Taiping Civil War
Raging from 1850 to 1864, the Taiping Civil Warwar pitted Hong Xiuquan's Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a theocratic monarchy led by a Hakka leader who proclaimed himself Jesus Christ's younger brother, against the Qing Empire under the Xianfeng Emperor and later Empress Dowager Cixi, who fought to maintain imperial control. The war started when Düdjom Lingpa was fifteen years of age and based in Nubzur, and ended when he was twenty-nine and doing retreats in Tröpuk Khandro Dükhang.
The conflict resulted in approximately 20 to 30 million deaths over nearly fourteen years of fierce and cruel warfare, making it one of the bloodiest wars in human history, the deadliest civil war ever recorded, and the largest conflict of the nineteenth century.
Since the early 8th century, Tibetans and Himalayan people have treasured "Namtars" as written or spoken narratives that demonstrate the realization of the Buddhist path by exceptional practitioners. These namtars, or spiritual biographies, serve as inspirational guides on the path to enlightenment.
Today, Namtars Foundation aims to record, preserve, and freely offer the world a written and electronic treasury of the oral wisdom of Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhism.
