The Treasury of Lives



Lobzang Dondrub (blo bzang don grub) was the Tenth Chone Sakyong (co ne sa skyong 10) in Chone (co ne), Amdo (a mdo). He inherited the position in 1679 or 1681 from his father Tsewang Dondrub (tshe dbang don grub, b. 1642), the Ninth Chone Sakyong.

His father had greatly expanded the power of the Chone Sakyong, and the kingdom became seen as threat to local Mongols, and in particular to a king named Junang Urge (ju nang aur ge), who in 1674 was obliged to give offerings and pay taxes to the Chone Sakyong. At the time, a number of clans in Tewo (the bo) revolted against the Chone administration. The rebellion was quashed and Tewo was divided into several administrative units. During his reign, Lobzang Dondrub completed a census of the population and also regulated the prices of grain on the market.

In 1682 he led his ministers to Beijing to an audience with the Qing Emperor Kangxi (康熙, r.1662-1722), who gave him official titles and offerings. The following year in 1683, Lobzang Dondrub sponsored construction of two stupas at Chone Gonchen Ganden Shedrub Ling (co ne dgon chen dga' ldan bshad sgrub gling).

A strong proponent of the dominant Geluk tradition, he converted Bonpo communities to Buddhism in various places, including Chepe Shi (chas pas gshis), Shentsang (shen tshang), Gangshe (sgang gshis) and Detang (bde thang). He established the practice of sending abbots from Chone Gonchen to Luchung Monastery (klu chung), which he had converted to the Geluk tradition in 1688.

According to historical records at one time there were forty-four military teams and five hundred and sixty clans under his rule.

In 1689, he organized and sponsored production of a golden-ink written Tengyur (bstan 'gyur). Later, his wife, Lobzang Tso (blo bzang mtsho, d.u.), received upāsikā, or female lay vows (dge bsnyen ma), and also organized the production of a hand-written Kangyur (bka' 'gyur).

Lobzang Dondrub had Lobzang Tso had two sons. His elder son, Makzor Gonpo (dmag zor mgon po, b. 1686), inherited the Sakyong position. His younger son, Ngawang Trinle Gyatso (ngag dbang 'phrin las rgya mtsho) became monk, and later served at the abbacy of Chone monastery.

Lobzang Dondrub passed away in 1692.

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 January 2016

དཔྱད་གཞིའི་ཡིག་ཆ་ཁག།

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