Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama

Khedrup Gelek Pelzang
1st Panchen Lama of Tibet
Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama
Tibetan	མཁས་གྲུབ་རྗེ་་
Wylie translit.	mkhas-grub dge legs dpal bzang po
transcription (PRC)	Mkhas-grub Rje Dge-legs Dpal-bzang-po
THDL	Kaichub Gêlêg Baisangbo
Born	1385
Birthplace	Taktser, Amdo
Died	1438 (aged 52–53)
Predecessor	Yungtön Dorjepel
Successor	Sönam Choklang
Royal House	Panchen Lama
Father	Choekyong Tsering
Mother	Diki Tsering

Khedrup Gelek Pelzang (1385–1438), better known as Khedrup Je, the 1st Panchen Lama, was one of the main disciples of Lama Tsongkhapa (founder of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism).

Before becoming Tsongkhapa's foremost disciple, Khedrup Je had been a learned Sakyapa scholar. He is considered to be a reincarnation of Manjushri, the Buddha of Wisdom. He wrote an important text on Kalachakra initiation which is still used by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, as the basis of his public initiations into the Kalachakra. Altogether, there are nine volumes of his collected works, containing fifty-eight treatises.

Khedrup Je

Khedrup was posthumously decided to have been a previous incarnation of Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen (1570–1662), and is considered to be the First Panchen Lama and, like all the Panchen Lamas, was an incarnation of Amitabha Buddha.

Traditionally, there were considered to be four Indian and three Tibetan incarnations before Khedrup, starting with Subhuti, one of the original disciples of Gautama Buddha.

Khedrup Je was unanimously chosen as Ganden Monastery's third abbot (after Tsongkhapa and Gyaltsab Je) by its monks, and also became the Ganden Tripa, the leader of the Gelug tradition.

Khedrub Je was a prolific writer (for example on Kalachakra), and founded Baiju Monastery in Gyantse District in Tibet in 1418. He also wrote many prayer books.

“

According to the legend, after Tsongkhapa passed away in 1419, his disciple Khedrub Jey on five occasions met with him in mystical states. Kedrub Jey is most remembered for his charisma as a teacher, as well as for the many excellent commentaries that he wrote on the tantric lineages which Tsongkhapa gathered together and elucidated. He played an important role in the education of the First Dalai Lama, who was the youngest of Tsongkhapa's five chief disciples.

”

He founded the large Riwo Choling Monastery in the Yarlung Valley which is now just a heap of ruins.

References

• Das, Sarat Chandra. (1970) Contributions on the Religion and History of Tibet (1970). Manjushri Publishing House, New Delhi. First published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. LI (1882)
• Dorje, Gyurme (1999). Footprint Tibet Handbook with Bhutan. Footprint Handbooks, Bath, England. ISBN 0 8442-2190-2.
• Hilton, Isabel. (1999). The Search for the Panchen Lama. Viking. Reprint: Penguin Books. (2000), p. 58. ISBN 0-14-024670-3.
• Stein, R. A. Tibetan Civilization, (1972). Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. ISBN 0-8047-0806-1 (cloth); ISBN 0-0847-0901-7.

Further reading

• The Great Seal of Voidness: The Root Text for the Ge-lug/Ka-gyu Tradition of Mahamudra. The Main Path All Buddhas Have Travelled (dGe-ldan bkah-brgyud rin-po-chehi phyag-chen rtza-ba rg yal-bahi gzhung-lam). (1975) Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey et al. Library of Tibetan Works and Archives. Dharamsala, H.P., India.

Preceded by Yungtön Dorjepel

1st Incarnation of the Panchen Lama

Succeeded by Sönam Choklang