Ippolito Desideri

Ippolito Desideri (21 December 1684, Pistoia, Italy-14 April 1733, Rome, Italy) was an Italian Jesuit missionary in Tibet and the first European documented to have engaged in comprehending Tibetan language and culture.

Journey to Tibet

The first Jesuit mission to Tibet was established by the Portuguese Fr. Antonio de Andrade in Tsaparang, capital of the Western Tibetan kingdom of Guge in 1623, and lasted with some degree of success until 1635, when the Guge kingdom kingdom was overthrown by the neighbouring king of Ladakh, who was hostile to the alien religion being spread by foreigners. Periodic attempts to reopen the mission in the early part of the eighteenth century had ended in failure, due to the death of the missionaries or other misadventure.

Ippolito Desideri, was born in 1684 to a fairly prosperous family in Pistoia, Tuscany; his father was a successful physician. He was educated from childhood on in the Jesuit school in Pistoia, and in 1700 was selected to attend the Collegio Romano (Roman College), the most prestigious Jesuit educational institution. He was an exceptional student there, and from 1706 to 1710 taught literature at the Jesuit colleges in Orvieto and Arezzo, and later at the Collegio Romano itself. He felt a vocation, in the complete Christian sense of the word, for the Jesuit missions in the East Indies, which was confirmed after a pilgrimage to Loreto in 1711. His application for the Indies mission was accepted by the Father-General of the Society of Jesus, Michelangelo Tamburini, in 1712, and he was assigned to reopen the Tibetan mission, which was under the jurisdiction of the Jesuit Province of Goa. Before he left he had an audience with Pope Clement XI, who gave his blessing to the mission. Desideri left Rome on 27 September, 1712, and after a difficult journey to Lisbon embarked for the East on a Portuguese vessel, arriving in Goa in 20 September, 1713. From Goa he traveled to Surat, Ahmedabad, Rajasthan and Delhi, arriving in Agra (the seat of the Jesuit mission in Northern India) on 15 September, 1714. From there he returned to Delhi, where he met his superior and travel companion, the Portuguese Fr. Manoel Freyre. Together, with servants, they set on on the long and eventful voyage to Tibet, travelling from Delhi to Srinagar in Kashmir (where they were delayed for six months, and Desideri suffered a nearly fatal intestinal illness), and from Kashmir to Leh, capital of Ladakh, arriving there at the end of June, 1715. According to Desideri, they were well-received by the king of Ladakh and his court, and he wished to remain there to found a mission, but he was forced to obey his Superior, Freyre, who (probably on the orders from his Superior, Fr. Jose' da Silva, the Visitor to the Mughal Empire) insisted that they travel to Central Tibet and Lhasa. They thus undertook a perilous seven months winter journey across the Tibetan plateau; ill-prepared and inexperienced, their very survival was likely due to the help they received from Casal, the Mongol governor (and widow of the previous governor) of Ü-Tsang, who was leaving her post and returning to Lhasa. Both Desideri and Freyre praise her in the highest terms, despite her being a devout Tibetan Buddhist. They journeyed with her armed caravan, and finally arrived in Lhasa on 17 March, 1716. After a few weeks Freyre returned to India, via Kathmandu and Patna, leaving Desideri in charge of the mission, and the only European missionary in Tibet, at that time.

ettling down in Lhasa

Soon after arriving in Lhasa Desideri was received in audience by the Mongol ruler of Tibet, 'Lajang' (Wylie: Lha bzang) Khan, who formed an excellent impression of him and gave him permission to rent a house in Lhasa and to practice and teach Christianity. After reading Desideri's first work in Tibetan, on the basics of Catholic doctrine, Lajang Khan advised him to improve his Tibetan and learn the Tibetan Buddhist religious and philosophical literature. Desideri took this challenge up eagerly, and after some months of intensive study entered the Sera monastic university, one of the three great seats of learning of the politically involved Gelukpa. There he studied and debated with Tibetan monks and scholars, and was permitted to have a Christian chapel in his rooms. He learned the language (unknown to Europeans before) and became a voracious student of the culture. In his own words Desideri describes his experience at Sera (1995: p.253-254):

occasionally I attended theri public disputations, adn above all I applied myself to study and really attempted to understand those msot abstyruse, subtle and intricate treatises they call tongba-gni, or Vacuum, which are not to be taken in a material or philosophi, but in a mystical and intellectual sense; their real aim being to exclude and absolutely deny the existence of any uncreated and independent Being and thus effectually to do away with any conception of God. When I began to study these treatises the Doctor who had been appointed my Master declared that he could not explain them or make me understand them. Thinking this was only a pretext to prevent my gaining any real knowledge of such matters, I repeatedly entreated him to explain what I did not understand without help. Seeing that I was by no means convinced that he was so incapable and that, as he said, only some fo the chief and msot learned Lamás would be able to instruct me, he offered to bring other Doctors, declaring that he would be well pelased if I found any one who could throw light on these intricate and abstruse questions. In fact we both applied to several of the msot esteemed masters and Doctors and all gave me the same answer. I was, however, determined to try and find out the real meaning contained in these treatises, and seeing that human aid was of no avail, I prayed to God, the Father of Light, for whose glory alone I had undertaken this work, and again appleid myself to solitary study. But I could discover nothing. Again I read most attentively, but with the same result. Persuaded, however, that "labor improbus omnia vincit", with renewed courage I began at the beginning, carefully cnsidering every wrod, but to no purpose. Briefly I continued my task until the dark clouds were pierced by a faint ray of lgiht. Thsi raised my hope of finally emerging into bright sunshine; I read, re-read and studied until, thanks be to God, I not only understood, but completely mastered (all Glory being to God) all the subtle, sophisticated, and abstruse matter which was so necessary and important for me to know. [Lopez, Jr., Donald S. (?). "Foreigner at the Lama's Feet" in Lopez, Jr., Donald S. (ed)(1995) "Curators of the Buddha". Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN (cloth) 0-226-49308-3]

At the end of 1717 he was forced to leave Lhasa due to the unrest caused by the invasion of the Dzungar Mongols, who overthrew he patron Lajang Khan and pillaged the city. He retired to the Capuchin hospice in Dakpo province, in South Central Tibet, although he did return to Lhasa for considerable periods during 1719-1720. Between 1718-1721 he composed five works in literary Tibetan, in which he taught Christian doctrines and attempted to refute the Dharmic concepts of karma (Sanskrit) (which he referred to as "metempsychosis") and 'Emptiness' (Wylie: "stong pa nyid"; Sanskrit: "śunyatā"). In these books Desideri utilized the Tibetan Buddhist techniques of scholastic argumentation, and accepted parts of Buddhism that he did not see as contradictory to Catholic teaching, especially Buddhist moral philosophy, for which he expressed much admiration. In summary, his was a stupendous intellectual accomplishment, and the first attempt at dialogue between the two religions, albeit a dialogue whose ultimate aim was the Tibetans' conversion to Christianity.

=Conflict with the Capuchins=

Italian missionaries of the Capuchin Order had been granted the Tibetan mission in 1703 by the Propaganda Fide, the branch of the Church administration that controlled Catholic missionary activity worldwide. The "Propaganda", dominated by Franciscans, Dominicans, and other mendicant orders, had been in conflict with the independent-minded Jesuits since the middle of the seventeenth century. The Capuchin attempt to found a mission in Tibet(1707-1711)had ended in failure, but they were determined to return, and three Capuchins arrived in Lhasa in October, 1716, and promptly presented documents to Desideri that the claimed confirmed their exclusive right to the Tibetan mission by the Propaganda. Desideri contested the charge of disobedience to the Propaganda Fide, and both sides complained to Rome. In the meantime Desideri helped his Capuchin co-religionists immensely in acclimating to Tibet, learning the language, and dealing with the local authorities, and they lived together amicably, at least on the surface. While the Capuchins had no quarrel with Desideri personally, they feared that other Jesuits would follow and displace them from Tibet and Nepal, and they petitioned for his expulsion from the country. In January, 1721, Desideri received the dreaded orders to leave Tibet and return to India, from Tamburini. After a long stay in Kuti, at the Tibetan-Nepali border, he returned to Agra (India), via Kathmandu and Patna in 1721, arriving in Agra in May, 1722.

Work in India, Return to Europe, Defense and Final Defeat of the Jesuit Tibet Mission, Desideri's Accomplishment and Influence

After a short stay in Agra Desideri was appointed head pastor of the Catholic community in the Mughal capital of Delhi, an important post. He threw himself into this effort with his usual vigor, reinvigorating the community, which consisted mainly of Hindu (and a few Muslim) converts and Portuguese and Indo-Portuguese families. He organized education and services for the community, and had an impressive new church built to replace the former dilapidated edifice. However, his fervant wish was to return to Rome to plead the cause of the Jesuit mission, and he did not want to return to Goa and Portuguese control. In 1725 he went to the French Jesuit Malabar mission in Pondicherry, located in the present Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and set to work learning the difficult Tamil language and carrying on the mission there. In 1727 he was sent to Rome to promote the cause of the beatification of John de Brito, a Jesuit who had died a martyr in South-India. He took along his very extensive notes on on Tibet, its culture and religion,and began work on his "Relation" also titled "A Detailed Account of Tibet, my Journeys and the Mission Founded There" while still homeward bound on a French vessal. He landed in France in August, 1727, and after a stay in that country, where he met with important cardinals and aristocrats and had an audience with King Louis XV, he proceeded back to Italy, with stops in Pistoia and Florence, and on 23 January arrived back in Rome, which he had left over 15 years before. He took up residence in the Jesuit professed house, and his time was fully occupied in the legal proceedings at the Propaganda Fide between himself, representing the Jesuit order, and Fr. Felice di Montecchio, who fiercely prosecuted the Capuchin case; Desideri wrote three Defenses of the Jesuit position,and di Montecchio turned out fourteen often acerbic and aggressive legal briefs. On 29 November, 1732, the Propaganda issued its final terse order on the matter, confirming the exclusive right of the Capuchins to the Tibet mission,and forbidding any further discussion on the subject. Desideri had been working during this time on revising the "Relation" and was preparing it for publication, which was forbidden by the Propaganda order. Manuscripts of this momumental work, comprising the first accurate account of Tibetan geography, government, agriculture, customs, and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and belief, were buried in the Jesuit archives and a private collection, and did not coming to light until the latter nineteenth century; the "Relation" was not published in full until the mid-twentieth century, in the magisterial edition of Luciano Petech. Desideri is now considered as the first real Tibetologist and his scientific, ethnographic and religious contributions have been highly praised by modern explorers and scholars, such as the Swedish Sven Hedin, and the great Italian archeologist, adventurer, and scholar, Giuseppe Tucci. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the Pistoian missionary, spurred the writings of Enzo Bargiacchi and others (see references below).

Main works

*"Opere Tibetane di Ippolito Desideri S.J." (4 vol.), ed. by Giseppe Toscano, S.X. (Rome, ISMEO, 1981-1989.

*Letters, the "Relation"(or "Detailed Account of Tibet, My Journeys, and the Mission Founded There") and other Italian works of Desideri; in Luciano Petech, "I Missionari Italiani nel Tibet e nel Nepal", vol. 5-7, (Rome, Libreria dello Stato, 1954-57).

References

*WESSELS, C. "Early Jesuit Travellers in Central Asia 1603-1721. The Hague, 1921 (numerous contemporary reprints).
*DE FILIPPI, F., "An Account of Tibet: the travels of Ippolito Desideri (1712-1727)", 1937; reprinted New Delhi, 2005.
*PETECH, L., "I Missionari italiani nel Tibet e nel Nepal", vol. 5-7, Rome, 1954-57.
*CASTELLO PANTI, S., "Ippolito Desideri e il Tibet", Pistoia, 1984.
*RAUTY, N. "Notizie inedite su Ippolito Desideri e sulla sua famiglia tratte dagli archivi pistoiesi. Pistoia, 1984.
*LUCA, A. "Nel Tibet Ignoto" Lo straordinario viaggio di Ippolito Desideri, S.J." Bologna, 1987.
*BARGIACCHI, E.G. "La 'Relazione' di Ippolito Desideri fra storia locale e vicende internazionali" "Storia locale: quaderni pistoiesi di cultura moderna e contemporanea" 2/2003, pp. 4-103.
*BARGIACCHI, E.G. "Ippolito Desideri S.J. alla scoperta del Tibet e del buddhismo", Pistoia, 2006.
*Bargiacchi, E.G. "Ippolito Desideri S.J.: Opere e bibliografia" Rome, 2007.
*SWEET, M.J. "Desperately Seeking Capuchins: Manoel Freyre's 'Report on the Tibets and their Routes (Tibetorum ac eorum Relatio Viarum)' and the Desideri Mission to Tibet" Journal of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (JIATS Digital Journal: www.tdhl.org?id=T2722),no. 2, August, 2006, pp. 1-33.
*POMPLUN, R.T. "Divine Grace and the Play of Opposites" Buddhist-Christian Studies, no. 26, 2006, pp. 159-163.

External links

* [http://www.ippolito-desideri.net/index.html] Ippolito Desideri, Il Tibet e il buddhismo.