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Jamyang Drakpa (Tib. འཇམ་དབྱངས་གྲགས་པ་, Wyl. `jam dbyangs grags pa) was a disciple of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo. His teachings on Jamgön Kongtrul Rinpoche's commentary on the ''Lamrim Yeshe Nyingpo'' had been recorded by Jokyab Rinpoche as the ''Yeshe Nangwa Zurgyen''. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Jamyang_Drakpa Source Accessed Sept 8, 2020]) +
A Tibetan exegete and visionary, renowned as one of the premier treasure revealers (''gter ston'') in the Rnying ma sect of Tibetan Buddhism. 'Jigs med gling pa was born in the central Tibetan region of 'Phyong rgyas (Chongye), and from an early age recalled many of his previous incarnations, including those of the Tibetan king Khri srong lde btsan, the scholars Sgam po pa and Klong chen pa and, in his immediately preceding birth, Chos rje gling pa. After a period of monastic education, in his late twenties, he undertook an intense series of meditation retreats, first at Dpal ri monastery and then at the Chims phu cave complex near Bsam yas. In one of the numerous visions he experienced during this period, he received the klong chen snying thig, or "Heart Sphere of the Great Expanse," from a ḍākinī at the Bodhnāth stūpa in Kathmandu. The revelation of this text is considered a “mind treasure” (''dgongs gter''), composed by Padmasambhava and revealed to the mind of a later disciple. 'Jigs med gling pa kept this revelation secret for seven years before transcribing it. The klong chen snying thig corpus systematized by 'Jigs med gling pa, including numerous explanatory texts, tantric initiations, and ritual cycles, became a seminal component of the rdzogs chen teachings in the Rnying ma sect. While based in central Tibet, 'Jigs med gling pa was also influential in Tibet's eastern regions, serving as spiritual teacher to the royal family of Sde dge and supervising the printing of the collected Rnying ma tantras in twenty-eight volumes. His patrons and disciples included some of the most powerful and prestigious individuals from Khams in eastern Tibet, and his active participation in reviving Rnying ma traditions during a time of persecution earned him a place at the forefront of the burgeoning eclectic or nonsectarian (''ris med'') movement. Numerous subsequent visionaries involved in promulgating the movement identified themselves as 'Jigs med gling pa's reincarnation, including 'Jam dbyang mkhyen brtse dbang po, Mdo mkhyen brtse Ye Shes rdo rje, Dpal sprul Rinpoche, and Dil mgo mkhyen brtse. (Source: "'Jigs med gling pa." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 387–88. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
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Indian tantric Buddhist master who was born into a brāhmaṇa family in either Orissa or northeast India near Bengal. Sources vary regarding his dates of birth and death, although most agree that he was a contemporary of the Pāla king Rāmapāla, who began his reign during the final quarter of the eleventh century. Abhayākaragupta became a Buddhist monk in response to a prophetic vision and trained extensively in the esoteric practices of tantra, while nevertheless maintaining his monastic discipline (''vinaya''). Abhayākaragupta was active at the monastic university of Vikramaśīla in Bihar and became renowned as both a scholar and a teacher. He was a prolific author, composing treatises in numerous fields of Buddhist doctrine, including monastic discipline and philosophy as well as tantric ritual practice and iconography. Many Sanskrit manuscripts of his works have been preserved in India, Nepal, and Tibet, and his writings were influential both in India and among Newari Buddhists in Nepal. Translations of his works into Tibetan were begun under his supervision, and more than two dozen are preserved in the Tibetan canon. To date, Abhayākaragupta’s writings best known in the West are his treatises on tantric iconography, the ''Vajrãvalī'' and ''Niṣpannayogāvalī'', and his syncretistic abhidharma treatise ''Munimatãlaṃkāra''. (Source: "Abhayākaragupta." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 2. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Traditionally counted among the Seventeen Great Paṇḍitas of Nālandā, Asaṅga was an illustrious Indian scholar who, along with his brother Vasubandhu, is credited with the founding of the Yogācāra school and the introduction of the associated theories of mind-only (''cittamātra''), the storehouse consciousness (''ālayavijñāna''), the three natures (''trisvabhāva''), and so forth, into the milieu of Indian Buddhist philosophical discourse. He is most famously eulogized in the Tibetan tradition for his association with the Five Dharma Treatises of Maitreya (Byams chos sde lnga), which he is reported to have received directly from the bodhisattva Maitreya. In terms of the ''Uttaratantra'', the Tibetan tradition, which divides the text into two distinct works, asserts that Asaṅga was the author of the prose commentary (''vyākhyā'') of this work, while Maitreya, himself, is the author of the actual verses of the treatise (''śāstra''). +
Indian Buddhist monk and scholar revered by Tibetan Buddhists as a leading teacher in the later dissemination (''phyi dar'') of Buddhism in Tibet. His name, also written as Atisha, is an Apabhraṃśa form of the Sanskrit term atiśaya, meaning “surpassing kindness.” Born into a royal family in what is today Bangladesh, Atiśa studied Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy and tantra as a married layman prior to being ordained at the age of twenty-nine, receiving the ordination name of Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna. After studying at the great monasteries of northern India, including Nālandā, Odantapurī, Vikramaśīla, and Somapura, he is said to have journeyed to the island of Sumatra, where he studied under the Cittamātra teacher Dharmakīrtiśrī (also known as guru Sauvarṇadvīpa) for twelve years; he would later praise Dharmakīrtiśrī as a great teacher of bodhicitta. Returning to India, he taught at the Indian monastic university of Vikramaśīla. Atiśa was invited to Tibet by the king of western Tibet Ye shes 'od and his grandnephew Byang chub 'od, who were seeking to remove perceived corruption in the practice of Buddhism in Tibet. Atiśa reached Tibet in 1042, where he initially worked together with the renowned translator Rin chen bzang po at Tho ling monastery in the translation of prajñāpāramitā texts. There, he composed his famous work, the ''Bodhipathapradīpa'', or “''Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment'',” an overview of the Mahāyāna Buddhist path that served as a basis for the genre of literature known as lam rim (“stages of the path”). (Source: "Atiśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 77. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Indian scholiast of the eighth century CE and successor to Bhāvaviveka [alt. Bhāvya] in the Svātantrika school of Madhyamaka. Avalokitavrata wrote the ''Prajñapradīpaṭīkā'', an extensive subcommentary to Bhāvaviveka's ''Prajñāpradīpa'', his commentary on Nāgārjuna's ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'', in which he defends Bhāvaviveka from Candrakīrti's critiques. That subcommentary is extant only in Tibetan translation. (Source: "Avalokitavrata." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 82. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Aśvaghoṣa was a Sarvāstivāda Buddhist philosopher, dramatist, poet and orator from India. He was born in Saketa in northern India. He is believed to have been the first Sanskrit dramatist, and is considered the greatest Indian poet prior to Kālidāsa. He was the most famous in a group of Buddhist court writers, whose epics rivaled the contemporary Ramayana. Whereas much of Buddhist literature prior to the time of Aśvaghoṣa had been composed in Pāli and Prakrit, Aśvaghoṣa wrote in Classical Sanskrit. . . .<br> He was previously believed to have been the author of the influential Buddhist text ''Awakening of Mahayana Faith'', but modern scholars agree that the text was composed in China. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%C5%9Bvagho%E1%B9%A3a Source Accessed July 22, 2020]) +
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Vairotsana was the greatest of all Tibetan lotsawas. Together with Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra, he was one of the three main masters to bring the Dzogchen teachings to Tibet.
Vairotsana was born into the Pagor clan, and was sent to India by Trisong Detsen to study with Indian panditas. He also travelled widely in China, Khotan, Nepal, Shangshung and elsewhere. He was one of the original seven monks ordained by Shantarakshita. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Vairotsana Rigpa Wiki]) +
Famous Kadam scholar connected with Nartang (''snar thang'') monastery. His collected works are said to have once filled sixteen volumes and includes the earliest extant Tibetan commentary on the ''Uttaratantra'' that cites both tantric and sutric sources to corroborate the claims made in the treatise. +
Tashi Özer received his name while still a child from the Seventh Karmapa along with some meditation instructions on the six syllable mantra. He later took novice ordination with the First Goshir Gyaltsab. However is early education occurred within the Geluk and Sakya traditions. He encountered the Seventh Karmapa again when he was a young man and received a wide range of instructions from him, which he was said to have thoroughly mastered and experienced numerous visions of buddhas while in extended retreat. He went on to become a prominent teacher of the Kagyu tradition, especially at Zurmang Monastery. His students included some of the most important Kagyu hierarchs of the day, including the Eighth Karmapa and the Third Goshir Gyaltsab. +
Also known as Bhāviveka and Bhavya, an important Indian master of the Madhyamaka school, identified in Tibet as a proponent of Svātantrika Madhyamaka and, within that, of Sautrāntika-Svātantrika-Madhyamaka. He is best known for two works. The first is the ''Prajñāpradīpa'', his commentary on [[Nāgārjuna]]’s ''Mūlamadhyam- akakārikā''; this work has an extensive subcommentary by [[Avalokitavrata]]. Although important in its own right as one of the major commentaries on the central text of the Madhyamaka school, the work is most often mentioned for its criticism of the commentary of Buddhapālita on the first chapter of Nāgārjuna’s text, where Bhāvaviveka argues that it is insufficient for the Madhyamaka only to state the absurd consequences (''prasaṅga'') that follow from the position of the opponent . . . The other major work of Bhāvaviveka is his ''Madhyamakahṛdaya'', written in verse, and its prose autocommentary, the ''Tarkajvālā''. The ''Madhyamakahṛdaya'' is preserved in both Sanskrit and Tibetan, the ''Tarkajvālā'' only in Tibetan. It is a work of eleven chapters, the first three and the last two of which set forth the main points in Bhāvaviveka’s view of the nature of reality and the Buddhist path, dealing with such topics as bodhicitta, the knowledge of reality (''tattvajñāna''), and omniscience (''sarvajñātā''). The intervening chapters set forth the positions (and Bhāvaviveka’s refutations) of various Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools, including the śrāvaka, Yogācāra, Sāṃkhya, Vaiśeṣika, Vedānta, and Mīmāṃsā. These chapters (along with Śāntarakṣita’s ''Tattvasaṃgraha'') are an invaluable source of insight into the relations between Madhyamaka and other contemporary Indian philosophical schools, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist. (Source: "Bhāvaviveka." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 114. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
(Chokle Namgyal) (1376-1451). The twenty-third abbot of Bo dong E monastery, founded in about 1049 by the Bka' gdams geshe (dge bshes) Mu dra pa chen po, and the founder of the Bo dong tradition. His collected works, said to number thirty-six titles, include his huge encyclopedic work ''De nyid 'dus pa'' ("Compendium of the Principles"); it alone runs to 137 volumes in the incomplete edition published by the Tibet House in Delhi. Phyogs las rnam rgyal (who is sometimes confused with Jo nang pa Phyogs las rnam rgyal who lived some fifty years earlier) was a teacher of Dge 'dun grub (retroactively named the first Dalai Lama) and Mkhas grub Dge legs dpal bzang, both students of Tsong kha pa. Among his disciples was the king of Gung thang, Lha dbang rgyal mtshan (1404–1463), whose daughter Chos kyi sgron me (1422–1455) became a nun after the death of her daughter and then the head of Bsam lding (Samding) monastery, which her father founded for her. The monastery is the only Tibetan monastery whose abbot is traditionally a woman; incarnations are said to be those of the goddess Vajravārāhī (T. Rdo rje phag mo), "Sow-Headed Goddess." (Source: "Bo dong Phyogs las rnam rgyal." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 139. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Karl Brunnhölzl is one of the most prolific translators of Tibetan texts into English and has worked on all of the Five Treatises of Maitreya. He was originally trained as a physician. He took Buddhist refuge vows in 1984 and, in 1990, completed a five-year training in higher Buddhist philosophy at Kamalashila Institute, Germany, receiving the traditional Kagyü title of "Dharma tutor" (Tib. ''skyor dpon''). Since 1988, he received his Buddhist and Tibetan language training mainly at Marpa Institute for Translators in Kathmandu, Nepal (director: [[Khenpo Tsültrim Gyamtso]] Rinpoche), and also studied Tibetology, Buddhology, and Sanskrit at Hamburg University, Germany. Since 1989, Karl served as a translator, interpreter, and Buddhist teacher mainly in Europe, India, and Nepal. Since 1999, he has acted as one of the main translators and teachers at Nitartha Institute (director: [[Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche]]) in the USA, Canada, and Germany. In addition, he regularly taught at Gampo Abbey's Vidyadhara Institute from 2000–2007. He is the author of several books on Buddhism, such as ''The Center of the Sunlit Sky'', ''Straight from the Heart'', ''In Praise of Dharmadhātu'', and ''Luminous Heart'' (all Snow Lion Publications). He has also completed several ground-breaking translations in the Tsadra Foundation series, including a three-volume work on the ''Abhisamayālaṃkāra''. He has also completed the work ''[[Prajñāpāramitā, Indian "gzhan stong pas", and the Beginning of Tibetan gzhan stong]]'' in the Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde series, and of course, ''[[When the Clouds Part]]'', a translation of the ''Gyü Lama''. In 2019 his translation of the ''Mahāyānasaṃgraha'' with Indian and Tibetan commentaries was published and won the [https://khyentsefoundation.org/2019-outstanding-translation/ Khyentse Foundation Prize For Outstanding Buddhist Translation]. +
Tenpa Gyatso 1825-1897
1837. Enters Bkra-shis-'khyil
1845. Took the Tshogs-bsags rab-'byams-pa degree
1854. Went to Pe-cin to become the yongs 'dzin of the Thu'u-bkwan
Gsung 'bum in four volumes (79 sections)
Students (not recorded): 1884: Lcang-skya given name Blo-bzang-ye-shes-rgya-mtsho ; 1874: Sde-khri
W19801
[p. 1449]
W19837
[Vol. 2, p. 201]
W19836
[p. 727]
W19803
[p. 922] source contains brief biography
dates given: 1825-1897 +
The namesake of the Tsen Tradition (''btsan lugs'') of the exegesis of the ''Uttaratantra'', commonly referred to as the Meditation Tradition (''sgom lugs''). He travelled to Kashmir when he was in his mid-50's in 1076 along with Ngok Lotsāwa and others to study with various scholars, including Sajjana. With Zu Gawai Dorje acting as his translator, he famously requested instructions on the ''Uttaratantra'' from Sajjana in order to make it his "death practice" ('''chi chos''). These instructions became the basis for the Tsen Tradition, which was an important progenitor for later interpretations of the ''Uttaratantra'', such as those associated with Zhentong and Mahāmudrā. He returned to Tibet in 1089, some two or three years before Ngok, and thus was likely the first Tibetan to begin propagating the teachings he had received from Sajjana on the ''Five Treatises of Maitreya'' on Tibetan soil. +
Important early translator of Indian Buddhist texts into Chinese, also known by the Chinese translation of his name, Juexian, or "Enlightened Sage" . . . According to the "Biographies of Eminent Monks" (Gaoseng Zhuan), Buddhabhadra was born in north India and joined the saṃgha after losing both his parents at an early age. Buddhabhadra studied various scriptures and was adept in both meditation and observing the precepts; he was also renowned for his thaumaturgic talents. At the behest of a Chinese monk named Zhiyan, Buddhabhadra traveled to China along the southern maritime route. Upon learning of the eminent Kuchean monk Kumārajīva's arrival in Chang'an, Buddhabhadra went to the capital in 406 to meet him. Due to a difference of opinion with Kumārajīva, however, Buddhabhadra left for Lushan, where he was welcomed by Lushan Huiyuan and installed as the meditation instructor in Huiyuan's community; Buddhabhadra came to be known as one of the eighteen worthies of Lushan. He devoted the rest of his career to translating such scriptures as the Damoduoluo Chan Jing, ''Guanfo sanmei hai jing'', and Avataṃsakasūtra, to name just a few. Buddhabhadra also translated the Mahāsāṃghika vinaya with the assistance of Faxian and contributed significantly to the growth of Buddhist monasticism in China. (Source: "Buddhabhadra." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 150. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Buddhaprabha was an Indian translator of Sanskrit texts into Tibetan, about whom little is known. Given the fact that he was a contemporary of Jinamitra, Dānaśīla, and Yeshe De, he probably lived between the late eighth and early ninth centuries. The Buddhist Digital Resource Center (TBRC.org) does not attribute a single text to him as translator (see https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P8268), but he is listed as the co-translator of the ''Questions of Sāgaramati Sūtra'' (Skt. ''Sāgaramatiparipṛcchāsūtra'', Tib. '' 'Phags pa blo gros rgya mtshos zhus pa zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo'') along with the above figures. +
After receiving Buddhist refuge vows from Kalu Rinpoche in Kagyu Ling, France, 1976 at the occasion of the first 3-year retreat in the West, Anne began her Buddhist studies with Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche in 1977, when he first arrived in Europe as part of the entourage of The 16th Karmapa.
In 1978 she began the study of ''The Gyulama'' (''Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma’i bstan bcos'') with him in Dordogne, France and published her first Danish translation of this text in 1981. She became a member of Khenpo Rinpoche’s Translating Board of Kagyu Tekchen Shedra, Institute of Mahayana Buddhist Studies, in Bruxelles, Belgium, in 1980.
She went on to become interpreter for many Kagyu, Nyingma and Gelukpa Lamas, including the Dalai Lama, for the next 35 years, mainly in Europe and Asia.
During the 80’s and 90’s she lived in Kathmandu where she acted as teacher, secretary and course coordinator at Khenpo Rinpoche’s Marpa Institute for Translators, Nepal.
Back in Europe she became Tibetan language teacher and associate professor at University of Copenhagen for 18 years, as well as research librarian and curator of the Tibetan Collection at The Royal Library for a decade, which included work on The Twinning Library Project with The National Library of Bhutan, Thimphu. She taught Buddhist Studies at Naropa University as a visiting professor, 2004-2005 and continued this at The Buddhist University, Copenhagen, for the next ten years.
She is currently finalizing her Danish translation of Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye's commentary on the Gyulama, ''Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma’i bstan bcos snying po’i don mngon sum lam gyi bshad srol dang sbyar ba’i rnam par ‘grel pa phyir mi ldog pa seng ge’i nga ro''. (Source: Anne Burchardi, personal communication, January 19, 2021.) +
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An important Madhyamaka master and commentator on the works of Nāgārjuna and Āryadeva, associated especially with what would later be known as the Prāsaṅgika branch of Madhyamaka. Very little is known about his life; according to Tibetan sources, he was from south India and a student of Kamalabuddhi. He may have been a monk of Nālandā. He wrote commentaries on Nāgārjuna’s ''Yuktiṣaṣṭikā'' and ''Śūnyatāsaptati'' as well as Āryadeva's ''Catuḥśataka''. His two most famous and influential works, however, are his ''Prasannapadā'' (''Clear Words''), which is a commentary on Nāgārjuna's ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'', and his ''Madhyamakāvatāra'' (''Entrance to the Middle Way''). (Source: "Candrakīrti." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 165. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche (Tib. ལྕགས་མདུད་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་, Wyl. lcags mdud sprul sku) (1930-2002), Padma Gargyi Wangchuk, was a renowned teacher of the Nyingma school. He was known and respected in the West for his teachings, and also for his melodic chanting voice, his artistry as a sculptor and painter, his limitless compassion, and his sense of humour. He was the source of treasured Nyingma lineage transmissions for the thousands of people whom he taught in North and South America, Asia, Australia, and Europe.
Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche was the fourteenth recognized Chagdud incarnation; and his root incarnation was Gyalwa Chokyang. Chagdud means 'iron knot', and is said to derive from one Sherab Gyaltsen, the first Chagdud incarnation, who folded an iron sword into a knot with his bare hands. This feat deeply impressed the emperor of Mongolia and inspired him to shower honours on Chagdud. Chagdud Tulku Rinpoche demonstrated the same extraordinary power several times in his youth when he compressed stout swords into folds. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Chagdud_Tulku_Rinpoche Source Accessed Feb 6, 2020]) +
Venerable Thubten Chodron is an author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Western nuns and monks in the US. She graduated from UCLA, and did graduate work in education at USC. Ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist nun in 1977, she has studied extensively with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tsenzhap Serkong Rinpoche, and Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche. Ven. Chodron teaches worldwide and is known for her practical (and humorous!) explanations of how to apply Buddhist teachings in daily life. She is also involved in prison outreach and interfaith dialogue. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, and has co-authored a book with His Holiness the Dalai Lama—''Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions''. ([https://wisdomexperience.org/product/samsara-nirvana-and-buddha-nature/ Source Accessed Jan 24, 2020]) +
Choying Tobden Dorje was a brilliant Vajrayana master of eastern Tibet. His masterwork, ''The Complete Nyingma Tradition from Sutra to Tantra'', remains the main text studied by Tibet’s Ngakpa lineages of lay Buddhist yogi-practitioners. ([https://www.shambhala.com/authors/a-f/choying-tobden-dorje.html Source Accessed Feb 14, 2020]) +
Born in Merseyside, England, in 1938, [Roger Jonathan Corless] began studying religion at the age of sixteen, understanding himself as being Buddhist, though attending Christian churches. He studied theology at King’s College at the University of London, receiving a Bachelor of Divinity in 1961. In wrestling with the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible, and particularly in the sacrament of the Eucharist, Roger experienced God’s presence. He was baptized into the Roman Catholic church in 1964 after coming to the United States to pursue a PhD in Buddhist Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, from which he received that degree in 1973. From there, he joined the Department of Religion at Duke University and remained there until his retirement in 2000.<br> In 1980, Roger took refuge as a Gelugpa Buddhist under Geshela Lhundup Sopa, having first obtained permission from his Catholic spiritual director and having explained to Geshela what he was doing. His refuge or dharma name was Lhundup Tashi, ‘‘spontaneous fortune’’ or ‘‘luck.’’ Later, Roger also became a Benedictine oblate, taking Gregory as his Oblate name after Pope Gregory, whose instruction to Augustine of Canterbury was not to destroy the pagan temples, but to bring them into the church by trying to find what was good and preparatory to the Gospel. Roger understood himself as a dual practitioner, but did not seek to blend the two practices or traditions. Rather, he sought to be present to each in their own irreconcilable differences and deep riches.<br> Roger was always reflecting and writing on something, wanting to be open to the insights emerging from his studies and practices. His works are prolific. Over the past thirty years, he published three monographs (''The Art of Christian Alchemy: Transfiguring the Ordinary through Holistic Meditation'' [Paulist Press, 1981]; ''I Am Food: The Mass in Planetary Perspective'' [Crossroad, 1981, and Wipf and Stock, 2004]; and ''The Vision of Buddhism: The Space under the Tree'' [Paragon House, 1989]), one edited volume (with Paul Knitter, ''Buddhist Emptiness and Christian Trinity: Essays and Explorations'' [Paulist Press, 1990]), essays in thirty-one books, thirty-seven articles in twenty journals, articles in six encyclopedias, and twenty-seven papers. Before his death, he had also completed six additional essays, forthcoming in edited volumes, and a draft of another monograph, ''Where Do We Go from Here? The Many Religions and the Next Step''. Over the years, his works examined Buddhist teachings and practices, Christian teachings and practices, Buddhist-Christian dialogue, and interreligious dialogue; more recently his focus had turned to queer dharma topics and same-sex issues. ([https://muse.jhu.edu/article/220092/pdf Adapted from Source Jul 21, 2020])
D
Mario D’Amato is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Rollins College. His area of research is in Buddhist philosophy, with a special focus on the translation, interpretation, and analysis of Sanskrit Buddhist doctrinal texts from the Yogācāra school of Buddhist philosophy. He published a study and annotated translation of the fourth-century CE Buddhist treatise ''Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes'' (2012), the coedited volume ''Pointing at the Moon: Buddhism, Logic, Analytic Philosophy'' (2009), as well as articles on Buddhist thought in the ''Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies'', ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'', ''Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory'', ''Semiotica'', and other journals. He also regularly teaches a course on Psychoanalysis and Religion. ([https://www.jamesclarke.co/pub/theology%20after%20lacan%20contributors.pdf Source Accessed Jul 21, 2020]) +
Devacandra was an Indian paṇḍita who traveled to Samye in the Tibetan Empire to participate in translations, during the reign of Trisong Detsen in the sixth century AD. Together with Jinamitra and Jñānagarbha, he translated the ''Mahāyāna mahāparanirvāṇa sūtra'' from Sanskrit into Tibetan. ([https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devacandra Source Accessed Aug 19, 2020]) +
According to Tsering Wangchuk, Gedun Özer was an important Kadam follower who lived between the 13th and 14th centuries and the author of a short commentary (57 fols.) on the Uttaratantra entitled ''Quintessential Essence of the Condensed Ultimate Definitive Meaning of the Uttaratantraśāstra'' (''Theg pa chen po rgyud bla ma’i rnam bshad don dam rnam nges bsdus pa’i snying po’i snying po''). While little is known about his life, Wangchuk writes that Özer "strongly defends the Uttaratantra as being a text embodying the ultimate definitive meaning of all sūtras and śāstras." (Tsering Wangchuk, "The Uttaratantra in the Age of Argumentation: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and His Fourteenth-Century Interlocutors on Buddha-Lineage" [PhD diss., University of Virginia, 2009], 83) +
Founded and directed by Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, the Dharmachakra Translation Committee is housed at Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery in Boudhanath, Nepal. It was established in 2006 to facilitate and coordinate the translation efforts of a growing number of skilled translators emerging from the international shedra program run by the Rangjung Yeshe Institute.
The committee consists of a broad group of translators, editors, and graphic artists committed to the task of translating Buddhist classics into English and other languages.
For more information on this institute, please see the Buddhist Higher Education Program of this site. Tsadra Foundation grantee since 2007.
'''Translations'''<br>
Dharmachakra is presently working on various translations of central scriptures containing the Buddha’s words as they are expressed in the sutras and the tantras as well as the most pivotal Indian and Tibetan commentaries on these enlightened statements.
A major project of the committee is the translation of the so-called “Thirteen Great Scriptures” of classical Indian Buddhism together with their commentaries by the Tibetan masters Jamgön Mipham and Khenpo Shenga. The first of these volumes, ''Middle Beyond Extremes'', was published in 2007. Upcoming volumes in this series include Maitreya’s ''Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sutras'' and ''Distinguishing Phenomena and Their Intrinsic Nature''. The remaining volumes will be made available over the coming years.
In addition to the works of Khenpo Shenga and Jamgön Mipham, the committee also translates selected texts from the writings of the Karmapas as well as the works of the masters of the Rimé Tradition: Jamgön Kongtrul, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, and Chokgyur Lingpa.
'''Current Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Grantee'''<br>
''No current projects''
'''Completed Projects as a Tsadra Foundation Grantee'''<br>
*''Luminous Essence: A Guide to the Guhyagarbha Tantra'', Jamgön Mipham
*''Ornament of Reason'', Mabja Jangchub Tsondru
*''Distinguishing Phenomena and Their Intrinsic Nature'', Maitreya-Asanga, commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Jamgön Mipham
*''Ornament of the Great Vehicle Sutras'' (''Mahayanasutralamkara''), Maitreya-Asanga, commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Jamgön Mipham
*''Vajra Wisdom: Deity Practice in Tibetan Buddhism'', Shechen Gyaltsap
'''Dharmachakra Translation Committee Memberts:'''
*Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery
*Khenpo Trogpa Tulku
*Khenpo Urgyen Tenpel
*Lama Tenzin Sangpo
*Karma Ozer Lama, Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling Monastery
*Dr. Andreas Doctor, Rangjung Yeshe Institiute/Kathmandu University
*Dr. James Gentry, Harvard University
*Dr. Joseph McClennan
*Dr. Mattia Salvini, Mahidol University
*Dr. Thomas Doctor, Kathmandu University
*Ven. Ani Jinpa (Eugenie De Jong)
*Alex Yiannopoulos
*Anders Bjornback
*Anna Zilman, Rangjung Yeshe Institute
*Benjamin Cassard, Rangjung Yeshe Institute
*Benjamin Collett
*Catherine Dalton, Rangjung Yeshe Institute/ Dharmachakra Translation Center /UC Berkeley
*Guillaume Avertin
*Heidi Koppl
*Miguel Fares Sawaya, Rangjung Yeshe Institute
*Nika Jovic
*Ryan Damron, UC Berkeley/Rangjung Yeshe Gomde California
*Timothy Hinkle
*Wiesiek Mical, Kathmandu University
*Zachary Beer, UC Berkeley
To learn more, visit [https://dharmachakra.net/ Dharmacharkra.net]
Dharmagupta. (C. Damojiduo; J. Darumagyüta; K. Talmagüpta 達摩笈多) (d. 619). A South Indian monk-translator who traveled to China during the Sui dynasty; sometimes known by his abbreviated name Jiduo. Arriving in the Chinese Capital of Chang'an in 590, he set to translating several scriptures into Chinese, including sūtras on the buddha Bhaiṣajyaguru, one of the later recensions of the ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra'', which he cotranslated with Jñānagupta, and Vasubandhu's commentary on the ''Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra''. Some ten different translations are attributed to him. He should be distinguished from the Dharmagupta (c. third century BCE) who was the eponymous founder of the Dharmaguptaka school. (Source: "Dharmagupta." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 245. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Indian Buddhist monk who was an early translator of Buddhist materials into Chinese. A scion of a brāhmaṇa family from India, Dharmakṣema became at the age of six a disciple of Dharmayaśas (C. Damoyeshe; J. Donmayasha) (d.u.), an Abhidharma specialist who later traveled to China c. 397-401 and translated the ''Śãriputrãbhidharmaśãstra''. Possessed of both eloquence and intelligence, Dharmakṣema was broadly learned in both monastic and secular affairs and was well versed in mainstream Buddhist texts. After he met a meditation monk named "White Head" and had a fiery debate with him, Dharmakṣema recognized his superior expertise and ended up studying with him. The monk transmitted to him a text of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'' written on bark, which prompted Dharmakṣema to embrace the Mahāyāna. Once he reached the age of twenty, Dharmakṣema was able to recite over two million words of Buddhist texts. He was also so skilled in casting spells that he earned the sobriquet "Great Divine Spell Master" (C. Dashenzhou shi). Carrying with him the first part of the ''Mahãparinirvãṇasūtra'' that he received from "White Head," he left India and arrived in the Kucha kingdom in Central Asia. As the people of Kucha mostly studied hīnayāna and did not accept the Mahāyāna teachings, Dharmakṣema then moved to China and lived in the western outpost of Dunhuang for several years. Juqu Mengxun, the non-Chinese ruler of the Northern Liang dynasty (397-439 CE), eventually brought Dharmakṣema to his capital. After studying the Chinese language for three years and learning how to translate Sanskrit texts orally into Chinese, Dharmakṣema engaged there in a series of translation projects under Juqu Mengxun's patronage. With the assistance of Chinese monks, such as Daolang and Huigao, Dharmakṣema produced a number of influential Chinese translations, including the ''Dabanniepan jing'' (S. ''Mahāparinirvãṇasūtra''; in forty rolls), the longest recension of the sūtra extant in any language; the ''Jinguangmingjing'' ("Sūtra of Golden Light"; S. Suvarṇaprabhāsottamasūtra; in four rolls); and the ''Pusa dichi jing'' (S. ''Bodhisattvabhūmisūtra''; in ten rolls). He is also said to have made the first Chinese translation of the ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra'' (C. ''Ru Lengqie jing'', but his rendering had dropped out of circulation at least by 730 CE, when the Tang Buddhist cataloguer Zhisheng (700-786 CE) compiled the ''Kaiyuan Shijiao lu''. The Northern Wei ruler Tuoba Tao, a rival of Juqu Mengxun's, admired Dharmakṣema's esoteric expertise and requested that the Northern Liang ruler send the Indian monk to his country. Fearing that his rival might seek to employ Dharmakṣema's esoteric expertise against him, Juqu Mengxun had the monk assassinated at the age of forty- nine. Dharmakṣema's translation of Indian Buddhist texts into Chinese had a significant impact on Chinese Buddhism; in particular, the doctrine that all beings have the buddha-nature (''foxing''), a teaching appearing in Dharmakṣema's translation of the ''Mahāparinirvãṇasūtra'', exerted tremendous influence on the development of Chinese Buddhist thought. (Source: "Dharmakṣema". In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 247–48. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27)
Dharmarakṣa. (C. Zhu Fahu; J. Jiku Hōgo; K. Ch’uk Pǒpho 竺法護) (c. 233-310). One of the most prolific translators in early Chinese Buddhism, who played an important role in transmitting the Indian scriptural tradition to China. Presumed to be of Yuezhi heritage, Dharmarakṣa was born in the Chinese outpost of Dunhuang and grew up speaking multiple languages. He became a monk at the age of eight and in his thirties traveled extensively throughout the oasis kingdoms of Central Asia, collecting manuscripts of Mahāyāna scriptures in a multitude of Indic and Middle Indic languages, which he eventually brought back with him to China. Because of his multilingual ability, Dharmarakṣa was able to supervise a large team in rendering these texts into Chinese; the team included scholars of Indian and Central Asian origin, as well as such Chinese laymen as the father-and-son team Nie Chengyuan and Nie Daozhen. Some 150 translations in over three hundred rolls are attributed to Dharmarakṣa, including the first translation of the ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra'', the ''Vimalakīrtinirdeśa'', the ''Lalitavistara'', the ''Bhadrakalpikasūtra'', and some of the prajñāpāramitā literature. Although many of Dharmarakṣa's pioneering renderings were later superseded by the fourth-century retranslations of Kumārajīva, Dharmarakṣa is generally considered the most important translator of the early Chinese Buddhist saṃgha. (Source: "Dharmarakṣa." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 251. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Divākara (地婆訶羅, 613–87), or Rizhao (日照) in Chinese, was born in central India in the Brahmin Caste.
He became a Monk when he was just a child, and he spent many years at the Mahābodhi Temple and the Nālandā Monastery. He was an accomplished Tripiṭaka master, excelled in the five studies and especially in Mantra practices.
Already in his sixties, Divākara went to Chang-an (長安), China, in 676, the first year of the Yifeng (儀鳳) years of the Tang Dynasty (618–907).
Emperor Gaozong (唐高宗) treated him as respectfully as he had treated the illustrious Tripiṭaka master Xuanzang.
In 680, the first year of the Yonglong (永隆) years, the emperor commanded ten learned Monks to assist Divākara in translating sūtras from Sanskrit into Chinese.
In six years Divākara translated eighteen sūtras, including the ''Sūtra of the Buddha-Crown Superb Victory Dhāraṇī'' (T19n0970), the ''Sūtra of the Great Cundī Dhāraṇī'' (T20n1077), and the ''Mahāyāna Sūtra of Consciousness Revealed'' (T12n0347).
Longing to see his mother again, he petitioned for permission to go home.
Unfortunately, although permission was granted, he fell ill and died in the twelfth month of 687, the third year of the Chuigong (垂拱) years, at the age of seventy-five.
Empress Wu (武后則天) had him buried properly at the Xiangshan Monastery (香山寺) in Luoyang (洛陽).
([http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php?title=Div%C4%81kara Source Accessed Aug 18, 2020]) +
Geshé Dölpa was a prominent transmitter of the Kadam teachings known by several names, including Dölpa Marshurwa, Sherap Gyatso, and simply “Spiritual mentor of Döl” (Geshé Dölpa), after his home region. After studying with a number of teachers, he met the highly influential Kadampa master Potowa Rinchen Sal (1017/31-1105) and stayed with him for twenty-two years. In later years Geshé Dölpa founded his own monastery of Yangang in Döl. The chronicles mention that he had more than a thousand disciples, including the famous Kagyu hierarch Phakmodrupa Dorjé Gyalpo. (Adapted from ''[[Stages of the Buddha’s Teachings]]'' (Wisdom Publications, 2015), 6) +
Dölpopa Sherab Gyaltsen was one of the most influential Buddhist masters in Tibetan history. He first became an important scholar of the Sakya tradition, but then moved to Jonang Monastery. There he became the fourth holder of the monastic seat and constructed a monumental stupa. Dölpopa’s ideas, specifically his famous formulation of the zhentong view and his interpretations of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna doctrine, have elicited controversy for nearly seven hundred years. +
Indian Paṇḍita who lived in the 11th century and was one of Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's teachers, instructing him in "the ''Abhisamayālaṃkāra'' together with its commentary, the seven treatises of epistemology [by Dharmakīrti], and the 'Four Later Treatises of Maitreya[nātha] (Leonard van der Kuijp, ''Contributions to the Development of Tibetan Buddhist Epistemology: From the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Century'' [Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1983], 33. Pal Gomi Chime collaborated with Ngok on a revised translation of the ''Abhisamayālaṃkāra''. Ngok went on to write two Tibetan commentaries on the ''Abhisamayālaṃkāra'', playing a major role in establishing its transmission in Tibet. (Apple, ''Stairway to Nirvāṇa'', 2008, 32) +
Kunkhyen Chökyi Drakpa, aka Drikung Rigdzin Chökyi Drakpa (1595–1659)—the youngest son of the 21st throne holder of the Drikung Kagyü lineage, Chögyal Rinchen Phuntsok (1547-1602). The Drikung Chungtsang incarnation line [refers to] the successive reincarnations of Kunkhyen Chökyi Drakpa who became the lineage holders of the Drikung Kagyü lineage, along with the Chetsang Rinpoches. The Chungtsang Rinpoches are considered manifestations of Manjushri. ([http://dzogchen.gr/en/drikung-rigdzin-chokyi-drakpa/ Source Accessed on October 25, 2019]) +
"After the death of 'Jam dbyangs chos kyi grags pa (the 3rd Drukchen or Gyalwang Drukpa), monks found the rebirth in the house of a minor aristocrat of Kongpo, to the disappointment of both the families of Rwa lung and Bya. This child, the sprul sku Ngag dbang nor bu, was to be the great Padma dkar po. Padma dkar po was one of those rare renaissance men. The breadth of his scholarship and learning invites comparison with the Fifth Dalai Lama. It was Padma dkar po who systematized the teaching of the 'Brug pa sect. It is no wonder that the 'Brug pa Bka' brgyud pa always refer to him as Kun mkhyen, the Omniscient, an epithet reserved for the greatest scholar of a sect. Padma dkar po was a shrewd and occasionally ruthless politician. His autobiography is one of the most important sources for the history of the sixteenth century. Padma dkar po was a monk and insisted on adherence to the vinaya rules for his monastic followers. He also held that in the administration of church affairs the claims of the rebirth and the monastic scholar took priority over those of the scion of a revered lineage. Although he preached often at both Rwa lung and Bkra shis mthong smon, the seats of his two immediate predecessors, he never exercised actual control over these monasteries and their estates. He founded his monastery at Gsang sngags chos gling in Byar po, north of Mon Rta dbang, which became the seat of the subsequent Rgyal dbang 'Brug pa incarnation." (Gene Smith, ''Among Tibetan Texts'', 81) +
Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche or Dudjom Jikdral Yeshe Dorje (Tib. བདུད་འཇོམས་འཇིགས་བྲལ་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་, Wyl. bdud 'joms 'jigs bral ye shes rdo rje) (1904-1987) — one of Tibet’s foremost yogins, scholars, and meditation masters. He was recognized as the incarnation of Dudjom Lingpa (1835-1904), whose previous incarnations included the greatest masters, yogins and panditas such as Shariputra, Saraha and Khye'u Chung Lotsawa. Considered to be the living representative of Padmasambhava, he was a great revealer of the ‘treasures’ (terma) concealed by Padmasambhava. A prolific author and meticulous scholar, Dudjom Rinpoche wrote more than forty volumes, one of the best known of which is his monumental ''The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: Its Fundamentals and History''. Over the last decade of his life he spent much time teaching in the West, where he helped to establish the Nyingma tradition, founding major centres in France and the United States. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Dudjom_Rinpoche Source Accessed Feb 20, 2020]) +
Dakpo Tashi Namgyal (Dakpo Paṇchen Tashi Namgyel, Wylie: dwags po paN chen bkra shis rnam rgyal) (1513–1587) was a lineage holder of the Dagpo Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He was also trained in the Sakya lineage and was renowned as a scholar and yogi.
He should not be confused with his namesake, also known as Kunkyen Tashi Namgyal, (1399–1458), who helped establish Penpo Nalendra Monastery in 1425 with Sakya master Rongton Sheja Kunrig (1367–1449). Later in life he served as chief abbot of the Kagyu Daklha Gampo Monastery in southern Tibet.
His most famous works were two Mahamudra texts, ''Moonbeams of Mahamudra'' and ''Clarifying the Natural State.'' ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagpo_Tashi_Namgyal Source Accessed Feb 28, 2020]) +
According to Peter Alan Roberts, " . . . Dānaśīla, also known as Mālava, . . . came to Tibet much later [than Jinamitra], in the reign of Ralpachen (''ral pa can'', r. 815–838). Dānaśīla has his name on 167 texts. He is also listed as the author of seven of these, five of which he translated himself, one of which curiously is a text of divination based on the croaks of crows. Of the remaining two texts he authored, Jinamitra translated one, while Rinchen Zangpo (''rin chen bzang po'', 958–1055), the prolific translator of a later generation, translated the other. Dānaśīla was from Kashmir."<br> Roberts continues, "Jinamitra and Dānaśīla, together with a few other Indian scholars, compiled the great Tibetan-Sanskrit concordance entitled ''Mahāvyutpatti'', which was the fruit of decades of work on translation." ([http://www.jocbs.org/index.php/jocbs/article/view/37/35 Source Accessed Aug 18, 2020]) +
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Faxian (337 – ca. 422) was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled by foot from China to India, visiting sacred Buddhist sites in Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia between 399–412 to acquire Buddhist texts. He described his journey in his travelogue, ''A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms'' (''Foguo Ji'' 佛國記).
In 399, Faxian set out with nine others to locate sacred Buddhist texts. He visited India in the early fifth century. He is said to have walked all the way from China across the icy desert and rugged mountain passes. He entered India from the northwest and reached Pataliputra. He took back with him Buddhist texts and images sacred to Buddhism. He saw the ruins of the city when he reached Pataliputra.
Faxian's visit to India occurred during the reign of Chandragupta II. He is also renowned for his pilgrimage to Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautama Buddha (modern Nepal). However, he mentioned nothing about Guptas. Faxian claimed that demons and dragons were the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka.
On Faxian's way back to China, after a two-year stay in Ceylon, a violent storm drove his ship onto an island, probably Java. After five months there, Faxian took another ship for southern China; but, again, it was blown off course and he ended up landing at Mount Lao in what is now Shandong in northern China, 30 kilometres (19 mi) east of the city of Qingdao. He spent the rest of his life translating and editing the scriptures he had collected.
Faxian wrote a book on his travels, filled with accounts of early Buddhism, and the geography and history of numerous countries along the Silk Road as they were, at the turn of the 5th century CE. He wrote about cities like Taxila, Patliputra, Mathura, and Kannauj in Middle India. He also wrote that inhabitants of Middle India also eat and dress like Chinese people. He declared Pataliputra as a very prosperous city.
He returned in 412 and settled in what is now Nanjing. In 414 he wrote (or dictated) ''Foguoji'' (''A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms''; also known as ''Faxian's Account''). He spent the next decade, until his death, translating the Buddhist sutra he had brought with him from India. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faxian Source Accessed Aug 19, 2020])
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Yukhok Chatralwa Chöying Rangdrol (Tib. གཡུ་ཁོག་བྱ་བྲལ་བ་ཆོས་དབྱིངས་རང་གྲོལ་, Wyl. g.yu khog bya bral ba chos dbyings rang grol) (1872–1952) — a student of Tertön Sogyal Lerab Lingpa and Adzom Drukpa and the root teacher of Dodrupchen Rinpoche. One of his root incarnations was Yudra Nyingpo, and he was also considered as the tulku of Dola Jikmé Kalzang. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Yukhok_Chatralwa_Ch%C3%B6ying_Rangdrol Source Accessed Feb 6, 2020]) +
A Kadam scholar from Sangpu Neutok Monastery that was known for his expertise in the ''Five Treatises of Maitreya''. He was a senior contemporary of both Dölpopa and Butön and a teacher of the Sakya scholar Yakde Paṇchen and the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje. +
Minling Terchen was a great tertön and the founder of Mindroling Monastery. His father was Sangdak Trinlé Lhundrup (1611-1662) and his mother was Yangchen Drolma. He was born on the tenth day of the second month of the Fire Dog year. Together with his brother Lochen Dharmashri, he played an important role in the transmission of the Nyingma Kama, bringing together the Rong lineage of Central Tibet and the Kham lineage of Eastern Tibet. The two brothers also compiled the terma collection known as the Döjo Bumzang, which was a precursor of the Rinchen Terdzö. Terdak Lingpa established Mindroling Monastery in 1676. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Minling_Terchen_Gyurme_Dorje Rigpa Wiki]) +
Indian scholiast and major translator of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese during the Liu Song period (420–479). Born in central India to a brāhmaṇa family, he is said to have studied in his youth the five traditional Indian sciences, as well as astronomy, calligraphy, mathematics, medicine, and magic. He was converted to Buddhism and began systematically to study Buddhist texts, starting with the Abhidharma and proceeding through the most influential Mahāyāna texts, such as the ''Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra'' and ''Avataṃsakasūtra''. Around 435, he departed from Sri Lanka for China, arriving in Guangzhou by sea. In China, he devoted himself to teaching and translating Buddhist scriptures, carrying out most of his translations of Mahāyāna and mainstream Buddhist texts while residing in Qiyuansi in Jiankang and Xinsi in Jingzhou. He translated a total of fifty-two scriptures in 134 rolls, including the ''Saṃyuktāgama'' and the ''Prakaranapāda'' [śāstra], both associated with the Sarvāstivāda school, such seminal Mahāyāna texts as the ''[[Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādasūtra]]'' and the ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra''. In the ''Lengqie shizi ji'', a Chan genealogical history associated with the Northern school (Bei zong) of the early Chan tradition, Guṇabhadra is placed before Bodhidharma in the Chan patriarchal lineage, perhaps because of his role in translating the ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra'', an important scriptural influence in the early Chan school. (Source: "Guṇabhadra." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 336. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27) +
Venerable Khenpo Kalsang Gyaltsen is the spiritual director of Sakya Phuntsok Ling Centers for Tibetan Buddhist Study and Meditation. He is a widely recognized and accomplished teacher and translator of Buddhism. His Holiness Sakya Trizin and other high lamas of the Sakya Order have repeatedly praised his Dharma activities as exemplary. +
Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche was born in 1924 in China near the Tibetan border. At the age of seven he was recognized to be a reincarnate tulku and trained at Payul Dhomang Monastery in eastern Tibet. Rinpoche spent many years in solitary retreat before fleeing the Communist invasion of Tibet in 1959. After living in India for twelve years, Rinpoche moved to America and in 1976 was appointed as H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche’s spiritual representative in America. Rinpoche has founded many Buddhist centers, including Tashi Choling in Oregon, Orgyen Dorje Den in the San Francisco Bay area, Norbu Ling in Texas, Namdroling in Montana, and a center in Ensenada, Mexico. ([https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/gyatrul-rinpoche/ Source Accessed July 30, 2020]) +
Zhenpen Chökyi Nangwa, a disciple of Orgyen Tendzin Norbu, was the nineteenth abbot of Dzogchen's Śrī Siṃha college, the founder and first abbot of Dzongsar's Khamshe monastic college, and the teacher of countless Nyingma, Sakya and Kagyu lamas. He and his disciples are said to have established nearly one hundred study centers, emphasizing the study of thirteen Indian root texts. +
A contemporary of Ngok Lotsāwa and Tsen Khawoche, he was a translator that studied in Kashmir in the 11th Century, where he became a student of several prominent scholars including Sajjana and Parahitabhadra. +
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Hakamaya Noriaki is a Japanese Buddhist scholar who is associated with what is known as "Critical Buddhism." According to Jamie Hubbard, "The term critical Buddhism (''hihan Bukkyō'') refers to Hakamaya Noriaki (1943– ) and Matsumoto Shirō’s (1950– ) critique of Buddha-nature (''tathāgatagarbha'') and original enlightenment (''hongaku'') as not Buddhist. Theological and apologetic in nature, yet using the traditional textual and philological methods of academic scholarship (both scholars are specialists in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist studies), critical Buddhism asserts that Buddha-nature and similar doctrines are examples of Hindu-like thinking of a substantial self (ātman), which Buddhism opposes with the doctrines of no-self and causality (''pratītyasamutpāda''). Critical Buddhism further asserts that these monistic doctrines deny language and thinking in favor of an ineffable and nonconceptual mysticism contrary to the discriminating awareness (prajñā) and selfless compassion that constitutes Buddhist awakening." (Source: "Critical Buddhism (Hihan Bukkyō)." In ''Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Vol. 1'', 189. Macmillan Reference USA, 2004) +
Haribhadra. (T. Seng ge bzang po) (c. 800). Indian Buddhist exegete during the Pāla dynasty, whom later Tibetan doxographers associate with the Yogācāra-*Svātantrika syncretistic strand of Indian philosophy. He may have been a Student of Śāntarakṣita and was a contemporary of Kamalaśīla; he himself lists Vairocanabhadra as his teacher. Haribhadra is known for his two commentaries on the ''Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra'' ("Prajñāpāramitā in Eight Thousand Lines"): the longer ''Abhisamayālaṃ kārālokā-Prajñāpãramitãvyãkhyã'', and its summary, the ''Abhisamayālaṃkāravivṛti''. He is also known for his recasting of the twenty-five-thousand-line version of the prajñāpāramitā (''Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra'') in a work entitled the ''Le'u brgyad ma'' in Tibetan. Each of these works is based on the interpretative scheme set forth in the ''Abhisamayālaṃkāra'' ("Ornament for Clear Realizations"), a guide to the ''Pañcaviṃśati'' that Haribhadra explicitly attributes to Maitreya. His ''Abhisamayālaṃkārālokā'' builds upon Pramāṇa, Madhyamaka, and Abhidharma literature and was extremely influential in Tibet; its summary (known as "’grel pa don gsal" in Tibetan) is the root text (''rtsa ba'') for commentaries in the Gsang phu ne’u thog monastery tradition originating with Rngog Blo ldan shes rab. It is the most widely studied prajñāpāramitā commentary in Tibetan Buddhism to the present day. Haribhadra is known for his explanation of a ''jñānadharmakāya'' (knowledge truth-body) in addition to a ''svābhāvakāya'', viz., the eternally pure ''dharmadhātu'' that is free from duality. He is characterized as an alīkākāravādin ("false-aspectarian") to differentiate him from Kamalaśīla, a satyākāravãdin ("true- aspectarian") who holds that the objects appearing in the diverse forms of knowledge in a buddha's all-knowing mind are truly what they seem to be. He cites Dharmakīrti frequently but appears to accept that scripture (''āgama'') is also a valid authority (''pramāṇa''). There are two principal commentaries on his work, by Dharmamitra and Dharmakīrtiśrī. Buddhaśrījñāna (or simply Buddhajñāna) was his disciple. The ''Subodhinī'', a commentary on the ''Ratnaguṇasaṃcayagāthā'', is also attributed to him. (Source: "Haribhadra." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 345. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
A Chinese priest who lived during the fourth and fifth centuries. He studied under Hui-yüan at Mount Lu. Hearing of the master translator Kumārajīva, who had come to Ch'ang-an in 401, Hui-kuan became his disciple and joined in his translation work. He wrote ''An Introduction to the Essentials of the Lotus Sutra'', which won Kumārajīva's high praise. Kumārajīva exhorted him to propagate Buddhism in the south, and after Kumārajīva’s death he went to Ching-chou and later to Chien-k'ang, where he lived at Tao-ch'ang-ssu temple. Hence he was known as Hui-kuan of Tao-ch'ang-ssu temple. It is said that in Chien-k'ang he assisted Buddhabhadra with his translation of the Flower Garland Sutra. Together with Hsieh Ling-yün and Hui-yen, he revised the two existing Chinese translations of the Nirvana Sutra and produced what is called the southern version of the sutra. He also devised a classification of Shakyamuni Buddha's lifetime teachings into five periods according to the order in which he believed they had been expounded. He defined the Nirvana Sutra in this system as the teaching of the eternity of the Buddha nature, regarding it as the teaching of the fifth and last period, and the Lotus Sutra as the teaching of the fourth period. His concept of the five periods was widely known in China and was incorporated into other scholars' systems of classification. Hui-kuan held that enlightenment is achieved gradually in the course of practice. He thus opposed Tao-sheng, another disciple of Kumārajīva who held that enlightenment is attained suddenly and completely. He wrote ''The Discrimination of Teachings'' and ''The Treatise on the Doctrines of Immediate Attainment of Enlightenment and Gradual Attainment of Enlightenment''. ([https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/H/72 Source Accessed Aug 20, 2020]) +
A disciple of Kumārajīva and a translator of Buddhist scriptures in China. Together with Hui-kuan and Hsieh Ling-yün, he revised the forty-volume ''Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'', the Chinese translation by [Dharmakṣema], in light of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' translated by Fa-hsien and Buddhabhadra. He produced this revision as [a] thirty-six volume ''Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' in 436. ([https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/H/79 Source Accessed Aug 20, 2020]) +
Hōnen was the religious reformer and founder of the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism called Jōdo-shū (浄土宗, "The Pure Land School"). He is also considered the Seventh Jōdo Shinshū Patriarch.
Hōnen became a Tendai initiate at an early age, but grew disaffected and sought an approach to Buddhism that anyone could follow, even during the perceived Age of Dharma Decline. After discovering the writings of the Chinese Buddhist Shandao, he undertook the teaching of rebirth in the pure land of Amitābha through nianfo or "recitation of the Buddha's name".
Hōnen gathered a wide array of followers and critics. Emperor Tsuchimikado exiled Hōnen and his followers in 1207 after an incident regarding two of his disciples in addition to persuasion by influential Buddhist communities. Hōnen was eventually pardoned and allowed to return to Kyoto, where he stayed for a short time before his death. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C5%8Dnen Source Accessed October 17, 2019]) +
J
Jayānanda (Tib. རྒྱལ་བ་ཀུན་དགའ, gyalwa kün ga, Wyl. rgyal ba kun dga') was the author of an important commentary on the ''Introduction to the Middle Way'' (''Madhyamakāvatāra'') by Candrakīrti called the ''Madhyamakāvatāraṭīkā''.
The Tibetan literature has not preserved very much about Jayānanda. He appears to have publicly debated
with Phya-pa Chos-kyi seng-ge (1109–1169) on ''madhyamaka'' subjects at Gsang-phu ne'u-thog
monastery, of which the latter was abbot for eighteen years, most likely from 1152 to 1169, which resulted in
a public defeat for him by that unique thinker who was one of Tibet's few, but foremost opponents of the
''*prāsaṇgika-madyamaka''. The great Gser-mdog Paṇ-chen Śākya-mchog ldan (1428–1507) writes that he
thereafter left Tibet for Mount Wutai. In this connection, it is rather curious that he also writes . . . that
Jayānanda had composed the ''Madhayamakāvatāravṛtti'' in Tibet. This work was not very much studied in
later times, akthough a notable exception seems to have been Tsong-kha-pa, who cites it severally in some
of his major writings, and then usually in a highly critical vein, particularly in connection with its "Tibetan
followers." His influence in Tibet was nonetheless not inconsiderable. Among his many disciples, we should
count Rma-bya Brtson-'grus seng-ge (?–1185) who, in fact, wrote a commentary on the
''Tarkamudgarakārikā''. So far, it seems that only his exegesis of the ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' has been
presevered by way of a late nineteenth century Sde-dge blockprint. (Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp,
"Jayānanda. A Twelfth Century Guoshi from Kashmir Among the Tangut." ''Central Asiatic Journal'' 37, no.
3/4 (1993): 188–97) +
An 8th century Indian author that was associated mainly with the Yogācāra school of thought. +
Jñānagarbha (Tibetan: ཡེ་ཤེས་སྙིང་པོ་, Wyl. ye shes snying po) was an 8th-century Buddhist philosopher from Nalanda who wrote on Madhyamaka and Yogācāra and is considered part of Bhāviveka's Svātantrika tradition. He was a student of Śrīgupta and the teacher and ordaining master of Śāntarakṣita.
In his mostly Svātantrika interpretation of Madhyamaka philosophy, Jñānagarbha incorporated aspects of Yogācāra philosophy and Dharmakirti's epistemology and therefore can be seen as a harmonizer of the various Buddhist philosophical systems like his student Śāntarakṣita.
He is mostly known for his work "Distinguishing the Two Truths" (Skt. ''Satyadvayavibhaṅga'', Wyl. ''Bden gnyis rnam ‘byed''). This work mostly sought to critique the views of Dharmapāla of Nalanda and his followers. A meditation text named "The Path for the Practice of Yoga" (''Yoga-bhavana-marga'' or ''-patha'') is also attributed to him by Tibetan sources. He also may have written a commentary to the ''Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra'', a major sūtra of the Yogācāra school. However, it is possible that the author of this text was actually a different writer also named Jñānagarbha.
Jñānagarbha's ''Satyadvayavibhaṅga'' analyzes the Madhyamaka "two truths" doctrine of conventional truth and ultimate truth. He defends the role of conceptual thinking and reasoning against those who would eliminate all conceptual thinking and theorizing (i.e., Candrakīrti). However, like other Madhyamikas, the goal of his project is a form of awareness which is free from all concepts, though one which, according to Jñānagarbha, is reachable through conceptual thought. Jñānagarbha held that even though language and reasoning is based on a cause and effect ontology which is ultimately empty and unreal, it can still lead toward the ultimate truth, through a logical analysis which realizes the untenable assumptions of reason and causality itself. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B1%C4%81nagarbha Source Accessed Jan 17, 2020])
Jñānagupta. (C. Shenajueduo; J. Janakutta; K . Sanagulta 闍那崛多) (523-600). Indian monk from Gandhāra, who arrived in China around 559 and became a prolific translator of Indian materials into Chinese; some thirty-five of his translations are still extant and preserved in the Chinese canon (Dazangjing ). He is perhaps best known for his retranslation of the ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra'' ("Lotus Sūtra"), which included portions of the scripture that did not appear in Kumārajīva's pioneering translation made two centuries before, especially the important "Chapter on Devadatta." He also translated the ''Adhyāśayasañcodana'', the ''Vimalakīrtinirdeśa'', the ''Abhiniṣkramaṇasūtra'' (a possible translation of the ''Mahāvastu''), and several dhāraṇī sūtras. (Source: "Jñānagupta." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 396. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
There are multiple authors associated with this name, that were active in the 12th century who transmitted Tantric lineages that spread to Tibet. These include one from Kashmir ([https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P7148 BDRC: P7148]) and one from Nepal ([https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P4CZ15139 BDRC: P4CZ15139]). Some have also suggested that the author of the ''Tathāgatahṛdayālaṃkāra'', a commentary on the ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra'', was Chinese due to the colophon, which refers to the author as Rgya'i mkhan po. However, this could either refer to India (Rgya mkhar) or China (Rgya nag). Nevertheless, this is the only non-Tantric work attributed to an author by the name of Jñānavajra. +
Late Indian Yogācāra philosopher and logician of the school of Dharmakīrti at Vikramaśīla monastery, born between 975 and 1000. Within the Yogācāra, he held the so-called “aspectarian” (sākāra) position regarding the nature of cognition, taking a position opposed to that of Ratnākaraśānti. He is credited as the author of twelve treatises, including an important work on apoha, the ''Apohaprakaraṇa''. In his works on logic, he upholds the interpretation of Dharmakīrti by Prajñākaragupta against the interpretation by Dharmottara. (Source: "Jñānaśrīmitra." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 398. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
K
The mythical second king of Shambhala, who is reported to have written the ''Vimalaprabhā'', an important commentary on the ''Kālacakra Tantra''. He is considered to be an emanation of Avalokiteśvara and subsequently the Dalai Lamas are considered to be emanations of this king. +
[https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/kalu-rinpoche/12180 A new biography is available on Treasury of Lives (February, 2021)]
An important modern meditation master and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. Recognized as an incarnation (sprul sku) of the Karma Bka' brgyud master 'Jam mgon kong sprul, Kalu Rinpoche was ordained at the age of thirteen by the eleventh Situ Rinpoche. Kalu Rinpoche began serious meditation study at an early age, undertaking his first three-year retreat at the age of sixteen. He also received the transmission of the teachings of the Shangs pa sect of Bka' brgyud. He later served as the meditation teacher at Dpal spungs monastery. Following the Chinese invasion, Kalu Rinpoche left Tibet in 1962 and first stayed at a small monastery outside of Darjeeling, India. He later settled in Sonada, West Bengal, where he built a three-year retreat center, teaching there before traveling internationally for ten years (1971–1981). In 1971, he traveled to France and the United States, at the request of the Dalai Lama and the Karma pa, in order to educate Westerners in Buddhism. During those ten years, Kalu Rinpoche founded many meditation and dharma centers in Canada, the United States, and Europe, with his main meditation school in Vancouver, Canada. Kalu Rinpoche led his first three-year retreat for Western students of Tibetan Buddhism in France in 1976. His full name is Kar ma rang 'byung kun khyab phrin las. (Source: "Kalu Rinpoche." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 410. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
For a recent publication about the life of Kyabje Dorje Chang Kalu Rinpoche, which contains accounts written by others about him, his writings—including his autobiography, songs, poems, essays, letters, and his own guru yoga—and translations of oral teachings, see ''Lord of the Siddhas: The Life, Teachings, Paranirvana and Legacy of Kyabje Dorje Chang Kalu Rinpoche'', 2019. https://www.namsebangdzo.com/Lord-of-the-Siddhas-p/9780692160442.htm
For information about the 2nd Kalu Rinpoche, Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche, see, https://paldenshangpa.org/his-eminence-the-2nd-kalu-rinpoche/
Kamalagupta was a noted Kashmīri paṇḍita active in the tenth and eleventh centuries. According to Jean Naudou (''Buddhists of Kashmir'', 1980), he was among many Kashmīri paṇḍitas, "including Śraddhākaravarman, Padmākaragupta, Ratnavajra, Buddhaśrīśānta and Buddhapāla, who came to Tibet at the invitation of Ye-śes ’od : that is the start of a period of continuous exchangs [''sic''] between Kaśmīr and Mṅa-ris . . ." (163).
Kamalagupta and Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055) translated the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'' in Tibet in the eleventh century (D121). An earlier translation of this text (D120) was made in the ninth century by Jinamitra, Jñānagarbha, and Devacandra.
Kamalagupta often collaborated with Rinchen Zangpo, and they translated many books from Sanskrit to Tibetan together. ([https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Wangpabzhun/P8276 Source Accessed Aug 19, 2020]) +
One of the most important Madhyamaka authors of late Indian Buddhism, a major representative of the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka synthesis, and a participant in the famous Bsam yas Debate. According to Tibetan doxographies, he was a proponent of the Yogācāra-Svātantrika-Madhyamaka. Although little is known about his life, according to Tibetan sources he was a monk and teacher at Nālandā. Tibetan sources also count him as one of three (together with Śāntarakṣita and Jñãnagarbha) “Eastern Svātantrikas” (rang rgyud shar gsum), suggesting that he was from Bengal. He was clearly a direct disciple of Śāntarakṣita, composing important commentaries on his teacher’s two major works, the ''Madhyamakālaṃkāra'' and the ''Tattvasaṃgraha''. The latter commentary, which is extant in Sanskrit, is an important source for both Hindu and Buddhist philosophical positions in the eighth century. (Source: "Kamalaśīla." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 411. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
Kangyur Rinpoche, Longchen Yeshe Dorje (Tib. བཀའ་འགྱུར་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་ཀློང་ཆེན་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ་, Wyl. bka' 'gyur rin po che klong chen ye shes rdo rje) (1898-1975) was a great master and tertön from Riwoche Monastery in Kham, East Tibet; his root teacher was Jedrung Trinlé Jampa Jungné. In exile, he lived in Darjeeling, where he met and taught some of the very first western students of Tibetan Buddhism, including Matthieu Ricard. Kangyur Rinpoche is the father of Pema Wangyal Rinpoche, Rangdröl Rinpoche, and Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche. His commentaries on Jikme Lingpa's ''Treasury of Precious Qualities'' and Nagarjuna's ''Letter to a Friend'' have been translated into English by the Padmakara Translation Group. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Kangyur_Rinpoche Source Accessed Jan 27, 2020]) +
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]) +
In Japanese, “Sea of Emptiness”; monk who is considered the founder of the tradition, often referred to as the Shingonshū, Tōmitsu, or simply mikkyō. He is often known by his posthumous title Kōbō Daishi, or "Great Master Who Spread the Dharma," which was granted to him by Emperor Daigo in 921. A native of Sanuki province on the island of Shikoku, Kūkai came from a prominent local family. At the age of fifteen, he was sent to Nara, where he studied the Chinese classics and was preparing to become a government official. However, he seems to have grown disillusioned with this life. At the age of twenty, Kūkai was ordained, perhaps by the priest Gonsō, and the following year he took the full precepts at Tōdaiji. He is claimed to have experienced an awakening while performing the Kokūzō gumonjihō, a ritual dedicated to the mantra of the bodhisattva Ākāśagarbha. While studying Buddhist texts on his own, Kūkai is said to have encountered the ''Mahāvairocanābhisaṃbodhiūtra'' and, unable to find a master who could teach him to read its mantras, decided to travel to China to learn from masters there. In 804, he was selected as a member of a delegation to China that set sail in four ships; Saichō was aboard another of the ships. Kūkai eventually traveled to the Tang capital of Chang’an, where he studied tantric mijiao Buddhist rituals and theory under Huiguo and Sanskrit under the Indian monk Prajña. Under the direction of his Chinese master, Kūkai was initiated into the two realm (ryōbu) maṇḍala lineages of Yixing, Śubhakarasiṃha, Vajrabodhi, and Amoghavajra. In 806, Kūkai returned to Japan; records of the texts and implements he brought with him are preserved in the ''Shōrai mokuroku''. Little is known about his activities until 809, when he moved to Mt. Takao by imperial request. Kūkai described his new teachings as mikkyō, or "secret teachings," vajrayāna ( J . ''kongōjō''), and mantrayāna (J. ''shingonjō''). At the core of Kūkai’s doctrinal and ritual program was the belief that all acts of body, speech, and mind are rooted in, and expressions of, the cosmic buddha Mahāvairocana, as the dharmakāya. Kūkai argued that the dharmakāya itself teaches through the artistic and ritual forms that he brought to Japan. Once his teachings gained some renown, Kūkai conducted several abhiṣeka ceremonies, including one for the Tendai patriarch Saichō and his disciples. However, Kūkai and Saichō’s relationship soured when Kūkai refused to transmit the highest level of initiation to Saichō. In 816, Emperor Saga granted Kūkai rights to Kōyasan, to serve as a training center for his Shingon mikkyō tradition. In early 823, Kūkai was granted the temple of Tōji in Kyōto, which became a second center for the Shingon tradition. In the summer of 825, Kūkai built a lecture hall at Tōji, and in 827 he was promoted to senior assistant high priest in the Bureau of Clergy. In 829, he built an abhiṣeka platform at Tōdaiji. In early 834, he received permission to establish a Shingon chapel within the imperial palace, where he constructed a maṇḍala altar. Kūkai passed into eternal samādhi (J. ''nyūjō'') in 835 on Mt. Kōya, and it is said that he remains in his mausoleum in meditation waiting for the bodhisattva Maitreya to appear. Kūkai authored a number of important texts, including the ''Benkenmitsu nikyōron'', a treatise outlining the inherent differences of kengyō (revealed) and mikkyō (inner) teachings; ''Sokushin jōbutsugi'', a treatise on the doctrine of attainment of buddhahood in "this very body" (J. sokushin jōbutsu); ''Unjigi'', a text describing the contemplation of Sanskrit syllables (S. ''bīja'' , J. ''shuji''); ''Shōjijissōgi'', a text outlining Kūkai's theory of language in which all sounds and letters are themselves full embodiments of the dharmakāya’s teachings; and his magnum opus, the ''Himitsu mandara jūjūshinron'', in which Kūkai makes his case for recognizing Shingon mikkyō as the pinnacle of Buddhist wisdom. Kūkai was an accomplished calligrapher, poet, engineer, and sculptor and is also said to have invented kana, the Japanese syllabary (Source: "Kūkai." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 450. Princeton University Press, 2014.)
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). +
L
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). +
Lotsāwa Senge Gyaltsen was a Tibetan translator who lived in the 10th-11th centuries. Among the works he is known to have translated are the ''Bcom ldan 'das ma shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po'i 'grel pa don gyi sgron ma'' (''Bhagavatīprajñāpāramitāhṛdayaṭīkā-arthapradīpa-nāma''); ''Shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa'i snying po'i don yongs su shes pa'' (''Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayārthaparijñāna'') and the ''Chos dang chos nyid rnam par 'byed pa'i tshig le'ur byas pa'' (''Dharmadharmatāvibhāga''). ([https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P4CZ15648 Source Accessed Aug 21, 2020]) +
Etienne Loyon is a translator and student of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamsto Rinpoche. He has completed a translation of the ''Ratnagotravibhāga'' into French entitled ''Traité de la Continuité ultime du Grand Véhicule'', which is available online at http://www.khenpo.fr/continuite_ultime_accueil.html +
Dan Lusthaus is an American writer on Buddhism. He is a graduate of Temple University's Department of Religion, and is a specialist in Yogācāra. The author of several articles and books on the topic, Lusthaus has taught at UCLA, Florida State University, the University of Missouri, and in the Spring of 2005 he was a professor at Boston University.
Lusthaus also collaborated with Heng-ching Shih in the translation of Kuiji's (K'uei-chi) commentary on the Heart Sutra with the Numata translation project. Lusthaus is an editor for the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, in the area of Indian/East Asian Yogācāra/Tathāgatagarbha. He contributed the contents of his catalogue of the major Yogācāra translations of Xuanzang to the DDB, as well as a number of other terms related to the Cheng Weishi Lun and Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Lusthaus Source Accessed July 22, 2020]) +
Līlāvajra, also known as Vilāsavajra or Lalitavajra, was an 8th century Indian master, perhaps from Oddiyana, who wrote commentaries on ''Chanting the Names of Manjushri'' and the ''Guhyagarbha Tantra''. Among the students of Vilāsavajra, the most prominent were Buddhaguhya and Buddhajñanapada, who both studied the cycle of the Web of Magical Illusion. (Source: [https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Vilasavajra Rigpa Wiki]) +
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Mahājana was a Kashmiri paṇḍita who was active around the 11th-12th centuries. According to Donald Lopez, one of his main contributions was his commentary on the ''Heart Sutra'', ''Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayārthaparijñāna'' (''Complete Understanding of the Meaning of the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom''). According to Lopez, "Mahājana's commentary is the only work ascribed to him in the Tibetan canons; he is listed as the translator of nine works, suggesting that he visited Tibet, probably in the late eleventh or early twelfth century.[13] His commentary reflects an author of a decidedly Yogācāra persuasion . . ." (Donald S. Lopez, Jr., ''Elaborations on Emptiness: Uses of the Heart Sūtra'' [New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1996], 16). Mahājana is also reported to have been one of several panditas who taught Atiśa the Perfection of Wisdom and secret mantra. (''Sources of Tibetan Tradition'', 2013, 178)<br><br>
===Notes===
13. The colophon of his commentary states that he collaborated in its translation with Seng ge rgyal mtshan, who was a student of Ngog bLo ldan shes rab (1059–1109). +
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. +
Famed Indian Mahāsiddha whose influence was felt in the Tibetan tradition via his student Marpa Chökyi Lodrö, and others. In terms of the ''Uttaratantra'' he is reported to have had visionary interactions with the Bodhisattva Maitreya that led him to discover instructions related to the treatise. However, there is no mention of this in his extant writings. Nevertheless, the lineage of the instructions that reportedly descend from him would form the basis for a meditative tradition of exegesis on this work that became widespread among followers of the Kagyu school. A tradition which feature a unique Mahāmudra approach to the ''Uttaratantra''. +
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. +
The most famous and beloved of Tibetan yogins. Although he is associated most closely with the Bka' brgyud sect of Tibetan Buddhism, he is revered throughout the Tibetan cultural domain for his perseverance through hardship, his ultimate attainment of buddhahood in one lifetime, and for his beautiful songs. The most famous account of his life (the Mi la ras pa'i rnam thar, or “The Life of Milarepa”) and collection of spiritual songs (Mi la'i mgur 'bum, or “The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa”) are extremely popular throughout the Tibetan world. The themes associated with his life story—purification of past misdeeds, faith and devotion to the Guru, ardor in meditation and yogic practice, and the possibility of attaining buddhahood despite the sins of his youth—have inspired developments in Buddhist teaching and practice in Tibet. (Source: "Mi la ras pa." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 541. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
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''). +