To inaugurate this Jonangpa blog, I thought it might be helpful to provide historical context for some of the socio-cultural and religious forces that eventually led to the founding of the Jonang as a distinct tradition of Buddhism in Tibet. What follows is an abbreviated outline of the early history of Tibetan Buddhism, highlighting some of the major figures and events that preceded the commencement of the Jonangpa.

A Chronology of Tibetan Buddhism^[1]

• c. 779 Emperor Tri Song Detsen establishes Samye, the first major monastery in South Central Tibet, beginning the "early dissemination" (snga dar) of the Buddha's teachings in Tibet and what later becomes referred to as Nyingma or "Ancient" tradition; Tibetan empire reigns Dunhuang in northern China; the Chinese Chan master Moheyan and the Indian philosopher Kamalashila are invited to debate at Samye Monastery in order to resolve the tensions between which system of Buddhism to adopt in Tibet

Throughout my readings on the Jonangpa in English, I've noticed the (all too) common attribution of either Yumo Mikyo Dorje or Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen as the "founder" of the Jonang tradition.^[1] Though Yumowa was a major figure in the transmission of the Drö Kālachakra lineage as it was received by the Jonangpa, and was a prominent forefather of the tradition, its unlikely that he even heard the word "Jonangpa" in his lifetime.

Kunpangpa

The term was coined during the time of Kungpang Thukjé Tsöndru (1243-1313),^[2] the master who later inherited the Drö Kālachakra lineage as it was transmitted through Yumowa, and the first in the lineage to settle in the valley named "Jomonang." He was the 1st Jonangpa.