Jonang

Keepers of the Kalachakra and Shentong view

Founded

12th–13th century

Founder

Yumo Mikyö Dorje → Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen

Historical background

The Jonang tradition takes its name from the Jomonang valley where its great monastery was established. The lineage is especially associated with the master Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (1292–1361), who systematized the profound Shentong ("emptiness of other") view of the ultimate nature of reality.

The Jonang are the foremost holders of the Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) tantra and its associated Six-Branch Yoga practice. Despite historical suppression that nearly extinguished the tradition in central Tibet, the Jonang lineage survived in the remote regions of Amdo and Golok.

In recent decades the Jonang tradition has experienced a revival and is now formally recognized as a distinct living school of Tibetan Buddhism, preserving teachings found nowhere else.

Core Practices

The Kalachakra tantra and its Six-Branch Yoga (sadanga yoga), and the Shentong Madhyamaka view.

Key Texts

Dolpopa's Mountain Doctrine (Ri chö ngé dön gya tso) and the Kalachakra commentarial tradition.

Principal Seats

The surviving Jonang monasteries of Amdo and Golok, with Dzamthang as a principal seat.