Jamchen Choje, disciple of Tsongkapa and founder of Sera Monastery

Jamchen Choje, as a master of the Gelukpa Sect, was the first tibetan to pay a visit to the Ming Dynasty where he did a great deal in spreading Buddhism.

He built a good relationship with three successive Emperors of the Ming Dynasty and contributed a lot to the enhanced relationship between the Tibetan and Han nationalities, as well as the unity of China.

The name "Jamchen Choje" is in fact a title offered to him by the Emperor Shunde of Ming Dynasty in 1434. Hence, it is commonly known as his name, more popular than his real name, Shakya Yeshe.

Shakya Yeshe was born in a noble family in Tsal Gungthang, near Lhasa, in 1354, three years earlier than Tsongkapa, founder of the Gelukpa Sect. He renounced his wealthy life at an early age by taking a monastic oath, and devoting himself to studies of Sutras and Tantrics by following many learned masters.

After meeting with Tsonkapa, he decided to serve the former and received a good education on Buddhist doctrine from him. During his sojourn in Beijing, he organized various rituals for the health of the Emperor, and gave sermons on both Sutras and Tantrics. Consequently, the spread of Buddhism went far and wide.

In 1416, Shakya Yeshe returned to Tibet via the same route. At his meeting with Tsongkapa, he handed in the gifts from Emperor Yongle: one set of silk-woven "thangka" (scroll paintings) of the sixteen Arhats, a tent with a sandalwood frame, Mandalas made of solid gold and silver, and many rolls of silk. Later, during his stay in Lhasa, he continued to keep in touch with Emperor Yongle and develop a closer relationship between them.

In 1421, the nineteenth year of Emperor Yongle's reign, another golden letter of invitation arrived for him from Beijing. Appointing his disciple named Dhargye Sangpo to act for affairs in the Sera Monastery, Shakya Yeshe left for Beijing via the same route again.

Unfortunately, due to the lengthy distance and the time-consuming religious activities held in the journey, Emperor Yongle had passed away at his arrival in Beijing. After Yongle's death, his son Hongxi came to the throne, but he also died within a year. Then Shunde, the elder son of Hongxi, proclaim himself empeor in 1426 and gave a wonderful funerary ritual for his father and grandfather the same year.

Jamchen Choje spent eight years in Beijing this time. Shunde, in his fourth year to the throne in 1429, offered Jamchen Choje a gold seal and a title similar to the "Imperial Preceptor" which his grandfather, Yongle, had already offered to Jamchen Choje.

The title "Jamche choje", the "Great Master", was offered to him in the ninth year of Shunde's reign.

Jamchen Choje died at the age of eighty-two on his return to Tibet from Beijing at a place named Zomokar.

His disciples preserved all his funerary remainings in a stupa along with the gifts from the Han Emperor, a "Kagyur" (the translation of commandments) written in gold, a set of "Kagyur" and "Tengyur" (the translation of commentaries) written in gold and silver. His throne and other daily utensils were also preserved as treasures in a monastery built there in memory of him.