8th Dalai Lama

Jamphel Gyatso, 8th Dalai Lama

Jamphel Gyatso (T. 'jam dpal rgya mtsho འཇམ་དཔལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ།) (1758–1804) was the 8th Dalai Lama of Tibet.

He was born in 1758 at Thobgyal, Lhari Gang in the Tsang region of southwestern Tibet. His father, Sonam Dhargye, and mother, Phuntsok Wangmo, were originally from Kham and traced their ancestry to Dhrala Tsegyal, one of the legendary heroes of the Gesar epic.

In 1762, as a young boy, he was escorted to Lhasa and enthroned in the Potala Palace. The enthronement ceremony was presided over by Demo Tulku Jamphel Yeshi, who was the first Regent to represent the Dalai Lamas when they were minors. At the age of seven, he took the novice vows of monkhood from the Panchen Lama and then he was fully ordained in 1777. In addition to his remarkable spiritual legacy, it was the Eighth Dalai Lama who built the famous Norbulingka Park and Summer Palace on the outskirts of Lhasa. In 1804, he died at the age of forty-seven.

Further reading

• The Eighth Dalai Lama, Jampel Gyatso, Treasury of Lives

• 8th Dalai Lama (Wikipedia)
• *Mullin, Glenn H. (2001). The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation, pp. 322–341. Clear Light Publishers. Santa Fe, New Mexico. ISBN 1-57416-092-3.
• 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.