The Tongkhor line of incarnations began in the sixteenth century when, following the death of Dawa Gyeltsen in 1556, Yonten Gyatso was recognized as his reincarnation, named the Second Tongkhor, and installed at Tongkhor Tashilhunpo. After the death of the Third Tongkhor, Gyelwa Gyatso, the line established two seats. According to tradition, a recently deceased seventeen-year old boy of mixed Tibetan and Chinese heritage, while being carried to his funeral, suddenly sat up and declared that he was the Tongkhor lama. Thought to be a zombie, the Chinese army was called in to destroy him. The boy emerged from the assault unharmed, convincing everyone that he was indeed the reincarnation of Gyelwa Gyatso. The identity of the young man, who was given the name Dogyu Gyatso by local lamas, was later affirmed and taught by the Fourth Panchen Lama, Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen, and the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso. After returning east, he created a new Geluk monastery called Tongkhor Ganden Chokhor Ling in the Tongkhor region of Amdo. It would seem that this institution developed quite quickly, and in competition with Tashilhunpo in Kham, for following the death of the Fifth Tongkhor, Ngawang Sonam Gyatso, both communities put forward their own reincarnations. There were thus two Sixth Tongkhor lamas: Ngawang Jamyang Tendzin Gyatso and Jampel Gendun Gyatso. The two separate lines have continued to this day.
Biographies
The First Tongkhor, Dawa Gyeltsen
b.1476 - d.1556
Dawa Gyeltsen, posthumously known as the First Tongkhor, was a prominent Geluk lama based in Kham and Amdo. He was active in the spread of the Geluk tradition in eastern Amdo and northern Kham and in the suppression of Bon in the region. He established the first Tongkhor Monastery on the site of a Bon institution to the northeast of Kandze in Kham.
