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Ngawang Lodro Drakpa was a vajra master at Tsangwa Monastery in the Dzamtang region of Amdo. Often referred to as “Mati Rinpoche,” he was one of the leading intellectual figures and most prolific Jonangpa authors of the twentieth century. He is regarded by the living Jonang tradition as a miraculous manifestation of the Tibetan masters Dolpopa Sherab Gyeltsen, Kunga Drolchok, and Tāranātha, among others. +
Ngoje Repa Zhedang Dorje (ngo rje ras pa zhe sdang rdo rje) was born in the early part of the twelfth century in the Ngor region (ngor) of Tsang (gtsang). His father, a member of the Ngoje (ngo rje) family, was named Dorje Tob (rdo rje stobs), and his mother was named Dortso (rdor mtsho).
Among his early teachers were the Kashmiri Paṇḍita Śākyaśrībhadra (kha che pan chen shAkya shrI b+ha dra, 1127-1225). He studied philosophy in the Sakya tradition and was known as an excellent debater and expounder of the Buddhist teachings.
According to tradition, when Ngoje Repa first heard of Jikten Gonpo Rinchen Pel ('jig rten mgon po rin chen dpal, 1143-1217) the founder of Drigung Til Monastery ('bri gung mthil), he was overcome by jealousy. He drew a picture on a wall of Jikten Gonpo turning a stone mill with the heads of his disciples in it, a depiction meant to suggest that Jikten Gonpo was spinning the heads of his disciples with false teachings.
Confident of his debating skills, he went to Drigung Til to challenge Jikten Gonpo. He was brought into the master's presence by Pelchen Ngepuwa (dpal chen ngad phu ba). Despite his intentions, legend has it that as soon Ngoje Repa saw Jikten Gonpo he felt he was seeing the Buddha himself. +
Ngok Lotsāwa was nephew of Ngok Lekpai Sherab, the founder of Sangpu Neutok, and not only carried on the teaching activities of his uncle but raised the fame and prestige of Sangpu to new heights. He was important not only to his own Kadam lineage, but to the development of Tibetan education in general. Ngok Lotsāwa, working with the Kashmiri paṇḍita Sajjana, produced the sole-surviving translation of the Ratnagotravibhāga, the central text of buddha-nature theory in Tibet. His commentary on the text is said to have initiated the "analytical" exegetical tradition. +
Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo was one of the most famous and influential Sakya teachers of the fifteenth century. A student of Sharchen Yeshe Gyeltsen and Buddhaśrī, he played an important role in the revitalization of the Sakya tradition following the collapse of Yuan patronage, with the establishment of Ngor Monastery in 1429, and the cultivation of support from Mustang and the Rinpung family in Shigatse. He famously engaged in a polemical debate with Khedrubje over the authenticity of the Sakya Hevajra teachings. Among his disciples were Muchen Sempa Chenpo, Gorampa Sonam Sengge, and Shākya Chokden. +
Konchok Lhundrub was the tenth abbot of Ngor Monastery, serving from 1534 to 1557. He is remembered as one of the most accomplished and prestigious Ngor abbots, comparable in reputation to Ngor's founder Kunga Zangpo. +
The Ninth Situ, Pema Nyinje Wangpo, was a student of the Thirteenth Karmapa and the Tenth Zhamar. He was a main teacher to Jamgon Kongtrul and the Fourteenth Karmapa. He built the Gyude Temple at Pelpung Monastery. He spent the twenty years in retreat, from about age sixty to age eighty. +
Khedrup Norsang Gyatso (1423–1513), a well-known scholar and adept of the fifteenth century, was a student of the First Dalai Lama and a principal teacher of the Second Dalai Lama. Though belonging to the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism, Norsang Gyatso is recognized as a seminal figure in the promotion of a syncretic approach—between the Geluk and Kagyü schools—to the teachings and practices of mahamudra. Along with Phukpa Lhundrup Gyatso, Norsang Gyatso is credited also with the founding of the highly influential Phuk school of Tibetan astronomy and astrology. Because of his dedication to intensive meditative practice for more than four decades as a wandering hermit, Norsang Gyatso came to be revered by the Tibetan tradition as a great meditator and teacher, and he is included among the lineage masters of many important practice traditions, including the lineage of Kalachakra. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/product/ornament-stainless-light/?attribute_pa_format=ebook Wisdom Experience]) +
Sanggye Yeshe (sangs rgyas ye shes) was born into the Nub (gnubs) clan in the Dra (sgrags) region of U (dbus) around the year 844. His father was Selwa Wangchuk (gsal ba dbang phyug) and his mother was Chimo Tashi Tso (mchims mo bkra shis 'tsho). His birth name was Dorje Tritsuk (rdo rje khri gtsug). Sanggye Yeshe was his ordination name; his tantric initiation name was Dorje Yangwang Ter (rod rje yang dbang gter).
At the age of seven he began studying with Odren Pelgi Zhonnu ('o bran dpal gyi gzhon nu), who heads a long list of luminaries with whom he studied. According to later historians he received tantric initiation from Padmasambhava, his flower landing on the maṇḍala of Yamāntaka, the wrathful form of Mañjuśrī. In his own biography Nubchen claims to have met Padmasambhava on the border of India and Nepal, and to have received teachings from him, but it is unlikely that he lived early enough to have actually encountered him.
The list given of the Indian masters who he met includes Śrī Siṃha, Vimalamitra, and Kamalaśīla, who ordained him. He also trained with Nyak Jñānakumara (gnyags dznya na ku ma ra) and his disciples Sokpo Pelgyi Yeshe (sog po dpal gyi ye shes) and Zhang Gyelwai Yonten (zhang rgyal ba'i yon tan), both of whom had also been disciples of Ma Rinchen Chok (rma rin chen mchog). +
The first of the great Tibetan Buddhist treasure revealers, Nyangrel Nyima Wozer lived in the Lhodrak region of south-central Tibet. Among his treasure finds was the first set of The Eight Instructions: Assembly of the One Gone to Bliss, which remains a foundation of fierce deity yoga in the Nyingma tradition. He also promoted the cult of Avalokiteśvara as the patron deity of Tibet through his extensive revelations of what became known as the Maṇi Kambum, and he compiled the earliest biography Padmasambhava, initiating the apotheosis of the eighth-century ritual master into Tibet's "Second Buddha," who conquered native demons and concealed treasures across Tibet. +
Nyawon Kunga Pel (nya dbon kun dga' dpal) was born in 1285 into the royal family of Gyantse in the Nyang region of Tsang. It is said that when he was three years old he could recite the Litany of the Names of Mañjuśrī from memory.
At four years of age his mother took him to Jonang Monastery (jo nang dgon), where the master Yonten Gyatso (yon tan rgya mtsho, d.u.) stared at him, pointed his finger, and exclaimed with a laugh, "He is the rebirth of Jamyang Sarma ('jam dbyangs gsar ma, d.u.)!" Nyawon was then taken to Sakya Monastery (sa skya dgon), where he learned to read and write, and for five years studied Prajñāpāramitā, epistemology, Abhidharma, and the monastic code.
He was a brilliant youth, and after receiving the vows of a novice monk from the abbot Nyima Gyeltsen (mkhan chen nyi ma rgyal mtshan, d.u.) when he was twelve years old, Nyawon traveled around for further studies at many of the great Sakya, Kadam, and Kagyu centers of learning in U and Tsang. At the age of nineteen he received full ordination from the abbot Tashi Sengge (bkra shis seng ge, d.u.) at Nyetang Monastery (snye thang dgon), and gained the reputation of being invincible in debate. +
Nyemdowa Sonam Pel, the son of Nyemdowa Mawai Sengge, was a disciple of Drakpa Jungne, the fourth abbot of Drigung Monastery. +
Nyo Gyelwa Lhanangpa Sanggye Rinchen (gnyos rgyal ba lha nang pa sangs rgyas rin chen) was the only child of both of his two parents, he had two half brothers and two half sisters. His father was Nyo Drakpa Pel (gnyos grags pa dpal), one of the four most powerful and wealthy men in U-Tsang in those times. He was not only wealthy but a religious person as well, a bearer of the special Guhyasamāja lineage that came from his famous great-grandfather Nyo Lotsāwa Jungpo Yonten Drak (gnyos lo tsa ba 'byung po yon tan grags), Marpa Chokyi Lodro's (mar pa chos kyi blo gros, c.1012-1097) traveling companion in India.
Drakpa Pel, although a layman, often gave Guhyasamāja teachings and initiations to monks. On these occasions, his son Lhanangpa, then known as Zibji Pel (gzi brjid dpal), would sit on his lap and be the first to receive the empowerments. Once he went with his father to Gungtang (gung thang) to visit the famous Zhang Yudrakpa Tsondru Drakpa (zhang g.yu brag pa brtson 'grus grags pa, 1123-1193). Zhang identified him as a reincarnation of the Great Siddha of India known by the name Kṛṣnācharya, in Tibetan Nakpo Chopa (nag po spyod pa). +
Nyoshul Khenpo Jamyang Dorje was one of the great Nyingma Dzogchen masters of the twentieth century. Born in Kham, he trained under Khenpo Ngaga and many other of the era's great teachers. He spent several years in solitary retreat and taught at Katok before fleeing the Communist take over of Tibet in the 1950s. Settling in Bhutan, he taught both high officials and young monks. He travelled and taught widely in the West. +
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Orgyen Lingpa was a prominent early treasure revealer who revealed the Pema Katang and the Katang De Nga, two influential sources for the life of Padmasambhava. He is said to have revealed twenty-eight treasures. He is considered to have been the seventh incarnation of Prince Lhase, the middle son of Tri Songdetsen. He seems to have had trouble with the new Pakmodru dynasty and lived the later part of his life in a form of exile. Otherwise, little is known about his life. +
Orgyen Tendzin Norbu, a close disciple of Dza Patrul Orgyen Chokyi Wangpo, was an important figure in the Nyingma scholastic tradition, most notably as a teacher to the famous Zhenpen Chokyi Nangwa. +
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Padampa Sanggye was a Buddhist adept well known for his teachings in Tibet, especially of the Prajñāpāramitā corpus and Mahāmudrā system, as well as what would become known as the Zhije tradition. He is also associated with Chod lineages: many sources describe him as a teacher of Machik Labdron, who would herself become known as the genetrix of Chod. +
Pelchen Chokyi Yeshe was born some time in the twelfth century. His place of birth is not known, but may have been in or near Drigung.
He was initially a disciple of a student of Ngok Sengge Khapa (rngog seng ge kha pa), after which he became a disciple of Jikten Gonpo Rinchen Pel ('jig rten mgon po rin chen dpal, 1143-1217), the founder of Drigung Til Monastery ('bri gung mthil) . . .
He wrote several treatises of Drigung teachings, including one with the title of Rinpoche Zhidro (rin po che bzhi 'gros). He is likely the author of an influential biography of Pakmodrupa Dorje Gyelpo (phag mo gru pa rdo rje rgyal po, 1110-1170) titled ''Yon tan rin po che'i phreng ba gzi brjid 'bar ba'i sgron me''. +
Pelgyi Lhunpo was a Tibetan monk and translator active during the ninth century. He is credited with the translation of seven texts in the Kangyur and three in the Tengyur. He collaborated with multiple men from India, Kashmir, and Zahor: Sarvajñādeva, Dharmākara, Vidyakaraprabha, Dharmaśrīprabha, Vidyākarasiṃha, and Jnāñaśānti. +
Dza Patrul Rinpoche, the author of the famed ''Words of My Perfect Teacher'', was among the most significant transmitters of the Longchen Nyingtik practice lineage in the nineteenth century. Patrul was renowned for his uncommon humility, his forthright honesty, his brilliant oratory, and beyond all his skillful diffusion of the heart of the dharma. +
Patsab Lotsāwa Nyima Drakpa was a major translator of Madhyamaka texts into Tibet. A monk of Sangpu Monastery, he traveled in in Kashmir to work with paṇḍitas such as Jñānagarbha and Kanakavarma. Among his translations are Nāgārjuna's ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' (D 3824), Āryadeva's ''Catuhśataka-śāstra'' (''Four Hundred Verses'') (D 3846), and Candrakīrti's ''Madhyamakāvatāra'' (D 3861). Tibetans consider him the founder of the Prasangika school of Madhyamaka. +
