Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama

Tsangyang Gyatsho, the Sixth Dalai Lama remains a timeless enigma in the annals of the Dalai Lamas of Tibet, the highest instimrion of reincarnation in the whole of Central Asia.

Radiant and varied as a rainbow, Tsangyang Gyatsho was a deeply spiritual mystic of transcendental attainment in tantra in the eyes of the initiated and a perfect lover of wine and women in the eyes of the ordinary. of his varied wirting his songs remain the most accessible and of late there has been a renewed interest in the life and times of the Sixth Dalai Lama as a figure uniqure in the chequered history of tibet.

Songs of the Sixth Dali Lama is now being translated into more foreign languages. This third edition of the English translation celebrates the enduring popularity of the Sixth Dalai Lama’s songs and also commemorates the tragic and untimely demise of the talented author and translator, Mr. K Dhondup, earlier this year.

The Sixth Dalai Lama Losang Rigzin Tsangyang Gyatsho (1683-1706), whose name means “The Ocean of Melodious Songs” was a special Dalai Lama.

Born in a renowned Nyingma family and brought up at a late age in the Gelugpa tradition, Tsangyang Gyatsho proved to be an uncomfortable blend of the two traditions. But leaving aside the unfortunate politics that surrounded his desolate life, Tsangyang Gyatsho brought to holy Lhasa and Shol taverns some of the purest and most beautiflul lyrics of all times.

Extraordinary as A lover of wine and women, melodious as a singer of love songs and above all, tragic as a national hero of the status of a Dalai Lama, reduced to become a heroic pawn at the hands of the Qosot Lhazang Khan, Tsangyang Gyatso became a legend within his short lifetime. Worshipped and loved by the Tibetan people with stainless faith, Tsangyang Gyatsho’s songs became famous in every comer of Tibet reviving once again the facination of simple folk poetry.