by Khenpo Tashi
By compiling this, we introduce some of the most revered names in Tibetan Buddhist history.
The next time we hear any of these names, if we get goosebumps, or tears start to flow from our eyes, that means we are beginning to appreciate the greatness of these masters.
Context
In the Shedra (Tibetan Buddhist monastic college), we can say that the works of three groups of scholars are studied. This is a rough grouping for one’s initial understanding.
First, the Indian Panditas. Pandita means ‘great knowledgeable scholar‘. Pandita is a title for someone whose mind is beyond normal perception. These are the masters who lived and taught from the 1st Century to the 10th Century AD. Usually resided and taught in the great Buddhist university Nalanda in India.
Second, the ancient Tibetan Loppons. Loppon means someone who is a possessor of knowledge. The Tibetan Loppons lived around the 8th Century up to the 18th Century. Some of them studied in Nalanda University in India. Many of them studied in the monasteries of Tibet.
Third, the modern Tibetan Khenpos. This group lived around the 19th to 20th Centuries. They gave brilliant commentaries or summaries on the commentaries of the Tibetan Loppons and Indian Panditas.
Lower Sutras (Levels 1 – 4)
Shedra Level 1:
Acharya Shantideva (685 – 763 AD):
Wrote the A Guide to the Way of the Bodhisattva
Shantideva is an Indian Pandita, well-known to most Mahayana Buddhists. His text is a well-loved text on the Bodhisattva vow and Bodhicitta (Mind of Enlightenment). Ten chapters in total, beginning with the ‘benefits of Bodhicitta’, and ending with a chapter on very great and vast dedications.
It is the first text taught in the Shedra because its content and instructions are clear and concise. It can easily be understood by the new students.
Panchen Pema Wang-Gyal (1487 – 1542 AD)
Wrote the Ascertaining the Three Vows
Also known as Ngari Panchen. Panchen is a Tibetan word meaning ‘Great Pandita’. This is because Ngari Panchen was said to have studied 100 doctrinal works by the time he was 20 years old. He studied extensively and was also a treasure revealer (Terton). He started the Buddhist community Evam Chokgar, which eventually became the Dorje Drak monastery (one of the six mother monasteries of the Nyingma school).
His writing is a summary of the three types of Buddhist vows – the Pratimoksha, Bodhisattva and Vajrayana vows. It is taught in the first year so that the student, who is receiving the monk’s vow Ge-tsul, will understand what the monastic vows mean.
Khenpo Shenphen Nangwa (or Khenpo Shenga) (1871 – 1927)
Wrote an Annotated Commentary on Way of the Bodhisattva
If we need to remember someone here, Khenpo Shenga is that person. Khenpo Shenga revitalized the whole Shedra curriculum during his time in the 20th Century. He re-aligned the Shedra on the 13 Great Indian texts. Most of the Shedra institutions today have his influence and brilliance. All in all, seven of his many annotated commentaries are studied in the Shedra.
Level 2:
Khenchen Shantarakshita (8th Century)
Wrote Ornament of the Middle Way
His text introduces and summarizes Nagarjuna’s Middle Way thought. It also uses Logic or Valid Cognition to prove the correctness of the Middle Way. There is a saying that when the necks of two lions meet, no enemy can pass through.
Likewise, when Middle Way and Valid Cognition meet, the understanding of Buddha’s teaching is solid and unbreakable. The Ornament of the Middle Way successfully does this. That is why it is studied before the actual text of Nagarjuna, the Root Stanzas of the Middle Way.
Khenchen is the illustrious scholar-monk who requested King Trisong Deutsen to invite Guru Rinpoche from Oddiyana. With the help of Guru Rinpoche, Samye Monastery was erected. Khenchen first gave the full monk’s vows (Gelong) to the first seven Tibetan monks in Tibet.
Mipham Rinpoche (1846 – 1912)
Wrote Gateway to Knowledge
He is one recent Tibetan master who wrote both Shedra study text and commentaries on ancient Indian texts. For instance, in Level 2, this writing Gateway to Knowledge is a condensation of the entire Buddhism.
Then, he also wrote commentaries on the Pramana (Logic) text of Acharya Dharmakirti for Levels 4-7, called “Illustrious Sayings“, on Buddha-nature, called “Lion’s Roar” in Level 5, on Guhyagharba Tantra in Level 7, and on Dzogchen in Level 9.
Like Khenpo Shenga, he is another central figure in the revival of the Tibetan Shedra in the 20th Century.
Level 3:
Acharya Chandrakirti (7th century AD)
Wrote Entering the Middle Way
Chandrakirti’s writing was written around 500 years after Nagarjuna’s Root Stanzas of the Middle Way. It gives a warm-up, or a summary, of Nagarjuna’s writing and Aryadeva’s 400 Verses. This text is one of the 13 Great Indian texts.
Acharya Nagarjuna (1st Century AD)
Wrote Root Stanzas of the Middle Way
Nagarjuna is the founder of the Middle Way school of Mahayana Buddhism. His text is the main text of the entire Levels 1-4.
Nagarjuna has found immortality by clearing up all his Karma. One day, a prince wanted to kill his father, the King. Because the King’s life is said to be connected to Nagarjuna’s life, the prince decided to kill Nagarjuna so he could kill his father.
Nagarjuna accepted the prince’s request, but he could not be killed by any weapons. Nagarjuna famously said, “My dear prince. You cannot kill me with weapons because I have cleaned all my negative Karma of being harmed by weapons. However, once in my past lives, I accidentally killed an insect while cutting Kusha grass. Since I have not purified that Karma, you may behead me with kusha grass”.
The prince did this and Nagarjuna’s head was severed using a blade of Kusha grass.
Acharya Aryadeva
Wrote 400 Verses on the Middle Way
Aryadeva is the foremost student and disciple of Nagarjuna. His main work is an elaboration of Nagarjuna’s ‘Root Stanzas’.
Khenpo Shenga wrote Annotated Commentaries on both the above works.
Level 4:
Acharya Vasubhandu
Wrote Abhidharma-kosha-karika
Vasubhandu is also renowned in Chinese Buddhism due to his work, a great Indian text on the Abhidharma, or the “Theory of Knowledge”.
Vasubhandu is the half-brother of Asanga. Their mother was a former Buddhist nun who renounced the nun life to marry two different princes at two different times. At that time, she was so worried about the decline of the Buddhadharma that she abandoned her renunciate life as a nun. From the first husband-prince, the mother bore Asanga. From the second husband, she gave birth to Vasubhandu.
Acharya Dharmakirti
Wrote Treatise on Valid Cognition
It is a commentary on Dignaga’s writing, his main master. This text is studied from Levels 4 to 7, with one chapter of this text studied for each year.
Dharmakirti is the foremost student of Dignaga. Dignaga is considered the father of Valid Cognition (Logic, or Pramana). Logic is the step-by-step analysis to find out truth. Logic is a body of knowledge that stands out of Buddhism, because it is an independent body of guidelines to ascertain the truth of Samsara, Buddha, Karma and so on.
Mipham Rinpoche wrote a commentary on Abhidharma-kosha-karika and on Treatise of Valid Cognition. Khenpo Shenga wrote an Annotated Commentary on the former text that are also studied in Level 4.
Continued to Levels 5 to 9