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3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje
The 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje ( Tibetan: རང་འབྱུང་རྡོ་རྗེ་, ) (1284–1339) was the 3rd Gyalwa Karmapa and head of the Karma Kagyu school, the largest school within the Kagyu tradition. He was an important figure in the history of Tibetan Buddhism, who helped to spread Buddha-nature teachings in Tibet. Biography Rangjung Dorjé was officially recognized as the first tulku, the reincarnation of Karma Pakshi, in 1282. The 3rd Karmapa was raised at the Tsurphu Monastery, where he received teachings from both the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions from eminent masters such as Trophu Künden Sherab and Nyenre Gendün Bum. He became renowned as one of the greatest masters of his time and had a large number of disciples. He undertook a spiritual retreat on the slopes of Everest, received full ordination, and completed his studies at a significant Kadampa teaching center. Rangjung Dorje visited China, where the emperor Toghon Temur became his disciple. Upo ...
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Tibetan Calendar
The Tibetan calendar (), or the Phukpa calendar, known as the ''Tibetan lunar calendar'', is a lunisolar calendar composed of either 12 or 13 lunar months, each beginning and ending with a new moon. A thirteenth month is added every two or three years, so that an average Tibetan year is equal to the solar year. The 15th century ''Phukpa calendar'' is the main Tibetan calendar, and the Karma Kagyu's ''Tsurluk calendar'' is also in current use. The Tibetan New Year celebration is Losar (), which falls either in the months of February or March in the Gregorian calendar. During the Tibetan Empire period, the Tibetan calendar was a seasonally based calendar before the Buddha Shakyamuni's Kalachakra calendar system, a blend of both the Indian zodiac and Chinese zodiac systems, was incorporated. The Tibetan calendar is the basis of the Mongolian calendar, and the first day of Losar also aligns with the third Mongolian (Hor) month in other almanacs. Every month, certain dates in the Tibet ...
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Longchenpa
Longchen Rabjam Drimé Özer (), or simply Longchenpa (1308–1364, "The Great One Who Is the Vast Cosmic Expanse") was a Tibetan scholar-yogi of the Nyingma school, the 'Old School' of Tibetan Buddhism. According to tibetologist David Germano, Longchenpa's work led to the dominance of the Longchen Nyingthig lineage of Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, over the other Dzogchen traditions. He is also responsible for the scholastic systematization of Dzogchen thought within the context of the wider Tibetan Vajrayana tradition of Buddhist philosophy. Dzogchen thought was highly developed among both the Old School and New Sarma schools. Germano also notes that Longchenpa's work is "generally taken to be the definitive expression of the Great Perfection with its precise terminological distinctions, systematic scope, and integration with the normative Buddhist scholasticism that became dominant in Tibet during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries." Longchenpa is known for his vo ...
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Vima Nyingtik
Vima Nyingthig (), "Seminal Heart of Vimalamitra", in Tibetan Buddhism is one of the two "seminal heart" () collections of the menngagde cycle Dzogchen, the other one being "Seminal Heart of the Dakini" (''mkha' 'gro snying thig''). Traditionally the teachings are ascribed to Vimalamitra, but they were codified and collated by their Tibetan discoverers in the 11th and 12th century. The main discoverer of the ''Vima Nyingthig'' was Zhangtön Tashi Dorjé.Germano, David; Gyatso, Janet (2001), "Longchenpa and the Possession of the Dakinis", in White, David Gordon (ed.), Tantra in Practice, Motilal Banarsidass Publ.Hatchell, Christopher (2014), ''Naked Seeing The Great Perfection, the Wheel of Time, and Visionary Buddhism in Renaissance Tibet'', p. 54. Oxford University Press History The Vima Nyingthig is founded principally on the seventeen tantras and the Troma tantra.Thondup, Tulku & Harold Talbott (Editor)(1996). ''Masters of Meditation and Miracles: Lives of the Great Buddhist M ...
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Vimalamitra
Vimalamitra () was an 8th-century Indian Buddhist monk. His teachers were Buddhaguhya, Jnanasutra, Jñānasūtra and Sri Singha, Śrī Siṃha. He was supposed to have vowed to take rebirth every hundred years, with the most notable figures being Rigzin Jigme Lingpa, Khenchen Ngagchung, Kyabje Drubwang Penor Rinpoche and Kyabje Yangthang Rinpoche. He was one of the eight teachers of the great Indian adept Padmasambhava. Centuries later, Terma (religion), terma and various works were attributed to him. Chatral Sangye Dorji (1913-2016) was said to have received a mala rosary from a man who was at the time dressed as an Indian Sadhu. It was only later that Rinpoche told his attendants that he received a mala on that day from Vimalamitra in reality. The attendants were curious and returned to the place where they had met a sadhu only to be left dumbstruck. The sadhu was not to be found anywhere. One scholar remarked that the historical Vimalamitra "would have been astonished to find ...
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Padmasambhava
Padmasambhava ('Born from a Lotus'), also known as Guru Rinpoche ('Precious Guru'), was a legendary tantric Buddhist Vajracharya, Vajra master from Oddiyana. who fully revealed the Vajrayana in Tibet, circa 8th – 9th centuries... He is considered an emanation or Nirmāṇakāya of Gautama Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha as foretold by the Buddha himself. According to early Tibetan sources including the ''Testament of Ba'', he came to Tibet in the 8th century and designed Samye Monastery, the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet during the reign of King Trisong Detsen. He, the king, and Khenpo Shantarakshita are also responsible for creating the Tibetan canon, Tibetan Canon through translating all of the Buddha's teachings and their commentaries into the Tibetan language. According to Lewis Doney, while his historical authenticity was questioned by earlier Tibetology, Tibetologists, it is now "cautiously accepted.” Padmasambhava himself was recorded as saying he was an historical per ...
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History Of Dzogchen
Dzogchen (, "Great Perfection" or "Great Completion"), also known as ''atiyoga'' (Classes of Tantra in Tibetan Buddhism#Nyingma classification, utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism, Indo-Tibetan Buddhism aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate Ground (Dzogchen), ground of existence. The primordial ground (''gzhi'', "basis") is said to have the qualities of purity (i.e. Śūnyatā, emptiness), spontaneity (''lhun grub'', associated with Luminous mind, luminous clarity) and Karuṇā, compassion (''thugs rje''). The goal of Dzogchen is knowledge of this basis, this knowledge is called ''rigpa'' (Skt. Vidya (Knowledge), ''vidyā'')''.'' There are numerous spiritual practices taught in the various Dzogchen systems for recognizing rigpa. Dzogchen developed in the Tibetan Empire period and the Era of Fragmentation (9th-11th centuries) and continues to be practiced today both in Tibet and around the world. It is a central teaching of the Yundru ...
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Rigdzin Kumaradza
Rigdzin Kumaradza (1266–1343) was a Dzogchen master in the lineage of the ''Vima Nyingthig''. Nomenclature, orthography and etymology Kumārarāja, Kumārāja and Kumaraja (Sanskrit) is sometimes also orthographically represented as Kumārarādza and Kumārādza. Overview Kumaradza was a Tibetan yogic mendicant famous for his austere nomadic lifestyle and deep flow meditation styles. Nomadic in orientation and obscure in siddhi, he was renowned as genuine realizer of Vajrayana Buddhist luminous clarity. Kumaradza's esoteric processes reflected a kindly though abrupt and forceful demeanor. There are accounts of how some of his students were meditating in mere animal skin shelters as quasi-impromptu protection against ferocious high desert winds. These small camps subsisted on scant donations. The focus of his practices concentrated on secret cognizance yogas of "naked awareness" or "natural mind" (rigpa). His striking purview of existence was very powerful, particular ...
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Dzogchen
Dzogchen ( 'Great Completion' or 'Great Perfection'), also known as ''atiyoga'' ( utmost yoga), is a tradition of teachings in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Bön aimed at discovering and continuing in the ultimate ground of existence. The goal of Dzogchen is the direct experience of this basis, called (Sanskrit: ). There are spiritual practices taught in various Dzogchen systems for discovering . Dzogchen emerged during the first dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet, around the 7th to 9th centuries CE. While it is considered a Tibetan development by some scholars, it draws upon key ideas from Indian sources. The earliest Dzogchen texts appeared in the 9th century, attributed to Indian masters. These texts, known as the Eighteen Great Scriptures, form the "Mind Series" and are attributed to figures like Śrī Siṅgha and Vimalamitra. Early Dzogchen was marked by a departure from normative Vajrayāna practices, focusing instead on simple calming contemplations leading to a di ...
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Nyingma
Nyingma (, ), also referred to as ''Ngangyur'' (, ), is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school was founded by PadmasambhavaClaude Arpi, ''A Glimpse of the History of Tibet'', Dharamsala: Tibet Museum, 2013. as the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Pali and Sanskrit into Tibetic languages, Tibetan occurred in the eighth century. The establishment of Tibetan Buddhism and the Nyingma tradition is collectively ascribed to Khenpo Shantarakshita, Guru Padmasambhava, and King Trisong Detsen, known as ''Khen Lop Chos Sum'' (The Three: Khenpo, Lopon, Chosgyal). The Nyingma tradition traces its Dzogchen lineage from the Adi-Buddha, first Buddha Samantabhadra to Garab Dorje, and its other lineages from Indian mahasiddhas such as Sri Singha and Jnanasutra. Yeshe Tsogyal recorded the teachings. Other great masters from the founding period include Vimalamitra, Vairotsana, and Buddhaguhya. The Nyingma tradition was physically founded at Samye ...
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Traditional Tibetan Medicine
Traditional Tibetan medicine or Sowa Rigpa is the Tibetan medical system developed in the 8th century under King Trisong Detsen that incorporated the best international medical practices of that time.Claude Arpi, ''Glimpses on the Tibet History'', "Sowa Rigpa" (Art of Healing). Dharamsala: The Tibet Museum, 2016, Chapter 9 The medical treatise ''Giyud Shi'', or the ''Four Tantras'', was then originally composed and later edited in the 12th century. Tibetan medicine employs multiple approaches to diagnosis that incorporate techniques including Venesection, Moxibustion, Compression Therapy, Medicinal Bathing, and massage. The pharmacology relies on complex formulas of multi-ingredient medicines that use herbs, minerals, metals, and animal products. The Tibetan medical system's Four Tantras was based on Tibet's indigenous health practices, and this knowledge joined that of the 8th century invited conference attendants arriving from Greece, Persia, India, China, and Central Asia th ...
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Rumtek
Rumtek Monastery (), also called the Dharma Chakra Centre, is a gompa located in the Indian state of Sikkim near the capital Gangtok. It is the seat in exile of the Gyalwang Karmapa, inaugurated in 1966 by the 16th Karmapa. It is also a focal point for the sectarian tensions within the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism that characterize the 17th Karmapa controversy. History Originally built under the direction of Changchub Dorje, 12th Karmapa Lama in the mid-18th century, Rumtek served as the main seat of the Karma Kagyu lineage in Sikkim for some time. But when Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, 16th Karmapa, arrived in Sikkim in 1959 after fleeing Tibet, the monastery was in ruins. Despite being offered other sites, the Karmapa decided to rebuild Rumtek. To him, the site possessed many auspicious qualities and was surrounded by the most favorable attributes. For example, flowing streams, mountains behind, a snow range in front, and a river below. With the generosity and help of the Si ...
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