Gendun Drup was a close disciple of Tsongkhapa, after ordaining and training first in the great Kadam monastery of Nartang. He was posthumously identified as the First Dalai Lama, a previous incarnation of the Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso, who first held the title. Gendun Drup founded the great Gelug monastery Tashi Lhunpo in 1447 and was its first abbot until 1484. He was instrumental in spreading the new Gelug school in Tsang.

Gendun Drup was born to a family of nomadic farmers in the Iron Sheep Year (1391) near Sakya in Tsang. His father was named Gonpo Dorje and his mother Jomo Namkyi. His birth name was Pema Dorje.

According to legend, on the night he was born, the family's camp was attacked by bandits and his mother, fearing for the life of her newborn child, wrapped him in blankets and hid him among the rocks before she fled for her life. The next morning, upon her return, she found her son resting peacefully among the stones, with a large black raven standing guard before him, protecting him from the flocks of crows and wild vultures that had gathered to attack him. The raven is said to have been an emanation of Mahakala, who would become Gendun Drup's personal Protector deity.

As a young child, Gendun Drup demonstrated an extraordinary inclination for religious practice, spending hours outside carving sacred syllables and prayers into stones in the Tibetan tradition.

Gendun Drup's father died when he was seven, and his mother sent him to Nartang Monastery to begin his education. When he entered the monastery he was given the name Pema Dorje and upasaka lay vows from the 14th abbot, Drupa Sherab. At 15, he took novice vows, receiving the name Gendun Druppa Pal, and at 20, became a fully ordained monk.

At Nartang, Gendun Drup earned the title 'omniscient', as a result of his accomplishment in studies, particularly in Vinaya and logic. In addition to Drupa Sherab, Gendun Drup also studied with Sherab Sengge at Nartang.

In 1415, when he was 25, Gendun Drup traveled to U where he met Tsongkhapa, remaining at Ganden for roughly 12 years, although Tsongkhapa passed away only four years after their meeting. Gendun Drup was profoundly affected by Tsongkhapa's teachings. It is said that Tsongkhapa gave Gendun Drup a piece of his own monastic robes upon their meeting and that this auspicious act predicted the later benefit that Gendun Drup would bring to the practice of monasticism in Tibet. Indeed, among his extensive and greatest works are three commentaries on the Vinaya, that are considered among the most influential in the lineage.

For 12 years, Gendun Drup and Sherab Sengge traveled together, visiting Sakya and Kadam monasteries in Tsang and spreading Tsongkhapa's Lamrim teachings. Because he taught widely for 50 years, from age 35 to 85, he trained abbots of most Kadam and Gelug monasteries across Tibet and Kham, and even those of some Sakya monasteries.

In 1432, Gendun Drup became the abbot of the Sakya monastery Tanak Riku, transforming it into a Gelug monastery. He also built a residence at Jangchen Monastery, attracting a larger and larger number of students there.

Gendun Drup founded Tashi Lhunpo in 1447 in Shigatse, Tsang, an outpost of Gelug teachings in a region that was then largely dominated by Sakya and Kagyu monasteries. It is said that the Sakya master Tangton Gyalpo attempted to prevent him from establishing the new monastery. Gendun Drup established three religious colleges there, divided into 26 houses.

The Lhasa Monlam Chenmo was founded first by Tsongkhapa in 1409, and Gendun Drup established a Great Prayer festival at Tashi Lhunpo, first in 1463 and then again in 1474, when 1600 monks and 10,000 laypeople attended, firmly establishing the Gelug presence in Tsang.

At the age of 84, Gendun Drup passed away at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, under auspicious circumstances among his disciples. Among his greatest achievements were the founding of Tashi Lhunpo in Tibet and the compilation of collected writings. He was particularly influenced by the lojong or mind-training teachings of the Kadampas of Tibet, and wrote extensively in their praise.

Teachers

• grub pa shes rab
• shes rab seng+ge
• blo bzang grags pa
• yon tan rgya mtsho
• Bodong Panchen Chole Namgyal b.1376 - d.1451 (Name Variants: Chokyi Gyaltsen; Chole Namgyal; Jikme Drakpa; Yungdrung Sanggyenyi rgya mtsho rin chen)
• nam mkha' dpal ba
• sangs rgyas rin chen rgyal mtshan
• bsam 'grub rdo rje
• Gyaltsab Darma Rinchen b.1364 - d.1432 (Name Variants: Darma Rinchen; Gyaltsabje Darma Rinchen)

Students

• grags pa shes rab 2
• blo bzang nyi ma
• kun dga' bde legs
• dpal ldan bzang po
• kun dga' rgyal mtshan
• chos kyi bshes gnyen
• smon lam dpal ba
• blo gros rin chen seng+ge
• chos kyi rgyal mtshan
• lung rig rgya mtsho
• ye shes rtse mo
• bzang po bkra shis
• nor bzang rgya mtsho
• zla ba bzang po
• blo gros sbas pa
• kun dga' don grub

Sources:

1. Tshe mchog gling yongs dzin ye shes rgyal mtshan. 1970 (1787). Biographies of Eminent Gurus in the Transmission Lineages of the teachings of the Graduated Path, being the text of: Byang chub Lam gyi Rim pai Bla ma Brgyud pai Rnam par Thar pa Rgyal mtshan Mdzes pai Rgyan Mchog Phul byung Nor bui Phreng ba. New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, vol 2, pp. 608-651.
2. Mullin, Glenn. 1985. Kun-ga Gyal-tsens Life of the Dalai Lama I, the twelve wondrous deeds of omniscient Gen-dun Brub. Tibet Journal vol 11, no 4, pp. 3-42.
3. Shen Weirong, Janice Becker, trans. 2005. "The First Dalai Lama Gendun Drup." In Brauen, Martin, ed. The Dalai Lamas: A Visual History. London: Serindia, pp. 33-41.
4. Yon tan rgya mtsho. 1994. Dge ldan chos byung gser gyi mchod sdong bar ba. Paris: Yon tan rgya mtsho, pp. 218-222.
5. Miranda Adams September 2008
6. http://www.tibetanlineages.org/biographies/view/92/10687/lineage