Lobsang Yeshe, Fifth Panchen Lama

Lobsang Yeshe (; also written Lobsang Yeshi) (1663 – 1737) was the 5th Panchen Lama of Tibet.

He was born of a well-known and noble family in the province of Tsang. His father's name was De-chhen-gyalpo and his mother's Serab-Drolma. He was soon recognised as the true incarnation of Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, (1570–1662), the Fourth Panchen Lama of Tibet, and was installed with great ceremony at Tashilhunpo Monastery.

He received novice vows when he was 8 (9 by Western reckoning) in Lhasa from Lozang Gyatso, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama (1617 – 1682), when he was given the name of Lobsang Yeshe. At the age of twenty he was ordained by Kon-chhog Gyal-tsan.

When he was thirty-two (in 1696 or 1697), he sent a congratulatory deputation to Beijing. Emperor Kangxi (1662-1723) invited him to Beijing, but he asked to be excused for fear of smallpox.

The Regent, Sangye Gyatso (Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho), invited the Fifth Panchen Lama, Lobsang Yeshi to administer the vows of a novice monk on the 6th Dalai Lama, at the town of Nangartse on Lake Yamdrok Yamtso,...
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