transprc predecessor successor wylie birth_place death_date death_place title chinese birth_date tibetan image article_title name reign
yoindain gyaco sonam gyatso ngawang lobsang gyatso yon tan rgya mtsho mongolia 1617 -lrb- age 28 -rrb- tibet 4th dalai lama 雲丹嘉措 1589 ཡ ན ཏན ར མཚ 4thdalailama.jpg 4th dalai lama
 yonten 1601 -- 1617
4th dalai lama

yonten gyatso or yon-tan-rgya-mtsho -lrb- 1589 -- 1617 -rrb- was the 4th dalai lama , born in mongolia on the 30th day of the 12th month of the earth-ox year of the tibetan calendar .
-lrb- other sources , however , say he was born in the 1st month of the earth ox year -rrb- .
as the son of the chieftain of the chokur tribe , tsultrim choeje , and great-grandson of altan khan of the tümed mongols and his second wife phakhen nula , yonten gyatso was a mongolian , making him the only non-tibetan to be recognized as dalai lama other than the 6th dalai lama , who was a monpa -- but monpas can be seen either as a tibetan subgroup or a closely related people .
the nechung , state oracle of tibet , and lamo tsangpa , another oracle , had both predicted the next reincarnation would be born in mongolia .
about this time , the chief attendant of the third dalai lama , tsultrim gyatso , sent a letter informing the authorities in tibet that the reincarnation had been born and details of some of the wonders accompanying his birth .
`` he was recognized by a delegation from his drêpung monastery and the princes of Ü , which had gone to kweisui -lrb- köke qoto , inner mongolia -rrb- to meet him 1601 . ''
yonten gyatso left for tibet in 1599 when he was already ten years old , with his father , tibetan monks and officials , and a thousand mongol cavalry .
they arrived in 1603 after stopping at all the major monasteries on the route .
when he reached lhasa he was enthroned as the fourth dalai lama and initiated by sangen rinchen , the principal holder of tsonkapa 's lineage and ex-abbot of gaden monastery .
he began studies at drepung monastery , where he was a student of the fourth panchen lama lobsang chökyi gyaltsen , and in 1614 he received the full ordination of a monk from him .
yonten gyatso became the abbot of drepung and , later , sera monasteries .
many tibetans did not recognize him and there were several attempts to retake power from him , supported by the kagyupa order .
in 1605 one of the princes supporting the kagyu invaded lhasa and drove the mongol cavalrymen out .
when he was twenty-one warriors attacked drepung monastery and yonten gyatso had to flee .
in 1616 he made a retreat in the caves above sangyib hot springs , famous for the footprint padmasambhava left there on the cliff face when he empowered the site in the 8th century ce .
he died under suspicious circumstances -lrb- some say he was poisoned - but evidence is lacking -rrb- in the 12th month of the fire dragon year -lrb- january 1617 -rrb- at the age of 27 .
his chief attendant was sonam rapten -lrb- sonam choephel -rrb- , who later discovered `` the chong-gya boy '' to be the fifth dalai lama and who was the regent of the fifth dalai lama , the desi .
