Rinchen Zangpo

Tibetan lotsawa (958–1055)

Part of a serieson
Tibetan Buddhism
Schools Nyingma Kadam Sakya Bodong Kagyu Jonang Gelug Rimé
Key personalities First dissemination Padmasambhāva Śāntarakṣita Kamalaśīla Songtsen Gampo Trisong Detsen Ralpacan Second dissemination Atiśa Talika Abhayakirti Niguma Sukhasiddhi Milarepa Nyingma Yeshe Tsogyal Longchenpa Jigme Lingpa Patrul Rinpoche Dudjom Lingpa Mipham Kagyu Marpa Rangjung Dorje Jonang Dolpopa Taranatha Sakya Sakya Pandita Gorampa Bodongpa Samding Dorje Phagmo Gelugpa Je Tsongkhapa 5th Dalai Lama 13th Dalai Lama 14th Dalai Lama 10th Panchen Lama
Teachings General Buddhist Three marks of existence Skandha Cosmology Saṃsāra Rebirth Bodhisattva Dharma Dependent origination Karma Tibetan Four Tenets system Rangtong-Shentong Svatantrika-Prasaṅgika distinction Nyingma Dzogchen Pointing-out instruction
Practices and attainment Lamrim Pāramitās Bodhicitta Avalokiteśvara Meditation Laity Vajrayana Tantra techniques Deity yoga Guru yoga Dream yoga Thukdam Buddhahood
Major monasteries Tradruk Drepung Dzogchen Ganden Jokhang Kumbum Labrang Mindrolling Namgyal Narthang Nechung Pabonka Palcho Ralung Ramoche Rato Sakya Sanga Sera Shalu Tashi Lhunpo Tsurphu Yerpa
Institutional roles Dalai Lama Panchen Lama Lama Karmapa Rinpoche Geshe Tertön Tulku Western tulku
Festivals Chotrul Duchen Dajyur Galdan Namchot Losar Dosmoche Monlam Sho Dun Losoong
Texts Kangyur Tengyur Tibetan Buddhist canon Mahayana sutras Nyingma Gyubum
Art Sand mandala Thangka Wall paintings Ashtamangala Tree of physiology Festival thangka Mani stone
History and overview History Timeline Outline Culture Index of articles
v t e

Lochen Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055; Tibetan: རིན་ཆེན་བཟང་པོ་, Wylie: rin-chen bzang-po), also known as Mahaguru, was a principal lotsawa or translator of Sanskrit Buddhist texts into Tibetan during the second diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet, variously called the New Translation School, New Mantra School or New Tantra Tradition School.^[a] He was a student of the famous Indian master, Atisha.^[1][2][3] His associates included (Locheng) Legpai Sherab. Zangpo's disciple Guge Kyithangpa Yeshepal wrote Zangpo's biography.^[4] He is said to have built over one hundred monasteries in Western Tibet, including the famous Tabo MonasteryinSpiti, Himachal Pradesh,^[5] PooinKinnaur^[6] and Rinchenling monasteryinNepal.^[7]

Rinchen Zangpo had been sent as a young man by King Yeshe-Ö, the ruler of Zanskar, Guge, Spiti and Kinnaur, with other young scholars to Kashmir and other Buddhist centres to study and bring back Buddhist teachings to Western Tibet. He was possibly the single most important person for the 'Second Propagation of Buddhism' in Tibet.^[8] Some sources conflate him with his patron Yeshe-Ö as king of the western Himalayan Kingdom of Guge.^[9]

Among his translations are the ViśeṣastavaṭikābyPrajñāvarman, which he undertook together with Janārdhana.^[10]

• Handa, O. C. (1987). Buddhist Monasteries in Himachal Pradesh. Indus Publishing Company, New Delhi.
• Kapadia, Harish. (1999). Spiti: Adventures in the Trans-Himalaya. Second Edition. Indus Publishing Company, New Delhi. ISBN 81-7387-093-4.
• McKay, Alex (ed.). (2003). Tibet and Her Neighbors: A History. Walther Konig. ISBN 3-88375-718-7
• Rizvi, Janet. (1996). Ladakh: Crossroads of High Asia. Second Revised Edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-564546-4.
• Tucci, Giuseppe. (1988). Rin-chen-bzan-po and the Renaissance of Buddhism in Tibet Around the Millennium. First Italian Edition 1932. First draft English translation by Nancy Kipp Smith, under the direction of Thomas J. Pritzker. Edited by Lokesh Chandra. English version of Indo-Tibetica II. Aditya Rakashan, New Delhi. ISBN 81-85179-21-2.

• Rinchen Zangpo - Rigpa Wiki
• Lochen Rinchen Sangpo, the Great Translator
• Gardner, Alexander (July 2011). "Rinchen Zangpo". The Treasury of Lives: Biographies of Himalayan Religious Masters. Retrieved 2013-08-10.
• The Kingdom of Guge, Western Tibet
• Mural of Rinchen Zangpo
• "Tabo Ancient Monastery: Ajanta of the Himalayas."
• Tibetan Medical & Astrology Institute of the Dalai Lama
• Tibetanmedicine.com
• Central Council of Tibetan Medicine