Jonang - History

History

In 1294, the monk Kunpang Tukje Tsondru established the Puntsok Choling monastery at Jomonang, about 160 km northwest of the Tashilhunpo Monastery in Ü-Tsang (Shigatse), and the spiritual tradition that was established here became known as Jonang.

The Jonang tradition combines two specific teachings, what has come to be known as the zhentong (or shentong) philosophy of emptiness, and the Dro-lineage of the Kalachakra tantra. The origin of this combination in Tibet is traced to the master Yumo Mikyo Dorje - an 11th/12th century pupil of the Kashmiri master Somanatha.

After several centuries of independence, however, in the late 17th century the Jonang order came under attack by the Fifth Dalai Lama who converted their monasteries to the Gelug order.

The Jonang school has generated a number of renowned Buddhist scholars, like Dolpopa Sherab Gyeltsen (1292–1361), but the most famous was Jetsun Taranatha (1575–1634). Taranatha placed great emphasis on the Kalachakra system of tantra. After the Jonang monasteries were forcibly converted to the Gelug lineage, their Kalachakra teachings were absorbed into the Gelug school. Taranatha's influence on Gelugpa thinking continues even to this day in the teaching of the present 14th Dalai Lama, who actively promotes initiation into Kalachakra.