Who the Panchen Lama is
The Panchen Lama is one of the most important teachers in the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, usually named alongside the Dalai Lama. The title Panchen is generally explained as a contraction of a Sanskrit-derived word for a learned scholar combined with a Tibetan word meaning “great”. The Panchen Lama lineage is a line of teachers regarded in tradition as successive reincarnations (tulkus), and the Tashilhunpo Panchen Lama line is traditionally associated with the Buddha Amitabha, while the Dalai Lamas are associated with Avalokiteshvara.
This page describes the lineage and its associated places in a public, general way. It deliberately avoids taking sides in disputes about the modern succession, which are described only briefly and neutrally.
How the line developed
The lineage is traditionally traced back to a famed Gelug scholar, Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, who was a student of Tsongkhapa. Later tradition counts him and two further figures as earlier members of the line, although the title of Panchen Lama itself came into use later. According to the usual account, the fourth Panchen Lama, Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen, was honoured with the title by the Fifth Dalai Lama in the seventeenth century. Counting conventions differ, so you may see earlier figures numbered in different ways.
Over the following centuries, the Panchen Lamas became major teachers and heads of the Tashilhunpo estate, and the relationship between them and the Dalai Lamas was often described in terms of teacher and student, sometimes with each recognising the other. Details of that relationship have been treated differently by historians, and political roles in particular are debated, so this page limits itself to the religious relationship as traditionally told.
Tashilhunpo Monastery
Tashilhunpo Monastery stands in Shigatse, one of the main cities of the Tsang region of central Tibet, at an elevation of roughly 3,800 metres. It is traditionally said to have been founded in 1447 by Gendun Drup, a disciple of Tsongkhapa who was later counted as the First Dalai Lama. The monastery became associated with the Panchen Lamas from the time of the lineage’s rise to prominence.
Visitors generally see a large complex of white and red buildings on a hillside, with golden roofs, courts and chapels. A notable feature is a very tall seated Maitreya statue, commonly said to have been built in the early twentieth century under the Ninth Panchen Lama. Height figures vary by source and should be treated as approximate. The tombs of several Panchen Lamas are within the monastery grounds, and are important objects of veneration.
Pilgrims often walk the monastery’s outer path, a Tashilhunpo kora that follows the same clockwise custom as at other Tibetan sites. Tashilhunpo is also an active teaching institution, so it has a daily rhythm of study and prayer, and conduct during visits matters.
The disputed modern succession
In the late twentieth century the succession of the Panchen Lamas became disputed. The Tenth Panchen Lama, Choekyi Gyaltsen, died in 1989. In 1995 the Dalai Lama announced the recognition of a young boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as the Eleventh Panchen Lama. Authorities in China did not accept that recognition and the boy has not been seen publicly in the years since; separate arrangements led to another person, Gyaltsen Norbu, being installed as Panchen Lama in a process overseen by the authorities. Tibetan communities in exile and many Buddhists elsewhere do not accept the second appointment, while the authorities treat it as legitimate.
This is a sensitive subject. This guide does not adjudicate it. It notes that different groups hold different views, that information is limited, and that readers who want to understand the matter should consult a range of reliable sources. Visitors in Tibet are generally advised not to raise the topic in public.
Tashilhunpo in the wider Tibetan world
Tashilhunpo’s importance goes beyond one office. It is a major centre of Gelug learning, and its place alongside the great monasteries near Lhasa shows how institutions in the Tsang and U regions shared and sometimes balanced religious authority. Its Tibetan chorten forms, tombs and large images are typical of high Tibetan monastic architecture. For readers interested in the related Shigatse monasteries and nearby holy sites, the area as a whole has a long history of pilgrimage.
Visiting Shigatse: cautions
Travel in Tibet is subject to specific regulations, and foreign visitors have typically needed permits and often arranged travel. These requirements change, so check current official sources and your own government’s travel advice before planning. Shigatse is at high altitude, and many visitors arrive from places even higher or from the plains. Altitude sickness awareness is essential: headache, nausea, breathlessness and sleeplessness are common early signs, and serious forms need urgent medical attention. This page is general information and not medical advice.
Dress modestly, remove shoes where required, ask before photographing, and follow monastery rules about cameras in shrine rooms. Walk clockwise, avoid touching images and monks, and treat tombs and reliquaries with special respect. Follow local guidance, since rules in Tibetan monasteries vary and can change.