The 13th Dalai Lama, Thupten Gyatso, was born in 1876, the Fire Mouse Year, in Langdun in Dhakpo, Lokha (Southern Tibet) to peasant parents – Kunga Rinchen and Lobsang Dolma.

In 1877, he was recognized as the reincarnation of the 12th Dalai Lama through prophetic visions of the State Oracle Nechung and auspicious signs at his birthplace. Soon after, he was escorted to Lhasa. In 1878 the Eighth Panchen Lama, Tenpai Wangchuk, performed the hair-cutting ceremony, bestowing upon him the name Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal.

He was enthroned at the Potala Palace in 1879 and began his monastic education. At age six, in 1882, he was ordained as a novice monk (Getsul) by Regent Tatsak Rinpoche Ngawang Palden Yeshi. In 1895, he received full ordination (Gelong) from his tutor, Phurchok Ngawang Jampa Rinpoche, at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. On 27 September 1895, he formally assumed full spiritual and political authority over Tibet.