Chupzang Nunnery (Chu bzang dgon) is a historical nunnery, belonging to Sera Monastery . It is located north of Lhasa in Tibet , China . Though the site was established as a hermitage around 1665, it was converted into an exclusive nunnery in 1984 and has since grown into one of the largest nunneries in the Lhasa Valley.
108-525: Chupzang, also spelt Chubzang, in Tibetan means "fresh water" or "good water" and is so-named because water is supplied by a natural spring. The Chubzang Nunnery, located on the hill side, is situated to the northwest of Sera Monastery and to the north of Lhasa in the suburb of Nyang bran, at the base of the rocky canyon which is covered with shrubs. It is approachable by about a 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) path from Sera, which takes about 20 minutes to cover. It
216-533: A magic trick ) and another way which sees the profound ultimate truth of things, which is the sheer fact that they lack intrinsic nature. As Newland explains, each one of these epistemic points of view provides a different lens or perspective on reality, which Tsongkhapa illustrates by discussing how "we do not see sounds no matter how carefully we look." In the same way, while conventional truths are not found by an ultimate analysis that searches for their intrinsic nature, they are still functional conventionally and this
324-421: A Lhasa Tibetan syllable is relatively simple; no consonant cluster is allowed and codas are only allowed with a single consonant. Vowels can be either short or long, and long vowels may further be nasalized . Vowel harmony is observed in two syllable words as well as verbs with a finite ending. Also, tones are contrastive in this language, where at least two tonemes are distinguished. Although
432-717: A Tibetan grammar in Hindi . Some of his other works on Tibetan were: In much of Tibet, primary education is conducted either primarily or entirely in the Tibetan language, and bilingual education is rarely introduced before students reach middle school . However, Chinese is the language of instruction of most Tibetan secondary schools . In April 2020, classroom instruction was switched from Tibetan to Mandarin Chinese in Ngaba , Sichuan. Students who continue on to tertiary education have
540-403: A cogent argument. However, like Candrakīrti, Tsonkghapa also accepts that while conventional truths are truths, they also can obscure or veil the ultimate (since for most people, these truths appear as intrinsically true). This is like how a mirage is a real phenomenon, but can also be deceptive (since it appears to be what it is not) Tsongkhapa also argues that ultimate analysis is not merely
648-588: A collective or integral are often used after the tens, sometimes after a smaller number. In scientific and astrological works, the numerals, as in Vedic Sanskrit , are expressed by symbolical words. The written numerals are a variant of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system , forming a base-10 positional counting system that is attested early on in Classical Tibetan texts. Tibetan makes use of
756-481: A consequence of pratītyasamutpāda (dependent arising), the teaching that no dharma ("thing", "phenomena") has an existence of its own, but always comes into existence in dependence on other dharmas . According to Tsongkhapa, dependent-arising and emptiness are inseparable. Tsongkhapa's view on "ultimate reality" is condensed in the short text In Praise of Dependent Arising , which states that phenomena do exist conventionally, but that, ultimately, everything
864-475: A crystal rosary and generated bodhicitta . The Buddha prophesied that the boy would one day be the reviver of the Buddha's doctrine. Hagiographies such as Khedrup Je's also depict how Tsongkhapa achieved full Buddhahood after his death. Some hagiographical sources also claim that Tsongkhapa was an emanation of Mañjuśrī as well as a reincarnation of Nāgārjuna , Atiśa and Padmasambhava . Tsongkhapa's philosophy
972-594: A deliberate policy of extinguishing all that is Tibetan, including their own language in their own country" and he asserted a right for Tibetans to express themselves "in their mother tongue". However, Tibetologist Elliot Sperling has noted that "within certain limits the PRC does make efforts to accommodate Tibetan cultural expression" and "the cultural activity taking place all over the Tibetan plateau cannot be ignored." Some scholars also question such claims because most Tibetans continue to reside in rural areas where Chinese
1080-468: A dependent and contingent way, which includes the fact that they arise co-dependently with the minds that perceive them and conceptually impute their existence. In this view, things do exist in a conventional and nominal sense as conceptual imputations ( rtog pas btags tsam ) which are dependent upon a relationship with a knowing and designating mind. However, all phenomena still lack existence in an independent, self-arising, or self-sustaining manner. That
1188-431: A few months later. Standard Tibetan Lhasa Tibetan ( Tibetan : ལྷ་སའི་སྐད་ , Wylie : Lha-sa'i skad , THL : Lhaséké , ZYPY : Lasägä ) or Standard Tibetan ( Tibetan : བོད་སྐད་ , Wylie : Bod skad , THL : Böké , ZYPY : Pögä , IPA: [pʰø̀k˭ɛʔ] , or Tibetan : བོད་ཡིག་ , Wylie : Bod yig , THL : Böyik , ZYPY : Pöyig ) is the Tibetan dialect spoken by educated people of Lhasa ,
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#17327727573611296-457: A few older nuns (who were here even prior to Cultural Revolution of 1959). Admission of nuns to the monastery was approved by the Lama of Sera Monastery, provided there was accommodation in the nunnery. However, the nuns were not officially registered in the nunnery as they had to retain their original ration cards issued in their villages. As the government did not provide any funds for the nunnery
1404-620: A few original works, including the Golden Garland ( Wylie : legs bshad gser phreng ), a commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra from the perspective of the Yogācāra-svātantrika-madhyamaka tradition of Śāntarakṣita which also attempts to refute the shentong views of Dolpopa (1292–1361). From 1390 to 1398, Tsongkhapa engaged in extended meditation retreats with a small group of attendants in various locations,
1512-415: A flat or rising-falling contour, the latter being a tone that rises to a medium level before falling again. It is normally safe to distinguish only between the two tones because there are very few minimal pairs that differ only because of contour. The difference occurs only in certain words ending in the sounds [m] or [ŋ]; for instance, the word kham ( Tibetan : ཁམ་ , "piece") is pronounced [kʰám] with
1620-419: A form of umlaut in the Ü/Dbus branch of Central Tibetan . In some unusual cases, the vowels /a/ , /u/ , and /o/ may also be nasalised. The Lhasa dialect is usually described as having two tones: high and low. However, in monosyllabic words, each tone can occur with two distinct contours. The high tone can be pronounced with either a flat or a falling contour, and the low tone can be pronounced with either
1728-470: A high flat tone, whereas the word Khams ( Tibetan : ཁམས་ , "the Kham region") is pronounced [kʰâm] with a high falling tone. In polysyllabic words, tone is not important except in the first syllable. This means that from the point of view of phonological typology , Tibetan could more accurately be described as a pitch-accent language than a true tone language , in the latter of which all syllables in
1836-516: A lengthening of the vowel is also frequently substituted for the sounds [r] and [l] when they occur at the end of a syllable. The vowels /i/ , /y/ , /e/ , /ø/ , and /ɛ/ each have nasalized forms: /ĩ/ , /ỹ/ , /ẽ/ , /ø̃/ , and /ɛ̃/ , respectively. These historically result from /in/ , /un/ , /en/ , /on/ , /an/ , and are reflected in the written language. The vowel quality of /un/ , /on/ and /an/ has shifted, since historical /n/ , along with all other coronal final consonants, caused
1944-545: A non-impaired functioning consciousness. To talk about an object that does not exist in relation to a subject is incoherent. According to Tsongkhapa, something is validly designated (i.e. it exists conventionally and dependently) if it meets all of the following three conditions: Whatever fails to meet those criteria does not exist at all (like a flat earth ), and relationships between objects cannot exist without being validly designated into existence. Thus, according to Tsongkhapa, when Candrakīrti states that “the world
2052-413: A passage from Chandrakirti's commentary to Aryadeva's Four Hundred which states: "Our analysis focuses only on those who search for the intrinsically real referent. What we are refuting here is that things [and events] are established by means of their own-being. We do not [however] negate [the existence of] eyes and so on, which are [causally] conditioned and are dependently originated in that they are
2160-414: A philosophical or intellectual matter, instead it is supposed to negate a deep internal habit that sentient beings have which experiences the world in a false and distorted way. This superimposition is a "pervasive sense that things are real and solid and exist just as they appear" which we have become habituated and addicted to for countless lifetimes. This addiction is what is to be refuted and abandoned. It
2268-776: A plural marker ཚོ <tsho> . Tibetan has been described as having six cases: absolutive , agentive , genitive , ablative , associative and oblique . These are generally marked by particles, which are attached to entire noun phrases, rather than individual nouns. These suffixes may vary in form based on the final sound of the root. Personal pronouns are inflected for number , showing singular, dual and plural forms. They can have between one and three registers . The Standard Tibetan language distinguishes three levels of demonstrative : proximal འདི <'di> "this", medial དེ <de> "that", and distal ཕ་གི <pha-gi> "that over there (yonder)". These can also take case suffixes. Verbs in Tibetan always come at
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#17327727573612376-537: A poem called In Praise of the Incomparable Tsong Khapa, calls Tsongkhapa "the reformer of Buddha’s doctrine", "the great charioteer of Madhyamaka philosophy in Tibet", "supreme among those who propound emptiness", and "one who had helped spread robe-wearing monastics across Tibet and from China to Kashmir". Wangchuk Dorje, 9th Karmapa Lama , praised Tsongkhapa as one "who swept away wrong views with
2484-403: A primordial substance (which has always existed, is self-created, and is self-sustaining etc.) like Brahman . As such, the ultimate truth of emptiness for Tsongkhapa is a negational truth, a non-affirming negation. This ultimate reality is the mere absence of intrinsic nature in all things. A non-affirming or non-implicative ( prasajya ) negation is a negation which does not leave something in
2592-425: A rope on the ground is not a snake (even if one has initially been fooled by it). For Tsongkhapa, it was not enough to just argue for the emptiness of all phenomena (the ultimate truth), madhyamaka also needed proper epistemic instruments or sources of knowledge (Tib. tshad ma , Skt. pramāṇa ) to defend Buddhist views about conventional truths (such as Buddhist ethics ) and to have a coherent sense of why something
2700-555: A special connector particle for the units above each multiple of ten. Between 100 and 199, the connective དང dang , literally "and", is used after the hundred portion. Above ས་ཡ saya million, the numbers are treated as nouns and thus have their multiples following the word. The numbers 1, 2, 3 and 10 change spelling when combined with other numerals, reflecting a change in pronunciation in combination. Tibetan numerals Tibetan numerals Tibetan numerals (1 Million) (1 Billion) Ordinal numbers are formed by adding
2808-474: A student of Mañjuśrī for numerous past lives. In a former life, he aspired to spread Vajrayāna and the perfect view of emptiness in front of the Buddha Indraketu. Tsongkhapa then received a prophecy from numerous Buddhas which said that he would become the tathāgata Siṁhasvara (Lion's Roar). Another story recounts that during Śākyamuni's life, Tsongkhapa, in the form of a Brahmin boy, offered the Buddha
2916-488: A suffix to the cardinal number, པ ( -pa ), with the exception of the ordinal number "first", which has its own lexeme, དང་པོ ( dang po ). Tibetan is written with an Indic script , with a historically conservative orthography that reflects Old Tibetan phonology and helps unify the Tibetan-language area. It is also helpful in reconstructing Proto Sino-Tibetan and Old Chinese . Wylie transliteration
3024-497: A word can carry their own tone. The Lhasa Tibetan verbal system distinguishes four tenses and three evidential moods. The three moods may all occur with all three grammatical persons, though early descriptions associated the personal modal category with European first-person agreement. In the 18th and 19th centuries several Western linguists arrived in Tibet: Indian indologist and linguist Rahul Sankrityayan wrote
3132-443: A wrapped text on the top of Tsongkhapa's head. After waking from this dream, Tsongkhapa began to study Buddhapālita's commentary to Nagarjuna's Middle Way Verses. As he was reading chapter 18, his understanding became crystal clear and all his doubts vanished. According to Thupten Jinpa, "at the heart of Tsongkhapa’s breakthrough experience was a profound realization of the equation of emptiness and dependent origination." He then spent
3240-452: Is not the idea of "intrinsic existence" as a philosophical concept (equivalent to a non-existent rabbit's horn and thus trivial). Another way of saying this is that for Tsongkhapa, the most subtle object of negation is the perception that phenomena have "their own way of existing without being posited through the force of consciousness". It is an ongoing mental process of imputing objectively independent reality and intrinsic existence to what
3348-402: Is "a radical view of emptiness " which sees all phenomena as devoid of intrinsic nature . This view of emptiness is not a kind of nihilism or a total denial of existence. Instead, it sees phenomena as existing " interdependently , relationally , non- essentially , conventionally " (which Tsongkhapa terms "mere existence"). Tsongkhapa emphasized the importance of philosophical reasoning in
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3456-421: Is "entirely false", "unreal", "a kind of nonexistence" and "truth only from the perspective of fools." But for Tsongkhapa, the two truths (conventional and ultimate) are two facts about the same reality, or "two aspects of one and the same world" according to Thupten Jinpa. Thus for Tsongkhapa, to totally negate conventional truth (at the level of ultimate truth) would be to negate dependent origination (and so, it
3564-517: Is a kind of truth , a way of being real. Tsongkhapa cites numerous passages from Nagarjuna which show that emptiness (the lack of intrinsic nature) and dependent origination (the fact that all dharmas arise based on causes and conditions) ultimately have the same intent and meaning and thus they are two ways of discussing one single reality. Tsongkhapa also cites various passages from Chandrakirti to show that even though phenomena do not arise intrinsically, they do arise conventionally. Chandrakirti
3672-483: Is absurd and is not found in the Buddhist scriptures . Tsongkhapa's prāsaṅgika madhyamaka affirms the "mere existence" of dependent phenomena on the conventional level. As such, Tsongkhapa argues that conventional truths are true because there is a sense in which they exist (Tib. yod pa ) in some real sense. For Tsongkhapa, this conventional existence means that phenomena (i.e. dharmas) only come into existence in
3780-407: Is also approachable from Trashi Chöling Hermitage from the south-east direction. As originally built, the hermitage ( ri khrod ) faces south. The layout of the hermitage has three components. The first part, on the extreme north, consists of a multitude of stupas (reliquaries) amidst painted rocks that depict craven images said to be ‘self-arisen’. The second part, which is the main hermitage complex,
3888-511: Is also said to have received a series of oral transmissions from Mañjuśrī. These later came to be called the Mañjuśrī cycle of teachings. In 1397, while in intensive meditation retreat at Wölkha Valley, Tsongkhapa writes that he had a “major insight” ( ngeshé chenpo ) into the view of emptiness. Initially, Tsongkhapa had a dream of the great madhyamaka masters: Nagarjuna, Buddhapalita , Aryadeva , and Candrakirti . In this dream, Buddhapālita placed
3996-891: Is an affirmation of conventional reality, of dependent origination, and of the identity of the two truths, suggesting a positive view of the nature of reality as well. In 1409, Tsongkhapa worked on a project to renovate the Jokhang Temple, the main temple in Lhasa . He also established a 15-day prayer festival, known as the Great Prayer Festival, at Jokhang to celebrate Sakyamuni Buddha . In 1409, Tsongkhapa also worked to found Ganden monastery , located 25 miles north of Lhasa . Two of his students, Tashi Palden (1379–1449) and Shakya Yeshey (1354–1435) respectively founded Drepung monastery (1416), and Sera Monastery (1419). Together with Ganden, these three would later become
4104-506: Is dependently arisen, and therefore void of inherent existence or intrinsic nature ( svabhava ), which is "the object of negation" or that which is to be disproved by madhyamaka reasoning. Tsongkhapa writes that "since objects do not exist through their own nature, they are established as existing through the force of convention." Furthermore, according to Tsongkhapa, emptiness is itself empty of inherent existence and thus only exists nominally and conventionally as dependent arising. There
4212-429: Is mainly based on that of Indian madhyamaka philosophers like Nagarjuna , Buddhapalita and Chandrakirti . Tsongkhapa also draws on the epistemological tradition of Dharmakirti in his explanation of conventional truth . According to Jay Garfield , Tsongkhapa's philosophy is based on the idea that "a complete understanding of Buddhist philosophy requires a synthesis of the epistemology and logic of Dharmakirti with
4320-437: Is not discredited by the ultimate truth of emptiness. Tsongkhapa thinks that if we only relied on the ultimate epistemological point of view, we would not be able to distinguish between virtue from non-virtue, or enlightenment from samsara (since ultimate analysis only tells us that they are equally empty). Instead, Tsongkhapa holds that the emptiness must complement, rather than undermine, conventional Buddhist truths. This
4428-411: Is not valid in any way”, he is referring to how ordinary worldly consciousnesses are not valid sources of knowledge with regard to ultimate reality. However, Tsongkhapa argues that Candrakīrti does accept pramāṇas conventionally, since he also states "the world knows objects with four valid cognitions." As such, while Tsongkhapa reads Candrakīrti as not accepting that conventional sources of knowledge know
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4536-650: Is perceived. Tsongkhapa's view that a dependent and conventional reality is not negated by madhyamaka (and that it is just intrinsic nature that is negated) was a subject of much debate among Tibetan madhyamaka philosophers and became a subject of critique for Sakya school figures like Gorampa Sonam Senge (1429-1489). Sakya philosophers like Gorampa and his supporters held that madhyamaka analysis rejects all conventional phenomena (which he calls "false appearances" and sees as conceptually produced) and so, tables and persons are no more real than dreams or Santa Claus . Thus, for Gorampa (contra Tsongkhapa), conventional truth
4644-414: Is quoted by Tsongkhapa as stating "even though all things are empty, from those empty things effects are definitely produced", "because things are not produced causelessly, or from causes such as a divine creator, or from themselves, or from both self and other, they are produced dependently", and "we contend that dependently produced things are, like reflections, not produced intrinsically." He also cites
4752-538: Is rarely spoken, as opposed to Lhasa and other Tibetan cities where Chinese can often be heard. In the Texas Journal of International Law , Barry Sautman stated that "none of the many recent studies of endangered languages deems Tibetan to be imperiled, and language maintenance among Tibetans contrasts with language loss even in the remote areas of Western states renowned for liberal policies... claims that primary schools in Tibet teach Mandarin are in error. Tibetan
4860-565: Is the most common system of romanization used by Western scholars in rendering written Tibetan using the Latin alphabet (such as employed on much of this page), while linguists tend to use other special transliteration systems of their own. As for transcriptions meant to approximate the pronunciation, Tibetan pinyin is the official romanization system employed by the government of the People's Republic of China , while English language materials use
4968-403: Is thus no "transcendental ground," and "ultimate reality" that has an existence of its own. Instead, emptiness is the negation of such a transcendental independent reality and an affirmation that all things exist interdependently (even emptiness itself). Emptiness is the ultimate truth (which applies to all possible phenomena, in all possible worlds), but it is not an ultimate phenomenon, thing or
5076-409: Is to negate emptiness, the ultimate truth itself). Tsongkhapa sees this as a kind of nihilism. Tsongkhapa held that a proper defense of madhyamaka required an understanding of pramāṇa ( epistemology ) on the conventional level and that furthermore, one could make epistemic distinctions about the conventional and know what is conventionally true and what is a falsehood. For example, one can know that
5184-405: Is to say, when one searches for the ultimate nature of any thing, "what the thing really is", nothing can be found under this "ultimate analysis" and thus nothing can withstand ultimate analysis. Unlike other Tibetan madhyamikas, Tsongkhapa argues that this does not mean things do not exist at all or that ultimate analysis undermines conventional existence. Thus for Tsongkhapa, the conventional really
5292-527: Is to the south of the stupas and has the monastery with the Dharma courtyard ( chosrwa ), and a secondary temple. The third part, to the south of the temple complex, has a plethora of apartments, which are all privately owned by the nuns themselves. The nunnery was originally a hermitage believed to have been founded by Trinlé Gyatso ( Phrin las rgya mtsho ) (d. 1667), who was the regent of Tibet from 1665 till his death. Trinlé Gyatso belonged to Nyangdren (in
5400-460: Is true or false. As Jay Garfield notes, for Tsongkhapa "without an antecedent account of these instruments and their authority, there is no way to distinguish conventional truth from conventional falsity." Furthermore, Thupten Jinpa writes that Tsongkhapa "does not agree with those who claim that the use of the tetralemma in Madhyamaka implies a denial of fundamental logical principles such as
5508-567: The Fifth Dalai Lama is located in a secondary temple, which is situated to the south of the Dharma enclosure. There is also a reception room close by in a courtyard. At one time there were 90 Gelukpa nuns residing here. The pilgrim route of circumambulation of the Pamwangka, Tashi Choling, Tokden Drubuk and Chubzang Nunnery took a day to cover during the summer season. While the above details are of recent structures, some details of
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#17327727573615616-544: The Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism as a synthesis of the earlier Kadampa school lineages. He was the teacher of the 1st Dalai Lama . 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 . Central to his philosophical and soteriological teachings
5724-526: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Tibetan, written in the Tibetan script : Tsong Khapa Samding Dorje Phagmo Tsongkhapa ( Tibetan : ཙོང་ཁ་པ་, [tsoŋˈkʰapa] , 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
5832-539: The [ɛ̈] phone (resulting from /e/ in a closed syllable) and the [ɛ] phone (resulting from /a/ through the i-mutation ) are distinct or basically identical. Phonemic vowel length exists in Lhasa Tibetan but in a restricted set of circumstances. Assimilation of Classical Tibetan's suffixes, normally ' i (འི་), at the end of a word produces a long vowel in Lhasa Tibetan; the feature is sometimes omitted in phonetic transcriptions. In normal spoken pronunciation,
5940-440: The absolutive , remaining unmarked. Nonetheless, distinction in transitivity is orthogonal to volition; both the volitional and non-volitional classes contain transitive as well as intransitive verbs. The aspect of the verb affects which verbal suffixes and which final auxiliary copulae are attached. Morphologically, verbs in the unaccomplished aspect are marked by the suffix གི <gi> or its other forms, identical to
6048-421: The genitive case for nouns, whereas accomplished aspect verbs do not use this suffix. Each can be broken down into two subcategories: under the unaccomplished aspect, future and progressive /general; under the accomplished aspect, perfect and aorist or simple perfective . Evidentiality is a well-known feature of Tibetan verb morphology, gaining much scholarly attention, and contributing substantially to
6156-406: The law of the excluded middle and the principle of contradiction ". In order to explain how conventional reality is perceived in a valid way, Tsongkhapa draw on Buddhist pramāṇa philosophy in order to develop his own Buddhist epistemological theory . From Tsongkhapa's perspective, in order for something to exist (conventionally, since nothing exists ultimately), it must be validly designated by
6264-603: The middle way view (Madhyamaka). In 1405, he finished his Great Exposition of Tantra ( Sngags rim chen mo ). Tsongkhapa also wrote other major works during this period, including Essence of Eloquence ( Legs bshad snying po ), Ocean of Reasoning ( Rigs pa'i rgya mtsho, a commentary on Nagarjuna's classic Mūlamadhyamakakārikā ), the Medium-Length Lamrim , and Elucidation of the Intent ( dGongs pa rab gsal ), his last major writing. According to Garfield:
6372-573: The 15th century. Tsongkhapa's three principal disciples were Khedrup Gelek Palsang , Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen , and Dülzin Drakpa Gyaltsen. According to Jinpa, other important students of Tsongkhapa were "Tokden Jampel Gyatso; Jamyang Chöjé and Jamchen Chöjé, the founders of Drepung and Sera monasteries, respectively; and the First Dalai Lama , Gendün Drup." After Tsongkhapa's death, his disciples worked to spread his teachings and
6480-540: The 1950s, the site became a religious retirement community for elderly Lhasans. These elders constructed small huts to spend the last years of their life in prayers and meditation according to Buddhist practice. However, during the Cultural Revolution the place became a general housing complex for people. It was only in the 1980s that Nuns began to renovate the site. They founded the modern nunnery (as seen at present), in 1984, which has since grown into one of
6588-582: The Gelug school grew rapidly across the Tibetan plateau , founding or converting numerous monasteries. The new Gelug tradition saw itself as a descendant of the Kadam school and emphasized monastic discipline and rigorous study of the Buddhist classics. According to Jinpa, by the end of the fifteenth century, the "new Ganden tradition had spread through the entire Tibetan cultural area , with monasteries upholding
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#17327727573616696-730: The Sakya masters Rendawa and Rinchen Dorje, the Kagyu master Chenga Rinpoche and the Jonang masters Bodong Chakleh Namgyal, Khyungpo Hlehpa and Chokyi Pelpa. Tsongkhapa also received the three main Kadampa lineages. He received the Lam-Rim lineage, the oral guideline lineage from the Nyingma Lama, Lhodrag Namka-gyeltsen, and lineage of textual transmission from Lama Umapa. Rendawa Zhönnu Lodrö
6804-461: The THL transcription system. Certain names may also retain irregular transcriptions, such as Chomolungma for Mount Everest . Tibetan orthographic syllable structure is (C 1 C 2 )C 3 (C 4 )V(C 5 C 6 ) Not all combinations are licit. The following summarizes the sound system of the dialect of Tibetan spoken in Lhasa , the most influential variety of the spoken language. The structure of
6912-466: The aftermath of an absolute rejection of intrinsic existence". Tsongkhapa follows Nagarjuna and Candrakirti in asserting that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence or essence ( svabhava ) because they are dependently originated. For Tsongkhapa, all phenomena lack inherent existence and come into existence relative to a designating consciousness which co-arises with that phenomenon. Tsongkhapa saw emptiness ( shūnyatā ) of intrinsic nature as
7020-500: The bodhisattva and ask questions about the right view of emptiness and Buddhist practice. An important instruction Tsongkhapa is said to have received about the view from Mañjuśrī is: "It is inappropriate to be partial either to emptiness or to appearance. In particular, you need to take the appearance aspect seriously." Tsongkhapa would also discuss these visions and instructions with his teacher Rendawa (and some record of this correspondence has survived). During this period, Tsongkhapa
7128-867: The capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region . It is an official language of the Tibet Autonomous Region. In the traditional "three-branched" classification of the Tibetic languages , the Lhasa dialect belongs to the Central Tibetan branch (the other two being Khams Tibetan and Amdo Tibetan ). In terms of mutual intelligibility , speakers of Khams Tibetan are able to communicate at a basic level with Lhasa Tibetan, while Amdo speakers cannot. Both Lhasa Tibetan and Khams Tibetan evolved to become tonal and do not preserve
7236-494: The chapel known as the Chimed Lhakhang, images seen were of Nine Deities related to Amitāyus ( Tshe dpag med lha dgu ). A Tārā Chapel ( Sgrol ma lha khang ) is also mentioned. Chupzang nunnery or Ani Gompa (Tibetan terminology used for Nunnery) was rebuilt as part of the rebuilding activity undertaken, after 1980, without interference from the Chinese. The monastery was rebuilt some time between 1985 and 1986, after it
7344-506: The correct and perfect ones". Tsongkhapa's works and teachings became central for the Ganden or Gelug school, where he is seen as a major authoritative figure. Their interpretation and exegesis became a major focus of Gelug scholasticism. They were also very influential on later Tibetan philosophers, who would either defend or criticize Tsongkhapa's views on numerous points. Tsongkhapa's madhyamaka thought has become widely influential in
7452-605: The eighteenth century, who built a four-pillar temple with rear chapel and porticos at the site. It was later under the possession of Byang chub chos ’phel, the sixty-ninth throne holder of Ganden ( Ganden Tripa ). Subsequently, Khri byang sku phreng gsum pa blo bzang yeshes, who was a junior tutor to the living 14th Dalai Lama became in charge of the hermitage. In 1921, Pha bong kha bde chen snying po (1878–1941) stayed at Chubzang and published his teachings in his most famous work, Liberation in Our Hands ( Rnam grol lagbcangs ). In
7560-503: The end of the clause . Verbs do not show agreement in person , number or gender in Tibetan. There is also no voice distinction between active and passive ; Tibetan verbs are neutral with regard to voice. Tibetan verbs can be divided into classes based on volition and valency . The volition of the verb has a major effect on its morphology and syntax . Volitional verbs have imperative forms, whilst non-volitional verbs do not: compare ལྟོས་ཤིག <ltos shig> "Look!" with
7668-572: The foothills above his native Nyangbran and invited the Fifth Dalai Lama to perform a “site investigation” ( sa brtag ) to determine the most auspicious location on which to build the monastery. The Dalai Lama made the treasure ( gter ) discovery of the self-arisen stone image of the Buddha that is still located in Chupzang’s lower temple, and he also gave the name to the hermitage. However,
7776-483: The four tone analysis is favored by linguists in China, DeLancey (2003) suggests that the falling tone and the final [k] or [ʔ] are in contrastive distribution , describing Lhasa Tibetan syllables as either high or low. The vowels of Lhasa Tibetan have been characterized and described in several different ways, and it continues to be a topic of ongoing research. Tournadre and Sangda Dorje describe eight vowels in
7884-560: The fruits of karma." In this way, Tsongkhapa argues that the madhyamaka idea that dharmas do not arise or are not found is to be qualified as meaning that they do not arise intrinsically or essentially. He also cites the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra where the Buddha says, "Mahamati, thinking that they are not produced intrinsically, I said that all phenomena are not produced". Because of this, Tsongkhapa holds that while conventional phenomena cannot withstand ultimate analysis (which searches for
7992-529: The great patriarch of Drikung Kagyu , and received teachings on numerous topics like Mahamudra and the Six Dharmas of Naropa . Tsongkhapa also studied Tibetan medicine , followed by all major Buddhist scholastic subjects including abhidharma , ethics, epistemology (Sk. pramāṇa ), Vajrayana and various lineages of Buddhist tantra . Tsongkhapa studied widely under numerous teachers from various Tibetan Buddhist traditions. His main teachers include:
8100-441: The idols of Tsong Khapa are deified, flanked by his two favourite disciples. Further to the north east of the hall is a protector deity chapel ( mgon khang ) where images of Gnas Chung, Lha Mo, six-armed Mahakala ( Mgon po phyag drug ), Dharmarāja ( Dam chen chos rgyal ), Rdo rje g.yu sgron ma and two tutelary deities ( yi dam ) of the nunnery - Vajrabhairava ( Rdo rje ’jigs byed ) and Vajrayogini ( Rdo rje rnal ’byor ma ),
8208-482: The initial hermitage fell into ruin and the official founding of a new hermitage is credited to Phrin las rgya mtsho's nephew, Sde srid sangs rgyas rgya mtsho, in around 1696. The ruins of the original hermitage are still seen at the site. Chubzang was one of the five hermitages that belonged to Sera Me college; the other four were Pabonka , Jogbo , Tashi Choiling and Pinglung. The hermitage belonged to Chupzang Yeshé Gyatso (Chu bzang ye shes rgya mtsho) (1789–1856) in
8316-447: The intrinsic nature of things (since there are none), he also argues that Candrakīrti affirms that pramāṇas can give us knowledge about conventional reality (even while our sense faculties are also deceptive, in that they also superimpose intrinsic nature). For Tsongkhapa, there are two valid ways of understanding the world, two levels of explanation: one way which understands conventional phenomena (which are real but also deceptive, like
8424-621: The largest nunneries in the Lhasa Valley. However, somewhat unusually, the houses are owned individually by the nuns, but the nunnery has an administrative body and a site for communal gathering. The nunnery consists of two wings. The upper wing is the main temple wing with an attached enclosure for lighting butter lamps. The second part is the Dukhang or the Assembly Hall. The main temple wing has an assembly hall where two sets of
8532-421: The major philosophical texts composed in the remaining twenty years of his life develop with great precision and sophistication the view he developed during this long retreat period and reflect his realization that while Madhyamaka philosophy involves a relentlessly negative dialectic — a sustained critique both of reification and of nihilism and a rejection of all concepts of essence—the other side of that dialectic
8640-428: The mark" of madhyamaka. According to Jinpa, the correct object of negation for Tsongkhapa is "our innate apprehension of self-existence" which refers to how even our normal ways of perceiving the world "are effected by a belief in some kind of intrinsic existence of things and events". Jinpa also writes that the second major aspect of Tsongkhapa's philosophical project "entails developing a systematic theory of reality in
8748-403: The metaphysics of Nagarjuna." According to Thomas Doctor, Tsongkhapa's madhyamaka views were also influenced by the 12th-century Kadam school madhyamaka Mabja Changchub Tsöndrü (d. 1185). Tsongkhapa is also known for his emphasis on the importance of philosophical reasoning on the path to liberation. According to Tsongkhapa, meditation must be paired with rigorous reasoning in order "to push
8856-469: The mind and precipitate a breakthrough in cognitive fluency and insight." According to Thupten Jinpa , Tsongkhapa's thought was concerned with three main misinterpretations of madhyamaka philosophy in Tibet: According to Thupten Jinpa , one of Tsongkhapa's main concerns was "to delineate the parameters of Madhyamaka reasoning in such a way that Madhyamaka dialectics cannot be seen to negate
8964-641: The most influential Gelug monasteries in Tibet and also the largest monasteries in the world. These institutions became the center of a new growing school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Ganden or Gelug sect. In 1419, Tsongkhapa died at the age of 62 in Ganden Monastery . At the time of his death, he was a well-known figure in Tibet with a large following. Jinpa notes that various sources from other Tibetan Buddhist schools, like Pawo Tsuklak Trengwa and Shākya Chokden , both write about how large numbers of Tibetans flocked to Tsongkhapa's new Gelug tradition during
9072-608: The most well known of which is in the Wölkha Valley. He also developed a close relationship with a mystic and hermit named Umapa Pawo Dorje, known for his connection to Mañjuśrī bodhisattva and his frequent visions of black Mañjuśrī, with whom he would communicate. Umapa acted as a medium for Tsongkhapa, who eventually began having his own visions of Mañjuśrī. During this period of extensive meditation retreat, Tsongkhapa had numerous visions of guru Mañjuśrī ( Jamyang Lama ). During these visions he would receive teachings from
9180-696: The next spring and summer in deep meditation, experiencing great bliss, devotion, and gratitude to the Buddha. In the later period of Tsongkhapa's life, he composed a series of works on Buddhist philosophy and practice. His most famous work is the Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path ( Lam rim chen mo, c. 1402). This lamrim ('stages of the path') text outlines the Mahayana path to enlightenment and also presents Tsongkhapa's view of emptiness and
9288-400: The non-existent * མཐོང་ཤིག <mthong shig> "*See!". Additionally, only volitional verbs can take the egophoric copula ཡིན <yin> . Verbs in Tibetan can be split into monovalent and divalent verbs; some may also act as both, such as ཆག <chag> "break". This interacts with the volition of the verb to condition which nouns take the ergative case and which must take
9396-405: The objects of everyday experience and, more importantly, ethics and religious activity" or as Tsongkhapa put it, one must "correctly identify the object of negation" (which is svabhava ). Tsongkhapa held that if one did not properly understand what is to be negated in madhyamaka, one was at risk of either negating too much (nihilism) or negating too little (essentialism), and thus one would "miss
9504-621: The option of studying humanistic disciplines in Tibetan at a number of minority colleges in China. This contrasts with Tibetan schools in Dharamsala , India, where the Ministry of Human Resource Development curriculum requires academic subjects to be taught in English from middle school. In February 2008, Norman Baker , a UK MP, released a statement to mark International Mother Language Day claiming, "The Chinese government are following
9612-458: The path to liberation. According to Tsongkhapa, meditation must be paired with rigorous reasoning in order "to push the mind and precipitate a breakthrough in cognitive fluency and insight." With a Mongolian father and a Tibetan mother, Tsongkhapa was born into a nomadic family in the walled city of Tsongkha in Amdo , Tibet (present-day Haidong and Xining , Qinghai ) in 1357. Tsongkhapa
9720-467: The place of what has been negated. For instance, when one says that a Buddhist should not drink alcohol, they are not affirming that a Buddhist should, in fact, drink something else. According to Tsongkhapa, in negating inherent nature, a madhyamika is not affirming any thing or quality in its place (such as some ultimate void, absolute , or ground of being ). In his works, Tsongkhapa takes pains to refute an alternative interpretation of emptiness which
9828-399: The regent until his nephew gained more experience and attained maturity before becoming the regent. Then, Trinlé Gyatso, in the later part of his life, requested the Fifth Dalai Lama's permission to build a hermitage for eight monks initially (it is said that it was later increased to a core group of 16 ordained monks - 8 from each of the two colleges of Sera Je and Sera Me of Sera Monastery) in
9936-538: The relative conventions of simple everyday people, but that these conventions do not exist for advanced meditators or madhyamika philosophers. Tsongkhapa rejects this as "a great philosophical error" and affirms the pragmatic importance of conventional truths. For Tsongkhapa, the rejection of the dependent reality of the conventional undermines the very possibility of truth and falsehood, and of any epistemic authority and thus, it undermines all Buddhist teachings regarding bondage and liberation as well as undermining itself as
10044-518: The same sound as the one following it. The result is that the first is pronounced as an open syllable but retains the vowel typical of a closed syllable. For instance, ཞབས zhabs (foot) is pronounced [ɕʌp] and པད pad (borrowing from Sanskrit padma , lotus ) is pronounced [pɛʔ] , but the compound word, ཞབས་པད zhabs pad (lotus-foot, government minister) is pronounced [ɕʌpɛʔ] . This process can result in minimal pairs involving sounds that are otherwise allophones. Sources vary on whether
10152-455: The standard language: Three additional vowels are sometimes described as significantly distinct: [ʌ] or [ə] , which is normally an allophone of /a/ ; [ɔ] , which is normally an allophone of /o/ ; and [ɛ̈] (an unrounded, centralised, mid front vowel), which is normally an allophone of /e/ . These sounds normally occur in closed syllables; because Tibetan does not allow geminated consonants , there are cases in which one syllable ends with
10260-531: The suburb of Lhasa to the west of Sera). Trinlé Gyatso was a student of the Fifth Dalai Lama . He was also the uncle of Desi Sanggyé Gyatso (1653–1705), who was also a student of the Fifth Dalai Lama’s and who also became the regent of Tibet. It is also mentioned that the Fifth Dalai Lama wanted initially to favour Sanggyé Gyatso by appointing him as regent of Tibet. However, good counsel prevailed, and to avoid any public protests he appointed Trinlé Gyatso as
10368-471: The supreme deity of the Tantric pantheon - are worshipped. The Dharma enclosure ( chosrwa ) to the west of the temple is an area where nuns sit in the open and recite Buddhist scriptures and memorize them. A small chapel inside the courtyard has an image of the protector deity Rdo rje g.yu sgron ma . The stone image ( rdo sku ) of the Buddha said to have been “discovered as treasure” ( gter nas ston pa ) by
10476-506: The sustainability of nuns residing here was through family support and donations. The nunnery now does not have a democratically elected management committee but a local political leader of 'xiang' is responsible for the monastery and he is said to visit the nunnery very rarely – once or twice a year. Nuns from this monastery were involved in staging protests against the government during the period of protest from several monasteries from 1988–89 in Tibet. Nuns were arrested and released from jail
10584-511: The temple and the images that existed in the past are also given in a catalogue titled the "Monasteries of Lhasa: A Heap of Jewels"; hereafter Lha sa’i dgon tho ( Bod ljongs mi dmangs dpe skrun khang , 2001)". The details mentioned relate to the main temple images found at the end of 17th century namely, the Buddha, the Medicine Buddha ( Sman bla ), Avalokiteśvara and the Fifth Dalai Lama ( Da lai bla ma sku phreng lnga pa , 1617–1682). In
10692-520: The tradition located in western Tibet , in Tsang , in central and southern Tibet, and in Kham and Amdo in the east." After his death, Tsongkhapa's works were also published in woodblock prints, making them much more accessible. Several biographies and hagiographies of Tsongkhapa were also written by Lamas of different traditions. Tsongkhapa was also held in high regard by key figures of other Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Mikyö Dorje, 8th Karmapa , in
10800-429: The true or ultimate nature of anything and is unable to find anything intrinsically), this does not mean that conventional phenomena are invalidated, undermined or negated by this ultimate analysis, since they still exist as dependent arisings. Indeed, for Tsongkhapa, it is because things are ultimately empty that they can be said to arise and exist at all. Some Tibetan madhyamikas hold that conventional truths are merely
10908-554: The understanding of evidentiality across languages. The evidentials in Standard Tibetan interact with aspect in a system marked by final copulae, with the following resultant modalities being a feature of Standard Tibetan, as classified by Nicolas Tournadre : Unlike many other languages of East Asia such as Burmese , Chinese , Japanese , Korean and Vietnamese , there are no numeral auxiliaries or measure words used in counting in Tibetan. However, words expressive of
11016-580: The western scholarly understanding of madhyamaka, with the majority of books and articles (beginning in the 1980s) initially being based on Gelug explanations. After his death, Tsongkhapa came to be seen as a second Buddha in the Gelug tradition. Numerous hagiographies were written by Gelug figures such as Khedrup Je and Tokden Jampel Gyatso. These texts developed the great myths of Tsongkhapa, included stories of his previous births. Over time, an extensive collection of myths and stories about Tsongkhapa accumulated. According to these myths, Tsongkhapa had been
11124-573: The word-initial consonant clusters , which makes them very far from Classical Tibetan , especially when compared to the more conservative Amdo Tibetan. Like many languages, Lhasa Tibetan has a variety of language registers : Tibetan is an ergative language , with what can loosely be termed subject–object–verb (SOV) word order . Grammatical constituents broadly have head-final word order: Tibetan nouns do not possess grammatical gender , although this may be marked lexically, nor do they inflect for number . However, definite human nouns may take
11232-718: Was Tsongkhapa's most important teacher. Under Rendawa, Tsongkhapa studied various classic works, including the Pramanavarttika , the Abhidharmakosha , the Abhidharmasamuccaya and the Madhyamakavatara . Tsongkhapa also studied with a Nyingma teacher, Drupchen Lekyi Dorje ( Wylie : grub chen las kyi rdo je ), also known as Namkha Gyaltsen ( Wylie : nam mkha' rgyal mtshan , 1326–1401). During his early years, Tsongkhapa also composed
11340-524: Was destroyed during the cultural revolution. Chupzang is under the authority of the senior monk of the Sera Monastery. Eight Sera monks are said to visit the monastery to perform religious rites and to teach the nuns residing here. The nuns are all young (in teens and twenties) from nearby villages who stated their background as “Middle Peasants” conforming to the Chinese communist system. In 1988, there were reports of eighty nuns residing here including
11448-804: Was educated in Buddhism from an early age by his first teacher, the Kadam monk Choje Dondrub Rinchen. Tsongkhapa became a novice monk at the age of six. When he was sixteen, Tsongkhapa traveled to Central Tibet (Ü-Tsang) , where he studied at the scholastic institutions of the Sangphu monastery, the Drikung Kagyu and the Sakya tradition of Sakya paṇḍita (1182–1251). At the Drikung Thil Monastery he studied under Chenga Chokyi Gyalpo,
11556-421: Was promoted by the Tibetan philosopher Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292–1361). This view (called shentong , "empty of other") held that ultimate reality is not a non-affirming negation, and that it is only empty of conventional things and is not empty of itself. This view thus holds that ultimate reality has a kind of true existence as the ultimate and absolute ground of reality. According to Tsongkhapa, this view
11664-443: Was the main language of instruction in 98% of TAR primary schools in 1996; today, Mandarin is introduced in early grades only in urban schools.... Because less than four out of ten TAR Tibetans reach secondary school, primary school matters most for their cultural formation." An incomplete list of machine translation software or applications that can translate Tibetan language from/to a variety of other languages. From Article 1 of
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