Traditions

Exegetical Traditions

The doctrine of buddha-nature is found in all Mahāyāna Buddhist traditions. (While it is not accepted by contemporary Asian Theravādin Buddhist communities it can be said to be a part of Western Theravādin Buddhism). For the most part all Buddhist traditions which teach buddha-nature are based on a common corpus of scripture, although each has literature unique to its own tradition, both sūtra and commentaries, and the ideas and practices vary considerably. Below we give an overview of the dominant Buddhist traditions in Asia that teach buddha-nature, with attention to the most important ideas, people, texts, and places.

Let's create a listing closer to this style here: https://treasuryoflives.org/tradition - but with Chinese and Japanese traditions represented as well. THen we can have a page for each that can include further readings and a specific essay on the tradition's perspective on buddha-nature. Marcus (talk) 21:52, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

Chinese Traditions

Japanese Traditions

Indian Traditions

Korean Traditions

Tibetan Traditions

1. The Tradition of Tsen Khawoche
2. The Tradition of Ngok Lotsawa

Bodong - བོ་དོང།

https://treasuryoflives.org/tradition/Bodong

The Bodong (bo dong) tradition has a long and complicated history. The seat of what would become the institutionally independent Bodong lineage was the monastery Bodong E, which was founded in 1049 by Geshe Mudrapa Chenpo. What teachings were current there is difficult to know, save that in the twelfth century Kodrakpa Sonam Gyeltsen invited the Nepali yogin Vibhūticandra to Tibet and received from him a new transmission of the six-branch practice of the Kālacakra. Kodrakpa also propagated a lineage of Lamdre which was later subsumed into the Sakya tradition by Sonam Gyeltsen and Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo. Its greatest representative was Bodong Paṇchen Chokle Namgyel, with whom the unique Bodong Tradition is commonly said to have begun. It is important to avoid confusing Bodong Panchen with Jonang Chokle Namgyel, a teacher of Tsongkhapa and proponent of the Zhentong view.

Geluk - དགེ་ལུགས།

https://treasuryoflives.org/tradition/Geluk

The Geluk (dge lugs) tradition follows the teachings of the fifteenth-century scholar monk Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa. Like the Kadam tradition which the Geluk absorbed and supplanted, the Geluk place an emphasis on monastic discipline and scholarship, central to which is their understanding and explication of the Mādhyamaka Prāsaṅgika philosophical position. They also maintain a strong, if somewhat less public, tradition of tantric transmission, scholarship, and practice. Followers of the Geluk tradition practice an extensive system of Lamrim and Lojong, both of which have their origins with Atisha and the Kadampa tradition. The Geluk also maintain a lineage of Mahāmudrā teachings. The primary tantric teachings studied and practiced in the Geluk are the tantric cycles of Yamāntaka, Cakrasaṃvara, and Guhyasamāja. The Kālacakra Tantra is also commonly practiced among many Geluk practitioners, as is the tantra of Vajrayoginī. The Geluk tradition became the dominant religious order in Tibet in the seventeenth century when the Fifth Dalai Lama, with the aid of the recently converted Mongols, orchestrated a defeat of the Kagyu king of Tsang and set himself up as political leader of Tibet. Since that time the Dalai Lamas' seat of government, the Ganden Podrang, has been the nominal seat of political power in Tibet, even if for most of the last four hundred years real power shifted among a number of players.

Jonang - ཇོ་ནང།

https://treasuryoflives.org/tradition/Jonang

The Jonang (jo nang) tradition was founded by Dolpopa Sherab Gyeltsen, who ascended to the throne of Jonang Monastery in 1326. Trained in the Sakya tradition, Dolpopa’s controversial teachings, especially his emphasis on the view known as Zhentong (gzhan stong) or emptiness of other, and the institutional independence of Jonang monastery, established the Jonang tradition apart as an independent tradition, although many members of the Sakya tradition continue to consider Jonang to be a subsect of that tradition. Dolpopa, like his predecessors at Jonang, particularly emphasized the teachings of the Kālacakra Tantra and its completion-stage practices known as the six-branch yoga, while also transmitting many other systems of Vajrayāna and Mahāyāna Buddhism. Following the death of the great Jonang scholar Tāranātha, the Jonang tradition was suppressed in the seventeenth century by the Fifth Dalai Lama; its monasteries were converted to the Geluk tradition and the teachings banned. The tradition has survived in the Dzamtang region of Amdo.

Marpa Kagyu - མར་པ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད།

https://treasuryoflives.org/tradition/Marpa-Kagyu

The Marpa Kagyu (mar pa bka’ brgyud) tradition originated in the eleventh century with the Tibetan translator Marpa Chokyi Lodro, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa’s disciple Milarepa famously attained enlightenment in the caves of southern Tibet after renouncing a life of violent revenge; his disciple Gampopa merged the lay siddha practice of his master with the Kadampa monasticism and scholarship that he had previously studied. Gampopa founded the first Kagyu monastery, Daklha Gampo in southern Tibet. Following Gampopa the tradition split into multiple autonomous subsects known as the four primary (Barom, Pakdru, Karma, and Tselpa), and eight secondary traditions (Drigung, Drukpa, Martsang, Shukseb, Taklung, Tropu, Yabzang, and Yelpa Kagyu). In addition to the above system, the Ngok (rngog) lineage begun by Ngok Choku Dorje, a disciple of Marpa, was a distinct Marpa Kagyu tradition that existed independently for several centuries. Also often considered an independent tradition was the Rechung Nyengyu (ras chung snyan brgyud), initiated by the disciples of Milarepa’s disciple Rechung Dorje Drakpa. All Marpa Kagyu traditions claim allegiance to the tantric teachings of the Indian Mahāsiddha tradition, primarily that of Nāropa, in the form of the Six Doctrines of Nāropa (nA ro chos drug) and the doctrine of Mahāmudrā. The Kagyu were also heavily involved in the transmission of the Cakrasaṃvara, Hevajra, among other tantras of the Second Propagation era.

Nyingma - རྙིང་མ།

https://treasuryoflives.org/tradition/Nyingma

The Nyingma (rnying ma) - literally the "ancient" - is considered the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, although when the disparate institutions and strands of transmission were first conceived as belonging to a singlular and coherent entity is not clear. According to legend, the Nyingma teachings were brought to Tibet in the eighth century by Padmasambhava, a tantric ritual specialist invited to Tibet to subjugate native deities that were obstructing the dissemination of Buddhism. Padmasambhava and other Indian masters such as Vimalamitra, and select Tibetan translators such as Vairocana, propagated the tradition's primary teaching, Dzogchen, a tantric system that has also been adopted to varying degree by other traditions. The Indic scriptures that were translated in the eighth and ninth centuries and the teachings by the masters of that era have come to be known as the "Kama," or spoken word tradition. Since at least the twelfth century Nyingma teachers known as terton, or "treasure revealers" have produced new scriptures said to have been concealed by Padmasambhava or others for the benefit of future eras. The Nyingma maintains both lay and monastic traditions, with six mother monasteries: Dorje Drak and Mindroling in central Tibet, and Katok, Pelyul, Dzogchen and Zhechen in Kham.

Sakya - ས་སྐྱ།

https://treasuryoflives.org/tradition/Sakya

The Sakya (sa skya) tradition was founded by Khon Konchok Gyelpo in 1073, a date marked by his founding of Sakya temple in the Sakya valley in Tsang. Konchok Gyelpo’s son Sachen Kunga Nyingpo combined his Khon family’s lineage of Yangdak and Vakrakīla, which his ancestor Khon Lui Wangpo received during the Imperial era, with new teachings. These include the Sakya Lojong teachings of the Zhenpa Zhidrel (zhan pa bzhi bral), obtained in a vision of Manjuśrī, and the Lamdre teachings that are based on the Hevajra tantra. The Sakya Lamdre teachings were transmitted by the Indian Mahāsiddha Virupa via a long line of teachers to the Tibetan yogin Zhangton Chobar, who transmitted them to Sachen. Sachen also received Cakrasaṃvara, Vajrabhairava, the Vajrayoginī of Nāropa, and Pañjaranātha Mahākāla from Mel Lotsāwa Lodro Drakpa. Sachen’s two sons, Sonam Tsemo and Drakpa Gyeltsen were the next to lead the temple. Drakpa Gyeltsen’s nephew, Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyeltsen, one of the greatest scholars of his day, was the fourth in the lineage. The fifth was Sakya Paṇḍita’s nephew, Pakpa Lodro Gyeltsen, who traveled with his uncle when the Mongolian leader Godem Khan summoned him. In 1253 Pakpa met Qubilai Khan, who three years later conquered China and initiated the Yuan Dynasty. Borrowing from Tangut-Kagyu alliance of the previous century, Qubilai and Pakpa entered into a relationship of “patron and priest,” with Pakpa being made guoshi, or Imperial Preceptor. With Mongolian support, the Sakya Khon family ruled Tibet until the rise of the Pakmodru Dynasty in the middle of the fourteenth century. Three branches of the Sakya tradition are the Ngor (ngor), founded by Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo and based at Ngor Evam Choden monastery, and Tsar (tshar), established by Tsarchen Losel Gyatso and based at Dar Drangmoche. The Ngor tradition became influential in the dissemination of the Sakya tantric teachings, and the Tsarpa in the esoteric transmission known as the Lobshe, which contrasts to the more widely taught Tsokshe, both being teaching traditions of Lamdre. A third branch is the Dzongpa, which is based at Gongkar Chode in Gyangtse. There are several independent institutions that share Sakya doctrinal tradition, including Jonang (jo nang), Bodong (bo dong), and Bulug / Zhalu (bu lugs / zhwa lu), and which are frequently considered part of the Sakya tradition.

Shangpa Kagyu - ཤངས་པ་བཀའ་བརྒྱུད།

https://treasuryoflives.org/tradition/Shangpa-Kagyu

The Shangpa Kagyu (shangs pa bka’ brgyud) tradition was initiated in the eleventh century by Khyungpo Neljor, who received the Mahāmudrā teachings in India from Niguma, the wife or sister of Nāropa. He established the monastery of Zhangzhong Dorjeden in the Shang valley in Tsang. A single line of transmission, said to have been initiated by the Buddha Vajradhara and taught first to Niguma, and which passed from Khyungpo Neljor through Mokchokpa, Wonton Kyergangwa Chokyi Sengge, Nyenton Rigung Chokyi Sherab, and Sanggye Tonpa Tsondru Senge, was known as the transmission of the seven precious Shangpa. In the thirteenth century Sanggye Tonpa passed the lineage on to multiple disciples and the Shangpa teachings were written down. The Shangpa lineages were largely absorbed into the institutional organizations of the Marpa Kagyu, Geluk, Sakya and Jonang, although it was partially revived in the nineteenth century by Jamgon Kongtrul; his two personal hermitages, Tsadra Rinchen Drak and Dzongsho Deshek Dupa are both Shangpa Kagyu institutions. The Shangpa teachings are known as the Five Golden Doctrines, which include the Nigu Chodruk, a grouping similar to the Nāro Chodruk of the Marpa Kagyu.

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