The following post is titled, A Brief Sketch of the Life of Buddhagupta-nātha. By Thomas Roth, a contributing author to the Jonangpa blog.

Buddhagupta

Jonang Jetsun Rinpoche, better known as Jonang Tāranātha (1575-1635), is well known for the many histories that he authored. Especially his famous History of Buddhism in India, The Seven Instruction Lineages and the Origin of the Tārā-Tantras, as well as his Kālacakra and Vajrabhairava histories, give us a fairly good idea of the development of many siddha lineages in India and their continuation onto Tibetan soil. The source for many of these accounts was an Indian master whom Tāranātha met around the year 1594 near Narthang in Central Tibet, while he himself stayed in a hermitage called “Mahābodhi.” That master was none other than the Mahāsiddha Buddhagupta-nātha, who was a disciple of the very famous Mahāsiddha Shanti-Gupta. Shanti-Gupta’s biography is added as an appendix to Tāranātha’s Seven Instruction Lineages, whereas his biography of Buddhagupta-nātha appears as a separate text.^[1]

The following post is titled, "A Description of the Various Aspects of Tārā as Contained in Jonang Tāranātha’s Ocean of Yidam Deities, the 100 Deities of Narthang and the Vajrāvalī of Abhayākara-Gupta." This is the 2nd in a 2 part series. By Thomas Roth, a contributing author to the Jonangpa blog.

There are at least four traditions of describing the 21 Tārās.^[1] Those of Sūrya-Gupta (7th/8th cent.), Atīśa Dipaṃkara (982-1054), Longchen Rabjampa (1308-1363), and Terchen Chokgyur Lingpa (1829-1870). The latter three traditions are very similar in so far as the individual Tārās are described as varying only slightly in body color and the emblems shown on the lotus flowers they hold. Otherwise their appearances are very similar. Apart from some minor differences among these three traditions, the Tārās appear much the same.

The following post is titled, "A Description of the Various Aspects of Tārā as Contained in Jonang Tāranātha’s Ocean of Yidam Deities, the 100 Deities of Narthang and the Vajrāvalī of Abhayākara-Gupta." This is the 1st in a 2 part series. By Thomas Roth, a contributing author to the Jonangpa blog.

8 Armed Tara

Jonang Tāranātha’s famous compilation of yidam deities, known as the Ocean of Yidam Deities, contains the descriptions and short sādhanas for altogether 417 deities. Among them are no less than 42 aspects of Tārā. Tāranātha’s Ocean of Yidam Deities has often been published in omnibus with two other, smaller collections. Namely the 100 Deities of Narthang and the Vajrāvalī, compiled by the famous 12th century Indian scholar and tantric master Abhayākara-Gupta.^[1]

This post is titled, The Transmission of the Tantra and Practices of Tārāyogīni (Sgrol ma rnal 'byor ma): A Little-Known Jonang Specialty. By Thomas Roth, a contributing author to the Jonangpa blog.

Tarayogini

The Jonang tradition was and is well-known for holding and continuing to propagate several unique transmissions, such as various strands of Kālachakra transmissions and various traditions of its six-limbed vajrayoga; the Mahāsṃavāra Kālachakra, the view of emptiness based upon the insights and explications of Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292-1361) known as zhentong (gzhan stong) and others. Among these unique transmissions is one that is almost completely unknown outside of the Jonang tradition, and apparently not very widely practiced within it either, despite the fact that it seemingly was of rather great importance to the great Tāranātha (1575-1635) and that the great 19th century Rimé master Jamgon Kongtrul (1813-1899) regarded it highly, and he wrote about it and practiced it himself.