Gampopa

Gampopa

Gampopa Sonam Rinchen (Tibetan: སྒམ་པོ་པ་བསོད་ནམས་རིན་ཆེན, Wylie: sgam po pa bsod nams rin chen) (1079–1153) "Sonam Rinchen from Gampo" — who was equally well known in Tibet as Dagpo Lhaje (Tibetan: དྭགས་པོ་ལྷ་རྗེ, Wylie: dwags po lha rje) ("the Physician from Dagpo"), Nyamed Dakpo Rinpoche ("Incomparible Precious One from Dagpo"), and Da'od Zhonnu (Tibetan: ཟླ་འོད་ཞུན་ནུ, Wylie: zla 'od gzhon nu), (the Tibetan for Candraprabhakumara) — established the Kagyu school, one of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism today, as an institution.

Another name for Gampopa was Ü-pa Tönpa. "Ü" is central Tibet, and "pa" means "person," so "Ü-pa" means a person who comes from central Tibet, and "Tönpa" means "teacher.".