Desi Sangye Gyatso

File:Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho.jpg

Kalon Sangye Gyatso (1653–1705) was the sixth regent of the 5th Dalai Lama (1617–1682), in the Ganden Phodrang government. He founded the Chagpori College of Medicine in 1694, a Traditional Tibetan medicine school for monks which grew in 1916 under the 13th Dalai Lama to include Astrology and Astronomy departments collectively called the Men-Tsee-Khang.Medicine Across Cultures: History and Practice of Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (Science Across Cultures: the History of Non-Western Science) by Hugh Shapiro and H. Selin (2006) p.87 He wrote the Blue Beryl (Blue Sapphire) medical treatise,Healing Powers and Modernity: Traditional Medicine, Shamanism, and Science in Asian Societies by Linda H. Connor and Geoffrey Samuel (2001) p.267 and illustrated medical thankas. His name is sometimes written as Sangye GyamtsoJaroslav Průšek and Zbigniew Słupski, eds., Dictionary of Oriental Literatures: East Asia (Charles Tuttle, 1978): 147. and Sans-rGyas rGya-mTsho{{rp|342, 351}}

In some accounts, Sangye Gyatso is believed to be the son of the "Great Fifth",Bryan J. Cuevas, Lhasa in the Seventeenth Century: The Capital of the Dalai Lamas,

The Journal of Asian Studies (2004), 63: 1124-1127 but he was born near Lhasa in September 1653, when the Dalai Lama had been absent on his trip to China for the preceding sixteen months.{{Cite book| author=((Dalai Lama V)) |translator-first=Samten G.|translator-last=Karmay | translator-link=Samten Karmay |year=2014| title=The Illusive Play: The Autobiography of the Fifth Dalai Lama| publisher=Serindia Publications |location=Chicago|isbn=978-1-932476675}}{{rp|264−322}}Richardson, Hugh E. (1998) High Peaks, Pure Earth; Collected Writings on Tibetan History and Culture. Serindia Publications, London. p. 455 {{ISBN|0906026466}} He ruled as the Kalon (regent) of the Dalai Lama and under his instructions hid the death of the Dalai Lama for 15 to 16 years while the infant 6th Dalai Lama was growing up. During this period, he oversaw the completion of the Potala Palace, and warded off Chinese politicking.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019|reason=Source needed to support claim of any alleged Chinese involvement in the building of the Potala by the "Great Fifth"}}

He is also known for harboring disdain for Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, although this monk died in 1656 when Sangye Gyatso was only three years old.{{rp|364−365}} According to Lindsay G. McCune in her 2007 thesis, Sangye Gyatso refers in his {{Transliteration|xtc|Vaidurya Serpo}} to the monk as the "pot-bellied official" ({{Transliteration|xtc|nang so grod lhug}}) and states that following his death, he had an inauspicious rebirth.[http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04092007-003235/unrestricted/lgm_thesis.pdf Tales of Intrigue from Tibet's Holy City: The Historical Underpinnings of a Modern Buddhist Crisis Thesis by Lindsay G. McCune] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214190452/http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd-04092007-003235/unrestricted/lgm_thesis.pdf |date=February 14, 2012 }} The Florida State University College of Arts and Sciences, see page 8 of introduction

File:Illustration (Conception to Birth) from Ornament to the Mind of Medicine Buddha- Blue Beryl Lamp Illuminating Four Tantras written around the year 1720 by Desi Sangye Gyatso (1653–1705), the regent (Desi) of the 5th Dalai Lama.png

Chagpori College of Medicine

Sangye Gyatso founded the Chagpori College of Medicine in 1694, under the commission of the 5th Dalai Lama. The college was designed for monastic scholars who would, after learning esoteric arts of medicine and tantrism serve the public as would other monk scholars and lamas. In 1916, the Chagpori College was re-established under the 13th Dalai Lama as a school of medicine and Astrology called Men-Tsee-Khang, also on Chagpori or the 'Iron Mountain'. Khenrab Norbu, physician to the 13th Dalai Lama, sponsored the construction of the Men-Tsee-Khang, while a second college of Tibetan medicine and astrology was also built in Lhasa, possibly designed as a college for 'laypersons' who would, after receiving training, return to their rural areas to work as doctors and educators.{{cite book | author=Tibet Information Network | title=Tibetan Medicine in Contemporary Tibet: Health and Health Care in Tibet II. | publisher=Tibet Information Network | series=Health and health care in Tibet | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-9541961-7-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ughAQAAMAAJ | access-date=2024-05-16 | page=28}}

Medical treatise

An important part of Sangye Gyatso's contribution to medicine was his composition of the Blue Beryl Treatise and the preparation of a series of nearly 100 medical paintings illustrating medical theory and practice. These paintings were copied and distributed to several other monasteries. A set created in 1920 and preserved in Ulan Ude, Buryatia, was reproduced in facsimile together with a translation of the Blue Beryl Treatise and published in 1992.

=Tibetan Buddhist medical concepts=

File:TibChakra.jpgan Buddhist view of the chakras ({{Transliteration|xct|rsta-khor}}) and sushumna ({{Transliteration|xct|dbu-ma}}).]]

The tradition emphasizes the existence of five major chakras, which are depicted in Blue Beryl as possessing twenty-four spokes, said to symbolize their ability to generate and link with the numerous subtle meridians or currents (Classical Tibetan: {{Transliteration|xct|rsta}}). The Brow and Throat centers are associated with the cosmic plane ({{Transliteration|xct|stod}}); the Heart center to the human plane ({{Transliteration|xct|bar}}); and the Solar and Vitality centers to the earth plane ({{Transliteration|xct|smad}}).{{cite book |last1=Lade |first1=Arnie |title=Energetic healing: Embracing the life force |date=1999 |publisher=Lotus |location=Twin Lakes, Wis. (USA) |isbn=978-0914955467 |page=48 |edition=1st}}

=Six herbs=

Image:SixSubstances.jpg]]

Six medicinal substances were in common use in Tibet when they appeared in the Blue Beryl Treatise:Gyamtso, S., Klassische Tibetische Medizin (1996) {{ISBN|978-3-258-05550-3}}{{Cite book|author1=Gyurme Dorje |author2=I︠U︡riĭ Mikhaĭlovich Parfionovich |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/25508990 |title=Tibetan medical paintings: Illustrations to the Blue Beryl Treatise of Sangye Gyamtso (1653-1705) |date=1992 |publisher=H.N. Abrams, Inc |editor2=I︠U︡riĭ Mikhaĭlovich Parfionovich |editor3=Fernand Meyer |editor1=Gyurme Dorje|others=The works by Sangye Gyamtso; Dalai Lama XIV, Bstan-’dzin-rgya-mtsho |isbn=0-8109-3861-8 |location=New York |oclc=25508990}} {{isbn|9780810938618}}

Arabic frankincense (Burseraceae) (see on the left, top-left corner)
Mongolian garlic (Allium tuberosum) (see on the left, top-middle)
Chinese quince (Pseudocydonia) (see on the left, top-right corner)
Indian embelic myrobalan (Terminalia chebula) (see on the left, bottom-left corner)
Tibetan ginger (Hedychium gardenerianum) (see on the left, bottom-middle)
South Chinese Kaempferia galanga (see on the left, bottom-right corner)

Regency

Sangye Gyatso became regent or Kalon of Tibet at the age of 26 in 1679. Three years later, in 1682, the 5th Dalai Lama died. However, his demise was kept secret until 1696-97, and the Kalon governed Tibet.

From 1679 to 1684, the Ganden Phodrang fought in the Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War against the Namgyal dynasty of neighboring Ladakh. Sangye Gyatso{{cite journal |last=Ahmad |first=Zahiruddin |year=1968 |title=New light on the Tibet-Ladakh-Mughal war of 1679—1684 |journal=East and West |volume=18 |issue=3/4 |pages=340–361 |jstor=29755343}}{{rp|342|quote=Sans-rGyas rGya-mTsho (1653-1705), sDe-pa or Prime Minister of Tibet 1679-1705}}{{rp|351|quote=Now, in 1684, the government of Tibet, headed by the sDe-pa Sans-rGyas rGya-mTsho, annexed Gu-ge to Tibet, and fixed the frontier between Ladakh and Tibet at the lHa-ri stream at bDe-mChog.}} and the King Delek Namgyal of Ladakh{{rp|351–353|quote=We produce now a new translation of the Ladakh Chronicles [...] bDe-legs rNam-rGyal, came to the kingship [of Ladakh] [...] Thereupon, the Government of Tibet, being afraid that the King of Ladakh and his troops might, once again, make war (on Tibet), ordered the 'Brug-pa Mi-'pham dBaii-po that he ought to go (to Ladakh) in order to establish peace. [...] With this exception, the frontier (of Ladakh) was fixed as from the IHa-ri stream at bDe-mChog.}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4oduAAAAMAAJ |title=The Kingdom of Ladakh: C. 950-1842 A.D. |first=Luciano |last=Petech |authorlink=Luciano Petech |publisher=Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente |year=1977|isbn=9788863230581 }}{{rp|171–172|quote=bDe-legs-n.g. co-regent (1680-1691)}} agreed on the Treaty of Tingmosgang in the fortress of Tingmosgang at the conclusion of the war in 1684. The original text of the Treaty of Tingmosgang no longer survives, but its contents are referenced in the Ladakh Chronicles.{{citation |last=Lamb |first=Alastair |title=Treaties, Maps and the Western Sector of the Sino-Indian Boundary Dispute |journal=The Australian Year Book of International Law |year=1965 |pages=37–52 |url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUYrBkIntLaw/1965/4.pdf}}{{rp|37|quote=No text of this agreement between Tibet and Ladakh survives, but there are references to it in chronicles}}{{rp|38|quote=There can be no doubt that the 1684 (or 1683) agreement between Ladakh and the authorities then controlling Tibet did in fact take place. Unfortunately, no original text of it has survived and its terms can only be deduced. In its surviving form there seems to be a reference to a boundary point at "the Lhari stream at Demchok", a stream which would appear to flow into the Indus at Demchok and divide that village into two halves.}}{{rp|40|quote=The treaty that could have given this information, that of 1684, has not survived in the form of its full text, and we have no means of determining exactly what line of frontier was contemplated in 1684. The chronicles which refer to this treaty are singularly deficient in precise geographical details.}}

He entertained close contacts with Galdan Boshugtu Khan, the ruler of the emerging Dzungar Khanate of Inner Asia, with the aim of countering the role of the Khoshut Mongols in Tibetan affairs. The Khoshut Khans had functioned as protectors of Tibet since 1642 but their influence had been on the wane since 1655.

The reincarnation of the 5th Dalai Lama was born in 1683 and discovered two years later in southern Tibet. He was secretly educated in Nankhartse while Sangye Gyatso proceeded to hide the death of his master. It was only in 1697 that the 15 year old 6th Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso was installed.Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, Tibet. A political history. Yale 1967, pp. 125-8. This evoked great irritation from the Qing Kangxi Emperor who had not known about the matter, and furthermore saw himself as an enemy of the Dzungar protectors. Meanwhile, a new and ambitious Khoshut Mongolian came to power, Lhazang Khan.

The murder of the Kalon

File:Sangye Gyatso.jpg

The 6th Dalai Lama turned out to be more similar to a yogi and preferred poetry-writing and the company of women over a structured monastic life. In 1702 he renounced his monastic vows and returned to layperson status while retaining his spiritual and political leadership roles. Sangye Gyatso was also the beloved Kalon of the 6th Dalai Lama. But in the next year, Sangye Gyatso formally turned over the regent title to his own son, Ngawang Rinchen, while keeping his executive powers.

A rift emerged within the Tibetan elite. Lha-bzang Khan was not content with the effaced state in which the Khoshut royal power had sunk. He set about to change this, while an accusation that Sangye Gyatso tried to poison the Khan and his chief minister. Matters came to their head during the Monlam Prayer Festival in Lhasa in 1705, which followed the Losar (New Year), when at a meeting with the clergy Sangye Gyatso proposed to seize and execute Lha-bzang Khan.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} This was opposed by the cleric Jamyang Zhépa from Drepung Monastery, the personal guru of Lha-bzang. Rather, Lha-bzang Khan was strongly recommended to leave for Amdo, the usual abode of the Khoshut elite. He pretended to comply and started his journey to the north.

However, when Lha-bzang Khan reached the banks of the Nagchu River northeast of Ü-Tsang, he halted and began to gather the Khoshut tribesmen. By the summer of 1705 he marched on Lhasa and divided his troops in three columns, one under his wife Tsering Tashi. When Sangye Gyatso heard about this he gathered the troops of Ü-Tsang, Ngari and Kham close to Lhasa. He offered battle but was badly defeated with the loss of 400 men.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

The Lobsang Yeshe, 5th Panchen Lama tried to mediate. Realizing that his situation was hopeless, Sangye Gyatso surrendered on condition that he was spared and was sent to Gonggar Dzong, west of Lhasa. However, the vengeful Queen Tsering Tashi arrested Sangye Gyatso and brought him to the Tölung Valley, where he was killed, probably on 6 September 1705.Luciano Petech, China and Tibet in the early 18th century. Leiden 1950.

After murdering the Dalai Lama's Kalon Sangye Gyatso, Lha-bzang Khan's forces together with Chinese forces kidnapped the 6th Dalai Lama in 1706 to take him to Peking. He disappeared along the route in Amdo, while his captors claimed he had died.Ngawang Lhundrup Dargyé, "The Hidden Life of the Sixth Dalai Lama", 1757. Translated by Simon Wickham-Smith. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2011 His captors then installed a pretender as the 6th Dala Lama, until the 7th Dalai Lama was born and recognized.