3rd Dalai Lama

3rd Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso
Title	3rd Dalai Lama
Personal
Born	1543 Tolung, Ü-Tsang, Tibet
Died	1588 (aged 44–45) Northern Yuan
Religion	Buddhism
Senior posting
Period in office	1578–1588
Predecessor	Gendun Gyatso
Successor	Yonten Gyatso
Chinese name
Chinese	索南嘉措
Transcriptions
Tibetan name
Tibetan	བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
Transcriptions Wylie bsod nams rgya mtsho Tibetan Pinyin Soinam Gyaco

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Teachings General Buddhist Three marks of existence Skandha Cosmology Saṃsāra Rebirth Bodhisattva Dharma Dependent origination Karma Tibetan Four Tenets system Rangtong-Shentong Svatantrika-Prasaṅgika distinction Nyingma Dzogchen Pointing-out instruction
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Institutional roles Dalai Lama Panchen Lama Lama Karmapa Rinpoche Geshe Tertön Tulku Western tulku
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The 3rd Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso (Tibetan: བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: bsod nams rgya mtsho, ZYPY: Soinam Gyaco; 1543–1588), was the first in the tulku lineage to be entitled formally as the Dalai Lama. In 1578 Altan Khan presented the spiritual title of Dalai Lama, in honor of Sonam Gyatso's profound teachings conferred in Mongolia, which soon became a Tibetan Buddhist country. He founded Kumbum Monastery, Lithang Monastery, and Namgyal Monastery. The spiritual title was retrospectively given to his two tulku lineage predecessors, the 1st Dalai Lama and the 2nd Dalai Lama.

Sonam Gyatso was born near Lhasa in 1543 and was recognised as the reincarnation of Gendun Gyatso^[1] and subsequently enthroned at Drepung Monastery by Panchen Sonam Dragpa, who became his tutor. Panchen Sonam Dragpa was the 15th Ganden Tripa and his texts still serve as the core curriculum for many Gelug monasteries. The 3rd Dalai Lama studied at Drepung Monastery and became its abbot. His reputation spread quickly and the monks at Sera Monastery also recognised him as their abbot.^[2]

According to Sumpa Khenpo, the great Gelug scholar, he also studied Nyingma tantric doctrines.^[3]

When one of Tibet's regional kings, who had been supported by the Kagyu school, died in 1564, Sonam Gyatso presided over his funeral. His political power, and that of the Gelug school, grew in dominance in Tibet by the 1570s.^[2]