Desi Tsangpa
The fourth Dalai Laina died in 1616. The Desi Tsangpa, taking advantage of his victory in a battle against the Lhasa chieftain Kyishodpa, a supporter of the Gelugpa sect, banned any search for the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation and confiscated the land and subjects of Drepung and Sera monasteries. The Gelugpa sect appealed to the Mongol Tumet tribe for help. Tumet troops defeated the Desi Tsangpa. When Desi Tsangpa Phuntsok Namgyel died, his successor Desi Tsangpa Karma Tenkyong Wangpo was only 16 years old. The subordinates of the new Desi held different opinions on the problem of searching for the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation. It was only after repeated pleas by Lozang Choskyi Gyaltsen that Karma Tenkyong Wangpo lifted the ban and the search began. The fifth Dalai Lama was thus identified and was enthroned at Drepung Monastery.
In 1630, Linden Khan of the Mongol Chahar tribe, which was sup- pressed by the Jin Dynasty, moved west, defeated the Tumet tribe, and moved to Qinghai. In this dangerous situation, the head of the Gelugpa sect, Depa Sonam Rabten, appealed for help to the leader of the Hoshot Mongols, whose army was stationed in Xinjiang. The Hoshot leader Gushri Khan was then a follower of the Gelugpa sect. In 1636, in Gushri Khan led his forces in an attack on Qinghai. He occupied Qinghai and Kham between 1637 and 1639. In 1642, he took the war into Tibet, seized Shigatse and put an end to the Desi Tsangpa regime. He established the Ganden Potrang regime, which was ruled jointly by the Hoshot tribe and Gelugpa sect.
In summary, in carrying out a policy of granting honorific titles to the leaders of all Tibetan Buddhist sects, the Ming Dynasty showed the sects respect, conferring on the leaders and their disciples titles such as Great Treasure Prince of Dharma, Great Vehicle Prince of Dharma, Great State Preceptor and State Preceptor. Therefore, Ming rule over Tibet helped all the Tibetan Buddhist sects prosper. The emergence and development of the Gelukpa sect in particular had a great influence on Tibetan history. The cultural highlights of this period were the numerous new monasteries, of which those of the Gelugpa sect are representative. These can be found in many places in Tibet and include the three great monasteries of Lhasa (the Ganden, Sera, and Drepung), Tashilhunpo Monastery in Tsong, Chuml, a Ling Monastery in Qamdo, Palkhor Chode Monastery in Shigatse, SamdinA Monastery in Tsang, and the Phagpa Lhakhang temple in Gyirong. The monasteries mentioned still exist and are worth visiting.
