Following the unexpected death of the Third Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso (bsod nam rgya mtsho) in Mongolia in 1588, his patrons there, the leaders of the Tumed Mongols, decided to identify his reincarnation among their own people. No doubt eager to preserve the patronage of the Mongolians that the Third Dalai Lama had only recently established, the Geluk heirarchs accepted the arrangement. Yonten Gyatso was born in 1589, the child of Sumbur Secen Cugukur, the son of Altan Khan’s successor Sengge Durureng Khan, and his wife, Bighcogh Bikiji.
