“In the beginning, I sought much learning.
In the middle, all teachings dawned on me as spiritual exhortation.
In the end, I practiced day and night.
I dedicated all this virtue for the dharma to flourish.Thinking this over, how well my destiny is fulfilled!
Thank you very much, Noble Lord Wisdom Treasure!With the darkness of confusion concerning the points to adopt or reject
Not dispelled by the lamp of perfect learning,
If you do not know even the path, what need to speak
Of entering the supreme city of liberation!Therefore, not content with a partial or superficial understanding
Of the treatises of the Invincible Lord of Dharma (Ajita, or Maitreya)
And those of (the great sages) widely renowned in India
As the Six Ornaments and the Two Supreme Ones,
I studied them all in great detail.”–Tenzin Tsepag, trans. “Destiny Fulfilled: Tsongkhapa’s Spiritual Training as a Song of Realization,” verses 4-6. (jangchuplamrim.org)
A Prayer to Kindle the Three Kinds of Faith
lotsawahouse.org
Addressed to the Seventeen Great Paṇḍitas of Glorious Nālandā.
Bstan-‘dzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV and Adam Pearcey, trans. 2005.
Seventeen Great Masters (Panditas) of Nalanda Monastery
Images depicting the pandits from a Tibetan thangka
thestupa.com
Seventeen Nalanda Masters
rigpawiki.org
The Seventeen Pandits of Nalanda Monastery
fpmt.org
Blumenthal, James A. 2012. Mandala Magazine.
Timeline
“Important Key Events and Influential Buddhist Figures in the History of Tibet, India, and the Himalayan Region.”
The Stupa. thestupa.com
