Lama Tsongkhapa

[waimengwan]

Je Tsongkhapa is known to be an emanation Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani.

Does that mean Je Tsongkhapa contains the essence of these 3 Bodhisattvas? As people and myself have difficulty to think that Je Tsongkhapa is made out of three beings, enlightened beings. Can three beings be present in one human body?

thank you.

[Ayu]

Hello waimengwan,

I've heard no teaching about this explicit question, so I can just answer it from my point of view, or my perception.

Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri and Vajrapani are no firmly attached solid beings like human beings, but they are aspects of the Buddhanature or Buddhamind.
Through the aspect of Avalokiteshvara there is Compassion, by the aspect of Manjushri there is wisdom and by the aspect of Vajrapani there is strong power.
So, having realized these three, Tsongkhapa brings Compassion, Wisdom and Strength to the human beings who meditate this.
So they also can realize these aspects and in the end they are also emanations of these three - at the end there is no "They & I" but just one buddhanature, one dharma.

Best wishes,
Ayu

[gregkavarnos]

We all contain the essence of these three Bodhisattvas: wisdom, compassion and power.

You have the mistaken conception that the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas are beings like ourselves: limited by our attachment to this body-mind combination. Enlightenment takes us beyond this idea of me as a seperate, independently existing being. Once this boundary is destroyed then there is no you and me. Like water poured into water.

Where is the great lama Tsongkhapa? He dwells in your heart. Where are the three great Bodhisattvas to be found? Again, in your heart. If you can clean away the dust of the three obscuring mental states, you will find the pure lands of all the Buddha and Bodhisattvas with all of their inhabitants right there: in your heart.

[Aemilius]

Je Tsongkhapa is known to be an emanation Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara and Vajrapani.

Does that mean Je Tsongkhapa contains the essence of these 3 Bodhisattvas? As people and myself have difficulty to think that Je Tsongkhapa is made out of three beings, enlightened beings. Can three beings be present in one human body?

thank you.

You yourself are made of Your parents, and all of their parents, and so on... the whole 3600 million years of evolution down to the simple microscopic creatures called procaryotes. You do not exist without them, which means that they are all present in you and in your body. And also all of your earlier incarnations in the six realms of existence are in You, which makes even more beings than the ones included in the line of evolution on Plane Earth. These two lines of causation are in Buddhism understood to have produced You and Your biological entity, the body. You do not exist without them, they are in You.
"The form (ie Body) is never seen without the cause of form", Arya Nagarjuna.

[ngodrup]

Je Tsongkhapa is widely thought to be an emanation of the Second Buddha, Guru Rinpoche of the Lotus family.
As such he would carry the qualities of Buddha Amitabha and Chenresig. Since Guru Rinpoche's
realization is complete, he possesses the nature of Primordial Buddha Samantabhadra. Wisdom
complete, he is equal to Manjushri. As each of these are all-pervasive, there is no competition.
If there were a self, then there might be a problem. But all Buddhas are equal...

[jmlee369]

As others have mentioned, the nature of the bodhisattvas reveal there is no conflict. Lama Tsong Khapa perfectly embodies all the Buddhas' compassion, wisdom and power, and so he is said to be the manifestation of Chenrezig, Manjushri and Vajrapani. The essence of the three bodhisattvas is precisely pure and perfect compassion, wisdom and power. Lama Tsong Khapa is also inseparable from your guru, and your guru is inseparable from Lama Tsong Khapa. Furthermore, you yourself, the lama, and yidam are not different in nature. As my own lama always teaches, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas are not some celestial beings who live in the sky or a pure land, forever holding up their lotuses and texts and swords. Thus, there is no conflict to say that Lama Tsong Khapa encapsualtes the three Lords of the Families.