Now monasteries from various Buddhist schools of thought and interpretation fought amongst themselves for superiority.

After the Mongolian Yuan dynasty had come to power in China in the 13th century, the Khan sent a troop to Tibet to find and choose a leader with whom one could negotiate - and one began to regard the religious Tibetan leader highly. Lamaism with its tendency towards shamanistic practices was much more suited to the great Mongolian Khans - who, like the Tibetans came from a nature-loving background - than the completely abstract and purely philosophical Chan Buddhism (Zen) of the Chinese. Soon close relationships were built.

The Mongolians incorporated Tibet into their extremely and comprehensively detailed, and well-structured administration. It was planned that the neighbouring Song kingdom, which had split off from the great Chinese empire during the Mongolian onslaught and now laid claim to being the real "Middle realm" - would be attacked from here.

On the basis of this tradition - after all, the Tibetan leaders had formerly recognised the "Chinese" sovereignty - it came to pass that under the leadership of the famous Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and the Mandschu (1644-1911), China now laid claim to the sovereignty of Tibet. The Mandschu hereby took advantage of the fact that in 1717 the Dsungaren invaded Tibet. The Chinese kingdom "liberated" Llhasa and from this time on regarded Tibet as a "protectorate".