In 1618, when Karma Tenkyong was twelve years old, his father successfully invaded Ü (East Central Tibet) which was a stronghold of the reformist Gelugpa sect.
The ministers were averse to sending representatives to the newly discovered 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, fearing the increasingly heartily contacts between the Gelugpa and the Upper Mongols at Qinghai Lake.
For the Gelugpa leaders it was probably desirable to avoid the complete annihilation of Karma Tenkyong's forces, since they were the only effective army of Tibet and could serve as a counterweight to the Mongols.
[4] Karma Tenkyong proceeded to repair the temples in Lhasa where the ravages of the Mongols caused the religious service to lapse for two years.
He, and the previous Tsangpa rulers, were regarded as inherently evil and opposed to Buddhism in spite of their well-attested patronage of the Karma Kagyu and Jonang sects.
[6] Contemporary clerical observers, such as Yolmo Tenzin Norbu, reacted angrily on his transgressions of the elaborate social hierarchy of Tibet, as he tried to forge a pretentious genealogy for his upstart family, going back to a disciple of Padmasambhava: "He expects all to perform prostrations to him and raise up stacks of tea offerings.
[7] Karma Tenkyong was known to his contemporaries for his hasty temper, strength, and audacious rashness, that incidentally were reminiscent of early Indian legends of Vajrapani, the deity he was believed to incarnate.
[9] While the hostile Gelugpa sources are reluctant to accord the Tsangpa ruler royal titles, European accounts point him out as the king of Ü-Tsang ('Ucangue') or Tibet.
Pilgrims, notables and soldiers arrived in increasing numbers from Mongolia to Central Tibet and worried Karma Tenkyong.
In 1631, he was able to push back the Gelugpa positions so that Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso was forced to seek refuge in Nêdong, the royal seat of the Phagmodrupa dynasty.
Ligdan Khan actually captured the Kokonor area in 1633 but died of smallpox in the following year, and the supreme Mongol khanate lapsed after his demise.
Karma Tenkyong inherited from his father a latent conflict with Ngawang Namgyal, a Drukpa cleric who had founded a polity in Bhutan in 1616.
The Tibetan soldiers who had captured the palace were supposedly killed by a gunpowder explosion, and the invasion at length achieved nothing (see also Battle of Five Lamas).
[14] In 1638, a chief of the Chahar tribe of the Mongols performed a raid from Tibet into Ladakh but were repulsed by king Sengge Namgyal.
While he marched back with his army, the Ladakhi king subjugated a number of monastic fiefs and herdsmen communities in western Tibet.
Meanwhile, Karma Tenkyong tried to counter Gelugpa influence in the east by allying with Donyo Dorje, the king of Beri in Kham.
Still, the Gelugpa leadership initially held a formally neutral stance when the Mongol forces turned against Karma Tenkyong.
The Panchen Lama, who resided in the Tashilhunpo monastery in Tsang, was invited to travel to Ü so that he would not be harmed by the forthcoming invasion.
The incensed Güshi Khan gave orders to execute Karma Tenkyong together with his ministers Dronyer Bongong and Gangzukpa.