Based on readings of Tibetan-language secular documents made available in recent years, this article examines the relationship between lords and their subjects in Tibetan traditional society under the Dalai Lama’s government, which collapsed in 1959. In view of this, the article will focus on the institution of mi bogs or the “human lease” system, which existed in traditional Tibet. This system allowed Tibetan subjects to redeem themselves by promising regular payment to their lords. The system thus offered Tibetan subjects a chance to gain freedom of movement and choice of occupation. This research involved reading and analyzing a mi bogs-related Tibetan first-hand document (DTAB/ AA 594) from the Andre Alexander Collection. This document was sent to the Tibetan government in the 1950s, just before the collapse of the old society, by the Drepung Monastery, one of the most powerful monasteries and the great lord of traditional Tibet. The document was basically a complaint about multiple lords, such as the government and prominent aristocrats, imposing taxes on a subject family originally belonging to the monastery. The document revealed that in the Tibetan traditional society, a scenario called “competing for laborers” was emerging, i.e., competition among multiple lords (the government, aristocrats, and monasteries) to acquire subjects as laborers. Additionally, by examining the Agricultural Office reforms in the first half of the twentieth century, this article investigates the nature of the “human lease” system and the basic characteristics of traditional Tibetan society. Lastly, the article concludes that in the traditional Tibetan society, which is often discussed within the feudal lordship framework, there was always a separation between the rule over land and the rule over people.

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