Palden Tenpai Nyima, 7th Panchen Lama

Who was Palden Tenpai Nyima, 7th Panchen Lama?

Palden Tenpai Nyima was the Seventh Panchen Lama of Tibet.

Lobsang Palden Yeshe, the previous Panchen Lama, died from smallpox in Beijing in 1780. The brother of Lobsang Palden Yeshe, Shamarpa, who was acting as Regent, wrote to the British Governor of India, Warren Hastings, in 1782 to say that a new incarnation had been found.

Shamarpa had hoped to inherit some of the riches given to his brother in Beijing after his death. When this didn't eventuate, he conspired with the Nepalese who sent a Gurkha army in 1788 which took control of Shigatse. Shamarpa, however, did not keep his side of the bargain and the Gurkha army returned three years later to claim their spoils, but the Chinese sent an army to support the Tibetans and drove them back to Nepal in 1792.

In 1810 Palden Tenpai Nyima gave the pre-novice ordination to the 9th Dalai Lama at the Potala Palace, and gave him the name Lungtok Gyatso.

After Lungtok Gyatso died in 1815, eight years passed before a new Dalai Lama was chosen. The political events in this period are murky, but finally Palden Tenpai Nyima intervened and used the Golden Urn for the first time as part of the tests for the choice of the new Dalai Lama. In 1822 the 10th Dalai Lama was placed upon the Golden Throne and soon after his enthronement received his pre-novice ordination from Palden Tenpai Nyima, who gave him the name of Tsultrim Gyatso. He administered the Gelong vows to Tsultrin Gyatso in 1831.