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The Eighth Ganden Tripa, Monlam Pelwa

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ISSN 2332-077X

The Eighth Ganden Tripa, Monlam Pelwa b.1414 - d.1491

Name Variants: Ganden Trichen 08 Monlam Pelwa; Ganden Tripa 08 Monlam Pelwa; Monlam
Lekpai Lodro; Tri 08 Monlam Pelwa; Yeru Monlam Pelwa
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The Eighth Ganden Tripa, Monlam Pelwa (dga' ldan khri pa 08, smon lam dpal ba), was born in
the Yeru region of Tsang (gtsang g.yas ru) in 1414, the wood-horse year of the seventh sexagenary
cycle. At a young age he enrolled in Tashilhunpo (bkra shis lhun po) and studied under Gendun
Drub (dge 'dun grub, 1391-1474), who was retrospectively identified as the First Dalai Lama.
Monlam Pelwa received many commentarial teachings on tantra including the Guhyasamja tantra

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from Sherab Senggye (shes rab seng ge, 1382-1445). He

successfully stood for an examination and presented a
demonstration in the Tsetang (rtse thang) Monastery on his
comprehension of the thirty-six volumes of texts that he had
thoroughly studied.
Monlam Pelwa then received teachings from Choje Yonten
Gyatso (chos rje yon tan rgya mtsho, d.u.) at Sangpu (gsang
phu) and Jamyang Choje ('jam dbyangs chos rje, d.u.) at
Drepung Monastery. Thereafter he travelled to Tsang and gave
commentarial teachings at Tashilhunpo and Serkhang Gongma
(gser khang gong ma). He then returned to U and taught at Gyai
and Tsenyi Colleges of Sera Monastic University (se ra rgya'i
grwa tshang dang mtshan nyid grwa tshang). He also taught at
Tangkya (thang skya) monastery.
Monlam Pelwa was enthroned to the abbot's seat of Ganden Shartse College (dga' ldan shar rtse
grwa tshang) for which he successfully mediated certain disputes of Tseshar (rtse shar).
Subsequently, he was enthroned to seat of the entire monastery as the Eighth Ganden Tripa in
1480. He served for about ten years, during which he also served as the abbot of Drepung
Monastic University starting in 1481. He gave many teachings on the topics of both sutra and
tantra during his tenure at both Ganden and Drepung monasteries and built the Jampai Podrang
(byams pa'i pho brang). Among his compositions, the best known is the Namdrel Tika (rnam 'grel
gyi Ti ka), a comprehensive commentary on Pramana.
Among Monlam Pelwa's disciples were Choje Lobzangpa (chos rje blo bzang pa, d.u.), Ne-tsopa
(ne tso pa, d.u.), Lodro Jampel (blo gros jam dpal d.u.), and Lechen Sonam Pelwa (las can bsod
nams dpal ba, d.u.).
Trichen Monlam Pelwa retired at the age of seventy-seven in 1490, and the following year, 1491,
the iron-pig year of the eighth sexagenary cycle, he passed into nirvana.

Source

Grags pa 'byung gnas. 1992. Gangs can mkhas grub rim byon ming mdzod. Lanzhou: Kan su'u mi
rigs dpe skrun khang, pp. 1576-77
Sde srid sangs rgyas rgya mtsho. 1989 (1698). Dga' ldan chos 'byung baiDU r+ya ser po. Beijing:
Krung go bod kyi shes rig dpe skrun khang, pp. 78-79.

Samten Chhosphel
August 2010

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