5th Dalai Lama

Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (T. Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho ངག་དབང་བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་) (1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet.

He is credited with unifying all Tibet under a central government after a Mongol military intervention which ended a protracted era of civil wars. As an independent head of state, he established relations with the Qing empire and other regional countries and also met early European explorers. Gyatso also wrote 24 volumes' worth of scholarly and religious works on a wide range of subjects.

Further reading

• The Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso, Treasury of Lives

• The Fifth Dalai Lama and his Reunification of Tibet, Tibetan Buddhism in the West
• "Short Biographies of the Previous Dalai Lamas". DalaiLama.com. 
• 5th Dalai Lama (Wikipedia)