The Life and Works of mKhan-po gZhan-dga (1871-1927)

Zusatztext

The rDzogs-chen master and scholar mKhan-po gZhan-dga is perhaps best known for being unknown. Raised in the vast plains of northern Khams, he came to inherit the scholarly tradition of rDza dPal-sprul Rin-po-che and revitalize the college belonging to rDzogs-chen monastery, in the shadow of the snowcapped Ru-dam mountain range. In the spirit of the non-sectarian movement, students from all traditions of Khams came to learn from him, some following him as he moved on to teach near the capital sDe-dge dGon-chen, to become the tutor of the Tai Si-tu incarnation at dPal-spungs and to establish the college at mKhyen-brtsei-dbang-pos estate near rDzong-gsar. In this way, this scion of nomad nobility eventually became a teacher at the most important centres of the settled communities, a rNying-ma-pa established and respected among the most exalted Sa-skya-pa scholars. gZhan-dgas specific curriculum led to a wave of colleges being founded by his disciples in the rNying-ma, bKa-brgyud and Sa-skya traditions, effecting a leap in higher education all over the Tibetan plateau. The reason for gZhan-dgas fame was at the same time the reason for his invisibility: in order to provide a curriculum for students from all Tibetan Buddhist denominations, he had written his textbooks based on the explanations of Indian Buddhist masters exclusively, without mixing them with even a hair (spu tsam yang ma bsres par) of specific Tibetan opinions, including his own. gZhandgas activity unfolded in the network of social and spiritual issues of his time, issues as diverse as the relation between Pramana and Madhyamaka, the royal succession of sDedge and the war of 1908/09, the debates about gZhanstong and the interpretation of cittamatra, the succession of the mKhyenbrtse estate, the role of monasticism in Khamspa society, the enthronement of Dilmgo mKhyenbrtse Rinpoche, the Britishbacked offensive in sDedge near the end of WWI, the ethical and political dimensions of debate, the rDzogschen lineage of Bogangsdkar Rinpoche, rDza dPalspruls Klong chen snying thig lineage(s), Sanskrit studies in Khams, the revival of Goramspa studies, and, at the very peak, Klongchenpas interpretation of Madhyamaka. Readers will find musings on these issues interwoven with gZhandgas biography and a catalogue of his works.

Weitere Details