Although they reigned autonomously, the Rinpungpa still formally honoured the Phagmodrupa dynasty in Ü (East Central Tibet).
Chödrak Gyatso asked Donyo Dorje to found a monastery at the outskirts of Lhasa, in an area that was heavily influenced by the Gelugpa sect.
A plundering raid against the Ganden monastery was however repulsed, supposedly through rites that evoked the power of the six-armed protector deity Mahakala.
[3] A grand meeting was then held among the leading figures of Central Tibet, in 1481, and in the end the current king Kunga Lekpa was deposed and replaced by his nephew Ngagi Wangpo.
Donyo Dorje was addressed with the royal titles chogyal and miwang, and known as Ü-Tsang Ruzhi Sakyong (Ruler of all of Central Tibet).
Due to his frequent campaigning and staying in tent residences he was furthermore referred as Depa Garpa (the mobile or camping ruler).
[6] The expansion also went in other directions; in 1499 Donyo Dorje subordinated the Guge kingdom in western Tibet through peaceful means.
This boy was born to the celebrated beauty Tsewang Tsangmo, wife of the lord of Nakhartse, who had been forced to give herself to Donyo Dorje.