mkhas grub rje

From Buddha-Nature


མཁས་གྲུབ་རྗེ་
Khedrup Je Gelek Palzang(1385 - 1438) 
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Khedrubje Gelek Pelzang (mkhas grub rje dge legs dpal bzang) was born in Tsang in 1385. His father, Gunga Tashi Pelzang (kun dga' bkra shis dpal bzang, d.u.), was a member of the Se clan, said to have originated in Khotan, and his mother was Budren Gyelmo (bu 'dren rgyal mo, d.u.).

His name Gelek Pelzang was given to him as a child when he took novice ordination at the age of seven from Khenchen Sengge Gyeltsen (mkhen chen seng ge rgyal mtshan, d.u.). From the age of sixteen he studied at the Sakya monastery of Ngamring Chode (ngam ring chos sde), training with Bodong Paṇchen Jikdrel Chokle Namgyel (bo dong paN chen 'jigs bral phyogs las rnam rgyal, 1376-1451), the founder of the Bodong tradition, who taught him logic and philosophy.

When Gelek Pelzang was twenty-one he studied with Rendawa Zhonnu Lodro (red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros, 1349-1412), with whom he took full ordination. He studied Darmakīrt's Pramāṇavārttika, Abhidharma, and the Five Books of Maitreya, Nāgārjuna's works on Madhyamaka, and the Vinaya.

At the age of twenty-three, in 1407, he went to U to meet with Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa (tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357-1419) at Sera Choding (se ra chos sdings – not to be confused with the famous Sera Monastery). Khedrub Je received instructions on both sutra and tantra from Tsongkhapa, and soon became one of his most devoted disciples, receiving teachings alongside Tsongkhapa's other disciples such as Gyeltsabje Darma Rinchen (rgyal tshab rje dar ma rin chen, 1364-1432) and Duldzin Drakpa Gyeltsen ('dul 'dzin grags pa rgyal mtshan, 1374-1434).
... read more at The Treasury of Lives


On the topic of this person

Book
Mind Seeing Mind
Roger Jackson's Mind Seeing Mind is the first attempt to provide both a scholarly study of the history, texts, and doctrines of Geluk mahāmudrā and translations of some of its seminal texts. It begins with a survey of the Indian sources of the teaching and goes on the discuss the place of mahāmudrā in non-Geluk Tibetan Buddhist schools, especially the Kagyü. The book then turns to a detailed survey of the history and major textual sources of Geluk mahāmudrā, from Tsongkhapa, through the First Panchen, down to the present. The final section of the study addresses critical questions, including the relation between Geluk and Kagyü mahāmudrā, the ways Gelukpa authors have interpreted the mahāsiddha Saraha, and the broader religious-studies implications raised by Tibetan debates about mahāmudrā. The translation portion of Mind Seeing Mind includes eleven texts on mahāmudrā history, ritual, and practice. Foremost among these is the First Panchen Lama's autocommentary on his root verses of Geluk Mahāmudrā, the foundation of the tradition. Also included is his ritual masterpiece Offering to the Guru, which is a staple of Geluk practice, and a selection of his songs of spiritual experience. Mind Seeing Mind adds considerably to our understanding of Geluk spirituality and shows how mahāmudrā came to be woven throughout the fabric of the tradition. (Source: Wisdom Publications)
Jackson, Roger R. Mind Seeing Mind: Mahāmudrā and the Geluk Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2019.

Mentioned in

Video
Douglas Duckworth at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Douglas Duckworth presents how buddha-nature is interpreted by Mipam Gyatso (1846–1912). He shows that while Mipam accepts that the qualities of the buddha are primordially present, unconditioned, and not newly produced, they are also empty of inherent existence.
Duckworth, Douglas. "Sentient Beings Within: Buddha-Nature and the Great Perfection." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 42:46. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slBWdnUfS8w.


Philosophical positions of this person

Is buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Provisional 
Do all beings have buddha-nature?
 
To which "turning of the wheel" do the buddha-nature teachings belong?
  Third Turning

"However, Khedrup, a student and a junior contemporary of Rendawa, mentions in his Presentation of the General Tantric Systems (rgyud sde spyi rnam), "Lama Jé [that is, Rendawa] asserts that [the Uttaratantra] is a commentarial work on last-wheel teachings, explicating the view of the Cittamātra School." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 88.

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Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?
  Yogācāra

"However, Khedrup, a student and a junior contemporary of Rendawa, mentions in his Presentation of the General Tantric Systems (rgyud sde spyi rnam), "Lama Jé [that is, Rendawa] asserts that [the Uttaratantra] is a commentarial work on last-wheel teachings, explicating the view of the Cittamātra School." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 88.

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Do buddha-nature teachings belong to the zhentong or rangtong view of emptiness?
 
Are there one or three vehicles on the path to buddhahood?
 
Do the author's writings belong to the analytic or meditative tradition of Uttaratantra exegesis?
 
What is Buddha-nature?
 
Does the author advocate the Svatantrika or Prasangika view of emptiness?
 

Other names

  • དགེ་ལེགས་དཔལ་བཟང་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • མཁས་གྲུབ་རྗེ་དགེ་ལེགས་དཔལ་བཟང་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • མཁས་གྲུབ་དགེ་ལེགས་དཔལ་བཟང་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • པཎ་ཆེན་བླ་མ་༠༡་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • dge legs dpal bzang · other names (Wylie)
  • mkhas grub rje dge legs dpal bzang · other names (Wylie)
  • mkhas grub dge legs dpal bzang · other names (Wylie)
  • paN chen bla ma 01 · other names (Wylie)
  • Panchen Lama, 1st · other names

Affiliations & relations

  • dge lugs · religious affiliation
  • Tsong kha pa · teacher
  • Red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros · teacher
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