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Xuanzang [ɕɥɛ̌n.tsâŋ] (Chinese: 玄奘; fl. c. 602 – 664) was a Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator who travelled to India in the seventh century and described the interaction between Chinese Buddhism and Indian Buddhism during the early Tang dynasty.[1][2]
During the journey he visited many sacred Buddhist sites in what are now Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. He was born in what is now Henan province around 602, from boyhood he took to reading religious books, including the Chinese classics and the writings of ancient sages.
While residing in the city of Luoyang (in Henan in Central China), Xuanzang was ordained as a ''śrāmaṇera'' (novice monk) at the age of thirteen. Due to the political and social unrest caused by the fall of the Sui dynasty, he went to Chengdu in Sichuan, where he was ordained as a bhikṣu (full monk) at the age of twenty. He later travelled throughout China in search of sacred books of Buddhism. At length, he came to Chang'an, then under the peaceful rule of Emperor Taizong of Tang, where Xuanzang developed the desire to visit India. He knew about Faxian's visit to India and, like him, was concerned about the incomplete and misinterpreted nature of the Buddhist texts that had reached China.[3]
He became famous for his seventeen-year overland journey to India (including Nalanda), which is recorded in detail in the classic Chinese text ''Great Tang Records on the Western Regions'', which in turn provided the inspiration for the novel ''Journey to the West'' written by Wu Cheng'en during the Ming dynasty, around nine centuries after Xuanzang's death.[4]
During Xuanzang's travels, he studied with many famous Buddhist masters, especially at the famous center of Buddhist learning at Nalanda. When he returned, he brought with him some 657 Sanskrit texts. With the emperor's support, he set up a large translation bureau in Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), drawing students and collaborators from all over East Asia. He is credited with the translation of some 1,330 fascicles of scriptures into Chinese. His strongest personal interest in Buddhism was in the field of Yogācāra (瑜伽行派), or Consciousness-only (唯識).
The force of his own study, translation and commentary of the texts of these traditions initiated the development of the Faxiang school (法相宗) in East Asia. Although the school itself did not thrive for a long time, its theories regarding perception, consciousness, karma, rebirth, etc., found their way into the doctrines of other more successful schools. Xuanzang's closest and most eminent student was Kuiji (窺基) who became recognized as the first patriarch of the Faxiang school. Xuanzang's logic, as described by Kuiji, was often misunderstood by scholars of Chinese Buddhism because they lack the necessary background in Indian logic.[32] Another important disciple was the Korean monk Woncheuk.
Xuanzang was known for his extensive but careful translations of Indian Buddhist texts to Chinese, which have enabled subsequent recoveries of lost Indian Buddhist texts from the translated Chinese copies. He is credited with writing or compiling the ''Cheng Weishi Lun'' as a commentary on these texts. His translation of the Heart Sutra became and remains the standard in all East Asian Buddhist sects; as well, this translation of the Heart Sutra was generally admired within the traditional Chinese gentry and is still widely respected as numerous renowned past and present Chinese calligraphers have penned its texts as their artworks.[33] He also founded the short-lived but influential Faxiang school of Buddhism. Additionally, he was known for recording the events of the reign of the northern Indian emperor, Harsha. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanzang Source Accessed Feb 5, 2020])
====notes====
1. Wriggins, Sally (27 November 2003). The Silk Road Journey With Xuanzang (1 ed.). Washington DC: Westview press (Penguin). ISBN 978-0813365992.<br>
2. Upinder Singh (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education. p. 563. ISBN 9788131716779.<br>
3. Wriggins, Sally (27 November 2003). The Silk Road Journey With Xuanzang. New York: Westview (Penguin). ISBN 978-0813365992.<br>
4. Cao Shibang (2006). "Fact versus Fiction: From Record of the Western Regions to Journey to the West". In Wang Chichhung (ed.). Dust in the Wind: Retracing Dharma Master Xuanzang's Western Pilgrimage. p. 62. Retrieved 2 February 2014.<br>
32. See Eli Franco, "Xuanzang's proof of idealism." Horin 11 (2004): 199-212.<br>
33. "Heart Sutra Buddhism". Vincent's Calligraphy. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
Nobuyoshi Yamabe is Professor of Asian Philosophy at Waseda University. Professor Yamabe specializes in Indian Buddhism, with particular interest in the Yogācāra and Buddhist meditation texts. He is the author of numerous works in both English and Japanese. His articles include "An Shigao as a Precursor of the Yogācāra Tradition," "Nine Similes of Tathāgatagarbha in Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra and the Six Similes of Buddhānusmṛti in Guanfo sanmei hai jing," and "Visionary Repentance and Visionary Ordination in the ''Brahmā Net Sūtra''." +
Kosho Yamamoto was a scholar of Buddhist Studies. He is the author/translator of numerous works, including ''The Udumbara: Tales from the Buddhist Japan'' (1959), ''The Buddha: An Appreciation of His Life and Teaching'' (1961), ''An Introduction to Shin Buddhism'' (1965), ''The Life of the Buddha Through Gandhara Sculptures'', and ''The Kyogyoshinsho, or The 'Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Attainment' '' (1975), among many others. He is perhaps known most for his complete English translation of Dharmakṣema's version of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' (1973-75). In 1967 he traveled to Europe (including Spain, The Netherlands, Germany and the U.K.) to meet with prominent members of the Buddhist community at that time (such as Christmas Humphreys and Maurice Walshe in England). He wrote a book about his observations that same year, entitled ''Buddhism in Europe''. While his translation of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' has been criticized for its various imperfections, his work was indeed historic and pioneering, influencing a generation of scholars who studied the text. +
Philip Boas Yampolsky (October 20, 1920 – July 28, 1996) was an eminent translator and scholar of Zen Buddhism and a former Director of the C. V. Starr East Asian Library of Columbia University. A scholar of Chinese and Japanese religious traditions and a specialist in Zen studies, Yampolsky was known for his translations of canonical Zen writings, which were used as textbooks in both graduate and undergraduate Asian studies courses in American universities. His style was regarded as highly analytical.
Yampolsky’s translations included the ''Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch'' (1967) and ''The Zen Master Hakuin: Selected Writings'' (1971), both published by Columbia University Press. Yampolsky's last books before his death, ''Selected Writings of Nichiren'' and ''Letters of Nichiren'', translated and elucidated the writings of the 13th century Buddhist intellectual and reformer whose thoughts inspired religious and political movements that remain active in Japan to this day. These books were published by Columbia University Press in 1990 and 1996.
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Yampolsky Source Accessed July 14, 2021]) +
Yamāri (also transliterated as Jamāri; ca. 1000–1060) was an eminent eleventh-century Buddhist scholar and a major representative of the Buddhist epistemology school (Pramāṇavāda). He is renowned as the author of the ''Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkāranibandha'' (also known as ''Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkāraṭīkā Supariśuddhā'', "The Thoroughly Purified Commentary"), which is the second and last major commentary on Prajñākaragupta's ''Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkāra''. Yamāri's work applies Buddhist logic to fundamental religious questions including the reliability of the Buddha, the existence of God, karma and rebirth, and the path to liberation. His commentary was long considered lost in its original Sanskrit and was known only through Tibetan translation until a Sanskrit manuscript was recently discovered preserved in Lhasa, with a photocopy held at the China Tibetology Research Center (CTRC) in Beijing.
Source: Franco, Eli, Hiroko Matsuoka, Junjie Chu, and Xuezhu Li, eds. ''Yamāri's Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkāranibandha. Pramāṇasiddhi Chapter: Diplomatic Edition with Critical Notes. Part 1: Folios 3–107 on Pramāṇavārttikālaṅkāra on Pramāṇavārttika 2.1–50''. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2025. +
The Venerable Yangthang Tulku Rinpoche, was born into the Yangthang clan in Sikkim. He was recognized as the incarnation of Terton Dorje Dechen Lingpa of Dhomang Monastery in Tibet where he took his seat to guide sentient beings. In 1959, when the Communist Chinese invaded Tibet, the Ven. Yangthang Rinpoche fled Dhomang. He was later captured by the Communists, and imprisoned for twenty-two years. Following the death of Mao Tse Tung he was released. He returned to Dhomang to find his monastery completely dismantled. He then obtained permission to return to Sikkim and continued his Dharma activities. Yangthang Rinpoche is currently known as one of the principle lineage holders of the Nyingmapa Lineage and is widely recognized for the quality and depth of his realization, the power of his attainment, and the purity of his transmissions. In recent times he has come to the United States several times and often travels to Taiwan where he has many devoted students. ([http://vimalatreasures.org/yangthang.aspx Source Accessed April 4, 2019])
[https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/yangthang-rinpoche/ Lotsawa House Master Series for Yangthang Rinpoche]
[https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Yangthang_Rinpoche Rigpa Wiki Entry for Yangthang Rinpoche] +
Shaoyong Ye is an Associate Professor in the Department of South Asian Studies, School of Foreign Languages, at Peking University, Beijing, China. He received his PhD in Indian Ancient Languages and Literature (2005−2009) from the Department of Oriental Languages and Cultures, Peking University, his MA in Indian Ancient Language and Literature (2002−2005) from the same dept., and holds a BA in Traditional Chinese Painting (1998−2002) from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China. He is the author of several articles on Sanskrit textual studies and the author of two monographs: ''Yuktiṣaṣtikākārikā: Editions of the Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese Versions, with commentary and a Modern Chinese Translation'' (with Xuezhu Li) (Zhongxi, 2014) and ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and Buddhāpalita's Commentary: A Philological Study on the Basis of Newly Identified Sanskrit Manuscripts'' (2011). +
Yijing. (J. Gijō; K. Ǔijǒng 義淨) (635-713). Chinese Buddhist monk and pilgrim. Ordained at the age of twenty, Yijing dreamed of following in the footsteps of the renowned pilgrims Faxian and Xuanzang. He eventually set out for India in 671 via the Southern maritime route. After visiting the major Indian pilgrimage sites (see mahāsthāna), Yijing traveled to the monastic university at Nālandā, where he remained for the next ten years. On his return trip to China, Yijing stopped at Śrīvijaya (Palembang in Sumatra) to continue his studies. He praised the monks there for their high level of learning, describing them as primarily Hīnayāna in affiliation. It was in Śrīvijaya that he began to compose his record of his travels, the ''Nanhai jigui neifa zhuan'', which remains an important source on the practice of Buddhism in the many regions where he traveled and for understanding the various nikāya affiliations of the period. It was also during his time in Śrīvijaya that Yijing began his translation of the massive ''Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya''. When he ran out of paper and ink, he made a brief trip back to China in 689 to retrieve more writing supplies and then returned to Śrīvijaya. After a thirty=year sojourn overseas, Yijing finally returned to China in 695 with some four hundred Sanskrit texts and three hundred grains of the Buddha's relics (''śarīra''). Yijing was warmly welcomed in the capital of Luoyang by Empress Wu Zetian, who appointed him to the monastery of Foshoujisi. Later, from 695 to 699, Yijing participated in Śikṣānanda's new translation of the ''Avataṃsakasūtra'' and devoted the next decade or so to the translation of the scriptures that he had brought back with him from India. In addition to the ''Mūlasarvāstivāda vinaya'', his translations also include several important Yogācāra treatises and tantras. His writings also include a collection of the biographies of renowned East Asian Buddhist pilgrims to India, the Da Tang xiyu qiufa gaoseng zhuan. (Source: "Yijing." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 1028. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
(Master) Yin Shun (印順導師, Yìnshùn Dǎoshī) (5 April 1906 – 4 June 2005) was a well-known Buddhist monk and scholar in the tradition of Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhism. Though he was particularly trained in the Three Treatise school, he was an advocate of the One Vehicle (or Ekayāna) as the ultimate and universal perspective of Buddhahood for all, and as such included all schools of Buddha Dharma, including the Five Vehicles and the Three Vehicles, within the meaning of the Mahāyāna as the One Vehicle. Yin Shun's research helped bring forth the ideal of "Humanistic" (human-realm) Buddhism, a leading mainstream Buddhist philosophy studied and upheld by many practitioners. His work also regenerated the interests in the long-ignored Āgamas among Chinese Buddhist society and his ideas are echoed by Theravadin teacher Bhikkhu Bodhi. As a contemporary master, he was most popularly known as the mentor of Cheng Yen (Pinyin: Zhengyan), the founder of Tzu-Chi Buddhist Foundation, as well as the teacher to several other prominent monastics.<br> Although Master Yin Shun is closely associated with the Tzu-Chi Foundation, he has had a decisive influence on others of the new generation of Buddhist monks such as Sheng-yen of Dharma Drum Mountain and Hsing Yun of Fo Guang Shan, who are active in humanitarian aid, social work, environmentalism and academic research as well. He is considered to be one of the most influential figures of Taiwanese Buddhism, having influenced many of the leading Buddhist figures in modern Taiwan. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_Shun Source Accessed July 10, 2020]) +
Yongdzin Ayang Thubten Rinpoche (1899-1966) was one of the tutors to the present Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang Rinpoche (7th). He is the author of ''Rays of Sunlight'', a commentary on Zhedang Dorje’s ''The Heart of the Mahayana Teachings''. +
Yúnmén Wényǎn (Chinese: 雲門文偃; Pinyin: Yúnmén Wényǎn; Romanji: Ummon Bun'en; 862 or 864 – 949 CE), was a major Chinese Chan master in Tang-era China. He was a dharma-heir of Xuefeng Yicun.
Yunmen founded the Yunmen school, one of the five major schools of Chán (Chinese Zen). The name is derived from Yunmen monastery of Shaozhou where Yunmen was abbot. The Yunmen school flourished into the early Song Dynasty, with particular influence on the upper classes, and eventually culminating in the compilation and writing of the ''Blue Cliff Record''.
The school would eventually be absorbed by the Linji school later in the Song. The lineage still lives on to this day through Chan Master Hsu Yun (1840–1959). ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunmen_Wenyan Source Accessed July 15, 2021]) +
Dan Smyer Yü is Kuige Professor of Ethnology, School of Ethnology and Sociology and the National Centre for Borderlands Ethnic Studies in Southwest China at Yunnan University. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California at Davis in 2006. Prior to his current faculty appointment, he was the Founding Director of the Center for Trans-Himalayan Studies at Yunnan Minzu University, a Senior Researcher/Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, a core member of the Transregional Research Network (CETREN) at University of Göttingen, and a New Millennium Scholar at Minzu University of China, Beijing. He is the author of ''The Spread of Tibetan Buddhism in China: Charisma, Money, Enlightenment'' (Routledge 2011) and ''Mindscaping the Landscape of Tibet: Place, Memorability, Eco-aesthetics'' (De Gruyter 2015), and the co-editor of ''Religion and Ecological Sustainability in China'' (Routledge 2014) and ''Trans-Himalayan Borderlands: Livelihoods, Territorialities, Modernities'' (Amsterdam University Press 2017). His research interests are religion and ecology, environmental humanities, trans-Himalayan studies, sacred landscapes, climate change and mass migration, modern Tibetan studies, and comparative studies of Eurasian secularisms. His externally funded projects are "Trans-Himalayan Environmental Humanities" (ICIMOD), "India-China Corridor Project" (the Swedish Research Council), "Cultural and Ecological Diversity of the Trans-Himalayas in the Context of China’s Belt and Road Initiative" (National Social Sciences Foundation of China), and "Sustainable Lives in Scarred Landscapes: Heritage, Environment, and Violence in the China-Myanmar Jade Trade" (The British Academy Sustainable Development Program). ([https://www.issrnc.org/2020/06/04/meet-issrnc-board-member-dan-smyer-yu/ Source Accessed Aug 10, 2020]) +
Ngawang Zangpo (Hugh Leslie Thompson) completed two three-year retreats under the direction of the late Kalu Rinpoche at Kagyu Ling, France, 1976–1980 and 1980–1983, and he served as translator for Kalu Rinpoche from 1985–1989. He is the founding resident lama of a Buddhist center in Taipei, Taiwan (1985), a founding member of Kalu Rinpoche's International Translation Group (1987), and he was a Tsadra Foundation Fellow from 2000 to 2018. He is presently working on a number of translation projects that were initiated under the direction of Chadral Rinpoche and Lama Tharchin Rinpoche. He has also contributed to the Kalu Rinpoche Translation Group's books ''Myriad Worlds'' and ''Buddhist Ethics''. [http://www.tsadra.org/translators/hugh-thompson-ngawang-zangpo/ Source: Tsadra.org] and [https://www.shambhala.com/authors/u-z/ngawang-zangpo.html Shambhala Publications]
'''Completed Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Fellow:'''
*''Sacred Ground: Jamgön Kongtrul on Pilgrimage and Sacred Geography'', Jamgön Kongtrul
*''Guru Rinpoche: His Life and Times'', Taranatha, Jamgön Kongtrul, and Sera Khandro
*''Timeless Rapture: Inspired Verse of the Shangpa Masters'', compiled by Jamgön Kongtrul
*''The Treasury of Knowledge: Books II, III, and IV; Buddhism’s Journey to Tibet'', Jamgön Kongtrul
*''A History of Buddhism in India and Its Spread to Tibet'', Butön Rinchen Drup
*''Refining Our Perception of Reality'', Sera Khandro
*''The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to Tantra, Books 1 to 10, Foundations of the Buddhist Path'', Choying Tobden Dorje
*''The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to Tantra, Book 14, An Overview of Buddhist Tantra'', Choying Tobden Dorje
'''Previously Published Translations:'''
*''Jamgön Kongtrul’s Retreat Manual'', Jamgön Kongtrul
*''Enthronement: Recognition of the Reincarnate Masters of Tibet'', Jamgön Kongtrul +
Dr. Jarosław Zapart is an Indologist and buddhologist whose research interests revolve mainly around early literature and philosophy of Mahāyāna Buddhism. He is especially concerned with origins of the tathāgatagarbha concept, its evolution in Indian sources and its earliest history in China. His second field of interest encompasses the Hindi Sant thought & literature as well as the North Indian Bhakti. He is also involved in the study of Indian aesthetics and poetics and the aesthetics of Indian & Western classical music. ([https://jagiellonian.academia.edu/JaroslawZapart Adapted from Source April 16, 2020]) +
Rinpoche is popularly known for his approachable teaching style, strong humor and teachings based on a long lineage of great lamas. His own gurus included the most celebrated of Gelug teachers: His Holiness Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, His Holiness Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, Venerable Geshe Thupten Wanggyel, His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, Venerable Lati Rinpoche, Venerable Tara Tulku Rinpoche and Venerable Khalkha Jetsun Dampa Rinpoche.
Rinpoche is spiritual director of many temples, meditation centres and retreat centres in Australia, the United States and Canada. He was first invited to teach in Australia by Lama Thubten Yeshe in 1976. ([https://buddhaweekly.com/buddha-nature-important-video-teaching-venerable-zasep-rinpoche-mantra-chanting-yoko-dharma/ Source Accessed March 21, 2019])
The Venerable Acharya Zasep Tulku Rinpoche, a highly realized and internationally respected teacher of Gelugpa Buddhism, was born in Tibet in the province of Kham in 1948. Zasep Tulku Rinpoche was recognized as the 13th incarnation of Lama Konchog Tenzin of Zuru Monastery. In 1959, during the Chinese invasion, he escaped from Tibet and continued his education for sixteen years in India under the tutelage of many of the greatest teachers of Mahayana Buddhism. In 1975, Zasep Rinpoche left India to study in Thailand where he joined the monks of a forest monastery. For eighteen months he studied and practiced with them. He then traveled to Australia and translated for Tibetan speaking Lamas for a number of years.
Since 1976 he has taught western Dharma students in Australia, Canada, and the United States and has developed Dharma centres in each of these countries. Rinpoche regularly visits these centres and offers extensive teachings, initiations and retreats which his many students enthusiastically attend. Zasep Rinpoche now resides in Nelson, BC, close to the Gaden for the West retreat centre (Gaden Tashi Choling Retreat).
In 1999, Rinpoche and his students created the Gaden for the West umbrella organization to more effectively support and nourish the study of Gelugpa Tibetan Buddhism in the West. He supports a number of Buddhist projects in Tibet, Mongolia and India through the non-profit society Gaden Relief. Proceeds from sales/donations on this site will be used to support the website, and the projects of Gaden for the West.
([http://www.zaseptulku.com/ Source Accessed March 21, 2019])
Tudeng Nima is the 2nd Alak Zenkar Rinpoche. The 1st Alak Zenkar Rinpoche, Pema Ngödrup Rolpai Dorjé, lived from 1881 to 1943. For a short biography, see Tulku Thondup, ''Masters of Meditation and Miracles'' (Shambhala Publications, 1996), 275–77.
Tudeng Nima Rinpoche is the Director of the Paltseg Tibetan Rare Texts Research Center, TBRC board member, visiting scholar at the University of Virginia, and board member of the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture. In 2000-2003, he was a Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University in the East Asian Institute. From 2004 to the present he has been a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia. Tudeng Nima Rinpoche has written many papers for which he has received numerous awards. He has rescued and reproduced thousands of important and rare Tibetan texts. He has made outstanding contributions to Tibetan culture and education and is renowned as one of the world’s leading Tibetan Buddhist scholars. ([https://www.tbrc.org/#!footer/about/board Adapted from BDRC September 17, 2020])
[http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Alak_Zenkar_Rinpoche Rigpa Wiki Bio] +
Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal [1594-1651], was an immediate reincarnation of the 4th Gyalwang Drukchen ('brug chen), the Omniscient Pema Karpo (kun mkhyen padma dkar po) and the 18th throne-holder and "hereditary prince" of Ralung (rwa lung). Like all previous Ralung throne holders, he was born into the branch of the noble Gya (rgya) family desended from Lha Nyen and Lha Bum who were the elder brothers of Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje the founder of the Drukpa Kagyu and the first Drukchen. This branch of the Gya clan produced all the Drukpa heirarchs and controlled the the main branch the Drukpa Kagyu sect centered at Ralung and Nam Druk (gnam ’brug) monasteries from the time of Tsangpa Gyare up until the 14th Ralung Heirarch and Second Drukchen Gyalwang Kunga Paljor (1428-1476). Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal's father was Drukpa Mipham Tenpai Nyima (yab chen mi pham bstan pa'i nyi ma) [1567-1619] the son of Drukpa Mipham Chögyal, and his mother was Sonam Pelkyi Butri (bsod nams dpal gyi bu khrid), daughter of the ruler (sde pa) of skyid shod.
Although he was enthroned as the 18th Abbot of Ralung (rwa lung), the seat of the hereditary lineage and first 'brug pa monastery to be established in Tibet, Ngawang Namgyal was compelled to flee Tibet in 1616 in order to escape the persecution of the powerful king of Tsang, a supporter of the Karma Kagyu, who recognized Pagsam Wangpo (dpag bsam dbang po) (1592-1641) [his own nephew and an illegitimate son of the 'phyongs rgyas myriarch], as the 5th Drukchen incarnation.
Following a prophecy of Padmasambhava in the gsang ba'i nor bu’i thig le’i rgyud (''lho rong lho sgo bas mthar bsti gnas tshol // de ltar byas na bod yul mi lo bdun // bsgom bsgrub byas las gnas der zhag bdun sgrub thag nye //'') and a prophecy of Pema Karpo, Ngawang Namgyal left for western Bhutan, where the Drukpa Kagyu ('brug pa bka' brgyud) school had already been established, and founded the Cheri Monastery in 1619 at the north end of the Thimphu valley. In 1629, he founded his first fortress, Simtokha Dzong, near Thimphu at a place where control could be exerted over traffic between the Paro valley to the west and Trongsa valley to the east.
Over his 35 years as the temporal and spiritual ruler of Bhutan, Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal repelled a series of Tibetan invasions and overcame internal opposition to unify the country for the first time in its history.
On seven occasions between 1616 and 1679, Tibet launched war against Bhutan, first under the Tsangpa king and, after 1642, under the central Gaden Photang ([dga' ldan pho brang]) government newly established by 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobzang Gyatso (ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho) [1617-1682].
So important was the Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal to the stability of Bhutan during this period that his death was kept secret. In 1651 his closest aids announced that Shabdrung had entered strict retreat - and they continued to maintain that he was "in retreat" like this for more than 50 years issuing edicts in his name until 1705. ([https://rywiki.tsadra.org/index.php/Shabdrung_Ngawang_Namgyal Source Accessed Jan 27, 2023])
Shangton Tenpa Gyatso was born in Tseshung (rtse gzhung) in 1825. His father's name was Nyingkar bum and his mother was Tsering Drolma. He entered Bkra-shis-'khyil monastery in 1837. He later took the Tshogs-bsags rab-'byams-pa degree in 1845. He went to Pe-cin to become the yongs 'dzin of the Thu'u-bkwan in 1854. His collected works (gsung 'bum) comprise four volumes (79 sections). His Collected Works can be found [https://archive.org/details/bdrc-W29232/mode/2up here]. ([https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P257 Adapted from Source Sep 1 2020])
The Geluk polymath Shangton Tenpa Gyatso was "someone who clearly upheld his own sect's theories and practices (''drubta'') and yet did not oppose, look down upon, or insult other sects," thus personifying this contemporary definition of rimé.
. . . Born into a family of humble means, Shangton eventually joined the ranks of prominent Geluk monastic literati while also becoming an accomplished severance (''chö'') practitioner. Shangton was born in the village of Khotse, one of the spiritual communities surrounding the large monastic complex of Labrang Tashikhyil in Amdo. At age seven, he took his initiate vows and received the name Konchok Thapkhe—a name that would stay with him long after his death, most commonly in the form Akhu Thapkhe ("Monk Thapkhe"). At age thirteen, he took up study at Labrang Tashikhyil, where he quickly excelled. He received an elite education in Buddhist dialectics from the foremost nineteenth-century luminaries of Labrang, but he never studied at any of the "three great seats of learning" in Lhasa (Drepung, Sera, and Ganden). His choice reflected a growing trend among accomplished Geluk scholars to study exclusively in Amdo, a pattern that continued into the twentieth century, as exemplified by some
of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama's teachers. At age twenty-one, Shangton took full monastic vows and eventually earned the scholastic degrees of ''rabjampa'' and ''kachuwa''. His colleagues repeatedly recognized Shangton for his erudition, appointing him as tutor to important incarnate lamas and Geluk hierarchs. While Shangton joined the ranks of the elite Geluk literati in Amdo, he also remained a devout and open-minded practitioner. For example, he received severance instructions at age sixty-five from a female practitioner named Gungru Khandroma. He later authored her biography, making public his reverence for her. (Adapted from "Dictums for Developing Virtue" by Gedun Rabsal and Nicole Willock, in ''A Gathering of Brilliant Moons'', 84)
Zhàozhōu Cōngshěn (Chinese: 趙州從諗; Wade-Giles: Chao-chou Ts'ung-shen; Japanese: Jōshū Jūshin) (778–897) was a Chán (Zen) Buddhist master especially known for his "paradoxical statements and strange deeds".
Zhaozhou became ordained as a monk at an early age. At the age of 18, he met Nánquán Pǔyuàn (南泉普願 748–835; J: Nansen Fugan), a successor of Mǎzǔ Dàoyī (709–788; J. Baso Do-itsu), and eventually received the Dharma from him. When Nanquan asked Zhaozhou the koan "What is the Way?", the two had a dialogue, at the height of which Zhaozhou attained enlightenment. Zhaozhou continued to practice under Nanquan until the latter's death.
Subsequently, Zhaozhou began to travel throughout China, visiting the prominent Chan masters of the time before finally, at the age of eighty, settling in Guānyīnyuàn (觀音院), a ruined temple in northern China. There, for the next 40 years, he taught a small group of monks.
Zhaozhou is sometimes touted as the greatest Chan master of Tang dynasty China during a time when its hegemony was disintegrating as more and more regional military governors (jiédùshǐ) began to assert their power. Zhaozhou's lineage died out quickly due to the many wars and frequent purges of Buddhism in China at the time, and cannot be documented beyond the year 1000.
Many koans in both the ''Blue Cliff Record'' and ''The Gateless Gate'' concern Zhaozhou, with twelve cases in the former and five in the latter being attributed to him. He is, however, probably best known for the first koan in ''The Gateless Gate'':
A monk asked Chao-chou, "Has the dog Buddha-nature or not?" Chao-chou said, "Wu."
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhaozhou_Congshen Source Accessed July, 15, 2021]) +
A remarkable master who lived at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. He wrote ''The Great Medicine That Conquers Clinging to the Notion of Reality'' (''Byang chub kyi sems bsgom pa'i rim pa bdag 'dzin 'joms pa'i sman chen''). He was a disciple of the greatest luminaries of the nineteenth century, including Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye, and Lama Mipam Rinpoche. +
