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Lamrim
Lamrim (Tibetan: "stages of the path") is a Tibetan Buddhist textual form for presenting the stages in the complete path to enlightenment as taught by Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhist history there have been many different versions of ''lamrim'', presented by different teachers of the Nyingma, Kagyu and Gelug schools. However, all versions of the ''lamrim'' are elaborations of Atiśa's 11th-century root text '' A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment'' (''Bodhipathapradīpa''). History When Atiśa, the originator of the ''lamrim'' came from India to Tibet, he was asked by king Jang Chub Ö to give a complete and easily accessible summary of the doctrine in order to clarify wrong views, especially those resulting from apparent contradictions across the sutras and their commentaries. Based upon this request he wrote the '' Bodhipathapradīpa'' ("A Lamp for the Path to Awakening"), teaching what came to be known as the ''lamrim'' for the Tibetans. Atiśa's presentation of the doctrine ...
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Tsongkhapa
Tsongkhapa ( Tibetan: ཙོང་ཁ་པ་, '','' meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the formation of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.Tsong khapa (2006), pp. ix-x. His philosophical works are a grand synthesis of the Buddhist epistemological tradition of Dignāga and Dharmakīrti, the Cittamatra philosophy of the mind, and the madhyamaka philosophy of Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti.Tsong khapa (2006), pp. ix-xii.Sparham, Gareth"Tsongkhapa" ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Central to his philosophical and soteriological teachings is "a radical view of emptiness" which sees all phenomena as devoid of intrinsic nature.Newland 2009, p. 8. This view of emptiness is not a kind of nihilism or a total denial of existence. Instead, it sees phenomena as existing " interdepe ...
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Gelug
file:DalaiLama0054 tiny.jpg, 240px, 14th Dalai Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya, Bodhgaya (India) The Gelug (, also Geluk; 'virtuous')Kay, David N. (2007). ''Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantation, Development and Adaptation,'' p. 39. Routledge. is the newest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded by Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), a Tibetan people, Tibetan philosopher, Vajrayana, tantric yogi and lama and further expanded and developed by his disciples (such as Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama, Khedrup Je, Gyaltsab Je, Gyaltsap Je, Dulzin Drakpa Gyaltsen, and 1st Dalai Lama, Gendün Drubpa). The Gelug school is alternatively known as Kadam (''bKa’-gdams gsar-pa''), since it sees itself as a continuation of the Kadam (Tibetan Buddhism), Kadam tradition of Atiśa, Atisha (c. 11th century). The school of New Kadam, or New Kadampa ...
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Kadampa
file:Portrait of the Indian Monk Atisha.jpg, 300px, Tibetan Portrait of Atiśa The Kadam school () of Tibetan Buddhism, or Kadampa was an 11th century Buddhist tradition founded by the great Bengalis, Bengali master Atiśa (982–1054) and his students including Dromtön (1005–1064), a Tibetan Buddhist lay master.Silk, Jonathan A; von Hinüber, Oskar; Eltschinger, Vincent; Bowring, Richard; Radich, Michael (2015). ''Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism: Vol. II Lives'', pp. 1145-1158. Brill. The Kadampa stressed Karuṇā, compassion, pure discipline and study.Chokyi Dragpa (2015). ''Illuminating the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva'', Glossary. Simon & Schuster. By the 15th century, Tsongkapa is credited with synthesizing and folding Kadampa lineages into the Gelug school. The most evident teachings of that tradition were the graduated teachings on the Mahayana path. These special presentations became known as lojong (mind training) and lamrim (stages of the path). Kadam m ...
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Tibetan Buddhist
Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh, as well as in Nepal. Smaller groups of practitioners can be found in Central Asia, some regions of China such as Northeast China, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and some regions of Russia, such as Tuva, Buryatia, and Kalmykia. Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahāyāna Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism (which included many Vajrayāna elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist tantric practices of the post-Gupta early medieval period (500–1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments. In the pre-modern era, Tibetan Buddhism spread outside of Tibet primarily due to the influence of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), founded by Kublai Khan, who ruled China, Mongolia, and parts of S ...
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Longchenpa
Longchen Rabjam Drimé Özer (), or simply Longchenpa (1308–1364, "The Great One Who Is the Vast Cosmic Expanse") was a Tibetan scholar-yogi of the Nyingma school, the 'Old School' of Tibetan Buddhism. According to tibetologist David Germano, Longchenpa's work led to the dominance of the Longchen Nyingthig lineage of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, over the other Dzogchen traditions. He is also responsible for the scholastic systematization of Dzogchen thought within the context of the wider Tibetan Vajrayana tradition of Buddhist philosophy. Dzogchen thought was highly developed among both the Old School and New Sarma schools. Germano also notes that Longchenpa's work is "generally taken to be the definitive expression of the Great Perfection with its precise terminological distinctions, systematic scope, and integration with the normative Buddhist scholasticism that became dominant in Tibet during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries." Longchenpa is known for his vo ...
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Atiśa
Atish Dipankar Shrijnan (Sanskrit transliteration: Atiśa Dipankara Shrijnana) (c. 982–1054 CE) was a Bengalis, Bengali Buddhist religious teacher and leader. He is generally associated with his body of work authored at Vikramashila, Vikramaśīla Monastery in modern day Bihar, India. He was a major figures in the spread of 11th-century Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism in Asia and traveled to Sumatra and Tibet. Atiśa, along with this chief disciple Dromtön, is regarded as the founder of the Kadam (Tibetan Buddhism), Kadam school, one of the Sarma (Tibetan Buddhism), New Translation schools of Tibetan Buddhism. In the 14th century, the Kadam school was supplanted by the Gelug tradition, which adopted its teachings and absorbed its monasteries. Biography Early life Atiśa was born as Candragarbha in c. 982 CE as the second of three sons to a ruling family in Bengal in the city of Vikrampura. His father was a king known as Kalyānaśrī and his mother was Prabhavati Sri. The ...
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Gampopa
Gampopa Sönam Rinchen (, 1079–1153) was the main student of Milarepa, and a Tibetan Buddhist master who codified his own master's ascetic teachings, which form the foundation of the Kagyu educational tradition. Gampopa was also a doctor and tantric master. He authored the first Lamrim text, '' Jewel Ornament of Liberation,'' and founded the Dagpo Kagyu school. He is also known as Dvagpopa, and by the titles ''Dakpo Lharjé'' "the physician from Dakpo" () and ''Daö Zhönnu'', "''Candraprabhakumara''" (). Biography Gampopa was born in the Nyal (or Nyel) district, Central Tibet and from an early age was a student of medicine in the Indian, Chinese and Tibetan medical traditions. Later in his life he moved to the region of Dakpo (''dwags po'') in southern Tibet and hence was also called Dakpopa (''dwags po pa''), the man from Dakpo. The region is also near Gampo Hills, hence his other name, Gampopa. In his youth Gampopa studied under the Nyingma lama Barey as well as under th ...
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Kagyu
The ''Kagyu'' school, also transliterated as ''Kagyü'', or ''Kagyud'' (), which translates to "Oral Lineage" or "Whispered Transmission" school, is one of the main schools (''chos lugs'') of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan (or Himalayan) Buddhism. The Kagyu lineages trace themselves back to the 11th century Indian Mahasiddhas Naropa, Maitripa and the yogini Niguma, via their student Marpa Lotsawa (1012–1097), who brought their teachings to Tibet. Marpa's student Milarepa was also an influential poet and teacher. The Tibetan Kagyu tradition gave rise to a large number of independent sub-schools and lineages. The principal Kagyu lineages existing today as independent schools are those which stem from Milarepa's disciple, Gampopa (1079–1153), a monk who merged the Kagyu lineage with the Kadam (Tibetan Buddhism), Kadam tradition. The Kagyu schools which survive as independent institutions are mainly the Karma Kagyu, Drikung Kagyu, Drukpa Lineage and the Taklung Kagyu. The Karma Kag ...
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Bodhipathapradīpa
''Bodhipathapradīpa'' (''A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment'') is a Buddhist text composed in Sanskrit by the 11th-century teacher Atiśa and widely considered his magnum opus. The text reconciles the doctrines of many various Buddhist schools and philosophies, and is notable for the introduction of the three levels of spiritual aspiration: lesser, middling and superior, which in turn became the foundation for the Lamrim Lamrim (Tibetan: "stages of the path") is a Tibetan Buddhist textual form for presenting the stages in the complete path to enlightenment as taught by Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhist history there have been many different versions of ''lamrim'', pr ... tradition. This text was translated into Tibetan as ''Byang chub lam gyi sgron ma''. In the text, Atiśa classifies individuals into three different capacities, and writes for those of the final capacity, which he calls "Supreme". * "Inferior individuals": those who are still attached to samsaric existence. * "M ...
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Hinayana
Hīnayāna is a Sanskrit term that was at one time applied collectively to the '' Śrāvakayāna'' and '' Pratyekabuddhayāna'' paths of Buddhism. This term appeared around the first or second century. The Hīnayāna is considered as the preliminary or small (''hina'') vehicle (''yana'') of the Buddha's teachings. It is often contrasted with Mahāyāna, the second vehicle of the Buddha's teachings, or the great (''maha'') vehicle (''yana''). The third vehicle of the Buddha's teachings is the Vajrayana, the indestructible (''vajra'') vehicle (''yana''). Western scholars used the term ''Hīnayāna'' to describe the early teachings of Buddhism, as the ''Mahāyāna'' teachings were generally given later. Modern Buddhist scholarship has deprecated the term as pejorative, and instead uses the term ''Nikaya Buddhism'' to refer to early Buddhist schools. ''Hinayana'' has also been inappropriately used as a synonym for Theravada, which is the main tradition of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and S ...
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Mahayana
Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main existing branches of Buddhism, the others being Theravāda and Vajrayāna.Harvey (2013), p. 189. Mahāyāna accepts the main scriptures and teachings of Early Buddhist schools, early Buddhism but also recognizes various doctrines and texts that are not accepted by Theravada Buddhism as original. These include the Mahāyāna sūtras and their emphasis on the ''bodhisattva'' path and Prajnaparamita, ''Prajñāpāramitā''. Vajrayāna or Mantra traditions are a subset of Mahāyāna which makes use of numerous Tantra, tantric methods Vajrayānists consider to help achieve Buddhahood. Mahāyāna also refers to the path of the bodhisattva striving to become a fully awakened Buddha for the benefit of all sentience, sentient beings, and is thus also ...
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