Gedun Drupa (; 1391–1474) was considered posthumously to have been the 1st
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
.
Biography
Gedun Drupa was born in a cow-shed in Gyurmey Rupa near Sakya in the
Tsang region of central Tibet, the son of Gonpo Dorjee and Jomo Namkha Kyi, nomadic tribespeople. He was raised as a shepherd until the age of seven. His birth name (according to the Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center, his personal name) was Péma Dorjee (, "
Vajra Lotus").
Ordination
Later he was placed in
Narthang Monastery. In 1405, he took his
śrāmaṇera (novitiate) vows from the abbot of Narthang, Khenchen Drupa Sherap. When he was 20 years old, in about 1411 received the name Gedun Drupa upon taking the vows of a
bhikṣu (monk) from the abbot of Narthang Monastery.
[Thubten Samphel and Tendar (2004), p. 75.] Also at this age he became a student of the scholar and reformer
Je Tsongkhapa
Tsongkhapa ('','' meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the formation of the Gelug school of Tibetan Budd ...
(1357–1419), who some say was his uncle.
[Thubten Samphel and Tendar (2004), p.35.] Around this time he also became the first abbot of
Ganden Monastery, founded by Tsongkhapa himself in 1409.
Career
By the middle of his life, Gedun Drupa had become one of the most esteemed scholar-saints in the country. Gedun Drupa founded the major monastery of
Tashi Lhunpo at
Shigatse
Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê (; Nepali: ''सिगात्से''), is a prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area of jurisdiction, with an area of , corresponds to the histor ...
, which later became the seat of the
Panchen Lama
The Panchen Lama () is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas, he ...
s.
Gedun Drupa had no political power. It was in the hands of viceroys such as the
Sakyas, the prince of Tsang, and the Mongolian
Khagan
Khagan or Qaghan (Mongolian:; or ''Khagan''; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ), or , tr, Kağan or ; ug, قاغان, Qaghan, Mongolian Script: ; or ; fa, خاقان ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan ...
. The political role of the Dalai Lamas only began with the reign of the
5th Dalai Lama
Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader ...
.
He remained the abbot of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery until he died while meditating in 1474
at the age of 84 (83 by Western reckoning).
Legends
Tradition states that
Palden Lhamo
Palden Lhamo ("Glorious Goddess",Volkmann, Rosemarie: "Female Stereotypes in Tibetan Religion and Art: the Genetrix/Progenitress as the Exponent of the Underworld" ''in'' , sa, Śrīdēvī, mn, Ukin Tengri) or RematiDowman, Keith. (1988). ''T ...
, the female guardian spirit of the
sacred lake
Sacred waters are sacred natural sites characterized by tangible topographical land formations such as rivers, lakes, springs, reservoirs, and oceans, as opposed to holy water which is water elevated with the sacramental blessing of a cleric. T ...
,
Lhamo La-tso, promised the First Dalai Lama in one of his visions "...that she would protect the reincarnation lineage of the Dalai Lamas." Since the time of
Gedun Gyatso, who formalized the system, monks have gone to the lake to meditate when seeking visions with guidance on finding the next reincarnation.
Notable contemporaries
The
Samding Dorje Phagmo
The Samding Dorje Phagmo () is the highest female incarnation in Tibet''The Power-places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide'', (1988) p. 268. Keith Dowman. . and the third highest-ranking person in the hierarchy after the Dalai Lama and the Pa ...
(1422–1455), the highest female incarnation in Tibet, was a contemporary of Gedun Drupa. Her teacher, the
Bodongpa
The Bodongpa or Bodong tradition, is one of the smaller traditions of Tibetan Buddhism falling outside the classification of the four main schools.
History
Bodong E Monastery (), located in Yutok (), in modern Tashigang (), Lhatse County, was t ...
Panchen Chogley Namgyal was also one of his teachers; he received many
teachings
A school of thought, or intellectual tradition, is the perspective of a group of people who share common characteristics of opinion or outlook of a philosophy, discipline, belief, social movement, economics, cultural movement, or art movement ...
and
empowerments
In Vajrayāna Buddhism, esoteric transmission is the transmission of certain teachings directly from teacher to student during an empowerment (''abhiṣeka'') in a ritual space containing the mandala of the deity. Many techniques are also commonly ...
from him.
Works
Some of the most famous texts Gedun Drupa wrote were:
* ''Sunlight on the Path to Freedom'', a commentary on
Abhidharma-kosa
* ''Crushing the Forces of Evil to Dust'', an epic poem on the life and liberating deeds of
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...
* ''Song of the Eastern Snow Mountain'', a poem dedicated to Je Tsongkhapa
* ''Praise of the Venerable Lady Khadiravani Tara'', an homage to
Tara
References
Bibliography
* Thubten Samphel and Tendar (2004). ''The Dalai Lamas of Tibet''. Roli & Janssen, New Delhi. (2004).
* McKay, A. (editor) (2003)
History of Tibet Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon.
* Mullin, Glenn H. (2001). ''The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation'', pp. 50–85. Clear Light Publishers. Santa Fe, New Mexico. .
* Dalai Elan Roebuck. (1991) ''Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama.'' San Francisco, CA.
* ''Selected Works of the Dalai Lama I'' by Anne Kandt, Christine Cox, Dalai Lama Dge-Dun-Grub I, Glenn H. Mullin, Sidney Piburn (1985)
External links
Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drupa, Gedun
1391 births
1474 deaths
*1
Tibetan writers
Tibetan people
14th-century Tibetan people
15th-century Tibetan people