| |
| buton_rinchen_drub [2026/11/14 21:35] – created Vajra Patience | buton_rinchen_drub [2026/11/14 21:36] (current) – Vajra Patience |
|---|
| Buton Rinchen Drub | ==Buton Rinchen Drub== |
| |
| [[Buton Rinpoche]] [[Buton Rinchen Drub]] | #redirect [[Buton Rinchen Drub]] |
| | |
| | [[Buton Rinpoche]] |
| | |
| | [[Buton Rinchen Drub]] ([[བུ་སྟོན་རིན་ཆེན་གྲུབ།]] [[bu ston rin chen grub]] [[Butön Rinchen Drup]], universally revered across [[Tibet]], [[India]], [[Nepal]], [[Bhutan]], [[Mongolia]], [[Ladakh]], [[Sikkim]], [[China]], and the global [[Buddhist]] world as [[Buton Rinpoche]], the supreme [[14th century]] encyclopedist, historian, translator, and canonical architect who first systematically organized the [[Kangyur]] and [[Tengyur]] divisions of the [[Tibetan Tripitaka]]), acclaimed throughout Himalayan [[Buddhist]] history as the great abbot of [[Zhalu Monastery]] whose bibliographic genius gave permanent structure to the entire translated Indian canon, stands as an unmatched titan of world [[Buddhism]]. With his [[year of birth]] in [[1290]] at [[Shabme Gompa]] in [[Tsang]] in southwestern [[Tibet]] and his [[year of death]] in [[1364]] at [[Zhalu Monastery]], [[Buton Rinchen Drub]] was born to the [[Nyingma]] tantric master [[Drakton Gyaltsen Palzang]] and the yogini [[Sonam Bum]], awakening early to the pervasive reality of [[anicca]], [[dukkha]], and [[anatta]], practicing fearless [[renunciation]], taking lifelong [[refuge]] in the [[Buddha]], the [[Dharma]], and the [[Sangha]], and receiving full bhikshu ordination in the [[Mulasarvastivada]] [[Vinaya Pitaka]] lineage while upholding strict monastic [[precepts]] and [[ethical conduct]]. |
| | |
| | Educated across the major scholastic centers of central and western [[Tibet]]—including [[Trophu Monastery]], [[Narthang Monastery]], [[Sakya Monastery]], and [[Zhalu Monastery]]—[[Buton Rinchen Drub]] studied under nearly thirty eminent masters from the [[Sakya]], [[Kagyu]], [[Kadampa]], and [[Nyingma]] traditions, attaining comprehensive mastery over [[Sanskrit]] grammar and poetics, [[Pramana]] logic, [[Vinaya Pitaka]] discipline, [[Abhidharma]], [[Prajnaparamita]], [[Madhyamaka]], [[Yogacara]], and all four classes of [[Tantra]]—most notably the [[Kalachakra Tantra]] ([[Toh Number 362]] in the [[Tibetan Tripitaka]]), the [[Guhyasamaja Tantra]] ([[Toh Number 442]]), and the [[Chakrasamvara Tantra]] ([[Toh Number 368]])—before being enthroned in [[1320]] as the eleventh abbot of [[Zhalu Monastery]] near [[Shigatse]], where he founded the influential [[Zhalu]] ([[Bulug]]) scholastic tradition. |
| | |
| | The crowning bibliographic and canonical achievement of [[Buton Rinchen Drub]]'s life was his monumental editing, cataloging, and codification of the [[Tibetan Tripitaka]] at [[Zhalu Monastery]] during the [[1320s]] and [[1330s]]—building upon the early [[14th century]] manuscript compilation gathered at [[Narthang Monastery]] under [[Chomden Rigpai Raldri]] ([[1227]]–[[1305]]) to rigorously authenticate, classify, and arrange every translated Indian scripture into two definitive collections: the [[Kangyur]] ([[བཀའ་འགྱུར།]] [[bka' 'gyur]] [[Kangyur]], "Translated Words of the Buddha," now indexed as [[Toh Number 1]] through [[Toh Number 1108]]) and the [[Tengyur]] ([[བསྟན་འགྱུར།]] [[bstan 'gyur]] [[Tengyur]], "Translated Treatises" by Indian masters, indexed as [[Toh Number 1109]] through [[Toh Number 4569]]). |
| | |
| | To accompany his canonical redaction, [[Buton Rinpoche]] composed in [[1322]] his immortal masterpiece [[Buton's History of Buddhism]] ([[བུ་སྟོན་ཆོས་འབྱུང་།]] [[bu ston chos 'byung]] [[Butön Chöjung]]), which traces the origin of the [[Dharma]] under [[Shakyamuni]] [[Buddha]] (c. [[563]]–[[483]] BCE) in [[India]], its transmission across the [[Himalayas]] into [[Tibet]], and a complete, annotated bibliographic catalog of every [[Sutra]], [[Vinaya Pitaka]], [[Tantra]], and [[Shastra]] translated by Indian panditas (such as [[Shantarakshita]], [[Padmasambhava]], [[Jinamitra]], [[Surendrabodhi]], [[Shilendrabodhi]], [[Danasila]], and [[Atisha]]) and Tibetan lotsawas (such as [[Vairotsana]], [[Kawa Paltsek]], [[Chokro Lüi Gyaltsen]], [[Yeshe De]], [[Rinchen Zangpo]], and [[Ngok Loden Sherab]]). |
| | |
| | Literarily and exegetically, [[Buton Rinchen Drub]] authored a staggering twenty-six-volume collected works ([[Sungbum]]) encompassing definitive commentaries on the [[Kalachakra Tantra]] ([[Toh Number 362]]), [[Maitreya]]'s [[Abhisamayalamkara]] ([[Toh Number 3786]]) and [[Uttaratantra Shastra]] ([[Toh Number 4024]], corresponding to [[Taisho Number 1611]] in the [[Chinese Tripitaka]]), [[Vasubandhu]]'s [[Abhidharmakosabhasya]] ([[Toh Number 4090]], and [[Taisho Number 1558]]), [[Gunaprabha]]'s [[Vinayasutra]] ([[Toh Number 4117]]), [[Shantideva]]'s [[Bodhicaryavatara]] ([[Toh Number 3871]], and [[Taisho Number 1662]]), and [[Yoga Tantra]] cycles such as the [[Sarvatathagatatattvasamgraha Tantra]] ([[Toh Number 479]], and [[Taisho Number 865]]), while also translating and revising numerous [[Sanskrit]] texts directly into [[Tibetan]]. |
| | |
| | Through his direct disciples—including his chief successor [[Rinchen Namgyal]] ([[1318]]–[[1388]]), [[Khyungpo Lhepa]], and teachers who directly mentored [[Je Tsongkhapa]] ([[1357]]–[[1419]]) in [[Kalachakra Tantra]] and [[Yoga Tantra]]—[[Buton Rinpoche]] shaped the scholastic curricula of every subsequent school of [[Tibetan Buddhism]], while his [[Zhalu]] manuscript canon ([[Zhalu Tengyur]]) served four centuries later as the direct textual foundation for [[Situ Panchen Chökyi Jungné]] ([[1700]]–[[1774]]) and [[Zhu-chen Tsultrim Rinchen]] ([[1697]]–[[1774]]) in producing the famed [[Derge]] woodblock edition of the [[Tibetan Tripitaka]]. |
| | |
| | Philosophically and contemplatively, [[Buton Rinchen Drub]] united rigorous dialectical scholarship with deep tantric [[meditation]], [[mindfulness]], and [[concentration]]—harmonizing [[Nagarjuna]]'s [[Madhyamaka]] dialectics regarding [[emptiness]] ([[शून्यता]] - [[śūnyatā]]; [[སྟོང་པ་ཉིད།]] [[stong pa nyid]] [[Tongpanyid]]) and [[dependent origination]], [[Asanga]] and [[Vasubandhu]]'s [[Yogacara]] phenomenology, and innate [[Buddha-nature]] ([[tathagatagarbha]]) aligned with [[Maitreya]]'s [[Uttaratantra Shastra]] ([[Toh Number 4024]], and [[Taisho Number 1611]]). Guiding practitioners to sever attachment to the [[five aggregates]], [[emptiness of self]], [[karma]], and [[rebirth]] across [[samsara]] and [[nirvana]], his treatises anchor every analytical and meditative step in [[Shakyamuni]] [[Buddha]]'s [[Four Noble Truths]], the [[Noble Eightfold Path]], [[generosity]], [[merit]], [[loving-kindness]], [[compassion]], [[equanimity]], [[right view]], [[non-attachment]], [[skillful means]], and universal [[bodhicitta]] to extinguish the [[three poisons]] across the [[six realms]]. |
| | |
| | Passing into final [[parinirvana]] at [[Zhalu Monastery]] in [[1364]] at the age of seventy-four amidst miraculous signs, [[Buton Rinchen Drub]] left an immortal canonical and scholarly monument that continues to govern scriptural study across [[Tibet]], [[India]], [[Nepal]], [[Bhutan]], [[Mongolia]], and the Western world into the [[21st century]]. Revered forever as the omniscient father of the [[Kangyur]] and [[Tengyur]], [[Buton Rinpoche]] stands alongside [[Sakya Pandita]], [[Longchenpa]], [[Tsongkhapa]], and [[Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thayé]] as a supreme guardian of the [[Middle Way]] to complete [[Buddhahood]]. |
