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Gendün Rinchen was born in a small cave by the side of the path to Paro Tagtsang, so as a child he was nicknamed "Dragphugpa" (Cave Man).
At a young age he showed great interest in the Buddhist religion and at seven he received novice ordination at Tashichö Dzong in Thimphu and was given the name Gendün Rinchen.
When he was twenty-seven he travelled to Lhodrak Lhalung, center of the tradition of Padma Lingpa in Southern Tibet. There he studied the Thirteen great texts of Mahayana Buddhist Philosophy from Khatok Khen Rinpoche. At the age of twenty-nine he went to Drigung in Central Tibet where he studied classical Tibetan orthography, grammar and poetry; the works of Mipham Rinpoche and Khenpo Shenga and received many tantric teachings including those on the Mañjuśrīnāmasamgīti. Afterwards he went to Samye Monastery where he received the empowerments and instructions of the Rinchen Terdzö; the Nyingthig and Longchenpa's Dzödun from Dudjom Jigdral Yeshe Dorje.
After returning to Bhutan, he entered a three-year meditation retreat at the Tagsang Palphug hermitage, which was followed by another three year retreat he entered when he was forty at Kungachöling in Paro. From Lopon Sonam Zangpo, a disciple of Drubwang Shakya Shri, he received teachings on the Six Yogas of Naropa, Mahāmudrā, and so on.
For ten years he was the abbot of Tango Monastery where he wrote many commentaries on Buddhist philosophy, sutra and tantra.
In 1990 he was enthroned as the 69th Je Khenpo of Bhutan and subsequently travelled throughout the country giving religious teachings. At the age of 61 he resigned from the post of Je Khanpo and retired to a life of prayer and meditation at Jangchub Ding in Yangchenphug. In 1997, on the ninth day of the third month according to the Bhutanese calendar, he died sitting in a straight meditation posture. It is reported that his body remained sitting thus for more than a week or eleven days during which time his body remained flexible and showed no signs of decay.
His physical remains are now preserved in a gold and silver reliquary stupa in the Shabdrung Chapel of Tashichö Dzong, Thimphu. (Source: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gend%C3%BCn_Rinchen Wikipedia])
Rongton Sheja Kunrik is the second in the line of great Sakya masters known as the Six Ornaments of Tibet. Among these teachers he is particularly revered for his mastery of the Buddhist sutras. Rongton studied and taught at Sangpu Neutok Monastery. He founded Penpo Nalendra Monastery in 1436. +
An important figure in the renaissance of the Rnying ma tradition in Tibet. His collected works in two volumes include the ''Rdzogs pa chen po’i lta sgom'' (''Instructions on Cultivating the View of the Great Perfection'') and a seminal work on sdom gsum (''three codes'') ''Dam tshig mdo rgyas''. He was learned in the older traditions based on earlier translations and in the new traditions that spread after the return of the translators Rin chen bzang po and Rngog Legs pa'i shes rab. Traditionally, he is said to be the recipient of teachings deriving from Heshang Moheyan, Vairocana, and Vimalamitra—important figures of the early dissemination (''snga dar'')— and it is said that upon meeting Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna after his arrival in Tibet, Atiśa considered him a manifestation of his teacher Nag po pa (Kṛṣṇapāda). Rong zom instructed many important figures of the day, including the translator Mar pa, prior to his departure for India. (Source: "Rong zom Chos kyi bzang po." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 720–1. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
"Rinchen Yeshe, an expert on the five works of Maitreya, flourished in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and was primarily a teacher of Tokme Zangpo (1295–1369). He also briefly taught Dölpopa and is mentioned in Butön’s biography as an esteemed colleague." (Adapted from ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 308.) +
Tsele Natsok Rangdrol (Tib. རྩེ་ལེ་སྣ་ཚོགས་རང་གྲོལ་, Wyl. rtse le sna tshogs rang grol) (b. 1608) was born near the border of the Tibetan provinces Kongpo and Dakpo. He was recognized as the immediate reincarnation of Tendzin Dorje (1535-1605?), and also as a reincarnation of Götsangpa, a great master of the Drukpa Kagyü lineage, an emanation of Milarepa. In his youth he studied with the Third Pawo Rinpoche and the famous tertön Jatsön Nyingpo as well as other great teachers of the Kagyü and Nyingma lineages. Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche encouraged the study of his writings, as they are particularly suited to beings of these times. Several of them have been translated into English by Erik Pema Kunsang. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Tsele_Natsok_Rangdrol Source Accessed Feb 27, 2020]) +
An Indian student of Maitrīpa that wrote a commentary on his teacher's ''Sekanirdeśa'' that is preserved in Tibetan translation. +
Indian author of tantric works who was a student of Maitrīpa and was known for a commentary on his teacher's work the ''Tattvadaśaka''. +
In Japanese, “Most Pure”; the monk traditionally recognized as the founder of the Tendaishū in Japan; also known as Dengyō Daishi (Great Master Transmission of the Teachings). Although the exact dates and place of Saichō’s birth remain a matter of debate, he is said to have been born to an immigrant Chinese family in Ōmi province east of Hieizan in 767. At age eleven, Saichō entered the local Kokubunji and studied under the monk Gyōhyō (722-797), a disciple of the émigré Chinese monk Daoxuan (702—766). In 785, Saichō received the full monastic precepts at the monastery of Tōdaiji in Nara, after which he began a solitary retreat in a hermitage on Mt. Hiei. In 788, he built a permanent temple on the summit of Mt. Hiei. After Emperor Kanmu (r. 781-806) moved the capital to Kyōto in 794, the political significance of the Mt. Hiei community and thus Saichō seem to have attracted the attention of the emperor. In 797, Saichō was appointed a court priest (naigubu), and in 802 he was invited to the monastery of Takaosanji to participate in a lecture retreat, where he discussed the writings of the eminent Chinese monk Tiantai Zhiyi on the ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra''. Saichō and his disciple Gishin received permission to travel to China in order to acquire Tiantai texts. In 804, they went to the monastery of Guoqingsi on Mt. Tiantai and studied under Daosui (d.u.) and Xingman (d.u.), disciples of the eminent Chinese Tiantai monk Jingqi Zhanran. Later, they are also known to have received bodhisattva precepts (bosatsukai) from Daosui at Longxingsi. He is also said to have received tantric initiation into the kongōkai and taizōkai (ryōbu) maṇḍalas from Shunxiao (d.u.). After nine and a half months in China, Saichō returned to Japan the next year with numerous texts, which he catalogued in his ''Esshūroku''. Emperor Kanmu, who had been ill, asked Saichō to perform the esoteric rituals that he had brought back from China as a therapeutic measure. Saichō received permission to establish the Tendai sect and successfully petitioned for two Tendai monks to be ordained each year, one for doctrinal study and one to perform esoteric rituals. After the death of Kanmu in 806, little is known of Saichō’s activities. In 810, he delivered a series of lectures at Mt. Hiei on the ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra'', the ''Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra'', and the ''Renwang jing'' ("Scripture for Humane Kings"). In 812, Saichō also constructed a meditation hall known as the Hokkezanmaidō. Later, Saichō is also said to have received kongōkai initiation from Kūkai at the latter’s temple Takaosanji, but their relations soured after a close disciple of Saichō’s left Saichō for Kūkai. Their already tenuous relationship was sundered completely when Saichō requested a tantric initiation from Kūkai, who replied that Saichō would need to study for three years with Kūkai first. Saichō then engaged the eminent Hossōshū (Faxlang zong) monk Tokuitsu (d.u.) in a prolonged debate concerning the buddha-nature and Tendai doctrines, such as original enlightenment. In response to Tokuitsu’s treatises ''Busshōshō'' and ''Chūhengikyō'', Saichō composed his ''Shōgonjikkyō'', ''Hokke kowaku'', and ''Shugo kokkaishō''. Also at this time, Saichō began a prolonged campaign to have an independent Mahāyāna ordination platform established at Mt. Hiei. He argued that the bodhisattva precepts as set forth in the ''Fanwang jing'', traditionally seen as complementary to monastic ordination, should instead replace them. He argued that the Japanese were spiritually mature and therefore could dispense entirely with the hīnayāna monastic precepts and only take the Mahāyāna bodhisattva precepts. His petitions were repeatedly denied, but permission to establish the Mahāyāna ordination platform at Mt. Hiei was granted a week after his death. Before his death Saichō also composed the ''Hokke shūku'' and appointed Gishin as his successor. (Source: "Saichō." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 737. Princeton University Press, 2014.)
An eleventh-century Kashmiri scholar that was the source from which many prominent Tibetan scholars and translators of the day received teachings. Most notably he taught the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' to Ngok Lotsāwa and Tsen Khawoche, which spread in Tibet as the Ngok and Tsen traditions and became the two primary trends that influenced much of the history of the Tibetan exegesis of the treatise. He also helped Ngok translate the text and worked with several other Tibetan translators on works that were later included in the Tibetan canon. +
The present 10th Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche was recognized by H.H. 16th Karmapa, who saw through His undiluted wisdom eye the birthplace, the name of the parents, the year and sign of birth and thus gave clear indications. Nyenpa Rinpoche was born in a family of practitioners; Sangye Lekpa and the mother Karma Tshewang Choden, who resided at Guru Rinpoche’s temple, the Tiger Nest Pharo Tagtsang in Bhutan. He was invited to Rumtek Monastery where he was enthroned by H.H. Karmapa and given the name of Karma Palden Rangjung Thrinle Kunkyab Tenpe Gyaltsen Pal Sangpo. At the age of 5 he started his studies, writing and reading as well as the outer and inner sciences relying on H.H. Karmapa, H.H. Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and other great masters. In particular he received from H.H. the novice and Bodhisattva vows, many empowerments of the highest Yoga Tantra, instructions on Chagchen Da Ser (Moonbeams of Mahamudra), Marig Münsel (Eliminating the Darkness of Ignorance), Chöku Tzubtsug (Pointing the finger at the Dharmakaya) etc. and thus was introduced to the ultimate realisation. He completed 10 years of studies at the Nalanda Institute in Rumtek and obtained the title of an Acharya. Thereafter he was teaching for 3 years at the institute. Nyenpa Rinpoche is one of the most learned Rinpoches in both philosophy and tantric rituals. Presently he lives in his monastery Benchen Phuntsok Dargyeling Kathmandu, Nepal giving teachings to the monks and other disciples. The rest of the time he spends in retreat. (Source: [https://www.benchen.org/en/sangye-nyenpa-rinpoche Benchen Monastery]) +
A prominent 14th century scholar associated with Kadam and Skya schools that was a student of Butön, as well as his biographer. He was also an early teacher of Tsongkhapa and is reported to have given the bodhisattva vow to Rongtön. +
''The following biography is a traditional account of the life of the Fourth Shamarpa Chodrak Yeshe as written on Sharmapa.org.''
The 4th Shamarpa was born in Kangmar in the Treshö province of Kham, eastern Tibet. Wonderous signs were ablaze at his birth, which were variously interpreted by the local monastic communities, according to their own anticipation. Some were of the mind that it could only be the long awaited Karmapa Incarnate, while others were more inclined towards the Shamarpa Incarnate or that of a Mahasiddhi. Seven months had passed, speculations abound; conclusions, there were none. The infant Rinpoche was invited formally to Tara Kangmar Monastery, where a collection of books was laid before him to select. He took none but works by the Karmapa. The indecisive took this to be unmistakably an indication of the Karmapa’s return. Thus the solemn matter of identification was settled arbitrarily on a simple test. From then on, the Shamarpa remained in the monastery. The 6th Karmapa Tongwa Dönden was born the year after. When he was four years of age, he embarked on an extensive Dharma tour through Tibet. In due course, he arrived at the Lhündrup Gön Monastery in the south, not far from Dra-Kangmar, where, all the while, the disciples of the Shamarpa were anxiously waiting for their Guru’s return, without avail. They came to the Karmapa, labourously recalling the passing of their Guru, whose last word was “Dra-Kangmar”, they said. It was to be the name of the place of his next rebirth. The Karmapa reassured them that their Guru had indeed taken rebirth, but in distant Tre-Kangmar. Tre and Dra, an understandable confusion of words for his griefing followers, in time of stress. His now jubilant disciples, planned on an instant return of their Guru to his long awaited monasteries. The Karmapa told them it was not to be so. As the Karmapa, he must himself invite him, in full ceremonial honours, as befitting the return of the Shamarpa.
By the time the Dharma tour had reached the province of Treshö the Karmapa was seven years old. He set up camp near Kangmar, remaining in retreat, while he sent his gifted attendant-monk, to invite the Shamarpa. This learned monk, a man of exceptional realizations was none other than Paljor Döndrup, the 1st Gyaltsab Rinpoche, who was to become a Guru to the Shamarpa. When the Karmapa and the Shamarpa met, it was the renewal of a very close tie, stretching far beyond history. In terms of human relationship, it was to be compared to the joyful reunion of father and son. The Karmapa gave the young Shamarpa the name of Chöji Drakpa Yeshe Pal Zangpo. Returning the Red Crown, he enthroned him.
They had been successively each others Guru up to then. The Karmapa proposed that from then on, they were to propagate the Dharma together, each in a different region of the country, with the Shamarpa remaining in the Kongpo area in the south while the Karmapa himself proceeding towards eastern Kham.
Some years later, they were together again, at Treshö Kangmar. The Shamarpa arrived laden with offerings for the Karmapa; the Karmapa readily imparted to him the Mahamudra, the Six Teachings of Naropa and the numerous instructions of the Kagyü Lineage.
The Shamarpa became renowned as a great scholar and also for being unsparing on himself in practice, whether it was on the teachings received from the Karmapa, from Gyaltsap Rinpoche or from any of the great lamas and scholars, thus setting a challenging example of relentless perseverance.
The 4th Shamarpa went as far as to Bhutan to propagate the Dharma. In southern Bhutan, there remains to this day a monastery built by the Shamarpa. It stands sturdy and almost untouched by the passing years. Apart from it being a shining testamony to the craftsmanship of the period, it is indelibly a mark of his enduring blessings.
In central Tibet, where, at the insistence of the people, he became king for eleven years, ruling the country strictly in accordance with Buddhist principles. However, his first priority was Dharma. As he studied, so he taught and meditated, never neglecting his monastic obligations, thus fully accomplishing the three-fold task of a Holder of the Buddha’s Teachings. ([https://shamarpa.org/history/the-4th-shamarpa-shamar-chokyi-drakpa-yeshe-pal-zangpo-1453-1524/ Source Accessed Mar 4, 2020])
Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen (Tibetan: ཤར་རྫ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་རྒྱལ་མཚན, Wylie: shar rdza bkra shis rgyal mtshan) (1859–1933) or 1935) was a great Dzogchen master of the Bon tradition of Tibet who took not only Bon disciples, but gathered students from all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. According to tradition, Shardza Tashi Gyeltsen famously realized the rainbow body.
Chaoul (2006) opened the discourse of Bon traditions of Trul khor into Western scholarship in English with his thesis from Rice University, which makes reference to writings of Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen, particularly the ''Most Profound Heavenly Storehouse None Other than the Oral Transmission of Trul Khor Energy Control Practices'' (Wylie: ''yang zab nam mkha' mdzod chen las snyan rgyud rtsa rlung 'phrul 'khor'').<br>
([https://commons.tsadra.org/index.php/Special:FormEdit/Person/Shar_rdza_bkra_shis_rgyal_mtshan#tab=BNW Source Accessed Sep 1, 2020]) +
Shenxiu. (J. Jinshū; K. Sinsu 神秀) (606?–706). Chinese Chan master of the Tang dynasty and putative founder of the "Northern school" (Bei zong ) of early Chan Buddhism. Shenxiu was a native of Kaifeng in present-day Henan province. As an extraordinarily tall man with well-defined features, Shenxiu is said to have had a commanding presence. In 625, Shenxiu was ordained at the monastery of Tiangongsi in Luoyang, but little is known of his activities in the first two decades following his ordination. In 651, Shenxiu became a disciple of Hongren (601-674), cofounder of the East Mountain Teachings (Dongshan famen) and the monk later recognized as the fifth patriarch of the Chan school; indeed, by many early accounts, such as the Chuan fabao ji and Lengqie shizi ji, Shenxiu became Hongren's legitimate successor. According to the famous story in the ''Liuzu tanjing'' ("Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch"), however, Shenxiu lost a verse-writing contest to the unlettered Huineng (638-713), whom Hongren then in secret sanctioned as the sixth patriarch. However, it is unclear how long Shenxiu studied with Hongren. One source states that it was for a period of six years, in which case he would have left Hongren's monastery long before Huineng's arrival, making the famous poetry contest impossible. Regardless of the date of his departure, Shenxiu eventually left Hongren's monastery for Mt. Dangyang in Jingzhou (present-day Hubei province), where he remained for over twenty years and attracted many disciples. Shenxiu and his disciples were the subjects of a polemical attack by Heze Shenhui (684-758), who disparaged Shenxiu as representing a mere collateral branch of Bodhidharma's lineage and for promoting what Shenhui called a "gradual" (jian) approach to enlightenment. Shenhui instead promoted a "sudden teaching" (dunjiao), which he claimed derived from a so-called "Southern school" (Nan zong) founded by Huineng, another (and relatively obscure) disciple of Hongren, whom Shenhui claimed was Hongren's authentic successor and the true sixth patriarch (liuzu). Later Chan historians such as Guifeng Zongmi (780–841) began to use the designation "Northern school" (Bei zong) to describe the lineage of Shenxiu and his disciples Yifu (661-736), Puji (651-739), and Xiangmo Zang (d.u.). While Shenhui's characterization of Shenxiu and his supposed "gradualism" is now known to be misleading, subsequent histories of the Chan tradition (see Chuandeng lu) more or less adopted Shenhui's vision of early Chan; thus Huineng, rather than Shenxiu, comes to be considered the bearer of the orthodox Chan transmission. As one mark of Shenxiu's high standing within the Chan tradition of his time, in 700, Shenxiu was invited to the imperial palace by Empress Wu Zetian, where the empress prostrated herself before the nonagenarian monk. She was so impressed with the aged Chan master that she decided to build him a new monastery on Mt. Dangyang named Dumensi. She also gave him the title of state preceptor (guoshi). Upon his death, he was given a state funeral. He is one of only three Buddhist monks whose biography is included in the ''Tang shi'' ("Tang Annals"). This is clearly not the profile of an imposter within the Chan lineage. Shenxiu's teachings are known to have focused on the transcendence of thoughts (linian) and the five expedient means (fangbian; S. upāya); these teachings appear in "Northern school" treatises discovered at Dunhuang, such as the ''Yuanming lun'', ''Guanxin lun'', and ''Dasheng wusheng fangbian men''. Shenxiu was an expert on the ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra'', a text favored by Hongren and the early Chan tradition, and is also thought to have written a substantial commentary on the ''Avataṃsakasūtra''. Despite the uncomplimentary portrayal of the "Northern school" in mainstream Chan materials, it is now recognized that Shenxiu and his disciples actually played a much more important role in the early growth and development of the Chan school than the mature tradition acknowledged. (Source: "Shenxiu." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 800–801. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Lochen Dharmashri (Tib. ལོ་ཆེན་དྷརྨ་ཤྲཱི་, Wyl. lo chen d+harma shrI) aka Ngawang Chöpal Gyatso (Tib. ངག་དབང་ཆོས་དཔལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wyl. ngag dbang chos dpal rgya mtsho) (1654-1717) — one of the greatest scholars of the Nyingma school, whose collected writings fill twenty volumes and include important commentaries on the Guhyagarbha Tantra. He was an emanation of Yudra Nyingpo and the younger brother of Minling Terchen Gyurme Dorje, the founder of Mindroling Monastery. He was tragically killed during the Dzungar war of 1717-8, during which Mindroling was destroyed. [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Lochen_Dharmashri Source Accessed Feb 25, 2020] +
Indian Buddhist philosopher associated particularly with [the] Yogācāra school. His dates are uncertain (leading one scholar to posit three figures with this name), but he is generally placed in the sixth century, although he is said to have been a disciple of both Vasubandhu and Guṇamati. Sthiramati seems to have been primarily based in Valabhī, but may have also studied at Nālandā. He wrote a number of important commentaries on such Yogācāra works as the ''Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra'' and ''Madhyāntavibhāga'' of Maitreyanātha and Vasubandhu’s ''Triṃśikā''. (Source: "Sthiramati." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 859. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Sāramati, a Sankrit rendering of the Chinese name Jianyi, is credited with authorship of the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' in the Chinese tradition. Little is known of this figure outside of Chinese accounts, which also attribute to him another work reportedly translated into Chinese as ''Dasheng fajie wuchabie lun'' and rendered into Sanskrit as the ''Mahāyānadharmadhātunirviśeṣa''. However, neither the name Sāramati nor this latter work are attested to in any Indian sources. Several academics that initially worked on the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' have equated Sāramati with the well known sixth-century Indian scholar Sthiramati, though this assertion has been contested in more recent decades and remains controversial. +
Tibetan Buddhist scholar recognized as the eighth Tai Si tu incarnation, remembered for his wide learning and his editorial work on the Tibetan Buddhist canon. He traveled extensively throughout his life, maintaining strong relationships with the ruling elite of eastern Tibet and the Newar Buddhists of the Kathmandu Valley. Born in the eastern Tibetan region of Sde dge, Chos kyi 'byung gnas was recognized as a reincarnate lama (''sprul sku'') by the eighth Zhwa dmar, from whom he received his first vows. He would go on to study with Kah thog Rigs 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu (1698–1755), from whom he learned about gzhan stong (“other emptiness”). At the age of twenty-one, he accompanied several important Bka' brgyud hierarchs, the Zhwa dmar and the twelfth Karma pa, to Kathmandu, a journey that was to have a profound impact on the young Si tu's life. He returned to eastern Tibet in 1724, where he was received favorably by the king of Sde dge, Bstan pa tshe ring (Tenpa Tsering, 1678–1738). Under the latter's patronage, Chos kyi 'byung gnas founded Dpal spungs monastery in 1727, which became the new seat for the Si tu lineage (they are sometimes called the Dpal spungs si tu). Between the years 1731 and 1733, he undertook the monumental task of editing and correcting a new redaction of the bka' 'gyur section of the Tibetan Buddhist canon, to be published at the printing house of Sde dge. Although in his day Tibetan knowledge of Indian linguistic traditions had waned, Chos kyi 'byung gnas devoted much of his later life to the study of Sanskrit grammar and literature, which he had first studied with Newar paṇḍitas during his time in Kathmandu. He sought out new Sanskrit manuscripts in order to establish more precise translations of Sanskrit works aiready translated in the Tibetan canon; he is esteemed in Tibet for his knowledge of Sanskrit grammar. In addition to his prolific scholarly work, Chos kyi 'byung gnas was an accomplished painter as well as a gifted physician, much sought after by the aristocracy of eastern Tibet. In 1748, he visited Nepal once again, where he translated the ''Svayambhūpurāṇa'', the legends concerning the Svayambhū stūpa, into Tibetan. He was received amicably by the rulers Jayaprakāśamalla (1736–1768) of Kathmandu, Raṇajitamalla (1722–1769) of what is now Bhaktapur, and Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa Śāha, who would unify the Kathmandu Valley under Gorkhali rule several decades later. Chos kyi 'byung gnas' collected writings cover a vast range of subjects including lengthy and detailed diaries and an important history of the Karma bka' brgyud sect coauthored by his disciple Be lo Tshe dbang kun khyab (Belo Tsewang Kunkyap, b. 1718). He is retrospectively identified as an originator of what would become known as Khams ris med movement, which gained momentum in early nineteenth century Sde dge. (Source: "Chos kyi 'byung gnas." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 189. Princeton University Press, 2014)
Chinese monk and putative patriarch of the Pure Land traditions of East Asia. He is said to have become a monk at an early age, after which he devoted himself to the study of the ''Mahāsaṃnipātasūtra''. As his health deteriorated from his intensive studies, Tanluan is said to have resolved to search for a means of attaining immortality. During his search in the south of China, Tanluan purportedly met the Daoist master Tao Hongjing (455–536), who gave him ten rolls of scriptures of the Daoist perfected. Tanluan is then said to have visited Bodhiruci in Luoyang, from whom he received a copy of the ''Guan Wuliangshou jing'' [*''Amitāyurdhyānasūtra'']. Tanluan subsequently abandoned his initial quest for immortality in favor of the teachings of the buddha Amitābha’s pure land. He was later appointed abbot of the monasteries of Dayansi in Bingzhou (present-day Shaanxi province) and Xuanzhongsi in nearby Fenzhou. Tanluan is famous for his commentary on the Wuliangshou jing youpotishe yuansheng ji attributed to Vasubandhu. (Source: "Tanluan." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 893. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Gyalse Tokme Zangpo was a Kadampa master of the fourteenth century based at Ngulchu Monastery where he sat in retreat for twenty years. He had previously served as the abbot of Bodong E for about nine years, from 1326 to 1335. Significant in the transmission of Lojong teachings, his compositions include the famous ''Thirty-seven Practices of the Bodhisattva'', one of the classics of Tibetan buddhist literature. A specialist in tantric Mahākaruṇā, he was a disciple of Butön Rinchen Drup and a teacher of Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö, and is counted as seventy-third in the Lamrim lineage. +
