Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen (Tibetan: ཤར་རྫ་བཀྲ་ཤིས་རྒྱལ་མཚན, Wylie: shar rdza bkra shis rgyal mtshan) (1859–1933[1] or 1935[2]) was a great Dzogchen master of the Bon tradition of Tibet who took not only Bon disciples, but gathered students from all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.[3]
Shardza was born in 1859 in Kham.[4] He took ordination at age 30. He wrote philosophical works and became an influential Bon scholar.[4]
Shardza has been cited as a vegetarian as he refused to eat the meat of any animal that was slaughtered.[5] However, Shardza would eat meat from animals that died naturally from accidents or attacked by wolves as the consumer has no involvement in the death of the animal.[4]
According to tradition, Shardza Tashi Gyeltsen famously realized the rainbow body.
Chaoul (2006) opened the discourse of Bon traditions of Trul khor into Western scholarship in English with his thesis from Rice University, which makes reference to writings of Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen, particularly the Most Profound Heavenly Storehouse None Other than the Oral Transmission of Trul Khor Energy Control Practices (Wylie: yang zab nam mkha' mdzod chen las snyan rgyud rtsa rlung 'phrul 'khor).[6]
^Lopön Tenzin Namdak and Dixey, Richard (2002). Heart Drops of Dharmakaya: Dzogchen Practice of the Bön Tradition. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN1559391723, p.4
^Lopön Tenzin Namdak and Dixey, Richard (2002). Heart Drops of Dharmakaya: Dzogchen Practice of the Bön Tradition. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN1559391723, p.7
^Gorvine, William M. (2006). The Life of a Bonpo Luminary: Sainthood, Partisanship and Literary Representation in a 20th Century Tibetan Biography. Dissertation. University of Virginia: Department of Religious Studies. Source: [1] (accessed: Saturday October 31, 2009)
^ abcGayley, Holly; Schapiro, Joshua (2017). A Gathering of Brilliant Moons Practice Advice from the Rime Masters of Tibet. Wisdom Publications. pp. 97-99. ISBN978-1614292005
^Chaoul, Marco Alejandro (2006). Magical Movements ('phrul 'khor): Ancient Yogic Practices in the Bon Religion and Contemporary Medical Perspectives (PhD Diss.). Houston, Texas, USA: Rice University. hdl:1911/18880.
^Gorvine, William M. (2006). The Life of a Bonpo Luminary: Sainthood, Partisanship and Literary Representation in a 20th Century Tibetan Biography. Dissertation. University of Virginia: Department of Religious Studies. Source: [2] (accessed: Saturday October 31, 2009), p.2
Lopön Tenzin Namdak and Dixey, Richard (2002). Heart Drops of Dharmakaya: Dzogchen Practice of the Bön Tradition. Snow Lion Publications. ISBN1559391723
Gorvine, William M. (2006). The Life of a Bonpo Luminary: Sainthood, Partisanship and Literary Representation in a 20th Century Tibetan Biography. Dissertation. University of Virginia: Department of Religious Studies. Source: [3] (accessed: Saturday October 31, 2009)
Jean-Luc Achard (2008). Enlightened Rainbows: The Life and Works of Shardza Tashi Gyeltsen. Brill's Tibetan Studies Library. ISBN9004168230.
