The Guru Yoga of Jé Tsongkhapa

“I am delighted that Wisdom is publishing one of the fundamental practices of the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, an important preliminary to many tantric practices and ritual prayers. I rejoice in the efforts of the translators for making this important teaching available in English.”–Sharpa Tulku Tenzin Trinley“I spent twenty-five years with His Eminence Chöden Rinpoché as his student and attendant. Rinpoche was from everyone’s perspective a true yogi who could, through his personal realizations, unpack the subtleties of the most difficult passages of Dharma. If you dedicate yourself to the clarity of Rinpoche’s words, you will definitely understand how the inexpressible becomes manifest through the special relationship of guru yoga.”–Gyalten Khen Rinpoche, co-founder, with His Eminence Chöden Rinpoche, of Awakening Vajra International

His Eminence Chöden Rinpoché was born in eastern Tibet in 1930 and was recognized as a young boy as the reincarnation of the previous Chöden Rinpoché. When he was fifteen, he enrolled at Sera Jé monastic college, where he excelled; he completed all the study necessary for the highest degree of geshé lharampa, was renowned as one of the great Tibetan teacher-yogis of our modern era, and was chosen as a debate partner for the Fourteenth Dalai Lama when His Holiness was taking his geshe exams. After the Chinese takeover of Tibet, Rinpoché entered solitary retreat, in which he stayed for nineteen years. In 1985 the Dalai Lama asked him to leave Tibet to teach in India and Nepal. He taught students in the geshé program at Sera Jé for many years, as well as offering teachings all over the world. He passed away in 2015.

Ian James Coghlan (Jampa Yigyen) trained as a monk at Sera Jé Monastic University, completing his studies in 1995, and holds a PhD in Asian studies from La Trobe University. Currently he is a research associate at the School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University, and a translator.

Voula Zarpani holds a double master’s degree from the Agricultural University of Athens and graduated from the first Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo Translator Program in Dharamsala, India, in 1995. She continues to translate for various Tibetan lamas.