Nyak Jnanakumara
གཉག་ཛྙཱ་ན་ཀུ་མ་ར།
gnyag jna na ku ma ra
Yeshe Zhonnu
ཡེ་ཤེས་གཞོན་ནུ།
ye shes gzhon nu
Short biography
Jñanakumara of Nyag, was one of the early Tibetan monk and expert translator who received the Four Great Rivers of Transmission from Padmasambhava, Vimalamitra, Vairotsana and Yudra Nyingpo. He worked closely with Vimalamitra in translating tantras of Mahayoga and Ati Yoga. He is also known as Nyag Lotsawa and by his secret initiation name Drimey Dashar, 'Flawless Moonlight.' His initiation flower, along with Trisong Deutsen's, fell on Chemchok Heruka. Subsequently, he received the transmission of Nectar Medicine from Padmasambhava. He practiced in the Crystal Cave of Yarlung, where he drew water from solid rock; it is said this water still flows today.
Jnana Kumara means 'Youthful Wakefulness.'
- Among his later incarnations is Dabzang Rinpoche, a 19th-century contemporary of Jamgön Kongtrül the First.
Literary Works
Main Teachers
Main Students
Main Lineages
Alternate Names & Spellings
- Bende Drimey Dashar (ban de dri med brda shar)
- Drimey Dashar
- Jnanakumara
- Jnanakumaravajra
- Jnana Kumara of Nyag
- Nyak Yeshe Zhonnu (gnyag ye shes gzhon nu)
- Nyag Lotsawa