transprc predecessor successor wylie birth_place death_date death_place title chinese birth_date tibetan image article_title name reign
soinam gyaco gendun gyatso yonten gyatso bsod nams rgya mtsho tolung , Ü-tsang , tibet 1588 1543 mongolia 3rd dalai lama 索南嘉措 1543 བས ད ནམས ར མཚ 3dalai.jpg 3rd dalai lama
 sonam 1578 -- 1588
3rd dalai lama

sonam gyatso -lrb- -rrb- -lrb- 1543 -- 1588 -rrb- was the first to be created dalai lama , although the title was retrospectively given to his two predecessors .
he was born near lhasa in 1543 and was recognised as the reincarnation of gendun gyatso and subsequently enthroned at drepung monastery by panchen sonam dragpa , who became his tutor .
panchen sonam dragpa was the 15th ganden tripa and his texts still serve as the core curriculum for many gelugpa monasteries .
the third dalai lama studied at drepung monastery and became its abbot .
his reputation spread quickly and the monks at sera monastery also recognised him as their abbot .
according to sumpa khenpo , the great gelug scholar , he also studied some nyingmapa tantric doctrines .
when one of tibet 's kings , who had been supported by the kagyupa , died in 1564 , sonam gyatso presided over his funeral .
his political power , and that of the gelugpas , became dominant in tibet by the 1570s .
