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Vidyākaraprabha was an Indian translator active during the Tibetan imperial period. He is credited with collaborating on the translations of the ''Mahābherīsūtra,'' the ''Vinayavastu,'' the ''Vidhyottamātantra,'' and Haribhadra's important ''Abhisamayālaṃkāra'' commentary, the ''Abhisamayālaṃkāra-nāma-prajñāpāramitopadeśa-śāstra-vṛtti.'' He is also credited as the author of a work in the Madhyamaka section of the Tengyur, with the title ''Madhyamakanayasārasamāsaprakaraṇa,'' which he translated with Kawa Peltsek Rakṣita. +
The Indian Dzogchen master Vimalamitra is believed to have translated, composed, and concealed some of the central tantric teachings of the Nyingma tradition during the late eighth century reign of Tri Songdetsen. Historically, very few details surrounding his life and teachings can be confirmed. The dates of his birth, the location of his birthplace in India, the names of his parents, and the date of his arrival in Tibet have all been disputed. According to contemporary Nyingma accounts, he was born in India and became proficient in the sūtra-based scriptures before traveling to China to receive instructions from Śrī Siṃha. In China he received the Nyingtik teachings and achieved realization, then returned to India. Only then, at over one hundred years of age, did he enter Tibet. In Tibet, he taught and translated a wide array of esoteric tantras, concealed the Nyingtik terma, and returned to China where he achieved the rainbow body. +
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Wangpabzhun (wang phab zhwun) is the Tibetanized version of the name of a man who collaborated on the translation of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'' (D119) from the Chinese. His Tibetan colleagues in the task were Gewai Lodro (dge ba'i blos gros) and Gyatso De (rgya mtsho'i sde), who presumably were Tibetan. They likely worked from the earliest Chinese version (T374), translated around 421–432 by the central Indian monk Dharmakṣema (385-433) in the northern kingdom of Beiliang 北涼.
No details of his life are known, and no other translations of his appear to be extant. Based on what is known of his collaborators, he most likely lived during the eleventh century.
The ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'', a refashioning of the similarly-named Pāli sutta, is narrative of the final days of the Buddha according to Mahāyāna doctrine. It is one of the earliest and most important sources for the doctrine of tathāgatagarbha, or buddha-nature. Two other translations of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'' were made it Tibet. The first of these (D120, corresponding to T376) was done in the early ninth century by Jinamitra, Jñānagarbha, and Devacandra. The second (D121) was made in the eleventh century by Kamalagupta and Rinchen Zangpo (rin chen bzang po, 958–1055). +
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Yakton Sanggye Pel (g.yag ston sangs rgyas dpal, 1348-1414) was a great master of the Sakya tradition and the first in the line of men known as the Six Great Ornaments of Tibet. He was born in Trang ('phrang). His father's name was Tsetang Chenpo Changchub Rinchen (rtse thang chen po byang chub rin chen). ''The Blue Annals'' also suggests the name by which Sanggye Pel is known came from an attendant called Yak Yu (g.yag yu) who took care of him when he was a boy.
His early education took place at Sangpu Monastery (gsang phu) monastery, where he studied Buton's (bu ston, 1285-1379) commentary on the Prajñāpāramitā and was praised for his skill in memorization. His root teacher was Kunga Pel (kun dga' dpal, 1285-1379), the tenth abbot of Jonang Monastery (jo nang dgon).
Sanggye Pel became a prominent teacher in U and Tsang, renowned for his teachings on Prajñāpāramitā. Among the Six Ornaments of Tibet, who were known for their different strengths in teaching, he is known for masterful teachings on the Sutras. Sanggye Pel's main disciple and eventual successor at Sakya was the renowned scholar Rongton Sheja Kunrik (rong ston shes bya kun rig, 1367-1449). Sanggye Pel primarily taught Rongton the Prajñāpāramitā scriptures and treatises on logic and epistemology. Sanggye Pel's prominent students also included Zhonnu Lodro (gzhon nu blo gros, 1349-1412), Konchok Gyeltsen (dkon mchog rgyal mtshan, 1388-1469), Zhonnu Gyelchok (gzhon nu rgyal mchog, d.u.), Sherab Sengge (shes rab seng ge, 1383-1445), and Kunga Gyeltsen (kun dga' rgyal mtshan, 1382-1446). +
Yanggonpa Gyeltsen Pel is perhaps best known for his writings on retreat practice, Mahāmudrā exegesis, and commentary on the subtle body. He spent most of his life in Gungtang, and received teachings from Kodrakpa, Gotsangpa, Sakya Paṇḍita, and Chennga Drakpa Jungne, among other masters. Although primarily remembered as a Drukpa Kagyu master, his writings had wide influence on numerous Tibetan religious traditions. +
Yeshe De (ye shes sde) was born into the Nanam clan (sna nam) and became one of the three foremost translators of the imperial era. He is counted among the twenty-five disciples of Padmasambhava.
As a young monk his scholarship earned him the title of 'bande' (teacher). He was perhaps the most prolific Tibetan translator in history, with hundreds of translations. Scholar Sherab Rhaldi lists 347 translations in collaboration with fifteen Indian paṇḍitas. [He] is also credited with translating the Nyingma tantras.
He is said to have taught the Abhidharma to Lhalung Pelgyi Dorje (lha lung dal gyi rdo rje).
According to Nyingma legend, he was a master of the Vajrakīlaya tantra, and is said to have realized the illusory nature of phenomena and cut the cord of mind-made karmic conditioning, which left him free to soar in the sky like a bird. +
The Jonang tradition would ultimately place Yumo as a key link in the Tibetan Kālacakra lineage; Tāranātha would cite him as an advocate of their distinctive position of "other-emptiness" (gzhan stong) in a tantric context. +
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Ritropa Zangpo Drakpa was a fourteenth-century treasure revealer who is most well-known for discovering The Supplication in Seven Chapters and for transmitting a set of treasure scrolls to Rigdzin Godemchen. Although Zangpo Drakpa himself was trained in the Dakpo Kagyu Order, his treasures are foundational for the Jangter or "Northern Treasures" of the Nyingma tradition. As the title "Ritropa" suggests, Zangpo Drakpa was a homeless, mountain-wandering hermit; he appears to have spent most of his life in Southern Lato and western Tsang. +
Drakpa Tsondru was the tenth abbot of Nartang Monastery, serving from 1305 to 1314. Prior to that office he served as the tutor of a son of Kublai Khan, the first Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty. +
Zhalu Lotsāwa Chokyong Zangpo was a prominent teacher and translator based at Zhalu and Dratang who has forty-eight translation titles in the Tibetan canon. He wrote and taught extensively on Sanskrit, poetics, Tibetan grammar and tantric practices. +
Nyima Bum was the son of Zhangton Tashi Dorje and the uncle of Guru Jober. He was studied primarily with his father and Lama Zhang. He was a holder of the Bima Nyingtik lineage of Dzogchen, as well as lineages of the Sakya and Tselpa Kagyu traditions. +
Zhangton Gyawo, who was one of Dolpopa’s fourteen major disciples, studied widely in different traditions as a young man. Then he spent almost thirty years with Dolpopa, receiving all the great master’s teachings. For the last fifteen years of his life Zhangton taught the massive Vimalaprabhā commentary on the Kālacakra Tantra every year. +
Zhuchen Tsultrim Rinchen was a master of Tibetan literary and visual arts and among the most preeminent Sakya scholars during the eighteenth century. He was a central figure in the Tibetan Buddhist cultural efflorescence that took place in the Derge region of Kham, serving as chief editor for several large publishing projects at the Derge Printing House, including new woodblock editions of the Sakya Kambum, the Tengyur, and Longchenpa's Seven Treasuries, projects for which he earned the epithet "Great Editor." He was active in the construction and renovation of temples, for which he often wrote inventories, and was a sought-after artist and oversaw a number of projects to design and execute the murals and sculptures for temples and monasteries. Zhuchen was also a master of tantric rituals. His collected works were published by the Derge Printing House in ten volumes. +
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Śākya Chokden was one of the most important thinkers of the Sakya tradition. His teachers were Rongtön Sheja Kunrik, Dönyo Pelwa and Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo. A thinker who accepted both the rangtong and zhentong, or "self-empty" and "other empty" views of Madhyamaka, Śākya Chokden's seat was at Serdokchen Monastery near Shigatse in Tsang. Influential and controversial in his own day, his writings fell out of favor over time and many were banned in the seventeenth century. +
Śākya Śrī was an influential yogic practitioner and teacher in Kham who traveled throughout the Himalaya giving teachings in Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen. A student of some of the era's greatest lamas, including the Sixth Khamtrul, Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo, and Ju Mipam Gyatso, he taught hundreds of disciples including the Tenth Drukchen and Sonam Zangpo, the brother of the first king of Bhutan. +
Śākyaśrībhadra was a Kashmiri paṇḍita who was invited to Tibet by Tropu Lotsāwa Rinchen Sengge. He arrived in 1204, at the age of either fifty-nine or seventy-eight, and remained for ten years, leaving in 1214. Active primarily in Tsang, his significance to Tibetan Buddhism is characterized by his initiating four important lineages of teaching: to Sakya Paṇḍita he taught exoteric philosophy; pith instructions to Tropu Lotsāwa; tantra to Chel Lotsāwa; and Vinaya to Tsang Sowa Sonam Dze. He is also credited with initiating the "upper" ordination platform of Tibetan Buddhism, followed by all traditions save Nyingma and Geluk. Śākyaśrībhadra was the last abbot of Nālandā Monastery, which was sacked by Muslim invaders in 1192. +
Śīlendrabodhi was an Indian translator active in the eighth century. Among his work, he collaborated with the prolific Tibetan translator Yeshe De on Vasubandhu's ''Abhidharmasamuccaya'' and the ''Vajraccedikāsūtra''. +
