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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) +
Shechen Gyaltsap Gyurme Pema Namgyal, a remarkable master who lived at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning o f the twentieth century, wrote ''The Great Medicine that Conquers Clinging to the Notion of Reality''. He was a disciple of the greatest luminaries of the nineteenth century, including Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye, and Lama Mipham Rinpoche. Shechen Gyaltsap was indisputably one of the most learned and accomplished lamas of his time. The thirteen volumes of his large collection of writings contain many lucid and profound commentaries on various aspects of philosophy and practice.
Shechen Gyaltsap was also an accomplished practitioner. He spent
much of his life in retreat above Shechen Monastery in eastern Tibet, and achieved many signs of accomplishment. Once he started a three-year retreat based on the ''Vajrakilaya'' practice, but to everyone's surprise after only three months he emerged saying that he had completed his intended program. The next morning, his attendant noticed an imprint of his footprint on the stone threshold of the hermitage. Shechen Gyaltsap's disciples later removed the stone and hid it during the Cultural Revolution. Today, it is possible to see it at Shechen Monastery in Tibet. The imprint was an outer sign of his inner realization of the ''Vajrakilaya'' practice. (Source: ''The Great Medicine'', introduction, 21) +
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. +
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]) +
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.]) +
Tsele Natsok Rangdrol (Tib. རྩེ་ལེ་སྣ་ཚོགས་རང་གྲོལ་, Wyl. rtse le sna tshogs rang grol) (b. 1608) was born near the border of the Tibetan provinces Kongpo and Dakpo. He was recognized as the immediate reincarnation of Tendzin Dorje (1535-1605?), and also as a reincarnation of Götsangpa, a great master of the Drukpa Kagyü lineage, an emanation of Milarepa. In his youth he studied with the Third Pawo Rinpoche and the famous tertön Jatsön Nyingpo as well as other great teachers of the Kagyü and Nyingma lineages. Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö and Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche encouraged the study of his writings, as they are particularly suited to beings of these times. Several of them have been translated into English by Erik Pema Kunsang. ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Tsele_Natsok_Rangdrol Source Accessed Feb 27, 2020]) +
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. +
Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa was one of the most influential Tibetan Buddhist scholars of the last millennium. Born in Amdo, he travelled to U-Tsang in his youth, never to return to his homeland. In U-Tsang he studied with numerous teachers of all traditions and engaged in many retreats resulting in his development of a fresh interpretation of Nāgārjuna's Madhyamaka view and a reinvigoration of the monastic Vinaya. Widely regarded as an emanation of Mañjuśrī, Tsongkhapa composed eighteen volumes of works of which the majority dealt with tantric subjects. He was the founder of Ganden Monastery, which became the central monastery of the Geluk tradition that was founded on his teachings and writings. +
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Khosla was a graduate student at the University of Toronto specializing in Tathāgatagarbha Doctrine. +
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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]) +
Vasubandhu, who lived around the Fourth century CE, was one of India's most prominent Buddhist philosophers. His prolific writings record an odyssey through the systems of the leading Buddhist schools of his day. Though primarily venerated by later Buddhists as co-founder of the Yogācāra school with his half-brother Asaṅga, his pre-Yogācāra works, such as the Abhidharma-kośa and his auto-commentary (-bhāṣya) on it, have continued to be seriously studied until the present day. He wrote commentaries on many Mahāyāna texts, works on logic, devotional poetry, works on Abhidharma classifications (see below), as well as original and innovative philosophical treatises. Many of his writings survive in their original Sanskrit form, but others, particularly his commentaries, are extant only in Chinese or Tibetan translations. (Source: [http://www.acmuller.net/yogacara/thinkers/vasubandhu.html Dan Lusthaus]) +
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. +
Indian paṇḍita associated with works in the Kangyur. He is the co-translator, along with Śīlendrabodhi and Ye shes sde, of the ''Gaganagañjaparipṛcchāsūtra'' (''Questions of Gaganagañja Sūtra''). He also appears as the translator, along with Mañjuśrīgarbha, Śīlendrabodhi, and Yeshe De of the ''Dharmasaṃgīti''. +
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Wǒnch'ǔk. (T. Wen tsheg; C. Yuance; J. Enjiki 圓測) (613-695). In Korean, "Consummate Keenness"; Silla-dynasty monk renowned for his expertise in Sanskrit and Yogācāra doctrine, who was influential in Chinese and in later Tibetan Buddhism. Wǒnch'ǔk is said to have left for Tang-dynasty China at the age of fifteen, where he studied the writings of Paramārtha and the ''She lun'', or ''Mahāyānasaṃgraha'', under Fachang (567–645). Wǒnch'ǔk later became the disciple of the Chinese pilgrim-translator Xuanzang who, in accordance with the new Yogācāra teachings of Dharmapāla that he had brought back from India (see Faxiang zong), denounced the existence of the ninth "immaculate consciousness" (''amalavijñāna''), which Paramārtha had advocated, and taught instead the innate impurity of the eighth "storehouse consciousness" (''ālayavijñāna''). These crucial doctrinal issues are said to have caused a split between the major disciples of Xuanzang: Wǒnch'ǔk and his followers came to be known as the Ximing tradition in honor of Wǒnch'ǔk's residence, Ximingsi, and was said to have been more open to positions associated with the earlier She lun zong; and the lineage of his fellow student and major rival Kuiji (632–682), which came to be known as the Ci'en tradition after Kuiji's monastery, Da Ci'ensi, and honed more rigidly to Xuanzang and Dharmapāla’s positions. Wǒnch'ǔk's famed ''Haesimmilgyǔng so'' (C. ''Jieshenmi jing shu''), his commentary on Xuanzang's translation of the ''Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra'', includes traces of Wǒnch'ǔk's earlier training in She lun zong thought and Paramārtha's expositions on the controversial notion of ''amalavijñāna''. Wǒnch'ǔk regarded the ''amalavijñāna'' as simply another name for the inherent purity of the ''ālayavijñāna'', but, unlike Xuanzang, he considered the ''ālayavijñāna'' to be essentially pure in nature. He also disagreed with Xuanzang's contention that the ''icchantika'' could not attain buddhahood. Hence, his work seems to be an attempt to reconcile the divergences between the old Yogācāra of Paramārtha and the new Yogācāra of Xuanzang. Wǒnch'ǔk's commentary to the ''Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra'' was extremely popular in the Chinese outpost of Dunhuang, where Chos grub (Ch. Facheng; c. 755–849) translated it into Tibetan during the reign of King Ral pa can (r. 815–838). Only nine of the ten rolls of the commentary are still extant in Chinese; the full text is available only in its Tibetan translation, which the Tibetans know as the "Great Chinese Commentary" (Rgya nag gi 'grel chen) even though it was written by a Korean. Five centuries later, the renowned Tibetan scholar Tsong kha pa drew liberally on Wǒnch'ǔk's text in his major work on scriptural Interpretation, ''Legs bshad snying po''. Wǒnch'ǔk's views were decisive in Tibetan formulations of such issues as the hermeneutical stratagem of the three turnings of the wheel of the dharma (''Dharmacakrapravartana''), the nine types of consciousness (''vijñāna''), and the quality and nature of the ninth "immaculate" consciousness (''amalavijñāna''). Exegetical styles subsequently used in all the major sects of Tibetan Buddhism, with their use of elaborate sections and subsections, may also derive from Wǒnch'ǔk's commentary. Consequently, Wǒnch'ǔk remains better known and more influential in Tibet than in either China or Korea. Wǒnch'ǔk also wrote a eulogy to the ''Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra'', and commentaries to the ''Renwang jing'' and Dharmapāla's *''Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi'', the latter of which is no longer extant. (Source: "Wǒnch'ǔk." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 996–97. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Wǒnhyo was one of the most influential commentators in East Asian Buddhism. A Korean monk who wrote in Chinese, he is famous not only for his many commentaries on scripture but also his propagation of Buddhism in Korea, in particular for his ecumenical approach to spreading the many Buddhist teachings then available. His greatest commentaries are those on the *''Vajrasamādhisūtra'', the ''Awakening of Faith'', and the ''Mahāparinivāṇasūtra'', all important scriptures in buddha-nature and original enlightenment theory. +
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Xie Lingyun (SHEE-EH LIHNG-yewn) was born into one of the most powerful aristocratic families of the Six Dynasties, one that was at the center of cultural and literary movements. The Xie family moved from Henan to Zhejiang province. His great wealth gave him all the leisure he needed. His book collection made him one of the most learned poets of his time, and he was famous as a calligrapher and painter. He was an eccentric and had a special love for nature. Xie spent much time wandering around the country looking at celebrated landscapes.
His poems were a blending of sentiment, reason, and beauty of nature with Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucian philosophy. Xie edited the southern version of the ''Mahaparinirvana-sutra'', wrote a “discussion of essentials,” and identified the combination of Nirvana and Samsara with the doctrine of Void. These were tasks well suited to a mind accustomed to the Daoist teachings of the ''Dao De Jing'' . . .
Xie was regarded as the first of the nature poets and the founder of the school of mountains and waters poetry (''shanju fu''). His editions and commentary on Buddhism popularized this religion with educated Chinese scholars. ([https://www.enotes.com/topics/xie-lingyun Source Accessed Aug 20, 2020])
In the Jin Dynasty and the Song Dynasty, [the] ''Mahaparinirvana-sutra'' spread in the Central Plains [and] had two versions: the southern one and the northern one. The northern version was translated by Tan Mochen, while the southern one by Xie Lingyun, Hui Yan and Hui Guan. The two versions had many differences in their structure, content and style. According to many documents, Xie played a quite important role in the retranslation and the compilation of [the] ''Mahaparinirvana-sutra''. He participated in and presided over it. In addition, he did a lot of pertinent research and annotating work. ([https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Xie-Lingyun-and-the-Retranslation-and-the-of-Yan-jun/eeecb39bd8afa62bac6d7c87552fea54365b7664 Source Accessed Aug 20, 2020])
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Circa 11th century Indian author known for his commentary on his teacher Prajñākaragupta's ''Pramāṇavārttikālaṃkāra''. +
Yarlung Lotsāwa was a translator of་over twenty texts preserved in the Tibetan canon, in both the Kangyur and Tengyur. Notably, according to Kano, he produced one of the six translations of the ''Uttaratantra'' referenced by Gö Lotsāwa. Though unfortunately this translation is no longer extant. +
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]) +
