Je Tsongkhapa

རྗེ་ཙོང་ཁ་བ་བློ་བཟང་གྲགས་པ། Je Tsongkhapa Lobsang Drakpa
Tsongkhapa, 16th century, Rubin Museum of Art
Born	c. October, 1357 CE Amdo
Died	c. November 12, 1419 CE (aged 62–63) Ganden Monastery
Occupation(s)	Tibetan Buddhist teacher, monk, and philosopher
Known for	Founder of the Gelug school, author of numerous works on Tibetan Buddhist thought and practice

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Tsongkhapa ([tsoŋˈkʰapa], meaning: "the man from Tsongkha" or "the Man from Onion Valley",^[1] c. 1357–1419) was an influential Tibetan Buddhist monk, philosopher and tantric yogi, whose activities led to the formation of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.^[2] He is also known by his ordained name Losang Drakpa (Wylie: blo bzang grags pa, Skt. Sumatikīrti) or simply as "Je Rinpoche" (Wylie: rje rin po che, "Precious Lord").^[3][2][4] He is also known by Chinese as Zongkapa Lobsang Zhaba or just Zōngkābā (宗喀巴).^[5]

Tsongkhapa was born in Amdo, the son of a Tibetan Longben Tribal leader who also once served as an official of the Yuan dynasty. It is said that Tsongkhapa's father was probably a Mongolian because he was the head (darguchi. mong) of a Tibetan tribe of the Yuan dynasty (Mongol Empire). It is possible that a Tibetan philosopher was born from the family of a Mongolian leader. As a monk, Tsongkhapa studied under numerous teachers of the various Tibetan Buddhist traditions which flourished in central Tibet, including Sakya, Jonang, Kagyu and Kadam.^[2]

Tsongkhapa was a prolific author with a broad knowledge of Buddhist philosophy, logic, hermeneutics and practice.^[6] He wrote numerous works on madhyamaka philosophy (such as Ocean of Reasoning, a commentary on the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā), Mahayana practice (such as Lamrim Chenmo), and Vajrayana (Great Exposition of Secret Mantra). His philosophical works are mainly a synthesis of the Buddhist epistemological tradition of Dignāga and Dharmakīrti and the madhyamaka philosophy of Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti.^[7][8]

According to John Powers, Tsongkhapa's work "contains a comprehensive view of Buddhist philosophy and practice that integrates sutra and tantra, analytical reasoning, and yogic meditation."^[9] Guy Newland describes Tsongkhapa's philosophical approach as one which combines the existence and validity of logic and ethics (conventionally and contingently) with "a radical view of emptiness" which sees all phenomena as devoid of intrinsic nature.^[10]

According to Jay L. Garfield, Tsongkhapa also held that it was necessary to develop a correct view of the true nature of reality, and that to do this one had to engage in rigorous study, reasoned analysis and contemplation (alongside of meditation).^[7] As Garfield notes, this view of emptiness is not a kind of nihilism or a total denial of existence. Instead, it sees phenomena as existing "interdependently, relationally, non-essentially, conventionally" (which Tsongkhapa terms "mere existence").^[11]