Tāranātha (1575–1634) was a

Lama Lama () is a title bestowed to a realized practitioner of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. Not all monks are lamas, while nuns and female practitioners can be recognized and entitled as lamas. The Tibetan word ''la-ma'' means "high mother", ...

of the Jonang school of

Tibetan Buddhism 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, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

. He is widely considered its most remarkable scholar and exponent. Taranatha was born in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, supposedly on the birthday of

Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ('Born from a Lotus'), also known as Guru Rinpoche ('Precious Guru'), was a legendary tantric Buddhist Vajracharya, Vajra master from Oddiyana. who fully revealed the Vajrayana in Tibet, circa 8th – 9th centuries... He is consi ...

. His original name was Kun-dga'-snying-po, the Sanskrit equivalent of which is Anandagarbha. However, he adopted Taranatha, the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

name by which he was generally known, as an indication of the value he placed on his Sanskrit scholarship in an era when mastery of the language had become much less common in Tibet than it had once been. He was also paying homage to his Indian teacher, Buddhaguptanātha. His exceptional qualities are said to have been recognized by others at a young age, as is often the case with great masters. He studied under such masters as Je Draktopa, Yeshe Wangpo, Kunga Tashi and Jampa Lhundrup, although his primary teacher was Buddhaguptanatha. Taranatha was recognized by Khenchen Lungrik Gyatso as the rebirth of Krishnacarya and the Khenchen's own teacher, Jetsun Kunga Drolchok.

Works

Taranatha was a prolific writer and a renowned scholar. His best known work is the 143-folio ''History of Buddhism in India'' (dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i chos bskor gyi byung khungs nyer mkho) of 1608, which has been published in English. This work is considered as his ''magnum opus''. It deals with the history of Buddhism in South Asia, beginning from the time of Ajatashatru upto the rise of Delhi Sultanate. Although relying on legends & word-of-mouth, he is found, in many cases, to provide confirmatory materials in support of events known from other authentic sources. The part of his work discussing the state of Buddhism after the fall of Harsha's empire until Bakhtiyar Khalji's invasion of Eastern India is considered extremely valuable. His information on the

Pala Empire The Pāla Empire was the empire ruled by the Pala dynasty, ("protector" in Sanskrit) a medieval Indian dynasty which ruled the kingdom of Gauda Kingdom, Gauda. The empire was founded with the election of Gopala, Gopāla by the chiefs of Kingdo ...

Chandra dynasty The Chandra dynasty was a Buddhist dynasty, originating from the South East Bengal region of Indian subcontinent, which ruled the Samatata area of Bengal, as well as Arakan. Later it was a neighbor to the Pala Empire to the north. Rulers of Ch ...

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, the last Indian polities to patronize

Vajrayana ''Vajrayāna'' (; 'vajra vehicle'), also known as Mantrayāna ('mantra vehicle'), Guhyamantrayāna ('secret mantra vehicle'), Tantrayāna ('tantra vehicle'), Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, is a Mahāyāna Buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhis ...

in India is also worth mention. Other works are ''The Golden Rosary, Origins of the Tantra of the Bodhisattva Tara'' of 1604 which has also been translated into English. He was an advocate of the

Shentong ''Rangtong'' and ''shentong'' are two distinctive views on emptiness ( sunyata) and the two truths doctrine within Tibetan Buddhism. Rangtong (; "empty of self-nature") is a philosophical term in Tibetan Buddhism which is used by Tibetan defende ...

view of emptiness and wrote many texts and commentaries on this subject. English-language translation publications of his works on Shentong are ''The Essence of Other-Emptiness'' (which includes a translation of his ''Twenty One Profound Meanings'' (Zab don gсer gcig pa)) and his ''Commentary on the Heart Sutra''.Taranatha's Commentary on the Heart Sutra
by Adele Tomlin (Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2017) In 1614 Taranatha founded the important Jonangpa monastery Takten Dhamchöling, in the Tsangpo Valley about 200 miles west of

Lhasa Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...

Later life

Probably not long after 1614, Taranatha went to

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

, where he reportedly founded several monasteries. He died probably in Urga. His rebirth became known as Zanabazar, the 1st Bogd Gegeen and Jebtsundamba Khutuktu of Mongolia. His most recent reincarnation was the 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu, who died in 2012.

References

Sources

* Taranatha (auth.), Hopkins, Jeffrey (trans). ''The Essence of Other-Emptiness'' Snow Lion(2007). *Stearns, Cyrus. ''The Buddha from Dolpo: A Study of the Life and Thought of the Tibetan Master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen''. State University of New York Press (1999). (hc); (pbk). -(contains fairly extensive information on Taranatha)

External links

Taranatha's Collected WorksThe Jonang Foundation on TaranathaThe Jonang Dharma on Taranatha
* {{Authority control Scholars of Buddhism from Tibet Lamas from Tibet Jonang lamas 16th-century lamas 1575 births 1634 deaths Tibetan Buddhism writers Tibetan philosophers

Works

Later life

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links