ing the
fourteenth century for at the end of that period the grave abuses
prevalent provoked the reforming zeal of Tsong-kha-pa. Prom 1270 to
1340 the abbots of Sakya were rulers of both Church and State, and we
hear that in 1320 they burned the rival monastery of Dikung. The
language of Sanang Setsen implies that each abbot was appointed or
invested by the Emperor[942] and their power declined with the Yuan
dynasty. Other monasteries increased in importance and a chief known
as Phagmodu[943] succeeded, after many years of fighting, in founding
a lay dynasty which ruled parts of Tibet until the seventeenth
century.

In 1368 the Ming superseded the Yuan. They were not professed
Buddhists to the same extent and they had no preference for Lamaism
but they were anxious to maintain good relations with Tibet and to
treat it as a friendly but vassal state. They accorded imperial
recognition (with an implication of suzerainty) to the dynasty of
Phagmodu and also to the abbots of eight monasteries. Though they were
doubtless glad to see Tibet a divided and contentious house, it does
not appear that they interfered actively in its affairs or did more
than recognize the _status quo_. In the time of Khubilai the
primacy of Sakya was a reality: seventy years later Sakya was only one
among several great monasteries.

The advent of the Ming dynasty coincided with the birth of
Tsong-kha-pa,[944] the last reformer of Lamaism and organizer of the
Church as it at present exists. The name means the man of the
onion-bank, a valley near the monastery of Kumbum in the district of
Amdo, which lies on the western frontiers of the Chinese province of
Kansu. He became a monk at the age of seven and from the hair cut off
when he received the tonsure is said to have sprung the celebrated
tree of Kumbum which bears on its leaves wondrous markings.[945]
According to the legend, his birth and infancy were attended by
miracles. He absorbed instruction from many teachers and it has been
conjectured that among them were Roman Catholic missionaries.[946] In
early manhood he proceeded to Tibet and studied at Sakya, Dikung and
finally at Lhasa. His reading convinced him that Lamaism as he found
it was not in harmony with the scriptures, so with the patronage of
the secular rulers and the support of the more earnest clergy he
successfully executed a thorough and permanent work of reform. This
took visible shape in the Gelugpa, the sect presided over by th