Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st

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, h ...

(1385–1438 CE) – better known as Khedrup Je – was one of the main disciples of Je Tsongkhapa, whose reforms to

Atiśa ( bn, অতীশ দীপংকর শ্রীজ্ঞান, ôtiś dīpôṅkôr śrigyen; 982–1054) was a Buddhist religious leader and master. He is generally associated with his work carried out at the Vikramashila monastery in Biha ...

's Kadam tradition are considered the beginnings of the

Gelug 240px, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous")Kay, David N. (2007). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantati ...

school of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

. Khedrub Je is considered to be an emanation of

Manjusri Mañjuśrī (Sanskrit: मञ्जुश्री) is a ''bodhisattva'' associated with '' prajñā'' (wisdom) in Mahāyāna Buddhism. His name means "Gentle Glory" in Sanskrit. Mañjuśrī is also known by the fuller name of Mañjuśrīkumāra ...

, the

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 L ...

of Wisdom.

Recognition

Khedrub Je was posthumously decided by 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 ...

to have been a previous incarnation of

Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, 4th Panchen Lama Losang Chö kyi Gyaltsen () (1570–1662) was the fourth Panchen Lama of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism and the first to be accorded this title during his lifetime. Losang Chö kyi Gyaltsen was the teacher and close ally of the 5th Dalai ...

(1570–1662). Like all the

s, he is considered to be an incarnation of Amitābha 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 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 ...

. According to the legend, after Tsongkhapa died 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.

Background

Khedrub Geleg Pal Zangpo, thangka, circa 1800

Before becoming Tsongkhapa's foremost disciple, Khedrup Je had been a learned

Sakya The ''Sakya'' (, 'pale earth') school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug. It is one of the Red Hat Orders along with the Nyingma and Kagyu. Origins Virūpa, 16th century. It depic ...

scholar.Hilton (1999), p. 58.

Writings

Altogether, Khedrub Je's collected works total nine volumes in all, comprising a total of fifty-eight treatises. He also wrote many prayer books.

Kalachakra

Khedrub Je wrote an important text on

Kalachakra ''Kālacakra'' () is a polysemic term in Vajrayana Buddhism that means " wheel of time" or "time cycles". "''Kālacakra''" is also the name of a series of Buddhist texts and a major practice lineage in Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The ...

that is still used by the current

14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...

, as the basis for his public empowerments into the practice of the Kalachakra Tantra.

Mahamudra

Khedrub Je also wrote a root text on

mahamudra Mahāmudrā (Sanskrit: महामुद्रा, , contraction of ) literally means "great seal" or "great imprint" and refers to the fact that "all phenomena inevitably are stamped by the fact of wisdom and emptiness inseparable". Mahāmudr ...

Monastic career

Khedrup Je was unanimously chosen as

Ganden Monastery Ganden Monastery (also Gaden or Gandain) or Ganden Namgyeling or Monastery of Gahlden is one of the "great three" Gelug university monasteries of Tibet. It is in Dagzê County, Lhasa. The other two are Sera Monastery and Drepung Monastery. Ga ...

's third abbot (after Tsongkhapa and

Gyaltsab Je Gyaltsab Je () (1364 – 1432) or more elaborately, Gyaltsab Dharma Rinchen was born in the Tsang province of central Tibet. He was a famous student of Je Tsongkhapa, and actually became the first Ganden Tripa (throne holder) of the Gelug tradition ...

) by its monks, and also became the

Ganden Tripa The Ganden Tripa, also spelled Gaden Tripa ( "Holder of the Ganden Throne"), is the title of the spiritual leader of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, the school that controlled central Tibet from the mid-17th century until the 1950s. The 10 ...

, the leader of the Gelug tradition. He also founded

Palcho Monastery The Palcho Monastery or Pelkor Chode Monastery or Shekar Gyantse is the main monastery in the Nyangchu river valley in Gyantse, Gyantse County, Shigatse Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region. The monastery precinct is a complex of structures which, ...

Gyantse Gyantse, officially Gyangzê Town (also spelled Gyangtse; ; ), is a town located in Gyantse County, Shigatse Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It was historically considered the third largest and most prominent town in the Tibet region ( ...

in 1418 as well as the large Riwo Chöling Monastery in the

Yarlung Valley The Yarlung Valley is formed by Yarlung Chu, a tributary of the Tsangpo River in the Shannan Prefecture in the Tibet region of China. It refers especially to the district where Yarlung Chu joins with the Chongye River, and broadens out into a la ...

, which is now just a heap of ruins.Dorje (1999), p. 194.

Footnotes

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. . * Hilton, Isabel. (1999). ''The Search for the Panchen Lama''. Viking. Reprint: Penguin Books. (2000), p. 58. . * Stein, R. A. ''Tibetan Civilization'', (1972). Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. (cloth); .

External links

*
The Gelug-Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra
complete online edition of book by 14th Dalai Lama and Alexander Berzin first published as ''The Gelug/Kagyü Tradition of Mahamudra'' (Ithaca, Snow Lion, 1997), comprising Khedrub Je's root text, autocommentary, and discourses on both. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pelzang, Khedrup Gelek 1385 births 1438 deaths Ganden Tripas Panchen Lama 01 14th-century Tibetan people 15th-century Tibetan people