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Guifeng Zongmi. (J. Keihō Shūmitsu; K. Kyubong Chongmil 圭峰 宗密) (780-841). Chinese Chan master and historian; putative fifth patriarch of the Huayan tradition and successor in the Heze school of Chan; best known for positing the fundamental harmony between the scriptural teachings of Buddhism and Chan practice. Zongmi was a native of Xichong in present-day Sichuan province. Although little is known of his early life, Zongmi is said to have received a classical Confucian education. In 804, Zongmi encountered the monk Daoyuan (d.u.), purportedly a fourth-generation lineage holder of the Heze line of Chan, and became his student. During this period, Zongmi also carried on his studies of the ''Yuanjue jing''. In 808, Zongmi received the full monastic precepts from Daoyuan, who then recommended the monk Nanyin Weizhong (d. 821) as a suitable teacher. In 810, Zongmi met the monk Lingfeng (d.U.), a disciple of the Huayan monk Chengguan, at the monastery of Huijuesi. Two years later Zongmi began his studies of the [[Texts/Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra| ''Avataṃsakasūtra'']] under Chengguan in Chang’an. In 816, Zongmi began his residence at the monastery of Zhijusi on Zhongnanshan and in 821 he retired to the temple Caotangsi on Gui peak (Guifeng), whence he acquired his toponym. There, Zongmi devoted himself to such works as his influential commentary on the ''Yuanjue jing'', the ''Yuanjue jing dashu''. In 828, Zongmi was invited to the palace and given a purple robe and the title Dade (Great Virtue). During his stay at the capital he met many important statesmen including Pei Xiu (787-860). Zongmi was a prolific writer whose works include commentaries on the [[Texts/Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra| ''Avataṃsakasūtra'']], ''Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra'', ''Dasheng qixin lun'', ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'', ''Sifen lü'' ("Four-Part Vinaya"), and others. He also composed a massive, 100-roll history of the Chan school, the ''Chanyuan zhuquanji'' ("Collected Writings on the Source of Chan"), only the prolegomenon to which is extant. Zongmi's writings were extremely influential in the mature Korean Sǒn school and, especially, in the thought and practice of Pojo Chinul (1158-1210), who drew on Zongmi to advocate an accord between the traditions of Sǒn (C. Chan; meditation) and Kyo (C. Jiao; doctrine). (Source: "Guifeng Zongmi." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 335. Princeton University Press, 2104. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Indian scholiast and major translator of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese during the Liu Song period (420–479). Born in central India to a brāhmaṇa family, he is said to have studied in his youth the five traditional Indian sciences, as well as astronomy, calligraphy, mathematics, medicine, and magic. He was converted to Buddhism and began systematically to study Buddhist texts, starting with the Abhidharma and proceeding through the most influential Mahāyāna texts, such as the ''Mahāprajñāpāramitāsūtra'' and ''Avataṃsakasūtra''. Around 435, he departed from Sri Lanka for China, arriving in Guangzhou by sea. In China, he devoted himself to teaching and translating Buddhist scriptures, carrying out most of his translations of Mahāyāna and mainstream Buddhist texts while residing in Qiyuansi in Jiankang and Xinsi in Jingzhou. He translated a total of fifty-two scriptures in 134 rolls, including the ''Saṃyuktāgama'' and the ''Prakaranapāda'' [śāstra], both associated with the Sarvāstivāda school, such seminal Mahāyāna texts as the ''[[Śrīmālādevīsiṃhanādasūtra]]'' and the ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra''. In the ''Lengqie shizi ji'', a Chan genealogical history associated with the Northern school (Bei zong) of the early Chan tradition, Guṇabhadra is placed before Bodhidharma in the Chan patriarchal lineage, perhaps because of his role in translating the ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra'', an important scriptural influence in the early Chan school. (Source: "Guṇabhadra." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 336. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27) +
H
Hakamaya Noriaki is a Japanese Buddhist scholar who is associated with what is known as "Critical Buddhism." According to Jamie Hubbard, "The term critical Buddhism (''hihan Bukkyō'') refers to Hakamaya Noriaki (1943– ) and Matsumoto Shirō’s (1950– ) critique of Buddha-nature (''tathāgatagarbha'') and original enlightenment (''hongaku'') as not Buddhist. Theological and apologetic in nature, yet using the traditional textual and philological methods of academic scholarship (both scholars are specialists in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist studies), critical Buddhism asserts that Buddha-nature and similar doctrines are examples of Hindu-like thinking of a substantial self (ātman), which Buddhism opposes with the doctrines of no-self and causality (''pratītyasamutpāda''). Critical Buddhism further asserts that these monistic doctrines deny language and thinking in favor of an ineffable and nonconceptual mysticism contrary to the discriminating awareness (prajñā) and selfless compassion that constitutes Buddhist awakening." (Source: "Critical Buddhism (Hihan Bukkyō)." In ''Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Vol. 1'', 189. Macmillan Reference USA, 2004) +
Haribhadra. (T. Seng ge bzang po) (c. 800). Indian Buddhist exegete during the Pāla dynasty, whom later Tibetan doxographers associate with the Yogācāra-*Svātantrika syncretistic strand of Indian philosophy. He may have been a Student of Śāntarakṣita and was a contemporary of Kamalaśīla; he himself lists Vairocanabhadra as his teacher. Haribhadra is known for his two commentaries on the ''Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra'' ("Prajñāpāramitā in Eight Thousand Lines"): the longer ''Abhisamayālaṃ kārālokā-Prajñāpãramitãvyãkhyã'', and its summary, the ''Abhisamayālaṃkāravivṛti''. He is also known for his recasting of the twenty-five-thousand-line version of the prajñāpāramitā (''Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra'') in a work entitled the ''Le'u brgyad ma'' in Tibetan. Each of these works is based on the interpretative scheme set forth in the ''Abhisamayālaṃkāra'' ("Ornament for Clear Realizations"), a guide to the ''Pañcaviṃśati'' that Haribhadra explicitly attributes to Maitreya. His ''Abhisamayālaṃkārālokā'' builds upon Pramāṇa, Madhyamaka, and Abhidharma literature and was extremely influential in Tibet; its summary (known as "’grel pa don gsal" in Tibetan) is the root text (''rtsa ba'') for commentaries in the Gsang phu ne’u thog monastery tradition originating with Rngog Blo ldan shes rab. It is the most widely studied prajñāpāramitā commentary in Tibetan Buddhism to the present day. Haribhadra is known for his explanation of a ''jñānadharmakāya'' (knowledge truth-body) in addition to a ''svābhāvakāya'', viz., the eternally pure ''dharmadhātu'' that is free from duality. He is characterized as an alīkākāravādin ("false-aspectarian") to differentiate him from Kamalaśīla, a satyākāravãdin ("true- aspectarian") who holds that the objects appearing in the diverse forms of knowledge in a buddha's all-knowing mind are truly what they seem to be. He cites Dharmakīrti frequently but appears to accept that scripture (''āgama'') is also a valid authority (''pramāṇa''). There are two principal commentaries on his work, by Dharmamitra and Dharmakīrtiśrī. Buddhaśrījñāna (or simply Buddhajñāna) was his disciple. The ''Subodhinī'', a commentary on the ''Ratnaguṇasaṃcayagāthā'', is also attributed to him. (Source: "Haribhadra." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 345. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
A Chinese priest who lived during the fourth and fifth centuries. He studied under Hui-yüan at Mount Lu. Hearing of the master translator Kumārajīva, who had come to Ch'ang-an in 401, Hui-kuan became his disciple and joined in his translation work. He wrote ''An Introduction to the Essentials of the Lotus Sutra'', which won Kumārajīva's high praise. Kumārajīva exhorted him to propagate Buddhism in the south, and after Kumārajīva’s death he went to Ching-chou and later to Chien-k'ang, where he lived at Tao-ch'ang-ssu temple. Hence he was known as Hui-kuan of Tao-ch'ang-ssu temple. It is said that in Chien-k'ang he assisted Buddhabhadra with his translation of the Flower Garland Sutra. Together with Hsieh Ling-yün and Hui-yen, he revised the two existing Chinese translations of the Nirvana Sutra and produced what is called the southern version of the sutra. He also devised a classification of Shakyamuni Buddha's lifetime teachings into five periods according to the order in which he believed they had been expounded. He defined the Nirvana Sutra in this system as the teaching of the eternity of the Buddha nature, regarding it as the teaching of the fifth and last period, and the Lotus Sutra as the teaching of the fourth period. His concept of the five periods was widely known in China and was incorporated into other scholars' systems of classification. Hui-kuan held that enlightenment is achieved gradually in the course of practice. He thus opposed Tao-sheng, another disciple of Kumārajīva who held that enlightenment is attained suddenly and completely. He wrote ''The Discrimination of Teachings'' and ''The Treatise on the Doctrines of Immediate Attainment of Enlightenment and Gradual Attainment of Enlightenment''. ([https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/H/72 Source Accessed Aug 20, 2020]) +
A disciple of Kumārajīva and a translator of Buddhist scriptures in China. Together with Hui-kuan and Hsieh Ling-yün, he revised the forty-volume ''Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'', the Chinese translation by [Dharmakṣema], in light of the ''Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' translated by Fa-hsien and Buddhabhadra. He produced this revision as [a] thirty-six volume ''Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' in 436. ([https://www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/H/79 Source Accessed Aug 20, 2020]) +
Hōnen was the religious reformer and founder of the first independent branch of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism called Jōdo-shū (浄土宗, "The Pure Land School"). He is also considered the Seventh Jōdo Shinshū Patriarch.
Hōnen became a Tendai initiate at an early age, but grew disaffected and sought an approach to Buddhism that anyone could follow, even during the perceived Age of Dharma Decline. After discovering the writings of the Chinese Buddhist Shandao, he undertook the teaching of rebirth in the pure land of Amitābha through nianfo or "recitation of the Buddha's name".
Hōnen gathered a wide array of followers and critics. Emperor Tsuchimikado exiled Hōnen and his followers in 1207 after an incident regarding two of his disciples in addition to persuasion by influential Buddhist communities. Hōnen was eventually pardoned and allowed to return to Kyoto, where he stayed for a short time before his death. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C5%8Dnen Source Accessed October 17, 2019]) +
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Jayānanda (Tib. རྒྱལ་བ་ཀུན་དགའ, gyalwa kün ga, Wyl. rgyal ba kun dga') was the author of an important commentary on the ''Introduction to the Middle Way'' (''Madhyamakāvatāra'') by Candrakīrti called the ''Madhyamakāvatāraṭīkā''.
The Tibetan literature has not preserved very much about Jayānanda. He appears to have publicly debated
with Phya-pa Chos-kyi seng-ge (1109–1169) on ''madhyamaka'' subjects at Gsang-phu ne'u-thog
monastery, of which the latter was abbot for eighteen years, most likely from 1152 to 1169, which resulted in
a public defeat for him by that unique thinker who was one of Tibet's few, but foremost opponents of the
''*prāsaṇgika-madyamaka''. The great Gser-mdog Paṇ-chen Śākya-mchog ldan (1428–1507) writes that he
thereafter left Tibet for Mount Wutai. In this connection, it is rather curious that he also writes . . . that
Jayānanda had composed the ''Madhayamakāvatāravṛtti'' in Tibet. This work was not very much studied in
later times, akthough a notable exception seems to have been Tsong-kha-pa, who cites it severally in some
of his major writings, and then usually in a highly critical vein, particularly in connection with its "Tibetan
followers." His influence in Tibet was nonetheless not inconsiderable. Among his many disciples, we should
count Rma-bya Brtson-'grus seng-ge (?–1185) who, in fact, wrote a commentary on the
''Tarkamudgarakārikā''. So far, it seems that only his exegesis of the ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' has been
presevered by way of a late nineteenth century Sde-dge blockprint. (Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp,
"Jayānanda. A Twelfth Century Guoshi from Kashmir Among the Tangut." ''Central Asiatic Journal'' 37, no.
3/4 (1993): 188–97) +
A Tibetan exegete and visionary, renowned as one of the premier treasure revealers (''gter ston'') in the Rnying ma sect of Tibetan Buddhism. 'Jigs med gling pa was born in the central Tibetan region of 'Phyong rgyas (Chongye), and from an early age recalled many of his previous incarnations, including those of the Tibetan king Khri srong lde btsan, the scholars Sgam po pa and Klong chen pa and, in his immediately preceding birth, Chos rje gling pa. After a period of monastic education, in his late twenties, he undertook an intense series of meditation retreats, first at Dpal ri monastery and then at the Chims phu cave complex near Bsam yas. In one of the numerous visions he experienced during this period, he received the klong chen snying thig, or "Heart Sphere of the Great Expanse," from a ḍākinī at the Bodhnāth stūpa in Kathmandu. The revelation of this text is considered a “mind treasure” (''dgongs gter''), composed by Padmasambhava and revealed to the mind of a later disciple. 'Jigs med gling pa kept this revelation secret for seven years before transcribing it. The klong chen snying thig corpus systematized by 'Jigs med gling pa, including numerous explanatory texts, tantric initiations, and ritual cycles, became a seminal component of the rdzogs chen teachings in the Rnying ma sect. While based in central Tibet, 'Jigs med gling pa was also influential in Tibet's eastern regions, serving as spiritual teacher to the royal family of Sde dge and supervising the printing of the collected Rnying ma tantras in twenty-eight volumes. His patrons and disciples included some of the most powerful and prestigious individuals from Khams in eastern Tibet, and his active participation in reviving Rnying ma traditions during a time of persecution earned him a place at the forefront of the burgeoning eclectic or nonsectarian (''ris med'') movement. Numerous subsequent visionaries involved in promulgating the movement identified themselves as 'Jigs med gling pa's reincarnation, including 'Jam dbyang mkhyen brtse dbang po, Mdo mkhyen brtse Ye Shes rdo rje, Dpal sprul Rinpoche, and Dil mgo mkhyen brtse. (Source: "'Jigs med gling pa." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 387–88. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
An 8th century Indian author that was associated mainly with the Yogācāra school of thought. +
Jñānagarbha (Tibetan: ཡེ་ཤེས་སྙིང་པོ་, Wyl. ye shes snying po) was an 8th-century Buddhist philosopher from Nalanda who wrote on Madhyamaka and Yogācāra and is considered part of Bhāviveka's Svātantrika tradition. He was a student of Śrīgupta and the teacher and ordaining master of Śāntarakṣita.
In his mostly Svātantrika interpretation of Madhyamaka philosophy, Jñānagarbha incorporated aspects of Yogācāra philosophy and Dharmakirti's epistemology and therefore can be seen as a harmonizer of the various Buddhist philosophical systems like his student Śāntarakṣita.
He is mostly known for his work "Distinguishing the Two Truths" (Skt. ''Satyadvayavibhaṅga'', Wyl. ''Bden gnyis rnam ‘byed''). This work mostly sought to critique the views of Dharmapāla of Nalanda and his followers. A meditation text named "The Path for the Practice of Yoga" (''Yoga-bhavana-marga'' or ''-patha'') is also attributed to him by Tibetan sources. He also may have written a commentary to the ''Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra'', a major sūtra of the Yogācāra school. However, it is possible that the author of this text was actually a different writer also named Jñānagarbha.
Jñānagarbha's ''Satyadvayavibhaṅga'' analyzes the Madhyamaka "two truths" doctrine of conventional truth and ultimate truth. He defends the role of conceptual thinking and reasoning against those who would eliminate all conceptual thinking and theorizing (i.e., Candrakīrti). However, like other Madhyamikas, the goal of his project is a form of awareness which is free from all concepts, though one which, according to Jñānagarbha, is reachable through conceptual thought. Jñānagarbha held that even though language and reasoning is based on a cause and effect ontology which is ultimately empty and unreal, it can still lead toward the ultimate truth, through a logical analysis which realizes the untenable assumptions of reason and causality itself. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B1%C4%81nagarbha Source Accessed Jan 17, 2020])
Jñānagupta. (C. Shenajueduo; J. Janakutta; K . Sanagulta 闍那崛多) (523-600). Indian monk from Gandhāra, who arrived in China around 559 and became a prolific translator of Indian materials into Chinese; some thirty-five of his translations are still extant and preserved in the Chinese canon (Dazangjing ). He is perhaps best known for his retranslation of the ''Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra'' ("Lotus Sūtra"), which included portions of the scripture that did not appear in Kumārajīva's pioneering translation made two centuries before, especially the important "Chapter on Devadatta." He also translated the ''Adhyāśayasañcodana'', the ''Vimalakīrtinirdeśa'', the ''Abhiniṣkramaṇasūtra'' (a possible translation of the ''Mahāvastu''), and several dhāraṇī sūtras. (Source: "Jñānagupta." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 396. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
There are multiple authors associated with this name, that were active in the 12th century who transmitted Tantric lineages that spread to Tibet. These include one from Kashmir ([https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P7148 BDRC: P7148]) and one from Nepal ([https://www.tbrc.org/#!rid=P4CZ15139 BDRC: P4CZ15139]). Some have also suggested that the author of the ''Tathāgatahṛdayālaṃkāra'', a commentary on the ''Laṅkāvatārasūtra'', was Chinese due to the colophon, which refers to the author as Rgya'i mkhan po. However, this could either refer to India (Rgya mkhar) or China (Rgya nag). Nevertheless, this is the only non-Tantric work attributed to an author by the name of Jñānavajra. +
Late Indian Yogācāra philosopher and logician of the school of Dharmakīrti at Vikramaśīla monastery, born between 975 and 1000. Within the Yogācāra, he held the so-called “aspectarian” (sākāra) position regarding the nature of cognition, taking a position opposed to that of Ratnākaraśānti. He is credited as the author of twelve treatises, including an important work on apoha, the ''Apohaprakaraṇa''. In his works on logic, he upholds the interpretation of Dharmakīrti by Prajñākaragupta against the interpretation by Dharmottara. (Source: "Jñānaśrīmitra." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 398. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
K
The mythical second king of Shambhala, who is reported to have written the ''Vimalaprabhā'', an important commentary on the ''Kālacakra Tantra''. He is considered to be an emanation of Avalokiteśvara and subsequently the Dalai Lamas are considered to be emanations of this king. +
[https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/kalu-rinpoche/12180 A new biography is available on Treasury of Lives (February, 2021)]
An important modern meditation master and teacher of Tibetan Buddhism. Recognized as an incarnation (sprul sku) of the Karma Bka' brgyud master 'Jam mgon kong sprul, Kalu Rinpoche was ordained at the age of thirteen by the eleventh Situ Rinpoche. Kalu Rinpoche began serious meditation study at an early age, undertaking his first three-year retreat at the age of sixteen. He also received the transmission of the teachings of the Shangs pa sect of Bka' brgyud. He later served as the meditation teacher at Dpal spungs monastery. Following the Chinese invasion, Kalu Rinpoche left Tibet in 1962 and first stayed at a small monastery outside of Darjeeling, India. He later settled in Sonada, West Bengal, where he built a three-year retreat center, teaching there before traveling internationally for ten years (1971–1981). In 1971, he traveled to France and the United States, at the request of the Dalai Lama and the Karma pa, in order to educate Westerners in Buddhism. During those ten years, Kalu Rinpoche founded many meditation and dharma centers in Canada, the United States, and Europe, with his main meditation school in Vancouver, Canada. Kalu Rinpoche led his first three-year retreat for Western students of Tibetan Buddhism in France in 1976. His full name is Kar ma rang 'byung kun khyab phrin las. (Source: "Kalu Rinpoche." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 410. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
For a recent publication about the life of Kyabje Dorje Chang Kalu Rinpoche, which contains accounts written by others about him, his writings—including his autobiography, songs, poems, essays, letters, and his own guru yoga—and translations of oral teachings, see ''Lord of the Siddhas: The Life, Teachings, Paranirvana and Legacy of Kyabje Dorje Chang Kalu Rinpoche'', 2019. https://www.namsebangdzo.com/Lord-of-the-Siddhas-p/9780692160442.htm
For information about the 2nd Kalu Rinpoche, Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche, see, https://paldenshangpa.org/his-eminence-the-2nd-kalu-rinpoche/
Kamalagupta was a noted Kashmīri paṇḍita active in the tenth and eleventh centuries. According to Jean Naudou (''Buddhists of Kashmir'', 1980), he was among many Kashmīri paṇḍitas, "including Śraddhākaravarman, Padmākaragupta, Ratnavajra, Buddhaśrīśānta and Buddhapāla, who came to Tibet at the invitation of Ye-śes ’od : that is the start of a period of continuous exchangs [''sic''] between Kaśmīr and Mṅa-ris . . ." (163).
Kamalagupta and Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055) translated the ''Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra'' in Tibet in the eleventh century (D121). An earlier translation of this text (D120) was made in the ninth century by Jinamitra, Jñānagarbha, and Devacandra.
Kamalagupta often collaborated with Rinchen Zangpo, and they translated many books from Sanskrit to Tibetan together. ([https://treasuryoflives.org/biographies/view/Wangpabzhun/P8276 Source Accessed Aug 19, 2020]) +
One of the most important Madhyamaka authors of late Indian Buddhism, a major representative of the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka synthesis, and a participant in the famous Bsam yas Debate. According to Tibetan doxographies, he was a proponent of the Yogācāra-Svātantrika-Madhyamaka. Although little is known about his life, according to Tibetan sources he was a monk and teacher at Nālandā. Tibetan sources also count him as one of three (together with Śāntarakṣita and Jñãnagarbha) “Eastern Svātantrikas” (rang rgyud shar gsum), suggesting that he was from Bengal. He was clearly a direct disciple of Śāntarakṣita, composing important commentaries on his teacher’s two major works, the ''Madhyamakālaṃkāra'' and the ''Tattvasaṃgraha''. The latter commentary, which is extant in Sanskrit, is an important source for both Hindu and Buddhist philosophical positions in the eighth century. (Source: "Kamalaśīla." In ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism'', 411. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.) +
An important master of the Dakpo Kagyu tradition. He was a student of the Seventh Karmapa and a teacher to the Eighth Karmapa and the Second Pawo Rinpoche. An immanent scholar, he wrote works on both sūtra and tantra, as well as an acclaimed commentary on the three cycles of ''doha'' of the famed Indian master Saraha. +
The Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje, was a prominent Karma Kagyu hierarch who also held Nyingma and Chod lineages. He was likely the first man to carry the title of Karmapa, following his identification by Orgyenpa Rinchen Pal as the reincarnation of Karma Pakshi, whom Orgyenpa posthumously identified as the reincarnation of Dusum Khyenpa. He spent much of his life traveling across Tibet and made two visits to the Yuan court in China. +
