The Treasury of Lives

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 Guhyasamāja tantra from Sherab Senggye (shes rab seng ge, 1382-1445). He successfully stood for an examination and presented a demonstration in the Tsetang Monastery (rtse thang) 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 (bras spungs dgon) 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 his General Explanation of the Commentary (rnam ‘grel ṭika), a comprehensive exposition on Dharmakīrti’s Commentary on Valid Cognition (pramāṇavārttika).

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.