Potala Palace

The western districts of Kam, the east of which had been rolled into Qinghai, the central provinces of Wu and Zhang, the seat of Lhasa itself, the province of Nagari, and the largely uninhabited northern pastures called Changtang, both of which served as the kingdom's primary pasturelands.

At the head of all this, both politically and religiously, was of course the Dalai Lama in his Potala Palace.

At the beginning of the 19th century, this living bodhisattva of compassion was in his eighth incarnation, living to the age of 46 and dying in 1804.

The ninth Dalai Lama would reign for a subsequent 11 years until 1815, and the tenth until 1837, which pretty well encapsulates the period of focus we're going for today.

The Dalai Lama was found in May, and by September 24th, 1720, the Qing took Lhasa, with the Jungars having already fled.

Five chief lamas who had supported the Jungars were executed, and the Dalai Lama was placed on the throne of the Potala.

Tibetans, seeing the Jungars plunder and flee, prostrated themselves, saying, quote, Since the Jungars plundered and raped us, we thought we would never see the sun shine again, end quote.

Yet, despite this Qing victory, their troops found that they could not stay long.

The pure land of Avalokiteshvara is Potalaka.

Many locations have been associated with Potalaka, including the Potala Palace in Tibet, which is the former home of the Dalai Lama, as well as Mount Putua in China.

The Bodhisattva Kshatigarbha, known as Jizo in Japanese, is regarded as the protector of children and travelers, and is often depicted as a plainly dressed monk, while most other Bodhisattvas have elaborate jewelry.

This plain dress indicates that instead of building a pure land, Jizo's Bodhisattva remains in the six realms of samsara to guide beings to a better rebirth, perhaps in Sukhavati.