Kedrup Rinpoche Gelek Pelzang

[LosangKhyentse]

Khedrubje Gelek Pelzang (1385 -1438)

Name Variants: Gelek Pelzang


Khedrupje Gelek Pelzang (mkhas grub rje dge legs dpal bzang) was born in Tsang in 1385. His father, Gunga Tashi Palzang (kun dga’ bkra shis dpal bzang), was a member of the Se clan, said to have originated in Khotan, and his mother was Budren Gyalmo (bu ’dren rgyal mo).

His name Gelek Pelzang was given to him as a child when he took novice ordination at the age of seven from Khenchen Sengye Gyalsten (mkhen chen seng ge rgyal mtshan, d.u.). From the age of sixteen he studied at the Sakya monastery of Ngamring Chode (ngam ring chos sde), training with Bodong Panchen Jigdrel Chole Namgyal (bo dong paN chen ’jigs bral phyogs las rnam rgyal, 1376-1451), the founder of the Bodong tradition, who taught him logic and philosophy.

When Gelek Pelzang was twenty-one he studied with Rendawa Shonu Lodro (red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros, 1349-1412), with whom he took full ordination. He studied Dharmakirti’s Pramanavartika, Abhidharma, and the Five Books of Maitreya, Nagarjuna’s works on Madhamaka, and the Vinaya.

At the age of twenty-three, in 1407, he went to U to meet with Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa (tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357-1419) at Sera Choding (se ra chos sdings – not to be confused with the famous Sera Monastery). Khedrup Je received instructions on both sutra and tantra from Tsongkhapa, and soon became one of his most devoted disciples, receiving teachings alongside Tsongkhapa’s other disciples such as Gyaltsab Je Darma Rinchen (rgyal tshab rje dar ma rin chen, 1364-1432) and Duldzin Drakpa Gyaltsen (’dul ’dzin grags pa rgyal mtshan, 1374-1434).

Gelek Pelzang returned to Tsang and assumed the abbacy of Changra Monastery (lcang ra). He also founded the monasteries of Riwo Dangchen (ri bo ’dangs chen) and, at age thirty-four, was involved in the establishment of Pelkor Chode (dpal  ’khor chos sde) in Gyangtse (rgyal rtse), under the patronage of the Gyantse king, Rabten Kunzang Pak (rab brtan kun bzang ’phags).

At the age of forty-seven, in 1431, Gelek Pelzang was asked by Gyaltsab Je to take the golden throne of Ganden (dga’ ldan gser khri), becoming the third man to occupy the seat after Tsongkhapa and Gyaltsab Je.

At Ganden Khedrubje taught extensively, gave many initiations, and personally guided some of the most renowned scholars of the era to mastery of the tradition. He passed away there at the age of fifty-three.

 

Sources

 

Cabezon, Jose Ignacio. 1992. A Dose of Emptiness: An Annotated Translation of the sTong thun chen mo of mKhas grub dge legs dpal bzang. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Grags pa ’byung gnas. 1992. Gangs can mkhas grub rim byon ming mdzod. Lanzhou: Kan su’u mi rigs dpe skrun khang, pp. 219-221.

Tshe mchog gling yongs ’dzin ye shes rgyal mtshan. 1970 (1787). Biographies of Eminent Gurus in the Transmission Lineages of the teachings of the Graduated Path, being the text of: Byang chub Lam gyi Rim pa’i Bla ma Brgyud pa’i Rnam par Thar pa Rgyal mtshan Mdzes pa’i Rgyan Mchog Phul byung Nor bu’i Phreng ba. New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, vol 1, pp. 877 ff.

 

Miranda Adams
August 2007


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Extracted from:

http://tibetanlineages.org/biographies/view/172/8027


Good reading to you all.
TK

[Losang_Tenpa]

I have many digitized Tibetan texts by this Master as well... if any one is interested.
His famous commentary on the Kalachakra Tantra is considered by many to be a masterpiece.

[Losang_Tenpa]

Very good point Trinley. Although I do have many volumes of Tantric texts on file, most are still far beyond my reach to study. However, I do try to utilize many of the shorter texts, such as the commentaries on serkyem and sang, to enhance my understanding of various forms of practice.
I am still very much a student when it comes to reading Tibetan, so this means that much of everything I read is esoteric anyways.

[Vajraprotector]

Do you know that Khedrup Rinpoche spoke about abstaining from meat? 

In Khedrup Je's Outline of the Three Vows, it is said that:
“All those who generate the mind of supreme enlightenment, Bodhisattvas of the great vehicle – how wonderful it would be if they abstained from every kind of meat. Even at the Pratimoksha level, except for meat that is pure in the three ways, no meat eating is permitted. Even in one’s dream one should never claim, because one craves for it, that meat eating is permissible.”

Therefore, all who have taken the vow of bodhichitta, whether they be monks, nuns, or lay people, must abstain from meat. For if Bodhisattvas, who have thus become an object of praise, eat meat, a strong desire for the taste of it will grow in them. As a result, their compassion will wane. Therefore the fully ordained, the shramaneras, kings, minsiters, leaders, and lay people who practice Mahayana should refrain from eating meat.

Also,
“What does it mean to be without craving for meat? You should feel like the king and queen in the story who had to eat the flesh of their son. Examine whether that is how you feel. You should feel just like someone who is nauseated, who has no desire for food and is revolted at the sight of it, and who, if he has to eat, does so without appetite and relish.”

Khedrup Je predicted that even those who have taken the Bodhisattva vow, even those who have recited the formula of bodhichitta hundreds of times will not consider even the conscious killing of thousands of animals or the inducing of others to do the same as wrong; no need to talk about their abstinence from meat. Hence, Khedrup Je said that just as we are about to put it (meat)in our mouths, we should reflect that the meat is something filthy, that has arisen from sperm and blood. Furthermore, we should remember that the flesh has come from beings who have been, from beginningless time, our own mothers and our own children.

Extracted from: Food of Bodhisattvas: Buddhist Teachings on Abstaining from Meat

[dsiluvu]

Khedrup Je


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 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 also 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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khedrup_Gelek_Pelzang,_1st_Panchen_Lama

[dsiluvu]

But Riwo Monastery now houses a beautifully LARGE  DORJE SHUGDEN


Riwo Choeling Monastery at Lhoka (Shannan) Prefecture, Tibet

SEE MORE PICS HERE AND MORE INFO ON RIWO MONASTERY ON THIS FORUM http://www.dorjeshugden.com/forum/index.php?topic=1385.0

[dsiluvu]

IT IS INTERESTING TO DISOVER HOW ALL THE DOTS ARE CONNECTED.... 

The Fourth Pa?chen Lama, Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen  b.1570 - d.1662

The Fourth Pa?chen Lama, Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen, who was the first to hold the title, lived during a time of tremendous political and religious change in Tibet. During his near-century long life the Geluk government of the Fifth Dalai Lama, the Ganden Podrang, took power in Tibet, and Bhutan established itself as an independent state under the rule of the Drukpa Kagyu, both events in which he was intimately connected. Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen was a teacher to many powerful Tibetan, Bhutanese and Mongolian political and religious figures, including the Fourth and the Fifth Dalai Lamas, and the First Jetsun Dampa of Mongolia. The Sixteenth abbot of Tashilhunpo, he was given the title Pa?chen Lama by the Fifth Dalai Lama, who declared him an emanation of Amitabha. By the system advanced by the Ganden Podrang, Chokyi Gyeltsen is considered the First Pa?chen, not counting three previous incarnations, beginning with Kedrubje, one of Tsongkhapa’s close disciples. A prolific author, Chokyi Gyeltsen is credited with over a hundred compositions, including a number of commentaries and ritual texts that remain central in the Gelukpa tradition.

http://www.treasuryoflives.org/search/keyword

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OR READ MORE HERE....http://dorjeshugden.com/wp/?p=2937

[Vajraprotector]

In one of his teachings, Lama Yeshe spoke about Khedrup Rinpoche having 5 visions of Tsongkhapa after Lord Tsongkhapa passed away.



"One time, after Lama Je Tsongkhapa had passed away, Khedrub Je was sad. Lama Tsongkhapa had explained everything thoroughly from beginning to end, from Hinayana to Paramitayana to tantra, the entire path to enlightenment. Thousands and thousands of people had meditated upon his teachings and achieved realizations.

Khedrub Je was sad because he was thinking, “Now Lama Je Tsongkhapa’s teachings are like lightning, like a mirage; they are disappearing. And unfortunately the Tibetan people are degenerating. He taught people not to cling to the desires of the sensory world, yet people are more grasping and have more desires than ever.”
 
Khedrub Je had reason to feel this; there were many degenerations. He was so sad, and he cried and cried. Then he prayed and offered a mandala. Suddenly Lama Tsongkhapa appeared in youthful aspect on a jeweled throne surrounded by deities, dakas, and dakinis. He said to Khedrub Je, “My son, you shouldn’t cry. My principal message to people is to practice the tantric path. Practice this and then give it to qualified people. Instead of crying you should help to do this as much as possible, and that will make me very happy.” It’s the same with you. If you practice, Lama Tsongkhapa will smile.
 
Another time, Khedrub Je had some technical questions on tantra but couldn’t find anyone to answer them. Again he cried. His heart was breaking. Again he prayed strongly and offered a mandala. Lama Je Tsongkhapa manifested and gave him many teachings and initiations.
 
At still another time that Khedrub Je cried so hard and prayed so much, Lama Tsongkhapa manifested in a reddish-colored aspect, holding a sword and a skullcup and riding on a tiger. Later he also manifested as Manjushri, and at another time in his usual form but riding a white elephant. Five visions appeared when, for different reasons, Khedrub Je cried and prayed.
 
Why do I tell you these stories? It is good to know that Lama Je Tsongkhapa was a great yogi, a mahasiddha — there is no question — and that Khedrub Je had such inner realizations that just by calling on him, Lama Tsongkhapa would manifest."

From: The Bliss of Inner Fire by Lama Thubten Yeshe, edited by Robina Courtin and Ailsa Cameron; 1996 by Wisdom Publications, Boston.

[Dondrup Shugden]

The history of our lineage master is empowering to enhance our practice.  Many will find this article extremely useful for knowledge and information.

Thank you for the article.