The Fifth Dalai Lama and his First Three Administrators

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This book is an attempt to elucidate some aspects of the political life of the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682) who established the Ganden Phodrang, his government in the 17th century in Tibet, and especially his relations with the first three administrators (Desi). For the elucidation the book draws mainly from the English translation of the autobiography of the Fifth Dalai Lama (The Illusive Play, Serindia Publications 2014) and contains a vivid account of the lives of the first three administrators of the Fifth Dalai Lama that had remained until now very little known.

The author's historical account of the lives of these monk officials is based on the personal observations made by the Fifth Dalai Lama in his autobiography.

Desi Sonam Rabten, the first administrator, the architect of the Gelug rise, was doctrinaire and sectarian. He was succeeded,* Depa Norbu, next of kin, who rebelled against the Ganden Phodrang government. However, Desi Trinle Gyatso, the third one, was a faithful follower of the Fifth Dalai Lama's non-, sectarian ecumenical policy.

SEAN JONES, born in Preston, England in 1944, was educated at a Jesuit College and then studied Chartered Accountancy before leaving the UK to travel overland to India in 1965.

He lived and worked in the western Himalayan regions and eventually built his own house in Swat Valley, North Pakistan in 1973. Based there, he travelled to remote areas in Afghanistan, Sinkiang, Kashmir, India and Nepal, and in the 1980s, having moved to the UK, he travelled throughout central, eastern and western Tibet, China "proper" and the rest of the Far East and Southeast Asia.

Thanks to his record of equestrian journeys in South Asia, Jones was made an honorary member of the UK "Long Riders Guild," on whose website are posted two stories of his more remarkable adventures on horseback along the Afghan frontier.

After his return to the UK In 1979, Jones established a successful travel agency in London with a friend. He supported a number of Tibet-related organizations and was involved in the teaching tours of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the UK in 1988, 1996 and 1999 - in addition to acting as His Holiness's UK chauffeur for a decade.

**Contents and Sample Pages**