Lobsang Yeshe, Fifth Panchen Lama

Who was Lobsang Yeshe, Fifth Panchen Lama?

Lobsang Yeshe was the 5th Panchen Lama of Tibet.

He was born of a well-known and noble family in the province of Tsang. His father's name was De-chhen-gyalpo and his mother's Serab-Drolma. He was soon recognised as the true incarnation of Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, the Fourth Panchen Lama of Tibet, and was installed with great ceremony at Tashilhunpo Monastery.

He received novice vows when he was 8 in Lhasa from Lozang Gyatso, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, when he was given the name of Lobsang Yeshe. At the age of twenty [21] he was ordained by Kon-chhog Gyal-tsan.

When he was thirty-two, he sent a congratulatory deputation to Beijing. The Kangxi Emperor invited him to Beijing, but he asked to be excused for fear of smallpox.

The Regent, Sangye Gyatso, invited the Fifth Panchen Lama, Lobsang Yeshi to administer the vows of a novice monk on the 6th Dalai Lama, at the town of Nangartse on Lake Yamdrok Yamtso, and named him Tsang Gyatso. In October 1697, Tsangyang Gyatso was enthroned as the Sixth Dalai Lama.