Tsongkhapa whose name means “The Man from Onion Valley”, was a famous teacher of Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...

 whose activities led to the formation of the Geluk school. He is also known by his ordained name Lobsang Drakpa (blo bzang grags pa) or simply as Je Rinpoche (rje rin po che).

Tsongkhapa heard Buddha’s teachings from masters of all Tibetan Buddhist traditions, and received lineages transmitted in the major schools.

His main source of inspiration was the Kadampa

Kadampa

The Kadampa tradition was a Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist school. Dromtönpa, a Tibetan lay master and the foremost disciple of the great Indian Buddhist Master Atisha , founded it and passed three lineages to his disciples. The Kadampa were quite famous and respected for their proper and earnest...

 tradition, the legacy of Atiśa

Atisha

Atiśa Dipankara Shrijnana was a Buddhist teacher from the Pala Empire who, along with Konchog Gyalpo and Marpa, was one of the major figures in the establishment of the Sarma lineages in Tibet after the repression of Buddhism by King Langdarma .- Birth :Atisha is most commonly said to have been...

. Based on Tsongkhapa’s teaching, the two distinguishing characteristics of the Gelug tradition are:

• The union of Sutra
  Sutra
  Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...
  
   and Tantra
  Tantra
  Tantra , anglicised tantricism or tantrism or tantram, is the name scholars give to an inter-religious spiritual movement that arose in medieval India, expressed in scriptures ....
  
  , and
• The emphasis on Vinaya
  Vinaya
  The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...
  
   (the moral code of discipline)

Early years

Born into a nomadic family in Amdo

Amdo

Amdo is one of the three traditional regions of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river . While culturally and ethnically a Tibetan area, Amdo has been administered by a...

 province in 1357, Tsongkhapa received the layman ordination (skt. Upasaka) at the age of three from the 4th Karmapa

Karmapa

The Karmapa is the head of the Karma Kagyu, the largest sub-school of the Kagyupa , itself one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism....

, Rolpe Dorje

Rolpe Dorje

Rolpe Dorje was the fourth Gyalwa Karmapa. According to legend the fourth Karmapa's mother, while pregnant, could hear the sound of the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum while the child was in her womb and the baby said the mantra as soon as he was born...

, and was entitled “Kunga Nyingpo” (kun dga’ snying po). At the age of seven he took the novice ordination (skt. Sramanera, tib. Getsul) from Choje Dhondup Rinchen (chos rje don ’grub rin chen) and was given the name “Lobsang Drakpa” (blo bzang grags pa). It was at this early age that he was able to receive the empowerments of Heruka Chakrasamvara, Hevajra

Hevajra

Hevajra is one of the main yidams in Tantric, or Vajrayana Buddhism. Hevajra's consort is Nairātmyā .-India:...

, and Yamantaka, three of the most prominent wrathful deities of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as being able to recite a great many Sutras, not the least of which was Manjushri-nama-samgiti

Manjushri-nama-samgiti

The Mañjuśrī-Nāma-Saṃgīti. is considered amongst the most advanced teachings given by the Shakyamuni Buddha...

. He would go on to be a great student of the Buddhist Vinaya

Vinaya

The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...

, the doctrine of behaviour, and even later of the Six Yogas of Naropa

Six Yogas of Naropa

The Six Yogas of Nāropa , also called the six dharmas of Naropa and Naro's six doctrines , are a set of advanced Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tantric practices and a meditation sādhana compiled in and around the...

, the Kalachakra

Kalachakra

Kalachakra is a Sanskrit term used in Tantric Buddhism that literally means "time-wheel" or "time-cycles".The spelling Kalacakra is also correct....

 Tantra, and the acclaimed practice of Mahamudra

Mahamudra

Mahāmudrā literally means "great seal" or "great symbol." It "is a multivalent term of great importance in later Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism" which "also occurs occasionally in Hindu and East Asian Buddhist esotericism."The name refers to the way one who...

. At the age of 24 Tsongkhapa received the ordination of a full monk (skt. Bhikshu, tib. Gelong) in the Sakya

Sakya

The Sakya school is one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, the others being the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Gelug...

 Tradition.

From Zhönnu Lodrö (gzhon nu blo gros) and Rendawa (red mda’ pa) he received the lineage of the Pramanavarttika transmitted by Sakya Pandita (sa skya pandita). He mastered all the courses of study at Drikung Monastery in Central Tibet, a major Kagyü Center, and travelled extensively in search of knowledge, studying with more than 100 teachers of all the existing traditions all topics of the doctrine, including Dzogchen

Dzogchen

According to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...

.

Tsongkhapa, who was considered by many as an emanation of Atisha

Atisha

Atiśa Dipankara Shrijnana was a Buddhist teacher from the Pala Empire who, along with Konchog Gyalpo and Marpa, was one of the major figures in the establishment of the Sarma lineages in Tibet after the repression of Buddhism by King Langdarma .- Birth :Atisha is most commonly said to have been...

, received the Kadam

Kadam

Kadam may refer to:* Kadam clan, the present-day royal Kshatriya Maratha clan descended from the Arya King Kadam* the Kadam school of Buddhism* the Kadam virus of the Flavivirus genus* the first Arya Kshatriya king of Hinduism who ruled Afghanistan* Mt...

 lineages, and studied the major Sarma (gsar ma) Tantras (the Tantras from the “New Translation School”) under Sakya and Kagyü masters. He also studied with Nyingma siddha Legpey Dorje (Wylie: legs gyi rdo rje), and the Zalupa Chökyi-pal (zha lu pa chos kyi dpal), and his main Dzogchen master was Lodrak Drupchen Kekyi Dorje (lho brag grub chen las kyi rdo je), also known as Namkha Gyaltsen (nam mkha' rgyal mtshan, 1326-1401).

In addition to his studies, he engaged in extensive meditation retreats. He is reputed to have performed millions of prostration

Prostration

Prostration is the placement of the body in a reverentially or submissively prone position. Major world religions employ prostration either as a means of embodying reverence for a noble person, persons or doctrine, or as an act of submissiveness to a supreme being or beings...

s, mandala

Mandala

Maṇḍala is a Sanskrit word that means "circle". In the Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions their sacred art often takes a mandala form. The basic form of most Hindu and Buddhist mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point...

 offerings and other forms of purification practice. Tsongkhapa often had visions of meditational deities

Yidam

In Vajrayana Buddhism, an Ishta-deva or Ishta-devata is a fully enlightened being who is the focus of personal meditation, during a retreat or for life. The term is often translated into English as tutelary deity, meditation deity, or meditational deity...

 and especially of Manjushri, with whom he would communicate directly to clarify difficult points of the scriptures.

He was effective as a teacher in Tibetan Buddhism and became a leading figure amongst his peers as well as his students. Many of his teachers eventually joined him as students, such as Rendawa, Umapa, the Nyingma Lama Lhodrak, and they taught and revered each other. Revered as having strong influence, compassion, and wisdom he is referred to as a second Buddha.

Eight Great Difficult Points

Tsongkhapa’s dictated 'Notes on the Eight Great Difficult Points of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā

Mulamadhyamakakarika

The Mūlamadhyamakakārikā , or Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way, is a key text by Nagarjuna, one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.-Competing interpretations:...

 (Wylie: ba shes rab kyi dka’ gnad chen po brgyad kyi brjed byang) were transcribed by his disciple rGyal-tshab-rje. The fifth point contends with 'apperception

Apperception

Apperception is any of several aspects of perception and consciousness in such fields as psychology, philosophy and epistemology.-Meaning in psychology:...

' (Wylie: rang rig).

Legacy

With the founding of the Ganden monastery in 1409, he laid down the basis for what was later named the Gelug

Gelug

The Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Je Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...

 ("virtuous ones") order. At the time of the foundation of the Ganden monastery, his followers became to be known as "Gandenbas." Tsongkhapa himself never announced the establishment of a new monastic order. Tsongkhapa’s teachings drew upon the teachings of Atisha

Atisha

Atiśa Dipankara Shrijnana was a Buddhist teacher from the Pala Empire who, along with Konchog Gyalpo and Marpa, was one of the major figures in the establishment of the Sarma lineages in Tibet after the repression of Buddhism by King Langdarma .- Birth :Atisha is most commonly said to have been...

, emphasizing the study of Vinaya

Vinaya

The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...

, the Tripiṭaka

Tripiṭaka

' is a traditional term used by various Buddhist sects to describe their various canons of scriptures. As the name suggests, a traditionally contains three "baskets" of teachings: a , a and an .-The three categories:Tripitaka is the three main categories of texts that make up the...

, and the Shastras. Atisha’s Lamrim

Lamrim

Lamrim 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...

 inspired Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo, which became a main text among his followers. He also practised and taught extensively the Vajrayana

Vajrayana

Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...

, and especially how to bring the Sutra and Tantra teachings together, wrote works that summarized the root teachings of the Buddhist philosophical schools, as well as commentaries on the Pratimoksha

Pratimoksha

The Pratimoksha is a Buddhist moral discipline. A loose translation of the term is "personal liberation", and thus the discipline is concerned with the Buddhist's quest for personal liberation, and originated with the Pratimoksha Vows given by the Buddha to his followers. "Prati" means 'towards' or...

, Prajnaparamita

Prajnaparamita

Prajñāpāramitā in Buddhism, means "the Perfection of Wisdom." The word Prajñāpāramitā combines the Sanskrit words prajñā with pāramitā . Prajñāpāramitā is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism and its practice and understanding are taken to be indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva Path...

, Candrakirti’s Madhyamakavatara, logic, and the Sarma Tantras. Tsongkhapa emphasised a strong monastic Sangha

Sangha

Sangha is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly," "company" or "community" with common goal, vision or purpose...

. Furthermore, he promoted the study of logic, encouraged formal debates as part of Dharma studies, and instructed disciples in the Guhyasamaja, Kalacakra, and Hevajra Tantras.

Tsongkhapa was one of the foremost authorities of Tibetan Buddhism at the time. He composed a devotional prayer called the Migtsema Prayer to his Sakya master Rendawa, which was offered back to Tsongkhapa, with the note of his master saying that these verses were more applicable to Tsongkhapa than to himself. After Tsongkhapa's passing away, several biographies were written by Lamas of different traditions, and they all agreed that he was a teacher without parallel. The 9th Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje

Wangchuk Dorje

Wangchuk Dorje was the ninth Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism.Wangchuk Dorje was born in Treshod, Kham...

, praised Tsongkhapa as one "who swept away wrong views with the correct and perfect ones." The 8th Karmapa, Gyalwa Mikyö Dorje

Mikyö Dorje

Mikyö Dorje , also Mikyo Dorje, was the eighth Gyalwa Karmapa, head of the Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism.Mikyö Dorje was born in Satam, Kham. According to the legend, he said after being born: "I am Karmapa." and was recognized by Tai Situpa. In this case there was another child from Amdo who...

, wrote in his poem In Praise of the Incomparable Tsong Khapa:

When the teachings of the Sakya, Kagyue, Kadam

And Nyingma sects in Tibet were declining,

You, O Tsong Khapa, revived Buddha's Doctrine,

Hence I sing this praise to you of Ganden Mountain.

Further, it is said that the Buddha Sakyamuni spoke of his coming as an emanation of the Bodhisattva

Bodhisattva

In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...

 Manjusri

Manjusri

Mañjuśrī is a bodhisattva associated with transcendent wisdom in Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Esoteric Buddhism he is also taken as a meditational deity. The Sanskrit name Mañjuśrī can be translated as "Gentle Glory"...

 in the short verse from the Root Tantra of Manjushri (Tib. 'Jam-dpal rtsa-rgyud):

After I pass away

And my pure doctrine is absent,

You will appear as an ordinary being,

Performing the deeds of a Buddha

And establishing the Joyful Land, the great Protector,

In the Land of the Snows.

Although Tsongkhapa would finally pass away in 1419 at the age of sixty-two, he left to the world 18 volumes of collected teachings, with the largest amount being on Guhyasamāja tantra

Guhyasamāja tantra

The Guhyasamāja Tantra is one of the most important scriptures of esoteric Buddhism. In its fullest form, it consists of seventeen chapters, though a separate "explanatory tantra" known as the Later Tantra is sometimes considered to be its eighteenth chapter...

. These 18 volumes contain hundreds of titles relating to all aspects of Buddhist teachings and clarify some of the most difficult topics of Sutrayana

Sutrayana

Sūtrayāna, in the Indo-Tibetan three-fold classification of yanas, is the yana that leads to the realization of emptiness. It consists of Hinayana and Mahayana. The other two yanas, according to this classification, are Tantrayana and Dzogchen, which together constitute Vajrayana....

 and Vajrayana

Vajrayana

Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...

 teachings.

Major works among them are:

• The Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path (lam rim chen mo),
• The Great Exposition of Tantras (sngags rim chen mo),
• The Essence of Eloquence on the Interpretive and Definitive Teachings (drang nges legs bshad snying po; full title: gsung rab kyi drang ba dang nges pai don rnam par phye ba gsal bar byed pa legs par bshad pai snying po),
• The Praise of Relativity (rten ’brel bstod pa),
• The Clear Exposition of the Five Stages of Guhyasamaja (gsang ’dus rim lnga gsal sgron) and
• The Golden Rosary (gser phreng).

These scriptures are the prime source for the studies of the Gelugpa tradition and these and other teachings of Tsongkhapa endured into the modern age and are seen as a protection against misconceptions in Mahayana

Mahayana

Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...

 and Vajrayana

Vajrayana

Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...

 Buddhism.

The 14th Dalai Lama has highlighted the fidelity of Tsongkhapa's work to the meaning found in Buddhapalita’s

Buddhapalita

Buddhapālita was a commentator on the works of Nāgārjuna and Aryadeva. His works were mildly criticised by his contemporary Bhavyaviveka, and then he was vigorously defended by the later Candrakīrti, whose terms differentiating the two scholars led to the rise of the Prasaṅgika and Svatantrika...

 work. Tsongkhapa’s work is praised as being profound and true to tradition, essentially a clarification and condensation of the transmitted teachings, which after all, are intended to encapsulate unchanging truth.

After Tsongkhapa had founded the monastery of Ganden

Ganden Monastery

Ganden Monastery or Ganden Namgyeling is one of the 'great three' Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet, located at the top of Wangbur Mountain, Tagtse County, 36 kilometers ENE from the Potala Palace in Lhasa, at an altitude of 4,300m...

 in 1409, it became his main seat. He had many students, among whom Gyaltsab Dharma Rinchen (1364–1431), Khedrup Gelek Pelzang

Khedrup Gelek Pelzang

Khedrup Gelek Pelzang , better known as Khedrup Je, the 1st Panchen Lama, was one of the main disciples of Lama Tsongkhapa ....

 (1385–1438), Togden Jampal Gyatso, Jamyang Choje, Jamchenpa Sherap Senge, and the first Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...

, Gyalwa Gendün Drup (1391–1474), were the most outstanding. After Tsongkhapa’s passing his teachings were held and kept by Gyaltsab Dharma Rinchen and Khedrub Gelek Pälsang. From then on, his lineage has been held by the Ganden Tripa

Ganden Tripa

The Ganden Tripa or Gaden Tripa is the title of the spiritual leader of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, the school which controlled central Tibet from the mid-17th century until 1950s. He is identical with the respective abbot of Ganden Monastery...

s, the throne-holders of Ganden Monastery

Ganden Monastery

Ganden Monastery or Ganden Namgyeling is one of the 'great three' Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet, located at the top of Wangbur Mountain, Tagtse County, 36 kilometers ENE from the Potala Palace in Lhasa, at an altitude of 4,300m...

, among whom the present one is Thubten Nyima Lungtok Tenzin Norbu, the 102nd Ganden Tripa.

After the founding of Ganden Monastery

Ganden Monastery

Ganden Monastery or Ganden Namgyeling is one of the 'great three' Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet, located at the top of Wangbur Mountain, Tagtse County, 36 kilometers ENE from the Potala Palace in Lhasa, at an altitude of 4,300m...

 by Tsongkhapa, Drepung Monastery

Drepung Monastery

Drepung Monastery ,, located at the foot of Mount Gephel, is one of the "great three" Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet...

 was founded by Jamyang Choje, Sera Monastery

Sera Monastery

Sera Monastery is one of the 'great three' Gelukpa university monasteries of Tibet, located north of Lhasa. The other two are Ganden Monastery and Drepung Monastery. The origin of the name 'Sera' is attributed to a fact that the site where the monastery was built was surrounded by wild roses in...

 was founded by Chöje Shakya Yeshe and the Gendün Drup founded Tashilhunpo Monastery. Many Gelug monasteries were built throughout Tibet but also in China and Mongolia. He spent some time as a hermit in Pabonka Hermitage

Pabonka Hermitage

Pabonka Hermitage , also written Pawangka, is a historical hermitage, today belonging to Sera Monastery, about 8 kilometres northwest of Lhasa in the Nyang bran Valley on the slopes of Mount Parasol in Tibet....

, which was built during Songsten Gampo times, approximately 8 kilometres north west of Lhasa. Today, it is also part of Sera.

Among the many lineage holders of the Yellow Hat Tradition (Gelugpas) there are the successive incarnations of the Panchen Lama

Panchen Lama

The Panchen Lama , or Bainqên Erdê'ni , is the highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism...

 as well as the Chagkya Dorje Chang, Ngachen Könchok Gyaltsen, Kyishö Tulku Tenzin Thrinly, Jamyang Shepa, Phurchok Jampa Rinpoche, Jamyang Dewe Dorje, Takphu Rinpoche, Khachen Yeshe Gyaltsen, Trijang Rinpoche

Trijang Rinpoche

Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche was a Gelug Lama and a direct disciple of Je Pabongka. He was the junior tutor and spiritual guide of the 14th Dalai Lama for forty years. He is also the root lama of many Gelug Lamas who teach in the West including Zong Rinpoche, Geshe Rabten, Lama Yeshe, Lama Gangchen...

, Domo Geshe Rinpoche, and many others.

The annual Tibetan prayer festival Monlam Prayer Festival was established by Tsongkhapa. There he offered service to ten thousand monks. The establishment of the Great Prayer Festival is seen as one of his Four Great Deeds. It celebrates the miraculous deeds of Buddha Shakyamuni.

English translations of some of Tsongkhapa’s works

• The Great Treatise On The Stages Of The Path To Enlightenment, Vol. 1, Snow Lion, ISBN 1-55939-152-9
• The Great Treatise On The Stages Of The Path To Enlightenment, Vol. 2, Snow Lion, ISBN 1-55939-168-5
• The Great Treatise On The Stages Of The Path To Enlightenment, Vol. 3, Snow Lion, ISBN 1-55939-166-9
• Ocean of Eloquence: Tsong Kha Pa’s Commentary on the Yogacara Doctrine of Mind, State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-7914-1479-5
• Ocean of Reasoning: A Great Commentary on Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyamakakarika, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-514733-2
• Tantric Ethics: An Explanation of the Precepts for Buddhist Vajrayana Practice, Wisdom Publications, ISBN 0-86171-290-0
• The Splendor of an Autumn Moon: The Devotional Verse of Tsongkhapa, Wisdom Publications, ISBN 0-86171-192-0
• The Fulfillment of All Hopes: Guru Devotion in Tibetan Buddhism, Wisdom Publications, ISBN 0-86171-153-X
• Three Principal Aspects of the Path, Tharpa Publications
• B. Alan Wallace (1995). 'Small Exposition of the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment' (Wylie: byang chub lam gyi rim pa chung ba)
• Apple,James B. Stairway to Nirvāṇa: A Study of the Twenty Saṃghas based on the works of Tsong-kha-pa (State University of New York Press, 2008).

External links

• Tsongkhapa, at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a freely-accessible online encyclopedia of philosophy maintained by Stanford University. Each entry is written and maintained by an expert in the field, including professors from over 65 academic institutions worldwide...
  
  
• Life and Teachings of Tsong Khapa by R. Thurman
• A Short Biography by Alexander Berzin (The Berzin Archives)
• A talk regarding Gelugpa and Tsong Khapa’s legacy by the 14th Dalai Lama
• The History of Gelug Tradition by the Government of Tibet in Exile
• Biography of Je Tsongkhapa by Kelsang Gyatso
• Biography of Lama Tsong Khapa by Sonam Rinchen
• Dictionary Definition of Tsong Khapa
• Tsongkhapa – Bogd Zonkhov to Mongolians