View source for Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, 4th Panchen Lama

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox person
|name=Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen
|image=Lossan Chho Kyi Gyal -Tshan.jpg
|birth_date=1570
|death_date={{death year and age|1662|1570}}
}}
{{Tibetan Buddhism}}
'''Losang Chö kyi Gyaltsen''' ({{bo-tw|t=བློ་བཟང་ཆོས་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་མཚན་|w=blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan}}) (1570–1662) was the fourth [[Panchen Lama]] of the [[Gelug]] school of [[Tibetan Buddhism]] and the first to be accorded this title during his lifetime.
Losang Chö kyi Gyaltsen was the teacher and close ally of the [[5th Dalai Lama]], called "the Great". The "Great Fifth" gave him [[Tashilhunpo Monastery]] as a living place and declared him to be an incarnation of [[Amitābha]], and since then, every Panchen Lama has been the master of Tashilhunpo.<ref>''Tibet is My Country: Autobiography of [[Thubten Jigme Norbu]], Brother of the Dalai Lama as told to [[Heinrich Harrer]]'', p. 121. First published in German in 1960. English translation by Edward Fitzgerald, published 1960. Reprint, with updated new chapter, (1986): Wisdom Publications, London. {{ISBN|0-86171-045-2}}.</ref>
When Losang Chö kyi Gyaltsen died in 1662, aged 91 or 92, the Fifth Dalai Lama began the tradition of recognising his reincarnation. He composed a special prayer asking his master to return and ordered the monks of the great monasteries to recite it.<ref>Karmay, Samten C. (2005). "The Great Fifth", p. 2. Downloaded as a pdf file on 16 December 2007 from: [http://www.iias.nl/nl/39/IIAS_NL39_1213.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915182901/http://www.iias.nl/nl/39/IIAS_NL39_1213.pdf |date=15 September 2013 }}</ref> He also reserved the title of ''Panchen'' (short for ''Pandita chen po'' or 'Great Scholar'), which had previously been a courtesy title for all learned lamas, exclusively for him,<ref>"The Institution of the Dalai Lama", by R. N. Rahul Sheel in ''The Tibet Journal'', Vol. XIV No. 3. Autumn 1989, p. 32, n. 1</ref> and this title has continued to be given to his successors and, posthumously, to his predecessors starting with [[Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama]].
The 4th Panchen Lama was a prolific writer and teacher, composing more than three hundred works. He wrote a root Mahamudra text on the "''Highway of the Conquerors: Root Verses for the Precious Geden [Gelug] Kagyu [Oral] Transmission of Mahāmudrā''" (''dGe-ldan bka'-brgyud rin-po-che'i phyag-chen rtsa-ba rgyal-ba'i gzhung-lam'') and its auto commentary (the ''Yang gsal sgron me, "Lamp re-illuminating Mahamudra"''), which is still widely taught and commented upon.<ref name=":10">Jackson, Roger, "The dGe ldan-bKa' brgyud Tradition of Mahamudra How Much dGe ldan? How Much bKa' brgyud?" in ''Newland, Guy, Changing Minds: Contributions to the Study of Buddhism and Tibet in Honor of Jeffrey Hopkins 2001 p. 155''.</ref><ref>[https://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-buddhism/original-texts/tantra-texts/root-text-for-mahamudra Berzin, A root text for Mahamudra]</ref><ref>Thuken Losang Chokyi Nyima, The Crystal Mirror of Philosophical Systems, p 620.</ref> Before this work, Gelug writings on Mahamudra tended to follow orthodox Kagyu teachings.<ref name=":10"/> This text and its auto commentary have become a central work on Mahamudra in the Gelug school. The current [[14th Dalai Lama]] and [[Lama Yeshe]] are some of the modern Gelug figures which have written commentaries on this key Gelug Mahamudra text.<ref>Lama Yeshe, Mahamudra: How to Discover Our True Nature</ref><ref>Dalai Lama &nbsp;(Author), Alexander Berzin (Author), The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra.</ref>
==References==
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[[Category:Panchen Lamas|Panchen Lama 04]]
[[Category:1662 deaths]]
[[Category:1570 births]]
[[Category:16th-century Tibetan people]]
[[Category:17th-century Tibetan people]]