The Panchen Lama is the second most important figure in Tibetan culture, religion and politics, after His Holiness The Dalai Lama. The title Panchen Lama originates back to the Fifth Dalai Lama who in 1642 gave the title Panchen Lama, meaning Great Scholar, to his teacher the Abbott of Tashilhunpo Monastery in order to consolidate Gelugpa power. Since then it has traditionally been the role of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama to act as the teacher of the new incarnation. more
The Panchen Lama (Tibetan: པན་ཆེན་བླ་མ་; Chinese: ç禪喇嘛) is the second highest ranking lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa (Dge-lugs-pa) sect of Tibetan Buddhism (the sect which controlled Tibet from the 16th century until the Communist takeover). The successive Panchen lamas form a tulku reincarnation lineage which are said to be the incarnations of Amitabha Buddha. The name, meaning "great scholar", is a Tibetan contraction of the Sanskrit paṇá¸ita (scholar) and the Tibetan chenpo (great).
