Chak Lotsāwa Choje Pel
Chak Lotsāwa Choje Pel (chag lo tsA ba chos rje dpal) (1197-1263/4). A Tibetan lama in the Kadam and Sakya traditions. His paternal uncle was Chak Drachompa (chag dgra bcom pa, 1154–1217), who studied in India and interpreted for Śākyaśrībhadra (1127–1225) and Buddhaśrī in Tibet.[1]
Choje Pel's early teachers included his uncle as well as Śākyaśrībhadra. After his uncle passed away, he studied under several other lamas, including Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyeltsen and Tropu Lotsāwa Jampa Pel.[1]
He then journeyed to Nepal and India. In Nepal, Choje Pel spent eight years studying with various panditas, and he became an expert in the Sanskrit language. In India he visited many sites including Vikramaśīla which he found in ruins, and Bodhgaya which was empty of people because it's inhabitants had fled fearing an attack from invading Muslim forces.[1]
He also visited Nalanda, which was still largely intact though with very few students left. He spent two years at Nalanda studying with an elderly pandit named Rāhulaśrībhadra.[1]
He eventually returned to Tibet, where he spent his remaining years teaching and translating texts from Sanskrit.[1] Approximately twenty-nine of his translations and revisions are included in the Tibetan canon.[1]
Notes
Further reading
Chak Lotsāwa Choje Pel, Treasury of Lives