1st Dalai Lama
Gedun Drupa | |||||||||
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དགེ་འདུན་གྲུབ་པ། | |||||||||
Tibetan དགེ་འདུན་གྲུབ་པ | | ||||||||
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| Original name: Péma Dorjee | |||||
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| Chinese name | |||||
Tibetan | པད་མ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ | ||||
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Gedun Drupa[1] (Tibetan: དགེ་འདུན་གྲུབ་པ།, Wylie: dge 'dun grub pa; 1391–1474) was considered posthumously to have been the 1st Dalai Lama.[2]
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.[3] 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 (Tibetan: པད་མ་རྡོ་རྗེ་, "Vajra Lotus").
Ordination
Later he was placed in
Career
By the middle of his life, Gedun Drupa had become one of the most esteemed scholar-saints in the country.[citation needed] Gedun Drupa founded the major monastery of Tashi Lhunpo at Shigatse, which later became the seat of the Panchen Lamas.[8][volume needed]
Gedun Drupa had no political power. It was in the hands of viceroys such as the
He remained the abbot of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery until he died while meditating in 1474 at the age of 84 (83 by Western reckoning).[6]
Legends
Tradition states that
Notable contemporaries
The
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
- Song of the Eastern Snow Mountain, a poem dedicated to Je Tsongkhapa
- Praise of the Venerable Lady Khadiravani Tara, an homage to Tara
References
- ^ "Short Biographies of the Previous Dalai Lamas". DalaiLama.com. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
- ^ "dge 'dun grub pa". Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
- ^ Gedun Drupa Archived December 13, 2005, at the Wayback Machine at Dalai Lama website.
- ^ Samphel & Tendar (2004), p. 75.
- ^ Farrer-Halls (1998), p. 77.
- ^ a b Samphel & Tendar (2004), p. 35.
- ^ Simhanada, The Lion's Roar of Mahayana Buddhism, archived from the original on July 11, 2016
- ^ Chö Yang: The Voice of Tibetan Religion and Culture (Year of Tibet ed.). Gangchen Kyishong, Dharamshala: Council for Religious and Cultural Affairs. 1991. p. 79.
- ^ Laird (2006), pp. 139, 264–265.
- ^ Dowman (1988), p. 268.
- ^ "Bodong.info". Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved March 7, 2009.
Works cited
- Dowman, Keith (1988). The Power-places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide. Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 0-7102-1370-0.
- Farrer-Halls, Gill (1998). World of the Dalai Lama. Quest Books. p. 77.
- Laird, Thomas (2006). The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama. N.Y.: Grove Press. ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1.
- ISBN 81-7436-085-9.
Further reading
- McKay, A. (editor) (2003): History of Tibet. Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 0-7007-1508-8
- Mullin, Glenn H. (2001). The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation, pp. 50–85. Clear Light Publishers. Santa Fe, New Mexico. ISBN 1-57416-092-3.
- 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
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