རྗེ་དྲུང་ཀུན་དགའ་དཔལ་བ་ནི་དགེ་ལུགས་པའི་དགོན་སྡེ་ཆབ་མདོ་བྱམས་པ་གླིང་གི་གདན་རབས་བཅོ་ལྔ་པ་ཡིན་ལ། མཚུར་སྟོན་ནམ་མཁའ་དཔལ་བ་དང་། ཆབ་མདོ་དགོན་གྱི་གདན་རབས་གསུམ་པ་དང་བཞི་པ་རྗེ་དྲུང་ཤེས་རབ་དཔལ་བརྩེགས་གཉིས་ཀྱི་བུ་སློབ་ཐུ་བོའི་གྲས་ཡིན། ཁོང་ནི་ཁམས་སུ་སྐུ་འཁྲུངས་ཤིང་། དུས་རབས་བཅུ་གཅིག་པའི་བཀའ་གདམས་དགེ་བཤེས་པོ་ཏོ་བ་ཡི་རྣམ་སྤྲུལ་དུ་གསུང་། བྱམས་ཆེན་མཐོང་གྲོལ་ཆེན་མོའི་ལྷ་ཁང་བཞེངས་པ་དང་རིག་པའི་གནས་ལ་མཁས་པར་མཛད་པས་སྙན་གྲགས་ཆེ།
Jedrung Kunga Pelwa (rje drung kun dga' dpal ba) was born into a noble family in Pashod (dpa' shod) in Kham in the iron-sheep year of the eighth sexagenary cycle, the year 1451. He was said to have had a great interest in dharma beginning in his childhood, and was ordained to novice vows at a young age.
He began his education by learning grammar and poetry. As a young man he was admitted to the Nubling Dratsang (nub gling grwa tshang) of Chamdo Jampa Ling (chab mdo byams pa gling) in Chamdo, Kham, where he learned the traditional texts of Geluk tradition and become a learned scholar. Unlike most other scholars of Kham, he did not go to U and Tsang to study in the great Geluk monasteries there, but instead completed his full monastic education in Kham.
He studied under a number of outstanding scholars of Kham, including Tsurton Namkha Pelwa (mtshur ston nam mkha' dpal ba, d. 1471), the third throne holder, and Jedrung Sherab Peltsek (rje drung shes rab dpal brstegs, 1427-1507), the fourth throne holder of Chamdo Jampa Ling. He became a distinguished scholar, informally given the title the “Light of Doctrine,” and served as lobpon (master) of the Lingmed Dratsang (gling smad grwatshang) of Chamdo monastery for three years.
Thereafter, at the age of fifty-seven, in the fire-hare year of the ninth sexagenary cycle, the year 1507, he was enthroned to the throne of Chamdo Monastery. He gave comprehensive commentaries on many important texts by ancient Indian as well as Tibetan scholars and benefited broadly to his followers. His reputation for scholarship spread over the Tibetan plateau, so much so that Gedun Gyatso (dge 'dun rgya tsho, 1475-1542), the Second Dalai Lama, composed a praise to him.
In contrast to the common image of the bold and somewhat rough Khampa man, Kunga Pelwa was said to have been very compassionate and gentle from childhood onwards. He was skillful in teachings and kind to every monk in the monastery, and was therefore highly respected and loved.
It was Jedrung Kunga Pelwa who built the great statue of Maitriya and its temple in at Jampa Ling. The statue was built of copper plated with gold and ornamented with great variety of precious stones, and became famous for its size – approximately fifty-five feet – and craftsmanship.
It was Jamchen Tongdol Chenmo (byams chen mthong grol chen mo), the Great Maitriya, liberation through beholding. The heart of the statue contains relics of Jedrung Sherab Peltsek.
Jedrung Kunga Pelwa was identified as a reincarnation of Geshe Potowa Rinchen Sel (dge bshes po to ba rin chen gsal, 1027-1105), one of the the three main students of Dromton Gyelwa Jungne ('brom ston rgyal ba 'byung gnas, 1005-1064).
After serving as abbot for eight years, in 1514, the wood-dog of the ninth sexagenary cycle, at the age of sixty-four Kunga Pelwa passed away. His body was put in a silver reliquary, and a statue of him was placed in the Maitriya temple.
དཔྱད་གཞིའི་ཡིག་ཆ་ཁག།
Byams pa chos grags. N.d. Chab mdo byams pa gling gi gdan rabs. Chamdo: Chab mdo par 'debs bzo grwa par btab, pp. 81-82, 516.
'Jigs med rig pa'i blo gros. 1982. Bstan rtsis kun las btus pa. Xining: Mtsho sngon mi rigs dpe skrun khang, p. 228.