A glass lens blank for polishing in which a thickness of a defect-containing layer is suppressed to a minimum and thus it is possible to shorten the processing time required for grinding and polishing the glass lens blank for polishing after press-molding, a method of manufacturing the same, and a method of manufacturing an optical lens. A glass lens blank for polishing of which at least a main surface is a press-molding surface, wherein a defect-containing layer formed on the main surface has a thickness of 50 m or less.

A method for manufacturing an optical element, the method including: heating an optical element material by suspending it in a gas; supplying the heated optical element material from a direction which intersects a central axis interconnecting centers of a first mold and a second mold to a space between molds in a non-contact state, the space between molds being a space between the first mold and the second mold; pressurizing the optical element material supplied to the space between molds by the first mold and the second mold; and cooling the pressurized optical element material.