Gampopa Sonam Rinchen, also known as Dakpo Lhaje, is credited with founding the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Trained first as a medical doctor and then ordained as a Kadam monk, Gampopa met Milarepa when he was thirty years old, and spent much of the next decades in meditation retreat. Never renouncing his monastic vows, he combined the Indian Mahāsiddha practices brought back to Tibet by Marpa and others with the monastic order of his Kadampa teachers. He also united the Kadam teachings of Lamrim with the Mahāmudrā teachings he received from Milarepa. He founded Daklha Gampo in 1121 and trained many of the greatest Kagyu masters of all time, including the First Karmapa and Pakmodrupa. ... read more at
Philosophical positions of this person
Is buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Do all beings have buddha-nature?
Yes
To which "turning of the wheel" do the buddha-nature teachings belong?
Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?
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?
Tathāgatagarbha as a Causal Potential or Disposition (gotra)
This is how buddha-nature is explained in the first chapter of the Jewel Ornament of Liberation.
