Gö Lotsawa Zhönnu-pel

gZhon-nu-dpal (1392-1481), also known as 'Gos Lo-tsa-ba (full name: Yid-bzang-rtse gZhon-nu-dpal) was a famous Tibetan historian and scholar, known as the author of the "Blue Annals".[1]

Go Lotsawa (b.1392 - d.1481) - famous Tibetan historian

Life and achievements

He was born in 1392 at lho kha 'phyongs rgyas. He was a student of the fifth Karmapa Lama, Deshin Shekpa (1384-1415), from whom he received the bodhisattva precepts, as well as Tsongkhapa, and was a teacher of the sixth Karmapa, Thongwa Dönden (1416-1453).[2] He was the abbot of the Karmarñing Monastery and the author of the Blue Annals.[3][4]

Works

• His most famous work, the "Blue Annals" (Deb-ther sngon-po), was completed in 1478, near the end of his life, and the text was dictated by him to some of his attendants.[5]
• 'Khrul-sel, written in 1442-1443.[6]
• His wrote a commentary on the Ratnagotravibhaga which extensively explored and contrasted Buddha-nature, described by Mathes (2008).[7]

Footnotes

1. "Go Lotsāwa Zhonnu Pel". The Treasury of Lives: Biographies of Himalayan Religious Masters. Retrieved 2013-08-11.
2. TBRC P318
3. Roerich, George (1949). The Blue Annals. Reprint: Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi. 1976, p. ii.
4. Snellgrove, David (1987). Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and Their Tibetan Successors. Volume Two: p. 396. Boston, USA: Shambhala Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-87773-379-1 (v.2).
5. Roerich (1949), p. ii.
6. Vostrikov, A. I. (1970). Tibetan Historical Literature, pp. 31, 104-107. Translated from the Russian by Harish Chandra Gupta. Indian Studies Past & Present. Calcutta.
7. Mathes, Klaus-Dieter (2008). A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Gö Lotsāwa's Mahāmudra Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga. Somerville, MA : Wisdom Publications, Inc. ISBN 0-86171-528-4

Sources

• Roerich, George N.; Gedun Choepel (1949). The Blue Annals (1998 reprint ed.). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 81-208-0471-6.

Further reading

• van der Kuijp, Leonard W. J. “On the Composition and Printings of the Deb gter sngon po by ’Gos lo tsā ba gzhon nu dpal.” JIATS, no. 2 (August 2006): 1-46.
• Van der Kuijp, Leonard. The Names of 'Gos Lo tsā ba Gzhon nu dpal (1392-1481), in Prats, Ramon (ed.) The Pandita and the Siddha: Tibetan Studies in Honour of E. Gene Smith. Amnye Machen Institute
• The Blue Annals. Chapter summaries from The Tibetan and Himalayan Library

External links

• TBRC P318 'gos lo ts'a ba gzhon nu dpal
• Gö Lotsawa Shyönnu Pal, Rigpa Wiki
• "Go Lotsāwa Zhonnu Pel". The Treasury of Lives: Biographies of Himalayan Religious Masters. Retrieved 2013-08-11.