Lozang Gyatso, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, (1617-1682), is one of only two Dalai Lamas formally titled "Great". He initiated the construction of the fabulous Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. He also instituted many monastic practices and rituals that remain in use today. Most importantly, the 5th Dalai Lama is known for unifying Tibet under the control of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, defeating the rival Kagyupa sect. He accomplished this by forging a military alliance with Gushi Khan, the powerful Mongol military leader. The Dalai Lama also established warm relations with Shunzhi, the second emperor of the Qing Dynasty, during a state visit to Beijing in 1652. The emperor gave him the honorific title Dalai Lama, Overseer of the Buddhist Faith on Earth Under the Great Benevolent Self-subsisting Buddha of the Western Paradise. (西天大善自在佛所领天下释教普通瓦赤喇怛喇达赖喇嘛)From this meeting onwards, the Dalai Lamas were considered priests to the throne by successive Qing emperors.
[1] Between the 17th century and 1959, the DalaiLama was the head of the Tibetan government, controlling a large portion of the country from the capital Lhasa.
The DalaiLama is the supreme head of Tibetan Buddhism, and the leaders of all four schools consider the DalaiLama to be the highest lama of the Tibetan traditions.
Starting with the 5thDalaiLama, until the 14th DalaiLama's flight to exile in 1959, the DalaiLamas resided during winter at the Potala Palace, and in the summer at the Norbulingka palace and park.
The DalaiLama is said to have sent for the monks in charge of the festival and demanded to be told who had given them the authority to wield such abusive power.
The DalaiLama was the literal embodiment of an ancient lineage, an incarnation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, the ruler of one of the most inaccessible and forbidding places on earth.
The present DalaiLama of Tibet is the fourteenth in the lineage.
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