Khedrup Gelek Pelzang

Infobox Monarch
name =Khedrup Gelek Pelzang
title =1st Panchen Lama of Tibet


caption =Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama
reign =
coronation =
othertitles =
full name =
native_lang1 =Tibetan
native_lang1_name1=མཁས་གྲུབ་རྗེ་་
native_lang2 =Wylie translit.
native_lang2_name1=mkhas-grub dge legs dpal bzang po
native_lang3 =Pronunciation
native_lang3_name1=IPA| (IPA)
native_lang4 =transcription (PRC)
native_lang4_name1=Mkhas-grub Rje Dge-legs Dpal-bzang-po
native_lang5 =THDL
native_lang5_name1=Kaichub Gêlêg Baisangbo
predecessor =Yungtön Dorjepel
successor =Sönam Choklang
suc-type =
heir =
issue =
royal house =Panchen Lama
dynasty =
royal anthem =
father = Choekyong Tsering
mother = Diki Tsering
date of birth =1385
place of birth = Taktser, Amdo
date of death =1438
place of death =
date of burial =
place of burial = |

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, [Hilton, Isabel. (1999). "The Search for the Panchen Lama". Viking. Reprint: Penguin Books. (2000), p. 58. ISBN 0-14-024670-3.] Khedrup Je had been a learned Sakyapa scholar. He is considered to be a reincarnation of Manjushri, the god 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. [Tenzin Gyatso, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. (1999) "Kālachakra Tantra Rite of Initiation: For the Stage of Generation". Translated by Jeffrey Hopkins. Enlarged edition, pp. 139-144. Wisdom Publications, Boston. ISBN 0-86171-151-3.] 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. [Stein, R. A. "Tibetan Civilization", (1972) p. 84. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. ISBN 0-8047-0806-1 (cloth); ISBN 0-0847-0901-7.] [Das, Sarat Chandra. "Contributions on the Religion and History of Tibet" (1970), pp. 81-103. Manjushri Publishing House, New Delhi. First published in the "Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal", Vol. LI (1882)]

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. [Hilton, Isabel. (1999). "The Search for the Panchen Lama". Viking. Reprint: Penguin Books. (2000), p. 58. ISBN 0-14-024670-3.]

Footnotes

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.

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