topics: |  poetry | tibet | romance | translation

The wayward Dalai Lama

The Sixth Dalai Lama rejected monastic life for alcohol, archery, and women. After a troubled childhood, he also died young, which is part of the legend that makes these poems so popular in Tibet.

The Dalai Lamas have lived under the constant shadow of external threats, mainly from China, and also from the Mongols. The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso (1683-1706), was chosen as the reincarnation of the fifth, who had been a powerful temporal ruler. Although Tsangyang had been chosen as the Dalai Lama, the Fifth DL's death was kept a secret, and Tsangyang grew into adulthood hidden from all eyes, effectively imprisoned. When at last, he came to be recognized, it turned out that he did not want to be a Dalai Lama; he wanted to live a life enjoying women and wine. However, as a bodhisattva (a compassionate incarnation), he was permitted considerable latitude, and even these unusual ways did not detract from his charm. Indeed, his poems have come down as some of the most popular in the Tibetan tradition.

Dalai Lamas often tend to vanish while in Chinese or Mongol hands, and in 1706, the sixth Dalai Lama at the age of 24, also disappeared while under Mongol military escort.

His life is overshadowed by the ruthlessness of the fifth Dalai Lama, who was also well versed in the Tantric [Nyingmpa], and is said to have had many women himself, and also to have sired a son and raised him to the post of prime minister (Regent).

The Fifth Dalai Lama

The fifth Dalai Lama is venerated as being one of the most powerful and
influential Dalai Lama's in the tradition.  He had been served by a series
of Chief Ministers (Regent, Tibetan Desi).  The most powerful of them, Desi
Sangyay Gyatso, was in power at the time of the DL's death.  Like the DL
himself, this man was a formidable scholar and a skilled politician who
could be ruthless when he thought it necessary.

Was the Regent the son of the 5th Dalai Lama?

It has even been suggested that Desi Sangyay Gyatso was actually the DL's
illegitimate son.

Shakabpa, a formal Tibetan civil servant, in his political history of Tibet,
points out that the fifth DL had forced the resignation of a previous regent
precisely for breaking his vow of celibacy.  So, he argues, it is not very
likely that the DL did so himself.

Michael Aris writes of the Regent: "the most accomplished lay scholar Tibet
ever produced."
  "Of the noble ladies of Lhasa and those who came ther from the provinces,
   there was not a single one whom the regent did not take [to bed]" p. 40

Keeping the secret of the 5th DL's death

When distinguished visiting dignitaries had to be granted an audience with
the DL, a monk bearing some resemblance to the 5th impersonated him,
apparently very unwillingly.  At least one case is recorded where the
secret leaked out.  The Regent had the two people who discovered the truth
murdered.

How do the Tibetan population view Sex by the Dalai Lama?

There is a Tibetan tradition that the fifth Dalai Lama had sex with women and
even fathered a son - the Regent himself.  Also, although Buddhism forbids
killing (no less acceptable than sex by monks), a number of criminals and
political enemies were executed by the Dalai Lama's government.  But a
bodhisattva acting on behalf of the greater goods may kill or break such
rules. p. 50

You can see some scenes from a play enacting the life of the 5th DL:
http://www.tibet.net/en/phogaly/photogallery1/index.html

Sangye Gyatso: Historical background

http://www.tibetan-medicine.org/history.asp

Regent Sangye Gyatso (1653-1705 A. D.) Sangye Gyatso was born to Asug and
Buthi Gyalmo in the Water Snake year. He began his studies at the age of five
and when he was eight, he learned Sutras and Tantras from the Great Fifth
Dalai Lama.
He learned Astrology and grammar from Darpo Lotsa, Yangchar (Arisal of
Vowels, an Astrology) from Lugo Dachen Ngag gi Wangpo, and medicine from
Jangpa Lhunding Namgyal Dorjee, and he became an expert in all these fields.

Sangye Gyatso was appointed Regent by the Great Fifth Dalai Lama
(1617-1682). During his 26 years in this position, the Potala Palace was
rebuilt and expanded to its present size and the golden stupa of the Great
Fifth Dalai Lama was built. Under his guidance, seventy nine medical thangkas
were produced, the rGyud-bzhi was edited and published, and the Chagpori
Medical College was established in Lhasa in 1696, the Fire Mouse year. Sangye
Gyatso wrote many books on astrology, especially Vaidurya-Karpo (White
Beryl), and medicine, including Vaidurya sNgon-po (Blue Beryl), the most
popular commentary on the rGyud-bzhi.

Poems of the Sixth Dalai Lama

		(notes are from Williams' appendix; occasionally I compare
		 translations by others.)
1
Above eastern mountains
Shone forth the moon, bright white.
Unborn mother - her face,
Circled before my mind.

    [ Over the eastern hills rises
      The smiling face of the moon;
      In my mind forms
      The smiling face of my beloved - Dhondup ]

2
Green shoots planted last year
Today are stacked as straw.
Young man's body, growing,
Firmer than a horn bow.

[Bow made of yak's horn...
The expression gyong ba ("firmer" here) can also carry with it here a sense
of 'stiffer', as well as 'harder', 'stronger' and 'tougher'.]

3
If she who stole my heart
Were to become my wife
Like landing a jewel
Drawn from the ocean's depths.

[  If only I could wed
   The one whom I love,
   Joys of gaining the choicest gem
   From the ocean's deepest bed would be mine  - tr. K. Dhondup ]

4: Girl with the fragrant limbs

A love met in passing
Girl with the fragrant limbs
Like finding rare turquoise -
And throwing it away.

5
Lady, a Lord's daughter -
When I saw such a peach,
She was like a ripe fruit,
In the topmost branches.

[The peach is a rare and exciting luxury in Tibet. It has an unblemished soft,
smooth, downy fair skin. At least, this one does. It is beautifully curved
with exciting and suggestive indentations.  = aristocrat woman... But she is
a peach just out of reach.

The only lover of the 6th DL of whom we know the details was indeed such an
aristocratic peach.  She was a daughter of the Regent of Tibet himself. [This
regent, after the 5th DL, is widely believed to have been his son.]  We do
not know if this poem refers to her. (for she was not out of reach, though
the unavailability could be social and political, not personal).]

[ Dhondup's version has "landlord" instead of "lord" and this quite changes
  the complexion of the poem:
      Longing for the landlord's daughter
      Blossoming in youthful beauty
      Is like pining for peaches
      Ripening on the high peach trees - K. Dhondup]

6
So out of mind with love
I lose my sleep at night.
Can't touch her while it's day -
Frustration's my sole friend

7
Flowering's time has fled -
The turquoise bee grieves not.
Finished fortune of love -
I too shall not lament.

[and out of love is as natural and inevitable as the change of the
seasons. 'Flowering 's time' is essentially the spring, the season par
excellence for love in Indo-Tibetan literature.
Likewise the relationship between the bee and a flower is also a common image
of lovers, boy and girl respectively. It looks like the Dalai Lama holds that
a bee takes what he needs from the flower. He then leaves it.

A vivid awareness of impermanence, with its inevitable death, is a central
facet of Buddhism. The death of love, as the death of lovers, is nothing to
lament.]

    [ Spring flowers fade in the fall;
      It is not for the turquoise bees to mourn.
      I and my sweetheart are fated to part;
      It is not for us to cry - Dhondup]

9
Wild goose, pining for fens
Hoped to remain awhile.
On the lake mere ice sheets.
Hope too flew far away.

10: The ferry lacks feeling

The ferry lacks feeling;
But its horse-head looked back.
My lover - so brazen
- Throws me never a glance.
		p.70
[  The horse's head at the prow nods to Tsangyang Gyatso, standing on the
   shore.' Which (it seems) is more than can be said of his lover.]

11
With me, the market girl
Twined three words in a pledge.
Alone they soon unwind.
Might as well knot a snake!

[  The aristocratic lady is too risky. ...  Here the Dalai Lama pledges the
   vows of young lovers with a market girl. There is no use of the Tibetan
   honorific here. She is a mere bu mo.

Literally: like a coiled striped snake that cannot be knotted.]

12: Prayer flags on a willow

For my love from childhood,
Prayer flags on a willow.
Guardian of Willows,
Sir, please do not throw stones!
		p.72
[Lhasa has many willow trees, and like the parks of modern Western cities
they are good places for lovers to meet.  Perhaps partly for this reason, the
willow tree also becomes a Tibetan symbol of love.
On to such a tree Tsangyang Gyatso has installed prayer flags.

Prayer flags have religious formulae (e.g. mantras) on them. They are flown
ostensibly in order to remind people of religious aspirations like
compassion, and to purify spiritually the environment.

But among Lhasa officials is a Guardian of Willows. The Dalai Lama politely
begs him to keep quiet about it all, and not to throw stones at their prayer
flag.]

13
Small black letters, written
Vanish with water drops.
Mind pictures, unwritten,
Though effaced, will not fade.

15
Gorgeous hollyhock blooms,
If given in worship,
I, too - young turquoise bee -
Take me to the temple!

16: my sweetheart won't stay

If my sweetheart won't stay -
She's embraced religion -
I, too, am not staying.
I'm straight off on retreat!

18
Meditating - in mind,
No lama's face appears.
Unbidden, lover's face
In mind, so clearly clear.

21
At a time of good luck
With my prayer flags flapping,
I was invited home
By a charming bright girl

      [This young woman, bright and charming, invites Tsangyang to her
      house.  Suggestion: such good luck befell him because he had set up
      the prayer flags...  Mullin suggests that more may have happened in
      her house:

      It was an auspicious time
      For sending good thoughts on the wind
      A young lady of excellent signs
      Took me home and gave me her love. - Mullin

      When my luck was good
      I hoisted auspicious prayer-flags
      And the young lady of noble birth
      Hosted me at her home'  - tr. K. Dhondup]

22: Sidelong glance from bright eyes

Taking in the whole row -
Laughing smiles, with white teeth.
Sidelong glance from bright eyes,
Thrown at my youthful face.

[Her white teeth shot a dazzling smile
To all who were present in the room
But from the corner of her eye
She spoke of a love that was only for me - Mullin, 14 DL's]

24
Suiting my bright one's heart,
I lose life's religion.
Heading forth, a
I belie my girl's heart.

[The expression mdzangs ma, a charming, bright, clever young woman, suggests
that Tsangyang Gyatso is still thinking of the girl of verse 21.]

25: Like a bee in a web

He'd bedded her three days.
Like a bee in a web,
The Gongbo youth's fancies
Remembered religion.
		p.85
[Gongbo (Kong po): district not far from Lhasa.]

28
As a bird meets a stone,
The madam joined lovers.
If there should be issue,
Please madam, will you pay!

]a thrown stone hitting a bird would be accidental, so also the joining of
lovers by Madam [= beer dispenser] - here if there is a child, the madam
should cover upkeep.]

29: Heart-talk's not for parents

Heart-talk's not for parents,
It's for an old friend.
But - My love has many stags.
Foes have learned my secrets.

[A Dalai Lama - cannot know whom he can trust. As all spies are
aware, secrets told on pillows can travel far. This Dalai Lama has enemies,
and they now know what he is up to.]

The angel that was lost

30
Yidtrok Hlamo - lover -
Though I- the hunter - caught,
Mighty Lord, Prince Norzang
Seduced my love away.

[Yidtrok Hlamo: lit. mind-captivating goddess.
last line, seduced: in the orig, is lit. "stolen".]

31
When I had the jewel,
I prized it not a jot.
When lost to another,
Depression broke my health.

      nor bu rang la yod dus
      nor bu'i nor nyams ma chod
      nor bu mi la shor dus
      snying rlung stod la tshangs byung

The Tibetan expression snying rlung stod la tshangs byung in the last
line is a technical expression in Tibetan medicine, refers to illness
caused by a particular
malfunction of the "heart-wind".  Wind (rlung) illnesses = psychiatric.
Based on this, Williams argues (p.156) that the 6th DL was perhaps subject
to guilt, anger etc, which may have brought on depression and other
psychosomatic ailments.

[     Mullin: 30-31
      I was a hunter of hearts,
      And I captured a stunning angel
      But alas, another lord among men
      Has stolen her from me.

      When she, a precious treasure, was mine,
      I guarded her not with sufficient care;
      Now she is lost to another
      And my only consolation is my pain. ]

32: Misery gnaws the heart

My love, who admired me,
Has married another.
Misery gnaws the heart -
My flesh too has dried up.

First line, lit: Love who took joy in me. the illness in line 3 is a disease
of the mind that emerges from deep within.

    [ My sweetheart who truly loved me
      Has been stolen to wed another.
      I am sick with longing sorrow
      And frustration emaciates my frail body - tr. K. Dhondup]

33
My love was lost through theft -
Time to consult the cards.
For that passionate girl
Roams round within my dreams.

possibly this insomnia is related to what Tibetan med calls "pervasive
wind"

    [ In my dreams often
      I see my lost beloved;
      A soothsayer I must seek
      To search for her soon for me.  - tr. K. Dhondup]

34: The beer will never stop

If the girl doesn't die
The beer will never stop.
Indeed, I can name her
A young man's safe haven
		p.94
the girl - presumably a beer-girl, though it could be a lover.
Buddhism stresses impermanence and consequential suffering.  If the girl
never dies, there will be beer forever.  He is the Dalai Lama. He
permits himself to appoint her the `safe haven' (lit. constant refuge, gtan
gyi skyabs gnas) of the
young men.  A near-blasphemous usage "skyabs gnas" = "take refuge" in the
buddha, the Dharma (doctrine) and the Sangha (community of practitioners).
But here Tsanyang Gyatso is taking refuge not in this trinity, but in a beer
girl.  But of course, the bg will die, so this is tinged with sadness - all
this hedonistic love for women and beer will pass away, ending in misery.

35
The girl is not human.
Perhaps from a peach tree? She
is ever turning;
Faster than peach flowers.

[Line 1, lit. - not born of a mother. Peach blossom = very temporary, fickle.]

36
That girl, love from childhood
Does she not spring from wolves?
She sucks my flesh, my skin -
Yet ever plans for peaks.

The Tibetan verb does not translate literally as `sucks', but this
translation gets the dual meaning of what a wolf and a young woman may each
do to Tsangyang Gyatso, given half a chance.  While he pines for her, she
plans to go alone into the mountains.

    [ My beloved from childhood
      Seems to be of the wolf's race;
      Even after many nights together
      She tries to escape,
      Like the wolves, to the hills.  - tr. K. Dhondup]

37: A wild horse can be snared

A wild horse roaming peaks
Can be snared or lassoed.
A lover, rebelling,
Even charms will not hold.

38
Crag and storm united,
To ravage vulture's plumes.
I feel just devoured
By those who plot and plan.

[A hint of all the conspiracies around him.  He dies at age 24 while under
Mongol escort.]

40: A lover newly caught

Frozen ground, surface slips -
No place to send a horse.
A lover newly caught
Is no place for heart-talk.

speaking confidences to a new girl-friend wd be very dangerous.  See 29.

41: seems like the full moon

What a wonderful time!
It seems like the full moon.
But the man in the moon -
He is going to die.

    [ The moon tonight seems
      To be the full moon,
      But the hare inside the moon
      Does not seem to be alive.  - tr. K. Dhondup
         Note by Dhondup : Tibetan legend has hare on the moon. ]
43
Meru, king of mountains -
Centre - don't change, stay firm!
Unthinkable is fault
In sun and moon's orbit.

44
The three-day moon is bright,
Completely clothed in white.
Please, will you promise me
Time just like the full-moon?

The three-day moon is that of the third day of the waxing half. We are still
far from the full moon [15th].  Means -
Show him her full face, like the full moon.

    [ Like the rising moon of the third day
      My beloved is dressed is pure and white,
      But on the full moon of the fifteenth day
      Take an oath of meeting as pure and bright.  - tr. K. Dhondup]

46: The cuckoo comes from Mern

The cuckoo comes from Mern,
The year's sap increases.
I and my love have met,
Body and mind relax
		p.106
[Mullin:
  The cuckoo has come from Monyul;
  The sky soften's the earth with its moisture.
  Whenever I embrace a sweet lover,
  Body and mind melt with the fullness. ]

47
If you say you don't heed
Change, or death (and mean it),
You may seem smart and wise,
But - strewth! - are like a fool.

48: Tiger-dog; leopard-dog

Tiger-dog; leopard-dog
A dog - with meat, is tamed
Long-maned indoor-tigress
Once known, became more fierce

Literally, the last line says that she became even stronger.

49
Drawing plans on the earth,
I can surmise the stars.
Though I know her soft flesh,
I can't measure her mood.

    [ Even the stars in the sky
      Can be measured by astrology.
      Her body can be caressed,
      But not so fathomed
      Her deep inner longing.  - tr. K. Dhondup]

50
It is known by no one,
Save a talking parrot.
Please, O Talking Parrot,
Do not tell my secret.

    [perhaps someone in his entourage, to whom he had spoken of a liaison]

51
Lhasa is crowded. Still,
Chongyay has nice people.
That girl, mine from childhood,
Is from its very midst.

53-54: Footprints in the snow

[These two poems apparently deal with his night escapades becoming known]
      53
      I sought my love at dusk;
      Snow had fallen at dawn.
      Why bother with secrets? -
      Footprints left in the snow! -

      54
      In Potala dwelling -
      Rigdzin Tsangyang Gyatso.
      Lhasa and Zhol roaming -
      Screwer Dangzang Wangho!

[Zhol is the area at the foot of the Potala that contains (inter alia) the
red-light district.]

[Rick Fields and Brian Cutillo, in "The turquoise bee: the lovesongs of the
sixth Dalai Lama" 1995, intermix the poems:
      I sought my lover at twilight
      Snow fell at daybreak.
      Residing at the Potala
      I am Rigdzin Tsangyang Gyatso
      But in the back alleys of Shol-town
      I am rake and stud.
      Secret or not
      No matter.
      Footprints have been left in the snow.  ]

55: soft flesh waits in bed

With soft flesh waits in bed
My passionate lover.
But maybe she deceives
The young lad of his wealth?

      [ Sweetheart awaiting me in my bed
        Yielding tenderly her sweet soft body,
        Has she come to cheat me
        And disrobe me of my virtues?  - tr. K. Dhondup]

56
'Farewell' he said to her,
`Goodbye', was her response.
'I'll miss you, he told her,
`We'll meet soon, she replied.

57: White crane

O bird there - white crane - come,
Lend the strength of your wings.
I'll not go far. Circling
Lithang I shall return.

The white crane is a symbol of longevity and fidelity. Lithang is in the far
east of Tibet, on the Chinese border. The Seventh Dalai Lama was born in that
region.  [This verse sometimes taken as an indication of his own
reincarnation in that region.  But the authenticity of authorship of this
famous verse can be doubted. ]

[  O white crane
   Lend me your wings
   I go not far,
   And from Litang shall return. - Mullin

   That bird - white crane
   Lend me your skill of wing
   I will not go far
   I'll return from Litang   - Fields and Cutillo]

[As DL was leaving Lhasa, the streets were lined with tearful people. Suddenly
a boy ran into the retinue.  It so happened, his
name was also Tsangyang Gyatso - and his mother called out, "Tsangyang, come
back".  At which, the 6th DL is said to have sung the above song.
    But quite likely written by a follower.  ]

59: The arrow was spot-on

The arrow was spot-on
Its head was in the ground.
Met my love from childhood -
And my heart followed on.
		p. 119
[Tsangyang Gyatso was by all accounts an accomplished archer.  Archery is also
used in divination.]

60
A peacock from Bengal;
Parrot from far Gongbo.
True, their roots differ; but
Holy Lhasa they meet.
      [ Peacocks from eastern India,
        Parrot from the depths of Kongpo,
        Though born in separate countries
        Finally come together
        In the holy land of Lhasa.  - tr. K. Dhondup]

61
Folk gossip about me
Sorry - yes, I'm to blame!
A lad's three tiptoe steps -
Oh - I've reached the brothel!

    [ People gossip about me.
      I am sorry for what I have done;
      I have taken three thin steps
      And landed myself in the tavern of my mistress - tr. K. Dhondup]

62 : When love is mutual

The willow loves birdling
The birdling loves willow.
When love is mutual,
The grey hawk has no chance.
		p. 122
64
O Talking Parrot -
Please help, do be silent!
Your sister, Willow Thrush -
Assents to sing sweet songs.
		p. 124
[    The garrulous parrot
     Please stay with your mouth shut.
     The thrush in the willow grove
     Has promised to sing a song for me.  - tr. K. Dhondup]

66 : Better not to see

First, better not to see
Falling in love's senseless.
Second, better not know -
Misery's senseless too.

[doubtful authorship] An old Buddhist story.
Buddha disciple Ananda asks, what should a monk do if a woman comes along?
"Don't look".  What if it's too late?  "Don't speak."  But what if they shd
speak?  "Then watch your mind carefully, Ananda!"]

---

Often attributed, but
probably not from Tsangyang Gyatso:
      Never have I slept without a girl
      Never have I lost a single drop of sperm.
            (tr. Rick Fields and Brian Cutillo; attributed to TG)

Paul Williams: Interview

Interview by Cherry Lewis, 29 April 2008

Paul Williams is Professor of Indian and Tibetan Philosophy, in the
Department of Theology and Religious Studies. When I suggested I interview
him about his work on Madhyamaka philosophy, he replied that it was so
appallingly tedious that no-one would want to read about it, so why didn’t I
talk to him instead about his latest book – a translation from Tibetan of the
erotic poetry of the Sixth Dalai Lama. It was an invitation I couldn’t
resist.

Sonam Gyatso became, in the same moment, both the First and the Third Dalai
Lama. The title was bestowed on him by the Mongolian ruler Altan Khan in 1578
when Sonam Gyatso, the most revered and scholarly monk of the Drepung
monastery in Tibet, converted Altan Khan to the Geluk tradition of
Buddhism. “You are so learned,” said Altan Khan to Sonam Gyatso, “to me you
are like an ocean.”  Sonam Gyatso became, in the same moment, both the First
and the Third Dalai Lama.

By the 13th century, the leading hierarchs of the different Buddhist
traditions in Tibet had already instituted the idea of succession by
reincarnation. The tradition probably evolved as a way of securing succession
among monastic groups where, of course, they are supposed to be celibate and
not have children. An advanced Buddhist practitioner would know how to
control his own rebirth, which would provide clues as to how the
reincarnation could be discovered. He would take on rebirth out of a
compassion for others, thereby carrying on the Buddhist ethos of helping
people. So when the title of Dalai Lama was bestowed on Sonam Gyatso he
actually became the Third Dali Lama – even though it was the first time
anyone had held the title – because he was already recognised as being the
third descendant in a series of reincarnations. This meant, of course, that
the First and Second never knew they had been Dalai Lamas.

The Fourth Dalai Lama was a Mongol, and the Fifth, a Tibetan, was the first
to be put in control, by the Mongols, of the whole of Tibet. By the standards
of autocratic rulers, he was relatively tolerant and benign – he employed
members of other Buddhist schools in his government, was a strong personality
who brought stability to Tibet, and was much admired by the Chinese emperor
because he controlled the Mongols for them. The period of his rule is often
thought of as being a golden age for Tibet. As a consequence, Ngawang Lozang
Gyatso became known as the Great Fifth Dalai Lama.

By the time of the Great Fifth, a Dalai Lama was effectively thought to be a
direct manifestation of a Buddhist divinity on Earth. To establish himself in
this role, Ngawang Lozang Gyatso commenced building the Potala Palace in
Lhasa, named after the sacred site said to be in India where the divine being
lived. Unfortunately, he died before it was complete. His Regent, fearing
that if he let it be known the Dalai Lama had died the palace wouldn’t be
finished, the Dalai Lama would not be properly established as a divinity on
Earth, and instability would occur, gave out that Ngawang Lozang Gyatso had
gone into retreat – and kept his death a secret for 15 years.  Dalai means
ocean in Mongolian, and Lama is the Tibetan equivalent of the Sanskrit word
guru

Tsangyang Gyatso, the child eventually recognised as the reincarnation of the
Great Fifth, was born in 1683 in the far south of Tibet. When he was two
years and eight months old, he and his parents were taken away from their
village and kept in squalid conditions while he was subjected to tests and
examinations that, it was hoped, would confirm he was indeed the
reincarnation. This situation lasted till he was 13, thus his childhood was
effectively one of imprisonment, hunger, abuse and, initially, a very real
fear that he would be killed. Not one conducive to producing a wise and just
ruler.

Eventually the secret of the Great Fifth’s death got out and Tsangyang
Gyatso, now in his early teens, was ordained as a novice monk and in 1697
enthroned in Lhasa as the Sixth Dalai Lama. But four years later, when he was
expected to take his full monk’s vows, it became clear that things were not
going to plan. Not only did he refuse to take full monastic vows, but he
returned the novice vows he had already taken. From now on, he decided, the
Dalai Lama would be a layman. And have fun.

Tsangyang Gyatso dressed flamboyantly, roamed the streets and brothels, drank
alcohol publicly, engaged in archery competitions and enjoyed pranks with his
friends. He even wrote erotic poetry. Could the Sixth Dalai Lama really be a
reincarnation of the Great Fifth? It seems many felt he wasn’t, and Tsangyang
Gyatso was soon deposed. As the Mongols led him away under arrest, monks from
the Drepung monastery came to his rescue, believing he was the genuine
reincarnation, but when the monastery was attacked Tsangyang Gyatso gave
himself up to prevent bloodshed. As he was being taken to China, the Sixth
Dalai Lama fell ill and – according to Chinese and Mongol sources – died in a
remote part of Tibet in 1706. He was only 23 and to this day there is a
suspicion that he was murdered. His is the only body of a Dalai Lama not to
be buried in Lhasa.

Tsangyang Gyatso had little interest in his role as the Dalai Lama and no
interest whatsoever in the murky world of Tibetan politics. But he left
behind verses in which he shows he was really torn between the life of
religion and his love affairs. Sadly, he fails to offer a critique of the
system that wished to incarcerate him in its religion and politics – and that
is what makes his case so poignant. To him, it was all just so unfair.


blurb:
The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso (1683-1706), refused to take full
monastic vows, returned the vows that he had already taken, and loved
alcohol, archery, and women with a passion that perhaps suggests he had a
premonition of his early death at the age of twenty-four. He also wrote a
remarkable collection of love poetry. In this book, the author offers a
completely new translation of the erotic poems attributed to the Sixth Dalai
Lama. With hints on how to read the verses, as well as explanations of
obscure points or allusions, the author makes this extraordinary Dalai Lama
and his verses accessible to those with no background in the study of
Buddhism or Tibet. This first translation to be based on the latest critical
edition will be of great interest to those eager to learn more about Eastern
religion and spirituality.