I keep thinking of this as a pulp-style "Thibet" (Shangri-la, etc.) which means I don't expect too much realism. But if one drags the real world into it, the basic problem is that the Chinese vastly outnumber the Tibetans and always have.
Chinese Buddhism is very different from Tibetan Buddhism; it came into China from India the long way round, from the northwest (now Pakistan) into Central Asia and thence to Sinkiang and at length to central China. Direct contact with India was fitful, and broke off altogether around 750. By modern times, Chinese Buddhism had been simplified to focus on just two main strands: Ch'an, or meditative Buddhism, and Pure Land, popular devotional Buddhism.
Tibetan Buddhism had a totally different history. It was piped into Tibet directly over the Himalayas from north India, and retained close contacts down to the final collapse of Indian Buddhism c. 1200. The result was a Buddhism much more strongly influenced by Tantrism, which in popular thought is often perceived as magical (and by hostile witnesses as demonolatry, and so on). Tibetan Buddhists were also much more organized, with sectarian monastic orders maintaining clear lines of authority; for this reason, the orders were able to step in and take over Tibetan government when the secular government collapsed. In China, outside of a couple of large monasteries, there was little organization and such regulation as there was came from the (Confucian) government.
During the Ch'ing dynasty, the Emperors espoused a form of Tibetan Buddhism (which had spread during the Yüan dynasty to the Mongols, and thence to the Manchus) but after the revolution Tibetan-Chinese relations became much more distant. Tibetan and Chinese language, religion, and culture were quite unlike; and even in a situation where much of China was lost to the Japanese, the idea that the Tibetans could provide leadership to the Chinese is pretty far-fetched; the Chinese saw (or rather see) the Tibetans as a bunch of benighted yak-herding barbarians completely out of touch with the modern world.
But in a pulp universe (where 'orientals' are typically muddled together anyway) anything is possible. Perhaps the Thibetan High Lama uses mystical powers to fight off the Japanese, and each Chinese general has a tantric monk beside him to call down hailstorms and lightning upon his enemies. In such a universe, perhaps a lama might rule, either on or behind the throne in Peking; though in light of the geography, such a lama might as well be a Mongol as a Tibetan. Indeed, why not go whole hog and reestablish an Imperial Mongol dynasty on the throne? That gets you not only your Tibetan Buddhism, but also a trained army of Mongol warriors; Tibet's own army was barely more than ceremonial.
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timeasmymeasure
Buddhism in China and Tibet
Date: 2010-06-15 09:54 pm (UTC)Chinese Buddhism is very different from Tibetan Buddhism; it came into China from India the long way round, from the northwest (now Pakistan) into Central Asia and thence to Sinkiang and at length to central China. Direct contact with India was fitful, and broke off altogether around 750. By modern times, Chinese Buddhism had been simplified to focus on just two main strands: Ch'an, or meditative Buddhism, and Pure Land, popular devotional Buddhism.
Tibetan Buddhism had a totally different history. It was piped into Tibet directly over the Himalayas from north India, and retained close contacts down to the final collapse of Indian Buddhism c. 1200. The result was a Buddhism much more strongly influenced by Tantrism, which in popular thought is often perceived as magical (and by hostile witnesses as demonolatry, and so on). Tibetan Buddhists were also much more organized, with sectarian monastic orders maintaining clear lines of authority; for this reason, the orders were able to step in and take over Tibetan government when the secular government collapsed. In China, outside of a couple of large monasteries, there was little organization and such regulation as there was came from the (Confucian) government.
During the Ch'ing dynasty, the Emperors espoused a form of Tibetan Buddhism (which had spread during the Yüan dynasty to the Mongols, and thence to the Manchus) but after the revolution Tibetan-Chinese relations became much more distant. Tibetan and Chinese language, religion, and culture were quite unlike; and even in a situation where much of China was lost to the Japanese, the idea that the Tibetans could provide leadership to the Chinese is pretty far-fetched; the Chinese saw (or rather see) the Tibetans as a bunch of benighted yak-herding barbarians completely out of touch with the modern world.
But in a pulp universe (where 'orientals' are typically muddled together anyway) anything is possible. Perhaps the Thibetan High Lama uses mystical powers to fight off the Japanese, and each Chinese general has a tantric monk beside him to call down hailstorms and lightning upon his enemies. In such a universe, perhaps a lama might rule, either on or behind the throne in Peking; though in light of the geography, such a lama might as well be a Mongol as a Tibetan. Indeed, why not go whole hog and reestablish an Imperial Mongol dynasty on the throne? That gets you not only your Tibetan Buddhism, but also a trained army of Mongol warriors; Tibet's own army was barely more than ceremonial.