Desi Sangye Gyatso

Desi Sangye Gyatso

Desi Sangye Gyatso (1653–1705) was the sixth regent (desi) of the 5th Dalai Lama (1617–1682) in the Ganden Phodrang government. He founded the School of Medicine and Astrology called Men-Tsee-Khang on Chagpori ('Iron Mountain') in 1694[1] and wrote the Blue Beryl (Blue Sapphire) treatise.[2][3] His name is sometimes written as Sangye Gyamtso[4] and Sans-rGyas rGya-mTsho[5]: 342, 351 

By some erroneous accounts, Sangye Gyatso is believed to be the son of the "Great Fifth".[6] He could not be the son of the Fifth Dalai Lama because he was born near Lhasa in September 1653, when the Dalai Lama had been absent on his trip to China for the preceding sixteen months.[7]: 264−322 [8] He ruled as regent, hiding the death of the Dalai Lama, while the infant 6th Dalai Lama was growing up, for 16 years. During this period, he oversaw the completion of the Potala Palace and warded off Chinese politicking.[citation needed]

He is also known for harboring disdain for Tulku Dragpa Gyaltsen, although this lama died in 1656, when Sangye Gyatso was only three years old.[7]: 364−365  According to Lindsay G. McCune in her thesis (2007), Desi Sangye Gyamtso refers in his Vaidurya Serpo to the Lama as the "pot-bellied official" (nang so grod lhug) and states that, following his death, he had an inauspicious rebirth.[9]

Illustration ("Conception to Birth") from the Blue Beryl or Ornament to the Mind of Medicine Buddha- Blue Beryl Lamp Illuminating Four Tantras by Sangye Gyatso c. 1720
  1. ^ Medicine Across Cultures: History and Practice of Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (Science Across Cultures: the History of Non-Western Science) by Hugh Shapiro and H. Selin (2006) p.87
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference blue work was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Healing Powers and Modernity: Traditional Medicine, Shamanism, and Science in Asian Societies by Linda H. Connor and Geoffrey Samuel (2001) p.267
  4. ^ Jaroslav Průšek and Zbigniew Słupski, eds., Dictionary of Oriental Literatures: East Asia (Charles Tuttle, 1978): 147.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ahmad was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Bryan J. Cuevas, Lhasa in the Seventeenth Century: The Capital of the Dalai Lamas, The Journal of Asian Studies (2004), 63: 1124-1127
  7. ^ a b Dalai Lama V (2014). The Illusive Play: The Autobiography of the Fifth Dalai Lama. Translated by Karmay, Samten G. Chicago: Serindia Publications. ISBN 978-1-932476675.
  8. ^ Richardson, Hugh E. (1998) High Peaks, Pure Earth; Collected Writings on Tibetan History and Culture. Serindia Publications, London. p. 455 ISBN 0906026466
  9. ^ Tales of Intrigue from Tibet's Holy City: The Historical Underpinnings of a Modern Buddhist Crisis Thesis by Lindsay G. McCune Archived February 14, 2012, at the Wayback Machine The Florida State University College of Arts and Sciences, see page 8 of introduction