དགའ་ལྡན་ལྔ་མཆོད་ཆེན་མོའི་ངོ་སྤྲོད་མདོར་བསྡུས། Brief Introduction to the Gaden Ngamchoe by Kachen la

Concisely Introduction to the Gaden Ngamchoe the commemorate Pari-Nirvana of Je Tsongkhapa by Kachen Lobzang Tsultim of Tashi Lhunpo Monastic University. #tashilhunpomonastery
Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa was born in the Tsongkha region of Amdo in 1357. His mother was Shingza Acho and his father was Tara Lubum Ge. Among the numerous miraculous incidents and omens believed to have taken place surrounding his birth. Today the location of Tsongkhapa's birth is marked by Kumbum Monastery, founded in 1583 by the 3rd Dalai Lama Sonam Gyatso (1543-1588) on the spot of the original stupa.At the age of three, Tsongkhapa took lay upāsaka vows from the 4th Karmapa Ralpai Dorjee (1340-1383) and received the name Kunga Nyingpo. Then at the age of eight he received the novice ordination of a srāmanera, together with the name Lobzang Drakpa, from the Kadam master Choje Dundup Rinchen (1309). At the age of sixteen Lobzang Drakpa travelled to U-Tsang, never to return to his homeland. In U-Tsang he studied with more than fifty different Buddhist scholars. As noted in his autobiography, Fulfilled Aims, he studied at length texts and topics such the “Five Treatises of Maitreya” and related works by Asaṅga (4th century), the Abhidharma of Vasubhandu (4th century), the logic systems of Dignāga and Dharmakīrti (6th century) and the Madhyamaka system of Nāgārjuna (c.150-250) and his followers such as Aryadeva (3rd century). Following figures such as Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen (1182-1251) and Buton Rinchen Dundup (1290-1364), it was Tsongkhapa's emphasis on philosophical study and logic that would eventually become some of the defining characteristics of the Geluk tradition.
Tsongkhapa's studies were mainly focused on the existing scholarly currents at that time, of which the most important were the Sakya tradition and the tradition of Sangpu, an important Kadam monastery. One of Tsongkhapa's main teachers was the Sakya master Redawa Zhonu Lodro (1349-1412) who was a strong proponent of the Prāsaṅgika view of Madhyamaka. Tsongkhapa's devotion to Rendawa was so great that he composed the famous Miktsema verse in praise of him. According to tradition, Rendawa felt that the verse was more applicable and descriptive of Tsongkhapa's qualities and thus offered the prayer back to him. Today this verse is still considered by the Geluk faithful as the principal method to invoke the blessings of Tsongkhapa.
At his students' request Tsongkhapa established a monastery, which was consecrated in 1410, the year following the inauguration of the Monlam Chenmo. The monastery was given the name of Ganden, the Tibetan translation of Tuṣita, the pure land of the future buddha Maitreya. The monastery would eventually become the largest monastery in Tibet, perhaps the world, and is considered the principal monastery of the Geluk tradition. It was Tsongkhapa's wish to construct three-dimensional representations of the maṇḍalas of his main three anuttarayoga tantra deities: Guhyasamāja, Vajrabhairava and Cakrasaṃvara. Temples for these constructions were completed in 1415 and the maṇḍalas and deities were installed in 1417. These acts are counted as Tsongkhapa's fourth great deed. He is counted as the first throne-holder of Ganden, or Ganden Tripa (dga' ldan khri pa), a title held by successive abbots of the monastery.
Tsongkhapa died in 1419 at Ganden Monastery, the year after he completed his composition of The Elucidation of the Thought in 1418. He was 62 years old, and is believed to have attained enlightenment through yogic practices during the death process, attaining the illusory body. His body was entombed inside a jeweled stupa at Ganden. Tsongkhapa's death is commemorated with the annual festival of Ganden Ngacho, which translates as "The Ganden Offering of the Twenty-Fifth", during which devotees light butter lamps on their roofs and windowsills. Tsongkhapa designated Gyaltsen Dharma Rinchen (1364-1432) as his successor, who in turn appointed Khedup Gelek Palsang (1385-1438) as the next throne-holder of Ganden.
Apart from his own teachers, many of whom Tsongkhapa also taught in turn, Tsongkhapa had a number of other illustrious students. These include Gyeltsab, Khedrub and Shakya Yeshe. His other students include the Je Gendun Drupa, who was posthumously identified as the First Dalai Lama (1391-1474) Jamchen Choeje Tashi Palden (1379-1449), the founder of Drepung Monastery in 1416. Today Khedrubje and Gyeltsabje are considered to have been Tsongkhapa's foremost disciples, although whether or not this is actually true has been contested by modern scholarship. Nevertheless all of these students continued to spread Tsongkhapa's doctrine through their own teachings and writings as well as other means such as the establishment of monasteries, allowing for the Geluk tradition to take shape.

[@sonamdolkar736]

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 Chaktsal kachen lay 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 Thanks U so much for your precious teaching to us. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻.We Pray your long life Lama khen. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🍇🍇🍇🌹🌹🌹

[@jigmetdorje7425]

སྙིང་གོང་རུས་པའི་ཏིང་ནས་ཕྱག་འཚལ་དཀའ་ཆེན་བློ་བཟང་མཁྱེན། འཇིགས་མེད་འོ་གཅིག།

[@sangayangmo5460]

🙏🙏🙏

[@Zinstan]

🙏🙏🙏🙏🌺🌺

[@tseringchuskit3198]

🙏🙏🙏