The 1st Dalai Lama, Gedun Drupa[1] (Tibetan: དགེ་འདུན་གྲུབ་པ།, Wylie: dge 'dun grub pa; 1391–1474) was a student of Je Tsongkhapa, and became his first Khenpo (Abbott) at Ganden Monastery.

[2] Gedun Drupa was born in a cow-shed in Gyurmey Rupa near Sakya in the Tsang region of central Tibet, the son of Gonpo Dorjee and Jomo Namkha Kyi, nomadic tribespeople.

[citation needed] When he was 20 years old, in about 1411 received the name Gedun Drupa upon taking the vows of a bhikṣu (monk) from the abbot of Narthang Monastery.

[citation needed] He remained the Khenpo of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery until he died while meditating in 1474 at the age of 84 (83 by Western reckoning).

Since the time of Gedun Gyatso, who formalized the system, monks have gone to the lake to meditate when seeking visions with guidance on finding the next reincarnation.