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Gaton Ngawang Lekpa was one of the most prominent Sakya lamas of the early twentieth century. He was a disciple of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and the root teacher of Dezhung Rinpoche. In addition to teaching widely in Kham, Ngawang Legpa spent fifteen years in closed retreat. +
Amdo Gendun Chopel, a twentieth-century philosopher-artist-historian, has emerged as one of the most controversial figures in the recent history of the Land of Snows. He remains to this day the most admired and loved writer and poet, bridging the divide between tradition and modernity. He traveled widely in India and the Himalayan region in the 1930s and 40s, encountering philosophers and revolutionaries and absorbing their ideas. His compositions, from descriptions of New York skyscrapers to brilliant commentary on Madhyamaka philosophy, are widely read. In the chaotic last days of the Tibetan state he was accused of being a Communist spy and was imprisoned in Lhasa, his unfinished Political History of Tibet destroyed, and his spirit broken. He died just weeks after the Chinese Communists arrived in Lhasa. +
Gewai Lodrö was the name of a Tibetan who collaborated on the translation of several texts in the Tibetan canon. These included the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'' (D119) from the Chinese, in collaboration with Gyatso De (rgya mtsho'i sde) and a Chinese man whose name was Tibetanized as Wangpabzhun (wang phab zhun/zhwun). They likely worked from the earliest Chinese version (T374), translated around 421–432 by Dharmakṣema in the northern kingdom of Beiliang 北涼.
He appears to have been a close collaborator with Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna (982-1055?), as he is listed as the translator of some twelve of Atiśa's compositions, and co-translator with Atiśa on around eleven other texts. He also collaborated with Jānaśrībhadra, Buddhaśānti, and others. +
Gorampa Sonam Sengge, the Sixth Ngor Khenchen, was a disciple of Rongton Sheja Kunrik and Ngorchen Kunga Zangpo. He was an important thinker of the Sakya tradition, establishing a Madhyamaka view that was critical of both Dolpopa and Tsongkhapa. Gorampa founded Tanak Serling and Tanak Tubten Namgyel monasteries. The latter would become an important teaching center for the Sakya tradition. Famed for his learning in both sutras and tantras, he became known as one of the “Ornaments of Tibet” an epithet granted to six of the Sakya tradition's most revered masters. +
Guru Chowang is considered the second of five kingly treasure revealers, famous for the Lama Sangdu and the Kabgye Sangwa Yongdzok, among other revelations. He was an early historian of the treasure tradition and codified many elements of the tradition that became standard in later years. +
Guru Jober (gu ru jo 'ber) was born to Dawa Bum (zla ba 'bum), the brother of Nyima Bum (nyi ma 'bum, 1158-1213) and the son of Gyelwa Zhangton (rgyal ba zhang ston) in 1196. His mother was Gyelmo Ayu (rgyal mo a yu). Considered mentally deficient until the age of eight, he nevertheless studied Dzogchen with his uncle, who gave him the full Nyingtik transmission, and named him his successor. He next studied with Sakya Lotsāwa (sa skya lo tsa ba) and then tantra with Tropu Lotsāwa Jampa Pel (khro phu lo tsa ba byams pa dpal).
He died in 1255. His successor was Trulzhik Sengge Gyabpa ('khrul zhig seng ge rgyab pa, d.u.). +
Drakpa Gyeltsen served as the twenty-third throne holder of Labrang Monastery, from 1801 to 1804, and briefly for a second time some years later. While studying at Gomang in Lhasa he served as the abbot of Chokhor Gyel. A student of the Second Jamyang Zhepa, who identified him as the reincarnation of a student of the First Jamyang Zhepa, he organized the search and enthronement of the Third Jamyang Zhepa. +
Gyalse Tokme Zangpo was a Kadampa master of the fourteenth century based at Ngulchu Monastery where he sat in retreat for twenty years. He had previously served as the abbot of Bodong E for about nine years, from 1326 to 1335. Significant in the transmission of Lojong teachings, his compositions include the famous ''Thirty-seven Practices of the Bodhisattva'', one of the classics of Tibetan buddhist literature. A specialist in tantric Mahākaruṇā, he was a disciple of Butön Rinchen Drup and a teacher of Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö, and is counted as seventy-third in the Lamrim lineage. +
Gyelse Zhenpen Taye Wozer was a founder and second abbot of Śrī Siṃha, the Dzogchen monastic college. Considered to have been the eighth abbot of Dzogchen Monastery, he was also the founder of Gemang monastery. He was said to have been a reincarnation of Terdak Lingpa. +
Gyaltsap Je Darma Rinchen was one of the chief disciples of Tsongkhapa. He was a prolific writer, composing on Madhyamaka and tantric topics, most famously a commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra. He served as the second abbot of Ganden Monastery, following the death of Tsongkhapa in 1419, and occupied the position, known as the Ganden Tripa, until the year before his own death. +
Yanggonpa Gyeltsen Pel (yang dgon pa rgyal mtshan dpal), also known as Lhadongpa Gyeltsen Pel (lha gdong pa rgyal mtshan dpal) was born in the Lato (la stod) region of Tsang (gtsang), in 1213. Yanggonpa, the informal name he adopted, came from a hermitage he refers to in his Inner Autobiography as Yanggon (yang dgon), where he did his first Vajravārāhī retreat. The village of his birth was Chuja (chu bya), a lay settlement associated with the small monastic complex of Lhadong Monastery (lha gdong dgon pa), in the principality of Gungtang (gung thang), not far form the Tibet-Nepal border. This small monastic complex of Lhadong was the place of Yanggonpa's early religious education, and he did not stray far from the area of Gungtang during his lifetime.
He was born into the Tong (stong) clan, as the youngest boy in a Nyingma family. He had two older brothers and one older sister. He was given the name Dungsob Pelbar (gdung sob dpal 'bar) by his father, a lay lama associated with Lhadong, who passed away before his birth. He began his religious training at about age five and entered Lhadong monastery at age nine. Both his father's brother, Drubtob Darma (grub thob dar ma) and his mother, Chotongma (chos mthong ma), who was a respected Buddhist practitioner, transmitted teachings to him as a boy. Read more on Treasury of lives +
Gyarong Khandro Dechen Wangmo was an imposing female tantric practitioner and treasure revealer, whom Khyentse Chokyi Lodro relied upon for protection from black magic. She is credited with reopening the sacred place of Khyungtak and revealing a Vajrakīla practice there. The years of her birth and death are unknown, as are many of the details of her life, but some of her compositions and revelations survive. +
There appear to have been two men by the name of Gyatso De whose work survives in the Tibetan canon. The first was a collaborator with Wangpabzhun (wang phab zhun/zhwun) and Gewai Lodro (dge ba'i blos gros) on the translation from Chinese of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'' (D119). They likely worked from the earliest Chinese version (T374), translated around 421–432 by Dharmakṣema in the northern kingdom of Beiliang 北涼. Gewai Lodro seems to have lived in the eleventh century, judging by his many collaborations with Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna (982-1055?), Jānaśrībhadra and other men who lived in that century.
This Gyatso De should not be confused with a man named Sonam Gyatso De who was a frequent translator for Vanaratna (1384–1468). +
Go Chodrub was a Tibetan translator of Chinese and Sanskrit texts, including the ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra'' and the Korean monk Woncheuk's ''Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra'' commentary. Possibly born in Tsang, he was based in Dunhuang during the first half of the ninth century. +
Go Khukpa Lhetse was one of the most important translators and scholars of the early Tibetan renaissance. A teacher of Khon Konchok Gyeltsen, he went three times to India to study Guhyasamāja. +
Go Lotsāwa Zhonnu Pel was the author of the important Tibetan history ''The Blue Annals''. A Kagyu polymath, he studied under some sixty prominent lamas, chief among them the Fifth Karmapa Dezhin Shekpa. He was a Sanskrit scholar and served as translator to an Indian scholar Paṇḍit Vanaratna for five years. He was a teacher of the Seventh Karmapa, Chodrak Gyatso, and the Fourth Zhamar, Chodrak Yeshe. +
Gotsangpa is considered the founder of a special branch of the Drukpa Kagyu school known as the Upper Drukpa. He traveled widely in western Tibet and present-day Himachal Pradesh, India, and is particularly well known today in Ladakh and Lahaul. +
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Jamyang Amnye Zhab Ngawang Kunga Sonam, who served as the twenty-eighth Sakya Trichen, was a disciple of Muchen Sanggye Gyeltsen. He was a prolific author, composing over seven hundred titles, among them famous histories of the Khon family, the Lamdre lineage, the Kadampa lineage, and of tantric teachings at the center of the Sakya traditions including the Kālacakra, Cakrasaṃvara, Guhyasamāja, Yamāntaka, and Mahākāla. He was fully ordained in his youth but returned his vows after being enthroned in order to take a wife and produce an heir for the Khon family. He took an active role in negotiating the end to conflicts both between Tibet and Bhutan and among Bhutanese factions. +
Jamgön Kongtrul is often described as one of the greatest scholars in the history of Tibet. A Karma Kagyu lama and model of rimay ecumenical activity, he collaborated closely with the Sakya lama Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo and the Nyingma treasure revealer Chokgyur Lingpa, in the opening of sacred sites and the revelation of treasure. His prodigious literary output, categorized as the Five Treasuries, cover the entire range of Tibetan Buddhist theory and ritual as well as numerous other topics, and preserved scores of Tibetan religious traditions that were at the time in danger of being lost. Based primarily at Pelpung Monastery, in Derge in eastern Tibet, he built the nearby hermitage of Tsadra Rinchen Drak, which became his personal seat. Multiple incarnation lines were recognized after his death, including the main Jamgön Kongtrul line, based at Pelpung, the Dzokchen Kongtrul line and the Dzigar Kongtrul line. +
Jamyang Donyo Gyeltsen ('jam dbyangs don yod rgyal mtshan) was born in 1310. His parents were the Eleventh Sakya Tridzin, Zanpo Pel (sa skya khri 'dzin 11 bzang po dpal, 1305-1343) and his sixth wife, Machik Zhonbum (ma gcig gzhon 'bum), the daughter of Zhalu Kuzhang Gonpo Pel (zha lu sku zhang mgon po dpal).
He is said to have been regarded as handsome, kind, soft-spoken, and affable, such that people were naturally drawn to him. As a young man he studied with the major Sakya and Kadam teachers of the day, including Khenchen Sonam Drakpa (mkhan chen bsod nams grags pa, 1273-1345), Lama Pelden Sengge (bla ma dpal ldan seng ge), Pello Lodro Tenpa (dpal lo blo gros brtan pa, 1276-1342), Drakhawa Drakpa Sengge (brag kha ba grags pa seng ge), Gyelse Tokme Zangpo (rgyal sras thogs med bzang po, 1295-1369), Sonam Pel (bsod nams dpal, 1277-1350), and Chopel Zangpo (chos dpal bzang po).
As an instructor he was especially known for teaching logic, such as the Treasury of Logic (tshad ma rigs gter) and Elucidating the Sage's Intent (thub pa dgongs gsal) by Sakya Paṇḍita (sa skya paN Di ta, 1182-1251) as well as Abhidharma and the Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra.
In 1343 his brother, Namkha Lekpai Gyeltsen, the Twelfth Sakya Tridzin (sa skya khri 'dzin 12 nam mkha' legs pa'i rgyal mtshan, 1305-1343) passed away, and he was elevated to the throne of Sakya. The Yuan Emperor, probably Huizong (惠宗r. 1333-1370), gave him the title Da Yuan Guoshi (大元國師) and a crystal seal.
He had two sons, whose names are not recorded.
Late in life, he took full ordination from Khenchen Sonam Drakpa and his younger brother, Lama Dampa Sonam Gyeltsen (bla ma dam pa bsod nams rgyal mtshan, 1312-1375) who would succeed him as the Fourteenth Sakya Tridzin.
He passed away at the age of thirty-five in 1343. +