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Tāranātha (1575–1634) was a
Lama Lama (; "chief") is a title for a teacher of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term ''guru'', meaning "heavy one", endowed with qualities the student will eventually embody. The Tibetan word "lama" means "hig ...
of the
Jonang The Jonang () is one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Its origins in Tibet can be traced to early 12th century master Yumo Mikyo Dorje, but became much wider known with the help of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, a monk originally trained in the ...
school of
Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
. He is widely considered its most remarkable scholar and exponent. Taranatha was born in
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
, supposedly on the birthday of
Padmasambhava Padmasambhava ("Born from a Lotus"), also known as Guru Rinpoche (Precious Guru) and the Lotus from Oḍḍiyāna, was a tantric Buddhist Vajra master from India who may have taught Vajrayana in Tibet (circa 8th – 9th centuries)... According ...
. His original name was Kun-dga'-snying-po, the Sanskrit equivalent of which is Anandagarbha. However, he adopted Taranatha, the Sanskrit name by which he was generally known, as an indication of the value he placed on his Sanskrit scholarship in an era when mastery of the language had become much less common in Tibet than it had once been. He was also paying homage to his Indian teacher, Buddhaguptanatha. His exceptional qualities are said to have been recognized by others at a young age, as is often the case with great masters. He studied under such masters as Je Draktopa, Yeshe Wangpo, Kunga Tashi and Jampa Lhundrup, although his primary teacher was Buddhaguptanatha. Taranatha was recognized by Khenchen Lungrik Gyatso as the rebirth of Krishnacarya and the Khenchen's own teacher, Jetsun Kunga Drolchok.


Works

Taranatha was a prolific writer and a renowned scholar. His best known work is the 143-folio ''History of Buddhism in India'' (dpal dus kyi 'khor lo'i chos bskor gyi byung khungs nyer mkho) of 1608, which has been published in English. Other works are ''The Golden Rosary, Origins of the Tantra of the Bodhisattva Tara'' of 1604 which has also been translated into English. He was an advocate of the Shentong view of emptiness and wrote many texts and commentaries on this subject. English-language translation publications of his works on Shentong are ''The Essence of Other-Emptiness'' (which includes a translation of his ''Twenty One Profound Meanings'' (Zab don gсer gcig pa)) and his ''Commentary on the Heart Sutra''.Taranatha's Commentary on the Heart Sutra
by Adele Tomlin (Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2017) In 1614 Taranatha founded the important Jonangpa monastery Takten Dhamchöling, in the Tsangpo Valley about 200 miles west of
Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhasa ...
.


Later life

Probably not long after 1614, Taranatha went to
Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...
, where he reportedly founded several monasteries. He died probably in Urga. His rebirth became known as
Zanabazar Öndör Gegeen Zanabazar, , , "High Saint Zanabazar"; 1635–1723 (born Eshidorji) was the sixteenth '' Jebtsundamba Khutuktu'' and the first ''Bogd Gegeen'' or supreme spiritual authority, of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) lineage of Tibetan Buddhism ...
, the 1st Bogd Gegeen and
Jebtsundamba Khutuktu The Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, , ; zh, c=哲布尊丹巴呼圖克圖, p=Zhébùzūn Dānbā Hūtúkètú; bo, རྗེ་བཙུན་དམ་པ་ཧུ་ཐུག་ཐུ་, Jetsün Dampa Hutuktu; "Venerable Excellent incarnate lama" ar ...
of Mongolia. His most recent reincarnation was the
9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu The 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu (January 6, 1933 – March 1, 2012) was the 9th reincarnation of the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, the third highest lama in the Tibetan Buddhism hierarchy and the spiritual leader of the Gelug lineage among the Khalkha M ...
, who died in 2012.


See also

*
Jonang The Jonang () is one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Its origins in Tibet can be traced to early 12th century master Yumo Mikyo Dorje, but became much wider known with the help of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen, a monk originally trained in the ...
*
Shentong ''Rangtong'' and ''shentong'' are two distinctive views on emptiness ( sunyata) and the two truths doctrine within Tibetan Buddhism. ''Rangtong'' (; "empty of self-nature") is a philosophical term in Tibetan Buddhism that is used to distinguis ...
*
Kalachakra ''Kālacakra'' () is a polysemic term in Vajrayana Buddhism that means " wheel of time" or "time cycles". "''Kālacakra''" is also the name of a series of Buddhist texts and a major practice lineage in Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. The ...
*
Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen Dölpopa Shérap Gyeltsen () (1292–1361), known simply as Dölpopa, was a Tibetan Buddhist master. Known as "The Buddha from Dölpo," a region in modern Nepal, he was the principal exponent of the shentong teachings, and an influential memb ...


References


Sources

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


Further reading

* Tharanatha; Chattopadhyaya, Chimpa, Alaka, trans. (2000). History of Buddhism in India, Motilal Books UK, . * Tāranātha's Edelsteinmine, das Buch von den Vermittlern der sieben Inspirationen / aus dem Tibetischen übers. von Albert Grünwedel. - Petrograd: Imprimerie de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences, 191
PDF
* Tāranātha's Geschichte des Buddhismus in Indien. Aus dem Tibetischen übersetzt von Anton Schiefner. St. Petersburg: Kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften 1869. XII. St. Petersburg 1869
PDF

Tāranātha-‘Dzam-Thang-edition-complete-23-volumes

Tāranātha-Ladakh-edition-complete-17-volumes

Tāranātha-pe-cin-edition-complete-45-volumes


External links


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