1st Dalai Lama

Gendun Drup also Gendun Drub and Kundun Drup (1391–1474) is retrospectively considered to be the first of the Dalai Lamas of Tibet, who are believed to be reincarnations of Chenresig (Sanskrit: Avalokiteshvara), the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
Gendun Drup was born in a cowshed in Gyurmey Rupa, near Sakya in the Tsang region of central Tibet, the son of Gonpo Dorjee and Jomo Namkha Kyi, nomadic tribespeople.Gedun Drupa at Dalai Lama website. He was raised as a shepherd until the age of seven. His birth name -according to tbrc his [ personalName ]- was Pema Dorje (, Vajra Lotus/Lotus Vajra). Later, he was placed in Nartang (Nar-thang) monastery. In 1405 he took his novice vows from the abbot of Narthang, Khenchen Drupa Sherab. When he was 20, about 1411, he became fully ordained into the monkhood.Thubten Samphel and Tendar (2004), p. 75. He received the name Gendun Drubpa upon taking the vows of a fully ordained monk (gelong) from the abbot of Narthang monastery. At twenty years of age he became a disciple of Tsongkhapa (1357 – 1419) and the first abbot of Ganden Monastery, founded by Je Tsongkhapa himself in 1409.Simhanada, The Lion's Roar of Mahayana Buddhism.
By the middle of his life he had become one of the most esteemed scholar-saints in the country. Gendun Drup was a student of the great scholar and reformer Tsongkhapa.Farrer-Halls, Gill. World of the Dalai Lama. Quest Books: 1998. p. 77, who some say was his uncle.Thubten Samphel and Tendar (2004), p.35. 
It is said that Palden Lhamo, the female guardian spirit of the sacred lake, 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 Gendun Gyatso, the Second Dalai Lama, who formalised the system, monks have gone to the lake to seek guidance on choosing the next reincarnation through visions while meditating there.Laird, Thomas (2006). The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama, pp. 139, 264-265. Grove Press, N.Y. ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1
Gendun Drubpa founded two major monasteries: Drepung and Tashillhunpo. In 1447, Gendun Drup founded the great monastery of Tashilhunpo at Shigatse, which was later to become the seat of the Panchen Lamas.Chö Yang: The Voice of Tibetan Religion and Culture. (1991) Year of Tibet Edition, p. 79. Gangchen Kyishong, Dharmasala, H.P., India. 
Gendun Drup had no political power. The political power was in the hands of viceroys like the Sakyas, the prince of Tsang and the Mongolian Khan. The political role of the Dalai Lamas only began with the reign of the 5th Dalai Lama.
According to Tibetan Resource Center his Seat was monastery bkra shis lhun po dgon pa (Tashilhunpo),dge 'dun grub pa, Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center.
bkra shis lhun po dgon pa, Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center. the monastery he had founded in 1447.
He remained the abbot of Tashilhunpo monastery until he died while meditating in 1474 at the age of 84 (83 by Western reckoning). 
Dorje Pakmo (1422–1455) has been a contemporary of Gendun Drub, and her teacher Bodong Panchen Chogley Namgyal also was one of his teachers; he received many teachings and empowerments from him.
 
Some of the most famous texts Gendun Drup 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 Buddha Shakyamuni
* Song of the Eastern Snow Mountain, a poem dedicated to Je Tsongkhapa (Btsong-ka-pa)
* Praise of the Venerable Lady Khadiravani Tara, an homage to the Goddess Tara
Glenn H. Mullin's collection of translations of Gendun Drup's commentaries (Selected Works of the Dalai Lama I) is a good start to learning more about the writings and teachings of this prolific and important Tibetan Buddhist teacher.
==Notes==
==References==
* Thubten Samphel and Tendar (2004). The Dalai Lamas of Tibet. Roli & Janssen, New Delhi. (2004). ISBN 81-7436-085-9
==Further reading==
* 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.
* 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
Category:Tibetan Buddhism
Category:Buddhism
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