China / Tibet: Khedrup Gelek Pelzang (1385–1438), better known as Khedrup Je, the 1st Panchen Lama.

The Panchen Lama is the highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa (Dge-lugs-pa) sect of Tibetan Buddhism (the sect which controlled western Tibet from the 16th century until the imposition of Chinese sovereignty in 1951). The successive Panchen lamas form a tulku reincarnation lineage which are said to be the incarnations of Amitabha Buddha. The name, meaning 'great scholar', is a Tibetan contraction of the Sanskrit pandita (scholar) and the Tibetan chenpo (great). The Panchen Lama traditionally lived in Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse.

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JEWEL IN THE LOTUS