The Treasury of Lives

The Eighty-sixth Ganden Tripa, Lobzang Gyeltsen (dga' ldan khri pa 86 blo bzang rgyal mtshan) was born in Tsang in 1840, the iron-mouse year of the fourteenth sexagenary cycle. At a young age he matriculated in the Tsangpa House of Sera Je College of the Sera Monastic University (ser byes gtsang pa khang tshan) where he received his basic education and studied logic and epistemology, Prajñāpāramitā, and then Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Madhyamaka, Abhidharmakośa, Pramāṇavārttika, and Vinaya, the five major subjects of the Geluk monastic curriculum. He stood for the traditional examination of Geshe Lharampa (dge bshes lha ram pa) at the Lhasa Monlam Chenmo, the highest degree in Geluk Tradition and a necessary accomplishment for occupying the Golden Throne of Ganden.

Lobzang Gyeltsen then enrolled in Gyume College in Lhasa for studies in tantra and related rituals, including drawing and creating maṇḍala, and prayer-chanting according to Gyume's tradition, and obtained the title of Ngakrampa (sngags rams pa), Master of Tantra. He then served as chant-leader (bla ma dbu mdzad) and then abbot of Gyume, before becoming Jangtse Choje (byang rtse chos rje) at Ganden Jangtse Monastery, one of two posts from which one is elevated to the Golden Throne.

In 1900, the iron-mouse year in the fifteenth sexagenary cycle, Lobzang Gyeltsen ascended to the Golden Throne as the Eighty-sixth Ganden Tripa, and served the abbacy for seven years, until 1907. He resided at the Lamoshar (la mo shar) palace in Lhasa and so derived the title “Gyelpo Lamoshar” (rgyal po la mo shar), and is known in history as Lobzang Gyeltsen Lamoshar.

In 1904, British troops under Colonel Francis Younghusband (1864-1942) invaded Tibet to force trade concessions. The Tibetan army was crushed, with possibly thousands of Tibetans slaughtered by the much more technologically advanced and better trained British soldiers. Forced to leave a three-year retreat, on July 30, 1904 the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tubten Gyatso (ta la'i bla ma 13 thub bstan mtsho, 1876-1933) appointed Lobzang Gyeltsen to the post of Regent, gave him his seal, and fled to Mongolia. The Tibetan historian Shakabpa writes that the Trichen was "an honest, forthright person, who could be relied upon in an emergency."

While the two legislative branches of the Tibetan government, the Kashag (bka' shag), the body of ministers, and the Tsongdu (tshogs 'du), or National Assembly, argued over how to receive Yonghusband in Lhasa, Lobzang Gyeltsen called on Younghusband and arranged for him to stay at the house of the Lhalu (lha klu) family, having refused the general's request to stay at Norbulingka.

Lobzang Gyeltsen, in his capacity as regent, signed the so-called “Treaty of Lhasa” at the Potala on September 7, 1904, together with the four ministers of the Kashag, four secretary generals of the Tsongdu, and representatives of the three main Geluk monasteries, and witnessed by the Qing representative. In addition to establishing a permanent British representative in Tibet, the treaty was also designed to settle border disputes between the British Raj in India and Tibet, and to exclude Russian influence on the Plateau.

Lobzang Gyeltsen retired from the Golden Throne in 1907 after completing the standard tenure of seven years. The Third Tsemonling, Ngawang Lobzang Tenpai Gyeltsen (tshe smon gling 03 ngag dbang blo bzang bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan, 1844-1919) was his successor. Lobzang Gyeltsen continued to serve as the Acting Regent as the Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa in 1909.

Details of Lobzang Gyeltsen's death are not known; a reliquary was built and installed in the Sera Je Monastery in his memory.