Prof. Dr. Douglas Duckworth (Temple University)“The Three Mañjughoṣas of Tibet”: An Arrangement of a Harmonic Ensemble

1 July 2026

16:00, 1 July 2026. ESA-Ost, Raum 120 & Zoom

This paper discusses the relationship between three figures who since the nineteenth century came to be known as “the three Mañjughoṣas of Tibet.” Sakya Paṇḍita (1182–1251), Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), and Longchenpa (1308–1364) are identified with the “gentle and splendorous voice” of the bodhisattva of wisdom, Mañjuśrī. Sakya Paṇḍita initiated a transition between old and new schools of Tibetan epistemology; Tsongkhapa initiated a transition between old and new interpretations of Madhyamaka, and Longchenpa, as the systematizer of the Great Perfection (rdzogs chen), initiated a transition to systematic thought on the unconditioned nature of mind in the Great Perfection. Jamyang Khyentsé Chökyi Lodrö (1893–1959) aligned each of them with one of three dimensions of the Buddha’s mind in a devotional text he wrote where Sakya Paṇḍita embodies wisdom as Mañjuśrī, Tsongkhapa embodies compassion as Avalokiteśvara, and Longchenpa embodies power as Vajrapāṇi. This paper shows how these three figures represent a diversity of Buddhist views voiced in Tibet as well as considers how they might be harmonized.

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Prof. Dr. Dorji Wangchuk (Director) & Dr. Orna Almogi (Co-director)
Khyentse Center for Tibetan Buddhist Textual Scholarship (KC-TBTS)
Abteilung für Kultur und Geschichte Indiens und Tibets
Asien-Afrika-Institut
Universität Hamburg
Alsterterrasse 1
D-20354 Hamburg