Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa (1357-1419)
ཙོང་ཁ་པ་བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པ། (tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa)

Biography

Joona Repo. 2011. “Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa.” Treasury of Lives.
Sparham, Gareth. 2017. “Tsongkhapa.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Thupten Jinpa. 2019. Tsongkhapa: A Buddha in the Land of Snows. Boulder, CO: Shambhala. (BQ 7950 .T757 T585 2019 JABL)
Thurman, Robert A. F., ed. 2018. The Life and Teachings of Tsongkhapa. [Revised edition] Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. (BQ 7950 .T753 E5 201 JABL)

Timeline of major events in the life of Tsong-kha-pa

  • 1388 Completes Golden Rosary. Legs bshad gser ‘phreng.
  • 1397 Experiences a breakthrough in his realization of the profound view of emptiness and, in gratitude towards the Buddha, composes the poetic verse In Praise of Dependent Origination. Rten ‘brel stod pa.
  • 1398 Composes Three Principal Elements of The Path. Lam-gtso rnam-gsum.
  • 1401 Begins the composition of Great Treatises on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
  • 1402 Completes Great Treatise. Lam rim chen mo.
  • 1407 Composes the hermeneutic work The Essence of True Eloquence. Legs bshad snying po.
  • 1408 Composes Ocean of Reasoning, extensive commentary on Nagarjuna’s Treatise on the Middle Way (Mūla-madhyamaka-kārikā). Rigs pa’i rgya mtsho.
  • 1415 Composes Middle-Length Treatises in the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Lam rim ‘bring.
  • 1418 Composes Elucidation of the Intent, an extensive exposition of Candrakirti’s Entering the Middle Way (Madhyamakāvatāra). Dbu ma la ʼjug paʼi rnam bshad pa dgongs pa rab gsal.
  • 1419 Passes away at Ganden Monastery.

(Jinpa 2019, 381-391)

Noted Scholars

Thubten Jinpa; Guy Newland; David Seyfort Ruegg; Gareth Sparham; Robert Thurman

Works

Golden Rosary (1388)
Legs bshad gser phreng.
Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang-grags-pa, and Gareth Sparham. 2010. Golden Garland of Eloquence = Legs Bshad Gser Phreng. Volume Three, Fourth Abhisamaya. Fremont, CA: Jain. (BQ 1955.A83 T7613 2008 v.3 JABL)

In Praise of Dependent Origination (1397)
Rten ‘brel stod pa
Berzin, Alexander, trans. “In Praise of Dependent Origination.” Study Buddhism by Berzin Archives. (English) (Tibetan)
Thupten Jinpa, trans. “In Praise of Dependent Origination.” (tibetanclassics.org)

Three Principal Aspects of the Path (1398)
Lam gyi gtso bo rnam pa gsum
Thupten Jinpa, trans. 2003. “The Three Principal Aspects of the Path.” (tibetanclassics.org)
ལམ་གྱི་གཙོ་བོ་རྣམ་གསུམ། Lotsawa House. (Tibetan)

Songs of Experience
Lam rim nyams mgur
Thupten Jinpa, trans. 2007. “Songs of Spiritual Experience: Condensed Points of the Stages of the Path.” (tibetanclassics.org)

Foundation of All Good Qualities
Yön tän zhir gyur ma
Berzin, Alexander. “The Foundation of All Good Qualities = ཡོན་ཏན་ཞིར་གྱུར་མ།” Study Buddhism by Berzin Archives. (English) (Tibetan)

Destiny Fulfilled
Rtogs brjod mdun legs ma
Tenzin Tsepag, trans. “Destiny Fulfilled: Tsongkhapa’s Spiritual Training as a Song of Realization.” (media.dalailama.com)

Lamrim chenmo Section on Special Insight (Volume 3) (1402)
Tsong-Kha-Pa Blo-Bzang-Grags-Pa. 2002. The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Volume Three. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications. (BQ 7950 .T754 L34413 2000 JABL)

Essence of Eloquence (1407)
Legs bshad snying po
Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang-grags-pa and Robert A. F Thurman. 1991. The Central Philosophy of Tibet: A Study and Translation of Jey Tsong Khapa’s Essence of True Eloquence. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. (BQ 7590 .T754 L4313 1991 JABL)

Translation of Section on Mind only school in Essence of Eloquence by Jeffrey Hopkins
Hopkins, Jeffrey. 1999. Emptiness in the Mind-Only School of Buddhism. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. (BQ 7950 .T754 L4335 JABL)

Ocean of Reasoning. (Commentary to Nāgārjuna’s Mūla-madhyamaka-kārikā). (1408)
Rigs pa’i rgya mtsho
Ngawang Samten and Jay L. Garfield, trans. 2006. Ocean of Reasoning : A Great Commentary on Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. New York: Oxford University Press. (BQ 2795 .T7613 2006 JABL)

Middle Length Lamrim – section on Special Insight. (1415)
Lam rim ‘bring
Quarcoo, Philip and Yongzin Ling Rinpoche. 2021. The Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications (WorldCat)

Illuminating the Intent (commentary to Chandrakirti’s Madhyamakāvatāra). (1418)
Dbu ma la ʼjug paʼi rnam bshad pa dgongs pa rab gsal
Thupten Jinpa. 2021. Illuminating the Intent: An Exposition of Candrakīrti’s Entering the Middle Way. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications. (BQ 2910 .M365 T7723613 2021 JABL)