A Short Biography of the Sixth Dalai Lama Tshangyang Gyatsho (1683-1706)

 

The Sixth Dalai Lama Tshangyang Gyatsho (Source: www.rediff.com)

Michael Aris (1988) wrote, “It is difficult to think of a more enigmatic and elusive figure in Tibetan and Himalayan history than Tshangyang Gyatsho, the Sixth Dalai Lama.” Although the fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso died in 1682 at the age of sixty-eight, the death was kept secret for fifteenth years by pretending he was in spiritual retreat and the pretence lasted until the proclamation of the new incarnation in 1697. The secret of death was masterminded by Sangye Gyatsho (1653-1703), the reigning regent to the Fifth Dalai Lama. During the time of the passing of the Fifth Dalai Lama, the great palace Potola was still under construction and the Gelugpa regime was newly founded under omniscient the Fifth Dalai Lama. Fearing the rebellion against the newly founded regime and to complete the construction of Potola, the death was thus concealed. It is also believed the Fifth Dalai Lama has also expressed his death to be kept secret during his dying moment to the regent Sangye Gyatsho. Since the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama was concealed for fifteen years, the birth of the Sixth had also been kept secret for 15 years.

The Sixth Dalai Lama Tshangyang Gyatsho was born at Ugyenling monastery, Berkhar, the heart of Monyul Tawang[1], Arunachal Pradesh on the first day of the third month in the year of the Water Pig (1683) to Lama Tashi Tenzin (1651-1697) and Tshewang Lhamo, the descendant of Ugyen Zangpo who was the youngest brother of Terton Pema Lingpa (1450-1521). His birth was accompanied by various auspicious signs, indicating the appearance of a great being on earth.  He was named Sangye Tenzin by his grandfather and Ngawang Norbu by his father. When he was a child, his first words were: “I am not someone insignificant, but rather Gyalwa Lobzang Gyatsho, the refuge of the three worlds. I am from Lhasa and the Potola and must go up there soon. The regent and many monks will come soon arrive and I will see the image of the Crowned Buddha (in the Jokhang of Lhasa)” (Aris, 1988, p.129).

Meanwhile, in Lhasa, the regent secretly prepared to begin the search. Considering the lives and incarnation patterns of the predecessors, the regent Sangye Gyatsho presumed the Sixth Dalai Lama to be found in the year of Wood Bull (1685). In 1685, the regent dispatched two monks, Zilnon Dorje and Dopa Sonam Gyeltsen to look for the new incarnation with clear directions to conduct a secret search in the surrounding districts under the pretence of searching for the incarnations of two recently deceased lamas. In Monyul, the birth of a special-born child has given rise to numerous rumours and it gradually reached the ears of the regent in Lhasa. At the same time, there was a fear that a new incarnation may fall into the hands of the Bhutanese, notably the governor of Tashigang who are enemies of the Gelugpa government. Since the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama was still concealed from the public eyes, the regent also had an apprehension of serious trouble due to the proclamation by the child, the incarnation of the Fifth Dalai Lama in Monyul. Nevertheless, the regent decided to act in case the child turned out to be the true incarnation of the Fifth Dalai Lama.

Since the Monyul Tawang was under the administrative jurisdiction of Tsona, the regent instructed two governors of the Tsona[2], Jayakpa and Pushupa to take utmost care of the child as the child might be the incarnation of Sonam Chokdrup, the abbot of Shalu, if not for Dalai Lama. Before the arrival of the letter from the regent, the two governors had already moved the boy to the shrine of Shauk, which lies en route to Lhasa in 1685 when the boy was two years and eight months old. On arrival at Shauk, the child and his party were confined in a building and a few members were sent back home. During the confinement, two governors at no point suspect the child to be the incarnation of the Dalai Lama and instead believed an incarnation of Shalu abbot as intended by the regent.

Under the instructions from the regent, the boy was further moved to Tsona, the district headquarter. The child and his family spent the next twelve years in a form of imprisonment at Tsona, a place described as “filthy, windswept Tsona.” The family was most of the time accommodated in the government fortress in eight pillar rooms. Even during the harsh bleak winter, they were not permitted to light a fire. The family was guarded and even the watchdogs were tied. There was no movement out of the fortress. The life of the child in the family at confinement was described as, the “pit prison of the Lord of death.” Only when the governors received a letter from the regent enquiring about the child's health improved their food. The family were deliberately mistreated by the two governors of the Tsona due to involvement in a land dispute of the family with the governors years ago. Rumours even went around that the boy and the whole family would be exterminated.

Meanwhile, after eight months on the road, the two lamas who had been sent by the regent on a secret mission to search for the incarnation arrived back at Lhasa. They made a detailed report to the regent but failed to find the incarnation of the great fifth. It was said that two lamas in their course of the mission earlier had also been to Ugyenling, Tawang to inspect the child which was rumoured to be the incarnation of the Fifth Dalai Lama. After much difficulty, two lamas were able to meet the boy. However, during the inspection, the child failed to recognize the rosary owned by the Fifth Dalai Lama. They immediately decided the child was not the true incarnation and left. On the way, one of the lamas, Zilnon Dorje fell sick and had a dream that the investigation was not conducted properly at Ugyenling. On this account, the regent sent two lamas back to Tsona to make an exhaustive examination of the child who was under confinement.

After reaching Tsona, for a week, they began to examine the boy with possessions of the Fifth Dalai Lama with one or more substitutes. During the thorough investigation, not only did the boy correctly pick up his belongings but also the two lamas observed the boy offering food first to god as the Fifth Dalai Lama used to do. The lamas shed tears of happiness and sorrow and left Tsona after being convinced of finding the true incarnation. Even after the confirmation, the governors of Tsona at no point change their impression and believes them to be the incarnation of Shalu abbot. For another eleven years, the boy spends his almost youth at Tsona. One after another, the regent dispatches letters insisting on the need for secrecy. The boy was then separated into different rooms from his family and two monks were appointed as the boy’s attendants. At the same time, living conditions are also made better for the family, however, the family’s grievances against the governor for their mistreatment remain unabated.

The studies for the boy began before his fourth birthday. For the next few years, the boy was taught numerous vast subjects by different teachers. After years of waiting, at the age of 12 in 1695, the boy was informed that he would be moved from Tsona to Nyethang, a short distance away from the capital Lhasa. The news brought unfeigned joy to the young boy even though his final departure was planned only in 1697. In course of time, even before the official announcement, the secret of the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama got out and emperor Kanghsi of the Manchu came to know about the concealment. However, at the behest of the regent, the emperor seemed to have maintained secrecy until 1697. In days of predicament, there was also a fear of invasion by the Manchus or by the Mongol chiefs.

In meantime, to announce the passing of the Fifth Dalai Lama, the regent then composed, “A Feast for the ears”, an official account of the whole circumstances of the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama to the discovery of the Sixth Dalai Lama. In 1697, the composition was officially read out and the death of the Fifth Dalai Lama was officially announced after 15 years. Meanwhile, the boy, who then turns 14 was brought to Nangkartse in 1697 from Tsona after spending 12 years at windswept Tsona. The boy and the party spent five months at Nangkartse while grand preparation takes place in Lhasa for the enthronement. The boy’s father Tashi Tenzin did not live to witness the enthronement of his son and died of a sudden illness after their three months stay at Nangkartse. Before he died, he had composed the will and left a detailed list of accusations against the two governors of Tsona.

Before leaving Nangkartse for Lhasa, he was ordained as a novice monk by Panchen Lama and he was given the monastic name: “The Omniscient Lobsang Tshangyang Gyatsho.” It is said that the new Dalai Lama Tshangyang Gyatsho wept during their ordination as a novice monk because he knew that life from then would be even more restricted than the semi-imprisonment at Tsona for 12 years. On the twenty-first of the ninth month, Tsangyang Gyatso, accompanied by the cavalcade of officials left Nangkartse for Lhasa via Nyethang. The week-long journey with accompanied by festivities and celebrations. Thousands of people came to pay homage to their new ruler, the Sixth Dalai Lama. The enthronement took place at Lhasa Potola on the twenty-fifth of the tenth month of 1697. The enthronement ceremony was attended by all high lamas of Gelugpa, government officials, and nonobese of the Mongol tribe Khalkha, Torgut and Dzungar attended the ceremony either in person or by their representatives. Sikkim, Ladakh, and Nepal kings have sent their sons to pay their homage. It is said that from Bhutan, the Shingkhar Lam of Bumthang represents, though unofficially. The celebration ensued for days.

In 1699, the case against the two governors of Tsona who had mistreated Dalai Lama and his family came out into open. Dalai Lama’s mother Tshewang Lhamo had presented the regent with a detailed accusation against the two governors. Despite the best efforts of the two governors to mollify her, it was to no avail. Both the governors were stripped of their posts and reduced to common taxpayers in their home districts. The young Dalai Lama also continued his studies for another four years under the tutelage of Panchen Lama and other masters. Along with the Panchen Lama, he also consecrated the tomb of the Fifth Dalai Lama.

In 1701, to the public’s great dismay, the regent was found giving a talk to abbots of the monasteries in which he says that Dalai Lama is becoming stubborn and would listen even to his mother. True to the regent’s words, at one point, during the thanksgiving ritual in 1701, it is said that the young Dalai Lama refused to sit on the throne prepared no matter how much the regent insists. Gradually, the young Dalai Lama lost interest in the austere life and in being ruler to the displeasure of the regent. The regent also wrote to the Panchen Lama that things were not turning out well with the Dalai Lama, who was then approaching the age of twenty. The regent even requested the Panchen Lama to intervene in the Dalai Lama taking the vows of a fully ordained monk. After much persuasion, the young Dalai Lama finally agreed to visit Panchen Lama at his seat in Tashilhunpo. At Tashilhunpo, after making three prostrations, Panchen Lama requested the young Dalai Lama to devote himself and behave like his predecessors. To Panchen Lama’s great dismay, the Dalai Lama on his part prostrate and resolves to give up the minor vow that Panchen Lama administered to him at Nangkartse in 1697. Even with the intervention of high delegates sent by the regent from Lhasa, Dalai Lama refused to take a full novice vow. Instead, to utter disaster, the young Dalai Lama returned his minor vow to Panchen Lama and the latter accepted without a choice. Accordingly, Panchen Lama made a report to the regent after seventeen days from Shigatse and Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa.

Though the young Dalai Lama had given up the monastic vow, he was still Dalai Lama, the ruler. He continued to live in the Potola but adopted the clothes of a layman and kept long hair. His penchant for archery was immense and most of the time was spent playing archery with his friends behind the Potola. The young Dalai Lama also led romantic life with girls he is fond of at Lhasa and Shol villages. The Dalai Lama spent loafing and drinking with friends. He was indeed a great poet and composer. He composed many songs on unrequited love, religious obligations with the temptation of love and others. Much of the troubles are blamed on keeping the bad company. Among many friends, the nobleman by the name of Thargyene had the worst influence on Dalai Lama. The regent and others even attempted to assassinate Thargyene to stop the bad influence but failed. Although many songs are credited to the Sixth Dalai Lama, some researchers in the later century doubted that some of the songs might have been composed by his followers in allusion to the Sixth Dalai Lama.

In 1703, the regent Sangye Gyatso handed over his position to his son, Ngawang Rinchen but he retained all his power in his own hands. In the same year of his resignation, the last king of Khoshuud of Tibet, Lhazang Khan came to power after poisoning his brother Wangyel Khan. The new king, Lhazang Khan was now determined to revitalize his supremacy over Tibet introduced by his great-grandfather Gushri Khan. The battle between the new king and the old regent who ruled Tibet single-handedly for nearly two decades was imminent. The fate of young Dalai Lam rests on the outcomes of impending war. By the year 1705, the relationship between the new king and the old regent has steadily declined and the regent even tried to poison Lhazang Khan but the plot was foiled. Then, the great council was convened to negotiate between the two parties and to thwart the war. However, the negotiation failed when Lhazang Khan learnt the old regent’s proposal to the council to have him killed. To make matter worse, it was also learnt that Thargyene, a close friend of Dalai Lama who was nearly assassinated by the regent had forged a letter from the Dalai Lama commanding Lhazang Khan to attack the regent. During the battle, the regent was badly defeated by Lhazang’s troops and 400 troops of the regent were slaughtered. The old regent fully surrendered and was then exiled to Gongkar. Later, he was taken from Gongkar by Tshering Tashi, one of the wives of Lhazang who bore a grudge against the regent in the gone olden days. The regent was killed at the camp of Tolung before the delegation of the Dalai Lama reach there to negotiate.

With total power in the hands of Lhazang Khan, he exiled the regent’s family to different places in Mongolia to prevent possible future retaliations and usurping. Those who opposed him were executed and imprisoned. With the elimination of the regent, Lhazang Khan saw the Dalai Lama as the last obstacle to becoming the sole ruler of Tibet. To depose the Dalai Lama, Lhazang found it necessary to have the full backing of the Chinese emperor Kanghsi who was waiting for this opportunity to secure strong influence in Tibet. Emperor Kanghsi readily agreed to support Lhazang in his proposed action against the Dalai Lama. The emperor wanted the Dalai Lama to be arrested and sent to Peking to meet an unforeseen fate.

Meanwhile, in Lhasa, to garner local support without causing an uprising, Lhazang Khan convened a meeting of leading abbots and won their consent after arming with the certain pronouncement of Lamo oracle. The convention finally decided to depose the Dalai Lama with a statement that spiritual enlightenment no longer dwells in him. Subsequently, Dalai Lama was taken out of the Potola and detained at Lhalu Gatsel park in Lhasa. He was heavily guarded by the Khoshuud troops of Lhazang to prevent the monks and laymen from approaching. In 1706, Lhazang Khan made a public declaration that Tshangyang Gyatsho was not the true incarnation of the Dalai Lama. On the same day, Dalai Lama was led off to China and the few courageous monks of Drepung managed to rescue him from the troops of Khoshuud. Dalai Lama was then taken to his summer residence, which lay within the vicinity of Potola. In retaliation, under the direct command of Lhazang Khan, Khoshuud troops began to attack his summer palace by firing cannons. At the time, the compassionate Tshangyang Gyatsho surrendered himself to save the lives of innocent people. He gave himself up and said, “It is no matter whether I live or die. I will meet my lamas and monks soon.”

He was then led off by Khoshuud troops and on reaching the northern district of Dam, Dalai Lama is said to have fallen ill. Although the illness got worse, he was forced to move on. Despite being ill, he gave audiences and blessings to the thousands of people on the way. Finally, on reaching the small lake of Kunganor, Dalai Lama could no longer proceed any further. He instructed his follower clearly that the possessions and sacred he had brought along on the journey would be handed to his next reincarnation without fail. Although mysteries shrouded the death, according to the Chinese records in the work of Aris (1987), Dalai Lama’s death took place on the tenth day of the tenth month of 1706 while he was reciting the mantra of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara). During the funeral, it was said that the pyre wafted in the direction of Lithang, Kham. As though the cue was left behind, in 1708, twenty-two months later, the Seventh Dalai Lama Kelzang Gyatsho was born at Lithang, Kham.

There are about 53 short songs said to have been composed by the Sixth Dalai Lama. Although there are numerous contrasting papers on this, there is no doubt that the Sixth Dalai Lama was a great poet. One of the finest songs through which Tibetan affectionately remember the Sixth Dalai Lama:

བྱ་དེ་ཁྲུང་ཁྲུང་དཀར་མོ།།

ང་ལ་གཤོག་རྩལ་གཡར་དང་།།

ཐག་རིང་རྒྱང་ལ་མ་འགྲོ།།

ལི་ཐངས་བསྐོར་ནས་རླེབས་ཡོང་།།

o white crane

lend me your wings,

I will not go afar.

From Lithang, I shall return.

 

(Although the song remains elusive then, later, some historians believe the song cues Dalai Lama’s next rebirth place. The Seventh Dalai Lama, Kelzang Gyatso was born at Lithang, Kham in 1708). Tatz (1981) claims that the song ‘O White Crane’ was the message the Sixth Dalai Lama sent to an unidentified woman from his summer residence while the hiding palace was besieged by Khoshuud troops under the command of Lhazang Khan. However, there is a limited number of other sources to confirm his claim.

  

Bibliography

Aris, M. (1988). Hidden treasures and secret lives: a study of Pema Lingpa (1450-1521) and the sixth Dalai Lama (1683-1706). Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study.

Tatz, M. (1981). Songs of the sixth Dalai Lama. The Tibet Journal, 6(4), 13-31.

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[1] The Monyul Tawang was declared as the tribute of the Gelugpa Government (Tibet) and a new regime was established under the edict issued by the Fifth Dalai Lama in 1680, two years before his death. The monastery of Tawang (Ganden Namgyel Lhatse) was imposed as the spiritual and administrative centre of the Gelugpa Government of Monyul.

[2] Tsona lies in the immediate north of the disputed India-Tibet border demarcated by the line of control.