Tibet's regent hid the Fifth Dalai Lama's death for 15 years; a Mongol khan later deposed the Sixth and put his own candidate in the Potala

The Fifth Dalai Lama died in 1682. His regent, Desi Sangye Gyatso, kept the death secret for about 15 years, reportedly on the Fifth's own instructions. He announced that the Dalai Lama had begun a long retreat. Ian Baker writes that the aim was to finish the Potala Palace. A successor was found and educated in secret, far from Lhasa. In 1697 the regent revealed the death and enthroned the boy, Tsangyang Gyatso, aged 14 or 15. The Qing Kangxi Emperor had not been told. Lhazang Khan, a Qoshot Mongol leader, marched on Lhasa in 1705. The regent surrendered on a promise that he would be spared. Lhazang's wife had him arrested, and he was killed, probably on 6 September 1705. Tsangyang Gyatso refused full ordination and returned his novice vows, the only Dalai Lama to live as a layman. He wrote love poems. In 1706 Lhazang Khan arrested him and installed Ngawang Yeshe Gyatso in the Potala as the "true" Sixth Dalai Lama. A summary of the Treasury of Lives biography calls that candidate Lhazang's own son. Tsangyang Gyatso was taken under guard toward Beijing. The standard account says he died at Kokonor on 15 November 1706. A secret biography written in 1756 says he escaped and lived until 1746. The Potala, finished during the concealment, stands in Lhasa.