The Treasury of Lives

The Rinpung family fell when Zhingshakpa Tseten Dorje seized Samdrubtse fortress in 1565. Tsangpa Desi, Tseten Dorje and his heirs ruled Tsang and major parts of U for the next hundred years. In 1578 Sonam Gyatso arrived in Kokonor at the camp of the Tumed Mongol leader Altan Khan, who had invaded Amdo, and received the title of Dalai Lama, the third of the incarnation line, thereby initiating a priest-patron relationship modeled on the Pakpa-Khubilai relationship. When Sonam Gyatso died, the son of Altan Khan’s successor, a Mongol, was recognized as the Fourth Dalai Lama. In 1560, a stupa commemorating the birthplace of Tsongkhapa was developed into what would become Kumbum Monastery in northeast Amdo.


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