Thogs med bzang po

From Buddha-Nature


རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཐོགས་མེད་བཟང་པོ་
Gyalse Tokme Zangpo(1295 - 1369) 
Damngak Rinpoché DzöBuddhist Digital Resource Center

Gyalse Tokme Zangpo was a Kadampa master of the fourteenth century based at Ngulchu Monastery where he sat in retreat for twenty years. He had previously served as the abbot of Bodong E for about nine years, from 1326 to 1335. Significant in the transmission of Lojong teachings, his compositions include the famous Thirty-seven Practices of the Bodhisattva, one of the classics of Tibetan buddhist literature. A specialist in tantric Mahākaruṇā, he was a disciple of Butön Rinchen Drup and a teacher of Rendawa Zhönu Lodrö, and is counted as seventy-third in the Lamrim lineage.

... read more at The Treasury of Lives

Library Items

Book
The Heart of Compassion
What would be the practical implications of caring more about others than about yourself? This is the radical theme of this extraordinary set of instructions, a training manual composed in the fourteenth century by the Buddhist hermit Ngulchu Thogme, here explained in detail by one of the great Tibetan Buddhist masters of the twentieth century, Dilgo Khyentse. In the Mahayana tradition, those who have the courage to undertake the profound change of attitude required to develop true compassion are called bodhisattvas. Their great resolve—to consider others’ needs as paramount, and thus to attain enlightenment for the sake of all living creatures—carries them beyond the limits imposed by the illusions of “I” and “mine,” culminating in the direct realization of reality, transcending dualistic notions of self and other. This classic text presents ways that we can work with our own hearts and minds, starting wherever we find ourselves now, to unravel our small-minded preoccupations and discover our own potential for compassion, love, and wisdom. Many generations of Buddhist practitioners have been inspired by these teachings, and the great masters of all traditions have written numerous commentaries. Dilgo Khyentse’s commentary is probably his most extensive recorded teaching on Mahayana practice. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
Khyentse, Dilgo. The Heart of Compassion: Instructions on Ngulchu Thogme's Thirty-Sevenfold Practice of a Bodhisattva. Translated by Matthieu Ricard and edited by John Canti (Padmakara Translation Group). New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 2006.
Book
The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows
With its emphasis on the concept of buddha-nature, or the ultimate nature of mind, the Uttaratantra is a classical Buddhist treatise that lays out an early map of the Mahāyāna path to enlightenment. Tsering Wangchuk unravels the history of this important Indic text in Tibet by examining numerous Tibetan commentaries and other exegetical texts on the treatise that emerged between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. These commentaries explored such questions as: Is the buddha-nature teaching found in the Uttaratantra literally true, or does it have to be interpreted differently to understand its ultimate meaning? Does it explicate ultimate truth that is inherently enlightened or ultimate truth that is empty only of independent existence? Does the treatise teach ultimate nature of mind according to the Cittamātra or the Madhyamaka School of Mahāyāna? By focusing on the diverse interpretations that different textual communities employed to make sense of the Uttaratantra, Wangchuk provides a necessary historical context for the development of the text in Tibet. (Source: SUNY Press)
Wangchuk, Tsering. The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows: Tibetan Thinkers Debate the Centrality of the Buddha-Nature Treatise. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2017.
Text
Gyalse Tokme Zangpo: Illuminating the Definitive Meaning of the Uttaratantra
This work presents a late (14th century) Kadampa view on the Ratnagotravibhāga and the associated buddha-nature teachings by an influential representative of this tradition, often referred to as "the second Asaṅga" (thogs med gnyis pa).
Text
Gyalse Tokme Zangpo: Verses from the Beginning and Conclusion of Sūtrālaṅkāra, Bodhicaryāvatāra and Uttaratantra
'

On the topic of this person

Book
The Heart of Compassion
What would be the practical implications of caring more about others than about yourself? This is the radical theme of this extraordinary set of instructions, a training manual composed in the fourteenth century by the Buddhist hermit Ngulchu Thogme, here explained in detail by one of the great Tibetan Buddhist masters of the twentieth century, Dilgo Khyentse. In the Mahayana tradition, those who have the courage to undertake the profound change of attitude required to develop true compassion are called bodhisattvas. Their great resolve—to consider others’ needs as paramount, and thus to attain enlightenment for the sake of all living creatures—carries them beyond the limits imposed by the illusions of “I” and “mine,” culminating in the direct realization of reality, transcending dualistic notions of self and other. This classic text presents ways that we can work with our own hearts and minds, starting wherever we find ourselves now, to unravel our small-minded preoccupations and discover our own potential for compassion, love, and wisdom. Many generations of Buddhist practitioners have been inspired by these teachings, and the great masters of all traditions have written numerous commentaries. Dilgo Khyentse’s commentary is probably his most extensive recorded teaching on Mahayana practice. (Source: Shambhala Publications)
Khyentse, Dilgo. The Heart of Compassion: Instructions on Ngulchu Thogme's Thirty-Sevenfold Practice of a Bodhisattva. Translated by Matthieu Ricard and edited by John Canti (Padmakara Translation Group). New Delhi: Shechen Publications, 2006.
PhD Diss
Wangchuk, Tsering: The Uttaratantra in the Age of Argumentation: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and His Fourteenth-Century Interlocutors on Buddha-Lineage
This dissertation examines the intellectual history of the Uttaratantra in Tibet from the 12th century to the early 15th century. It is between these centuries that the text, which is one of the most authoritative works on the notion of tathāgata-essence, takes its shape in Tibet through the writings of some of the most formidable Tibetan thinkers of the time.
Wangchuk, Tsering. "The Uttaratantra in the Age of Argumentation: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen and His Fourteenth-Century Interlocutors on Buddha-Lineage." PhD diss., University of Virginia, 2009.

Philosophical positions of this person

Is buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
Definitive 
Do all beings have buddha-nature?
  Yes


"Gyelsé Tokmé equates the naturally purified dharma-body with the tathāgata-essence by arguing that it is precisely because the latter exists in all beings that one can claim that the former exists in all beings also. However, unlike Dölpopa, he never explicitly says in his commentary that sentient beings have a fully enlightened buddha within." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 62.

Click for more on this topic
To which "turning of the wheel" do the buddha-nature teachings belong?
  Third Turning

Gyelsé Tokmé emphasizes that the last-wheel teachings teach the most definitive meaning of the Buddha's thought. He states, "This meaning, which is depicted by the nine examples in this way, is the profoundest of the profound, and it is the ultimate definitive meaning." Wangchuk, Tsering, The Uttaratantra in the Land of Snows, p. 61.

Click for more on this topic
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?
 
Do the author's writings belong to the analytic or meditative tradition of Uttaratantra exegesis?
 
What is Buddha-nature?
  Tathāgatagarbha as the Latent State of Buddhahood that is Obscured in Sentient Beings
Does the author advocate the Svatantrika or Prasangika view of emptiness?
 

Other names

  • རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཐོགས་མེད་བཟང་པོ་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • ཐོགས་མེད་བཟང་པོ་དཔལ་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • རྒྱལ་སྲས་དངུལ་ཆུ་ཐོགས་མེད་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཆོས་རྫོང་པ་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • དཀོན་མཆོག་བཟང་པོ་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • བཟང་པོ་དཔལ་ · other names (Tibetan)
  • rgyal sras thogs med bzang po · other names (Wylie)
  • thogs med bzang po dpal · other names (Wylie)
  • rgyal sras dngul chu thogs med · other names (Wylie)
  • rgyal sras chos rdzong pa · other names (Wylie)
  • dkon mchog bzang po · other names (Wylie)
  • bzang po dpal · other names (Wylie)

Affiliations & relations

  • Kadam · religious affiliation
  • red mda' ba gzhon nu blo gros · student
  • 'jam dbyangs don yod rgyal mtshan · student
Retrieved from "https://buddhanature-new.tsadra.org/index.php?title=People/Thogs_med_bzang_po&oldid=10117"
Buddha-Nature
A Tsadra Foundation Initiative
A multimedia resource hub for scripture, scholarship,
and teachings on tathāgatagarbha.
Sign up for the Buddha-Nature mailing list:

Tsadra Foundation
Translation & Transmission Conference
DharmaCloud Tibetan eBooks
Buddha-Nature
Śāntideva's Life and Works
Rinchen Terdzö Chenmo
Damngak Rinpoche Dzö
Khyentse Lineage
Dharma Dictionary

བོད་སྐད་
About
Site Guide
Read
Watch
Glossary
Login

Project Description

The purpose of the buddha-nature website is to provide a resource hub for trustworthy information for learning about and teaching the concept of buddha-nature, its associated texts, teachings, lineages, and relevant Buddhist ideas. Unique content will be shared here, but the site will primarily act as a broker for other projects and authors that have already created quality materials, which we will curate for a wide range of audiences.

About us ...
© Tsadra Foundation. Please feel free to use this website and its content in accordance with fair use policies for teaching, scholarship, education, and research.