According to Mullin, however, the emperor’s support came from genuine spiritual recognition and respect rather than being politically motivated.^[163]

Dzungar invasion[edit]

In any case, the Kangxi Emperor took full advantage of having Kelzang Gyatso under Qing control at Kumbum after other Mongols from the Dzungar tribes led by Tsewang Rabtan who was related to his supposed ally Lhazang Khan, deceived and betrayed the latter by invading Tibet and capturing Lhasa in 1717.^[164][165]

These Dzungars, who were Buddhist, had supported the Fifth Dalai Lama and his regent. They were secretly petitioned by the Lhasa Gelugpa lamas to invade with their help in order to rid them of their foreign ruler Lhazang Khan and to replace the unpopular Sixth Dalai Lama pretender with the young Kelzang Gyatso. This plot suited the devious Dzungar leaders’ ambitions and they were only too happy to oblige.^[166][167] Early in 1717, after conspiring to undermine Lhazang Khan through treachery they entered Tibet from the northwest with a large army, sending a smaller force to Kumbum to collect Kelzang Gyatso and escort him to Lhasa. By the end of the year, with Tibetan connivance they had captured Lhasa, killed Lhazang and all his family and deposed Yeshe Gyatso. Their force sent to fetch Kelzang Gyatso however was intercepted and destroyed by Qing armies alerted by Lhazang. In Lhasa, the unruly Dzungar not only failed to produce the boy but also went on the rampage, looting and destroying the holy places, abusing the populace, killing hundreds of Nyingma monks, causing chaos and bloodshed and turning their Tibetan allies against them. The Tibetans were soon appealing to the Kangxi Emperor to rid them of the Dzungars.^[168][169]

When the Dzungars had first attacked, the weakened Lhazang sent word to the Qing for support and they quickly dispatched two armies to assist, the first Chinese armies ever to enter Tibet, but they arrived too late. In 1718 they were halted not far from Lhasa to be defeated and then ruthlessly annihilated by the triumphant Dzungars in the Battle of the Salween River.^[170][171]

Enthronement in Lhasa[edit]

This humiliation only determined the Kangxi Emperor to expel the Dzungars from Tibet once and for all and he set about assembling and dispatching a much larger force to march on Lhasa, bringing the emperor’s trump card the young Kelzang Gyatso with it. On the imperial army’s stately passage from Kumbum to Lhasa with the boy being welcomed adoringly at every stage, Khoshut Mongols and Tibetans were happy (and well paid) to join and swell its ranks.^[172] By the autumn of 1720 the marauding Dzungar Mongols had been vanquished from Tibet and the Qing imperial forces had entered Lhasa triumphantly with the 12-year-old, acting as patrons of the Dalai Lama, liberators of Tibet, allies of the Tibetan anti-Dzungar forces led by Kangchenas and Polhanas, and allies of the Khoshut Mongol princes. The delighted Tibetans enthroned him as the Seventh Dalai Lama at the Potala Palace.^[173][174]

A new Tibetan government was established consisting of a Kashag or cabinet of Tibetan ministers headed by Kangchenas. Kelzang Gyatso, too young to participate in politics, studied Buddhism. He played a symbolic role in government, and, being profoundly revered by the Mongols, he exercised much influence with the Qing who now had now taken over Tibet’s patronage and protection from them.^[175]

Exile to Kham[edit]

Having vanquished the Dzungars, the Qing army withdrew leaving the Seventh Dalai Lama as a political figurehead and only a Khalkha Mongol as the Qing amban or representative and a garrison in Lhasa.^[176][177] After the Kangxi Emperor died in 1722 and was succeeded by his son, the Yongzheng Emperor, these were also withdrawn, leaving the Tibetans to rule autonomously and showing the Qing were interested in an alliance, not conquest.^[176][177] In 1723, however, after brutally quelling a major rebellion by zealous Tibetan patriots and disgruntled Khoshut Mongols from Amdo who attacked Xining, the Qing intervened again, splitting Tibet by putting Amdo and Kham under their own more direct control.^[178] Continuing Qing interference in Central Tibetan politics and religion incited an anti-Qing faction to quarrel with the Qing-sympathising Tibetan nobles in power in Lhasa, led by Kanchenas who was supported by Polhanas. This led eventually to the murder of Kanchenas in 1727 and a civil war that was resolved in 1728 with the canny Polhanas, who had sent for Qing assistance, the victor. When the Qing forces did arrive they punished the losers and exiled the Seventh Dalai Lama to Kham, under the pretence of sending him to Beijing, because his father had assisted the defeated, anti-Qing faction. He studied and taught Buddhism there for the next seven years.^[179]

Return to Lhasa[edit]

In 1735 he was allowed back to Lhasa to study and teach, but still under strict control, being mistrusted by the Qing, while Polhanas ruled Central Tibet under nominal Qing supervision. Meanwhile, the Qing had promoted the Fifth Panchen Lama to be a rival leader and reinstated the ambans and the Lhasa garrison. Polhanas died in 1747 and was succeeded by his son Gyurme Namgyal, the last dynastic ruler of Tibet, who was far less cooperative with the Qing. On the contrary, he built a Tibetan army and started conspiring with the Dzungars to rid Tibet of Qing influence.^[180] In 1750, when the ambans realised this, they invited him and personally assassinated him and then, despite the Dalai Lama’s attempts to calm the angered populace a vengeful Tibetan mob assassinated the ambans in turn, along with most of their escort.^[181]

Restoration as Tibet’s political leader[edit]

The Qing sent yet another force ‘to restore order’ but when it arrived the situation had already been stabilised under the leadership of the 7th Dalai Lama who was now seen to have demonstrated loyalty to the Qing. Just as Güshi Khan had done with the Fifth Dalai Lama, they therefore helped reconstitute the government with the Dalai Lama presiding over a Kashag of four Tibetans, reinvesting him with temporal power in addition to his already established spiritual leadership. This arrangement, with a Kashag under the Dalai Lama or his regent, outlasted the Qing dynasty which collapsed in 1912.^[182] The ambans and their garrison were also reinstated to observe and to some extent supervise affairs, however, although their influence generally waned with the power of their empire which gradually declined after 1792 along with its influence over Tibet, a decline aided by a succession of corrupt or incompetent ambans.^[183] Moreover, there was soon no reason for the Qing to fear the Dzungar; by the time the Seventh Dalai Lama died in 1757 at the age of 49, the entire Dzungar people had been practically exterminated through years of genocidal campaigns by Qing armies, and deadly smallpox epidemics, with the survivors being forcibly transported into China. Their emptied lands were then awarded to other peoples.^[184]

According to Mullin, despite living through such violent times Kelzang Gyatso was perhaps ‘the most spiritually learned and accomplished of any Dalai Lama’, his written works comprising several hundred titles including ‘some of Tibet’s finest spiritual literary achievements’.^[185] In addition, despite his apparent lack of zeal in politics, Kelzang Gyatso is credited with establishing in 1751 the reformed government of Tibet headed by the Dalai Lama, which continued over 200 years until the 1950s, and then in exile.^[186] Construction of the Norbulingka, the ‘Summer Palace’ of the Dalai Lamas in Lhasa was also started during Kelzang Gyatso’s reign.^[187][188]

8th Dalai Lama[edit]

The Eighth Dalai Lama, Jamphel Gyatso was born in Tsang in 1758 and died aged 46 having taken little part in Tibetan politics, mostly leaving temporal matters to his regents and the ambans.^[189] The 8th Dalai Lama was approved by the Emperor of China to be exempted from the lot-drawing ceremony of using Chinese Golden Urn.^[190][191] Qianlong Emperor officially accept Gyiangbai as the 8th Dalai Lama when the 6th Panchen Erdeni came to congratulate the Emperor on his 70th birthday in 1780. The 8th Dalai Lama was granted a jade seal of authority and jade sheets of confirmation of authority by the Emperor of China.^[192][193] The jade sheets of confirmation of authority says

You, the Dalai Lama, is the legal incarnation of Zhongkapa. You are granted the jade certificate of confirmation of authority and jade seal of authority, which you enshrine in the Potala monastery to guard the gate of Buddhism forever. All documents sent for the country’s important ceremonies must be stamped with this seal, and all the other reports can be stamped with the original seal. Since you enjoy such honor, you have to make efforts to promote self-cultivation, study and propagate Buddhism, also help me in promoting Buddhism and goodness of the previous generation of the Dalai Lama for the people, and also for the long life of our country”^[194][193]

The Dalai Lama, his later generations and the local government cherished both the jade seal of authority, and the jade sheets of authority. They were properly preserved as the root to their ruling power.^[193]

Although the 8th Dalai Lama lived almost as long as the Seventh he was overshadowed by many contemporary lamas in terms of both religious and political accomplishment. According to Mullin, the 14th Dalai Lama has pointed to certain indications that Jamphel Gyatso might not have been the incarnation of the 7th Dalai Lama but of Jamyang Chojey, a disciple of Tsongkhapa and founder of Drepung monastery who was also reputed to be an incarnation of Avalokiteshvara. In any case, he mainly lived a quiet and unassuming life as a devoted and studious monk, uninvolved in the kind of dramas that had surrounded his predecessors.^[195]

Nevertheless, Jamphel Gyatso was also said to possess all the signs of being the true incarnation of the Seventh. This was also claimed to have been confirmed by many portents clear to the Tibetans and so, in 1762, at the age of 5, he was duly enthroned as the Eighth Dalai Lama at the Potala Palace.^[196] At the age of 23 he was persuaded to assume the throne as ruler of Tibet with a Regent to assist him and after three years of this, when the Regent went to Beijing as ambassador in 1784, he continued to rule solo for a further four years. Feeling unsuited to worldly affairs, however, and unhappy in this role, he then retired from public office to concentrate on religious activities for his remaining 16 years until his death in 1804.^[197] He is also credited with the construction of the Norbulingka ‘Summer Palace’ started by his predecessor in Lhasa and with ordaining some ten thousand monks in his efforts to foster monasticism.^[198]

9th to 12th Dalai Lamas[edit]

Hugh Richardson’s summary of the period covering the four short-lived, 19th-century Dalai Lamas:

After him [the 8th Dalai Lama, Jamphel Gyatso], the 9th and 10th Dalai Lamas died before attaining their majority: one of them is credibly stated to have been murdered and strong suspicion attaches to the other. The 11th and 12th were each enthroned but died soon after being invested with power. For 113 years, therefore, supreme authority in Tibet was in the hands of a Lama Regent, except for about two years when a lay noble held office and for short periods of nominal rule by the 11th and 12th Dalai Lamas.^{[note 1]}
It has sometimes been suggested that this state of affairs was brought about by the Ambans—the Imperial Residents in Tibet—because it would be easier to control the Tibet through a Regent than when a Dalai Lama, with his absolute power, was at the head of the government. That is not true. The regular ebb and flow of events followed its set course. The Imperial Residents in Tibet, after the first flush of zeal in 1750, grew less and less interested and efficient. Tibet was, to them, exile from the urbanity and culture of Peking; and so far from dominating the Regents, the Ambans allowed themselves to be dominated. It was the ambition and greed for power of Tibetans that led to five successive Dalai Lamas being subjected to continuous tutelage. (Richardson 1984, pp. 59–60)

Thubten Jigme Norbu, the elder brother of the 14th Dalai Lama, described these unfortunate events as follows, although there are few, if any, indications that any of the four were said to be ‘Chinese-appointed imposters’:

It is perhaps more than a coincidence that between the seventh and the thirteenth holders of that office, only one reached his majority. The eighth, Gyampal Gyatso, died when he was in his thirties, Lungtog Gyatso when he was eleven, Tsultrim Gyatso at eighteen, Khadrup Gyatso when he was eighteen also, and Krinla Gyatso at about the same age. The circumstances are such that it is very likely that some, if not all, were poisoned, either by loyal Tibetans for being Chinese-appointed impostors, or by the Chinese for not being properly manageable. Many Tibetans think that this was done at the time when the young [Dalai Lama] made his ritual visit to the Lake Lhamtso. … Each of the four [Dalai Lamas] to die young expired shortly after his visit to the lake. Many said it was because they were not the true reincarnations, but imposters imposed by the Chinese. Others tell stories of how the cooks of the retinue, which in those days included many Chinese, were bribed to put poison in the [Dalai Lama’s] food. The 13th [Dalai Lama] did not visit Lhamtso until he was 25 years old. He was adequately prepared by spiritual exercise and he also had faithful cooks. The Chinese were disappointed when he did not die like his predecessors, and he was to live long enough to give them much more cause for regret. (Norbu & Turnbull 1968, pp. 311–312)^{[note 2]}

According to Mullin, on the other hand, it is improbable that the Manchus would have murdered any of these four for being ‘unmanageable’ since it would have been in their best interests to have strong Dalai Lamas ruling in Lhasa, he argues, agreeing with Richardson that it was rather “the ambition and greed for power of Tibetans” that might have caused the Lamas’ early deaths.^{[note 3]} Further, if Tibetan nobles murdered any of them, it would more likely have been in order to protect or enhance their family interests rather than out of suspicion that the Dalai Lamas were seen as Chinese-appointed imposters as suggested by Norbu. They could also have died from illnesses, possibly contracted from diseases to which they had no immunity, carried to Lhasa by the multitudes of pilgrims visiting from nearby countries for blessings. Finally, from the Buddhist point of view, Mullin says, “Simply stated, these four Dalai Lamas died young because the world did not have enough good karma to deserve their presence”.^[199]

Tibetan historian K. Dhondup, however, in his history The Water-Bird and Other Years, based on the Tibetan minister Surkhang Sawang Chenmo’s historical manuscripts,^[200] disagrees with Mullin’s opinion that having strong Dalai Lamas in power in Tibet would have been in China’s best interests. He notes that many historians are compelled to suspect Manchu foul play in these serial early deaths because the Ambans had such latitude to interfere; the Manchu, he says, “to perpetuate their domination over Tibetan affairs, did not desire a Dalai Lama who will ascend the throne and become a strong and capable ruler over his own country and people“. The life and deeds of the 13th Dalai Lama [in successfully upholding de facto Tibetan independence from China from 1912 to 1950] serve as the living proof of this argument, he points out.^[201] This account also corresponds with TJ Norbu’s observations above.

Finally, while acknowledging the possibility, the 14th Dalai Lama himself doubts they were poisoned. He ascribes the probable cause of these early deaths to negligence, foolishness and lack of proper medical knowledge and attention. “Even today” he is quoted as saying, “when people get sick, some [Tibetans] will say: ‘Just do your prayers, you don’t need medical treatment.’“^[202]

9th Dalai Lama[edit]

Born in Kham in 1805–6 amidst the usual miraculous signs the Ninth Dalai Lama, Lungtok Gyatso was appointed by the 7th Panchen Lama’s search team at the age of two and enthroned in the Potala in 1808 at an impressive ceremony attended by representatives from China, Mongolia, Nepal and Bhutan.^[203][204] Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain and Wang Jiawei point out that the 9th Dalai Lama was allowed to use the seal of authority given to the late 8th Dalai Lama by the Emperor of China^[205]

His second Regent Demo Tulku was the biographer of the 8th and 9th Dalai Lamas and though the 9th died at the age of 9, his biography is as lengthy as those of many of the early Dalai Lamas.^[206] In 1793 under Manchu pressure, Tibet had closed its borders to foreigners,^[207][208] but in 1811, a British Sinologist, Thomas Manning became the first Englishman to visit Lhasa. Considered to be ‘the first Chinese scholar in Europe’^[209] he stayed five months and gave enthusiastic accounts in his journal of his regular meetings with the Ninth Dalai Lama whom he found fascinating: “beautiful, elegant, refined, intelligent, and entirely self-possessed, even at the age of six”.^[210] Three years later in March 1815 the young Lungtok Gyatso caught a severe cold and, leaving the Potala Palace to preside over the Monlam Prayer Festival, he contracted pneumonia from which he soon died.^[211][212]

10th Dalai Lama[edit]

Like the Seventh Dalai Lama, the Tenth, Tsultrim Gyatso, was born in Lithang, Kham, where the Third Dalai Lama had built a monastery. It was 1816 and Regent Demo Tulku and the Seventh Panchen Lama followed indications from Nechung, the ‘state oracle’ which led them to appoint him at the age of two. He passed all the tests and was brought to Lhasa but official recognition was delayed until 1822 when he was enthroned and ordained by the Seventh Panchen Lama. There are conflicting reports about whether the Chinese ‘Golden Urn’ was utilised by drawing lots to choose him.^[213] The 10th Dalai Lama mentioned in his biography that he was allowed to use the golden seal of authority based on the convention set up by the late Dalai Lama. At the investiture, decree of the Emperor of China was issued and read out.^[214] After 15 years of intensive studies and failing health he died, in 1837, at the age of 20 or 21.^[215][216] He identified with ordinary people rather than the court officials and often sat on his verandah in the sunshine with the office clerks. Intending to empower the common people he planned to institute political and economic reforms to share the nation’s wealth more equitably. Over this period his health had deteriorated, the implication being that he may have suffered from slow poisoning by Tibetan aristocrats whose interests these reforms were threatening.^[217] He was also dissatisfied with his Regent and the Kashag and scolded them for not alleviating the condition of the common people, who had suffered much in small ongoing regional civil wars waged in Kokonor between Mongols, local Tibetans and the government over territory, and in Kham to extract unpaid taxes from rebellious Tibetan communities.^[213][218]

11th Dalai Lama[edit]

Born in Gathar, Kham in 1838 and soon discovered by the official search committee with the help of the Nechung Oracle, the Eleventh Dalai Lama was brought to Lhasa in 1841 and recognised, enthroned and named Khedrup Gyatso by the Panchen Lama in 1842, who also ordained him in 1846. After that he was immersed in religious studies under the Panchen Lama, amongst other great masters. Meanwhile, there were court intrigues and ongoing power struggles taking place between the various Lhasa factions, the Regent, the Kashag, the powerful nobles and the abbots and monks of the three great monasteries. The Tsemonling Regent^[219] became mistrusted and was forcibly deposed, there were machinations, plots, beatings and kidnappings of ministers and so forth, resulting at last in the Panchen Lama being appointed as interim Regent to keep the peace. Eventually the Third Reting Rinpoche was made Regent, and in 1855, Khedrup Gyatso, appearing to be an extremely promising prospect, was requested to take the reins of power at the age of 17. He was enthroned as ruler of Tibet in 1855,^[220][221] on orders of the Xianfeng Emperor.^[222] He died after just 11 months, no reason for his sudden and premature death being given in these accounts, Shakabpa and Mullin’s histories both being based on untranslated Tibetan chronicles. The respected Reting Rinpoche was recalled once again to act as Regent and requested to lead the search for the next incarnation, the twelfth.^[220][221]

12th Dalai Lama[edit]

In 1856, a child was born in south central Tibet amidst all the usual extraordinary signs. He came to the notice of the search team, was investigated, passed the traditional tests and was recognised as the 12th Dalai Lama in 1858. The use of the Chinese Golden Urn at the insistence of the Regent, who was later accused of being a Chinese lackey, confirmed this choice to the satisfaction of all. Renamed Trinley Gyatso and enthroned in 1860 the boy underwent 13 years of intensive tutelage and training before stepping up to rule Tibet at the age of 17.^[223]

His minority seems a time of even deeper Lhasan political intrigue and power struggles than his predecessor’s. By 1862 this led to a coup by Wangchuk Shetra, a minister whom the Regent had banished for conspiring against him. Shetra contrived to return, deposed the Regent, who fled to China, and seized power, appointing himself ‘Desi’ or Prime Minister.^[223] He then ruled with “absolute power” for three years,^[224] quelling a major rebellion in northern Kham in 1863 and re-establishing Tibetan control over significant Qing-held territory there.^[225] Shetra died in 1864 and the Kashag re-assumed power. The retired 76th Ganden Tripa, Khyenrab Wangchuk, was appointed as ‘Regent’ but his role was limited to supervising and mentoring Trinley Gyatso.^[223][224]

In 1868 Shetra’s coup organiser, a semi-literate Ganden monk named Palden Dondrup, seized power by another coup and ruled as a cruel despot for three years, putting opponents to death by having them ‘sewn into fresh animal skins and thrown in the river’.^[224] In 1871, at the request of officials outraged after Dondrup had done just that with one minister and imprisoned several others, he in turn was ousted and committed suicide after a counter-coup coordinated by the supposedly powerless ‘Regent’ Khyenrab Wangchuk.^[224] As a result of this action this venerable old Regent, who died the next year, is fondly remembered by Tibetans as saviour of the Dalai Lama and the nation. The Kashag and the Tsongdu or National Assembly were re-instated, and, presided over by a Dalai Lama or his Regent, ruled without further interruption until 1959.^[223]

According to Smith, however, during Trinley Gyatso’s minority, the Regent was deposed in 1862 for abuse of authority and closeness with China, by an alliance of monks and officials called Gandre Drungche (Ganden and Drepung Monks Assembly); this body then ruled Tibet for ten years until dissolved, when a National Assembly of monks and officials called the Tsongdu was created and took over. Smith makes no mention of Shetra or Dondrup acting as usurpers and despots in this period.^[225]

In any case, Trinley Gyatso died within three years of assuming power. In 1873, at the age of 20 “he suddenly became ill and passed away”.^[223] On the cause of his early death, accounts diverge. Mullin relates an interesting theory, based on cited Tibetan sources: out of concern for the monastic tradition, Trinley Gyatso chose to die and reincarnate as the 13th Dalai Lama, rather than taking the option of marrying a woman called Rigma Tsomo from Kokonor and leaving an heir to “oversee Tibet’s future”.^[226] Shakabpa on the other hand, without citing sources, notes that Trinley Gyatso was influenced and manipulated by two close acquaintances who were subsequently accused of having a hand in his fatal illness and imprisoned, tortured and exiled as a result.^[227]

13th Dalai Lama[edit]

Throne awaiting Dalai Lama’s return. Summer residence of 14th Dalai Lama, Nechung, Tibet.

In 1877, request to exempt Lobu Zangtab Kaijia Mucuo (Chinese: 罗布藏塔布开甲木措) from using lot-drawing process Golden Urn to become the 13th Dalai Lama was approved by the Central Government.^[228] The 13th Dalai Lama assumed ruling power from the monasteries, which previously had great influence on the Regent, in 1895. Due to his two periods of exile in 1904–1909 to escape the British invasion of 1904, and from 1910–1912 to escape a Chinese invasion, he became well aware of the complexities of international politics and was the first Dalai Lama to become aware of the importance of foreign relations. After his return from exile in India and Sikkim during January 1913, he assumed control of foreign relations and dealt directly with the Maharaja, with the British Political officer in Sikkim and with the king of Nepal – rather than letting the Kashag or parliament do it. (Sheel 1989, pp. 24, 29)

The Great Thirteenth Thubten Gyatso then published the Tibetan Declaration of Independence for the entirety of Tibet in 1913.^[229] Tibet’s independence was never recognized by the Chinese (who claimed all land ever administered by the Manchus) but was recognized by the Kingdom of Nepal, who would use Tibet as one of its first references regarding its independent status when submitting an application to join the UN.^[230] On it, Nepal listed Tibet as a country just as independent and sovereign, with no mention of Chinese ‘suzerainty’. Its relations with Tibet were apparently second in significance only to its relations with Britain, and even more significant than its relations with the USA or even India.^[231] Furthermore, Tibet and Mongolia both signed the Treaty of friendship and alliance between the Government of Mongolia and Tibet. Neither countries’ independence statuses were ever recognized by the KMT government in China, who would continue to completely claim both as Chinese territory. He expelled the ambans and all Chinese civilians in the country and instituted many measures to modernize Tibet. These included provisions to curb excessive demands on peasants for provisions by the monasteries and tax evasion by the nobles, setting up an independent police force, the abolition of the death penalty, extension of secular education, and the provision of electricity throughout the city of Lhasa in the 1920s. (Norbu & Turnbull 1968, pp. 317–318) He died in 1933.

14th Dalai Lama[edit]

The Dalai Lama giving teachings at Sissu, Lahaul

The 14th Dalai Lama was born on 6 July 1935 on a straw mat in a cowshed to a farmer’s family in a remote part of Tibet.^[232] According to most Western journalistic sources^[233][234] he was born into a humble family of farmers as one of 16 children, and one of the three reincarnated Rinpoches in the same family.^{[235][236][237]} On February 5th 1940, request to exempt Lhamo Thondup (Chinese: 拉木登珠) from lot-drawing process to become the 14th Dalai Lama was approved by the Central Government.^[238][239]

The 14th Dalai Lama had become the joint most popular world leader by 2013 (tied with Barack Obama), according to a poll conducted by Harris Interactive of New York, which sampled public opinion in the US and six major European countries.^[240]

The 14th Dalai Lama was not formally enthroned until 17 November 1950, during the Battle of Chamdo with the People’s Republic of China. On 18 April 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama issued statement^[241] that in 1951, the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government were pressured into accepting the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet by which it became formally incorporated into the People’s Republic of China.^[242] The United States already informed the Dalai Lama in 1951 that in order to receive assistance and support from the United States, he must depart from Tibet and publicly disavow “agreements concluded under duress” between the representatives of Tibet and China.^[243] Fearing for his life in the wake of a revolt in Tibet in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India, from where he led a government in exile.^[244][245]

With the aim of launching guerrilla operations against the Chinese, the Central Intelligence Agency funded the Dalai Lama’s administration with US$1.7 million a year in the 1960s.^[246] In 2001 the 14th Dalai Lama ceded his partial power over the government to an elected parliament of selected Tibetan exiles. His original goal was full independence for Tibet, but by the late 1980s he was seeking high-level autonomy instead.^[247] He continued to seek greater autonomy from China, but Dolma Gyari, deputy speaker of the parliament-in-exile, stated: “If the middle path fails in the short term, we will be forced to opt for complete independence or self-determination as per the UN charter”.^[248]

In 2014 and 2016, he stated that Tibet wants to be part of China but China should let Tibet preserve its culture and script.^[249][250]

In 2018, he stated that “Europe belongs to the Europeans” and that Europe has a moral obligation to aid refugees whose lives are in peril. Further he stated that Europe should receive, help and educate refugees but ultimately they should return to develop their home countries.^[251]

In March 2019, the Dalai Lama spoke out about his successor, saying that after his death he is likely to be reincarnated in India. He also warned that any Chinese interference in succession should not be considered valid.^[252][253]

In October 2020, he stated that he did not support Tibetan independence and hoped to visit China as a Nobel Prize winner. He said “I prefer the concept of a ‘republic’ in the People’s Republic of China. In the concept of republic, ethnic minorities are like Tibetans, The Mongols, Manchus, and Xinjiang Uyghurs, we can live in harmony”.^[254]

Residences[edit]

The 1st Dalai Lama was based at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, which he founded, and the Second to the Fifth Dalai Lamas were mainly based at Drepung Monastery outside Lhasa. In 1645, after the unification of Tibet, the Fifth moved to the ruins of a royal fortress or residence on top of Marpori (‘Red Mountain’) in Lhasa and decided to build a palace on the same site. This ruined palace, called Tritse Marpo, was originally built around 636 AD by the founder of the Tibetan Empire, Songtsen Gampo for his Nepalese wife.^[255] Amongst the ruins there was just a small temple left where Tsongkhapa had given a teaching when he arrived in Lhasa in the 1380s. The Fifth Dalai Lama began construction of the Potala Palace on this site in 1645,^[256] carefully incorporating what was left of his predecessor’s palace into its structure.^[140] From then on and until today, unless on tour or in exile the Dalai Lamas have always spent their winters at the Potala Palace and their summers at the Norbulingka palace and park. Both palaces are in Lhasa and approximately 3 km apart.

Following the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama sought refuge in India. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru allowed in the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government officials. The Dalai Lama has since lived in exile in McLeod Ganj, in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh in northern India, where the Central Tibetan Administration is also established. His residence on the Temple Road in McLeod Ganj is called the Dalai Lama Temple and is visited by people from across the globe. Tibetan refugees have constructed and opened many schools and Buddhist temples in Dharamshala.^[257]

Searching for the reincarnation[edit]

The search for the 14th Dalai Lama took the High Lamas to Taktser in Amdo Palden Lhamo, the female guardian spirit of the sacred lake, Lhamo La-tso, who promised Gendun Drup the 1st Dalai Lama in one of his visions that “she would protect the ‘reincarnation’ lineage of the Dalai Lamas”

By the Himalayan tradition, phowa is the discipline that is believed to transfer the mindstream to the intended body. Upon the death of the Dalai Lama and consultation with the Nechung Oracle, a search for the Lama’s yangsi, or reincarnation, is conducted.^[258] The government of the People’s Republic of China has stated its intention to be the ultimate authority on the selection of the next Dalai Lama.^[259]

High Lamas may also claim to have a vision by a dream or if the Dalai Lama was cremated, they will often monitor the direction of the smoke as an ‘indication’ of the direction of the expected rebirth.^[258]

If there is only one boy found, the High Lamas will invite Living Buddhas of the three great monasteries, together with secular clergy and monk officials, to ‘confirm their findings’ and then report to the Central Government through the Minister of Tibet. Later, a group consisting of the three major servants of Dalai Lama, eminent officials,^[who?] and troops^[which?] will collect the boy and his family and travel to Lhasa, where the boy would be taken, usually to Drepung Monastery, to study the Buddhist sutra in preparation for assuming the role of spiritual leader of Tibet.^[258]

If there are several possible claimed reincarnations, however, regents, eminent officials, monks at the Jokhang in Lhasa, and the Minister to Tibet have historically decided on the individual by putting the boys’ names inside an urn and drawing one lot in public if it was too difficult to judge the reincarnation initially.^[260]

List of Dalai Lamas[edit]

There have been 14 recognised incarnations of the Dalai Lama:

	Name	Picture	Lifespan	Recognised	Enthronement	Tibetan/Wylie	Tibetan pinyin/Chinese	Alternative spellings
1	Gendun Drup		1391–1474	–	N/A[261]	དགེ་འདུན་འགྲུབ་ dge ‘dun ‘grub	Gêdün Chub 根敦朱巴	Gedun DrubGedün Drup
2	Gendun Gyatso		1475–1542	1483	1487	དགེ་འདུན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ dge ‘dun rgya mtsho	Gêdün Gyaco 根敦嘉措	Gedün Gyatso Gendün Gyatso
3	Sonam Gyatso		1543–1588	1546	1578	བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ bsod nams rgya mtsho	Soinam Gyaco 索南嘉措	Sönam Gyatso
4	Yonten Gyatso		1589–1617	1601	1603	ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ yon tan rgya mtsho	Yoindain Gyaco 雲丹嘉措	Yontan Gyatso, Yönden Gyatso
5	Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso		1617–1682	1618	1622	བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ blo bzang rgya mtsho	Lobsang Gyaco 羅桑嘉措	Lobzang Gyatso Lopsang Gyatso
6	Tsangyang Gyatso		1683–1706	1688	1697	ཚངས་དབྱངས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ tshang dbyangs rgya mtsho	Cangyang Gyaco 倉央嘉措	Tsañyang Gyatso
7	Kelzang Gyatso		1707–1757	1712	1720	བསྐལ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ bskal bzang rgya mtsho	Gaisang Gyaco 格桑嘉措	Kelsang Gyatso Kalsang Gyatso
8	Jamphel Gyatso		1758–1804	1760	1762	བྱམས་སྤེལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ byams spel rgya mtsho	Qambê Gyaco 強白嘉措	Jampel Gyatso Jampal Gyatso
9	Lungtok Gyatso		1805–1815	1807	1808	ལུང་རྟོགས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ lung rtogs rgya mtsho	Lungdog Gyaco 隆朵嘉措	Lungtog Gyatso
10	Tsultrim Gyatso		1816–1837	1822	1822	ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ tshul khrim rgya mtsho	Cüchim Gyaco 楚臣嘉措	Tshültrim Gyatso
11	Khendrup Gyatso		1838–1856	1841	1842	མཁས་གྲུབ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ mkhas grub rgya mtsho	Kaichub Gyaco 凱珠嘉措	Kedrub Gyatso
12	Trinley Gyatso		1857–1875	1858	1860	འཕྲིན་ལས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ ‘phrin las rgya mtsho	Chinlai Gyaco 成烈嘉措	Trinle Gyatso
13	Thubten Gyatso		1876–1933	1878	1879	ཐུབ་བསྟན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ thub bstan rgya mtsho	Tubdain Gyaco 土登嘉措	Thubtan Gyatso Thupten Gyatso
14	Tenzin Gyatso		born 1935	1939[262]	1940[262] (currently in exile)	བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ bstan ‘dzin rgya mtsho	Dainzin Gyaco 丹增嘉措	Tenzin Gyatso

There has also been one non-recognised Dalai Lama, Ngawang Yeshe Gyatso, declared 28 June 1707, when he was 25 years old, by Lha-bzang Khan as the “true” 6th Dalai Lama – however, he was never accepted as such by the majority of the population.^{[171][263][264]}

Future of the position[edit]

The main teaching room of the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala, India

In the mid-1970s, Tenzin Gyatso told a Polish newspaper that he thought he would be the last Dalai Lama. In a later interview published in the English language press he stated, “The Dalai Lama office was an institution created to benefit others. It is possible that it will soon have outlived its usefulness.”^[265] These statements caused a furore amongst Tibetans in India. Many could not believe that such an option could even be considered. It was further felt that it was not the Dalai Lama’s decision to reincarnate. Rather, they felt that since the Dalai Lama is a national institution it was up to the people of Tibet to decide whether the Dalai Lama should reincarnate.^[266]

The government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has claimed the power to approve the naming of “high” reincarnations in Tibet, based on a precedent set by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty.^[267] The Qianlong Emperor instituted a system of selecting the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama by a lottery that used a Golden Urn with names wrapped in clumps of barley. This method was used a few times for both positions during the 19th century, but eventually fell into disuse.^[268][269] In 1995, the Dalai Lama chose to proceed with the selection of the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama without the use of the Golden Urn, while the Chinese government insisted that it must be used.^{[citation needed]} This has led to two rival Panchen Lamas: Gyaincain Norbu as chosen by the Chinese government’s process, and Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as chosen by the Dalai Lama. However, Nyima was abducted by the Chinese government shortly after being chosen as the Panchen Lama and has not been seen in public since 1995.^[270]

In September 2007, the Chinese government said all high monks must be approved by the government, which would include the selection of the 15th Dalai Lama after the death of Tenzin Gyatso.^[271][272] Since by tradition, the Panchen Lama must approve the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, that is another possible method of control. Consequently, the Dalai Lama has alluded to the possibility of a referendum to determine the 15th Dalai Lama.^[272]

In response to this scenario, Tashi Wangdi, the representative of the 14th Dalai Lama, replied that the Chinese government’s selection would be meaningless. “You can’t impose an Imam, an Archbishop, saints, any religion…you can’t politically impose these things on people”, said Wangdi. “It has to be a decision of the followers of that tradition. The Chinese can use their political power: force. Again, it’s meaningless. Like their Panchen Lama. And they can’t keep their Panchen Lama in Tibet. They tried to bring him to his monastery many times but people would not see him. How can you have a religious leader like that?”^[273]

The 14th Dalai Lama said as early as 1969 that it was for the Tibetans to decide whether the institution of the Dalai Lama “should continue or not”.^[274] He has given reference to a possible vote occurring in the future for all Tibetan Buddhists to decide whether they wish to recognize his rebirth.^[275] In response to the possibility that the PRC might attempt to choose his successor, the Dalai Lama said he would not be reborn in a country controlled by the People’s Republic of China or any other country which is not free.^[258][276] According to Robert D. Kaplan, this could mean that “the next Dalai Lama might come from the Tibetan cultural belt that stretches across Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, presumably making him even more pro-Indian and hence anti-Chinese”.^[277]

The 14th Dalai Lama supported the possibility that his next incarnation could be a woman.^[278] As an “engaged Buddhist” the Dalai Lama has an appeal straddling cultures and political systems making him one of the most recognized and respected moral voices today.^[279] “Despite the complex historical, religious and political factors surrounding the selection of incarnate masters in the exiled Tibetan tradition, the Dalai Lama is open to change”, author Michaela Haas writes.^[280]

See also[edit]

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1. ^ According to Mullin, Smith and Shakabpa however, the 12th Dalai Lama’s Regent, Reting Rinpoche, was deposed in 1862 in a coup by Gyalpo Shetra and Tibet was ruled by despots or assemblies of abbots and ministers for the next eleven years, that is until 1873 when the 12th Dalai Lama assumed power.
2. ^ According to their biographies, the Eighth, Jamphel Gyatso lived to 46 years old, the Ninth, Lungtok Gyatso to 9 years, the Tenth, Tsultrim Gyatso to 21, the Eleventh, Khedrup Gyatso to 17 and the Twelfth, Trinley Gyatso to 18.
3. ^ Considering what occurred in Lhasa after the Chinese ambans murdered Gyurme Namgyal in 1750, however, the Manchus would have been particularly reluctant to murder a Dalai Lama.

1. ^ ^{a b} “Definition of Dalai Lama in English”. Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved 2 May 2015. The spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism and, until the establishment of Chinese communist rule, the spiritual and temporal ruler of Tibet. Each Dalai Lama is believed to be the reincarnation of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, reappearing in a child when the incumbent Dalai Lama dies
2. ^ ^{a b} “Dalai lama”. Dictionary.com. Retrieved 12 March 2014. (formerly) the ruler and chief monk of Tibet, believed to be a reincarnation of Avalokitesvara and sought for among newborn children after the death of the preceding Dalai Lama
3. ^ Schaik, Sam van. Tibet: A History. Yale University Press 2011, page 129, “Gelug: the newest of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism”
4. ^ Peter Popham (29 January 2015). “Relentless: The Dalai Lama’s Heart of Steel”. Newsweek. His mystical legitimacy – of huge importance to the faithful – stems from the belief that the Dalai Lamas are manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion
5. ^ Laird 2006, p. 12.
6. ^ Woodhead, Linda (2016). Religions in the Modern World. Abingdon: Routledge. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-415-85881-6.
7. ^ Religions in the Modern World: Traditions and Transformations. Taylor and Francis. Kindle locations 2519–2522.
8. ^ Cantwell and Kawanami (2016). Religions in the Modern World. Routledge. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-415-85880-9.
9. ^ ^{a b} Smith 1997, pp. 107–149.
10. ^ Emilian Kavalski (1 April 2016). The Ashgate Research Companion to Chinese Foreign Policy. Routledge. pp. 445–. ISBN 978-1-317-04389-8.
11. ^ “Udo B. Barkmann – Die Mongolei und die VR China – Wege zur strategischen Partnerschaft (2003–2011)”, Geschichte und Gesellschaft des modernen China, Peter Lang, 2016, doi:10.3726/978-3-653-06417-9/36, ISBN 9783631671146
12. ^ Laird 2006, p. 143.
13. ^ ^{a b} Dalai Lama at the Encyclopædia Britannica
14. ^ 陈庆英 (2005). 达赖喇嘛转世及历史定制英. 五洲传播出版社. pp. 16–. ISBN 978-7-5085-0745-3.
15. ^ Petech, Luciano (1977). The Kingdom of Ladakh, c. 950–1842 A.D. (PDF). Instituto Italiano Per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente – via academia.edu.
16. ^ Thubten Jinpa (15 July 2008). “Introduction”. The Book of Kadam. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-0-86171-441-4. Available textual evidence points strongly toward the 11th and 12th centuries as the period during which the full myth of Avalokiteśvara’s special destiny with Tibet was established. During this era, the belief that this compassionate spirit intervenes in the fate of the Tibetan people by manifesting as benevolent rulers and teachers took firm root
17. ^ Thubten Jinpa (4 July 2008). “Introduction”. The Book of Kadam. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-0-86171-441-4. Perhaps the most important legacy of the book, at least for the Tibetan people as a whole, is that it laid the foundation for the later identification of Avalokiteśvara with the lineage of the Dalai Lama
18. ^ Thubten Jinpa (15 July 2008). “Introduction”. The Book of Kadam. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-0-86171-441-4. For the Tibetans, the mythic narrative that began with Avalokiteśvara’s embodiment in the form of Songtsen Gampo in the seventh century—or even earlier with the mythohistorical figures of the first king of Tibet, Nyatri Tsenpo (traditionally calculated to have lived around the fifth century B.C.E.), and Lha Thothori Nyentsen (ca. third century c.e.), during whose reign some sacred Buddhist scriptures are believed to have arrived in Tibet… continued with Dromtönpa in the eleventh century
19. ^ Thubten Jinpa (15 July 2008). “Introduction”. The Book of Kadam. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-0-86171-441-4. For the Tibetans, the mythic narrative… continues today in the person of His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama
20. ^ Thubten Jinpa (15 July 2008). The Book of Kadam. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-0-86171-441-4.
21. ^ Thubten Jinpa (15 July 2008). “Introduction”. The Book of Kadam. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-0-86171-441-4. ‘The Book’ gives ample evidence of the existence of an ancient, mythological Tibetan narrative placing the Dalai Lamas as incarnations of Dromtönpa, of his predecessors and of Avalokiteshvara
22. ^ Tuttle, Gray; Schaeffer, Curtis R. (2013). The Tibetan History Reader. Columbia University Press. p. 335. ISBN 978-0-231-51354-8. In Atiśa’s telling, Dromtön was not only Avalokiteśvara but also a reincarnation of former Buddhist monks, laypeople, commoners, and kings. Furthermore, these reincarnations were all incarnations of that very same being, Avalokiteśvara. Van der Kuijp takes us on a tour of literary history, showing that the narrative attributed to Atiśa became a major source for both incarnation and reincarnation ideology for centuries to come.” From: “The Dalai Lamas and the Origins of Reincarnate Lamas. Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp”
23. ^ Mullin 2001, p. 39.
24. ^ Stein (1972), p. 138–139|quote=the Dalai Lama is … a link in the chain that starts in history and leads back through legend to a deity in mythical times. The First Dalai Lama, Gedün-trup (1391–1474), was already the 51st incarnation; the teacher Dromtön, Atiśa’s disciple (eleventh century), the 45th; whilst with the 26th, one Gesar king of India, and the 27th, a hare, we are in pure legend
25. ^ “The Dalai Lama – Birth to Exile”. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. Office of the Dalai Lama. Retrieved 28 October 2015. Thus His Holiness is also believed to be a manifestation of Chenrezig, in fact the seventy-fourth in a lineage that can be traced back to a Brahmin boy who lived in the time of Buddha Shakyamuni
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109. ^ ^{a b} Snellgrove & Richardson 1984, p. 184.
110. ^ ^{a b} Smith 1996, p. 106.
111. ^ Shakabpa 1984, pp. 94–95.
112. ^ 《明实录》又载：”万历十五年（1587）十月丁卯……番僧答赖（即达赖）准升’朵儿只唱名号，仍给敕命、图书……”
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141. ^ Hang, Henry Choi Sze (2016). “China, imperial: 8. Qing or Manchu dynasty period, 1636-1911”. The Encyclopedia of Empire. pp. 1–13. doi:10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe287. ISBN 9781118455074.
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164. ^ Smith 1997, pp. 123–5.
165. ^ Mullin 2001, p. 285.
166. ^ Smith 1997, pp. 122–3.
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170. ^ ^{a b} Stein 1972, p. 85.
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173. ^ Mullin 2001, p. 289.
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176. ^ ^{a b} Smith 1997, p. 127.
177. ^ Smith 1997, pp. 125–6.
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181. ^ Van Schaik 2011, p. 144; Shakabpa 1967, p. 150.
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187. ^ “Introduction to The Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka, Tibet”. World Heritage. Archived from the original on 21 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015. Norbulingka was built in the 1700s by the seventh Dalai Lama and served as the regular dwelling of future Dalai Lamas. It is also referred to as the Summer Palace.
188. ^ Smith 1997, pp. 133, 137.
189. ^ 陈庆英 (2005). 达赖喇嘛转世及历史定制英. 五洲传播出版社. pp. 106–. ISBN 978-7-5085-0745-3.
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199. ^ Dhondup 1986, p. iv.
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227. ^ 光绪三年（一八七七年），由八世班禅丹白旺秀和摄政王公德林呼图克图、三大寺和扎什伦布寺的全体僧俗官员，联名要求驻藏大臣转奏朝廷，以只选定了一名灵童，且经各方公认，请免予金瓶制签。当年三月，光绪帝谕旨:”贡噶仁钦之子罗布藏塔布开甲木措，即作为达赖喇嘛之呼毕勒罕，毋庸制签，钦此。” [In the third year of Guangxu (1877), the eighth Panchen Lama Danbai Wangxiu and the regent Delin Hutuktu, all monks and lay officials from the Three Great Temples and Tashilhunpo Monastery jointly asked the Minister in Tibet to transfer to the court. Since only one soul boy has been selected, and it has been recognized by all parties, please be exempt from signing the golden bottle. In March of that year, Emperor Guangxu issued a decree: “Lob Zangtab, son of Gongga Rinqin, opened Jiamucuo, that is, as the call of the Dalai Lama, Bielehan, there is no need to make a lottery.”]
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237. ^ 1940年2月5日，国民政府正式颁发命令：”青海灵童拉木登珠，慧性湛深，灵异特著，查系第十三辈达赖喇嘛转世，应即免予抽签，特准继任为第十四辈达赖喇嘛。此令。” [On February 5, 1940, the National Government formally issued an order: “The Qinghai soul boy, Lamu Dengzhu, has profound wisdom, and a special book. The reincarnation of the 13th generation of the Dalai Lama should be exempted from drawing lots and succeeded to the 14th generation of Dalai Lama. By order.”]
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Las Mariposas (Orden: Lepidoptera) son insectos voladores de colores brillantes con dos pares de alas grandes que varían en color y patrón de especie a especie. Las alas de las mariposas están cubiertas con hileras superpuestas de diminutas escamas, una característica que las mariposas comparten con sus compañeros lepidópteros, las polillas.

Mariposas de colores

Los Colores de las mariposas han fascinado a la humanidad durante milenios y han sido interpretadas de diversas maneras, desde presagios de amor hasta personificaciones del alma. Sin embargo, la delicada belleza de las alas de mariposa iridiscentes desmiente su intrincada estructura y funcionalidad como la lámina perfecta para los depredadores.

Las mariposas obtienen sus colores de dos fuentes diferentes: color ordinario y color estructural. El color ordinario proviene de sustancias químicas normales que absorben ciertas longitudes de onda de luz y reflejan otras. Por ejemplo, la clorofila colorea las plantas de color verde. La clorofila absorbe los colores azul y rojo del espectro, pero no el verde, que se ve cuando rebota en el ojo. La mayoría de las mariposas obtienen sus diferentes tonos de marrón y amarillo de la melanina. La melanina es lo que te hace broncear en verano y le da a algunas personas pecas.

Los colores estructurales son creados por un efecto óptico (como interferencia, refracción o difracción) en lugar de por un pigmento. Surgen del arreglo de estructuras físicas que interactúan con la luz para producir un color particular.

El color estructural es responsable de los colores de las plumas de muchos pájaros (incluyendo el jay azul, colibríes y faisanes), así como ciertas alas de mariposa y conchas de escarabajo. Las variaciones en el espaciamiento del patrón a menudo dan lugar a un efecto iridiscente, como se ve en las plumas de pavo real, burbujas de jabón, películas de aceite y nácar, porque el color reflejado depende del ángulo de visión.

Morfología de las Mariposas

Su tamaño varía según la especie, puede ir de 10 a 25 cm, con un peso aproximado de 0,25 a 0,75 gramos. Las hembras suelen ser de mayor tamaño que los machos.

Ya sea grande (como una mariposa monarca) o pequeña (como un manantial azul), las mariposas comparten ciertos rasgos morfológicos. Este diagrama resalta la anatomía común básica de una mariposa o polilla adulta.

Partes de la Mariposa

1. Ala anterior – las alas anteriores, unidas al mesotórax (el segmento medio del tórax).
2. Ala posterior – las alas posteriores, unidas al metatórax (el último segmento del tórax).
3. Antena – par de apéndices sensoriales, utilizados principalmente para la quimiorrecepción.
4. Cabeza – la primera sección del cuerpo de la mariposa o polilla. La cabeza incluye los ojos, las antenas, el palpitante y la probóscide.
5. Tórax – la segunda sección del cuerpo de la mariposa o polilla. El tórax consta de tres segmentos, fusionados entre sí. Cada segmento tiene un par de patas. Ambos pares de alas también se adhieren al tórax.
6. Abdomen – la tercera sección del cuerpo de la mariposa o polilla. El abdomen consta de 10 segmentos. Los 3-4 segmentos finales se modifican para formar los genitales externos.
7. Ojo compuesto – ojo grande que percibe la luz y las imágenes. El ojo compuesto es una colección de miles de ommatidia, cada uno de los cuales actúa como un solo lente del ojo.
8. Probóscide – boquillas modificadas para beber. La probóscide se enrosca cuando no está en uso, y se extiende como una pajita para beber cuando la mariposa se alimenta.
9. Pata anterior – primer par de piernas, unidas al protórax. En las mariposas con patas de cepillo, las patas delanteras son modificadas y no se usan para caminar.
10. Pata media – el par de piernas del medio, unido al mesotórax.
11. Pata trasera – el último par de patas, unidas al metatórax.

Qué Comen las Mariposas

Uno de los aparatos comestibles más raros del planeta: la lengua de la mariposa. Tienen una lengua larga en forma de trompa que se enrolla como un espiral cuando se encuentra en reposo, y se estira completamente para succionar el néctar en las flores.

Qué comen las mariposas

Con pocas excepciones, las mariposas y polillas adultas comen sólo varios líquidos para mantener el equilibrio de agua y las reservas de energía. La mayoría de los adultos beben néctar de flores, pero otros beben líquidos de las flores de savia en los árboles, frutas podridas, excrementos de pájaros o estiércol animal. Muchas mariposas adultas se encuentran bebiendo líquidos en arena o barro mojados, especialmente a lo largo de cursos de agua o en los bordes de caminos o senderos de tierra.

La oruga de casi todas las mariposas y polillas comen varias partes de las plantas. Cada especie puede especializarse de sólo unos pocos tipos de plantas o partes de plantas. Las orugas de la mariposa cosechadora y sus parientes son excepciones porque se alimentan únicamente de pulgones.

Los adultos de algunas especies de mariposas pueden comer cosas que no sean líquidos. Los adultos de las mariposas de ala larga como la cebra (Heliconius charithonia) son capaces de recoger el polen de ciertas flores con su probóscide y descomponerlo y absorber aminoácidos (proteínas) que contribuyen a la capacidad de sobrevivir, aparearse y poner huevos durante largos períodos (6 meses más o menos).

Con su corta probóscide (lengua) los adultos de las mariposas cosechadoras (el eslabón es externo) (Feniseca tarquinius) pueden realmente perforar los cuerpos de los áfidos lanudos y beber sus líquidos, los únicos insectos que las mariposas adultas comen.

Alas de mariposa

Marbled blanca Melanargia Galathea

Poseen 4 alas membranosas que están cubiertas por una serie de laminillas imbricadas, que al alterarse con la reflexión de la luz producen colores muy llamativos, generalmente tornasolados e iridiscentes. Las mariposas tienen alas hermosamente coloreadas que parecen ser de todos los colores imaginables. Están cubiertos por cientos de miles de escamas diminutas. Los colores son determinados por la estratificación y superposición de las escalas.

Estos colores ofrecen muchos beneficios al insecto; ayudan a la mariposa ya sea camuflando o advirtiendo a los depredadores potenciales. Muchas mariposas también tienen colores ultravioleta en sus escamas. Aunque la gente no puede ver estos colores, las mariposas sí pueden. Muchas veces son capaces de distinguir los sexos por estos colores adicionales en sus alas.

Las alas de mariposas a menudo exhiben melanismo, oscurecimiento de las alas, venas o escamas de ala y esto ayuda con la regulación térmica. Las mariposas son ectotérmicos que necesitan fuentes externas para calentarse. Las alas de una mariposa monarca macho. Las venas de las alas de la mariposa monarca son huecas y la hemolinfa, la sangre del insecto, es capaz de circular por el cuerpo. Cuando las temperaturas son más frescas fuera de las mariposas son capaces de calentarse más rápido con coloraciones más oscuras.

Las alas de mariposa son hidrofóbicas, lo que significa que repelen el agua. La microtopografía en las alas permite que las moléculas de agua se desprendan fácilmente de la superficie. Esto tiene un beneficio adicional, cuando el agua es repelida funciona como un mecanismo de limpieza. La suciedad que se recoge en las alas y puede inhibir el vuelo se elimina junto con el agua; ayuda a mantener las alas de la mariposa limpias.

Cuánto viven las Mariposas

Algunas especies de mariposas de finales de temporada, como el manto de luto, pueden hibernar durante el invierno y resurgir en primavera, sobreviviendo hasta 10 meses. De manera similar, las crías de Monarcas pueden vivir entre 8 y 9 meses migrando a México y partes de la costa sur de California hacia el invierno. Cuánto viven las Mariposas

Sin embargo, para muchas mariposas, su vida útil puede ser tan corta como 14 días. Afortunadamente, la mayoría de las especies producen varias crías durante el verano, por lo que parece que siempre están presentes.

Dónde viven las mariposas

Hoy en día, se han descrito unas 170.000 especies de lepidópteros, entre los que una décima parte son diurnas y las demás son nocturnas. Tienen la capacidad de adaptarse a cualquier tipo de clima. Por esa razón, se encuentran entre las criaturas que han logrado mayor éxito evolutivo sobre la tierra.

Las mariposas y las polillas viven en una variedad de hábitats terrestres en todos los continentes excepto en la Antártida. Su distribución depende de su fuente de alimentación. Hábitat debe proveer las plantas huésped apropiadas para las orugas, y buenas fuentes de néctar para los adultos.

Metamorfosis de la Mariposa

Las mariposas pasan por cuatro etapas de la vida que se consideran grandes misterios. Son sobrevivientes reales incluso con los muchos giros y vueltas de la vida. Las mariposas han sido capaces de adaptarse y superar obstáculos inimaginables.

Las mariposas son holometábolas, experimentando una metamorfosis completa, o en otras palabras, un cambio completo en la forma corporal. Comienzan su vida como larvas y se convierten en un estado móvil y emergen como mariposas, sin parecerse en nada a su estado pre-rupado. Siga leyendo para aprender más sobre estas complicadas y fascinantes etapas de la vida de una mariposa: ciclo de vida de la Mariposa

Proceso de la Mariposa

Como niños, muchos de nosotros aprendemos acerca del maravilloso proceso por el cual una oruga se transforma en una mariposa. La historia generalmente comienza con una oruga hambrienta que sale de un huevo.

La oruga, o lo que más científicamente se conoce como larva, se rellena de hojas, creciendo más y más plumper a través de una serie de mudas en las que se desprende su piel. Un día, la oruga deja de comer, cuelga boca abajo de una rama u hoja y se hace girar un capullo de seda o se muda en una crisálida brillante. Dentro de su funda protectora, la oruga transforma radicalmente su cuerpo, emergiendo eventualmente como una mariposa o polilla.

Pero, ¿qué implica esa transformación radical? ¿Cómo se reordena una oruga en una mariposa? ¿Qué sucede dentro de una crisálida o capullo?

Ciclo de Vida de Mariposas

Antes de que una oruga se convierta en oruga, comienza como un huevo que se pone en la hoja de una planta. Cuando el huevo eclosiona, sale por una oruga. Esta es una etapa importante en el ciclo de vida de la mariposa. El trabajo de una oruga es comer y crecer tanto como sea posible antes de que se deshaga de su exoesqueleto y se convierta en una pupa. Una pupa es lo que se llama una oruga mientras está envuelta en un capullo.

La Mariposa

Dentro del capullo, el cuerpo de la oruga está pasando por muchos cambios. La oruga puede permanecer en el capullo durante semanas o incluso meses. Cuando finalmente sale del capullo, tiene alas y vuela como una mariposa o polilla adulta. Eventualmente, la mariposa o polilla pondrá huevos en una planta, muy probablemente la planta que la oruga recién nacida comerá, y el ciclo de vida de la mariposa comenzará de nuevo.

Ciclo de la Mariposa

Todos los miembros de la orden Lepidópteros, las mariposas y polillas, progresan a través de un ciclo de vida de cuatro etapas, o metamorfosis completa. Cada etapa – huevo, larva, pupa y adulto – sirve un propósito en el desarrollo y la vida del insecto.

Huevo de Mariposa (Etapa Embrionaria)

Una vez que se ha apareado con un macho de la misma especie, una mariposa o polilla hembra depositará sus huevos fertilizados, generalmente en plantas que le servirán de alimento a su descendencia.

Esto marca el comienzo del ciclo de vida.

Algunos, como la mariposa monarca, depositan los huevos por separado, esparciendo su progenie entre las plantas huésped. Otros, como la oruga oriental de tienda de campaña, ponen sus huevos en grupos o racimos, de modo que la descendencia permanece unida al menos durante la primera parte de su vida.

El tiempo necesario para que el huevo eclosione depende de la especie, así como de factores ambientales. Algunas especies ponen huevos resistentes al invierno en otoño, que nacen en primavera o verano.

Larva de Mariposa (Etapa larval)

Una vez completado el desarrollo dentro del huevo, la larva sale del huevo. En mariposas y polillas, también llamamos a las larvas (plural de larva) por otro nombre – orugas. En la mayoría de los casos, la primera comida que la oruga come será su propia cáscara de huevo, de la que obtiene nutrientes esenciales. Desde entonces, la oruga se alimenta de su planta huésped.

[alert type=»info» icon-size=»big»]Se dice que la larva recién eclosionada se encuentra en su primer estadio.[/alert]

Una vez que crece demasiado grande para su cutícula, debe desprenderse o mudar. La oruga puede tomar un descanso de comer mientras se prepara para mudar. Una vez que lo hace, ha alcanzado su segundo estadio. A menudo, consumirá su cutícula vieja, reciclando la proteína y otros nutrientes de nuevo en su cuerpo.

Algunas orugas parecen iguales, sólo que más grandes, cada vez que llegan a un nuevo estadio. En otras especies, el cambio de apariencia es dramático, y la oruga puede parecer un tipo completamente diferente. La larva continúa este ciclo -comer, cagar, muda, muda, comer, cagar, muda, muda- hasta que la oruga alcanza su estado final y se prepara para pupar.

Las orugas que se preparan para la pupación a menudo se alejan de sus plantas hospederas, en busca de un lugar seguro para la próxima etapa de sus vidas. Una vez que se encuentra un sitio adecuado, la oruga forma una piel de pupa, que es gruesa y fuerte, y desprende su cutícula larval final.

Pupa de Mariposa  (estadio pupal)

Durante la etapa pupal, ocurre la transformación más dramática. Tradicionalmente, esta etapa se ha denominado etapa de reposo, pero el insecto dista mucho de estar en reposo, en realidad. La pupa no se alimenta durante este tiempo, ni puede moverse, aunque un toque suave de un dedo puede dar lugar a que algunas especies se muevan ocasionalmente. Llamamos a las mariposas en esta etapa crisálidas, y nos referimos a las polillas como capullos.

Pupas de Mariposas

Dentro del caso pupal, la mayoría del cuerpo de la oruga se descompone a través de un proceso llamado histólisis. Grupos especiales de células transformadoras, que permanecieron ocultas e inertes durante la etapa larval, se convierten ahora en los directores de la reconstrucción del cuerpo. Estos grupos celulares, llamados histoblastos, inician procesos bioquímicos que transforman la oruga deconstruida en una mariposa o polilla viable.

[alert type=»info» icon-size=»big»]Este proceso se llama histogénesis, a partir de las palabras latinas histo, que significa tejido, y génesis, que significa origen o principio. [/alert]

Una vez que se haya completado la metamorfosis dentro del caso pupal, la mariposa o polilla puede permanecer en reposo hasta que el gatillo apropiado señale el momento de emerger. Los cambios en la luz o la temperatura, las señales químicas o incluso los desencadenantes hormonales pueden iniciar el surgimiento del adulto de la crisálida o el capullo.

Adulto de Mariposa (Etapa Imaginal)

El adulto, también llamado el imago, emerge de su cutícula pupal con el abdomen hinchado y las alas arrugadas. Durante las primeras horas de su vida adulta, la mariposa o polilla bombeará hemolinfa en las venas de sus alas para expandirlas. Los productos de desecho de la metamorfosis, un líquido rojizo llamado meconio, serán descargados del ano.

Una vez que sus alas estén completamente secas y dilatadas, la mariposa o polilla adulta puede volar en busca de pareja. Las hembras emparejadas ponen sus huevos fertilizados en plantas hospedadoras apropiadas, comenzando el ciclo de vida nuevamente.

De oruga a mariposa

Las mariposas pasan por una metamorfosis realmente asombrosa cuando se transforman de una oruga a un adulto. El proceso dentro de la crisálida es muy intenso. El cuerpo del insecto básicamente es licuado por los líquidos digestivos y el cuerpo es reestructurado usando células formativas especializadas.

Este proceso se llama histogénesis, en la cual se utilizan células indiferenciadas para construir diferentes tejidos corporales. Esto es similar a la construcción de tejidos que se puede hacer con células madre en otros animales.

Tipos de Mariposas

Las mariposas y la polilla pertenecen a la orden Lepidoptera. Lepidos es griego para «escalas» y ptera significa «ala». Estas alas escalonadas son diferentes a las de cualquier otro insecto. Los lepidópteros son un grupo muy grande; hay más tipos de mariposas y polillas que cualquier otro tipo de insectos, excepto los escarabajos. Se estima que hay alrededor de 150.000 especies diferentes de mariposas y polillas (puede haber muchas más). Hay alrededor de 28.000 especies de mariposas en todo el mundo, el resto son polillas.

Principales Familias de Mariposas

Nymphalidae – mariposas con patas de cepillo

Papillionidae – Llamadas Colas de golondrina

Hesperiidae – Conocidas como Patrones o Dardos, por sus movimientos

Saturniidae – Polillas Gigantes de seda

Lymantriidae – tussock polillas

Noctuidae – bucles, polillas de búho y aros

Principales Especies de Mariposas

Danaus plexippus, la Mariposa Monarca, es la única mariposa del mundo que emigra en dos direcciones.

Ornithoptera alexandrae es la mariposa más grande del mundo, con una envergadura de hasta 12 pulgadas.

Bombyx mori ya no se encuentra en estado silvestre. La polilla del gusano de seda ha sido criada en cautiverio durante miles de años.

Actias luna, la Polilla de la Luna, es una de las polillas más bellas y coloridas. Es una polilla común en el este de Estados Unidos.

4 DiferenciaS entre una Mariposa y una Polilla

Ambas mariposas y polillas pertenecen al mismo grupo de insectos llamado Lepidoptera. En general, las mariposas difieren de las polillas de las siguientes maneras:

Polilla

• Las mariposas generalmente tienen antenas aporreadas pero las polillas tienen antenas borrosas o plumosas.
• Las mariposas normalmente están activas durante el día, mientras que la mayoría de las polillas están activas durante la noche.
• Cuando una mariposa descansa, lo hará con las alas levantadas sobre su cuerpo. Las polillas, por otro lado, descansan con sus alas extendidas. Las mariposas, sin embargo, se deleitarán  con sus alas estiradas.
• Las mariposas son generalmente de colores más brillantes que las polillas, sin embargo, este no es siempre el caso. Hay algunas polillas muy coloridas.

La comparación entre Mariposas Diurnas y Nocturnas no es otra comparación que la de Mariposas y polillas. Ambas dentro del orden de las Lepidópteras, mariposas y polillas se dividen el día y la noche.

Mariposa Durmiente

Las mariposas aprovechan la noche y los días de climas inclementes para descansar. Casi siempre ‘duermen’ colgando boca abajo y debajo de una hoja. Este ahorcamiento requiere una energía mínima, ya que sus tarsos (aka ‘garras’) pueden agarrarse a la hoja con poco esfuerzo, opuesto a pararse del lado derecho hacia arriba. 

¿Por qué debajo de una hoja? Dos razones principales. Por un lado, obtienen protección de la lluvia que a menudo cae por la noche. En segundo lugar, están más ocultos para las aves que se levantan temprano y buscan una comida que pueda estar activa antes de que las mariposas estén lo suficientemente tibias para despegar. 

A menudo he notado que las mariposas con coloración de advertencia (negro y amarillo brillante, alas anaranjadas) duermen más expuestas, por ejemplo debajo de una rama delgada en lugar de debajo de una hoja que cubre. Esta coloración está allí como una señal para advertir a las aves que pueden ser venenosas para comer. Por lo tanto, puede ser beneficioso para las mariposas mostrar su señal de color completa (también conocida como alas) a las aves, en lugar de mantener sus alas parcialmente ocultas debajo de una hoja, lo que explica por qué tienden a dormir más al aire libre.

Entonces, ¿están realmente dormidos? Depende de tu definición de sueño. Si desea definir el sueño como un estado metabólico bajo inactivo, sí. Este bajo estado metabólico a menudo es impulsado por la temperatura en el aire mismo; Las mariposas ectotérmicas requieren energía térmica exterior para activarse. 

Mariposa Monarca

La mariposa monarca (Danaus plexippus) es una de las más reconocidas, estudiadas y apreciadas de todos los insectos de Norteamérica. Los niños estudian monarcas en la escuela. Investigadores y científicos ciudadanos rastrean su migración y reproducción. Los conservacionistas y las agencias gubernamentales están preocupados por las amenazas a los hábitats de reproducción, migración e invernada.

Se ha denominado «fenómeno natural en peligro de extinción». Esta especie y su migración dependen de la conservación de hábitats en los tres países norteamericanos: Canadá, Estados Unidos y México.

[alert type=»success» icon-size=»big»]El ciclo migratorio anual de la mariposa monarca ha sido descrito como el más espectacular del mundo de los insectos.[/alert]

El conocimiento del ciclo de vida de la mariposa monarca y los requerimientos de hábitat es esencial para su supervivencia y un paso importante en la conservación de este animal. Muchas agencias gubernamentales, organizaciones e individuos de toda América del Norte están trabajando en proyectos para conservar los hábitats de los monarcas y su migración.

Características de la Mariposa Monarca

Migración de las Mariposas Monarcas

Otra forma en que las mariposas pueden escapar del clima frío es emigrando a una región más cálida. Algunas mariposas migratorias, como la dama pintada y la mariposa de col, vuelan solo unos cientos de millas, mientras que otras, como la monarca, viajan miles de millas.

Los monarcas son considerados los campeones de larga distancia de la migración de las mariposas, viajando hasta 4000 millas de ida y vuelta. Comienzan su vuelo antes de que llegue el frío del otoño, dirigiéndose hacia el sur desde Canadá y el norte de los Estados Unidos.

Las Mariposas Monarcas emigran a los climas más cálidos de California, Florida y México, haciendo el viaje en dos meses o menos y alimentándose de néctar en el camino. Una vez que llegan a su destino en el sur, pasarán el invierno descansando para el vuelo de regreso. Pocos de los adultos originales realmente completan el viaje a casa. En cambio, las hembras se aparean y ponen huevos en el camino y sus descendientes terminan este viaje increíble.

Santuario Mariposa Monarca

La biosfera de 56,259 ha se encuentra dentro de las escarpadas montañas boscosas a unos 100 km al noroeste de la Ciudad de México. Cada otoño, millones, quizás mil millones, de mariposas de amplias zonas de Norteamérica regresan al sitio y se agrupan en pequeñas áreas de la reserva forestal, coloreando sus árboles de color naranja y literalmente doblando sus ramas bajo su peso colectivo.

En la primavera, estas mariposas comienzan una migración de 8 meses que les lleva hasta el este de Canadá y viceversa, durante los cuales nacen y mueren cuatro generaciones sucesivas. La forma en que encuentran el camino de regreso a su lugar de invierno sigue siendo un misterio. Fuente: https://www.unesco.org

Mariposa Monarca Michoacan

Cada invierno, millones y tal vez más de mil millones de mariposas monarca llegan a los bosques de Michoacán. Aunque no está claro cómo estas magníficas criaturas encuentran su camino hacia parcelas invisibles pero de alguna manera favorecidas del México rural, estas reuniones espectaculares han generado un gran interés por parte de ecologistas, naturalistas y conservacionistas de todo el mundo.

El recorrido ofrece a los viajeros la extraordinaria experiencia de unirse a las Monarcas en las reservas de mariposas de México, Patrimonio de la Humanidad de la UNESCO, y además aprender sobre una variedad de características históricas y culturales únicas de la región. A medida que el sol ilumine los millones de alas anaranjadas y negras, comprenderá rápidamente por qué este es un viaje de su vida.

Qué comen las Mariposas Monarcas

Las larvas (caterpilares) de las mariposas monarca comen SOLAMENTE algodoncillo (Planta lechosa –Asclepias-), por eso la mariposa monarca es llamada la «mariposa lechera». La etapa de larvas es la única etapa de la mariposa monarca que se alimenta de las algas lecheras, como también las llaman a estas plantas; hay algo en la alga lechera que permite que la oruga crezca y mantenga todas las vitaminas necesarias para transformarse en una hermosa mariposa.

A su vez, las mariposas adultas consumen todo tipo de cosas incluyendo néctar, agua e incluso líquidos de algunas de las frutas que consumimos. Si usted está mirando para atraer mariposas monarca a su patio, con simplemente plantar unos pocos árboles frutales junto con un montón de flores y listo! debería tener un patio trasero lleno de mariposas monarca si logra eso! Les gusta especialmente beber de rebanadas de plátano, naranjas y sandía.

Información de la Mariposa Monarca

Podría decirse que entre las más bellas de todas las especies de mariposas, la monarca norteamericana no es sólo otra cara bonita. Tiene características y habilidades muy interesantes que ninguno de sus primos en todo el mundo puede reivindicar. Aquí están algunos hechos asombrosos sobre esta criatura delicada pero increíblemente durable y fascinante.

1. Kilometros de viaje

En uno de los increíbles eventos de animales naturales del mundo cada otoño, decenas de millones de mariposas monarca migran hasta 3000 millas desde el noreste de los Estados Unidos y Canadá hasta sus tierras de invernada en México Central para escapar de las heladas del invierno. De hecho, se ha descubierto que las mariposas monarca marcadas viajan más de 250 millas en un día.

La migración se debe al hecho de que los monarcas no pueden sobrevivir a los fríos inviernos del norte, a diferencia de otras mariposas que pueden sobrevivir como larvas, pupas o incluso como adultos en algunos casos. Como resultado, el monarca es la única mariposa conocida por hacer una migración de ida y vuelta, similar a las aves.

2. Poseen radar?

Uno de los enigmas en torno a este fenómeno es cómo millones de mariposas infantiles que nunca han estado en sus tierras ancestrales de reproducción regresan a los mismos árboles que sus padres hospedaron antes de nacer.

3. ¡No me comas, tengo un sabor horrible!

La naranja de las alas de una mariposa monarca es un color de advertencia, identificándose con los depredadores que la mariposa sabe mal o puede ser tóxica.

4. ¡Pero si lo intentas, volaré!

Una mariposa monarca puede batir sus alas hasta 120 veces en un minuto cuando intenta escapar de un depredador. Su velocidad de vuelo se ha medido entre 4 y 12 millas por hora, pero puede ser mucho más rápida si un monarca utiliza las corrientes de viento disponibles que lo acelerarán considerablemente.

5. ¿Qué tan alto es alto?

Los monarcas saben cuándo es el momento de migrar al sur para el invierno, basándose en las señales ambientales asociadas con los cambios estacionales.

Luego se elevan naturalmente utilizando corrientes de aire y térmicas para viajar distancias tan increíbles. De hecho, el monarca más alto fue registrado a 11.000 pies por un piloto de planeador – ¡eso es más de dos millas arriba en el aire! Para poner esto en perspectiva, la mayoría de los pájaros vuelan por debajo de 500 pies, los globos aerostáticos sólo suben unos 200 pies, e incluso las migraciones de aves cantoras ocurren en el rango de 2000-4000 pies de altura. Realmente no hay mucho más en marcha por encima de los 11.000 pies aparte del Everest (29.028 pies) y los jets de pasajeros (36.000 pies).

10 Fascinantes hechos sobre las mariposas

Comportamientos y rasgos interesantes de las mariposas. A la gente le encanta ver a las coloridas mariposas flotar de flor en flor. Desde los azules más pequeños hasta las colas de golondrina más grandes, ¿cuánto sabe usted realmente acerca de estos insectos? Aquí hay 10 hechos fascinantes acerca de las mariposas.

1. Las alas de mariposa son transparentes.

¿Cómo puede ser eso? Conocemos a las mariposas como los insectos más coloridos y vibrantes que existen! Las alas de una mariposa están cubiertas por miles de diminutas escamas, que reflejan la luz en diferentes colores.

Pero por debajo de todas esas escamas, un ala de mariposa está formada por capas de quitina, la misma proteína que constituye el exoesqueleto de un insecto. Estas capas son tan finas que se puede ver a través de ellas. A medida que una mariposa envejece, las escamas se caen de las alas, dejando manchas de transparencia donde se expone la capa de quitina.

2. Las mariposas saborean con los pies.

Las mariposas tienen receptores de sabor en sus pies para ayudarles a encontrar sus plantas hospederas y localizar comida. Una hembra de mariposa aterriza en diferentes plantas, tamborileando las hojas con los pies hasta que la planta libera sus jugos. Las espinas en la parte posterior de sus piernas tienen quimiorreceptores que detectan la coincidencia correcta de los químicos de las plantas.

Cuando identificó la planta correcta, pone sus huevos. Una mariposa también pisará sus alimentos, usando órganos que perciben azúcares disueltos para degustar fuentes alimenticias como la fruta en fermentación.

3. Las mariposas viven con una dieta totalmente líquida.

Hablando de comer mariposas, las mariposas adultas sólo pueden alimentarse con líquidos, generalmente néctar.

Sus partes bucales están modificadas para que puedan beber, pero no pueden masticar sólidos. Una probóscide, que funciona como una paja para beber, permanece acurrucada bajo el mentón de la mariposa hasta que encuentra una fuente de néctar u otra nutrición líquida. Despliega la larga y tubular estructura y sorbe una comida.

Algunas mariposas se alimentan de savia, y algunas incluso recurren a sorber de la carroña en descomposición. No importa la comida, se tragan una pajita.

4. Una mariposa debe ensamblar su probóscide en cuanto sale de la crisálida.

Una mariposa que no puede beber néctar está condenada. Uno de sus primeros trabajos como mariposa adulta es ensamblar sus boquillas. Cuando un nuevo adulto emerge de la caja pupal, o crisálida, su boca está en dos trozos. Usando palpi situado adyacente a la probóscide, la mariposa comienza a trabajar las dos partes juntas para formar una sola probóscide tubular. Usted puede ver una mariposa recién surgida que se riza y desenrolla la probóscide una y otra vez, probándola.

5. Las mariposas beben de charcos de barro.

Una mariposa no puede vivir sólo del azúcar; también necesita minerales. Para complementar su dieta de néctar, una mariposa ocasionalmente sorbe de los charcos de barro, que son ricos en minerales y sales. Este comportamiento, llamado charco, ocurre con más frecuencia en las mariposas macho, que incorporan los minerales en su esperma. Estos nutrientes se transfieren a la hembra durante el apareamiento y ayudan a mejorar la viabilidad de sus huevos.

6. Las mariposas no pueden volar si tienen frío.

Las mariposas necesitan una temperatura corporal ideal de aproximadamente 85ºF para volar.

Como son animales de sangre fría, no pueden regular su temperatura corporal. La temperatura del aire circundante tiene un gran impacto en su capacidad de funcionamiento. Si la temperatura del aire cae por debajo de 55ºF, las mariposas se vuelven inmóviles, incapaces de huir de los depredadores o de alimentarse.

Cuando las temperaturas del aire oscilan entre 82º y 100ºF, las mariposas pueden volar con facilidad. Los días más fríos requieren una mariposa para calentar sus músculos de vuelo, ya sea temblando o tomando el sol. E incluso las mariposas amantes del sol pueden sobrecalentarse cuando las temperaturas se elevan por encima de los 100ºF, y pueden buscar sombra para refrescarse.

7. Una nueva mariposa emergente no puede volar.

Dentro de la crisálida, una mariposa en desarrollo espera a emerger con sus alas colapsadas alrededor de su cuerpo. Cuando finalmente se libera de la caja pupal, saluda al mundo con diminutas alas arrugadas.

La mariposa debe bombear inmediatamente líquido corporal a través de sus venas alares para expandirlas. Una vez que sus alas alcanzan su tamaño completo, la mariposa debe descansar unas horas para permitir que su cuerpo se seque y endurezca antes de poder tomar su primer vuelo.

8. Las mariposas viven sólo unas semanas, por lo general.

Una vez que emerge de su crisálida como un adulto, una mariposa tiene sólo 2-4 semanas cortas para vivir, en la mayoría de los casos. Durante ese tiempo, enfoca toda su energía en dos tareas: comer y aparearse. Algunas de las mariposas más pequeñas, las azules, pueden sobrevivir sólo unos pocos días. Las mariposas que pasan el invierno como adultos, como monarcas y mantos de luto, pueden vivir hasta 9 meses.

9. Las mariposas son miopes, pero pueden ver y discriminar muchos colores.

Dentro de aproximadamente 10-12 pies, la vista de mariposa es bastante buena. Cualquier cosa más allá de esa distancia se vuelve un poco borrosa para una mariposa. Las mariposas dependen de su vista para realizar tareas vitales, como encontrar parejas de la misma especie y encontrar flores con las que alimentarse.

Además de ver algunos de los colores que podemos ver, las mariposas pueden ver una gama de colores ultravioletas invisibles al ojo humano. Las mariposas mismas pueden tener marcas ultravioletas en sus alas para ayudarlas a identificarse unas a otras y localizar posibles parejas. Las flores también muestran marcas ultravioletas que sirven como señales de tráfico para los polinizadores entrantes, como las mariposas.

10. Las mariposas emplean todo tipo de trucos para evitar que las coman.

Las mariposas ocupan un lugar muy bajo en la cadena alimenticia, con muchos depredadores hambrientos felices de hacer una comida con ellas.

Algunas mariposas doblan sus alas para mezclarse con el fondo, usando el camuflaje para hacerse invisibles a los depredadores. Otros intentan la estrategia opuesta, usando colores y patrones vibrantes que anuncian audazmente su presencia.

Los insectos de colores brillantes a menudo presentan un golpe tóxico si se comen, por lo que los depredadores aprenden a evitarlos. Algunas mariposas no son tóxicas en absoluto, sino que se adaptan a otras especies conocidas por su toxicidad. Al imitar a sus primos malvados, repelen a los depredadores.

Mariposas versus Polillas

Mariposas y polillas: tan diferentes como la noche y el día. Durante el día, las mariposas usan sus colores brillantes y sus grandes ojos compuestos para encontrar comida y entre sí. Cuando llega la noche, las polillas que han permanecido ocultas durante el día usan sus antenas para oler rastros de comida y encontrar pareja. Las antenas, que muchas personas llaman «antenas», son órganos especializados para oler y degustar. La mejor manera de distinguir una mariposa de una polilla es comparando sus antenas.

Diferencia entre Mariposas y Polillas

Las mujeres a menudo se hacen tatuajes de mariposa como su primer tatuaje. Cada vez son más las jóvenes que optan por este tipo de arte corporal femenino y bello. Para ser muy honestos, las mujeres y las mariposas se pertenecen y tienen tantas cosas en común.

Los insectos no son algunos de los diseños más representados en tatuajes, pero las mariposas son la excepción. Los tatuajes de mariposas son un tipo femenino de tatuajes y vienen en un gran surtido de contornos y tamaños: multicolor o puramente negro, estilizado o auténtico como un monarca.

Los tatuajes de las mariposas son casi con toda seguridad el diseño más popular para las mujeres y las muchachas. Ya sea por un significado (siempre relacionado a la belleza, libertad y sobre todo, metamorfosis), los Tatuajes de Mariposas están desde antaño vinculado a las mujeres.

Si bien hoy es distinto, la idea de Metamorfosis adquiere un concepto más amplio que el de belleza y llega fácilmente al público masculino. O para ser más concretos, deja de lado el costado sexista y agranda el concepto de Mariposa a hombres y mujeres por igual

Imágenes de Mariposas Monarca

Exite una larva de mariposa que por ella se han iniciado guerras, retiradas de ejércitos de grandes imperios, auges y caídas de dinastías e inclusive rutas comerciales propiamente para lo que ellas hacen. Se trata de la Bombyx mori  también mundialmente conocido como el gusano de la seda.

Gusano de la seda

Esta especie de gusanos, Bombycidae son naturales de Asia. Estos no se encuentra en estado salvaje,ya que todos son usados para el comercio de la seda.

La sericultura o cultivo profesional de la seda, es un oficio del cual se aprovecha un hilo muy fino que segrega el gusano para la construcción del capullo.

Ciclo de vida de las Larvas de Mariposas

Los machos adultos suelen ser mucho más activos que la hembras, quien en esta etapa de su vida, solo se ocupa de buscar a una buena candidata para aparearse. Ellos localizan a las hembras con el uso de las peludas antenas que poseen, y  perciben las feromonas producidas por las hembras.

Las hembras ponen alrededor de 400 a 500 huevos y  mueren después de la puesta.

Las orugas nacen en los meses de primavera, y estas mudan de piel 4 veces durante esta etapa, hasta   llegar a adultos. Antes de mudar, la oruga se queda inmóvil durante todo un día, cuando realiza la última de las mudas llegan a medir 8 cm. El gusano al hacer los capullos estos dejan de comer.

Este gusano necesita de unas condiciones idóneas para sobrevivir, es decir, la temperatura ideal para que sobrevivan es de 25 C°. Además, si el cultivo de estos gusanos se encuentra en invierno y no se le brinda la temperatura adecuada, las orugas no saldrán de los huevos hasta la llegada de la primavera.

Alimentación de las LARVAS

Los gusanos de la seda tienen un dieta especifica, a base de morera, pero también se le puede dar alimentos artificiales realizados a partir de morera liofilizada. Si se intenta darle algún otro alimento al gusano  lo rechazará, por lo que morirá de hambre.

Mitos sobre los orígenes de la seda

Se han creado historias y mitos de estos seres vivos, ya que portan un valor no solo a nivel económico sino también en creencias de buena suerte y de ideas innovadoras para el mundo.

Uno de ellos dice que la emperatriz de China llamada Leizu, o Xi Ling-Shi, esposa del emperador amarillo. Ella estaba tomando una taza de té cuando un capullo cayó dentro de su taza.

Cuando lo estaba sacando de su taza ella empezó a devanar el hilo procedente del capullo. En ese momento se le ocurrió tejerlo. Gracias a su marido, empezó a enseñarles a la corte el modo de crianza de estas las larvas y así se creó la sericultura. Hoy la joven emperatriz es conocida como diosa de la seda.

Otra leyenda  sobre el origen de la seda cuenta que una joven prometió casarse con quien trajera de regreso a su padre de la guerra. Al escuchar esto un caballo fue en la búsqueda del padre de la joven. Pero al ver el atrevimiento de este, se le dio captura y lo despellejaron.

Un día la joven empezó a pisotear la piel del caballo burlándose de ella, pero para su sorpresa la piel la envolvió y desaparecieron juntos. Luego aparecieron juntos en un árbol, transformados en gusanos de seda.

Los persas también tienen su propia historia sobre los gusanos de la seda. Ellos cuentan que la primera pareja de gusanos de seda aparecieron de la piel del profeta Job.

La seda en el mundo

El origen de la seda por siglos fue un secreto bien guardado de los chinos, de hecho, incluso para los mismos chinos la seda estuvo bien resguardada. Por mucho tiempo su uso era exclusivamente para la realeza China.

La producción de seda era exclusiva para China durante unos 3000 años, con excepción de Japón, quienes robaron ese conocimiento en una excursión militar. Pero aun así, se tienen pruebas de su existencia desde tiempos bíblicos, ya que hay menciones de ella en la biblia.

Aun incluso antes de su propagación por Eurasia mediante la ruta de la seda, se tienen datos de que fueron usados en las cortes de antiguos emperadores persas, faraones y hasta por el mismo Alejandro Magno.

La ruta de la seda se dio lugar gracias al creciente interés de los chinos por expandirse hacia el oeste. Dicha ruta comercial era una de las más peligrosas de la época, debido a que había que atravesar áridos desiertos, cordilleras montañosas y luchar contra bandidos.

La seda era un importante objeto para las negociaciones de paz y guerra, antiguas fuentes mencionan que se les entregaban a tribus nómadas como los Xiongu y los Hunos. Tribus que solían romper la paz del imperio.

También se sabe que Gengis Kan, primer emperador del imperio mongol, tenía mucho interés por la seda, por lo cual fue uno de los motivos de iniciar su conquista de China, que fue concretada por su nieto Kublai kan.

Los griegos y los romanos intentaron muchas veces averiguar el origen de la seda, incluso decían que la seda provenía de seres sedosos. El primer contacto del imperio romano con la seda fue durante la batalla de Carrhae, en donde el mismísimo ejercito romano emprendió la huida al ver el brillo del estandarte del enemigo.

La seda, desde su descubrimiento, ha sido un factor importante en la economía tanto de China como en el mundo. El mundo, sin duda alguna no sería el mismo sin el descubrimiento de un capullo.

Para la confección de un una simple bufanda de seda mueren miles de gusanos, ya que un solo gusano de la seda produce una cantidad muy mínima de seda. Y tiene la misma importancia hoy en día que en épocas anteriores. Hoy en día se desarrollan tratados y acuerdos en China a base de seda.

Al igual que la mayoría de los seres vivos, las mariposas son animales que tienen métodos de defensa en contra de los depredadores. Aunque son animales bastante frágiles, las mariposas y las orugas tienen mecanismos de defensas muy complejos y únicos y algunos de estos no se ven en otras especies del mundo, es decir, son únicas de las mariposas.

Las características que estas presentan son únicas de una especie o subgénero de mariposas, por lo cual será necesario mencionar algunas mariposas en específico en vez del mecanismo defensivo.

Estos son los métodos de defensa más curiosos de las mariposas y orugas.

Olores desagradables

Algunas especies de mariposas y orugas segregan olores fuertes y fétidos mediante glándulas especiales. Dichos olores son capaces de alejar a la gran mayoría de los depredadores. Este sería el caso de la oruga de la mariposa cebra, la cual expulsa un fuerte olor al sentirse amenazada. Una de las principales amenazas que enfrenta esta oruga, es el de las avispas parasitarias, las cuales buscan depositar en ellas sus huevecillos que al hacer eclosión se alimentan de la oruga de adentro hacia afuera.

Este mecanismo es muy efectivo especialmente contra otros insectos, debido a que una gran mayoría de insectos tienen un olfato desarrollado, el hecho de desprender un aroma fuerte y desagradable lo hace un excelente mecanismo defensivo.

Mimetismo y camuflaje

El mimetismo es uno de los métodos defensivos más usados en el mundo natural. De hecho, una gran variedad de animales lo utilizan, y el hecho de que las mariposas y orugas lo hagan no es ninguna sorpresa. Pero las maneras que estas han hallado de hacerlo son muy peculiares.

Uno de los métodos de mimetismo más peculiares es el de la oruga de la mariposa cometa gigante. Este pequeño animal se asemeja a los excrementos de los pájaros, haciendo pensar mejor a los posibles depredadores en si quieren comérsela o no.

El caso de la mariposa pavo real también es peculiar. Al sentirse amenazada, esta mariposa abre sus grandes alas, al hacerlo se muestran dos ocelos falsos, los cuales se asemejan a los ojos de depredadores, llegando a confundir al atacante.

Pero uno de los casos de camuflajes más sorprendentes de todos, es el de la mariposa de cristal, la Greta oto. El camuflaje de esta mariposa es sencillamente asombroso, la mariposa de cristal, como lo indica su nombre, es de un color casi transparente. Logra esto debido a que el tejido que se encuentra en sus alas no es capaz de absorber la luz y mucho menos dispersarla, por lo que puede pasar desapercibida para la gran mayoría de los depredadores.

La mariposa hoja de roble o Kallima inachus también es muy particular. Como lo indica su nombre, esta se asemeja a las hojas del roble, haciendo que, al quedarse totalmente inmóvil, el depredador dude de esta.

La larva de la polilla esmeralda ondulada o Synchlora aerata la cual se mimetiza completamente con las flores de la planta  Achillea millefolium. Este resulta ser un mimetismo tan efectivo que la oruga, al quedar inmóvil, pasa completamente desapercibida.

Otra oruga capaz de mimetizar a depredadores es la oruga de Hemeroplanes triptólemo la cual al incorporar una parte de su cuerpo, se asemeja a la cabeza de una serpiente, espantando así hasta al más atrevido de los depredadores.

Pelo urticante

Este mecanismo es más común en las orugas que en las mariposas, aunque hay algunas especies de mariposas que lo tienen. El pelo urticante es una vellosidad que posee toxinas y bacterias irritantes. Este mecanismo es simple, al tocar al animal, se irrita la piel y comérselo solo garantizaría que el depredador pase uno de los peores momentos de su vida.

Este es un mecanismo de defensa activo, es decir, que siempre estará presente en la oruga y/o mariposa, esté amenazada o no.

Algunas mariposas que utilizan estos métodos son las Eupterotidae y las orugas de la familia Notodontidae.

Asociación con hormigas

Este método es utilizado por una gran parte de las orugas de la familia Lycaenidae y es bastante simple, la oruga segrega un líquido de sabor dulce, el cual a las hormigas les gusta. Al verse amenazada por otros depredadores, la oruga prácticamente no tiene que hacer nada, ya que las hormigas saldrán en su defensa.

Veneno de las Mariposas: mito o realidad

El veneno es uno de los más efectivos métodos que poseen las mariposas, ya que le da un sabor repugnante y efectos secundarios al depredador. El veneno es adquirido la mayoría de las veces en la etapa larval, debido a que las larvas comen plantas tóxicas. Las toxinas de estas van al cuerpo de las larvas y permanecen allí toda su vida. Aunque también hay casos de mariposas que durante el apareamiento aportan veneno a sus huevos.

De hecho, hay mariposas que no cuentan con depredadores naturales gracias a esto, como el de la mariposa gota de sangre y la Papilio antimachus cuya única amenaza es el ser humano.

La mariposa más grande del mundo, las alas de pájaro cuentan con este mecanismo, el cual genera vómitos a sus depredadores.

La mariposa más famosa del mundo, es decir, la mariposa monarca también es venenosa, lo cual es una gran protección para su larga migración.

Mariposa tigre

Esta especie es bastante peculiar, porque desarrolla varios sistemas defensivos, tanto en su etapa larval como en la adultez.

Cuando es una oruga, la larva adquiere dos apariencias, primero se asemeja al excremento de las aves, luego de un tiempo la oruga desarrolla una serie de manchas semejantes a ojos de serpientes, logrando escapar así de sus depredadores.

Al llegar a la adultez, como no es venenosa, se asemeja a la mariposa del pipevine, ya que este si es una especie venenosa. Es decir, no es venenosa, pero se le parece…

Mariposas Morpho azul

Las mariposas Morpho son una familia muy peculiar, pese a su gran belleza, tienen costumbres muy contrarias a lo que pensaríamos.

Al no poseer muchos mecanismos defensivos, dependen de su manera de escape. Al volar de manera errática, el depredador no puede hallar un punto fijo en donde atacar, si esto no funciona, también pueden posarse en algún sitio, la forma en que estas tienen sus alas y su coloración confunde al depredador, dando la sensación de que esta aparece y desparece.

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• You can always opt-out of all long-term tracking at any time you wish.

Note: You can view the current number of spam comments Akismet has successfully blocked on our homepage, Akismet.com (yes, our counter pulls from real data!)

Have a website that you’d like to defend against spam?

Protect your site with Akismet

Akismet is the most powerful anti-spam service for the web. Akismet works by checking all your comments against our constantly-growing global spam database to remove irrelevant, malicious content before it gets published and damages your site’s credibility.

Akismet gets increasingly effective over time: the more it learns, the more it protects. Its algorithms are continuously learning from content marked as spam across websites, so it more accurately detects and removes spam from sites in the future.

When Akismet is enabled on your site, only the personal data needed to carry out Akismet’s core function of protecting your site against comment spam is collected from commenters on your site. We do not sell the data you send to the Akismet service, and we do not keep it for long. We have short retention periods of between two weeks and ninety days for the vast majority of our spam-related data, at which point it is automatically deleted from our databases. Anyone can opt-out of all long-term tracking for the very small subset of data we do keep longer by using our contact form. For more information, please visit our Privacy Notice.

Who we are and what we stand for

Akismet is brought to you by Automattic, the makers of WordPress.com, Jetpack, and WooCommerce. We’re a distributed company with over 800 employees across over 65 countries speaking over 80 different languages. We believe in Open Source and the vast majority of our work is available under the GPL. Our common goal is to democratize publishing so that anyone with a story can tell it, regardless of income, gender, politics, language, or where they live in the world. You can read more about Automattic on our About Us page.

Akismet was created in 2005 by Automattic’s CEO, Matt Mullenweg (also the co-founder of WordPress, the open-source CMS software) in order to help protect his mother’s personal blog from spam. Since then, it has grown exponentially to detect and protect over 6 million websites (as of January 2019).

For more information

Automattic Privacy Policy Automattic Privacy Notice