Tsongkhapa (Tibetan: ཙོང་ཁ་པ་, , meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley", c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher, and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the formation of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.Tsong khapa (2006), pp. ix-x.
His philosophical works are a grand synthesis of the Buddhist epistemological tradition of Dignāga and Dharmakīrti, the Cittamatra philosophy of the mind, and the madhyamaka philosophy of Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti.Tsong khapa (2006), pp. ix-xii.Sparham, Gareth, "Tsongkhapa", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).
Central to his philosophical and soteriological teachings is "a radical view of emptiness" which sees all phenomena as devoid of intrinsic nature.Newland 2009, p. 8. This view of emptiness is not a kind of nihilism or a total denial of existence. Instead, it sees phenomena as existing "interdependently, relationally, non-essentially, conventionally" (which Tsongkhapa terms "mere existence").Garfield, Jay (2014), “Madhyamaka is Not Nihilism”, in Jeeloo Liu and Douglas L. Berger (eds.), Nothingness in Asian Philosophy (New York: Routledge), 44-54.
Tsongkhapa emphasized the importance of philosophical reasoning in the path to liberation. According to Tsongkhapa, meditation must be paired with rigorous reasoning in order "to push the mind and precipitate a breakthrough in cognitive fluency and insight."
Names He is also known by his ordained name Losang Drakpa (, Skt. Sumatikīrti) or simply as "Je Rinpoche" (, "Precious Lord").Powers, John (2007) Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, p. 468. Snow Lion Publications.
He is also known in Chinese as Zongkapa Lobsang Zhaba or just Zōngkābā (宗喀巴). In Mongolian, he is known as Bogd Zonkhov (Богд Зонхов).
Biography
Early years and studies With a Mongolian father and a Tibetan mother, Tsongkhapa was born into a nomadic family in the walled city of Tsongkha in Amdo, Tibet (present-day Haidong and Xining, Qinghai) in 1357. Tsongkhapa was educated in Buddhism from an early age by his first teacher, the Kadam monk Choje Dondrub Rinchen. Tsongkhapa became a novice monk at the age of six.Jinpa 2019, pp. 23-25.
When he was sixteen, Tsongkhapa traveled to Central Tibet (Ü-Tsang), where he studied at the scholastic institutions of the Sangphu monastery, the Drikung Kagyu and the Sakya tradition of Sakya paṇḍita (1182–1251).Jinpa 2019, pp. 27-32. At the Drikung Thil Monastery he studied under Chenga Chokyi Gyalpo, the great patriarch of Drikung Kagyu, and received teachings on numerous topics like Mahamudra and the Six Dharmas of Naropa.Jinpa 2019, p. 32. Tsongkhapa also studied Tibetan medicine, followed by all major Buddhist scholastic subjects including abhidharma, ethics, epistemology (Sk. pramāṇa), Vajrayana and various lineages of Buddhist tantra.
Tsongkhapa studied widely under numerous teachers from various Tibetan Buddhist traditions.Crystal Mirror VI : 1971, Dharma Publishing, page 464, 0-913546-59-3 His main teachers include: the Sakya masters Rendawa and Rinchen Dorje, the Kagyu master Chenga Rinpoche and the Jonang masters Bodong Chakleh Namgyal, Khyungpo Hlehpa and Chokyi Pelpa. Tsongkhapa also received the three main Kadampa lineages. He received the Lam-Rim lineage, the oral guideline lineage from the Nyingma Lama, Lhodrag Namka-gyeltsen, and lineage of textual transmission from Lama Umapa.
Rendawa Zhönnu Lodrö was Tsongkhapa's most important teacher.Jinpa 2019, p. 41. Under Rendawa, Tsongkhapa studied various classic works, including the Pramanavarttika, the Abhidharmakosha, the Abhidharmasamuccaya and the Madhyamakavatara.Jinpa 2019, pp. 41-45. Tsongkhapa also studied with a Nyingma teacher, Drupchen Lekyi Dorje (), also known as Namkha Gyaltsen (, 1326–1401).The Life of Shabkar: The Autobiography of a Tibetan yogin by Źabs-dkar Tshogs-drug-raṅ-grol, Matthieu Ricard. State University of New York Press: 1994. pg 25
During his early years, Tsongkhapa also composed a few original works, including the Golden Garland (), a commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra from the perspective of the Yogācāra-svātantrika-madhyamaka tradition of Śāntarakṣita which also attempts to refute the shentong views of Dolpopa (1292–1361).Ngawang Samten/Garfield. Ocean of Reasoning. OUP 2006, page x
Retreats and visions of Mañjuśrī
From 1390 to 1398, Tsongkhapa engaged in extended meditation retreats with a small group of attendants in various locations, the most well known of which is in the Wölkha Valley.Tsong khapa (2006), p. xi.Jinpa 2019, pp. 117-137. He also developed a close relationship with a mystic and hermit named Umapa Pawo Dorje, known for his connection to Mañjuśrī bodhisattva and his frequent visions of black Mañjuśrī, with whom he would communicate. Umapa acted as a medium for Tsongkhapa, who eventually began having his own visions of Mañjuśrī.Jinpa 2019, pp. 77, 87, 103-107.
During this period of extensive meditation retreat, Tsongkhapa had numerous visions of guru Mañjuśrī (Jamyang Lama). During these visions he would receive teachings from the bodhisattva and ask questions about the right view of emptiness and Buddhist practice. An important instruction Tsongkhapa is said to have received about the view from Mañjuśrī is: "It is inappropriate to be partial either to emptiness or to appearance. In particular, you need to take the appearance aspect seriously."Jinpa 2019, pp. 103-107. Tsongkhapa would also discuss these visions and instructions with his teacher Rendawa (and some record of this correspondence has survived). During this period, Tsongkhapa is also said to have received a series of oral transmissions from Mañjuśrī. These later came to be called the Mañjuśrī cycle of teachings.
In 1397, while in intensive meditation retreat at Wölkha Valley, Tsongkhapa writes that he had a “major insight” (ngeshé chenpo) into the view of emptiness.Jinpa 2019, pp. 157-187 Initially, Tsongkhapa had a dream of the great madhyamaka masters: Nagarjuna, Buddhapalita, Aryadeva, and Candrakirti. In this dream, Buddhapālita placed a wrapped text on the top of Tsongkhapa's head. After waking from this dream, Tsongkhapa began to study Buddhapālita's commentary to Nagarjuna's Middle Way Verses. As he was reading chapter 18, his understanding became crystal clear and all his doubts vanished. According to Thupten Jinpa, "at the heart of Tsongkhapa’s breakthrough experience was a profound realization of the equation of emptiness and dependent origination." He then spent the next spring and summer in deep meditation, experiencing great bliss, devotion, and gratitude to the Buddha.
Mature Period
In the later period of Tsongkhapa's life, he composed a series of works on Buddhist philosophy and practice. His most famous work is the Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path (Lam rim chen mo, c. 1402). This lamrim ('stages of the path') text outlines the Mahayana path to enlightenment and also presents Tsongkhapa's view of emptiness and the middle way view (Madhyamaka). In 1405, he finished his Great Exposition of Tantra (Sngags rim chen mo).
Tsongkhapa also wrote other major works during this period, including Essence of Eloquence (Legs bshad snying po), Ocean of Reasoning (Rigs pa'i rgya mtsho, a commentary on Nagarjuna's classic Mūlamadhyamakakārikā), the Medium-Length Lamrim, and Elucidation of the Intent (dGongs pa rab gsal), his last major writing.
According to Garfield:the major philosophical texts composed in the remaining twenty years of his life develop with great precision and sophistication the view he developed during this long retreat period and reflect his realization that while Madhyamaka philosophy involves a relentlessly negative dialectic — a sustained critique both of reification and of nihilism and a rejection of all concepts of essence—the other side of that dialectic is an affirmation of conventional reality, of dependent origination, and of the identity of the two truths, suggesting a positive view of the nature of reality as well.
In 1409, Tsongkhapa worked on a project to renovate the Jokhang Temple, the main temple in Lhasa. He also established a 15-day prayer festival, known as the Great Prayer Festival, at Jokhang to celebrate Sakyamuni Buddha.Jinpa 2019, pp. 237-257. In 1409, Tsongkhapa also worked to found Ganden monastery, located 25 miles north of Lhasa.Dowman, Keith (1988). The Power-places of Central Tibet: The Pilgrim's Guide, p. 103. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul; ISBN 0-7102-1370-0 Two of his students, Tashi Palden (1379–1449) and Shakya Yeshey (1354–1435) respectively founded Drepung monastery (1416), and Sera Monastery (1419). Together with Ganden, these three would later become the most influential Gelug monasteries in Tibet and also the largest monasteries in the world. These institutions became the center of a new growing school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Ganden or Gelug sect.
Death and aftermath
In 1419, Tsongkhapa died at the age of 62 at Ganden Monastery. At the time of his death, he was a well-known figure in Tibet with a large following.Jinpa 2019, pp. 329-365. Jinpa notes that various sources from other Tibetan Buddhist schools, like Pawo Tsuklak Trengwa and Sakya Chokden write about how large numbers of Tibetans flocked to Tsongkhapa's new Gelug tradition during the 15th century. Tsongkhapa's three principal disciples were Khedrup Gelek Pelzang, 1st Panchen Lama, Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen, and Dülzin Drakpa Gyaltsen.Jinpa 2019, p 365. Other important students of Tsongkhapa were "Tokden Jampel Gyatso; Jamyang Chöjé and Jamchen Chöjé, the founders of Drepung and Sera monasteries, respectively; and the 1st Dalai Lama, Gendün Drup."
After Tsongkhapa's death, his disciples worked to spread his teachings and the Gelug school grew rapidly across the Tibetan Plateau, founding new or converting existing numerous monasteries. The new Gelug tradition, as a descendant of the Kadam school, emphasized monastic discipline and rigorous study of the Buddhist classics.Jamgon Mipham. Translated by Padmakara Translation Group. The Wisdom Chapter: Jamgön Mipham's Commentary on the Ninth Chapter of The Way of the Bodhisattva. Boulder: Shambhala Publications, 2007, p. 30. According to Jinpa, by the end of the fifteenth century, the "new Ganden tradition had spread through the entire Tibetan Plateau, with monasteries upholding the tradition located in western Tibet, in central Ü-Tsang, and in southern Tibet, and in Kham and Amdo in the east."
After his death, Tsongkhapa's works were also published in woodblock prints, making them much more accessible. Several biographies of Tsongkhapa were also written by ordained scholars of different traditions. Tsongkhapa was also held in high regard by key figures of other Tibetan Buddhist traditions. 8th Karmapa, Mikyö Dorje, in a poem called In Praise of the Incomparable Tsong Khapa, calls Tsongkhapa "the reformer of Buddha’s doctrine", "the great charioteer of Madhyamaka philosophy in Tibet", "supreme among those who propound emptiness", and "one who had helped spread robe-wearing monastics across Tibet and from China to Kashmir". The 9th Karmapa, Wangchuk Dorje praised Tsongkhapa as one "who swept away wrong views with the correct and perfect ones".
Tsongkhapa's works and teachings became central for the Ganden or Gelug school, where he is seen as a highly revered teacher.Cozort/Preston : 2003, Buddhist Philosophy, page VIII-IX Their interpretation and exegesis became a major focus of Gelug scholasticism. They were also very influential on later Tibetan philosophers, who would either defend or criticize Tsongkhapa's views on numerous points.