'bri gung skyob pa 'jig rten mgon po

From Buddha-Nature


འབྲི་གུང་སྐྱོབ་པ་འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོ་
Jikten Gönpo(1143 - 1217) 
Buddhist Digital Resource CenterHimalayan Art Resources

Jikten Gonpo Rinchen Pel ('jig rten mgon po rin chen dpal) is credited with the founding of Drigung Til Monastery in 1179 and the establishment of the Drigung Kagyu tradition. He was a close disciple of Pakmodrupa and briefly administered Densatil following Pakmodrupa's death. His close disciple was Sherab Jungne.

He was born to an illustrious clan called the Kyura (skyu ra) at a town in Kham called Tsungu (tsu ngu), in 1123. He studied with teachers from many traditions and completed many years of retreat, after which he took monastic vows in 1177...

"...Jikten Gonpo and his Drigung lineage are best known for the set of teachings known as The Five Profound Paths of Mahāmudrā (phyag chen lnga ldan). Some of his sayings were collected by Sherab Jungne into what is known as the Single Intention (dgongs gcig), teachings of a profoundly philosophical character further developed in commentarial works written in the following generation. Some of Jikten Gonpo's teachings were collected by yet another disciple into what is known as the Heart of the Great Vehicle's Teachings (theg chen bstan pa'i snying po)..."
... read more at The Treasury of Lives

Library Items

Book
Gongchig: The Single Intent, the Sacred Dharma
The Gongchig of the Tibetan master Jigten Sumgon conveys clearly the essence of the Buddha's teachings. It delineates the causal law of the universe, Nagarjuna's philosophy of interdependence, and opens one's mind to principles of ethics that help to guard oneself against confusion and deceit. Thus the Gongchig is a guide for every Dharma practitioner - for both study and application in daily life. This edition comprises translations of the Gongchig root text by Jigten Sumgon and of the commentary by Rigdzin Chokyi Dragpa, as well as the original Tibetan texts. It makes the work accessible even for readers who are not well versed in Buddhist philosophy. (Source Accessed Sept 18, 2020)
Viehbeck, Markus, trans. Gongchig: The Single Intent, the Sacred Dharma. By Jigten Sumgon ('jig rten gsum mgon). With commentary entitled The Lamp Dispelling the Darkness by Rigdzin Chökyi Dragpa (rig 'dzin chos kyi grags pa). Munich: Otter Verlag, 2009.
Book
The Single Intention: The Root Text, a Commentary by Khenpo Kunpal, and an Overview by Rinchen Jangchub
The Single Intention by Jigten Sumgön (1143–1217), the founder of the Drikung Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, is a key philosophical text for the whole Kagyu tradition. It contains Jigten Sumgön’s special teachings in 150 pithy “vajra statements” and their 40 additions.

It is about the fundamental intention that underlies all the Buddha’s teachings and unites all the categories of Buddhist concepts within one central principle – the “actual reality of the nature or state of all phenomena.” One of the main messages is the universal validity and unchangeable nature of virtue and non-virtue, which means that no one can bypass the foundational practices and the observance of disciplined conduct..

(Source: Garchen Stiftung)
Nielsen, Solvej Hyveled, trans. The Single Intention: The Root Text, a Commentary by Khenpo Kunpal, and an Overview by Rinchen Jangchub. Munich, Germany: Garchen Sriftung, 2022.
Text
Jikten Gönpo: Hymns on the Fivefold Path of Realization of Mahāmudrā
Hymns on the Fivefold Path of Realization (Phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan rtogs pa'i mgur) by Jikten Gönpo.
Text
Jikten Gönpo, Sherab Jungne: Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention
The primary text in the Drikung Kagyu tradition.
Text
Jikten Gönpo: Mahāyāna System on Establishing the Wheels of Dharma Received by Onge
These are teachings delivered by Drikung Kagyu master Jikten Sumgön that includes an account of the twelve great events of the buddha and the detailed explanation of the three turnings of the wheel of dharma and written down by his student Onge. The text also contains a praise of the Ultimate Continuum as containing the gist of the third wheel.

On the topic of this person

Video
Casey Kemp at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Casey Kemp presents an overview and analysis of Jigten Gonpo’s explanation of luminosity as outlined in his text 'Od gsal rnam lnga gcig tu bsre ba'i man ngag, a pith instruction on merging (bsre ba).
Kemp, Casey. "The Luminous Basis for Buddhahood: ’Jig rten mgon po’s Pith Instructions for Merging the Nature of Mind with the Dharmakāya." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 41:36. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7VQkhK1CE0.
Video
Katrin Querl at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Katrin Querl presents an overview of Jikten Gonpo's position on Buddha-nature as outlined in the textual corpus known as the Single Intention (Dgongs gcig) and in two of this work's earliest commentaries.
Querl, Katrin. "Preliminary Notes on the Notion of Buddha Nature in the Single Intention." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 43:53. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp3GJz3-5DY.
Video
Khenpo Tamphel at the 2019 Tathāgatagarbha Symposium
Drawing on the text entitled A Mahāmudrā Investigation into Confusion: An Instruction for Identifying the Process of Confusion by Jikten Sumgon, Khenpo Tamphel explains how, according to this text, sentient beings and buddhas are related, how confusion arises that leads to saṃsāra, and how recognition of the true nature of sentient beings is the way to enlightenment.
Tamphel, Khenpo Könchok. "The Difference Between a Sentient Being and a Buddha: 'Jig rten gsum mgon’s Instruction on the Process of Confusion." Paper presented at the University of Vienna Symposium, Tathāgatagarbha Across Asia, Vienna, Austria, July 2019. Video, 47:23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GbYgx3ozDM.
Book
The Buddha's Single Intention
This book presents an influential and extraordinary teaching of the Kagyü tradition of Tibetan Buddhism known as the Single Intention by the master Drigung Kyobpa Jikten Sumgön (1143–1217), along with its chief commentaries, principally the Light of the Sun by Rikzin Chökyi Drakpa (1595–1659).


Early in the history of the Kagyü school, the teachings of Jikten Sumgön were condensed into 150 core formulations called vajra statements. These pithy, revelatory statements comprise the Single Intention (Dgongs gcig), which presents the thought of the Buddha and the nature of the ineffable (brjod du med pa) in concise and direct expression. The Single Intention weaves the thread of ineffable mahāmudrā through the entire fabric of Buddhism. It presents mahāmudrā as pervading disciplined conduct, meditative concentration, and discriminative knowledge; ground, path, and result; view, practice, and conduct; and the “three vows” of prātimokṣa, of the bodhisattvas, and of mantra. Jikten Sumgön teaches how the fundamental values and insights revealed by the Buddha are woven into reality and therefore accessible to all.

Jan-Ulrich Sobisch manages to convey the unity of the Buddha’s message both in its particulars and in its scope. His deep and authoritative skill makes this the definitive presentation of one of the most unique and compelling works of classical Tibetan literature. (Source: Wisdom Publications)
Sobisch, Jan-Ulrich, trans. The Buddha's Single Intention: Drigung Kyobpa Jikten Sumgön's Vajra Statements of the Early Kagyü Tradition. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2020.
Text
The First Drikung Chungtsang, Rigdzin Chökyi Drakpa: Light of the Sun: Detailed Exposition of the Excellent Dharma, the Single Intention, a Well-Expressed Clarification of the Meaning of the Scriptures
Rikdzin Chökyi Drakpa's extensive commentary on the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention (Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa), one of the core texts of the Drikung Kagyu tradition that is reported to be the oral teachings of Jikten Gönpo that were written down and edited together by his student Sherab Jungne.
Text
Dorje Sherab: Great Commentary on the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention: Illuminating Wisdom Lamp
Dorje Sherab's extensive commentary on the Sacred Teaching on the Single Intention (Dam chos dgongs pa gcig pa), one of the core texts of the Drikung Kagyu tradition that is reported to be the oral teachings of Jikten Gönpo that were written down and edited together by his student Sherab Jungne.
Text
Jikten Gönpo: Hymns on the Fivefold Path of Realization of Mahāmudrā
Hymns on the Fivefold Path of Realization (Phyag rgya chen po lnga ldan rtogs pa'i mgur) by Jikten Gönpo.
Text
Jikten Gönpo: Mahāyāna System on Establishing the Wheels of Dharma Received by Onge
These are teachings delivered by Drikung Kagyu master Jikten Sumgön that includes an account of the twelve great events of the buddha and the detailed explanation of the three turnings of the wheel of dharma and written down by his student Onge. The text also contains a praise of the Ultimate Continuum as containing the gist of the third wheel.

Philosophical positions of this person

Is buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Definitive 
Do all beings have buddha-nature?
 
To which "turning of the wheel" do the buddha-nature teachings belong?
  Third Turning
Is buddha-nature equated with emptiness or alayavijnana?
 
Do buddha-nature teachings belong to the zhentong or rangtong view of emptiness?
 
Are there one or three vehicles on the path to buddhahood?
  1
Do the author's writings belong to the analytic or meditative tradition of Uttaratantra exegesis?
 
What is Buddha-nature?
  Tathāgatagarbha as a Causal Potential or Disposition (gotra)

"The [buddha] element in sentient beings makes enlightenment attainable. This enlightenment is attained gradually and not instantaneously..." Mathes, K., A Direct Path to the Buddha Within, p. 42.

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Does the author advocate the Svatantrika or Prasangika view of emptiness?
 

Other names

  • འཇིག་རྟེན་མགོན་པོ་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • རིན་ཆེན་དཔལ་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • འཇིག་རྟེན་གསུམ་མགོན་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • འབྲི་གུང་གདན་རབས་༠༡་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • 'jig rten mgon po · other names (Wylie)
  • rin chen dpal · other names (Wylie)
  • 'jig rten gsum mgon · other names (Wylie)
  • 'bri gung gdan rabs 01 · other names (Wylie)

Affiliations & relations

  • Drikung Kagyu · religious affiliation
  • phag mo gru pa rdo rje rgyal po · teacher
  • 'bri gung spyan snga shes rab 'byung gnas · student
  • Rdo rje shes rab · student
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