The 6th Dalai Lama was born in southern Tibet, known as "Monyul",[a] at Urgelling Monastery, which is in modern-day Tawang district, Arunachal Pradesh, India.

Later and while living as a lay practitioner and a yogi, he grew his hair long, dressed as a regular Tibetan, and was said to also drink alcohol and openly accept women as companions.

During a power struggle between Mongolians and Qing China in Tibet and Lhasa, the Dalai Lama's Kalon (regent) was killed by the Koshut Lha-bzang Khan.

The 6th Dalai Lama is also well known for his poems and songs that continue to be popular not only in modern-day Tibet but also among Tibetan speaking communities in Nepal, India and all across China.

His father was Lama Tashi Tenzin of Urgelling, a descendant of the treasure revealer Pema Lingpa, and his mother was Tsewang Lhamo, a Monpa woman from a royal family of Bekhar Village.

The monks concentrated their search to the region of Tibet to find the next incarnation, but later came to conclude that 6th Dalai Lama was born outside the Tibetan territory[6] in a valley whose name ended with "ling".

After arriving to Tibet, Sangye Gyatso sent a delegation to the Kangxi Emperor of Qing China in 1697 to announce that the 5th Dalai Lama had died and the 6th had been discovered.

[3] The regent invited Lobsang Yeshe, 5th Panchen Lama to administer the vows of a śrāmaṇera (novice monk) on the young man at Nankartse and named him Tsang Gyatso.

[3] As a Dalai Lama, Tsangyang had composed excellent works of songs and poems, but often went against the principles of the Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Panchen Lama, who was the abbot of Tashilhunpo Monastery, and Prince Lhazang, the younger brother of the Po Gyalpo Wangyal, persuaded him not to do so.

Wearing the clothes of a normal layman and preferring to walk than to ride a horse or use the state palanquin, Tsangyang only kept the temporal prerogatives of the Dalai Lama.

The Gelugpa dignitaries and the Tibetan people rejected Lha-bzang Khan's installation of Ngawang Yeshey Gyatso and continued to recognise Tsangyang's title.

The Defence Ministry of India named the peak after him to pay tribute to his "timeless wisdom and huge contributions" to the local Monpa population.