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Known in Tibetan as the "Lord of Love" or the "Noble Loving One" འཕགས་པ་བྱམས་པ། (Pakpa Jampa), the "Loving Protector" བྱམས་པའི་མགོན་པོ་ (Jampay Gonpo), in Chinese as 弥勒佛 (Mi Le Fo), Japanese as Miroku, and commonly as Maitreya throughout Asia and beyond. Maitreya is the bodhisattva called the "future Buddha" who resides in Tushita heaven until coming to the human realm to take the role of the next Buddha after Śākyamuni Buddha. According to tradition, Asaṅga received teachings from Maitreya and recorded them in the Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya, which form the basis for buddha-nature teachings and the larger Yogācāra teachings in general. +
Tomoko Makidono received an MA in South Asian Area Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and an M. Litt. in Sanskrit Language and Literature from Kyoto University, Japan. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Hamburg under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Dorji Wangchuk. The tentative title of her PhD thesis is “A Contribution to the Understanding of the Practice Lineage in Indo-Tibetan Madhyamaka.” Her main research interests lie in the practice lineages (''sgrub brgyud'') of what is known as Madhyamaka of Extrinsic Emptiness (''gzhan stong dbu ma''), particularly as found in the writings of Kaḥ-thog-dge-rtse Mahāpaṇḍita (1761–1829). She is also interested in devotional forms of Buddhism in general, including the Buddhist concepts of Pure Land across South and East Asia. From September 2008 to September 2009 she conducted field research in Nepal, and since then went several times back for shorter periods of field research. ([https://www.kc-tbts.uni-hamburg.de/people/makidono.html Source Accessed Feb 18, 2020.]) +
A renowned Tibetan translator and lay Buddhist master who played an important role in the later transmission (''phyi dar'') of Buddhism from India to Tibet. He is regarded as the Tibetan founder of the Bka’ brgyud sect of Tibetan Buddhism, which traces its lineage to India and the mahāsiddhas Tilopa and Nāropa. In his traditional biographies, Mar pa is generally regarded as a reincarnation of the Indian mahāsiddha Dombī Heruka. Mar pa was born to wealthy landowners in the southern Tibetan region of Lho brag and quickly proved to be a gifted child. As an adult, Mar pa was characterized as having a volatile temper, although ultimately compassionate. His parents sent their son to study Sanskrit and Indian vernacular languages with the translator ’Brog mi Shākya ye shes in western Tibet. Because resources for studying Buddhism in Tibet were limited as the so-called dark period between the earlier dissemination (''snga dar'') and later dissemination (''phyi dar'') came to an end, Mar pa decided to make the harrowing journey to India to seek instruction from Buddhist masters. He would make three journeys there over the course of his life. He first spent three years in Nepal, acclimating to the new environment and continuing his study of local languages. There he met two Nepalese teachers, Chitherpa and Paiṇḍapa, who offered many religious instructions but also encouraged Mar pa to seek out the master who would become his chief guru, the great siddha Nāropa. (Source: "Mar pa Chos kyi blo gros." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 533. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
A contemporary and student of the illustrious Tibetan masters Rongzom and Marpa the translator, Marpa Dopa traveled south to Nepal and India where he studied under numerous prominent Indian scholars and yogis of the time. He is mostly remembered for his translations of tantric works and, in particular, for the lineages of Cakrasaṃvara and Vajrayoginī that he brought back to Tibet and spread among his students. +
Klaus-Dieter Mathes is a professor of Buddhist studies at the University of Hong Kong. His current research deals with exclusivism, inclusivism, and tolerance in Mahāyāna Buddhism. He obtained his Ph.D. from Marburg University in 1994 with a study of the Yogācāra text Dharmadharmatāvibhāga (published in 1996 in the series Indica et Tibetica). From 1993 to 2001 he served as the director of the Nepal Research Centre and the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project in Kathmandu. Before joining the University of Hong Kong in August 2023 he was the head of the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna, where with his team he hosted the 2014 conference of the International Association of Buddhist Studies. He has organized and given presentations at many other conferences and symposiums, and has served as the chairman of the board of trustees of the Numata Professional Chair for Buddhist Studies, University of Vienna.
His major publications include A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Gö Lotsāwa's Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga (Wisdom, 2008), A Fine Blend of Mahāmudrā and Madhyamaka: Maitrīpa's Collection of Texts on Non-conceptual Realization (Amanasikāra) (Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2015), and Maitrīpa: India's Yogi of Nondual Bliss (Shambhala, 2021). He is also a regular contributor to the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, and is the co-editor of the Vienna Series for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies. +
Yeshe Dorje (born fourteenth century) from Minyak in Kham was a student of the Karma Kamtsang master Mase Tönpa Rinchen Zangpo (1317–1383), the second Gangkar Lama. The latter is known as one of "the five learned ones from Minyak" and was a student of the Third and Fourth Karmapas, Dölpopa, Butön, and several Kadampa masters. (Adapted from ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', p. 309) +
Khenpo Gangshar Wangpo (Tib. མཁན་པོ་གང་ཤར་དབང་པོ་, Wyl. mkhan po gang shar dbang po) (b. 1925) - a renowned master of the 'crazy wisdom' approach, who was connected with Shechen Monastery. He was the root teacher of both [[Chögyam Trungpa]] and [[Thrangu Rinpoche]], and also one of [[Dezhung Rinpoche]]'s teachers. For a while it was thought that he died in prison between 1958 and 196, but it has also been reported that he in fact survived 22 years of imprisonment, and passed away in 1980/1, before any of his former students could contact him. His writings include: ''A Song to Introduce the Unmistaken View of the Great Perfection'', ''Naturally Liberating Whatever You Meet: Instructions to Guide You on the Profound Path'', and ''Vomiting Gold''. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Khenpo_Gangshar Source Accessed July 28, 2020]) +
An Indian paṇḍita who was resident in Tibet during the late eighth and early ninth centuries. His name not only appears as the translator of the ''Lalitavistarasūtra'' but on other texts such as the ''Tathāgatācintyaguhyanirdeśasūtra'' (''The Teaching on the Unfathomable Secrets of the Tathāgatas'') and the ''Tathāgatajñānamudrāsamādhisūtra'' (''The Sūtra on the Samādhi That Is the Seal of the Gnosis of the Tathāgatas''). +
Nanyang Huizhong. (J. Nan'yō Echū; K. Namyang Hyech'ung 南陽慧忠) (675?—775). Chinese Chan master of the Tang dynasty; a native of Yuezhou in present-day Zhejiang province. He is said to have studied under the sixth patriarch (Liuzu) Huineng (638–713) as a youth and to have eventually become one of his dharma successors. After Huineng’s death, Nanyang led an itinerant life, traveling from one monastery to the next until he settled down on Mt. Baiya in Nanyang (present-day Henan province), whence he acquired his toponym. He is said to have remained in seclusion on the mountain for some forty years. In 761, he was invited to the palace by Emperor Suzong (r. 756–762), who honored Nanyang as his teacher. He took up residence at the monastery of Qianfusi, but later moved to Guangzhaisi at the request of Emperor Daizong (r. 762–779). Nanyang later established the monasteries of Yanchangsi and Changshousi and installed a copy of the Buddhist canon (Dazangjing) at each site. Juizong [''sic''] lived during a period of great efflorescence in the Chan school, but he was not closely identified with any one school. He is, however, said to have been critical of the teachings of the Chan master Mazu Daoyi (709–788) and other Hongzhou zong teachers in Sichuan in the south of China, who rejected the authority of the traditional Buddhist scriptures; he is also said to have criticized the Hongzhou interpretation of "mind is buddha" as being akin to the Śreṇika heresy, in which the body is simply an impermanent vessel for an eternal mind or soul. The notion that "inanimate objects can preach the dharma" (wujing shuofa) is also attributed to Nanyang. ("Nanyang Huizhong." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 572–73. Princeton University Press, 2014) +
Celebrated contemporary Sakya scholar who held the office of abbot of Dzongsar Monastery. A brief biography can be found in his obituary published [https://khyentsefoundation.org/project/part-x-khenpo-kunga-wangchuk/ here], and a short video tribute can be watched [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDLFFlEDIyY here]. +
Tsoknyi Gyatso [was] a scholar of the Jonang tradition who was considered an incarnation of one of Dolpopa’s major disciples, Nyawon Kunga Pal (1285-1364) . . . Tsoknyi Gyatso’s writings are not only intriguing and perplexing because they present a specific species of zhentong, but they are important because they disclose to us the intentional workings of a major Jonang scholar during a fascinating period in far eastern Tibetan history. As a disciple of the great Jonang master from Dzamthang, Bamda Thubten Gelek Gyatso (1844-1904), Tsoknyi Gyatso was undoubtedly exposed to a rich nexus of views. Having lived at the crossroads of intellectual exchange during the height of the Rimé eclectic movement in Kham, Bamda Gelek studied with masters including Jamgon Kongtrul (1813-1899), Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892), Dza Patrul (1808-1887) and his Geluk teacher Akon. With these mentors close to his own teacher’s heart, it is safe to infer that Tsoknyi Gyatso was not only versed in the mainstream zhentong works of his own tradition from authors such as Dolpopa and Taranatha, but that he most likely inherited ways of thinking through alternative presentations of emptiness. ([https://jonangfoundation.org/blog/tsoknyi-gyatso-zhentong Source Accessed October 23, 2019]) +
Nāgārjuna was the c. 2nd century founder of the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy. He is eulogized in the Tibetan tradition as one of the group of great Indian scholars known as the Six Ornaments, though he is equally renown in the Chinese and other East Asian Buddhist traditions. He was the first major Mahāyāna philosopher and his ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' became the standard exposition for the Mahāyāna view of emptiness (''śūnyatā'') as presented in the ''Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras''. +
Along with Trisong Detsen and Shantarakshita, Padmasambhava is considered one of the principal early teachers to bring Buddhism to Tibet in the 8th century, Padmasambhava has numerous forms representing outer, inner and secret aspects of his spiritual being. He is also known by many different names which generally follow chronologically his life story. Aside from Trisong Detsen and Shantarakshita, the most important figures to interact with Padmasambhava were his principle Tibetan consort Yeshe Tsogyal and the principal Twenty-five Disciples. There are various Padmasambhava Number Sets which help to organize the important topics and essential subjects of his life and chronological sequence of important events, along with grouping the various sub-sets of important disciples. An 18th century curiosity is the inclusion of Padmasambhava as one of the pre-incarnations in the line of Panchen Lamas.
Concerning the life story of Padmasambhava there are at least four different versions of his birth and early childhood. Within the Oral (Kama) Tradition of the Nyingma School, Padmasambhava was born in Northern India as the son of a king, or minister. In the Revealed Treasure (Terma) Tradition he was born on a lotus in Dhanakosha lake, in the country of Oddiyana, as an emanation of Lokeshvara and the Buddha Amitabha. The Treasure King, Dorje Lingpa, revealed a number of Buddhist and Bon treasure texts where the Bon explain a completely different narrative of the life story and have Padmasambhava born in Tibet. There is also some evidence to suggest that Padmasambhava came from South India and that he was the brother-in-law of the Indian Abbott Shantarakshita, founder of Samye, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet. ([https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=100 Source Accessed Jan 21, 2020]) +
Kashmiri Paṇḍita who became an important teacher and collaborator for several influential Tibetan scholars and translators that spent time studying in Kashmir in the 11th Century. According to Karl Brunnhölzl in ''When the Clouds Part'':
::Parahitabhadra was a student of the Kashmirian Mahāpaṇḍita Somaśrī and also studied Madhyamaka with Ratnavajra. Parahitabhadra's main Indian student was Mahāsumati, and he also taught Ngog Lotsāwa, Patsab Lotsāwa, Sangkar Lotsāwa Pagpa Sherab (a student of Jñānaśrībhadra), Sherab Gyaltsen (a student of Atiśa), Shönnu Cho, Su Gawé Dorje, and Marpa Dopa. Together with these translators, Parahita translated or revised many sūtras, tantras, and treatises (more than twenty works in the ''Tengyur'', among them the ''Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra'' and the ''Dharmadharmatāvibhāga''). There is also evidence that he collaborated with Sajjana, as their common revision of the ''Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra'' shows. In addition, the ''Tengyur'' contains three works authored by Parahitabhadra (a ''Śūnyatāsaptativṛtti'', a ''Maṇḍalābhiṣekavidhi'', and a rather extensive commentary on the first two verses of the ''Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra''). Besides Kashmir, he was active in Toling in western Tibet. It seems that he was more of a Madhyamaka and Pramāṇa specialist, but there is no doubt that he was a part of the eleventh-century Kashmirian paṇḍita scene that was involved with the Maitreya texts and transmitted them to Tibet (he is also mentioned in one of the Tibetan transmission lineages of the Uttaratantra). (88) +
A Tibetan scholar and adept who is counted as one of the great disciples of the key Bka’ brgyud founder Sgam po pa Bsod nams rinchen, and is venerated as the source for many subsequent Bka’ brgyud lineages. Born in the ’Bri lung rme shod region of eastern Tibet, Phag mo gru pa’s parents died while he was still young. Receiving ordination as a novice Buddhist monk at the age of eight, he studied under a variety of teachers during the early part of his life. At eighteen, he traveled to central Tibet, receiving full ordination at the age of twenty-five. There he trained under a number of Bka’ gdams pa teachers, and later, under the great Sa skya master Sa chen Kun dga snying po, from whom he received extensive instruction in the tradition of the path and its result (lam ’bras). At the age of forty, he traveled to Dwags lha sgam po in Southern Tibet, where he met Sgam po pa, who became his principal guru. Sgam po pa famously held up a half-eaten ball of parched barley flour mixed with tea and said to Phag mo gru pa, “This is greater than the results of all your previous meditation.” After he demonstrated his humility by carrying stones to build a stūpa, Sgam po pa gave Phag mo gru pa the transmission of instructions on mahāmudrā meditation and, through their practice, is said to have attained great realization. In 1158, Phag mo gru pa established a simple meditation hut where he lived until his death in 1170; this location later served as the foundation for the influential monastery of Gdan sa mthil. Phag mo gru pa was renowned for his strict adherence to the vinaya, even going on alms rounds, a rare practice in Tibet. Several individuals among his many followers established a number of important branch lineages, the so-called “eight minor Bka’ brgyud subsects” that collectively came to be known as the Phag gru Bka’ brgyud. (Source: "Phag mo gru pa Rdo rje rgyal po." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 639. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Phywa pa [alt. Cha pa] Chos kyi Seng ge. (Chapa Chökyi Senge) (1109–1169). The sixth abbot of Gsang phu ne’u thog, a Bka' gdams monastery founded in 1073 by Rngog Legs pa'i shes rab. Among his students are included the first Karma pa, Dus gsum mkhyen pa and the Sa skya hierarch Bsod nams rtse mo. His collected works include explanations of Madhyamaka and Prajñāpāramitā. With his influential ''Tshad ma'i bsdus pa yid kyi mun sel rtsa 'grel'' he continued the line of ''pramāṇa'' scholarship started by Rngog Blo ldan shes rab, one that would later be challenged by Sa skya Paṇḍita. He is credited with originating the distinctively Tibetan bsdus grwa genre of textbook (used widely in Dge lugs monasteries) that introduces beginners to the main topics in abhidharma in a peculiar dialectical form that strings together a chain of consequences linked by a chain of reasons. He also played an important role in the formation of the bstan rim genre of Tibetan Buddhist literature, the forerunner of the more famous lam rim. (Source: "Phywa pa Chos kyi Seng ge." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 644. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27) +
Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, born in 1967, is the grandson and spiritual heir of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. Since his grandfather’s passing in 1991, Rabjam Rinpoche has taken the responsibility of transmitting Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche’s teachings, and is bringing his vision for the preservation of Tibetan Buddhist teaching and culture to fruition.
Rabjam Rinpoche is the seventh in the line of the Rabjam succession. The second Rabjam Rinpoche founded Shechen Monastery in Kham, eastern Tibet. Themonastery became one of the six main Nyingma Monasteries in Tibet but was destroyed in the mid-twentieth century. At the age of three, Rabjam Rinpoche began taking teachings from his revered grandfather and today holds this unbroken lineage. He was raised by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and attended almost every teaching, drupchen (9-day ceremony), and empowerment that he gave during twenty-five years. He traveled throughout the world with Khyentse Rinpoche and first visited the West in 1976.
In the early 1980’s Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche built Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery in Nepal and established Rabjam Rinpoche as its abbot. Today, there are 450 monks studying and practicing there under his guidance. Rabjam Rinpoche has created an administration and organization within the monk community that is a model of education, joyful discipline, and humanitarian activity.
Rabjam Rinpoche established the Shechen Philosophical College and the Shechen Retreat Center in Nepal. In response to the needs of women wanting to practice and study in the lineage of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, he rebuilt and improved the facilities of the Sisinang Nunnery in Bhutan where 180 nuns of all ages study and practice. In accordance with the wish of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, he built a small Nyingma monastery and study center in Bodhgaya, India.
Rinpoche supervised the education and upbringing of Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche, the young incarnation of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche. He also is the president of the Shechen School, an impressive monastic school that includes secular education.
(Source: [https://shechen.org/spiritual-development/teachers/shechen-rabjam-rinpoche/ Shechen Monastery])
In Sanskrit, "Bejeweled Intelligence," name of an Indian scholar and Chinese translator who lived during the fifth and sixth centuries CE. He was especially renowned for his prodigious memory of a great many sūtra verses. In 508 CE, Ratnamati traveled from India to the Northern Wei capital of Luoyang, where he began to work on a translation of Vasubandhu's "Treatise on the Ten Stages" (S. ''Daṡabhūmivyākhyāna''; C. ''Shidijing lun'') with Bodhiruci and Buddhaśānta (d.u.). However, disagreements between the collaborators over the nature of the ''ālayavijñāna'' (viz., whether it was pure, impure, or both) led them to produce different translations. Those who studied Bodhiruci's rendering came to be known as the Northern Di lun zong, while the followers of Ratnamati's version were known as the Southern Di lun zong. The Southern Di lun school was represented by Ratnamati's foremost pupil, Huiguang (468–537), who advocated that the ālayavijñāna was an ultimate truth (''paramārthasatya'') and coextensive with the buddha-nature (''foxing''), which thus was in fact innate. Ratnamati subsequently went on to collaborate with other scholars on the translation of other works, including the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'', and the ''Saddharmapuṇdarīkopadeśa'' attributed to Vasubandhu. Ratnamati is also the name of a bodhisattva who appears in various Mahāyāna sūtras. (Source: "Ratnamati." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 703. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
A circa 11th century Indian scholar that was one of the gate-keepers at the great monastic university of Vikramaśīla, as well as being included in the list of the eighty-four mahāsiddhas under the name Śāntipa. He was a prolific author and proponent of the Yogācāra school that was outspoken in his attempts to harmonize this school of thought with the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school. Though the majority of his known works, many of which were preserved in the Tibetan canon, covered topics related to Tantra. +
Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö was a highly distinguished Sakya scholar who is credited with reviving Madhyamaka studies in Tibet. A holder of the Kadam teachings, he was a teacher of Tsongkhapa, as well as hundreds of others, and is counted as seventy-fourth in the line of Lamrim lineage. +
