The Eighty-second Ganden Tripa, Yeshe Chopel (dga' ldan khri pa 82 ye shes chos 'phel) was born in Dartsedo in Kham (dar rtse mdo), a town once known in Chinese as Tachienlu (Dajianlu) and now known as Kangding. Details of his parents and his childhood are not known.
In his youth, Yeshe Chopel travelled to Lhasa and matriculated in Gyelrong House of Loseling College of the Drepung Monastic University ('bras spungs blo gsal gling grwa tshang gi rgyal rong khang tshan) where he studied the texts of Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Madhyamaka, Abhidharmakośa, Pramāṇavārttika, and Vinaya, the five major subjects of the Geluk monastic curriculum. Thereafter he enrolled in Gyume College in Lhasa and studied the four classes of tantra (rgyud sde bzhi) according to the Geluk tradition together with related ritual practices.
He subsequently served the different posts required of men who eventually rose to the Golden Throne, including abbot of Gyume and then Jangtse Choje (byang rtse chos rje), one of two positions from which the Ganden Tripas ascended.
In 1880, the iron-dragon year of the fifteenth sexagenary cycle, Yeshe Chopel was appointed to the Golden Throne as the Eighty-second Ganden Tripa, the post that he served for seven years, until 1886. Alternate dates of his tenure are from 1882 to 1888, and also 1884 to 1889.
The year of Trichen Yeshe Chopel's death is not known. Trichen Jangchub Namkha (dga' ldan khri pa 83 khri chen byang chub nam mkha') was his successor to the Golden Throne.
Bibliography
Grags pa 'byung gnas and Rgyal ba blo bzang mkhas grub. 1992. Gangs can mkhas grub rim byon ming mdzod. Lanzhou: Kan su'u mi rigs dpe skrun khang, p. 112.
Grong khyer lha sa srid gros lo rgyus rig gnas dpyad yig rgyu cha rtsom 'bri au yon lhan khang. 1994. Dga' ldan dgon pa dang brag yer pa'i lo rgyus, grong khyer lha sa'i lo rgyus rig gnas deb 02. Lhasa: Bod ljongs shin hwa par 'debs bzo grwa khang, p. 78.
Khetsun Sangpo. 1973. Biographical Dictionary of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. Dharamsala: LTWA, Vol. 6, p. 209.