Gendun Drup, 1st Dalai Lama

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Gendun Drup (Tibetan: དགེ་འདུན་གྲུབ་; Wylie: dge 'dun grub; ZWPY: Gêdün Chub; Lhasa dialect IPA: [kẽ̀tyn ʈʂʰùp]), also spelled Gendün Drub and Gedun Drub (1391 – 1474) is retrospectively considered to be the first in the line of Dalai Lamas of Tibet, who are believed to be reincarnations. Gendun Drup was a student of Tsongkhapa. His birth name was Pema Dorje (Tibetan: པད་མ་རྡོ་རྗེ་; Wylie: pad ma rdo rje).

Gendun Drup was born in a cowshed as the son of nomadic tribespeople, and raised as a shepherd until the age of seven. After this he was placed in Nartang (Nar-thang) monastery, and by the middle of his life he had become one of the most esteemed scholar-saints in the country.

Some of the most famous texts Gendun Drup wrote were:

Sunlight on the Path to Freedom, a commentary on Abhidharma-kosha
Crushing the Forces of Evil to Dust, an epic poem on the life and liberating deeds of Buddha Shakyamuni
Song of the Eastern Snow Mountain, a poem dedicated to Je Tsongkhapa (Btsong-ka-pa)
Praise of the Venerable Lady Khadiravani Tara, an homage to the Goddess Tara

Glenn Mullin's collection of translations of Gendun Drup's commentaries is a good start to learning more about the writings and teachings of this prolific and important Tibetan Buddhist teacher.