Changkya Rölpé Dorjé (1717-1786) was a principal Tibetan Buddhist teacher in the Qing court,ölpéDorjé a close associate of the Qianlong Emperor of China, and an important intermediary between the imperial court and Inner Asia. He also oversaw the translation of the Tibetan Buddhist canon into Classical Mongolian and Manchu. He also was involved in the compilation of a quadralingual set (Chinese, Manchurian, Mongolian, and Tibetan) and supervised the translation from Chinese into Manchurian, Mongolian and Tibetan of the entire Śūraṅgama Sūtra completed in 1763; the Tibetan translation is currently preserved in a supplement to the Narthang Kangyur.
Biography
Birth and early education
Changkya Rölpé Dorjé was born on the 10th day of the fourth (Hor) month of the Fire-Bird year (1717) in Wuwei (formerly known as Liangzhou) near Lanzhou in Gansu. At an early age he was recognized by the first Jamyang Zhépa as the incarnation of the previous Changkya Kutuktu of Gönlung Jampa Ling monastery (佑宁寺) in Amdo (now Qinghai), one of the four great Gelug monasteries of the north. At his investiture the Kangxi Emperor sent Kachen Shérap Dargyé as his representative.
In 1723, soon after the death of Kangxi, the new ruler, Yongzheng (r. 1722-1735) was just establishing his authority, Mongol tribesmen claiming the succession of Güshi Khan, together with their Amdo Tibetan allies and supported by some factions within the monasteries, rose up against the Qing in the region of Kokonor. Yongzheng insisted on violent reprisals and in Amdo the Manchu army, destroyed villages and monasteries believed to have sided with the rebels including in 1724 Gönlung. However the emperor ordered that the seven-year-old Changkya incarnation not be harmed but brought to China as a "guest". At the Yongzheng Emperor's court, he was raised and educated to serve as an intermediary between the seat of Manchu power and the Buddhists of Amdo, Tibet and Mongolia. Rölpé Dorjé's monastic teachers included Zhangshu Kachen Shérap Dargyé; the second Thuken Hotogtu, Ngakwang Chökyi Gyatso and Atsé Chöjé Lozang Chödzin.
Changkya Rölpé Dorjé and his teachers realised that in order for the Gelug teachings to flourish in China and Manchuria they would need to be available in Chinese, Mongolian and Manchu and so he began the study of those languages. One of his fellow students was Prince Hungli, who became his friend — and eventually the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735-1796).
He also took an interest in Chinese Buddhism and thought that their principle philosophical views had close similarities with those of the Yogachara () school. He was also apparently the one who came up with the notion that Dampa Sangye, the Indian founder of the Pacification () school in Tibet who supposedly also visited China, and Bodhidharma were the same person.
Exile of the 7th Dalai Lama
In the late 1720s Polhané Sönam Topgyé mounted a successful campaign to take control of Tibet and the Seventh Dalai Lama was exiled, leaving Lhasa at the end of 1728. The Manchu ambans in Lhasa, representatives of the Yongzheng emperor, arranged for an invitation to the Paṇchen Lama Lozang Yéshé to travel to Lhasa, which he reluctantly did, in October 1728. Polhané granted him dominion over most of Tsang and Ngari, forcing him to cede the eastern part of the region to Lhasa.
In 1729 after the Panchen Lama sent a letter and numerous gifts to the Yongzheng emperor, Rölpé Dorjé obtained permission from the emperor for his monastery Gönlung Jampa Ling to be rebuilt.
First Visit to Tibet
In 1732 the Panchen Lama petitioned the Emperor to enable the Seventh Dalai Lama to return to Lhasa. When the petition was granted in 1734 Rölpé Dorjé was ordered by Yongzheng to accompany the 7th Dalai Lama to Lhasa. This trip gave Rölpé Dorjé the opportunity to study with the Dalai Lama as well as to make offerings at Lhasa's major monasteries and to present gifts from the emperor. In 1735 Changkya and the Dalai Lama went on to Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Shigatse to pay his respect to Lobsang Yeshe, 5th Panchen Lama (1663-1737), where he took both his initial and final monastic vows under the Panchen Lama's supervision.
When Yongzheng died in 1736, Rölpé Dorjé had to give up his plans to study under the Panchen Lama and returned to Beijing. Both the Panchen Lama and Dalai Lama offered him religious statues and other significant gifts as parting presents.