Jamphel Gyatso (1758–1804) was the 8th

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. Born in 1758 at Lhari Gang (Tob-rgyal Lha-ri Gang) in the Upper

Ü-Tsang Ü-Tsang is one of the three traditional provinces of Tibet, the others being Amdo in the north-east, and Kham in the east. Ngari (including former Guge kingdom) in the north-west was incorporated into Ü-Tsang. Geographically Ü-Tsang covere ...

region of southwestern

his father, Sonam Dhargye and mother, Phuntsok Wangmo, were originally from

Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The original residents of Kham are called Khampas (), and were governed locally by chieftains and monasteries. Kham ...

.Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche. (1982). "Life and times of the Eighth to Twelfth Dalai Lamas." ''The Tibet Journal''. Vol. VII Nos. 1 & 2. Spring/Summer 1982, p. 47. They were distant descendants of Dhrala Tsegyal, who was one of the major heroes of the Gesar epic."The Eighth Dalai Lama JAMPHEL GYATSO"

Traditional history

He was escorted to Lhasa and enthroned as the leader of the Tibetan people in the

Potala Palace The Potala Palace is a ''dzong'' fortress in Lhasa, Tibet. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and a World Heritage Site since 1994. The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythica ...

in 7th month of the Water Horse Year (1762) when he was five years old (four by Western reckoning). The enthronement ceremony was presided over by Demo Tulku Jamphel Yeshi, the first of a series of Regents to represent the Dalai Lamas when they were minors. The ceremony was held in the 'Beyond Mind Temple of the Second Potala'. He was the disciple of Yongtsin Yeshe Gyaltsen, the

Kushok Bakula Rinpoche Kushok Bakula Rinpoche () is nowadays the head of Pethup Gompa in Spituk, Ladakh, India. According to his followers he is an emanation of the Buddha Amitabha and was one of the 16 disciples of Buddha (Naytan Chudrug, or the Sixteen Arhats). The ...

. The country continued to be ruled by regents until the Wood Dragon Year (1784) when the Regent was sent as an ambassador to China and the Dalai Lama ruled alone until 1790, when the Regent returned to help Jamphel Gyatso. In 1788 there was a conflict with Nepali wool traders leading to a skirmish with the

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recruit ...

s. In 1790 the Gurkhas invaded southern Tibet and conquered several provinces including Nya-nang and Kyi-drong. The city of Shigatse and the Tashilhunpo Monastery were captured and looted but the Gurkhas were driven back to Nepal in 1791 after the Qing dynasty sent troops to Tibet. A peace treaty between the Qing dynasty and Gurkhas was agreed on in 1796.

Norbulingka Park and Summer Palace and other activities

He built the

Norbulingka Norbulingka ( bo, ནོར་བུ་གླིང་ཀ་; Wylie: ''Nor-bu-gling-ka''; ; literally "Jeweled Park") is a palace and surrounding park in Lhasa, Tibet, built from 1755.Tibet (1986), p.71 It served as the traditional summer resid ...

Park and Summer Palace in 1783 on the outskirts of Lhasa. He also commissioned an exquisite copper statue of the Buddha for the people of Southern Tibet which was brought into India in the 1960s and is now housed at the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, ''Dharamsala'', India.

Later life

:"He was a mild and contemplative person with no great interest in temporal affairs and although he lived to be 45 4 by Western reckoning for most of his life he was content to let a Regent conduct the administration." He died in 1804 at the age of 47 (46 by Western reckoning).Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche. (1982). "Life and times of the Eighth to Twelfth Dalai Lamas." ''The Tibet Journal''. Vol. VII Nos. 1 & 2. Spring/Summer 1982, pp. 47–48.

Footnotes

*Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche. (1982). "Life and times of the Eighth to Twelfth Dalai Lamas." ''The Tibet Journal''. Vol. VII Nos. 1 & 2. Spring/Summer 1982, pp. 47–48.
https://web.archive.org/web/20051213024822/http://www.dalailama.com/page.51.htm

Traditional history

Norbulingka Park and Summer Palace and other activities

Later life

Footnotes

References

Further reading