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From Buddha-Nature
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The Second Pawo Tsuklak Trengwa was a prominent sixteenth-century Kagyu scholar whose best known composition was the ''Chojung Khepai Gaton'' (''chos 'byung khas pa'i dga' ston''), or ''Scholars Feast'', a history of Buddhism in India and Tibet, as well as the history of the Karma Kagyu tradition. He is also famous for a massive commentary (975 folios) on the ''Bodhicaryāvatāra'' (''The Way of the Bodhisattva''), which is still the standard for Karma Kagyu commentaries. He was a disciple of the Eighth Karmapa, the Fourth Zhamar, Dakpo Chokle Namgyel and other Kagyu lamas. He supervised the cremation the Eighth Karmapa, enthroned the Fifth Zhamar and also later organized the enthronement of the Ninth Karmapa. +
Chokle Namgyel (phyogs las rnam rgyal), who is also known by the name Chokyi Gyelpo (chos kyi rgyal po), was born in the western region of Ngari (mnga' ris) in 1306. As a young child he received teachings from several Tibetan masters and studied Sanskrit with the Indian or Nepalese paṇḍita Umapati (u ma pa ti). In 1313, when he was eight years old, he traveled to the central Tibetan region of Tsang and began the study of Madhyamaka philosophy with the expert scholar Tsangnakpa (gtsang nag pa) and other teachers. He also studied epistemology, the literature of the vehicle of perfections, abhidharma, the monastic code, and tantric subjects at different monasteries for some years.
In 1325 Chokle Namgyel studied at the great monastery of Sakya (sa skya) and also at Drakram (brag ram dgon). At this point he was a strong advocate of the rangtong (rang stong) view. He then visited many monasteries in central Tibet and Tsang for further studies and during this trip received the nickname Chokle Namgyel, “Victorious in All Directions” because of his consummate skill in debate. He returned to Sakya, where he was again victorious in debate, and also traveled to several other places in central Tibet and Tsang, including Zhalu Monastery (zhwa lu) Monastery. There he received teachings from the great master Buton Rinchen Drub (bu ston rin chen grub) +
Prajñāvarman was an eighth-century Indian author, three of whose works survive in Tibetan translation. These include the ''Viśeṣastavaṭikā'', the commentary on the hymns of praise to the Buddha that opens the Kangyur. A Prajñāvarman was also a prolific translator of Indic works into Tibetan, including works by Kamalaśīla, Asaṅga, and Śāntarakṣita, among other masters. His Tibetan collaborator was Yeshe De. The author and the translator were probably the same person, but it is not certain. +
Ratnākaraśānti was an Indian scholar and tantric adept who lived during the late tenth and early eleventh century. The head of the great Indian monastery Vikramaśīla, he was a teacher to Atiśa, Maitrīpā, Śraddhākaravarman, and Drokmi Śākya Yeshe, among others. Forty of his compositions are included in the Tibetan Tengyur. In his esoteric works he sought to explain tantric practice from a Yogācāra interpretation of the Perfection of Wisdom literature. +
Chennga Dorje Sherab (spyan snga rdo rje shes rab) was a disciple of both Jikten Gonpo Rinchen Pel ('jig rten mgon po rin chen dpal, 1143-1217), the founder of Drigung Til Monastery ('bri gung mthil), and one of his main disciples, Won Sherab Jungne (dbon shes rab 'byung gnas, 1187-1241). Details about his life are not currently available. Some sources mention an extensive biography but it appears to have been lost.
He wrote two extensive commentaries on Won Sherab Jungne's compilation of Jikten Gonpo's teachings, known as The Single Intention (dgongs gcig). These commentaries are titled The Lamp of Illuminated Wisdom (snang mdzad ye shes sgron ma) and O Gema ('od ge ma). Together they are known as the Dorshema (rdor she ma), a contraction of the name Dorje Sherab. Author: Evan Yerburgh, translator and member of Esukhia. +
There appear to have been two men by the name of Gyatso De whose work survives in the Tibetan canon. The first was a collaborator with Wangpabzhun (wang phab zhun/zhwun) and Gewai Lodro (dge ba'i blos gros) on the translation from Chinese of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'' (D119). They likely worked from the earliest Chinese version (T374), translated around 421–432 by Dharmakṣema in the northern kingdom of Beiliang 北涼. Gewai Lodro seems to have lived in the eleventh century, judging by his many collaborations with Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna (982-1055?), Jānaśrībhadra and other men who lived in that century.
This Gyatso De should not be confused with a man named Sonam Gyatso De who was a frequent translator for Vanaratna (1384–1468). +
Gyaltsap Je Darma Rinchen was one of the chief disciples of Tsongkhapa. He was a prolific writer, composing on Madhyamaka and tantric topics, most famously a commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra. He served as the second abbot of Ganden Monastery, following the death of Tsongkhapa in 1419, and occupied the position, known as the Ganden Tripa, until the year before his own death. +
Rigdzin Godemchen was a Nyingma treasure revealer who discovered the Jangter, or Northern Treasures. He was posthumously known as the First Dorje Drak Rigdzin after the Third Dorje Drak Rigdzin claimed to have been the reincarnation of Lekden Dorje, who was himself identified as the reincarnation of Godemchen.
According to legend, when he was eleven years old three feathery growths appeared on the top of his head; by the time he was twenty-three there were five. Because these growths looked like the feathers of a vulture, he became famous as Godkyi Demtruchen (rgod kyi ldem 'phru can), ‘the one with vulture’s feathers’, which is generally shortened to Godemchen. Later in life he became known as Rigdzin Chenpo (rig 'dzin chen po; mahāvidyādhara) and this title has been held ever since by each of his successive incarnations. +
Rinchen Jangchub (rin chen byang chub) was born in a village called Lhadra (lha sgra) in Dento ('dan stod), Kham. His father, Tonpa Sanggye Pel (ston pa sangs rgyas dpal), was said to be an incarnation of Marpa Chokyi Lodro (mar pa chos kyi blo gros, 1012?-1097). His mother's name was Choden (chos ldan). They were members of the Kyura (skyu ra) clan, and relatives of Jikten Gonpo ('jig rten dgon po, 1143-1217), the founder of Drigung Til Monastery ('bri gung mthil dgon pa). Rinchen Jangchub had one sister and five brothers, including an elder brother, Won Sherab Jungne (dbon shes rab 'byung gnas, 1187-1241), who served as the third abbot of Drigung Monastery, and a youngest brother named Chennga Gampopa (spyan snga sgam po pa), another close disciple of Jikten Gonpo. The names of his other siblings are not known. . . .
Rinchen Changchup wrote many treatises including a commentary on Single Intention (''dgongs gcig'') titled ''Rinjangma'' (''rin byang ma''). +
Rinchen Zangpo was one of the most important translators in Tibetan history. Working under the sponsorship of the kings of Guge, he was responsible for the translation of many of the texts of the Second Propagation of Buddhism in Tibet. Seventeen volumes of his translations are in the Kangyur, and thirty-three volumes in the Tengyur. He is credited with one hundred and eight volumes of tantric translations, as well as numerous volumes of texts relating to science and medicine. Rinchen Zangpo is also considered responsible for the construction of numerous temples across western Tibet and the Northwest Indian Himalaya, although almost all of the attributions are tenuous. He was the first to introduce the Cakrasaṃvara tantra and the cult of the deity Mahākāla to Tibet, and was responsible for translations of several important Prajñāpāramitā scriptures. Many of the lineages he introduced, particularly those of the Yogatantras, are maintained in the Sakya tradition. +
Jetsun Drakpa Gyeltsen of the aristocratic Khon family was the third of the five men credited with founding the Sakya order. He was also the Fifth Sakya Tridzin, or throne holder. His father Sachen Kunga Nyingpo and his elder brother Sonam Tsemo were the first and second Sakya patriarchs. Drakpa Gyeltsen was instrumental in the early recording and compiling of the Lamdre teachings that form the basis of the Sakya tradition. +
Ngok Lotsāwa was nephew of Ngok Lekpai Sherab, the founder of Sangpu Neutok, and not only carried on the teaching activities of his uncle but raised the fame and prestige of Sangpu to new heights. He was important not only to his own Kadam lineage, but to the development of Tibetan education in general. Ngok Lotsāwa, working with the Kashmiri paṇḍita Sajjana, produced the sole-surviving translation of the Ratnagotravibhāga, the central text of buddha-nature theory in Tibet. His commentary on the text is said to have initiated the "analytical" exegetical tradition. +
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. +
Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo was an eleventh-century Tibetan translator, author, and exegete of Buddhist literature. Among his translations and commentarial works are important scriptures transmitted as part of the first and second period of Buddhist diffusion in Tibet. He is a seminal figure for the Nyingma, traditionally described as the last translator of the early translation period. His work as a translator and exegete is nevertheless also important to the later translation period and the so-called New Schools of Tibetan Buddhism. His prodigious literary output––including his early and influential commentary on Guhyagarbhatantra and his vociferous defense of Tibet's Dzogchen tradition––affirm his place as the first of the three luminaries of the Nyingma tradition, alongside Longchenpa and Ju Mipam Gyatso. +
Śākya Śrī was an influential yogic practitioner and teacher in Kham who traveled throughout the Himalaya giving teachings in Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen. A student of some of the era's greatest lamas, including the Sixth Khamtrul, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, and Ju Mipam Gyatso, he taught hundreds of disciples including the Tenth Drukchen and Sonam Zangpo, the brother of the first king of Bhutan. +
Sabzang Mati Paṇchen Lodro Gyeltsen is known as a great Sakya scholar but was also one of Dolpopa’s fourteen major disciples. He was a great master of sutra and tantra, especially the Five Books of Maitreya and the Kālacakra Tantra. He completed a new revised translation of the Kālacakra Tantra and the Vimalaprabhā. He studied at Sakya, Zhalu, Jonang, and other monasteries in the 14th century. He later lived and taught at Sabzang Ganden Monastery. +
Sachen Kunga Nyingpo was the first of the Sakya Jetsun Gongma Nga, the five founding patriarchs of Sakya. These five men of the Khon family are credited with having laid the foundations for the Sakya tradition. Sachen was a layman and the third Sakya Tridzin or throne holder, a position distinct from his later designation as a patriarch. His father, Khon Khonchog Gyelpo, was the first Sakya throne holder and the founder of what became Sakya monastery. +
Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyaltsen, commonly referred to as Sapaṇ, was the fourth of the Five Patriarchs of Sakya and the sixth Sakya throne holder. A member of the illustrious Khon family that established and controlled the Sakya tradition, he was an advocate for strict adherence to Indian Buddhist traditions, standing in opposition to Chinese or Tibetan innovations that he considered corruptions. In this regard he was a major player in what has been termed the Tibetan Renaissance period, when there was a move to reinvigorate Tibetan Buddhism’s connections to its Indian antecedents. He was instrumental in transmitting the Indian system of five major and five minor sciences to Tibet. As an ordained monk, Sapaṇ was instrumental in laying the groundwork for adherence to the Vinaya at Sakya Monastery, built under his successors. He authored more than one hundred texts and was also a prolific translator from Sanskrit. His writings are among the most widely influential in Tibetan literature and prompted commentaries by countless subsequent authors. Sapaṇ’s reputation as a scholar and Buddhist authority helped him forge close ties with powerful Mongols, relations that would eventually lead to the establishment of Sakya Monastery and its position of political power over the Thirteen Myriarchies of central Tibet. +
Chokyi Gyeltsen was the twelfth abbot of Sera Monastery. He studied in Tashilhunpo and Sera and served as disciplinarian of Tashilhunpo. His collected works are in seven volumes. +
The treasure revealer Sera Khandro was the most prolific female author in Tibetan history. Considered an incarnation of Yeshe Tsogyel, her main treasure revelations are The Secret Treasury of Reality Ḍākinīs and The Ḍākinīs’ Heart Essence. She also wrote her own autobiography, a commentary on Dudjom Lingpa’s Buddhahood Without Meditation and a biography of her main consort, Drime Ozer. +
