Tsongkha-pa (English spelling) Tso kha pa

The greatest thinker in Tibetan Buddhism. The founder of the Gel sect. Also written as Sokapa, his real name is Blo bza grags pa. He was born in Tsongkha, Amdo, a remote area in the northeast of Tibet, and is commonly known as Tsongkhapa. He became a monk at a young age, and at the age of 16 he went to central Tibet to study at various monasteries of learning, such as Dingung and Sakya. In particular, from the age of 19 he listened to lectures on the Sakya sect's Kun dga' dpal's Treatise on the Adorable Realization of the Buddha and on the Abhidharma-sha and Entering into the Middle Ages by his disciple Red mda' ba (1349-1412), deepening his understanding of Buddhist studies. He continued to study works such as the Vinaya, the Quantum Compendium, and the Abhidharma-Collection, but his interest gradually became centered on the problem of the Madhyamaka. From around the age of 33, he was taught by a mystic called Umapa, and through him he is said to have asked Manjusri about questions about the Madhyamaka and actually saw Manjusri. He is also said to have gained a definitive understanding of the Madhyamaka after reading Buddhapalita's (c. 470-540) commentary on the Madhyamaka-Collection. He founded his own sect at the age of 36, and wrote his main work, the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lamrim), at the age of 46. At the age of 53, he established the Great Prayer Festival in Lhasa, and the following year, in 1410, he entered the Ganden Monastery, where he lived almost until his death. His disciples included the two great disciples Dar ma rin chen (1364-1432) and Mkhas grub (1385-1438), as well as Gedundrupa (the First Dalai Lama), and he wrote other works such as "The Stages of the Secret Path," "The Essence of Comprehensive Persuasion," and "Understanding the Secret Meaning." His philosophical originality lies in his interpretation of Madhyamaka, and in particular in his not viewing the difference between the independent school and the reductive school as simply a difference in the methods of demonstrating emptiness, as scholars before him had done, but as a difference in the ontology of the two schools, and he established the Madhyamaka philosophy of the reductive school as absolute.

[Shiro Matsumoto April 18, 2017]

Masato Nagao, "Studies on Tibetan Buddhism" (1954, Iwanami Shoten)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

チベット仏教最高の思想家。ゲル派（ゲルク派）の始祖。宗喀巴とも書き、正式名はロプサンタクパBlo bza grags pa。チベット北東の辺境アムドのツォンカに生まれたため、ツォンカパと通称される。幼にして出家し、16歳のとき中央チベットに出て、ディグン、サキャなどの諸学問寺に学んだ。とくに19歳ころからサキャ派のクンガペルKun dga' dpalから『現観荘厳(げんかんしょうごん)論』、その弟子のレンダワRed mda' ba（1349―1412）から『倶舎(くしゃ)論』『入中(にゅうちゅう)論』などの講義を聞き、仏教学の理解を深めた。その後も『律』『量評釈』『阿毘達磨(あびだつま)集論』などを含めて研鑽(けんさん)を積んだが、その関心はしだいに中観(ちゅうがん)の問題に集中していった。33歳ころからウマパとよばれる神秘的人物の指導を受け、彼を通じて文殊菩薩(もんじゅぼさつ)に中観の疑問を尋ねたり、文殊の姿を実際に見るようになったといわれる。その後ブッダパーリタBuddhapālita（470―540ころ）著の『中論』釈を読んで、中観の決定的理解を得たともいう。36歳にして立教開宗し、46歳のとき主著『菩提道次第(ぼだいどうしだい)論』（『ラムリム』）を著した。53歳のときラサに「大祈願祭」を創始し、翌1410年ガンデン寺に入り、没するまでほぼそこに住した。弟子にタルマリンチェンDar ma rin chen（1364―1432）とケードゥプMkhas grub（1385―1438）の二大弟子のほか、ゲドゥンドゥッパ（ゲンドゥントゥプ。ダライ・ラマ1世）らがおり、他の著書に『秘密道次第論』『善説心髄』『密意解明』などがある。その思想的独自性は中観の解釈にあり、とくに自立派と帰謬(きびゅう)派の相違というものを、彼以前の学者がそうであったように単なる空性論証法の違いとみずに、両派の存在論の相違ととらえて、帰謬派絶対の中観哲学を樹立した点にある。

［松本史朗　2017年4月18日］

『長尾雅人著『西蔵仏教研究』（1954・岩波書店）』

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