Gendun Drup

Timeline

1. 1391–1414Nartang Monastery · TsangGendun Drup was born to a herder family in Shabto, Tsang; his father was Gonpo Dorje, his mother Gyomo Nangkaji, and his childhood name was Pema Dorje. Around age seven he entered the Kadam school's Nartang Monastery, received novice ordination from Khenchen Drubpa Sherab c.1405, and full ordination c.1411, taking the Dharma name Gendun Drup. His studies in this period centered on Kadam teachings and exoteric scriptures, not yet at the core of the new Gelug school.
2. c. 1415–1419Lhasa–Ganden Monastery area · ÜGendun Drup went to Ü to study under Tsongkhapa, learning the exoteric and esoteric stages of practice and his program of disciplinary reform, becoming one of the early close disciples. When Tsongkhapa died at Ganden Monastery in 1419, Gendun Drup had followed him only a few years, yet he carried his master's program of study back to Tsang. The Ganden throne passed to Gyaltsab Je and Khedrup Je; Gendun Drup's contribution lay mainly in spreading the tradition in Tsang rather than holding a seat in Ü.
3. 1420–1446Tsang (Nyangchu River–Shigatse area) · TsangAfter Tsongkhapa's death, Gendun Drup lectured, wrote, and built study circles in Tsang, pushing the Gelug school from the Lhasa River valley into the Nyangchu River valley, where Kagyu and local powers were strong. By the 1430s, as the three great Gelug monasteries consolidated in Ü, he was already among the most respected Gelug scholars in Tsang, laying the groundwork of patrons and sangha for a future monastery in Shigatse.
4. 1447–1474Tashilhunpo Monastery (Shigatse) · ShigatseIn 1447 Gendun Drup founded Tashilhunpo Monastery in the western suburbs of Shigatse, giving the Gelug school in Tsang a large monastic college on a par with Ganden, Drepung, and Sera; he served as abbot until his death in meditation in 1474. The monastery later became the seat of the Panchen system. The title Dalai Lama was bestowed by Altan Khan on Sonam Gyatso in 1578, and Gendun Drup was posthumously recognized as the first; he held no such title in his lifetime.