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The Fifteenth Ganden Tripa, Paṇchen Sonam Drakpa (dga' ldan khri pa 15, khri chen bsod nams grags pa) was born into the family of Nangpa Ralampa (nang pa ra lam pa) that was based near the Tsetang Monastery in Lhoka (lho kha rtse thang dgon pa) in 1478, the earth-dog year of the eighth sexagenary cycle. At the young age Sonam Drakpa received the vows of novice monk from Lechenpo Sonam Tashi (las chen po bsod nams bkra shis, d.u.), who gave him the ordained name Sonam Drakpai Pel (bsod nams grags pa' i dpal).
Sonam Drakpa enrolled at Tsetang Monastery and received his primary monastic education such as reading and writing, and memorization of daily and frequent prayer texts and other root-verses of important texts. He studied Pramāṇa (''tshad ma'') for some time, and then went to Yabzang (g.ya' bzang) for some clarification on the critical points of the subject with some scholars. There he studied traditional philosophical texts under the tutorship of Choje Dakpo Rabjampa (chos rje dwags po rab 'byams pa, d.u.) and other scholars. He also studied grammar, poetry, composition, and so forth.
Sonam Drakpa travelled to Lhasa and then matriculated at Sera at the age of sixteen. There he studied Abhisamayālaṃkāra, Mādhyamak, Abhidharmakośa, Pramāṇavārttika and Vinaya, the five major subjects of the Geshe Lharampa curriculum, mainly under the three eminent masters: Donyo Pelden (don yod dpal ldan, 1445-1524), the tenth abbot of Sera Monastery; Nyelton Peljor Lhundrub (gnyal ston dpal ' byor lhun grub, 1427-1514) and Tonpa Khetsun Yonten Gyatso (thon pa mkhas btsun yon tan rgya mtsho, 1443-1521). While studying these traditional texts he also received many teachings on tantra. In the meantime he received the vows of full ordination at the age of twenty from Wona Lama Sanggye Zangpo ('od na bla ma sangs rgyas bzang po, d.u.). +
Pema Ledrel Tsel was a treasure revealer who discovered the Khandro Nyingtik. He was said to be a reincarnation of King Tri Songdetsen’s daughter, Pema Tsel, who, according to legend, died tragically when she was just eight years old, was revived by Padmasambhava, and given the Khandro Nyingtik teachings before passing away again. +
Pema Lingpa was a prolific treasure revealer and one of the most influential religious figures in Bhutanese history. A native of Bumtang, he trained as a blacksmith before embarking on a long career of treasure discovery and teaching across the southern Tibetan Plateau. He established as his seat the Tamzhing Lhundrub Choling Lhakhang. His lineage, continued through three lines of incarnations -- the Peling Sungtrul, the Peling Tukse and the Gangteng Tulku, dominates the Nyingma tradition in Bhutan. +
Potowa Rinchen Sel was an important master of the early Kadam. He founded Poto Monastery in Penyul for which he derived his title. He ordained at Gyel Lhakang, and went to Reting in 1058, becoming a chief disciple of Dromton and serving as that monastery’s third abbot. A widely influential teacher, he is considered a vital source for the spread of the Kadam tradition. +
Prajñāvarman was an eighth-century Indian author, three of whose works survive in Tibetan translation. These include the ''Viśeṣastavaṭikā'', the commentary on the hymns of praise to the Buddha that opens the Kangyur. A Prajñāvarman was also a prolific translator of Indic works into Tibetan, including works by Kamalaśīla, Asaṅga, and Śāntarakṣita, among other masters. His Tibetan collaborator was Yeshe De. The author and the translator were probably the same person, but it is not certain. +
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Ra Lotsāwa Dorje Drak was an eleventh century translator and infamous magician, important during the later dissemination of the new tantric cycles of Yamāntaka. Ralo embodied the antinomian lifestyle of the Indian tantric Mahasiddhas, taking many wives and engaging in lethal magical combat with a number of respected lamas of his days. He himself is said to have boasted of killing thirteen lamas. Like his contemporary, Marpa, Ra Lotsāwa lived as a feudal lord, establishing no monastery. His transmissions eventually infiltrated all other traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. +
Ratna Lingpa was a prolific treasure revealer, famous for compiling an extensive edition of the Collected Nyingma Tantras. According to tradition, when Ratna Lingpa was twenty-seven, he experienced a vision of Padmasambhava in the form of a yogi dressed in yellow raw silk. He showed him three scrolls, a white, a red and a blue one, and asked Ratna Lingpa to choose one of them. Ratna Lingpa answered that he wanted all three. Because of the auspicious connection created by his answer, Ratna Lingpa received all three inventories, and was able to reveal in a single lifetime the termas he would have otherwise revealed in three successive lifetimes. He is therefore also known as Zhikpo Lingpa (zhig po gling pa) and Drodul Lingpa ('gro 'dul gling pa). +
Ratnākaraśānti was an Indian scholar and tantric adept who lived during the late tenth and early eleventh century. The head of the great Indian monastery Vikramaśīla, he was a teacher to Atiśa, Maitrīpā, Śraddhākaravarman, and Drokmi Śākya Yeshe, among others. Forty of his compositions are included in the Tibetan Tengyur. In his esoteric works he sought to explain tantric practice from a Yogācāra interpretation of the Perfection of Wisdom literature. +
Rigdzin Godemchen was a Nyingma treasure revealer who discovered the Jangter, or Northern Treasures. He was posthumously known as the First Dorje Drak Rigdzin after the Third Dorje Drak Rigdzin claimed to have been the reincarnation of Lekden Dorje, who was himself identified as the reincarnation of Godemchen.
According to legend, when he was eleven years old three feathery growths appeared on the top of his head; by the time he was twenty-three there were five. Because these growths looked like the feathers of a vulture, he became famous as Godkyi Demtruchen (rgod kyi ldem 'phru can), ‘the one with vulture’s feathers’, which is generally shortened to Godemchen. Later in life he became known as Rigdzin Chenpo (rig 'dzin chen po; mahāvidyādhara) and this title has been held ever since by each of his successive incarnations. +
Kumārarāja was a holder of the Dzogchen Nyingtik lineage. He was a disciple of Melong Dorje and the master of Longchenpa. +
Rinchen Jangchub (rin chen byang chub) was born in a village called Lhadra (lha sgra) in Dento ('dan stod), Kham. His father, Tonpa Sanggye Pel (ston pa sangs rgyas dpal), was said to be an incarnation of Marpa Chokyi Lodro (mar pa chos kyi blo gros, 1012?-1097). His mother's name was Choden (chos ldan). They were members of the Kyura (skyu ra) clan, and relatives of Jikten Gonpo ('jig rten dgon po, 1143-1217), the founder of Drigung Til Monastery ('bri gung mthil dgon pa). Rinchen Jangchub had one sister and five brothers, including an elder brother, Won Sherab Jungne (dbon shes rab 'byung gnas, 1187-1241), who served as the third abbot of Drigung Monastery, and a youngest brother named Chennga Gampopa (spyan snga sgam po pa), another close disciple of Jikten Gonpo. The names of his other siblings are not known. . . .
Rinchen Changchup wrote many treatises including a commentary on Single Intention (''dgongs gcig'') titled ''Rinjangma'' (''rin byang ma''). +
Rok Bande Sherab O was a Nyingma scholar and yogi who was a major figure in the transmissions of the Guhyagarbha Tantra and the "later lineage" of Zhije tradition of Padampa Sanggye. +
Rongton Sheja Kunrik is the second in the line of great Sakya masters known as the Six Ornaments of Tibet. Among these teachers he is particularly revered for his mastery of the Buddhist sutras. Rongton studied and taught at Sangpu Neutok Monastery. He founded Penpo Nalendra Monastery in 1436. +
Rongzom Chokyi Zangpo was an eleventh-century Tibetan translator, author, and exegete of Buddhist literature. Among his translations and commentarial works are important scriptures transmitted as part of the first and second period of Buddhist diffusion in Tibet. He is a seminal figure for the Nyingma, traditionally described as the last translator of the early translation period. His work as a translator and exegete is nevertheless also important to the later translation period and the so-called New Schools of Tibetan Buddhism. His prodigious literary output––including his early and influential commentary on Guhyagarbhatantra and his vociferous defense of Tibet's Dzogchen tradition––affirm his place as the first of the three luminaries of the Nyingma tradition, alongside Longchenpa and Ju Mipam Gyatso. +
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Sabzang Mati Paṇchen Lodro Gyeltsen is known as a great Sakya scholar but was also one of Dolpopa’s fourteen major disciples. He was a great master of sutra and tantra, especially the Five Books of Maitreya and the Kālacakra Tantra. He completed a new revised translation of the Kālacakra Tantra and the Vimalaprabhā. He studied at Sakya, Zhalu, Jonang, and other monasteries in the 14th century. He later lived and taught at Sabzang Ganden Monastery. +
Sachen Kunga Nyingpo was the first of the Sakya Jetsun Gongma Nga, the five founding patriarchs of Sakya. These five men of the Khon family are credited with having laid the foundations for the Sakya tradition. Sachen was a layman and the third Sakya Tridzin or throne holder, a position distinct from his later designation as a patriarch. His father, Khon Khonchog Gyelpo, was the first Sakya throne holder and the founder of what became Sakya monastery. +
Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyaltsen, commonly referred to as Sapaṇ, was the fourth of the Five Patriarchs of Sakya and the sixth Sakya throne holder. A member of the illustrious Khon family that established and controlled the Sakya tradition, he was an advocate for strict adherence to Indian Buddhist traditions, standing in opposition to Chinese or Tibetan innovations that he considered corruptions. In this regard he was a major player in what has been termed the Tibetan Renaissance period, when there was a move to reinvigorate Tibetan Buddhism’s connections to its Indian antecedents. He was instrumental in transmitting the Indian system of five major and five minor sciences to Tibet. As an ordained monk, Sapaṇ was instrumental in laying the groundwork for adherence to the Vinaya at Sakya Monastery, built under his successors. He authored more than one hundred texts and was also a prolific translator from Sanskrit. His writings are among the most widely influential in Tibetan literature and prompted commentaries by countless subsequent authors. Sapaṇ’s reputation as a scholar and Buddhist authority helped him forge close ties with powerful Mongols, relations that would eventually lead to the establishment of Sakya Monastery and its position of political power over the Thirteen Myriarchies of central Tibet. +
Sanggye Gompa Sengge was the sixth abbot of Nartang Monastery from 1241 to 1248 or 1249. +
Chokyi Gyeltsen was the twelfth abbot of Sera Monastery. He studied in Tashilhunpo and Sera and served as disciplinarian of Tashilhunpo. His collected works are in seven volumes. +
The treasure revealer Sera Khandro was the most prolific female author in Tibetan history. Considered an incarnation of Yeshe Tsogyel, her main treasure revelations are The Secret Treasury of Reality Ḍākinīs and The Ḍākinīs’ Heart Essence. She also wrote her own autobiography, a commentary on Dudjom Lingpa’s Buddhahood Without Meditation and a biography of her main consort, Drime Ozer. +
