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 events in the life of Tsong-kha-pa

  • 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.

(Jinpa 2019, 381-391)

Noted Scholars

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

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 = Legs Bshad Gser Phreng. v. 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
  • 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. 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
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