The Treasury of Lives

Ngawang Yeshe Tubten was born in the nineteenth century in Mongolia. At the age of seven he took the lay upāsaka vows under the monk Drakpa Tsering (dge slong grags pa tshe ring), and was given the name Lobzang Tubten (blo bzang thub bstan). While still a youth he received his monastic education at Khure Monastery (khu re), likely Da Khure Monastery in Urge, modern-day Ulaanbaatar.

At the age of seventeen he received the vows of a renunciate (rab byung) and śrāmaṇera (dge tshul) from Je Ngawang Khedrub (rje ngag dbang mkhas grub, 1779-1838), who gave him the name Ngawang Tubten (ngag dbang thub bstan).

Before the age of thirty he traveled to Tibet, visiting the monasteries of U and Tsang, and receiving teachings from numerous prominent lamas, including the Tenth Dalai Lama, Tsultrim Gyatso (tshul khrim rgya mtsho, 1816-1837), the Seventh Paṇchen Lama, Lobzang Pelden Tenpai Nyima (paN chen blo bzang dpal ldan bstan pa'i nyi ma, 1782-1853), and Tsechok Ling Yeshe Tendzin (tshe mchog gling ye shes bstan 'dzin), the reincarnation of Tsechok Ling Yongdzin Yeshe Gyeltsen (tshe mchog gling yongs 'dzin ye shes rgyal mtshan, 1713-1793). Either during this trip or later, at the age of thirty, he received full ordination from the Seventh Paṇchen Lama.

After he returned to Mongolia he was appointed to the position as abbot of Khure Monastery. The Qing Tongzhi Emperor (同治, ruled 1861-1875) or his successor, the Guangxu Emperor (光緒, ruled 1875-1908) bestowed upon him the honorific title of 'Nominhan, Abbot of Khure' (khu re'i mkhan po no min han).

How long he remained on the throne of Khure is not known. He lived at least until the age of eighty-two, as he is known to have continued to composing until at least that age.

He is known to have composed at least ninety-one works, which were collected in two volumes, with the originals now preserved in the Nationalities Library in Beijing. They include biographies, records of teaching he had received and their transmission lines (thob yig), examples of poetry (or demonstrative poetic manuals, snyan ngag dper rjod), various 'alphabetic compositions' (often poetic, ka rstom) and works related to rituals (cho ga'i skor).