6th Dalai Lama (b. 1683)
Tsangyang Gyatso (Tibetan: ཚངས་དབྱངས་རྒྱ་མཚོ, Wylie: tshangs-dbyangs rgya-mtsho, ZYPY: Cangyang Gyamco; born 1 March 1683, died after 1706) was the 6th Dalai Lama. He was an unconventional Dalai Lama that preferred the lifestyle of a crazy wisdom yogi to that of an ordained monk. His regent was killed before he was kidnapped by Lha-bzang Khan of the Khoshut Khanate and disappeared. It was later said that Tsangyang Gyatso visited China and meditated for six years in a Chinese Buddhist monastery called (Ri wo tse nga )༼རི་བོ་རྩེ་ལྔ་༽. Later, Mongolians took him to Mongolia, where he died at the age of 65 at one of the biggest Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in Mongolia. There is a stupa to him there.
The death of the 5th Dalai Lama remained concealed for many years. The 6th Dalai Lama was born in what the Tibetans referred to as "Monyul" at Urgelling Monastery, in modern day Tawang district, Arunachal Pradesh, India. He was located at the age of either 13 or 14. As a youth, he showed high levels of intelligence with unconventional views. Later living as a lay practitioner and a yogi, he grew his hair long, dressed as a regular Tibetan, and was said to also drink alcohol and accept the company of women.During a power struggle between Tibet, Mongols and Qing China in Lhasa, the Dalai Lama's regent was killed. Afterwards, the Dalai Lama was kidnapped by Mongols forces then disappeared in Amdo, and assumed was murdered, on their way to Beijing in 1706.
The 6th Dalai Lama is also well known for his poems and songs that continue to be popular not only in modern-day Tibet but also among Tibet speaking communities in Nepal, India and all across China.
1706Nov, 15
6th Dalai Lama
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