The Treasury of Lives

Lobzang Chodar (blo bzang chos dar) was born in 1732, the water-mouse year of twelfth sexagenary cycle, in Karing (ka ring), one of the five Manang (ma nang) clans of Dobi (rdo sbis), Amdo.

In 1748 he went to Lhasa and enrolled in Gomang College (sgo mang grwa tshang) at Drepung ('bras spungs) monastic university, where he studied under Tranye Khenpo Ngawang Gelek (pra nye mkhan po ngag dbang dge legs, d.1775). Ngawang Jampa (ngag dbang byams pa, d.u) gave him full ordination vows.

When his teacher Ngawang Gelek was installed to the abbatial throne of Gomang College, he was appointed as the disciplinarian (dge bskos), and later assigned the position of Dulwa Khenpo ('dul ba mkhan po) by the Eighth Dalai Lama, Jampel Gyatso (ta la'i bla ma 08 'jam dpal rgya mtsho, 1758-1804).

Having gained a reputation for fine study, he twice went to Beijing, in 1779 and again in 1784, where he represented the Ganden Podrang, the Dalai Lama's government in Lhasa, to the Qianlong Emperor (乾隆, r. 1735-1796).

In 1786, at the age of fifty-five, he ascended to the abbatial throne of Gomang College. During this period of time, in addition to overseeing the education of a large number of students, he also supervised the reconstruction of Akṣobhya Temple and sponsored the installation of tangkas in the Tsangkhang (gtsang khang).

During the second Gurkha invasion of Tibet in 1791, Lobzang Chodar is said to have played a key role in organizing monks from Lhasa's three main Geluk monasteries to prepare to protect Lhasa. Fortunately, the Gurkha army, which had sacked Tashilhunpo in Shigatse in the absence of the young Seventh Paṇchen Lama, Lobzang Tenpai Nyima Chokle Namgyel (paN chen bla ma 07 blo bzang bstan pa'i nyi ma phyogs las rnam rgyal, 1781-1854), was routed by a combined Tibetan and Qing offensive before they reached Lhasa. The following year, in 1792, he stepped down from the abbacy of Gomang.

In 1795 he returned to Amdo, where he successfully mediated a conflict between Karing and nearby Bido (bis mdo). Three years later, in 1798, he was made throne holder of Labrang Monastery.

He passed away in 1812, the water-monkey year of fourteenth sexagenary cycle.