What and who is the Panchen Lama?

CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, first (to be retroactively titled) "Panchen Lama"

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The Panchen Lama (Tibetan པཎ་ཆེན་བླ་མ།) is a tulku of the Gelug (Yellow Hat) school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with spiritual authority second only to Dalai Lama.

"Panchen" is a portmanteau word combining "Pandita" and "Chenpo," meaning "Great scholar."

  

The recognition of Panchen Lamas began with Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, tutor of the 5th Dalai Lama, who received the title "Panchen Bogd" from Altan Khan and the Dalai Lama in 1645. Bogd is Mongolian, meaning "holy."

John Oliver interviews the 14th Dalia Lama.

Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, Sönam Choklang, and Ensapa Lobsang Döndrup were subsequently recognized as the first, second, and third Panchen Lamas posthumously and retroactively after the term was invented.

There is a big controversy about the current Panchen Lama in China. More

• China kidnaps official Panchen Lama, hides him away
• China trots out its own offically crowned "Panchen Lama"