The Treasury of Lives



Lobzang Gyatso (blo bzang rgya mtsho) was born in 1590, the iron-tiger year of tenth sexagenary cycle. In his youth, he received a monastic education, and later pursued studies of medicine under the guidance of Tendzin Gyelpo (bstan 'dzin rgyal po, 17th century). When the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso (tA la'i bla ma 05 ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, 1617-1682) founded Sorik Dropen Ling (gso rig 'gro phan gling), a medical school located in the western section of Drepung Ganden Podrang ('bras spungs dga' ldan pho brang) in 1643, the water-sheep year of eleventh sexagenary cycle, he appointed Lobzang Gyatso to be the chief medical instructor.

In 1676, the Fifth Dalai Lama founded a medical school at Sangpu Nyima Tang (gsang phu nyi ma thang), a teaching college associated with Sangpu Neutok Monastery (gsang phu ne'u thog). Lobzang Gyatso was again appointed instructor.

Lobzang Gyatso is considered among the students of Khonton Peljor Lhundrub ('khon ston dpal 'byor lhun grub), the Geluk scholar who occupied the seat at Nyima Tang from 1601-1605. Lobzang Gyatso composed a number of writings, including a history of the teaching transmission of the Four Treatises (rgyud bzhi). The date of his death is not recorded in available sources.

Sonam Dorje is an independent scholar based in Amdo, he completed his Ph.D. in Dunhuang Tibetan Literature Study at Northwest Minzu University in Lanzhou, China

Published May 2016

དཔྱད་གཞིའི་ཡིག་ཆ་ཁག།

Byams pa phrin las. 2000. gangs ljongs gso rig bstan pa`i nyin byed rim byon gyi rnam thar phyogs bsgrigs. Pe cin: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, pp. 306-309. TBRC W17722.

Blo bzang rgya mtsho. 2007. nyi thang sman mkhyen gyi sman yig dang nam mkha` seng+ge`i sman rtsis. Pe cin: mi rigs dpe skrun khang, p. 1. TBRC W2DB13644.

Gyatso, Janet. 2015. Being Human in a Buddhist World: An Intellectual History of Medicine in Early Modern Tibet. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, p. 177.

གང་ཟག་འདིའི་གསུང་རྩོམ་ཁག་བོད་ཀྱི་ནང་བསྟན་དཔེ་ཚོགས་ལྟེ་གནས་སུ་འཚོལ།