Tsangyang Gyatso (; born 1 March 1683,  died after 1706) was the 6th Dalai Lama. He was an unconventional Dalai Lama that preferred a libertine lifestyle to that of an ordained monk. His regent was killed before he was kidnapped by Lha-bzang Khan of the Khoshut Khanate and disappeared.  

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 Mongol 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.

Early life

Tsangyang Gyatso was born on 1March 1683 in Mon Tawang (presently in modern Arunachal Pradesh, India). His father was Lama Tashi Tenzin of Urgelling, a descendant of the treasure revealer Pema Lingpa, and his mother was Tsewang Lhamo, a Monpa woman from a royal family of Bekhar Village.

The Dalai Lama was therefore a Monpa by ethnicity, born in "Monyul" at Urgelling Monastery, near Tawang and Tawang Monastery in the northwestern part of present-day Arunachal Pradesh, India. 

There were special occurrences surrounding the birth, life and death of Tsangyang Gyatso. His mother, Tsewang, had experienced a few miracles prior to the birth of Tsangyang Gyatso. One day, within the first month of her pregnancy, she was husking paddy in the stone mortar. To her surprise, water started accumulating in the mortar. On another occasion, when Tsewang drank water at a nearby place, milk started gushing out in place of water. Since then, this stream was known as Oma-Tsikang, literally known as milky water.

In the course of time, Tsewang gave birth to a boy who was named Sanje Tenzin, with Tsangyang's grandfather and Nawang Norbu with his father.  Due to this fact, legend said that he would not drink his mother's milk from the day after their birth. One day, when his face began to swell from an infection, Tsangyang could hardly open his eye, two local diviners were summoned. They prescribed purifactory rite and said that his name should be changed to Ngawang Gyatso.

His recovery was credited by the regent to the intervention of the Dalai Lama's own guardian deity, Dorje Dakpa. The grandfather dreamt that the child was constantly being protected by heavenly beings. The mother dreamt, as she took a rest from her weaving, that a great company had arrived to take him off. His paternal grandmother dreamt of two suns shining in the sky.

Historical background
Although the 5th Dalai Lama had died in 1682, the Regent Desi Sangye Gyatso () kept his death a secret – partly to continue the stable administration, and partly to gain time for the completion of the Potala Palace. The monks concentrated their search to the region of Tibet to find the next incarnation, but later came to conclude that 6th Dalai Lama was born outside the Tibetan territory  in a valley whose name ended with "ling". They searched all places ending with "ling", including three in Tawang – Urgyanling, Sangeling and Tsorgeling.

The Potala authorities took the Dalai Lama from his mother in 1697 from Urgyanling. The journey to Pota Lhasa from Tawang was 7 days, and they spend first night in Tsona (near Cuona Lake, China) where he slept with girls. Responding to the strict rules of the Tibetans, he constantly opposed laws which overruled him, and eventually became a drunk. After arriving to Tibet, Sangye Gyatso sent a delegation to the Kangxi Emperor of Qing China in 1697 to announce that the 5th Dalai Lama had died and the 6th had been discovered.

The regent invited Lobsang Yeshe, 5th Panchen Lama to administer the vows of a śrāmaṇera (novice monk) on the young man at Nankartse and named him Tsang Gyatso. On 8 December 1697, Tsangyang Gyatso was enthroned as the 6th Dalai Lama.  

In 1705 Lha-bzang Khan, a Mongol king, had the Regent, Sangye Gyatso, killed. This greatly upset the young Dalai Lama, who left his studies and even visited the 5th Panchen Lama in Shigatse to renounce his śrāmaṇera vows.

Life as a Dalai Lama
As a Dalai Lama, Tsangyang had composed excellent works of songs and poems, but often went against the principles of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism. For example, he decided to give getsul vows to Lobsang Yeshe, 5th Panchen Lama at eighteen instead of taking the full gelong vows normal for his age.

The Panchen Lama, who was the abbot of Tashilhunpo Monastery, and Prince Lhazang, the younger brother of the Po Gyalpo Wangyal, persuaded him not to do so.

Tsangyang Gyatso enjoyed a lifestyle that included drinking, the company of women, and writing love songs. He visited the 5th Panchen Lama in Shigatse and, requesting his forgiveness, renounced the vows of a novice monk. He ordered the building of the Tromzikhang palace in Barkhor, Lhasa.

Tsangyang Gyatso had always rejected life as a monk, although this did not mean the abdication of his position as the Dalai Lama. Wearing the clothes of a normal layman and preferring to walk than to ride a horse or use the state palanquin, Tsangyang only kept the temporal prerogatives of the Dalai Lama. He also visited the parks and spent nights in the streets of Lhasa, drinking wine, singing songs and having amorous relations with girls. Tsangyang retreated to live in a tent in the park near the northern escarpment of Potala Palace. Tsangyang finally gave up his discourses in public parks and places in 1702, which he had been required to do as part of his training.

Capture and disappearance
Using the Dalai Lama's behaviour as an excuse and with the approval of his ally China's Kangxi Emperor, Lha-bzang Khan, khan of the Khoshut, killed the regent and kidnapped the Sixth Dalai Lama. On 28 June 1706, Lha-bzang Khan deposed Tsangyang; he later installed a 21-year-old lama, Ngawang Yeshey Gyatso, as the "true" 6th Dalai Lama in 1707, claiming that he, not Tsangyang, was the true rebirth of the 5th Dalai Lama. The Gelugpa dignitaries and the Tibetan people rejected Lha-bzang Khan's installation of Ngawang Yeshey Gyatso and continued to recognise Tsangyang's title.  However, Ngawang Yeshey Gyatso is considered by Tibetans to have been an incarnation of Avalokiteśvara.

While being taken out of Tibet, Tsangyang composed a poem which some say foretold of his next birth. "White crane lend me your wings. I will not fly far. From Lithang I shall return." Tsangyang disappeared mysteriously near Qinghai on 15November 1706, which is why there is no tomb for him in the Potala Palace.  Rumours persisted he had escaped and lived in secrecy somewhere between China and Mongolia. But, a work from 1757 alleges the Dalai Lama survived and was welcomed in Amdo by a group of mostly Kagyu monasteries.

The Tibetans appealed to the Dzungar people, who invaded Tibet and killed Lha-bzang Khan in late 1717.

Tsangyang was succeeded by Kelsang Gyatso, who was born in Lithang, as the 7th Dalai Lama.

Notes

References

Citations

Works cited

Further reading
 
 

1683 births
1706 deaths
6
Tibetan writers
Tibetan poets
People from Tawang Town
Child monarchs from Asia
17th-century Tibetan people
18th-century Tibetan people
17th-century lamas
18th-century lamas
창앙갸초(, 1683년 3월 1일 ~ 1706년 11월 15일)는 제6대 달라이 라마이다. 인도 동북부 지방에서 태어났으며, 제4대 달라이 라마와 함께 현재까지 몇 안되는 티베트인이 아닌 달라이 라마 중 한 사람이다. 상당히 영민했다고 전해지며, 쾌락, 술, 여자를 좋아하였으며 자유로운 삶을 살았다. 중국 칭하이성 근처에서 행방이 불명되었으며, 학자들은 이를 암살로 추측하고 있다. 그는 시와 노래 짓기를 좋아하였으며, 그가 지은 노래들은 티베트 전역에서 불렸다.

달라이 라마로 지명되기 전 
창양갸초는 1683년 1월, 인도 동북부 지방에서 보물 사냥꾼의 아들로 태어났다. 그의 삶과 죽음에 관해서 다양한 이야기들이 전해 내려온다. 그의 어머니는 그를 낳기 전 상서로운 기적들을 보았는데, 하루는 그녀가 샘에서 물을 떠다 마시자, 그 샘에서 물 대신 우유가 솟구치기 시작했다는 이야기도 있다. 현재 이 샘은 '우유의 샘'이라는 이름으로 불리고 있다.

창양갸초의 어머니는 아들을 낳고, 그의 이름을 '산제 탄진'이라 지었다. 전설에 의하면, 아기는 출산 이후 모유 수유를 거부했고, 점점 말라갔다고 한다. 또한 병에 걸려 얼굴이 부풀어오르기 시작하고 생명이 위독한 상태까지 이르렀다고 한다. 부모들은 이와 같은 상태에 놀라, 2명의 스님들을 불러 아기를 보여주었고, 스님들은 아기의 이름을 '느가왕 감초'로 바꾸지 않으면 아기가 죽을 것이라 예언했다.

그는 이후 빠르게 회복하였고, 신자들은 이를 달라이 라마의 수호신이 친히 일으키신 기적이라 표현하였다. 창양갸초의 할아버지는 꿈 속에서 아기가 하늘의 보호를 받는 자라는 계시를 받았고, 그의 어머니는 하늘에서 위대한 존재가 내려와 그녀의 품에서 아기를 데려가는 환상을 보았을 뿐더러, 할머니는 하늘에 2개의 태양이 이글거리며 떠있는 환상을 보았다.

역사 
1682년에 제5대 달라이 라마가 세상을 떠났음에도 불구하고, 최고위 승려들은 그의 선종을 숨겼다. 이와 같은 행동은 티베트 내의 소요를 가라앉히고 포탈라궁의 완공을 최대한 순조롭게 진행하기 위해서였다. 승려들은 다음 대의 달라이 라마를 찾기 시작했고, 티베트 내에서 적정한 후보자를 찾지 못하자 결국 티베트 외부에서 환생자가 태어났다고 결론지었다. 그들은 특수한 지명을 가진 지역들을 골라 찾아다녔으며, 곳곳을 누비며 조건에 맞는 아이를 찾기 위해 노력하였다.

1697년, 승려들은 드디어 인도 동북부에서 창양갸초를 찾아냈고, 그를 라싸로 데려갔다. 그런데 라싸로 향하는 7일간의 여정 도중, 창양갸초가 소녀들과 잠자리를 같이 하고 술에 취해 비틀거리는 등 달라이 라마로서는 거의 금기와 가까운 행동을 하며 승려들을 놀라게 했다고 한다. 라싸에 도착하자, 창양갸초는 중국의 강희제에게 공문을 띄워 5대 달라이 라마가 입적했고, 이제는 그가 새로운 달라이 라마가 되었음을 알렸다.

창양갸초는 5대 판첸라마에게 달라이 라마의 직위를 승인받았으며, 이 때 그의 이름인 '창양갸초'를 정식으로 받게 되었다. 1697년 10월, 창양갸초는 정식으로 달라이 라마의 왕좌를 이어받았다.

달라이 라마 
창양갸초는 시와 문학에 관심이 많았고, 수많은 노래들을 지었다. 또한 그는 자유분방한 삶을 즐기며 달라이 라마로서는 해서는 안되는 일들을 즐겼으며, 판첸 라마가 직접 그런 행위들을 하지 말라고 달려가 설득해야 할 정도였다. 그는 술과 여색을 즐겼으며, 시 쓰기를 제일 좋아했다. 그는 판첸 라마를 찾아가 용서를 빌기까지 하였다.

창양갸초는 거의 일생 내내 승려로서의 삶에 관심이 없었지만, 달라이 라마로서의 직위는 계속 수행해 나갔다. 그는 왕의 옷이 아닌 일반 승려의 옷을 걸치고 다녔으며, 말이나 가마 대신 걷는 것을 좋아했다. 그는 공원에서 산책하는 것도 선호하였으며, 라싸의 밤거리에서 술과 여자를 끼고 밤을 지내고 오는 경우도 있었다. 그는 답답한 궁궐 생활 대신 포탈라 궁 근처 공원에 조그만 텐트를 치고 그 곳에서 살기를 고집하였는데, 그는 1702년에 이르러서야 수행을 위하여 그러한 행동을 하는 것을 중지하였다.

실종 
달라이 라마의 이같은 행각이 계속되자, 당시 불만을 품고 있던 한 몽골의 왕이 강희제의 암묵적인 동의 하에 반란을 일으켜, 창양갸초를 납치하고 새로운 달라이 라마를 세웠다. 반란자들을 1706년, 창양갸초 대신 예셰갸초라는 새로운 달라이 라마를 내세웠으며, 예셰갸초가 진짜 5대 달라이 라마의 환생자임을 주장했다. 하지만 예셰갸초는 티베트인들의 지지를 거의 받지 못하고 나중에 쫓겨났다.

창양갸초가 티베트에서 압송되어 구금되어 있던 동안, 그는 나중에 그의 환생에 대한 시를 짓게 된다.

창양갸초는 1706년 중국 칭하이성 부근에서 행방불명되었고, 따라서 포탈라궁에는 그의 묘가 존재하지 않는다. 나중에 게상갸초가 제7대 달라이 라마에 올라 그의 뒤를 잇게 된다.

1683년 출생
1706년 사망
티베트의 작가
티베트의 시인
06대