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An important master of the Dakpo Kagyu tradition. He was a student of the Seventh Karmapa and a teacher to the Eighth Karmapa and the Second Pawo Rinpoche. An immanent scholar, he wrote works on both sūtra and tantra, as well as an acclaimed commentary on the three cycles of ''doha'' of the famed Indian master Saraha. +
From his very recognition and enthronement as the Fifteenth Karmapa, Khakhyab Dorje continued his previous incarnation’s ties to the Rimé Movement of eastern Tibet. Khakhyab Dorje was identified by a group of lamas that included two of the main figures driving the movement: Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820–1892) and Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye. From an early age, Khakhyab Dorje directed his energies to his education, seeking out the most learned teachers and applying himself to his studies with great results. At the age of 15, he traveled from Tsurphu to Palpung Monastery to meet Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye, from whom he received the entire Kagyu transmission and Lodrö Thaye’s own vast collection known as the Five Treasuries. From there, the Fifteenth Karmapa began traveling across eastern Tibet seeking out other transmissions and teachers—Sakya, Nyingma, Drukpa Kagyu, Shangpa Kagyu and his own Karma Kagyu. In this way, Khakhyab Dorje fully embodied the spirit of inclusiveness and openness that characterized the Rimé movement. ([https://karmapafoundation.eu/karmapas/15th-karmapa/ Source Accessed Sept 8, 2020]) +
A renowned Tibetan master recognized as the first in the lineage of Karma pa incarnations and early founder of the Karma bka' brgyud sect of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in the Tre shod region of eastern Tibet and at the age of sixteen was ordained by a monk of the Bka' gdams sect and received tantric instruction from a disciple of Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna. He went on to study Madhyamaka and the Kālacakratantra with some of the leading scholars of the day. At the age of thirty, Dus gsum mkhyen pa met his principal guru, Sgam po pa B sod nams rin chen, from whom he received many teachings, including so-called “heat yoga” (''gtum mo''; see ''candālī''). He also studied with Mi la ras pa’s renowned disciple Ras chung pa. He devoted himself to the teachings that would become the hallmark of the Bka' brgyud, such as the six yogas of Nāropa and mahāmudra, but he also received teachings from a number of Bka' gdams and Sa skya masters. He went on to found three important Bka' brgyud monasteries: Kam po gnas nang in 1164, Karma dgon in 1184, both in eastern Tibet, and Mtshur phu northwest of Lha sa in 1187. The latter became a powerful central-Tibetan institution as the primary seat of the Karma pas up to 1959. It is said that at the age of sixteen Dus gsum mkhyen pa received a hat woven from the hair of one hundred thousand ḍākinīs. This hat has been passed down to subsequent Karma pas, and seen in the so-called “black hat ceremony” (''zhwa nag''). (Source: "Dus gsum mkhyen pa." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 274–5. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
The Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, was a prominent Karma Kagyu hierarch who also held Nyingma and Chod lineages. He was likely the first man to carry the title of Karmapa, following his identification by Orgyenpa Rinchen Pal as the reincarnation of Karma Pakshi, whom Orgyenpa posthumously identified as the reincarnation of Dusum Khyenpa. He spent much of his life traveling across Tibet and made two visits to the Yuan court in China. +
During the lifetime of the Seventh Karmapa, the Great Encampment of the Karmapas expanded greatly, earning him the epithet “Chödrak Gyatso of the Great Encampment.” Chödrak Gyatso created the practice of holding massive prayer festivals on the major Buddhist holidays, establishing the precedent for today’s Kagyu Monlam Chenno.
The widely learned Chödrak Gyatso introduced a formal study institute (''shedra'') into the Great Encampment itself, and similarly created a shedra at Tsurphu Monastery. An accomplished scholar, the Seventh Karmapa authored a number of influential commentaries on Indian philosophical treatises. His text on epistemology, the multi-volume ''Ocean of Reasoning'', remains one of his most important works, alongside his commentary on the ''Abhisamayalaṅkāra'', the ''Lamp of the Three Worlds''.
While these formed his major deeds, Chödrak Gyatso’s varied activities to benefit beings also included bridge construction, the resolution of factional disputes and protection of animals. As had been the case in the Great Encampment since its inception, no meat whatsoever was consumed—or even allowed within the camp. ([https://karmapafoundation.eu/karmapas/7th-karmapa/ Source Accessed July 28, 2020]) +
The eighth member of the incarnation lineage of the Karmapas, Mikyö Dorje, was a prolific scholar and an acclaimed artist, often credited with the development of the Karma Gadri style of painting. Though he only lived into his mid-40's his contributions to the Karma Kagyu and Tibetan tradition, in general, were immense. His collected works are said to have originally filled thirty volumes and he is widely held to be one of the most significant of the Karmapa incarnations. +
As predicted by the Eighth Karmapa, the Ninth was born in the Treshö region of eastern Tibet. He was heard reciting mantras in the womb during pregnancy and he, too, sat cross-legged for three days soon after birth and declared he was the Karmapa.<br> In accordance to the prediction letter left by the Eighth Karmapa, he was soon recognized by the Tai Situpa Chökyi Gocha, who was staying not far away, and by the Sharmapa Konchok Yenlak. A year later, Shamarpa enthroned him at the age of six and gave him extensive teachings.<br> Once Wangchuk Dorje had received the complete Kagyu transmission, he began to teach throughout Tibet, traveling in a monastic camp, which strictly emphasized meditation practice. Wangchuk Dorje did not visit China. He gave many teachings and restored monasteries and temples wherever he went.<br> Like the Eighth Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje was also a creative author and wrote many condensed commentaries on sutras and tantras, including three mahamudra treatises: ''The Ocean of Definitive Meaning'', ''Dispelling the Darkness of Ignorance'', and ''Pointing Out the Dharmakaya''. These treatises have played a major role in Tibet for the teaching and transmission of mahamudra. ([https://kagyuoffice.org/kagyu-lineage/the-golden-rosary/289-2/ Source Accessed Jul 29, 2020]) +
John P. Keenan is Professor Emeritus of Religion at Middlebury College and vicar of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church in Scarborough, Maine. He has published translations and studies in Yogacara Buddhism, and has employed Mahayana Buddhist philosophy in works including ''The Meaning of Christ: A Mahayana Theology'' and ''The Letter of James: Everyday Practice for Everyday Christians''. ([https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/john-keenan/ Source Accessed Jul 22, 2020]) +
Khenpo Chöying Dorje was born a student of the Khyentse lineage. His teacher was late Khenchen Kunga Wangchuk and he is a student of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche. Khenpo joined Dzongsar Institute in 1992 and was granted many degrees over the years: in 1998 he was granted the Shastra Degree in Buddhism (equivalent to Bachelor’s Degree) and in 2001 the Archaya title (MA). He received his Khenpo title in 2002 and his Khenpo Degree (PhD) in 2004. Khenpo served as assistant principal of the shedra from 2008 to 2012, and Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche appointed him head principal of Dzongsar Institute for the 2013 to 2016 term. Khenpo Chöying Dorje is known not only for his scholarship but also for his kind and compassionate heart. He teaches in America, Asia, Australia and Europe and always strives to make the teachings understandable and practically applicable. +
Khenchen Namdrol Tsering (Tib. མཁན་ཆེན་རྣམ་གྲོལ་ཚེ་རིང་, Wyl. mkhan chen rnam grol tshe ring) (b. 1953) is one of the leading khenpos in the Nyingma tradition and is universally acknowledged as an expert on the Guhyagarbha Tantra and its various commentaries. As a khenchen, he is one of three most senior khenpos of Namdroling Monastery and is also one of the foremost disciples of Khenpo Jikme Phuntsok. He oversees Rigpa Shedra East in Pharping, Nepal. +
72nd abbot of Drepung Gomang Monastery, Geshe Ngawang Nyima was born on 18th July, 1907 in Davatai, Buryatia (today's Republic of Buryatia under Russian Federation). His parents, father Tsedup Dorje and mother Tsekyima, were devoted Buddhists. It is said that on the day of his birth, Geshe Lharamba Minyak Lobsang Yonten from Drepung Loseling visited the house of his parents. Later, Lobsang Yonten became the abbot of Loseling College.
Geshe Ngawang Nyima entered the door to Dharma in Shulutuiskii Datsan (Aginskii Datsan) and received vows of Barma Ravjung and novice vows there. Until the age of nine he learnt to read and write in Mongolian and Tibetan languages. Then he memorized various prayers and started to study Buddhist logic. At that time Russia was in the process of Communist revolution and he had to study communist theory at his Monastery.
In 1923 he left Buryatia secretly for Tibet and the next year he arrived Lhasa, through Ulaanbaatar. In Lhasa he entered Drepung Gomang Monastic College, and continued his Buddhist studies. Drepung was traditionally the biggest monastery in Tibet and was established in 1416 by Jamyang Choije Tashi Palden, a disciple of Je Tsongkhapa. he lived in Drepung until 1958.
Despite many difficulties, such as lack of financial means and not being able to return home to arrange more support due to the political situations, he studied very hard for sixteen years. Often he would have nothing except the clothes he wore and could not even afford offerings to his altar. In 1938 he received the degree of Geshe Rabjim and came to be known among other Geshes for his erudition in classical Buddhist scriptures. He started receiving students to study under his guidance. Geshe Ngawang Nyima received oral transmissions of Kangyur and collected writings of Je Tsongkhapa, his spiritual sons, and many other eminent masters such as the ones from Kangsar Dorjechang. Agwan Nima spent years in meditation, and went on pilgrimage to India for three times.
In 1960, at the request of the Dalai Lama of Tibet, he took a teacher's post at Sanskrit University in Varanasi, India. He worked there for seven years. While at Sanskrit University, he wrote in Tibetan a book on Buddhist history, titled "Choijung Lungrig Dronme". He also published a collection of biographies of over two hundred scholars and yogis from India, Tibet and Mongolia.
In 1967, again following the request of the fourteenth the Dalai Lama, he went to Laiden, Holland to become a teacher at an Institute. He stayed there for six years writing five volumes on Buddhist philosophy until his retirement from the institute in 1972. Then he traveled to Switzerland where he wrote eight more volumes on Buddhist philosophy.
In 1977 he was elected as Abbot of Drepung Gomag Monastic College by the monastic community and in 1978 by the order of the Dalai Lama he became the abbot. He stayed in this position until 1980. At the age of 73 years handed down his position and went to Switzerland for vacasion during which he wrote his autobiography. A year later, he came back to India where many students studied under his guidance. He taught there until the age of 81. In 1990, his health condition became unwell . For three days he was bedridden and then after several days in meditative equipoise of Clear Light, on November 24th, he left this world. ([https://www.drepunggomang.org/monastery-s-abbots Source Accessed October 21, 2019])
Khosla was a graduate student at the University of Toronto specializing in Tathāgatagarbha Doctrine. +
Zen Master Bon Soeng, Jeff Kitzes, began practicing Zen in 1975 and became a student of Zen Master Seung Sahn in 1979. He received inka, or permission to teach in 1992 and was given dharma transmission by Zen Master Seung Sahn in 2001. Zen Master Bon Soeng is also a licensed psychotherapist in private practice integrating Zen, Buddhism, and Western Psychotherapy. He has served as the guiding teacher of Empty Gate Zen Center in Berkeley, California since 1992. ([https://www.kwanumzenonline.org/blog/bon-soeng Source Accessed July 17, 2020]) +
Also known as Klong chen pa (Longchenpa). An esteemed master and scholar of the Rnying ma sect of Tibetan Buddhism known especially for his promulgation of rdogs chen. Klong chen pa is believed to be the direct reincarnation of Padma las 'brel rtsal, who revealed the ''Rdzogs chen snying thig'', and also of Padma gsal, who first received those teachings from the Indian master Padmasambhava. Born in the central region of G.yo ru (Yoru), he received ordination at the age of twelve. At nineteen, he entered Gsang phu ne'u thog monastery where he engaged in a wide range of studies, including philosophy, numerous systems of sūtra and tantra, and the traditional Buddhist sciences, including grammar and poetics. Having trained under masters as diverse as the abbots of Gsang phu ne'u thog and the third Karma pa, Rang 'byung rdo rje, he achieved great scholarly mastery of numerous traditions, including the Rnying ma, Sa skya, and Bka' brgyud sects. However, Klong chen pa quickly became disillusioned at the arrogance and pretention of many scholars of his day, and in his mid-twenties gave up the monastery to pursue the life of a wandering ascetic. At twenty-nine, he met the great yogin Kumārarāja at Bsam yas monastery, who accepted him as a disciple and transmitted the three classes of rdzogs chen (rdzogs chen sde gsum), a corpus of materials that would become a fundamental part of Klong chen pa's later writings and teaching career . . . Among the most important and well-known works in Klong chen pa's extensive literary corpus are his redaction of the meditation and ritual manuals of the heart essence (Snying thig), composed mainly in the hermitage of Gangs ri thod dkar. Other important works include his exegesis on the theory and practice of rdzogs chen, such as the Mdzod bdun (“seven treasuries”) and the Ngal gso skor gsum (“Trilogy on Rest”). (Source: “Klong chen rab 'byams.” In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 439. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
The most influential translator of Buddhist texts into Chinese. He is regarded by tradition as the founder of the Chinese San lun zong or “Three Treatises” branch of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna philosophy. According to his hagiography, Kumārajīva was born in the Central Asian petty kingdom of Kucha, where he was related to the royal family on his mother's side. In his youth, he studied Sarvāstivāda doctrine in Kashmir but was later converted to Mahāyāna at the Central Asian oasis town of Kashgar by the monk Buddhayaśas. When the Chinese general Lü Guang conquered Kucha in 383, he took Kumārajīva back with him to Liangzong near the Chinese outpost of Dunhuang as a prize, only to lose the eminent scholar-monk to Yaoxing (r. 394–416) when the Latter Qin ruler reconquered the region in 401. During his eighteen years as a hostage, Kumārajīva apparently learned to speak and read Chinese and seems to have been one of the first foreign monks able to use the language fluently. A year later in 402, Yaoxing invited Kumārajīva to the capital of Chang'an, where he established a translation bureau under Kumārajīva's direction that produced some of the most enduring translations of Buddhist texts made in Chinese. The sheer number and variety of the translations made by Kumārajīva and his team were virtually unmatched until Xuanzang (600/602–664 CE). Translations of some seventy-four texts, in 384 rolls, are typically attributed to Kumārajīva, including various sūtras, such as the ''Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra'', ''Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñapāramitā'', ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra'', ''Vimalakīrtinirdeśa'', ''Sukhāvatīvyūhasūtra'', and ''Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra'', and important śāstras such as the ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'', ''Śataśāstra'', ''Dvādaśamukhaśāstra'', and the ''Dazhidu lun''. Because Kumārajīva was one of the first foreign monks to have learned Chinese well, he produced translations that were readily comprehensible as Chinese, and his translations remain the most widely read in East Asia of any translator’s; indeed, where there are multiple translations of a scripture, it is almost inevitably Kumārajīva’s that remains part of the living tradition. The accuracy of his translations is said to be attested by the fact that his tongue remained unburned during his cremation. Along with his correspondences with the monk Lushan Huiyuan found in the Dasheng dayi zhang, these translations laid the foundation for Mahāyāna thought, and especially Madhyamaka philosophy, in China. His many famous disciples include Daosheng, Sengzhao, Daorong, and Sengrui, who are known collectively as the "four sages." (Source: "Kumārajīva." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 452–53. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27)
Kunga Yeshe Gyatso was a Jonangpa scholar who lived in the 16th to 17th centuries. His teachers were Tāranātha (1575–1634) and Kunga Rinchen Gyatso. He is the author of a collection of annotations on Tāranātha's ''Dbu ma theg mchog'' among other works. +
The one known as Kālacakrapāda the Elder (Dus zhabs pa chen po) was born in Varendra (a region of northern Bengal) in eastern India. His father was a Brahmin yogin who practised Black Yamāri (Gshin rje gshed nag po), and his mother was an awareness ḍākinī. They performed a ritual from the ''Kṛiṣṇayamāri Tantra'' to ensure the birth of a noble son. The father dreamed of the noble Mañjuśrī entering his wife's belly, and the child was later born together with auspicious signs.
Due to the blessing of noble Mañjuśrī, the child had a bright mind with clear faculties, and took ordination when he was young. He studied many subjects and understanding them all with ease he became a paṇḍita and was known as Cilupa. He heard of Kālacakra from Paṇḍita Ācārya, but was not satisfied, and through the awakening of his previous prayers he developed a powerful wish to go to Sambhala.
As his personal deity Tārā would grant the realization of anything he wished, she prophesied that for the benefit of beings he would gather from Sambhala many tantras and bodhisattva commentaries.
This is a reference to a particular cycle of commentaries, often known as the bodhisattva trilogy (Sems 'grel skor gsum). Said each to have been written by great bodhisattvas, one is the ''Vimalaprabhā'' commentary on Kālacakra, and the other two deal with the Cakrasaṃvara and Hevajra tantras. ([http://www.kalacakra.org/history/khistor3.htm Source Accessed October 16, 2019]) +
Kṛṣṇapaṇḍita was and Indian scholastic who lived in the 11th century and was the author or translator of numerous works. According to ''The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Five, Buddhist Ethics'', Krishna Pandita (Kṛṣṇa Paṇḍita) was the "author of one of the most respected commentaries to Shantideva's ''Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life''. He is not the Krishna (Kṛṣṇācārya) who is counted among the eighty-four accomplished tantric adepts of ancient India. The means for restoration of the commitments is found in his ''Ascertainment of the Difficult Points of the Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life'' (''Bodhisattvacaryāvatāraduravabodhananirvṇaya; Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa'i rtogs par dka' ba'i gnas gtan la dbab pa'') (Toh. 3875), f. 95a7–b3." ('Jam mgon kong sprul. ''The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Five, Buddhist Ethics''. Translated by Kalu Rinpoché Translation Group. [New York: Snow Lion Publications, 2003], 424n85). +
Gendun Rinpoche (1918–1997) belonged to that extraordinary group of great Tibetan Buddhist meditators trained entirely in Tibet who were driven into exile by the Chinese occupation of their homeland and who later in their lives spread the Buddhist teachings in the West.
Practicing in the Karma Kagyu tradition, he spent over 30 years meditating in closed retreat in Tibet and India. His accomplishments were such that his principal teacher, the 16th Karmapa, who sent him to Europe to teach, compared him to the great 11/12th century Tibetan yogi Milarepa.
In the final years of his activity in Europe he succeeded in firmly planting the Buddhist teachings in Western soil by establishing numerous teaching, practice and retreat centers.
He trained more than a hundred Western disciples as teachers or lamas who are now continuing his legacy. ([https://www.amazon.com/Gendun-Rinpoche/e/B004H4KB0Y%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share Source Accessed October 17, 2019]) +
Chakriwa (Lcags ri ba), Ratna Chakriwa, or Gya Chakri Gongkawa Jangchup Pal, was an eleventh-century Kadampa master who was one of several teachers of Gampopa Sonam Rinchen (1079-1153). +
