The Founding of the New Translation Period Schools

Nephews of King Langdarma founded the Ngari Dynasty in western Tibet, which included Ladakh and Spiti in the western Himalayas of present-day India. In the mid-tenth century, King Yeshe Ö, a fifth-generation descendant of Langdarma, held the throne. He was a great patron of Buddhism. Monks were already being ordained in his kingdom from the lineage brought back from Kham by Lume Tsultrim Sherab. The king, however, was very concerned about restoring Buddhism in its full purity. The Tibetans were merely practicing tantric rituals with no understanding of the theoretical basis. The king accused dzogchen of the same degeneration as was found in the practice of mahayoga tantra.

In 971, Yeshe Ö sent Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055 CE) to Kashmir to become a translator and bring back texts. Rinchen Zangpo had become a monk in Tibet a year before he left. He studied both sutra and tantra with many masters and journeyed to Vikramashila Monastic University in north central India as well. He sent many Kashmiri and Indian scholars back to western Tibet with scriptures. 

By the time Rinchen Zangpo returned home seventeen years later, King Yeshe Ö had already established several translation schools with more than seventy-five Kashmiri, Indian and Tibetan scholars. He had also invited Dharmapala from eastern India, who established a second line of monastic ordination. As with the older lineage in Tibet, this too was from the Mulasarvastivada tradition.

At this time, there was a large influx of Buddhist refugees flooding into western Tibet. They were escaping the Islamic pressure in Gilgit and West Turkistan and the harsh anti-Buddhist rule in Kashmir. Although Buddhism continued on a private basis in Kashmir, it no longer enjoyed royal patronage.

In the 1020s, the Ghaznavid Türks invaded North India. They began the destruction of wealthy Buddhist monasteries and temples and forceful conversion to Islam. The number of refugees into western Tibet became so great, the king had to limit the permitted length of stay to three years. Many great Kashmiri masters visited at this time, for instance Somanatha, who introduced Kalachakra and its calendar calculations to Tibet in 1027 CE.

With the help of King Yeshe Ö, Rinchen Zangpo established several major monasteries in present-day western Tibet, Ladakh and Spiti. The most famous of these was Toling. Rinchen Zangpo felt, however, that merely having accurate new translations was not enough to win the Tibetans back to Buddhism. He made two further visits to Kashmir to bring back artists to decorate the walls of the new temples. This, he hoped, would attract the devotion of the common people. In this way, Kashmiri and Central Asian art forms came to western Tibet.

The New Translation Period is traced from the work of Rinchen Zangpo. Under his supervision, many sutras and tantras were rendered into Tibetan. With the new translation style, all words, including personal and place names, were etymologized according to the oral commentarial tradition and translated into Tibetan. In the old style, many words had simply been transliterated from Sanskrit. The only words retained in Sanskrit in the new style are a few names of flowers and ritual implements.

Furthermore, in the new translation style, the traditional classical Tibetan word order was often ignored so as to follow more precisely that of Sanskrit. Sanskrit, like other Indo-European languages, has words made of prepositional prefixes and verbal or noun roots, such as with the English word “understand.” The convention was adopted of translating such terms with Tibetan equivalents for both “under” and “stand,” or with a verb meaning “to understand” and a standard prefix to represent “under.” 

This feature was not found in the Chinese translations from Sanskrit. In its earliest stage, the Chinese used transliterations for many technical terms and then later chose quasi-equivalent terms from the native Chinese Confucian and Daoist philosophical traditions. Khotanese translations also used many transliterated terms from Sanskrit. Unlike the Tibetan, they were very loose translations, not done word for word.

As good as these translations were, Tibetan and classical Chinese are so different from Sanskrit, they had their limitations. They lacked the intricate verb tenses and inflections, the noun cases and numbers, and the enormous vocabulary of Sanskrit. As a result, reliance on the spiritual teacher to explain the texts, based on oral tradition became paramount. 

One of the major translations prepared by Rinchen Zangpo was of Shantideva’s Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior (Skt. Bodhisattva-carya-avatāra). This text had previously been rendered into Tibetan towards the end of the Old Translation Period. Rinchen Zangpo revised it. Shantideva was an Indian master of the seventh or eighth century CE from Nalanda Monastic University. His text is the major source for the practice of bodhichitta and the six far-reaching attitudes (perfections), such as perseverance and patience. It also presents the Madhyamaka-Prasangika view of the absence of fantasized ways of existence (voidness). Tibetans usually say, however, that Prasangika was established in Tibet only with the translation of the works of Chandrakirti and Buddhapalita about a century later.

Shantideva’s text is perhaps the single most popular Indian work followed by all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Because of the importance given to it, Tibetan Buddhism has far more emphasis and detail about bodhisattva conduct than any other Mahayana tradition. The practices for equalizing and exchanging one’s attitudes about self and others, so as to overcome favoritism, cold-heartedness and selfishness, are some of the hallmarks of Buddhism in Tibet.

Initially, three major traditions developed during the New Translation Period, based on Rinchen Zangpo’s pioneering work. These are Kadam, Sakya and Kagyu. Their major difference is in their lineage of transmission from India to Tibet.

King Yeshe Ö questioned the so-called tantric practices of the monks in Tibet who engaged in sexual union and sacrificed animals. From reports he received from additional groups he sent to India for language and spiritual training, he learned of Atisha at Vikramashila Monastic University. Atisha (982–1054 CE) had previously traveled to Indonesia to restore to India special bodhichitta lineages found in the Prajnaparamita Sutras. He had also encountered the Kalachakra tradition there. The king decided that only Atisha could clarify the spiritual issues in Tibet, and so he sent a mission to invite him.

Yeshe Ö was captured in a war against the Garlogs, who perhaps can be identified with Tibet’s old ally, the Karluk Türks. He sacrificed his life so that his envoy would not be deterred in his mission to invite the Indian master. Atisha arrived in 1042 CE.

The martyred king’s nephew and successor, Jangchub Ö, asked Atisha whether it was proper for Buddhist monks to practice tantra. The impression at the time in Tibet was that the sutra and tantra paths were mutually exclusive. Atisha explained that monks should follow a path of combined sutra and tantra practice, but that expressions such as “sexual union” and “deliverance of consciousness” were not to be taken literally. He emphasized taking a safe direction in life (refuge) and the laws of cause and effect. While in western Tibet, Atisha composed the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment (Skt. Bodhipathapradīpa) at Toling Monastery. This became the prototype for the lam-rim or graded path teachings that became the basic foundation adopted by all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Kadam Tradition is traced from Atisha’s lay disciple Dromtonpa (1004–1064). It emphasized external practice of the sutra graded path, while keeping tantric practice private and unostentatious. It put a great premium on humility. One of its major sets of teachings is the “cleansing of attitudes” (mind training, lojong). This explains how to transform negative into positive circumstances by changing one’s attitudes. It further details the conduct of a bodhisattva and was incorporated into all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

Shortly after Dromtonpa, Kadam split into three lineages. They were recombined and revised as the New Kadam or Gelug tradition in the fourteenth century by Tsongkhapa.

The Sakya tradition is traced from Virupa, a ninth-century CE Indian mahasiddha and former abbot of Nalanda Monastic University. Mahasiddhas are tantric masters with the highest actual attainments. The Tibetan translator Drogmi Lotsawa (992–1074) transmitted the lineage of Virupa’s “path and its results” teachings, lamdre, from India to Tibet. These teachings present a graded path that is an amalgam of sutra and the Hevajra Tantra. Drogmi’s disciple, Kon Konchog Gyalpo (1034–1102), founded the Sakya Monastery in central Tibet in 1073 CE. The Sakya tradition has been passed down through the descendants of the Kon family.

The special view presented in the “path and its results” is the inseparability of samsara and nirvana. This view of reality is in relation to the highest class of tantra teachings. The subtlest consciousness is seen as the source of all appearances, both the deceptive, uncontrollably recurring ones of samsara and the pure ones of the naturally released state of nirvana. Furthermore, the subtle energy system with its channels, sounds, energy-drops and energy-winds is likewise a common source of pure and impure appearances. Samsara and nirvana are inseparable because of having all these common bases.

The Sakya lineage passed through a succession of the Three White and Two Red Masters. The white masters were laymen wearing white robes, while the red were monks clad in red. The red masters, Sakya Pandita (1182–1251) and his nephew Chogyal Phagpa (1235–1280), introduced Tibetan Buddhism to Mongolia.

The Sakya Tradition has three lineages preserved today: the Sakya, Tsar and Ngor. Several minor lineages also developed, but they have not survived as separate schools. One of these, the Jonang, was the focus of a political and doctrinal dispute during the seventeenth century.

Each of the three major Sakya traditions has its own head. The Sakya subdivision, for instance, is headed by the Sakya Trizin, who is always a member of the Kon family. The position is passed from uncle to nephew or father to son. There are several branches of the Kon family, and they form different lines within the Sakya subdivision.

There are two major Kagyu traditions: Shangpa and Dagpo Kagyu. The Shangpa Kagyu was founded by Khyungpo Naljor (978–1079). This Tibetan master studied with many teachers in Nepal and India. The most outstanding of them were Sukhasiddhi and Niguma, the sister of Naropa. This lineage transmits the “six teachings (yogas) of Niguma.”

The Dagpo Kagyu derives from the line of Tilopa, Naropa, Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa. The translator Marpa (1012–1099) had been trained in languages by Drogmi Lotsawa. Marpa traveled to India three times, where he studied with the Kashmiri master Naropa, a former abbot of Nalanda, famous tantric adept and disciple of Tilopa. Naropa passed on to Marpa the “six teachings (yogas) of Naropa,” which later spread not only among the Kagyu, but also to the Sakya and Gelug traditions. Marpa also studied with Maitripa, from whom he received the mahamudra (great seal) teachings that had derived from Saraha.

Mahamudra is a system of meditation on the clear and aware nature of the mind. Unlike dzogchen, which is exclusively tantric, and Chan, which is exclusively within the sutra domain, mahamudra has both a sutra and tantra level of practice. On the sutra level, one focuses on the nature of the grosser levels of the mind, both conceptual and non-conceptual. On the tantric level, one concentrates on the nature of the subtlest level of consciousness that is beyond the conceptual level.

Dagpo Kagyu, named after Dagpo Lhaje Gampopa, is divided into four major and eight minor traditions. The terms “major” and “minor” do not imply a difference in profundity or importance. The four major derive from direct disciples of Gampopa, while the eight minor are traced from disciples of Pagmodrupa (1110–1170), one of Gampopa’s four major disciples.

Of the four major Dagpo Kagyu lines, the one that is extant is the Karma Kagyu, also known as the Karma Kamtsang. It was founded by the First Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa (1110–1193). Both the Second and Third Karmapas, Karma Pakshi (1206–1283) and Rangjung Dorje (1284–1340), were presented with black hats by the Mongol emperors of China. The actual black hat used in the “Black Hat Ceremony” was presented to the Fifth Karmapa, Dezhin Shegpa (1384–1415), by the Yongle Emperor of the Chinese Ming Dynasty.

Among the most famous lines of masters within the Karma Kagyu tradition, in addition to the line of Karmapas, are the Shamarpas and the Tai Situpas. The First Shamarpa, Dragpa Senge (1283–1349), was a disciple of the Third Karmapa. He was presented with a red hat by the Third Karmapa. The First Tai Situpa, Chokyi Gyaltsen (1377–1448), was a disciple of the Fifth Karmapa. The red hat of the Tai Situpas was presented to the Fifth Tai Situpa, Chokyi Gyaltsen Gelek Palzang (1585–1657) by the Ninth Karmapa, Wangchug Dorje (1554–1603). Just as there is a ceremony for liberation through seeing the black hat of the Karmapas, there are similar ceremonies with the red hats of the Shamarpas and Tai Situpas.

Of the eight minor Dagpo Kagyu, the three currently extant are Drikung, Drugpa and Taglung Kagyu. The Drikung was founded by Drikung Kyobpa Jigten Gonpo (1143–1217). The Drugpa was established by Ling Repa (1128–1189) and his disciple Tsangpa Gyare (1161–1211). The Taglung was founded by Taglung Tangpa Tashi Pel (1142–1210).

Just as the line of reincarnations of the Karmapa is the traditional head of the Karma Kagyu school, likewise the Drikung, Drugpa and Taglung Kagyu schools each have their own head. The Drugpa Kagyu has the Upper, Lower and Middle Tibetan lineages, and the Middle lineage has a Northern and Southern school. The traditional head of Northern Drugpa Kagyu is the line of reincarnations of Tsangpa Gyare, known as the Drugchen Rinpoche. The Fourth Drugchen Rinpoche, Pema Karpo (1527–1592), was the most famous of this line.

Dzogchen lineages are found not only in Nyingma and Bon, but also in the Karma and Drugpa Kagyu. The Third Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje (1284–1339), together with the Nyingma master Longchenpa, studied dzogchen with Kumaraja. Subsequently, he introduced dzogchen into the Karma Kagyu lineage with the Karma Nyingtig (Karmapa Heart Essence) system.

Tsangpa Gyare received dzogchen teachings from his Nyingma master Karlungpa. When he began the Drugpa Kagyu tradition, he adapted dzogchen to the mahamudra teachings from the treasure texts he had unearthed that had been hidden by Milarepa’s disciple Rechungpa. The Third Khamtrul Rinpoche, Kunga Tenzin, incorporated Longchenpa’s dzogchen tradition into Drugpa Kagyu in the eighteenth century. The First Khamtrul Rinpoche was a disciple of one of Drugchen Pema Karpo’s disciples. Because of this emphasis on dzogchen, Padmasambhava is especially revered by the Drugpa Kagyu tradition.

Just as dzogchen is not exclusive to Nyingma, likewise mahamudra is not limited to Kagyu. Mahamudra teachings are also found in the Sakya tradition. Sakya Pandita (1182–1251) wrote on mahamudra but warned of the dangers of falling to a Chan type of nihilist extreme.

The Gelug tradition was founded by Tsongkhapa (1357–1419). The Kadam teachings had been transmitted through three separate lines: the classics, guideline instructions and graded paths lineages. Tsongkhapa recombined the three. He studied with many teachers of all the Tibetan Buddhist traditions of his time, gathering many sutra and tantra lineages.

Tsongkhapa was alarmed at the declined state of monastic discipline at his time. He and his disciples founded many monasteries which returned to a strict adherence to the vowed rules of conduct. The most famous are Ganden, Sera and Drepung Monasteries in Lhasa, and Gyuto and Gyume, the Tantric Colleges of Upper and Lower Tibet.

Many practitioners at the time of Tsongkhapa felt that for highest tantric practice, it was not necessary to keep any level of pratimoksha vows for individual liberation. They felt that bodhisattva and tantric vows were sufficient. Tsongkhapa asserted that at least some level of pratimoksha vow was a necessary foundation. The minimum would be as a layperson keeping the five vows of restraining from killing, stealing, lying, inappropriate sexual conduct and alcohol.

Tsongkhapa wrote extensive commentaries on a wide array of sutra and tantra subjects. In them, he critically examined much of the Indian and Tibetan commentarial literature that had preceded him, comparing them with the original quotations from the Buddha’s words. He took special effort to give the scriptural sources for all his assertions so as to increase people’s confidence in their practice. In doing this, he was following the tradition of Nagarjuna and Shantideva who both compiled compendiums of sutra quotations to substantiate their writings.

The traditional head of the Gelug school is the Ganden Tripa, the Holder of Tsongkhapa’s Throne at Ganden Monastery. At first this position was held by the foremost master of the day. Since the time of the Eighth Ganden Tripa in the late fifteenth century, the position of the Ganden Throne Holder has alternated between the senior-most retired abbots of Gyuto and Gyume.

One of the most well-known figures in Tibetan Buddhism is His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The First Dalai Lama, Gendun Drub (1391–1474), was a disciple of Tsongkhapa. The line of Dalai Lamas was publicly recognized beginning with the Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588). When this great master was invited to Mongolia in the late sixteenth century, he was given the name “Dalai,” which is the Mongolian word for “ocean,” since his wisdom was as vast as the ocean. His previous incarnations were recognized posthumously as the First and Second Dalai Lamas.

The Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Losang Gyatso (1617–1682), unified Tibet. He became not only the spiritual, but the temporal leader as well. The Dalai Lama is not the head of the Gelug tradition. The Dalai Lamas are above the heads of all the lineages and are responsible for all of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet.

The Fourth Panchen Lama, Losang Chokyi Gyaltsen (1570–1662), was a teacher of the Fifth Dalai Lama. His line of reincarnations has never held a political position in the Tibetan government as the Dalai Lamas have, although both the Nationalist and Communist Chinese have tried to promote the Panchen Lamas as rivals to the Dalai Lamas. When the ages of the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas have been appropriate, one would traditionally serve as the teacher of the other. The Panchen Lamas are the heads of Tashilhunpo Monastery, which was founded in Shigatse by the First Dalai Lama.

The Fourth Panchen Lama is usually credited with writing the first text on the combined Gelug/Kagyu lineage of mahamudra. An earlier text on the Gelug approach to Kagyu mahamudra, however, was composed by Kedrub Norzang Gyatso (1423–1513), a teacher of the Second Dalai Lama, Gendun Gyatso (1476–1542). Kagyu techniques are used for identifying and focusing on the clear and aware nature of the mind. According to Gelug, this is merely the conventional nature of the mind, not its deepest nature. Gelug mahamudra then focuses on the mind’s voidness or absence of inherent, findable existence as its deepest nature.

The Fifth Dalai Lama was a master of the Gelug, Sakya and Nyingma systems. A line of mahayoga and dzogchen practices derives from his pure visions. These are followed by the Northern Treasure lineage of Nyingma and the Gelug.

In the tenth century CE, Lume Tsultrim Sherab had traveled to Kham to receive the full monk’s ordination from Gongpa Rabsel. He wished to re-establish the monastic tradition in Central Tibet. Before Lume departed, Gongpa Rabsel had him dye his Bon hat yellow. He told him to wear it as a remembrance of his studies and practice.

In the early fifteenth century, monastic discipline had once more declined in Tibet. In establishing monasteries of his new Gelug order, Tsongkhapa told his monk disciples to wear yellow hats. He explained that this would be auspicious for them to be able to bring back pure ethical discipline to the monasteries of Tibet, just as Lume Tsultrim Sherab had done in earlier times. In this way, the Gelug became known also as the Yellow Hat tradition.

The learned Buddhist masters of India wore a ceremonial red hat signifying their rank as a “pandit.” The custom later spread to Tibet. The Gelug adopted the pointed crown shape of the red hat for their yellow version.

Some people use the terms “Red Hat” and “Yellow Hat” sects in reference to the four Tibetan lineages, with the Gelug being yellow and the others red. Although these names do occasionally appear in Tibetan and Mongolian, they are not widely used by the Tibetans. The colors of ceremonial hats are not considered very significant.

The textual tradition of logic and debate came to Tibet in the late eighth century CE at the time of Shantarakshita and Kamalashila. Although texts were translated and the Samye debates were held, it is difficult to determine whether an actual debate tradition was begun during the Old Translation Period.

Ma Lotsawa, an early eleventh-century disciple of Rinchen Zangpo, translated A Commentary to “(Comoendium of) Validly Cognizing Minds” (Skt. Pramāṇavārttika), Dharmakirti’s commentary on Dignaga’s foundational work. This formed the basis for the old style of logic in Tibet.

The new style was brought to Tibet by Ngog Lotsawa Loden Sherab (1059–1109), based on his studies in India and Kashmir. He introduced the debate educational tradition into one of the major Kadam monasteries in Lhasa, Sangpu. Loden Sherab’s follower, Chapa Chokyi Senge (1109–1169), began the debate style characteristic of all Tibetan traditions. The defender sits while the challenger stands, making ritual gestures and clapping to emphasize his or her points. Chapa Chokyi Senge also began the tradition of Collected Topics, in Tibetan dudra or dura, with its graded texts for training students in logic and debate.

The new debate tradition soon spread from the Kadam to all the other Tibetan schools. The Nyingma master Longchenpa and several eminent Sakya teachers trained in it at Sangpu. Sakya Pandita (1182–1251) studied debate with the Kashmiri master Shakyashri (1127–1225), who was especially invited to Tibet to enhance the tradition of logic. Sakya Pandita was widely renowned for his debating skills.

In the early fifteenth century, the Gelug school continued the debate traditions of the Kadam and Sakya. In the seventeenth century, the Fifth Dalai Lama, at the request of one of his dzogchen teachers, sent a Gelug master to establish the debate tradition at the Nyingma Dzogchen Monastery.

In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, the Seventh and Eighth Karmapas wrote several texts on logic. The logic and debate tradition was adopted by the Karma, Drugpa and Drikung Kagyu schools. Teaching colleges, shedras in Tibetan, were established for debate training in many Kagyu monasteries, as a supplement to their practice colleges, drubdras.

The custom of awarding degrees at the completion of one’s sutra debate education was begun in the early Sakya monasteries. The Sakyas conferred either the Kazhi or Kachu degrees upon mastery of four or ten scriptural texts respectively. The Kadam monasteries soon began granting similar degrees. At the time of Tsongkhapa, this custom was widespread at the Kadam monasteries of Lhasa, such as Sangpu. Tsongkhapa adopted the custom for the new monasteries he and his disciples founded within the Gelug school. The Fifth Dalai Lama instituted the tradition of formally granting the geshe degree at the Gelug monasteries. There are four ranks of geshes. The term “geshe” had been used in the Kadam tradition for spiritual mentors, particularly those noted for their humility.

The equivalent degree to geshe conferred in the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma teaching colleges is khenpo, which means “learned master.” In other Tibetan traditions, the title is used exclusively to mean “abbot.”

Tantric colleges for the study of tantric theory through the debate medium were established in both the Sakya and Gelug traditions. They award special tantric degrees.

The main Bon treasure revealer, Shenchen Luga (996–1035), instructed his disciple, Druchen Namkha Yungdrung, to establish a debating tradition for the study of the Bon texts. Druchen was from a family from Gilgit. In 1072, Druchen’s close relative, Druje Yungdrung Lama, founded the first Bon monastery, Yeru Ensaka, for this specific purpose. Sutra, tantra and dzogchen were all studied here through the medium of debate.

It appears, then, that debate was established in the Bon monastic tradition several decades earlier than in the Kadam. The old tradition of Buddhist logic, however, had been started by Ma Lotsawa at the time of Shenchen Luga. It does not seem to have been practiced, however, in the pre-Kadam Buddhist monasteries.

Both the Bonpos and Buddhists claim that the debate tradition originated with them. This is difficult to decide. There was an Indian Buddhist debate tradition prior to its presence in Tibet. The people of Gilgit could easily have been exposed to it. The Bonpos use the same debate gestures and clapping as the Buddhists, and these were not found in India. It is unclear whether Chapa Chokyi Senge borrowed this from Bon or vice versa.

Yeru Ensaka Monastery was destroyed by a flood in 1386 CE. In 1405, Menri Monastery was built to replace it. It became the major Bon monastery of Tibet. Because of various obstacles, however, it was not possible to reestablish the Bon debate tradition at Menri. The monks traveled to the nearby Sakya monastery, Druyul Kyetsal, for debate training, but this was in the field of sutra alone. Bon tantra and dzogchen were studied privately at Menri itself. The Bon sutras were close enough to the Buddhist ones, however, that the Bon monks could study the Buddhist versions with no problems. The Bon monks were even awarded the Sakya geshe degree upon the completion of their sutra studies.

In 1836 CE, Yungdrung Ling Monastery was founded as a center for Bon debate training. In 1947, Menri established its own debate course. But in both these monasteries, debate was still restricted to sutra topics. The course of training and curriculum was the same as in the Buddhist traditions, and the two monasteries awarded the Bon geshe degree. Monks with this degree could do further studies at Drepung Loseling College of the Gelug tradition and compete for the higher geshe degrees. Some Bon monks received their entire debate education at the Gelug monasteries of Drepung Loseling or Sera.

The eleventh century CE saw the establishment of the New Translation Buddhist schools of Kadam, Sakya and Kagyu. Treasure texts were discovered by Nyingma and Bon masters, which revitalized their traditions. New monasteries were built by the Buddhist and Bon schools, and formal debate was introduced into the Kadam and Bon monastic education.

Many tantric lineages were brought from India, Kashmir and Nepal to Tibet during the eleventh century. The three major Tibetan lineages of Kalachakra, for example, were introduced during this century. With so many lineages and teachings entering Tibet from different sources, there was concern for the standardization of the texts. In 1076, King Tsede of western Tibet held a council at Toling Monastery. Tsede was the nephew of King Jangchub Ö, the patron of Atisha. Many of the most prominent translators of the day attended this council, such as Ra Lotsawa and Ngog Lotsawa. They compared their translations and the teachings they had received. Certain translations were revised, and over the centuries further corrections and revisions were made of the versions that eventually became the most popular.