May No One Obstruct Them: Tibetan Buddhist Toleration for Eighteenth-Century Capuchin Missionaries in Lhasa

In a fascinating episode from the eighteenth century, Tibetan lay and ordained officials seemed to offer a warm welcome to Capuchin missionary monks entering Central Tibet. As a case study, the event provides a helpful orientation to the theme of Buddhist toleration. This period of early modern Tibetan history was marked by vibrant inter-cultural exchange and a celebration of a Buddhist model of enlightened kingship. In that context, Tibetan rulers worked to apply, or to appear to apply, Buddhist ideals in their leadership. Documented cases of foreign encounters in the context of Tibetan state-building—a project that was both pragmatic and ideological—makes this a revealing period in which to consider Buddhist toleration as a spectrum of complex attitudes and strategies. The episode we analyze here offers an illustrative case for considering the contours and limits of Tibetan Buddhist toleration in the early modern period.