Yonten Gyatso or Yon-tan-rgya-mtsho (1589–1617) was the 4th
Dalai LamaThe Dalai Lama is a lineage of religious officials of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. "Lama" is a general term referring to Tibetan Buddhist teachers...
, born in
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
on the 30th day of the 12th month of the Earth-Ox year of the Tibetan calendar. (but other sources say he was born in the 1st month of the Earth Ox Year).
As the son of the chieftain of the Chokur tribe, Tsultrim Choeje, and great-grandson of
Altan KhanAltan Khan , whose given name was Anda , was the ruler of the Tümet Mongols and de facto ruler of the Right Wing, or western tribes, of the Mongols...
of the
TümedThe Tumeds are the Mongol people. Most engage in sedentary agriculture, living in mixed communities in the suburbs of Huhhot. Part of them live along Hulun Buir, Inner Mongolia...
Mongols and his second wife PhaKhen Nula, Yonten Gyatso was a Mongolian, making him the only non-Tibetan to be recognized as Dalai Lama other than the
6th Dalai LamaTsangyang Gyatso was the sixth Dalai Lama. He was a Monpa by ethnicity and was born at Urgelling Monastery, 5 km from Tawang, and not far from the large Tawang Monastery in the northwestern part of present-day Arunachal Pradesh in India.He led a playboy lifestyle and disappeared, near Kokonor...
, who was a
MonpaThe Monpa is currently one of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China. Most Monpas live in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, with a population of 50,000, centered in the districts of Tawang and West Kameng. Around 25,000 Monpas can be found in the district of Cuona in the Tibet...
—but Monpas can be seen either as a Tibetan subgroup or a closely related people.
The
NechungNechung or Nechung Chok or "the small dwelling", is the seat of the State Oracle of Tibet.It is also referred to as Sungi Gyelpoi Tsenkar, the "Demon Fortress of the Oracle King."...
, state oracle of Tibet, and Lamo Tsangpa, another oracle, had both predicted the next reincarnation would be born in Mongolia. About this time, the chief attendant of the Third Dalai Lama, Tsultrim Gyatso, sent a letter informing the authorities in Tibet that the reincarnation had been born and details of some of the wonders accompanying his birth.
- "He was recognized by a delegation from his Drêpung monastery and the princes of Ü
"Ü", or "ü", is a character which represents either a letter from several extended Latin alphabets, or the letter U with an umlaut or a diaeresis.- Letter Ü :...
, which had gone to Kweisui (Köke Qoto, Inner Mongolia) to meet him 1601."
Yonten Gyatso left for Tibet in 1599 when he was already ten years old, with his father, Tibetan monks and officials, and a thousand Mongol cavalry. They arrived in 1603 after stopping at all the major monasteries on the route.
When he reached Lhasa he was enthroned as the Fourth Dalai Lama and initiated by Sangen Rinchen, the principal holder of Tsonkapa's lineage and ex-abbot of
GadenGaden may refer to:*Gaden Relief Projects, a registered charity*Alexander Gaden , Canadian silent film actor*Ganden Monastery, a Tibetan monestary, sometimes referred to as Gaden...
monastery.
He began studies at
Drepung MonasteryDrepung Monastery ,, located at the foot of Mount Gephel, is one of the "great three" Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet...
, where he was a student of the Fourth
Panchen LamaThe Panchen Lama is the second highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism . The successive Panchen lamas form a tulku reincarnation lineage which are said to be the incarnations of Amitabha Buddha...
Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, and in 1614 he received the full ordination of a monk from him.
Yonten Gyatso became the abbot of Drepung and, later,
SeraSera may refer to:Places* Sera, Hiroshima, a town in Japan* Sera District, Hiroshima* Sera Monastery, a monastery in Lhasa, Tibet* Sera, Ethiopia* Sera, KenyaMedia...
monasteries.
Many Tibetans did not recognize him and there were several attempts to retake power from him, supported by the Kagyupa order. In 1605 one of the princes supporting the Kagyu invaded Lhasa and drove the Mongol cavalrymen out. When he was twenty-one warriors attacked Drepung monastery and the Yonten Gyatso had to flee.
In 1616 he made a retreat in the caves above Sangyib Hot Springs, famous for the footprint
PadmasambhavaPadmasambhava , The Lotus Born, was an Indian sage Guru and is said to have transmitted Tantric Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet in the 8th century. In those lands he is better known as Guru Rinpoche or Lopon Rinpoche, where followers of the Nyingma school regard him as the second Buddha...
left there on the cliff face when he empowered the site in the 8th century CE.
He died under suspicious circumstances (some say he was poisoned - but evidence is lacking) in the 12th month of the Fire Dragon Year (January 1617) at the age of 27.
His chief attendant was Sonam Choephel, who later discovered "the Chong-Gya boy" to be the Fifth Dalai Lama and who was the regent of the fifth Dalai Lama, the
DesiDesi or Deshi refers to the peoples, cultures, and products of South Asia...
.
Footnotes
- Mullin, Glenn H. (2001). The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation, Clear Light Publishers. Santa Fe, New Mexico. ISBN 1-57416-092-3.
- Thubten Samphel and Tendar (2004). The Dalai Lamas of Tibet. Roli & Janssen, New Delhi. ISBN 81-7436-085-9.