Lama Tsongkhapa: Life and Works
Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa
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. Shambhala. JABL
- Thurman, Robert. 2018. The Life and Teachings of Tsongkhapa. Wisdom. JABL
Timeline of Major Life Events
(Jinpa 2019, 381-391)
1357 — Born in Amdo, northeastern Tibet
1376 — Meets Rendawa, who will become his most important teacher
1388 — Completes Golden Rosary, a two-volume exposition of Maitreya’s Ornament, which seals his reputation as a great scholar
1389 — Teaches seventeen Indian Buddhist texts in a single continuous lecture series
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
1398 — Composes Three Principal Elements of The Path
1401 — Begins the composition Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
1402 — Completes his Great Treatise
1407 — Composes The Essence of True Eloquence
1408 — Authors Ocean of Reasoning, extensive commentary on Nagarjuna’s Treatise on the Middle Way
1415 — Authors Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
1418 — Authors Elucidation of the Intent, an extensive exposition of Candrakirti’s Entering the Middle Way
1419 — Passes away at Ganden Monastery
Works
Golden Rosary (1388)
ལེགས་བཤད་གསེར་ཕྲེང་ (Legs bshad gser phreng)
- Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang-grags-pa, and Gareth Sparham. 2010. Golden Garland of Eloquence. Vol. 3, 4th Abhisamaya. Jain Publishing. JABL
In Praise of Dependent Origination (1397)
རྟེན་འབྲེལ་སྟོད་པ་ (Rten ‘brel stod pa)
Tibetan
- Berzin, Alexander, trans. “In Praise of Dependent Origination.” Study Buddhism by Berzin Archives. studybuddhism.com
- Thupten Jinpa, trans. “In Praise of Dependent Origination.” tibetanclassics.org
Three Principal Aspects of the Path (1398)
ལམ་གྱི་གཙོ་བོ་རྣམ་གསུམ་ (Lam gyi gtso bo rnam pa gsum)
Tibetan
- Thupten Jinpa, trans. 2003. “The Three Principal Aspects of the Path.” tibetanclassics.org
Songs of Experience
ལམ་རིམ་ཉམས་མགུར་ (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
ཡོན་ཏན་ཞིར་གྱུར་མ་ (Yön tän zhir gyur ma)
Tibetan
- Berzin, Alexander. “The Foundation of All Good Qualities.” Study Buddhism by Berzin Archives. studybuddhism.com
Destiny Fulfilled
རྟོགས་བརྗོད་མདུན་ལེགས་མ་ (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 vol. 3 (1402)
- Tsong-Kha-Pa Blo-Bzang-Grags-Pa. 2002. The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. v. 3. Snow Lion Publications. JABL
Essence of Eloquence (1407)
ལེགས་བཤད་སྙིང་པོ་ (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 University Press. JABL
- Hopkins, Jeffrey. 1999. Emptiness in the Mind-Only School of Buddhism. University of California Press. JABL
Ocean of Reasoning (1408)
རིགས་པའི་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ (Rigs pa’i rgya mtsho)
- Ngawang Samten and Jay L. Garfield, trans. 2006. Ocean of Reasoning : A Great Commentary on Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Oxford University Press. JABL
Middle Length Lamrim – section on Special Insight (1415)
ལམ་རིམ་འབྲིང་ (Lam rim ‘bring)
- Quarcoo, Philip and Yongzin Ling Rinpoche. 2021. The Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Wisdom Publications WorldCat
Illuminating the Intent (1418)
དབུ་མ་ལ་འཇུག་པའི་རྣམ་བཤད་པ་དགོངས་པ་རབ་གསལ། (Dbu ma la ʼjug paʼi rnam bshad pa dgongs pa rab gsal)
Commentary to Chandrakirti’s Madhyamakāvatāra
- Thupten Jinpa. 2021. Illuminating the Intent: An Exposition of Candrakīrti’s Entering the Middle Way. Wisdom Publications. JABL
