The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2540 page)

see
SAKYA
.

 
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Tsha-tshas
.

Small clay or dough images of holy persons,
chörtens
, symbols etc., in Tibetan Buddhism, which may be made with herbs, ground relics, or the ashes of a dead
lama
mixed in. They are used as amulets.

 
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see
LURIA, ISAAC BEN SOLOMON
.

 
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see
ZITZIT
.

 
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Tso-ch’an
.

Chinese for
ZAZEN
.

 
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Tsong Khapa
(Lobsang Drakpa
,

blo.bzang.-sgrags. pa
;
1357–1419).
Eminent Tibetan scholar and founder of the
Geluk
school of Tibetan Buddhism.
At the age of 40, and as probably the most learned man of his era, Tsong Khapa joined the
Kadam
monastery of Radreng (
rva.sgreng
). Here, in 1402, Tsong Khapa completed his
magnum opus
,
The Great Graduated Path
(
lam.rim.chen.mo
), which was principally based on
Ati
a's
Bodhipathaprad
pa
, and has become the root text of the Geluk school. As elsewhere in his voluminous writings, Tsong Khapa emphasizes Pr
sa
g
ka-madhy
maka as the highest form of reasoning and stresses the correct understanding of relative reality as that which, while not possessing even a conventional own-being, can nevertheless be demonstrated by reasoning to be not non-existent. At the heart of
The Great Graduated Path
is the thesis that, while tantra may be necessary in order to become a fully enlightened Buddha, a prior study of s
tra is absolutely necessary for a preliminary development of wisdom and compassion. In another important work,
The Great Graduated Path of Mantra (sngags.rim.chen.mo
), which discusses the four classes of tantra, Tsong Khapa defines the relationship of tantra to s
tra as that between method and wisdom.
In 1408, Tsong Khapa established the Great Prayer (
smon.lam.chen.mo
), a New Year festival held in the
Jokhang
, which won him much devotional support. In 1409, Tsong Khapa had enough followers to found his own monastery of Riwo Ganden (‘Joyous Mountain’), and although initially calling his order the ‘New Kadam’, they soon became known as the Geluk. Tsong Khapa's views were similar to those of Ati
a, and it is unclear whether Tsong Khapa had reformed a Kadam tradition which had become lax, or whether the Geluk simply grew out of the Kadam under the impetus of his own personal renown. The founding of Drepung (’
bras.sprungs
) followed in 1416, and of Sera in 1419, the year of Tsong Khapa's death when his body was embalmed and placed inside a
chörten
at Ganden.