Samding Dorje Phagmo
93-537: 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 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
186-614: 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 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
279-532: 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
372-435: A period between a prefix g and initial y . E.g. གྱང "wall" is gyang , while གཡང་ "chasm" is g.yang . The four vowel marks (here applied to the base letter ཨ ) are transliterated: When a syllable has no explicit vowel marking, the letter a is used to represent the default vowel "a" (e.g. ཨ་ = a). Many previous systems of Tibetan transliteration included internal capitalisation schemes—essentially, capitalising
465-401: 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
558-474: 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
651-473: 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
744-465: 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
837-618: 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,
930-520: 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 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
1023-413: 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
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#17327799425181116-414: 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
1209-535: 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
1302-400: 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
1395-424: 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
1488-458: A space. Spaces are not used to divide words. The Tibetan alphabet has thirty basic letters, sometimes known as "radicals", for consonants. As in other Indic scripts , each consonant letter assumes an inherent vowel ; in the Tibetan script it is /a/. The letter ཨ is also the base for dependent vowel marks. Although some Tibetan dialects are tonal , the language had no tone at the time of
1581-474: 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
1674-435: 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
1767-500: A syllable may be represented through the use of prefixed or suffixed letters or by letters superscripted or subscripted to the root letter (forming a "stack"). The Wylie system does not normally distinguish these as in practice no ambiguity is possible under the rules of Tibetan spelling. The exception is the sequence gy- , which may be written either with a prefix g or a subfix y . In the Wylie system, these are distinguished by inserting
1860-452: 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 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
1953-441: 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
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#17327799425182046-496: A written tradition. Amdo Tibetan was one of a few examples where Buddhist practitioners initiated a spelling reform. A spelling reform of the Ladakhi language was controversial in part because it was first initiated by Christian missionaries. In the Tibetan script, the syllables are written from left to right. Syllables are separated by a tsek (་); since many Tibetan words are monosyllabic, this mark often functions almost as
2139-450: 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
2232-419: 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
2325-605: Is a different interpretation of Candrakīrti's epistemic theory than that adopted by Tibetan figures like Gorampa and Taktsang Lotsawa, who argue that Candrakīrti's prāsaṅgika mādhyamika rejects all epistemic sources of knowledge since all conventional cognitions are flawed. Tibetan script The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system, or abugida , derived from Brahmic scripts and Gupta script , and used to write certain Tibetic languages , including Tibetan , Dzongkha , Sikkimese , Ladakhi , Jirel and Balti . It
2418-514: 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
2511-579: Is a method for transliterating Tibetan script using only the letters available on a typical English-language typewriter . The system is named for the American scholar Turrell V. Wylie , who created the system and published it in a 1959 Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies article. It has subsequently become a standard transliteration scheme in Tibetan studies, especially in the United States. Any Tibetan language romanization scheme faces
2604-410: Is above most other consonants, thus རྐ rka. However, an exception to this is the cluster རྙ /ɲa/. Similarly, the consonants ར /ra/, and ཡ /ja/ change form when they are beneath other consonants, thus ཀྲ /ʈ ~ ʈʂa/; ཀྱ /ca/. Besides being written as subscripts and superscripts, some consonants can also be placed in prescript, postscript, or post-postscript positions. For instance,
2697-426: 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
2790-509: 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
2883-887: 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
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2976-487: Is capitalised Bka' brgyud and not bKa' brgyud . Wylie's original scheme is not capable of transliterating all Tibetan-script texts. In particular, it has no correspondences for most Tibetan punctuation symbols, and lacks the ability to represent non-Tibetan words written in Tibetan script (Sanskrit and phonetic Chinese are the most common cases). Accordingly, various scholars have adopted ad hoc and incomplete conventions as needed. The Tibetan and Himalayan Library at
3069-501: 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
3162-666: Is designed as a simple means for inputting Dzongkha text on computers. This keyboard layout was standardized by the Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC) and the Department of Information Technology (DIT) of the Royal Government of Bhutan in 2000. It was updated in 2009 to accommodate additional characters added to the Unicode & ISO 10646 standards since the initial version. Since
3255-429: 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
3348-435: 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
3441-410: 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
3534-647: 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
3627-413: 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
3720-528: Is simply read as it usually is and has no effect on the pronunciation of the consonant to which it is subjoined, for example ཀ་ཝ་ཟུར་ཀྭ (IPA: /ka.wa.suː.ka/). The vowels used in the alphabet are ཨ /a/, ཨི /i/, ཨུ /u/, ཨེ /e/, and ཨོ /o/. While the vowel /a/ is included in each consonant, the other vowels are indicated by marks; thus ཀ /ka/, ཀི /ki/, ཀུ /ku/, ཀེ /ke/, ཀོ /ko/. The vowels ཨི /i/, ཨེ /e/, and ཨོ /o/ are placed above consonants as diacritics, while
3813-560: Is solely for the consonants ད /tʰa/ and ས /sa/. The head ( མགོ in Tibetan, Wylie: mgo ) letter, or superscript, position above a radical is reserved for the consonants ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ས /sa/. The subscript position under a radical can only be occupied by the consonants ཡ /ja/, ར /ra/, ལ /la/, and ཝ /wa/. In this position they are described as བཏགས (Wylie: btags , IPA: /taʔ/), in Tibetan meaning "hung on/affixed/appended", for example བ་ཡ་བཏགས་བྱ (IPA: /pʰa.ja.taʔ.t͡ʃʰa/), except for ཝ , which
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3906-401: 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
3999-407: 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
4092-405: 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
4185-468: 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 the law of
4278-578: Is used across the Himalayas and Tibet . The script is closely linked to a broad ethnic Tibetan identity, spanning across areas in India , Nepal , Bhutan and Tibet. The Tibetan script is of Brahmic origin from the Gupta script and is ancestral to scripts such as Lepcha , Marchen and the multilingual ʼPhags-pa script , and is also closely related to Meitei . According to Tibetan historiography,
4371-898: The Latin script . Multiple Romanization and transliteration systems have been created in recent years, but do not fully represent the true phonetic sound. While the Wylie transliteration system is widely used to Romanize Standard Tibetan , others include the Library of Congress system and the IPA-based transliteration (Jacques 2012). Below is a table with Tibetan letters and different Romanization and transliteration system for each letter, listed below systems are: Wylie transliteration (W), Tibetan pinyin (TP), Dzongkha phonetic (DP), ALA-LC Romanization (A) and THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription (THL). The first version of Microsoft Windows to support
4464-546: The University of Virginia developed a standard, EWTS —the Extended Wylie Transliteration Scheme—that addresses these deficiencies systematically. It uses capital letters and Latin punctuation to represent the missing characters. Several software systems, including Tise , now use this standard to allow one to type unrestricted Tibetan script (including the full Unicode Tibetan character set) on
4557-601: 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:
4650-570: 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
4743-518: The 9th-century spoken Tibetan, and current pronunciation. This divergence is the basis of an argument in favour of spelling reform , to write Tibetan as it is pronounced ; for example, writing Kagyu instead of Bka'-rgyud . The nomadic Amdo Tibetan and the western dialects of the Ladakhi language , as well as the Balti language , come very close to the Old Tibetan spellings. Despite that,
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#17327799425184836-634: 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
4929-482: The King which were afterward translated. In the first half of the 7th century, the Tibetan script was used for the codification of these sacred Buddhist texts, for written civil laws, and for a Tibetan Constitution. A contemporary academic suggests that the script was instead developed in the second half of the 11th century. New research and writings also suggest that there were one or more Tibetan scripts in use prior to
5022-728: 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
5115-732: The Tibetan keyboard layout is MS Windows Vista . The layout has been available in Linux since September 2007. In Ubuntu 12.04, one can install Tibetan language support through Dash / Language Support / Install/Remove Languages, the input method can be turned on from Dash / Keyboard Layout, adding Tibetan keyboard layout. The layout applies the similar layout as in Microsoft Windows. Mac OS -X introduced Tibetan Unicode support with OS-X version 10.5 and later, now with three different keyboard layouts available: Tibetan-Wylie, Tibetan QWERTY and Tibetan-Otani. The Dzongkha keyboard layout scheme
5208-490: The Tibetan script was developed during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo by his minister Thonmi Sambhota , who was sent to India with 16 other students to study Buddhism along with Sanskrit and written languages. They developed the Tibetan script from the Gupta script while at the Pabonka Hermitage . This occurred c. 620 , towards the beginning of the king's reign. There were 21 Sutra texts held by
5301-462: 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
5394-509: The arrangement of keys essentially follows the usual order of the Dzongkha and Tibetan alphabet, the layout can be quickly learned by anyone familiar with this alphabet. Subjoined (combining) consonants are entered using the Shift key. The Dzongkha (dz) keyboard layout is included in Microsoft Windows, Android, and most distributions of Linux as part of XFree86 . Tibetan was originally one of
5487-407: The basic Tibetan alphabet to represent different sounds. In addition to the use of supplementary graphemes, the rules for constructing consonant clusters are amended, allowing any character to occupy the superscript or subscript position, negating the need for the prescript and postscript positions. Romanization and transliteration of the Tibetan script is the representation of the Tibetan script in
5580-412: The beginning of a sentence). On the grounds that internal capitalisation was overly cumbersome, of limited usefulness in determining pronunciation, and probably superfluous to a reader able to use a Tibetan dictionary, Wylie specified that if a word was to be capitalised, the first letter should be capital, in conformity with Western capitalisation practices. Thus a particular Tibetan Buddhist sect ( Kagyu )
5673-499: 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
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#17327799425185766-418: The consonants ག /kʰa/, ད /tʰa/, བ /pʰa/, མ /ma/ and འ /a/ can be used in the prescript position to the left of other radicals, while the position after a radical (the postscript position), can be held by the ten consonants ག /kʰa/, ན /na/, བ /pʰa/, ད /tʰa/, མ /ma/, འ /a/, ར /ra/, ང /ŋa/, ས /sa/, and ལ /la/. The third position, the post-postscript position
5859-502: 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
5952-409: The difference with the result that they achieved neither goal perfectly. Wylie transliteration was designed to precisely transcribe Tibetan script as written , which led to its acceptance in academic and historical studies. It is not intended to represent the pronunciation of Tibetan words. The Wylie scheme transliterates the Tibetan characters as follows: In Tibetan script, consonant clusters within
6045-463: The dilemma of whether it should seek to accurately reproduce the sounds of spoken Tibetan or the spelling of written Tibetan. These differ widely, as Tibetan orthography became fixed in the 11th century, while pronunciation continued to evolve , comparable to the English orthography and French orthography , which reflect late medieval pronunciation. Previous transcription schemes sought to split
6138-493: 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 a non-impaired functioning consciousness. To talk about an object that does not exist in relation to
6231-558: 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
6324-592: The grammar of these dialectical varieties has considerably changed. To write the modern varieties according to the orthography and grammar of Classical Tibetan would be similar to writing Italian according to Latin orthography, or to writing Hindi according to Sanskrit orthogrophy. However, modern Buddhist practitioners in the Indian subcontinent state that the classical orthography should not be altered even when used for lay purposes. This became an obstacle for many modern Tibetic languages wishing to modernize or to introduce
6417-446: 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
6510-452: The introduction of the script by Songtsen Gampo and Thonmi Sambhota . The incomplete Dunhuang manuscripts are their key evidence for their hypothesis, while the few discovered and recorded Old Tibetan Annals manuscripts date from 650 and therefore post-date the c. 620 date of development of the original Tibetan script. Three orthographic standardisations were developed. The most important, an official orthography aimed to facilitate
6603-421: 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
6696-426: 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
6789-401: 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
6882-467: 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
6975-639: 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
7068-605: 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
7161-694: 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
7254-403: 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
7347-463: 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
7440-404: The radical ཀ /ka/ and see what happens when it becomes ཀྲ /kra/ or རྐ /rka/ (pronounced /ka/). In both cases, the symbol for ཀ /ka/ is used, but when the ར /ra/ is in the middle of the consonant and vowel, it is added as a subscript. On the other hand, when the ར /ra/ comes before the consonant and vowel, it is added as a superscript. ར /ra/ actually changes form when it
7533-536: 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
7626-412: The root letter rather than the first letter of a word, when the first letter is a prefix consonant. Tibetan dictionaries are organized by root letter, and prefixes are often silent, so knowing the root letter gives a better idea of pronunciation. However, these schemes were often applied inconsistently, and usually only when the word would normally be capitalised according to the norms of Latin text (i.e. at
7719-969: 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, 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:
7812-453: The script's invention, and there are no dedicated symbols for tone. However, since tones developed from segmental features, they can usually be correctly predicted by the archaic spelling of Tibetan words. One aspect of the Tibetan script is that the consonants can be written either as radicals or they can be written in other forms, such as subscript and superscript forming consonant clusters . To understand how this works, one can look at
7905-768: The scripts in the first version of the Unicode Standard in 1991, in the Unicode block U+1000–U+104F. However, in 1993, in version 1.1, it was removed (the code points it took up would later be used for the Burmese script in version 3.0). The Tibetan script was re-added in July, 1996 with the release of version 2.0. The Unicode block for Tibetan is U+0F00–U+0FFF. It includes letters, digits and various punctuation marks and special symbols used in religious texts: Wylie transliteration Wylie transliteration
7998-567: 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
8091-467: The translation of Buddhist scriptures emerged during the early 9th century. Standard orthography has not been altered since then, while the spoken language has changed by, for example, losing complex consonant clusters . As a result, in all modern Tibetan dialects and in particular in the Standard Tibetan of Lhasa , there is a great divergence between current spelling, which still reflects
8184-428: 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
8277-512: The vowel ཨུ /u/ is placed underneath consonants. Old Tibetan included a reversed form of the mark for /i/, the gigu 'verso', of uncertain meaning. There is no distinction between long and short vowels in written Tibetan, except in loanwords , especially transcribed from the Sanskrit . The Tibetan alphabet, when used to write other languages such as Balti , Chinese and Sanskrit , often has additional and/or modified graphemes taken from
8370-577: 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
8463-714: 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
8556-414: Was originally developed c. 620 by Tibetan minister Thonmi Sambhota for King Songtsen Gampo . The Tibetan script has also been used for some non-Tibetic languages in close cultural contact with Tibet, such as Thakali , Nepali and Old Turkic . The printed form is called uchen script while the hand-written cursive form used in everyday writing is called umê script . This writing system
8649-420: 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
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