gDams Ngag mDzod:About

This detailed catalog of the gdams ngag mdzod is a Tsadra Foundation Research Department Project that was designed and created by Marcus Perman with the help of Tim Walton and Adam Krug.

• See the Gdams ngag mdzod Research Department Report for more information about the creation of this catalog.
• Also see the Gdams ngag mdzod DPL: Sortable Tables of data from all texts in the gdams ngag mdzod and the discussion page here for more information.

About Tsadra Foundation

Tsadra Foundation is a privately funded nonprofit trust established in New York City in 2000. The foundation began modestly, sponsoring a few senior western translators and meditators. Since then, we have broadened our scope. We now contribute in a variety of ways to the vital funding of Tibetan Buddhism in the west.

Tsadra: Our Name

The Foundation takes its name from Tsa’dra Rinchen Drak, Jamgön Kongtrul’s hermitage and principal seat in Eastern Tibet. Perched on a cliff face high above Palpung Monastery in the Dergé region of Kham, Tsa’dra is considered to be equivalent to Tsari, one of the twenty-four sacred places in India.

It was there, at his home, that Kongtrul established a traditional three-year retreat center that would be the seat of the Shangpa Kagyu tradition and in which the practice traditions of Shangpa, Kalachakra, and Dzogchen were transmitted. Many volumes of Kongtrul’s Five Treasuries, which comprise the theory and practice of all the main lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, were composed at Tsa’dra.

Our Inspiration

Jamgön Kongtrul was a remarkable figure in nineteenth century Tibet. Widely respected for his accomplishments in contemplation and scholarship, he spent much of his life in retreat while composing authoritative treatises. His life and activity embody perfectly the values of Tsadra Foundation, and as such are our primary source of inspiration.

Fully integrating the two facets of Buddhist teachings, Kongtrul worked continuously for the benefit of others through religious, social, and diplomatic efforts. A tireless advocate of the nonsectarian movement, he counteracted the religious fragmentation of his time by espousing respect for all authentic traditions. With this same belief at its core, Tsadra Foundation as an institution is not attached to a single tradition, nor does it adhere to or represent any single teacher’s activity. The directors of Tsadra Foundation acknowledge an infinite debt of gratitude to another great Tibetan master considered to be Kongtrul’s activity incarnation, Khyabje Kalu Rinpoché. With his profound wisdom, endless patience, and irrepressible humor, Kalu Rinpoché opened our hearts and minds. Most significantly, he founded the first three-year retreat center in the West, trusting students with the full and uncompromised transmission of the Buddhist teachings.