Background
His mother was Jomo Kunga Bumphulwa, the widow of the Tibetan administrator (dpon-chen or ponchen) Aglen.
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Kunga Lotro Gyaltsen
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He held the dignity from 1314 to his death in 1327. Kunga Lotro Gyaltsen was one of the 13 sons of the abbot-ruler (dansa chenpo) Zangpo Pal (d 1323). Kunga Lotro Gyaltsen was summoned to the imperial court in North China by the great khan Ayurbarwada, and formally installed on 27 March 1315.
His decrees carried the weight of the imperial authority.
A letter by his hand, issued in 1316, begins: "By the king"s order, the words of Kunga Lotro Gyaltsen Palzangpo, imperial preceptor: To the officials of Pacification Commissioner rank, to generals, soldiers, administrators of the nang so, to judges, holders of golden letters, chiefs of districts, laymen and monks who collect taxes and go and come, to myriarchs, to dignitaries, a command."
The serious decline of the Yuan Dynasty had still not set in. The tenure of Kunga Lotro Gyaltsen spanned over the reigns of the great khans Ayurbarwada, Gegeen Khan, and Yesün Temür Khan.
However, this period also saw a family situation of the Khon family that planted the seeds of future dissent. In the end he divided the brothers into four groups.
They were the Zhitog, Lhakang, Rinchengang, and Ducho branches, each of which had its own abbot (dansa).
The partition was finalized in late 1323 or early 1324, shortly after the death of the old Zangpo Pal. One of the brothers, Khatsun Namkha Lekpa Gyaltsen was formal abbot-ruler after the death of his father, but seems to have exercised limited authority. As for Kunga Lotro Gyaltsen he returned to the imperial capital in the summer of 1324.
In 1326 his health declined and he prepared to leave for his Tibetan homeland again.
He did not actually leave the capital, however, possibly because of a revolt that broke out in Amdo in eastern Tibet. He died on 6 March 1327.
His successor was a brother, Kunga Lekpa Jungne Gyaltsen.
Membership
The position of Imperial Preceptor or Dishi was always kept separate from that of abbot-ruler, and since 1286 it had been held by members of the Sharpa and Khangsarpa families. However, after the demise of the Dishi Sanggye Pal in 1314, a member of the Khon family was once again appointed.
