Skal-ldan-rgya-mtsho, Rong-po Grub-chen, 1607-1677

Kelden Gyatso (Kalden Gyatso, Kelden Repa, Tibetan: སྐལ་ལྡན་རྒྱ་མཚོ, Wylie: Skal ldan rgya mtsho) (1607-1677) was a 17th-century Tibetan poet, scholar, and siddha. He was the first of the Rongwo Drubchen tulku lineage, and an important figure for Buddhism in Amdo, a region of north-eastern Tibet. The founder of a religious college and a seminary for tantric studies in Rebgong, throughout his life Kelden struggled between his desire to become a recluse hermit and his responsibility to these institutions. While he was ordained and taught in the Gelug school, he had a special affinity for Milarepa, the legendary Tibetan poet of the Kagyu school. The information that survives about Kelden comes from a biography by Jangchup Mila Ngawang Sönam (1636-1716), and from his poetry and songs, both written down and performed today by monks in Amdo.