Kublai Khan's Dharma: Why a Mongol Emperor Became a Buddhist King

In 1271, Kublai Khan—grandson of the bloodthirsty Genghis—declared himself not just Khan of Khans but Emperor of China, founding the Yuan Dynasty. But how did a Mongol, heir to the Great Yasa law code and a shamanic steppe tradition, rule a Confucian empire? The answer lies in a remarkable partnership with the Tibetan Buddhist monk Phagpa, who created a new script for the empire and convinced Kublai that he was both a Chakravartin—a Buddhist universal ruler—and a manifestation of the bodhisattva Manjusri. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Inner Asian court at Shangdu (Xanadu), the invention of the Phagspa script that could write Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit in one alphabet, and the delicate balance between Tibetan lamas, Chinese Daoists, and Muslim astronomers. They unpack the 'Debate at the Court' where Buddhists faced off against Daoists in a state-sponsored theological showdown, and how Kublai's patronage of Tibetan Buddhism set the stage for the Dalai Lamas centuries later. From the Juyong Pass inscriptions to the secret subjugation of Sakya monastery, this is the story of how a Mongol khan turned the dharma into an instrument of imperial rule. #KublaiKhan #YuanDynasty #TibetanBuddhism #Phagspa #MongolEmpire #Shangdu #Chakravartin #BuddhistKing #Sakya #Manjusri #DebateAtTheCourt #Yasa #InnerAsia #History #FexingoHistory #ReligionAndEmpire #BuddhismAndState #Xanadu #MauryanEmpire #AshokaTheGreat Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo