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Lochen Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055; ), also known as Mahaguru, was a principal lotsawa or translator of Sanskrit Buddhist texts into Tibetan during the second diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet, variously called the New Translation School, New Mantra School or New Tantra Tradition School. He was a student of the famous Indian master, Atisha. His associates included (Locheng) Legpai Sherab. Zangpo's disciple Guge Kyithangpa Yeshepal wrote Zangpo's biography.Roberto Vitali, in McKay 2003, pp. 71-72 He is said to have built over one hundred monasteries in Western Tibet, including the famous Tabo Monastery in Spiti,

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peak ...

, Poo in Kinnaur and Rinchenling monastery in

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

. Rinchen Zangpo had been sent as a young man by King Yeshe-Ö, the ruler of

Zanskar Zanskar, Zahar (locally) or Zangskar, is a tehsil of Kargil district, in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The administrative centre is Padum (former Capital of Zanskar). Zanskar, together with the neighboring region of Ladakh, was brie ...

Guge Guge (; ) was an ancient dynastic kingdom in Western Tibet. The kingdom was centered in present-day Zanda County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region. At various points in history after the 10th century AD, the kingdom held sway over a ...

, Spiti and Kinnaur, with other young scholars to Kashmir and other Buddhist centres to study and bring back Buddhist teachings to Western Tibet. He was possibly the single most important person for the 'Second Propagation of Buddhism' in Tibet. Some sources conflate him with his patron Yeshe-Ö as king of the western Himalayan Kingdom of

. Among his translations are the ''Viśeṣastavaṭikā'' by

Prajñāvarman Prajñāvarman (Tibetan: ''shes rab go cha'') within early medieval literature, was an 8th-century Buddhist writer. He lived during the reigns of the Pala king, Gopala I and the Tibetan emperor Trisong Detsen, under whose auspices he came to Tib ...

, which he undertook together with Janārdhana.Schneider, Johannes (1993). Der Lobpreis der Vorzüglichkeit des Buddha. Bonn: Indica et Tibetica Verlag. p. 21

Notes

References

Bibliography

*Handa, O. C. (1987). ''Buddhist Monasteries in Himachal Pradesh''. Indus Publishing Company, New Delhi. *Kapadia, Harish. (1999). ''Spiti: Adventures in the Trans-Himalaya''. Second Edition. Indus Publishing Company, New Delhi. . *McKay, Alex (ed.). (2003). ''Tibet and Her Neighbors: A History''. Walther Konig. *Rizvi, Janet. (1996). ''Ladakh: Crossroads of High Asia''. Second Revised Edition. Oxford University Press. . *Tucci, Giuseppe. (1988). ''Rin-chen-bzan-po and the Renaissance of Buddhism in Tibet Around the Millennium''. First Italian Edition 1932. First draft English translation by Nancy Kipp Smith, under the direction of Thomas J. Pritzker. Edited by Lokesh Chandra. English version of ''Indo-Tibetica II''. Aditya Rakashan, New Delhi. .

External links

Rinchen Zangpo - Rigpa Wiki
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Mural of Rinchen Zangpo

Tibetan Medical & Astrology Institute of the Dalai Lama

Tibetanmedicine.com

Central Council of Tibetan Medicine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zangpo, Rinchen Scholars of Buddhism from Tibet Tibetan Buddhist spiritual teachers Kadampa lamas Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet 1055 deaths 958 births 10th-century Tibetan people 11th-century Tibetan people Translators to Tibetan Translators from Sanskrit 10th-century Buddhists 11th-century Buddhists People related to Lahaul and Spiti district