Rong ston shes bya kun rig

Rong ston shes bya kun rig on the DRL

Classical Tibetan Authors

རོང་སྟོན་ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་རིག་

Wylie	rong ston shes bya kun rig
English Phonetics	Rongtön Sheja Kunrik

Himalayan Art Resources

Other names

• ཤཱཀྱ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་
• སྨྲ་བའི་སེངྒེ་
• ཤེས་བྱ་ཀུན་གཟིགས་
• རོང་ཊཱི་ཀ་པ་
• ཤེས་རབ་འོད་ཟེར་

• shAkya rgyal mtshan
• smra ba'i seng+ge
• shes bya kun gzigs
• rong TI ka pa
• shes rab 'od zer

Alternate names

• Rongtön Shéja Günsi
• Rongton Sheja Kunrig

Dates

Birth:	1367
Death:	1449
Place of birth:	rgyal mo rong

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender	Female
Element	Fire
Animal	Sheep
Rab Jyung	6

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

About

Religious Affiliation

Sakya

Primary Professional Affiliation

Nalendra Monastery

Other Professional Affiliation

Sangpu Neutok

Teachers

g.yag ston sangs rgyas dpal · gnyag phu ba bsod nams bzang po

Students

shAkya mchog ldan · 'gos lo tsA ba gzhon nu dpal · go rams pa bsod nams seng ge · Karmapa, 6th · dkon mchog rgyal mtshan

Other Biographical info:

Links

BDRC Link (P431)

https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P431

Treasury of Lives Link

https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Rongton-Sheja-Kunrig/6735

Treasury of Lives Excerpt

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.

Himalayan Art Resources Link or Other Art Resource

https://www.himalayanart.org/items/89472

Wiki Pages

• Rong ston shes bya kun rig on the DRL
• Rong ston shes bya kun rig on the LIB
• Rong ston shes bya kun rig on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

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.

Expand to see this person's philosophical positions on Buddha-nature.

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Position:	Definitive
Notes:	Generally speaking, Rongton's commentary on the RGV, which he wrote at Sangphu, follows the rngog lugs.
All beings have Buddha-nature
Position:	Qualified No
If "Qualified", explain:	Sentient beings are endowed with the naturally abiding gotra, but not the dharmakāya.
Notes:
Which Wheel Turning
Position:
Notes:
Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
Position:	Madhyamaka
Notes:
Zhentong vs Rangtong
Position:	Rangtong
Notes:
Promotes how many vehicles?
Position:
Notes:
Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
Position:	Analytic Tradition
Notes:
What is Buddha-nature?
Position:	Tathāgatagarbha as the Latent State of Buddhahood that is Obscured in Sentient Beings
Notes:	"Rongtön explains that what is called “the tathāgata heart” is suchness with stains (the basic element not liberated from the cocoon of the afflictions), which is the emptiness of mind with stains. By contrast, the dharmakāya of a tathāgata is what is liberated from this cocoon. The term “tathāgata heart” is used in terms of what is primary because this heart (in the sense of emptiness) is explained to exist at the time of the fruition too. This also refutes the assertion that the fully qualified tathāgata heart is solely the buddhahood that is endowed with twofold purity (natural purity and purity of adventitious stains) because it is explained repeatedly that the primary tathāgata heart is suchness with stains. Rongtön’s commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra says that the Mādhyamikas identify the disposition as the dharmadhātu specified by the six inner āyatanas." Brunnhölzl, K., When the Clouds Part, p. 76.
Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
Position:
Notes:
Causal nature of the vajrapāda
Position:

The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre.

Sangpu Neutok is an important monastery in central Tibet, just south of Lhasa, that was founded in 1072 by Ngok Lekpai Sherab, a disciple of Atiśa, and developed by his nephew, Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab. Originally a Kadam monastery with two colleges, it evolved into a monastery that includes both Sakya and Geluk traditions. At its peak in the 11th to 14th centuries, it was one of the most highly esteemed centers for monastic education and the study of Buddhist philosophy in all of the Tibetan plateau. Many influential philosophers of the time studied there.

Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

Ratnagotravibhāga Mahāyānottaratantraśāstra

Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's "analytic tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.

Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.

Ngok Lotsāwa Loden Sherab's "analytic tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.

Suchness itself, absolute reality, or thusness, as in the ultimate state of being of phenomena.

A fundamental component or essential constituent.

Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind.

The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics.

Mental stains that are not inherent to the nature of the mind but are temporarily present as the residue of past actions or habitual tendencies. It is sometimes iterated as adventitious defilements (Skt. āgantukakleśa, Tib. glo bur gyi nyon mongs), which references the fickle and temporary nature of disturbing emotions that lack an ultimately established basis for existence.

Disposition, lineage, or class; an individual's gotra determines the type of enlightenment one is destined to attain.

The fundamental expanse from which all phenomena emerge.