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OSKAR VONHINÜBERPANCHEN LAMA
The Panchen Lamas are the second most powerful re-
ligious and secular figures in Tibet, after the Dalai
Lamas. The word panis a short form of the Sanskrit
word pandita(scholar), and chenis a Tibetan word that
means “great.” Although the institution of Panchen
Lama, like the DALAILAMA, is part of the DGE LUGS
(GELUK) tradition in its origins, its power and author-
ity extend beyond the confines of that particular sect.
The line of Panchen Lamas begins with the abbots
of Bkra shis lhun po (pronounced Tashilunpo)
Monastery in Gzhi ka rtse (Shigatse), the largest city
in Gtsang (Tsang) in west central Tibet. Bkra shis lhun
po was founded by Dge ’dun grub (Gendun Drup,
1391–1474), a student of the great scholar-saint TSONG
KHA PA(1357–1419). Dge ’dun grub, who was post-
humously named the first Dalai Lama, was instru-
mental in extending the influence of the fledgling Dga’
ldan pa (Gandenpa, later called Dge lugs pa) sect be-
yond the east central region centered around Lhasa.
The first named Panchen Lama was Blo bzang chos
kyi rgyal mtshan (Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, 1567–
1662), the teacher of the fourth and fifth Dalai Lamas
and the force behind the coalition that in 1642 defeated
the Karma pas and their Gtsang patrons. Following
that defeat, the center of power moved decisively from
Gtsang to the new government called the Tusita Palace
(Dga’ ldan pho brang) seated in the POTALApalace in
Lhasa. As an expression of gratitude for his help, the
fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682) named his teacher the
abbot of Bkra shis lhun po Monastery and bestowed
on him the title Panchen Lama.
As with the Dalai Lamas, a number of important
figures were subsequently and retroactively named
earlier reincarnations of Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal
mtshan. The most important of them was Mkhas grub
dpal bzang po (Kaydrub Pelzangpo, 1385–1438), one
of the two closest disciples of Tsong kha pa. Follow-
ing him was Bsod nams phyogs kyi glang po (Sonam
Chokyi Langpo, d. 1504?) and Blo bzang don grub
(Lobsang Dondrub, 1505–1566). According to this
manner of calculation, Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal
mtshan became the fourth Panchen Lama, and the
present disputed child incarnation of the Panchen
Lama, Dge ’dun chos kyi nyi ma (Gendun Chökyi
Nyima, b. 1990), is the eleventh.
In some early English accounts the Panchen Lamas
are called Tashi Lamas, a confusion between the name
of the person and Bkra bzhis lhun po Monastery; in
Chinese publications, they are called Panchen Erdini,
a Mongolian word that means “precious jewel.” This
latter title was first bestowed on the fifth Panchen
Lama, Blo bzang ye shes (Lobsang Yeshay, 1663–1737)
in 1731 by the Manchu-Chinese emperor Kangxi.
After the death of the seventh Dalai Lama in 1758,
the sixth Panchen Lama, Blo bzang dpal ldan ye shes
(Lobsang Palden Yeshay, 1738–1780) was regarded by
the Manchus as the foremost Tibetan spiritual leader
because of his great learning and rectitude. He was re-
peatedly invited to Beijing. He finally assented and died
there from smallpox in 1780.
Although the relationship between the Dalai Lamas
and Panchen Lamas in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries was cordial, the traditional antagonism be-
tween western Gtsang and the east central regions of
Tibet, centered in Gzhi ka rtse and Lhasa, respectively,
soon reappeared. The Manchus, and later the Chinese
Communist Party led by Mao Zedong, exploited this
tension to counter the power of the Dalai Lamas.
The relationship between the thirteenth Dalai Lama,
Thub bstan rgya mtsho (Tubten Gyatso, 1876–1933),
and the ninth Panchen Lama, Thub bstan chos kyi nyi
ma (Tubten Chökyi Nyima, 1883–1937), was severely
strained according to Melvyn Goldstein in A History of
Modern Tibet(1989) when the Dalai Lama attempted
to tax the Panchen Lama’s estates to help pay for a new
modern army. The Panchen Lama’s retainers saw this
as a veiled attack on the institution of the Panchen
Lama, and this in turn led the Dalai Lama’s govern-
ment to accuse the Panchen Lama of treason. The
ninth Panchen Lama then fled to China where he re-
mained until his death.
The tenth Panchen Lama, Chos kyi rgyal mtshan
’phrin las rnam rgyal (Chökyi Gyaltsen TinlayPANCHENLAMA